Kirkland Conference: 2017
Table of Contents
1 John 1:1-2
Reading
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.
Guide us, O thou gracious Savior, 276.
Bread of Heaven.
Jesus now and evermore.
Where there's no man, forbidding hours would be allow us to meet in this way. We thank Thee indeed, that we could have the scriptures open. And this day we just ask Thee that Thou would guide us to a passage that would be suited to the audience that is here. As we have sung this prayer, Him to Thee, Lord Jesus, that would guide us and treat us. We ask Thee and Thee that Thou would provide a portion for our souls. Something will be uplifting in heavenly.
00:05:13
Something would take our hearts upward, and so we just asked it to direct us to a chapter that would be suitable for this occasion. And may our hearts be ministered to and encouraged in the pathway.
Pray that each and everyone would get something in this day from Thy precious Word and from Thyself, our God.
We ask this in the name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Call.
Like to suggest that we could read first John chapter one and we have 4 readings. Perhaps we can get into chapter 2 as well.
My suggestion brother and I'm.
Open if someone else has something else as well.
I think it'd be profitable, Bob.
First John, chapter one.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.
And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son from all sin, if we say that we have no sin.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive, forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We say that we have not sinned. We make Him a liar, and His word is not in US.
Ministry is about the family of God.
And in Paul's ministry, we get adoption or being brought into sonship.
But in John's ministry, it's being born into the family of God, so that it is a matter of the very life that we share when we are born again.
00:10:15
In John's Gospel chapter one and verse 12 it tells us.
As many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, that's the way we were born the first time, but of God.
None of us decided to be born the first time. That was the decision of our parents.
And really, none of us decided to be born the second time. That was by the will of God. Yes, we may have made a decision, but it was because of the will of God. And I think it is helpful to see that. So it's being born into God's family. And somebody has said, and I really must say it has helped me, that John's gospel is eternal life seen in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John's epistle is eternal life as manifested in the ones that are born into God's family, His children. So that helps as we consider this portion, I believe.
Could I ask a question, and I don't want this to be too involved, but when we're born again, that we can be born again and not sealed with the spirit, but it seems like in John they are sealed of the spirit. So how does that work? You have an answer to that. It's more than just being born again, isn't it? Uh, seems.
John 3 when the Lord Jesus is talking to Nicodemus.
He says in verse 8, The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hears the sound thereof, but can't not tell when it come and whither it going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Is that an answer, brother?
OK.
Wasn't quite what I was thinking about, but.
Go ahead and expand brother. I appreciate it. Well, I I was I was thinking that you know, a person could be born again even in the Old Testament, but they weren't sealed with the spirit. But here it is talking about children. But these seem to be and they are have fellowship with the Lord, so they are sealed with the spirit. I just that's bothered me. I've enjoyed in connection with what the Lord Jesus said in John 10. He said I am come that you might have life.
But he didn't stop there because, as you say, they had life in the Old Testament. But he said that you might have it more abundantly. And that's why I believe it's never referred to as eternal life in connection with the Old Testament Saints. Because in Christianity, John brings us into a place where we have the full enjoyment of what we have. And that's the difference, isn't it? We have full enjoyment of that life.
We have the understanding of it. And why? Because it's all been manifest in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. And that's really the opening 2 verses of our chapter. It brings before us God manifesting in Christ, coming in flesh, because all Christian truth really begins there. It begins with Christ manifest in the flesh. That's the beginning.
Of all Christian truth. And that's why it's important to really understand, take up and understand John's ministry so that we not only now are the possessors of divine life. I say again, they had life in the Old Testament, but now we are the possessors of what the New Testament calls eternal life. And we have been brought into a position where we can walk in the full enjoyment and power of that life that we have been given. Is that what you had in mind?
00:15:00
I, I think so. That's a good answer. I'm thankful for that. I think it's important to see that they are seeing in this epistle in the full Christian position from the side of things, from as the family of God, which has already been pointed out. You'll see in chapters 3 in the last words of that chapter, which is.
Verse 24 that he draws in us by the spirit which he has given us.
Then in chapter 4 it says in verse 13 hereby know we that we dwell in him and he and us because He has given us His Spirit. There's a couple of references in the show that they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. So they're in the full Christian position in the family of God. He's not viewing new birth here as being that initial work of God in his soul rather than one who has been.
Communicating.
Eternal life is, uh, maybe we should, uh, mention what it is. And in John 17 and verse three, we have the Lord Jesus in his high priestly prayer saying.
This is eternal life.
That they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. That's why the Saints in the Old Testament really didn't have it until there was the complete revelation of who God is in the person of the Lord Jesus and that came with his coming into this world. So the beginning, like you say, Jim, in this.
Chapter is the beginning of the manifestation of eternal life and the person of the Lord Jesus when He was here. We have beginnings mentioned in four books of the Bible in the very first verses.
In Genesis one it was the beginning of creation, and John Gospel chapter one in the beginning was the word. That is perhaps the beginning because beginning denotes time that goes back farther. In other words, when there was any time to be calculated, he was already there. It's eternity and he was there from eternity. But this beginning is the beginning.
Of the manifestation of eternal life in the person of the Lord Jesus.
If you go back to John's Gospel chapter 8, I'd like to connect this verse with verse 25.
Then said they unto him, Who are thou?
And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you.
From the beginning there it is the same context as we have in our verse.
What a wonderful thing, brethren, that we have been brought into the complete revelation of the knowledge of God in the person of the Lord Jesus. You know what impresses me? We live in a culture that is.
Humanistic, man centered and always thinking about yourself. That is not eternal life. Eternal life has its focus on the other direction to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing that we can say that we have been brought into the knowledge of the true God and His Son Jesus Christ.
So the apostle Paul develops or gives us the counsels of God, but this has already been alluded to. John gives us the nature of God. And so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's John one. But at the end of the Lord's pathway they said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And he said, Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hast seen me, that hast seen the Father? And so in his pathway here as the Word, he completely he gave complete.
Expression as to who God was, the nature of God, and that's again a very important concept or principle to get a hold of in our souls. As you say, they didn't know God in the same way in the Old Testament. They knew Him as the Almighty. They knew him as someone who was up there in heaven and so on, and someone who was controlling things to a certain extent and working in and with different people, but not in the same way that we know Him in Christianity.
00:20:12
And that's why I believe, or at least one reason why in John's gospel, he's introduced to us as the Word. And here again in our epistle, what do words do? They express concepts or thoughts. We speak words in a meeting like this to bring out the truth of God's word. And hopefully we speak clear and simple so that the thoughts of Scripture can be expressed so that the Spirit of God can apply them to each of our hearts and consciences and give us knowledge of these things. We use words.
To give expression, if I come and describe somebody to you, maybe you've never seen that person, but you might through my words. If I can describe that person accurately, you might have a very good mental image of who that person is that I'm talking about, though you've never seen them or a photograph of them. Well, the Lord Jesus came as the Word, and He gave full expression to who God is, to who God was, to the very nature of God, so that it's fully revealed. There is nothing more to be revealed.
As to the nature of God than what has already been revealed and manifest in the person of the Lord Jesus being made flesh and dwelling here on earth. And isn't that some reason why that in 90 John was the last apostle and things were coming in that attacked the person of Christ. Yeah, Gnosticism. And so a little maybe background of that would help. It's his help to me in understanding these books. What they really.
Uh, are.
Aiming at straightening out as Christians as to the person of Christ. Colossians 2. I believe in Gnosticism was that, uh, only the spirit and the soul were, uh, pure and the body, of course, was evil. Dave, maybe you could give us a little. So, so we might say, uh, it's been said that in Paul we have the dispensations. In other words, Paul is going to show what man is, how man is lost. We think of Romans.
And the place of Israel in Scripture and the setting aside of Israel and how God has used that to reveal the mystery that was hidden in God from ages and generations, and what God purposes to do both through the church and through Israel. But with John, you have what God manifests in the dispensations. Not only do we have the dispensations of God, but we have what He has chosen to manifest or display, and that is all centered in the person of the Lord Jesus.
In both his heavenly and earthly glory. So to come to your question, what would the enemy, what would the heart of man seek to touch in order to undermine the dispensations? And what God would display? He would seek to touch the person of Christ in one way or another. So the Gnostics come in where you have the minds of men, both Jews and Gentiles, who play with the Old Testament scriptures and and.
Add some of the Greek or Persian philosophy to it, and they come up with something that completely undermines the person of Christ, whatever it might be. It's a big subject and there's a lot that people can read on it if they're interested. But the point is, is that the enemy uses it to undermine that one who is to be the display of all of God's glory, the Lord Jesus.
That he really didn't have a human body. That's one aspect of it, yeah. And that's probably what he takes up here. So. So in that standpoint, we might say that the Scriptures show him to be, as it's been said, very God and very man. He is the Son Incarnate.
That can't be said of any other person who's ever lived.
The eternal Son of God.
And whatever the false teachings might be, they will undermine some aspect of him, His deity, His sinless humanity. We call that the impeccability of Christ. Not only did he not sin, but he did not have a nature that was capable of sinning. Because if a person is going to sin, even if they don't, if we say they could sin, that means they must have something within themselves that was capable of producing sin.
00:25:02
We don't have that in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have it in each one of us, but not in him.
That's so important to be clear as to his person, because that's the very foundation of our faith, isn't it? And that's why the enemy attacks that. So how important it is to be clear as to who he is. And that's always been the work of the enemy to bring doubt as to two things, the written word of God and then the person of Christ, the word that we have here. And it's very interesting in that connection that the first recorded words of Satan in the Old Testament are.
Half, God said immediately, trying to raise a doubt in the mind of Eve. Had God really said that?
That's the spoken word. And the first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament are, if thou be the Son of God, immediately trying to raise the doubt even in the mind of the Lord Jesus. Was He really who He said He was? And so it shows how Satan is bent on the attack of the spoken word, the written word that we have, but also the person of the Lord Jesus. And brethren, we need to tenaciously hold on to the truth of the eternal eternity of His person.
It is vital and He safeguards it here. He speaks of the Word being manifest and we've seen and we've handled and contemplated and so on, which was with the Father, how careful the Spirit of God is to guard this truth. And if sometimes said, and I'll just repeat it, I know you've often heard me say this, that when it has to do with the Lord Jesus as the Son of God coming into this world, He's never born into this world.
He was born as a as a man, but as the Son he's always sent or given. Let me give you just an example. When Isaiah gave his prophecy as to the coming of Christ, he said two things unto us. A child is born, that's his humanity. He was born in Bethlehem's Manger, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man. As Dave said, he came in incarnation. But then immediately the Spirit of God adds.
Unto us the Son is not born, but given, guarding the eternity of His person. I've never had any sons. I could never send a Son to help you out in a situation or to be with you in a difficulty, because I don't have a Son. But God had a son from a past eternity, and in the fullness of time He sent Him. The Father sent the Son. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Those are simple statements, but they're full of precious truth. That is, you say is the foundation.
Of Christian, uh, Christian principle.
The only way that the world can speak of the beginning, they put a time frame on it.
And by doing that, they come to the point where they say there is no.
Because.
When they start putting big numbers into the world or into their expression.
No matter how big the numbers of years or days is.
They come to an end, they can't go any further. So what is the answer of God?
God says the glory of God was the same. Psalm 19.
The heavens declared the glory of God. So what God says, go outside and look up into heaven and then figure out who made all these things that you see when you stand outside and look into heaven where God even ha has a lost man to fly up to and and to stand on the moon and look into the glory of God from that.
The vision point out and he can't find a beginning.
So they have to go back to the sinusoidal. There's no other way.
So that it maybe brings up a point Jim had alluded to as well and mentioned a few moments ago. We have three revelations in Scripture. We might say we have the revelation of the natural world. Romans chapter one. There was some testimony that the natural world rendered to the mind of man.
00:30:17
And then we have the written revelation of God, which began in the Old Testament times with Moses or the book of Job or whatever it might have been, but was gathered together and uh, and then added with the New Testament in New Testament days, we have the full written revelation of God, which gives us a testimony as to the natural creation of God.
And then we have the personal revelation of God in the person of Christ. So in these three things, each, each ascending, of course, the the written revelation of God is the final authority as to the personal revelation of God. And I think when we look at those things, it's good to emphasize here in these opening verses, you know, this is not just some storybook. This is not pie in the sky. This is a person. This is the man.
Who laid his breast on the Lord Jesus in humiliation. And he says that that which was from the beginning. That's the beginning of the Christian testimony when when Christ came into the world as these different beginnings have been mentioned. This is not the past eternity, but this is the one who was the word in that to use that expression. It's a human expression, a past eternity. He was always there is now manifested in the flesh in manhood.
The word became flesh, and he can say.
We have heard they heard His voice. They were there with him, they saw him. They were together with him in those three 3 1/2 years of His ministry here below. They heard him, they saw him. Their hands have handled concerning the word of life. This just wasn't another person. This one that they were with was the word of life. This was the personal revelation of God here in manhood.
And can only not say that this was a very thing that was being attacked, that he did not have a real human body. And so that's narcissism. The body is wicked. Only the spirit and soul is that to be preserved. And so there were two aspects of that. That was that it didn't make any difference what you did with your body. And so in First Corinthians 5, you find a man who is sinning, you know greatly because it didn't make any difference what you did with your body. The other group felt that it hindered you from really being spiritual. So you flagellated your body.
But nevertheless the the thought was that.
He didn't. He couldn't have had a real body because that was evil and it was sick. So you have here, he says this first. He says that which was from the beginning, which we have heard.
He heard him. They had seen him.
Looked upon him and our hands have handled in Colossians he says the fullness of the godhead dwelt in him bodily bodily and so I, I it was uh, this is uh, something I was just reading some of the richest ministry that I've ever read and the man who wrote that said that Christ.
As the Son of God never became anything, he became man in condition. He never took humanity into his person. The Son of God was the Son of God, and he never became anything else. That's heresy, isn't it? That's he didn't have a real body. Then he put it on like a coat.
That's a denial of the incarnation of the Son of God.
It's interesting if you look up the word incarnation in a secular dictionary. I looked it up one time in Webster's dictionary and at first it kind of shocked me. And then I realized what else could it be? This is what the dictionary says. Incarnation, Christ come in human form. Is that interesting that even in secular dictionary they will, because as you say, no one else has ever come into this world in the same way no one ever else has ever come into this, onto this planet earth.
In, in in carnation.
And so the Lord, I believe too, before He went back to heaven in resurrection, anticipating that these things would be falsely taught or that there would be false teaching as to His person. What did He do in the upper room? He not only ate before them, but He said, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as you see me have. He had, He had a body that wasn't subject to physical hindrances. It's true. He could come and stand in the midst of them.
00:35:23
When the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, but then he confirms to them that it was a real body, a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have, brethren, it can't be any plainer than that. And when we try to start reasoning it out, we're going to get confused. And the problem has been over the centuries. We try by human reasoning to dissect the person of the of Christ. Take it at face value from the Word and when we speak of the person of Christ.
We we will never go wrong as long as we stick to the language of Scripture. When we try to bring in our own reasoning and thoughts, then we're going to get tangled with false teaching and doctrine.
So we have 4 phrases here in verse one that speak of historical evidence. It was not like Dave said up high in the sky, it was reality. Things that actually happened here that were witness to by witnesses chosen by God. And so the first one is that which we have heard.
And I'd like to think in all these.
Evidences that gets closer and closer.
To hear something, you might hear it something at quite a distance. To see something, it might have to be a little bit closer. To look up on it or to contemplate it, you have to get a little closer yet. And then to handle it, you have to be right there. And so it gets closer and closer. And every time they got closer.
It was an evidence to the reality of what we're talking about. I find it so extremely beautiful to trace those words in their use. Uh, go back to John's gospel chapter one, uh, to see those, the 2nd and the 3rd, the that which we have seen and that which we have looked upon, John's gospel chapter one, a verse that we often quote in verse 29.
The next day, John. This is John the Baptist, of course.
Seeth Jesus coming into him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Now verse uh 35 again the next day after John stood in two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus, contemplating him.
As he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
So seeing is one thing, you might get a glimpse of somebody in the street and you say I saw that person today, but looking upon or contemplating is more detained.
Oh, brethren, somebody has said. I really have enjoyed the thought.
One look to Jesus saves the soul. Every after look is the power of Christian living.
Or to contemplate him.
In all His glory, here is our God. We can know Him.
We have heard him, we have seen him, we have looked upon him and we actually got so close that we handled him.
This wonderfully beautiful brethren, this is, uh, testified by witnesses. This is no cunningly devised fable. As Peter said, it is reality. This is what actually happened. And so when we go into the Gospels.
That's where we can not only see him, but contemplate him. No, brethren, the more we look at Him, to contemplate something or to look on him takes more time.
But when we see the perfection of his person and meditate on it, oh, the wealth there is, and the beauty of it, brethren, this is.
Our Savior. This is eternal life, what we are contemplating.
00:40:02
And it takes the focus off ourselves, doesn't it? I've often thought of it in connection with the Bride and the Song of Solomon. When she begins to be awakened by the bridegroom, what does she, what does she do? She begins to be occupied with his qualities and glories. And when you read through that dialogue, you find that the more she's occupied with the qualities and glories of her bridegroom, the less she becomes occupied with herself. And yet there's no doubt at the end of it that her affections and appreciation of himself had deepened.
Her love was no doubt deeper than it had been at the beginning, but there was no mention of that. She just simply says he is altogether lovely, but we might raise the question. We've never had the privilege like John and others.
Of seeing the Lord Jesus walking physically here in this world. When I was younger, I used to sit and think, wouldn't it have been wonderful to see the Lord Jesus here in this world? To see him when he spoke to the multitudes, got alone with souls, was down by the seashore up on the mountainside. Must have been wonderful for Peter, James and John to be on the mount of Transfiguration and have that little vision of the coming glory and so on. Well, none of us in this room, of course, have ever had that privilege like John and others had.
But you alluded to it, Bob, and I think it's good for us in a practical way to consider you and I have an even greater privilege. We have the privilege of, by faith, looking up and being occupied with the man where he is now, not where he was, not here on planet Earth. Yes, it's good to trace him through the Gospel. I, I, I believe it's helpful to read a little in the Gospels every opportunity, every chance we get. And he's left us that example and so on. But brethren, to look up.
And be occupied with the man in the glory, I say, is a far, far greater privilege.
Than even John had and writes about here, and he's no less real to the eye of faith than he was when John said we have seen him and we have contemplated him. Let's go to just for a moment, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, because there we get the exhortation for you and for me.
And again, Christianity sets us in relationship with Christ where he is now, not where he was, but where He is. That's what Christianity is. It sets us in relationship with the glorified man at the right hand of God. But just notice something in the end of the third chapter of Second Corinthians, verse 18. But we all with open face, beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord. Or I'll read this in another translation.
Looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled faith are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. When we were growing up, we used to sing that hymn. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And I believe that that's perhaps the verse that him writer was thinking of when he wrote that.
Because, brethren, what we need is to be occupied with the person, the glories of Christ.
Where he is now. And that's going to eclipse everything else. That's going to cause us to put a proper perspective on the things of this world, its hopes and goals and aspirations, and also to draw us away from ourselves so we're not so occupied with ourselves and what we are and, and and so on. That's only going to discourage us. But to be like John, occupied.
With the glories of the person of Christ, John saw him here. We have the great privilege of seeing him there, and He's there. The veil's been removed for us. When Moses came out from the presence of the Lord, they couldn't look on him.
His face shone, He had to veil his face. The veil's been removed from for us. We can turn our eyes and look full in his wonderful face. Don't, don't think that John had a better privilege than we do. Wonderful as it is. And it's recorded here for our learning. So I don't want to take away from our portion, but to encourage our hearts that we can be occupied with this same person. It's, uh, looks often times, uh, scripture finds no difficulty with the confusion of attributes.
You know, here you find that he says our hands have handled the man Christ Jesus, the word of life. That's that's deity. So you get the same thing Paul could say the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me that that when you look on the cross, it's a man. No, it's the Son of God. So it's a scripture finds no difficulty with these confusion of attributes because it was all in one man. They're true. They're true of the they're true of the one person Christ, 2 natures and one person.
00:45:35
So the hymn writer put it this way, Vern, His glory is not only God S Son in manhood, He had his full part, and the union of both joined in one form, the fountain of love in his heart. And and John at John's gospel starts out the very same way. If we reason about these things, then we'll go astray. But brother said, he said the more intelligent a man is, the more apartment he is to go astray if he trusts in it. And that's true when you start trying to reason it out with your head.
The scripture is what's the truth, but just look how he turns Gnosticism on his head. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the same was beginning with God.
All things were made by him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And then you go over and we've seen these things before, but it says, uh, the 14th verse. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
So.
Uh, you find that the Son of Man, which is in heaven? Don't you mean the Son of God? No, it's just one person.
In the beginning was a word. That's how it starts. And if you want to get any further, then you got to go to the woman's seat. How does the seat get into the woman and the woman? Nobody ever has been able to figure that out, and nobody ever dared to ask Mary how it came about.
Just as much as nobody ever dared to find the body of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. Nobody.
Not even those enemies of him. They would go as far as they were. Let's see the body of Jesus, he said. He was resurrected.
He is there, but how did he get there? We never found the body. Well, they haven't even tried to look for it.
So what's man going to do then? How? How much further can he he go? He can.
One more scripture and then second John and the seventh verse. I think this is.
Are many deceivers are entered into the world and confess not that Jesus Christ is come in flesh humanity.
So, so I might, might ask this question and, and, uh, it's very important what we've been taking up the incarnation of the person of Christ. But you know, sometimes we, we talk about these things and perhaps push that in front of you. Oh, I'm sorry. OK, Perhaps there's a, there, there's a Christian you, you.
Use. You say that this is an attack by Satan against the person.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man and being Incarnate.
He may just say, well, I don't understand what's the importance of that? I don't get it. And I think I think that it's beautiful that we understand that this is an attack, but we don't always understand how it affects us. If he didn't come in the flesh. So maybe somebody could address that very thing. What's the consequences, if indeed with this?
With these Gnostics, you're saying, and it was true. What does it mean for you as a Christian?
Well, I think the first thing is, is was there a real man that bore your sins on the cross?
It's impossible for a spirit to bear your sins. He had to be a man. The other thing is, is that he rose from the dead and he's ascended on high and there's a man who wears our nature on the throne. These are these are foundational things for us as Christians. If it's not true, if he didn't come in the flesh.
00:50:17
Then none of us are saved. None of us have a hope. We we might as well have stayed home this weekend. So this is a this is a very important thing to take up. We're children of God.
We are identified with Christ, that risen man, and we enjoy the same privileges he does.
Remove the fact that he came in the flesh and none of it's true. We've lost it all. So I just say that there's a there's a real foundational importance to what it means to us if we don't address this question and believe it, that Jesus Christ, God's Son, came in the flesh. He's altogether God and he's all together. Man. You don't understand it and I don't understand it.
But we believe it's true and that everything that the Word of God teaches about him, about Jesus Christ, come in the flesh, is a revelation of God about him. And to touch on what the brother here said, the body of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul had such confidence in the bodily resurrection of Christ that he could say in first Corinthians 15, if you can produce the dead body of Jesus Christ.
I will give up my faith because he says your faith is vain, you have no hope. You are no different from a worldly man if Christ did not raise, if he was not raised from the dead. And that means bodily, physically, as we have here.
I'd like to read a verse in Matthew Chapter 11 as to the person of the Lord Jesus that I think is helpful. At least it has been so to my own soul and the Lord Jesus is speaking in verse 27 says all things are delivered unto me by of my Father.
And no man knoweth the sun.
But the father?
Neither, nor any man the father.
Save the son.
And he to whomsoever the son will reveal him.
So the person of the father is known.
But it never says that about the sun, the mystery how God could be fully God.
And at the same time, fully man is a mystery that our minds, our human minds cannot comprehend. It's not revealed. The Father knows it, but it never says that it's revealed. And so it's best, like it's been said, if we can just relate to the scriptures and keep close to the scriptures.
Remember, Brother Clem Buchanan said. We are only correct in the measure that we keep close to the very words of Scripture, and I think that is very important.
Just in connection with his body too. Not to belabor it, but it was a body capable of death.
And He bore our sins in his own body on the tree He laid down his life. But it was not a body that was, shall I say, subject to death or corruption. You know, it wouldn't have mattered how long. I wanna say this very carefully. It wouldn't have mattered how long the Lord had lain in the grave. His body would have never seen corruption. It was, he was, it was according to the Old Testament prophecies, the length of time. But he had a body, unlike Lazarus. They said, behold, he stinks.
After four days, if I want again, I want to say this carefully. If the Lord had lain in the grave four days, they couldn't have said that.
His body was He would not suffer His holy One to see corruption, and so again it was He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion of as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the Cross. He said of His life, No man takes it from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. No one else could have ever said that, or ever has been able to say that. So He had a body.
00:55:10
Flash and as as we've been saying in incarnation, a a real body and a real body and resurrection. But again, it was a body that was well, it was capable of death, was not subject to death and corruption. Again, very important to understand. And brother, he's got the same body today as a glorified man. And that's the person we're going to see. We're going to see the Lord Jesus and we're gonna have bodies of glory like unto his body of glory.
So we might put it this way in connection with what Jim is saying. And I like that verse that he quoted. No man taketh his life from him.
The Lord Jesus.
The man Christ Jesus was capable of dying. He came to die.
But he was not under the necessity of death.
We are, but he was not.
And that was one reason he came as a man, because man can die. God, as God cannot die. He's immortal. That is why the Lord Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up. To come back to your question, there would be no Redeemer.
Did did we not have the man Christ Jesus and the work that he accomplished?
And his resurrection and ascension. We would be out of a Redeemer, wouldn't we?
The scripture says that holy thing Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
So if he could have sinned, then he would have had to have a body that could decay, isn't that right? So it puts everything in question about His holy nature.
Being being sinless more than sinless, being holy. And if he could have sinned and he's the same man now.
There's a possibility he still could. That's blasphemy. That's absolute blasphemy. And that is one shaky ground on which to base any kind of eternal salvation or security for, for, uh, for eternity, brethren, far be the thought. And I say again, if, if, if someone comes along and says, well, the Lord could have sinned, but didn't sin say, but what about as a man now, are you basing your security on one who still could? Thank God? The Scripture is very clear and John is the one.
Who goes even beyond what Paul and Peter say about that? Paul said he knew no sin. Peter said he did no sin. But don't stop there. John says later on in this epistle, in him was no sin. John gets right to the nature, gets right to the heart of the matter and says not only did he know no Sinner, not only did he do no sin, but in him perfect sinless humanity in the person of Christ.
Amen. And there's so many, uh, there's so many people out there who have a lot of good ministry, but I was shocked to hear that one that many people read is Max Lucado and he believes that Christ could have sinned, you know, so there's.
Billy Graham believes that Christ could have sinned. So we can't just go by what men say. It has to be according to Scripture. This is God's word.
The second verse says for the life was manifest and we have seen it. So that was personal experience wasn't and then he said and bear witness. That's public testimony and then it says and show unto you that eternal life that was they proclaimed it, which was with the Father.
For all eternity this was a relationship with the Father and the Son, and was manifest unto us.
That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us, with divine being.
Now you can't get beyond that. That's the greatest privilege in the world.
01:00:01
And again, the deaf dictionary definition of the word manifest, I enjoyed. It says to clearly show I've enjoyed that. And all through John's ministry. You have that, don't you? The love of God manifests through the giving of his Son here. It's the life and so on. It's been clearly shown. Do we need any further revelation? No, we have it all here. And I just say as a warning because again, these things are springing up.
In Christian circles, people who come along and tell you they have fresh revelation and light as to the person of Christ, it's a red light right there. It's all been given to us. We can have fresh enjoyment of it, as I trust we are this morning in taking up these verses, but there is no revelation given. John was the last of the writers. There was no revelation given beyond Paul as to the councils of God and the Church of God. Paul, John writes later, as we've been said.
But he is simply bringing before us that which has already been clearly shown.
In the manifestation of Christ as the as the living Word here in this world.
And there's nothing beyond that. Don't let anybody fool you or tell you differ. I was at Walla Walla as a young man, and I think the man's name was Mueller.
Someone who would know him, but I I remember what he told me. He said, Son, God has given you what he has that rejoices his heart to rejoice your heart.
Communion with the the father and the son. The same thing that the father finds enjoyment in, he's given us to enjoy too. That was a quite a remarkable statement.
That's what we get in verse 3, isn't it? That which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you. This is what we have. The apostle is speaking in the plural. So it's not only him, but the other apostles who were witnesses of the Lord Jesus. They have written it out. They've declared it unto us, that ye also may have fellowship with us. That's the fellowship of the apostles.
But it doesn't end there, and truly, our fellowship is with the Father.
And with his Son Jesus Christ. So that's what you're mentioning, Brother Vern, that he's given it to us so that we might enjoy it as well. Just to think, brethren, this question of fellowship and it occurs, this word fellowship occurs four times in this chapter. This is the first two times it speaks of it in verse 3.
But we can have fellowship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
With God as Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful, extremely wonderful privilege to do that.
I just give you the other thing that the man said, you know, this is wonderful too. He said there will be a day, Son, when the Spirit of God fills you with Christ and you will never be unfilled again. I'm looking forward to that day.
In verse seven we have fellowship one with another.
And it's a real challenge to me, brother, in that that is a very something we enjoy, especially at meetings like this. That is not first. What is first is fellowship with the father and with his son. And oh, has it been the case this morning before we came that we consciously enjoyed that fellowship with the father and with his son then when we meet together as a result.
There will be fellowship between us as well, but fellowship one with another, as sweet as it is, is not first. It's fellowship with the Father and with the Son and his Son. The basis of what we have in the Scriptures often like to connect it to with that verse we often use in Acts chapter 2. They continued steadfastly in the apostles.
Doctrine.
And fellowship. What is the fellowship based on the doctrines?
What the apostles have shown us is the basis so that we too can enjoy that fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
01:05:02
It's really illustrated with the prodigal when he returned in Luke's gospel, because amongst the other things that were bestowed upon him, he was brought into a banquet where the father sat down with the son and they fed on the fatted calf. The calf would.
See what, Ernie? Christ wouldn't it? Yeah, Yeah. But that's the point I want to make that that the calf would speak of of Christ and the Father, of course, speaks of God the Father. And so that he was brought into that place of relationship. And it was based on the death of an innocent victim. And that's another reason why the Lord Jesus had to come in incarnation as a man and go to the cross. There are sins in his own body on the tree.
Rise bodily from the dead, and as a man, return bodily to the Father's right hand, to the Father's house, so that we could be brought into a place of fellowship and relationship with the Father and the Son, and as a result, with one another like never before. The Old Testament Saints, you know, there was a sense that they knew God as their Father. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father, Thou art the guide to my youth. Malachi says. Is there not one God and Father of us all? And so on.
They knew him in a relationship as creator were all the offspring of God, it says in Acts 17. But they never were brought into the relationship that the prodigal enjoyed over the fatted calf. A picture of Christ, as Ernie says. And it, you know, it's interesting in that story that both of those sons were sons of the father. They both were the sons of the father, but the older son never came in to enjoy the relationship.
That the repentant prodigal was brought, came in to enjoy, never did the older son, as far as we read, feed on the fatted calf a picture of Christ and the work of atonement? He could have, but he never did. So this is what is brought before us. So the question was raised earlier, why was it necessary for Christ to come bodily into this world? Well, this third verse begins a section here that tells us why. Another reason why.
We could never have been brought into fellowship with divine persons in the way we have been brought apart from the Lord Jesus coming God manifest in the flesh. The older son said. These many years do I serve thee. And the younger Son, when he came back, he had in his mind to say.
That make me one of thy hired servants. But God is not looking for more servants. She's looking for sons.
That can sit down at his table, that can enjoy fellowship with him. That wonderful. It's a joy to serve the Lord, but it's a result of enjoying first that fellowship at his table.
When I say that the first verse, yes.
And our hands have hindered off the words of life.
Now that has that has to mean eternal life.
Riveted means eternal life then all those who believed in the Lord Jesus.
They wouldn't have a place.
To go after death.
And it goes on like that. Then the second goes that eternal life, it says.
That this was eternal life, I often thought of the Word of God. That would have been easier to understand than to say the word of life.
But that includes eternal life. That's why it is so important that it is of life instead of God.
And and then the the the we have a explanation there when he says and show unto you the eternal right, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto you.
01:10:01
So this is all from eternity. It's not just this life here on the earth that we get. We get eternal life.
That's what makes it so precious that we have a place to go after that.
Could you somebody read that scripture in John 17? This is eternal life that you might know the uh, the only true God in Jesus Christ and thou sent. So this is far beyond what the Old Testament Saints had. They were they were born again, but they weren't indwelt with the Spirit of God. They did. We have the same life and so we can enjoy these things and that's why we can enjoy it with each other because we have the same life in US. So it's all based upon that.
The highest Christian privilege that you can have is what we possess right now. So it's a fact we have. We've been brought into fellowship with the Father, we've been brought into fellowship with his Son, and we have been brought into fellowship with one another. As a result, the practical side of it is very different. But those three things in John's Gospel and John's epistle chapter one, are, are facts. They're not something that's based on the practical side. There's plenty of other Scriptures.
That show us that sometimes we don't enjoy the practical side of our fellowship. But I say again, the fact in this chapter is we are brought into fellowship with the Father, we're brought into fellowship with the Son, and as a result we are brought into fellowship with one another. I believe our time has run out.
261 Thou, holy one, who knew no sin, God made him sin for us. 261.
Yeah, his gracious life.
Through the water, shorts in the way.
Read a couple scriptures in closing.
Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews chapter one.
Gone to at sundry times, and in diverse manners speak in time passed on to the Fathers by the prophets at in these last days.
Spoken unto us in Son.
Appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
01:15:03
Through being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
The second chapter also.
Verse 14. Hebrews 214. For as much than as the children are, are shakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him.
That had the power of death, that is the devil and deliver them, who through fear of death for all their lifetime subject to *******. For verily he took not on him.
The nature of angels.
But he took on him the seed.
Of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoove him to be made light unto his brethren.
That he might be merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted or tried, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Yes, thanks.
Our God and Father, we thank Thee for what thou hast done in giving thine only God, Son, to be our Savior. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for thy love and obedience to the Father. My willingness to come into this scene take on manhood.
Here to walk, uh, humbly and, uh, suffer the trials of the wing.
We thank thee that I was willing to be made sin and endure godson.
Yes, and and so we just thank thee that we could be reminded of these things this morning, the incarnation Lord Jesus and all that has been done. So we just commend us for the rest of this day and the meetings to follow to to thy care.
Our God and Father Amen us now and ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
Chastening
Address—David Newby
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.
Look to the Lord together.
Our Father, we thank Thee for this opportunity to be together over Thy word.
Thank you for the privilege of having so many in the room today.
To take up these things many who want to be here and learn more.
Of this one whom thou hast exalted.
So as we open thy word, we pray for a word of edification.
We pray for help for each one here. Let us know the needs of each one.
We just commit this hour to the end. Thank Thee for Thy faithfulness to us and pray that in all things our Lord Jesus would be honored.
We give thee our thanks and commit us each to thee in his worthy and precious name. Amen.
I was thinking this morning during the reading.
Of what a privilege it is that here in the day in which we live.
That 3 or 400 people, or however many there are in the room here can come together.
And talk about the man, the man Christ Jesus, who is the center of all of the Council of God.
As I was driving here this morning amidst all the traffic and, and however many hundreds of thousands or million people that there are going to work this morning, just to realize that in some place and in the hearts of some, this man of God's counsel could be spoken of and could be exalted and the truth concerning this person could be defended.
The church has a long history now. There's a lot of water over the dam and some of the things that we touched on this morning that touched the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you go back and you look in the early history of the church, we have what's been referred to as the Christological controversies.
I have several large volumes that are full of those things.
Where, in the early days of the church's history, men fought the battle.
About the doctrine, some of the things we spoke about this morning, the deity of Christ.
His sinless humanity.
Whatever it was that came up, that became an issue in the early church and a lot of the reasons behind that are because.
Many of the people who wrote and were prominent in the early church were Pagan philosophers who embraced Christianity, and many of those men brought a lot of baggage with them.
And some of those things had to be hashed out over the period of three, four, 500 years where they had many of the ecumenical councils, most of which we don't know that much about today. But there were a lot of battles that were fought and here 2000 years down the road.
00:05:02
We have the writings of many men who were on the tail end of that, if I can put it that way, who have written some very fine ministry that defends the very things that we're talking about today.
Why do we do that?
Why are there men?
Who take up the word of God and do that kind of thing. It says, we said this morning, and I want to emphasize this because God has purposed that all of the blessing of man, and that means you and me, every one of us as individuals prior to the collective within the church as a whole, God has purposed that our blessing would be in that man.
And only that man.
There was a paper that was written years ago about the true Christ of God, the center of union. We talk about union, We talk about unity, the unity of the body. Who is it that is at the center of that unity? It's that man that we were talking about. It's not some other Jesus.
There are many Jesuses in the world today. There's the Jesus of this group and the Jesus of that group.
But what we want is the true Christ of God, because He is the one that is at the center of the Christian fellowship.
The things that we took up this morning fit in so nicely. I was very thankful with, uh, what I've had on my heart since I got a call a little while ago about this conference. Please turn with me to Proverbs chapter 29.
Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18.
Verse familiar to us.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
That he that keepeth a law, happy as he.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
In the new translation that says the people cast off restraint where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.
I like the Franz de Leche translation in his commentary where he says where there is no revelation.
The people become ungovernable.
Now that's quite a thought.
Think about the world around us today.
Do we see ungovernable people?
Where there seems to be a thorough casting off of restraint.
Let me put it this way where there seems to be a lack of that discipline.
That God would have enacted in the life of a person every man, woman and child. And I say man, woman and child because where does discipline begin?
Discipline begins from day one of a person's life.
In many ways, think with me for just a moment. How many things can you think of in your life?
Right back to the beginning where you had absolutely no control.
No one consulted you?
The decision was made for you.
You know Job, I was looking at the book of Job chapter three, Job after these things happened to Job, Job cursed his day, the day in which he was born and the night in which it was said a man child is born.
Job had no choice about being born into this world.
Somebody else had a choice about him being born into this world, but he didn't.
And I think something along that line was brought out this morning where there is no revelation.
We have to be careful with the word vision because you know, people have a lot of visions and dreams and so forth. We've heard about a lot of, uh, teachings and so forth that have erupted into this world because someone had a vision or a dream or something like that. But think of it in terms of a revelation. We talked about 3 areas of revelation this morning. And for our dear young people, for those who are young in the faith.
This is a very, very important subject for you to think about.
God has made a revelation.
00:10:00
He has revealed himself in the world of nature. Romans chapter one.
He has revealed Himself to us in the written Word, the Bible, which we now have together canonized in these 66 books that you hold in front of you.
And he has revealed himself in the man of his counsel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word.
The living, the personal revelation of God in this world.
Now.
In the book of Proverbs we have words that are used. You'll find the words instruction.
Discipline, correction. There are many instances where those are the same word, and you'll find that that word might be rendered differently in the Authorized Version than it is in the New Translation or whatever translation of the Bible you might read. You find that word rendered maybe in different ways.
But I want to think in terms of this Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18 where there is no vision or no revelation.
The claim that God has upon us because he has spoken to us, and how that claim?
Provides the context for discipline in our lives. Now, every one of us, we mentioned the discipline that we begin with in our lives.
And we begin in our parents home, don't we, with our parents?
I can well remember that, and I wanna say right now that when we talk about this being an address to young Christians, that doesn't exclude anyone in this room.
Doesn't exclude anyone.
Because I was sitting in your seat years ago when I was a young person.
I attended young people's meetings when I was your age.
Your parents might have attended young people's meetings. You know, the difference between an older person and a young person is, is, uh, I and these older people here, we just have more experience. We have a longer experience being young than you do, you see, because we remember it. We have had lots of time to meditate on the days of our youth and to allow the Lord through his discipline.
To bring things to us.
For the purpose of what?
Conforming us to the image of that man that we've been talking about, Romans. I was thinking this morning Romans chapter 8 and verse 29.
His purpose is to conform us that we would be conformed to the image of His son.
Now in Romans we have.
The heads of two races we have Adam and Christ.
Born into this world as natural men, you might say we are conformed to the image of the first man. But it's God's thought that we would be conformed to the image.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
So please turn to the book of Hebrews.
And I was very thankful for some things that were.
Touched on this morning.
Because they they fit in so well with this thought.
Of the context.
Of our discipline at the hands of the Father.
God is love and God is light.
The light would drive man away from God, but the love would draw him to God. The light reveals what he is.
But the love would draw him to God so that we can learn in his presence what he is for us, a brother recently said. And I think it, I think it bears repeating it. It bears learning within each one of us. God has two things for us to learn.
He wants us to learn the heart of man.
And he wants us to learn the heart of God and the discipline that God brings into our lives, the instruction, the correction.
Is meant to open our understanding to these two things. He wants you to know yourself, but He wants you to know yourself within the context of His word, the revelation that He has given.
00:15:00
And when I think of the scripture in Proverbs 29.
Where there is no vision, where there is no revelation, I think about how you can have a multitude of thoughts about what humanity is and what man is. You can go to the library, you can go to a bookstore, and you can go to the psychology section. You can go to the anthropology section, and you can find this theory and you can find that theory. But to know the heart of man and to understand what the real need is.
Why do I need the Lord Jesus Christ? I need to learn that from the Word of God.
I don't need to learn that from the opinions of men. Their opinions may be right, they may be wrong, or it may be a mix of the two.
But we need to first and foremost learn that from the Word of God.
And that helps to set the context of the discipline that the Father has for us. You know, every one of us, and we're going to look at some verses here in Hebrews chapter 12. Every one of us is surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Now let's talk about those witnesses. First of all, this is not a courtroom, nor are these spectators up there watching what's going on with our lives. These are those who bear testimony to the path of faith they serve.
As examples of the path of faith for us.
And when we go back to Chapter 11, he's talking about that cloud of witnesses we are compassed about with this great cloud of witnesses. Let me say this first.
In your Christian life.
Here, in this world, in this late day in which we live, you are not alone.
You are not alone. None of us are really alone. Do you ever have days when you feel like you're alone and absolutely no one understands? Someone does, I guarantee you.
Because we all walk on the same dirt and we all breathe the same air. And in the final analysis.
One way or another, we all live our lives and die by the same principles, and that's not something that anyone has a choice about.
We were born into God's world and he is the administrator, He is the dispenser. He is the one who is in charge of everything that goes on in this world as well as in your life.
Think about the great cloud of witnesses that you have around you. If you go back to the previous chapter, you can see an Abel, you see Enoch, you see Noah, you see Abraham. How much time does he spend on Abraham?
And when I think about Abraham's life.
We have, I think, 7 appearings of the Lord to Abraham over a relatively long period of time.
What was Abraham doing in between those appearings of God?
Do we have any idea?
Tending his flocks.
Going in and out of the tent.
Interacting with the people that lived around him.
Raising his boys.
That sounds familiar, doesn't it?
That sounds familiar to all of us, doesn't it?
During the days of Jacob's life, what was he doing? Oh, that's a whole different story.
We know all kinds of things about Jacob and his machinations and what he was up to here and there. But you know, Abraham and Jacob, they were very, very different people, but it was the same God.
That took up each one of those men from the time that he was young and had a purpose for him to conform him to some.
The purpose of God, whatever it was that He had for him, and the Lord, acts by these principles.
These enduring.
Faithful principles in dealing with the lives of each of those men.
Think of a Joseph.
Think of some of these different ones that we read of in this chapter. Now think about your own life.
Compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. You can think of a lot of people that you know, I'm sure.
Who have borne testimony in their life to you.
And what do we see in some of those people? The same things that the Lord would see in you, taking up the Word of God, prayer, finding yourself in company with those who are of like precious faith, whatever it might be. Even though our personalities, our character is different, the path of faith is the same for all.
00:20:23
In most of its principles.
You know, the destructive critics of the Bible, one of the things that they really have liked to say is that, you know, back in the Old Testament times and even in the New Testament times, the things that we read there, that their lives were so different, their thought forms were so different.
That we just can't really even understand what that is, so we have to try to get behind the language of Scripture and find out what God is really telling us. No, that is not true. Do you mean to tell me that when I read about Jacob, I don't see myself?
When I read about a Joab or a King Saul or a Laban Assyrian or somebody like that, that I don't see people that are of the same kind of principles that we deal with in our lives today. Why? Because there is a unity of humanity and a unity of history and God has written that out for us in His word so that we can lay hold of the principles and.
Dear young Christian.
Of whatever age that you might be.
Think seriously about taking up these things, taking up the Word of God. I remember a time when I was young where I felt the necessity to take up the Word of God. I felt a necessity. I felt a need within myself. There was something wrong within me. Plain and simple. There was something wrong.
To be brought to the point where you can look at yourself, you can look in your own eyes, in the mirror and say there is something wrong with you.
For those of you raised in a Christian home, you know, if you have an experience like that, you know an older brother, he said to me one time. He said the Spirit of God is producing a need within you.
And you know what he wants to do. He wants you to respond to the need.
Life is a series of forks in the road. Every time you come to a fork in the road, you have a choice.
Many of us in the room, many of us who are older, can tell you the times when we took the raw and.
And you know, there are times when God, by His grace, He allows us to get back on the right Rd.
We have opportunity to launch ourselves into this first thing every morning by taking up the Word of God. And I encourage you, as we have in this first verse here, think about the great cloud of witnesses, those around you who serve as examples.
And can be an encouragement to you to walk in the path of faith.
And not to isolate ourselves.
The tendency when self will take when we get taken up with a self willed path, oh how some of us know that is we tend to isolate ourselves.
Instead of going to the place where we can get some help. Now, by the grace of God, I've always been somewhat of a questioner. I like to go to people. If I think somebody knows something, I like to go to them and I like to ask them a question. But you know, a lot of times, and I know this, that young Christians are raised in a situation where they're afraid to ask questions because there are assumptions that you know this thing or, or you ought to know this.
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
You know what happens after a period of time? It's just like anything else. You practice and you get better at it. You learn to ask more and more intelligent questions. You gain a little bit of insight.
By spending some time with somebody who's part of that cloud of witnesses, that Portrait Gallery of those that can help you. You know, I have a Portrait Gallery at my home. I mean, mentally.
I have my wall lined up with the pictures of those that I constantly find myself going to. Most of them are no longer living. I'm talking about their writings. And I say, you know, I want to, I want to just listen to this brother talk now about this particular subject. So I go pull one of my favorites off the shelf and I get myself a little bit reacquainted with what was brought out on that particular portion of Scripture or whatever it might be. That's my Portrait Gallery. And you know, I have.
00:25:13
I have some books that I've really enjoyed, but I have found as I've gotten older that in this particular book on my shelf or this particular book, there is one paragraph.
Something about that paragraph I just keep coming back to because it goes right into my soul and teaches me something. I can tell you about all kinds of things like that. Why is that? Because the person who wrote that paragraph.
He was walking the same path of faith that I'm walking, and he found that the Lord dealt with him.
In some particular way on this particular thing. And I find that how many times maybe some of you have had this experience, I know some of you probably have, where you will read something like that. And you say to yourself, how did that writer know me?
How did this person know me?
Well, they didn't, but they knew humanity. You know, there's a sense in which there are no strangers in the world.
Because humanity is the same wherever you go.
Adam, Pseudomnia, Semper, my favorite Latin expression. Everything is always the same.
The lives of men, the same principles human universals. There are things that have been found that are universal to every society on earth that has ever been studied.
Why does the gospel of Christ? Why does the word of God? Why does this revelation?
That helps us to be governable people. The Lord wants a people of order, a people of faith.
Why does it meet our needs? Because who knows humanity like God does.
And as we spoke of in the reading this morning.
Now we see humanity.
In perfection in the person.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ in absolute perfection in Him.
He knows my down sitting, mine up rising. He knows my thoughts before they ever come into my mind. If you look at the 139th Psalm, don't you see something there of the sovereignty of God?
Gods.
Omniscience. He knows all things.
His omnipresence. He is everywhere. There is nowhere that a man can hide from God.
And his omnipotence. He is all powerful.
Man may be allowed to have his day. Today is man's day one. Corinthians, chapter 4.
But the triumphing of the wicked is short.
And man's day is going to come to its end. And when man's day comes to its end.
As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, we want to find ourselves standing.
With him having done all to stand.
So the discipline, the context of discipline in our lives as we have it here in Hebrews chapter 12.
Has to do with the working of the father with his child.
The first thing that he says here we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
We are not alone. There are many of those who have walked the path of faith.
Before you or I have walked that path of faith.
And we can receive comfort and encouragement from that fact.
Secondly, he encourages us to lay aside every weight and the sin which dost so easily beset us.
That's rather inclusive language. Let us lay aside every weight. I'm sure we've all heard the illustration before when a runner is going to run a race.
He doesn't wear a coat of armor.
He doesn't have anything on other than the bare minimum, nothing that's going to hinder him from running that race. And you know, the, the scripture, the apostle Paul, he uses the illustration of an athlete and a soldier and a husbandman and in second Timothy. And each of those serves as an illustration of someone who has to labor in some kind of an endeavor.
00:30:14
And there are things that help us in those endeavors.
And there are things that hinder us in those endeavors. And when the writer here says laying aside, let us lay aside every weight.
He wants us in the path of discipline to think in terms of those things which may serve as a weight to us.
Solomon in his prayer.
He talks about the plague of every man's heart. Now, each of us individually, there may be something that is a plague to your heart that is not a plague to mine.
Never been a temptation to me. I don't have any interest in it.
If I was to get out of communion with God, I wouldn't turn to that, but I can tell you that there is something I might turn to.
And that might be very, very different for you.
And that's why in all of these things, it's very important that we maintain communion with God, be in the Scriptures, be in prayer.
Be in fellowship with God. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
In such a way that we would want to lay aside those weights so that we might go on with him. And then he says, and the sin which doth so easily be set us. Now within the context of Hebrews, you might say that is unbelief, or it's rendered in the new translation not hearkening to the word. And let me say this something that contributes to not hearkening to the word. We have this thought.
Of the heart in chapter 3 of this epistle.
The heart.
Where does it end If you have a heart that is, uh, airing.
It may become hardened.
And in the end it may become an evil heart of unbelief. And of course, if you take that all the way, as far as the writer is telling us here in Hebrews you see the word apostasy.
Keep thy heart above all that is kept.
You know, those older children in the room here, those children in their 70s and 80s and 90s, whatever they can tell you that about keeping your heart and dear young person, dear child in in this room.
Keep your heart.
From the time that you're young, cultivate a tender heart towards the Word of God.
Now go back to that, to that translation of Proverbs 2918.
The people become ungovernable, but they don't have a revelation left to themselves.
It was mentioned this morning about the the secular society that we live in.
Where every vestige of God is taken away from man.
And, uh, they believe in some form of evolution or the, or evolution origins or something like that.
We What a way to feel alone in a cold, dark universe.
I remember an atheist saying one time it was quite a it was quite a revelation to him when he came to the point when he realized that he could look up to the sky and say, you know, there's no one there. I realized that there's no one there.
And I thought to myself, there really is a God, because in order for him to know that there's no one there, he would have to be God.
To say there's no one there and justice. As an aside, you do realize that evolution is just another creation myth?
There's lots of creation myths and evolution is just another creation myth. That's why we want to come to the Word of God and find out the truth about creation. We talked about that one in John. It was mentioned in John's Gospel chapter one this morning.
In the beginning was the word.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God and it tells us there something about the creation. All things were made by Him. There is not anything that was made that was not made by Him. Revelation chapter 4 and verse 11.
00:35:05
He created all things.
And for His pleasure, they were and have been created.
Do we not see in book after book after book of the Bible that this man, the man Christ Jesus, is the center of all of the counsel of God?
There is no greater and no other than he.
And he is the one.
Who desires to have fellowship with you?
So setting aside these things, let us run with patience the race.
That is set before us.
It is in the intimacy of the councils and the grace of God.
That man fortifies himself for the warfare.
From which he cannot escape. I think that's it. That's a quote that's from the synopsis on.
On the panoply of God.
Ephesians chapter 6.
Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and verse 8.
There is a war from which there is no discharge.
You know when a man serves in the military?
When the Father has us under his perfect hand of discipline, we want to respond to the discipline.
As he goes on to say later in the chapter, we have all had fathers of our flesh who disciplined us for a time.
But he disciplines us for profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness.
Why is that? Because God is holy and he wants us to have fellowship with Him.
Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Now do you imagine?
That any of the individuals in this room who were in the military.
Would say to the drill Sergeant, you hurt my feelings when you yelled at me, I'm gonna quit. You think they'd say that? I don't think so.
We live in a Society of whiners.
Anybody that wants to whine about something, they can get the media, the cameras will be on them and they can talk about how they were offended and all that.
You know when that drill Sergeant has a word for you.
Submit.
I've never been in the military, but I've had some drill sergeants.
And I'll tell you something, when I was 28 years old.
I got chewed shreds by a man one day.
I hold that moment in the highest regard in my life.
Was an unsaved man.
And I saw that he had some feelings about me.
So I asked him.
I said don't hold anything back.
He said OK and he let me have it.
Absolutely everything he said was 100% on target.
That's one of the most valuable moments in my life.
We are under the discipline of the Father.
In the book of Proverbs very important book shows us.
That we.
Have our happiness.
Peace, even health.
You look at that in the book of Proverbs. Even elements of our health in submitting to the discipline of God.
For the moment, it's not pleasurable.
But afterwards it yields something to us.
Do you really think that your chemistry textbook cares about how you're feeling about yourself today?
Not a bit.
Or your.
Whatever it might be, whatever course of study it is, it is what it is.
Regardless of your feelings about yourself.
00:40:00
And really, you know, in most ways that's how life is. It's all of the things we run up against that we don't have any control over. And God uses them to bring us to an understanding of ourselves and an understanding of His heart.
And that is vital for us in our lives today.
Having set the stage in verse one, he says in verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, or the leader and completer of faith.
When we want to know about the path of faith and perfection, we look first and foremost at this one right here, the man that we've been talking about this morning.
The Son of God Incarnate.
The one who did no sin.
Knew no sin and in him was number sin. This is the one that God the Father would have us look to. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Now the cloud of witnesses that we are surrounded by.
How thankful we can be for that cloud of witnesses, but He doesn't tell us to look unto them.
He tells us to look unto Jesus the Leader, and completer the one who.
Sets the thing going and the one who completes the whole thing.
And then he tells us some things about this one, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now that verse, there are a number of verses that I have found in the New Testament.
Very instructive that just within a few short words, sentences or maybe just one verse give us the entire history of Christ. And here is one of these verses which really for the most part.
Does that for us. Think about the Lord Jesus, that when he was here He set his face like a Flint to go to Jerusalem because he had a departure that he was to accomplish there?
In Jerusalem.
The Son of Man must be lifted up. That is divine necessity. If redemption is to be accomplished. He must be lifted up. But he had a joy before Him. You know, He's been referred to as the Man of Sorrows.
But the Man of Sorrows had a joy that lay before him.
And that was the joy. He expresses something of that in his.
In his prayer in John chapter 17.
Where he says, Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.
Brethren, will that prayer go unanswered?
Will the Father respond to that prayer?
We already see places in scripture where there is that great throng that is gathered around the lamp.
That prayer will not go unanswered.
But in the meantime, while we're here, the Father would bring us into a deeper conformity to His beloved Son. He wants us to consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.
Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. And this is a place where we can emphasize a point, You know, the writer here says consider him. We're living in a day and age where you're taught to consider yourself.
As though by looking inside of yourself you can find the solution to your problems.
It's not that way.
It's not that way at all.
If we want to find the solution to our problems, we have to go to the Word of God, the written revelation of God, which reveals to us the living, personal revelation of God. And there we see, to use Daniel's expression, dissolving of doubts. There we see every doubt dissolved in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we want to get to know Him, to know Him.
His sufferings and His glory. What a privilege it is to be brought to know Him. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. He said that even to those who were enduring persecution, confiscating of their goods.
00:45:01
Whatever, there are indications in the book of Hebrews of certain things that these different ones were going through. But he says you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, who strove against sin like the Lord Jesus did.
No one.
We don't strive against sin like he did.
We have the privilege of being, of having fellowship in his sufferings in some measure.
Not his atoning sufferings.
But in his sufferings at the hands of man.
But no one endured the contradiction of sinners.
In the way that he did.
What a blessed thing it is to have fellowship with him. Well, the writer goes on to bring many different exhortations. And just to point out a few things here, verse 7.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you, as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
You know some of those doctrines that are afloat in the Christian profession.
We'll teach you that you could lose your salvation.
And so if things aren't going well in my life, maybe I tend to take that as an indication that I'm not saved.
But you know, when we go through the trials and the temptations of life, we have the privilege of being able to say.
I am saved because the father is using these things to Polish the stone.
He's taken that stone and he's gonna grind it down and he's gonna Polish that stone because he wants us to bring us to a deeper appreciation of his beloved son.
No greater privilege than that, than to know that work of God in our hearts. He scourges every son, Verse six. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Whom he loveth, he chastens.
How many times have we noticed that there's been a child that seems to be without discipline?
And one of the things that we naturally would consider would be does the parent not have enough care about the way that that child is going to exercise a little bit of discipline in their life?
Well, the Lord loves us, and therefore he chastens us.
We know something of His chastening, don't we? Whatever it might be, in natural things, periods of waiting, in spiritual things in our souls that we go through, where the Lord uses those things to bring us to a deeper understanding of ourselves, to draw us into His word. Respond to the needs. It's very important that when the Lord produces a need within you, when there's something going on and you know that things are not all right.
That you respond to the need and turn to the Lord, not away from the Lord.
I encourage you in all of these things to turn to the Lord.
And then he says, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now I have read some interesting things.
Where some say that maybe for some, maybe not for all.
Maybe, depending upon the character of of the person the Lord sees fit, that they go through what's been referred to as a scourging A1 Time thing where the Lord finally takes care of that particular issue.
That has been hindering you from going on.
We don't know what that might be, but I can tell you this. There are probably many Saints that would say that there has been something like that in their lives where the Lord took them up and like one brother said a number of years ago, he holds you out and shakes you over hell.
I've known times where the Lord has laid a St. low.
Maybe for some period of time, and when they came out of it, there was something different. There was a deeper appreciation of Christ, a deeper desire to walk closely to him and thank God for that.
Well, may the Lord help us in all of these things. There's a lot that we could take up here.
I'm very thankful to be able to talk about this blessed One who's at the center of all of the council and purpose of God, and to emphasize the fact that he wants us to be in communion and fellowship with him.
Let's pray.
00:50:02
Father, we thank Thee for Thy loving kindness and Thy goodness to us.
We thank Thee for Thy word that reveals to us our Lord Jesus and all of Thy ways.
With thy people.
And how that was to take each one of us and draw us near to thee, although its desire that each one of us would enjoy that fellowship with thee and with thy son.
We thank, we have the privilege of taking up Thy word. We thank Thee that we live in a land where we can do this unhindered. We thank Thee for the liberty that we have here, and we pray for the powers that be. We pray, Father, for each one in the room here that we might look out those ways in which Thou art working in our lives and that we might happily submit to those things even though we pass through difficulties in times of trial.
The fellow to answer the needs of the heart, and bring thy beloved son before each one.
In the appropriate way, we thank Thee for Thy Spirit that would minister these things to us. And now, as we continue to take up Thy word, we just ask the Father to bring continued blessing and help and encouragement to each one of us. We ask it for the glory of our Lord Jesus, and in His worthy name, Amen.
1 John 1:3-10
Reading
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.
Shouting.
Right.
From hill to thou.
Yes.
00:05:01
Let's read 2 verses before we pray.
And our portion?
First, John.
First, John, thank you.
Chapter 3, uh, I mean chapter one and verses three and four, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that he also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you that your joy.
May be full.
Our God and our Father, we think of what a privilege it is to be able to read these verses and to realize that as thy children, that thou has brought us into the realms of Thy love, that Thou art our Father and our God, and we are thy children and thy sons. And we thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for all that Thou hast done to make it possible the greatest things that we could possibly imagine.
Having a life, a divine life imparted to us that can give us to enjoy a relationship with the Father and the Son, to be able to enjoy communion with Thee.
And to be able to ponder upon these things and to be able to take them in and enjoy them. And we pray to you that it might help us to set our feet on a path that pleases thee, as it might be our desire to walk in a way that might be a testimony to this world of a people that are different than anybody else on this planet. So we do ask you for continued blessing. We thank you for the blessings and the portions that we've had before us. And we thank the our God and Father, We take it from thy loving hands.
We ask all these things in our Lord Jesus Christ, precious name. Amen. Amen.
All right, we are reading in first John chapter one and verse 3.
First John chapter one and verse 3.
That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness.
We lie and do not the truth, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son planteth us from all sins. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar.
And his word is not in US.
You know, often times this world gauges, uh, the value of your life by the possessions that you have, the position you have in this world. You don't always look at the relationship you might have with your wife, with your children that they're, they care about how successful you are. But here what we really understand, don't we, that, that what really makes life happy, what really makes us happy.
Uh, and gives us joy in life is relationships, our wife, our children, our friends, our parents. Uh, that's what really brings substance to our life. It is not what you have. Umm, you could be just as happy in a small house with a happy marriage and you could be if you had a large house and your marriage wasn't happy. So it struck me, you know, in, in this 1St 14 where it says.
00:10:21
That your joy may be full. Why? What was the thing that the Lord Jesus desired to start introducing early in the Gospels was a relationship with the Father, and then later on after.
Chapter 17 was what's been before us is that we might have a life that we could enjoy the father and the son. And then immediately after he raises from the dead, what's the first thing he does? He he sends.
Mary.
To go to the disciples and and to say.
Tell, tell them that I ascend onto my Father and to your Father and to my God and to my God. And that's really what was on the heart of the Father, wasn't it? That he could have those like his son, that he could have an object to love and that they could love him in return. That's what Christianity is really all about. It's not even the fact, you know, it never says we go to heaven. It says we go to be with Christ. And of course Christ is in heaven.
And why is that? Well, we've often times said it is because we're not interested in the place, we're interested in the object. And that's what this chapter has been taken up. That's what the address was taken up with, is that everything centers and circles around the Lord Jesus who's made everything, every blessing, the joy of our relationship, what gives a believer real, real joy, and that's to be able to dwell and enjoy the Father.
And the sun, that's what gives substance to everything that we are. It's a relationship. God has given us relationship that we cannot enjoy and understand what a relationship is. And it brings real value when we think about the fact that we can enjoy communion with one another, but with the Father and the Son, that's what really brings joy.
When God made man, He made him in his own image and likeness.
And God is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that's from all eternity. It always was there. And so like you say in the very first chapter of the Bible, when it came to the creation of man, it says let us make man in our image after our likeness. And so it's not centered in one person like you say, it's relationships. And that is so true. It's so important to understand.
And through what the apostles have given us, because he says that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. What is fellowship?
Remember hearing somebody say, well, it's fellows on the same ship and sometimes sailors fight. That's not fellowship. Another word is communion. It's having common thoughts and desires and enjoyments and we have been given now a nature that is divine so that we can enjoy the things of God. It's not a forced thing. It's something that is natural.
To that nature we have been given that wonderful that we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Beautiful, wonderful.
I would like to ask a question what here in first John you have him entitled Jesus Christ seven times and in Galatians you read the word you're all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. I I would like to know if somebody could explain the difference in the force and bearing of of those in titles.
I think it's pertinent, but I I don't know how.
00:15:06
Difference between Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ well yes, in this epistle let Jesus Christ seven times.
Jesus Christ is usually the the man that has come into this world to accomplish the will of God and glorify God over the question of sin and so on. But when it's Christ Jesus and I was turned around the other way, it's referring to Him and it's gone back to heaven as a man and a glorified position.
And all our blessings are in God Jesus Christ. Our blessings are in Christ Jesus.
As he is as a risen, glorified man with the right hand of God.
Thank you. So when it says done, does that connect them with deity? Jesus Christ connects them as a man. So it's bringing out the both aspects of what we've been Speaking of here, isn't it? These altogether God and altogether man?
Fellowship is something that is cultivated and.
Brother and his address this afternoon mentioned the importance of.
Keeping close to the Lord by reading the Word and prayer. And I think that's so important to to encourage our young people to be into the scriptures on a daily basis because that's what's going to feed you.
It's so easy to neglect the scriptures. I find that when it comes to reading the word, it seems like there's a whole bunch of other things that get in the way.
And we have to make a decision what is primary, what is, uh, important in our lives. And so I want to encourage our young people and the older ones too, to get into the scriptures.
Last year at the conference in Oaxaca, I was talking to a group of younger brothers and they seemed to really be enjoying the Scriptures and the Lord at the conference. So I said, do you read the Bible yourselves in your own homes? Yes, sometimes I say, what do you mean by sometimes? Well, maybe two or three times a week.
Well, I say, uh.
Uh, you, when you eat food for your own sustenance, do you just eat two or three times a week? Oh no, no, no, we eat every day. Also, your body is more important than your soul. Is that what you mean? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. But you know, rather than we neglect our souls. And the Lord Jesus said a man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Take up the Word of God and don't read it in a rush. Even though you read just a few scriptures. Read it diligently and meditate on it because it's like a piece of bread I put in my mouth. I'm not going to just put it in my mouth and swallow it straight down. No, I'm chewing on it for a while until it gets down to where I can take it in. And we need to do that with the Word of God to to take time to read the scriptures.
You know what I find to read a chapter in the morning? How long it takes.
Generally most chapters are fairly short. There are some that are longer, but even when they're longer I noticed that it's 6-7 minutes is you can read a whole chapter that's longer, and sometimes when they're shorter chapters is two or three minutes. You mean you don't have that much time to read?
The Word of God. I want to encourage you to set aside some time. If you're real busy, set aside by a particular decision on your part to read the scriptures. You will not regret it in later years. And then take time to pray as well. When we read the Word, He's communicating His thoughts to us. When we pray, we're telling Him our thoughts. And we need both.
They're both important in maintaining fellowship with the Lord. Member one time asking another young man if he had time to read the scriptures. He says, no, I don't have time to read the scriptures, but I pray. I say, well, that's like saying to God, God, I want you to listen to me, but I really don't have time to listen to you. How does that sound to you? Oh, that sounds kind of lopsided. He told me. I said, yeah, I agree with you.
00:20:12
We need ball. We need to read the scriptures.
Let it sink into our souls. You know, sometimes I read in the morning and I read a chapter and after I've read it, I said no. What in the world did I read? I was thinking about something way off in the distance and I wasn't really paying attention to what I was reading.
Brother, let's give diligence. Fellowship is a real thing. The Lord Jesus is a real man. He understands us. He knows how we feel. You may feel like you're betrayed. You're you may feel like nobody understands you. He understands what it is to be a human being because he is one.
And we can go to him and it's such a wonderful thing to have this fellowship. And like it's been brought out in verse 4, this is what gives true and lasting joy is to have fellowship with Him.
And fellowship has to be true. Fellowship is based on the principles of the Word of God, because we find with the early church in Acts chapter 2.
That in going on together, there's a list given and the order of the list is very important as to the things that they continued in, they continued in the apostles doctrine or teaching and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. And so it was the apostles doctrine, it was the truth of God that was given to the apostles. That was the basis for fellowship. It was the basis for breaking of bread. It was the basis for prayers. Those are what we might say are the collective meetings, the assembly meetings.
And because people say it doesn't matter, doctrine isn't important, principles aren't important. We're all believers and we just agree to disagree. But that's not true fellowship. And not only that, but sometimes we confound fellowship with activity. Now, activity amongst the people of God is good, and I'm glad when our young people are together for a ball game or some activity. We need that. But that's not fellowship in itself.
True fellowship, brethren, is our enjoyment of the Father and the Son in our souls, so that we can then share that with our fellow believers. And so again, to go back to the story we had this morning of the prodigal son, when the prodigal was brought into the father's house and sat down at the table, and a table in Scripture often speaks of fellowship or communion. What was that fellowship centered on?
It was centered on the fatted calf because I believe we learned all through Scripture and culminating in this chapter as we'll see, that the basis God has always taught that the basis for fellowship has always been the death and the shedding of blood of an innocent victim. That has always been the basis for fellowship. And so just to go back and thought to the Garden of Eden.
We find that, as was said, man was made in the image of God so that God could have fellowship with his creature. He couldn't have fellowship with the lower creation in that same way. And so man was placed in the garden. But what happened? What what happened? Sin came in and sin separates. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, the prophet says. And so sin came in and separated.
Man received a conscience. He knew he was a Sinner. Adam and Eve hid themselves. They tried to make coats of aprons of fig leaves to try to better themselves and cover their nakedness. But what did God do so that there could be a could be at least some measure of fellowship restored? He made some coats of skin, and though the blood is not mentioned there, or the word sacrifice, I think we all see very quickly.
That God could not have clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin unless it necessitated the death.
And the shedding of blood of an innocent victim or victim. And not only that, but God immediately announced the news that the woman's seed would bruise the head of the serpent. How could God bless Adam and Eve? Yes, he drove them out of that garden.
Yes, they were not allowed back in, so they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever. But how could God bless Adam and Eve, and how could he bless all? Down through the Old Testament, God was looking forward to the death of his Son. And those sacrifices, from Abel's sacrifice on all to the heart of God, were just pale reflections, feeble foreshadows of what was really in his mind and heart, that his Son.
00:25:20
Would go to the cross, become the sacrifice for sin, and shed his blood.
And not to get ahead, but that's why in this chapter, at the end of verse seven, it says and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
When I was a child and I learned that part of the verse for my Sunday school text, I used to wonder why it appeared here in first John. It almost to me seemed out of context until I understood That's the basis for fellowship with the Father, faces for fellowship with the Son, and they our basis for fellowship with one another is nothing else but the blood of Christ. That is the basis of it, of it all, the death and the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus.
Has brought us back into a position and a fellowship with God and the Son like none. Even in the Old Testament where that cloud of witnesses that Dave was bringing before us, they never understood. They never enjoyed the closeness of relationship that you and I have now in being able to address God as our Father, to have the very nature and life of God, to be the possessors of eternal life and have fellowship with the Father, the Son, and with one another.
Just in connection with this fourth verse 2, there's another comment made by the Lord Jesus in the 15th of John.
In connection with this, just go back to the 15th chapter for a moment.
Of of John's Gospel.
The Lord Jesus has been bringing many things before them, and in verse 11 He says, These things have I spoken unto you. Now notice this, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be full, but there must be a difference between my joy and your joy. What was it that the Lord was referring to when He said my joy? The Lord Jesus had walked through this world as a man in perfect communion with the Father.
Thought was his joy and delight, and his joy and delight was to do the Father's will.
And he says to his disciples, I want to leave that same joy with you.
And brethren, what is going to bring us real joy in our souls as we pass through this world? It is to have fellowship with the Father, with His Son, and as a result, with one another. That's the joy, so joy the Lord Jesus had here in this world, even in difficult circumstances. He could rejoice in spirit even when things were were troubling. You and I can have that same joy. And remember, brethren, He doesn't want to wait till He has us home to have our fellowship and communion. He has made provision now.
So that all along the path of faith and service, as the children of God, we can have joint participation, we can have fellowship and communion with divine persons.
There's a picture of this in the Old Testament in the rainbow that came and what God put in the sky after Noah had gone and his family threw the flood. And it's a picture of Christ being set in his proper place at the right hand of God and all his very glories that he is required to redemption. And it's interesting that God said to Noah, he said, I put the rainbow in the sky and I'm going to look at it. And when I look at it, you look at it and our eyes will meet on the rainbow.
That's a picture of having fellowship together with God, one common.
Interest, which is, of course, the glory of Christ.
Genesis Chapter 9.
You talked about umm in verse 3. Umm, I'm sorry, verse four says that your joy may be full.
And and then it's, it's almost like a challenge. Have you, have you been in a relationship, someone you love deeply and, and you have broken communion?
There, there's something about that when that happens that disrupts everything about your being. It just does.
00:30:06
Somebody you love deeply and, and, and maybe the person that communion has been broken. That person was right and you're wrong. Sometimes you defend yourself. Sometimes you take a stand and and umm, and there should be an emptiness. So if if our joy should be full. The next two verses are really talking about our walk, isn't it where it's talking about how to maintain to understand the character of what God is and that if we say that we walk in the light.
And yet we're walking in darkness and we're liars, aren't we? That communion is not real. We're not enjoying the depth of that communion as we should. So it's really talking here, isn't it, about who we are as children that that communion. If we really are enjoying that communion and if it really gives us joy, are we not having set before us a standard that is ours to recognize that we might walk so that we might maintain the joy of that communion?
Am I wrong about that?
Probably, uh, it's more an absolute fact. I think you're finding a not going back. But he says in that second verse for the life was manifest and we have seen it, but he says he showed on us eternal life, which was with the father. So that eternal life, that relationship was with the father and the son before he ever came into this world. But now it's been manifest and I think it's.
Talking here about something that we have we have eternal life and of course let's based upon what our brother just said the blood of Christ, but they never had it until he rose from the dead and then he said, go on to my brethren and announcement to them that I have sent unto my God and to your God. So then they had he breathed into their nostrils the breath of life that is he gave them resurrection life and.
And so it doesn't tell you how you get it right now. It doesn't tell you how you get this life, but it's saying that you have it because you are a believer. You have believed in Christ and his resurrection.
And so it's it's something that we have, it's a Christian. This is a quote for Mr. Darby. A Christian is not just a man who's born again. He's a moral. He's a man who's born again and in dwelt with the Spirit of God. And so when we are that we have this capacity, how we enjoy it is another thing, isn't it? And so first, John is really telling you it's really an abstract thing where it's telling you what you have. And so the reason that we can understand each other.
And enjoy these things together is because we have that same life. We are what we are and we are where we are in spite of ourselves and in spite of our actions. We may not enjoy it, but I am in the light. If you're a child of God, you are in the light. You may choose to turn your back and walk on the shady side of the street, but you are in the light. And I believe as we go on to the 7th verse, we learn we're in the light. We have fellowship one with another, and it's the blood of Jesus that is the basis of it. That those are facts as Burn said. Again, as I said this morning at the end of the meeting.
What we learned from first John is that we have, we are brought into fellowship with the Father, we are in fellowship with the Son, and we are in fellowship with one another. There's plenty of other exhortations in other parts of Scripture and even some later on in this epistle as to the practical side of it. But I, I do believe here what we have, as Vernas said, is the fact that that abstract truth that this is where we are and what we are.
Can you give a definition of abstract truth? I often times hear it, and there's a number of people I'm sure, like myself, that just don't really know what that means. Something that's true.
That's what it is. Something is true. Not how you, uh, enjoy it, but something is true of you. It's not a messy painting you see in an art gallery that you can't understand. That's usually what we think of abstract, but it is absolute truth. Yeah, absolutely. Matches burn. Matches burn. That's, uh, it's characteristic of matches, that the match may not be lit, but that's characteristic. Yeah. I find that very helpful. Seriously. Instead of using the word abstract is what's characteristic, I think. Yeah. So if we're gonna have fellowship with God.
In verse five, it tells us that God is light. We're gonna have to have, we're gonna have to be in the light. And that's where we are if we do have fellowship with God, because God is light and you can't, you can't change that. That was true in the very first chapter of the Bible. God said let there be light, and then he divided the light from the darkness. There's a separation in the whole Word of God.
00:35:27
You cannot mix those two things, light and darkness. They don't mix. You have darkness in the room and you turn on the lights. What happens to the darkness? It's gone. They don't mix those two things. And so in our lives too, if we're going to have fellowship with God, it's going to be in the light. Can you hide things in the light? You know, sometimes we're like the Samaritan woman when the Lord Jesus.
Said to her go call your husband and come here. She thought she was just kinda cover up the bad stuff of her life and she said I don't have a husband.
She didn't realize that she was in the presence of one who was God in the flesh. And so he said, you rightly said.
Uh, I have no husband because you've had five husbands and the one you now have isn't your husband that you said, right?
All of a sudden she realized she was in the presence of one. She could not hide anything. And I love the response in her. She goes back into the city and she says to the men of the city.
Maybe some of them she had sinned with. She says come see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not just the Christ. Had he told her everything she'd ever done? No, he had focused in on a certain facet of her life. But rather than what it really impresses me is that when somebody tries to hide things in their life, it hinders fellowship. You cannot avoid it. It does.
And when a person comes out into the light and confesses it, however shameful it might be, it frees them completely. That woman was a free woman after that. Oh, the blessedness of just getting out into the light and letting it be known to God just what you are. He already knows it, but He wants you to come out into the light as well and not try to hide anything. Somebody that tries to hide things is not a free person.
But we walk in the light because God is in the light.
God is right, I should say.
Is that not the practical, practical result of this? But I just, I give an illustration of abstract truth. Cork floats. Oh, say, well, I'll tie a sinker on it. But you've modified it and gone. John does not modify anything. He gives you just exactly what it is. You have eternal life. Cork floats. You can't. We might modify it. And you say, well, I don't enjoy it. You still have it.
Right. So it's, it's, it's, it's that's the understanding of John. He tells things like they are, and that's the way you understand things.
You have to understand things like they are not modified.
So that's the difference between abstract and concrete. Yeah, I was gonna go first. John gives us its abstract from the standpoint that it tells this is what a Christian is. This is the this is a picture of one who has fellowship with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. So I left a box of matches out on my table, on my deck, and it rained on them and they got soaking wet and they won't burn, but it's still true.
Yeah, that's the concrete, but the abstract is matches burn. So I can say, well, you know, I read the Epistle to 1St Corinthians and and what I'm reading here in First John, that doesn't look like those people in First Corinthians. They must not really be Christians. No, that's not the point. This is a picture which we have in many places of this is what a person is who is a Christian who walks in fellowship with God.
But all of those problems where we might say, well, that doesn't look like a Christian there, that's where the Father goes to work in his discipline to bring us to communion with him, to repent of those things in order that we might have fellowship with him and with one another.
00:40:01
Thor versus 8-9 and ten only for the loss.
Well, I think it's, uh, I think it's a contrast between light and darkness. Uh, era it says if the sixth verse, if, uh, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. So we have there that that would be darkness. If we say that and we don't, it doesn't. But if we walk in the light, he is in the light, We have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sins. That's.
That's the one who is the Lord. But I and I think if we say, but it just says as we say, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in this, that's darkness. If we confess our sins and only and only those who are born again do confess their sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's life.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in in such darkness, I, I.
As well as.
So 8-9 and ten I would say applied to believers.
What apply to believers?
To know the difference between our state and our standing. When we're saved and we're a Christian, we're perfectly righteous in God's sight because we are seen in Christ. That's never going to change. It's a done deal. That's our standing before God, but in our personal walk, and I think this is where these verses come out. There's five ifs in a row for six verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, verse 10.
Our state can change every day, every minute, whether we're enjoying that truth of our standing or not. And I'll just use this as an example, and I think Bob alluded to it. If I'm a little kid, when I was a little kid, I hate to admit it, but my mom said don't have a cookie and I win. And I took a cookie out of the cookie jar. Do I want to go see my mom? No possible way. Why is that? Because I know in my soul that I sinned against her.
I don't wanna be in her presence because I'm wrong. I broke the rule. So he says in here, this is how we have, umm, how our state changes. In verse nine, he says if we confess our sins. So I go to my mom and I say, mom, I'm really sorry I couldn't cook and she's gonna take care of that. She's gonna give me any spanking because she's a good mom and she loves them. So she gives me a spanking. Now that sin is gone. It's been painful. Now we're best friends again and we're back in the community.
So with that, as we walk in this light, our state is inconvenient out of community, inconvenient out of community. And it says right here in verse eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in. So if you bump into some, oh, I don't sin anymore, really, what does this verse say? But it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we're back in communion with the Lord.
Which is our state, our standing pardon may never change. The standing was always true. Like you were saying her, that's absolutely true. It never changed. But I couldn't enjoy that. And that's where that joy came in when you were talking about babe.
A happy Christian is a Christian that walks with the Lord. You look at Peter, he looks miserable. When he was denying the Lord, he went out and wept bitterly. He was not a happy soul. When we walked far off from the Lord, we're not happy. We're miserable. We don't enjoy sin, we don't enjoy the Lord's presence. It's cold. It's it's not a nice thing, but when we walk right through the Lord, it's a beautiful thing.
Verse 6, verse eight, and verse 10 all say if we say it's easy to talk the talk.
Sometimes the reality is different, so that's what he's testing in verse six. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
He talks in black and white. John talks in black and white. He doesn't talk in any Shades of Grey. You're lying. You're not doing the truth if you say that you have fellowship with him and are accommodating something that you know is wrong.
Caffeine fellowship that cannot be, not even if it's just a little. What we term a white lie cannot be. Then the contrast is verse seven if we walk in the light as he is in the light.
00:45:07
We have fellowship one with another, and like Brother Jim has brought out the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin. In other words, that which hinders fellowship is sin.
And that which removes sin so that there can be fellowship is the blood of Christ.
That's a cleansing that takes place.
Once for all for the believer.
When we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the cleansing that it speaks of in verse 9 is.
Uh, governmental forgiveness and cleansing when we confess our sins.
Just to go back to verse 8, just like to call attention to the fact that verse 8 and verse 10 are quite similar. But if you look closely, verse eight really speaks of the root principle of sin, the nature in us. If we say that we have no sin, that's the nature.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US. Verse 10 speaks of the act of sin.
If we say that we have not sinned, sometimes we admit that we have acted in sin, but we don't like to admit our own guilt. We blame somebody else, just like Adam did, who blame God and blamed his wife, and he blamed the serpent.
But if we're going to get back into fellowship with God, it's important to recognize not only that I've sinned, but I've sinned because I allowed my nature of sin to act. And that's what broke that fellowship with God. And when that is recognized and we confess it, then there's the basis to be restored to fellowship in the family of God. And so I look at those.
Last three verses as restoration once fellowship has been lost.
If we, if we talk and I'm, I'm sorry, I'm probably part of the confusion here.
What, what I said earlier, but if we talk about something that's real, that's umm, as we've said, abstract, umm, uh, when it talks about a believers talking about a believer and that's all we're looking at is what he is as a believer, we're talking about somebody that's lost.
We're talking about somebody that's lost. And so it's it's not comparing when you fail. It's looking at you as a child. It's looking at you the way the father enjoys you. It's looking at what you are as having a nature that can enjoy the father and the son. And and that's taking this up in that character. But there are those who are professors and they're not real. And you know they're not real by their life.
And so it's really drawing a contrast that way.
A real believer enjoys being in the light. A professor that's not real walks in darkness. And if we saw that, it would help us to understand what the following verses mean and how it applies so.
I'm sorry if I added any confusion.
So we could say these are tests of the truth, right? This is a picture of what? A Christ. This is a picture of one who walks in fellowship with the Father and the Son.
And these are the things that are to characterize them.
They do not walk in darkness. Well, here you have a person who's walking in darkness. He professes to believe, to be a believer. A believer does not walk in darkness. Yeah. And umm. And if we, I think it's interesting too. If we go back to the fifth verse, there's a reason why the apostle emphasizes that God is like, this is the message he says that we're bringing. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. A Vern, you mentioned the Gnosticism. The Gnostics were dualists. They believe there was a good power.
And an evil power that we're constantly at war with one another. And he's telling them, no, there is only one God and he is light.
There is no darkness in him whatsoever, and it's it's been emphasized before by writers hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Evil is always a privation of something that is good. You can't think of pure evil. There's no such thing as pure rust. It's always on metal.
00:50:20
Even even the most graphic example of evil that you could think of, Satan is the corruption of something that was once good.
The anointed chair of the Covereth. So the darkness is from some privation, some corruption of something that was once good. Think of all of the things that are prevalent in the world around us today. They are the corruption. They're a deviation from something that God initially set up.
As being good or a blessing for man, but man, he turns it to corruption. And so when we're having a picture of a Christian here, we get tests for truth. And I think that's where you have the thought of the word, if you might say it's like an if of argument. This is his argument here that that if we were to say this, then that is not the picture of a believer of one who has fellowship with the Father and the Son. So they are tests for the truth. They can be.
Goes for our conscience to help us understand what God intends the believer to be.
When we apply these things, we need to recognize that these principles apply to us, and there is a nature within me that is, uh, Versailles applies to. I recognize that.
Yes, it's a nature, the same nature as an unbeliever may have, and in that sense it's abstract. I think it's what you mean, but it's something that's written. This was written to believers in the Lord Jesus. It was not written to those who were unbelievers. And so we need to recognize that that sin nature in US is inherently bad and to recognize that the truth is not in US. Of course, that's speaking about the old nature.
Abstractly, if you want to put it that way.
But then verse nine shows that when fellowship is broken, brethren, and I think this is very important for especially for our young people.
I find that sometimes young people get off into some line, some uh, uh, way of, of, uh, sin in their lives and they don't seem to know how to get back. I remember speaking to a young man one time who got off into some serious sin and was away for quite a while. And we went to visit him one time and asked him, have you ever confessed this to the Lord?
Put his head down and he said after quite a while he said, no, I only confessed to the brethren.
I said, well, let's read verse nine. We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession is not asking for forgiveness.
It's recognizing what we have done and why we have done it and telling the Lord about it. And that's extremely important if we're going to get back into fellowship with the Lord. And that's what we're being told here. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession is more than asking for forgiveness.
Why ask a person for forgiveness? I'm not really thinking of the bad thing I might have done. I'm thinking of his attitude toward me. And so since I think his attitude is negative towards me, I say please forgive me. What God wants, brethren, he's he's he's ready to forgive us, but what he wants is confession that we recognize what we have done that's wrong and to tell him so that's important to.
You know, if we're going to get back into fellowship.
And it's when we do that, that then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That's governmental forgiveness. It's not judicial forgiveness. Judicial forgiveness is what we receive once the beginning of our Christian life, when we accept the Lord as our Savior. But this is government forgiveness. He has government in his household and his family and.
00:55:09
It's consequent on confession that there is forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness. It's so important to understand that that you might, once you break that fellowship, might come back to fellowship. You don't lose your salvation. You are always a child of God, but you can lose your fellowship with God with some little sin.
And it's that way until you confess it. Sometimes they give the illustration, if I say to my son, I don't want you going out tonight.
And he deliberately, knowing what I've said, goes out of the house, out onto the street. When he comes back, he sees that I'm not happy with him.
Maybe seeing that, he will say to me.
That if I've done something wrong, forgive me.
Is that what I wanna hear from him? No.
I want him to recognize what he's done wrong and to say so when he does, then there's the basis for restoring fellowship with him. And so this is what we have here in this verse nine. It's an important principle to apply in our Christian lives that we might maintain fellowship. Fellowship can be broken very easily. And so here is the way for restoration to that fellowship.
Mm-hmm.
Uh.
And then he says, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that's really to keep us from going any further on that course. You get a similar thought when David said in the 23rd Psalm, he restoreth my soul. And as soon as he says that, he says and leads me in the paths of righteousness, that is, he brings me back into the right way. Because it's not just sinning and confessing and sinning and confessing and going on our own way. That's not what God wants from us. That's not what the Lord wants.
He wants heartfelt confession, true repentance, and then He can cleanse us from all unrighteousness, lead us in those right paths, not go continue on down that wrong way.
Could it be an all embrace tracing thing? Even if one was, if you take it the man was asked, is this how a man comes to the Lord? Or is this?
Confession after we're saved for practical sins, He says it's all embracing it. It would be true too, if he says if he can, if we confess our sins, only those who believe confess their sins. Isn't it so that that goes together? Repentance and confession goes together. Yeah, I'm. I'm not saying that. I'm not contradicting. I'm just saying.
It's all embracing. I I read this with Mr. Darby. They asked him that question. He said it's all embracing it. If, if a person is coming, he's the one who confesses his sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and plenty of all unrighteousness. But it's, you can use it practically like our brothers use it too. I would just say this to qualify your remarks that when I came as a repentant Sinner, I didn't have to confess my sins and thank God I didn't.
Because they were so numerous and many of them I wouldn't have known about, I had to confess I was a Sinner.
And so the man in Luke's gospel, he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
He didn't confess his sins. He confessed that he was a Sinner. And when it says confess our sins here, it's very specific. As Bob said, it's more than my child just coming and passing me in the room and saying, Dad, I'm sorry and going on out of the room. That's not what I want. That doesn't restore fellowship or communion. And perhaps any of us who've had children have experienced that. Well, Dad, I'm sorry for whatever I did today. And then they go on up to their room. There's no fellowship restored in that.
But when the child comes and says dad, I am the one that disobeyed and threw the ball too near the house and broke the window.
Then I say, come, I've already forgiven you. In fact, I might even say I've already got the pane of glass here to replace the broken window. I was just waiting for you to come and confess so that perhaps we could go and do it, do it together. So when it says we confess our sins, it's very specific here, isn't it?
01:00:07
And in verse eight is if we have no sin, which is the nature that produced that.
Bad act. And David, when he sinned in the Old Testament, in his confession he acknowledged what he had done was wrong, but then he recognized the root of it. He says, behold, I was shaping in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. He recognized the reason I did that was I let my old nature act and that's important if we're going to.
Uh, get full restoration. I sometimes say when there's bad weeds in the garden, what do you do? You pull off the tops of the weeds or you pull it out by the roots. Not that we're going to be able to pull out that sin nature, but it's important to recognize that that's the root of it, not anybody else but me. I allowed myself to act that way. And when we do that, then when we confess, he not only forgives our sins.
But he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I find that's a very helpful thing when you have some. Sometimes people have sins that they seem to be liable for. I mean they they fall for it very easily to go to the Lord to confess it. The Lord is able not only to forgive but to cleanse. You can't do the clean up job.
Middle of verse nine it says he is faithful and I know sometimes it's really hard for us and we do sin. We feel the magnitude of what we've done to be broken community but it said that all relationships are built on trust and when we understand that he is going.
The sin was originally taken care of judgment or judicially and governments what he's going to take care of. And when we realize we confess that sin and I say Lord, I'm sorry, I sinned. This is what I did.
I don't wanna do that again. When we send we, we lose the blessing. Do the commandments are are for the blessing of our souls. And when we say no, I know better than you, I'm gonna do that anyway. That's what sin is. We go and do that and then we're we lose the blessing. We feel awful and we're out of communion. But the thing that is so amazing is that he loves us even though he sinned, just like we love our children. My mom, when I took that cookie, she didn't hate my gut.
I didn't wanna have anything, you know? I didn't wanna be with her because I knew I'd sinned, but she didn't hate me.
I would steal her son. And when we sin and we come back and we say Lord I, if we confess our sins, we say Lord I sin. It says he is faithful. We can count on him. He is going to bring us back and we're going to see.
Ourselves. And we see what God sees of us. He sees something that's perfectly clean.
And to our mind, I know my own heart. To our mind, it doesn't make sense.
Does does God have bad vision? No. It's because of the glorious person of Christ, that blood that washed away all that sand.
He sees when God the Father looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.
And we can walk in that communion and that in that, in that presence, that presence of mind that he loves us, He's crazy in love with us. He bought us, He paid everything that we would belong to him. And when you read in Revelation about the rise of Christ, she's perfect. And when we think about ourselves, we're like, how does this even add up? How does this make sense? It is work in our lives.
And we're just gonna be true that we're gonna be there and we're gonna be beautiful in every single aspect.
Because he loved it. And so sometimes in our lives, we, we have a hard time in our minds letting know of stuff. And it speaks about an evil conscience. And that's a conscience that brings up what's happened to us over and over. Hey, but you did this. Remember, Matt, you did this, you did this. That the accuser of the brethren, the enemy of our souls, He wants us to stay away from the Lord so he can drive us further and further and further apart. If, if we sin, it doesn't matter what it is. And the Lord brings it to our mind. Even if you're driving your car, stop.
01:05:22
And confess it right then, 'cause that's how people get way far away. There's a little teeny thing and they let it grow and don't. If your conscience is, hey, you did this, just remind the devil to say, hey, there's a quote that goes when the devil reminds you of your past, reminds him of his future.
The Lord is faithful.
Good to see that we don't have to beg God.
And he's just as well because there is a righteous basis that has been established on which God can do it. God never forgives or restores on the basis of compromise. Man operates on the basis of compromise. I was in business for a number of years and there's always arbitration between the employees and the the, the salesman and the buyer and the.
Different aspects of business and you sit down, people down at the table and you usually have to bring them to a common denominator, which necessitates compromise.
Sometimes on the part of both parties, but God never compromises. He's faithful and He's just because, as we've been saying, the work of Calvary has taken care of it and people struggle with this. Well, what about the sins I've committed after I'm saved? But when the Lord Jesus died on the cross and bore my sins in his own body on the tree and shed his precious blood to wash those sins away, how many of my sins were future at that time?
They were all future at that time and it's all been taken care of through the work of Calvary. I'm not afraid of one charge of sin being brought up against me as to my eternal destiny and security. By one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified our sins and iniquities. He'll remember no more. And so it's not a question of our security or sin being raised as to our eternal destiny and so on.
But again, as we've been saying, it has to do with fellowship and the enjoyment of the place that we have already been brought into, rather than I say again, we are in the light since we're in the light. And really that's what the the the sense of the if in verse seven is. It's in the old English. It really has the sense of since we walk in the light.
Since we walk, I'll give you another example. It's out of context but just to make my point. In Colossians 3 it says if he then be risen with Christ.
Seek those things which are above is that if any question there no, we are risen with Christ. It's since we are risen with Christ. Now seek those things that are above since we walk in the light as he is in the light. We're also in fellowship with one another. If you're in the light and I'm in the light, since you are and since I am, we are in the light. Again, the practical side of it is a very different issue and so it's not a question here of.
Are be where we stand.
But there is the question then of when sin is allowed in our lives, what do we do? We come and confess that that specific sin so that we can be restored, not to the light, but so we can be restored to the enjoyment of fellowship and communion with the one who is always, always dwells in the light where there's no darkness.
This thing #47 in the pendant 47 and independent.
God and mercy sent his Son to our world right now, and I'm Jesus Christ.
01:10:13
God ordered the energy of God.
Oh my God.
Right, you're welcome again.
Our God or Father?
01:15:00
We give thanks that through the Lord Jesus we have.
Our sins forgiven, but we're here in this world, and we haven't a nature within each one of us that goes the wrong way.
And we give thanks that we have a meeting.
Deal with the sins that crops up.
In our lives as believers.
OK, the Keystone account short and not to let them stretch out as we heard this afternoon.
Help us to confess in that thing in which we have sinned.
And you get it taken care of so we can have.
Happy fellowship once again. Yes, we give thanks for providing this to me.
All through the Lord Jesus and that precious blood he shed, He of thanks in his name He meant.
Therefore Choose Life
Gospel—Ted Sester
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.
Welcome to the Gospel meeting. Let's start by three number 10 #10.
Actually #19 you are reading the wrong number here. Number 19 says, O Christ and me, my soul abound, and found in me alone the peace, the joy I thought so long, the bliss till now unknown.
#19.
056.
100.
Dollars.
I sighed. Forest and I've been up.
I earned more of them lying.
No grace falls by.
Your dream.
I love, we love, we love doing.
All that life and life, the joy.
Lord Jesus.
Found in thee.
Let's see #20 also behold the Savior out the door. He gently knocks his knock before has waited long, is waiting still you use no other friend. So I'll if you've heard the gospel before in this room and you're still unsaved, I want you to think about these words that we're going to sing. He gently knocks has knocked before behold.
00:05:17
The Savior.
Of the Lord.
When at his door.
Behind your spam.
Handsome with you.
And you?
Nor entertain.
Some kind of God?
No more don't.
Let's ask the Lord for help tonight. Our God and Father, we just give thanks for another opportunity to sound forth the gospel. We just thank Thee that there is good news in this world tonight. We know there's sadness and sin and sorrow on every corner, but we think Thee that there is still.
Good news that they can be told. Tonight we thank thee, that the Lord Jesus.
Was sent in this world to die for sinners and we pray that we'd be able to proclaim his name to sinners tonight. We pray that there would be a Sinner in his room that would accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior and walk out of this room as St. A called one chosen from God. We just give thanks for this in Jesus name, Amen.
00:10:09
I'd like to look at these hymns before we start tonight. It's my privilege to be able to give forth the gospel here.
It's a privilege to give forth the gospel. The gospel in some places cannot be told out in a public room like this.
I want you to look at some of these verses and him #19 and 20 if you ever asked to give the gospel, all you have to do is look at some of these hymns and you can give the gospel out of some of these hymns. It doesn't take a lot of skill to give the gospel, but we have to stick with the Word of God. The Word of God is quick, it's alive, it's powerful, and it's as sharp as A2 edged sword. Tonight I want to look at some of these what these some of these hymn writers.
And these two songs they had to say.
O Christ and thee my soul hath found.
Found in thee alone the peace, the joy I sought so long tonight. Do you have that joy?
Do you have that joy? If you don't have that joy, then we need to listen tonight. And the refrains has none. But Christ can satisfy. And there are some bullet points when you sing a song. I guess there's one thing you will get if we're still left here. The Lord is coming soon and we expect Him to come momentarily. But you will find that only Christ can satisfy. In verse two. I sighed. For rest and happiness. I yearn for them, not thee.
But while I passed my Savior by, his love laid hold on me. Tonight the Savior is passing by.
His love wants to take hold on you tonight. Are you gonna let Him take hold on you? He will not force his way on you, but He wants to take and let love lay hold on me. Verse three. I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but all the waters failed. You know, there's a lot of joy that this world has to offer. And at the end of them it says the pleasures of sin for a season at the end of them are pain and sorrow and emptiness.
And verse four, the pleasure's lost.
I sadly mourn, but never wept for thee, till grace the sightless eyes received thy loveliness to see. You know the Lord Jesus is very lovely to many of us in this room. Tonight He's beautiful. But tonight, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, he is not someone. He's someone you despise. He's someone you've rejected. You've turned him away, but tonight he would like to become lovely to you.
Then in verse, chapter, song #20 that we sing.
The last one, behold the Savior at the door, you know?
It so reminds me of as I look at this crowd, I don't know a lot of people in this room, but I can't see anybody that hasn't heard the gospel before. I can't imagine that there's someone in here that hasn't heard the gospel if there is.
You're gonna hear the gospel tonight.
The Word of God preached, but are you ignoring that knock at the door? You know the Spirit of God is working in this room. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God and He will take you in your sins and make you feel the burden and the weight of your sin. You know there was many brothers in the back room in the praying for your souls if you are in your sin, they're praying that there would be someone saved in this room tonight.
It was incredible to hear the hearts of men praying and women praying. I'm sure in this room for people that they know are not saved, you know, I was saved in a gospel meeting.
In a crowd this size, it would be incredible to me if there's someone, if everyone is saved and there's someone that hasn't.
Accepted the Lord Jesus you know that doesn't happen to you automatically. You have to ask the Lord Jesus to become your savior. He knocks on your door, but he doesn't break down your door and you know I want to skip to verse four of our song admit him ere the human breast.
I'm sorry verse three admit him heir is anger burn lest he depart and ne'er return.
You know it says God speaketh once ye twice, yet man perceiveth him not. It's a scary thing. It's the Spirit of God stops knocking on your door. You won't be able to get saved if you say no to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a day where that will be the last no and you'll never be able to get saved. He will not force his way upon you. So he's knocking there at your heart's door.
00:15:03
You know the Lord Jesus.
Was sent.
Into this world to be a savior. You know, why did he need to be sent into this world to be a savior? What did we need to be saved from? We need to be saved from our sins. You know, there's a verse in Romans 6 and 23 it says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Just yesterday I heard that verse in Spanish.
There's a lot of men, sinners.
The wages of sin is death. You know today's payday for a lot of people.
Payday people think about going to work for money and checks are sent, cash is paid.
Did you ever go to work?
And live and get death before the end of it.
That is what we get for our sins is death. The wages of sin is death. But the rest of that verse says, but the gift of God is eternal life. And I want to look at that. There's a verse in Deuteronomy chapter 30. It's a very well known verse.
It talks about a choice that we all have to make. In Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19, it says I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. You have to choose life. He's not going to force it on you.
He's not going to force it on you. God is love, God is light and God is love.
He is a God of love. He loves you so much that he sent the Lord Jesus down this world. It says for God so loved the world that he gave God is a giving God. You know, men and women do not think that God is a good God. They don't think he's a giving God. They look at him and most of the world as someone who is ready to get them in trouble.
And as a hostile, angry, gone, that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is love.
But yet God is light, also light. He cannot have sin in His presence. He is holy. He cannot have sin in His presence. And He is righteous and righteous. He cannot overlook your sins. He would not be righteous to overlook your sin. He cannot do that because of His nature. And so every man and every woman, every child.
In this world has to choose where they want life or death. If you don't make any decision tonight.
You are a chosen death because it says you're condemned already because you believe not on the name.
The Lord Jesus, I'm misquoting that verse a little. You are condemned already. You don't have to do anything right now in the room to be condemned. If you're in the sound of my voice, the Scripture says that you're condemned. If you haven't accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're condemned. You say, well, I just, I want to make my I, I don't want ready to make a decision.
You know, it's very important that you do make a decision and you take it very seriously.
A man told me about two weeks ago is some of the saddest words I've ever heard out of a man's mouth. He's about 60 some years old. His name is Jim. And Jim told me I'm just about ready to be saved, but I can't do it because you got to go all out. You can't just get halfway saved.
Jim loves his sins.
Do you like your sins so much that you won't?
Accept the Lord Jesus.
Are you having fun with your sins or have you ever even thought that you're not saved? Maybe tonight you're a young child and you haven't even thought that you're not saved. You know, if you have never asked the Lord Jesus into your heart to be your Savior, you are not saved. Just because I was born into a Christian home, it doesn't make me saved. Just because I walk into a garage, it doesn't make me a car.
You have to ask the Lord Jesus to become your savior because he is a savior, but he doesn't want to.
Push it on you. That's not how it works. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
00:20:07
You know, on the cross.
A work was done there.
That no human being could ever do, because it says the wages of sin is death. We are all doomed to die. But there was one, the Lord Jesus who came in this world, who was not.
As we had this morning, he was not going to die because of something he did. He gave his life a ransom of for all the ransom has been paid. He wants to hand you a pardon. Will you take that pardon?
Will you take it? He wants to reach it out to you, and all you have to do is say yes. Lord Jesus, I want you to be my Savior.
I'm gonna look back into numbers.
Numbers 21.
This evening, the purpose of this gospel is to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ to the center.
In Numbers 21 There was a group of people and they were dying and they were getting bitten. And it says Numbers 21. We're just going to read a little bit in verse seven, starting at verse seven. And Numbers 21. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed.
For the people tonight, have you accepted your position before God? It says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, everyone has fallen short. There's a standard and you're short. You know, a simple illustration at the beach, there's a place where you can play bumper cars for kids and there's a line right there. And uh, this guy's worked there for years. I think he's been there for like 30 years.
I mean, I remember him there when?
You know, before I was married and he was there and he won't let you in unless you're this fall. I don't know how tall it is exactly, but I want to say about four feet tall. And if you're not that tall and I still remember kids, you know, they couldn't wait till they could be that tall and then they can go by themselves. You know, there's a standard that probably has an insurance company that says you have to be 4 feet tall to ride your own little car. And, you know, kids have fun doing that. But there's a standard and, you know, if you're not that tall, you can't go.
And you know, heaven has a higher standard than that.
It's a different standard. They can't have one sin in heaven. You can't take your sins with you to heaven. You can't take one sin into heaven.
And the soul that sinneth it shall die. You've got a problem tonight if you.
Don't have your sins washed away and the blood of the Lord Jesus. You have a problem tonight.
And you can't solve your problem. You have to have another that's greater than you. And the Lord Jesus tonight wants to be your Savior. He's a Savior of sinners. But will you take your place as a Sinner? And you'll accept his offer of salvation to you? So in verse seven, we see that they had a problem, OK, but they said we've sinned. That's the first step. Admit you're a Sinner.
And the gospel, it's very simple.
Admit you're a Sinner, a believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and confess them with your mouth. It's very, very simple to be saved. They said they had a problem. And verse 8 The Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looked looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of breath.
Lived, you know, there's a simple story, you know, and it reminds me of like a flagpole. And there's this serpent of brass and that serpent of brass on top of that. All you had to do is look. There's a gospel song we sing. It says look and live tonight. All you have to do is look. And this right here, it says they had to look when he looketh upon it.
Shall live.
You know, tonight that's all you have to do is you have to look at the cross and you have to say I will accept you, Lord Jesus, as my Savior.
You have to be sorry for your sins, repent from your sins, be sorry for your sins, and accept Him as your Savior. He is a willing Savior. He's willing to forgive you your sins. He paid the price for your sins on the cross. That story is a little picture in the Old Testament of the story we have in John chapter 3 in John chapter 3.
00:25:22
Is a well known verse.
316 But there's a store, There's a verse right before that, and it says in John chapter 3 and verse 14, it's referring to the story we just read. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. He does not want you to perish tonight.
The Lord Jesus does not want you to perish.
A man once said, perish, put eternally ruin into a sinner's hell. He does not want you to die without Christ. That's what to perish is to die in your sins without Christ.
So what did you, what did he have to do? That man or that woman or that young child, All he had to do is look and live, and tonight there's no difference. It says that whosoever believeth in him, that's the Lord Jesus Christ should not perish. You won't die but have eternal life. You won't die in your sins. You'll have an eternal life. You'll have everlasting life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
You know, sometimes that verse is read so many times that we don't understand. We don't slow down enough to think about the weight of that verse God so loved.
God so loved.
God sent his Son, eternal Son, always his Son, always doing His will perfect. Send him into this world to become the Son of man. He became the Son of man.
He was not a man before.
And he's still a man tonight. And if you're in your sins, you will see that man. But he won't be your savior. He'll be your judge tonight.
He can be your savior.
And that man.
Lived 33 years and he was born to die, because a perfect man was the only one that could die and be that sacrifice. You could not pay for your sins. I could not pay for my sins. But there was only one that could be that perfect sacrifice that could pay for all those sins of the past and all those that are going to come from that cross to now.
And he is blood alone.
Can wash your sins away. There's nothing more that you can do. There's only one perfect man, the Lord Jesus.
And he's God's son.
God in the flesh, it says. No man has seen God at any time.
You know, you have conversations with people and they get all mixed up and they say, well, I'm going to tell God this or tell God that.
I believe in John four it says God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
And then Philip when he asked the Lord Jesus, show us the Father with the Lord Jesus, say he that has seen me hath seen the Father. It's expressed image of his person is what it says in Hebrews. The Lord Jesus is the God manifest in the flesh. There is nothing other. If you reject the Lord Jesus, there is no other savior for you, nothing.
Verse 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Tonight.
God wasn't sent into the world to condemn the world. That's what it says in verse 17. He did not come to this world to condemn the world.
00:30:04
God must punish sin. We're gonna look at a verse in Peter first. Peter.
Peters right after.
James and then Peter. OK.
Says in first Peter chapter one.
Verse 18.
Chapter one and verse 18. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your Father, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily, was for ordained before the foundation of the world, that was manifest in these last times for you.
The Lord Jesus, it was predetermined that He was going to come. This was not a surprise. God was not surprised that you would be here tonight in your sins if you're not saved. He knew man would need a Savior.
And so he sent the Lord Jesus, and in that divine plan the Lord Jesus came to this world.
And then I wanna read another.
Verse, since we're in that chapter, the end of verse.
Last verse verse 25.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
You know, if there's a story that I tell or say something wrong, that is not gonna make a difference tonight. It's the word of God. Everything that we have tonight, there's nothing new that we have. There's no new stories, nothing to tickle your ears. It's the word of God which abideth forever. This is the word which you'll be judged at if you refuse the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will use his word to judge you.
And he will be. And he will have to put you to hell, into hell. Why does he have to put you in hell if you refuse to accept? Because he is holy and he must judge sin.
Who took the judgment from me and everyone else in this room accepted the Lord Jesus.
God punished Jesus for my sins, and we sing a song as a stroke upon stroke as God's wrath awoke.
Fell upon thee for me. The Lord Jesus took the punishment of my sins, it says He.
Bore in his own body on the tree.
He took my sins in his own body on the tree, and he made them.
His very own.
I believe we have that in the.
2nd Corinthians 521.
2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 21. Don't want to misquote that, for he hath made him. God hath made Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Think of it, God making the Lord Jesus sin so I could be free.
He took the punishment, so I will never have to take the punishment. Who do you have to pay your bills?
You know tonight.
The gospel is sent for us in many ways, a lot of one on ones and one thing that people say.
And unfortunately I heard this by a man that.
Says he saved. He said the Old Testament is just a bunch of fables.
And he told that to another man in my office, and the other man was very bothered by it.
This is the word of God.
This is the authority. The Old Testament is not fables, and I want to read a verse in Peter a little farther.
And it says in second Peter chapter one and verse 16.
00:35:08
You know, I've heard people say, well, that's your opinion, Ted, on how to get saved.
That is a way to get saved, the Bible says.
Neither is there salvation in any other.
But there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's no other way. But if you don't believe the Bible, you can't get to heaven, because the Bible is the word of God.
And it says without faith, it's impossible to please God. It's impossible. But you know, tonight the Lord Jesus wants to give you the faith because even that's a gift of God. He wants to give that to you in Ephesians.
We'll read that in a minute, but in verse 16, second Peter one and 16, it says we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. This is Peter writing this.
For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with Him in that holy mount.
That is what God thinks of His Son. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
You know, we're gonna look at that story at the cross.
Well, we're going back that direction. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You know, the difference in this room is not that some people have more faith than other people. That's not it.
Are you willing to accept the gift of faith?
That's what it says right here for my grace. Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God. He wants to give you the faith to believe there's nothing you need to come in this room with to get saved other than your sins.
You don't need to bring anything to the Lord Jesus. You know Jim, the guy that I was telling you, he thinks he's got to clean his life up a little bit.
You don't have to clean anything up. Just come right as you are. Just bring your sins. Bring your sins because we have a Savior who can wash away your sin. That's what we have. We have a Savior tonight. Do you like your sins?
Luke, chapter 22.
Luke, chapter 22.
And I just wanna read a few verses.
So you get the picture of the agony that the Lord Jesus had.
That night as he contemplated dying on that cross.
And verse Luke 22 and verse.
42.
Saying, Father, if thou wilt be we, be willing, If thou be willing, remove this cup for me. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Has sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Is this a savior that you want to reject tonight? Do you want to reject my Savior, My Savior who was contemplating?
Go into that cross of Calvary and you reject him. You say no, I won't have the Savior tonight. I like living in my sins. I'm going to do this all on my own. Is that what you're going to say tonight? I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to do it my way. I hope that's not what you say.
Then we turn to Chapter 23.
And in chapter 23.
I want to bring special attention to verse 3333. Verse 33. We'll start at 32. Pardon me, it says in. There were also two other malefactors LED with him to be put to death.
00:40:15
You know, there was 3 crosses on Mount Calvary and I wanna talk a little bit about those 3 crosses. My savior was on that middle cross.
And there was a thief on one side and there was a thief on the other side. And you know, we're all thieves because we've all stolen from God. We've taken glory from God that was due him.
Let's read verse.
33 And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him with the Lord Jesus and the Malefactor, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding, And the Ruler also with him derided him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
Verse 39 And one of the malefactors or thieves which were hanged railed on him.
Saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. That's the one thief on the one side, and here's the what the other thief said on the other side. But the other answer in rebuked him, saying, Dost thou fear God? See thou art in the same condemnation.
That's my question tonight to you, dost thou not? Dost thou dost not thou fear God? See now we're in the same condemnation. Do you fear God tonight? Do you believe the word of God? Do you believe that the word of God says that if you are in your sins you are on a going on a Rd.
Called hell. You are not going to go to heaven. You will have nothing to say.
Not like what men say and they say I'm going to tell God this. I'm sure that God's fair and he's going to see something and if God is love, then he will overlook this. But God is light and he's holy and he can't.
But the other answer and rebuked him, saying, Dost thou fear God? Verse 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deed. But this man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus says him, verily I say unto thee today.
Shalt thou be with me in paradise?
There was one man that day that brought joy to the Savior.
One man that brought joy to the Savior on that cross. Can you imagine being a bystander hearing those words today?
Wilt thou be with me in paradise?
You know tonight if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, it says there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth.
You know what a man tell me about 2 1/2 months ago?
This man belongs to a religion that says you have to be baptized to get to heaven.
He talked to me for an hour and a half. I said, I want to know what your church teaches, how to be saved. You know, it doesn't matter what any church teaches, what the word of God teaches. But I asked him because I wanted to hear what he was going to say. He said you have to be saved to be baptized. I said there's a verse in the Bible that talks about a thief on the cross and it says.
In Jesus words today will thou be with me in paradise?
I said I don't read about that man getting baptized. He stopped. He said I think he would have to be proxy baptized later to get there.
You know there isn't a child in the room that doesn't know that. That sounds very foolish. When the Lord Jesus says today, wilt thou be with me in paradise? That's what he means. It is simple to be saved.
It is hard to get to hell. You have to walk by the cross. The cross blocks the road to hell. You have to say no to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has.
Made so many ways.
Using different people to give the gospel to you.
I would be very shocked if there's someone in this room who has not heard the gospel multiple times. I am shocked that when I meet someone who I think possibly had never heard the gospel in this country and there are some, I asked them about their mother or their grandmother and they have been had the gospel.
00:45:16
It is hard to get to hell. You have to say no to the Lord Jesus Christ and you have to want to like your sins. Do you like your sins tonight? You know, it's our, it's our prayer that you would surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read one last verse. Our time is coming to a close. The last verse.
Romans 10 and verse 9.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
The Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from a dead. Thou shalt be saved tonight. You could have walked in these doors a Sinner, and you can walk out saved, knowing that your sins are washed away, knowing that you're on your way to heaven, No Fear of death, all gone. Let's ask the Lord Jesus for.
Help for any of ones in this room that are still deciding.
Our Father, we just thank thee for thy word. We just pray that there's anyone in this crowd right now. And the sound of my voice and.
They're lingering.
And they're undecided, Lord, we know if they're undecided, they're on the way to lost eternity. Hell. We just pray that Satan, uh, the God of this world who had blinded their minds that they would not believe the truth that.
The light of the glorious Gospel.
Would sink into their hearts.
And they would become saved tonight. We just pray tonight that there would be a soberness that if there's anyone that is here undecided that they would, uh, be able to turn to their neighbor that's, uh, sitting next to them and ask them for help. We just pray that, uh, we would understand the severity of this. We pray that we would give the gospel to our neighbors, to our coworkers.
To ones that we go to school with.
We just know that time is short. We thank Thee that the day of grace is still open. We know that it says, behold, now is the accepted time, and behold, now is the day of salvation. Many of us look forward to thy coming, Lord Jesus.
But we think of what a scary thing that will be for any ones that are left behind in their sins. We just ask for help. We just know that Thy word will not fall to the ground and die, but it will, It will, uh, prosper, uh, without us, uh, wanted to do Lord. We just think that it's Thy word and not ours in Jesus name, Amen.
Delight Thyself In The Lord
1 John 2:1-11
Reading
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.
216.
Lord, we rejoice.
Sit upon thy Father's throne.
What we rejoice.
That our arms to the heart.
Thy heart.
00:05:45
We ask for God's blessing, our Father, our God. We're thankful that we have an hour set before us that has been set aside to open up that precious word. And now we would ask that the Holy Spirit would teach us more of our blessed Lord Jesus and to help us in our walk, even here on this pathway, this journey that we wait for our Lord Jesus. So we just ask earnestly for our hearts to be prepared, our Father and our God, as we open up this precious book and thy name, we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
John, Chapter 2.
First John chapter 2 and verse one.
My little children or my children, these things write eye unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He to say, if I know him and keepeth not his commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Both so keep with His word. In him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought Himself also so to walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you.
Which thing is true in him and in you? Because darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother is in darkness. Even until now he that loveth loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
I write on to you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him, that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. I've written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him, that is from the beginning. I've written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you.
And ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time.
And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are their minty many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things I have not written unto you, because you know not the Truth.
But because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth, who is a liar but he that? But he that denies that Jesus is the Christ, He is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, He also shall continue in the sun.
00:10:11
And in the Father. And this is the promise, that He has promised us even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and His truth, and is no lie. And even as it has taught you, He shall abide in Him. And now children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
Our brother Brother Ted in reading this chapter has.
Umm, it's helpful to see, uh, in verse one it says my little children and the King James Version, but it's really my children because he's addressing the whole family of God. The same is true in verse 12 where he says I write unto you.
As little children in King James, but it's really children because it's addressing the whole family of God, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake.
Again, in the verse 28 at the end of the chapter, it's really children because it's addressing the whole family of God. When we come to verse 13 in this chapter, we find that there's three different categories that he addresses.
And there we have fathers, we have young men, and there it is proper little children, those that are youngest in the family of God.
In those three categories are addressed two times in this chapter, first briefly in verse 13 and then again beginning with verse 14. He addresses the Fathers.
The young men and then in verse 18, it is properly little children. I think it is helpful if we can keep that in mind as we go through this chapter.
Maybe someone can explain what the difference is. Why is it children? I understand you you're saying it represents the whole family, but children has a distinct aspect of something opposed to sons which is different. So maybe someone can explain what is the characteristic of of being children.
Those that have been born into God's family and have that divine nature.
Don't you think that's right? I think that's right, yeah.
Life and nature are connected with children. Sonship has to do with position before God in the sons place. We are before God in the very place of the Son of God himself that sonship.
So there are two different lines of truth and uh, Paul emphasizes sonship, John, the idea of the children in the family. Having said that, you should note that in chapter 3, the King James Version does not, uh, get this exactly right. And he mentioned sons there in verse one of chapter 3, but it should be translated children and again in chapter in verse 2.
It says, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that he should we should be called sons of God, should be translated children of God, because that's the theme of John's writings. And in verse two, beloved, now we are the sons of us shall again be translated children. So it just helps us to.
Note that distinction.
The first 2 verses of the chapter really belong to the subject that has been in discussion in the end of the first chapter, and the chapter would probably have been better to be placed elsewhere. But anyway, he's talking about advocacy and he's talking about the confession of sin, and he's showing that the the results of a person of of of Christ's work as an advocate produces confession of sin.
00:15:07
Notice what it says here. I write onto your little children or my children.
These things I write on to you, that you sin not if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, doesn't say. If any man confesses sins, we have an advocate with the Father. It's the work of the advocate that makes us turn to him, to the Father, and to confess our sins. So it's important to see that his work of his advocate begins when a believer sins, not when he confess, turns to God and confesses his sin, because he'd never do that apart from Christ's work as an advocate.
So sometimes we get the cart before the horse and these subjects, but just remember that we can't save ourselves, we can't keep ourselves, and if we fail, we can't restore ourselves. We need an advocate to produce that in US, and that's the subject of the first couple of verses of chapter 2.
So we see that illustrated with the Lord's dealings with Peter, don't we? Because even before Peter denied his Lord three times with oath and curses, the Lord said to Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren. And so because the Lord was praying for Peter, there could be restoration. Peter failed and he failed badly, but there was immediate work began, a work of restoration. It was a process, of course.
But it immediately began when Peter had denied the Lord, looked and turned and looked and saw the Lord.
Then that work in his soul began. But it was because the Lord had been praying for Peter. And isn't it a tremendous thought, brethren, to think that the Lord Jesus, as a glorified man at the right hand of God this morning, is praying for us every hour of every day? I find that a tremendous thought. We had the privilege a while ago to pray for one another and to bring before our, the throne of grace, our own needs. But there's one who's praying for us every hour of every day.
And you'll notice here that when it's a question of his advocacy, it's with the Father. There are some contrasts and won't take a lot of time to go into them, but in Hebrews, where he takes up the high priestly work of the Lord, and maybe I'll just say this, His high priestly work is to preserve us in the path of faith and service. His advocacy is to restore us when we fail, when sin comes in. And so he's performing those two offices for us.
At the right hand of God this morning, praying for us in those two capacities.
But we find that we are in Hebrews, where he takes up at length the High Priestly.
Office of the Lord, it's with God, because that's power. It's power to go on in the path of faith and service. And in the measure in which we avail ourselves of his high priestly work, we won't need his advocacy.
But then it says here, if any man sin, not when, because remember, he's taking up the character what characterizes the family of God. And it's not sin. But if any man's sin, if, if it does come in, then there's an advocate not with God, but with the Father. And I sometimes said to the young people, to me, this is the clearest scripture on eternal security because I know when you go to school or work, you have Christian friends.
And acquaintances that will tell you, well, when you sin you lose your salvation. The family relationship is broken. If it said we have an advocate with God, we might well wonder. But the Spirit of God is so careful to guard the eternal security of the believer that it is an advocate with the Father, showing that when I fail or sin, in no way is the family relationship broken, but I do have to do with my Father. So any of us who have chil have had children know that when our children disobeyed us or went against us.
We didn't bring them up to the court of law. We didn't disown them, but they did have to do with us as parents. They did have to do with me as a as a father. And so it's an advocate with the Father. And if anybody comes along and tells you when you sin, you lose your salvation, you're no longer a child of God. Just turn to this verse and show them that in no way is the family relationship broken, but we do have to do with him.
As the family relationship.
I think it's beautiful, Ellis. Pardon. I think a beautiful illustration as to the difference between first John and Hebrews is like in.
00:20:07
In First John, it's like the hospital at the bottom of the Cliff, and the book of Hebrews is like the fence that's at the top of the Cliff to keep you from falling.
Just gonna say that the exhortation here is that ye sin not. It is not necessary to sin. And sometimes you know, temptation can be very strong. Remember this young people and us who are older as well, it is not necessary to sin. We look up to that man in the glory and realize that he is interceding our cause.
And we're saying as our great high priest, ministering grace so that we will not sin often. Think of the prayer the Lord taught his disciples. Uh, lead us not into temptation. Remember, when you know there's temptation around the corner, don't go there. It's important. That's because we give place to our fleshly desires that sometimes we do sin, but it's not necessary. There's every provision made.
I like to think of the picture we have in the Old Testament when children of Israel came out of Egypt and they met up with their first enemy was Amalek, which is a picture of God of the Satan's working with the flesh in US. It's a strong battle that goes on, but there were two on the top of the mount with Moses as he interceded to hold up his hands.
One was Aaron and the other was her picture of the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest.
And as our advocate to keep us going, and we have an advocate with the Father, an interesting in the Spanish, the word advocate is the same word as lawyer. He's the one that takes up our cause here. And we have one advocate there in the presence of God, which is the Lord Jesus. And we have one advocate here, which is the Spirit of God. Both are working to keep us on track.
Don't give place to sin these things. I write unto you that ye sin not.
Do we send? Well, it's pretty clear in the last verses of the last chapter that we do sin and we can't deny it, but it's not normal for a Christian to sin. It's not characteristic of a Christian to sin.
Beautiful. Know that he's there for us, brother. Let's just go back a moment to what you said, Bob, about the two men with Moses on the on the mountains, because that was the secret of their victory that day. And I think we very quickly see that on the one hand, Aaron represents to us the the high priestly work of the Lord. I know he hadn't been officially put into the priesthood yet, but I think we see the picture very clearly.
But we might say, why do you say that her is a picture of his advocacy? Well, it's interesting that hers name means purity. And I believe it corresponds with what we have in the end of our first verse here, Jesus Christ the righteous. How can the Lord Jesus be our advocate? Because the when I sin, it's just as if the Lord Jesus in the presence of the Father says I've paid for that sin.
There's no compromise.
Because of the death of Christ. Because of the work of Calvary that has taken care of my sin.
The Lord Jesus can be a righteous advocate. You know, sometimes I haven't always acted righteously in connection with my children.
Perhaps sometimes there was compromise, but there's no compromise in connection with the advocacy of Christ. So Aaron's name means purity, and that's why, as you say, he's a picture of the advocacy means purity, and that's why he's a picture of Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous. You and I have a righteous advocate who's paid for every sin. As we said yesterday, when our sins were taken up at the cross, they were all future.
And he has taken care of my sins, past, present and future.
It's all been taken care of through the work of Calvary, and now I have one in the presence of the Father when I sin.
He says I've paid for that sin. There can be restoration. Another thing to meditate on, brethren, that her was from the tribe of Judah. Very interesting.
00:25:12
Go to Revelation Chapter 12 to see why we need and advocate with the Father.
Uh, here is speaking about Satan and notice what it says uh.
Verse 10 of Revelation 12 and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven as come salvation, and strengthen the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. This part for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuse them before our God day and night. So and then when we give place to sin.
There's an accuser and he flies to the presence of God and he says.
Before God, God, where is your righteousness? Look at this guy that says he's your son and look what he's doing. Where's your righteousness? And there on God's right hand, one rises up who has nail prints in his hands and he says, yes, he sinned the Father. I will take that into account. I made propitiation on the cross.
To to take up this.
Matter in a way that is completely righteous. And brethren, he cannot have another word. If it were not for that, brethren, where would we be? We would be long gone. But it's because of him, his presence there, not only as our great High priest but as our advocate, that we can go on.
One of the things about sin, our brother mentioned we in connection with sin yesterday, you know, uh, in a garden that weeds are way easier to pull. They have a lot smaller roots when they're small. And we may be going through the day and a thought comes to our mind and the Lord by the Holy Spirit will tell us that's wrong, that's a wrong thought. And if we disagree with the Lord and we just say, I'm sorry, it's over, that's the end of it.
But if we go on and we start to make excuses for ourselves and say, well, you know, and we toy with sin, it grows and grows and grows and grows and grows. And then it's a big deal. And maybe, you know, as it grows, let's say I don't touch that. Now it's a problem between me and my wife and the Lord's talking to me and he's saying that are you listening? This is a problem. And maybe I don't judge it. And then it just keeps getting escalated. And so maybe it comes in before.
Might be good to say too, that the Lord never as our advocates, sympathizes with us in our sins.
He's faithful and just as the advocate as our high priest. He's faithful and merciful as our high priest. He sympathizes and empathizes with us because he passed through this world. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. But as far as his advocacy, he's faithful and just, and he does not sympathize with us in our sins. Again, you see it in the Old Testament. He heard their groaning.
That was one thing, but when they murmured and complained when sin came in, he did not sympathize with them. He came in in his governmental ways.
I think what Jim mentioned earlier about Peter.
00:30:02
Uh, certainly shows the work of restoration, don't you think Jim? Yes, and with David too, he said he restoreth my soul. David recognized he couldn't restore his own soul. He came in repentance and you guessed his prayer in the 51St Psalm of repentance. But again there he says restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He recognized that he needed to come in repentance and repentance is recognizing that I sinned.
That I've sinned in the sight of God, taking sides with God as to that sin.
And coming in contrition in that way. But that's all we do. He's the one that restores.
He leads us in the paths of righteousness. He brings us back to the right way.
So we we need to come, but even that work of repentance is a work of grace in US, isn't it? It's God that works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. I know that applies to something specific, but I think there's a broad application whether it was initial repentance for salvation that was the work of God, whether it's repentance on an ongoing basis in my Christian life, it's the work of God.
Whether I'm going on well in my Christian life, if there was some response to the Lord today, something done for him, that's the work of the Spirit of God in my soul. It's all His work. And brethren, when we get home to glory and we review the pathway, we're going to have nothing to boast in whether it was our salvation, whether it was our preservation in the path of faith, whether it was the times we were restored when there was failure.
We're going to recognize that everything came from himself. He works in us, He works with us, and He's going to get all the glory in the end. But again, I say David recognized that the work of restoration was the work of God himself, a work of the Lord himself. And in Peter's case, you mentioned, Jim, that the Lord Jesus prayed for him even before, and he saw the problem in Peter and he prayed for him.
But then after his resurrection, there was an encounter with Peter that we know nothing about. And I think it's important in restoration to realize when we do sin, that verse is individual restoration with the Lord. But Peter's sin was public, and so it had to be addressed in a public way too. And that's what we get in John 21.
And after they had eaten breakfast that day, why the Lord says to Peter Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He said he loved the Lord more than any of the rest, and so he addresses it. I think it is so gracious of the Lord when it comes to His public restoration that he doesn't say anything about having denied him.
Nothing. Only this Peter Simon, son of Jonas. Do you love me more than these? And the three times he addresses him, it's the same question. You love me? No, brethren. How that touches the heart and what is it rather than that keeps us going on? It's the enjoyment that his love is towards us. Even when we fail, it's towards us.
And to get back and be restored, it's important to have repentance, but it's the knowledge of his love that gives us to take up what the Lord has given us again. And it's interesting in the book of the Acts, Peter was so restored that and I think it's in the 4th chapter, he could say to the Jews, ye denied the Holy One and the just who you? Who's that talking?
Peter, I thought you denied him, but he was so restored in his soul that God could use him.
By the Spirit of God mightily in laying that sin to the charge of the Jewish people.
That beautiful to see how there can be full restoration and God used that man that's so dishonored. The Lord used him mightily. That should be an encouragement to us all.
I'd like to hear, Brother Bruce, what you have to say about propitiation.
00:35:06
It's a big word.
Need something more than that?
It's the aspect of Christ's work on the cross that is rendered a full satisfaction to the outbreak of sin.
Yeah, it is.
What Christ has made not only for believers, but for the whole world, that's what he mentions here. It's made the whole world savable. Doesn't mean that the whole world is saved, but now the world can be saved if they come to Christ and faith and personal have a personal dealing with him. But he said that aspect of the death of of the work of Christ on the cross that is rendered a full satisfaction to God over the whole outbreak of sin and the creation.
That's that's part of atonement. The other part is substitution, which is a believers part and he receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. He is the one that took in his place under the judgment of God and borne their sins and the judgment of those sins on the tree. Two parts make up atonement, officiation and substitution.
I like the way Brother Chuck Hendricks used to speak about it. It's that which vindicates God's holy character so completely that he is not compromised in His Holiness when he comes out to extend forgiveness of sins to the Sinner. And I think that's very the thought of propitiation, that which vindicates God's holy character. God had been dishonored.
About the question of sin, hear these creatures that he had made fell into that. And so in the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, it was not only what he did for us. We think of that Christ died for our sins. That's like you say, brother Bruce is substitution, but it's what he did for God. My late father-in-law used to say we think of Christ died for us and that's true. That's amazingly, wonderfully true.
But he says, let's not forget that Christ died for God, and that's propitiation and the great day of atonement. There were two goats that were taken. The first was killed and his blood was taken into the holiest of all by the high priest and sprinkled on the mercy seat. That's propitiation. God has been propitiated about the question of sin so that now we can.
Preach the gospel to every creature. We can say God is satisfied with what Jesus has done on the cross. You can come, you can be forgiven your sins if you repent and believe in Him. Oh, it's a wonderful message. We don't just preach to the elect, we preach to every preacher. That was the command of the Lord. Why does this verse about propitiation follow the verse of advocacy? There must be a reason that developed the two.
Someone could explain that?
He's our advocate on the basis of his death. His high priestly work has to do with his life. Now we're saved by his life. He's living for us as our high priest. But as we said earlier, he's paid, made the payment for sin. He satisfied God as to the question of sin. And that's how he can be our advocate. And so we can come with that assurance that it has all been taken care of for the glory of God.
Does it also have the thought of why?
It can say freely, Father instead of God, because appreciation has been made. We have peace. That's very helpful.
So what's? I'm sorry, The words the sins of are in italics, you'll notice that.
And I think we're all cognizant of the fact that when the King James Version puts italics in, it's because they're identifying the fact that it's not in the original text, but they're adding it for clarity as they think it is to be for clarity. But on this case, it made a mistake. And bring in making Christ work, as in propitiation to be for the whole world. That means that the whole world would be saved and God would be unjust to have anybody going to a lost eternity if that would be the case. So.
00:40:01
The sins of should not be in the translation should just be, but also for the whole world.
So propitiation has been made for the whole world, but this means the whole world is saved.
It made the world savable. God can now reach out in grace and offer pardon and forgiveness to anyone who'll have faith in the finished work of Christ.
Because the second goat on the Day of Atonement was the goat that the high priest put his hands on its head and confessed the sins of the people. And that substitution, like you say, Bruce, and that is for those who will identify with Christ and their sins then are taking away. That's the scapegoat. Do you have something to say, Dave? So propitiation.
Is what makes the grace of God through Christ's work available to all.
All may come, do all come. No, they don't, but all may come. So in propitiation the door is swung wide open to all who may come. But substitution, the substitutionary death of Christ.
Is known and laid hold of only by those who walk through the door.
Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 26 and verse 28 give you the two parts of atonement, officiation and substitution. So let's read that. Hebrews 9 verse 26 then must be for OFT suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world, or in the consummation of the ages, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That's propitiation. That's God's side of the word.
But then moving on to verse 28, it says so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
Now that's substitution. That's our side of the word.
Two parts go together to make atonement.
But we've been saying that in first John, we have that which characterizes the family of God, those who have divine life, the divine nature. And there are in the verses that follow, there are two more characteristics given to us. One is obedience to God into the word of God, and the other is love for the for the the family of God, love for our brethren. And so these two things again are what characterized.
To those who have divine life. So I think it'd be helpful to make some comments on these two things. We have them.
Uh, inverse, uh, verse 3 hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandment. And then further down, he speaks of love for other members of the family of God. And when we think about this, is this really think of your own, of my own life. Think of your life. Is this, what is there a desire in your soul to walk in obedience to the word of God?
Is there a love for the people of God, others of the children of God, the family of God? If there is, then you can be pretty certain that you have divine life, that you are a child of God. I, I, I know I got into trouble one time for saying this, but I do believe it's true that what we have in John's epistle are a little series of tests rather as to whether we really are the children of God. Are you the possessor of divine life?
Here's some little tests you have that is there that desire to keep His word? Is there a love for another child of God you meet? Another child of God you've never met before?
Is there a bond? Is there something that clicks there? Is there a love that's a proof that you are a child of God? Is that right, Bruce? Yeah, that's right. It's in connection with the confusion that had already come into the Christian testimony at that time. As we've been saying, the last meeting yesterday that there were Gnostics, and there was these ones were mere professors that were wildly off. How are we to know a true believer from one who was just a mere professor of these tests that he holds up for us? Give us the characteristics of those who are the children of God.
In connection with light, love, and so on.
One of the reasons that we need that the test for truth and the pictures of what a Christian is that we have in the Word of God is because everything that we have here in the New Testament was written in the midst of a scene of things where these false teachings were coming out. That's you go back to the book of Genesis and the early chapters of Genesis and those two characteristics of evil that we see at the beginning of man's history.
00:45:26
Our violence and corruption and those always go together and we live, we live in a scene where God calls upon us to believe certain things that He has revealed. So the effort of the enemy is always to get us in one way or another to believe something else or to not believe in one way or another what God has given. And so these things are laid out in such a way to give us a picture of what a Christian is so that we can have discernment.
Between one thing and another.
It's good to learn these doctrines to really, it's good to have what makes us feel good in our souls and to have the comfort, but we want the comfort that we enjoy to be based upon the sound teaching of the Word of God, and that's why we have these.
Objective truths that you might say. God is giving us a picture of what a Christian is and what the basis of our faith is.
So we have commandments and in verse five we have keeping His word. It's interesting, those two things. We now have a nature, a divine nature that wants to do what God asks us to do. It's beautiful to think about it. And really in a certain way, there's more commands in the New Testament than there are in the Old.
And we have a nature that wants to do them. The difference in the Old Testament was that man in his nature did not want to do what God told him to do. And so it was all over the place. They did not keep those commandments. But now we have a life in nature that loves to do His commandments. Like somebody said, if I asked my son to do some chores, he might find it heavy to do. But if I go, ask him to go and buy an ice cream cone.
He has a nature that loves to do that. That's what we have, brethren. We have a nature that loves to do his commands and the New Testament is full of his commands. Thou shalt not, uh, uh, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That's a command. It doesn't say if you like to don't do it, but it's a command and we need to recognize that if you are truly a born again Christian.
You have a nature that wants to do exactly what he asked you to do, but the word goes further and I understand my own.
That this word is his complete revealed mind that we have in scriptures sometimes give this illustration the buzzing. I have two sons and supposing that one.
Is close to me and He not only is obedient to me, but He is close to me and He listens to what I am thinking about and projects that I might have in mind.
The second one, he is obedient to my commands, but he's not close to me and he doesn't really understand my way of thinking. I think this shows the difference between.
Uh, those that are obedient to His command and those that, uh, are keeping his word. Go back to John's Gospel, chapter 14. You have the same distinction. And it's interesting the way it gives it.
John 1421 Ye that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me.
You will keep my words and the father and my father will love him and will we will come to him and make our abode with him. So one thing is to keep his commandments. It's another thing I think is a, a fuller thing to keep his word. If we can have some more thoughts on that. Well, and that says you'll notice in the new translation that says if anyone loved me, he will keep my word.
00:50:29
In the singular, you know, Vern used an expression yesterday about the all embracing. There are places in Scripture where we see that it's the whole thing that he's given and that's what he wants us to be taken up with. It's not just this saying of the Lord and this saying, you know, First Timothy 6 Paul talks about wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus, and we would agree with that. But here it's the thought, it's the whole thing that he came to reveal that he is the center of.
And that's what he wants us to keep. And what is the result of that? When you were speaking, I was thinking a result of that is communion. He wants us to be in communion with him. And to be in communion with him. We need to have a pure conscience and we need to be taken up with his things.
And I remember hearing when I first came among the Saints about the expression occupied with Christ. We need to be occupied with Christ. And if we're occupied with Christ, then everything will be in its right place in our lives. Well, that sounds kind of simple. What does it mean to be occupied with Christ? It means to be taken up with his things on a daily basis, on an hourly basis.
To be occupied with Christ's things is to be occupied with Christ.
And we have no excuse because we have all the resources that are needed to carry out what we've been saying. When Adam disobeyed in the garden, he received the knowledge of good and evil, but he also quickly realized he didn't have the power to do good or the power to refrain from evil. And in the Old Testament, we find that the the Israelites were given religion for the flesh.
And at the beginning they said all the Lord our God has said that what we do, there's going to be complete obedience on our part. Well, we find out from their sad history that they didn't and couldn't really after the flesh, keep His commandments and His Word and so on. But in Christianity, brethren, we have everything that's needed. We have all things that pertain unto life and godliness. So as Brother Bob has said, we have the divine nature. You realize we have a nature that cannot sin.
I.
That that'd be presumptuous if it wasn't the truth of the Word of God. We have a nature that cannot sin and a nature that delights in nothing else but to please God and to keep his commandments and to keep his word. And so sometimes I've heard people say, well, I can't do that or I didn't do that because I'm what I am and I have this characteristic. And people will often blame things on either racial traits or family traits. Scripture recognizes there are both of those.
Why the Christians were always slow, bellied and liars. There's family characteristics and traits.
But we cannot blame anything in our Christian life on either of those.
I, I, I'm, I'm English by, by nationality, but I can't say I'm just a stubborn Englishman and that's why I can't do that. There are highland characteristics, but I can't say, well, that's just the Highlands for you. No, I have divine life. I have the spirit of God as the power for that life. I have Christ living for me as my advocate and my high priest. I have the word of God as food and instruction for my soul. And brethren, if someone comes along and says I could as a believer and says, I couldn't help it, don't say, well, I, I, I don't blame you. I you're just feeding the flesh. You're just encouraging them.
To to live for themselves, to live in the flesh. No bring before them that they have every resource that's necessary. God hasn't set a standard before us that is unattainable. None of us have attained. Of course, we all have to have. At least I have to hang my head and say these things, smite my own soul. But nevertheless, I say again, God hasn't set a standard before us that is unattainable with the resources and the position that he has brought us into even now while we're here in this world.
Prophetically, the Lord Jesus says in Psalm 40.
00:55:01
I'd like to do thy will. Oh my God, Yeah. Thy law is within my heart. That was the Lord Jesus.
And now verse six says He that abideth in him ought himself.
Also, so do walk even as he walked. So that is our example now.
Is his word a treasure in our souls? O brethren, it should be. May the Lord help it that we would be into it. I like the word ye that abideth in him.
What is abiding in Christ? What does that mean?
It's the thought of remaining, isn't it? It's a constancy.
A consistency.
Isn't that something to see that, uh, you know, you, the years go by and you get older and what an encouragement. I think it's one of the most encouraging things is that there are people in this room that I knew years ago, 3035 years ago. And as to that going on with the Lord still today having an interest in the Lord's things, it hasn't changed And you see, you see growth.
I think that's one of the most encouraging things to see in the Christian community.
Someone who has been abiding in Christ.
On a practical note, in that regard, just turn to the 27th Psalm. I think you see something very beautiful with David.
This is the Psalm of David, of course, and just let me read the fourth verse. He says one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, and I want you to notice this expression that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. This expression, the House of the Lord used by David is very unique because usually when we think of the House of the Lord in the Old Testament.
We naturally think of the temple that was built under the direction of Solomon.
But that can't be what David is referring to, because the temple at Jerusalem under Solomon hadn't been built yet.
It was given to his son later on to build it. David had passed off the scene. And so we might well ask ourselves, what does the expression the House of the Lord mean? When David uses it now in the 23rd Psalm, he uses it in a future tense. I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever, but this is in a present tense, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord, not forever, but all the days of my life. I suggest that when David uses this expression.
It is a scent walking with a sense of the Lord's presence with us. Its dwelling in his presence. And David said here I know I'm going on to something better. There's a future when I'll dwell in the House of the Lord. We know it as the Father's house. But David said there's a day coming. I'm going to dwell in the House of the Lord forever. But I don't want to have to wait for that day. I want to buy in the language of the New Testament. I want to abide in Him every day of my life.
And brethren, I don't believe we need to get up in the morning and pray and ask the Lord to be with us as much as we need to get up and pray in the morning and ask that we would walk in the, uh, in a way that we would enjoy a conscious sense of the Lord's presence with us. He'll never leave us. Lo, I'm with you always. He's always with us. He's always there. But to abide in him is a very practical thing. We are in him positionally.
But to abide in him in the context in which we're taking it up is, I say, like David that wants to have a desire to dwell in his presence with a conscious sense of his company every moment, every day of our life. And I believe when we do that, brother, what's going to happen? Our response and love is going to grow and there will be a discernment of his will and a desire to do his will.
01:00:08
When I was younger, I was like, how can that person? I really looked up to him. They they went off into sin, they had an affair. It's totally threw their whole life away. How could they do that? That my flesh is no different than anybody else's flesh.
All of our flesh is the same. Any sin that anybody can commit is inside of each one of us. We have to abide with Christ, as our brother was saying just now in first Peter. Umm.
Chapter 2 it says wherefore. So he's given us all these things that our brothers shared yesterday.
Malice is evil thoughts. Man. I wish you were dead. I wish you weren't here. I wish whatever evil thought all guile that's umm, hiding what we really are and hypocrisy friendly, pretending to be something we're not. These are believers.
This is real. This is not what as we've talked about, this is not what characterizing Christians.
But this is real. And so the Lord allows us this test to say to our own self, look, this is not right.
In my own heart. And he said, any envy is an evil speech, evil speaking. And as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may be able to grow thereby. And I'll just use this very practical thing for myself.
When you have a difficulty with a brother, there are people that we have a hard time with just because of their personality or they shared something or whatever. God wants us to be one with each other and in a practical way for us to overcome that feeling is to pray for blessing.
We come down to verses 7 and eight in our chapter and.
Before commenting on that, I'd like to read a verse in chapter 12 of John. Actually, it's the last word that the Lord speaks in His public ministry. And then chapter 13 we have his upper Room ministry.
Last verse of chapter 12 of John. I know that His commandment is life everlasting whatsoever I speak. Therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
When we come to this verse seven and eight, it helps to keep that in mind. His commandment is life eternal. Here it says in verse seven, brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, that which he had from the beginning. That's a key verse. That's a key expression in this epistle from the beginning.
Every time it's mentioned in this epistle, go back to the very first verse of the epistle, that which was from the beginning, there it is. It relates to that. It's eternal life manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ when He was down here in this world. It's not an old, a new commandment, it's an old commandment. So in verse seven we have the old commandment. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. There it is again, that expression.
So its eternal life has manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we come to verse 8 and he says again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you? In other words, that same eternal life that the Lord Jesus was from all eternity is now manifested in the children of God. That's the new commandment. Which thing is true in him and in you? So that which was manifested in him is now to be manifested in the children of God.
Because the darkness is passing, it says in the new translation, and the true light now shining beautiful, the old commandment and the new commandment.
So yesterday you mentioned the difference between.
01:05:02
John's Gospel and John's epistle. And that's what you're talking about, right? In the Gospel we see these things manifested in him. He is here below. He's companying with his disciples in his ministry and the things he did. We see that eternal life manifested in the person of the Lord Jesus.
But now that is to be found in him and in you.
He's not here anymore.
But he prepared his disciples for the time when he was not going to be here and in that Upper Room ministry.
He lays out those things that we were going to have through the apostles that would carry us through as witnesses of his.
So what's the thought when, when you said Bob, it means passing away, but, uh.
Not is passed.
Not sure I have a thought on that, maybe somebody else does.
But we're not in glory, are we? So we're going through a process. These things that we've read about are being produced in us. We have a nature that can do these things to walk in fellowship and to keep his word and abide in him. And these things are being developed. But Christ is in glory. But we're still on the earth. And I believe that's the thought of it passing away. And we're there with him. It will be passed away. Every time a new believer, uh, there's a new believer, somebody else gets saved more. The darkness passes, doesn't it?
Yes.
Verse 9 is a very searching verse. He that saith is in the light.
And Hateth, his brother, is in darkness even until now.
The real position of a believer is to be his in the light.
And so like you brother Jim said earlier, these are tests to test is are we real with God?
And if you are real, this will be the case that you will not hate your brother.
Remember, a sister down in South America is a problem between sisters and the meeting and she made the statement. I hate that sister.
And there was a brother standing there and I thought his comment was very good. He said, sister, if you have not been born into the family of God, it is true, you will hate that person. But if you have been born into God's family, you have a life and nature that can love that sister. And that's the truth of the matter rather. Because the love that is in us now is the same love that God loved us with.
Why did he love us? Were there something good in us that he loved us? He loved us because God is love. It has nothing to do with what we are in ourselves. It has everything to do with what He is in himself. And that's such a marvelous thing to think about. Now. If you're born into God's family, you have a life in nature that is like the Lord Jesus, and you can love like He loves.
Says Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him, that begot loveth also him, that he has begotten of him.
That is normal to the family of God.
In verse 10 before we finish it says he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. I love that.
In the Psalms it says Great peace have those that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Brethren, this is beautiful to think about. We see offenses amongst brethren and how they are nurtured at times and we have something inside that's bitterness and we cling to it. Let it go. It's gonna hinder you more than anybody else.
01:10:21
But think of this verse, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light.
And there is none occasion of stumbling with him. We cannot blame somebody else that that brother has been a stumbling block. To me that isn't valid.
I'm sorry to say our time has gone out.
Nsnoise.
Sunshine blows, are you? There we live and I will grind the bed.
Oh so I'll change your life real way with friends. They blew the fire and prayer due to praise.
Thank you so much for the things that we had before us and marvelous thing to think.
A very eternal life that was manifested until its perfection, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's now in our garden.
01:15:04
Thank you for that. And, uh.
Thank you to that. We were able to talk a little bit about what characterized that life.
Her grandfather. We have the polite help too.
Allow that light to shine forth in our light. We pray that we would.
He found in communion the father and the son.
The only basis for that is that eternal life that we possess.
Friday.
Umm, well, we know.
It will be light who made thy word, and.
Love for the breadwinner. Full forth in the life so.
We thank you that we could think on these things. Lord, we pray to that as we, uh, move through the day and the days ahead that we would meditate on these things.
That we would realize that we have the lights the Lord Jesus had.
Gone honoring. Thank you so much for what NOW has done, Tina.
Just thank you for calling for this hour right helping the remainder of the day after the Thy worthy name, Lord, Amen.
Foot Washing
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.
I'd like to start the meeting this afternoon with hymn #2 in the appendix.
O Lord, thy loves unbounded, so sweet, so full, so free. My soul is all transported when ere I think of thee hymn #2 in the appendix. If someone could please start it.
I keep my soul, then Jesus.
Hearts hiding still with it and.
If I wander.
Teach me soon by till then to flee.
That's all by gracious.
Favor.
Made to my soul.
Be known.
And.
Versed in this, by goodness.
Thy oh thyself thou.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father, how thankful we are this afternoon for thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank Thee that we have had Him before our souls in these meetings already. We thank Thee that we have one who has not only died for us, but one who has risen, ascended, glorified, seated at thy right hand, as we were reminded this morning, one who's living to make intercession for us.
And one too, who is coming forth at any moment to call us home to himself in the Father's house, How we long for that moment, that meeting in the air, when all the redeemed will be gathered around himself to unhinderedly be occupied with Christ, and to sing His praise for all eternity. But now, in the meantime, we thank thee for another opportunity to have thy living word before us. We pray that as we open and read a passage, that thou continue to encourage our souls.
00:05:23
We pray that they'll build us up. We pray that Christ might be much before us. We pray that it might have an effect on our consciences and on our hearts, and that there would be that practical effect without us desire to have on our walk in ways. So we look to thee for blessing. We only have no might of ourselves, but we turn our eyes to thee and beseech thee for help, asking it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
In keeping with what has been before our souls in the reading meetings, I'd like to read the 1St 17 verses of John's Gospel, chapter 13.
John's Gospel chapter 13 beginning at verse one.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of the world under the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God and went to God.
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself.
After that he poured water into a basin and began to Washington the disciples feet.
And to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus said unto him, He that is washed needeth not saved to wash his feet, but is clean every whip. And ye are clean but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye ought ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you.
The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither is he sent greater than he that sent him.
If you know these things, happier ye if ye do them now, just hold your finger here. We're going to come right back to this portion. I want to read a verse in Luke's Gospel, chapter 12.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 12 and verse 37.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet.
And will come forth and serve them.
Well, this portion was on my heart before these meetings began. And when we when the portion was given out that we have been taking up in the reading meetings, it seemed that the Lord confirmed this portion to my own soul to take up here this afternoon. Because I believe this is really the practical side of what we've been taking up in First John Chapter One. Because in First John Chapter one, as it's been brought out, we find there that it is a fact that we are in the light.
It is a fact that we have been brought into fellowship as the children of God with the Father, with the Son, and as a result with one another. But I believe what we have here in this portion, this illustration of feet washing that the Lord Jesus performed here in the upper room before he went to the cross, brings before us a very practical truth in connection with the maintaining of communion and fellowship with Himself.
00:10:03
As I say in a very real and very practical way, but just to get the setting here we find that as this chapter opens, the Lord Jesus has gathered his disciples in the upper room to give them one last discourse before he goes to the cross, and then, as it says here, to depart out of this world under the Father. It's very interesting to note in the previous chapter.
That the Lord Jesus was finished with his testimony to this world. In fact, in the previous chapter he says now is the judgment of this world, now is the Prince of this world cast out. And so he withdraws with his own into this place of separation, this upper room. The testimony to the world is over. He's going to the cross to accomplish the work of eternal redemption. And then he was going to return as a man to take his seat.
As a glorified man at the right hand of God, and in these chapters that follow here 131415 and 16, we have what we often refer to as the upper room ministry. Now I realize that all of it wasn't given in the upper room because there's a point where they leave the upper room to walk to the garden and he continues to discourse with them and we don't have time, but it's interesting to see how the character of it changes.
What he speaks with to them in the 13th and 14th chapter sets them in relationship with heaven.
And the Lord Jesus, where he was going, because Christianity connects us with Christ, not Christ here in this world, the way he was when the disciples walked with him during his public ministry. But it sets us in relationship with Christ, where he is now. And in these first chapters, these first two chapters, he sets them in the proper relationship with himself, with the Father, in connection with the Spirit of God that was going to be sent down on the day of Pentecost.
To be the power for their lives in his absence, to bring them into all truth, and so on.
Then what we have after they leave the upper room, after he says let us go hence and they begin to walk to the garden, sets them in the proper relationship as to their being still in a dark, morally dark and spiritual world. And so the character is very different, but I believe it's very significant the way this chapter begins. Because first of all, before he performs this service of feet washing, we find two things.
We find the need and the motive for what follows. The need was that he was going to depart out of the world under the Father.
He wasn't going to be with the disciples the way he had been during his public ministry.
Because having been with the disciples, they were able to come to him in every situation.
When John the Baptist was beheaded and the disciples were burdened and concerned about it, they came to the Lord Jesus. They told him everything, and he drew them into a desert place to rest a while. When the multitudes were hungry, he used the disciples to distribute the loaves and the fishes as he himself multiplied them. But the disciples were hungry too. That's why there were 12 baskets leftover, one for each disciple. He knew their need as well as well.
He provided for them and over and over and over again he provided everything that was needed.
They could come to him and talk to him on a very, very personal and a very accessible level, but he wasn't going to be with them anymore. And in these chapters it just seems like he covers everything, gives the seeds of what is later developed in the Gospels. It's true he doesn't develop things because they didn't have the capacity to take it in at that time. The spirit of God hadn't been given. There were many more things he wanted to say to them, but he said you're going to have to wait for a future day.
And so he speaks these words of comfort, of edification, of instruction and of warning. But what was the motive behind it? Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end and all. If we get nothing else out of this little talk this afternoon, may we get a fresh sense of his love for us. Maybe there's someone here. I know this meeting is scheduled as a young person's meeting, but, you know, I I feel like for myself, I need these exhortations, perhaps even more than you young people.
00:15:05
Just a little parenthesis. You know when I, when I was a young person sitting in meetings like this, I thought oh, it's going to get a lot easier when I get older. Don't kid yourself, don't be fooled by that. It doesn't get any easier but the resources are there. But we find here that he confirms his love and maybe there's someone here and you say my love is so cold. I'm so indifferent so often. Don't get overwhelmed or over occupied with that.
Oh, just turn and be occupied with his love for you.
He gives this wonderful confirmation he wants us to have in his absence while we're waiting for him to return, a real sense of his love in our souls. Because as it says in another later on, if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments. What is to be the motivation? It's Christ and His love for us. And I want. I trust His love will captivate our souls in a little deeper way.
As a result of our being together this weekend, we would get a fresh sense of that love in our souls. Maybe we have failed We've I have to hang my head. I've failed and I've failed miserably. But his love is consistent. I've enjoyed it in connection with the children of Israel when they came to the banks of the Jordan after 40 years of wilderness journey. It says yeah, he loved all the people. You know if it had said that on the banks of the Jordan in the 15th of Exodus when they were rejoicing in the.
The joy of deliverance, redemption and deliverance. Oh, you'd say. Of course I can see why he would confirm his love to them at that point, but it wasn't. It wasn't there. It was after those years of murmuring and fault, finding and complaining and blaming God and his servants for their situation and the governmental hand of God upon them in one way or another, did he love them any less on the banks of the Jordan than he did on the banks of the Red Sea? Not for one moment.
Had they been faithful? No, but he abode faithful and he does. His love is consistent. Oh, he loves us with an everlasting love as it tells us in Jeremiah. Just one more example I've enjoyed. When you come to the Book of Revelation and you read the address to the seven churches, 7 literal assemblies in Asia Minor at the time there were difficulties in every assembly and John addresses those.
But you know, it's interesting and I believe significant, that there are only two assemblies that he confirms his love to.
One is Philadelphia, and you say, of course I understand that there was a freshness there. They were seeking grace to keep his word and not deny his name. I know why he confirmed his love to them. But then there's Laodicea. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. He loved them just as much. And Laodicea did he love what was going on there? Was he happy with their indifference? No. But he loved the Saints that Laodicea just as much as he loved them.
In Philadelphia. And he loves us with this everlasting love. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Well, we find then he's going to perform this gracious service of feet washing.
And it's really a lesson, I say in teaching us in a spiritual way that which is necessary to maintain fellowship and communion with himself. Because it's been mentioned in these meetings, communion can be broken. Fellowship can be broken very easily. I'm going to give you a little story that was told to me many years ago, and I hope it makes sense. I realize we're in a different day of.
Of wireless technology and Internet and all this, cell phones and all this kind of thing. But I had an uncle who was in the service during the Second World War, and he used to tell us that he was on a ship in Europe, and they were at various ports of call. And when the ship pulled in, in those days, it was the days before wireless communication. And so they would pull into port and those great ropes would be brought out of the side of the ship.
And the ship would be secured safely to the pier. My uncle likened that to our security in Christ.
Because, he said, the ship would give a lurch once in a while. It would move up and down a few feet, but it never got loose from the pier. It was securely.
Tied to the pier with those great ropes. But then he said the next thing they would do is they would send a wire out from the communication cabin on the ship to a ship to shore, communication building on the on the shore, and that wire was so that communication could be established.
00:20:21
From the ship to the shore and vice versa during their spell in port. And, he said, so often something would happen to disturb that wire and the communication would be broken. It didn't mean that the ship wasn't securely fastened to the pier. They had nothing to do with the security of the ship, but it had everything to do with communication, and when that communication was broken, then someone who knew what they were doing had to come out.
And to reattach that wire so that communication could be re established. And as my uncle said, it didn't take much, some time to break that communication. Perhaps a bird would land on that wire, the ship would move a little bit in a direction that it ought not to. Something would bump at some piece of equipment. Well, that's like fellowship and communion with the father and with the son. It can be broken very easily, very quickly by the things that we allow in our lives.
And so we need to come again and again, and we need to be restored. We need to us we are going to see as we go down these verses. We need this exercise of the Lord Jesus washing our feet, because it really has to do with the washing of water. By the word wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word Now there's many facets of feet washing.
And usually when we think of feet washing, we think of it in connection with the removal of sin and defilement.
And certainly that is an aspect of it, but I believe there's a much broader principle here.
Than just the removing of sin and defilement from.
Our souls.
And again, it has nothing to do with the blood of Christ. This is water, not blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. That's the basis. This is water, not the blood. It has to do with that cleansing effect that we need in our lives, not just when sin and defilement come in, but every day we pass through a world and we take up natural activities, and they're necessary things that dull our souls and chill our affections.
And as one brother who is with the Lord now used to tell us, when he came home from the office in his working days, he needed a good wash And he wasn't talking about soap and water. He was talking about the washing of water by the word, because he'd been occupied with business during the day. Not only had he perhaps heard and seen things that defile, but just the daily grind of life had taken its toll, and he needed the refreshment that came.
From the practical application of the Word of God in his life, and I believe that's perhaps the main thrust of feet washing. It is the refreshment that comes from the practical application of God's word in our lives. I say that because a brother made a comment to me years ago that's been very helpful in my study of the Word of God. He said whenever you take up a subject or a line of truth in Scripture, always go back to the first time it's mentioned.
Because there you'll get the real meat and meaning of what follows through the rest of Scripture. There may be other aspects brought in later on, but go back to the first time it's mentioned. Well, the first time feet washing is mentioned in the word of God is in Genesis chapter 18. You remember the story well. Abraham was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day and three men came to him. One of course was the Lord, as he appeared to various in various forms to various of his own in the Old Testament.
And Abraham, in running to meet them, suggested that a little water be brought.
And to wash their feet, because it was the custom of the day to provide water. A good host provided water for the washing of his guests feet. And that water was for two things, to cleanse them from the defilements of the way and the dirt of the of the the road, and to refresh them after their long journey. And so we find there the real meaning of feet washing. And there are a number through the Old Testament I wish we had time to go through.
00:25:04
Very instructive. Go through the Old Testament sometime.
And notice those who suggested some water be brought to Washington, the feet of those that had come to them.
It's a very, very edifying study. And so we find here that the Lord Jesus, he rises from supper, that is, he rises from the Passover supper that set them in relationship to himself in Kingdom glory. But the Kingdom was not to be for this time, and he's going to perform a service that sets them in relationship to himself as the heavenly glories. So that again, so fellowship, communion.
Could be maintained after he had left them and returned to the father.
But it's very significant too, that as he rises from supper so calmly to lay aside his garment and perform this service, you say, how could the Lord Jesus do it? He knew what was ahead. He even knew the hearts of those that were around him. He knew that Judas was going to betray him. He knew that Peter was going to deny him. He knew the trouble that was going through the hearts of all the disciples. Because in the next chapter he says, let not your heart be troubled.
Neither let it be afraid. More than that, he knew what was ahead. He knew that it wasn't going to be long before they would come in the garden to take him, before he would stand in Pilate's Judgment Hall, be so cruelly treated and mocked, and then to be taken out and nailed to a Roman cross. And even more than that, he knew that there was a moment coming when he was going to be made sin for us, when this world would be shrouded in darkness.
And the Lord Jesus would bear my sins in his own body on the tree. How could he so calmly rise? Well, I believe the answer is given in verse 3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God, he knew that God had a perfect time table, and he knew that everything was in full control. I covered that for my own soul. Why is it so often I become so troubled and afraid?
In the circumstances of life, it's because I don't realize that there's one who's in full control. I remember one time years ago, we were going through some very difficult situations in some of the local assemblies in the area of of Canada where I come from. And I have to admit, I was very troubled. I was very concerned and I went to see an older brother and I sat down in his living room and he made one comment to me.
He said. Jim, remember this. Things sometimes may seem out of hand, but they're never out of the Lord's hand. That has brought not only brought calm to my soul at that time, but I it has often in recent time, brought calm to my soul to realize that though things may seem out of hand, circumstances may seem chaotic. The tangles of life may seem like they'll never be undone. Yet there's one.
In whose hand It is one who is in full control of every circumstance, every situation.
And one who has a perfect timetable, and one who is working all things according to the counsel of his own will, are we troubled today about what we see in the world around us? This is just a little parenthesis.
But you know, the more I see chaos in high places today, the more I am thankful that God hasn't committed the governments of this world to the Church of God. I am so thankful they have never been committed to the Church of God. But there's one who is moving behind the scenes. There's one who rules in the kingdoms of men. And yes, we want to be aware, I'm not an isolationist. I want to be aware of what's going on in the world.
But I can be aware without being overwhelmed, because I know everything is under his control, and that everything is in his hand, and that he's going to, in the end work it all out according to his purposes. The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. Well, he rises here, and he sets aside his garment and he girds himself with a towel. Now if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he inserts the word a linen towel.
I think that is so beautiful, and I know we have made comments as to this in these reading meetings before, but I believe it is the Spirit of God. So careful even in this humble service of the Lord Jesus as a man to guard the purity of his person, to guard his sinless humanity because the Lord Jesus could wash the soiled feet of the disciples and not be defiled himself.
00:30:22
Because he was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners and linen. Her fine linen and scriptures so often speaks of the purity, the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus. That's why he could touch the leper and not be defiled. He could eat with publicans and sinners and not be defiled. He could put the soiled feet of the disciples in his loving hands and not be defiled. And so the Spirit of God is so careful to guard this precious truth.
All through the living word. And so he girds himself with a towel and he pours water into a basin. Now I said that the truth of feet washing in its application is the refreshment that comes from the practical application of the Word of God in our lives. Now you say, Jim, how do you get that in this water in the basin? Well, when we go through Scripture, we find that usually contained water.
Water in a vessel usually is a figure of the word of God. Waters used in various contexts, and we need to keep things in their context. You know, sometimes water is used as a figure of judgment, but sometimes it's used as a figure of blessing as well. Running water is more often a figure of the Spirit of God. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, and this he spake concerning the Spirit. So a spring, a fountain, a brook, a stream, a well that's usually a figure of the spirit of God.
But contained water in a vessel is usually a figure of the word of God.
And it's an illusion. Back to the labor in the Old Testament. Because you remember, in connection with the Tabernacle, they built that labor. And it's interesting that the labor made of brass was the one piece of furniture that had no dimensions because it speaks of the word of God. It was made of brass. Brass speaks of endurance. And the word of our God shall endure forever. It lives and abides forever. But not only that, but you can't put limitations on the word of God. You can't put dimensions on the word of God. The word of God is exceedingly, exceedingly broad. And so there were no dimensions given for the labor because the labor and its foot.
With the water is a figure to us of the word of God, and you remember that the priest says They performed their service.
From day-to-day they had to come again and again to the Laver, and they had to Washington. Two things.
They had to wash their hands and their feet. Why was it the hands there as well?
Well, the hands speak of service. The feet speak of our walk. Here it's just the feet. Because the every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices that could never take away sin. Their service was never done. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. The service is done in that way, but nevertheless they had to come as their hands and feet picked up the defilements of the wilderness.
And from their service they had to wash their hands and their feet. We'll talk about that in a little, a little more in a few moments. But here we find then that the Lord Jesus pours water into a basin and he begins to wash the disciples feet. Now I don't what I'm going to say next. I don't want in any way to sound like criticism for those who practice literal feet washing. I'm not here to bash that or criticize it, but I don't believe the Lord was teaching here.
That it the need for literal feet washing. The reason I say that is verse 7. The Lord Jesus said, uh he, uh, what I do. Thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. I believe this shows that what the Lord was illustrating and teaching was more than just literal feet washing. Because they knew what He was doing in a literal sense, they understood that He was literally washing their feet.
But what he's really saying is you're not going to understand the spiritual significance of what I'm doing now.
It's going to be after the spirit of God comes that you will understand what I am illustrating. And so he was using a natural or a physical illustration to illustrate a spiritual truth that they would at a future time understand. Again, I'm not here to criticize. I know there are Christians who carry out literal feet washing. But again I say the the main thrust of feet washing is the.
00:35:22
The refreshment that comes from the practical application of God's Word in our lives. And don't we need that? You know we live in a world of defilement. We live in a world where things do chill and dull our souls. And when we come home at night, don't we need a good wash? You know, someone has said you can pour water through a basket and the basket won't retain the water.
But the water will keep the basket clean. But you know, there is a way to keep a basket full of water and that's to keep it immersed in the water. And isn't that what we need? We. I remember one time too, I was standing in line at a conference like this and we were going in for the meal and a brother in front of me said, you know, I've got a memory like a sieve. I said that's why you need to keep the water running through it. The sieve won't retain it, but it'll keep the sieve clean. But again, if you keep the sieve immersed in the bucket, it's going the the sieve is going to keep full of water.
And that's what we need. And there's nothing in this world to refresh or encourage the new man.
There's plenty to feed our lusts, plenty to feed our lusts, plenty to feed our flesh. But there's nothing to refresh the new man. Where are we going to get refreshment? Where are we going to get cleansing, moral cleansing for our daily walk? It's the washing of water by the word. It's opening this book and letting it have its cleansing effect. And so he washes their feet. Well, he comes to Peter, and I love the stories of Peter.
Dear Peter, sometimes we shake our heads and we say poor Peter.
But I'm thankful for Peter. You know, it's it's been helpful to me in taking up the incidences of Peter in the gospel to look beyond what Peter said and did and see how Peter really did love the Lord.
Now the problem with Peter, in contrast to John was John styled himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The problem with Peter is he styled himself as the disciple who loved Jesus.
And he had to learn his own heart. Now he did love the Lord. And when he saw the Lord down there on the floor.
Girding, girded with a towel, washing his fellow disciples feet and wiping them with a towel. He didn't want his Lord to have to do that to him, and I in a sense appreciate that. But Peter had some lessons to learn and I'm thankful in a sense that Peter asked these questions and said these things because we learn from what? From Peter's mistakes. You say, well Peter should have just been quiet. Peter should have sat there and wondering silence and.
Learn what the Lord was seeking to teach. But thankfully Peter did speak up because there are vital lessons that are to be learned from the Lord's responses.
To Peter's rebukes here. So Peter says, Lord, you're never going to wash my feet. I don't want you down there, my Lord, down there washing my feet. Well, the Lord says to him, if I wash thee, not verse 8.
Thou hast no part, and I want you to notice this with me. You see, as I said earlier, this has to do with not with not as to part in Christ, but part with Christ. This has to do with maintaining personal communion and fellowship with the Lord. He doesn't say, thou hast no part in me, Thou hast no part with me. Because Peter was a true believer. There was only one amongst them who was not a true believer at this point.
And that was Judas Iscariot. How solemn it was. But Peter was a true believer.
But he says, Peter, if you don't let me wash your feet, and the Lord was thinking ahead to the real application of it after he was gone to heaven and the Spirit of God was sent down, He says, Peter, you're not going to have part with me. There's going to be those things that come into your life that are going to hinder communion, and you've got to have those things removed by letting me wash your feet. And again, I want to make this as clear and simple as possible. How do we let the Lord Jesus wash our feet?
It's not like they had here. The Lord Jesus isn't here on earth the way he was. As we've said, it's not literal feet washing that is taught here. How do we let the Lord Jesus wash our feet? We open this book every day. More than once a day, I hope, but every day. And we let the word of God have its moral cleansing effect on our lives. It is what's going to have that cleansing effect.
00:40:27
You want to have your feet washed. You want to be restored in your soul. You want communion maintained. You've got to open this book again, and I can't stress it enough. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word. That is not the cleansing of our sins. It's not anything to do with our standing before God that's been secured by one offering. Yes, perfected forever them that are sanctified.
But why is it in my own soul I become so cold and dull? Why is it so often I go through a day and I haven't enjoyed communion with the Father and Son like I should? It's because I have allowed things and not had them cleansed or washed by the washing of water by the Word. And so the Lord says, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. Well then, so typical of Peter. Peter says, well, I want as much as I can.
Peter didn't understand what he said, but I covet the motive for my own soul. Peter says if if washing your my feet means I have part with you, then wash me all over. I want all the part I can get. He didn't understand. It was ignorance of course, but again, the Lord gives an explanation that is so instructive for you and for me. Let me again just put in a little parenthesis here because you know, I've enjoyed a similar thought when Peter and the disciples were in the boat.
And Matthew 14 And the Lord comes walking on the water, and Peter finally realizes who's out there.
He says, Lord, bid me come unto thee on the water. I love that. It's just to me as if Peter said, Lord, if that's really you out there, I don't want to be in the boat and you out there. I want to be out with you. I want more of your company, I say. I covered that for my own soul. Yes, Peter there had a lesson to learn as well. But he learned that not only could the Lord walk on the water, but he could walk on the water too, in company with the Lord Jesus. Well, that's just a little bit apart. Well, we find here then, Peter says.
You wash me all over. Not just my not just my hands, but my my, not just my feet, but my hands and my head. Well again the Lord's instruction answer is very instructive. Verse 10 Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean but not all. What he's referring to is when the priests came for their consecration.
They were not brought to the labor, but they were brought to the door of the Tabernacle and they were washed all over. And that washing was only only took place once. The consecration of the priest did not make the man a priest. What made him a priest is he was born into Aaron's family. And what makes us priests is we're born into the family of God. But water brings us from one position into another in scripture from something to something.
And the washing of the priest at his consecration and the other things that took place there put him in a position where he could operate, where he could function as a priest. It didn't make him a priest. And so that took place once and for all. And so we have had when we're born again, that's what brings us into the family of God. As we've been saying, then we're brought into a position where we can function as as priests of God, everyone of us as royal priests.
As holy priests and so on. And it's a whole nother subject. And in Hebrews you have that bathing and so on. It's really the thought of a bath. Here it's being washed all over the Lord, says Peter, You don't need that.
But you do need your feet washed if communion and fellowship is going to be maintained well, after he washes their feet, he sits down. He takes his garment, and now he says to them, You understand what I've done to you Now as I have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. Now, brethren, I believe this is in this is extremely practical and instructive.
And really my burden I guess in taking up this little subject of feet washing is just this. So this is the a day we there's we live in a day where there's so much to discourage today. You know, we don't have to look for things to discourage. There's plenty on every hand. But what we need to do is to look for those things that encourage us in the Lord and have our feet washed by the Lord Jesus through the water of the word.
00:45:26
So that we can encourage and refresh one another. I feel it in my own soul more and more that this is what we need. The enemy is so busy today to weary, to discourage, to disheartened, to divide the people of God. But you know we cannot wash one another's feet if we haven't had our feet washed ourselves. The order here is very important. He washed their feet. Then he said. Now that I've washed your feet.
You wash one another's feet. Why is it so often we get together as the people of God? Maybe for some activity, and there's nothing wrong with activity. I'm thankful when the people of God are together for activity. But we come away and we shake our heads and we say there wasn't really much true, much true fellowship. There wasn't really much enjoyment of Christ together. We didn't really feel edified or washed or refreshed. Why is that?
Because we are no more collectively than we are individually, I cannot wash your feet.
If I haven't had my feet washed, I cannot refresh you with the things of Christ. If I haven't been refreshed by the things of Christ in my own soul, if I haven't opened this word and let him wash my feet, I can't wash your feet. I can't encourage and refresh you. I cannot, when the need arises, admonish or correct you, if I haven't had it in my own soul from the source himself.
And so it is vital. It is important. But, brethren, we need this. We need not to get together and talk about things that discourage. I'm not discrediting the fact that sometimes things need to be taken up and discussed for the Lord's glory and dealt with amongst the people of God. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about our general conversation between these meetings as we walk over to the cafeteria, as we sit at the tables together.
As we walk across the lawn together, are we seeking to encourage one another? Again? I'm not saying we can't enjoy natural things, because there is the natural man as well, and God has given us natural things to enjoy.
But what about the spiritual? What about the Newman? Are we seeking to encourage and refresh one another?
We can't do it if we haven't been refreshed in our own souls. And so he says. He tells them here that they ought to wash one another's feet. And notice verse 13, he says, Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am.
Master is simply another word for teacher. And he was teaching them. He was giving them instruction. But he said you don't. You don't just call me master or teacher, but you call me Lord. And to call to the his title as Lord brings before a submission to his will, owning the Lordship of Christ in our lives. And if he had given them instructions then he wanted it to be more than just instruction, he wanted them.
Under his authority is lordship to carry out their responsibility. And then he reverses it. He says if I then, then your Lord and master, he notice he reverses the order. I believe it's very significant because again, he, I would think, believe he's really saying I've been your your teacher and your Lord. But you're not going to carry this out unless you own me as your Lord 1St and then take the instruction that I have given you and to carry it out for the blessing and benefit.
Of your fellow believer. And so he encourages them to wash one another's feet. He'd given them this example.
And then I want to notice the 17th verse. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. Now I realize that sometimes we take this verse a little bit out of its context and we apply it in a Broadway. And I have no problem with the application, because it's certainly true that if the Lord brings before us something from the Word, the only happy path is to, as it says in James B Doers of the Word, and not hearers only.
That's the broad application of this verse. But that's not what it means. That's not what it's saying in its context.
What he's saying here is in my absence when I leave you.
00:50:04
As a group of believers on earth, a group of disciples on earth, you will be a happy group of believers in the measure in which you carry out what I have just illustrated to you. Why is it, brethren, that we aren't always happy believers? Why is it that so often in our interactions with one another, if I can put it this way, the machinery seizes up, we grate on one another, we don't always enjoy one another's company. And so on.
I suggest that at least one reason is because we haven't. First of all, let him wash our feet. We haven't been refreshed and cleansed and encouraged through the washing of water by the word, and then we're not carrying out the instructions to wash one anothers feet. Brethren, if every one of us, young and old, who know Christ as our Savior would carry this out, would seek to encourage and refresh our fellow believer, wouldn't we be a happy?
Group of believers in fellowship with the Father and the Son and with one another. In a very practical way, this is what will give us joy. And you younger ones don't think we're just talking about those of us who are older.
No, this applies to every one of us. You know, I have been so refreshed and encouraged so often by something a child has said to me, something a young person has said to me, You know, young people.
As I get a little older.
A trust. I've learned to value you more and more when a young person comes up to me and shares something they've enjoyed from scripture.
A little word of encouragement, a verse that means a lot to my soul, that really refreshes my soul.
You can be a refreshment and encouragement through your peers, yes. But also, I believe, to those of us who are a little further along in the path of faith and service, we value your encouragement when we see you going on and reading the word and going on for the Lord and sharing it with us. Oh, that's a tremendous refreshment. And sisters, you know, later on, when Paul wrote to Timothy, he spoke of those godly widows that refreshed the feet of the Saints.
Households too been so thankful to be in so many households of my brethren, where the household has refreshed me, the young and the old, not just the host and the Hostess, but the children and the young people and others that are there. Paul spoke of the household of Vanessa Forest. He OFT refreshed me. I suggest that there was a household in which the apostle Paul could retire to and have his spirit refreshed and encouraged. And so we need this in the day in which we live.
But in closing, I would like to make some comments on the portion I read in Luke's Gospel. Because here we have something that is yet future. Here we have a service that's going to be performed in a coming day when he's going to gird himself and come forth and serve us forever. And I think this is one of the most tremendous verses in the word of God to think that when we get home to the Father's house, the Lord Jesus is going to gird himself and come forth and serve us.
We're gonna sit down in the father's house and he's gonna serve us forever, you say? What service will he perform in that, in that day? Well, I think of it this way. When I enter the homes of my brethren, they often come out and they seek to minister to your every happiness and comfort While you're in their home. They tell you to make yourself at home. Is there anything you need? Did you sleep well? Can we provide you another blanket?
You have enough towels they seek to minister to you while they're in there. You're in their home to make you as comfortable as possible when you're in someone else's home. And when I get home to the father's house as a child of God, I'm going to sit down perfectly comfortable in the father's house, and the son is going to come for.
And minister to my every joy and satisfaction for all eternity. Oh brethren, if that doesn't motivate our souls now to refresh our own spirits through the word of God under seek to refresh and encourage our fellow brethren, I don't know what goes on with our in our souls. All the Lord Jesus is going to take that place. Greater is he that sitteth at me than him that serveth He's going to take that place.
00:55:00
And he's gonna minister to us forever. Let that get a hold of your soul, and let that be the motivation for you seeking to serve your brother. Now, brethren, we need one another, young and old. We need refreshment. We need encouragement. May we let the Lord Jesus wash our feet every day so that we can follow his loving instructions that ye wash one another's feet. And I assure you, on the lane in the language of Scripture.
If you know these things, happier ye if ye do them, let's pray our God and Father. We thank thee for this beautiful portion given to us and that beautiful service of the Lord Jesus in washing the disciples feet and all that it signifies and speaks to us of. We pray that it might exercise our souls, that we might be happy Christians, happy believers, happy disciples, as we interact with one another.
And as we're on our way home to that time when thy beloved Son is going to minister to our every joy for all eternity, be asked by blessing on Thy word in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
1 John 2:12-27
Reading
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.
We thank you for the prospect that's before us, being worthy and likely for all.
And the joy that Shelby ours nothing they hinder all blessing God. We we just would anticipate this in our hearts and our lives that soon we'll be with thee. And so now while we're down here at this coming hour, we pray that thou would bless thy word to our hearts. We just thank thee now and thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen and Amen.
Good afternoon, everybody. Just want to say that we are thankful that you're here and glad that you came to our conference.
Uh, let's read in first John chapter 2 and I believe around verse 12.
First John two and verse 12.
I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him, that is, from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him, that it's from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of Father, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof fajita doeth. The will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come.
00:05:15
Even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it.
And that no lie is of the truth, who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ.
He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
Russo denies the Son the same. Hath not the Father? Fahida acknowledges the Son. Hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the sun and in the Father. And this is the promise that He hath promised us even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you.
But as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie.
And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at his coming.
If you know that he is righteous, he know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.
So verse 12, as we mentioned before, is.
Really, children, I write into your children and say what's true of the whole family of God.
And the characteristic is that your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. Wonderful truth of forgiveness of sins. Not sure why it is, but so often people even who are believers, you hear them in prayer asking forgive us our sins.
But our sins are forgiven for his namesake to know that gives a certainty to our relationship.
Remember preaching the Gospel and the Walla Wallace State Penitentiary one time and and there's a man sitting in the back row. I don't know why he was there, but he came comes up afterwards and said all these years I've been asking God for the forgiveness of sin.
Today I accept it and thank God for it.
Oh brother, what a precious privilege is to know that our sins are forgiven for His name's sake. This is what is true of all the people of God.
Beaches one verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood, The forgiveness of sins. We have the forgiveness of sin.
This is a certainty we have that the Old Testament Saints didn't have in quite the same way, because there was always a bit of a shadow in the Old Testament. Even the psalmist said remember not the sins of my youth. That's not an intelligent prayer for a believer in Christianity. Because thy sins and iniquities, I will remember no more. They're gone. He plotted them out as far as the East is from the West. They're forgiven. They're taken care of as their brother just read to us.
00:10:27
Through the work of Calvary and in the in the on the basis of the blood of Christ, as we had earlier, and we noticed it in his contact. But how wonderful to be able to proclaim in the gospel the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sin. And I'm not afraid of one charge of sin being brought up against me, because it's all been settled once and for all. And we never really have true peace in our souls, do we, until we get this precious truth.
That my sins are gone, they're forgiven, they'll never rise against me as to a point of refuge again. And if go, it's for His name's sake, not just for our sake. But it's interesting how he puts it here. It's for his name's sake, for His glory, for his honor as well. And God would be unrighteous now to bring one charge of sin against me, having availed myself of the finished work of Calvary.
It's a tremendous thought to think about, isn't it? God would be unrighteous.
To bring one charge of sin against me now because it's all been taken care of, not just for my sake, thank God it is for my sake and I'm on my way to heaven, saved from the death penalty of my guilt, but for his namesake as well.
In the Gospels the Lord taught the disciples to pray forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. But that was before the work of redemption was accomplished at the cross. If you look carefully in your Bibles, after that work of redemption was accomplished, the Lord had died and risen again is ascended to the glory. You look through the book of the Acts and through the Epistles. It never again says that we are to ask for the forgiveness of sins.
We have it through His blood, and so it is a wonderful reality of of Christian position. We are before God. We know that our sins are forgiven for His name's sake.
Might have to ask for the forgiveness of sins of our of our brethren. Sometimes we sinned against our brethren, and perhaps it's necessary to ask for forgiveness in that context, but not of God.
And as you say, brother Bob, it's true of every believer. It's true of a 5 year old here who has trusted Christ as their savior. It's not a progression here, is it? Every person that is born into the family of God, every person that knows Christ, this is true. That's why the little really shouldn't be here. It's true of every child of God, every person in these seats who knows Christ. You have the forgiveness of sins. It's not something that you have to work towards or something that's going to be progressive in your life.
As you grow spiritually and you learn more about the Bible and about the Lord, it's true of you as a fact right now. And if you we can get a hold of that in our souls, it's going to give us real peace. Many Christians today don't have peace in their souls. I believe there's many who are really the Lord. They're really children of God, but they don't have settled peace. And I've talked to many of them. They don't have settled peace because they don't rest on this principle.
Paul teaches us that we are accepted in the Beloved.
And that expression shows us that the measure of His acceptance there in the presence of the Father, is the pledge of our acceptance if we are in Christ. I can hardly think of an expression that gives us more of a sense of the place that we have in Him, accepted in the Beloved.
If God could raise the question about our position, He would have to raise that same question about His own beloved Son. Impossible.
I just wonder if you don't have that in type. In Leviticus 16 and 11, verse 11, it says an errand shall bring the Bullock of the sin offering which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the Bullock of the sin offering which is for himself. In other words, that's the one offering that satisfies everything.
00:15:12
For the believer of this dispensation.
Yes, and so in Hebrews, by one offering He has, by one offering He has perfected them that are sanctified. And again, if God were to refuse me now, having availed myself of the finished work of Calvary, He would have to refuse His own dear Son. And that's impossible. And if you ever doubt your salvation or doubt these precious truths we're talking about, just look up by faith and see where the Lord Jesus is now.
Because the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorification of Christ are God's Amen to the work of Calvary. That settles it. When I see where God, where God has put His Son, raised him from the dead, and seated him at his own right hand, and that by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified, that gives me settled peace on the authority of God's Word.
Mr. Deck puts it so beautifully in that hymn 213 that we sing sometimes our conscience as peace that can never fail. Tis the Lamb on high on the throne.
Verse 13. Then we go into the different ones he addresses in the family of God.
Fathers, young men, and here it's proper little children.
Little children, those who are, I suppose we all fit into this category.
Some into perhaps the next category and you perhaps into the category of fathers. And if you notice the the addresses each group twice.
Fathers in the beginning of verse 13 and in the beginning of verse 14. Young men in the middle of verse 13 and in the middle of verse 14 and 15/16/17. And the little children in the end of verse 13 and then again in verse 18 down further into the chapter. So each category he addresses twice.
First kind of inter introductory way in verse 13 and then he expands on it in verses 14 forward only. It's interesting that when it is the Father's what he says is exactly the same in verse 14 as it is in verse 13 because.
Father is one who is full grown. It is full growth. And what does it mean to be full grown?
To have because you have known him, that is from the beginning. And again we say that expression from the beginning appears again and again in this chapter and in other parts as well. And every time it occurs, it takes you back to the first verse of this epistle, that which was from the beginning, the Lord Jesus coming in incarnation.
Eternal life manifested in His life down here in this world. That was the beginning it's talking about. And they had known him, that is, from the beginning. And so in verse 14, he doesn't vary what he says. It's just the same. That's full growth.
It shows us that the highest attainment that one can reach his personal acquaintance with Christ.
You can't get anything higher than that. And this is brought in because of the, uh, Gnostic teaching that was prevalent in that day. They were saying that there was something more that a person should be looking for and they had some certain insights that were beyond what the apostles were bringing to the, the church. There's no truth in that. He shows that you couldn't get any higher than to know Christ personally. And so that's why when he re re addresses the fathers the second time, he speaks to them exact same words because you cannot reach higher.
And personal acquaintance with Christ himself.
00:20:04
Yes. It's not just to know about him, it's to know him. And there's quite a different system there. And Paul said that his exercise of his life was that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, not just more about him. Wonderful to know about a person, but it's more wonderful to have an intimate acquaintance with that person. And that's really what he wants for all of us. I know this is for the fathers here. He's addressing those who have reached full maturity in that regard.
But is that really our exercise, brethren? Not just to learn more about him? That's important. But we never know a person till we walk in their company. I can read up about some famous person and know a lot of facts about them and be able to rattle them off to you, but I can't. I couldn't say I know that person. I know about them. But what the Father and the Son want is not just to know about them, but to know them in an intimate walk with them. And you never know a person until you spend time in their company.
And the young men are those that have overcome the wicked ones. So it uses that word overcome in verse 13. It uses it again in verse 14.
8th of a young man is a faith that overcomes. It's characteristic of the faith of God that it overcomes. In chapter 5 and verse 14 it says whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world. Even our faith. Faith is that principle that lays hold of God that brings God into the picture.
So often there are situations in our lives we are not up to it, but we can bring God into the picture and that's the overcoming principle.
Brethren, it's not escapism. Too many Christians today, when they get into a circumstance that they don't like you let me out of here. I'm, uh, I'm going.
That is not overcoming, that is escapism. That is not the faith of God, the faith of God.
Faces, the difficulty bringing God into the picture. Think of David and I think it is such a beautiful, simple illustration. When he went to meet the giant, every one of those men on that battlefield, including Saul, who was head and shoulders above all the people.
We're afraid to go against Goliath because to them it was them against Goliath.
David used the thing otherwise he said who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. So David, it wasn't David versus Goliath, it was God versus Goliath who was bigger necessarily, it was God. And so he goes down into the Valley of Eli. Beautiful picture the simplicity of faith.
I was thought if it was me, I might want to stay back and take my shots at Goliath from a distance. But David runs toward Goliath. That's the confidence of faith, brethren, and that's what faith does. And young men are known for their strength. So it says in verse 14. I've written unto you, young men, because you are strong.
And the word of God abideth in you. I love that.
Doesn't say you're reading the words. No, the word of God abides in you. That's more than just breathing it. It's letting it be your constant portion. That's what will make you strong. It's not physical strength. The word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
Let's go back to a Scripture. We quoted part of it earlier, but in Psalm 119.
00:25:06
Goes along with what you have just got before us.
Some 119 very interesting Psalm in almost every verse I counted one one time, But in almost every verse but one or two, there's some mention of the word of God, either called commandments, or thy precepts, or thy testimonies, or thy word, showing the importance but of it. But I wanna notice. I'll read from verse 9. We've already had the ninth verse before us. But wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word?
With my whole heart of I sought thee. Well, let me not wander from thy commandments and then notice this. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. It's more than just taking in the word. In our intellect. It's important to read the word and to have a knowledge. We need a knowledge of Scripture. But that's not the dwelling place of the truth. That's not where it's going to have its practical power and effect in our lives. It's when we take it in and it dwells in our hearts so.
That's what's going to give us the power to overcome the wicked one. That's what's going to keep us from sin in the day, in the day in which we live. So it says the glory of young men is their strength. But the young men that that John was writing to, their strength wasn't in the fact that they went and worked out in the gym twice a week. Nothing wrong with that. Wasn't because they ran on the treadmill every morning or lifted weight. Nothing wrong with that. Bodily exercise is for this life and it profits for a little time.
But spiritual, there was spiritual exercise in taking in the Word, and that's where their power, their power was, and that's where our power against the enemy is going to be. Now, if you'll just bear with me, I want to go back to what Bob said about David and Goliath because I believe that there's something very significant in connection with David being used to overcome Goliath, a picture of our enemy, Satan.
When before he went to faith Goliath, he went down to the brook and he took five smooth stones. And remember what we've already said in these meetings, a brook or running water is usually a figure of the Spirit of God. Again, out of his belly shall flow rivers of water. And this he spake concerning the Spirit. And I suggest that what we learn from David going down to the brook and taking 5 stones and putting them in his shepherd's bag is he took the Scriptures. It is a picture of taking the Scripture.
In the plight and the power of the Spirit and applying it for ourselves, appropriating it to ourselves. He took those stones from the brook, put them in his bag, and he took them with him. And when the right moment came, he was used of God to overcome Goliath by that which He had appropriated to himself from the brook. And so it's the word of God in our lives applied in the power of the Spirit.
So it's going to have the have the power for us to overcome the wicked one. Why we see it with the Lord Jesus himself in the temptation when he met Satan in the wilderness. He simply took us, if I can put it this way, one of those smooth stones. Each time he took he quoted a verse of Scripture and it was the word of God that had the power for him to overcome the enemy there in the temptation of the wilderness. And brethren, we're no match for the wicked one. Even then, even the strength of youth can't meet.
The enemy today and the circumstance says in Isaiah, even the youth shall faint and be weary.
And the young men shall utterly fall. Natural strength even of youth isn't enough, but we can overcome by appropriating the Word of God for our own souls, having it there on, if I can put it this way, unreserved, to be used against the enemy in the power of the Spirit at the right moment.
There may be a sister in the audience that says, uh, I'm a sister. Uh, where do I fit in here?
We have children, young men and fathers, but nothing about sisters.
Think the answer is simple. He's using these as a figure for for designating various stages of development in the family of God as far as spiritual growth is concerned. And so in that sense, a sister could be in the category of a young man or a father. So we mustn't look at this as age groups, nor should we look at this as being gender related. It's nothing to do with that. He's speaking using figures.
00:30:18
I thought I should mention that perhaps I could have mentioned at the beginning.
Why is it that the wicked one is mentioned specifically with the young men and not with the fathers right ahead of it?
And then as we come on down into verses 1516 and 17, we see, as you were mentioning, Brother Bob, that the young man is an admonishment to the young men. And would it be fair to say that Satan has all of his attacks thwarted on on one population, if you will? I mean, specifically the young people particularly are going to have the funnel attack we see here in verses 1516 and 17.
Yes, I think in a special way, but we get down to the children. We find that there's a tax on them too. So, uh, each one in their category, I think, uh, have attacks and.
It's not easy. The Christian path is not easy.
And.
Everywhere I go there's problems and don't say to my brother in Latin America, can't you please tell me somewhere I can go? There's no problems. There's no such place and God allows it, brethren, for our exercise. It's because when we're exercised, we grow. Need to have good solid food and exercise makes you grow and that's why God allows those things. So don't question God's wisdom and allowing you to be in a circumstance.
That is.
Tom, that's God's way of getting us to grow, and we need to grow, brother.
The exercise or the, uh, exhortation to the young men is love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
So it's either the love of the world or the love of the Father. You cannot mix those two things. They don't mix your love enjoying the love of the world. You cannot enjoy the love of the Father. And brethren, that is our our strength against the attractions of this world to know the love of the Father. I often think of the Lord Jesus down here in this world.
He was tempted.
In all things like as we are, except there was number sin there to respond to it. So he knew what temptation was as well, but what was it that didn't give him to respond to anything?
Because he enjoyed the love of the Father that he had enjoyed from all eternity. There was nothing that attracted him because.
He enjoyed the love of the Father.
It might be helpful to say, too, that the world is taken up in three different contexts, and it's helpful when you notice, when you see the word world, keep it in its context. And this context here is a system of things set up by man in independence of God, of which Satan is the head. The God is the God of this world religiously. He's the Prince of this world politically. Plus there's a vast social system that leaves God out.
And feeds the, feeds the lust of man and the flesh and so on. And that's what he's talking about here. Just to put it in context, sometimes when you have the world, it's talking about the physical planet on which we live. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners in incarnation. He came as a man to planet earth from, from the Father. That's the planet we live on the physical globe. God so loved the world. He didn't love a planet. I speak reverently.
It's in that context, it's the people that inherit that that inhabit the earth.
And he loves them, and we should have a love for souls too. So that's not the love, not the world, it's not the people. We should have a love for the people and be exercised to go out with the gospel and so on. But here it's that system of things. And again, the wicked one is the God and Prince of this world, and he's the head of it socially and so on. So I just say that it's very helpful to keep things improper, to keep things in their context.
00:35:20
Mm-hmm. OK.
So it speaks of Lo not loving the world nor the things that are in the world. And then he gives 3 categories.
All verse 16 that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
So there's three categories, the lust of the flesh. Some have suggested that this is very, uh, common in youth and the lust of the eyes of those in middle age and the pride of life, those that are further on, although I think God, Satan tries to use these things in any of us, so you can't exclude that he might. But all that is in this world fits into these three categories.
It's interesting, I'm sure it's been noticed before, but it's it's good to see in Genesis chapter 3 when Satan came to tempt Eve, that he used those very things.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, there's the lust of the flesh, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. There's the lust of the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise. There's the pride of life she took of the fruit thereof.
And aid.
And did he, and gave unto also unto her husband with her, and he did he.
So Satan uses those tactics, he used them in the Lord Jesus. Two, in the three temptations that are given to us. Of course he was tempted for 40 days and we don't know all of them, only three that are given to us, but it is the same. 3 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Not of the Father, but of the world.
It's helpful to notice the order that those three things are in these these verses. Could you speak up brother, please? Sorry. It's good to notice the order that these three elements show up in these verses.
Body is first.
Turn over to 1St Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23 and we find a different order, the order with ease.
Was also a body 1St and.
In first session only is chapter 5 and verse 23.
The very God of peace sanctify you wholly. This is a practical sanctification.
Being set apart and I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body.
Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
This order is very important it I've thought of it as a this is God's way, a model for us to make decisions. This world has a very different decision making process, body, soul and spirit. God has set us up differently.
Uh, he's given us a spirit that's a God conscious, intelligent part of our being. And as Christians, we have the word of God that enlightens us. And whenever there's a fork in the road, this world now and we, we're well on this journey now the, the decision is made body, soul and spirit. We live in a very immoral world, but here the order is.
To be preserved spirit, soul and body, and God wants.
The three of those to be preserved together and we can be preserved by prayer and the word of God. And so just keep that in mind.
You know the idea the the, the, the adage that if it feels good, do it well. We know what orders that falls into. So here spirit, soul and body. I've heard people quote verse 23.
00:40:01
Body, soul and spirit.
It may be a mistake, but there's a moral order there. Let's be very careful.
And the world passeth away.
And the lust there are.
That he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
This world is a passing world.
Want to live for this world that's going to pass away in a few short years?
Gonna be all gone.
He that does the will of God abides forever. You want your life to count for something lasting in eternal.
Oh, what a challenge it is to live for God's eternal day.
There's a scripture in First Timothy 6 and it says this, but say that will to be rich fall into temptations and snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drowned a man in in destruction and ruined for the love of money the root of all evil, that while some have coveted after they urge for the fate and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
There's one thing that can allow a man to satisfy each one of these uh.
Different qualities. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, covetousness and the pride of life. It's money.
So that's perhaps one reason why the Lord said it's harder for a rich man to enter into heaven and a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
So keep in mind that when we strive to be something in this world.
These things are.
Very readily available.
It's what we set our heart on, isn't it? It's not what we have. It's what our heart has set on. And we're thankful for those that God has raised up that have means and wealth and so on, and they've used it for the Lord's glory and the furtherance of the truth and so on. And even in Scripture, we see men like Daniel and Nehemiah who were promoted in their business and under those kings, and God used them in a in a wonderful way. But it's using the world, not abusing it. And it's not money that's the root of all evil. It's the love of money.
It's setting our heart on it, but I just want to say this word to those who are younger.
Because again, I think sometimes those who are younger look at us who are taking part or those of us who are older, and they think we're beyond some of these things. And they say, well, it's all right for Bob and Bruce and Vern and Jim to talk about these things. They've moved beyond all this. These things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are something that affect us all our life. We still are vulnerable to the attack of the enemy in these ways. Don't think that we've arrived.
And we have to be perhaps even more careful and more on our guard than even some who who are younger and pray for those who are younger or who are older and those that God raises up in a place of influence and leadership. Because the enemy knows that he can trip up those who in a place of leadership and influence, not only do they miss the past themselves, but they influence and take others with them. And as one has said.
Sometimes there's restoration for the one who has fallen, but they rarely bring their followers back with them. Those that they have taken down, they rarely bring them back. And it's a very serious thing. So I just say young people don't sit back and say, well, they're beyond it up there. No, we are just as vulnerable or perhaps in some ways more vulnerable than those who are younger. I quote Mr. Bellitt, He said there's nothing wrong with being rich. There's always a danger.
00:45:02
Yeah.
Well, the fact is, is that every aspect of our lives can be used to be a temptation in one way or another.
Because this wicked one that he's Speaking of here is more intelligent than any of us.
So the best part for us is to abide in Him and as it says here, for His Word to abide in us to stay near to Him. It's really an encouragement to live simply as a Christian, isn't it?
How simply did the Lord live when he was here?
It's interesting to notice that, uh, in addressing these three stages of development in the family that he has, uh, quite a bit to say to the little children. And we'll talk about that when we get there versus 18 down to verse 28. But when he's Speaking of the, uh, young man, he has less versus 14 to 17. But when he speaks to the fathers, he has very little because they have known him, which is from beginning and being in communion with him and having personal acquaintance with Christ.
Is the place where the enemy cannot get out of and there's so there's no warnings or dangers being said to tho that those in that group, because they're impervious to the enemy's attack because of communion, is like a wall around us that the enemy cannot breakthrough.
So it's important that we know him, that is from the beginning. Personal acquaintance with the Son of God himself is what is a very incredible preservation in itself.
I still remember this story. I don't know if I have all the details correct of a difficulty that arose amongst brethren and.
I.
Someone can fill in if I don't say it all correct, but there was quite a few charges laid against a brother that was particularly useful and he listened to them all and when all the charges were laid out against him.
Somebody asked him, do you have anything to say to all that he says? Brethren, they have said nothing against the Lord, yet I have nothing to say. That's what it means, doesn't it? That known him, that is, from the beginning. It's not. They're not worried by personal attacks. They have grown to the point where it is Christ that is everything and it all.
Just another little word before we pass on, on the world passing away and the lust thereof. We have a very solemn story in the Old Testament in connection with one who lived for this world and lived to see it all burned up and destroyed. And that was Lot. Lot is a we'll see Lot another day in the glory. Lot was a righteous man, but he lived for this world, and the day came when he saw it all gone. It passed away.
In contrast, Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He lived for something that was future and eternal. And what a contrast. But, brethren, if we live only for this world, if we set our hearts on things here, then we're going to live to see it all done away. It's all as it says in Peter, reserved under fire.
So what is going to matter when we stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ? How well we planned our lives, how much we had down here, how well we got along in this world. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. It's having done His will. Those are the things that are going to have eternal value. Perhaps a little different, but it tells us in Romans chapter 12.
To present our bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service. And it's those things that we've done for him and those sacrifices we've made for him and for his people that are going to stand the test and that are going to be rewarded for, and they're going to have eternal weight in that day of glory.
00:50:10
So the last section is from verse 18 forward where we get the little children principles that really apply to the whole Church of God, because if we all enter there, we may have grown to another category, but still that's where we enter. And so he says it is the last time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist.
Shall come. Even now there are many antichrists. We know that Antichrist singular is someone that will be revealed after he that hinders will be taken out of the way. But now there are many antichrists, those that are against Christ, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us, for they had ever, if they had been of us.
They would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all.
Of us notice how often us is referred to there. It's the apostles that is that have laid the foundation work that has given us this testimony of him that is from the beginning. That's the groundwork of our faith brethren. And so it's not that they went out from those of us who are gathered the Lord's name. It's the they had abandoned the principles of Paul of the apostles doctrine.
It went out from us and so that is the basis of our fellowship.
It's helpful to see Mr. Darby's translation too, in connection with this expression the last time. Before I reference it, let me just back up because Paul, in writing to Timothy in the second epistle, he speaks about the last day, and he characterizes the ruin of the last days in professing Christendom.
In Second Peter, he speaks about the closing days, but here I believe, if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he brings us right down, not just to the last or closing days, but he brings us down to the last hour.
Right down to to the end. It's more than just the last day. And brethren, isn't that where we are now? We're just in the last hour. And so we need to perhaps be on our guard against these things more than ever. If we're right at the end in the last hour. And there are those who are opposed to fundamental truth because that's what it really is, as Bob said.
That's what we have in these verses. It's opposition to fundamental truth, that foundation truth, what was laid at the beginning. But this is what is characterizing the day in which we live, because this is indeed not just the last days, but it is the closing hour.
So that's an expression that is used to characterize this entire day in which we live. We call it the Church age when we're talking about the church, or we call it the dispensation of the grace of God. But when we say the last days, the last days began with Christ and the apostles.
Because remember that the mystery was hid in God, that this, this extended time when God was doing something that was, uh, revealing the mystery of Christ in the assembly that was hidden God. And he, he says here, this is the last hour. It's in a sense a season or a particular time. And that, that evil, this conflict in heavenly places is what characterizes the last hour.
There have been many antichrists, but there is going to be the Antichrist, the man of sin, and the last hour is only going to be over when the consummation of all things take place and the Lord Jesus reigns supreme.
So the day in which we live is characterized by this conflict, the need to overcome. There is something out there that must be overcome.
And it's been brought out, I think very profitably, that this world is the scene of a disputed right between Christ and Satan.
Satan doesn't like the fact that Christ came in and accomplished the work and bought all men. Purchase or propitiation. He made the way so that all may come.
00:55:13
But he wants to take as many as he can the other direction.
So we have to remember that we are in a, we're in a scene of conflict. And so when he speaks to the young men about overcoming and to the little children here about the fact that it is the last hour and there are many antichrists, it shows that this is a scene of conflict where we need to be on our guard. And the things that we've been talking about these two days, they need to be real to each of us.
What Satan promised Adam wasn't You shall be like God and the Antichrist.
Is Adam fallen full blown, sits in the temple of God that he has gone?
So in Jude you have the apostates within. Is that worse?
Well, it's been. I like the expression it's been pointed out.
Morally speaking, Jude comes before John. In Jude, they creep in.
But in John they go out. So John, this is the thought of a full apostasy. They abandon the Apostolic teaching, don't they? In Jude, they creep in and they do what they can to corrupt it. But in John they go out and they take their followers with them. It's a it's apostasy from the Apostolic doctrine, from Christianity.
Is encouraging, though in verse 20, amidst the, uh, difficulties, uh, what we have, we have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things. That word function is the same word that we have in verse 27, the anointing, the anointing which you have received of him.
A virus in you and you need not that any men teach you, but as the same anointing.
Teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie and even.
As it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. First, we know that it is the Spirit of God that dwells in us. That is the unction or the anointing. And there's a lot in John's Gospel chapter 14 and 15 that speak of the and 16 as well that speak of the Spirit of God and how He's sent to guide us into all truth. Amazingly wonderful.
Truth, brethren, God the Holy Spirit dwells in our bodies individually and in the Church collectively.
Do we really let that truth sink in properly and he's speaking this to those who are youngest in the family of God. It's wonderful to me to see those who have come to real living faith in the Lord Jesus. And of course, when a person.
Trust in the Lord Jesus is sealed by the Spirit of God. Spirit of God becomes as the seal, and He is the anointing for intelligence in the things of God. And there are people in other parts of the world that have very little education.
As human education, but it is beautiful to see the intelligence that they have because they simply been taught by the Spirit of God, and that's what we have here.
What is the remedy of this apostasy that's taking place, the Antichrist that are so prevalent in today's world, Those that have abandoned the basis of our faith in the person of the Lord Jesus and have given it up, what is the remedy?
The ancient that you have received of him is he says that ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know.
All things I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Yet to know the truth not necessary to do. To be studying all the false doctrines that there are out there. That's not necessary. Know the truth, and when there's something that's not true, you might not know what it is, but you can tell something that doesn't ring true there.
01:00:11
Spirit of God is the power of the little children knowing. So, Bob, how do we reconcile this expression with First Corinthians 13 that says we know in part?
And here it says we know all things.
Go ahead, Jim.
Bye. Bye Ruth. You have a thought?
Well, it's all things that are presented to you. You have the spirit within. It gives you to have a sense if you're in communion, if you're abiding in Him, a sense of whether it is truth or error. If someone comes presenting some wild Gnostic idea and you're living in communion with the Lord Jesus, abiding in Him and so on, you say to yourself, that doesn't bring true at all. That doesn't seem right. You can't maybe turn to a chapter and verse because you're not acquainted with the Scriptures. Remember, he's talking to the little children here, the babes.
And so he can't really reference the Scripture, but he has the indwelling spirit that tells him there's something wrong.
So we have this tremendous, uh, asset, this great resource of the indwelling spirit that will help us make our way through, uh, the dangers and the pitfalls that are out there in this corrupt world, spiritual world. But it only is available to us if we abide in him. Spirit of God will give us to have a sense what is truth and what is error. Yes, that's helpful because we can spend our whole life on Scripture and we still only know in part. We're not going to know it in that way.
All this sight of heaven, we only get an outline really in. Those who are older will confess that you only still have an outline of scripture. We don't know everything. Now repeat a little story that helped me to understand just what Bruce is saying. Some of you remember Charlie Little was my father's cousin and he was saved as a young man in his late 20s and there were several others that were saved at that time.
And they knew nothing, as Charlie told me in later years, he said John 316 could have been someone's phone number for all I knew, He said. I was brought up in a worldly home, he said. We went down to a gospel tent meeting in Pennsylvania.
Half a dozen of us young fellas really just on a lark and the Spirit of God worked and they got saved. But the story I want to tell is that they were going to a so-called church and after the service one Sunday night, they got around the so-called minister, pastor of the church and they said to him, is there something in the Bible about the Lord's coming? We knew nothing about the Lord's coming, but we'd heard that expression that this man was a big.
Officious looking man and he.
Stuck his thumbs in his suspender and he looked down at these other, these young men and he said, yes, the Lord's coming. It's in two parts.
Well, if he stopped there he would have been OK, he said. He comes first for the clergy and 2nd for the common people.
Well, you, you smile, but he was dead serious. So Charlie said we were still just men of the world. And we went over to the pool hall and we lit up our cigarettes and we got our Bibles out and we said, you know, that doesn't sound like the Lord. That doesn't sound right. That's the unction that is, that's this first you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things. They didn't know what the Lord's coming was about, but they knew that wasn't right.
I'll just tell you quickly the rest of the story. One of the brothers, not Charlie, but one of the other young men.
Went in to get his car serviced at a body shot a garage there in the Endicott area. And as he was paying his bill, he saw Bible on the counter. And it was Brother Stuart who was in fellowship years ago in in that area in Endicott. It's Vestal now. And he said to Mr. Stewart, he said set your Bible, said yes, said do you read it? He said yes. He said, is there something about the Lord's coming in it? He said, come on into my office and we'll have a chat.
And through that, those young men came into the knowledge of the Lord's coming. And not only that.
But they were all gathered to the Lord's name until the Lord took them home. So I just used that to illustrate your point in this verse. They didn't know anything about it, but they knew what they heard wasn't the truth. And when he did hear the truth from brother Stuart, that rang true as to it being the word of God. Brother, I experienced that when I was when I was raised in an ungodly home and never. So I make a long story interesting. I told the Lord if I didn't even think about God. But I said, if you win this ball game, I'll go to church.
01:05:14
And I saw it bothered me and month went by and I said I gotta do this now. I never kept my word all the time, but I didn't this thing bothered me. So I was up in the upstairs in my friend's house and I said, are you going to go to the movie tonight? And it was right next door. And he said no, our aunt brought this evangelist to town and we got to go because my aunt wants me to go. So I'm going to go with get this over. And when I first heard that man speak, I thought he was cussing. That's all I'd ever heard about the Lord Jesus.
And I what is this?
But before that was over, I had, you know, definitely made that decision. You know, we said this is a way you you escape hell. And so I did it and I felt really saved. And then the next morning I woke up, I didn't feel safe. So I did it all over again the next night. I just felt really safe. The next morning I woke up and I didn't feel safe. So but he got a hold of me and he said that frames and feelings fluctuate. This can there thy Savior be turn thyself in Christ to see them be feelings what they will. Jesus is thy Savior still.
So he said just go and look and see if John 316 still in the Bible and you're OK.
But I, one of my friends, he said, well, you know that that's not the only book, don't you? No, I said, he said, no, he says it's not the old book. I said, I didn't know that. I said, would you like to know that? Would you like to go and find out? So anyway, he, he took me and it was happened to be a Mormon. I didn't know, I didn't know anything when I, when I went home that night, my friend who's now a Christian and uh, but he said, Clark, you think you can live that way?
I said I don't think so, but I'm giving a whirl and I and it there was this little. There was this little.
New Testament. I knew it was in this in this drawer, and so I got it out and I thought, I started reading this thing. He begat him and he begat him. How does this thing end? I turned over there. Here's Revelation. What am I into? But I went with this man and it was just, I just knew this wasn't right. I didn't know anything. I didn't know Genesis from Revelation.
But I knew it wasn't right. And, and then there was a little, uh, Pentecostal church and pastor he got, he says, you know, there's nine gifts, don't you? I don't know, I didn't know that. Would you like them? Yes, you know, I never got them. And the things that went on there, they just didn't seem right. But this Baptist minister, he come back and, and every week and he would teach us and, uh, and I just seemed like that was right, but I didn't know anything. It was a junction, but I did, I didn't have any agenda. I was ready for anything.
And and God protected me from being getting into a cult or anything else. So I think that's a little example I experienced in my life.
The Spirit of God gives testimony to the truth of God, and if you keep close to the Lord and walk in fellowship with Him, you will know when things are not right. That's what we have here in this the anointing or the unction.
And brethren, I think even in our reading meetings, there are times when things don't sound quite right and we need to meditate. We don't have to force the things of God. We can allow the Spirit of God to clarify them in his own time. Just this last time down in Bolivia, I had an experience with a dear young brother I respect highly in the Lord. Lord is using him. He's a.
Physics teacher in UH school down there, but the Lord has really raised him up and.
He has a different feel on certain areas and I said to him that I was worried that that didn't become a problem between he and me and and him.
Him and myself and he said to me, brother, I have confidence that the Spirit of God is going to lead me and he's going to lead you into what is the unity of the spirit. I really appreciated that and I think.
We need when we come to these meetings, there's differences at times. We don't have to force things. It's the Spirit of God that gives testimony to the truth of God. Meditate on it and the clarity will come in time. That's what we have here in this 90 or this unction.
01:10:17
#318 O Lamb of God, still keep us close to thy fiercest side is only there in safety.
All Lamb of God still.
Keep on broken light here, and thine and only Byron save me.
And be free ground.
Hebrews 11, verse 6.
But without faith, it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he exists.
And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee for these meetings that we've had, and we thank Thee for thy tremendous, amazing love that would bring us into.
Because thou art faithful, thou are trustworthy.
And Lord, how we need to.
Because if we knew what you know, we choose what you choose.
Brad's forgot his way is perfect. We just pray that these things would be a reality in each one of our lives that we would every day.
01:15:06
Walk with thee.
That we would judge our flesh.
That we would be in communion with the.
Long to see thy face.
We just pray for help and blessing.
With thankful hearts in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
The Saviour of Sinners
Gospel—Paul Cedarland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'd like to welcome everyone to the golf convenience this evening.
Maybe we could begin with hymn #3.
My hope on nothing less is built than Jesus and the bloody spilt. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But holy lean on his blessed name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand hymn #3.
And what he spilled.
I dare not trust the sweetest spring.
But holy, lean on his blessing.
On crisis.
Oven rock, I stand.
All of your ground.
Is sinking.
Sand.
Alert and drown.
Everything.
I am Dormill.
Face anchor holes when and die all.
My name is great.
On his hands.
Let all my soul give way.
Please fill our hearts my lasting day.
We could also sing hymn #13.
Man of Sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came.
Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
#30.
4.
00:05:44
So I was looking around the room this evening.
I'm happy to see that most here, I believe, truly know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
And these hymns that we just sang for the believer, it brings us joy and comfort and peace.
But if there's one here, it's yet lost in their sins.
These hymns probably mean nothing to you, but this message tonight is a message from God, from God's Word. It doesn't matter what I say, it's what God says that counts. And so, with the Lord's help, this evening we'll seek to proclaim the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son. Let's look to the Lord for his help.
Our blessed God and our gracious Father, we thank thee tonight that we have such a Savior. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus, thy beloved Son, that one who came from the heights of glory down to this world of woe to give his life, that we might have life and have it more abundantly. So we praise thee for the finished work of the Lord Jesus. We pray too, for any tonight that don't know thy love, that are strangers to thy grace. We pray that thou.
Grace would work in their hearts and arrest them. They might realize their need and they might be brought to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So we would look to Thee and count upon Thee for Thy blessing on Thy Word.
In Jesus precious worthy name, Amen.
We could turn start the meeting tonight by looking at Romans chapter one.
Romans chapter one.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the Gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness.
By the resurrection from the dead.
Verse six. Among whom are ye also the called of the Lord Jesus Christ?
At speaking to believers. Then it goes on to say.
Versus.
Verse 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation.
To everyone that believeth, to the Jew 1St, and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from heaven. From faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
So we see in these verses that the gospel concerns the Lord Jesus, and this evening we'd like to make one thing clearer from the very beginning, and that is that Christ is the Savior of sinners, and he's the only Savior where Jesus could say I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
The Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. My friend, I'm happy that you're here this evening. But you know, the gospel is something real, and it's something that's serious and earnest. Earnest. Not like if I go to buy a car or something, I have to make a decision. But, you know, if I make the wrong decision, I might be out.
00:10:08
20 Thousand 50,000.
But that's nothing compared to losing your soul, the poet could say. To lose your wealth is much, to lose your health is more. To lose your soul is such a cost that no man can restore. So tonight we're Speaking of issues of life and death.
And the Lord Jesus.
Is the only savior.
And tonight man is lost. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Tells us all. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The good news is the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
So though man is lost, ruined in his sins, God has provided a remedy. We read you read in the book of Romans. Here we find about the Lord Jesus is the only Savior. We read about faith. We read about the grace of God, the righteousness of God that he's made available for those that trust the Lord Jesus. But we also read a little further on in this chapter about the wrath of God.
You know God has no pleasure in showing wrath to sinners, but God is a holy God.
And he cannot pass sin by.
God could not pass the Sinner by his sin demands that he must die.
But in the cross of Christ we see how God can save, yet righteous be.
You know, years ago, in the days when they still would whip kids in the school if they did something wrong, there was a boy that.
Had misbehaved and he knew he was going to get a whipping, so he ran out of the class and he ran out into the woods.
Do you know the principal's son was a friend of that boy that ran off into the woods?
And he?
He went to the principal and he said let me take my friend's punishment.
And in principle wasn't real happy with that. But after a while he decided he agreed to it. And so he took his son and whipped that.
Boy, he whipped that sun and that sun went out into the woods and he showed his friend there were these bleeding marks on his back and he said.
It's OK for you to come back now. I've taken your punishment.
You know when we were lost in our sins, we sang that him guilty, vile and helpless. We spotless Lamb of God, was he full atonement? Can it be Hallelujah, what a savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, loved his creature.
I want to say that the gospel is about the love of God, the love of the Lord Jesus, and if you're here tonight, you may be the worst Sinner.
In the town of Kirkland He may be the worst thinner in this state. But God loves you, and God sent his Son to die for you, Bible tells us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Have you believed? Have you trusted? It's a personal thing.
I know when I grew up, I heard John 316 so many times that we just got used to it. And there's a story told of a little girl. This was years ago when they worked in the print shops and it took a lot of Labor to print a piece of page of a book. And this little girl went into her dad's print shop and she saw a little piece of paper laying on the floor that her dad had thrown down and discarded because he had.
Made a mistake in the print. That little girl picked up that print, that piece of paper, and she read these words.
For God so loved the world that he gave.
00:15:03
And then it stopped. There was a mess up on the print. But you know, her heart was attracted to those words. She took that little piece of paper and she took it to her room and she had it there and she read it again. She had always, she knew she was a naughty girl and she had always thought that.
God was out there to get her and to punish her if she did something wrong. But here this verse told her that God so loved the world.
And uh, so she just had the part up to God, so loved the world that he gave. I quoted nothing more than that, but she just knew that God loved and God gave and it caused a whole new thought.
Of God, I want to say tonight that God is a giver. God, that little girl was so happy. She took that little piece of paper and she read it over again. And she had it for several days in her room. And she would look at it. And after a while her mother said, you know, you have a secret. Tell me what your secret is. She was a little embarrassed, but she said, I hope it's OK, Mama, but I took this.
From daddy's print shop. And the mother picked it up and she read For God so loved the world that he gave. She also was touched by these words.
She said let's go to daddy and see if we can find the rest of it. So they went to the father. There he was busy working the print shop and.
They said what's the rest of this? Do you have the rest of this? He said. Oh yes, I have that.
And, uh, here it is. And he picked up the piece of paper and.
They read the Mother, read the words, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And both the mother and the daughter were touched by the love of God. But the dad, he'd been printing all these papers, and to him it was just words. I fear perhaps sometimes boys and girls, men and women, can come to these gospel meetings. Well, we know the words, but doesn't mean anything to us. Have we made it personal? It's a personal thing.
We need to each one individually trust the Lord Jesus as our own favor. It's not good enough if our moms and dads are saved.
That doesn't save us. It's not good enough. It's wonderful thing to learn the Scriptures and to have them in our to know them. What we need to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. We need to trust Him personally.
The Lord Jesus loves us and He wants us to be saved. That's why this message is going forth this evening. There was another lady. She also got some wonderful words.
A man handed her a piece of paper and said, If thou knewest the gift of God.
That Lady took that piece of paper and crumpled it up and threw it on the floor.
And stomped on it.
Man is lost.
Bible tells us God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
But it also tells us this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Are your deeds evil tonight? If you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you have sins.
You need those things put away. The good news is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save you.
The word Jesus.
God's beloved Son, the one that dwelt in the bosom of the Father in a past eternity.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
He sent His Son to be your Savior and to be mine. Will you have him this evening if you don't yet know the Lord Jesus?
He's a wonderful Savior. He's an all the way home Savior, and he'll never let you down. He's one that can satisfy the longing soul and fill the hungry soul with gladness. Last night we sang that hymn. O Christ and thee, my soul hath found, and found in thee alone the peace, the joy. I thought so long, the bliss till now unknown.
00:20:19
Have you found that satisfaction? We live in a world.
Where men and women, boys and girls, are trying everything, trying to find peace, trying to try and trying to find love, trying to find joy, trying to find satisfaction. Man wrote a song. Can't get no satisfaction. I've tried. I've tried.
Over and over he sang that, another man musician said, I'd give all that I have for a little bit of peace. You have peace tonight. You have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You can, you can have joy. The little children sing a song. LEAVE at once. SIN and sorrow come to Jesus.
Joy will surely follow.
You want real and lasting joy. It's found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. This world pleasures of sin are, but for a season they're empty. They bring no lasting satisfaction.
What is your hope in tonight? Is it in the Lord Jesus?
You put your hope in him. He'll never let you down.
I've sometimes built my hopes on things in this world, and you know, it's always turned out to be a huge disappointment. But the Lord Jesus has never disappointed me, and He'll never disappoint you. He alone is the Savior. Christ alone can save, break the power of sin. Christ does fully satisfy the heart.
Decrease to him.
Turn over to the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah.
I believe it's chapter 55.
Oh, Isaiah 55 verse one. Oh, everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come by, Come ye by, and eat ye come by wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfy it not?
Hearken diligently unto me.
And EE that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness, Incline your ear and come unto me here, and your soul shall live.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even if sure mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the people.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God.
And for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.
Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.
That's a wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man is thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Razor rain cometh down in the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but water the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
For ye shall go out with joy, and ye shall be LED forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree, and instead of them briar shall come up the Myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
00:25:00
Your own days.
Back before they had modern methods of transportation, GPS and all those things, cell phones, all those things we take for granted today.
Travelers would sometimes go through the desert. Sometimes they would lose their way.
And so they would spread out in search. They would need water, and they'd spread out in search of water. And when they would find water, they would cry out. Oh.
And the others would come and they would be able to get the water. You know, tonight we have something better than the water. This earth. The Lord Jesus could say to the woman in John four, she could say, He could say to a woman that was thirsting after water that could never satisfy and never last. He could say to her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him.
A well of water springing up into everlasting life.
So the Lord Jesus.
Is a giving Savior and He came from the heights of glory to give his life for you. He wants to give you the water of life. We turn over to the end of Revelation. One of the last things we read is whosoever will.
Let him take of the water of life freely. God is a giver. God, have you tasted the water of life? Lord Jesus is offering as we read. Come to the waters, He that hath no money.
No, God is a giver God.
And salvation is a gift tells us the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Salvation is a gift. You and I are too poor to buy it, and God is too rich to sell it. But He is offering salvation without money and without price. But you know, in order for us to have that salvation.
Someone had to pay the price for our sins. So that salvation that's being offered freely, that you don't have to work for, you don't have to pay for it, you can.
Come freely and take it. Someone paid for that and it was the Lord Jesus Christ. We turn over. We were to turn back.
To Isaiah 53 we would see where the the way was opened. We had it touched on in our meeting this afternoon where we heard those words. He is the propitiation for our sins.
And not for our sins only, but also for the whole world, for those of us that know the Lord Jesus.
God has opened up the way that we could have our sins taken care of. He has taken care of our sins.
But their door is open. The Lord Jesus has laid the foundation when he went to Calvary's cross, so that anyone in this whole world, whosoever will, may come and receive the Lord Jesus.
Tells us in John's gospel as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name. Have you believed on Him tonight? If you do, if you trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you will be saved. Bible tells us in Acts 1631. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
It's not believe and keep the law, it's not pray, and it's not read the Bible, wonderful as those things are. Stories told of a little girl that went to a.
Gospel meeting and she knew she was a Sinner and needed to be saved and somebody told her to read the Bible and pray.
She went home and.
She didn't know where to start in the Bible and she didn't know how to pray. And so she just knelt down by her bed and she said, Lord, Lord Jesus, I can't read and I can't pray, but I want you to save me. And the Lord Jesus saved her and he'll save you if you will trust him.
Let's take a brief look at what the Lord Jesus did for us. This might mention this was written believe over 600 years before the Lord Jesus was born. And yet.
00:30:05
Can't really go anywhere else in scripture and find such an accurate description of his work and what he's done.
Very beautiful.
Let's start with verse two. He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness. When we shall see him. There is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected, a man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not.
You know the Lord Jesus came into this world to make known the heart of God.
Satan had created.
A gulf between man and God.
You know, Adam and Eve, they're in the garden. They chose rather to listen to Satan than to God.
And they chose a piece of fruit instead of God.
Shows how foolish our hearts are by nature. We cannot trust our own hearts, but thankfully we can trust the Lord. They made the mistake of doubting God, doubting His word.
And whenever we doubt God, someone's made the comment. All our failure, whether sinners or Saints, is because unbelief in the goodness of God. Oh, there's one that's worthy of all our full confidence, and that's the God.
It is made us and sent his son to die for us.
Where Jesus came known to reveal the heart of the Father, He was the only begotten Son that dwelt in the bosom of the Father.
In the past eternity He was there in the glory, daily rejoicing before His Father.
You think that hymn dwells in his bosom, knoweth all that in that bosom lies, and came to earth to make it known that we might share His joys. You know it was the Father's purpose that you and I might be able to enjoy fellowship with the Father and with His Son, and the Lord Jesus has made that possible.
He came to this earth. He came so near to his creature. He became a man.
The Lord of glory, the one who made the Maker of heaven and earth, tells us in John One in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. And then it goes on to say that He came unto his own in his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he power, or the privilege to become the sons of God, or the children of God.
No, God wants you and his family tonight.
Are you willing to trust the Lord Jesus? And when the Lord Jesus came into the scene, there was God manifest in flesh.
The Lord of glory became a man perfectly doing his Father's will.
In every step of his pathway here and as he went about, the Father's love was displayed in the sun as the Lord Jesus touched a leper and healed him, gave sight to the blind, gave strength to the lame man so he could stand up.
Raise the dead.
Went about doing good, healing all that are oppressed to the devil. Lord Jesus was there.
For all.
But he also came where man could get his hands on him.
Man.
Didn't like the fact that he reached their conscience.
At one point, when the Lord Jesus spoke, they could marvel at the gracious words that proceeded from His mouth. Within the next moment, when He reached their conscience, oh, they took up stones to stone him. They didn't want any part of that.
You know you were a Sinner tonight and God says you're a Sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And I hope your conscience, you feel that in your conscience because you're in the presence of a holy God, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
You have to do with God.
And you're gonna regret it for all eternity if you do not repent and believe the gospel.
But the gospel is good news. So our desire is rather to show the love of God rather than preach the judgment of God. But nevertheless, the judgment of God is sure, and it's just and according to truth. And you and I.
00:35:08
Deserve that judgment. If you've trusted the Lord Jesus, he's born that judgment for you. But if you have not, he that hath not, the Son hath not life, and the wrath of God abideth on him.
Where Jesus made known the heart of the Father.
But you know, He was so near, so loving. And as we mentioned before, men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Man is lost, and man has no heart for God's beloved Son.
Unless his eyes are opened. And so it's our prayer and hope tonight that your eyes will be open and you'll be turned from the power of darkness to the wonderful, massless love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only saver that can save you, only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, He will save you. He will save you. Now you know men took the Lord Jesus and they they laughed him to scorn. Later on they his own, one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, betrayed the Lord Jesus.
You know, no matter how much privilege you may have had.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus, that's the picture. That's my heart, and your heart by nature.
Our hearts are deceitful above all things the Bible tells us, and desperately wicked. And who could know it?
What kind of a friend would betray his own friend? And yet that's what Judas did, and that's what our hearts are capable of. And yet the Lord Jesus loves us. And so man took that blessed one.
And they hung him up on a tree between heaven and earth. First they smote him, they beat him. He gave his back to the smiters, his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. He had gnawed his face from shame and spitting.
That blessed Savior set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He knew what was going to happen, but He went anyway so that you and I could be saved.
Saved for all eternity, saved from our sins and brought into the richest blessing God who is rich in mercy for His great love worthy loved us even when we were dead in sins.
Had quickened us together with Christ. Have you been quickened? No, God uses his word. The word of God is quick and powerful. He uses his word, says being born again. Are you listening to the word tonight?
God's Word, the entrance of thy Word, giveth light, giveth understanding to the simple.
The Word of God is living inoperative. Will you hear it?
Well, man mistreated the Savior, hung him up on a tree between heaven and earth, and the Lord Jesus allowed that he could say, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than.
12 legions of angels. He would not save himself because he wanted to demonstrate his love, the love of God, to man, his creature. It was God's answer.
To Satan's lie for this purpose was the Son of God manifested.
That he might destroy the works of the devil. Satan had made God out to be a bad guy. Someone's someone that's out to get you. And that's not the heart of God. God has no pleasure and the death of the wicked. But that he turned from his evil way. Turn you, turn you. Why will you die? See, our time is going by fast.
You know all those things that the Lord Jesus suffered at man as they smote him, they beat him.
Hung him up, put nails between his, put nails into his hands, hung him up there and sitting down, they watched him there. They mocked the Son of God, the Lord of glory, and our hearts were told out as that mob cried away with him. Crucify him. We will not have this man to reign over us. That's my heart apart from the grace of God, and that's your heart too.
But the wonderful thing is.
That there, as man was doing his worst, the Lord Jesus was doing his best. There on that cross, in those three hours of darkness, God's beloved Son was punished for the sins that we deserved. That he took the punishment that we deserved, He tells us as we read here.
00:40:15
Surely He hath borne our grease and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem, did esteem Him.
Stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
So God punished his Son that we might go free.
The punishment, the affliction that the mistreatment that he received from his Creator showed the love of the Lord Jesus showed his patience, His grace, his heart for man's blessing. The last act before they took him and bound in me. When Peter cut off a man's ear, his last act with his hand with he took his hand and touched that man's ear and he healed him.
Showing his heart, a blessing for his creature.
And all those things we did that in.
Things that we heaped upon him.
That didn't atone for our sins, but that work on Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus hung there in those three hours of darkness, and he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. God punished the Lord Jesus for what we did.
And if you'll have him tonight, he'll be your Savior. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
He can cleanse a vilest Sinner tonight, and He can cleanse you. Will you come to him? Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Yes, the Lord Jesus bore the punishment. He bore the judgment of a holy God.
In those three hours of darkness on Jesus, God's just vengeance fell, which would have sunk a world to hell. He bore for a sinful race and thus became their hiding place. Is it your hiding place tonight? It can be. You need a hiding place. That tells us in Isaiah, man shall be as a hiding place. Oh, do you have that hiding place? That place of safety from the judgment is coming soon.
Tells us that Hell was prepared for the devil, and his angels wasn't prepared for sinners.
Oh, are you going to perish? Turney, Turney, why will you die? I was walking up. I was at a place of.
And I was walking up these steps and I saw.
Written etched into the rock, it said choose life and it said Deuteronomy. How did D EU2DE UT for Deuteronomy? And uh, God wants you, you know, you have a choice tonight.
But God doesn't just say choose. God now commands all men, every word repent, because he's appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men.
And that he hath raised him from the dead. Is he your Savior? He can be where Jesus is coming. Soon will those of us that know the Lord Jesus will be caught up to see his blessed face.
We're gonna see the nail marks in his hands. We're gonna see the pierced inside where the precious blood flowed forth so that you and I could be saved. Those of us that know the Lord Jesus, it's gonna be a joy to us. But if you refuse the gospel of God's grace, you're going to pass into a lost eternity. And all eternity there will be weeping and wailing, gnashing of teeth.
All there's no joy in hell. There's nothing there to satisfy the heart.
But God's beloved Son is a worthy object, and he alone can satisfy, and he'll satisfy you. If you'll come to him. He'll put away your sins. He'll wash away every stain of sin, make you fit for the presence of God.
And you can go on your way with rejoicing because you will have a new life. And he sustains that life. He gives you everything you need for the pathway. I ran out of time, so I didn't get to go into that. But I want to thank. I want to thank you all for coming here. And I trust if there's any here yet lost in their sins, that you will receive the word Jesus. Now there was.
A minor that went to a meeting and he heard the gospel preached.
And as he listened, he knew he was not saved. And after the meeting, he spoke to someone and he was in earnest. He wanted to be saved. And, you know, and it got late and they told him, well, how about if you come back tomorrow morning because it's so late, just come back tomorrow and we'll visit with you some more. He said. I need to get it settled tonight.
00:45:15
And finally the light sunk through and he received the Lord Jesus. He just came as a needy Sinner, telling God he was a Sinner and he trusted the Lord Jesus, received the Lord Jesus as his own Savior, and he came into blessing.
Had his sins forever put away and he went off and the next day he went into the mine to work and there was a cave in and that mine and they went in. The rescuers went in to rescue and they were bringing out the bodies. And this miner's last, he was, his life was just ebbing away.
And his last words were Thank God it was settled last night.
And I pray God that if you're here yet, ye lost in your sins, that it might be settled tonight. You might receive the Lord Jesus, and you'll never regret it. You're never going to meet up.
A person that comes to the Lord Jesus and was sorry they did. I never have and never will.
Please, I would plead with you.
This might be your last chance.
Come, God hasn't asked us to do something hard. He just says, come, come believing. Trust the Lord Jesus, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Let's pray. Our blessed God and our Father, we thank you for the gospel, Thy grace.
We feel burdened tonight if there be any here, yet lost in their sins, we just pray earnestly that they might avail themselves for the opportunity. Pray that Thy word might have its entrance into their hearts, and they might flee from the wrath to come.
And might trust the Lord Jesus and come into eternal blessing, and go on their way, rejoicing in a living, loving, wondrous savour. So we thank Thee for thy beloved Son, and that work, ye the compass, and how thou art satisfied with Jesus.
And we are satisfied as well. We thank thee, if thou hast raised up the Lord Jesus, that one who humbled himself and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Thou hast raised him up and given him a name which is above every name. So we thank thee for thy worthy Savior in his precious name. Amen.
Prayer
Talk—Wayne Coleman
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'm gonna, uh, with the Lord's health, talk of just a few moments about prayer. So let's begin with prayer. Our loving Father, we thank thee for the privilege to sing these great hymns, and we pray that each one here is singing out of a true heart of appreciation and Thanksgiving to thee.
And as we look into thy word for a moment to get a little instruction, some help on prayer, we ask for thy health. Uh, we pray for each one of us that's here. We are in the wilderness. We're not home yet. Our Father, we really feel it. And, uh, we need help. So we just ask for this now and pray and thy wonderful name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Amen.
Turn first of all if you have a Bible. If not, that's fine. You can listen Hebrews 10.
This subject came up a couple of weeks ago in Korea. We were talking a little bit about went to the Book of Philippians and we talked a little bit about prayer. And one of the older brothers there said at the end of the meeting, I don't really, I'm not even sure I really know how to pray.
Oh, really? OK, So then we had another, the next meeting we had was on a subject of prayer. And, uh, I stole my wife's notes out of Evernote and used that, uh, which is probably about 40 or 50 verses on prayer categorizing into the different categories. And I touched on maybe five or six sources, I guess, uh, it's a very vast subject, but umm, Hebrews 10 and I have some of those verses here.
Hebrews 10 and verse 14.
For by one offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified. Verse uh 19 Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. I I don't know if we all got this.
Throughout the meetings, there were some deep things that came up in the readings, but there's something I really picked up, and that is the access that you and I have as Christians based upon the finished work of Christ.
Abraham, All the Old Testament Saints did not have this.
You think of the friendship that Abraham had with prayer, with God in prayer and so on. Your access is worlds beyond that we are we the access that we have is nothing short of just simply awesome. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
No Old Testament Saints ever had that. That's the AC access that you and I have. And I, I'd like to ask the question. I kind of was a challenge. Do you pray? Well, of course we all pray, but do you really pray? Do you seek to get into God's presence just for the sake of fellowship with Him about the needs that you have? You tell Him the secrets of your soul.
You know this brother that asked this question? When we discussed it a little later, I realized that his prayer life was a very formal, kind of a Korean thing.
And uh, it's really got me to thinking just how much how formal or lack of intimacy is in my own life. And so my wife's list of verses on prayer is a great help to me. So, umm, why do we pray? Here's another question this brother had. Why do we even pray if God's got it all figured out? After all, he's sovereign and he's already decided how it's going to be, right?
Why would we pray? Well, James says. The effectual, fervent prayer of our righteous man.
Availeth much so that's the word of God. If prayer does change things and primarily it changes us. But if anybody you would think didn't really need to pray, it would be the Lord Jesus. I would like to just touch on 2 verses of a habit that Jesus had. The first one is in the Gospel of Mark.
And I would like to commend this habit to you. You know many.
Uh, Christians in these days feel as habits and forms or don't belong to Christianity. Let's just wing it. It's all grace. Uh, we are to, uh, pray without ceasing. So I'm just gonna pray whenever it comes into my mind. Really. Uh, I can tell you right now that there's going to be a fail. And it's not a fail to pray. We needed to pray, but.
00:05:11
These two verses show that even the Lord Jesus Christ, God himself.
Sought out a secret time of prayer, Mark chapter one and verse 35. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and their prey.
A great while before day, you know, we've talked in our meetings about spending time with the Lord in with the with the word of God, to have a special time to read the word of God. I hope you have that habit. I really hope you do. And I also hope and I beg you to set aside that time also for prayer.
And it's a challenge to me very much.
Umm, because it's a little bit deceptive when we, we, we think about, uh, praying without ceasing, going through our lives, talking to the Lord and so on, that maybe I don't need to spend this dedicated time in prayer. I'm going to tell you, you need to spend dedicated time in prayer quiet and alone and on your knees.
If your knees don't work, I suppose you could sit down, but if you have knees, kneel on them. Daniel did three times a day and, uh.
That's maybe minimal, but anyway we find with the Lord Jesus a great while before day, he rose up and went out to pray and spend that time alone with his with his Father. Now let's go to Matthew chapter 14 and we find.
The Lord Jesus again praying 14.
22 And straightway Jesus constrains his disciples to get into a ship and go before him unto the other side, while he sent him multitudes away, and when he had sent him multitudes away.
He went up into a mountain of heart to pray, and when the evening was coming he was there alone.
I don't know how long he must have been there, maybe for hours now. Couldn't the Lord Jesus as God the Son, that eternal life which was with the Father? Could he not just be continuing in constant communion with his Father?
I'm sure he was, but as a man he had to get away and be quiet and get alone with the Lord, and he hiked a mountain to do it at the end of the day. And he probably had to get down at night.
This is the kind of purpose that you and I really need, and I can tell you that this is ebb and flowed in my life, and when it has ebbed and I've got off of that.
Things begin to come apart in my life and it is no comfort to say, well I'll just pray when I get around to it. It doesn't happen. And so here the Lord after a busy day of service.
He wanted to get away and to be alone with the Lord.
Now, I don't know what time we started, but I think I was only supposed to speak for 15 minutes in the way time runs with me. Maybe that's already over. So, umm, I did wanna talk to you about some of the conditions of answered prayer.
And I realized we're not gonna have time for that, but.
Something that happened a little while ago in our family, uh, my brother has three very wonderful children and they all went to Christian School. They're all counseling and at the various church functions that they have and so on. And my brother told me just a while ago, he said, uh, Josh is not safe.
You've got to be kidding. What? And you know he's now in his mid 20s.
What? What's going on? How'd you find out? Well, he just said I'm done, Dad, I'm done. Why? Because God doesn't answer prayer.
Well, what prayer did you not answer?
Well, you know it. It was a girl in his life and he won the girl. She wasn't safe and the Lord did not give him that girl.
And it's now been a couple of years and he has gone and not looked back.
And that has really chilled me to the bone.
To go on in profession like that and to not know.
What this matter of prayer really is? Is it really about just getting what you want?
00:10:05
Is that why we pray? I don't believe that. That's why the Lord Jesus was going in the morning and evening in these specific times of prayer to be with the Lord, to be with his Father. But it was to commune with Him. We know that as he knelt there in the garden.
His prayer was basically.
Father, if there's any other way that I can have my bride without going to that cross, let's do it.
But if there isn't.
I'm well, that's the spirit in which you and I need to pray. It's not about going to God and saying here's my list. You know, I have 5 things in my list, so I got one and I got to have this. Lord, I have to have this. No, it needs to be.
Lord, I'll be honest, I really do want this. But if it's not, Thy will have thy way with my spirit.
You know, we're just getting going. Uh, I'd love to, I really like to go into this at a great length and discuss this with you, uh, because I know as young people.
Umm, and most of you probably have been raised in Christian homes.
A lot of what you heard and what you believe may be somewhat theoretical and putting it into practice.
And the experiences of life can be very painful.
And somewhat difficult, and I can only say to you that you're only going to work that out in prayer. You're going to read the scriptures and by faith take those scriptures and bow before the Lord and ask Him to work it out in your life.
And factoring in all those, those difficulties in your life and the questions and the decisions that you have to make.
I really long for you guys to have that that intimate relationship with the Lord.
Let's pray again.
Lord Jesus, we're all here before thee. We've seen thy example in those two scriptures, and we've referred to thee in the garden, agonizing about what lay before Thee. And we see thee as God the Son, having that perfect relationship with Thy Father, and yet agonizing in prayer. And so, Lord, where do we fit into all of this?
We've heard all about this eternal life that was with the Father, that relationship, Lord Jesus, that thou did have with thy Father.
The Taoist invited us into and as we take this just a couple of minutes to have a sneak peek at thy life of prayer, we realize we need that too. And so we are bound to take up Thy precious word and and take it in like food and but we need to bow before thee too, Lord, and we ask thee to teach us to pray each one here, from the youngest to the oldest. We need this habit, Lord.
We really need it, and we pray that Thou would impress it upon us.
And if we can just take this point away today here, Lord Jesus, please help us to have the habit of prayer and to keep one another accountable. Umm, good friends, don't let good friends not pray. I suppose. So, Lord, help us to keep one another accountable. Help us to be accountable to the Lord Jesus and to live our lives in community. We pray and ask this in thy wonderful and precious name, Lord Jesus.
Connections
Children—Steve Hall
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.
So why don't we start with some hymns? On the back of our hymn sheet, there's some children's hymns.
Who has one?
Raise your hand in the front row, Art Ted, go ahead #47.
#47 when he come.
Up to make U is you.
Always do.
The morning and right now, I'm sorry.
I can give you a bright and far and brown.
I can't fart in frown.
Let my children, let no children.
Who are everything? Her heart.
And in love.
Time.
Have a lot of seats up here in the front that are empty. Any children want to come up here in the front?
OK, we'll have another hem, go ahead #14.
Kylie wants #14 Jeff.
Have you been to Jesus for that?
You've only dressing in his brain in the fire you watch in the flood of land.
Nsnoise.
00:05:27
Who in the front row likes stories? Anybody like stories?
Oh good, We have a few people that like stories. I have a story to tell you this morning, and it's a story about me, so I'll apologize for that. But after we sing a few more hymns, we're going to have some memory verses.
And in the front row here, if you're willing to say a verse, that doesn't have to be anyone in particular.
We would love to hear you say your memory verse. So who has another one?
Right over here #44.
Into a tent where a gypsy boy lay.
On top of his family, everything.
Nobody ever found calling to me.
However, I guess that way I can.
Then he's gonna be out for a little boy.
Sat unto me, thou good fighting thumb joy.
Need I not merry my handwritten?
Oh, nobody ever. The stories of all.
Never mind and tell them that I can.
Well, I can say all that children of them, no one did ever have so many people.
So I have a question to ask you kids in the front row here. Does anybody know what a connection is? Anybody know what a connection is?
That's a kind of big word.
A link. Yeah, a link. So I wanna talk about connections this morning.
Because I think connections are really, really important. So I want you to think about connections, but I want to talk about connections in a little different way than normal. Normally we think of maybe a link in a chain, right? So that connects the different parts of a chain together. But I think we've all had the opportunity this weekend to make some connections between US and other people.
And that's something that I want to talk about this morning.
So I want you to be thinking about that. Who else has a hymn that we can sing this morning? Violence. What? Number 4?
00:10:33
No, I didn't say no. I am fine, happy and dusty by spring.
Say by my blessed reading.
This is the same for me.
Nsnoise.
Zodiac Ziggy came from Goddard Mountain to replace me.
Now there is no condemnation.
That is, let's say your party.
They don't understand.
That I think about taking another side thing.
Yeah, but for my wrath and thumb, let's let's not say your father meaning.
All right, before we go any further, let's bow our heads and we're going to ask the Lord for his help this morning. Our gracious, loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for all these children that are sitting here in this front row, and we thank the that they're here to hear about thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank Thee that He is the Savior of sinners.
We thank Thee, our God and our Father, that Thou hast provided a means that we can.
Have fellowship with Thee. And so we just asked for a blessing on this time. We pray that the word spoken might be simple and easy to understand, and we pray that they might glorify Thee and thy beloved Son, our Savior. We ask this in his worthy, precious name, our Lord Jesus, Amen.
We're going to sing some more after a little bit, but I think it would be a good idea to say some memory versus.
So do I have a volunteer in the front row? Very good.
So what I'll do here is I'll just start here and if you want to say your verse, just raise your hand and we'll let you say your verse.
He said, hears my word, and believes on him that sent me as everlasting life, and shall not come unto condemnation, but His path from death into life. John 5/24.
Billy will send you the ugly choice Joy shall be under.
The present.
The Angels.
I want to know that repent is.
Good job, Good job.
Very rarely I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believeth on him that sent me shall hast everlasting life, and shall not pass into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. John 5/24.
00:15:11
Hey, John, anybody else?
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Like 1910.
Very good. I know it's kind of hard with this many people. Anybody over here any takers?
God so loved the world that He who gave His only begotten Son should not perish, but have everlasting life.
7016.
Not by bricks of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his riches He saved us. Titus 35 Very good. Anybody else?
Very brave enough.
Hello, good.
Anybody else OK?
You want me to come back OK.
See that here is my word, and believe us on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but his past unto from death unto life. John 5/24.
Is that the one you had? You wanna say it?
See that the Here's my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come in on a nation that is passed from death into life.
On 5/24, good job.
Acres. Any takers? Island.
And then?
The wall of all the boys home. I won't say the first.
I command you, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Thus for one night.
Switch on.
Just one minute, one second.
524 good job. Anybody else?
OK.
I would say as you might have and and I see what I have is another world. And what's the world with me? And there's a human place and there's a big landfill on my cell phone. And the world is my father. Love me and I make our own life and I teach it again.
Ketchikan. Anybody else? Anybody that I miss, There we go.
Really really assigned to you he that heareth my world and believeth on him that sent me.
Show of everlasting life.
But umm, and she'll not come into condemnation, but it's passed from death unto life. John 524. Good job. Anybody else?
You did a great job, Thank you.
So let's sing another. Well, can I have somebody?
OK, that's fine.
Does somebody have a hymn?
Questionnaire #39.
What a friend we have.
00:20:01
In life all our friends and great to bear.
Water when you carry.
Everything to die in France.
Oh my God, he's pretty hot and falling.
Off.
And so we're going to have a.
May I have the serial number of any treasure?
And we find.
Our.
$2.00 I have to do 3 days.
And they give out the money and pressure.
Again, I want to thank each one of you children. I know almost all of you, probably all of you have a memory verse that you know, and it's kind of hard to stand up in front of a big crowd like this and and say the verse. So I want to thank you. It's really, really important that we hide the word of God in our hearts. And I want to encourage you every week and every day.
To make sure that you hide the word of God in your heart. So I'm going to read the first story that we have.
In the Word of God, because I think it illustrates.
Part of the subject that I want to talk about this morning, and so if you'll bear with me, I'm going to read from Genesis chapter 3. I'm going to read the first part of this chapter. I know you children all are familiar with this story, but I want to read it from the Word of God, Genesis chapter 3 and verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the field.
Which the Lord God had made, And he said unto the woman, Yeah, hath God said, he shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden.
God hath said, You shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day.
Ye thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons, And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.
In the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves among the present from the presence of the Lord.
00:25:02
God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord called unto Adam, and he said unto him.
Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree? Where I whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me.
And I did eat.
This story is the story of how sin came into this world.
Because God had told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees that were in the Garden of Eden, with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Eve listened to Satan.
And she took of that tree and she ate and sin came into her life. I have a story that happened to me about 13 years ago.
At that point in time, we lived in Walla Walla and my mother lived over here in the Seattle area, a little bit South of here.
And we had a van and we like to come over and visit my mom and if you guys like to go to your grandmother's house and have a visit.
You guys like to go see your grandmother. I think most everybody likes to go see their relatives. And so we on this particular time, we were paying a visit to my mom and.
As often occurs in Lord's Day afternoon and we had to go home because we had school and work and whatnot.
And so we hopped in our van and we got on the road. But I don't know if any of your parents are like this, but I know sometimes we get talking and we get doing this and that and the other thing. And sometimes the the clock keeps on going and it gets a little late. And this time it got a little late. So we didn't leave over here until.
Probably around 5:00, five or 6:00 in in the afternoon on the Lord's Day afternoon. And so we hopped in the car and it had been a pretty busy weekend.
And we started driving. See any of you kids ever fall asleep in the car?
I know our kids, they usually would fall asleep pretty quickly. But if you slept for a little while and then you wake up, what happens? You can't go back to sleep very well, right? Usually that's the case. We were driving along in our car and I got pretty tired and so I turned to my wife and I said, sweetheart, could you drive for a little while? Because I'm just getting really sleepy.
And she said sure.
And so we pulled over.
And we had a little baby, he's now 15 years old, umm, that was sitting in the, in his car seat. And every time we slowed down and stopped, he would start to wake up. And, uh, so he almost woke up the other kids, uh, when we switched drivers and, and we were kind of concerned about that. We got back on the road. Thankfully, they all went back to sleep.
And we're driving along and.
Pretty soon, my wife says. Hon, I'm getting really, really tired.
Can you drive? And I said, well, yeah, I can drive. And we were over by the Rogers house by that point.
And so we hatched a plan. We had a minivan that had two captain seats in the front, and we thought that we would switch drivers really, really quickly. So I took my seat belt off and kind of crouched behind my wife and she came to a stop and put it in park. And then she hopped out of the way and I hopped in the driver's seat and we took off.
Almost.
So I have a, uh, something that happened here to me that I want to show you guys.
Do you guys like cars? Any boys like cars?
I have a piece of that car.
And I want to talk about this morning. I saved this.
00:30:05
This is probably the most expensive object lesson you'll ever see for Sunday school.
So we decided we were going to change drivers really, really quickly, right? And I hopped in that seat.
And I was putting on my seat belt and I decided that I would put the car in here and we would take off real quick so that the kids wouldn't wake up.
And I put my foot down on what I thought was the brake.
I happened to have my foot on the brake and the gas pedal at the same time.
And the engine revved up.
And then I threw it in gear.
And I heard a thanks.
And then and we didn't go anywhere.
I'm pretty sure all of you children came this morning in a car, right?
Do any of you guys know what are the major components of a car?
You have an engine, right? You put gas in the gas tank and the gas goes into the engine. The engine makes power. Where does that power go from there? Anybody know?
Goes into the transmission. The transmission is what makes you go fast or slow or backwards.
And then the transmission takes that power and puts it into the wheels and you go right, This happens to be the front end of the transmission.
And this is what hooks into the engine. And if you'll notice, there are two different parts. They're not supposed to be two different parts.
This is what's called the input shaft of the transmission, and it broke. It's supposed to be connected right here.
So we had a dilemma. Interestingly enough, the kids didn't wake up.
So we sat there on the side of the road and the engine ran just fine.
But we didn't go anywhere because there was a broken connection.
And children.
Adam and Eve in the garden. They had a broken connection if we turned back here to Genesis chapter 3.
I want to talk about this first broken connection in Adam and Eve's life. You see in verse 9, the Lord came to talk with Abraham, with Adam and Eve, and I think that this was something that happened every afternoon. We read in other places that the Lord wants to talk to you and me.
And yet.
When Eve took of that.
Forbidden fruit.
The connection that Adam and Eve had with the Lord God was severed, it was broken, and it was permanently broken.
Want to ask you a question.
Brylane, do you know anything about super glue? Pretty strong. Do you think I could reconnect this part to that part with super glue? Would it work?
I don't know if he's here yet, Andrew.
Uncle Andrew way back there, he's a material science guy. He's pretty smart.
No, yeah. So the question bef before the answer was, was is there any glue that we could use to connect this to that and make the car whole again? The answer is truly no.
There's nothing that I could do. You know, my son has been learning to Weld.
And welding is when you put two pieces of metal together and make them one piece of metal.
Or try to. You know what it doesn't even work to try to Weld this part to that part and machine it back. It will never ever work.
So for us to have a working vehicle again, we had to go to a shop and we had to purchase a brand new part.
And children, our connection with God has been forever severed, has been forever ruined because of sin.
Scripture says that we are born in sin and iniquity. That means every single person in this room has the stamp of sin on their lives. Even the smallest little baby has been born in sin and our connection with God has been permanently and completely severed. You know, it didn't matter what year I put that vehicle in.
00:35:24
We did. We weren't going any direction.
And I could push on the gas pedal as hard as I wanted and we were not going to go.
Any place.
Because the connection to the transmission had been broken.
You know, there's a little more to that story.
Umm. That I think illustrates another point.
So I'm pretty resourceful.
And my wife and I, we looked at each other and.
And we said, well, now what are we going to do? And I said, well, I think there's a gas station over on the other side of the freeway there.
I'll just run over there because that was before we carried cell phones. I'll run over there and I'll I'll call my father-in-law and he can come get us. We'll be fine, right?
He's actually here someplace there he is over there. So I ran over to the gas station and asked to use their phone and picked up the phone and I called Uncle Walt said dad, I need some help. Ironically, we were taking a toe Dolly, umm, from my mom's house back to our house because my mom didn't need it anymore. And so we had.
The means of towing a vehicle.
Sitting right behind our car.
Couldn't go anywhere so I called him up and I said dad we need some help, can you come help us?
Another person that is here kindly jumped in the car with dad. They brought a pickup and a car because we had kids and everybody wouldn't fit in the pickup and they came over and we hooked onto the tow Dolly and put the front end of our van up on that toad. All in, towed at home. All good, right?
Not really.
That van happened to be an all-wheel drive van.
And we ruined the rest of the transmission by towing it home without disconnecting the drive line.
And the reason I tell you that?
Your children is We have a tendency to think that we can do something to improve our condition.
If I'm really good, maybe it will help and it doesn't help.
Because the stamp of sin is upon each one of us, and our connection with God has been broken. And it doesn't matter how much we try to improve things, we're only going to make it worse. And that's the case with that van. You know, I think the, the shop told me that it would have been, I don't know, $500.
If I hadn't towed the van from that location, but instead it was 1500.
Because I towed the van home.
I made it three times worse because I thought I knew what I was doing.
And dear children.
There's only one way that our situation between US and God, our connection between US and God, can be fixed.
Part of it we read about earlier and I'm going to get to that, but turn with me to John chapter 3.
You see, there was.
A gentleman by the name of Nicodemus, and he wanted to know how to get right with God. He wanted to know how his connection to God could be.
Restored. And so he asked the Lord Jesus.
And this is the answer the Lord Jesus gave him, John chapter 3, verse three. And Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
You and I have to have a new life for us to have a connection with God.
00:40:04
And the way that we get that new life is found down in verse 16 that somebody already quoted for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We have to have a new life. And the way that we get that new life to your children.
Is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and the work that He has accomplished, believing that He has forever settled the question of our sins, that He has taken the full punishment of our sins upon Himself?
And made us free from that penalty.
Earlier I spoke of the fact that there's other connections in our lives, and I wanna demonstrate that a little bit. Can I have a couple of volunteers? Go ahead, I'll take these two. You guys help me.
So I'm going to go way, way back in time. OK, we have a communication device here. Have you ever seen one of these?
So Loki, if you can take that over there, can you hold this here?
So if anybody knows anything about communication devices, umm, this certain communication device will connect Luke and what's your name? Ezra. He'll connect Luke and Ezra if they pull the string tight, right? And you guys can communicate, umm, between this. So I'm gonna ask you.
Ezra.
To read a verse here and we'll see if Luke can Luke, he can, uh, get the message.
So I want you to read verse 9.
In the contest. So could you hear that?
Only heard the first part. Let's try it again. Try to try it louder. You got to speak right into it. Pull it tight. Pull it really tight.
And to.
Oh.
That happened pretty quick.
Did anybody see what the sign was was that he was holding?
Said sin. And dear children, thank you.
I have another string, we can try it later.
The illustration and I had to give my son way, way too many signals there.
Sin hinders our communication between us as individuals. I want to turn back to that. I'm going to read that.
And this is the solution to our problem as well. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse seven. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ.
His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Earlier, our brother Matt Richards Hagen was telling a story and I don't know if you children picked up on that story, but he was talking about a child, a child, and it could be any one of us that was told not to have any cookies.
You guys remember that story?
They said that there was a a kid that that was told he he couldn't have any cookies and he went and took a cookie.
And after he took that cookie, do you think he wanted to go see his mom?
No, his connection to his mother.
Was broken because of sin, and that's true of all of us when we allow sin in our lives.
Whether we're saved or unsaved, when we allow sin in our lives, it destroys, It breaks our connections with other people as well. Not only does it break our connection with God, but it breaks our connections with each other as well. And dear children, we have the solution here. It says if we confess our sins.
00:45:20
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that is so very important for us to have connections with other people as well as with God, we need to confess our sins.
That's absolutely critically important. If I may, I wanna talk just a little bit about your children's heads. I don't wanna talk real briefly to the young people this morning. We live in a society.
Where everyone has one of these things, cell phone.
And we live in a society where you can take a picture.
And splash it across this world.
In just a matter of seconds.
And you can text somebody and you can.
Communicate in all kinds of different ways.
Ironically.
In this world that we live in that has so many methods of communication.
Our connections with other people.
Are suffering dramatically.
And I wanna encourage young and old.
And I'm speaking to myself as well here.
The connections that we have with other people and with God are so vitally important.
Studies show that.
The average American feels more disconnected than ever before because relationships.
Take hard work.
Relationships.
Require trust.
And they don't occur.
Very well with texting and Snapchat.
And Facebook and all these other methods and as you children grow up.
And you older, young people.
I want to encourage you to cultivate godly.
Connection.
There will be a blessing in your life.
The tools that we have available to us do not necessarily promote that.
In fact, they're directly against it most of the time.
And sometimes it's difficult. I remember when I was a teenager.
And I was afraid, honestly, to invest in relationships because I was afraid that those relationships would be broken.
See, I had suffered death in my life.
And death is one of those things that permanently severs our connection with someone else, at least as far as time is concerned here on Earth.
And it's only been in the last.
I'd say 15 years that I have developed deep connections.
With others and it's been an immense help and a blessing to me.
As you grow up and as you move forward in your lives, your children, their young people, cultivate those relationships with others.
There what gets you through the bad times.
When you have someone that you can call up and you can say, you know, I'm really suffering today.
That's an immense value, but if you haven't built that relationship, you don't have that opportunity.
Again.
Sin severs the relationships that we have in our lives with God.
And with fellow man.
I know it's hard.
You know, as young people, as young people, interacting with other people takes a whole lot of energy.
00:50:04
Believe it or not.
I struggle with that myself.
I don't do well in a crowd.
I don't have any problem standing up here and talking.
But to sit down with someone who is a stranger and to develop a a deep relationship is difficult.
The dear young people.
We have a wonderful resource in this blessed book.
And as much as it's difficult to develop those relationships in our lives, when we base those relationships on this blessed book, it makes it so much easier.
When we can open this blessed book and talk about the things that we've learned and the things that we've enjoyed, it gives us a common bond, a common connection.
Scripture says a three fold cord is not easily broken.
Dear young people, that threefold cord is us individuals and you and God.
If we have all three of those in the equation, we have a common bond, a connection that is incredibly valuable, and it was is not easily broken.
Dear children.
The way that you develop that is to open this precious and precious book and to read it every single day of your life.
I won't share who.
It is.
But a few years ago, I challenged the children in the Wall Wall assembly to read their Bible every single day.
And to mark it down on a calendar.
And then come to me once a month and I would give them a reward.
And one of the children that did that.
Actually didn't come and get the reward most of the months that we were doing that.
But over the course of six months, I talked to some other people and they said that that the countenance, the attitude, the personality of that person changed dramatically because they were reading the Word of God every single day.
They went from someone who, quite frankly, was not very approachable.
And was relatively sullen in their features to someone who is joyful and happy and a delight to be with.
Dear children, read this blessed book every single day of your life.
It will change you from the inside out and it will give you the ability to make connections you never thought were possible.
And it will make a lasting effect on your life. I can tell you that from experience.
And I want to speak to those that are older.
You know, sometimes accountability is a really wonderful thing.
And I want to encourage those that are older to figure out ways.
To encourage our children to read the Bible, whether it's by a reward or whatever means it is.
It's so very worth it.
Again, children, just to recap because we're almost out of time.
We have a broken connection with God and no matter what we try, we cannot restore that connection. We have to be made new.
Just like this piece of transmission, this input shaft.
We couldn't glue it together, we couldn't Weld it together.
We had to have a new part.
Each one of us individually children have to have a transaction with God.
Where we say individually, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to be saved. I want that connection restored, made new. And if we do that, we're going to find that the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in our heart and helps us. And dear children, if you're saved, and I thank God for that, keep short accounts with God.
00:55:16
Confess your sin to him.
When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ and we need to go to him and confess our sin and it says he is faithful and just to lends us from all from all unrighteousness. He will make that connection new again.
And dear young people, cultivate the godly relationships in your life.
Spend that time and energy.
It's going to reap eternal benefit.
We'll close in prayer.
Our gracious, loving God and our Father.
We thank the.
That thou has given us a new life in the Lord Jesus, if we'll accept it.
We pray for these children, We pray that their hearts would be touched and they would desire that ultimate connection with the our God and our Father through Thy beloved Son.
We pray our God and our Father that there would be a reality in each one's life here.
And Lord, we know that sin interrupts our connections with.
Thee and with.
Those around us and we just pray that that would help us to be willing to confess our sin.
We thank thee that thou has promised that thou wilt restore that fellowship.
We ask for Thy blessing on Thy word. We thank Thee for Thy goodness to us. We thank Thee for the sweetness of the time that we've had here this weekend. We pray for continued blessing and the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Called Unto The Fellowship Of His Son
Address—Bob Thonney
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.
This is the meeting that so often we have trouble staying awake in. So as I often do, I'm going to ask you to stand to sing #144 I don't know if it's very well known, but I've enjoyed this and the chorus of this song. There's not many hymns with choruses and the Little Flock hymn book, but here's one.
Here's one that is repeated in another part of the hymn book.
But we do stand to sing in breaking the bread sometimes. I think some of you probably know it.
Salvation O the joyful.
And what pleasure.
Do our hears.
A sovereign bomb?
For every.
Wound.
For our fears.
Glory, honor, praise, and power beyond to the Lamb forever.
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Praise ye, the Lord.
Salvation.
No ascended lamb to leave up praise belongs.
Salvation.
Shall inspire our hearts and.
Dwell upon our tongues.
Glory. Honor.
Praise and power.
Be unto the Lamb forever.
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Praise.
The Lord.
Thank you.
Let's pray, Father, we're so thankful for that wonderful salvation.
That means of bringing us into eternal blessing. Now, this afternoon, our desire is to open Thy word again and to speak from it, and we confess how insufficient the human vessel is.
But we count upon the direction and help of thy Holy Spirit.
Thank Thee, Father, that in spite of all, Thou art able to make Thy word a blessing to us, and we give thanks.
In that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Start with a verse in First Corinthians chapter one.
Verse 9.
God is faithful.
By whom ye were called unto the fellowship.
Of His Son Jesus Christ our.
Lord.
Wonderful, tremendous privilege. We've been talking about this fellowship during these meetings, and here we find that we are called into it.
When someone in authority makes a call, we generally pay attention.
Remember the time when I got a call from the Selective Service of the United States of America? I did not ignore that call, and it wouldn't have been good if I had ignored it. But brethren, here is a call from someone far greater.
Than any earthly government.
God has called us into the fellowship of His Son.
00:05:02
Jesus Christ our Lord, to me it is an extremely precious.
Thing to think about.
Are you gonna ignore it? Are you gonna have it on the back burner as if it's really not that important? I've got other things on my plate to take care of.
Oh brethren, the Lord help us to understand the tremendous.
Privilege of what it means to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
With God as Father, as we've had it in one John chapter one.
A little poem here I'd like to read that maybe expresses it.
To stand the power upon the mount with God, with sunlight in the soul, To hear the storms and veils below, to hear the Thunder roll, but to be calm with God, thy God, beneath these glorious skies, for to the height on which you stand.
Nor storm, nor clouds can rise.
Oh, this is life, Oh, this is joy. Oh God, to find its soul, thy face to see.
Thy voice to hear, in all its love to know.
Rather, there is nothing that compares with walking with God in fellowship. We have those in the Old Testament.
That are called to our attention that walked with God.
One, even before the flood.
Walked with God? As far as we know there was number written scriptures at that time. What does it mean to walk with God?
Evidently.
Enoch had communication with God. We don't know exactly how it was, but to me it is extremely precious how it presents it there in Genesis.
He was 65 years old when he had a son.
And he lived another 300 years. You know, Enoch, it doesn't say he did any tremendous feats. He didn't kill a giant like David. But what it says about Enoch is extremely interesting and impressive, really.
He walked with God 300 years.
Wow, I have trouble walking with God for a day.
300 years. If we would ask Enoch, how did you do it, Enoch, I'm sure he would have said to us, I did it just a step at a time. And that's the secret of walking with God. Just take it a step at a time. Do you know what's out in the future? You know what your plans are. You have no clue as to what might happen in the future.
But you know someone who knows the future perfectly. Walk with him. What a privilege it is. You know something else about Enoch?
He is the first one I think in the Bible that knew about.
The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that was even before the flood, and he prophesied about it.
And we don't learn about it until the New Testament in the book of Jude is who tells us about Enoch and the prophecy he gave about the Lord's second coming. So it's wonderful. Another person that had fellowship with God is Abraham, called the friend of God.
With a friend you think you talk things over.
And one day.
When Abraham is sitting not in the gate of Sodom, sitting in the door of his tent in the heat of the day, all of a sudden there's three men there and he rises up. He seems to know.
Know who they are.
And he offers them.
00:10:00
Uh, water to wash their feet and then.
He tells Sarah to prepare cakes on the heart, and he tells the servant to prepare an animal. And you know who serves the meal? To the Lord? And the two angels. Did you know that angels eat there? It is pretty clear the three of them ate what Abraham served. Most of the time when I go to people's homes, it's the sisters that serve. It's interesting to me. I have been in homes where the brothers.
Help serve the meal. I I think that's beautiful. Abraham had 318 servants and yet he took the privilege of serving the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? And then when they were done, he tells Abraham he's going to have a son.
And Sarah inside hears it and laughs.
And the Lord knows about it.
So beautiful how they interact. And then he goes about his way, and Abraham goes with him, and the two angels went down to Sodom, and Abraham and the Lord are talking together, and Abraham's thinking about Lot down there. And so he starts bleeding.
For Sodom and he comes down from 50.
To 10, I suppose he thought that it Lot's family, there must have been at least 10 that would have had faith in God, but we really don't know of any more than one. So Sodom was not spared, but Lot was spared and it's beautiful to see how he had fellowship with God. Brethren, it's our privilege to have fellowship with God too, and I just want to encourage.
Especially our younger brethren, but older ones too. To cultivate fellowship with God. Cultivation takes time. You can't just do it in the flick. You've got to take time to enjoy fellowship with God. As we've said in these meetings by reading the scriptures and.
In prayer, because in reading the scriptures, God tells us his thoughts.
And then in prayer, we can tell him our thoughts. And I just want to especially emphasize this. I want to touch on collective fellowship as well, because it's important in our Christian lives. But really, collective fellowship is good only in the measure that we cultivate individual fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Collective fellowship sometimes.
Can a form of it can be maintained outwardly without?
Any fellowship with the Lord?
And.
In time it will see. It'll be seen to be a sham. Don't do that. God sees our hearts. He tries the reins. He knows me through and through. And you know, sometimes I make judgments about people and later on I find out that I was completely wrong. I don't have that ability when I look at you, dear brethren.
That God can look at us and he knows exactly what moves us.
And so we need to be real with God on the individual basis first of all.
I'd like to go over to the book of the Acts now and read a well known verse that was referred to.
In the readings Acts chapter 2.
And verse 41 and 42.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
And the same day they were added to them about 3.
1000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.
Verse 41 speaks about two things that we'd like to mention. First of all, first of all, they received His word. How important that is.
To accept the Word of God as the Thessalonians did, not as the word of man, but as the Word of God that effectually works in US who believe. It's amazing when we get that settled at the beginning of our Christian pathway.
00:15:11
How much that helps in all the decisions of life. It's not a matter of my desires.
My thoughts that are so important, it's a matter of his thoughts. Get that straight. I know sometimes people make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus because they want to escape coming judgment, and that's a valid reason, Don't get me wrong, but.
When it comes to practical, everyday matters of life, they want to do their own thing and they really haven't recognized the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord and that means He has authority in our lives. He's the one that went to the cross and paid with His precious blood so that we could be redeemed from the.
Sin that had us bound, and from Satan, now we belong to him.
And it's not for us to do what we like, it's for Him to tell us what he wants us to do. The apostle Paul, at the beginning of his career, he was solemn Tarsus, the first thing he said when the Lord called him out of heaven. Saul, Saul, why persecute us? Thou me, he said, Who art thou, Lord? He didn't know who he was that was talking to him.
He knew one thing, that whoever it was that was talking to him was Lord.
He had supreme authority. And then he said, the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And he said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? And that's what should be our lives too, if we understand his Lordship. So I ask, have we received his word in the way it should be received with all authority?
Then the second thing in verse 41 is they were baptized when a person believes is to be baptized.
And we find in the book of the Acts that here in this chapter there were 3000 saved.
They didn't have to go through a catechism to get to be baptized, no.
They were baptized that same day.
The man later on in the book of the Acts, the Philippians jailer. I suppose he was a pretty harsh man.
He didn't even wait till the next day to get baptized. That same hour of the night he and all his were baptized. I think that's beautiful to see and that's what scripture teaches.
We're living in a country where there is a huge baptized.
Profession and sometimes there is confusion on this question of baptism, but it is simple in Scripture. It is the way we are identified with the Lord Jesus in his death and in his resurrection as well.
So then we come to verse 42, and this verse has been such a blessing.
Amongst our Latin brethren, and I find it a blessing to my own soul. We have 4 things here that constitute the program, if you want to put it that way. That word in the early church.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And I want to talk about those four things, you know.
Somebody has said here's a table up here in the middle. It has four legs.
And that's pretty steady table.
But let's cut off one of those legs.
Well, maybe we can prop it against the wall and it'll still be fairly steady.
OK, let's cut off another leg. Well, maybe you can still get it to stand against the wall, and we'll still be able to hold a few things. Well, let's cut off another leg. Now you're gonna have to jam it into a corner to get it to stand, but it's not gonna be steady.
We need these four things. Sometimes we tend to let them slip, and we need him. Brethren, the first thing is the doctrine of the apostles. First two really go together, the doctrine and the fellowship of the apostles. The apostles is an adjective that modifies both doctrine and fellowship.
00:20:03
And somebody mentioned.
During the readings the importance of the doctrine or the teaching of the apostles and I want to encourage us to be more diligent in searching out the doctrine of the apostles. We have it here in the New Testament. Notice a verse in No lose your place here, but in Ephesians chapter.
Uh.
That I find helpful talking about the church as the building.
Is talking about the foundation and notice how it puts it.
Verse 19. Ephesians 219 Now therefore ye know more strangers.
And foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, and.
Are built upon the foundation of the Apostles.
And prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Isn't the Lord Jesus the foundation? Isn't it upon that rock we are built? Yes, that is clear. But who has given us the doctrine, the teaching about the Lord Jesus? It is the apostles and prophets. That's the prophets of the New Testament. Because not only were there apostles who wrote this New Testament scriptures, there were some who were not apostles. Luke was not an apostle.
He perhaps was a gentile something. He was a gentile.
But he was a prophet because he gave us some of the word of God and the very important part of the word of God that.
Shows us what happened at the beginning of the Church's history. Very important things, very important teaching.
So we are built upon that. You know, when you build a home, you matter. Make sure that you got it on solid foundation. If somebody builds and they don't have a very good foundation, even though they may use good material, that building is not going to last.
And if you want your Christian life to be solid?
Because there's going to come storms in our lives, we need a solid foundation. We need to pay attention to the doctrine, the teaching of the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, because he is the one that majorly gave us the truth of the church as the body of Christ. So much more he gave us as well.
But that's the doctrine, the teaching.
Of the apostles, the apostle Peter takes up more of the side of the Kingdom of God.
And the apostle John, as we have been talking about, takes up more of the side of the family of God.
But we need that teaching.
Just want to challenge the younger brethren to get into the Word and get into some of the good ministry about the Word.
You know, when I was younger, I worked in Chicago for quite a few years, and in my time there I was, uh, living on my own basically. But I decided that I needed to definitely set aside some time for reading the word, and so I decided to get up an hour earlier every day before I left for work so that I could spend 1/2 to half an hour.
Reading the scriptures and reading ministry about the scriptures and 1/2 hour in prayer, I want to say those hours were blessing to my soul that have helped me in all the trials the Lord has allowed in my life to have a solid foundation to realize that God is for me no matter what happens in my life and there's been some tough trials.
Thank God for a solid foundation, and that's what we desire for you young people.
You go to school to learn a trade or something, or a career. Take time to be in the word. It is well worth your while. But set aside some time. Deliberately do it.
You know, I find prayer is hard work.
It's not easy, you know, I get down on my knees with the Lord and I'll tell you my mind just wandered way off in another direction and I have to bring back my mind and concentrate on prayer. But I find it a blessing. I often get up during the night and pray because there's not too many distractions at that time.
00:25:22
But put some time aside deliberately to spend with your God.
You know my wife and I, we have a happy relationship and I'm sure she could tell you about some problems I have.
But it's still a happy relationship. But what would you think if I just give her a snippet of time once in a while? Otherwise I just kind of ignore her. What kind of relationship do you think that would be?
God wants our attention, He wants us to walk in fellowship with himself, and we got to take time to do it. So when you read the scriptures, take time to meditate and take time to pray, it's well worth your while. The Lord is a real person.
Sometimes say he's a real man.
He walked down here in this world. He knows what we are going through because he passed through the same things.
As well, and so he can sympathize when we go through things that are difficult. So the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, the point of reference, who may the Lord help us to keep that point of reference clear in our souls. It's not us, it's him.
So now I'd like to go back to Acts 2 and what goes with the doctrine of the apostles. Just like to stop here a minute and comment on what it means. It says they continued steadfast. What does that mean to you? Does that mean that they did it for a while and then they kind of left off and then they decided to keep on doing it a little bit more and then they left off? Is that steadfast? Is that?
That means to you. What it means to me is constant.
Constancy in the doctrine of the Apostles, and I want to encourage you, younger ones especially.
To be at the Bible readings in your home assembly.
You know, I've grown up in the meeting in Walla Walla to my 18 years old. And then I went back and I sat under the ministry of men that were well versed in Scripture. And I can't say that I got very much out of any particular meeting. There were times when I really felt edified.
But it was a little here and a little there and a little over there.
Until it's become a treasure in my soul, the truth of the Word of God. Oh, the treasure it is. And that's what I desire, that each one of us may have that treasure, the doctrine, the teaching of the apostles. So don't neglect the reading meeting. I know sometimes you have classes, but try to schedule your classes so you can get to the reading meeting.
Don't leave it out, remember?
Mayev, one of the places I stayed back in uh, Oak Park, IL was with a couple other young brothers in fellowship and one was studying medicine, which is a pretty demanding course of study and he decided when it came to uh.
Time of exams that he would not leave out, the reading meeting, it meant that he would have to stay up later at night studying and sometimes maybe he didn't even get to bed. I don't remember exactly how that happened, but that was his decision. And you know, I really believe he was the richer for it. So schedule your.
Classes.
So that you don't have to miss the meetings, the prayer meeting too. Let me just encourage the younger brother and in the reading meeting, I know you don't feel and I don't think it's proper for a younger brother when older ones are there to take over and to be teaching the older brothers. No, that's not proper. The Lord Jesus as a young boy was in the presence of the doctors of the law.
00:30:16
Hearing them and asking questions, and I present that to you in the reading meetings. I find when a younger brother asks a good question.
It really opens up the scriptures. It really helps to break it down so we can all get.
Uh, something out of it I often find in our home meeting when my brother asked the question, everybody comes awake all of a sudden.
I don't know if they were sleeping, but it helps. It really does help younger brother and be exercised about participating properly. Make a comment at times exercise yourself. That's the way a gift grows. It's through use and it's not all at once. It's through the course of time. So the Lord help us to.
Use what he's given to us so.
The fellowship, the Apostles doctrine is the basis of our fellowship.
Like we were mentioned in first John 1, the apostle John says that which we have seen and heard.
Declare we unto you. That's the apostles doctrine. Why? So that ye may have fellowship with us.
So the basis of the Fossils fellowship is the Apostles doctrine.
You and I cannot set aside. This is the way we're going to do it here and here, No.
It's all laid out for us in Scripture and we can meditate on it, we can talk about it. My understanding of it sometimes is lacking, and that's why I appreciate being in meetings like this where, as Scripture says, let the prophet speak two or three, let the others judge. Not judging persons, but judging what is said does it square with Scripture. There's opportunity in a reading meeting.
To correct something that is not quite right.
So the Lord help us to be at the reading meetings and to learn.
Over the course of years, I must say, increasingly, I value the reading meeting.
And then the fellowship is based on that.
This is a collective fellowship, but it's a fellowship that I want to say is not only for when we come together in public meetings like we are now, or even in our public meetings in our home assembly, but it's something that is to be every day. Every day we should cultivate this fellowship. That's why I say it's so important that you understand that it is an individual thing, first of all.
And to cultivate it individually. And then when you come together, there will be.
Automatically fellowship amongst ourselves. Lord help us in this.
Just want to say as to the fellowship, it's called the Fellowship of the Apostles.
In first John 13, it's called the Fellowship of the Blood of Christ.
We have read to us this morning, it's called the Fellowship of the Body of Christ because.
It is a fellowship that embraces every true believer in the whole world.
That loaf that was on the table? One loaf because there is one body.
And so it's a privilege when you meet up with believers elsewhere.
To realize this precious truth, so often I get asked when I am meet up with a believer, what denomination do you belong to? I don't belong to any denomination. I tell them, well what's the name of your church? Well, we have the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the name that we try to present. But what is the name of your group?
So it's it's difficult for them to understand and with time perhaps they will, but to be able to relate as much as possible without compromising ourselves, but to relate that we are members of one body and that's the group that we recognize, those that have accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior.
When they did that, they believed the gospel of their salvation. They were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And that Holy Spirit is.
00:35:00
The power that unites us into one body in Christ. Beautiful brethren. But that means that there should be interest on our part of our brethren at large to it abroad. And it shouldn't be just merely interest. We should learn to pray for them earnestly in any measure we can to help out.
It really touched my heart when Tim Roach came back from Malawi some time ago, until about a sister in that land who was a widow. Maybe you've heard it, too. And she had six children she was trying to keep fed, and in the course of time she starved herself to death.
And I think of how well we eat over here, brother, I don't know.
What we're going to say to the Lord at the judgment seat. We have responsibility, brethren, to reach out when we know there's need to help out our brethren in other parts. There is real need. Let's be exercised about it. That's the truth we gather on that. There's one body, and it doesn't include us only. It includes every true believer in the Lord Jesus, our brethren.
In those Muslim countries who are suffering intense persecution, Jim was telling us about Egypt.
The terrible pressure they are on to think that they can't be at ease when their children or their daughters, their wives go out into the street. It's, it's a tremendous thing.
We can support them with their prayers and we ought to. But let's just, I just want to say this, especially to those who are younger, think about your resources in helping in some way. I don't tell you what you must do, but I say just put yourself at the Lord's disposition. He's the head. And I'm amazed when the Lord does that. When a person does that, how the Lord can direct.
In one way or another.
It's beautiful to see what the Lord is doing through other instruments in different parts of the world. There's need everywhere, and so that is part of what it is, the fellowship of the body of Christ.
Now the next one is the breaking of bread, and this is a wonderful privilege that we had this morning to sit down at the Lord's table and celebrate His supper. We have it gone into extensively in First Corinthians chapter 10.
And Chapter 11 First Corinthians chapter 10 tells.
About the Lord's Table. First Corinthians Chapter 11 tells about the Lord's Supper. They're presented together, and I believe they're meant to go together. What is the Lord's Table? Is that just a doctrinal terminology? No, I believe in my own soul. It's my conviction that there is something in this world.
That relates to it practically, and it's for you and I to discern by the light of Scripture where that is. Check. Hendrix used to say, I could tell you where I think it is, but I might lead you astray. But there is another one, the Holy Spirit of God, who will not lead you astray.
Be in fellowship with the Lord.
Let the Spirit of God lead you, and if he leads you.
And he leads me, we're not going to be separated and different fellowships. No, it'll be the fellowship of the body of Christ, fellowship of the blood of Christ. It's such a privilege for me to go in and out of our with our brethren in Latin America and to enjoy that fellowship. And I just want to encourage.
Here as well, because brethren in South America always ask about their brethren up here. They're interested, brother.
And they say, please take our greetings to our North American brethren. Tell them we're praying for them.
Reverend, we can pray for them too. And I just want to encourage you, especially young people just taking, taking a holiday and some beach somewhere, go down to see your brother in South America. There's lots of young people in Bolivia and Peru and Argentina and Brazil go down to see him. You know, people say to me, well, I don't know how to preach.
00:40:23
Well, I'm not talking about preaching. Go down and just sit down beside him.
And they will know that you are a fellow member of the body of Christ.
Take take your letter of commendation. You can break bread there as well.
It's a it's a powerful testimony to the unity of the truth of the one body of Christ. I find that a very big blessing just to be able to do that, Brendan.
Was just up in the High Plains of Bolivia. This last visit to Bolivia last month over the Easter weekend, there was a conference in Sevaruju to the South of La Paz Naruto and was there and brother said to me.
You know how long ago it has been since you've been here? I said no, I don't have any clue. Says 34 years ago. Wow. How do you know that? Because that was the first time I came to a conference here and you were here.
But they just to be there, I could see how those dear old sisters came up to me and said to me, Roberto, you've forgotten about us, I said, Then why am I here if I'd forgotten about you?
Oh, I remembered and come back. But it is a blessing, brethren, and so in any measure that the Lord may lay on your heart to go down to see your brethren remember, it binds us together in a practical way. It's a real blessing.
We can break bread together.
Now, prayers, and this is a subject that I find very interesting and I must say I don't know that we know very much about it.
I would like to speak briefly on prayers in the collective way as a family and individually. Let's take up individual first.
Long prayers are for the closet, not for public.
And that has been a help to me when Buchanan was like a spiritual father for me, often used to say that.
Short prayers for the prayer meeting. Long prayers for the closet.
Know what Martin Luther said? It always impressed me, he said. I have so much work to do every day. I dare not take any less than three hours to pray.
No wonder God used that man.
We say our prayers. We are hurrying at the door.
Brethren, let's learn to pray as Scripture tells us. Maybe we can go to the book of Matthew where it tells about individual prayer and it speaks about a closet. Very interesting.
Matthew.
Chapter 6.
And verse five, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward, but thou.
When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy father, which is in secret, shall reward thee openly.
A closet.
I don't know. We have to apply this as to a closet in our houses. The Lord Jesus when he was here was the dependent man, and you find him often going out a great while before its day all by himself.
Wasn't Jesus God? Did he have to take time to pray? You know what? He was a real dependent man as well, and as such he took time to pray. There is one case in which he prayed all night.
00:45:12
And it was the time just before he chose his 12 apostles. I'm wondering if the reason it took him all night because he agonized over one of those choices. Judas Iscariot, that was.
Later on he would have to say to him, better would it have been if he had never been born, but he chose him.
Judith chose a different direction.
But the Lord Jesus was on in prayer, and I love the examples we have in the Gospel of Luke because in the Gospel of Luke you have him seven times.
In prayer.
Perfect man, dependent man. You know, the glory of man is to be dependent and obedient. And the Lord Jesus was dependent and obedient. And I think of when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and Ted read that on the 1St Gospel night.
How he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
In his agony.
Why did he have agony? Because he's completely sinless. He was intrinsically holy and he was looking ahead to that time when he was going to be made sin.
And everything in his being withdrew from the thought of contact with sin.
In the perfection of his obedience, he says, not my will.
But thine be done.
And then he gets up and he goes to Calvary to pay the price in full. Oh, what perfection you see in him in prayer. Was there agony? Yes, there was agony. There was sweat, as it were, great drops of blood that fell on the ground.
But he prayed and he went forward. And that's the secret of our.
Going forward with God as well, dear brethren, is to pray, and even if it is in agony, intense. You know Scripture speaks about prayer a lot in the New Testament. One of the words it uses is supplications. You ever thought about what that means? It means something intense.
Have you ever got intense with God?
About something that is weighing in your life, You can do that. That's proper. Scripture says that we ought to be that way.
The Lord help us to be that way in our prayers.
So.
Think about it, young person, a place in your home where you can be alone with God.
Where you won't be interrupted.
I have a place in my home where I go to pray.
You know, it's a wonderful thing because I get down on my knees at that particular place to pray.
But I'm not just merely in my home.
In faith, when we pray, we go right into the holiest of all before the throne of grace. A greater privilege you cannot tell me about.
Oh, brethren, the privilege of prayer. And yet it doesn't seem that important. What does it matter if I pray ever? Don't pray.
It matters, and Satan is going to try to put doubts in your mind, but it matters. You know what I've learned to do in my prayer time? I have a little notepad right next to me on a little table. The Lord lays certain things on my mind in my time of prayer. I jot Him down and I find that so often things I've forgotten about.
00:50:01
The Lord reminds me about a call or an e-mail that I need to send to somebody or make contact with somebody.
Lord help us. That's individual prayer. Like to touch on what is family prayer because that's an important part of prayer as well.
In.
First Peter, chapter 3.
Peter was a married man.
It tells us that in the book of Corinthians.
And also in the gospels we have that the Lord healed his mother-in-law, so he was a married man. We don't have.
Anything about his wife or whether he had children, we don't know. But it's interesting. He speaks to the wives in the 1St 6 verses. Very important instruction for our dear sisters. Let me just say this.
That it tells us that women should adorn themselves.
Did you hear me? Women should adorn themselves not with outward things, but with inward ornaments, talks about in verse 4.
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God.
Of great price, Let me tell you, when I see that ornament on our sisters, does that ever make them beautiful? Maybe not the way this world thinks of beautiful. But think about it. You're told to adorn yourselves first. Timothy Two, you have another thing that a woman is to adorn herself with. I just leave you to look that up yourself.
But coming down to verse seven, notice this is.
Likewise, husband she husbands, are we to be subject to because it tells the wives to be in subjection verse one. Now verse seven it says likewise, are we to be in subjection to? Yes.
Because even as the woman head is the man, the man's head is Christ, and we need to understand that we need to be in subjection.
To the Lord likewise ye husbands dwell with them with the.
Our wives, according to knowledge you know your wife, my wife is a little different, and according to the knowledge you have of your wife, accordingly dwell with her, take her into consideration, giving honor to the wife as unto the weaker vessel.
It says weaker. That means that we are weak. They are weaker.
Oh brethren, let's not forget how frail we really are.
Just a small accident and sometimes we're laid low. We are weak.
And as being heirs together of the grace of life, notice this last part that your prayers be not hindered. I love this. This is family prayer and it shows that there should be prayer in the family. You know, in the assembly, the women don't pray.
In audible voice, they really do pray because.
Its assembly prayer in the voice of the Brother. That praise is really the voice of the whole assembly, including the Sisters.
But in the family, there is no prohibition that the woman should not pray.
And I found it a tremendously.
Blessed thing, when we are by ourselves, my wife and I, we both pray and I listen to her prayers. And a woman's view of things is different than a man's.
She's not out of her place, no, but I find it a blessing to listen to the things she prays for, and I think that's what it means. When there's children, sometimes they can be included as well.
Remember, a time really was etched on our hearts.
Hearts as a family when we were, we'd come back from living in South America and we used to go in, uh, the vacation times of the children down to South America to visit. That would be the end of May, beginning of June and spend two to three months down there.
00:55:17
This particular year, when the thing came time to buy the tickets, I we just didn't have the money for it.
Happened to be the year that.
The World Cup, World Soccer Cup was played in the United States of America and that year Bolivia qualified to come to the States. Anyhow, I said to the family after our new meal and said we're going to have a family prayer meeting and, uh, we're going to pray what the Lord wants us to do because we just don't have enough to go to South America.
So we all knelt down and I prayed for my daughter, prayed next, and as soon as she said Amen.
The phone rings. I said, everybody stay there, we're gonna keep on praying. And I go answer the phone. And it was the travel agent that we usually got the tickets from. Mr. Tony, I don't know if you're interested, but.
Uh, the Bolivian airlines is coming to the states all full and they're going back empty and they have given a reduced price. It's about half price. I said, I'll call you right back. So we got back down on her knees and the rest of the prayers were thanking the Lord for his answer because.
Now we had enough. The Lord didn't give us anymore, but he reduced the price of the tickets so we could get down there. Oh brother, we have a great God. Let's pray. Let's teach our children to pray. Let's pray, you know, as a family. It's a blessing.
But now, just to touch on collective prayer, let's go over to Acts chapter.
Four please.
Here the apostles have been.
Beaten.
They're under persecution and threats.
And.
Uh, in verse, uh.
23 It says, Being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had been had said unto them. When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God. Notice their voice singular. 1 voice was heard. They lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord.
Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth in the sea, and all that is in them, in them is. So we have the rest of the prayer there.
So they prayed. But what I like to say is this is collective prayer and.
The person that stands up to pray in assembly meeting is the voice of the whole assembly.
That's why he says our blessed God and Father. It doesn't say my breath blessed God and Father. Sometimes there are those who are.
No, and don't distinguish that. But is the voice of the assembly. Not everybody starts talking at once, you know. There are places where everybody prays at the same time. That's not collective prayer, that's individual prayer.
So we need to understand this is something that Scripture speaks about. I listen to the brother that is praying and at the end I'm in agreement with what he's asked. I say Amen.
There are certain meanings I go to and, uh, I'd hardly ever hear any Amens, I like to encourage you to say Amen, you're in agreement. That's proper. That's scripture.
So the Lord help us, brethren, to be exercised to continue steadfastly in prayer, collectively in family life and individually. The Lord help us. Our time is gone. So we just close in prayer. Father, bless each one here. Help us to know what it means to walk.
In fellowship with the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful, tremendous privilege.
In a world that still gone astray, help us. We give thanks for the time together as Thee, for the meetings that are left today, Thy blessing on them as well. Our dear brethren that may be traveling, we ask all in that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
The Trespass Offering
Open—Ron Klassen Jr.
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.
This has been announced as an open meeting. It is open for the Spirit of God.
To minister through two or three brothers.
I would like to read some verses connected with a meeting for prophecy in First Corinthians 14 verse 29 through 33.
Let the prophets speak two or three.
And let the other judge.
If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
For ye all may prophecy one by one, that all may learn.
And all may be comforted, and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the Saints.
#18 in the offender.
Right, our God and Father, our hearts rejoiced as we anticipate that day of glory in that time when we're going to be with and like our precious Savior and the Father's house. Our hearts leap as we consider that meeting in the air with all the redeemed gathered around the Lord Jesus to lift up our voices in the eternal songs and give him that praise and worship that He is so worthy of. But now we thank Thee as we look back over these days.
For all the way that thou hast LED us, Thou hast fed our souls, encouraged us. And now as this meeting is upon us, our God, we pray that through Thy, uh, instruments, we Thou would give us that which is needed. Encourage our hearts, refresh as we do pray. We pray that there might be messages in the power of the Spirit that we might have opened ears, tender consciences, and receptive hearts to take in what Thou hast to say to us. So we look to Thee for help and.
Nothing. Asking it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Perhaps we could turn to Leviticus chapter 6.
We were just singing about.
What is going to be like to be there in the presence of our Lord Jesus?
Not along with what our brother Jim brought before us.
In regard to foot washing.
That communion might be maintained between our souls and the Lord, and that we might be free then to be a blessing to one another.
These meditations came to mind, so in Leviticus chapter 6 we'll just read a few verses.
Starting with verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul sin and committed trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor in that which was delivered to him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, Or have deceived his neighbor, or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it. And sweareth falsely in any of all these things that a man doeth sitting there in.
And it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away.
Or the thing which he asked deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered to him to keep.
00:10:03
For the last thing which he found of all that about which he hath sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in the principle, and shall add the 5th part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth.
And the day of his trespass offering.
And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord of Ram, without blemish of the lot out of the flock, with thy estimation for a trespass offering unto the priest, and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord.
It shall be forgiven him for anything of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.
Well, perhaps that's far enough.
Not too long ago.
It was recounted to me that her brother was talking to another brother.
Who told him that?
A situation that happened some years ago in an assembly. He's no longer in fellowship, this brother, but he said, you know what we did as an assembly? We went down and involved this other assembly. He said, you know, we had no business doing that at all. We were wrong.
Well, as far as I know, that assembly that was so affected by it, I don't think they've ever heard him say anything about that.
A dear sister that's been such an encouragement to me over the years.
Umm, every time I get the opportunity to see her, she shares something with me.
One of the last times I was with her, she shared with me that when she came from her homeland, uh, not too long before, and I know some of her families here. So I don't know if I'm gonna get that the story right and forgive me, it'll be just the gist of it, how it came across. But she said her and another sister had, uh, really crossed and, and a very strong and.
Uh, feet away. A way of great feeling.
And nothing was resolved, but she was. She left the country. And so, you know, she's miles away and thought perhaps she'd probably never see the sister anyway. Completely different land.
Let out she got over here.
The Lord began to work with her.
You know it says in connection with the sin offering and the trespass offering in the earlier chapter, Chapter 5, it says and when he knoweth it.
You know, sometimes we cause offense.
And from our standpoint, our perspective, because we see from.
What concerns us?
We don't realize sometimes perhaps the offense that's been caused, the damage that's been done, or we feel justified in what we've done.
So, but the Lord in his faithfulness, we have the faithfulness of God in the last meeting.
He brings that to us, and so it says. And when he knows it, when he knows it, then there's a responsibility. Well.
This sister said, uh, finally she got to a time when she said, you know, I felt like I needed to call that sister Miles Continent separated us, but I needed to call her. She said I called her and she said to me, you know, hive, I've been feeling the same thing.
She said I'm coming to the States and not too long and I'll make sure that we get together.
And they did. And as difficult as that situation was.
They.
Were able to come together with the Lord's help, a trespass offering, and they were so thankful for that. And she said to me, you know, we're almost home.
And that's what God impressed on my soul, that as we had in our hand, we're going to meet the Savior.
Does he care if I have straightened out something that has been between me and my brother, me and my sister? How important is that?
In our chapter here.
00:15:00
Perhaps notice verse two. It says if a soul sin, commit a trespass against the Lord and lie unto his neighbor.
You say it was against them.
The Lord says, well, it was against me too.
Maybe we don't think about that sometimes, but that's what gives it to serious character, isn't it? It's the Lord, too.
Does he care?
All he says you need to go to that one.
Verse four. Then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered to him to keep for the lost thing.
Middle of verse five shall restore it even in the principle.
And she'll add the 5th part.
You know, I think of that brother who?
Spoke about pressing to go down and and take this assembly matter up.
And years later, he's thinking, you know, we have. We should not have done that.
So you say to him, well, think of the the the stress, think of the sorrow, think of the families being separated, think of the subsequent history of the children.
Can you restore that in the principle?
Let alone add the 5th part.
Well, we would say no, you can't.
But here, we're told, do it.
Mm-hmm. Well, how can you?
You say, well maybe by and by I will, but it says in verse the end of verse five, in the day of his trespass offering, and he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord.
Well, maybe that was just the Old Testament. Let's go to Matthew chapter 5.
Mm-hmm.
Matthew chapter 5 and verse.
23.
Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar.
And there remember us that thy brother hath aught against thee. Leave there thy gift before the altar.
Go thy way first, be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
How important is this matter to the Lord?
He said if you're coming to the altar.
You're going to worship me. You're bringing a gift. Your heart's full. Wait, wait. Set it there and go to your brother that you know you've offended and make it right with him. I want your offering.
But I don't want it before that is settled and taken care of.
You see how important it is?
Again, this sister was impressed, who was impressed on her soul. You're going to meet the Lord. And you know, Ephesians 5 tells us Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word. Sometimes in our mind we we think of that as the atonement for our sins. It's not.
That sanctification is an ongoing sanctification in our souls.
As He is preparing us, He is making us more holy, as He is conforming us to the image of His Son.
That's part of the sanctification. It's in view of when.
Christ presents us to Himself.
And so that's an ongoing work. Would he want this settled? Yes, he would. He says the day that you bring your offering, make sure that that one that's been wrong, make sure you take and restore it in the principle and add the 5th part.
00:20:05
You know, something that's happened down the road many years, it's difficult.
Again, you say, well, well, how could you make amends for that? What would you say?
Let's go to Psalm 69.
Perhaps I'll say before we read here in this Psalm, you know this wonderful thing about the trespass offering.
Is that when it's all through, the person that was wrong, the person that was robbed?
Is richer.
Then, before the incident ever happened. There's something very precious about that, isn't it?
Don't we want that?
In Psalm 69 you have the Lord Jesus as a trespass offering.
Isn't wonderful when we realize that we have offended our brother, our sister, when we've caused distress, that yes, no, we can't, we can't repair it, we can't, we couldn't. There's no amount of money, no amount of apology, in one sense, whatever make up for it. Isn't it wonderful to know that there's one who is paid for those sins? There's one that is perfectly satisfied, God.
In relation to what I did.
The distress I caused, He has come in where I couldn't and not only restored the principle, but He added the 5th part when the Lord Jesus went to Calvary and completed that work and He could say it is finished. It didn't just set us back in the Garden of Eden, no, it made a way by where we can come right?
To be, as we've had this weekend, the sons of God, the children of God.
They're on our way to the Father's house. That's the 5th part.
And so in Psalm 69, the sufferings of the Lord Jesus save me, O God, for the waters that come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me.
You know, sometimes you go to try to settle a thing and it's just this is brought up and you think you've got that cleared and then this is and so you try to explain or clear that up or apologize and then there's this and you just say, is there any end?
Think of the Lord Jesus.
As we viewed him this morning by faith.
On the cross.
Covered.
With my sins, the mire my sins.
With each one he felt as our brother Bob brought up his intrinsic holiness. The mire my sins he bore, but he felt.
Verse four. They that hate me without a cause.
Or more than the hairs of my head.
They that this would destroy me, being mine enemies, wrongfully or mighty. Then I restore that which I took not away. Oh, you know, sometimes. And we had it in first John. It should never be that we hate our brother, our sister. Sometimes there's a strongest feeling because of the results of offense.
You know, I I'm sure that we realize that probably all, most if not all the divisions among brethren are no doubt the result of a fence that was earlier.
Maid.
That was a trespass offering was never given. And so it went over the years and then finally there's an occasion where feelings can be expressed or or things could be shown how we feel about it. And then and then the sorrow of the Lord's people being divided never needed to be because.
There was this provision for the trespass offering.
But to think of they that hate me without a cause, you know, to be hated and not to have reason to be hated, The Lord Jesus we do because of our failures, because our insensitivity to our brother, to our sister, because of our selfishness, we haven't considered them.
00:25:21
But the Lord Jesus.
That hatred came upon him and he felt it.
Verse five. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from Thee.
To think of as a hymn writer said that our sins confessed and born by him.
Yes, he bore them on the tree, but to think of him confessing them as his own?
Oh, Sir.
It's not easy to go.
To our brother or sister.
And confess what we've done.
But the Lord Jesus is our trespass offering. What an example.
If we could follow in His spirit.
To confess.
To think of him saying before, O holy God, confess.
So made my sins his own.
But he could say, Thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins should be trespasses are not hid from thee.
Verse 6.
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake.
Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, because for thy sake I borne reproach. Shame hath covered my face.
Isn't that precious?
In spite of all that, he was suffering.
In spite of all he felt.
Because as we just had again, he was doing the will of God, He prayed that there was any other way.
Hugh said he wouldn't have to be made sin, he wouldn't have to go into doubt, he wouldn't have to be forsaken of God, but there wasn't any other way.
So what's his concern? What he's going to bear, What he's going to feel his pain? No, his concern was what about those that are looking on like the two on the way to Emmaus? What if they're stumbled by what's happening to me? That was his concern.
Would that be something if that's our concern?
How will my brother be affected by it?
Will they be stumbled by how I thought thoughtlessly did or said something that we didn't include them or whatever?
Isn't it process? The Lord Jesus is a trespass offering. That was his concern.
But those who were trusting on the Lord wouldn't be confounded, because he was doing the will of God.
Verse 12 They that sit in the gate speak against me.
And I was the song of the drunkards.
Verse 11 I should have I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb to them.
What'll happen?
If I go and make things right.
Think of how the talk will be.
Think of what will be said. Think of how I'll be viewed after that.
I think of that, brother.
How would what would people think of him then if he went and he said we were wrong, we were wrong?
I was wrong.
You know the Lord Jesus felt that.
They just sit in the gate.
The from the highest, the the elders that would sit in the gate, that even the drunkards.
The Lord's name was despised among them.
Verse 20 we don't, I don't want to take all the time.
Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I look for some to take pity, but there is none. And for comforters but I found none.
00:30:16
Oh, isn't it wonderful when we go?
When we go to our brother, go to our sister.
Not easy. Isn't wonderful to take that trespass offering.
They're so satisfied, God.
But to think.
To think that God wants us to know the blessing, the richness.
Of the 5th part.
What about the one that's offended?
Let's go to Philemon.
We don't know.
What happened between Onesimus and Philemon? But whatever it was.
It was bad.
Perhaps the Spirit of God and his wisdom doesn't give it to us, but we could say as we read how Paul approaches Philemon that it could be as bad as you could imagine, whatever he did.
And now he's going back.
With this letter in his pocket and he's going to face the one that he's offended.
You must have felt in his pocket a time or two to make sure that letter was there.
What does Paul say?
We'll just touch on a couple things.
Verse 10 I beseech thee from my son Oneshimus, whom I've begotten in my bonds.
Perhaps to be your help.
To the one that's been offended to think.
Of this one coming to you and realizing as they come to you.
But they are one of the as we've had the children of God.
You know, people can do things to us, that's one thing. But if they do it to our children?
That's that's very difficult, good or bad, it very much has an influence on us. So here's the Apostle Paul and if you could think of him as speaking for our souls for our sakes this afternoon as the Lord himself. And as you see that one coming towards you that you have such feeling against who you feel you could never forgive.
Who, When you see him, you realize you feel what he's done and how it's affected your whole life or your family or whatever.
Think of them as a large child.
A large child. And so how you receive them, Paul said. Receive them.
Receiver, he's my child.
Verse 11, which in time passed, was to the unprofitable.
But now profitable to thee and to me.
I think this deals with that 5th part.
Could an estimus ever be profitable to Philemon?
And if he was profitable, Paul wanted him to be able to stay with him and help him. If he was with Paul, how could he be profitable to Philemon?
You know, if we simply seek grace from God to go.
And clear something up in view of eternity.
And we're the one that's been offended.
The flushiness doesn't want to release.
00:35:00
But isn't it wonderful that there's grace from God to do so?
And if we prove that, and if we look to him for that, we're going to profit.
Verse 12.
Whom I have sent again. Thou therefore receive him. That is my own vows.
He doesn't say here forgive him, he says receive him.
You know it says about the one in uh.
Matthew 18 Thy brothers offended thee. Go to him and tell him the matter between thee and him alone. We fail in that, don't we?
It's a test for us and it's the wisdom of God.
If we're going to be preserved as our brother Jim brought out again.
To be able to wash one another's feet so that it would never come to this.
We're going to be preserved in that.
We need to keep the matter. That was an offense to us just between me and and him.
That's a safeguard.
And that's a preservation from things going farther and making it difficult for things to be cleared up. And, you know, if I can't go to them, I can talk about it to others, but I can't go to them. That's a proof perhaps that I really don't have something that's legitimate to hold as an offense. That's the wisdom of God.
If he's offended me, go to him.
But it says, if thy brother hears thee, you've gained him.
You've gained them. It isn't just that you've cleared things, but you've gained your brother. This is that 5th part.
That the Lord would want us to prove and to experience that so blessed.
Receive him? No, just forgive him. Bring him in. Put your arms around him.
Tell him on essence, I'm thankful that there has been a change. I'm thankful for what God has wrought in you.
And I can forgive you.
Verse 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldst receive him.
Forever.
Does.
Does this have an effect on eternity? An impact on it? I want to be careful what I say.
But I believe the richness that's gained from it will be. It will be. And that's the encouragement to our hearts. We can say, well, the Lord is almost here. We'll just go on the way things are. And he says, no, leave your, leave your, your offering there.
You say, well, I'm just going to go on with the Lord. I can't. That's water under the bridge. That's that's happened so many and he says no, leave it there if you really value.
Fellowship with me, if you really value being able to give me something, go and clear that up and then come back. I I still want it, but I want you to be enriched by that 5th part and I want your brother to be enriched, perhaps just for a little while. The separation came in this hard feeling, but that you might receive him forever.
Forever.
Verse 16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh.
And in the Lord, is it possible? Is it possible to to?
To think, to, to have the to know this brother, this one, there was, there's such feeling between us to actually for it to end up that he's my beloved brother. I'm closer to him than many others. I believe that this is the encouragement for that.
Well.
I think we we get the gist of this. Let's just finish verse 22.
But with all prepare me a lodging for I trust that through your prayers.
00:40:02
I shall be given unto you.
Brethren were almost there.
We're almost at home.
What will it be?
When we look into his eyes.
The first time.
Will it make a difference if we made it right with our brother, our sis?
It will.
It will repair mealogen.
Going to see you soon. May the Lord give us grace.
To be enriched by that 5th part.
For the glory of God.
Thou mightest receive him forever.
I just want to read some scripture that.
Into my mind during the Sunday school this morning. The children's meeting.
In connection with broken connections.
But more importantly, with.
Those connections that are broken as a result of death.
And, umm.
Not talking about the physical death.
But death?
Of friendships.
Broken relationships.
And what causes them?
We have a verse in Proverbs chapter 18.
Verse 21.
Says death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Connection with that we can go to James.
James Chapter 3.
And we'll start in verse 2 for In Many things.
We all, we offend all. If any man offend not in Word, the same is a perfect man.
And able and able also to bridle his the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth.
That they may obey us, and we turn the whole body.
Behold also the ships.
Which, though they may be great, are driven of fierce winds.
And are they turned about with a very small helm?
Withers, however, the governor listed.
Even so, the Tongue is a little member and boasts his great things.
Behold how great a manner a little fire kindle it.
The tongue is a fire.
A roll of iniquity.
So is the tongue among our members.
00:45:01
The file is the whole body and set us on fire.
The course of nature.
And it is set on fire. It is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beast.
Of the birds, and of the serpents, and of the things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind.
But the tongue can no maintain.
It is an unruly evil.
Full of deadly poison.
Therewith bless we God.
Even the Father and therewith.
Curse we men.
Which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not to be.
Proverbs.
16.
Verse 28.
A forward man so a strife and a whispereth separate his chief friends.
Another verse.
In Exodus.
In connection with James.
Exodus chapter 22.
And verse 6.
If fire break out.
And catchin thorns.
So that the stacks of corn.
Or the standing corn.
Or the field be consumed therewith. He that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
I want to read that verse in James again.
Is helpful for me to.
Read it in a different translation.
Because I believe it's a little bit more clear.
Verse 2.
Of James chapter 3.
For we all stumble in many ways.
And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man.
Able to bridle the whole body as well.
The word all does not allow any of us to escape responsibility for the things that we have said.
And I think that's very important to keep in mind that we are all.
In need of forgiveness for things that we have said and that we are all responsible for the things that we have destroyed and the relationships and the friendships that we had killed.
Not one of us is perfect.
I was reminded.
By a brother in our home assembly.
That our Lord was slandered. Our Lord was mocked.
So should we expect anything?
00:50:02
More for ourselves.
I want to read another verse.
I can't place it right now.
Paul has two sisters that are at odds if someone can help me find it. And he asked for the help of others to help bring reconciliation to them.
Philippians 4.
Philippians 4. We'll start in verse one. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy and crown to stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
I beseech Eureus and I beseech can't pronounce his name, apologize that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
And I treat thee also. True yoke fellows, help these women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also.
And with other my yoke fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
So even in the work of reconciliation in the assembly itself.
Each member is a res is responsible.
To intercede on behalf of others who may be divided.
Who may have been offended?
Who may have offended other people?
To help them.
For the sake of the Gospel.
But a few moments left here and has been evident to most everyone here. Comments today, umm, centered around reconciliation of some type.
And, umm, reference was made by the last speaker to the Sunday school this morning and, uh, this morning, I believe we looked at, umm, uh, scripture here in Genesis Chapter 3 in connection with, with uh, Adam and Eve. And, uh, we've enjoyed the thought of fellowship here in these meetings.
And umm, you know, sometimes it's hard for us to grasp that, but I was thinking of the fellowship that we enjoyed.
Umm, or was brought to our attention, uh, during the meetings about, uh, fellowship with the Father and the Son, and certainly this morning, umm, as we remembered the Lord, uh, in his death. I'm thankful that we in a measure, can share God's thoughts, umm.
As to his son, his person and his work, he.
00:55:00
Umm, epitome of fellowship.
And umm, just to close on a, on a note of comfort, perhaps, umm, I might just read uh again a little bit here in, in Genesis and then a couple scriptures in the New Testament to umm, acknowledge.
The UMM reconciliation that has been made for us, umm, by our Lord Jesus.
And so we had in the lesson about Adam and Eve and the efforts of the serpent to.
Umm, lie, deceive, uh, Eve and why she umm, obeyed that voice and her husband as well, Adam. And what do we find here in the third chapter of Genesis? Umm.
Uh, they heard in verse 8, uh, the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Well, not sure I grasped this all correctly, but I believe it's correct to say that.
God delighted to have fellowship with His creature.
And umm, he was walking in the garden, in the cool in the day. And where were Adam and his wife?
Umm and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
And so it is sin has separated, hath separated man from God, and they hit God hadn't gone anywhere.
And so that being said, we had little ministry in these meetings about, uh, as our brother said, propitiation is a big word. And, uh.
I'd like to turn in that, uh, light to, uh, first Peter.
Umm.
First Peter, the third chapter.
Verse 18 This is a verse that was set forth by others to umm have contained in it 3 vital truths.
And uh.
Thankful for the help given and I just passed this on. Many are familiar with this. UMM, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins. So we had defined before us what it was for the Lord Jesus, that aspect of His sacrifice that satisfied a righteous and holy God. I believe that first phrase depicts that.
He hath once suffered for sins, that which was God word in that work.
The just or the unjust?
Was that portion that spoke of substitution. We had much in our remembrance meeting this morning that we were rejoicing for the, umm, completeness of that work of the Lord Jesus taking our sins upon Himself and them being, uh, fully dealt with in those three hours of darkness.
But then there's this last expression that touches on reconciliation.
That he might bring us to God.
And so, as our brothers were commenting on various things that come in to hinder fellowship amongst one another, how much more serious umm for sin to have come in and separated us from God, and how thankful we can be that.
He will have a uh.
Companion for all eternity. And so let's look at Romans in closing here.
01:00:01
The 5th chapter of Romans.
I'm sure we've all enjoyed these, uh, these scriptures.
For various reasons.
And we touched on the love of God in verse 5.
What a wonderful thing to.
Experience that too, and measure, comprehend it. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per adventure for a good man.
Some would even dare to die, but God commendeth His love toward us.
In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Earlier.
The some of the comments described individuals being at odds and coming together and trying to reconcile themselves.
We see clearly here.
Umm.
Who is at fault?
Fault was all.
One sided, wasn't it?
And uh.
Grace was as well, for when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we built shall be saved by his life. Not only soul, but we also joy in God.
To our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation it should be.
And so as we've enjoyed these meetings and been reminded of what a privilege it is to be.
Umm brought into the family of God, and to be even more so, may the sun.
And.
Enjoy those privileges of sonship would not be possible if it wasn't for this complete work of the Lord Jesus.
Those 3 aspects, the propitiation, the substitution and this reconciliation.
So we've enjoyed in measure.
Oh, fellowship with one another, fellowship with the Father and with the Son. As we've opened the word together, we've began this meeting by singing of a severe UMM.
Where that, uh, fellowship will go on, umm, unhindered by those things of the flesh that our brothers have been seeking to address here this afternoon.
Well, uh, just, uh, trust, we're all encouraged by what has been done for us in the place of privilege we've been brought into to draw with confidence in his presence for now and for all eternity. His close with one other scripture that comes to mind that speaks of that privilege position.
And, uh, was in the epistle.
That we took up this week first, John in Chapter 4 speaks of the position I believe that we have now.
If we contemplate the position that the Lord Jesus has at God's right hand.
First John chapter 4 and verse 17.
Herein, as our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Because as he is.
So are we in this world?
01:05:14
It's just God our Father.
Thankful for thy precious words and.
How does the search of the Lord, especially in view of the fact that we are soon going to be raptured into eternal glory?
See thy blessed faith.
Lord Jesus, to be ready for that supreme moment, that it may be with real joy that we we meet the Lord in the end. In the meantime, help us now, gracious Father. And we're thankful for our dear brother and we've had us here. Bless them. Lord bless the preaching of the Gospel this evening too. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.
Broken Relationships
Reconciliation to God
That Which Is Lost
Gospel—Ed Staggs
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.
Could we start out this evening by singing hymn?
In #21.
He sighed for Christ today.
And got salvation.
It'll fall in my heart and will.
Reverse in Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew chapter 5 and verse 3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
For theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we are thankful for this gospel meeting tonight, the last meeting of our three days here.
And we thank thee, our God, that thou hast been so good to us. Thou has blessed us, so thou hast encouraged us.
Put the burden on our heart tonight.
There might be those in this room.
That are still lost in their sins.
And we pray our Father, for those who might not be aware that they're guilty before a holy God.
They might somehow be trusting in themselves.
We would ask the Our Father that the Word of God and the Spirit of God might open up their understanding.
That it might be revealed to them their guilty condition before thee, their Creator, and that there might be a plea in their heart for an answer to meet their need.
And that they might see that the Lord Jesus is the only Savior of sinners. But to our Father, we pray for those who perhaps even now, are discomforted.
00:05:09
Are concerned, feel the weight of their sins.
Don't know the answer.
We pray that Thou would reveal it to them tonight through the Gospel.
And that they might accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
So we just ask for liberty of the Spirit, we commend this time before thee are God and Father, we ask thy blessing and our Lord Jesus Christ precious name, Amen.
We'll also look at a verse in Luke chapter 15.
These are very common verses.
No doubt have been heard many, many times the many in this room.
And yet nonetheless.
It may not have yet had an effect.
On the one in this room are the more than one that are still lost in their sins. And of course, it's our plea tonight that you might pay attention, that you might ask the Spirit of God, you might ask the Lord.
If you're a Sinner.
And you feel it. You might ask him.
That the Word of God might have an effect on you tonight.
Then it might answer your need and that you might see that the only answer.
That will answer the question before you and a holy God.
Is that God sent his Son into this world.
To die on Calvary's cross, to bear your judgment, your sins on Calvary's cross, And having died completing the work God has and shedding his precious blood, God has raised him from the dead.
If you believe that right now, this moment, you don't even have to wait for the whole gospel. That's all you need to know if you would accept him as your Savior, your personal Savior, and he would have died and bore your sins on Calvary's cross.
The verse I have on my heart here is.
We'll start with verse one. Then drew nearer unto him all the publicans and sinners, for to hear him.
Send, the Pharisees and Scribes murmured.
Saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, what none of you having, and 100 sheep.
If you lose, one of them does not leave the 90 and nine in the wilderness.
And go after that which is lost until he finds it.
You know what my heart desire is tonight?
That you might see yourself as lost.
That's the condition that you must be in.
You must understand how far you are away from God because of the sins that you have committed in your body.
And you have to understand that you are at a great distance from God. I read that first verse in Matthew of chapter 5 before I prayed. Because it's my desire that you might see yourself as poor, as needy, that in you there is no strength in yourself.
You have to come to a place where you understand there's nothing.
That you can do.
Your weak in the flesh.
That's the condition you must be in to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. That's the condition that you must be in to be lost and to understand that it's there that the Lord can search you out and find you and meet your need.
You know, my wife and I, we were at a, a baseball game, the, the little, umm, junior high baseball game. My, my daughter was, my granddaughter was pitching in it and, uh, we were there.
00:10:10
And this, this boy came up to us and, and, uh, he was somewhere between 11 and 13. He went to the same school that my granddaughter went to.
And he said hi, He says, uh, who's your, uh, who's your, your daughter out there? And we said, well, Angelique says she's a pitcher. She's our granddaughter. Oh yeah, I know Angelique. He's my, my name is Christian.
Well, it's nice to meet you, Christian. And he says, hey, you want to hear a joke? Well, I'm always immediately, I'm weary. Somebody says, you want to hear a joke. You just never know today where it's going. And I wasn't very quick to respond to his question, but it it didn't, he didn't hesitate to give us an answer. He says, my name is Christian, but I'm not one.
My wife, she says, well, she said, I'm sorry to hear that. She says, we're Christians and we love the Lord Jesus.
And he says, well, we don't even believe in God. He says, my dad says there is no God. He said, if there is a God, where did he come from? Where did he start at? You know, I pondered his question. I I wasn't about to get into this debate with this little 13 year old boy. I knew that it was, it wouldn't go well, you know, and.
So then his little brother comes up. He's probably more like 11.
And he says, yeah, we don't believe in God and we don't believe he exists.
And uh.
Then, then we turned around and my wife had this look on her face and it wasn't a very good one. And, uh, I knew there was a problem somewhere and I, I didn't quite catch it, but uh, the father was over on the other bench on the other side and he looked at our granddaughter that was pitching and she had a mask on. They put a mask on these young kids. So if the ball gets hit, they get hit in the face, they're protected.
And uh.
He looked at my granddaughter and he said, oh, that's the epitome of ignorance.
Boy, you talk about Grandma Bear coming out. She right away she looked over at me. She says I gotta pray the Lord give me grace.
But you know, sometimes that sometimes you just have to leave people where they're at.
And to try to tell somebody about the love of Christ sometimes just creates an argument.
And you know, I thought it was very interesting because this kind of reminded me of that where where the Lord said he left the 90 and nine in the wilderness. Why? Because they didn't know they were lost. They didn't think they were lost. They didn't care if they were. They were religious leaders.
And.
They thought they had an end with God.
So they had no idea that they were poor in the spirit, and they had no idea that they were lost.
You know, I'm a little afraid that maybe there's somebody like this in that in this room. Uh, I've been raised in a Christian home. Yeah. My parents never heard me except Christ as my savior, but they just think I am saved. And, you know, I'm probably good enough anyway because, you know, I've been raised in a Christian home.
You know a brother prayed umm in the backroom.
And I can't really remember how he prayed, but I I thought when he prayed, I said, Lord, that's on my heart.
And he prayed, he prayed that there might be those that that might repent of the direction that they've gone in their life.
That's a very solemn thing, isn't it? Because we all know what that means, that, that there have been those amongst us raised in a Christian home, children we love, children who played with other children. And then one day they're gone and they're out in this world. And you may have tried to talk to them and they don't want to listen. They, they think that they're fine where they're at and they're not looking.
You know what I don't?
00:15:14
I don't want another child to go down that path.
I don't. I don't want anybody in this room. Just pretend.
Think that it's all fine.
I don't want you to grow up.
Take a pass.
Go out into this world.
It's not what I want for you.
I love you.
I love you because you're the children of those that I love.
I love you and I want you to see that the Lord Jesus wants to save your never dying soul.
I want you to see that you're a Sinner.
That you were born into sin and you can't help it. It's what you are. It's just what you are.
But it can be different.
So I thought about this scene where the Lord is going out and he's looking for that lost sheep. Oh, I plead that you're a lost sheep.
Because you have to be lost to be found. You have to own that.
You have to see yourself the way that God sees you.
That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You come short.
Of the glory of God.
You know those kids that that said that and you know, I looked over at their dad and I said, oh, poor kids, they don't have a chance.
What kind of a man would sit up in an audience and then make that kind of a comment about a 12 year old girl?
What kind of a home was that poor child raised in?
You know, I think that there's.
Fewer privileges in this world than being raised in a Christian home.
Being raised under the sound of the Word of God day after day. Understanding the love of the Father that's been displayed in your home.
You know, I, I wasn't raised in that way, but I'm not condemning anybody. I'm not condemning my parents. I'm not, that's not the point that that I'm bringing that up, but I'm just bringing it up in contrast of the great privilege.
That you have in being raised in the Christian home.
You know, there was this man just want to talk about just how wonderful the work of God is. There was this man. He used to work for me. His name was Roger and uh.
You know, he told me about his parents, uh, talking to him. He had religious, uh, Christian parents and, uh, and I, I appreciated him. I had an opportunity to talk to him a number of times about the things of the Lord. So about 25 years ago.
One day he came into my office and he said that I have to quit.
And I says, well, I don't, I don't understand what's the matter.
And he said, well, and he said, sit down and I'm gonna just tell you the truth.
He said before I came to work for you, he said I used to go down to Seatac.
And.
I used to pick up packages and all I had to do was pick them up and I had to take them to a house and I just dropped them off and they paid me big money to do it.
I said, really, yeah, he said. But you know what he said? I started getting scared, he said. The money was way too much for what I was doing, and I decided that I was gonna get out of it.
And so he thought I came to work for you.
00:20:02
But he said, you know, the other day the FBI came over to my house.
And they told me it was a sting.
And that they had been following me for quite a while.
And they wanted to know.
Who the people were that were paying me, where the houses were, They wanted him to testify.
Against the people that were doing this.
And he said so. He said I have to do it or I'm going to go to jail.
I said, well I understand.
So he had given his notice and and he was gonna leave and then he come back into my office. He said that he said I'm in real trouble.
He said. I don't know what to do.
He said. Uh.
Two guys came to my door in suits.
And, uh, I answered the door and I said, yeah, what can I do for you? And he says, well, this is what you're going to do for me. He says you're going to go to prison.
He said this is where your dad lives and this is where your sister lives. We know everything about your family and if you want to keep your family, you're going to go to you're going to go to prison.
Well, you might wonder, why am I telling this story?
Because I wanna tell you sometimes when God wants to save your soul.
If you don't come to the Lord today and the Lord desires to have you, He may allow you to go down a path you don't want to go, like the prodigal, and He might need to bring you to the end of himself.
And He will, because He loves you, and He'll drain you to a point in your life where you come to the end, where you have no place else to go but to plead to God.
The answer? Parents prayers.
To accept Christ as your Savior.
Well, of course, Roger said. You know what he said? I'm not even gonna fight it, He said. I'm I'm not gonna testify. I'm just gonna tell him I'm guilty and he went to prison.
Well, some time later I got a letter from him.
And he thanked me for hiring him.
He thanked me for being his boss and and for treating him good.
And he said, and he said, I want you to know.
I may be in prison, but I've accepted Jesus as my sake.
You know, I'll tell you something.
I would rather have a child end up in prison.
If that's what it took.
To help him accept or her.
To accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior? That sounds very harsh.
But really, it manifests the love of God, doesn't it?
So we end up going to prison. He got saved, he's been out, he's worked out a nice job now and the Lord has really taken care of them.
But that's not the way, is it? That's when that brother prayed that prayer. I thought, Lord.
That is so much on my heart.
Said I don't want a child in this room. I don't want a young person in this room. I don't want anyone in this room.
They have to go down that path.
I want them to be found today. I want them to see their need today. I want them to understand that all that's necessary to save them.
Is provided at this very moment and has been provided through the finished work of God's beloved Son. I'm gonna again, I'm gonna talk about the Lord Jesus. I'm gonna talk about what He's done on Calvary's cross. I'm gonna talk about how important it is for you to see that everything that was necessary, everything that is necessary to meet your need has been done.
But you have to come. You have to own that you're a Sinner.
00:25:01
I want you. I want to just say something. You know, I when I was when I was a younger boy, I used to, I used to wander around Yakima some. I had a couple of uncles there and and I was, I was afraid I was, I was young, probably, I don't know, thirteen years old.
I was afraid of going to hell.
The Lord I was afraid because I knew I was a Sinner.
I had done dishonest things.
Everyone in this room, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have done dishonest things.
You have sins that you have committed, that you're responsible to God.
And I remember one time going down the streets of Yakima with my two uncles and they said, let's go inside this church.
And we went inside this church. It was a Catholic Church.
And they were running around and they were grabbing the holy water and they were making signs.
And I was afraid. I was afraid even though I didn't know anything about where I was at. It was a place that there were things that represented Christ and God and that was afraid. I knew I was a Sinner. And all the while they were doing this, I said, let's get out of here, let's get out of here. And I was afraid.
I want you to know that I was afraid for many, many years.
Didn't mean that I I just stopped doing bad things because quite honestly, I didn't have the strength to stop doing bad things. And the more bad things I did, the more guilty I felt. I didn't know what to do.
I hope you feel that way, I do.
I hope you don't have peace in your soul. That's the worst thing you could have if you're lost, is to have peace in your soul and not see that you're guilty before a holy God. It's absolute worst thing. It's a blessing that God has awakened your conscience that you're guilty before him.
But God has met that need. I hope you feel that way.
But God sent his own beloved Son to come into this world.
And become a man. You know, we've had much before us about Christ becoming a man. Oh, so thankful that Christ became a man.
There's a man in the glory, man who wears our nature on the throne. We rejoice because of that, don't we?
But he came down into this world and you know, I can't go a day.
I can't go a day. Even when I was younger, I could not go a day without something I'm sure that I did that displeased God. That just made me more and more responsible to Him.
Just piling it on day after day. Sometimes I look back for I was saved. I was so afraid.
But the Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, and you know he never did anything that displeased his Father.
You know, I never had a thought.
He never went a direction that wasn't the will of the father. He never got up in the morning and went someplace without it being the will of the father, seeking his direction in his path. He never healed anyone.
Through the power of the Spirit of God. That was not the will of the Father. Everything that he did every day of his life.
Always please the Father.
But you would think that if there was such a person and he was walking this planet that people would just embrace him. What a wonderful man.
He came into this world to manifest the love of God to the Jewish people.
They wouldn't have them.
He said we will will not have this man, this man to reign over us.
And so they took him.
And they abused him.
During the breaking of bread, I was weighing out the things that were said, the different things that were done to the Lord Jesus. This morning they weighed out.
00:30:08
You think of all the things they did to the blessed Lord Jesus.
And then they laid him down, and they they put nails in his hands and in his feet.
And then they took him to Calvary.
And they hung him up.
Hung up on that hill of Calvary between 2 Thieves.
You might think what a what a terrible thing and it and it was.
It was a terrible thing God did his absolute manifesting Christ to this world.
And it manifests just how dark.
Is the heart of man.
You know, there's three gospels in Scripture, Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke, and in each one of those gospels.
You know what it says? It's, it's an appeal.
To man to manifest, if there is anything in man that could be accepted. 3 Gospels.
And in those three gospels, each time they took the Lord Jesus and hung him on a cross.
Know that manifest there was nothing in the heart of man that could respond to the love of God. Not one thing.
In the Gospel of John, however, it's not making an appeal to man at all. You know what it says? Man is in darkness. Very first chapter, very few verses, the 1St chapter, man is in darkness and he can't receive the light.
And the whole of the gospel brings out the love that the Lord Jesus has in glorifying his Father.
And being the Lamb of God in providing a way in which poor lost sinners could be saved.
In the very first chapter of the book of John, it says, Behold the Lamb of God.
You know the Lamb of God has two beautiful aspects to it. One is it represents that burn offering character that has been offered for the glory of God.
But the other aspect of the Lamb of God is that he's the sin offering.
And our brother earlier today talked about the trespass offering that would be part of it, but he was the sin offering that is that He's a lamb that has come to take your place, if you will have him. Now we go to Exodus chapter 12 and go to Genesis 22. You see him there is the burn offering. You go to Exodus chapter.
12 And you see him as the sin offering.
And there you find that they offer the lamb. You know the lamb has been offered. God has provided a lamb.
The only lamb, the only one that could meet your needs.
The Lamb of God.
Well, the Lord Jesus hung upon that cross.
He experienced the most terrible thing that could, that could be meted upon him from his very creatures that He created, whose breath he held in His hand, whose very molecules were being held together by His power.
And yet they nailed him to a cross, and hung them there as a spectacle between heaven and earth.
But as the Lamb of God.
A tremendous thing happened, very solemn thing, and in its own way a very beautiful thing.
Is God in rap, the Lord Jesus in darkness?
And in that darkness.
You heard the cry.
That Jesus cried out to God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
You know, I sometimes feel.
That those words were meant for me.
00:35:00
Those words were meant to touch my heart.
Those words were to remind me and to remind you what happened, what was going on in that darkness.
That the judgment of a holy God was being meted out against the Lord Jesus, who never did any wrong, who never sinned, and always did what pleased the Father.
And stroke upon stroke, the wrath of a holy God meted out upon the Lord Jesus for the sins of those who would accept Him as their Lord and Savior. I could look around this room and I could ask this brother that sister.
Did Jesus bear your judgment? Did he take the judgment of God for the sins you've committed?
Did he exhaust them once and for all they could say Amen.
Amen. What a savior.
But you know, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you don't profess that He died for you, then He never bore your judgment.
You have to ask Him to be your savior.
But you know the the burnt offering, one of the things that characterizes the burnt offering, Sometimes when I when I read it, I think of how solemn it is. It says what is leftover in the morning, completely consumed.
I think about the Lord Jesus.
You know we cannot enter into the depth of the sorrow and the suffering. Only the Father knows how deep the sorrow was.
But we can enjoy the fact that he died for us. You can enjoy that he died for you.
That he bore your judgment and penalty on the cross, if you will have him.
Well after the work was all done.
The Lord Jesus cried out. He says it is finished.
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Aren't those wonderful words?
Not one stripe, not one lash of judgment, not one drop of judgment is left for me, for you, if you will have him.
And then it says and he bowed his head and gave up his life.
What a solemn scene, the Son of God.
God's beloved Son in that scene of agony.
Exhausting the wrath of God, laying down his head and giving up his life.
But then something else happens.
A soldier comes by with a spear and he pierces his side.
And forthwith came out blood and water.
Word of God says without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins.
And I love it in Exodus when it says that the Angel of death came over, and when it looked upon the blood that was put on the outside of the houses that were there, and said the judgment passed over them.
It's all necessary, the completeness. It's the evidence of the death of the Lord Jesus as the precious blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood.
My brother.
Quoted if thou shalt confess.
The Lord If thou, umm, if thou shalt confess the Lord, and believe in thine heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Oh, there's more.
God has raised his Son from the dead.
There's a man in the glory. He's raised him and placed him at his own right hand in the majesty on high. Why is that so important?
In Romans chapter 4 says if you believe in him who raised Jesus from the dead, what does that mean?
00:40:00
Well, the beginning I I believe I mentioned that the father sent the son.
When the Lord Jesus completed the work that he was sent to do, the Father was satisfied, and he raised them from the dead.
God took up your need.
To answer what was necessary for your sins.
Through the finished work of his own son.
And being satisfied with his work.
He raised them.
On high.
You know I'm.
I had purpose tonight not to.
You have a Hellfire, brimstone, kind of a gospel. I really, I really wanted you to know.
That God is love.
And it's really God the Father who provided what was necessary, that is necessary for you to be saved.
We've enjoyed in the meetings here how we have a nature as God's children to enjoy Him.
To be able to live before him, consistent, just like his son.
It's beautiful to see that.
And yet perhaps there's one in this room still yet tonight, lost in your sins at a distance from God, and you're not a child of God.
You don't have peace with God.
And so.
The verse that says the soul that sinneth.
It shall die.
And after this the judgment.
You know, I believe that.
The love of God is sufficient to draw your heart to Him.
But I would be amiss.
If I was to give you the impression at all.
That there's not a consequence.
For rejecting him.
Because rejecting him.
Rejecting God's Son.
Means that you must stand before God, before the Lord Jesus, and you will have to bear the judgment and the penalty of your sins in your own body.
You've been rejecting the Lord Jesus.
You will be cast out of the presence of God for all eternity.
So there's a consequence.
You might think that.
You might think that maybe you'll wait till tomorrow.
No, my little brother.
Is unsaved. He's an adult now.
Now I remember one time I came home.
And it was all bundled up. It was all bundled up in a corner.
And he was weeping.
And I said, mom, what happened? What's wrong with Darren?
And she said well.
A friend of his grandfather took his granddaughter and little grandson and took him up in a plane.
And they got into a car and they got into a plane accident and everyone there perished.
You know, we have, we have no lease on life.
There's no guarantee about tomorrow.
There are so many people that will go to bed tonight.
Have great plans for tomorrow.
And never lived to enjoy tomorrow.
So it's so important and so pressing.
That the time to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and have all of your sins washed away by His precious blood is now.
Right now.
Won't you come to Jesus?
Let's pray.
00:45:01
Our God and our Father, we are thankful.
We thank Thee for sending thy Son, the Lord Jesus.
We thank thee, Lord Jesus, for all that Thou hast done to meet all that is necessary for poor lost sinners.
We thank thee that thou hast risen are sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Soon to come back and to take thy people to be with thee for all eternity.
We pray that not one in this room.
Would be given peace if they are still lost in their sins.
We pray that Thou would continue to strive with them through Thy Word and through the Spirit.
We pray that they might accept the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior tonight.
And we ask this, and I alone most precious and worthy name. Amen.
Not Live Unto Themselves
Talk—Bob Thonney
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.
Right, right Father, we are thankful for these happy times and we can be singing these beautiful Emmys.
Help us this evening as we speak some further from thy word. In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
At first him we sang How great thou art.
Never forget the first time I heard that song.
In Walla Walla.
In Pioneer Junior High, does anybody of folks from Walla Walla go to that? You went there, OK.
They had it all school assembly and they had this guy that was a singer and he sang popular songs. I don't remember what they were.
But at the end of his program, he says, I've asked your principal if I could sing my favorite song and he said I could.
So he sang how great they are. He's one of these guys that have a great big belly.
A little bit bigger, mine even, and he could pump it out. Let me tell you, I never forgot it. But that song, if you notice it, the first two stands this speak about creation.
And the last two speak about redemption.
Two fears in which God has shown his glory.
And I sometimes think that we need to focus a little bit more on creation because it is incredibly immense. I love to study the stars. My kids have gotten me several books on the stars at home. I find it fascinating, totally incredible, the immensity of the universe.
Just this last month I was up on the high out the planet like I was mentioning today.
Of Bolivia at a conference in the South of Bolivia at 12,000 feet. It's the High Plains at 12,000 feet altitude. And when you get a night that the sun has or the moon hasn't come up yet and the sky is clear, you're out there in a town that doesn't have very many city lights. Let me tell you, you can see the stars like nobody, nowhere else I've been in the world.
In fact, besides the tremendous display of the Milky Way.
Galaxy across the sky. You can actually see other galaxies with the naked eye.
Is that clear up there? And I must say, I, I'm fascinated the, I'm sure some of you have studied astronomy somewhat, but the Milky Way Galaxy that we live in is in the form of a, of a plate, a big, huge plate in the universe. It's composed of approximately 200.
Billion stars. There's only 6 or 7 billion people in this world.
But this Galaxy has 200 billion stars in it, and the distance across this Galaxy is 100,000 light years.
Those numbers just don't have too much meaning to us. But let me put it this way, the light that started to cross our Galaxy when Adam was placed on this work on this Earth isn't even a tenth of the way across.
And its light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second.
You start getting some idea of the grandeur of the universe.
And one of the books I have at home, it says they the.
They now think that there is about 250 billion more galaxies in the universe. The other day I was looking at a Time magazine and it had a little clip in there and it said scientists or astronomers now think that they're approximately 10 times more galaxies than they thought previously. They just can't get to the end of it all. And we're talking about a person.
I I don't know if we grasp this, that spoke it all into existence by the word of His power.
00:05:01
Far, far greater than we can grasp. This is the one that came into the world. This is the one that went to the cross. The diapers just amazingly incredible. This is the one they went up to him and spit in his face.
And he didn't do anything. This is the one that went to the cross. This is the one that bore my sins in his own body and the tree.
The verse I'd like to read tonight is or The verse is in Second Corinthians chapter 5. That last song we sang when I survey the wonder cross. When we survey the wonders cross.
It was a favorite song of the brother that took me the first time to Bolivia, Eric Smith.
Anybody remember Eric Smith? I'm sure some do. Please raise your hand. Those that remember Eric Smith. Nobody on this side, but quite a few on this side.
He was a man that created a real impression of my life for eternity and I thank God for it that this is one of his favorite songs. And here in Second Corinthians chapter 5, I want to read a couple verses here that really I want to challenge you young people.
And older ones to you with Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they which lived should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them.
And rose again.
You follow his reasoning here. He is saying if one dies for all, that means that we were all under sins, domination and death as the result of sin.
And that he died for all. Now, how does that translate to our lives here? That they which live here? We are. We're alive. You get it?
Should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again?
So the focus of the life we have in the Lord Jesus is not this way.
It's that way. It's him. And you know what? I see young people.
In this country, United States of America, who have so much going for it and they're totally unhappy.
It's because they're focused this way. Young people, that's not life, let me tell you. It's not living if your focus this way. You're thinking about yourself and your own desires and your own wants. That's not little.
Living is that direction.
Him, Christ is our life now. It's totally different, you know, in life down here in this world.
We live and at the end of life is death. That's the way we're all geared to think.
But the life we have in Christ is a totally different life.
It's after death. In fact, it really begins with death, and you don't really know what real life is until you have accepted the death of Christ for you.
And what he has then, when Jesus rose from the dead, he rose in the power of a life that cannot die.
That's the life you and I possess.
But you know, what comes the challenge to me is that we tend to think that the life we have here in the United States is pretty nice, have pretty much everything we need, not like in other parts of the world, and we can enjoy everything. I'm not saying it's wrong to enjoy it, but I say if your focus is this direction, young person, your older person too, you are going to be completely dissatisfied. It's not what?
00:10:09
Life is about real. Life is on the other side of that in resurrection.
So I want to read a couple more verses in John's Gospel chapter 12.
Verse 23.
Jesus answered them, saying the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abide us alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He's that loveth his life.
Shall lose it. Do you hear that?
He that loveth his life shall lose it.
And he that hated his life in this world shall keep it.
And a life eternal.
Wow, that's completely reversed to the way we're naturally geared to think.
What does it mean? Going back to verse 24, the Lord Jesus is speaking about this corn of wheat.
It's a little kernel of wheat.
And we're gonna keep it up here on this table, we're gonna keep it dry, we're gonna keep it safe that nothing ever happens to that, because we want to keep it.
What's gonna happen is they're gonna be any fruit from that kernel of wheat, No.
So they're gonna be through. What do we have to do? Take that kernel of wheat and we put it into the ground, and there the moisture and the microorganisms in the soil start to work on that kernel of weakness swells up and it starts rotten and it dies.
And in its death it gives place to a new life, and there is much fruit. So the Lord is applying that now for us in verse 25. He that loves his life shall lose it.
Anybody here want to die? Please raise your hand If you like to die, if you want to die.
Come on, nobody want to die.
You want to die? Yeah.
Yeah, we're not talking about physical death merely. Never mind.
We're talking about applying the principle that Jesus died for us, and when we accept him as our Savior, then we are counted dead to sin and live to God. And that's the death we're talking about, although it may come to that and many of our brethren in those Muslim countries that we were hearing about Egypt.
And other Muslim countries.
You know what? I read an article, a book the other day where the Muslims were accusing the Christians. You people love life. We love death.
And of course it's heaven by what they do in those countries. But really, brethren, it is in only in the measure that we apply the death of Christ in our lives that there will be fruit for God.
It's been over 50 years ago now, but there was a missionary down in Ecuador. His name was Jim Elliott. He was from the Portland area. And I one time when I was working at Bible Truth Publishers, his father came into the book room and I got to know him. That was after Jim had been killed by the Alki Indians.
He was killed at 28 years old and but his death, along with four other missionaries, was something that challenged the whole Christian world as to how we live.
00:15:04
He said this and this is really the essence of what we have in verse 25.
He said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. You can't keep that life you have. You can't keep it, only God, Jesus that he said you can't. He's no fool who gives it to gain what he cannot lose. And the result of the deaths of those five missionaries?
Was a challenge to the whole Christian world as to how we look at life. And I must say, dear young people, when I see the blessing that there is in the Latin American world and I see the way things are in decline in the Christian world up here, I don't say it all over because there are places of encouragement.
You know what I say.
It comes down to it's the principle in the US culture of self pleasing.
Do it your way, Have it the way you want it. You owe it to yourself.
Burger King says have it your way. Don't get me wrong, I like Burger King, but it's have it your way. That's the philosophy of life in the United States of America that's killing us. It's absolutely killing the Christian testimony. Christianity is not self pleasing. Even Christ, please not himself. Christianity is self sacrifice.
So you wanna have, you wanna have a life that's meaningful, ask the Lord how you can sacrifice for him and don't put any limits on it, even if it means death, physically death. So I just want to leave that with you, dear young people. I, I really, uh, am challenged in my own soul. I'm a little bit older now.
But I'm challenged my own soul to lay that at your feet.
Don't live your life for things down here. It's too fleeting and it's too vain. You know, sometimes I go to a nursing home back there where we are, and you see an old person who has lived their life very successfully and they're wealthy, big bank accounts, beautiful houses, lots of land.
What are they doing sitting in that wheelchair? What they doing there waiting to die?
And they have absolutely nothing in front of them. They don't have Jesus.
That is the worst robbery platform. It's taking place in the United States of America.
Don't fall for that philosophy, young people, there's.
Something better. Use your life for what? Let what will last for all eternity.
I mentioned brother Eric Smith. He was a challenge to me. He came from New Zealand, he was the one that took me to Bolivia. He was a short man and he was.
A from a family that was quite wealthy and he.
Decided that.
When he came of age that he wanted to go to Bolivia to preach the gospel, he had gotten saved.
And his father, who was a man of the world.
Totally disagreed with him. He gave him a lot of opportunity to get wealthy down here. And when Eric Smith said I'm going to Bolivia to preach the gospel, he says, son, if that's your decision, get out of my house. You're no longer welcome here. So he had to make his own way. And he went to Bolivia and he arrived there in 1921.
And he spent his years, almost 50 years there preaching the gospel. And there are many, many assemblies there. Yet I got to meet him. I got to see him the last time in Montreal before he went to be with the Lord, lacking 2 days of being 103 years old, lived quite a while.
And he could no longer talk. He just looked at me with his little two beady eyes.
And I greeted him in Quechua. You might not hear Keshun here, man. And he nodded. His hair had he? He knew the Quechua Indian language.
00:20:12
But shortly after that, he went home to go ahead.
It was such a challenge to me.
On the other side.
Baby dolls, they're gonna be in the glory because of him. He didn't have a lot of wealth. He had a house, yes, but he had very little in respect to what he might have had if he had tried to make it good. He didn't live for that. He lived for what was beyond. I tell him it came as such a challenge to my own life. Do I want to have it nice and deluxe down here and have everything?
I like to have.
Is that my life? Let me tell you, young people, if you live life that way, you're going to lose it. And I don't want to see that happen to you. Live your life denying yourself, sacrificing yourself for others. You're going to find that that is going to be fulfilling. You will find your life if you're that way.
Let's just pray, Father, we're thankful for our Lord Jesus.
Our glorious age, that one who?
It's so amazingly great and powerful and wonderful and yet came into this world and gave up his life for us and our Lord. Here we are, those that profess to believe in me. Help us to live in that same way that God has lived. Lord Jesus, we pray for Thy blessing on these dear young people and each one has been at these meetings. Those that are on the road, bless and keep them too, and ourselves for the rest.