Lassen Pines Family Camp: 2000
Table of Contents
The Word of God vs. The New Age #1
The Word of God vs. The New Age #2
The Word of God vs. The New Age #3
The Place of His Appointment
Address—Dave Spence
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Luke, Chapter 22.
The subject I have before me is an exhaustless 1.
Because it deals with the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In several aspects, and we will, we will end up with what?
He spoke of to the Father in the garden in agony, not my will.
But thine be done.
This is what gets us into all of our problems, beloved.
Is we want our way and we think that that is going to make us happy. But here was truly a happy man, and if there's any man that ever lived on the face of the earth that was a happy man, a man of joy, it was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who even though he suffered.
Even though he had trouble.
Along the pathway in his life.
There was one thing that characterized it, and that was not my will.
But thine be done, particularly when he comes to that place of suffering, in the anticipation of those hours of agony upon the cross that was the true test and Satan's focus to bring before him.
A bypass or a deterrent that he could have taken, except he were not gone. He was God, manifest in the flesh, and perfectly obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
We'll start reading at verse 19.
In Luke chapter 22.
And he took bread and gave thanks and break it.
And gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.
And likewise also the cup after supper, saying This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
And truly the Son of man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed.
And they begin to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
And there was also a strife among them Which of them should be accounted.
The greatest.
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so.
He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
For whether is greater he that sitteth at me or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meat.
But I am among you as he that served that serveth.
Verse 31.
And the Lord said, Simon Simon, Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthened.
Thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison.
End to death?
And he said, I tell thee, Peter.
The **** shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Verse 39.
And when he and he came out and went as it as he was want to the mount of olives.
And his disciples also followed him.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down.
And prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing.
Remove this cup from me. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly.
And his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples.
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He found them sleeping for sorrow. And he said unto them, Why sleep? Ye rise, and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The senior friends is an awful.
Seen in that day that is around Jerusalem, the whole atmosphere was charged.
With the thought of death.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the 1St 2 verses of the chapter clearly point that out.
Verse 2 The chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people.
The atmosphere was charged with animosity and reproach against the Son of God. He had come into his own, and his own had received him not, and that was the beginning of his ministry. Even in that first day of his ministry they sought to cast him over the brow of a hill and and and do away with the Son of God.
The Lord Jesus himself was occupied with death.
His disciples had been told by the Son of God that he was going to die.
But they were occupied with their greatness.
And of course, there was the enemy, Satan himself.
Seeking to get rid of the Son of God.
And he uses a link between Christ and his enemies. That is, Satan uses a link between Christ.
And his enemies. And that was Judas.
To bring this to pass.
But there is a wonderful discourse and invitation that we have read in the middle of this chapter that we began with.
That speaks of the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it was fully expressed.
What his desire was, even though all about him they were seeking to plot his death.
He was not preoccupied with that.
He was not overwhelmed with that. He had been in prayer about that before and spent many hours in prayer knowing what the end would be.
But there were two missions, I might say, that were accomplished.
Two missions concerning the city of Jerusalem. One was when the Lord told his own to take.
A colt from an owner so that he could ride into the city of Jerusalem where he would be.
Supposedly received as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And of course that happened, but he was never received as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Oh, they applauded him. They praised him, but he was rejected, despised, and rejected of man. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
Here is the owner of that cult, the Lord Jesus Christ, who required that or requested that from the.
Owner.
There, and he was released to the owner of the universe.
And then he tells his own to go into the city.
And there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water.
And follow him into the guest chamber.
There is another owner of a home, or at least a structure that was willing. The owner of it was willing to release it.
To his disciples.
But there was a question that was asked beloved, and I would like to ask you this question.
Have you ever asked the Lord Jesus Christ, where will thou that we prepare?
He told Peter and John to go and prepare that they might eat the Passover in verse 8.
And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? Have you ever asked that question? Now I know that most of us have been raised in the assembly, a very privileged atmosphere, as we heard last night. A very privileged environment, beloved.
And some of us have taken that position and that place for granted very much.
But maybe you have never come to the place of asking where is it, Lord, where your presence can be enjoyed?
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The scripture says by the truth and sell it not.
You may be raised in the environment, you may be brought up in the assembly, you may be encouraged to go to the meetings in the assembly and you may sit through some of the meetings in the assembly board in different not exercised, wanting to be somebody where else and wanting to be with your friends or in some other locality religiously.
Because you've never truly sought the Lord on your knees as to where He is.
They knew that if they asked him where they should meet together to have the Passover remembrance, the Lord Jesus himself would be there.
And it's wonderful to read in this chapter that when they went and found, as he had said unto them, verse 13.
You will never be disappointed.
If you ask the Lord Jesus truly.
That the Spirit of God might lead you to the place where He is in the midst where the Lord's table is. Oh, it's true, there may be numbers that you.
May not feel are as they should be.
And maybe the gift isn't what it should be.
And the environment is affected by numerous things but beloved.
If Jesus is there, we have everything.
Heaven will be filled with believers gathered around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we have the privilege of carrying out today in this world while we await His return is that on a much smaller scale.
Singing his praises, we will sing them for all eternity.
Gathered around him, not gathered to his name, we gather and have the privilege of being gathered to his precious name. In this world, where two or three are gathered by the Holy Spirit unto his name, there am I. In the midst of them we gather to his name. Because His bodily presence is not seen, we will have it in the glory.
And thus he has told us explicitly how to find the place and where it is.
It may not be like following a road map as we do in a material or physical way.
But the key is this.
To set aside your.
And my will.
And to say Lord, above and beyond everything I want to know.
Where I can find you in the midst, the Spirit of God will guide you, Beloved, If you mean that from the depths of your heart, and I say you may be going to the meetings, you may be in fellowship at the Lord's table, I don't know.
But are you truly gathered by the Spirit of God unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
If you go and are present, gathered by the Holy Spirit, rejoicing in Him, even though there are few fewness of numbers, and many of us may experience that, you will never be disappointed. They went and they found as He had said, and they made ready the Passover.
I remember as a boy I grew up.
And went to the little meeting in my grandfather's home. And one of the things that impressed me the most about the that little time that I did not understand as a boy of nine or 10 or 11 years of age.
I did not understand when all of my friends at school.
Went to different places.
And it seemed like they had a lot of fun, a lot better time. But one of the things that impressed me the most about being in that little gathering where there were just a half a dozen of us, or maybe a dozen at times.
Was how precious?
The Lord Jesus Christ was to my grandfather.
And my grandmother as they sat around a little table where there was a loaf and a cup on the table.
And there were simple prayers that were offered that seemed to just overflow from the hearts of those brothers that were present.
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It was spontaneous, it was something real and I could see that as a child.
That there was something more.
And my friends had.
Of going to a named institution where they had activities and they had a lot of fun and they had opportunities to do different things and groups and clubs to do things together.
And I felt from my youth there was something real about.
The way my grandfather.
Worshiped.
And sat around this table.
Where the emblems were there that spoke of the Lord's body.
And of his precious blood.
And then, when we are so exercised, you will truly hear the voice of the Lord say to you this do in remembrance of Me, when you know and have the blessed joy of His presence.
And you know that he is in the midst, outside of all division.
And outside the camp.
Man's institution.
You will hear those wonderful words, and they will be unspeakably precious to your heart.
And I can remember in my days beloved, when I was unhappy as a young person.
Because I felt deprived, I felt cheated. I wasn't given what others like I say my friends had and I really felt.
That something I could have something that was better.
All of our blessings truly come by faith. Oh, I know that we receive the material blessings along the way, but our blessings are spiritual. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, but they are enjoyed by faith and obedience.
And an ungrieved spirit within us. And oftentimes we cannot be guided to the place or enjoy the place where the Lord is, because the Spirit of God is grieved.
Or because we are living lives that are disobedient, or our hearts are defiled by sin, or we have companionships that are inappropriate.
All these things the enemy uses to cloud our vision as to the wonderful truth and the privilege that our brother spoke of last night, of being gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ and beloved. I will repeat that I believe what he said last evening was true. There is no greater privilege on the face of the earth.
And to hear these precious words, this do in remembrance of me. The touching words that Luke gives us are so wonderful, he said. This is my body, which is given for you.
In Hebrews chapter 10 it says when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering.
Thou wouldest not but a body thou hast prepared me, beloved.
God became manifest in the flesh.
God took a body in the person of Christ. It was a body prepared to go to the cross.
And here he speaks of it in the most touching language we could ever hear. Not so in the other Gospels. A little different.
In Matthew and Mark, but here it is.
My body which is given for you.
He gave himself for our sins, Paul said. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me here it is so personal and he simply wants you and me to participate at his table where his presence is enjoyed, whether it's three or four or two or three, so that he can bless you unspeakably.
With the preciousness of that occasion that we look forward to in the hour to come, if the Lord be not come.
The Passover had degenerated into a lifeless ritual.
In fact, it is called just the Passover, not the Lord's Passover.
As it was called previously.
Has the breaking of bread become to you a lifeless ritual?
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Has it become just a ritual?
Just an observance. It is an observance of the Lord's death that is true.
But has it become that when you go to the meetings you find that you are bored?
Unresponsive, discouraged and maybe on occasions you feel depressed.
If we notice the first verse of the chapter, it links together the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the Passover and Beloved. It could be one of several things.
First of all, as we discussed, you've never perhaps answered to his request properly, because you've never asked him where will thou that we prepare.
You've never seen your place there where he is in the midst. You've never really appraised his interest in you being there and his desire for you to be there. It's easier to go out, to be with the hundreds, the two hundreds, the thousands of people that come together in different ways.
But there is another occasion I feel that is very, very effective.
And it's bringing.
An unresponsive effect in our hearts, and that is we're not keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Very Simply put, beloved, how do we live our lives during the week? Are we feeding on Christ?
In my occupied with his blessedness, you may be reading the Bible, you may be searching the Scriptures, and that's wonderful.
But are you feeding on the one that we come to be occupied with? And by feeding that means do you find him as that attractive object for your hearts as you read the word of God?
Does he fill your heart and soul with his person? With his blessedness the Spirit of God has come to guide us into all truth, and to glorify Him, and to bring remembrance those things which he hath spoken unto us. That's His office, to occupy my heart. With the blessedness of his person we will be for all eternity.
And I feel truly beloved, and I feel this in my own soul, the effects of it. Intellectualism is coming in to the Church intellectualism.
And they spoil the enjoy that spoils the enjoyment of our fellowship and communion with him.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion it uses that word. Communion of the blood of Christ. The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ? First Corinthians, chapter 10. There is a communion that we experience in our homes as we fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ as we read His Word that may flood our hearts to the extent we just fall on our faces before Him and worship.
And when we go to the assembly, it overflows. Oh, how we would love to hear the voices of our young brothers.
The sisters who do not speak audibly. Perhaps their hearts are overflowing in worship and praise, and sometimes you feel that the meetings are left up to just two or three brothers.
Beloved, we're living in days of weakness, it is true.
When you go to a physician, the physician will diagnose the problem as to why you're not feeling well and perhaps we need the Great Physician.
To survey our hearts and take so that we can take inventory as to what's wrong. We make up the assembly. The brothers and sisters too. The younger brothers and sisters too, make up the.
The.
The character of the assembly, the quality of our meetings that we might say, because if the Spirit of God is hindered in a brother or sister because of something that's happened during the week, it does stifle the liberty of the Spirit in the assembly.
Those in Israel's day that were in Egypt were sitting around the table, as we are going to be doing, Lord willing, in a few moments, sitting around a table with something on that table and it was lamb roast with fire.
Their hearts were occupied with that lamb that had been killed in the blood put on the doorpost, and the lentil for shelter from judgment. They were in the enjoyment of that security and safety.
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But as they sat around that table, figuratively to us.
It is the Communion.
That we may be having.
In the hour to come.
Concerning the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, eat not of it raw, neither sodden with water. Fire fell upon a victim beloved, and that victim was the Lord Jesus Christ who uttered these blessed words. This do in remembrance of me.
I talked to a brother who's who after a reading meeting, we've been speaking about being filled with the Spirit and that was somewhat the subject of of some of the meeting that we were enjoying being filled with the Spirit, he said to me after the meeting. He was perhaps about 25 years of age. He said, you know, after a breaking of bread meeting.
He said. Something sometimes touches my heart if I'm a little bit cold or out of touch with the Lord.
Something touches my heart in that meeting and he says I come out filled with the spirit. I am so happy.
The sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ have touched my heart in such a way that it has.
Corrected that coldness and indifference.
Again, I ask, has the breaking of bread become just a ritual with us? I say with us.
Or is this something that we enter into in heart and spirit?
By the Holy Spirit.
That fills my heart with the love of Christ like nothing else. The Holy Spirit is shed abroad, the love of God in our hearts. And when we're gathered together around him. And we have the the Spirit acting upon our hearts, taking those wonderful things that happened for us for our blessing and benefit. There's nothing like that, beloved.
When we have that communion concerning the CUP.
And the loaf his sufferings warm and fill our hearts, and we recoil from the thought, thought of evil.
It drives us from those problems and habits that maybe we've been going on with.
It draws us into his intimate presence.
And we recoil from the thought of going on with those things that contributed to the sufferings of this blessed One that we've been occupied with for that hour.
May his desire that he expresses here fill your heart with a sense of what he wants for your life.
Oftentimes we ask the question, what would I want to be doing when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to Take Me Out of this world? What would you like to be doing?
We can expect that at any moment. And I know we've been saying that for many, many years. We can expect it at any moment. It truly is imminent. But would it not be that which he expressed before his death? And he expressed that preeminently that was upon his heart, that filled his heart with desire for you, not just because he is worthy, because he is.
Above and beyond all and all of our occupations, we are to be occupied with his worthiness.
But beloved.
There is a blessing that we get.
By remembering him.
That we will not get, perhaps in any other way. You may serve the Lord every day of your life. You may pass out gospel practice, and that's wonderful. And be faithful to him in in a.
You may serve the Lord every day of your life. You may pass out gospel tracts, and that's wonderful, and be faithful to him.
In a testimony in your life to souls, you may live obediently, and that's wonderful.
But there is a blessing that comes from remembering him and having communion with his sufferings.
That you will not get.
In any other endeavor or activity for him in this life.
Would you not answer the question what would I like to be doing when it comes? I would like to be remembering him.
Are you?
And if you are, are you truly remembering him? Or are you at the Lord's table like I was when I was 13 years of age because my grandfather talked me into it?
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And I was very thankful that he was interested in me, but I wanted to be there because my brothers were there.
Or my other family members were there.
Is that why you're there?
Oh, how much better to be there, because he is there, and that is his desire for you and he will communicate to you.
An infilling of his love like nothing else. When you're occupied with his sufferings, that love just floods the soul.
As I say, if you've lived during the week.
With an ungrieved spirit, and you come having judged yourselves. And the Scripture does say, let a man examine himself. Let a brother or sister examine himself. So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. We should before we come this morning, or a week ago, or next Lord's Day, if we're still here, we should examine ourselves and judge those things that we have failed in during the week. We will find a difference when we come in that spirit.
But beloved, there there are things that are brought before us in this chapter.
That are not arranged in any other gospel like they are in the book of Luke, because Luke has been morally arranged to show us some problems.
And thus we have.
Judas brought before us in verse 21. It appears as though, and I've heard arguments to the effect that Judas was at the table when the Lord asked his own to remember him. It's not so.
He does not invite unbelievers to be at his table. If you are a believer, there's no reason why you should not be at his table and answer affirmatively.
To his request and desire for you.
If your life is judged and you are doctrinally.
Agree in agreement with the truth of God's Word.
Judas is brought before us here, perhaps as a representative of the apostate wickedness that we see all around us, *********** in Christendom or Christ Kingdom on earth.
After he requests this blessed desire of his heart.
He turns, and he says, But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. Let me ask you something, beloved.
Those of us, and I say this to my own heart.
Are we present at the Lord's table and remembering Him, and yet our hand is involved in things that we know?
Is inappropriate.
That caused him.
Suffering on the cross?
Now I know Judas was an unbeliever, but he was a disciple and it is possible for a person to be a disciple and yet be an unbeliever because a disciple is a follower.
And it's possible for a person to be A to be a believer and yet not be a disciple. That was lot.
Judas had taken the place of being a disciple. He was there in person, but what was his hand involved with?
It was betraying his profession, may I say, and it says in John chapter 13 that Satan.
Put the thought in his heart.
Do you ever have a thought put in your heart to do something or say something?
That dishonors Christ. Oh how we failed in this. And then after he did that, Satan enters into him.
Because he had given his heart to the love.
Of money.
An example of apostasy all around us. In other words, the Lord Jesus is saying that things will perhaps get to the point and we can see all around us the apostasy that's coming in to even fundamental circles of Christianity. James Bishop Pike, a man of some years ago, was some Bishop of of the Methodist Church, I believe.
And he went over to the Holy Land to prove why Jesus Christ was not the Son of God.
And he died somewhere in the desert, And they found him, found his body.
Beloved, these are real things. You cannot. You cannot apostatize. If you are a believer, that is true.
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But are you a believer? Are you going on in a form, a form of godliness but denying the power of we had that before us last night. It, I believe we are living in days when the tares are sown in among the wheat. And it's not necessarily out there. It's right here. And it's easier to go on in profession than to say no, I'm not a Christian. It's easier to tell your parents. Yes, I believe. I go to meeting Of course I believe.
But you know something is wrong in here.
Judas was one that was with them, of course, before the Lord Jesus made this wonderful request.
And he went out, and it was night. That's John Chapter 13. Satan entered into him, and he went out to betray the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it's to exercise our hearts, beloved, as to the conditions that exist right where we are, not out there where we are. What about me? What about you? What about your heart? Is the reality in your life? Are you going on with things that contradict the truth of what a Christian is in your life? Like we had before us? By their fruits you shall know them. Can a person look at your life and my life and say he's a Christian? I want to be like him. I want to be like her.
Because.
I see happiness. I see. I see a soul that that lives above the level of this world.
And then he brings before them his own, that there was also a strife among them. Here were those in the presence of one who was going to die, and outside of the upper room were those who were plotting his death.
Here were those sitting there.
Who wanted to be?
A great one. And Peter said I'm going to succeed in this. I'm going to be the greatest.
And he was the.
He was the chief for one of the leaders of the disciples.
And he said, I will take the place of faithfulness to my Lord, whatever the cost.
But we read in verse 31 The Lord Jesus Christ reminds him.
Satan hath desired that he might sift him as wheat. So we have 3 three different situations. We have Judas, an unbeliever who was going to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the group of the disciples. There was a strife who would be the greatest. They were thinking of their own exaltation. And then we have Peter singled out as one who is going to deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
These with the exclusion of Judas, were asked to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. Not amazing With all of their failure and their low state we might say their self occupation. Instead of being occupied with where Jesus was going and what he was going to do and the suffering that he was going to go through, they were interested in power and their own position.
In this world, in his Kingdom.
Verse 39 and we will end with the next few verses.
Beloved, bring before us from 39 on.
To verse 47.
One whose life?
Was without flaw and perfection in every way.
And he takes his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, which is Olive Press.
Where the Lord Jesus Christ was pressed beyond measure with the anticipation of the cross.
I think it is a remarkable thing, after reviewing the failure that was among them, that he should invite them out to this most sacred place.
Sacred, indeed.
And as he left the majority of the disciples behind, he takes with them. And this is spoken of in the other Gospels, not here so much, but He takes with him Peter, James, and John.
And it says as they were going.
That he began to be in an agony. Now they could see this beloved friends, could they not?
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If you're walking along with your friends and pretty soon one of your friends starts to cry or weep or becomes exceedingly sorrowful, would you not notice that?
And turn to that one and inquire as to what the problem was.
I don't read that they did.
They were again preoccupied with themselves when we sit around the Lord at his table.
Do we really think about what he did and was going through?
And then it says that he went from them about a stone's cast. Verse 41, after telling them Pray that ye enter not in temptation. And in one of the other Gospels it's watch and pray, watch and pray watch. Were they watching?
Now I know there is the enemy.
The the the world, the flesh and the devil that we have to contend with. We're to watch and pray concerning all of these things.
And they were about to.
Fail the Lord.
In the way of departing from him and Peter denying from denying him.
Jesus said watch and pray.
What were they to be alert of? They weren't alert as to his sufferings are we?
During the day, beloved, and during the days of the week, I know you are so preoccupied with your studies and with your homework and with your activities. Do you ever think about what he passed through for you? We see a graphic picture of that in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And as he departed from them about a stone's cast, he fell on his face. Could they not see that?
They had resorted there often, it says, in the Scripture.
And no doubt when they came to getseminate, they sort of settled down for a little nap because the Lord often prayed for a long time.
And I think we read in one of the Gospels.
Could you not watch with me? One hour? It was about an hour. We'll be gathered around the Lord for about an hour.
And I will say this from the little experience that I've had.
If you are alert and watch during that hour as to his sufferings for you.
You will finish the meeting.
In a different state, perhaps, than you began.
When the Lord Jesus came back to them, he found them asleep.
Insensitive. Indifferent.
Sleeping in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sweating, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground.
Somebody just mentioned the other day when someone is in battle or facing an enemy or an extremity in their lives that this may happen. This has happened before, but never like this, never like this.
Great drops of blood.
Falling down to the ground he was pressed. Truly Olive, Press Gethsemane.
Describes how he was pressed beyond measure, beloved.
Oh, how it makes our little suffering in life and our little trouble and tribulation fade away into his significance, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12. Consider him who endured.
Such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he became become faint and wearied in your own mind, ye have not resisted unto blood.
The Lord Jesus Christ did without anyone laying a hand on him. He is sweating, as it were great drops of blood.
Are we indifferent to this, beloved, as the disciples were?
They were consumed with their own greatness and their own exultation position in the Kingdom.
Again, those that were sitting around the table in Israel were occupied in figure with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will make a difference in your life.
When those sufferings fill your heart with such love.
Nothing else can do that like that.
We have the most wonderful privilege in all of the world to be gathered around him and not just taking the loaf. And I don't speak I'll of any other group that takes the loaf or the cup in just a ritual kind of a manner. There are many, many Christians out there that that do it in a very respectful way, but it's meant to be to go beyond a ritual.
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Or a formality? Or just an observance. It is very personal.
And I just ask you the question.
Have you had some other ideas, another will about your life, what you would like to do, and how you would like to answer the Lord's request, this new remembrance of me, when he has uttered these blessed words? Father, if I'll be willing to remove this cup for me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done.
You will find when you set and I set our wills aside.
You will be the happiest Christian in all of the world.
When you submit and surrender for you.
To remember him, someone said to me just the other day. They said that a young lady who had been at the meeting several times.
Remarked to a brother, she said. I can't understand what is so attractive about the meeting that they go to that little meeting that they could. They don't have a band that plays. They don't have a choir that sings.
They don't have a beautiful sanctuary.
You know, the Upper Room was not a sanctuary. It was above this world because the Lord Jesus had been rejected out of this world, and the system that was here was an earthly sanctuary, an earthly religion. Therefore, when we meet together, we really.
Me, not only around the Lord Jesus Christ, but inside the veil.
The veil that was rent, the precious blood that brings us with boldness inside the veil where he is. It's not an earthly sanctuary. But this is this sister in the Lord and she was a believer. Mentioned that we don't have all of those things.
And the brother said.
But the Lord Jesus Christ, we have him and that that's really.
Not pride. That's the truth, beloved. That's the truth.
You have him. You have everything.
In fact, the upper room. It was a large upper room furnished, and he sat down.
And his 12 apostles with him they had everything.
Everything.
Not wonderful.
When we get the glory, we will have everything because we won't have the distractions in this life and those things that we thought would truly be necessary accoutrements to make us happy when we come together as Christians.
Because the Spirit will be completely in control and the flesh will be gone, and you will find the more that the Spirit of God is in control of your life and filling you with the love of Christ.
You will want nothing else than to be where he is and to answer to his request.
This do in remembrance of Maine, and someday you will be glad that you.
Said not my will.
As Jesus did, and you can say that not my will.
Would thine be done? Could we just sing a part of 27?
00:50:09
When we were holy.
Strange.
Kingdom Principles #1: Introduction
Kingdom Principles #2: The Kingdom of God
Kingdom Principles #3: The Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom Principles #4: Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven
Privilege & Responsibility #1: The World
Privilege & Responsibility #2: The Great House
Privilege & Responsibility #3: The Church
Privilege & Responsibility #4: The Testimony, The Camp
The Name of Jesus
Gospel—Jim Hyland
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With me, please. First of all, to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 121.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. And then I want to read a verse in Romans chapter 10.
In verse 13.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Well, a little later on in this meeting, Lord willing, we're going to speak about the blessed privilege of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I began with these verses that bring before us that blessed name, that name to which which to many of us at one time was just another name, that name that is despised still in this world. You know the name of Jesus is still the song of the drunkard. It's still on the lips of the cursor tonight. And just go out on the streets of any town or city in North America and listen, I don't suggest you do it, but if we were to do it.
What would we hear? Oh, we would hear that blessed name taken in vain on every hand.
And I know you young people. As you go to school or you go to work or wherever you operate from day-to-day, you often hear that blessed name on the lips of the cursor. There's no love for the blessed name of Jesus in this world. It's still a despised name. But oh, think of this glorious verse that we began with the proclamation that the that the virgin would bring forth the sun and call his name Jesus, and that name which was to us just another name at one time.
To many, most I trust all in this room has become the most real and precious name that we have ever known and will know the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's that old gospel hymn we sometimes sing. Sweetest name on Sarah Song. Sweetest Carol ever sung. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Do you love the name of Jesus Tonight when we read.
These precious verses that bring before us the name of Jesus, Does it thrill your soul? Does it touch your heart? Does it tug at your heartstrings tonight? Or do you try not to listen and think about what's going to take place later? And there's only 45 minutes or so of meeting left, and you're kind of squirming in your seat and hoping that.
The meeting won't last too long and you'll be able to go out and have other thoughts before you.
Or is the name of Jesus precious to you tonight? You know, it tells us in Peter unto you therefore which believe he is precious. That's a little test, you know.
Are you real tonight? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? If you do, then He is, at least in some measure, precious to you.
But if you search your heart and you find that that name and that person is not precious to you tonight, then I question whether you really know this one as your savior. Remember talking to a young man one time some years ago, and he had professed to be saved for three or four years, and I watched his life.
You know, I rarely ask someone if they're saved. I watch their life.
And I watched this young man's life for some years and there didn't seem to be any evidence.
That there was any love in his heart for the Lord Jesus or any desire to follow that blessed one, I can't judge. It's true the Lord knoweth them that are His. But I did say to him one time when I had occasion to speak to him alone, I said, George, if there is no desire in your heart to live to please the Lord Jesus in some measure, then I really question whether you were ever saved or not.
Examine your heart tonight. I challenge you. Is the name of Jesus precious to you?
Is there some desire in your heart to live for that Blessed One?
Remember, another man came to some gospel meetings one time that we were holding in Truro, NS.
And after the Gospel meeting one night, he stayed behind to have a chat with some and he said these words.
00:05:01
I tremble to tell you what he said.
But he said, let's talk religion and leave Jesus out of it. That is exactly what that man said. He had a Bible under his arm. He had just sat for an hour and listened to the gospel presented to him faithfully by the brother who had had the privilege and opportunity of holding forth the word of God that night.
And he wanted to talk religion, but he evidently had no love.
For the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of Jesus meant nothing to him.
But all think of this one come into this world born in Bethlehem's Manger.
Growing up in Nazareth.
Beginning his public ministry. Going up and down the dusty streets of Palestine, dispensing blessing on every hand.
And at the end of it all they cried away with Him, crucify him, and they took him outside the walls of Jerusalem.
And had him nailed to a Roman cross.
And they are in those hours of darkness He bore the judgment of God against sin.
And I can say with all confidence and on the authority of the word of God, that he bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
There that precious blood flowed forth. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
Does that touch something in your heart? Does the blood of Christ mean something to you tonight?
He was taken down from that cross, it says he was buried, and he rose again the third day.
He remained on earth long enough to give testimony as to His bodily resurrection. He could say to His own handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have. And then He ascended back to the glory, and I love that gospel hymn we so often sing. There is a Savior on high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree. A Savior is willing to save now as ever.
His arm is almighty, His love, great and free, all come now to Jesus.
That dear loving Savior, receive him this moment, and peace shall be thine.
How many times have you heard the gospel?
How many times have you heard the name of Jesus on an occasion like this?
Countless times, most of us in this room, most of us have heard the name of Jesus.
From our parents and from gospel meetings and going to meetings.
From the various earlier from the earliest recollections.
I don't remember the first time I heard about Jesus.
I had the privilege of a Christian home and the privilege of being brought up.
Coming to the meetings from the time I was a young child, how many times have you heard about Jesus?
A young person was asked when is the best time to get saved. You know, most people, when they're asked that question, they usually give the answer now. And that's a good answer. But that's not what this young person said. This young person said the best time to be saved is the first time you hear about Jesus.
How many times have you heard the name of Jesus? Are you saved? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You realize that that verse is three times in the word of God.
You have it in Joel, two in the Old Testament and then we find in Acts chapter 2. When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he used that verse in preaching to the Jews that were assembled to hear him on that occasion. And then we have it again in Romans where we read.
Must be a very, very important statement for God to record it three times in His word.
God speaks once, yet twice, yet man perceiveth it not. But here we have this statement three times. So there be no doubt in our minds that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know the gospel is not complicated, is it? It's not something hard. It's not making some pilgrimage to a far off place. It's not abusing our body by penance.
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It's it's it's simple. The gospel is easy.
And yet it seems so difficult for souls to receive.
There was a man in a jail in Philippi we often hear so much about.
And he was in earnest. Would that souls were earnest tonight when the gospel goes forth. But he was in earnest. And he said, What must I do to be saved? Did he receive a very long sermon? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
5 summers ago I was rather shocked.
We had some children's and gospel meetings in a village in upstate New York, a town in upstate New York.
First time we'd ever gone to that community to have gospel meetings.
And bear in mind this is not the heart of heathendom, but this is upstate New York in the United States of America.
We were able to secure a room in that town and we were able to have a week of gospel meetings.
And I suppose there were about 75 children or so who attended each morning. Some of them came back in the evening as well for the Gospel meeting. And of those 75 children that were registered by the end of the week.
I would say that no more than ten of those children, if that.
Had ever heard the name of Jesus?
Other than in swearing.
They had never heard of John 316. Have you ever heard that verse before?
You've probably memorized it when you were very young. These boys and girls had no idea what John 316 meant.
They had never sung. Jesus loves me.
Imagine having to teach children in the United States of America, so-called Christian land.
To sing Jesus Loves Me for the first time.
We always encourage the boys and girls to bring a Bible with them each day, and sometimes we were pretty lenient about what we allowed as a Bible and then during the course of the week made sure that a good King James translation of the Bible or New Testament went into their home. But we would give them an extra point each day that they could use for a prize at the end of the week if they would bring a Bible.
The second day, most of those children came back and said we couldn't find the Bible in our home.
This is not the heart of Africa. This is not India.
This is new. This is New York State. Never heard of the name of Jesus? Do you young people realize what a privilege you have?
Of growing up in a Christian home and hearing the gospel from the very early days of your youth.
Oh, I just want to encourage your heart to learn to value that. And if you're not saved.
Oh, I beseech you tonight to come to know the Lord Jesus as your savior.
Call on the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the Lord might be saved.
Is that what the word of God says? No. Three times in Scripture, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall.
That's definite, isn't it? Shall be saved.
What about that Philippian jailer who heard that short gospel sermon from Paul and Silas? He believed in God rejoicing with all his house.
Perhaps that was the first time he'd heard the gospel. He received it.
This is not the first time you've heard the gospel, but I plead with you to receive it.
I'm going to tell one more short story and then I'm going to move on. Doctor Woolston who whose Bible commentaries are still appreciated.
He was an evangelist in England many, many years ago and he was visiting in Sheffield, England and holding some evangelical meetings in that community.
And as you know, Sheffield has been noted for its mining a fine and manufacturing of fine steel.
And the first night Doctor Woolston was staying in Sheffield.
As he prepared to retire for the night, he said to his host, he said, How do you sleep with those hammers pounding in the distance all night long? Because the equipment of the the steel mine operation there operated 24 hours a day, a continual pounding of equipment. You know what his host said? He said. You stay here long enough, you'll get used to it.
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Maybe there's a young person here and you've got used to the pounding of the gospel.
We sometimes refer to it as gospel hardened. Are you gospel hardened tonight? I'm thankful that God's Word is like a hammer that breaketh the rock in twain. Would that if your gospel hardened tonight that the word of God would have that effect on your soul this evening?
But because there was a sequel to that story.
One night the equipment failed and the whole town woke up.
Isn't that solemn? You know there's a day coming when the pounding of the gospel is going to quit.
The believers are going to be called away to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, and the gospel of God's grace will no longer continue to go forth to the lost, and you will no longer sit in meetings like this and hear from God's word. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And then you will wake up to the awful reality that you have been left behind for the judgment of God. You know, when Elijah was caught away to heaven in a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire, who was it that missed him? Wasn't really the general populace in Israel, it was the sons of the prophets.
And when the Lord comes, I sometimes think, Who is going to miss the believer?
It's the sons and daughters.
Of Christian parents and grandparents.
Sitting in a meeting like this and all of a sudden every chair is empty but your own.
And you will wake up to the awful reality that it is too late.
Oh, come to the Lord Jesus. Call upon the name of the Lord. Don't. I'm not going to tell you to wait till the end of the meeting. You might not have that long. I'm telling you now, right this moment to come.
And receive the Lord Jesus as your savior.
I'm going to do something a little unusual before I pass on.
I'm going to stop and I'm going to pray again.
Before we continue on and finish this set of charts, because I feel burdened that perhaps there is someone here who is not saved.
And if you are not saved.
Oh dear young person, I plead with you that while I am praying, you would quietly in your heart speak to the Lord Jesus.
His ear is bending low from heaven tonight to hear you quietly in your heart. You don't have to say one word aloud, but quietly in your heart call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Let's pray.
Hymn Singing with Talks
Special Singing 2