Lassen Pines Family Camp: 2009
Table of Contents
Lessons From Job
Address—Bruce Anstey
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.
Let's sing #23 #23. How good is the God we adore? Let's turn to the book of Job.
The things that I want to look at in this book.
Are the practical lessons that we can gain from it.
And it's.
As much for me as it is for you, but I bring them before us so that we all can get the benefit if the Lords help.
The book is filled with many practical lessons, as we had a few days ago that scripture in Romans 15, that the things were written aforetime, were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures may have hope. And this is one of the passages, one of the books in the Old Testament, that we can read for our learning, that we can get comfort and help for our Christian pathway.
Many lessons are found in this book. As I say, perhaps we could say the first one before we even read any verses In it is the fact that the book is 42 Chapters and the whole book is devoted to one man's troubles. What can we learn from that? Well, I believe we can learn this, that God takes a great interest in His people.
And the troubles that they pass through, they mean something to him and he is interested in everything that they touch and pass through. To me, that's a tremendous comfort to think.
That we are not lost in the crowd with God. Many millions of people in this world, and most if not all of them, are passing through difficulties and trials in some way. And there's a God up there in heaven that's looking down and takes interest in every single person, and especially those who love him and are in a relationship with him by faith, like what we have. It reminds me of that verse in Zechariah chapter 2. The he that touches thee touches the apple of his eye.
And so I think we can learn that lesson as sort of a.
Overall lesson from the book.
That God is interested in all of the difficulties that we pass through, and he has a lesson for us in it, as we're going to see. Let's read the first chapter and a few verses.
There was a man in the land of us, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and astute evil. And they were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7000 sheep, 3000 camels.
500 Yoke of oxen, 500 She ***** and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men in the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And so it was that when the days of their feasting were about gone about that job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
And Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed in their hearts. Thus did Job continually or day by day.
So here we're introduced to a man.
That we're told right out in the very first verse that he was perfect and upright in all of his ways and actions on earth. And I suppose the first question would be, well then, why would this man have all these troubles in his life?
If he was indeed, as Scripture says, he is perfect, upright, one who feared God and astute evil, you think you have an easy time in life. But I think it's it. We're we're told this at the outset of the book, so that we don't get an idea that the kind of disciplines that were laid upon this man were of a punitive character.
No, they weren't. What I mean by punitive is punishment for the consequences of his ways in the course and his sins in his life and so on. No, this man wasn't going on in a sinful way as far as his actions were concerned. Why then was he subjected to such disciplines as we find in this book? Well, I believe the answer is simply this and that is that God is interested in more than our lives being outwardly right.
00:05:02
He's interested in us being right on the inside, too. The Bible tells us in Psalm 100, no Psalm 51 That thou requires truth on the inward parts. And the difficulty with this man was not his actions, it was his attitude.
He needed an attitude adjustment. I suppose we could say it was the disposition of his heart, not the actions of his life. And so while God is very pleased when we do things right outwardly, I'm not belittling that. But he wants something more in US and he's going to work until he gets that, because he wants us to be inwardly what we are outwardly. And so God set in motion a number of things in this man's life.
To correct that disposition of heart that he had to make him a better man. An old brother one time spoke on this book, and he said the subject of the book of Job is how God makes Good Men better.
And you know, God is still today making good men better and women better. He's interested in perfecting in us the graces of God and the moral perfections that needed to be need to be in our lives.
So I think that this is important that we see that the things that happen to Job were not because of a course of sin, but because God was working in another area of his life to purge those things that were character faults, that were hindering the expression of of the Lord himself coming out in his life. Now we know that in when it comes to the disciplinary actions of God with his people for we're all in this school that.
God has various kinds of discipline. You've heard people speak about this before. I'll just run over them very quickly. I'll begin with the letter P.
We've already had one of them that is punitive discipline, that is to correct us from a course of sin and evil that self will may be taking us on. Then secondly, we have a a preventative type of discipline and we have a a preparative type of discipline to prepare us, you know, for a service that he may have us to do. And then lastly, I'm thinking of a purgative type of discipline, which is really the kind of discipline that Job faced. There were certain things in his heart that needed to be purged out.
That he might be not just a Goodman outwardly, but inwardly as well. And so God makes a Goodman better. And we all need this kind of discipline because we are all, in a sense a project with the Lord. We are all working process, progress with the Lord. And even to the oldest person that's here in this room, if you're still in this world, in the body, it's because God is still putting the last finishing touches.
On the vessel. And so we all have something to learn by the experiences that we go through. And I thought we'd just take this up by giving you sort of an outline of the whole book, at the same time trying to touch on some of the moral and practical lessons that would be good for us.
Now it is interesting. Here we have a little hint in what was going on in the House of his sons when they were having this time of feast and they were feasting together. It says they're very distinctly that job was concerned about them. He saw them feasting and drinking and having a good time and he was concerned about them. And so he offered an offering in the morning and in the evening. I think it was just in case.
That if anyone of them had sinned in their hearts. Now I think this is incredible. He was concerned that maybe one of them may have sinned in their hearts and he wanted to be sure that God would not deal with them in any unrighteous way. But he never considered the fact that maybe he could send in his heart that didn't cross his mind at all, because after all he was perfect and upright, feared God and astute evil. And it just gives us a little hint.
As to the direction of things in this book, God was going to do a work in this man's heart. He had already done a work in this man's life, in the sense that he had a very tender conscience to do what was upright and right as far as life is concerned on earth. So we find then in verse 6 through 12, and I'll just read those now, now there was in a day.
A day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came among them, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou when Satan? And then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going up, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.
00:10:10
And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? And there was none like unto him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and his truth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job Fear God? For not? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, or in thy hand.
Only upon him, put not thy hand. Put forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Interesting here, now we find a dialogue between Satan and the Lord. And you got to remember, this is a poetic book. It's one of the books of poetry in our Bible. They're all in the center of our Bibles. You know, you got Job and you got Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Psalms. And they depict things from a political standpoint. And I I would think that the imagery here isn't that God has conversations all the time with Satan exactly, but that.
What we find here is that God allows.
Satan to work on this man, to bring out some certain things that needed to be exposed in the man's life so that he could be a good man made better.
It's very interesting to me that Jobs case does not come up in the mind of Satan, but God himself is the one who is the springing source of it all. Notice in those verses that I read that he is the God is the one who actually draws Satan's attention to Job and sets the whole thing in action.
With regard to the dealings that Satan would have with him.
Satan is but an instrument we see here, and he can only go so far when the life of Satan in the life of Job.
Because God is ultimately in control of everything.
But Job has. I mean, but Satan has an accusation.
God, that is very serious. Here we find that not only does the Lord.
Point Job out to him. But then Satan says to him very distinctly. Here doth Job fear God for not what he was saying was.
That job is only serving you and going on in his life in a righteous way because of what he can get out of it. That's the only reason why he's doing this.
He has no real love for you.
And this was a challenge.
To God himself, to the Lord himself as to whether he could keep his people.
Loyal to himself.
When trial and suffering passes over them.
And So what we find here in these first two chapters is an incredible test given to this man job, whereby glory is brought to God himself because.
He could keep his people and does keep his people loyal to himself in times of trial. And he proves God proves here that his people are not just dependent upon him because of what they can get from him, but because there is a relationship of real genuine love and devotion. So I think it's beautiful to see that God chose Job and laid this trial on him because Job was one that could.
Be used of God to bring glory to him. And I think we need to realize that when trial does come our way.
That there is this dimension to it that it is a privilege to.
To us, to bear trial in the name of the Lord so that we can bring glory to him. Because there are many that we are going to watch us go through these things. Our neighbors, our friends, the people we work with, maybe our brethren and the assembly where we are. And if we can pass through these things in communion with the Lord, we can actually bring glory to God. Well, you'll find that Satan is defeated in the first two chapters, and he disappears from the scene and he's gone.
For the rest of the book.
He's challenged God and said to Job was going to curse him if he took away some of those outward things that he had given to Joe. That things we're going to read about.
00:15:05
But Job did not. God could keep his people and did keep this man faithful and loyal to him, even though trial swept over him from every different direction. So let's read now from verse.
13 We'll find here now that the trial comes upon job from 7 different directions you think you've passed through trial. Listen to this.
Verse 13 There was a day when the sons and daughters, his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger on to drove and said the oxen were plowing and the ***** were feeding beside them, and the Sabians fell on them and took them away. Yeah, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee the oxen and the ***** would represent the man's business. This is where they did their work and daily occupation.
And we find here that the Sabians fall on the whole situation and wipe out his business. You might say his business collapsed. That's a trial. Then we find on top of that verse 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and the fire of God, He says in the fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I only am escaped of thee. The next thing is he struck by lightning. That is his possessions and the rest of the things that he had.
Now look at verse 17 for a third thing.
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell on the camels.
And carried them away.
Yeah, and slain the servants of the edge of the sword. And I am, I only am escaped alone to tell thee so. Here we have a third wave that comes over job, and that is that the Chaldeans wipe out his camels. Apparently the camels were their mode of transportation in those days, and it would speak to us of the mode of transportation for us today would be your maybe your car. Maybe we could say he had car troubles.
Trouble in the business, possessions are diminished, and now he's got car trouble, so to speak.
It reminds me of Mr. Hammer used to say Robert was telling me one time that when difficulties and trouble comes.
He used to say it's a good thing it's only money.
It's a good thing. It's only me. If it's your business, your car, it's a good thing. It's only money.
You wouldn't want it elsewhere. Your family, your health, it's a good thing. That's only money.
But look what happens now in verse 18. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, And said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating, drinking wine, and their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a wind, a great wind, from the wilderness, and smoked the four corners of the house, and fell upon the young man. And they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Now we find a hurricane.
Wipes out his family in one sweep now. He couldn't say it's a good thing it's only money now. It had touched his family.
His whole family was lost in this hurricane.
Talk about trial, and then we find Job rises to the occasion, it says. And Job rose rent his mantle, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said naked, Came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sin not, nor charged God foolish name. And so we find here that the Lord was able to keep Job loyal to himself, even though these things flew in like a flood from four different directions.
And we can be thankful for the grace of God that will carry us in times of trial.
But we find in the second chapter that Satan comes back again. The Lord allows him to have his way again with Job and three more directions trial comes upon him.
You say, Is this not enough?
Well, let me just tell you what Mr. Jason Baxter once told us. He put out a little booklet one time and I was very helpful to me. And that was four things that we need to remember when trial.
Enters and tests our lives. And I thought this was nice because the Lord did say to Peter, I have prayed for the Thy faith. Fail not. And we don't want our faith to fail in the time of trial. Job certainly didn't. The Lord had given him grace to handle it. So what do we find here? 4 things to remember. This is the way he put it to me. It is by divine point appointment. Remember that it is by divine appointment. And Job said that in chapter 30. I think it's 23, he said.
00:20:25
He appointed that thing which is for me, and so we got to remember that when these things do happen in our lives.
That really test our our hearts, our faith that it is by divine appointment. That is the Lord has sent it and remember it came from Him and his way is perfect, we're told in Psalm 18. Second thing we need to remember is that I'm in God's school and He has something to teach me in it.
This is what Elihu said later in the book. He said who teacheth like him.
So that's the second thing we need to remember, A third thing we need to remember when trial enters and sweeps over our lives. And that is that God will give me the grace to handle it, that I will behave so that I can behave as his child should behave. A verse for that is in First Corinthians chapter 10 when it talks about how that with the temptation he makes in a way that we may be able to escape and to handle the trial. And also another verse that comes to mind, My grace is sufficient for thee and so remember.
That the trial is not more than what we can handle, because the Lord will give us the grace and He will give us.
To be able to handle it so we may behave in the way we ought to as a child of God, fourthly.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it. It was a brother one time was asked what's his favorite verse and he said it came to pass. They asked him why and he said it's because when I think of difficulties in coming and entering my life, I always think of that verse. It came to pass because there's a time when God will allow these things to draw to a close. We don't know when it will be. Some of us may take our trials to our to our deathbed, but it will come to pass and so.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it and I'm going to profit from it. Let's remember those things when we think of trial that may touch our lives. Well, as I said, we have in the second chapter three more directions from which trial happens and to not read everything here to keep. So we have enough time to look at the rest of the book. We find that verse four, Satan answers the Lord and says skin for skin. Yeah, all that a man hath will he give for his life? Satan noticed that, yeah, the Lord had allowed him to touch his possessions, even his family, but not his health.
So the Lord says, OK, I'll let you touch his health, but only go so far. You can't take his life.
And surely Satan had learned something about the ways.
Of men he says. All that a man hath will he give for his life.
He knows that men treat their life from holding dear, and I'm thinking now of a man.
In Second Kings Five, I'm thinking of Naman.
You know, he was a man, was struck with leprosy. What did he do? He got all the money he had put it together and went to the prophet in Israel. He thought he was going to buy his healing. I worked that out one time. What? He took all the pieces of silver and everything and checked it with today's value of what those things were. It was $2,000,000.
Name and packed his bags with $2,000,000 worth of things to try to buy. They said why? Because all that a man hath will he give for his life. Well we find here that the Lord allows Satan to go and he struck with boils verse 7 and he is his health is taken from him. So there we have the fifth thing that takes place in his life. Then in verse 9 his wife says to him doth dust.
Thou still retain thy integrity, curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What shall we receive good at the hand of God, And shall we not receive evil in all this? Did not Job sin with his lips?
So now we find that the Lord allowed it that when the family was taken away in the hurricane, and it must have been devastating to him, he allowed his wife to escape that in some way because he was going to allow Satan to get at her. And certainly that's what happened. She turned and encouraged him in a wrong way. She becomes an abettor to Satan's designs to bring Job down. She tells him, why don't you just curse God and die. What she was really saying was.
00:25:07
Why, You just lift up your fist to God and curse him. He'll smite you with a Thunderbolt and you'll be dead and you'll get out of your trial.
But she says, you are speaking like as one of the foolish women speaketh. But isn't that what happens sometimes when we get into trial? We just think, wish I could die. And there are many a person that has faced trial and has wished that they had even contemplated suicide. But that's not God's answer. And Job had enough integrity in his heart to realize that Satan had got a hold of his wife and was manipulating her. And you know, you dear sisters that are in this audience.
Number of You are married now and have a husband. And many of you here are going to get married if the Lord leaves us here. And you can be either a help to your husband or you can be a hindrance. And I'm thinking of two women that come to mind in scripture who both urged their husbands on. The first one is in First Kings. I think it's chapter 20 or 21. Her name is Jezebel. It says none did so wickedly as Ahab.
In the things of.
That he did in Israel, whom his wife urged on.
And the new translation, it says that she urged him on in all of his wickedness. Then I'm thinking of another woman. Her name is AXA and we find there, and I think it's Judges chapter one, that she urged on her husband, which was off Neil.
To ask for a larger portion of the inheritance.
And that's beautiful. There we have urging on in a right way. And of course what was given to him was the Upper Nether Springs, as you know the story. And so you can either urge your husband on in the right way or in the wrong way. And it's sad to see that Job's wife, we don't know her name. As far as I know, she becomes in a better to Satan's designs.
And he resists that. And I think that's beautiful. Then it says that be the sixth trial, he's got it from his wife. And you know, trial from within a remarriage relationship can be very, very testing. So he's had it from his business collapse. His possessions are taken, His transportation means of transportation has been wiped out. His family's been wiped out, his health has been taken away 6th now he has trouble within the relationship of his own marriage.
And it says in all this, did not Job Sin with his lips had been pointed out to me before that you have there in James chapter 5, you have read of the patience of Job. And you think, what's James talking about? Because when you read the book of Job, you don't see any patience. You see a man who's lost his patience complaining to God for chapter after chapter after chapter. But what James was really referring to was the first two chapters of Job where the trial came at him and he had the patience.
That God had given to him and supplied to him, and remained faithful in everything, and did not charge God foolishly.
That is where the patience of Job is found. From the third chapter on, we'll see that he's a man who didn't have. He lost his patience. But at any rate, here it says he did not.
Sin with his lips. Now that's different from what it says at the end of the first chapter. It says you did not charge God fully.
And so we find at this moment that Satan flees the scene. He has been defeated. God has used Job in a way, to gather glory for himself.
And how he has kept his servant loyal to him at such an incredible time of trial. Satan is defeated, he leaves the scene. He is no more found in the book.
And but now God has another thing with regard to this trial that's laid on Job. First of all is to get glory to himself, which he has accomplished. Now he is going to seek to work in the life of Job, because there is that which was in him that needed perfecting. And it was, as I say, his disposition rather than his actions. It was his attitude rather than his actions and his ways.
But he wasn't going to treat trust this to Satan as an instrument. He uses another instrument, and this brings before us now the seventh direction from which trial enters the life of Job. And here we find in verse 11 of chapter 2 That Job's three friends hear of it, and they come to him, and they become an instrument in the hand of the Lord to bring out what was deeply in his heart, though they didn't.
00:30:10
Realize what they were doing. They were trying to help him, but they exposed in him.
A spirit that was not at all right.
We'll see later that what that spirit was.
It is interesting, though, that they take this position of accusation after accusation at poor job that you'd think that strange that Scripture would call them Job's three friends. If I was writing this, or if you were writing this, you would probably say now when Job's three enemies heard of this, but it doesn't say that. It says there's three friends and they were indeed his friends. They meant well. They had a motive, so were right.
And they were called as friends, though it doesn't look like they were really having the friends playing the friends part.
I believe that the reason why Scripture calls them their friends is because there's a couple of things that should characterize those who are friends when we see one who is passing through difficulty, trial, and trouble in any way in their life. And there are plenty of persons in this room alone that are passing through difficulties and trials that we can be a real friend to. Now, the first thing that I'd like to point out with regard to these men who were indeed Job's friends.
Is that they came to him as you'll read in verse 11, and they mourned with him for seven days.
They came and sought to empathize with the trouble and the trial that he had That is a mark of a true friend.
If a trial passes into your life and your friends want to get away from you because you look like a cancer, that is not good, you know it reminds me of. I don't know if I have to have time to look at it. I'll just turn you over to.
Because you're talking about grace in the household, I was just thinking of Chronicles. Let's turn there for a minute. I'm going to read this first Chronicles, see if I can even find it.
First Chronicles.
First Chronicles 7.
I'll read from verse 20. And the sons of Ephraim, Shula be read his son, and Tahath his son, and Elada his son, and tehath his son, and Zebat his son, and Shotha his son, And Ezer and Elliot, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they went down, came down, went down to take away their cattle. And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
And he went into his wife and conceived and bare a son called his name Birah, because Calamity should read, was with or in his house. Then he bore her daughter after that, who built not one but two cities. So there's nothing wrong with the sister building a city. And now I know that it's talking about how she engineered it. Probably not that she picked up the hammer, necessarily. The point I'm getting at now, isn't it beautiful? The man lost his son. They were a wicked boys. They were going out and stealing cattle.
And they got caught in the act and they found out that the world plays hardball and they killed him and he lost those boys.
But what happened? Did his brother run away from or point the finger at him? And something wrong with you, Ephraim? No. Isn't it beautiful?
His brethren came to comfort him.
So that's one thing that I see here that really characterizes these men as being jobs. Friends, indeed.
Now another thing that you see here that characterizes in the book these men as being true friends, and that is when they finally did open their mouths. Because the seven days they stayed quiet, but after seven days they began to speak that when they did speak to him.
When they did speak to him, they spoke everything directly to him, not about him behind his back.
That's a mark of a true friend.
Now, some of the things they said, if not all of the things they said were, were not right, but at least they were right upright enough that they said it directly to him. Have you ever had somebody talk about you behind your back? Well, we all know about that, and because our hearts are wicked by nature, we assume all kinds of things and and put constructions on it of evil that perhaps they didn't even in themselves mean. But nevertheless, there's two things here that I just point out that really characterizes what should characterize.
00:35:02
Which should mark a friend, and that is that they they truly mourn with him and tried to empathize, sympathize with the situation. And then secondly, everything that they did have to say through him, they said it directly to him and not to somebody else. Now it's true that there those two things were commendable, but here's a thing that is not commendable, and the Lord holds them to this, and that is that.
They're evil. Their mistake was that they were evil. Surmising, and the New Testament speaks of evil surmising. That's what they were doing.
They said.
All right, now, because we know.
That God would deal with sinners and people who are wrong in a governmental way in judgment.
And now all these things have happened to this man, therefore.
We deduct that there must be something wrong, but we've looked over your life outwardly and we cannot find anything, so there must be something that you're hiding. And so they began to drive at him from every different direction to try to find something that he was doing wrong, that nobody knew about.
But they were barking up a wrong tree, so to speak. This was not at all what was the problem?
It was the disposition of his heart that needed to be corrected. And so it it is trying it. As I say, this is the seventh direction. And what's this trial comes over him. And it was perhaps the bitterest of all, because these other things did not bring out, but these three friends brought out of him.
And you know, we all know what it's like to have someone come along and pour on a whole bunch of free advice that they don't have a clue what the real situation is about. And it just like torn vinegar on the wound.
Another thing that I see here that's not commendable with these men, and that is that we don't mention of them ever seeking God's face and praying about it before they open their mouth and talk and tell them all the things that they thought were right and wrong or whatever. And I think that it's important and when we do try to comfort and help somebody that we go in the spirit of prayer and we've been in the presence of the Lord before, we just open our mouth and and offend or whatever else.
Now Chapter 3.
This is a chapter that is what have been has been called a that is he just speaking. He's not speaking to anybody, just speaking out loud. And we get to hear what's in his heart. And what we find in this third chapter is that Job begins to question.
The ways of God with him.
So it says after this job opened his mouth and cursed the day, his day and job spake and said, let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which is it was said, there is a man child conceived.
Job lost his patience here.
Job now.
Takes a detour. He was holding faithful to this point. But from this point onward in the book, we find that Job is agitated, frustrated, and his three friends only make it worse. He failed in the very thing that he excelled in, and the Lord allowed it to happen to humble this man, that he might learn something. Job was known for his patience. You have heard of the patience of Job. That's what James said.
And now he fails in the very thing that he excelled, and God allowed it to happen to humble him. And God has done that for many men in the Bible. I remember years ago Mr. Hale had an address on this, on all the men in the Bible who excelled in certain things, and they failed in the very thing that they excelled in. And he talked about Moses and how he was the meekest man in all the earth, But he failed in his meekness. Remember when the brethren?
In Israel they in the in the wilderness, rather that he lost his patience with him, and smoked the rock, and so on.
Samson.
He was the strongest man in all the Bible, but in all his strength he failed the very thing that he was the strongest death, even though and a woman took him and brought him down.
And his strength went from him. Solomon, he's the wisest man in all the world, but in all of his wisdom he failed. And Job he was the most patient of all men and all that he felt. The Lord has a way of bringing this down, you know, it says God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. And what we have here now is Job, is that he needed to be.
00:40:02
Taught some certain lessons, and that's what happens now, in the next series of chapters, we find that his friends have these speeches, these dialogues with Job, and he answers them, and we'll find that there are three cycles, that is, elephants will speak first and then Job will answer, and then we'll have.
So far, we'll speak next in that Job Lancer and then Bill Dad will speak and Joe Blanchard. That's one cycle. It goes around three times until the third one build that gives up and doesn't even speak and take his turn. And in the midst of these chapters we find all kinds of accusations being laid at job as they try to get at the root of the problem and be a help to him. And so the first cycle goes from Chapter 4.
Through 14, The second cycle goes from chapter 15 to 21.
And the third cycle goes from chapter 22 to 31.
13,000 words are uttered.
Umpteen speeches and all kinds of digressions are offered, but the problem isn't solved with words.
And we find too, that that's the Apostle Paul. He's quoting Isaiah, and he says there that man has three ways in which wisdom is derived, when when we speak of human wisdom, he says, I have not seen nor eireth heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for him.
And really those three things that he mentions there are the three ways in which men in their in nature drive their wisdom. The eye, the ear and the heart. And these three friends really depict that kind of source of wisdom. Ali Faz, he talks all about what he'd seen. I have seen, I have seen, I have seen. He's maybe we could say he's an experimentalist. He speaks from experience. Then we have in the next man, Zofar.
Well, he says, I have heard, I have heard number of times he speak. He's a traditionalist. He he goes by what he has been heard from the generations that have gone before and what he had gathered from tradition. And then the third man build out. He speaks from his heart. I have fought with my heart, he will say, and so on. And he reasons. But all these things do not come up with the answer that with regard to Job, simply because they did not understand the fullness of God's ways.
And as I said, they thought that God only had one way with regard to discipline, and that was in a punitive character, not understanding that God has other ways and reasons for.
His dealings with his men.
Well, we don't have time to go over all of these, so I'm going to pass on now to what we call jobs, Long answer Jobs. Long answer is from 26 to 31. He speaks last and we find at this point that the Friends of Job have unintentionally brought him to a point.
And they bring out in him something that no one but the Lord could see, and that is that there was a spirit of pride in him. They.
Unintentionally, shall we say pumped his balloon or whatever, and outcomes gushing all the pride of his heart. And in chapter 29 and 30 he makes reference to himself over 200 times, speaking in a very proudful way of all the things that he had done and what he was and so on.
I underlined in my Bible all the I means and my eyes with a little blue pen. And if you could see it, it's just that one page is absolutely littered over 200 times with these little markings indicating just how much Job was proud of what he was and what he had done and so on.
And the result we find in the end of chapter 31 is that the words were ended of of job. And chapter 32 begins by saying Now these three men cease to answer Job.
They gave up. He had succeeded in silencing his three friends.
He blew them off, shall we say.
But he hadn't got rid of the trial.
And so in chapter 3332, onward to 37, we have a young man introduced. We didn't know before this that there were audience. There was an audience, but there was at least another young man named Elihu, and he had been listening and taking notes.
00:45:09
And his he now comes to the forefront and speaks and he says, well, since I'm younger I'm going to wait and I have not waited because you've now stopped. I will come forward. And he has two griefs. It's a two fold anger that he has. One is toward jobs, friends, because all they did was make him just justify himself.
And.
They had not reached anything. It was a lot of condemnation without any conviction.
And then he was angry with Job, too.
Because Job was defending himself and not laying his hand upon his heart and saying, well, there must be something wrong.
And so he introduces himself, shall we say in chapter 32. But from chapter 33 to chapter 37 we have what are called Eli Hughes speeches. Let me read 31 verse one. Wherefore Job I pray thee, hear my speeches and hearken to all my words. And now we're going to have 4 speeches of Elijah. And this is really what was on my heart.
It's only taken me 35 minutes to get here.
He's not the only one that's verbose. Sorry. OK, well, anyway, what I wanted to talk about was what was going on in all these speeches, these 13,000 words that were uttered by Job and his friends. It's very interesting. What Elihu does is that he he takes and summarizes Job's complaints and boils them down into three main things.
And then lines them up and answers them, and in it we find a three fold defense of God in his ways. Now notice what it says in verse 8. Surely thou hast said in nine.
And so on.
Look at chapter 34 and verse 5 again he says for Job hath said and he summarizes again. And then chapter 35 verse 335, verse 3 for thou hast said.
And then he.
Answers it so we can see here now and Elijah speeches that he has summarizing jobs, complaints, and he boils them down to three main things. He's lining them up and he's going to answer them one after another.
He does not exactly quote Joe. What he does is he. As I said, he summarizes them. So you're not going to find what he says in these chapters as an exact quote from, but you can see that the threat of what he's saying is exactly that.
Now, what is the summary of the first point that he?
Has with regard to Job, well, the first complaint that Job has is this. God is a lie. All kinds of trouble in my life and he won't explain why God is silent. And Eli who comes in and answers that and says God is not silent. Verse 14. God speaketh once, Jay twice, but man perceiveth it not. He's the same to Job. No God is speaking, you just can't hear it.
And then he goes and gives him three ways in which God does speak in a dream. Verse 15 through pain, verse 19 and verse 23 through a messenger, three ways in which God does speak. And we need to hear His voice. And you know, we can be like this when trouble hits us. We've begun to wonder why we think God is persecuting us. Why is he allowing all these things to happen to me? And he won't explain why we can have the attitude that Job had. We think that God should explain his ways with us and give a count of why He's doing what He's doing in our lives.
When we should be looking up to him and saying, What art thou saying to me, Lord, speak, Lord, for thy servant hearth.
In a dream, in pain, God may use something in our lives.
To get our ears, but very often we don't perceive it, and even in a messenger it could be an Angel, but very often it could be another man, a brother or a sister may come to us and speak to us like a prophet and we just blow them off, which is what?
He Elijah was acting as as a messenger for God and then he goes on to say in it. But if you could gain from it, then God will be gracious to you and deliver you and there could be restoration. He will see your face again and there will be restoration and profit and blessings will come out of it. And so I think it's beautiful to see.
That he defends God in his ways here by telling Job that he's not silent and he has a purpose for everything he allows.
00:50:01
Old Mr. Hale used to say that if trial comes our way as a needs be on our part and a purpose of love on his part, and there's some reason for it, and it's all for our good and our blessing.
Now in chapter 34, he tells his second speech and again he summarizes what Job was really saying in those previous chapters. Verse five, Job has said I am righteous and God has taken away my judgment.
And shall I lie against my right? My wound is incurable without transgression and so on. The point he's making here is simply this. God is unjust and unfair, and all his dealings among men. You can't make head or tails of it.
It doesn't add up.
Have you felt that way?
You look at certain people, you think for sure they should get a little trial in their life attitude they got. And you know, we're very quick to be able to see the things that we think are wrong on other people, never have a clue that maybe God has something to say to us.
And and Job was as much as saying, And this, what he lays his pound on here is that he was more righteous than God.
He was more just than the Lord because at least he wouldn't order the things in this world that way. And so Elijah rises to the defense of God and defends and vindicates God's character. And he takes up a number of things. How that God is merciful, He's impartial, how that he is just, and how he moves providentially, It's always with a reason, though we may not be able to understand it at the time. God makes no mistakes. Again, He defends God beautifully.
Nice to see how there he speaks about his mercy, he said. Don't cry too loud for mercy and justice because he may give it to you.
And you'd be smitten down right away.
You know, you hear people in this world. You know things are not just things are not right. Don't cry too loud for justice.
And he talks out there that how that God could pull the plug on this whole world if he wanted to be righteous.
And justice and where all men would perish together. I'm talking about verses 14 and 15 now.
But he's merciful and he's patient. Now in the 35th chapter he takes again he has another speech, and here he summarizes again jobs, third complaint. And he says in verse 3, Thou hast said, what advantage will it be to thee? And what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin?
Now he's summarizing Job's third complaint. Here is simply this.
There is no profit to being godly.
I've cleaned my life up. I live an upright life. I Stew evil. I'm perfect in writing all my dealings with men and what does it got me? I've tried to please God and look at all that's happened to me.
Have you ever felt that way, been tested in certain ways with regard to things that you could have done in your life when you've gone to college or school? You could have gone off with those people when they did this or that, and you knew it wasn't right and you tried to please the Lord. You put the Lord first in your life. You said no, you you kept yourself separate from this problem or that sin that's out there in the world.
And now you see, gained me anything. Look at all the trouble that I have in my life.
And he's about saying, is it really worth it?
What prophet have I if I have cleansed?
Be cleansed from my sin.
Now you lie, you again answers on God's behalf, and he says.
But have you cleanse yourself from your sin? And he now begins to speak about sin that may be in the heart as you'll get in verse 12. They cry, but none giveth answer because of the pride of the evil men.
He begins to speak about how that that's true. You could cleanse your life outwardly, and that's all very well and good, but God requires truth on the inward parts. He's looking for a right attitude. And so in this chapter he goes on to speak about wickedness and righteousness, sin and transgression, but predominantly from the perspective of what's in the heart. He's getting closer to what the problem that Job had. I think it's very interesting now in the 36th and 37th chapters, we have what we might call.
His forced speech and in it he explains God's design and suffering and it's twofold. He shows there that God allows suffering to the righteous to instruct him and to cause him to return from his iniquity because of the evil intents that may be in his heart. That's verses 7. The righteous he speaks about and how he uses all these things to correct and to return him from his iniquity. Verse 10.
00:55:11
Then he speaks in verse 13 about the godless of the unrighteous. He says, but the hypocrites, Now that should be translated the godless but the godless in heart heap up wrath and cry and so on. And he says he's using that to deliver them from a lost eternity. So God has a design and all of the sufferings he allows in this world.
Is to speak to men, to cause those who are his own people to repent, and to correct them from iniquity that's maybe in their life. And iniquity is usually to do with the intents of the heart genome.
And then, with the loss to correct them, save them, deliver them from the lost eternity.
This watch that my wife gave to me doesn't work.
Why she gave me their light bulb? It doesn't work anyway and I can't see that clock up there.
It's over. All right. I'm going to have to close.
Maybe I could just say one last thing. The Lord breaks in and he humbles Job by Speaking of the greatness of the the universe and how he is controlling everything right down to his care of the animals. And he's basically saying to Job this, you know?
I can control the whole universe. I care for even the little animals and everything. Don't you think I'm caring for your life and job is brought to you?
To repentance and he is delivered when he prays. The captivity of Job is delivered is turned when he prays for his friends because he corrects his attitude, not a spray.
Ten Principles for Bible Study
Address—Bruce Anstey
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 want to talk this afternoon on.
Great principles of Bible study.
The reason why I want to do that is because many a man has stood in this podium and addressed an audience like this and told the audience to read the Bibles and to pray. It is an essential thing. It's our very lifeline to communion with God, and I'm one of them that has done that and more than one occasion. But rarely if at all, have I ever heard a man take up the subject of how.
We are to read the Bible for prophets, and that's what I want to take up this afternoon, more along the lines of how we can study the scriptures for profit. And I want to address particularly the complaint that is often heard, especially among the young. And that is, I read my Bible, but I don't get much out of it.
Well, I want to look at 10 principles from the scriptures that will show us how to get profit from our Bible reading so that we might grow and progress in the things of God. Now, the things I'm going to tell you this afternoon are not my own ideas, some little scheme that I've dreamed up that I would like to share with you or this kind of a thing? No, not at all. What I want to do is to bring 10 principles out of the word of God itself that shows us how we are to take up and handle the scriptures.
For profit, I think that's amazing. I really do that the God is not only given to us this book that is to feed our souls and instruct us in the path, but he's told us how we are to use the book so that we can profit from it. So I want to stand back here and just point out these principles in the scriptures and let the spirit of God apply them in our to us and for our good and blessing. OK, let's look at the first one, Isaiah, chapter 34.
Verse 16.
Seek ye out the book of the Lord and read. Here's the first thing we need to read it.
How are we going to profit from the word of God if we're not going to read it?
Here's the first thing. Seek out the book of the Lord and read.
We need to read the scriptures. We need to read it with attention carefully and prayerfully as it says in chapter 28 of the Same Prophet, line upon line.
Precept upon precept, and so on. We need to read it in the Spirit of Mary. She sat at Jesus feet and she heard his word. She put other things aside so that she could have that opportunity. She was helping with her sister, but when the Lord Jesus came she said this is an opportunity for me. And she left Martha and she sat at Jesus feet and she gained apart. The Lord said that she would never be taken away from her.
And so the things that you will profit from reading the scriptures are going to be something that you're going to carry with you. You're going to be able to carry with you into eternity. It's often been said that really there's only two things that we can take with us to heaven and then to eternity. Now, what are they? Well, first of all, it's the truth that we have.
We've learned and taken in and made it our own and the second would be our children, our family.
Can't take my bike, can't take my piano.
Can't take my toys, but I can take the truth that I've learned and I can take my family, and that's the same with you. So we want to read it with the spirit of Mary, because there's eternal Prophet. If you take it up as a task, it'll likely be just that. A lot of hard work grinding away and so on, and it won't be very much fun. So you don't want to take it up as if it's a task. Don't read it as if you're cramming for an examination. Read it.
As if you are living with a friend and you want to hear what they have to say. So remember, it's not a manual that you have to study. It's more of a message that you want to hear. And God has plenty to tell us in His word. And so if we take it up in that spirit, I think we're going to profit. And don't let the things that we don't understand spoil our enjoyment of the things that we do understand. God will show us those things in His time, but the main thing is to seek out the book of the Lord and to read it.
Read it. And do you think in the language of Scripture? Some old brothers used to say you know who I'm talking about? Probably.
00:05:02
And that's good.
But I find an appalling ignorance among Christians today, and even among those who are gathered through the Lord's name. I might mention some story in the Old Testament or something people look at you as if.
Is that in the Bible?
And I say, well, you know, the story of, let's look at you like, and that's that's inexcusable, really. If you're a Christian that's been in the past for any length of time, you may not know what every chapter means. I understand that. That's why we have this meeting this afternoon to help you in that direction. But at least you should know of the existence of such and such a story and such and such of things that are in the Bible. And you're only going to gain that by reading. So seek out the book of the Lord and read. Let's look at the next one, James.
Chapter One.
Verse 21.
Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity, or overflowing of naughtiness or wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Be ye not doers of the word, but be doers of the word, but not hearers, only deceiving your own selves. So here's another thing. Not only are we to read it, but we're to receive it with meekness.
Receiving it goes beyond just reading it, and James talks about the man who looks into the.
Scriptures and lets it go in one ear and out of the other, so to speak. He likens it to a man looking into a mirror and he goes away. He can't remember what he saw. So it's possible for us to read it and get little profit from it. But here he tells us something that's more than just reading and that is to receive it. To receive it, so that it becomes part of our being. Now notice he says here.
With meekness, the engrafted word, see, God's intention for us in reading His Word, is that it would become part of our lives. It would become part of our being, part of our souls, so that it would govern our lives in a direct way.
And this needs to be received on our part.
And he tells us here how it is going to be possible that we will receive the word and it will become engrafted in our souls. And that is.
By laying apart all filthiness and overflowing of naughtiness, in other words, by self judgment, this verse is addressing our state of soul. We need to be in the right state of soul if we're going to receive and profit from the scriptures. It's not enough for us to read it. We need to have practice. We need to practice self judgment every time we take this book in hand if it's going to be for profit and it's going to be engrafted in our souls whereby our lives are affected by it.
There was a young man he followed after Mr. Darby after he gave a lecture one night, and he caught him up the road a bit. And he said, oh, Mr. Darby, Mr. Darby, I would just like to study the scriptures in some way so that I could be like you and have this, so that I could get a grasp of the word of God like you have. And he looked at the young man and he said, I would like the word of God to get a grasp of me, never mind me grasping the word of God. And I think that's very good for us too, you know.
Learning the scriptures is really not the goal. You know, Bible knowledge is not the goal. We're going to talk about what the goal is in a minute. But right now the need for self judgment if we when we take up the scriptures is so very important and it's with meekness that is the idea that we are willing to be adjusted on doctrine or practice. So if we read something that doesn't line up to what we think you know about some certain principle or so on, we need to be meek enough to receive it, get adjustment, or in our practice with our lives.
So there needs to be that state of soul with us.
If the word of God is going to take hold and grow in that grafted way and notice what it says which is able to save your souls. He's not talking about the salvation from a lost eternity that is announced in the gospel here. He's talking about a practical salvation of our souls in our daily lives. Our souls love many things and can get drawn away after this or that, and we need to be saved in a daily way way and that is a result will be a result of receiving the word of God.
And it becoming part of us, it would guide us and direct us in every different way. Now let's look at Luke gospel for a third thing, chapter 24, Luke 24, verse 27. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself turn on a few pages in John's Gospel to chapter 5.
00:10:04
Verse 39.
Search the scriptures.
For in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me. And then?
In Acts chapter 17.
Acts 17.
Verse 10.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea, who coming thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews. And these were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind. Search the Scriptures daily whether those things were so.
Wherefore, therefore, many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks and of men, not a few. Here's the third thing I'd like to bring before you, and that is, we need to not only read it and receive it, but we need to look for Christ in it.
The three scriptures that I've looked at and Luke 24, John 5 and now this one has to do with the theme of all scripture which as Christ himself. And when we take up the Bible we need to look for Christ in the scriptures because he is the theme of all scripture.
The tendency for us, especially young, is to look at the scriptures for what God has to say to us. And God has plenty to say to us. But that shouldn't be the first reason why we look at the Scriptures. We should be looking into the word of God to see what God has to say about his Son and what pertains to His glory and all. The scriptures will have that theme wherever you may turn in it. That is the supreme theme, and it reminds me of a story that I heard. I don't know if they still do it now in the British Navy.
They have their ropes and in those ropes they have made for identification purposes in the middle, I read.
A cord goes down the middle of all their throats, millions of yards of ropes that they have made for all their ships. But one thing that identifies them all is there's a red line in there. So if someone wants to steal one of those ropes, they could cut it open and say this belongs to Her Majesty the Queen Navy. What are you doing with it?
Reminds me of the Scriptures. No matter where you cut that rope open, if it was 1 foot down the line or 50 feet down the line or 200 feet down the line, you always see that red line. And it's the same with the Bible. Whether you open it at the first page of the 10th page or you open it halfway through, you would always see the same theme. That's Christ and his glory and the work that he accomplished at the cross. That is the supreme theme in Scripture. We must look at it with that in view. Now I know that every verse does not mention Christ.
But it will. The passage will pertain to what?
Is to his glory, and we need to get the principle that's behind it, what God is teaching us. Otherwise we're going to get a wrong frame of reference. And that's what happens. And many a young person has done just that. They look at the scriptures for what God has to say to them.
And you know that we are not the theme of Scripture. I have news for you.
He is the theme of scripture.
And so we want to take it up with that in view to look for Christ in the Word of God. Now that's what happened at Berea. You see, it says that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, asserts the Scriptures. You see, if these things were so, what were those things?
Were they searching for Paul's doctrine in the scriptures?
No. Why?
Because Paul's doctor hadn't been written yet in the scriptures. How could they do that?
He hadn't even written an epistle yet by this point, or at least maybe one. No, I don't think he even wrote one by this point. So it couldn't be Paul's doctrine that they were searching for in the scriptures. Well, what were they searching for then?
Well, you go back to verse two and three. Paul's habit was to go into the Jewish synagogues and he would open an allege from the scriptures that Christ could be found there. His life, his death, his resurrection, his Messiahship. And so these Bereans went home and searched the scriptures. They found it was so Christ is in the scriptures, and I'm here to tell you the same Christ is in the scriptures. Go home and look for it Him rather. It's beautiful to see how that he is the theme of all scripture.
And may I just add this to the great and 1St moral lesson in the whole Bible is what it's found right in the opening words.
In the beginning, God.
00:15:03
In the beginning, God, and I know it's talking about creation there, but there's moral lessons that God has throughout his word. The book is a moral book. It's not just a history book and.
That's the first moral lesson in the Bible. In the beginning, God. That is, in the beginning, God must be at the beginning of everything for your life.
He should have 1St and preeminent place in everything in your life, whether it's your work, whether it's your life, your marriage, your family, whatever it may be. God must have his rightful place. And so when we look at Scripture and we see Christ there, we will be greatly encouraged because it's feeding on Christ in Scripture that brings joy to our souls. Let's turn to another passage, Second Timothy chapter 2, Second Timothy chapter 2.
Verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now this is interesting. Not only are we to look for Christ in it, but we are to rightly divide it.
The fact that we're told to rightly divide it would tell us also that there are divisions in Scripture.
There are things that pertain to the Church. There are things that pertain to Israel. There are things that differ, and God would have us to make those distinctions when we look into the Scriptures. Otherwise we're going to jumble everything together and come up with a hodgepodge, which is.
What is known as Reformed theology, where they mix Israel and the church together and so on. Fact that he's telling us to rightly divide in the word of God tells us this too, that it's possible to wrongly divide. It's possible to take up the word of God and get it in its wrong day or its wrong setting, and you're going to end up miles from what the truth is. So it's important to realize that there are divisions in Scripture and we must pay attention to what is written to us and what is written to Israel and so on.
I have news for you. Not all. The Bible is written to you. In fact, very little of the Bible is written to the church. I mean, think of it. Maybe the axe epistles. Revelation. The rest of the Bible was written to Israel.
But while the Bible is not necessarily all written to us as Christians, it is all been written for us so we can read it and get principles for our lives and understand help us to understand the truth of God. So while not all of the scripture is written directly to us, it is all been written for us for our learning. That's what Romans 15 and verse four tells us is things were written a four time were written for our learning. The we, through patience and comfortable scriptures may have hope.
So it's written for our learning. We can get something from it. So even though.
Exodus 20 or 10 commandments is not written to me. I can still read Exodus 20 and learn something from it. I can learn of the moral ways of God, for instance.
And I think that's very important that we learn to rightly divide the scriptures. As I already overloaded in First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32. I think it is, he says, given an offense to the Jew, the Gentile and the Church of God, showing that there are three different companies of people that God distinguishes in the earth.
Today and we need to be careful to understand what pertains to each turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and.
We'll see a little more of that.
2nd Corinthians chapter 3 rather verse, six Second Corinthians 3 verse 6.
Who also have made us able ministers of the New Testament or could read New Covenant.
Not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter killeth. But the spirit giveth life or quickens.
Now this is interesting. Paul and his coworkers spoke of themselves as able ministers of the New Covenant.
May I ask you, what is the New Covenant? Or maybe I could ask you this, where is the New Covenant found in the Bible now? I think probably half you would say, well, the New Testament, isn't it? No, the New Covenant is in the Old Testament.
I know it's quoted in Hebrews 8, but it's quoting the Old Testament, the Old Covenants in the Old Testament, and the New Covenants in the Old Testament.
The old and the new covenants were made.
With Israel, and will be made with Israel in the coming day. Nothing to do with the Church.
But those who are Christian ministers, like the Apostle Paul, could take of those things that applied to Israel and become an able minister in ministering the spirit of those things, those things that are the character of them, even though they are not the direct thing itself as far as fulfillment is concerned.
00:20:17
And that's very important. So he says here made us able ministers of the new covenant. None of the latter.
Those things with regard to the letter of the New Covenant will be made with Israel a coming day.
But he says, but of the Spirit. And that's a small ***. That is the spirit of that passage.
We can gain a lesson from and we can learn of God's ways in grace because he's going to have grace toward Israel in that coming day, not of the latter.
But of the Spirit.
So I think that's important to see. Now here's something that I would like to pass on to as a general rule.
As a general rule, when something in the new test is meant written in the New Testament, that is quoted from the Old Testament, and it's a fulfillment, it will say it's a fulfillment.
As a general rule.
Otherwise, it's referring to it because of its character or a principle that's mentioned there in connection with it. Now let's look at. I'll demonstrate that turn to John 19.
This is important to see. This because our dear Reformed theologians that make up a large portion of the Christian profession today do not understand this principle and they have mixed the church with Israel because they have passed over this. It is not a new doctrine that's out there. It's a very, very old doctrine. The reformers believe these things before the recovery of the truth happened in 1800s.
And uh.
Yeah, it's permeated the Christian profession today. John 19 and verse 20.
4 Verse 24 They said therefore among themselves. Let us not rend it talking about the Lords garment, but cast lots for it. Whose it should be that the scripture might be fulfilled. The narrator comes in now.
Which saith they parted my garment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.
These things therefore the soldiers did. Isn't this interesting? So we find here that this which they did is an actual fulfillment because it says it is and we know where it is. Son and I, Psalm 22 turn over a little further in that same chapter to verse 36.
For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him should not be broken. Now that's a quote from the Passover Exodus 12. And we know that the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. He is the Passover lamb. And so those scriptures with regard to the Passover in type have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus death.
Now let's go on to the next verse, and again another scripture saith. They shall look on him whom they have pierced or they pierced. But notice something doesn't say fulfilled here.
37 doesn't say that, just says and another scripture.
Now why? Because it's not a fulfillment.
That's being that's quoted from Zechariah 12 When at the appearing of Christ, he will come back and show himself to the remnant of the Jews.
And they're going to look on Him and whom they have pierced and mourn in repentance and get restored to him. It hasn't happened yet. But the Spirit of God has taken that scripture and quoted it here because in principle that's what happened. They were looking on him whom they appears. That's the very people of Israel who crucified Him. Only then they're going to look on him. And repentance here they were not. But the principle is brought forward from the Old Testament and applied here. Now that's very important to understand this distinction.
Turn over to Acts now a couple verses further. Acts, chapter 2 and verse 16. Talking about the the Day of Pentecost, verse 16, Chapter 216. But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, that shall come to pass in the last days. That God shall pour out his spirit upon all flesh, And your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions. And your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaids will I pour out in those days my spirit, and they shall prophecy. And I will do wonders in heaven above. And signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor and smoke.
The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood before the great and notable day.
Of the Lord come now here again notice it does not say that this is a fulfillment.
This is a quotation from the prophet Joel chapter three, I think It is no chapter 2. And there he's talking about the last days of Israel. When the Lord comes back and he restores them, he's going to pour out his spirit on the nation, and there's going to be these wonderful expressions of power of God by the Spirit. But in the day of Pentecost, there were certain things out of that same character were happening when the church was formed. And he quotes that as Peter quotes by the power of the Spirit, that passage and applies it in character and in principle.
00:25:29
Doesn't say it's fulfilled because it wasn't fulfilled. And as I say, there are those who are trying to tell us that the Church of Brother Israel, the promises to Israel, have been fulfilled in the Church, and they'll turn to passages like this to support their erroneous doctrine, but they have missed the point.
I well, you have to go all the way through the book of the Acts. You'll see what is fulfilled and what is lonely looking at a character. And let me just look at chapter 3 and verse 18 turn one more page, Chapter 3, verse 18.
But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer.
Hath he so fulfilled? So all the passages in the Old Testament with regard to a suffering Messiah were fulfilled in the death of Christ. That's what it says.
Turn to Chapter 8 now.
Chapter 8.
And verse 28, This is the Ethiopian eunuch. He's driving on his chariot. He's going home to his land of Ethiopia, and it says here.
Verse 28 was returning and sitting on his chariot he read Isaiah's the prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet. Isaiah's and said understand is what thou readest. And he said, how can I accept some man should guide me. And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him in the place of the scripture which you read was this he had let his sheep.
To slaughter and like a lamb dumb before, sure. So he opened not his mouth and in his humiliation and his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation, for his life was taken from the earth, and so on. But notice here we know that's Isaiah 53. You notice Philip never said to the eunuch that this was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus died at the cross. Now why wouldn't he say that? You say Isaiah 53 It's all about the sufferings of Christ, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
But Isaiah 53 has not yet been fulfilled, he said. What are you talking about? Is the Lord going to die again? Now what are you? What are you talking about? Well, it's important that we get an understanding of the the, the context of the whole passage to see that it's talking about the remnant of Israel confessing their part in cruising.
When they did it in ignorance, now their eyes will be opened, and they will see that he indeed was dying for their sins on the cross. It is yet to be fulfilled, and it will happen at the appearing of Christ, because it's a description of the confession of the remnant in a coming day when they realize and it all comes together for them what Christ did at the cross. That's the proper.
Setting here of that, do I just think that's interesting to know? And I could go on through the passage through the book of Acts, but I don't have time. It'll be digressing too far.
Another place you'll see distinctions in scripture that is the divisions are to do with Israels last days and the churches last days. Have you not read in first Peter chapter one for instance where it says there in verse 20 it'll say who verily was for ordained for you in these last days talking about the death of the Lord Jesus. He died in the last days.
What? That's what it says, Hebrews one tells us. Two. He came in the last days, spoke to us and son.
And then you turn over to Second Timothy, where we are right here in verse chapter 3, verse one, he talks about the last days too, but he's talking about a different last days. One is talking about the last days of God's dealings with Israel. That's when the Lord Jesus died.
There's still seven more years of Israel's last days to be fulfilled until they will be restored. But if you just take for a minute the church and God's dealings with the church over this last 2000 years out as a parenthesis, really, the Lord died in the last seven years, roughly of God's dealings with Israel. And so we need to distinguish and divide where God divides in the word of God and see that that's talking about the last days of Israel's God's dealing with Israel. Timothy here is talking about the last days of the church.
We are in those last days now, and everything you read about in Second Timothy 3 gives you to see that we are indeed in the last closing moments.
00:30:02
Now our verse of which we are reading in two Timothy, chapter 215. I know I've digressed all over the place, but that's where we are, and it's talking about rightly dividing the word of truth. Remember when it says study?
That word could be translated strive diligently so and the workmen that needs not be ashamed. When I think of a Workman, what do you think of a man with his tools?
You need tools. If you're going to be a Workman in the things of God and the word of God, you need to have a few tools. What are the workmen's basic tools? Well, if you would ask a Carpenter like Robert here, he'd say a hammer and a saw and a screwdriver and so on. Well, in the viable Workman, he needs to have a Bible. A good Bible. I suggest a wide margin Bible.
He needs to have a good critical translation like Jan Darby's, where you can find the exact mean words and what they mean in the original language, and if there's any difference from the original or from the altar Reading in the King James Version, he can explain to you why very good, very important, need a good concordance.
Bible dictionary. These are the tools of a Workman.
An interlinear maybe? And so on.
And word studies are good, but remember they are just but that words you need to get food for our souls.
So the point I'm getting at here is that we need to rightly divide the word of truth or we're going to get so far off.
Now let's turn to second. Peter.
Second Peter chapter one.
Second Peter, chapter one and verse.
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy came not an old time by the will of man, but holy man of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so here we have another great principle that's needed.
For profitable Bible study. And that is not only are we to rightly divide it, but we are to interpret it.
Interpret it in the light of all other Scripture. God wants us to read it, to receive it, to look for Christ in it, to rightly divide it, and also to interpret it in the light of all other Scripture. This is important.
Very important. A golden rule.
Of all Bible interpretation is that we interpret Scripture in the light of all other scripture. A private interpretation is really a an interpretation of a particular passage or a verse that the solution and the meaning is all found there in that verse and cannot be supported anywhere else in the Bible. He says that's dangerous and he said the prophecy of Scripture is of no private interpretation.
And this is something that often happens with people who get a bug in their ear or a hobby horse, and they begin to see one thing in the Bible and they can see it on every page after a while.
I know a man. He could see the assembly on every page of his Bible. I know another man. You could see the family on every page of the Bible. And another man I know he could see. Well, yeah, courtship and whatever else, you know, on every page of the Bible. After a while it seemed to me anyway, I'm exaggerating, of course.
The scriptures are no private interpretation and we have to be careful about isolating it. So my point here now is this. We are to divide it, but not isolated. OK, let me say that again. We are to divide it but not isolate it and come up with our own private meaning with regard to that verse that cannot be supported by anything else.
If you run into a position situation like that, you'd be sure that you're on shaky ground, but to be very careful here. Now Jan Darby said that this verse could almost be translated. It's in his footnote in his new translation. It could almost be translated. No prophecy of scripture interprets itself, he said. Almost, because he said that's going being a little extreme because, I mean, there are some verses that obviously can be interpreted with itself. You don't need the rest of the Bible, for instance, for all of sin to come short of the glory of God.
Now, does that anything more plain than that? You don't need the rest of the Bible to tell you what that means. But the prophecies of Scripture generally will support one another, and they work together as a harmonious whole. And we need to be careful of getting it, Getting a thought or an idea on a particular verse that cannot be supported by the whole of Scripture. That's the point. Have you ever heard people say, well, that's your interpretation. My interpretation is such and such.
00:35:01
You know, friends, that's shaky ground to get involved with your interpretation and my interpretation. Let's get this straight here this afternoon. We don't want your interpretation. We don't want my interpretation. We want God's interpretation. And this book interprets itself. We need to look within the covers of this book. It will interpret itself for us. So in a certain sense, we have no right to even try to interpret the Scripture in a certain sense.
It interprets itself. The Workman that rightly divides in the Scripture is to seek God's interpretation for it, and it will interpret itself. There will be other passages that will throw light on the one we're looking at, and they will fit together like hand and glove. It's dangerous when we isolate passage. That's my point here.
Be careful of looking into the word of God and saying, well, this means to me. This means to me that you know what this means to me.
What this means is what you should be asking when you look at the Bible, not what this means to me because you're opening the door to whatever you feel at the time. And we just said we're not looking for what our thoughts are, we're looking for God's thoughts. Notice that Paul? I didn't read it there. But in Acts 17, have you noticed that what Paul's habit was when he went to the Jews and the synagogue, it says he reasoned with them out of the scriptures?
He didn't reason into the scriptures. He reasoned out of the scriptures. He took his reasonings from the the statements, the clear statements of scripture and brought them before them and they were convinced that Christ was in the scriptures. But the danger today, and has been in those days too, was to reason into the scriptures. Well I think this so therefore I'm going to go look for it and see if I can find something that will support it. That's dangerous. We reason out not in to the scriptures.
Now, there's two things that we need to consider when we're looking into proper, correct Bible interpretation, and the first one is consider the context of the passage. Consider the context of the passage.
That is, the verses that surround the one that we're looking at. Look at the whole tenor of the chapter.
Does it fit with the context of the passage? You know, when we bought our first house, the realtor sat down and talked to us and he said something like this here. Now remember that when you're buying a house, the important thing is location. In fact, there are three great rules in buying real estate. He said the 1St is location, the 2nd is location, the third is location. And you know, I like to think of that with regard to Bible interpretation, There are three great rules. Context.
Context. Context.
We got to get the context of the passage. Let me demonstrate that turn to hold your hand here. But Isaiah chapter 41, the end of verse 6.
Oh yeah verse six and seven of Isaiah 41. They helped everyone his neighbor and everyone said to his brother be of good courage. So the Carpenter and carpets of Goldsmith and he smoothed with the hammer him the smoke with the anvil saying it is ready for the soldering and he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved. I've.
Dear Sister came to me not too long ago and showed me this scripture. Isn't this encouraging, To think that God would write such things in this Bible to encourage our hearts? And I told her, well, actually, that's really not talking about encouraging the Saints going on for the things of the Lord. That's actually encouraging people in wickedness. Read the context of the chapter, the context of that verse. If you read it in your own time, you'll find that these are a bunch of idolaters that have got together, and they're encouraging each other in wickedness, in building their wicked idols and bowing down to them. Oh good, you're doing a good job building that.
That wicked idol. I hardly can take that as an application for my own soul.
When I think of it that way. So context is very, very important. Philippians 313 comes to mind as another example. You know you don't have to turn to it, but you know that verse that says forgetting those things which are behind the press forward to the things that are before and.
Press on to Christ being the prize and so on. Oftentimes we'll read pastors like that. We'll think of maybe some sad instances in our lives, or maybe.
Something that somebody did wrong to us or maybe even our pre conversion sends a person maybe.
Bemoan himself with it, and he, somebody might say, well, forgetting those things that are behind. We press forward to the things. That's all very well and good, and I sure we suppose we could make an application there. But really it's talking about not forgetting the sinful things and the bad things that have happened to us in our life is talking about forgetting the good things.
In a sense that it man in the flesh could take glory in and pride himself in, That's what that's talking about, forgetting good things. Suppose I was a man that was given to trying to be a fantastic athlete and I gave my life to it for a number of years and then the Lord woke me up and I got going on the path of the Lord. I should forget those things. Trying to climb to the heights of fame and being a great athlete or musician or artist or whatever it may be. In Paul's case it was trying to be the the best in the Jews religion.
00:40:27
And now he says I'm forgetting those things, trying to achieve something. There's another example of how we need to read the context if we're going to get the passage. We can't just isolate a verse or a line of scriptures. Oh, this is great.
I know you can make an application, but remember there is an interpretation that we need to stick close to. Now. The second great point that we need to consider with regard to Bible interpretation and that is that we need to consider the whole tenor of Scripture, not just look around the verses in that chapter to see if it fits. Because there may be times when it kind of looks like it fits that chapter. Maybe the context is right even though we may have an erroneous idea, but does it fit?
The second point, and that is, does it fit with the whole tenor of Scripture?
And if it's an erroneous idea, it will not. Now, case in point here, and I'm not asking you to turn to it because we want to hurry along, but.
And Matthew 13, I think it's verse 33 or 34. Somewhere on there talks about the woman who hid 11 in the three measures of meal. And where are many Christians? I'm not picking on the Reformed theologians again, but again, it is now. I just remembered that will tell us that that's a picture of the gospel. It's going out throughout all the world and just permeating the whole world. People are getting saved everywhere.
Well.
Does that fit the context? Now this is interesting.
Maybe because you know, Matthew 13 is all about the sword that went forth, the soul, and he sows good seed and brings up fruit. So maybe, maybe. But does it fit the tenor of whole scripture? No. No it doesn't. You know, leaven throughout scripture is never looked at as something good.
Always looked at as evil. Always. Always. Always. So it does not fit with the tenor of all the scripture. So let me just tell you some of the different places that you'll find us, or at least a.
You have in Scripture the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. You've got the leaven of the Sadducees, which is infidelity.
You got the leaven of Herod, which is worldliness. You got the 11 of the Corinthians, which was moral corruption. You get the 11 of the Galatians, which is evil doctrine and you get the leaven of this woman in Matthew 13. That must be something evil. So you go back and you look at that and you say, well, it doesn't add up to the rest of the scriptures. I must got something wrong here. So you look at it, you look at it, you look at it and you find out it's the 11 of ecclesiastical evil. The reason why I say that is because there's three women in the scripture in New Testament, only three, and they all of them speak to us of ecclesiastical evil.
One is the rise in the growth of it, the other is the full development in the Dark Ages, and the last is the full blown state. And after the church is gone in the harlot and Revelation 17. And then it fits the tenor of all. I think it's important that we pay attention to not only the context, the chapter where we're reading, but also the whole tenor of Scripture.
All right. We're going to have to move along here.
Let's turn to Acts Chapter 8.
Well, I'll just read a couple of verses in Acts chapter 8. It's another important point and I already read this, so bear with me. Verse 30. And Philip randither heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and he said understand us, what they'll read us. And he said how can I accept some man should guide me and he desired Phillip that he would come up and sit with him turn to chapter 18.
Verse 24 A certain Jew named Paul is born in Alexandria, an eloquent man.
And mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus, this man was instructed in the way of the Lord. Being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him.
Unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into a kid, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him who when he was come, he helped them much which had believed through grace, and he mightily convinced the Jews, and publicly showing from the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. I'm not going to ask you to turn to any more passages here, but we could turn over to the 4th chapter of Ephesians, well known to everybody.
00:45:14
And that is 4th of Ephesians. There were talks about the gifts that have been given to the church for the the building up the Saints and the edifying of the body and the perfecting of the Saints. And they come to the unity of the faith. My point here now is this.
Have it explained to you?
By those who have been taught of God.
Avail yourself of the gifts that have been given to the Church, and even if someone is not necessarily gifted, like it doesn't say policy and a equivalent and Priscilla were at least they were taught in the word of God, and they could explain things to this man Apollos, and he got a benefit from it. So not only are we to rightly divide, we are to interpret it, but we're also to get it explained to us from those who are gifts to the Church. Avail yourself of those things.
Which God has given to us as far as gifts to the Church. This is important. You know we.
God knows it is difficult. Maybe there's someone here that says I feel just like that eunuch. I'm reading scripture, I don't know what I'm reading. Understand it's what thou readest. He asked. He says I don't know. How could I? I need some man to help me. Well, God has provided men to help you. He has given gifts to the church and you need to avail yourselves of what God has given. It could be by attending meetings. Come to the Bible meetings where there is ministry being given, where we'll go through a chapter and explain the verses and help us to understand it.
Or it may be through a book of ministry pamphlet or something that's been written down and published, or maybe even captured on oral ministry, captured on tape. There's there's a number of ways in which we can actually get help on the scriptures. But I'm telling you now, this is, I see from scripture here a principle that God would have us to avail ourselves of. I don't like his brother. Heinz used to tell us the Robinson Crusoe type of Christian. Now you know the story of Robinson Crusoe. He's this guy who was on an island by himself.
I thought he thinks that the whole world revolves around his island, and sometimes we can get like that we we become an island Christian. We don't want anybody else thought on the scripture or anything. We've got our own ideas and we're almost always we'll run into bad doctrine along the line because we need the checks and balances of one another. If it's even in written ministry or by talking to different brothers and sisters in the word of God, avail yourselves of what God has put in the church.
And your brethren is my point here. It's very helpful.
Do you have a verse that you've been reading and you just can't seem to get the context? You can't get the interpretation. You can go to an older brother and ask him. Or a younger brother. I've been corrected by younger brothers. Don't try it now. But I mean, you know.
We need to be open and like this menopause. He was mighty in the scriptures. He was the most eloquent man that probably walked into that synagogue.
But he was open to receiving something from a tent maker and his wife. How humiliating.
I can't be taught by that person. Reminds me of Mr. Wolston. Mr. Wolston, You know, WTP Wolsten, good doctor. They used to call him Man. It was a powerful evangelist and a gifted man amongst the Lord's people. When he was under conviction about getting saved, you read the account of it. His mother told him, well, why don't you go listen to Richard Weaver. He was a rough man that got saved and preached the gospel. He's a man that was in the bars and there's just a rough, rough man. Well, WTP Wilson said when he found out about that, he left the house and he never went because he found out on the way that there was this Richard Weaver guy was just some derelict that had been saved.
Or converted to God or something, he said. I can't get saved by that kind of a man. I'm too good of a man. I'm a an intern of a being, A to be a doctor.
He was too proud and God had to humble listen.
And I think was Andrew Miller that preached and he got saved. No, it was Charles Stanley. Excuse me.
No, we don't want to be that way. Can't receive it because, you know, we're.
That's just you and I'm me.
The spirit that this man Paulus had was beautiful. And that's the spirit that we need. It's the spirit of Mary. Okay, Let's move along here. Now. We've got 5 minutes. Let's turn to Psalm 119. No, Psalm One. Let's turn to Psalm One first, First two verses. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth He meditate day and night.
00:50:10
Then 100 and 19119 and verse 97 Oh how I love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I suppose you can understand what I'm saying now, and that is we need to meditate on it.
Having read the scriptures, received it.
And seek its bearing when relation to Christ. And we're rightly dividing it with regards to Israel and the church and so on, and interpret it in its proper context. And had somebody explain it to us to be understand it even more clearly, then what are we to do? We're to meditate on it. We are to put it in our think tank, if I could put it that way, and muse over it through the day as we go about our responsibilities. That's important, you know, to meditate on the scriptures.
And when we do that, it will become sweet to our souls. You know that it was.
It was. It was John, the fear in Revelation 10. You know the story, right, because you read the Bible. John in Revelation 10, he took the little book, which is all the Old Testament prophecies, and he was to go to the great Angel that was there and the and the and he was told to take the book out of his hand and eat it. And when he ate it, it was very sweet to his taste, but then it became bitter in his belly. You know the story. And I think when we eat the things of God, it is meditated, assimilated.
Take it in. And that's what meditation really implies. It becomes sweet to our souls.
Well, we're looking at Psalm 119. Turn back to verse 11 for another one.
119 verse 11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee, and I'll read a verse in Titus one it says, holding fast the faithful word. And so the point here is, is that we need to.
Hide it in our hearts. Hold it fast in our hearts. Hide it in our hearts. Whatever way you want to look at that, that's good, you know.
We need to hide it. That's the proper lodging place of this truth of God. Once we learn it in the heart, it's not in the mind. Because if it's in the mind, you can lose it. But in the heart it becomes part of the life and it affects us completely. Old Mr. Keating, where I came from, he's now with the Lord. Many years He used to say there's three things here. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? He said thy word. That's the best thing. My heart. That's the best place that I might not sit against thee. That's the best reason.
So we have the best thing hit in the best place for the best reason. I like that.
OK, let's pass on here now to Luke's Gospel Chapter 8.
And verse 15.
I know we've turned a lot of scriptures, but what can I do?
God's word gives us all these points with regard to profitable Bible study.
8th chapter of Luke verse 15. But that on the good ground he's talking about the seed that's thrown. On the good ground are they which with an honest heart and a good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. And then in second Timothy we're only going to turn to one more passage after this. If I if that's any good news for you, I'm sorry but we turn to so many here. The second Timothy chapter one very very well known passage verse 13 and 14. Hold fast or have an outline of sound words which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing or that good deposit which was committed to the keep.
By the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. You can see what I'm getting out here. Now, these two passages I've read Luke 8 and for second Timothy one, and that is we need to keep it by putting it into practice and getting an outline of it.
We need to keep it, and when it does, kept by putting it into practice, into our lives, It's going to bring forth fruit. And Paul tells Timothy that he needed to have a sound outline of his words that he taught because that was the way in which he would be able to keep that good deposit.
It's very important that we get ahold of that. He's not telling Timothy here in this verse that he should learn Pauls doctrine.
I know many people have often said that, but that's nobody saying here. The reason why I say that with confidently is because in the third chapter he says thou hast fully known my doctrine. He already knew it.
00:55:01
But he's saying take it a step further and get it into an outline form, that you'll be able to keep it better so you don't lose any part of it. And also you'll go in the second chapter and show you that you need to share it. And if you have it in an outline form, it's easier to disseminate. And that brings us to our last point. And this is the last verse I promise to turn to. And that's Psalm 68, verse 11, Psalm 68, verse 11.
And this one is.
The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it. There you have it. Great was the public company of those that published it. We need to publish it.
Not only do we want to read it, we want to receive it, Look for Christ in it, rightly divide it, interpret it in the light of all of the Scripture. Have it explained to us by those gifts that God has given to the Church. Meditate on it, Hold it fast in our hearts, or hide it in our hearts.
Keep it by putting it into practice and to publish it, to disseminate it, to give it out to others. What a privilege that is.
And when you do that?
Do it.
As coming from your heart because that what she comes from the heart will go to the heart of others and it will register with them. If it's just a lot of intellectual knowledge, they'll pick up on that and say you know, and if it's used with a lot of strange phraseology or archaeasms, they don't know what you're talking about. You think of it. People are unexposed to these things and you come up to them and start talking like Shakespeare or something. They don't know what you're talking about. They think you ran into to him, you know, so.
Clarity in publishing is what I'm getting at here now, so very important. Now let's pray.
Grace to the Household #1
Grace to the Household #2
Outline of Proverbs 1-8
Address—Eric James
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.
Savior, we long to follow thee daily, Thy cross to bear.
And count all else would err it be unworthy of our care.
Hopefully most of you got a handout.
You hadn't had any handout, so we better get one to you before you left.
They help when we cover things. It helps to have kind of pre notes in some cases, doesn't it? At least it does mean, but this is a handout on Proverbs. We've been talking about trying to understand the scriptures and I had several conversations in in our home area. We've had some young peoples and I know in past several years I've talked to young people and I said young people, make sure you get.
Line of scriptures, try to get the whole picture as much as you can, because one of the hardest things about understanding scripture is that we don't understand how the pieces fit together. And so if we can get that outline, it can be a tremendous help. And then we can put the pieces together much, much, much more easily. Well, I'd like to talk about Proverbs a little bit.
We went over proverbs in our Sunday school class at home recently.
And I thought it would be a benefit. I'm not going to try to cover the whole book. Needless to say, this is a little summary sheet that her brother, Bruce Anstey put together. And I would heartily recommend that you get this little booklet on Proverbs. I think it's one of his most practical, if I can. Many of us are practical, but I think it's one of the best for young people. He summarizes a lot of thoughts that he puts down in other places.
And Proverbs has often been called the young person's book.
And indeed it is, but I would like to try to cover as much as we're able the the 1St 9 chapters. I asked Bruce if I could use his chart to do that. I didn't ask him before we did it in Sunday school because I think that was the purpose. I can recommend some other pamphlets. Mr. Lundin has written a very helpful little pamphlet on Proverbs that you'll find. Gordon Hayhoe has a little pamphlet.
On that it's really Proverbs 9, although he covers some of the other parts as well.
That our brother Robert Ballard has just reproduced. So you can get that and you'll find it very, very helpful. And of course, there's Mr. Kelly's book. He actually was one of the last books he wrote because he died while he was in the process of writing that book. So it has some of his most mature wisdom of all.
And of course there's other books by Mr. Ironside and and and many, many others. So Proverbs is one of the most commonly read Old Testament books, no doubt. I was talking to a brother the other day. I.
Hope he's still here or not, but he told me I read a proverb every single day.
I read a chapter of Proverbs every single day and I thought he said, and I learned that from my dad and I thought, well, that certainly makes some sense to do that. I don't do that, frankly, but that's good advice, isn't it? Let's look at Proverbs some what I'd like to let's turn back to Proverbs chapter one.
Try to get an outline. We'll try to get an outline of the 1St 9 chapters. We've got some good notes here, something to take up when you go back home. And then you can see the last chapter, starting with chapter 10 through the end of the book are details. So the 1St 9 chapters give us more the principles of wisdom.
And then the chapters 10 through 31 give us more the actual proverbs, the actual specific details.
Proverbs, Chapter one. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment and equity. To give subtlety or prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain on the wise counsels.
To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. What you'll see from her little outline here, just as we did in our Sunday school when we were going through this, I might mention there's.
Other outlines available for the Book of Proverbs, and I don't think Bruce would say that this is infallible. It's not. Other outlines would work as well. And I had several other sources for some mountain lions, but I think it's a helpful outline. And so we used it as kind of the backbone and we're going through it in Sunday school. One thing I do want to point out, just stay where you are. Just want to read.
00:05:12
Some notes I have in my Bible about Revelation 4. We've referred to that a couple times.
But in Revelation 4, we have a throne set in heaven.
And there is a throne set in heaven. It's a throne of government. What does that mean? Well, let me read a comment that's been helpful to me. It says the throne is the emblem of rule and authority.
The guarantee for order and blessing and security throughout the universe.
The fall of man was a challenge to the throne. Sin is rebellion against the throne. Infidelity, that is people denying there is a God is the denial of the existence of the throne.
Pride aspires to the throne, and Satan defines the throne. This throne is the throne of what we call God's government. It's the foundational principles of the world. God has foundational principles. It's not Christianity as such that goes beyond government, but so long as we're in this world.
We're subject to what we call the government of God. Our brother Doug talked about the grace of God.
And the grace of God and the government of God often go together.
The grace of God is God's unmerited favor.
And the government of God is generally the principle that whatsoever a man soweth, thou shall he also reap. In other words, there is a order to the universe. Although the world is mixed up and confused, and sin has come in and corrupted this world, God is still on the throne. And He sits as sovereign on that throne, moving all the scenes He is behind. Don't ever forget that.
Men will tell you that there's no water to the universe.
We just happen to be here in time and space and all kinds of baloney. But the fact is there is a moral, what we call a moral government in this world. And that's what the Old Testament speaks about. That's what Proverbs speaks about in a particular way. There are rules for conduct, and if we follow those rules, we can get a real blessing.
If we want work against those rules, we can get into great trouble.
And great distress and I can say.
With the with a little bit of experience because of my age and observation that these things are absolutely true. How many young people have sat in these chairs, sat in the chairs in our local meetings or those that we know and we see those that have a desire to please the Lord. If they go on year after year, they get a blessing.
And yet we see those who defy these rules.
And as they defy those rules, they enter on a life sometimes astonishing, astonishingly quickly. I'm amazed how quickly it happens sometimes. But they enter on a pathway that leads to great distress and dishonor and a blot for them, and spoils and destroys their own lives to a greater, lesser extent. So these are critical matters. Let's look at this a little more carefully.
These words are, there's apparently 10 different words here. I don't really don't really have time here to go into the distinct meaning. The word wisdom is probably the umbrella term here. And there's nine other expressions here in verses 2 Through 4 that explain the things that the young person is going to be instructed in. And of course, there's great benefit for those that are of those of us that are no longer young people as well.
Let me also talk about a couple other terms that are introduced here. One is in verse four, the word simple, to give subtlety or prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. There's really three terms here that are important. The one is simple. The other is verse 5A, wise man.
So the one hand we have a simple person and then we have a wise person.
And then thirdly in the end of verse 7. But fools despise wisdom instruction.
00:10:02
What is a simple person? We're going to see that term over and over in this book. A simple person is not somebody. We talk about people that don't have all their mental faculties. That's not what a simple person is in Scripture. A simple person is rather somebody who's naive. They're untrained, unskilled. You know, the word wisdom actually comes, we're told, from the Hebrew word for skillful. It's like an artisan, like Tim as a cabinet maker.
And he's worked many years to become a skillful Cabot cabinet maker. And so when we read the word wisdom, we're talking about skill and living according to the governmental principles of God. It's the same word for skill. Interesting. Interesting, isn't it? So a simple person is one who's naive, like somebody who hasn't learned that skill yet. And so.
Here Proverbs is going to tell us how to get that skill.
Now a wise person simply is one who has gained that skill. So you have a simple person. He can either become a wise person or he can become a fool. Proverb speaks about two pathways over and over again.
One is the pathway, that's the the pathway of the wise man. The other is the pathway that's the pathway of the fool. And we're going to speak about that in more detail, but those are the two distinctions we have. So those three terms we have here now there's a right attitude to learn and we have that mentioned in verse 5A. Wise man will hear.
We want to be wise men. If we want to be wise men, first of all we have to hear what God has to say.
We'll hear the instruction of thy father. I'm sorry. Wise men will hear in a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand the proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. I suppose that has partly mainly to do with what begins in chapter 10, the actual proverbs and enigmas of wise men that can be used by people who are becoming wise men. But first of all.
We need to hear.
Scripture says take heed how ye hear.
Often problem, oftentimes it's not whether people are saying things or not, it's whether we're listening and we're hearing and so scripture instructs us to hear if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. You know, oftentimes people say I I just don't understand that. Well, why isn't it that I don't understand something? Too often it's because.
I've not really been willing to hear. I don't really want to do what.
God wants me to do and so it just kind of bounces off, comes keeps coming at me, but I just, it just doesn't sink in. Maybe you've had that same experience too. But if we want to get blessed, we don't earn God's blessing. I don't mean to pretend that, but there is an attitude that God blesses our brother Doug spoke about that somewhat in the previous days. There is an attitude. Look at Joseph's brethren. They had to be brought to a.
Where their spirit was right, then grace could be shown to them. Two parts to this attitude. Then we heard about Joe yesterday. He had a bad attitude. He needed an attitude adjustment. Here we have the proper attitude for blessing.
First of all.
Verse 5, then next verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. What is the fear of the Lord? Well, that was a brother. Stan spoke about that a little bit last night. But it doesn't mean to be afraid of God. It means to have a reverential fear for God. Perhaps one thing we can say about the fear of the Lord.
Is that we we have reverence towards God.
And we know that He understands the world perfectly. He created us. He sent us Son, to die for us. He has a plan, a blessing for us.
The fear of the Lord is that we might miss His thoughts. Isn't that a real fear? That's part of the thought of the fear of the Lord. I believe that we might miss His thoughts as instructions. He wants our blessing and He has provided for it in a wonderful way.
But the danger is that we don't fear the Lord. We think we can go our own way and get blessed, and we miss the blessing the Lord has. So here's the right attitude. First of all, that we truly hear. Secondly, that we fear the Lord. We fear that we miss God's instructions as loving instructions and directions for us. And I suppose the second part of fear, no doubt.
00:15:20
Is that we don't have it exactly in this book, but.
God is our Father.
We fear lest we displease him is not a wonderful thing. You know, I just went to a graduation. My daughter just graduated from high school and and one of the people stood up and said they had a new a new principal this year at their school. The other principal bailed about a week before school was supposed to start. So they needed to get a new interim principal for a year.
And they did. And we knew that the young people really didn't respect that previous principal very much. Maybe they feared him.
In the way that he could take away privilege, which privileges which he did regularly, and nobody particularly liked him or cared for him. And maybe that was part of the reason why he retired when he did. But nonetheless, this new principal that came in, they just loved him.
And they respected him. And the president of the senior class got up and said, you know, we were so afraid that we might displease them. And so that was the rule for our conduct. And I thought, well, that's really, that's proper reverential fear, isn't it? Concern that somebody that cares very much for us and with whom to whom we, to whom we, with whom we have a relationship that will disappoint them.
So Isis, I suggest there's those two parts to the fear of the Lord, fear that we displease our loving Father and fear that we miss His wisdom. So that's the right attitude to hear and to have the fear of the Lord. Well, let's go to our outline. I know we're going to have to move quickly if we want to get through the 1St 9 chapters and we'll.
Try to get some help here. So there is his throne in heaven. There are rules for living, rules for blessing, rules for the fool if he violates those rules of blessing.
Verses 8 and 912 lessons. Now, this is all within the context of the household. Notice chapter one. The formal part of it actually starts with verse eight. We're going to find the 1St 7 chapters, except one, all start if we start with verse eight, at least the 1St 7 verses are simply the introduction. We're going to find that they all start with the expression My son.
The proper one of the proper places for learning these truths is in the family.
And I know that this is broken down a great deal. And we read that the family, the households, there's more households that are not the traditional families today than there are those that are traditional families. And I do not doubt that that's Satan's attack to destroy people and to destroy even this country as far as that goes, and to destroy the assembly.
Brother Gordon Hale makes the comment that the family is the backbone of the assembly.
Many of the problems that happen in the assembly are the result of a breakdown in the family.
That's an interesting point, isn't? And I think it's very, very true. So we as parents, those of us that are parents have a particular responsibility. And so it says, my son, hear the instruction of the father forsake, not the law of thy mother.
I know there's a problem sometimes.
Because children tend to be technologically advanced to adults, they can get on the computer and get on Facebook and get on Twitter and these other things, and we're kind of out to lunch somewhat. Some may may do that to try to check on their kids. But in many respects, children are much more technologically advanced. You think in different terms than we do. I grew up with books. You grew up with computers. I've adopted computers to a certain extent.
They tend to be more Calpass sort of person with computers go the little cow pass that I understand. Whereas young people are much, much more different. They understand it much better. So it is true that children are technologically advanced compared to our parents. When you go to school, you learn the technology from academics. As far as parents go, we may be able to help you with some of those academics. Some of those academics may be beyond us. My daughter's taken.
Much more math than I ever took.
00:20:02
I took your calculus, but she's taken linear algebra and four semesters, four quarters of calculus already. So she hopes to be a math teacher someday. But at any rate, we can only help so much in academics. But there's two other areas that are a vital part of our education which you will not learn in school. And remember this because the the breakdown of the generation in many respects is because of the younger generation.
Superiority and technology, and in some cases academics, but that's a false superiority as we have here. Proverbs are not about academics. They're not about technology. What are they about? They're about spiritual issues and about moral issues. What are moral issues or spiritual issues? Spiritual issues have to do primarily with my relationship with the Lord.
Moral issues have to do with my proper conduct, conduct that flows from my relationship with the Lord. And so in Proverbs we have both of those things, both spiritual instruction and particularly moral instruction. You're not going to get good spiritual or moral instruction at school. You're going to get just the opposite. And so it's often been repeated.
Our brother Hey Ho used to tell his children when they were younger.
And that when you go to school, they said, and they teach you about Abcs and about those things, listen to what they say. But when they start to speak about moral matters, how you should act or spiritual matters, which they don't talk about very much, your relationship to God, although they may like to bring in false religions, which is a spiritual matter. He says don't listen to him. It's important that we follow the word of God.
And those of us that are parents.
It's vital that we teach those moral and spiritual lessons at home. They're not going to learn them in school. They should not learn them in school. It's the parents responsibility first of all to teach these vital moral and spiritual lessons which they will not learn from their peers, generally speaking, will not learn at school. We hope they learn some in the assembly if they go there, but there's a great vacuum in our country because.
Spiritual and moral values have not been learned and applied properly. So it starts in the home. And as I said, each of these first seven chapters, with the exception of one which says my children speaks to sons, it's in the proper relationship. I've often thought that they often hear that we're in the school of God, and I've often said that myself, but.
Bill Gooding is back there. He wants to know what scripture you have for that, and I've asked that same question.
I'm not sure we have a scripture that tells us we're in the school of God, particularly for Christians. We're in the family of God. That's a better thing than being in a school, isn't it? The schoolmaster may or may not care for me. I mean, it may or may not like me. He may just show favoritism. But I hope my parents have a much deeper love for me. And this, again, is the proper environment for for learning these spiritual and moral lessons. OK.
That's the first one that's mentioned in our little outline. The second one is the danger of bad companions versus 10 through 33. Again, that's a general outline.
But we see that there is a danger in verse 10. Again, notice it says, My Son of sinners, entice thee, consent thou not. And it speaks about the dangers of some of these wicked men down through verse 23 or so.
There is a danger of bad companions. Remember what it says in the New Testament. Evil communications corrupt good manners.
What happens if we go out with people that don't share our moral and spiritual values? We can get in trouble, can't we? Don't think that you can rise above it because it's going to drag us down to their level. So there's a danger of bad companionship.
Vital wisdom for us. What's the answer? Well, the answer of the Word of God is what we had last night. Sanctification. God has set us apart for a holy purpose. We heard about that last night.
Positionally, He set us apart for a holy purpose. Now He wants us to live day by day as those that have been sanctified. That's the practical side our brother Ron was speaking about last night. And I might add, there's a third aspect to sanctification, maybe even more. But the third aspect is what we call a provisional sanctification. That is, there's an outward place of blessing, and that's what the family is or should be.
00:25:15
Is a place of sanctification. Now that doesn't make the children Christians.
But it puts us in an environment where holiness is the path of blessing and encouragement for us. Tells us in First Corinthians 7 that even if only one parent is saved, the children in unbelieving spouse are sanctified. That's what we call provisional sanctification, a provision God has made dear young people.
So many of you have been raised in Christian families.
Value that it's a sanctified place. No, it doesn't make you a Christian, but it puts you in the ideal environment for blessing. The assembly is a place of sanctification. I know things can go bad in the assembly, but as a rule it's a sanctified place and we thank God for that. So there's a third aspect of sanctification that's a little more suited to.
A to a.
An address rather than the gospel meeting.
So sanctification or separation? First of all, sanctification is to the Lord. He set us apart for a holy purpose. Why is that? Because we're His children. Because He wants to bless us. Because we're part of His family. He wants to conform us to His image, the things we heard about last night. Because He wants to bless us. The other part of sanctification.
Is separation from that which will defile the world.
Two parts of separation. But if we don't have.
Separation to the Lord, separation from the world can be a very challenging thing.
That's why some of these people, like Mennonites and so on, have such struggles so often, because they're separate from the world, but they've never gotten the other half, which is separation or sanctification to the Lord. And so there can be some very sad times. So two parts of separation. Now look at verses 24 through 33.
Young people, there are consequences to bad choices. That's what it speaks about from verse 24 to the end of the chapter. Consequences of bad choices are what we sometimes call, again, the violation of God's government.
It's been said that man is free. We can put that in quotes. Man is free to make his own choices in life.
But he's not free to choose the consequences of those choices. This is where proverbs can be a great help. It tells us what those consequences are without us having to experience them ourselves.
So consequences of bad choices. We'll see that more and more as we go on.
Over in chapter 2, now we want to move forward ahead here. What we have again in the first seven chapters of, of, of Proverbs is the instruction within the parents home before a young person goes out into the world. That's what we have in chapter 8 is when a young person goes away to college or he goes out and gets his own apartment. That's the second stage. But the first stage is instruction in the parents home.
And then we might mention, if you look ahead a little bit, in Chapter 9. Now the sun establishes his own household and becomes a blessing to others. He gets married. He establishes his own household and becomes a blessing to others. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Just think of that, young people.
Once you like to be a blessing to other people, but before you and I, you and I can be a blessing to other people, we need to be blessed ourselves. So chapters one through 7 speak of that blessing, that pathway of blessing learned in the parents households. We don't have to learn it by bitter experience. Hopefully we can learn it by instruction in the home.
We don't have to learn it even by observation, although that's part of what we learn in the family.
We don't have to learn it by pursuing man's wisdom. We don't have to try all the various.
Religions or philosophies of the world. Those are jobs, three friends, aren't they? My personal experience, my observation and man's wisdom, the heart. We don't have to go through all those things. God will teach us himself within a godly family. OK. Chapter 2 it says implementing reading and prayer of the scriptures and prayer in our lives.
00:30:17
Well, that's one way to outline it.
We have that certainly in the 1St 9 verses. Look what it says in verse one, my son, if this is conditional. Now again, we can make our own choices, but there's consequences to our choices. So here's a here's a conditional if, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with these so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and imply thy heart to understand.
That's reading the Word of God, not just a verse. That's being diligent in the study of the Word of God.
Receive my words. You might underline those in your Bible like I have. Hide my commandments with thee. Incline thine ear on the wisdom. Apply thine heart to understanding. That's reading the scriptures diligently and orderly and then prayer verse 3.
Yeah, if again still conditional. Thou cryest after knowledge. This is prayer, isn't it? And lift this up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver, and searches for her As for hid treasure.
This is prayer. Those two verses are prayer, reading of God, and prayer, diligent prayer.
And then finally to skip ahead and then it says in verse 5 then so we have an if.
Then and look down in verse 7. Then we have a walk. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler or shield to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his Saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity? Yeah, every good path. So there's an if.
And a then. But it starts with diligent, careful reading of the Word of God.
And prayer. Not just the flippant thing like we heard about the other day, but diligent. Look at those two verses.
Dedicated to describing the Word, how we should pursue our reading of the Word of God, and two verses described to what prayer should be in our lives. If we really want to get the blessing that God so much wants to give to us, then our walk will be in such a way that will please Him.
Now in verse 10 we have a little different thought, or I should say I really should jump down to verse 12. We have two great enemies to the young person.
The first is the evil man, verses 12 Through 15 to deliver thee from the way of the evil man.
From men that speak forward things, Man in Scripture is often a picture of secular waves, the rational way, the world in its system, not in its religion or philosophy so much that's more the woman we're going to read about, but it's men in his secular ways. He doesn't think that he have any thoughts about God. God is not in any of his thoughts. So he has different, he has different spiritual and moral principles than the man who reads the word of God.
His moral principles have to do with making money. If he has to beat up some people to get it, well, maybe he has to do that. Maybe I'm speaking metaphorically, but that's what it comes down to. If he's greedy, well, that's just life. That's what it is. That's what we're here for, is to make a bunch of money. And that's the way some people think. That's the evil man.
And then starting with verse 16, to deliver thee from the strange woman.
Well, we're going to talk about the strange woman a little bit later, but the strange woman, in a nutshell, is a woman outside of the covenant relationship, covenant relationship of marriage. Of course, it's a woman outside of the covenant relationship, but it speaks of the woman that flatters with her words, forsakes the guide of her youth.
And she seeks to corrupt our sport, our spiritual.
And moral principles that we've been taught in the household. So there's these two dangers, I like to think. And I think there's an example of this. And First Samuel 25 matter of fact, let me just turn there. Let's turn there very quickly. Keep your finger here because I think the language is beautiful. One of the great themes of Proverbs is 2 pathways. Here we have them, the violent man.
00:35:16
And the.
And the strange woman represent 1 pathway, and the path of wisdom represents the other pathway. We have an illustration of that in First Samuel 25. I'll just read part of the illustration very quickly. Two people here, Abigail and Mabel. Notice what it says about Abigail in the middle of verse three of First Samuel 25. Here's a description of a wise woman. She was a woman of good underst.
And of a beautiful countenance. But the man that's Naval, the fool, that's what his name means, is fool. But the man was churlish and evil in his doings. He was of the House of Caleb. You know what that means. Caleb was a godly man.
One of the two good spies that came back from searching out the land and he was one of the very few that entered into the into Canaan. This man was of that house. What that means, I think is that this man had tremendous spiritual blessings. He had a tremendous spiritual heritage and so many of you young people have a tremendous spiritual heritage. But he despised it and he became an.
Person. That's the person who follows the 2nd pathway. The violent man, the evil man or the strange woman.
Let's go on to the next one, chapter 3, The importance of trusting and honoring the Lord number four, first four verses in chapter first, 10 verses of chapter 3.
Look at verse five, well known verse. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy past. You know, dear young people.
I often feel that this is one of the besetting sins of youth.
We're confident, we don't feel our absolute need of dependence on the Lord. And I'm speaking from experience, sad to say, and even too much in my life now, but.
The best path is to be careful that we not make an important decision, or even any decision to that point, apart from the sense that it was the Lord's will for us in all way. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. So often we see people that go their own way.
And we know it's not going to lead to a good way and that life seems so confused. And life is a jigsaw puzzle. It's a confused enigma, but there's a pathway through it and that's what we're reading about. Dependence on the Lord is so important.
We need to spend time in the Lord's presence, speaking with Him. Do you do that in the morning?
Do you have a time set aside where you pray and say Lord?
You want to talk with the Lord and bring before him the concerns you have of the day, being careful that we don't take a step apart, apart from the sense of the Lords presence.
That's so important. I, I, I really believe that's one of the characteristics of godly people. I've noticed it in my lifetime. I think that's one of the things I've learned a little bit. I hear people that pray just that way. When they pray, they're, they're talking to the Lord because they're, they do not want to take a step without the assurance of the Lord's presence.
That's a good place to be. So verses one through 10 of chapter 3, the importance of trusting, trusting and honoring the Lord, Dependence on the Lord. Verses 11 Through 20, profiting from the discipline of the Lord. A lot of us really like discipline that much, do we? But discipline really comes from the same root word as disciple, doesn't it?
He's making us His disciples, making us to be His followers. Well, when we think about it that way, that's a little different. We heard yesterday about the four types of discipline. Punitive discipline, preventative discipline. The Lord passes us through certain things to prevent us from getting into trouble.
00:40:11
Preparative discipline. He has a purpose of service. He has a work for us, and He wants to prepare us for that work. We may not know why. Did the Lord pass me through this?
Well, he may well want you to be a help to somebody else that goes through the same trouble, and he's preparing you so you can give good advice from your personal experience just down the road. And then of course, there's purgative, which we read more about yesterday. You know the story.
About the silversmith who?
Heats up the silver and he takes off the impurities and takes off the impurities until he can see his own reflection. That's purgative discipline. The Lord wants us to make him more like himself. Well, that's.
Profiting from the discipline of the Lord. We have this verse that's quoted in Hebrews and verse 11. My son, despise not, don't disregard the discipline of the Lord. Has the Lord brought a trial into your life? In my life?
It's part of His discipline. Don't despise it. We need to get on our knees and get before the Lord. He may not tell us exactly why He brought it in, but we can trust Him that He has a good purpose in it and a purpose for blessing. We need to bow to the Lord's discipline because He wants our blessing and happiness, so we don't want to despise it or disregard it.
Neither be weary of his corrections. Sometimes we just get worn out.
We say, Lord, I can't take it anymore, can't we take it anymore?
The Lord will give us the strength if we lean on Him. If we do it in our own strength, we will get weary. But if we carry on in His strength, we won't get weary. He'll give us the need, the need of strength.
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and even as a father, the Son in whom he delighteth.
Verses 21 Through, well, let's look at the end of chapter three, first of all, verse 21 to the end. And we're skipping through some of these things quickly, but I do feel even in the assembly and in these meetings often time, not trying to tell you everything, we could never do that. But I know some other brothers and I have spoken in our home meeting and we wondered, well, how fast or how slow should we go in the meetings?
And we felt exercise that we should try to give an outline #1.
And #2 we hope that particularly the young people and others will get an appetite for these things, and then we'll dig into it on themselves. We can't give them every little bit, but we hope that they'll get an appetite. So give them enough to give an outline. That's our responsibility, and then enough to hopefully stimulate your appetite. And that's where we're headed here. All right, verse 21, what we have here to the end of the chapter is.
Divine guidance in the past, how the Lord wants to.
Guide us in the path.
Starting in verse 21.
There are several, several things that will be a help for us and dividend.
In.
I'm sorry, verse.
We're chapter, I'm sorry, verse verse 21 is building relationships. I got ahead of myself a little bit. So the end of chapter 3 through verse 20 of verse 21 to the end of the chapter is building relationships. That's an important part of living, isn't it, that we build good relationships and here we have some things that will help us build good relationships. Notice verse 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear.
Neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh for the Lord, shall be thy confidence.
So one principle as far as developing good relationships is to have confidence in the Lord. The Lord will read it, lead us in the right pathway. He'll give us good instruction. We can trust the Lord to help us develop good relationships. Second verse 27 acts of kindness withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it.
Have you ever thought about that as far as having good relationships and friendships?
Show acts of kindness. Here's the wisdom of the Word of God. Thirdly, in verse 28, generosity, say not unto thy neighbor, Come and go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee.
Be generous.
00:45:00
It's too easy to fail on that, isn't it? But generosity cultivates good relationships. Verse 29.
Be careful not to hurt another. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by thee. We should be so careful not to hurt others, shouldn't we even their feelings? We should be careful to go out of our way not to hurt other people's feelings.
Verse 30 Strive not with a man without cause. If he have done thee no harm, don't cause strife.
Don't be a person who strives and causes trouble all the time. A troublemaker. That's not a way to build good relationships. I know there's exceptions. There's times when there has to be certain things stirred up. But we're talking about general character, aren't we? Don't be somebody who causes strife. Look at verse.
Verse 31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Don't be overbearing or an oppressor to other people. That's no way to build relationships. Here's some good instruction as to how to build strong relationships.
#7 Look at verse 34.
Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly walk in loneliness. A meek and lowly person is a good person to have to have as a friend and to be a friend to others. So there's seven steps of forming relationships over in chapter 4. It's maybe not exactly forming relationships, but the 1St 9 verses speak.
Of wisdom as a family, treasure, or character.
There's a word for us parents, if you read it there, verse 3. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments. He's speaking about his father and his mother, and he's hoping to pass these dates on to his children that he walked in and he learned from his parents. There is such a thing as family character.
That's developed a family character.
That's honoring to the Lord and pass it on through the different generations and judge those characters that are not honoring to the Lord. Okay, on to verse #7 here and the instruction in the home divine guidance in the path, chapter 4, verses 10 through 19.
The Lord guides in different ways.
Here's some principles we've often heard the Lord guides by communion or here's a here's a set of of peas if you want. Sometimes it's easier to remember these things when they're start with the same letter. Here's a set of peas for divine guidance. One is consider divine guidance by communion or the Lord's presence being in the Lord's presence.
That's a good way to get direction by being in communion with the Lord.
Being in His presence. Second, by the principles of God's Word, By reading His Word diligently.
Thirdly, by Providence. Now we have to be a little careful here, because Providence in a way is circumstances and we have to be careful. Sometimes Providence circumstances are good indicators. Sometimes they're left there to test us. Remember David when he could have slain Saul. Saul was right there in The Cave where David and his men were. They could have taken his life in no time, and one of his men wanted to do it. But David said no.
Not going to do that. I know it's wrong. So we have to be a little careful about circumstances or Providence. That's one of the weakest of these, no doubt. And the other is profits. That would be other brothers and sisters. We might even mention the five, which would be parents, wouldn't it? Parents who have a love and godly care. Young people, don't despise your parents.
That's a worldly idea because of technology and academic superiority that you might despise your parents, remember.
That your parents, most likely in a Christian household, are far ahead of you as far as these principles of spirituality and moral principles and can be a great help in training you in that area. Don't think you know all the answers because you know a little more technology than your parents.
OK, on to the next one.
00:50:01
Verse 8 #8 Chapter 420 through 27.
The the importance of guarding our hearts look at verse 23 keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life the heart is the very moral core of our being.
The things that we allow ourselves to love are what form our character. What do you love sports? Do you love cars? Do you love money? That's what's going to form your character. Character is tremendously important, and Proverbs is about building a godly character.
So the things that we love are the things we go after.
And they define our lives and we have to guard our affections.
Because we can't trust our heart to make decisions, we have to make decisions.
By our spirits between what's right that has to do with our relationship with the Lord.
That's how we make decisions, and then our affections are to follow the decisions we've made in the Lords presence. Don't lead with your heart. You're going to get into deep trouble. I know the world says that oftentimes do what your heart tells you, but so often that's going to get us in trouble. We must act in communion with the Lord and based on the principles of His precious word for our blessing and happiness.
And then the heart can follow those decisions that have been made according to the wisdom and in the Lorde presence. That's the pathway of blessing and happiness.
So guard your heart, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. We cannot emphasize this too much.
We lead with our heart, we let our affections go after the things that God says don't touch, and we're going to have a fall.
Let's lead according to the Word, the wisdom of the Word of God, and communion with the Lord. Okay, on to chapter 5.
Marital joy and happiness. What a wonderful thing that is. In chapter 5 we have first two principles.
My son, attend to my wisdom, Bow thy ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and thy lips may keep knowledge. Now from verse three to 13, we have the wrong woman.
The strange woman.
And the relationship there is based on lust.
That's not spiritual decision, is it?
Lust is something that destroys us and pollutes, Mr. Lundin and his little pamphlet says this lust degrades the heart and moral sensibilities. It spoils understanding, injuries inwardly like nothing else, and leaves a lasting effect in life.
We need divinely ordered affections and established relationships.
That's the right woman, starting in verse 15 to verse 23.
Notice one thing that's characteristic about the right woman is it's an exclusive relationship. Verse 15 drink waters out of thine own cistern and running well waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of of waters in the streets. Well, we could spend a lot of other time, but a proper relationship blesses others.
Not just selfish, self-centered.
But it blesses others, it goes out to others. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee, and so on. Well, I'll read that in detail. But God's order for marriage is exclusive. One man, one wife for all of life.
On to Chapter 6.
How to avoid financial ruin Did you know the Bible talks about finances? You knew that, didn't you?
Here's some good advice as to how to avoid financial ruin. Or maybe that's a little too negatively stated. How we can get along. You know, finances are one of the primary reasons for marriages breaking up.
It happens in the world all the time.
And it happens in Christian marriages as well. It's important that we are careful with our finances. Let's look at some of the principles here very quickly verses one through 5. Avoid cosigning a debt.
00:55:07
Don't cosign a debt with somebody else. Verses 6 through 11. Work hard and save for hard times. Don't spend all that you make.
Boy, that's a tough one, isn't it? We live in a society where we're encouraged to spend more than we make, but the wisdom of the Word of God is don't.
Don't spend more than you make. Live on less than you make, or you're going to have trouble. It's going to affect your marriage. It's going to affect your family. You're going to have to work more hours or get a second job. The family gets neglected. It's a downward spiral. Don't.
Verses 12 Through 15, avoid a swindler, a naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a forward mouth, and so on. He winks with his eyes. You know, there's lots of promoters out there and swindlers, They'd be more than happy to take your money. We heard of one that swindled people out of literally billions of dollars here. Last year's name was Bernie Madoff, and he was considered an honorable man until finally the whole thing collapsed.
And he turns out he had swindled people literally out of billions of dollars.
He was just sentenced to jail, a man in his 70s sentenced to jail for 150 years. They wanted to send a message, avoid the swindler. And then verses 16 through 19, there's seven deadly sins marking.
The person not walking with the Lord, look at those real quickly. Verse 16 these six things that the Lord hate ye 7 or an abomination unto him.
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. Stay away from somebody like this, and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift to running, to mischief of false witness that speaketh lies. And he that soweth discord among brethren, That person's not walking with the Lord. Don't trust him.
Verse 11 #11 Verses 20 through 35, the governmental dealings of God. Well, we've spoken about that. Some the Scriptures speak, the Proverbs speak about that over and over again. Look at verse 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom, in his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned if we violate these principles of God's government?
We're going to There are going to be consequences.
Yes, men may be free to make their own choices, but they are not free to determine the consequences of those choices.
The government of God. And then the last of this, the folly of immorality, starting in Chapter 7, that's really the whole subject.
You can read that through as our time slipping by. This man was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's seduced by this strange woman. She has all kinds of ways to seduce and it gets him in trouble. And finally, what happens?
In verse 23 till a dart strike through his liver.
As a bird hastened to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life, his life is destroyed by not guarding his heart and following the Lord. Chapter 8. Now again the 1St 7 chapters have to do with instruction.
In the parental home, that sanctified place, that is a sanctified place for most of us here. Thank God for that, for those of us, for those who have not been raised in a sanctified place.
We can get it in the assembly, hopefully and from others who may and others who may be surrogate parents to us, those in the assembly who are shepherds and who love to be a help and encouragement to others. But chapter 8 has two parts, mainly the 1St 21 verses.
What we have now. Notice it doesn't start with my son or my children. All the other chapters have.
The young man is no longer in his parents home. It's now time for him to go off on his own young man or young woman and hopefully he's learned these lessons at home and that sanctified place and we trust that he leaves home with these principles that he learned at home. That's the lessons of the 1St 21 verses freedom and detail. It goes over those same things that we.
01:00:00
Read in verses 2 Through 4 of chapter one. Hopefully he's learned those lessons now and made him his own and he will survive in the world. We see young people going to college, particularly those that go away to college, and we I tremble when I see that. I absolutely tremble. A brother called a college campus, particularly when you go away, he called it.
A cesspool, not talking about academics, not talking about technology. Again, I'm sure they're superior there than what you'll find many places. But he is talking about spiritual principles and moral principles. It's an absolute sewer and you have to be warned against it. How can you survive it? By taking the principles of wisdom with you. Verse 21 verses.
From verse 22 Through 31.
By walking in communion with the Lord Jesus himself.
And those verses we have the Lord Jesus as Wisdom personified.
You know, wisdom by itself is not enough.
It only can be properly walked in in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God he made it that way. But that's the secret. Wisdom isn't good enough. As important as it is must be combined with communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. OK, last chapter, chapter nine time is just about gone here. Maybe it is.
Wisdom helps the son build his own house.
I just want to say one other thing. In chapter 8, notice it doesn't address my son at the beginning or my child, but notice what it does say in verse 32. I really should have mentioned that. I guess verses 32 to the end of chapter 8 give us the two paths. Again. We've been talking about the pathway of blessing and the pathway of destruction, but notice what it says verse 32. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children.
For blessed are they that keep my ways. You know you may go off on your own.
But your parents are always your parents. My parents are always my parents. They still have a lot of godly advice. No, they're not there every day to instruct and discipline, but they still have a deep care for us. I look forward to calling my mother on a regular basis and speaking with my father, and I value the wisdom and the example that they've given to me.
And so your parents are always your parents. But notice that it's at the end of the chapter.
They're not in the forefront anymore, but keep in touch because they have a love, they care for you, and they're always your parents till the day they die. Chapter 9. Then notice the young person hasn't only gone out on his own now, whether it's a college or a job or whatever it happens to be, but in Chapter 9, the cycle is complete. Wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. We have now that a new house.
Established.
And now we have the provision of the household from verses 2 down through 12. There's different principles, remember.
First, the person has blessed himself, walks in the pathway himself goes on apart from the apron strings, if we can call that, going out by himself. But now he builds his own house. Wisdom here is actually plural. It implies the thought that it's a man and a wife building their own house now, which will be a source of blessing to others.
That's the normal cycle.
And so we have the provision of the house. She hath killed her beasts. There's sacrifice in that home for the right things, and honoring the Lord. She hath mingled her wine. That's joy. In this household there is joy. She hath also furnished her table.
There's not only physical food, but there's spiritual food there. This is the provision of the house she has set forth. Her maidens she crieth upon the highest place of the city.
Who so as simple let him turn in, hit her, she's they're hospitable.
Wisdom, by the way, is in the feminine.
Suggestion there is that wisdom should be held in the affections of the heart.
She is hospitable wisdom is hospitable forsake the foolish verse six and live and go in the way of understanding that separation from the world. Each of the same principles we've heard about, but now they're coming from a brand new household and that's what we is such an encouragement. There's accountability. Verse seven he that reprove at this corner get it to himself shame he that get rebuked at the wicked man getteth himself applaud.
01:05:19
Reprove not a scorner unless they hate thee. Rebuke a wise man.
And he will love thee. Be accountable to your young people. We see young people that go places where they're not accountable. 99 times out of 100, they're going to make a mess out of their lives. And some of it's irreversible. And then finally, the fear of the Lord, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now, not just knowledge like we had in the first chapter, but the beginning of wisdom. And then finally, verses 13 through the end of.
Chapter give the opposite pathway.
The competing pathway. There's a spiritual and moral battle out there. The 1St is the path of wisdom we read in the first 12 verses. Verse 13 speaks of the foolish woman. The destruction shall 'cause she also calls out the passengers that go by who so is simple, let him turn in, hit her. There's those who want to destroy you before you can learn the path of wisdom. She says stolen waters are sweet.
It's not godly advice at all, is it?
Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
But he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Let's pray.
Speaking #1: Introduction
Speaking #2: How God Speaks to Us
Speaking #3: How We Speak to God
Speaking #4: Speaking to Others about God
Up
Address—John Bilisoly
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.
In Luke Chapter 7 and verse 11. And it came to pass. The day after that he went into a city called.
Name and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out.
The only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he touched the beer, and they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. Well, I was thinking of this little portion in connection with this.
This little exhortation that I've taped up here, wake up. And if you were to look at the Mr. Darby's translation.
It reads like this, youth, I say unto thee, wake up. And so I thought of that as a little exhortation. You know, dear ones, sometimes we get sleepy spiritually, don't we? And we need to be awakened. We need to wake up. And I trust that in this time being together here at Lassen, perhaps maybe we'll wake up in that way and we'll listen. We'll listen to what's being said, and may our hearts be encouraged.
You know, there was a time when and our brother referred to the Mount of Transfiguration and if we were to turn there and to look at that portion, we would see that just before the Lord manifested His glory, Peter and the others were sleeping. And I thought, you know, they came very close to missing that because they were asleep, but they awakened and they got to see that manifestation of His glory.
Well, you know, sometimes I believe that we can be asleep spiritually and we can miss out.
And what the Lord has for us. And so perhaps we need this word tonight to wake up.
There's another time too, when the disciples were sleeping when they should have been watching, and the Lord felt that, didn't He? It was there in the garden when he was in agony, and he says in Luke 22. And when He arose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And he said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise up and pray, lest you enter into a temptation.
And then we have that exhortation too, don't we, in Romans?
Paul says to the Romans and that knowing the time that it is now high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation near than when we believed. And then we have some other verses too. I'll just read 1St Corinthians 15 and verse 34. Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
And then Paul says to the Ephesians in Ephesians 5, verse 14.
Wherefore he saith, and again in the new translation, Wake up thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall give thee light. He's quoting, isn't He from Isaiah? And we know it's a millennial scene there, when the Lords people are going to shine forth and the nations will be attracted to them. Will the Lord wants you and I to shine forth, and he wants souls to be attracted not to us, but to himself.
You know, when I was little, maybe I've told this story before to some of you.
And I hope you don't mind a personal reference, but when I was little, sometimes we'd come home from meeting and we'd be so tired we didn't want to get out of the car, maybe it was cold outside and walk in on our own 2 lakes. So we would do what we sometimes say, play possum and my dad would shake us and he'd say, John, wake up, wake up, we're home now. And you know, I just lay there and pretty soon what would dad do? He put his arms under me and he'd pick me up and carry me in.
And I think some of my siblings did that too. And sometimes my dad would have to make a few trips back and forth from the car to the house. You know, dear ones, we like to be carried, don't we? But there comes a time when we can't always be carried. The Lord would have us to wake up and to walk, as it were, in our own. And so may we be encouraged in that.
Well, I'm going to go on to the next one.
I don't know if you can all see that, but.
There's another little exhortation in Scripture.
Rise up. You know we have a place in Colorado that's.
Pretty well known, maybe some of you have been there. It's called the Royal Gorge. It's down South of Denver in a near a city called Canyon City, and it's quite an interesting physical feature. It's a very deep gorge, maybe about 12-13 hundred feet down and there's a suspension bridge over it. And there's some other attractions. There's a cable car that you can ride and you can ride out over this gorge and it moves very slow across the gorge and it's a tremendous view a little bit.
00:05:09
But if you are stout hearted, you can get in that gondola and you can ride across that gorge. Or if you prefer the bridge, you can walk over on the bridge. Sometimes it sways a little bit in the wind. But again, if you don't look down too much, if you're not very stout hearted, then you'll be OK. But anyway, many people flock to this area to see this.
Very interesting geological feature. The Royal Gorge. There's a sign a billboard on the way to meeting and my wife Carmen pointed this out the other night.
They have a slogan there. They're advertising to get people to come to the Canyon, the gorge, and see it. And the slogan is rise above it all. And, you know, she said, I think that's nice. You know, sometimes we go through difficult things in our lives, don't we? And the Lord, as it were, tells us to rise up. And, and I was noticing as I was looking in Scripture about this little exhortation.
How that in most cases, when you find this in Scripture, it tells us to rise up to do something to to some kind of action. And I thought that was nice and so.
I was just noticing too that in connection with Moses being called of the Lord to lead the people.
Out of Egypt it says there in Exodus chapter 8 and and also in Chapter 9, the Lord said unto him to rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh.
And then and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And I thought that was nice. Moses was told to rise up early in the morning. I think there's something for us there, young people and older ones too, to rise up early in the morning. Do you want to be used for the Lord? Do you want to be a vessel in His hand? It may require rising up early in the morning to be used of Him.
I think that is encouraging that the Lord would seek to use this.
Well, I'm going to just mention a few of these.
We're told to rise up and pray in Luke 22 And he said unto them, verse 46, Why sleep? Ye rise up and pray that you enter not into temptation.
Song of Solomon, chapter 2 and verse 10 My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Do you ever think of that, dear ones? The Lord wants us to rise up and come apart, as it were. Maybe we can think of this time at Lassen as coming apart, rising up. And my desire, and I believe our brother and sister's desire is to that.
It would be as if we were just transported for a little while, for a few days.
Perhaps out of our circumstances, our trials, our difficulties, those things that tend to weigh us down, that we would just be able to rise up and come apart for a little while. I think that's no doubt was our brothers desire in calling us together.
We're told in Acts 26 to rise up and stand.
Paul says that rise up and stand on thy feet. Or Paul was told that I'm sorry by the Lord, rise up and stand on my feet. For for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness, and so on. That's the new translation.
Luke chapter 5 Weather is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or rise up and walk. These things call us to action, don't they? And we have in Nehemiah that they were told to rise up and build. There's another good thing. Rise up and build. And then in Luke 17 he said unto them.
I said unto him, Rise up and go thy way. So anyway, just just to give you a little sampling there of.
Of this thought of rising up in Scripture, and it's calling us, as it were, to some action to pray, rise up and pray. Do we rise up and pray in the morning? You know, it's a good thing. It's a good thing to rise up and pray. I hope you do.
And if you don't get started, rise up. Maybe you have to get up a little earlier. I know it's not hard. I mean, I know it's not easy sometimes to, to get up and early in the morning, but do it. Rise up and build. You know, I love to see a, a building in progress, a house, whatever. Some have that skill. I don't have that skill to build a house from the ground up, but I like to see it being done. You know, it's a good work, isn't it?
00:10:03
To build.
Each one of us can build spiritually, we can build one another up, and so on. All right, let's go on.
There's another little exhortation in the word of God to look up. You know, I have a picture at home that's always impressed me, so I've saved it. It was taken at a funeral and there's a group of people standing at this funeral. It was our sister Rosemary Biland number of years ago in Colorado Springs. And in this picture, everyone is looking up.
Well, they had released, we were there. And so I remember the occasion and they had released a big bunch of white balloons and these balloons were rising up into the sky. It was a beautiful day. And we're all standing there gazing up. You can't see the balloons in the picture, but you see everyone looking up. And you know, I thought as I was thinking about these things, I think that's what the Lord would like us to do. He would like us to look up.
Jesus soured enough the mind and heart to fill. Is He? Is He really enough for us?
Well, you know, it's challenging, isn't it? We find ourselves looking around. We look around at each other, we look around at our brethren sometimes we look everywhere but up. And He wants us to look up.
You know the beasts, they look down, don't they? The beasts of the field look down. But we've been made in such a way to look up. But we need to look up, brethren, young people, each one of us.
Stephen did that, didn't he? It tells us in Acts 7 that he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.
And saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. That's what he saw. You're going to see something when you look up in faith. You're going to see something that will satisfy your heart.
And there's many other scriptures I don't want to take too long.
But I just enjoy that, you know, there's a little poem that someone wrote, and I don't know if we even know who the author is, but I like to think of that in connection with Steven. And it goes like this. So give me such a sight of thee in all thine unveiled glory, now that every earthly thought may flee, and all my heart in worship thou. But I think that's beautiful. Somebody was enjoying looking up.
Weren't they?
One verse I do want to turn to it's sweet is Psalm 5.
Connection with looking up.
A well known Psalm to us. Psalm 5 and verse 3.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Now, in connection with that thought of him hearing our voice in the morning, notice again it's in the morning. I think that's important. The Lord wants us to look up in the morning. Turn over to Song of Solomon, chapter 8, Miss.
Right at the end of this little book, The Song of Solomon, there's a very loving appeal that touches my heart.
Verse 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice.
'Cause me to hear it. Who's speaking, Dear ones, dear young people, Oh, I believe this is the voice of the Lord speaking. And he's saying others hear your voice.
I think that's nice, you know, when others hear our voice and testimony. But he wants to hear it too. He says cause me to hear it. Does he hear your voice in the morning?
Can you really say my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord? In the morning will I direct my prayer into the end? Will look up. He wants to hear your voice too, dear ones, in the morning.
Well, I'm going to move on because I don't want to be too long.
There's many verses about each one of these, but we're just touching on a few.
Lift up just a little.
Exhortation in the Word of God.
Lift up.
I will lift up my knives unto the hills. Psalm 121 From whence cometh my help?
Can you say that?
You know, there's other things too. It's it. This struck me as well as I was looking at this.
I counted, well, I don't know how many things here, but in Luke 21 and verse 28, I know it's Speaking of a future time and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
00:15:13
So we're told there, or at least we can make the application to lift up our heads. Then that one I read in Psalm 121 to lift up our eyes. And then in Ezra speaks about being ashamed to to lift up his face to the Lord says I'm ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to thee, O God, for our iniquities are increased and so on. In Isaiah it talks about lifting up their voice and singing.
They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord. They shall cry aloud from the sea.
Lamentations talks about lifting up our heart.
With our hands unto God, into the heavens. Psalm 25 and other Psalms, 8086. And so on unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Hebrews Very familiar verse to us in Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather let it be healed. Then in Ecclesiastes, where it's we're told to lift up one another.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, that one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth free, hath not another to help him up.
And so we've had there to lift up our heads, our eyes, our face, our voice, our hearts, our souls, our hands, our knees. Scriptures. So descriptive.
He wants us to be lifted up, you know, in Luke 13, we won't take the time to it, but there's a woman there that was bent over and she comes in contact with the Lord Jesus and she's straightened up. She's able to look up. You know, there's a woman downtown where I work, an older woman that I see her from time to time, and it's so sad. I don't know if I can demonstrate very adequately, but she looks kind of like this.
And you know, I wonder if that woman in Luke 13 wasn't something like that. She couldn't look up.
You and I can look up, and the Lord wants us to look up, doesn't He, to lift up our heads?
Our hearts, our eyes, and so on. What a wonderful privilege may we do that over the next few days as we're together. Let's lift up our hearts, our souls, our eyes.
Well, this is the fifth one here.
Grow up.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15 But speaking the truth and love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
You know, all of us here at one time were little toddlers.
We were small, we were running around playing.
But we've changed. We've grown up.
I hope we have.
But spiritually, sometimes we're like little toddlers, aren't we? We feel that we need to grow. The Lord would have us to grow. We're told in first Peter two that as newborn desire the sincere milk of the word that she may grow there by her. If you look at the new translation, that she may grow up to salvation, not the salvation of our souls, but.
To mature in the Lord spiritually. That was Peter's desire, that they would grow.
And then in second Peter, he says to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Are we doing that? Has there been a change in our lives from a year ago when we were here? Some of us. Have we grown a little bit in the last year? I trust we have.
Of course, the perfect example always is our Savior, and I love that verse that we read so often in Isaiah 53.
Verse 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
And so on. And then in Luke 52, two Luke 2 verse 52, we're told, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. Wisdom might be intellectually, stature physically and in favor with God spiritually and man socially. So the Lord grew as a man in this world, didn't he? He was the perfect example.
He grew up before his father as a tender plant.
Beautiful to think of him.
00:20:00
Well, I hope we're growing.
Growing up.
You know, it's important, isn't it, what we eat, what we feed on, if we're going to grow.
We could spend a lot of time on that, but we're going to move on forsake a time.
We mentioned this in connection with some of the others briefly, but.
This is very interesting to me, the subject of building in Scripture, and I just do want to read a short little portion in Deuteronomy chapter 25 and apply it as a principle.
I trust.
I can apply this this way.
Deuteronomy chapter 25 and verse five. If brethren dwell together, and one of them die and have no child, and the wife of the dead shall not marry.
Then the wife of the dead.
Shall not marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that the first born which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuses refuseth to raise up unto his brother.
In Israel he shall not perform. He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak unto him. And if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her, then shall his brother's wife come unto him.
In the presence of the elders, and looses shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. And she'll answer and say, so shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the House of him that hath his shoe loosed. Well, you know, I'm not going to go into this much, but I just was impressed with this thought that we're advised here, or we're admonished here. Aren't we, brethren, to build up our brother's house?
And not to tear down, you know, the apostle Paul.
Spoke to the Corinthians about building up, he says in Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 8. For and if I should boast even somewhat more abundantly of our authority which the Lord has given to us for building up and not for your overthrowing, I shall not be put to shame. That's the new translation. And then twice more in that same book in the 2nd Corinthians 12, he says.
Verse 19 You have long been supposing that we excuse ourselves to you. We speak before God in Christ.
And all things beloved for your building up. And then one more time in first Two Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 10, on this account I write these things being absent, that being present, I may not use severity according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for overthrowing. Well, you know, it's a wonderful thing to build, isn't it, To build up one another. And we're told that in Jude, aren't we?
Verse one and of verse 20 of Jude, but she beloved, building up yourself.
Or, I'm sorry, I was thinking of First Thessalonians 5 verse 11. Again, this is the new translation. Wherefore encourage one another and build up one another, even as also you do. And also in Romans 14, a very familiar verse to us. So then let us pursue the things which tend to peace and things whereby one shall build up another.
Well, may the Lord encourage us to be builders. It's a wonderful privilege, isn't it? Perhaps you know someone that could use some encouragement in that way.
May the Lord encourage you to build up. Well, I want to do one more cover, one more, the last one.
That I had on my heart.
And that is to.
This is a good work to to cheer up.
You know, this is used twice in the Old Testament, some form of this word, and about nine times in the New Testament. And if you look at the the Greek words, they're, they're various words, but they all kind of have generally the meaning of encouraging.
Taking courage and so on along that line.
So.
I won't go through all of them but the one that is used first is in Matthew 9 and verse two and the Lord says to the one that was sick of the palsy he says.
Son, be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee. And I thought, what a wonderful word of encouragement. You know, we should be the happiest people on this earth because our sins have been forgiven us. We've been forgiven. Isn't that wonderful to have that knowledge that should cheer us up?
00:25:17
And then that verse that we enjoy so much in John 16, the last verse in that chapter, the Lord says, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Dear ones, we have one that has overcome the world and he wants us to be cheered up.
You know Paul was cheered up of the Lord, the Lord said to him in Acts 23. He stood by him and said, Paul, be of good cheer. He had been apprehended by the authorities, and he, the Lord, said, Be of good cheer. For as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
And you know, I think that stayed with Paul, that word, that of the Lord be of good cheer, because when he was on that that ship, and they were in trouble, he could say that very same word to them. He could say, And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, For there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as he told me.
And it you know.
Worked. Paul told them to be of good cheer, and it says then were they all of good cheer.
And they took some bread or some meat. Well, I was just thinking of that. May we spend this time together at Lassen to, as I said before, to be, as it were, for a little season, taken out of our circumstances, perhaps just enjoy fellowship together as brethren, to cheer one another up, to encourage one another to look up, to lift one another up.
Whatever.
It might be that's needed. May the Lord encourage us in that. We need it, don't we, brethren? And I wondered if just in the spirit of this little time together and talk, if we could sing a hymn that I saw in our little book there. I think it's 160. And I wondered if we could, in the spirit of this, rise up and sing this together.
Rise my soul, be called as Jesus.
Where I stand on board and rise very righteousness.
Transcendence.
Long enough.
Here.
In The Midst
Address—Robert Boulard
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.
Who have enjoyed over the last?
A little while this little expression in the last verse of this hymn that we sung says of the vast universe of bliss, the center, thou and sun.
Men are looking today for the center of the universe. They're looking to see if they can find something at the center of the creation that God has made. And God has ordained that the center of all of his creation, the center of all of his purposes, are told to us in this book. The center of this creation is Christ himself, and God wants every one of us to know.
Him and to enjoy his presence.
Without fear to be in His holy presence.
And to recognize the glory that is his, recognize the reverence that ought to be on our part as we find ourselves in his presence. It's the same Savior we're going to, in a few minutes, if the Lord carries, remember the Lord Jesus in his death, and we're going to be in his presence. And it's the Lord's desire that we would have a reverence.
And a knowledge of whose person, whose glory we're in.
Well, I just like to look this morning at a few portions of Scripture, make a few comments on the little expression that's used in the Word of God. Little expression is in the midst, and we're going to find that expression in the first page of the Word of God. It says in Genesis chapter one, verse six. And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament of the waters.
Which were above the firmament and it was so. Well, I don't have much to comment on that verse, perhaps nothing.
But I just want to show that in the Old Testament God used this little expression in the midst, and God divided things according to his view and how he desired to place before his creation the person of his Son. And it says that in chapter 2 of Genesis, and perhaps will comment a little bit on this, it says.
In verse nine, well, let's read verse eight. I'm not going to read all of these portions of Scripture thoroughly because perhaps we're all acquainted with them. But if you jot them down and read them for yourself and meditate upon them, perhaps you'll gain some blessings.
To your own soul this morning.
It says in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 8 the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted.
And became into four heads.
That's as far as we'll read in a past eternity, before there was a world.
There was a God.
The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and they desire for the Son to have a bride.
They desired in the eternal counsels that God the Son would be the center of the scene.
In which there would be singing, not only praise, because the angelic beings have the ability to praise and to say, to speak and to magnify, to exalt their Creator, but that there would be a people redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And in the very presence of their Savior, in the very presence of the center of the universe, there would be those that would be suitable to sing His praise.
To magnify that glorious one and to recognize.
His great grace, His great love, and here we have the first time perhaps.
In the New Testament. In the Old Testament, there's only the Tree of Life is only mentioned twice in scriptures.
Only once, here in Genesis chapter 2, in the very last chapter of the book of the Bible, is mentioned as well, the tree of Life, and here it's in the midst of the garden.
God, you know all, created man and planted a garden, and he with purpose created that place, that it might be a place separated from the beasts of the field. And enjoyed this thought recently. Brother expressed it as we spoke the beast of the field.
Were outside of that place.
00:05:00
They didn't have communion with their creator inside that fenced off place.
The planted garden inside that place would be those that had the capability to enjoy the fellowship of their Creator, to enjoy the person of the Savior, the Lord Jesus. But you know, God didn't only create man, He's the sustainer of their lives. He's a sustainer of your life and mine. And so the tree of life, I believe, is a little picture of how God desires to sustain our life.
He not only gives us life, but He's made every provision that we might have our lives sustained. Your life needs nourishment. Your soul needs nourishment. Your heart needs to be kept close to that Blessed One. He wants to be the center of the nourishment of your life. He wants to be to have you in His presence.
And to have your attention, as it were, and your desire to seek the nourishment for your eternal life, the nourishment for your soul.
In His presence, not a glorious thought. Oh, He wants you in His presence. He is in the midst of that garden. Well, let's turn to Exodus chapter 4 or chapter 3.
We'll see here another time that this little expression is used.
Exodus chapter 3 and verse one. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mount of God, even Orab.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in the flame of fire out of the midst of the Bush, And he looked, and behold, the Bush burned, with fire in the Bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bushes not burned. And when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the Bush.
And said Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I.
And he said, Draw not nigh, hit her, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where on thy standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters.
For I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land unto a good land, and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
While here we have another time that this little expression is used in the midst.
In verse four, the Lord saw that he turned aside, and God called unto him out of the midst of the Bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, hear my.
Moses.
Was going to be called to do a work for the Lord and hear this Bush was burning or there. I shouldn't say the Bush was burning, but there was a fire in the midst and it speaks to us of the holiness of God.
You know, it says in Lamentations. I'm not going to be able to quote it, so let's turn to Lamentations.
Chapter 3. Verse 22.
Well, let's read verse 19, chapter 3 and verse 19, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the Wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recalled in my mind. Therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul therefore.
Will I hope in him the Lord is good unto them.
But wait upon him that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Well, here we have the compassions of the Lord brought forth. And you know the Lord is holy, says three times in Isaiah chapter 6. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God Almighty, He's holy, and yet he could come and desire to come into this scene and to meet Moses on that Mount Mork, Mount Horeb.
00:10:00
And his desire in his compassions, in his love for his people.
Were to come down himself.
And to pick them up out of the ditch of sin Himself, to rescue them, to become their Redeemer, to redeem them with His own precious blood. But there was going to be a picture of that redemption because of the Lamb. The lamb was going to be slain in Egypt that night of the Passover. God was going to Passover His people because of the blood that was shed.
But here, you know, I want to call to attention, call attention to the fact that.
The Lord in the midst here really is in connection with reverence, our reverence for the Lord.
And Moses was told to take the shoes off of his feet because he was in the presence of a holy God. Oh, the Lord desires that we would have our hearts taken up with him and a sense of the holiness of the person in whose company we find ourselves when we find ourselves in the assembly where He is in midst. And Moses was told because he didn't know, perhaps.
But the ground that he was standing on was holy ground and he could not walk. Why was it his take his shoes off?
It was because he could not walk in the presence of God in the same way that he walked in the desert among those sheep. He needed to walk in a holy way, a holy path. He needed to recognize that he was in the presence of God. Well, it's a wonderful thing, dear young people, every one of us here to recognize when we come into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
On the Lord's Day morning to the Lord's Table.
To remember the Lord Jesus in his death, that we're coming into the presence of the one who is the center of the universe.
The center of God's universe, the center of the affections of God Himself, the Father. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given them all things. Oh, he's the heir of all things, and he came as that blessed One to be the Lamb of God, to shed his precious blood.
Well, I'd like to turn to Luke's gospel in the New Testament. We'll look at a few here. One verse that was mentioned last night.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 2.
We'll read just a part of that event, that account.
In verse 42.
And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned the child Jesus for the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph his mother knew not of it, but they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass that after three days they found Him.
In the temple sitting.
In the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
Well, you know, the Lord Jesus knows what it was, knows what it is.
For young people, it's particular comfort. He knows what it is to be 12 years old. He knows what it is to be a boy and to live in a world that was in opposition to God, his father. But there was here, as a 12 year old boy, a desire in his heart to be about his father's will, his father's work.
And I just want to point out here in 12 years old, you know, speaks of the age of responsibility and perhaps the 12 years old 12 year olds are up at the in the other in the Sunday school or something. But maybe there are some 12 year olds here. It's remarkable in connection with the Lord Jesus. This is the age of responsibility. As I say, men in the Jewish economy. I believe at 12 years old, a boy was treated like a man.
And the Lord Jesus.
When he was in Jerusalem.
Mary and Joseph found him, it says, after three days in the temple.
Sitting in the midst of the doctors. Now the doctors are not medical doctors here, but those that were doctors of the law. They studied the word of God, they read the word of God, and they were educated men and the Lord Jesus as a boy in perfect humility.
00:15:01
Sat in the midst. He didn't exalt himself. He didn't say I'm the center of God's thoughts. He didn't reveal himself in that way.
He didn't reveal himself as the Son of God to them at that time, but as a perfect humility and perfect humility, perfect humanity. He sat in their midst and he could carry on a conversation with those doctors, those educated men in connection with the Scriptures, in connection with things of God. And already at 12 years old, he knew the Scriptures.
I want to ask you here, young people, some of you.
Perhaps are not under 12 years old because we those in the Sunday school are going up to the other room. But if you're 12 years old or you're 13 years old, there are older brethren here and I speak.
Her brother Jim Hyland, Doug Buchanan and others here, Eric James, they would love it for you to sit with them and to just discuss some of the portions of Scripture that you have on your heart and enjoy in your soul. And perhaps you have questions about things in life and portions of scripture that are puzzled to you all. They'd love to have you sit with them.
And to enjoy something of the word of God together.
I tell you, I speak from my own heart. I speak for every one of those dear older ones here in this room. They would love it if you sat with them and enjoyed the things of God. And if you're 13 years old and you haven't done it yet, you haven't sat in the presence of your older brethren in a quiet way, in a humble way, not in a forward way.
And you haven't just discussed something of the precious things of God with them and the person Christ. You've missed out and you're going to miss out if you don't do it. Well, it's a wonderful thing for those of us that are older in the path of faith just to sit with the young and to encourage the young to make time for our young people and for our children and to answer quietly and carefully the questions that they have. And so here the Lord Jesus.
In his perfect humility.
Was in midst of those doctors.
I want to read to you how they treated him at the end of his life.
Turn to math Mark's Gospel, Chapter 14.
And verse 65.
Mark's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 65. And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him prophecy.
And the servants, or I believe Mr. Darby's notes, could say doctors of the law. And the doctors of the law did strike him with the palms of their hands.
Dear young people, the Lord Jesus is the one who is the center of all wisdom and all learning in this world, the center of truth, the center of learning in the universe of God, the universe that is created. He is the center of all wisdom, all knowledge, true knowledge. He is the center of it. And you and I need to sit quietly.
In the presence of the Lord at the reading meetings.
And other assembly meetings and meetings like these. To sit quietly and being quiet in our spirit. To sit in His presence and to learn something.
Of that Blessed One, never to be forward, but to sit in humility and to recognize.
That God is God and we are men. And so I just would encourage you in that way. The Lord Jesus was hearing them and asking them questions. Isn't that nice? I just enjoy that in connection with our blessed Savior, the humility of that man, Christ Jesus.
Who brought the world into existence, sat in the presence in the center of those doctors, and at the end of his life his testimony rejected. They rejected the wisdom of God, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. And they spent in his face and with the palms of their hands they struck that blessed man.
They'd rejected what he'd spoken to them. But I say once again, God presents to us the Lord Jesus in the word of God. Is this of all wisdom? And if you want to have wisdom and knowledge, dear young people, the truth of what real wisdom is, what real knowledge is, read the word of God and be sure to go to the assembly meetings. Go to all of the assembly meetings.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers. There's a tendency in our hearts not to want to just sit quietly in the presence of the Lord, that there's something else that's too important. We have too much to do, and the Lord misses having us in His presence. Is there anything that's too important?
00:20:26
Than to be in the presence of the Lord.
Make it a habit of your life. Never, never, never to miss an assembly meeting unless you absolutely have to. Unless you're absolutely too sick to go. Go to every assembly meeting and desire to see something of a person of Christ. He is in the midst. He wants to reveal Himself.
You'll forgive a pardon a personal statement.
But sometimes, oftentimes when I read the scriptures.
I pray to the Lord and I tell the Lord, you know Lord Jesus.
I'm so ignorant.
I'm so ignorant please help me. I don't know what I should know. I don't enjoy the things of God that I should enjoy. I'm so ignorant please help me. And then I read the scriptures. Then after I've read something, the portion of scripture.
Then I thank the Lord for whatever I've enjoyed and make it a habit. I make it a habit myself to thank the Lord after I've gone to a Bible conference or gone gone to little meetings like this, to thank the Lord for some of the gems that I've enjoyed of Christ.
Because it was a work of the Spirit of God to reveal Himself and to bring me into some of the knowledge of the truth.
To mighty work. God the Son, the Lord Jesus, is the center of all wisdom and knowledge, and He desires you to know Him. It says He's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. He wants you to know. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to know that He's compassionate and that He wants you in His presence.
Well, let's read in.
Matthews Gospel.
Chapter 18.
Verse one. This is somewhat connected to the last one in Luke.
Matthew 18 verse one. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them.
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, and shall is the same as the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, and whoso shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth me.
In the midst, a little child, oh, everyone of us has to come as a little child. And there are those that perhaps grow a little bit older and think that they know something and they don't come as a simple, humble, unpretentious.
Dependent child.
Every time you and I come into the presence of God, we need to recognize that He sustains life. He's not only the producer, the giver of that life, but he's the sustainer of that life, and He blesses the humble.
And we need to come into His presence and have our hearts turn to Him. That's what it means to be converted, to have our hearts turn to Him when He's in the midst and will never progress in our souls. None of us will ever make any progress, real progress in our souls if we don't come into the presence of the Lord as those that are humble as a child.
And so the Lord Jesus taught by example in this way, you know, this chapter, chapter 18 has principles of Christianity in a new order of things in Christianity.
But I just wanted to speak of that one. And then we'll read in chapter 18 and verse 18. This is one of the principles here. It says in verse 18, Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth is touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name.
There am I in the midst of them.
Now, this portion of Scripture is not telling us that if two of us get together and we agree that we want to each have a Mercedes-Benz, but and we pray that that's exactly what we want, that the Lord is going to give it to us because we just asked for it.
00:25:06
No, it says if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. We always, always need to pray according to the will of God, never more so than any assembly.
In the assembly, it's the will of God and the Word of God that governs the assembly. It's the heart of God that governs the assembly. It's the love of the Lord Jesus.
To bring us to be in his presence. And so it says here, where two or three are gathered together.
Are gathered by the Spirit of God. There they are together in fellowship in the name, with the authority of the Lord Jesus. There am I in the midst.
You know, there was an old black brother in the West Indies. I don't remember his name. Maybe Jim Highland knows the story and he'll be able to tell us. Brother Hammer went down to the West Indies. I think he told me 44 times.
Mostly at his own expense.
To minister the truth in that part of the world in the West Indies, said it, one remembrance of the Lord.
He was in awe at the reverence that they had for the presence of the Lord.
And they were in the process of.
The remembrance of the Lord partway through.
A dear old black brother got up.
And he walked over to the front row and he took a chair, and he took that chair and he placed it right beside the table.
That had the bread and the wine on it.
And he went and back. He went back and he sat down.
Only had such a sense of the Lord's presence that the Lord was there, That Lord was in the midst. Someone asked him later. Why did that?
Said here we are all sitting on a chair and we didn't put one out for the Lord.
I had reverence for who was there, who was in the midst.
The center of all of God's thoughts, the One who is the heir of all, the one who went to the cross to bear the judgment for your sins, and is your Redeemer if you know him, the Savior this morning.
He's the center of God's universe.
All of God's thoughts, all of God's purposes are bound up in that blessed man. He's going to inherit heaven and earth. All of it. Every created thing belongs to him, and he's going to receive it very shortly.
But here.
We have this precious privilege of being told by the Lord Jesus Himself that where the Spirit of God would gather us together unto His precious name, no other name, that He would be there.
With us in the midst, he's the center of the assembly.
He's the center.
Of our affections in the assembly, he's the object, the center of object in the assembly.
And his desire is that we would find ourselves consciously in his presence.
You know, sometimes perhaps you've heard me say this, but.
Pardon me for saying it again.
When I was younger, I used to sometimes not be very regular in attendance to the meetings to the local assembly meetings.
I'm sorry for that now Lord missed my presence there. He was in the midst.
And I would sometimes say, well, I'm just too tired to go to meeting today.
Tonight I'm just so tired. I can't go to the prayer meeting tonight. I'm just so tired. I just had a rough day.
But now you know what I say to myself.
Sometimes I feel sick and I say I think I'm a little, just a little too. I'll to go to be in the presence of the Lord this evening.
Well, that changes it tremendously.
And, well, maybe I'm not too sick to be in the presence of the Lord tonight.
I need to go to be in the presence of the Lord. He is in the midst of His people. He wants to have His people in the midst. You know what? I'll just turn back to Exodus chapter 25.
Give a little.
A thought there on one verse.
Exodus chapter 25 and verse 8.
Says And let them make me a sanctuary or a consecrated place, a clean place. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them, you know, And Mr. Darby's French translation, there wasn't a good French translation when he translated the scriptures into French. So he translated the Scriptures into French 1St, and then he did the English and so on.
00:30:14
And this is how he translates it in the French. Let them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them.
Not nice.
The Lord desires to dwell in the midst of His people.
The God of heaven.
The Heir of all things, the Creator of all, desires to dwell in the midst of his people.
And in Luke's Gospel chapter 22, it says, perhaps we'll just turn to it so that I won't misquote it.
It says.
There in verse 11, he shall say unto the good men of the house, the Master, say it under thee, Where is the guest chamber?
Where I shall eat the Passover.
In the French translation it reads this way.
Where is my lodging place?
Were actually Passover with my disciples.
Oh, the Lord is in the midst. He desires to dwell in the midst of His people.
He desires to have your company there. He desires to have you remember him in his death. Remember what it costs you to bring him to pick you up out of the ditch of sin, to make you a son of God, an heir of God. Join heir with Christ. He desires to have your presence at his table and to.
And thankfulness, appreciation, affection for him to have a mouth open and a heart open to pray.
Given what he really wants, the worship of your heart.
Well, let's turn to John's Gospel, chapter 19.
In verse 18.
They crucified him.
And two other with him.
On either side one and Jesus in the midst.
Dear ones, this morning.
The center of the universe, the center of God's purposes.
Men with filthy, wicked, sinful hands took, laid them upon His holy person.
Drove nails into his hands and his feet.
And they're not seeing. God says He was in the midst.
He was the center of their rejection.
He was the center of their ridicule.
He was the center of their rebellion.
And they reviled him. He was the center of their reviling.
Means that they railed on you.
He was the center.
A ridicule on that cross.
But here was the man of all of God's counsels.
The one who's going to rule overall very shortly going to take possession of the Kingdom.
Here was the one who loved you and gave himself for you. And in the midst of that scene on Calvary's Hill was the person of all of God's counsels.
In humility, perfect subjection, perfect obedience to his God desired to bear the judgment for your sins.
For mine. And he was in the midst of that scene, because his desire was to do the will of his father.
What a scene.
To have the center, that one, that blessed center, one in the midst. Let's just turn back to Luke's Gospel chapter 23.
And there we'll read.
In verse 43.
Luke 23 and verse 43 Jesus said unto the hymn, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Paradise means a garden of delight. And it was about the 6th hour, and there was darkness, a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
Oh, here we have the fact that there was a barrier between God and men, the Old Testament.
None of those.
In Old Testament times could enter into the very presence of God without fear. They could not go into the holiest of holies except once every year the high priest went in with the blood.
00:35:03
Within that bill.
And was with fear that he went in. No peace of heart, no peace of conscience.
And God says that he rent the veil.
In the midst, you know, it says in the other gospels that it was rent from the top to the bottom, but you know, better translation is that.
He rented from above to the bottom.
He ran it from above to the bottom, and God himself.
Tore that veil. I used to think when I was younger that it was the earthquake that rented. Wasn't the earthquake that rent that nail? It was God who rent the veil from above. It says from above to the bottom. You rent it so that you might come into this holy presence and have the liberty as a priest to render to him something.
Of praise and Thanksgiving worship, let's turn to Hebrews chapter 10.
And read a couple of verses there.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 20. Well, let's read from verse 19.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest or the Holy of holies, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated or dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another or encouraging one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching.
While we have a new and living way that's made.
The Lord Jesus desired to have his people in His presence. He desired to have worshippers in his presence, the one who is the center of the universe.
Desired you to come into His presence without fear, and to come with something of a heart filled with Christ.
To overflowing with praise and Thanksgiving and worship in your heart as you came into His presence in the midst.
Into a place that was closer than any child of Israel could ever come.
Any of those earthly people. But he says here.
Four things verse 22 Let us draw near with a true heart.
In full assurance of faith, a true heart. You know the hardest dwelling place of the truth.
But it can also be the dwelling place of evil. We know that, Jeremiah says in chapter 17.
The heart is desperately wicked.
Who can know it? I the Lord know the heart. I try the reigns. Oh, the Lord knows the heart. Your heart and mind are too big for this world to ever fill. And the Lord Jesus wants to fill your heart, and he says let us draw near. God isn't going to mandate that you come near to Him.
But this world, everything in this world, is calculated by Satan himself to keep you at a distance from God.
To keep you from getting close, to keep you satisfied with the filth of this world in some way, if it's not the filth at some distraction that this world might have something, a clean fun, you might say, a clean hobby, whatever it might be. Something to keep you at a distance from the Lord Jesus who wants to be the center of your life.
He wants to be in the midst of your life. He wants you to be in his presence and He wants you to draw near with a true heart. Not with any falsehood in the heart. Not with going on with something in your life privately and then coming on the Lord's Day and trying to set aside that something that you're going on with and then not judging it really and wanting to go back with with it on Monday.
All he wants.
The whole heart wants everything that you've got.
He wants the 1St place, then in all things he might have the preeminence.
Because he's worthy. He gave everything that he might have you in his presence.
And he says, let us draw near. That's the first thing. And then verse 23 says let us hold fast the profession or the confession of our hope without wavering. He wants you to come into his presence with confidence and to hold fast that confidence. And then there's fruit here. Verse 24. Let us consider one another to provoke, to love and to good works. There be evidence of your faith, if you.
00:40:11
Walk with the Lord and you desire to consider one another in your practical display of love.
For your brethren. And then the fourth thing is, and not forsaking of coming into his presence.
He's made a new and living way that there might not be any hindrance. There's no hindrance on the part of the Lord Jesus. His heart is full of compassion, full of love for His people. He paid the ultimate price to have you in His midst this morning. You couldn't have been there. You couldn't be in the presence of the Lord without fear, except He'd gone to the cross and borne the judgment for your sins in His own body on the tree. You couldn't be there.
But now you're going to be there.
You know the Lord Jesus is your Savior. You want to remember Him in the circumstances of his death. You're going to come into the presence of the holy Savior.
Well, we've run out of time, but let's turn to the last.
Portion Revelation, chapter 22.
In verse one.
He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the street of it. And on either side of the river there was the tree of life, which bare 12 manner fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Well, you know, we could read in Revelation chapter 5 as well and we would find there.
The Lamb in the midst of a glorious sea. Perhaps we should turn to it. Revelation chapter 5, verse 6.
I beheld and Lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Dear ones, the man that was the center of ridicule.
The center of rebellion, the center of reviling in this world is the center of that heavenly scene. He's a center, center of all of the execution of the government of God in a future day. He's the center of that throne. In the midst of the throne and that heavenly host, he's in the midst of the elders. He's going to take possession.
Of the Kingdom, he's going to take possession of the inheritance.
It's his by right because he's the creator and because he's the Redeemer, He's the Lamb of God. He's presented here not only as a lion, because he has the power and the strength to take the the inheritance, the right.
But he's a lamb that humble 1 obedient 1 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He humbled Himself, became obedient unto the cross, unto death, even the death of the cross.
He's the center of all authority, of all power, of all honor, of all glory, says in verse 12, Revelation 5, verse 12, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He's the center of that sea, every note of praise that could possibly be.
Upon your lips and mine, every single possible praise.
A Thanksgiving that could possibly come forth from a redeemed heart will come forth in that day from your heart and mind. It'll be a work of grace. Heaven is going to be filled with those that have Jesus in the midst and love to sing his praise. But in the last book of in the last chapter of Revelation, we see there a little blending of in the millennial.
Scene Heaven and earth rejoicing in the Lord Jesus.
In the midst in that scene, he's going to sustain.
That creation, he's going to sustain all in the state of glory, a state of perfection. He's going to sustain us in that scene eternally. The tree of life is there.
Like to stand and sing #8.
Our.
Easy.
Life.
Speaking great and everything.
Character, Integrity
Address—Steve Bambauer
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.
Thank you, Wally for calling out 122. I decided I've decided to follow Jesus because the point here today is.
Character or integrity?
And if you say I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. That is a statement.
A purpose of heart is a statement of purpose of hearts not backing into something. It's not just wading into it, testing the water, wondering if you're going to continue or not. It's a statement of purpose of heart.
I've been asked through the week, did I get a sandwich?
I knew if I took a left turn at that point I'd never get back on the main Rd.
I'd forget where I was.
Uh, actually.
I did that on purpose. I wanted to use that to segue into this address this afternoon.
When I was there in that training situation.
Of course, they turned us all loose. There were about 120 of us.
And there must be 50 acres out there and they turn this loose and kind of sparse trees and vegetation and, and then they would follow us about 3 minutes later. So we ran for it as far as we could go and found some Bush to hide under. And we were easy pickings. And of course, once in a while somebody find a hiding place. One of them found a hiding place. He climbed way up in a tree and nobody thought to look up there for him. And they all went around looking down under the bushes and everything. Never saw him. He got a sandwich.
The rest of us.
Got caught up by the scruff of the neck, hauled off into their wagons, and sent to the mock concentration camp. They're all fenced off. High fence about as high as that wall there.
I was in the F4 community.
I was so lucky. Out of all those 125 or so, I was one of four or five that was chosen by the administration there and known to me to get extra training because I would be more apt to be a prisoner of war, being in combat in a, in a, in a fighter bomber aircraft, flying over enemy territory. A lot of the people in that camp were enlisted men. They were going maybe as a medic over there or maybe in a riverboat, but I would be more vulnerable.
There was myself and about three or four of the guys that we made several trips to the commandant.
And so they would bring us in there.
But call our number, we'd go in there and there's a little room.
About the size of that stage, a little bigger. He was at his desk. He would start asking us questions. We, by a protocol, were to give nothing more than ranks, rank, seal number and name, rank, seal number and date of birth.
Well.
He would ask a question that might go beyond that and we would just say, Sir, we are only required to give name, rank, serial number and date of birth. They have this guy in there that was about four inches taller than I am, about 50 lbs heavier. And he was the, he was the bad cop.
So he had come up to me just face to face and if I answered like that, didn't give the commandant the.
Information he wanted.
Just slapped me across the face like this really hard.
Calming down asked me again. I didn't say much and slap me this way pretty soon after several trips up there and going through that I learned didn't wear glasses in how.
When I saw the hand coming, I go like this. I saw it coming the other way, I go like this.
Well, I was pretty red faced anyway.
And he would continue to ask questions.
The point is, don't sacrifice your integrity under adversity.
And we may face adversity.
Now we had.
We have.
A beautiful example of this.
Of the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane.
Under adversity.
Not my will, but thine.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but mine.
Read that in Luke's Gospel.
He is there, the disciples are asleep. There are none to comfort.
They slept for sorrow, of course.
00:05:02
It says there that the Son of God fell on his face.
In Gethsemane picture that.
It was such intense.
Contemplation of about.
What was about to happen?
But he didn't turn back.
He did not sacrifice his integrity.
Under adversity.
Sometimes in the Gartley case that I told you about when he was, this was a mock prisoner or condition that I was in. Gartley was over there and it's for real.
You didn't know if those people were going to follow the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention was written and and signed by many nations in 1864 and it is that document which gives.
Some parameters or guidelines?
For conduct.
That is to be allowed or given to prisoners of war.
Not torture. These things. It was a code of conduct for warring nations on how they would treat their prisoners. Major nations signed that. The Chinese had signed it, the Russians had signed it. Vietnam had not signed it.
But the Chinese and the Russians had.
So Lieutenant Gartley was offered a ride home early, and the senior ranking officer said no, we'll let Hegel go with the names in his memory, but that's all. We would not accept something that would not be offered to everybody. That was the protocol. That was the standard in that kind of situation. He was offered something and he took it. Don't sacrifice.
Your integrity for advantage.
Like Lieutenant Gartley did.
Nor don't sacrifice your integrity under adversity. And what an example we have. And the Lord did not sacrifice his integrity for advantage. Where?
Mark 4.
Good temptation. Thank you. That's exactly what I was thinking.
3 temptations.
And there was no inclination.
There was temptation.
He was tested.
But there was nothing in him that responded to that he would not accept.
What Satan had to offer, he would do his Father's will, and we are here as saved.
And the treasure.
He counts the treasure that he would have in his journey to Calvary.
Through a path of integrity in this life, Unmovable set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.
Went there.
Bore the sufferings of the cross my sins in his own body on the tree.
To justify God the Father as to the question of evil and sin in this world.
In honor to the Father.
And to have a people for himself, that was more to him.
Then turning back under adversity or accepting anything.
For an advantage.
You and I are the fruit, it says in Isaiah 53 of the travail of his soul.
And you know what he says?
He is satisfied.
He shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
It was worth it to him. Well, how do we respond two Peter chapter one as we are here to build integrity when we think of our example that we have before us and what it cost him to redeem us.
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Here is one who is as an apostle with authority, says a servant, a servant, and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us.
Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, God is righteous to save. He saves on a righteous basis.
To our Savior he says, Jesus Christ, no other way.
00:10:04
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, and that's how grace and peace are multiplied in occupation.
With Christ.
Grace and peace are multiplied. Just a brief briefly, a verse in Psalm 16. If grace and peace are multiplied, as anything else multiplied.
Verse 4.
Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
It's either sorrows multiplied or grace and peace multiplied, and every choice we make in this life goes to constitute the whole of our life, the making up of the whole product, whether we will be in the enjoyment of grace and peace or weeping in the sorrows.
Of deviation.
According as his divine power, this is not.
A course and how to win friends and influence people, or how to get along, or how to be psychologically adjusted. This is not man's course.
That he is giving us here in second Peter chapter one.
Peter, the author.
Writing these words to these Saints.
Under divine instruction, inspiration, we have it today.
Right here, right now, this point in our lives, my age and your age, I haven't arrived.
According as His divine power hath given unto us, we have these things from a transcendent source.
Not something under the sun, not something from the university.
But from a transcendent source, here are the issues of life. He has given unto us all things that pertain unto life, and godliness hasn't left us here destitute without the equipment that we need to get through here. He's given us all things by His grace.
That pertain unto life.
And godliness.
And its abundant life.
Through it's through the knowledge of Him Christ, that hath called us to glory and virtue.
Or integrity.
Steadiness.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these promises you might be partakers of the divine nature.
He has given us that new nature in new birth that has that appetite for the things of the Lord. It must be coupled with diligence. It's not to make us lazy. We will be faced with trials.
Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Our source is heaven, for the source of our nourishment is from Christ in glory.
Everything down here.
That is in the world.
Is lust.
And of course, there are temptations.
All this bait that is on the different hooks.
Satan has something for everyone.
You'll put the bait on the hook.
And they'll dangle it in front of you until he finds your weak spot.
We're not safe in our own bootstraps. We must be independent upon the Lord and we're not going to make it.
And every time we take that bait, we damage ourselves.
And bring reproach to the Lord. But greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And great is greater is art advocate.
Than our adversary, and if we sin, we have an advocate and we have a high priest to keep us from sin.
And we've gone through that this week.
And besides this, giving all diligence.
00:15:03
Now we're going to build a wall.
And a life needs protection.
Our lives need to be protected. We're going to build a wall, and you start with a wall, maybe a rock wall, and you select your rocks and you mix your mortar and you don't just take your wheel barrel out there and screw the rocks along.
And hope that keeps out whatever you need to have kept out.
And you lay the rock in place carefully, and you use the mortar, and you put the next rock on top of that one, and you're building this wall. And so we have some rocks here.
Some things that are for stability and security and defense.
Giving all diligence add to your faith. The 1St is faith.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Add to it virtue.
Moral courage.
You need not be intimidated in the presence of those who will lead you astray.
Virtue is moral courage, and use it.
No turning back. No turning back.
Add to virtue, knowledge. Read the scriptures. How much? We've had that this week.
How can we know the tactics of the warfare?
If we haven't read the manual.
If we haven't gone, if we.
Slept through boot camp.
If we didn't listen.
If we weren't interested.
Knowledge.
To knowledge temperance.
You know, there are a lot of things that God gives us in this world for our delight.
And most of them have to be.
Accepted in temperance let your yielding.
Be known to all men.
Temperance.
You know what happened to Saul's men when they fasted a long time under the order of King Saul. He was a hard man.
And they were so hungry they could hardly sustain the battle.
And then they got a victory, and they just rushed upon the unclean things.
That were available to them because they were so hungry.
They rushed without restraint.
And drank the blood and whatever it was that was prohibited.
Not all things are prohibited to us.
But most all things are to be embraced and taken in in temperance.
I suppose that the Lord Jesus.
Drank wine because they called him a wine bibber and he turned water into wine. And I'm not saying you should go out and drink wine if you don't, if you have an exercise about that. I'm just saying this. He condemns drunkenness.
Condemns drunkenness.
Temperance.
He gives the beauties of the intimacy of marriage within the bounds of marriage, and not outside temperance.
He gives us a feast that we had over there.
He condemns gluttony.
Add to knowledge temperance and to temperance temperance, patience. I noticed that some people are pretty much easy going.
And you might think, well, they have a lot of patience and other people are high strung and you might say they don't have much patience. Our personalities differ.
But patience is necessary for us all.
And you have need of patience that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
Patience with each other. Patients in relationships. Patients in circumstances.
I get really frustrated sometimes.
00:20:02
My wife hardly ever gets frustrated when things just don't pan out. If I spill a bundle of mail or I put the wrong mail in the box, I get to the next one and I say I just put the wrong mail in the box. I got to back all the way up and fix that.
And it really frustrates me sometimes, especially after I do it a couple times and I'm in a hurry.
I need patience.
Add patience.
And the patience, godliness.
The attitude of representing God here produces godliness, to walk in the presence of God before God.
Produces one that is godly.
To godliness, brotherly kindness.
In our relationships again.
Life is.
Is about relationships, you know.
We're not monastics and we're born right into relationships.
Before we open our eyes, we're in relationships.
On our mother's breasts, we're in a relationship.
Under our father's counsel, as we grow up, we're in a relationship. With our brothers and sisters, we're in a relationship. In the assembly, we're in a relationship.
As a vendor.
To the purchaser, we're in a relationship.
Just a diversity of relationships that we're in here.
You can't trash these things.
With impatience.
With violence.
With harsh words and go away and say probably shouldn't have done that, but you know he'll get over it.
Relationships in Western civilization which is apostate?
Christendom. That's Europe, North and South America and Australia, where the gospel has gone out and bounded and many have been saved. It's apostate.
Well, there are many believers, of course, but we live.
In a sphere of declension where all of these things are given up, and even in the Christian profession, it's greed and avarice.
And sensuality. And we read of these things in the newspaper of those who have a public testimony as being a believer, and then they wind up somehow getting caught with their pants down.
And embarrassed the whole testimony and it gets in the front page of the paper and pundits and and.
Editorialists, they capitalize on this thing. It's such a reproach to Christ. We have seen this recently. We have seen it in the last 20 years, the last 50 years.
And it's not going away.
May it not be part?
Of us, no part in that.
Well, brotherly kindness.
The integrity that sustains relationships is vital to brotherly kindness. Love, charity, love. God is love.
He loved us to give his own son.
Christ loved us to the end. He loves his own. He gave himself for us.
What an example. Love gives, it doesn't demand, it gives.
These are the things that we need, and if these things are in you and they abound there, and they will.
If there's the desire.
And they won't if there is complacency and indifference.
No they won't.
And you will wake up in a bed of tears someday if you don't apply these building stones to your life. We all fail.
That doesn't mean to depart.
And give up.
We have, I said, an advocate.
If we sin.
Not only that.
You will abound, they will make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.
00:25:04
In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, barren nor unfruitful, everybody has some idea of lifes purpose. You ask yourself that what is this all about? Why am I here? This isn't something that you have to worry about. Don't have to worry about until you're 21, or until you're married, or until you have grandchildren, or until you retire and you'll get around to it someday. Life has a purpose.
Love and obey God and be in submission.
And in Communion. And that's why we're here.
These things can even escape one who is actually a believer if he hasn't taken the diligence to build this wall.
He that lacketh these things is blind, can't see afar off, has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. What a warning.
Give diligence.
And there's that word again. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. If we do these things, you shall never fail, and there will be an abundant entrance ministered unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And I don't suppose anyone will, but I think of it this way, to have to go in to the presence of the Lord with my head bound because of a lost life, an indifferent life, a careless life.
Susan, what the Lord wants for you, an abundant entrance is reserved for those who mean business. And so he says, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance, not once in a while.
We get these things in the assembly. We get these things in our reading. The word of God just reaches down and rejoices our heart and touches our conscience.
And it's been that way through this week.
Both ways.
You know them.
We put you in remembrance, but you already know them.
It's interesting that my wife wants me to tell her once in a while that I love her.
I told you yesterday.
Didn't remember.
No, she likes to hear that once in a while.
Do you thank the Lord? He'd like to hear your voice we heard earlier. Do you thank the Lord in the breaking of bread? Do you thank the Lord in that ordered, collective way?
If not, why not?
Oh, I'll get around to that someday. That is rank indifference.
Carelessness.
How old do you have to be?
Do you know the Lord as your Savior?
Doesn't it matter?
A young sister that was here quite a while ago.
In conversation in the cabin said that some of the girls said that, you know, I'm not going to ask for my place till I get married because, you know, I haven't. But there's always that possibility that I might be embarrassed and have to be put out of fellowship for moral evil. And, you know, if I just put that off until I'm married, by then I won't have to worry about that.
Well.
I think it made as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Let's turn to Psalm.
144.
I'm going to read through this and go through it briefly.
The Lord has given us the tools.
His desire is toward us.
You have been raised, most of you, I think.
In a home where there was, there has been order and discipline and it's really been good for you. Whether you like it or not, it's been good for you.
If you come out of your home at 18 or whenever you step out the door as what you think to be a freewheeling Newt and that you are on your own to do what you want to do.
You will soon find and you will soon be singing that song. I can't get no satisfaction. If you are disciplined in your life, Christ will be your portion and you will be happy.
00:30:13
Psalm 144 Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teaches my hands to war, and we're in a battle, by the way.
My fingers to fight, but I.
Our warfare is in heavenly places.
We were not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in heavenly places.
And the weapons of our warfare are spiritual, but in the Old Testament, first the natural and then in the New Testament, then the spiritual. And we read these things in the Old Testament. They're beautiful types that we apply God sometimes speaking to us in a bit of the abstract that we stop and meditate about things.
10 commandments are pretty straightforward, but when the heart is engaged.
Sometimes.
The wife would like maybe a box of candy or a little flower, some flower, something sensitive, something tender. A note that wasn't just published by.
Something I got at Walmart.
Maybe something from the heart?
Maybe something that took a little thought.
She doesn't. It doesn't happen very often, but maybe that makes her more pleased when it does.
At least that's what I tell her.
We have then in verse two, my goodness and my fortress, he says, blessed be the Lord, my strength. This is a Psalm of David, but a good example of a man of war. My goodness, how do you know what is goodness good? Master, what shall I do to inherit? Why do you call me good? There's none good but one that's gone.
He brought him into the presence of God. He wanted that man to know where he was, who he was asking.
That it wasn't just a philosophical question asked of a professor with a few letters after his name. That was there as a successor of Aristotle and Plato and those.
But he is the Son of God.
And it was manifested already to that man's experience as he saw a number of miracles, even the raising from the dead, even the giving of sight, even the restoration of hearing, even the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 and all of these things and his words, not just.
A show like somebody at the carnival.
Doing magic.
But his words were of truth and grace, and they were moral, and they Burrow right down into the heart and conscience. He brought this fellow into the presence of God. My goodness.
If we take God out of the out of the equation.
Forget ethics unless it's just something that is ordered by government to keep the nation afloat. You might call it pragmatism. And God does give government because not everybody is a Christian following the Lord in humility.
And if we didn't have government?
We would tear each other apart as human beings and so, he says, submit to the powers that be.
We don't call the politicians names, we don't denigrate them. We pray for them.
That is, our first responsibility in politics is to pray for the powers that be that we might continue to live a quiet and obedient life in all simplicity.
My goodness, my fortress. He's he's our protection, My high tower. He gives us perspective. The higher you get, the farther you can see. And the poor man, dabbling in all his own imaginations can't see past his feet.
My high tower, we have an eternal perspective that we have.
From that perspective of being in Christ and my deliverer, He delivers us.
How often had he delivered David when he walked in the path of the Lord? How many times did he preserve him? He was haunted like a Partridge.
00:35:03
How many times did he preserve him from King Saul? My shield, protection from the arrows. People at school fire their darts of agnosticism and atheism and criticism and skepticism and pluralism and all of these things.
Christ is our shield.
Against the fiery darts.
He in whom somebody ought to trust David makes it his own.
I trust who subdued my people under me. Lord, what is man?
This question is asked a number of times in the Scriptures Psalm 8.
Psalm 144 Hebrews 2A number of times. And what a question it is.
And I don't think that we could ever know the answer by looking at ourselves.
We have to know our origin, where we came from, what our purpose is and what our destiny is before we can even think about answering such a serious.
Heavy question.
What is man? The first thing we see is thou take us knowledge of Him. He takes knowledge of you and me. He knows each one of us.
Man is like to vanity. His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
That's it.
Bow the heavens, O Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning and scatter them. Shoot out thine arrows and destroy them. Send thine hand from above rid me and deliver me. Now in this passage here from 4 through 8, he's talking about the reprobate, the apostate. Send thine hand from above, rid me. This is his attitude. He's speaking for God. This is God. This is the Lord's perspective of those who go out.
Heavier condemnation is for the apostate and reprobate than anybody else, much more than those that didn't know.
To whom much is given, much is required.
Read me, deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity.
And their right hand is the right hand of falsehood.
Emptiness and lies fill their lives.
You don't want to go there.
We have the tools to keep us from there.
Christ, our Savior and our High Priest, the Word of God for our instruction, our brethren for our fellowship.
All of these things, the Spirit for strength to indwell us, a new nature for appetite. He has given us all these things that pertain to life and godliness. He doesn't set us down here in a hostile scene, unprepared.
And unequipped.
I will sing a new song unto thee, O God upon us all. Tree in an instrument of 10 strings will I sing praises unto thee. How intricate the human condition we are as an instrument of 10 strings.
And you watch these people play a piano and all of this comes out of there. It's beautiful.
Beethoven says there's nothing to playing the piano. All you do is hit the right key at the right time. The piano just plays itself.
Nothing to it.
Who is playing?
This machine.
Who is bringing music out of this unit?
An instrument of 10 strings that gives praise and worship.
Verse 12.
That our sons may be as plants, grown up in their youth.
Here's a word to the young man.
Plants grown up in their youth.
Fruitful.
Sturdy.
Abel, then, as they mature, to withstand the drought, the storm, the floods, the fires.
Oh, I looked at some Redwood trees down in Southern California this last year. We drove down through there.
And how sturdy they are.
They live to be 1000 years old, some more than that.
It's hard to bring them down.
They sustained forest fires. They sustained drought.
And we live in a land.
00:40:01
Dry and thirsty.
Our fluid comes from heaven.
Our nourishment comes from heaven. He sustains us through all the trials, all the vicissitudes, all the disappointments, life and death.
Trials failures.
May our sons be grown up as plants, grown plants, grown up in their youth. Don't wait, it says. In their youth, in your youth.
You must be occupied with these things daily and make it your habit.
Because you sow a deed, you reap a habit, you know.
You sow a habit, you reap a character.
You sell a character, you reap a destiny.
It's the little things that mount up to make you who you are.
Not all. Someday I'll just turn around and it'll all be just.
Smooth sailing after that.
In their youth.
That our daughters may be as cornerstones. Here is this Stonewall I was talking about a cornerstone.
Polished after the similitude of a palace.
I went to Hearst Castle. It's been a long, long time ago. It's in San Simeon, Southern California. Randolph Hurst, the newspaper man spent an awful lot of money building that.
Quite a while ago.
And there's stuff there that's imported from Europe and it's exquisite.
And they take tours through there.
And I didn't see any place where it says don't litter or don't spit.
And I went through this palace and it shines.
And I looked around, didn't see anybody spitting on on the palace, on the stones, the polished stones, the monuments.
There's a museum in there. There are expensive things in there.
That our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of the palace.
If you dress cheaply, you'll be treated cheaply.
In this world.
If you act cheaply, you'll be treated cheaply.
That are garners, you know, the future if we're left here.
Is dependent upon you.
May be full.
You will be the ones to take up the charge.
For fruitfulness in the testimony.
Verse 13.
Have a full garner where no ox is. The crib is clean.
Where nobody labor's there's no corn, there's nothing to eat.
There's something that each one of us can do.
And don't wait to do something that you think is startling and it's going to be in lights. Most of us do menial things that count, that add up to be great things.
One person didn't build a pyramid. There were a lot of people working on that.
A lot of people working on that, each one doing their part. There were some in supervision, there were some in oversight, there were some laborers, there were some who cut the stones and brought them. Same with Solomons Temple as these things were cut out of the quarry. Everybody had their job to do, not somebody else's job to do.
He may have thought he wasn't doing very much.
That our garners may be full affording all manner of store, That our sheep may bring forth thousands and 10 thousands. These are These sheep are prolific.
They are not sterile. The flock increases. There is wool for the clothing, there is the food for the table.
Wealth increases, and I'm talking about not money in the bank. I'm talking about spiritual things that really count now.
I have I have one minute ago to stop.
I want to read just.
Couple of passages.
Psalm.
Now let's go to.
00:45:01
First Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 27.
And we are taking this story from the beginning to the end and building on a life that is productive for the Lord, adding these things, these things that He gives us.
The tools that were given.
And the Word of God that we have for instruction. And the last words of David in verse 27 of First Chronicles 23, the last words of David.
The Levites were numbered from 20 years old and above. There are things to do under that.
But here, because their office was to go over to verse 30, to stand every morning and to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise and even to thank and praise the Lord, Go to Psalm 113, we get a similar thought. This is one of those Hallelujah psalms. Psalm 113. Praise ye the Lord, praise all ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun, the beginning of your life to the end of your life, the beginning of your day to the end of your day.
Under the going down of the same the Lords name is to be praised.
And a soul occupied with the Lord.
Doesn't have to manufacture praise. It's the fruit of the overfilled heart. The Lord is high above all nations, in his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill.
If I had continued in my life as I started, I wouldn't be here.
Rejoicing in passages like this, he looked down and saw me, and he tracked me down.
And turned me around, tears and all, sorrow and all, and headed me toward the light.
Gave me life, saved me from my sins.
From a life of folly.
He raises the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill. When he tracks you down, are you willing?
As he tracked you down, has he spoken to you that he may set him with Princess, even the Princess of his people, he maketh the barren woman to keep house.
And to be a joyful mother of children, productive, fruitful, praise ye the Lord.