Open—S. Stewart, S. Allan, D. Mossman
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.
Our hope, our soul and Desire, 166.
Umm.
Uh.
Umm.
Capture 21.
Verse 15.
The last three words.
Seed my lamps.
Verse 16. The last three words.
Need my sheep and just one other please over in first Peter chapter 5.
Ruth Peter 5 and verse two and just the first part of the verse.
Feed the flock of God.
Which is among you?
We pray.
The God and Father we.
Come to near the end of the series of meetings that we have been invited to.
00:05:01
And we thank the Father, the way that Thou hast given us so much ministry.
These meetings started with prayer to the Blessed God.
And we believe with all our hearts that thou hast.
Given us food for our souls.
And we thank you for it.
And our God, now we come to this meeting a little different character, open meeting that we believe.
That thou hast made provision for in thy holy Word.
We are just as dependent on the Father for this meeting as all the others.
And we humbly ask thee that by whomsoever thou wilt.
That the flock of God may be fed this afternoon, our Father, we ask thee to give courage to any brother.
That would have a word from thyself.
To give it to us this afternoon. So we look to thee, we count on Thee, and we ask that the precious name for the glory of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
We turn to Galatians.
Reverse there.
Galatians.
In chapter 4.
Verse 22 It is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond made, the other by a free woman.
That he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flood, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory For these are the two covenants, and one, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendered the ******* which is Agar.
For this Agar is Mount Sinai and Arabian answered to Jerusalem, which now is and in ******* with their children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Well, who was the free woman?
It was Sarah Norcera, and she speaks of grace.
And not the law. And that's the relationship that we've been brought into with the Lord. It's one of sovereign grace.
I'd like to look a little bit at the life of Abraham.
1St to touch on a verse in the Book of Judges.
Or Joshua, Excuse me.
Where Joshua tells us to tells the children of Israel a little about.
Abraham.
24th chapter.
And verse 2.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your father's dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time. That's the other side of the Euphrates River. Sometimes the river could be called a flood. They overflowed their banks. We know that Jordan did the other side of the flood.
In old time even Tara, the father of Abraham and the father of Nakor, and they served other gods.
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan. So on.
Let's go back to Genesis.
Chapter 12.
Verse One Now the Lord God has said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land, that I will show thee.
And I will make of the a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, And Abram was seventy and five years old, and he departed out of Heron. And Abram took Sarai Eye his wife.
00:10:26
And Law, his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered in the souls that they had gotten inherent, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
Mentioned the other day or yesterday that this is the first man who was called in this way.
Out from both family and nation. And we read in Joshua that he was an idolater and his father was an idolater and he lived in a land of idolatry. He lived in Irv, the counties. It was an idolatrous city. He was surrounded by it. That's what he was brought up in.
But God doesn't call him out of idolatry.
It's true, when he called him out, he went out of idolatry, but God doesn't call him out of that.
God calls him out of family.
And nation. Both are institutions of God and especially family.
And he calls them out of those things because they have become infected by idolatry.
And God brings in a claim upon Abram's soul that is higher than family.
Higher than any claim that nature could place upon him. And you and I have been called by God too, with a claim that is higher than any other claim that can be placed upon us on this earth. Each one of us who know Christ as Savior have been individually, personally called by God.
And it's a claim upon us that transcends every other claim, because every other claim that could be put upon us can become infected by sin.
And so God must have a principle that exercises his authority upon us, that rises above anything that sin can come into.
But it's a calling embrace.
Sovereign grace has called us. Abram was called by the grace of God, and he comes out of that place where idolatry was, into this land that God said, I will show thee, I'll make thee a great nation, make thy name great. And isn't his name great today?
The great phase of this that this world recognizes our sees in their view. Abraham's the father of all of them, Christianity, Judaism, Islam. His name is great in this world.
Make of the a great nation. While we know that happened as well in the show, all the families of the earth be blessed.
Because we know the promised season is going to come down through Abraham as well as God is going to administer blessing through Israel in coming day. In the Millennium he had been hindered. We read in Chapter 11. You know, I suppose he had said something to his father, perhaps about.
Leaving.
And perhaps, and and this is, excuse me, it's really, I don't know what took place, but somehow Tara, his father takes the lead. Perhaps it sounds like a good idea. You know, I'm inherent. I hear things are really going pretty well and prosperous. It's a growing place. Let's move on out.
And they went up there and did, but it wasn't where God had called him to. And Tara takes the lead.
Farrah represents nature. Nature can't leave us in the call of God, it has to be God himself, the Spirit of God. And they only can get as far as Heron and paradise and now nature out of the way God had said to Abraham since they did say here he has past tense. He had already received that call and now he responds how nature's time.
Can hinder the call of God.
In your soul and my.
00:15:00
And so he comes into that land, he surveys it, he passes through the land in verse 6. The Canaanite was then in the land. You know, we've been called by God and we have a land that he has for us.
In Ephesians we find that all our blessings are in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All our blessings, all that we have in grace, are in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But who moves in that sphere? Satan moves in that sphere. He knows what's good.
And he doesn't want you and I to have it. And so we find in the book of Ephesians the Prince and power of the air. And he would oppose us from the enjoyment of what is ours in Christ in Ephesians gives us the armor of God for the conflict that we're going to face, to take what is ours and the enjoyment of our souls. Satan would rob us of it. The Canaanites in the land. Spiritual wickedness in high places is present.
In that land.
God appears unto Abraham, unto thy seed I will give this land, and there buildeth he. And altar unto the Lord appeared unto him. What is an altar? An altar is where Abram would meet God.
Based on a sacrifice.
Because he was a Sinner, just like you and I are. If there's going to be communion with God, there needed to be an altar. There needed to be a sacrifice. But that altar also speaks of what Abraham would put on it.
And offering up in worship to God. It speaks of communion.
And then we read. He moved from then until a mountain on the east of Bethel.
And pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West, in Hai on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. Well, he has a tent as well as an altar. And that tent is pitched right in between a place called AI and another Bethel. And Bethel means the House of God.
Hey, I mean heaps and ruins. And you know, we're in that place today as well. We're in between the heaps and ruins that we have been called out of by God and on our way home to the Father's house. And in that place in between were pilgrims and strangers in this world. And he had a tent. Do you and I have a tent and an altar?
That's what God has called us to a place of communion with him, of intimate fellowship with himself, enjoyment of himself and all that he has for us. And while we're here in this scene, he says you're just a stranger, you're just a Pilgrim, you're just passing through.
But you know, our hearts want what's here.
Our hearts want. Let's see our brother brought before us the other night, all that's in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And that man who's coveted and he wanted what's here. But Abraham had a tent.
Verse 9 Abraham journeyed going still onward to the South, and there was a famine in the land.
And Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
The God had called him.
You know at the beginning of every dispensation there is a characteristic sin that marks that dispensation.
As it has been committed to man and responsibility in his failure and.
Man called by God.
And responsibility to God.
Given in principle to Abraham here, that dispensation of calling that was developed fully later on, he fails.
And he leaves that place that he had been called to.
In a time of family.
Hammond came in and it tested Abram.
And the trials come in our life.
And they test us, don't they?
They test us in connection with that calling whereby we've been called by God.
And what's the temptation? It's to leave that call. It's to leave that tent. It's to leave that altar. It's to leave that land of promise and blessing and the enjoyment of all our privileges.
00:20:11
And all our blessings and heavenly places in Christ and go back to the world that we were called on us.
The famine was grievous in the land. It wasn't easy. The trials aren't easy. This wasn't something that was just oh, Abram, why couldn't you buck up and handle it?
It was grievous in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, he said unto Sarai his wife.
Behold, now I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, this is his wife, and they will kill me.
That they will save the alive. Say, I pray thee thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of the.
Oh, he says.
This place isn't friendly.
And you're beautiful.
And, uh, I can't let him know you're my wife. I can't let him know the relationship that I have with you, Sarah. So tell him it's something else.
You know Abraham.
And carry them through.
We read in the verses.
Down further it came to pass when Abram was coming to Egypt, Egyptians beheld the woman as she was very fair. The Princess also Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
He entreated Abram Well, for her sake he had sheep.
And oxen, and he ***** and men, servants and maidservants, and she ***** and camels.
The Lord played barrel.
And this House of great plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife and.
Called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why this thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why, said it thou she is my sister, so that I might have taken her to meet a wife. Now therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
And Farrell command of the men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife and all that he had.
You and I have been called by God.
By sovereign grace, and that's our relationship to him. It's not a *******. It's not the law of sovereign Greece.
And it's a beautiful thing.
And Satan knows what's good.
He knows what's precious. He knows what's valuable. He would love to have that. But he fell from the highest place, the most exalted creature of God. He fell through self will and sin, and he has become the enemy of God and of God's people. But he knows what's fair. He knows what's beautiful.
He's the Prince and God of this world, and he said to the Lord in the wilderness, all the kingdoms of the earth have been delivered to my hand to give them to whomsoever I will. And now that God and Prince of this world and pictured and Pharaoh comes to Abram and he says he can have it all.
I'll take her.
If you can have it all.
That's the trade.
We've been called by God and grace.
And Satan's standing there, he says you can have it all. Just give me grace, Trade. I know what's really delicious. You're going to have the rest.
It's all mine to give to you.
And the trades offered.
But he was in a compromised place, out of the path. He departed from that place of calling, and he lied about his relationship to his wife. Oh, I remember, brother, Lundin said. And if you and I get out of that path, we'll lie too, as listening to him talk. And he paused. You know, our hearts are deceitful, desperately wicked, above all things, who cannot. And there was something in my heart that said I won't lie.
00:25:25
And that pause of Brother Lundin's. And then he said, yes, you will.
Yes you will.
We get out of that path.
Full line.
We'll cover up our relationship to grace the Lord Jesus we got out of that path and go down into this world out of that calling. Will I will deny that we belong to Christ by our actions, by just not confessing it.
Well, why about our relationship to grace? And Satan will reward you richly. He'll give you. You've got it to give.
He'll give you what do you want.
Good. He knows what's precious.
We'll make the trade.
And Pharaoh took Sarah.
No. Think of Abram.
Here they come.
From pair of sheep, look at them all.
Beautiful feral sheep, the best.
Box.
Here servants, slaves, here they come.
What do you think, Abram thought as he saw that parade, Wave after wave, go by him, avoid Pharaoh gave him?
What do you think he was thinking?
It's the same thing I trust.
If we got into a position like that, maybe you are today, maybe you've been there.
And you know what I'm saying?
You'd be thinking, where's my serum?
What satisfaction?
Currently provided.
And oh, it was paraded in front of him.
When Sarah was not there.
When she was in Pharaoh's house.
None. What satisfaction?
Could you and I find?
To depart from the calling of God, to go back to this world that we have been called out, and to not have the enjoyment of Christ, but all that this world has to offer make up for that difference.
Wouldn't we think to like Abraham wires?
Where is my Lord Jesus?
What a lesson in the life of the man.
God delivered him out of it. He sent him packing right out of there.
There were effects later in his life though, because of him.
And Hagar, the gender of the ******* was one of them.
We don't get away without scars, you know, For God's sake.
We've been called by God.
Don't leave that path.
Because you'll deny your relationship to grace and.
And you lose the enjoyment of all that he has.
In the path of his calling, embrace.
You know, I was just thinking that, umm.
Our brother Steve had just read that verse in connection with Abraham, uh, where? He said.
I'll just read the verse again, he says. In thee shall all families.
00:30:02
Of the earth in blast, you know Abraham failed, and we have to acknowledge that each one of us here fail from time to time.
And what is on my heart, particularly this afternoon, is the family.
You know, I, I remember back in Ottawa many years ago, it was said that the enemy is making a special attack on the family, He's making a special attack on the assembly. And if we look around today, we can say that he has been very successful.
And, you know, I just wanna make a few little words about encouragement in connection with the family.
And maybe we could just turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Where we have the family mentioned a little bit.
I've often enjoyed these words.
In Deuteronomy 6.
I'm just gonna read some of them.
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that He might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. The.
Now might just fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son son, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged Here therefore most of Israel. And observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and the G may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers has promised thee, in the land that flows with milk and honey.
Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine hearts, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words shall I command thee this day, which I command thee this day shall be in my heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.
And when thou lie us down.
And when thou risest up, thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hands, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And then verse 20. And when my son asked thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you, then thou shalt say unto thy son.
We were in, we were Pharaoh's bondsman in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hands. And the Lord showed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his households before our eyes. And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in to give us the land which He swear unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statues, uh, to fear the Lord our God, for our good, for our good always.
And that he might preserve us alive as it is, as at this day. And also the UMM.
The 11Th chapter is really the same. Words are very similar. I just want to read one verse.
Uh, Deuteronomy 11 verse 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Well, these are verses that I feel speak volumes to me. And I wanna say if there's anyone that's been a failure to myself, I don't even feel confident to read these verses. But I think it's so important because we look around and we see families being torn apart. We see young people who are going off into the world and forgetting everything that they've heard from the word of God, and it's very sad.
But why is it? I believe it's because.
There hasn't been no listening to what God has said in His Word.
You know what's interesting that this book of Deuteronomy, as I understand this, is referred to in the New Testament 90 * 90 times. And you know, I believe that that's because what is found here in this book is so very, very important. You know, a couple of words that you hear all the time from this book is take heed unto thyself. Don't we need that today?
00:35:25
Dear brethren, take heed to thyself.
Well, you know in this chapter it says in the first verse. Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you.
You know, you might say, well, we're not under the law. We don't have to keep the 10 commandments.
That's very true. The keeping the 10 commandments has nothing to do with salvation whatsoever. We can't keep the 10 commandments if we're just gonna set out to keep them. But the Lord has made some things very plain in His Word. Just one, for instance, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Is that clear?
But how often do we find Christians that know the Lord just ignoring that and going right on with those who are unsaved? It says here that these are the commandments and the statutes and the judgment of the Lord. He wants us to hear them. You don't know what it says there down in the third verse, nor the, uh, yes, it says here. Therefore, O Israel, God wants us to listen to what He has to say.
You know if you go to the 31St chapter of this book.
And it has. There's some verses there in connection with hearings. Deuteronomy 31.
And it says there.
In the 10th verse.
Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, Thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men.
Women, children, and by stranger, that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God. And observe to do all the words of this law, and that their children, which have not known anything, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God.
What were they to do? They were to bring their children, they were to bring their families to the place where the Word of God was given and where it was read so the children may learn. You know what I find today? That the reading meetings are often ignored. Well, we've got too much to do. I gotta do this tonight and I have to do that. I don't have time to go to the reading meetings and the prayer meetings. The Lord wants us to take it, the opportunity of these to be together to read the Word of God and learn from it.
And I'm so encouraged when I look around here today and see.
Those who are young and even young children, umm, I see some here that aren't even five years old. It's good to be here where the Word of God is spoken. And I remember going to the meetings when I was young. My parents took me to every meeting. I'm so grateful because there were things that I heard that I didn't think were going in, but were going in just the same. I know that old Harry Hayhoe was.
One of the brothers in the assembly where I was and a lot of the things he said I remember to this day very clearly. And yet he died in 1962.
So it's important to hear the word of God and to listen and to learn. And uh, you'll notice here it says in the second verse that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God.
You know, we were talking about this this afternoon and the reading meeting, and I believe that the this is very important. It's not that we're afraid of the Lord, but we have reverential fear toward him. We don't want to do anything that displeases him. But you know, I believe that today there are many, many Christians and more it seems every day who do not fear the Lord. They don't really. They if you went to them, they wouldn't say, well, we don't care.
00:40:03
But their lives indicate that they don't care.
They don't fear him and in a certain sense, we should be afraid. You know what's interesting in that, uh, other chapter that I read? It says to the parents in connection with bringing up their families. It says that your, umm, days might be like heaven upon earth. Dear parents, today, do you want your days on earth to be like heaven? You know how it is. Bring up your children.
In the fear of the Lord that will bring heaven on earth to you.
But if we're careless and let the world into our homes, it's gonna be the exact opposite. And we don't wanna talk about the days of hell upon earth. We know that's not true. But oh, the Lord would desire to bring blessing into your life and mind. And that can only be if we're willing to walk in the fear of the Lord to keep his commandments. And there's another version that says here verse six. It says, and these words which I command thee, this day shall be in thy heart.
Verse 5 Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
You know, the heart that's been said is the seat of our affections. Dear young people, those of us who are older, what are we going after in this life? Is the Lord Jesus the center of our affections? You know, someone said one time, and I sort of enjoyed this, that the heart is the central operating system of the human body. The central operating system, you know, as a verse in Proverbs, it says.
Uh, Keith, Thai hearts with all diligence for out of us are the issues of life. You know, I need that verse more than anyone. What are our affections going after? As, uh, our brother Steve was saying here, Satan is offering everything that you desire naturally that your old nature desires. God has only one thing on his menu. Mr. Barry used to say there's anything you want on the devil's menu.
But you know how many things are on God's menu? One Christ. And is He the center of our affections? Do we love Him? Do we seek to honor Him? You know, if there's love in my soul for the Lord Jesus, I'll delight to keep his commandments. It's often been said about husband and wife. The husbands are to love their wives. You know, if they love their lives, their wife will desire delight to please him, the husband.
And the same thing is true with the Christian, if he's, uh, if he's, if he loves the Lord Jesus and is living to please him, then he'll delight to keep his commandments. And so there are these three things. There's keeping his commandments, there's walking in his fear and there is, umm, oh, and keeping our hearts with all diligence. You know, these are all brought together in the 10th chapter of, uh, Deuteronomy.
We'll just look at that verse for a moment to show that.
The 10th chapter and the 12Th verse.
What does the Lord thy God require me but to fear the Lord?
Thy God to walk in all his ways.
And to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. There we have all three things together, don't we? To fear the Lord, to walk in his ways and to love him and serve him. Isn't that beautiful? Well, going back to our chapter, I don't wanna take too much time, but umm, it says here in the.
Seventh verse, it says Thou shalt teach them diligently. Boy, just a moment before I go into that, I want to look at the second verse. Sorry.
I'll read it briefly. The thou minest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy son son, all the days of thy life. You know, the Lord doesn't just want to see the Father go on. He wants to see his son go on. He wants to see his son. Son, go on. And you know, I know that there are some here who are fathers. I know there are some here that are grandfathers.
00:45:04
And I know there are some here that someday will be fathers. And it says here that thou mayest fear the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and to be passed on from son to grandson and so on. You know what's so nice to see a family when the, the mother and father go on, the children go on, the grandchildren go on, and so on. And, uh, and so there's a responsibility, isn't there, for those of us who are fathers.
For those who are grandfathers and umm, I think this is very important. And so, uh, the Lord wants to see uh, the various groups going on, uh, father, son and grandson and so on. Well then going down to the 7th verse, thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.
I understand you could use the word impressed there. Thou shalt impress them diligently on thy children.
I am impressed. What The word of God, dear fathers, I wanna say here this afternoon. Are you impressing the word of God on your children? You know, they've got minds that take in things very quickly. You know, I've just been impressed. I've seen my own grandchildren under the age of five. They can sit there with, umm, one of these little electronic gadgets so they can just move like lightning with these things. And these things are being impressed on their minds.
But they need to have the Word of God impressed upon them. Dear fathers and mothers, are you reading the Word of God with your children?
It says here they were to do it when they lay down and when they rise, rose up. In other words, morning and evening. And I'm very thankful that I had a mother that prayed with me before I went to bed and she read to me faithfully.
And she would also read to us in the morning. I remember before we went to school, she would spend 20 minutes every morning reading from the word of God. And she also read a book that maybe some of you heard called Line upon line, precept, precept upon Precept.
And umm, it was really the story of viable children. And umm, I learned a lot from those times with my mother how much we need to impress these things on our children. They've got very impressionable minds. And it says here thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest of thine house, when thou walkest in the way. So the top would be our lips. What we talk about walking in the way would be where our feet take us.
And umm, then of course, when we lie down and when we rise up, in other words, everything should be focused on the Lord's things. Not that we have to be reading the Bible 24 hours a day. But I remember and I, I have to say I'm a failure. I've been a failure at this. But remember Albert Hale coming to our house in Stellerton some years ago and he sat down at the table and he, uh.
There were various things on the table and he said, all right, Sean, where in the Bible can you find the verse that talks about when he mentioned something on the table and then he mentioned something else? In other words, he was trying to bring the Lord's things into the conversation to the children. And so it's important, isn't it, When we're talking and, uh, when we're walking by the way, and what we do, are we interested in furthering the Lord's interests? It's so very important, isn't it?
And then, umm, it says here that thou shall bind them for a sign upon my hand. You know, the hand is what we do things with. And I think that every one of us, I'm thinking of the young people here particularly.
We should be exercised as to what we are doing. Is that for the Lord's glory and is it according to His will? I remember when I was young, it didn't didn't seem that I went to the Lord and said, Lord, what shall I do for a career? I just sort of went and did it. But you know, we need to be dependent and look to the Lord. He's interested in the daily things that we do.
Are we seeking to take advantage?
Uh, I hope John doesn't mind me mentioning, but I remember when I was young and I went, uh, down to the auto exhibition. I didn't, didn't go in, I guess, but I was walking by out of paper route in that area and I saw John here standing in front of the auto exhibition grounds handing out tracks. He wasn't very old. He was probably only about 2122, but he had a real imprint. He made a real impression on me.
00:50:05
And you know, we affect everybody, don't we? We're, we're either in Nevada or a good example. So those around us. And I remember one time a, a young brother came up to me and I was his age. Actually, I guess he's a year older than me. And we were just teenagers. And he said, you know, Sam, what you do effects what I do. And I never thought of that before. I thought it's gonna be paying attention to me. But it's true. We affect each other.
For examples, either for the Lord or or or we're not, and how important it is to be examples. And so thou shall bind them for a sign upon thy hands.
And they shall be as frontlets be between thine eyes. That's sort of an interesting expression. I I'm not quite sure what that means. I guess they actually put the word of God, at least the Pharisees did, in front of their eyes or around here. But you know, it's nice to go into a home sometimes.
And see Bible verses on the walls. Uh, it makes it plain that the ones who in that home are Christians. And so when somebody knocks on the door and you invite them into the step inside, it's nice for them to see a gospel text on the wall. And so how important it is to have the word of God as frontlets between our eyes. And then we have this 9th, 9th verse. Thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house.
And on by Gates.
Umm. And I believe this is very important too. Umm.
You know, what goes on in the house is going to affect what goes on in the assembly. And, uh, I think that's so important, umm, because the gates here probably refer to the family going out, uh, to the assembly and into the community.
And you know what a sad thing it is, Perhaps if a family is fighting, they have the windows up and the people hear what's going on in the hole, it brings dishonor on the Lord. And what we say in the in the home is going to affect the assembly. Why is it that our assembly so often they're so weak? It's because what goes on in the home is not always pleasing to the Lord. And so we need to remember that thou shall write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.
And you know, there's some, there's a book that I would like to recommend, uh, to you. You know, some of us here remember GC Willis, uh, he was a missionary to China and he wrote a book and I have found it very helpful. It's called to the parents of my grandchildren. Now, when you think of that book to the parents of my grandchildren, who is Mr. Willis writing to? He was writing to his own children and, and giving them advice as to.
How they should bring up their children. And what Mr. Willis does, he goes right through the Old Testament and into the New Testament. And he looks at Abraham, he looks at Noah, he looks at, umm, laws and all these parents and points out their strengths and their weaknesses. And that's a very edifying book, particularly for those who are parents. I highly recommend it to the parents of my grandchildren. And you know, I was just thinking of Noah.
He was a faithful father.
Umm, there he was building that art for 120 years. People must have thought he was an absolute crackpot. You can imagine if you went out here and started building a ship like the, like the Ark out here on the front lawn, people would say, what on earth are you doing? What? You know, it's interesting. When the time came for no one to go into that art, was it just him and his wife?
No, it was him and his wife and his sons and their wives.
In other words, those sons and their wives respected their father. They honored him. They knew that he feared the Lord. They knew that he was keeping the commandments of the Lord. They knew that his heart was for the Lord. And they went into the ark with their father and their mother, and they were preserved.
But you know, there's another man.
And so we can say that Noah was a faithful father, but you all know a lot. He was a failing father. He was a believer. That's made very plain in the, in, uh, second Peter chapter 2, it says that righteous man vexed his soul from day-to-day. Umm, so he was a, a believer, but you know, when the time came that the judgment was going to fall on Sodom.
00:55:12
What happened? He went to his sons in law and he says, get out of here, we've got to leave right now. And what does it say? He seemed as one that mocked. They didn't even give him the time of day. They said, we're not going to listen to you, You're crazy. And what happens? His sons in law were left in that city for destruction.
And you know God is bringing judgment on this world.
And do we really feel we're not close to the Lord's coming?
You know, the Lord wants us to go on for him in a little time left us. He wants us to be happy. He wants to make our lives in this world as the days of heaven upon earth. But how can that be? By simply walking to please him, to keep his commandments, to fear him and to love him with all our heart. And then there's another thing I just mentioned about the house. I look at, uh, Deuteronomy 22, uh, just for a moment, I'm sorry.
That we stopped here.
Umm I just want to read one verse. Verse 8.
We now build us a new house. Then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house. If any man falls from pants from fence. So you know, when they were building a new house, You know, back in the Middle East the houses have flat roofs and umm, they often had a stairway going up the side of the house to the roof. But they were told here that when they built their house they were to put a battlement. That means basically a railing.
Around the roof. Why? Well, you've got little children up there on the roof and with no railing around us, they would fall off and they would kill themselves or really hurt themselves. And so it was the responsibility of the parents to build that battlements, as it says there in the umm in that verse that we just read. And dear parents, I wanna say it's important to put up that battle list to protect our children from the evil influences that are in this world.
That our children might not fall and fall into sin and things that will bring dishonor on the Lord and soar into their hearts. We need to build that battleness.
Well, just one more thing and I'll stop. Uh, in the, uh, 20th verse, it says when my son asked thee to come in time to come say what mean the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you, then thou shalt say unto thy son, we were Pharaoh's bondsman in Egypt and the Lord brought us out of Egypt. In other words, the children were gonna become curious and they would say, why are you doing this, that?
Why are why are we keeping these commandments of the Lord? And you know, to those of us who are parents, our children are gonna ask us questions. Some of them are gonna be difficult to answer.
But you know, the Lord wants us to be ready to give an answer to our children. That's rather interesting. These verses are not only read in connection with the, uh, the commandments here, but if you go back to Exodus 12, umm, the same questions are asked when your children come and ask them, why are we keeping this Passover? Give them an answer. So we need to answer these questions, but it's interesting here how they were to answer.
It says in the 21St verse, and I hope I make it clear, we were Pharaoh's bondsman in Egypt and the Lord brought us out. You know, children, the reason why we're keeping the commandments of the Lord is because there was a time when we were down on Egypt and we were slaves there and we were in terrible *******. But the Lord delivers.
And what's the second reason? Uh, the, uh, the, umm, 23rd verse. And He brought us out from thence, uh, that He might bring us in to give us the land which He swear unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes. What He's saying here is, you know, first of all, tell the children that you love the Lord, that He has delivered you from all kinds of difficulties, and He's asked us to keep His commandments.
And so that's what it says in the 24th, 1St, the Lord commanded us to do all these statues, to fear the Lord our God for our good always.
01:00:00
You know, dear children, those who are younger here, you might not like some of the.
Umm, things that your parents asked you to do, but they do it for your good. And you know, when the Lord gives us commandments in His word, He does it for our good because He wants to bless us. And I think it's nice here that the first thing we should do as parents is to tell our children the Lord has delivered us. He has done such great things for us.
And now we want to please Him and keep what He has asked us to do for our good always. Well, like I say, I don't feel confident really to speak on this subject, but I think it's so important. I know the Lord wants us to be happy, He wants us to be faithful, and He wants our days to be like having upon earth. May He keep us walking in the past till He comes.
I know our time is short, but uh, our brother Dave read those verses concerning Peter, how the Lord said feed my sheep and it talks about the flock of God. You know, in the Scriptures, umm, people are looked at as sheep. We could generalize. I suppose we might say that all mankind are like sheep.
Isaiah 53 and six is all we like. Sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and I believe that that all is all inclusive.
That's everybody.
And to me, that's the definition of sin, really, because going your own way is not going God's way, it's the opposite.
But, uh, you know, I was reminded when he read those verses of how it spoke about David, how he kept the sheep, you know, and looked after the sheep and so on. And we know that David would be to us in the Old Testament, a very wonderful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so he looked after his one place and says his Father's sheep. It's an interesting expression.
Because we've been given as Christians now, we've been given as a gift to the Son. Come, Father. And so he's keeping his Father's shape. The Lord is still keeping his, his sheep, you know, you and I. And so we don't take the time because it's almost up. But if we were to go to John 10, we would read there about the sheep.
And the Lord Jesus, in that chapter, he declares I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
And he goes on to say, My sheep hear my voice.
And I they'll follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Now wonderful position into which God brings us by grace.
It's by grace, you know, uh, we don't, we don't, uh, merit anything really. Uh, whether we are, uh, those that are still in our sins or those of us who are saved, really, you know, the Lord's grace is what we count on. It's the grace of God that saves us and it's the grace of God that keeps us.
If we were to, uh, turn then over to Hebrews, at the end of the Hebrews we would find the expression how Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep.
Now it connects up there with our walk in this world. And so let me put it this way, in the past, if you will, the Lord Jesus was a Good Shepherd. He gave himself, and she he gave himself for us in our way of reckoning that happened in the past. But you know, he's not left us alone.
He is in heaven presently doing a wonderful work on our behalf, is interceding for us before God.
These interceding for us in the capacity of High Priestly umm aspect as well as an advocate, and we won't go into any more detail than that, but he's living for us.
01:05:16
And today we've heard from those who we might think of as guides, and no doubt that's proper. According to the word of God, we might call them under shepherds.
But the Great Shepherd is there in the heavens, and he's watching over everything.
But we can thank God for those that guide us. We can thank God for those that are under score.
And then if we were to go over to Peter first, Peter chapter 5, I believe it is, it speaks there about the Chief shepherd.
The Lord Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, and it speaks about the reward that he's going to give at his coming. That's future.
You know the Lord is what's after us, right from the past through present, right to the future, and He's going to bring us safely home.
And one of the things that the Lord said in John 17.
All those that thou has given me to his father, he says I have lost none. And he will not lose it. He will not lose any.
He's going to bring us all the way home and you know, there's going to be a time when our lives will be reviewed. We had that mentioned a few times, uh, during the course of these meetings at the judgment seat of Christ. And you know, uh, we can read about it in First Corinthians 3, how that there's going to be gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stuff and it's all going to be tested by fire.
And get tested by fire. You know what's going to burn.
The wood, hay and stone.
And so when we get there now, I don't want to be irreverent anyway, but you can almost imagine a big pile and the fire is put to it.
And I dare say, in my case at least, a lot of it is going to burn up because of things I've done selfishly and so on. It was not for the Lord at all. I believe the things that were done for the Lord will gain a reward. And so I believe there's going to be a little bit left. However, it's going to be some gold, silver, and precious stones because it goes on to say every land will have praise of God.
So there will be something that God will find that he can reward us.
Well, that's wonderful, isn't it? To realize that even though everything is of grace, nothing of ourselves. And yet he gives us a reference.
Beautiful to consider. Well, that's the only thought I have before me at this point and just wanted to just kind of share that with you. And keep to mind when my brother Dave mentioned about feeding the sheep, you know, David said the Lord is my ship.
He appreciated the fact that the Lord was his shepherd. He took the place of a sheep.
You know, if we think of a shape as kind of wandering and, uh, tendency to get out of the way where it's supposed to be and so on. We don't particularly like to be compared to sheep, I suppose. But Davis said the Lord is my shepherd took the place of a sheep. He may give me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. And I trust that our little time that we've had here going to conference.
Days have been just like that.
Like lying down in some green passengers and.
Enjoying the peace of quiet that to me is like a little foretaste of heaven.
Because the world goes about its business, but uh, and they don't even know that we're here most part, but God looks down and like it says there in Malachi, those that feared the Lord spoke often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard a book of remembrance of victory.
We're seeing 200 and 38238.
Our Shepherd.
01:10:00
'S graveyard.
And the faith of souls.
And you wake up.
All right, so.
You see anything in front of him and will play.
OK.
So.
What are you doing? How much is it? How are you?
Doing today, I don't know. I start without being.
Wednesday.
Circuit breaker No.
Well, no.
Mm-hmm.