Address—J. Hyland
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They're waiting, waiting for the nuptial day. Then set their promised glory dating Come and bear thy Saints away. Come Lord Jesus. Thus thy waiting, people pray 183 Will someone please start it?
Bring your clothes. I think your way to make me fall.
Behind your head.
And then start from your face.
What I'm ever.
I say all your way.
Don't forget.
When I start.
We ask the Lord's help. We thank Thee, our loving God and Father, that we have been able to lift up our hearts and our voices this afternoon, and sing of that blessed hope, that hope which thou set before us, of soon being in the Father's house with. And like our precious Savior, we thank thee for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We thank you that we have one who has not only died for us, but one who has risen, ascended, and glorified Derek thy right hand, and one who is going to come forth and call us to himself at any moment. And so this afternoon we would say in our hearts Even so come Lord Jesus. But in the meantime we thank Thee for full provision for our pathway. Here we thank Thee for Thy word that we can open and read, and we pray that as we have some portions before us this afternoon.
That it might be that which would be for our edification, for our exhortation, and for our comfort according to our needs.
We thank you that goddess know the need of each one here in this room, and thou art able to fully meet that need.
Should I work, I'd like to begin this evening, this afternoon by reading 2 portions of scripture. The 1St is in John chapter 14.
John chapter 14 and I just want to read one clause.
About the middle of verse 3.
I will come again and then in Luke 19.
Luke 19 and justice the last phrase of verse 13.
Occupy till I come. Well, as our hymn suggested, I'd like to speak with the Lord's help this afternoon.
Little bit concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I'd like to take it up in connection with our responsibility.
While we wait that day, when we hear that shout that will summon us to himself, because I believe that God always did two things for his people in any age. He always gave them a present portion and he always gave them an eye to the future. And I would just say, too, that when God brings us into a place of blessing and gives us light from His word as to that place that He brought us into, there's always responsibility connected with it.
I believe that the joy and the fruit and the testimony come in our Christian lives as we seek by grace, and it's only by grace, but as we seek by grace to go on in the path that he has for us and to fulfill that responsibility that he has given us. I say again, when God brings me into a place of blessing and gives me light from his words as to that place of blessing, there's always responsibility connected with it. And that's the way I'd like to view it this afternoon as we take up the Lord's coming.
But as I say, in any dispensation, God always did those two things for his people.
You see it illustrated with the children of Israel as he redeemed them by the blood of the Passover lamb out of Egypt. They come out and they're delivered. They look back on the banks of the Red Sea and they see their enemies dead on the seashore. And they had complete deliverance. And it's true, they were going to a land flowing with milk and honey. He had put that Hulk before them. But, you know, in the meantime he provided everything that was needed for them. When they were hungry, he fed them.
When they were thirsty, he gave them water. Their shoes didn't wear out. And when they finally did enter the promised land some 40 years later, and they looked back on the wilderness journey, they had to own that it was all God's provision for them. It's true that they often looked at the present circumstances instead of seeing the hand of God behind it all. It's true sometimes they lost sight of the hope that they had been given of of going to the land of Canaan.
But you know, as they looked back when they finally entered the land, how different they viewed it.
And I believe that's the way we're going to view it in a coming day when we're safe home with them like our precious Savior, we're going to look back over the wilderness journey. And it's not going to be to remember all the discouragements and the difficulties, but it's going to be to see the hand of God behind everything. I like the way the hymn writer put it, he said. Then nevermore shall the tears, the the trials, temptations and walls that darken this valley of tears.
Invent crude on our blissful repose, or if yet remembered above no sadness, their memory shall rave. They will bring back fresh thoughts of His love, Fresh thoughts for our wonders.
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Pray. And I say, that's the way we're going to view the wilderness. That's the way we're going to view what he has passed us through here as we look back, and we see it in the light of God's presence. But you know, Israel was very quickly discouraged in the wilderness. And you find there that not having been in the wilderness very long, they look back and they murmur and complain. And they cried unto Moses, And Moses cried unto the Lord. And the Lord told Moses, he said, tell the people to turn around.
They're looking in the wrong direction. They're looking back. And when they turned around, what was it that they saw? It wasn't the discouragements and the hindrances that no doubt were there and no doubt they were going to face, but they saw the glory of the Lord revealed in the cloud in some way. Jehovah was pleased to reveal himself, and they could take heart and say we're going on to something far better and brother and I think this is what we need in the days in which we live.
I don't mean that we're indifferent to the circumstances and the trials and the tests that God allows, because he allows these things to draw us closer to himself. And we're in the school of God and we'll we'll never graduate from the school of God until we get home to glory. And so there are going to be the test.
And we don't want to be indifferent to those things that he allows, both in our lives as individuals, in the in the family, often, sometimes in the assembly. But I really believe that we need to lift up our eyes above the horizons of this sad world, to look beyond the long dark night and to realize that we're going on to something far better, David said. I had fainted, except I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. This is the land of the dying, but we're going to the land of the living.
And may we have this hope before us. I said that the floor that God always did two things for his people. And I've enjoyed it in connection with where we read here because we find that in the in John's Gospel we have what we might call the what we often call the upper room ministry. That is, before the Lord Jesus went to the cross, he drew his own into the upper room, and he gives them this wonderful encouragement and instruction.
And we find that in the 13th chapter he brings before them the truth of foot washing.
And the blessing that comes from the practical application of God, of the Word of God in our lives.
In the 15th chapter he gives them the truth of fruit bearing and abiding in the vine and the joy that comes from that. In the 16th chapter he gives them the promise of the Holy Spirit who is to be the power for their lives as they walk through this world. In the 17th chapter we have this high priestly prayer that which was pointing on to that time when the Lord Jesus would be at the right hand of God and fulfill that office as our High Priest.
For his own every hour of every day. But in the 14th chapter you have a hope, the hope of the Lord's coming. And so again, it's just as if he tells them I'm not going to be with you now, the way I have been during my public ministry, because he told them that he had come from God and he would return to God. But he says I'm going to make full provision in my absence. And I believe, brethren, that the resource that the people of God have enjoyed down through the ages.
Is the same limitless supply that we have today. We have all things that pertain unto life and godliness, and so he provides for our present needs. And then he gives us a hope. Because you know, when we live by faith, faith always has an object and faith has a hope. There's no such thing as blind faith, and faith is not a leaf in the dark. And you'll notice that all those in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews.
Who lived by faith. They all had an object. We read of those who, of one who looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker was God. We read of those who didn't receive the promises, but they saw them afar off and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims. We read of Moses, it says he endured as being him who is invisible, and even those at the end of the chapter.
Who didn't accept deliverance, but those who suffered trials of cruel mocking? Who wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins? Who were sawn asunder, and so on. What about them? They had a hope too, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. And so we need to have this hope before us. Because I've often said, why would you give up present advantage if you don't have an eye to the future, a young fellow goes to school.
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Perhaps he gives up some things or thinks he does. Perhaps he doesn't go out with his friends when he'd like. He lives on very little. Why? Because he stays in to study and he says when I get my degree, I'll get a good job or a better job. He has that eye to the future. And oh brother, what is the hope that is set before us?
The hope of being with and like our precious Savior. And I believe we're just seconds. We're just moments away from the fulfillment of this promise that we began with Here I will come again. You know this is a promise from the very lips of the Lord Jesus. He knew the hearts of the disciples on this occasion, as he had brought before them, that he was going to go away. He was going to go to the cross and then back to the Father. He knew their hearts were troubled. He knew their hearts were afraid.
Tell them, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I will come again and receive you unto myself. How is it that we can sit here tonight in the mid or this afternoon, in the midst of confusion and a world that's right for the judgment of God? It's to know that at any moment we're going to be taken out, and we're not going to be here when the judgment falls, but while this world is getting worse and worse, and I believe the scriptures prepare to show us.
But the last days described their indifference to the claims of Christ. Yet you and I know that there's something far better waiting. And I say, here's a promise from the lips of the Lord Jesus himself. And it says all the promises of God in him are and in him. Amen. Has he ever made a promise that he won't fulfill? You know, sometimes I have made promises, and perhaps I was very sincere in making that promise. But when the time came to fulfill that promise, I had promised too much.
Or perhaps when I made the promise, I had the resources to fulfill it, but something had come in in the interim and I couldn't fulfill what I had promised to do. But oh Lord Jesus, I speak reverently. He never made a promise that he can't or won't fulfill. And though 2000 years have passed by since this promise was made, it will be fulfilled. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. I believe we're just seconds away from the fulfillment.
Of this blessed promise. And so he comforted the hearts of the disciples Here he said, I will come again. But as I said, I'd like to take it up in connection with our responsibility because I've been impressed how that in Christianity everything is in relationship to the Lord's coming. That's the pivotal point. Everything is in view of that day when the Lord Jesus will have a bride. You know he's waited almost 2000 years for his bride.
I remember when I was engaged. We were engaged for several months and I thought it was a long time. But it's nothing compared to what the man of patience has waited. He's waited almost 2000 years to have the church that he loved and gave himself for, to have her around himself in the full enjoyment of his love. In that day. I trust, brethren, there is in some measure in our hearts a response as to the Lord's coming. I trust the response of our hearts is in the language of Scripture Even so, come Lord Jesus.
But you know, it's wonderful to think of how he's longing for that day when he will have us with himself. I was staying in a home some time ago, and there was a young man in the home who was anticipating marriage. And every morning as he came down to the breakfast table, he announced how many days it was until the wedding. The first day it was 45 days, the second day 44, and so on. And I thought as he came down and announced with a glad smile that it was one day less until the wedding. I thought if an earthly bridegroom can anticipate the times when he will have his bride and they will share their love together.
How much more? The Heavenly Bridegroom who's waited almost 2000 years and you know in that day, marvel of marvel, he's going to view us there as his bride, a glorious bride, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And he's going to see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And when we think of that, then I believe it will be the springboard. It will be the motivation to follow him now and seek by grace to occupy.
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Until he comes. And so I read this phrase here in the 19th of Luke, because here we find that there was this man who had servants and in his absence he gave them responsibility. Just a little aside, you'll find that in Matthew's Gospel where he takes up this same incident, you'll find that there are different responsibilities given and the same reward, because in Matthew's Gospel he brings before us God's sovereignty.
But I believe Luke's ministry brings before us man's responsibility, and so here we have the same responsibility. Each one is given 10 talents, and there's a difference in the rewards because he will reward for faithfulness. And every one of us here, who knows Christ as our Savior, he has a responsibility for us in the path of faith. Now, the path of faith that he has for you is not the path of faith that he has for me.
Because we're individuals in God's family and he has an individual path of faith for us.
But I say each one of us have something, some responsibility, some talent, if I can put it that way, that we are responsible to use for his glory and honor as we're left in this world. You see it illustrated with the Levites because every Levite had a responsibility in connection with the Tabernacle. And you know, it says, let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.
It wasn't that it went with those Levites. It wasn't that one looked at another and coveted what the other one was doing.
Each one was responsible to fulfill the little function that God had given him. I've sometimes wondered if perhaps the one who went around and picked up the pins or kept the cords from tangling, if he didn't, look at the one who carried the brazen altar of the board and say, well, I wish I was doing that, but that's not where the blessing came. The blessings and the reward came from fulfilling the function that God had given him to do. Because I believe each one of us are given a special place and a function that no one else can fulfill.
Just as well as you. Just like in a natural body, every member of our natural bodies has a particular function.
And if you lose a hand, well, the other hand can take over and you can get through life, but not as well as with two.
And so we need to be exercised as members of the body of Christ. Each one of us have a function.
And I say again, he has a path of faith for us and it's in relationship to the Lords coming. It's in view of that because he never wants us to lose sight of that hope. In fact, brethren, I believe that in the measure in which we are looking for the Lords coming in that measure, it will have a practical purifying effect on our lives. We see that in first John chapter 3, where he takes up the truth of not only being with Christ, but like Christ, and then he says everyone that has this hope in him.
Purifies himself even as he is pure. I say in the measure in which I am expecting the Lord at any moment in that measure, it will have a practical effect on my life. You know, sometimes use the illustration of Daniel. You'll find that Daniel stood before the greatest king of his day, King Belshazzar. And Belshazzar said, if you can read the writing on the wall, I'll give you 3 things. He said. I'll give you a gold chain of scarlet robe and I'll make you third ruler in the Kingdom.
Daniel said to that man, But he said, thy gift be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing. Why did he say that? Why did he refuse those gifts? Well, why would he want to be third ruler in a Kingdom that was already under judgment? Because secular history tells us that while Daniel was standing there, the enemy was already besieging the city, and scripture itself tells us that that night was the King's flame and his Kingdom given.
To another. And Daniel knew from the writing on the wall that that Kingdom was under judgment, and so he refused to have part in that Kingdom. And when in Peter he takes up the subject of the elements, melting with fervent heat, and the final judgment of this world, he says, Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, as we realize that everything we have down here is going to pass away?
I say it will have a proper I will have a practical effect on our lives, and it will keep that which we have in a temporal way in perspective. I don't mean that we despise the mercies that God has given us. We ought to be faithful stewards of what he has committed to our trust. It says it is required and steward.
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A man be found faithful? Well, I mentioned that the past that he has for us is a path of faith. And you know, there are many things that sometimes we wish were spelled out clearly in the word of God, particularly those of us who are younger. We come to those decisions in life, perhaps where we're going to live, a vocation in life, a partner in life, things like that. And we wish we could turn to the word of God and find direct answers to those things.
But you know, if everything was spelled out in that way, it wouldn't be a path of faith. Now, I would just say I believe this book is sufficient light to guide us the whole pathway and to answer every question that arises, even in 1993. But, you know, God desires that we would search the word of God, and as we read it, then he takes it and applies it in the power of the Spirit as direction for our pathways. But, you know, I believe that while that is true.
There are some things that are spelled out very clearly in God's words. And we're going to look at some of these things. We're going to see that they are all in light of the Lords coming, but we're going to see that he would have us to be occupied with these things while we await that moment. And as we look at these things, it's not so much a question of should we be occupied with these things, but are we occupied with these things? You know, we take steps in our Christian life and we have to say, like the apostle Paul, we trust.
We have the Lord's mind. Perhaps we do look back and we say, well, it seems we had the Lord's mind.
But I say as we look at these scriptures, they leave no doubt in our minds as to whether they are His will for us in the path of faith. And I would just say too that as we take up these scriptures, it's not my thought or my desires to bring out something particularly new. They're all well known scriptures. But I trust as we look at these well known scriptures and we make some comments on them with the Lord's help, I trust that they will encourage our hearts, brethren, to follow him the little time that remains that we might be faithful to Him.
You know, I've enjoyed the little commendation given to Philadelphia, and I trust there's no thought even in corners of our hearts, as to being Philadelphia. But we see there that which met meets with the Lord's approval. They kept his word and had not denied his name. And isn't that what we really desire, brethren, the Lord's approval? And at the end of it all, what is going to make the path of faith worthwhile is well done, thou good and faithful servant. Let's turn first of all, then to 1St Corinthians Chapter 10.
For Chapter 11.
One Corinthians Chapter 11 and verse 26. For as often as ye eat this bread.
And drink this cup, Ye do show the Lord's death till he comes. Well, as I said, the path of faith is first of all individuals. But I believe too, that even in the day in which we live, there's not just the path of faith for us as individuals, and not just the path of faith for us as families. But I believe there's a path of faith for us collectively as well, because when God takes up the individual side of things in Scripture.
That is our responsibility and position before God as individuals. There's always a comparable truth connected with the collective aspect of things, and I'm saddened to find today that it's the collective side of things that is being given up. And here I believe we have it brought before us. Now we know that in the chapter before, he takes up the subject of the Lord's table, in this chapter he takes up the subject of the Lord's Supper. And I believe that everything that has gone before in these two chapters is summed up in this precious verse that we have just read.
You know, I've often wondered why in the verses that precede here, the Apostle Paul by the Spirit of God goes over very carefully. The Lord suffer as to how it was to be carried out and to its significance. Because, you know, when the Lord Jesus was here, he instituted the feast himself in Luke 22. And if we were to go back there, we would find that he leaves nothing unexplained as to how that feast was to be carried out. He didn't just say to his own to remember him when he was gone.
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But he left them in no doubt as to how they were to commemorate him.
If he had just said, Remember Me in death when I'm gone, everyone of us would have would be entitled to our own opinion. But he goes over it very carefully, and you might say, well, wasn't it enough that the Lord Jesus instituted that beast, instituted that beast himself, and explained its significance?
Well, it perhaps it would have been, but to my own heart it's just as if he would say to the apostle Paul, I want you to give it to them again, so that there's no doubt in my mind and in the minds of my own as to the significance of the state as to how it is to be carried out and what it means to my heart to have my own Remember Me and death. You know, we were here this morning to remember the Lord in his death, and sometimes we think of the joy that it brings to our heart.
To be in the presence of the Lord Jesus and to respond with a loaf and a cup on the table.
But his joy this morning far outweighed ours. Think of his part. His part Brethren is always greater, and I believe it's precious to realize that his desire was expressed there in Luke 22. It's true there was obedience and a response on the part of the disciples. But whose desire was it that was particularly expressed on that occasion? It was the desire of the Lord Jesus to have His own around himself.
He could say with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And I know it was particularly the Passover that was in view there. But he knew that it was to be the very spot where he would institute this precious feast. And so let's keep this in mind as to how much it means to his heart to have his own response in this world that cast him out and rejected him. And so I say everything is summed up here as he says as often.
Brethren, when the Lord Jesus instituted this speech.
He knew not only what the hearts of his own were like on that occasion, but he knew what my heart was like.
He knew that I would need a reminder and that I would need it often. And I think this is one of the most precious things concerning being gathered to the Lords name. And that is that we not only have the privilege of remembering the Lord Jesus in his death on a special occasion, not just twice a year or once a month, but every first day of the week. We need that reminder and we need it often. And you can trace through the book of the act in the early days of the Church.
And before the Canon of scripture was completed, it was already the exercise and the joy of the early believers to come together on the first day of the week to remember the Lord Jesus in his death. And so he says as often as he eats this bread and drink this cup. Now I realize that we understand the significance of the loaf in the cup. That loaf unbroken, speaks of every member of the body of Christ every St. alive on the face of the earth. He takes that up in the 10th chapter when he brings before us the significance of the low. And then when we take that loaf and break it, it is to be a fresh reminder.
Of His body given in death for us. And the cup speaks of His Precious blood. It's given separately because I believe the the separation of the blood from the body was the proof of death. That's why He gives us the Cup's effort from the loaf. But I want to just pass on another little thought in connection with why the Lord Jesus chose a loaf and a cup. I speak carefully, but I believe He could have really chosen anything.
And given it the same significance, but he chose a loaf of bread and fruit of the vine.
Because, brethren, I believe he wanted it to be something that was available to his own.
In any age, in any part of the world, and you know, though it's been 2000 years since the institution of that feast, you can go almost anywhere in the world today, and at very little cost. You can obtain a loaf of bread in some form. May not be a loaf of bread as we think of it, but in some form a loaf of bread, and in some form, again perhaps at little cost, fruit of the vine, because I say he wanted it to be available to his own because it means much to have his own. Remember him in death.
And I know it's a little bit out of context, but I often think of that question raised by Naomi Servant.
They said, if he had asked me to do some hard thing, would thou not have done it? Brethren, has he asked us to do some hard thing? Has he asked us to do something that is costly? Has he asked us to use emblems that are hard to obtain? How simple and yet how precious a loaf and a cup? And I say he has preserved this institution for us. I believe rather not just that we can break bread, but so that we can partake of the Lord's Supper.
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At the Lord's table so we can be gathered by the Spirit of God around himself. Because when God institutes something, he always makes provision to the very end. You know that believe. That's one reason why the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18, where two or three he didn't say 2 or 300, he didn't say two or three dozen, but he looked on beyond the Pauline gaze of the church. He looked on beyond the revival of the truth in the 1800s.
He looked on to 1993 and realizing that man fails in his responsibility, he looked on to this very moment and he brought it down to the smallest corporate testimony possible. And I say when he sets up and institute something, he makes provision for the to the very end. Because he doesn't just know the beginning from the end, he knows the end from the beginning. You know, I've often said that I might set up something, establish something, perhaps a trust fund for one of my children.
And I may have ample resources when that fund is begun, But, you know, I may run out of the resources, and I may never be able to bring that that institution to fruition. I may never be able to bring it to the purpose for which I intended. But I say again, God makes provision to the very end, and I believe honestly, myself and on the authority of God's word, that there's still a path of faith for us collectively if we're willing to bow to the word of God.
And follow in that path that he has for us. And so ye do show the Lord's death. How long, brethren, till he comes. He wouldn't have said till he comes if he wasn't going to make provisions to the very end. And I wonder, when we get home to glory, I want to be careful, because I realize in that day everything will be fullness of joy. There will be nothing to mar our enjoyment of the Father's house and our enjoyment of Christ. But I have wondered if in that day when you look into His face.
And he looked into yours, and there's that mutual feeling of joy. I've wondered if there isn't just going to be some little special understanding between your heart and his, that while you were in the scene of his rejection, you responded to that request. You remembered him in his death. Well, let's turn over to First Timothy.
First Timothy chapter 4.
And verse 13.
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, verse 15. Meditate upon these things, Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Well, I'm going to take this scripture a little bit out of its context, but I believe it's applicable and relevant to that which we have been Speaking of, because Paul here was writing to Timothy, and desirous to see Timothy face to face.
He tells him that in the interim he should give attendance to reading, but I believe this is good for us in connection with the Lord's coming.
Because God has given us His word as light, an instruction for our pathways, and we need to give attendance to reading. This is a day when the Word of God is being set aside. I believe that the Word of God, as we take it up and read it, has a very, very practical effect on our lives. We know that first of all, it was that which showed us the way of salvation. Because, Paul said to Timothy, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
We know, too, that it was the Word of God applied in the power of the Spirit that God used in connection with imparting divine life, because it says we're born again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. But then after we're saved, we need the word of God because we receive a new life. And just as in physical things, if we're going to grow and be healthy, we need to eat. And if we're going to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
If we're going to be healthy Christians, we need to feed on God's word. That's why, Job said. I esteemed the words of his mouth.
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More than my necessary foods, Jeremiah said, Thy words were found and I to beat them, and they were under me. The joy and rejoicing of my heart. And we need to develop an appetite for God's word. You know, when I was a child, I was a very picky eater and there were few things that I liked, particularly vegetables. And you know, one of the things that I particularly abhorred with tea, and my mother always told me that when I was home.
I could refuse those things, but I had to eat them when I was out and, you know, as I travel amongst the Lord's people.
Often the vegetable that served as peas, and more often than that, they sometimes serve the plight. But, you know, I want to say this, having had to eat peas on a regular basis, I have developed an appetite for them, and now I thoroughly enjoy them. And I'll even take a second helping if they're offered. And I just say that in connection with the word of God, we need to develop an appetite for it. Maybe at first we don't have that appetite. It takes real discipline. But, you know, the children of Israel were provided for.
In the wilderness. And you know, one of the things that grieves Jehovah very much when Israel was in the wilderness was that they despised the simple manner that God had given them. And I believe that God has given us food in His word, because, you know, as we were saying this morning in Sunday school, wherever you read in the word of God, the subject is always Christ. And the Lord Jesus said when he was here that they were his own, were to eat of the bread of heaven, which of which he was Speaking of himself.
And how do we feed on Christ? It's God's word. And so we need to gather the manna like the children of Israel in the 16th chapter of Exodus. And I just challenge you sometimes to read that chapter in that connection because, you know, first of all, they had to go out and gather it every day. No, I believe a wilderness would bring before us that wouldn't a place where there's nothing to sustain life. You know, the children of Israel, we're in a wilderness. There was nothing.
To sustain life. And so God gave them the manna. And we're in a spiritual wilderness. There's nothing to sustain the new man in this world. There's plenty to feed our lust and to feed the old man. But I believe if we feed on the mammoth. If we feed on Christ. And when were they to gather it? Every morning. And that's what we need, brethren, before we go out into a world where things are offered to feed our love. We need to satisfy our souls with the bread of heaven.
Boffin said that if I make sure my daughter eats a good, healthy breakfast.
She's not going to be so apartment to want a chocolate bar at recess time because her hunger has been satisfied with good wholesome food. And I say if you feed on Christ, if you satisfy your soul with God's word before you go out into the world, you're not going to be so vulnerable to the things that are offered on every hand. And so they had to feed on the manna every morning and the man of the gather it and the manner they needed today was not the manner they needed tomorrow.
You know, we take time to eat three or four good meals a day. We take such good care of the physical. But house, how often I say to my own heart I starve that new man. I don't take time to feed on God's word. And so we can't expect to grow in the things of Christ if we don't see the new, the spiritual man. Well, they had to gather it there. But then there was something else, because it says some gathered more and some left.
And perhaps you say, well, life is so pressured I have to get to work so early in the morning.
But you don't want them the amount they gathered that was important. Some gathered more and some less. Maybe you only have time to read two or three verses, but take time and then take that with you because it says when they meet it into their Omer. When they took it with them, then what happened? He that gathered much had nothing over. In other words, if you have time to read a lot, thank God for it. We need all of God's word we can get. You'll never have anything over. But then I like what it says.
He that gathered little had no lack, and so God knows just what you're going to need for the day.
And take those two or three verses and meditate on them. That's why I read this verse here in the 15th, the 15th verse of our chapter. Meditate upon these things. You know, I suppose, as another has said, meditation is really a long start. Today, we don't take time to meditate. Perhaps years ago a brother could work with his hands and meditate on scripture, but you can't run a computer like that. You can't drive down the freeway like that.
00:45:04
It takes everything you have, everything. Satan is busy to rob us of our enjoyment of Christ, to fill our minds. And it's true, we need to get along in this world. But I would just suggest the truth of that little hymn. Take time to be holy. Brethren will never have time. If we don't take time, they'll never be such a thing as saying, well, I had plenty of time for the things of God. It just seems you have always have to take time and so take that manner. Put it into your Omer. Fit it into the needs of the day, take it with you.
And when you get a moment, take time to just meditate on those scriptures and you'll find that you'll you'll have no laugh. I would just say too, that there when they went out to gather the manna, it was the man that was to gather for his household. And I believe it brings before us the responsibility of the head of the home. And you know, I'm thankful that I grew up in a home where my father read us the word of God before we went out to school every morning. And I remember my father sitting at the end of the breakfast table.
There was a time when all four of us went on a different school bus at a different time, and I can remember him sitting at the end of the table with an open Bible so he would catch each one of us as we trickled out to the breakfast table so that we would have some portion of the word of God. I didn't always appreciate it, and sometimes I would slip out at the last moment and gulp a glass of milk and think I wasn't going to get some of the word of God that morning. And my father would make me sit down. He would read to me.
And then if I missed the bus, he would get in the car and drive me to school. I didn't value it at the time, but I looked back. And I appreciate a home where the word of God was before us on a daily basis. And so I just say that to those of us who have families, be sure we give our children something of the word of God. I say they're going out into a world where they're facing things we never had to face. There's all kinds of temptations and difficulties, and Satan has so much for their heart. Let's feed our children.
God's word before they go out into a world like that. But you know, the word of God is not only food for our souls, but I believe it's also light, an instruction for our pathway. Because as I say, God has a path for us, but it's a path that's marked out in His word. I have sometimes talked to folks and they say, well, I'd like to know what the Lord has for me in some decision in life. But you talk to them and you find they're not reading their Bible. They say, well, I pray.
But, you know, it's wonderful to talk to God in prayer, but he wants us to listen to, you know, if you have a friend and they phone you up and they always do all the talking, pretty soon they get tired of listening to it. You get tired of listening to them. And so I I wanted to be careful because we can talk to God at any time. If it takes five hours, he's still willing to listen. But he does want us to stop and listen to him speak to us through his word. He wants to guide us and direct us, one of all said, I know that the way of man is not in himself.
It is not a man that walketh to direct his footsteps. How can we think we can go through a world like this and we don't need light and instruction for our pathways? I've enjoyed a little progression in this connection in the Psalms because we find in the 27th Psalm. David expresses a wonderful desire. He says teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path. And I trust that's the desire of each of our hearts here to know the past that the Lord has for us.
But then when he comes to the 119th Psalm, he recognizes that if he's going to have light, an instruction for his pathway, it must be God's Word. And so he says, There thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light unto my path. You know, as you read the Word of God on a daily basis, then when those decisions come, the Lord can, by the Spirit, bring the Scripture before you and apply it to answer every difficulty.
And to direct every footstep. But then there's something nice in the 143rd Psalm, it says, not just teach me thy way, but teach me to do thy will. In other words, David said, when you do, make it clear to me. Then he said, give me the grace to take that step of faith, to follow, whether it's hard or easy. Because sometimes the Lord may make something clear from His word, and we might hold back and say, well, if it wasn't something quite so difficult, I wouldn't mind.
David said No, teach me, not just by way, but teach me to do thy will.
Well, then we find too that the word of God has a purifying effect on our lives, because it speaks in again in 119th Psalm it says, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. And there was an elderly brother in my home assembly for many years, and he used to tell us when he came home from work he needed a good wash, And he wasn't talking about soap and water either. He was talking of the washing of water.
00:50:30
Word. I was standing in line at a conference one time we were going down for dinner and some of us were talking and one brother said, he said I have a memory like a stair. And another said that's why you need to keep the water running through it. And another brother used to remind us, he said you can pour water through a basket and the basket won't retain the water, but the water will keep the basket clean. And so let me just put it this way, in connection with what we have spoken of in the morning, we need to feed on God's word before we go out into the world.
Go out into the world. We need to meditate on God's Word as we have opportunity. And then when we come home at night, we need the washing of water by the Word. It's the practical application of the Word as he takes up in John chapter 13. It's the truth of foot washing and the Lord Jesus washed the disciples feet. And then he said he ought to wash one another's feet. And so we need to let the Word wash the Word of God.
Wash our feet and then we need to seek grace to encourage one another and early believe this is important brethren in the day in which we live. Because there's so much to discourage, so many difficulties in the home and often in the assembly. And what we need is to encourage one another in the Lord. But we can't refresh one another if we haven't let the word of God refresh our hearts, because when David was faced with a great trial in Israel, it says that.
He encouraged himself in the Lord, and then he went down and encouraged his men that were with him.
And there was a great victory in Israel that day. So we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
And then we can encourage one another, because I really believe that true fellowship springs from the measure in which we enjoy fellowship with the Father and with the Son. You know, it says in first John, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And in the measure in which we enjoy that, then what does it say? It says if we walk in the light, if he is in the light, that is, if we enjoy that fellowship with the Father and with the Son, It says we have fellowship one with another. Why is it that sometimes we get together?
And we say, we come away and we say, well, there wasn't much true fellowship because true fellowship is our enjoyment of Christ together. And we say there wasn't much, there wasn't really an enjoyment of Christ with one another. Well, I say again, I cannot enjoy Christ with my brother if I haven't enjoyed Christ in my own soul, if there has, if I haven't let him wash my feet. I'm not going to wash my brother's feet and encourage him in the Lord. And then I would just like to say a word to.
In connection with ministry in the assembly.
Because I believe that we need to have the word of God before us in the assembly as well.
And you know, man is an extremist. He's the pendulum swings and I believe that God has given us ministry in the assembly to guard against that.
You know, I believe that when ministry is taken up in the assembly, there's a balance. Because if I bring out something that's not true or wrong, the spirit of God is given. Liberty can use another to correct it. If a brother brings out something that is just one side of the truth, another by the spirit, can bring out something to balance that. Some can bring out the doctrinal principles, others can make a practical application, and some can bring out the gospel from the same portion.
And when ministry is taken up in that way, in the assembly, we receive a balance and brethren. I just want to encourage our hearts to avail ourselves of ministry in the assembly in the way that God has given us. Because I often think of that verse that says Ephraim, is a cake not turned. And you know yourself that if you put a cake on the griddle and you don't turn it, it becomes too well done on one side and not enough on the other. And I have noticed that those who do not avail themselves of ministry in the assembly.
They're like that. They become one sided in their thinking. I don't want to discourage personal reading of the word of God. It's very, very vital and important. And the Spirit of God can bring the truth before us as we read the the word of God individually. But you know it says of the assembly, it's the pillar and ground of the truth. Now I don't believe the assembly teaches, but it's in the assembly we learn as taught by the Spirit of God and so when the Spirit is given liberty in the assemblies.
00:55:17
Then the truth is brought out, and there's that balance. And then I would just say, too, that there's a there are plenty of warnings in Scripture as to not following the light of God's word. You know Jeremiah in the 13th chapter of that book, he weeps for the people of God as he pleads with them to hearken in his ears. For the Lord has spoken, and he speaks of how they had refused the light of God's word, and now they had come to a point.
Where they were stumbling on the dark mountains, where they were looking for light, but they refused it so long that their feet were stumbling. And he says, there all I can do is weep for you, you know, As I look back over my few short years, I think of those who refuse to walk in the light of God's Word. And now they've come to situations that just seem insurmountable. And they want light, perhaps, but they refused it. And now they're stumbling on the dark mountains. And so as we take up the word of God.
As we read it, as He gives us light and instruction, we need to seek grace that we would follow.
The instructions from God's Word. And I believe, as I say, that this book is sufficient to answer every difficulty and every situation that arises. Even in the assembly in 1993, you know, I've often said that there was a large bookcase in my parents home as we were growing up. It went from the floor to the ceiling, and on the top shelf up near the ceiling, there was a row of books that mostly collected dust. They didn't get read very often.
And they were old books that our parents had studied when they went to school. And sometimes on a snowy evening or a rainy afternoon, we would get those books down and we would read them as we used to say, just for a laugh, because we stay quiet. We've left these things behind long ago. Wise men's opinions change, ways of teaching change, and those books were out of date. But all God's word is more up to date from the daily newspaper. It's it's what's happening today.
And that's why Paul said to Timothy, till I come, give attendance to readings, to exhortation, to doctrine. I believe that's vital, brother. And you'll forgive me if I unburden my heart a little bit, just in closing, because I feel that this is a day when doctrine is being set aside. But you know, over and over again in the book of Timothy, Paul brings before this young man the importance of sound doctrine. I've never counted, but particularly in the second epistle.
He brings before him the need for sound doctrine, and when he gives a list, he always puts doctrine at the beginning.
Thou hast fully known my doctrine and manner of life. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And what's the first thing for doctrine? And in Acts 242 we find there that the early believers continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers. Why is doctrine first there? Because it was the basis for everything else. It was the basis for fellowship, for breaking a bread, for prayer.
And even people in a worldly sense, when they form a society, there's some common denominator, some interest, some theology or philosophy that brings them together. Those who are interested in fishing form a fishing game club. Those who are interested in reading for a book club. There's something common that unites them. And what is it, brethren? What is the basis for being gathered to the Lord's name? It's the fundamental doctrine of the word of God.
And particularly that which was given to the Apostle Paul. And we need to cling to these doctrines. We need to hold fast. And you know, sometimes I'm afraid, and you'll forgive me if I speak very plainly, but I'm afraid sometimes we make statements that may sound very pious in themselves. They may even be true in themselves. But they're only one aspect of the truth. And there is an off repeated statement made today. We're not gathered to a doctrine. We're gathered to a person.
Now, brethren, that is true, may we never lose sight of the person of Christ. We will be preserved as we see Him and Him alone in the midst, as we see no man save Jesus only. But, brethren, let's remember that doctrine is vital. It's important. It's the foundation for everything else.
01:00:04
And it says that in the 138 psalms thou hast magnified thy word.
Above thy name, let's never put, as it were, the name above the word I speak reverently.
God says He placed His word above His name and were never justified in doing anything, even in the name of the Lord Jesus, without the authority of God's word. Well, I'd like tomorrow evening to continue and to look at some other things that he would be have us to be occupied with in relationship to His coming. But all Brad and we may be home by then. We may see his lovely face. May we have this before us, May we be watching. May we be waiting.
And may we be listening for that assembling shout that's going to.