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What will it be?
The Lord.
*.
Will be at the end of the song.
295 versus 3:00 and 4:00.
And though here on earth rejected tis but fellowship with thee.
Could we not with joy expected here, like thee, our Lord, to be? Thou art worthy.
Val from Earth has set us free. 295 versus 3:00 and 4:00.
Unborn.
Years.
True, true.
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Appreciate it.
Information.
To Luke's Gospel, chapter 12. It has there a few of the things that we ought to be occupied with, and those things that we ought not to be afraid of in the absence of the Lord, and they really are instructions in view of eternity.
That's a very good suggestion, very, very practical. Did you have the whole chapter before your brother Robert?
Fairly diverse 48.
But it.
Maybe we could read to the end of verse 53.
Luke, chapter 12.
In the meantime, when they were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, in so much that they throwed one upon another, He began to say to his disciples, First of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known.
Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yeah, I say unto you, Fear him.
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.
But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God.
And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.
And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates and powers, taking no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say.
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divided the inheritance with me.
And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness.
For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
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And he speak a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater.
And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Bow fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
Then who shall those things be which thou has provided the?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Consider the Ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them.
How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought, can add to his stature? 1 Cubit.
If he then be not able to do that which is least that thing, which is least why take he thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, they spin not. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothed the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye that what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.
Neither be ye of doubtful mind, for all these things do the nations of the world seek after.
And your father knoweth that you have need of these things.
But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Cell that you have and give ohms provide yourselves bags which wax not old, but treasure in the heavens. That faileth not where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and you yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
When he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh the knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them, so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the Goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not.
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed it is that servant whom is Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
But and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, at an hour when he is not aware. And he will and will cut him in Thunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not Himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of Him shall be much required, And to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask the more.
I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled?
But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished?
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Suppose you that I'm come to give peace on the earth. I tell you nay, but rather division.
Or from henceforth there should be 5 in one house divided, 3 against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
This chapter could perhaps be divided up into several portions, maybe into 7 little distinct.
Passages that the Lord teaches and so the first one is really from verse one.
Maybe down to verse three, and it has to do with the Lord's desire that we would walk in reality, that there wouldn't be, we wouldn't be characterized by hypocrisy, that there would be actual reality in our walk and then.
So we'd be free from hypocrisy and then from.
Verse, maybe verse four down to verse 12, it's really free from the fear of man. We know that we live in a day and where perhaps persecution is arising and it's taking place in.
In intensity that we perhaps surprises us in some way, but the Lord desired us that we would be free from the fear of man. And then the third passage is really from verse 13 down to verse 21, and it's really in connection with covetousness. And the Lord desired that we would be free from the sin of covetousness that we would be satisfied with the Savior having the Lord as our object in this scene, not those things that the world is.
Going after and then from verse 22 down perhaps to verse 34.
Would be he desired that we would be free from worry and he gives teaching in connection with how we should conduct ourselves and not to worry about those things that we have no influence over and that the Lord knows exactly how to provide for us. And then in verse 35, perhaps down to verse 40, that we wouldn't be careless, that would be free from carelessness that we would be diligent and not just be.
Careless about the time and the age that we live in verse 41 down to verse 48, that we might be occupied and free from sloth and disorderly conduct. Because if we're not really watching for the Lord, not waiting for Him to come, then we might be slothful. We might not be conducting ourselves in view of His coming, not occupied in the work that He's given us to do some little work. And then from verse 49.
Down to verse 57, particularly that we might not be surprised, that we might be free from the surprise of the rejection, that the world would reject us and that there would be spiritual conflict. So we when we have spiritual conflict, we ought not to be surprised. It's normal for a Christian to experience conflict with this world because the world is an enmity with Christ and the world is an enmity with the believer. And if we walk.
In presence of the Lord, why we're going to suffer some of that reproach that he suffered.
We know that the Lord Jesus spoke this to his disciples.
But as I have repeated, and it's worth repeating again, our brother Clarence Lundeen used to remind us that Lukes Gospel is the introduction to Pauls ministry more than any of the other three gospels. And so there is much in Luke's gospel that leads on into the book of the Acts, which of course the Spirit of God also used Luke to write, and eventually of course leads into Paul's ministry. And So what we have here is in one sense.
Good for all time. It's good for those, or it was good for those to whom the Lord Jesus spoke.
But it is good for you and for me in this present day in the practical Christian walk that we have, because as has been brought out, there are dangers on every side, and the same dangers that tend to be set. Those in the world are very apartment to be set, the Saints of God, aren't they? And so there are warnings given here, but again, not merely warnings, not merely that which would be for our consciences, but also that which would the Spirit of God would turn our hearts toward in the positive way.
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In order to occupy us with something far better.
If we were to notice the preceding chapter, we find that at the end of the preceding chapter, the Lord Jesus has pronounced woe on the Pharisees, those who took responsibility for the shepherding and the leadership of God's people in a spiritual way. And when we see what had taken place and the strong words that the Lord Jesus had to use in connection with the Pharisees, we might say, well, is there any comfort or encouragement to go on?
In a situation like that, but having pointed out the failure that had come in amongst those who took the oversight of Sod and Moses seed and supposedly took the oversight for the well-being of God's people, he then turns to the disciples and it's just as if he says you can go on. There is comfort and strength to go on. Don't look at those who have been in a place of responsibility and leadership.
And just throw up your hands. And as the old expression was to hang crate just to give up. No, he says, there's provision, full provision for those of my own to go on even in times like this. And brethren, isn't that a comfort for the day in which we live? We might look around. There's been a lot of failure in every sphere and circle of life and those that God has raised up in places of responsibility.
Not only in the world, in leadership, in the world, in the secular world, the political world, but amongst the people of God and in the Church of God that has become a great house in the day in which we live according to Second Timothy and so on. We might too wonder, can we really go on? But what he's really saying to the disciples is not only can you go on for me amidst all this failure and ruin, but you can go on for my glory with a good conscience.
As we heard earlier this afternoon, with a pure heart, you don't have to compromise, you don't have to be afraid. And so, as he says in Second Timothy, in days very parallel to the days in which we live, he hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And if we take up this chapter, as been said, not just a word to our conscience, but an encouragement to go on with the resources that we have.
In the day in which we live, then brother and I believe it will be for our profit and encouragement.
So when we read that first verse.
In.
He began to say unto his disciples, first of all.
Beware after 11 months of Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now I like to read it like this.
He began to say to his disciples, Comma.
First of all, maybe after 11 OPS of Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. So what is 11 of the Pharisees he speaks for and what does he mean by their hypocrisy? Do we have a lot of that today among teachers?
In Christian circles, we have that kind of thing going on.
I suppose there has always been the tendency among man to.
To pretend to be what he is not, hasn't there.
And the pride of our hearts, if we could say it this way, always tends to put on a good front.
While keeping under wraps that which is most undesirable.
So unhappily, that has been the history of this world, sad to say, not only among unbelievers, but even among those who know the Lord.
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And it has been a very, very difficult thing because, as you say, Brother Eckert, there have been times lately when things have come out in the lives of sometimes prominent individuals that have been a tremendous shame to the Christian testimony. And much has gone on under the table that, when it was revealed, caused a tremendous amount of embarrassment. Well, the Lord is saying here that hypocrisy is serious because there is one that knows all about it.
And there is one that is not only knowledgeable about it, but is able to bring it to light. And that's rather solemn, isn't it? Things are going to come to light. They may come to light in this life. God may see fit to do it. But even if they don't.
There's a day coming when God will bring, as it says in another scripture, bring to light the hidden things of darkness. That's first, First Corinthians 4. And so it's a very solemn thing to pretend in the sight of God, isn't it? And that's the warning I suggest that we get here.
It's 11 isn't it? And 11 Corrupts.
And I, my own heart, brother, and I have to confess the tendency toward it. And I think it is because we live in a culture that is so humanistic, focused on man, focused on what we are, We can even want to be a person looked up to amongst the brethren. That's hypocrisy. And oh brother, and it's in our hearts and.
We need to confess it to the Lord and ask Him to help us to deal with it, because as soon as we look at man, who are the brethren that are here, They're going to help us in the ministry of the Word. Brethren, aren't our eyes to be on the Lord Jesus? Isn't He the head that gives?
And I find that when we start looking at brethren, we cease to look at the Lord in the glory. I've been amazed, brethren.
In Latin America who have perhaps you might say no outstanding gift, but when there is a simplicity of looking to the Lord in their conferences, how the Lord opens the scriptures and there is food for all, it's evident the joy that and the edification that results. And there is a tendency because we live in this humanistic culture.
To focus in on brethren, we thank God for our brethren. We thank God for the gifts He's given. But brother, we don't thank the gifts, we thank the giver of the gifts. And we need to pray for one another that we won't get inflated because if we do, we're going to hinder the work of the Spirit of God in our midst.
Picture of sin, isn't it? And here it's hypocrisy in God. The Son of God calls it sin. It's hypocrisy. And it was particularly characteristic of those that were Pharisees. That is our brother Jim said took apart a place of leadership among God's people. And so it's a wicked thing. And they pretended they lived 2 lives, one life they lived publicly and one life they lived privately. And he was exposing the reality of what they were really going on with.
And so leaven is, as we know, a culture and it grows under ideal conditions and a loaf of bread rises and so on. And then when it goes into the oven, it's fired and it's done away with. But in this connection, we need to recognize that it's sin. Let's not call it anything but sin. Then there's some other hypocrisies or leavens that the Lord speaks of. He speaks at 11 of the Sadducees. And that was really.
In connection with rationalism, it says in Acts chapter 23.
In verse eight that the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither Angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. So there was a Pharisee, there was 11 of the Pharisees and now we have the 11 of the Sadducees. And it's rationalism. It's the mind taking up with the things of God and it doesn't produce fruit for God. It's sin. And then they there's another leaven that's spoken of in the New Testament that the Lord speaks of and it's of the Herodians. And they were really materialistic and they sold out the principles of righteousness.
To make a buck. And so oftentimes I believe the those that were tax collectors, those that were the publicans were Herodians. They sold out the principles of the nation and in some way were enriching themselves. So all three are elevens and we need to be wary of. But isn't it instructive that this is the very first thing that he brings before his disciples? He was going to go away. He they were going to be left. And this is a very serious thing.
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The very first thing that he wants them to be free from.
For the young people that are here, perhaps hypocrisy as a big word and they don't understand it, but.
Matthew 23 and verse three. I could start with verse 2.
Saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat all Therefore, whatever they did, you observe that observe and do.
But do not after their works for they say and do not.
Very simply for they.
And do not.
That's hypocrisy.
One of the world history that's seen here in the what the Lord Jesus is doing is connected with the fact that he had come to earth and he had been among those who were responsible in Israel to represent God, those who had taken that place of responsibility. And in the previous chapter he has to condemn them because of what they had become.
It it wasn't that they didn't know things if you look in the previous chapter in the uh.
Verse 35, it says take heed therefore, and he's speaking to them that the light.
Which is in thee be not darkness. They had received light from God, and they had the responsibility to present that to the God's people.
In the land, but they had failed in it, and He condemns them. He Himself had taken that place while He was there. But this chapter that we have before us, He's preparing His disciples to serve Him when He is absent. And so He brings before them those things that are necessary for them to properly serve Him and take up on His behalf the responsibilities.
That these who had failed had previously had. And so he has to begin first by presenting those things to them in their own moral lives that would fit them for the service that they were responsible to carry out for him, as saying later in the chapter. And so it is with us, brethren, we to apply it to ourselves. We are God's responsible people, we who profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On this earth today are God's responsible people to present the light of God.
To one another and to our fellow man. And if we fulfill that responsibility, it begins with our own personal, individual moral character. And so he warns them from the very beginning. Don't be like those who were brought, like the ones before you.
They were hypocrites, are hypocrites, and you need to be sure in the very beginning that you don't enter into that same thing where you have light in you.
But you don't live it, you don't walk it. You might be able to preach it, but you're not living it. And if you're not living it, then the motivation of what you preach is going to be your own glory or something else, and you will become a worse hypocrite. And so I just say that so that we can make application of this chapter to our own lives today, because we also are the disciples here in our day that the Lord prepared in his own day.
But we are those who have this responsibility in our generation.
One thing brother Clarence Levine said. I don't know when or where I heard it, but I just remember hearing it.
That's been the biggest help to me in this chapter was he just said this chapter is present actions in the light of eternity. And when I read through this chapter, I just try and remind myself of that little statement over and over. Present actions and the light of eternity and how much that we might do presently and hypocrisy stands right at the top looks so foolish if we think of it in the light of eternity when everything will come out into the light.
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And be open.
And so.
In connection with that, as Brother Bill said, everything is going to be brought in to review in a coming day in the believers life. It's not going to be a question of our sins or our entrance into heaven. In fact, when things are brought into review and brought to light at the judgment seat of Christ, we're already in heaven. It's brought to review because we are there. But it does speak in John's ministry of being ashamed before him at his coming. And I know this is kind of an earthy little way to put it, but.
Roberts father-in-law used to say to me when we were traveling together in the islands. He said, you know, Jimmy said, I think there's going to be a lot of red faces that the judgment seat of Christ and I I know what he he meant or I think I understood what he meant. Now, as I say, I know that's a human earthy way of putting it, but brethren, it ought to exercise our hearts because everything we may cover up things down here and there may be things that are never exposed.
Down here that we leave this world successfully hiding from our fellow man and from our brethren, even from our families. But everything is going to be brought to light in his presence in a coming day. There's a nice little prayer of David's in the 143rd Psalm, the end of verse 10. He says, lead me in the land of uprightness. Not a nice prayer for all of us.
To seek every day.
To be upright, whether it's in our dealings with our families, whether it's in our business dealings, whether it's in the assembly, whether it's in our service for Christ to be. Because again, to be upright is simply not to pretend to be something we aren't. And it is the tendency of all our hearts, I think every one of us have to bow our heads and recognize that we have that tendency to cover up.
To and the Pharisees had gone to the extreme. They were living a very impious life.
They were hiding behind those cloaks and those phylacteries and those outward things and the reading of scripture and standing up in the synagogue and long prayers in the marketplace. Just read Matthew chapter 6 and you'll see the Lord exposes it again there. But underneath they couldn't hide it from the Lord and you and I. And again, this is not simply a word to the unbeliever. It's solemn to pretend to be a believer when we're not real. But.
I suggest it's just a solemn brethren to as believers put on a front and pretend to be something that we're not. And if he doesn't expose it down here, it will be exposed. And do we want to be ashamed at his coming? Do we want to have a red face at the judgment seat of Christ? Or are we going to give him the joy of being able to say well done and to bring out those things that are commendable?
And for his glory.
That means the gym that we're going to have to admit at times we've been wrong.
And I must say, brother, I remember in my youth asking an older brother a question and instead of trying to act like he knew the answer, he said to me, I don't know, but I'll try to get back to you on that. You know, he's willing to admit that he didn't know really helped me and increased my appreciation of that brethren.
Let's be real, brethren. There's so much that we don't know. Let's be real with God. Let's be real with our brethren too. Let's not act like we know everything and when we don't know it.
There's another aspect about it too, and that is.
There's what we think, there's what we say, and there's what we do. Satan doesn't know directly what we think, but he knows what we say and he knows what we do. And it's not hidden from him. It may be hidden from other people, but it's not hidden from Satan. And Satan uses it to make a coward and a hypocrite. He takes and puts, if he can, circumstances in the way that will make a person try into that circumstance where they try to hide.
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That which they know is not of God in their life, and so he makes use of it. And consequently that allowing hypocrisy is a tool is an opportunity for Satan to hinder the lock and the service. And as he gets into the next point about being not afraid, fear often comes when there is not internally on the loins girt about with truth.
As we have in Ephesians 6, but that's the starting point of the armor of God against Satan is having the loins gird about with truth. And if there is that girding of truth in the soul, then the Lord uses it to take away the fear of Satan and making hit the Lord Jesus known in service. But if the Satan knows something and and the person is has the conscience of its being present.
Then it makes him afraid lest he be uncovered. So it's important for us to everything will work right if we live transparently with God, if we can live righteously and with a clear conscience with before God's eye, then we will be OK before Satan and our brethren, and we will be given liberty or boldness and opportunity and speaking to our fellow man.
Just something else before we pass on from this too. We said that these things apply to all of us, and certainly that is true.
But it is interesting, isn't it, that he had been speaking to, first of all, to the Pharisees, those that were in a special place of responsibility. And the reason he had spoken to them so harshly, so to speak, was because they were in a place of responsibility. And the more the responsibility that God gives, the more the the Lord is going to hold a person accountable. And then he turns to the disciples.
And it's been said the disciples were going to be given a special place of rest. They had a special place of responsibility, and they were going to be given that. And we see in the book of the Acts that they were raised up in a special place of leadership and responsibility in connection with the early assembly and the testimony and so on. Because we're all responsible brethren, but there are those that are more responsible and the more position God gives a person as to leadership.
Ability and gift amongst the Lord's people the more accountable and responsible.
They're going to be held in the end. And I want to, I say that because what I simply want to point out is that in the epistles, those that were raised up and given a place of leadership for the shepherding and spiritual oversight of the people of God. They're called Bishop, they're called bishops, elders, shepherds, different terms used. It's interesting that God ordained that those who took that local oversight.
Were to have two things a wife and not a child, but children plural. Isn't that interesting because you know you can come to meeting and you can be a lot of things in front of your brethren, but your wife and children know you like nobody else. And I've wondered if part of the reason that God ordained that those who took responsibility and still today take responsibility because there are those.
But still have that position that God has given of leadership amongst the people of God.
And I've wondered if one of the reasons at least that God has ordained it that way is that it is a check on hypocrisy. You know, many of us, I'm sure, can attest to the fact that after a meeting and something we've said, we've got in the car to go home. And either our wife or our children, one of our children has been a check, has said something that has made us realize that we said something that we weren't, we hadn't really been carrying out practically.
In our lives, and you notice it's not a child, as I say, but children, because one child doesn't give the balance.
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I only had two children, but they were both very different and in that sense they were a very different check on the very thing that we are speaking about. Going to repeat a little story. It'll make you smile, but it'll illustrate my point. Remember years ago we were visiting in Delavan, IL and I had been talking about the sincere milk of the word in a reading meeting one evening, I think it was, and we were at Brother Art Swansea's and the next morning.
I had my wife and children with me and the next morning's sister Elaine said to me, Jim, would you like some milk? And I said, sister, I really don't care for milk. And my five year old looked across the table at me and said, Dad, why do you tell us in meeting that milk is so important and you don't drink it yourself? Well, we smile at that. But you know, it made me realize that our children are listening and they're listening to see if we're going to carry out.
What we have said in front of the people of God, in our lives, in the family circle and in our personal lives. And so it's a good check on us and those who take responsibility in the assembly. There's many here. Be thankful for a wife and a children that are a check on you. Listen to what they say and it will help to keep you from hypocrisy.
He speaks about his friends. Verse four. He speaks to his friends. I say unto you, my friends.
Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. Now he speaks. He addresses now those as his friends.
That are afraid of them, that killed the body.
So what he is saying, we are to be bold, to speak out the truth, and if we do, we are his friends.
Because the Lord Jesus wasn't going to be afraid of dying. He knew it all the time.
And if we speak out at somebody whom we know might be able to hurt us in some way and we don't say it.
Then.
We are really not his friends. I remember in Germany I was living there as a boy.
Anybody who said anything in favor of the Jews was immediately picked up.
But there was at the funeral of whether it was at any other time, that's the way it was. And there were brethren. They were not afraid. They were speaking right out, and many got picked up.
Contrast things here in verse four, those that can kill the body.
And then in verse five, fear him after he hath power to cast into hell. Yeah, I send you fear him we all.
Can live before the eye of man or before the eye of God.
And he's saying you live before the eye of God.
You give God His proper reverential place, and if God is given His place, then you can be bold before men, but if you live before the eye of man, you will accommodate man and you will tend to fear him. And so if we have a higher motivation in life to live our lives transparently, can I, can I really successfully be a hypocrite with God?
Impossible. It's impossible to be. I might be hypocritical, but I'm only deceiving myself.
I'm not deceiving God by hypocrisy. And so we are taught to live before the eye of God in a way that our relationship with our God is right and before his eye, our conscience has to be exercised. And if he says I, my son, is to be the object of your heart, then our hearts are engaged in it as well. And if the Lord Jesus has the affections of my heart in God's eye upon me keeps my conscience.
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In exercise properly.
And if I live each morning, each day, each afternoon with my God, then things will take the right place with my fellow man, whether it's my brethren or it's somebody at work or somewhere else. But the Pharisees had lived. They had, they had life from God, but they weren't living for the eye of God. And as a consequence, they live for the eye of man and their own and for their own eye, their own glory.
Instead of the glory that should have gone to the Lord. And in some ways they feared Him.
They feared, they feared the people. Are the people going to? Am I going to lose my popularity?
And so on. You know, you can apply it easily in the politics of the United States. If you want to know who a politician fears, it's going to be his constituency because they're the ones that are going to maintain him in his place or he's going to lose it if he doesn't satisfy them. And so he does that which he thinks will present himself to them in a way that will satisfy them and regardless of what he may be within himself.
But, and many A1 has been exposed as to not being what they, their constituents thought they were, and that's the end of them. So it's important for us as God's representative to our fellow men to first of all fear God.
And that is the reverential respect.
That he should have of every action and every thought of our lives.
Elijah, don't you?
When he stands before Ahab, he says, As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be, do, nor reign these years, but according to my word.
Quite strong. Where did he get that strength? Because he stood.
In the presence of the Lord God of Israel, but then later on, after he had such a tremendous victory on Mount Carmel, Jezebel threatens his life.
And he runs like a scared dog.
It shows brethren that we need to constantly live in the presence of God, and it's nice to be with our brethren together, but we need time alone with God. If there's not that time alone with God, we'll lose our power to focus properly, to see things properly like you've been mentioned and done.
Could I ask?
For something to be brought out and a pick on my brother-in-law Dawn Rule because he brought it out very well some years ago.
Enlarge a little on the thought that.
Fear in our hearts is generally the product of what is unjudged in our hearts.
Because I believe that ties together both the thought of not being afraid and it also bears on the issue of hypocrisy. Is that unfair, Don?
First John, chapter 4.
First John, chapter 4.
And.
For 16 We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our law of made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Because as he is, so are we in this world.
Here's the verse. There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. I don't think I can repeat. Bill may have to repeat the comments previously made, but I'll make comments on these verses here.
It is the desire of God.
To communicate to us and put in.
Is love God is the source of all love and he has given us a nature that can receive from himself that love in US and.
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If that love is active, practically at work in our souls, that love cannot.
Fear cannot coexist with it. You can't have both of them together. God doesn't fear.
God in His own being is not a fearful being in any sense of the word, and the motivation of His own behavior is His own love. And as a consequence He wants us to receive from Himself that in our hearts, which this love of God spread abroad in our hearts, and if it is there in a full measure, it casts out fear.
And as such, we are enabled to walk without fear because we walk in the same character of our God. We are reflection of Himself in that way. But if there's something allowed in our lives which is not consistent with Himself, then His love is not free to flow. And that's what gives us our difficulties if I allow something in my life.
That is not consistent with God. God is until that is judged, He is not free to have his love.
Flow into my heart and through my life because of that which is inconsistent with Himself and His love. The purity God can't give fellowship with himself with impurity is that we had in the address. It has to be a conscience void of offence before God. But if it is, then, as as John puts it here, in the very nature of the thing, then that love flowing in us.
Is casts out fear and we can walk without fear.
But I'll make one other comment, which may have to do with what Bill was saying.
One of the sources of fear is if you've ever done something.
You will fear that somebody will do it to you.
I ask kids very frequently in a detention center. Do you think people lie? Yes, I said. Do you think I've lied? Yes. Why do you think so?
Well, everybody lies, I say. That may be true, but the reason you think so is because you've lied.
And because you've lied, you think I may lie. That's the reason why, Cain.
Was fearful for his own life after he murdered his brother Abel, because after he murdered Abel, it entered into his fears that, oh, somebody might murder me. But when there is a heart full of love, it doesn't get occupied that way. It doesn't worry about somebody murdering me because that heart is not filled with the sense of murder. Yes, it's capable of it. That isn't the point, though. The point is when the love of God is shred abroad in the heart.
Those things that the natural man would fear because he's done them, he's delivered from those fears of someone lying to him, of someone murdering him, of someone breaking into his house and stealing all his property and so on. He is free from that because love believes all things.
Well, that's exactly what I was hoping you would say, Dawn and I believe it has an application here because.
As it says in verse four, be not afraid of them that kill the body.
We know there was only one that walked through this world without fear.
There was only one thing, if we could say it with all reverence, that the Lord Jesus feared, and that was being made sin.
He was heard, it says, in Hebrews 5, and that he feared.
But in everything else, he never courted the favor of man, nor did he ever seek to.
Say something in order to avoid consequences that otherwise might have come. He spoke the truth clearly and definitely because there was No Fear in his heart. None of us would want to stand up and say that we are free from that totally. Nor would anyone of us want to stand up and say I am never a hypocrite because I suppose every one of us would admit that there are times when we talk.
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Beyond our walk.
Of the Lord, if we could say it as an encouragement, has ways, even if we are not conscious perhaps of a bit of hypocrisy, He has ways of taking us up on what we have said.
And allowing circumstances to make us realize.
Where we really are.
And then we can react in one of two ways. I can either say my, Oh my, I better take good care that nobody ever finds out about that, that nobody ever realizes that I'm capable of that, that nobody ever realizes that I did a thing like that.
Or I can bow my head and say Lord.
That is what I am in my old sinful self.
But I am thankful that I am dead and risen with Christ.
I admit fully how bad I am by nature, but I thank the Lord for new life in Christ and say Lord.
Let me have more grace to let that new life shine.
And so I can be, if I can say it, and we don't want to belabor the point, I can be a hypocrite, maybe even sometimes inadvertently. But the Lord has ways of allowing circumstances to bring all that out. And as Dawn was saying, to bring me to the point of judging, if necessary, something that I've allowed in my life that has interrupted the flow of His love.
And thus has produced a fear.
And when I have judged it, then I find that once again. And I think that was a good point. You brought out, Brother Bob, about Elijah.
When he was walking with the Lord, he could stand up to Ahab and.
Say it quietly and yet dispassionately before the Lord, when he was away from the Lord.
As you say, he ran like a dog.
What a difference.
One more word might be helpful, a common verse, but to apply it to our chapter and hip or hypocrisy first John chapter one.
And verse 9.
First, John 19 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The cleansing us from all unrighteousness includes the keeping us from hypocrisy.
What happens is if there is something unconfessed.
In my life, then I will try to arrange things and make sure things work in such a way that I don't get faced with that which I'm hiding.
And haven't confessed but the path to be delivered from hypocrisy. And that is it's unrighteousness because it isn't necessarily an act specifically of sin, but it's rather a way of walk that keeps me from the circumstances the best I can control them of that which might expose.
That which is not judged and the only way before God is.
To confess it.
And then because the work of Christ on the cross is taken care of the sin, then my relationship with God, my communion, may be restored, and God then may work with me so that I am cleansed from all unrighteousness. For that pattern of life which works to hide or avoid, if you will, if not hide, avoid that which might expose something. And so this verse is in first. John 19 is directly related to being delivered.
From hypocrisy.
God, don't we? And in John's Gospel chapter 3, the Lord spoke and said in verse 20, Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, and that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. And so the light to a Sinner is a terror, but to the believer it brings comfort.
And brings peace because he walks in the truth. And so this is really a part of what the Lord is saying and connection with verse three. It's an encouragement to those that do walk in light. Those things that are done in hypocrisy that perhaps are a harm to us and that we've suffered under will one day be brought to light. And we don't need to try to fix it in the present time, but it is a comfort to us. And then there may be persecution and he says don't be afraid. Be not afraid of them that kill the body in verse 4.
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But then there's a little bit of an encouragement in verse seven. Fear not. Therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Isn't it wonderful the Lord is caring for us through all those circumstances? And this dear young girl that was persecuted and beaten, why the Lord is caring for, and she no doubt has a sense of the presence of the Lord that neither you or I feel at the present time.
I think that's very helpful because we can sit here this afternoon with the doors and windows open. We sing hymns. We're not afraid of having our Bibles open and having the authorities bust down the door and coming in and arresting us or shooting some of us, carrying us off to prison and persecuting us for our testimony. But you know, there are many of our brethren who are really put to the test in this regard, who really understand that when they stand up for Christ or give a testimony.
There are those that want to kill them, physically kill them, and that would be a real test. I've never been put in that test. And so most of us have not yet resisted unto blood. We've never been in that circumstance. But what if we were? Now I was thinking of the three Hebrew children, you know, the king there in connection with them not bowing down to the image. Not only did he not have, did he have the power of life and death, but it tells us in his.
Rage and in his fury.
He was an angry king. He was pretty upset that those three men wouldn't bow down as they had been instructed to do. But did they fear the king? Did they fear the one that could kill the body? No. They were willing to stand up for what they knew was the truth of God, to maintain a pure and a good conscience before God, even if it meant being cast into the fire. And you and I read the story with confidence, and we know the end of the story.
And so we read it with confidence, but they didn't know the end of the story. They said that our God is able to deliver us. They didn't say He would. They said He is able, and no matter what happens, He will deliver us out of your hand, O King. So they didn't know when they went into the furnace if they would be delivered from the hand of the king through the furnace, or if they would be delivered in death in the furnace. But they were willing. They were not afraid of the wrath of the king.
It says of Moses too, that when he came to years, he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. Moses knew what he believed, and why could he not fear the wrath of the king and forsake Egypt? The next statement says he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Near the beginning of this meeting we spoke of living in the light of eternity. That's what Moses did. Why could did he? Could he go in and stand before Pharaoh?
Why did he not fear the wrath of the king? Because he was living in view of another day. And brethren, if you and I live in view of another day, that's going to keep us from fear, our brethren that are going into death as martyrs today. You say, how could they do it? How can they do it? Well, there's a number of things. Of course, God gives the grace and the strength for the moment, but they're living in light of eternity. They know there's another world, and yes, they know there's one who can kill the body, but they know.
That they have something better of it says of whom the world is not is not worthy, but we all whether we're suffering in that way or whether it's the reproach that we may suffer or the fear of man in any aspect. Brethren, if we live in the light of eternity with a good conscience before God and man, then we will not have fear just one. I know our time is gone. Just one more statement in that regard. We quoted earlier the verse in first and second Timothy chapter one about he's not given us the spirit of fear.
But it is interesting in connection with what Dawn said, that two or three verses before that Paul speaks of living in a with a pure conscience before God and man. Why could Paul not have fear even in the face of going into martyrdom? He knew he was going to be martyred at that point, for his testimony speaks of it in that very epistle. Why could he encourage to have No Fear in view of that? He had lived with a good conscience. He had judged sin in his life, and as we've often heard, kept short accounts with God.
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And that gave him full confidence even in the presence of his enemies. Fear God is.
To deliver us from the fear of man and the devil and all the hosts of hell.
242.
All right, so.