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Our God and Father, we just come before thee and seek my help in my blessings with the reading, the thank you for this opportunity to have thy word open before us. And we just pray that that Spirit would have liberty to live amongst us and bring forth the truth from my word for us. And we just pray that it wouldn't be taken up and just an intellectual way, but they do real exercise.
Just commit the time to leave for thy blessing and Thy health and our Lord Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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What? Where should we start at?
We start at 4:00.
To get the contacts.
Thank you. Soon Luke chapter 12, verse 4.
And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear Him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yeah, I stand to 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 stand to 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 him the 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 he shall answer, or what he shall say, For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. And one of the companies 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. 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 thy knees, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then those then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Can you certainly His disciples? Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what you shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. The life is more than me, and the body is more than Raymond. Consider the Ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are you better than the souls? And which of you was taking thought can add to his stature? 1 Cubit. If he then be not able to do 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 still clothed the grass which is today in the field, and to Morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. Neither ye, neither be ye doubtful mind.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after.
And your Father knoweth that ye 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 fox, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, give alms, and provide yourselves bags which wax not all a 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 ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh.
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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 good men 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 therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when we think not.
Our brother Mark had suggested the chapter. He kind of gave us a little bit of an outline. Wondering if, uh, you could do the same, Mark?
Yeah, and umm, so.
There's several warnings that the Lord gives to His disciples in view of his departure. And the first one that we covered quite at length yesterday was in the 1St 3 verses. And that's a warning against hypocrisy and we talked about the need for being real and then from first umm 4 till verse 12.
It's a warning against the fear of man, and we'll see that there's resources in these verses that are given that would help us stand when there's persecution.
And then from verse umm 13 to 21, I believe it's a warning against covetousness, umm, wanting goods in this world beyond what the Lord has given us. And then, umm.
From verse 22 to verse 30, I think the Lord wants to set us free from the cares of this world, from being overly occupied with the daily cares and needs that there are. And then the last section, umm, verse 31 to 40 is that he wants to set us free from Kennedy opposite from being careless, but careless in the things of the Lord. So there's a danger of being too much occupied with the cares of this world, but there's a danger too.
Of being not enough occupied with the things of the Lord.
So oftentimes the fear of the Lord, there is a fear of man and uh, so here there's a warning against the fear of man. That's the reason off times that we, uh, we don't speak up for the Lord. Isn't it because the Lord is not ashamed of us?
But let's face it, there's many times that we're ashamed of him because of the fear of man, what they might think of us.
None of us in this room like to be little thought of.
So this is really a warning that we need to pray like Paul did for boldness to speak a word for the Lord because these people are on their way to a lost eternity.
And we shouldn't spare ourselves.
To not give them the good news.
And even if they don't accept that, God loves to hear the story told.
In verse 4 where we started, the Lord says, And I say unto you, my friends, think about the greatness of the person here who is speaking. I say unto you.
This is God the eternal Son speaking, and so we we listen up, I say unto you, verse 6.
The end of the verse God, not one of them is for God before God. Verse 12 for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. The antidote to the fear of man is the fear of God and the believer has backing him.
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Jesus, the Son of God, God the Father, and He has the leading and guidance of the Spirit of God.
That ought to give us confidence before man.
You spoke about that yesterday a little bit.
Recognizing the greatness of his person and then for us because of the relationship we're brought into, it is a it is a reverence for His Holiness and his power and to recognize that all that he does, he does and loves for the believer. But it may include his his government, whether whether in the positive or the negative side, we, we.
Realize that.
He is righteous and he'll deal righteously with, uh, with his creatures. But, uh, perhaps there's more you can add to what we've, what we've had before us. I suppose on the positive side answer that an illustration was when, uh, this boy, uh, was with his friends and his, his father told him, now don't go down to the river and swim. It's dangerous and I don't want you doing it. And so, but the other boys, they were gonna do it And, uh.
He said no, I can't do that. They said, oh, you're afraid you're of your father. He says no, that your father will hurt you. He said no, I'm afraid I'll hurt my father if I disobey him. So that's the positive side and you're talking. There's a negative side to it. If we don't walk in the ways of the Lord, we may find the consequences in our life.
I like what you said is about the whole Trinity being involved here. And so it's the fear of man. It's man and man might look very formidable to us, you know, in opposition. But if you look, umm, at what you said in verse four is the Son Speaking of the Lord Jesus and he calls us friends. What a wonderful thing. So here's the Son of God. He's on our side. He says friends, and then you go to where it says God and it shows God.
Care for just the littlest things, will even not care for us when there's persecution, when there's opposition. And then the Holy Spirit, what does it say about that? He will teach you what you ought to say. So if you look at it in that light and you kind of oppose them, here's the fear of man. And if we look at it from our strength, from our point of view, that's a formidable full man. But then if you look on, if you wanna say who's on our side, it's sort of the Lord calls us friends.
God cares for us in the littlest things and when His people are persecuted.
That's no little thing in His eyes. Then we hug the Holy Spirit who will teach us how to deal with that. Well, we have a lot stronger side, you might say, and if you would realize that more by being occupied with the Lord.
Umm, man would not look so formidable anymore. I think we would have more boldness to umm, be open. You know, we talked in the 1St 3 verses and this is a continuation of that. We talked about being real, being open, and we took it up mainly in the sense of not trying to be something that we're not.
Which is very good, but there's another sense to it too, that we are Christians, but sometimes we try not to look like one for fear of the persecution that might come from that. And so we can deflect a lot And, and I think all of us would have to know we do, we deflect a lot of this persecution, umm, by just trying to kind of blend in and not be too open about us being Christians. But if we would realize more.
The power that's behind us, we would be more bold, we would be.
Umm, more comfortable if you wanna call it that. By being more open, by showing the world more who we really belong to and being real in that sense too.
So if our reference point is man, the fear of man bringeth a snare, right? Believe there's a proverb that says that. I can't exactly find it but but if a reference point is God, Umm. I was noticing these verses in Proverbs 14.
Verse 26 in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.
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That's a that's a difference maker and his children have a place of refuge. Verse 27 the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. So if God becomes our reference point, that will, can I say, empower us to go forward in in power in our Christian testimony in life and ministry. But if man becomes our reference point and all I'm concerned with is what he might think of me.
Or what he might do to me. Well, it's going to paralyze me when it comes to my Christian testimony and, and my ministry. So it's really getting off our eyes off of, of, of man altogether and, and focusing really in on the Lord and, and, uh, realizing that, uh, that, that God is behind us and, uh, the, the, the, the man that we may, may fear.
Is, uh, he's dust, we're all dust, He's nothing. And uh, and uh, so let's, let's make sure we have the Lord before us. Proverbs 2825 The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso puteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
In Acts chapter four we have.
This very thing brought out where the disciples had been thrown in prison for preaching the name of Christ, and.
Acts Chapter 4.
In verse 23 And being let go, they run into their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and others had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all that are in them, and so on. And then.
Verse 29 And now, Lord, behold their threatening and granted to thy servant, that with all boldness, that they may speak thy words, by stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God before men. And we know the result of this boldness was, is that there were many souls that were brought to Christ. There was even those from the, uh, from the high priests that umm, were struck by, umm, what they had done. And that, and so we may not necessarily experience.
The physical shaping of this place. But the power of God is no less today than it was then. And there's a verse in.
First Corinthians chapter 2 That says that your faith stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God until we have that resource as we've been talking about.
And it really the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of men look at the things of God as foolish. And so we have a tendency to be afraid of being lumped into that foolishness and being thought of as foolish. But we've been told straight up that that's what the world thinks of the things of God. But our faith does not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
I think the antidote, one of the main antidotes here for this sphere, the Lord warns us as our brother March brought out of all these dangers and then he puts the antidote in these portions. And I think the main one here is in verse six, it says, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Not one of them is forgotten before God, but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. And I was sitting outside last night under the stars with a couple of the boys and we were talking about how many stars there are and how God just spoke and they came into being.
And he knows every single thing about us. He knows think about us. He knows how many hairs are on your head.
He knows every thought that goes through your mind.
He knows everything about us and He still loves us. As you get older that the impact of that grows more and more and more and more. But when you think about, OK, so the Lord loves me, well then why does he allow trials? And I remember when I was younger I would go up to my locker and when I was a kid, this is just crazy, but I was always afraid my locker wasn't going to open and somehow it's going to be late for class. Now I was never late for class, but I had dreams all the time that somehow I would forget my locker combination.
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Somehow I would forget something.
The Lord allows trials in our lives by times that we might know Him in a greater, deeper way. When you look in John Chapter 11, Mary and Martha knew the Lord Jesus as an amazing teacher and healer, and He allowed Lazarus to die. He could have gone and healed him, but He didn't because He wanted to reveal Himself in a greater, deeper way. He was going to show them that He was the resurrection and the life.
And there's times in our lives we can only come to know the Lord through trials. And it's not that we want trials. We don't want pain. It's not, we're not sadistic or anything like that. But the Lord allows what he allows in our lives that we might know him in a great greater, deeper way. So when we face these situations where we're scared, like Uncle Vern was saying, like Uncle Josh was saying, we're scared. We don't wanna, we don't want people to think less of us. We don't, you know, we're afraid or maybe somebody's gonna kill us. We don't see that.
I don't think so much here where we're physically afraid people are going to beat us up or take our stuff, but we can remember the Lord loves us. He knows all about us. And you know what? Nothing can happen to us but what he allows. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could tell the king we're not afraid of you.
The Lord is going to deliver us, and even if he doesn't, we're not going to bow down, and that's the right attitude to have.
So we've talked a little bit about verse six, but I'd like to, uh, maybe make it a little, even, maybe a little more practical to these kids.
We are out in the middle of the woods and I don't know if you kids.
Can wrap your brain around it, but we most of you drove for hours and hours and hours to get here.
And throughout all the woods that are surrounding us, there are lots of little birds that are fluttering around.
And according to verse 6 here.
Not one of those little birds is forgotten by God.
There are thousands and millions of little birds across the face of this planet, and every single one of them is cared for by God.
That's amazing that that is way beyond our comprehension because we cannot, literally, you cannot focus on more than one thing at a time, and yet God is intimately concerned with all the little sparrows and all the little birds that are around us in the wilderness.
But verse seven says fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
I think that that is amazing and wonderful. The God who spoke this world into existence. The God who knows about every little teensy bird that runs into a window someplace and breaks its neck or gets caught in a net or gets sick and dies.
He says that we are of more value than many, many sparrows.
The God who made this world is incredibly interested in our lives and that's what he wants us to get a hold of. He says don't fear, don't be afraid because I am interested in your life.
And I think if we would actually stop and get a hold of that in our souls, young and old, it would do away with a whole lot of problems that we have.
I know that the society that we're living in is very concerned about self-image and.
What we think of ourselves.
Really doesn't matter what we think of ourselves. So what matters is what God thinks of us. And so I actually have a note here in my Bible that says this is God's value of us as men.
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God places an immense amount of value on your life, and if we can get a hold of that, if you can get a hold of that.
That is amazing and it changes things completely.
The creator of this world has counted and knows exactly how many hairs are on your head, and as you tossed and turned last night and lost two or three on your pillow, he made note of that and he adjusted his number and you didn't even know it.
That's amazing.
As parents, we love our kids, but I haven't the foggiest idea how many hairs are on my own head, let alone the heads of any of my ****. But we have a God who knows everything there is to know about us, every little detail, and He cares about us, and he has told us. Don't fear, because I am thinking about you.
And that should change our perspective, that should change our lives. When we recognize that we have a Heavenly Father that knows exactly what is going on in our lives and is concerned about it, He wants us to speak to Him.
Did we this morning get up and spend time in prayer? Did we address Him as our Father?
Have we thanked him for the day that we had yesterday and the coming day, the opportunity that we have before us? Have you spent time to talk to him about maybe the struggle that you have with somebody else? Maybe somebody else had a a mean word to you? He cares about that.
And he wants you to understand that. And I think that's the that's the magnitude of what these verses are talking about. He cares about everything that we cannot begin to even think about. I couldn't begin to think about all the all the birds, let alone.
All the little critters that are running around this forest, but God cares about that. That's an that's an awesome thing.
That we really can't understand very much. But in so much as we can understand it, it should change our focus, our perspective as we move forward.
That the Lord doesn't just know how many hairs in your head, He has each one of the number. If you read that verse, you'll find that it's not just a number, it's each pair is numbered. So when you lose one, he re numbers them. It's amazing. And if you look at Matthew 1029, you'll find that two spirits, two sparrows are sold for a Farthing here.
You get 5 of them, he just threw in another one. They're so insignificant that he he, he exacerbates this thought that he cares for you, doesn't he?
It's one these verses, it could have been put anywhere in our Bibles and it would be very precious to think about how great God is, how infinite he is. And that that very God cares for is a wonderful thought. But you know, it's it's the beauty of Scripture that they're put right here. Because when do we tend to forget that? It's when we get into situations, when red flags go up, we get into situations where we feel, oh, there might be some pushback here and all of a sudden we forget.
How great God is and how great that great God is on our side. And so he puts those verses here. You know, these disciples when the Lord were going was going to leave, they were gonna take his place and carry on the testimony. And the Lord told him in in many different places that will incur persecution if the Lord has rejected, if the Lord is put on the cross, tho those that go on for the Lord will come in the same situations where there is persecution, where there's pushback. And so when you're in a situation like that.
Don't forget who this God is. Don't forget the greatness of that God and that everything that he is is that your disposal everything that he is is backing you up. You might say in that situation. And so if the disciples would enter into that and we too. What a comforting thought that is that when we get into a situation when we try to be a testimony for the Lord and there is that opposition while to think that that very God who knows all these things that Steve was talking about.
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He's behind us, He's backing us up. And so, you know, if we're here it, it in a way, it's easy, you might say, to think about God that way because we're all enjoying the Lord. We're all thinking about the Lord the same way. But what if you go back to school and to work and somebody sees you pray for, give thanks for your food, and they start making fun of you? What are we thinking then? Are we thinking that, oh, it's time to kind of back off here and retrieve, go somewhere else?
So we don't deal with that or do we think, well, we've got God backing us up, We've got God who wants us to be a testimony to this world and he won't let us down if we are a testimony. That's when they really needed these versus these thoughts.
I think in Acts 24 and verse 16 we have an important verse.
Paul was speaking and he said in here, in do I exercise myself?
To have always a conscience board of offence toward God first.
And then what does it say important men? And so it doesn't, it's not just a matter of what the Lord thinks and doesn't matter what my brother thinks. Uh, there, there's a side to these things that's important that we, umm, go on in such a way that we're, uh.
Not causing problems and discouragement, but so this passage here is talking about being a public testimony and sharing the Lord with others and the persecution that comes along with it. And so I think it's nice to have this first in mind.
As to these things.
Uh, by maybe providing for, uh, umm, some sort of, uh, a protest or something against the, the, uh, uh, persecution against Christianity. And, and so we see that today where there are, umm, there are those that go out and in the name of Christ with an absolute lack of fear for men, put themselves in a position where they become a spectacle and it actually takes away from the testimony of God. And so.
We have a tendency to take things to extremes, and it's good to keep that in mind that that isn't what it's talking about here. You shouldn't fear men, but then at the same time, they don't want to put ourselves in a position where we eclipse the glory of God.
I suppose that comes about rather by doing it in the flesh. I'm supposed to be bold. And so I, I, there's some people who are bold and they do it because they do it in the flag. And so we used to hear all the time, brethren, you can say there's no substitute for communion and you will not be able to carry this out unless you're in communion with the Lord. That's where the power comes from. If I try to do it on my own, then I might do it, but I'll do it in a way you're talking about.
I mean, that's a very critical thing. Remember that there's no substitute, no substitute for communion. You must be in communion. If I go from here down to top niche and I'm not talking to the Lord when I go into the store, I'm not going to give that man a track because I'm going to be afraid. But if I've been talking to the Lord, there's power in that. There's I, I have a sense of, you know, the Lord being with me and.
This is important, but if I try to do it on my own.
I won't do it. It'll be a flop. Or I'll try to do it in the flesh like Peter did, and then I'll fail.
I have, I have two questions and brother Burns, can you help us out maybe on this? There's one umm, in verse 9 about, uh, being denied before the angels of God, uh, by the Lord and then the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Can can you help us out on what exactly is this Speaking of?
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Well, somebody said that scripture always.
Characterizes an act, uh, according to its tendency. In other words, the scripture says he that hated his brother is a murderer. Well hatred, if it keeps going will end up in me wishing the person is dead or if I can get away with killing him. So it always. So the tendency here I believe is that.
This is, if a man denies the Lord and that's the character of his life. Now, Peter denied the Lord, but that wasn't the, that wasn't the character of Peter. Uh, so I think that that's what you get here. And, and, and as far as the, uh, uh, sin against the Holy Ghost is, uh, I believe that's a, uh, dispensational thing. It's, it's what, when the Lord was crucified.
Uh, God allowed, uh, another year or three years for another year for the Spirit of God, the Lord went back to heaven. He sat down the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God told the nation of Israel Repath and it came to Steven and they would not repent. Now that's the, that is would be, I believe the sin against the Holy Spirit.
I don't think it's a personal thing, although practically, you know, if a man doesn't accept the gospel, he's going to go to hell. But it's not talking. I don't think it's talking about that. I think it's a dispensational thing. Is that what you said? Yeah. Maybe explain a little better than I did. No, you did well.
Peter was an audience, I believe, when the Lord was speaking these words. And a little bit later on he found himself in a position in which he denied the Lord in the presence of those that were accusing him. And he might even say that he spoke against the Son of Man. I know not the man. And he cursed at the same time in which he said it, but he was restored. And it says that the Lord.
Told Peter even before that happened that he was praying for him, that when his, when he would be restored, that there would be, uh, that there would be blessing and so.
There have been times in which, umm, we may have maybe not gone to the extent of, of, uh, Peter, but we haven't taken those opportunities that we have to speak a word for the, for the Lord because of our fear of man. Those times are forgiven us. I gave an example yesterday.
And it's of the, of the opportunity that I missed to speak to my coworker Eric and umm, and I still feel the burden of that, but at the same time, I know that it's forgiven. And so when we have failure like this in our life, that we, the Lord works in US and he manifests, umm, our failure to us for the purpose of restoration and growth. The he restored Peter, you know, and he had to take Peter back to that point of departure and.
And very strongly, uh, where computers start to restore him. But the, the, the restoration was in view even before Peter's denial. And, uh, so it's, it's just again a manifestation of, of uh, God's grace and his love to us that as it says here, umm, he that denies 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 he didn't know he, he failed, but that wasn't the characteristic of his life. And Peter denied the Lord, but that wasn't characteristic of him. If, if he always, if a man always denies the Lord, he will end up on, uh, in, in, uh, the lake of fire. So that's, it's a good thing to remember when you read scripture that.
Scripture always characterizes an act according to its tendency.
And that's this verse fits in with that. If if a man continues to deny the Lord, then he's not the Lord at all, but doesn't mean that he might fail once in a while. And but that's not the characteristic of his life.
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You'll know too, in verse 11 it says and when not if and when they bring you into the synagogues and under 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 where you ought to say, umm, you know, if we're living a life in uh, of testimony and, uh, and umm, and sharing, uh, uh, our, our testimony with others and, and, and fulfilling our ministry that the Lord has given to us.
Umm, in our sphere in which we find ourselves, uh, there's gonna be persecution that comes along with that. Uh, the world will take note. And uh, you know, we ought to rest assured that, umm, you know, it's not going to be, you know, a bunch of, uh, flowers and roses and all this, you know, it's, it's gonna be, umm, you know, the Lord Jesus says that all, uh, that live for him will suffer persecution and we may not see as our brethren in other countries today who are losing their lives.
For their testimony.
You know, we've got a pretty easy here and but, you know, there's other forms of persecution that we will feel. So it's just not death. It's gonna be, we're gonna be looked down upon, we're gonna be sneered at, we're gonna be spoken against. But, you know, again.
It's it's, it's knowing that God is behind us. And as Brother Vern was pointing out, we are living that life of communion.
With the Lord and have a conscious sense that He is right by my side. That will alleviate the fear of man and we will go forward in, in, in, in testimony in power with the power of the Spirit of God behind us.
Perhaps a short story that just happened a couple years ago.
Umm, I just heard this and I was struck by this story, but it relates to this portion before us. And the children will get it over in Egypt, the persecution has ramped up. And here some time ago, there were twenty brothers in Christ taken and put into prison. And they were, while they're in prison there, they made a pact with each other that they were going to be executed and that they were to, umm, stand strong.
All the way to the end. So ISIS pulls them out, the 20 of them, and drags them out of the way out there. And you've seen pictures of them, no doubt with the orange jumpsuits and those type of things they're doing. And they come to the first man and they say, will you recant?
And they said, and he said no. And so he was decapitated. And they come to the second man, we recant and the same happens to him. So they go down the line of 21 by 1, each one getting his head cut off. They come to another man who's number 21 #21 This man was in the prison with them, but he was not a believer, but he, he had heard the gospel.
While he was in the prison with them, they had told them about the Lord Jesus. So they come to this man and they didn't ask him if they would recant, but they asked him, would you follow Islam?
And he looked back down that line and he sees those 20 bodies, and he says their God will be my God.
I enjoy this principle that it's not only martyrdom, but whenever the time comes that we need to answer, Remember Nehemiah, he cried out to the Lord, didn't he? And a short prayer and we can all do that. And wonderful thing that the Spirit of God is within.
To give us the, the words for the occasion. How many times have we, uh, been surprised by a situation? But it's a wonderful thing that we can crowd to the Lord and ask for wisdom. And, uh, he gives it again, if we're in communion. And, uh, so it was in the first, uh, three verses. It's, uh, self judgment, isn't it? And communion that the Pharisee in every one of us, uh, can be dealt with. And so it is in, in this portion too.
00:45:13
So in communion, the Spirit of God, when, when, uh, we're going on and away, umm, that's pleasing to the Lord and enjoying communion with himself, then the Spirit of God is free and at liberty to give us the mind of God. Uh, if we're not going on in the way that we should be, then the Spirit of God is hindered. Isn't he so wonderful thing and resource that we have God in us to give us the words to say. And uh, it's only independence that, uh, those words will be given to us.
So just by way of comparison to what Dale's bringing before us, that resource of the Spirit of God dwelling within, we have lately in, uh, Tacoma, been reading through the Psalms on Lord's Day morning and talking about the great mercy that the Lord shows to the, to the remnant in a day to come who don't have the Christian blessing that we have of the Spirit of God dwelling within and how that he will raise up for them the mask on.
Those who are instructed and are able to give them, give them health. And the prophet Isaiah says, though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore. But then I shall see thy teachers. And then here shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way walking in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. And what a mercy that will be for them. And they'll have the Psalms to put the very words in their mouth, they'll have their teachers, and so on.
But by comparison, what is brought before us by our brother Dale here in these verses, verse 12, the Spirit of God dwelling within the individual believer. He is in you and shall be with you forever. What was the reference? That was Isaiah 30, verses 20 and 21.
It's so beautiful to see that golf's word is a living practical word. You know, the disciples that heard these very words not very long after they would prove the reality of it because the Lord was gone soon and pretty soon there was persecution. And we all know the story in Acts 3 how Peter and John went up to the temple and they healed that lame man. And because of that, they are really, they are dragged before the synagogue before the leaders and and Peter gives a beautiful testimony and the people looking on it even says.
They realized that these were unlearned, unlettered men, and Peter talks to them with boldness. What had happened in chapter 2? Just before that, the Holy Spirit had been poured out. And so it's the same for us too, that, you know, they proved the words of the Lord here and they found them to be 100% true. The persecution came and the Holy Spirit gave them very powerful words to be spoken. He were all the learned man later. Stephen too, a little bit later.
All the learned religious men in Israel against this one man, or against Peter and John?
He couldn't say anything against them. Was it Peter or John? No, it was the Holy Spirit giving them those words. You read Umm Steven's address and it's marvelous how he can go through the history of Israel and bring out those things that were needed for them to hear as a final testimony. And so it's the same for us. And I think probably all of us that have gone on a little bit, we've gotten into situations where if we would think about it, we wouldn't have a clue what to say. But when they came, the words came. That was the Holy Spirit that wasn't us. That's these very words that the Lord.
It's telling us here, if these situations come, don't try to prepare a little speech, but trust the Holy Spirit to give the right words. And, and I think a lot of us have like read Fox's Book of Martyrs. And there were people during the times of the Inquisition that were pulled before magistrates. They couldn't even read. And they stood up before these magnificent courts and judges in their robes and they gave answers that they didn't know what to say to. That wasn't the cobbler, that wasn't the fishmonger, that was the Holy Spirit.
Speaking through men or women that trusted the Lord and they had very little knowledge because at that time this was a sealed book. You know, the Catholic Church, all its efforts were into keeping people away from the word of God. It was in lat. It wasn't translated yet. And if it would have been, most people couldn't read. And yet those people were able to stand up and refute the world man's wisdom through the power of the words of the Holy Spirit. That's what this is speaking about. And that same resource is fully available to each one of us. It's amazing to think about it. It kind of goes along with what.
00:50:05
First said and then mark here as well.
I'm gonna read verses 11 and 12 again and I want you to pay close attention to what it says. And when they bring you before the synagogues and then the magistrates and powers take ye no thought how or what thing you shall answer or what you shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you the same hour what you ought to say. So like Mark just mentioned, we don't we don't have a pre prepared speech. OK, but that doesn't mean that we don't prepare.
And Timothy, the exhortation is that every man be ready to give an account.
So that doesn't mean having a prepared speech. That goes back to what Dale is talking about, being in communion with the Lord where the Spirit of God is not grieved, where he doesn't have the capacity because of our walk to really manifest the word of God through us. So we need to be careful we don't read this the wrong way and just think, well, it doesn't require anything on our part that we're just completely wait for the the Spirit of God to just give us all that we have to say. No, there's preparation involved, but it doesn't have to do with the prepared speech. It has to do with the prepared heart.
Chapter 3, verse 14 it says, But if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man to ask you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evil viewers, they may be ashamed that falsely accused your good conversation in Christ for is better if the will of God be so you suffer for well-being than evil doing and then chapter 4 verse 13.
But rejoice in as much as your particulars of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed.
You may be glad to also have succeeding joy for your beer approach for the name of Christ. Happy are ye?
Umm, if we're suffering for well doing, we don't have to worry. The Lord will undertake and we can kind of partake in those sufferings that the Lord Christ's sufferings. And I enjoyed that verse of being ready to give an answer. The Lord will direct our hearts how we should speak. But like Tim said, we we need to be prepared.
And then verse 16, having a good conscience, if we have a good conscience, we don't have to be afraid of what one speak of us.
I don't know. I don't know if somebody read this. I was thinking of this verse in a different translation. Umm.
Acts 20, verse 24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my, my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry.
Which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify.
The Gospel of the grace of God, another translation says, I consider my life of no consequence.
I, I think that is one of the greatest inhibitors of us is that we consider our life to have consequence. And in reality, it really doesn't. And that is really the root of, of pride and pride is the, is the ultimate, uh.
Ultimate thing that stands in our way of.
Of taking the gospel to the lost, but also, uh, speaking up in, in assembly meeting or to have a difficult conversation with others in, in the assembly.
We we value ourselves way too much.
And I think sometimes we forget the power of this book.
And it's so helpful to remember that this book is the word of God.
We didn't make this up. We didn't come up with this. This book tells us how to make it in this world. It tells us how to have eternal life. It tells us how to run our businesses, how to have a happy marriage, how to raise our children. The world around us doesn't have a clue.
00:55:12
I remember years ago, I was, I don't remember where I was. I was in some lady's house and there was this show on about this whole new way to raise your children. And she just whatever PhD psychologist said, well, you just ignore them. If they're not doing what you want them to, you just ignore them until they turn 18 or until they turn around. Well, you know, 10 years later, five years later, they write a deal as well. You know, really that didn't work that well. Here's the new, new idea. This you guys.
When we understand, like Aaron was just saying that it's not about us. Our lives are for him. We're we're in his hand and we understand what he's entrusted to us. The apostle Paul on on Mars Hill in Acts 17. It would be like us going to in our area, we have Whitman College, which is this is huge basket of world knowledge and all these professors and everything. He went right in there completely confident. He had a clean conscience. He had a prepared heart and he could just share with them. Look, you, this is what you guys are looking for.
Right here in this book. And when we understand its value and we're walking in with communion with the Lord, it's a it's amazing the Lord can use us.
There's a couple of verses that come to my mind when you say that, umm, Second Timothy.
Chapter 3, verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. But the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So there you have it. You have the word of God being all the all the sufficiency for for faith and practice is found within the word of God. You have questions about running your business. You go to the word of God because the wisdom is there if you have questions about raising your family.
The word of God has all of the answers to those questions. And, and there's another verse in first John, it says, uh.
First John, chapter 2. It says, But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not let any man teach you, but as the same anointed teaches you of all things and his truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Our God is faithful.
He did. He is faithful never to leave us nor forsake us. He has given us the very word of God.
The template for life, so to speak. We can consult it, but he has also gave us a faithful teacher.
Through the Spirit of the Lord.
I think we're out of time. Maybe we can, uh, take up with.
Verse 14.
Next time.
Gleaned from them just a little bit here and think about.
The wisdom in the scriptures and it's rooted in the person and in the power that works behind the scenes. The Holy Spirit and the Father, we're thankful for that. We just pray that it would have its effect in in our lives. We might say, and rightfully so. Our lives are of little consequence, but the Lord says rightly, I have the very hairs of your head numbered. Both sides are truth. All the we're so thankful for the love.
That you have for us, but we're mindful not to transfer that unduly to ourselves and to project it outward. So we just give thanks for this. We just pray now for uh.
The rest of this day ahead of us too. Just pray these things in Jesus worthy and precious name. Amen. Amen.