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Lord, thou astronaut after.
Now let us run, and every time by president.
Are comforting.
I shall.
Desire.
I am a president. Save your.
Wild nor fear, nor sin, and.
I want to share.
Our gratitude.
Our hearts.
Are wrong before.
On the train to come down the world of all my grace of.
Earthly.
I.
See you.
And you are busy.
In our hearts to move.
Mercedes.
Benz.
Take up a little part of Luke's Gospel chapter 22.
And perhaps from verse seven we could read from verse one, but I have exercised to take up from verse 7 down to.
Perhaps we could read the 1St?
Meeting here until first 30.
There is an awakening, a work of the Spirit of God is, our brother has said in Brazil. There is a work of God going on in Australia. There's a work of God going on in other parts of the world where Christians are leaving the church systems and are seeking to be gathered to the Lord's name on divine ground.
And we have a generation that has grown up not hearing much truth in connection with what it is, the precious privilege and the normal condition of things for believers to be gathered by the Spirit of God to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe it might be helpful for us to take up this passage together and just allow the Spirit of God to bring it before us.
Luke chapter 22, then perhaps from verse one down to verse 30.
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Luke chapter 22, verse one. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people.
Then entered Satan into Judas, surname Iscariot being of the number of the 12. And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and covenanted to give him money, and he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat.
And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. And he shall say unto the good men of the house. The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them.
And they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the 12 apostles were in. And he said unto them, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table, and truly the Son of Man goeth, as it was determined, the woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And he began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
There was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercised lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But you shall not be so. He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that hath served the weather is great, or he that sitteth that meat, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at me, but I am among you, is he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on the Thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
The church had not yet been formed as we read in chapter 22 of Luke's Gospel. The church was formed on the day of Pentecost and we could read of that in Acts chapter 2.
But this was a transitionary portion, you might say, and the Lord.
Here brought before his disciples.
The fact that he was going to be.
Crucified that he was going to be rejected. We could read it in Luke's gospel. Just turn back to chapter 19. I think it is.
No, it's chapter 18.
In verse 31.
So He reinforced this many, many times in His ministry. At the end He spoke of it as well. Verse 31 of Luke 18. Then he took unto him the 12 Said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.
And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit it on, and they shall scourge him.
And put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, Neither knew they the things which were spoken.
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And so they were not indwelled with the Spirit of God. They had a hard time understanding the concept that the Messiah was going to be crucified, He would be rejected. They knew that He was harassed. They knew that He was rejected of the nation in some sense. And so on the night of the portrayal of the Lord, He gathered them together in that large upper room and He.
The Spirit of God brings before us morally a moral order in Luke's gospel.
And so Judaism was going to be set aside, not added to, not improved. Judaism was going to be set aside and Christianity as a new entity, a new living Organism, the church was going to be formed in this world. And he was laying down, you might say, the principles of what it would be and how they would.
Leave Judaism in connection with worship and they would come into the presence of the Lord on a different principle, on a different basis and how they would get there to be in his presence. And so this is the how he brings it out in a couple of different passages. But this upper room scene is very significant to the Christian testimony. And I might just say this it's if you've read.
Mr. Willis hid treasures a little book called Hid Treasures, Mark 14, verse 14.
It says.
Wheresoever he shall go in, He shall say to the Goodman of the house. The master says, where is the guest chamber? Well, Mr. Darby's translation is translated, and in the Greek as well, I believe. Where is my guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? It's the only place that the Lord called His own. His own place in this scene was that gas chamber and that same word.
Guest chamber is translated in, It's translated different ways, but it's the inn. It's just a place that you and I are in, a temporary dwelling place in the presence of Christ himself.
We're in. We're provided for at his expense as guests were there as guests in his presence.
And his delight is to have us there. So this little passage of Scripture just goes over the principles of how we're brought into his presence.
And what should characterize us as we're there?
Often when we read scriptures, we look at a story and we try to interpret the story.
But every story has a background to it, so to understand this.
A very Jewish setting. We need to understand scriptures from beforehand.
So here it begins by talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We often skip over that. And it's not my desire to go through the seven feasts. We need to lay the foundation first, don't we? What is the Feast of Unleavened Bread? And then the statement go on and say, which is called the Passover.
Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Thou Passover, we need to understand basic principle. Now I'm going to leave that as a question, perhaps with very little comment on it, and then we can follow, perhaps let's turn to Leviticus chapter 23. And there's a reason I point to that, because of the timing. That's what I had more so than the event.
Now I know we're familiar with the feast of with the Passover feast, so the Leviticus chapter 23. I'm just going to point out the time and event in verse 5. Is that in the 14th day of the first month?
And even is the Lord's Passover. Now here's another principle that the day begins a evening, and the morning as a day.
We often think our day is the morning, the evening as a day. The day starts in the evening to go through darkness and then light. So it sets here the 14th day of the month. That's the Passover.
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Verse 6.
On the 15th day.
Of the same month is the feast.
Of unleavened bread.
So when is the unleavened bread being held?
The day after, isn't it? It doesn't take us much to figure that out. If it's on the 14th for the Passover, the next day, on the 15th, is the unleavened bread. Now I'm going to jump one more.
Verse 10.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall weep the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheave of firstfruit of the harvest unto the Lord, and he shall wave the sheep before the Lord, and be accepted for you on the Morrow after the Sabbath.
The prize shall waive it. This is known as the fees of the first fruit.
The fees are Passover is the picture of death.
We know that unleavened bread he speaks off, we become holy.
As the leaven is being put to death, the feast of the first fruit is resurrection that you read it the day, the the day, the morning after the Sabbath, that's on the 17th day. All happens within three days. So death and resurrection go together. Now let's go back to the chapter to tie this Jewish setting. It was Jewish setting as our brother Robert mentioned there. The church hasn't been formed yet. Resurrection hasn't happened yet.
In fact, death hasn't happened yet, so they're going back to the old way. And the Jews of old probably didn't even they were mingling in the two fees as if it was one.
Just let me be a little bit technical.
Some of you may remember the Passover is to be held is set between the two evenings. So that's between the 14th day and the 15th day. So I'm going to use today's day to make it easier and I'm going to borrow a phrase from the Catholic system. Some of you may have heard of the phrase Good Friday.
Friday is a good frame of reference. So they have from Thursday at 3:00, that's the 14th day. Friday is the 15th day to 3:00 of that day, so part of that day.
So the Passover fees is actually could be held on the day of the unleavened bread. So we find the Lord in this scene is on the 4th evening of the 14th day, but he didn't die until the next day. He was the true Passover.
That they have to understand. So the two feasts in a sense is the same, but there's two separate feasts. So here very Jewish in nature.
And then they said the Passover must be killed.
I don't know, perhaps someone can correct me on this. I don't know of anywhere that said they went and got a lamb and if you follow the rules on the 10th day, four days before that on the 10th day, a lamb, a lamb without blemish and they would have could kill that between the two evenings. I don't see that mentioned in the Gospels of someone who correct me on that. And so here is between that he's foreshadowing them and this very place that he have with them.
And I'm going to we'll go back to this is that the Lord would say to them with desire. I have desire to after you read that on Lord's Day morning to do what?
To eat this Passover with you. So here in this chapter we have two different feasts. He had the Passover feast with them. That's why the cup came first. That's the Jewish way of doing it. And then after that.
Perhaps we can look at the distinction from verse 19 I'm jumping ahead on is a separate breaking point. That's the remembrance of the Lord that they instituted. He took the bread and then the cup afterwards.
It's important to notice that the significance of the Passover here is that the Passover looked forward to the death of Christ and his work of redemption, the blood that would be shed to cleanse us from our sins, but to be a propitiation of work of redemption for Israel as well. And so the Passover looked forward to the death of Christ, the remembrance of the Lord looked back to that work that was done into the sufferings of Christ.
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And his death, we remember him in his death. But the Day of Unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed, the Passover was first, and it was intimately connected with the unleavened bread, those seven days of unleavened bread. And it speaks to us of a life lived in purity, in moral purity, absence from sin without leaven. You know, it says in First Corinthians chapter 5, know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole love?
Leaven is always a picture of sin. So our lives are to be lived. Seven days oftentimes speaks in Scripture symbolically of a whole lifetime. So in connection with the Passover, the children of Israel, Lord, eat that Passover in the whole lifetime was to be spent live for the glory of God without sin. And so we have that for ourselves as well. Well, He said to them here.
He said, The Lord Jesus said, Where wilt thou that we or they said unto him?
We skipped verse eight, I'm sorry.
He sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou? But we prepared. Now this is very significant.
And why did they ask him where? Why didn't they just say, well, we know where there's a good room and let's go look and see a couple of places and we think we can figure this out. Why did they do this? Why did they ask the question? Well, it says, let's look at the principle of it in Deuteronomy chapter 12.
They knew these passages of Scripture, but it's a spirit of God that led them to ask that question.
We're not going to read this whole chapter, but it's one of the chapters in Scripture that is a real help if you're searching for the divine ground of gathering that there is a divine center. And so Deuteronomy chapter 12.
And verse 13.
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest.
But in the place which the Lord shall choose, in one of thy tribes, there shalt thou offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
So the choice was the Lord's choice.
And so they asked him this question, Where will thou that we prepare?
And in the Christian context, it's the same principle. You and I need to ask the Lord, where will thou that we prepare? There are some things in Scripture that were never permitted to choose. One is our parents. Our parents were chosen for us.
God will have been things cold.
God in his wisdom chose our parents and then the way of salvation. It's God's choice. There's one way. There's one mediator between God and men, the men. Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom for all. When it comes to the place where I might remember the Lord Jesus in his death on divine ground according to obedience to the Word of God, it's not left up to me. There's no choice here.
And the scriptures forbidden.
Personal choice in the matter and then when it comes to.
Our home assembly, what we might consider we're not to choose our home assembly. It's First Corinthians chapter 12 The Lord places. Let's look at it in First Corinthians chapter 12.
I'm going to read it as it is in the Darby translation or in a note that he makes, First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 18. But now hath God set, you could read it for himself, set for himself the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And then in verse 28 God has said, you could read it this way. God has set for himself.
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Some in the church, first apostle, secondary apostles, so on. So God has done some things for himself.
And so he chooses for us, and he places us in our own location, you might say. And then when we go to be with the Lord, it's his choice. We don't choose those things God chooses. So those are five things that God has a right to choose.
And God is perfect in his way of choosing for us.
I was thinking.
In this connection, 1St Corinthians 5 might be relevant here.
As the apostle is speaking here to the Corinthians.
Verse seven First Corinthians 5 Purge out therefore the old eleven, that she may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened, or even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So the Lord fulfilled the type of the fossil during his death. But then it says in verse 8, therefore let us keep the beast.
Now that is the feast of unleavened bread that is referred to that, not with all leather. That is, we are not to go on with the old character of life that we had before.
The lusts of the flesh, the activities of the old nature.
Purge out the old leaven, those things that characterize us when we were unsaved.
When we were in the world, they are not to be seen.
In our pathway down here now, self judgment is required because we have the old nature with us at all times. We never have it eradicated going on with the verse, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.
But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and fruit. So there is a word.
That brings before us our responsibility. It's a wonderful privilege, the greatest privilege on the earth to be gathered the Lord's Table or take of the Lord's Supper.
Remember, we're at the Lord's Table 7 seven days a week.
We're always at the Lord's Table, but we are to purge out those things.
Malice. Wickedness.
They are, they are to be, not to be seen in our in our walking ways, in our pathway which young leavened bread brings before us, as Robert mentioned, I think our whole earthly pathway. Let's get rid of those, that malice and wickedness which comes from the old nature that we all have.
I was thinking of more verses in Deuteronomy 12 and in connection with what you just said there, Brother John, verse 26 of Deuteronomy 12, it says only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy bowels which thou shalt take and go under the place which the Lord shall choose. And so is Brother Robert said that we would not take it 11 our whole lives. But it says in the Old Testament that they were not to eat of the leavened bread for seven days, and so we have seven days in the week. And so that applies to you and I if you look in.
Deuteronomy 12 in connection with my guest chamber.
Has been brought out to see in verse six whether you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your ties and evil offerings. Sorry verse 5, but I'm the place which the Lord your God shall choose, and of all your tribes to put his name there and then in verse.
11 Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name as well there. Verse 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye and your sons, and your daughters, your men, servants, your maidservants, the Levite that was in your gates For as much see us no part nor inheritance. Whiskey, take each to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt offering in every place that thou see us, but in the place which the Lord shall choose. And when thy tribes and so on. And so you know, he said, go and prepare.
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Well, you and I need instruction.
We might say we'll go where so they did, but he did give instruction and he said that there would be a man bearing a pitcher of water. And so you and I, we have the Spirit of God. We're involved by and when we're, when we come to him and we're saved, we have that blessing. And he gives us his word for instruction. We have the Spirit to guide us and to follow him. I've used this little illustration. I hope that is simple enough, but.
You know, we hear of so many that have a difficulty knowing and understanding the divine center, knowing the place where He chooses to put His name and to dwell there.
And, you know, it's kind of like we've heard many stories about the queen and, and how we might dress before. But, you know, the queen has a place that she sits down to eat, and she too, invites people to sit at that table.
And I know a brother back in Stellerton that has gone to see the Queen before and he was literally told what he was supposed to wear to go into her presence. Well, in this case though, you know, she invites you in to sit with her at her table and you maybe put your best on and, and you go into the hall and they receive you in and you're heading towards that grand table.
And you're almost there and somebody comes and they say, Oh no, no, you're not going to sit at that table.
You're going to sit at this one over here in the corner. Well, how would you feel? I know I would feel terrible if I had anticipated.
Sitting with the Queen at her table. And then I was told to go sit in the corner. The Lord Jesus leads you by the Spirit to Himself, to a place that he has chosen to put his name, and He wants you there. He's shown you that place. And yet there are some that would rather go and sit at the table over in the corner.
I just leave that with you to consider. There is a little verse that I enjoy, you know, in Micah five, it speaks of that one, that ruler that would come out of Bethlehem. And there's a verse in Proverbs 23 that I enjoy.
I think it's 23.
We often say about judging those things, Brother John, that you're mentioning on the Lord's Day, but Proverbs 23 and one, it says when thou sittest to eat with a ruler considered diligently what is before thee. Caleb pointed out to me the other day in the Darby translation that it says when thou sittest eat with the ruler considered diligent, diligently, who is before thee. And so on Wednesday morning we come into a very special place.
To honor that one, to remember that one that gave himself on the cross for you and I shed his precious blood to wash our sins away.
Have we considered?
That we're going to sit with that one and we considered what is really before us.
Would we rather sit somewhere else?
Go and prepare.
That chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 12/6 times, it says the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, right. You know, it's a real comfort to our hearts, ought to be a real comfort to our hearts. It's a comfort to mind encouragement.
He has the right to choose, but His choice is perfect, and His provision for us is that which His His heart would desire to provide for us in His presence. And so it's interesting here that He said unto them in verse 10, It's the instructions that come from the Lord Himself that will guide us if we have a value for His word.
And God has not written His word in a complex way whereby we can hardly understand that. It's written in a very simple way and very clear for the person that wants to walk by faith. And So what we accept as to the things divine, things we accept by faith. And so here He said unto them, the first thing that we need to notice is, are we allowing Him? Do we?
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Afford him the privilege of letting him choose for us.
Do we allow the Lord to choose for us?
It's a solemn thing.
To choose something for myself without his approval and without his consent. It says in I think it's First Corinthians chapter 4. What hast thou that thou hast not received?
Why, we ought to receive everything that we received from the Lord. But it's interesting that it says, he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house. So the city is a picture of confusion in the word of God. When you go into the city, a city is a place of confusion.
And what we have in the day that we live in is religious confusion.
Babbling, you might say. It's spoken of religious Babylon in Revelation chapter 17 and 18.
Confusion, but the Spirit of God is able to guide and notice that He guides individuals.
And so John, Peter and John were given this responsibility to go and to make preparation, and they were guided by the Word of God, by the word of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. And He can guide you by His word as well. God deals with individuals, He saves individuals, and he, he brings individuals into the knowledge of the truth. He brings individuals to savor and to love the truth.
He brings individuals into his presence to remember him in his death. And I would re echo the comments that Brother John just made not too long ago. It's the grandest privilege upon the face of the earth.
First Christian redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus the Son of God on a Lord's Day morning and an assembly, reading or prayer meeting, or to come into the presence of the Son of God.
There's no it and to thank him for such a privilege and to be there.
Fully cognizant of the privileges that are his as a priest, it's the grandest privilege. And I say this, we can say by faith that we're gathered by the Spirit of God to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
And we ought to be thankful for it. You thank God for your salvation. Do you thank the Lord Jesus for dying for you?
It's a good thing, and we try to do it every day, as often as we can. But do you ever thank the Lord Jesus for the privilege of being gathered to the Lord's name?
For the privilege is coming into his very presence, the coming into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Do you ever thank him for it?
We often say we have faith.
We believe, we trust in God, we say it, we say it in our prayers. And now the question was just raised, did God choose a place or is it up to me? And we find this has been an age-old question. Every member is young people. That was a question raised with many of my peers and we see the same thing over to all kinds.
But yet, right in front of us, even in this chapter, I don't need to go back to the whole Bible, we see that God is very precise with what He has done and will do.
Let's look at it. This is now the fees of unleavened bread. Now I'm going to change the thought a little bit is that according to a time, the time when the fees are of unleavened bread and the Passover.
Well, part of it is because the Lord Jesus is to Passover. The rest is. Our brother mentioned they were looking forward to that true Passover. Incidentally, He came on the 10th day into Jerusalem when he cried from Xanax. To him, He was the perfect Passover.
And then he says that it must be killed. Is it not according to Scripture, that between the 14 and the 15 day the Passover lamb must be killed? And it was. And then we just just not going to go too long on that verse 7. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread. Is it good timing or accidental?
00:40:05
And then they were asked where. Really, in a sense, you go out. Where? OK, now you told me the place. Now what do I need to do? No, I didn't say that. They found that optical room furnished. I don't know what else they have to do. It was furnished.
Jonathan looking over, I was thinking of you Jonathan, how you lost your house. Well, when you have to go find a place temporary, Can you imagine someone say here's a nice house you can use for now?
Oh, there's no furniture in it. It's all up to you now. No, this is furnished. The Lord knew that. We can't even provide for ourselves. After all this, are we still going to say, oh, no, it's up to me? And I believe that is one of our problems. And I say ours, I point a finger this way, we have a tendency to say, Lord, it's OK, I got this.
And then it failed. What do we do? Do we cry and say, oh man, what a mistake?
No, if you are like me, you will say, oh, I know what went wrong. There's one more thing I can try and one after another. But at the meantime, we believe in God.
Here, rather than trusting that He will provide if He provides for our daily cares, would He not show us the way not to drag and hold on to the mic is from the beginning. I was thinking of Genesis chapter 22.
We know the story. I will turn to it. We know the story Abraham was told. Take your son Isaac to one of the mountains.
We just came back from Idaho conference a few weeks ago. And if somewhere you've been out West, see the mountains, Can you imagine? I see that, Jonathan, meet me at one of those mountains over there.
Boy, I don't know. And I remember one of my children went to sand dune and they said we want to walk to the lake and they said it's just over the Crest. They go to the Crest of 1 Sandy and then, oh, there's another one behind it, but it's one of them. What did God, what did Abraham do? He believed, he trusted, and I won't go too much into it, but he said on the third day, the death and resurrection pictures was brought out, need to be there.
A look afar off and he saw God show him the place. He didn't say give me the GPS location. No God show him the places by faith. And there's so much story we can use in that. God does have a place and they as he said to the woman of the well, it's it's not just someone who want to do things. He said the true worshipper must worship.
In spirit and in truth. Otherwise this head of ours is not going to find what the truth is.
Maybe just a time of religious confusion.
As mentioned, Christendom is is corrupted and defiled with doctrines that are contrary to the word of God. So the the bottom line is the the assembly gathers on divine ground. That is the meaning of the the Lord's table is refers to a divine ground of gathering.
It's not the table that we see Lord today morning that's we partake of the Lord's Supper at the Lord's table. Normally speaking, we come to the Lord's table once in our lives and we are always there 24 hours a day and.
Seven days a week. But the important thing is, is there the divine authority there amongst the testimony of brethren?
Quotation marks, brethren, There are a number of groups who maintain they have the Lord's Table.
They meet.
Basically in the same manner in which we do, holding the same fundamental doctrines, yet they do not have the Lord's table, they don't have the authority of the Lord now.
I believe that we have to be careful here because.
00:45:03
We need to know the origin of a table. How did it? Where was? How did it commence? Was there a setting aside of a divine principle in the origin of that table? If so, I cannot regard that as the Lord's table. Another point, the Spirit of God.
Is not the author of confusion. If he led you to one table and myself to another table, he would be condoning the confusion. There is in prison down.
If he led different brethren to different centers, it would be the Spirit of God would be the author of condoning the division. No, the Spirit of God gathers to Christ who is the divine center. But we need to know that that group that we are meeting with are on divine ground.
That they have not departed from the principles of Scripture in their in their history or their origin and.
And.
I know that the Lord will guide an individual if he is. If any man will to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. But there is that side that we must have the scriptural basis for our gathering. Is that right today?
Yes, I'm sure that's right.
It's instructive that it was on the principle of faith and obedience that they were to be met by a man. And so you and I will never receive a blessing that we ought to receive and that is intended for us if there's not obedience to the plain teaching of the word of God. Obedience. And then there was faith to move forward. And so he says, when you're entered into the city.
Place of religious confusion that's pointed out, but we need to take a step in faith. We need to move forward. And it says that there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. And so that man, that unnamed man in Scripture is often a picture of the Spirit of God. And so you have it in Abraham's servant. He's not named there in connection with Genesis chapter 24 going to find a bride for Isaac.
The picture of the Spirit of God and other passages of Scripture, even in the New Testament. So this unnamed man, what is he going to you? He's going to use the word of God. So it's a picture of water. Water is a picture of the word of God, is a symbol that represents the word of God. And really, you know, it's in the picture. He may use a brother, He may use an earthen vessel, you might say.
To bring up something into an apportion of the Scriptures that will be a help in discerning what the mind of the Lord is in this matter. And so it's interesting that it's really a man shall meet you. There was obedience first, and then there was faith, and then they were to follow him into the house where yet earth in.
So that's one of the things that the Lord Jesus said in the last, last instructions actually, that he gave to his disciples in John's Gospel, Follow thou me.
Follow thou me. Just three simple words. Follow thou me. And so we need to follow the instructions of the Word of God and follow in connection with how the Spirit of God leads in this matter if we're going to find ourselves in the upper room.
It's good that you brought out Robert, the unnamed man being a picture of the Spirit of God, because often we feel when we say we want to choose.
We think we're not trusting the Lord, but we're not really waiting for the guidance of the Spirit of God.
00:50:01
The Spirit, when the Lord, after the Lord left this earth, what happened? The Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, came down. And it's more than the fact that He came down into this world. He's been in this world before from the very beginning. What a world was without form and void. He came in the upper over the waters. She's still those problems and difficulties, but this time when He came, He came.
He indwelt into believers.
Very different, isn't it, than to be just upon someone and he's in the midst of the assembly too. So when we think we're deciding where to choose or where to go, just for lack of a better word here, those are not the choice of words. The Spirit, do we realize the Spirit is the one that give us the guidance. It's not how much knowledge. In fact, I tell you, sometimes when there's a difficulty in the assembly, I know I got caught in it before we get letters upon letters.
From both sides of sometimes one side more than the other side, justifying how right they are. And you think, well, the more I read about these problems, the more I'm going to be better at understanding the situation, how wrong that idea is, what we need to be independent upon the Spirit of God. Just one more thought on this there. And you go back to Genesis. How did men, how did men become a living soul?
God breathed into this pile of dirt and he became a living stores. God gave man breath to have life on the day of Pentecost. What happened? The Spirit came and if you look at it, it's a we heard. We heard that big rushing noise. Now, if you look at Mr. Darby's translation, he'll say it was not just a loud noise, it was like a breathing noise. Oh, how interesting to see.
As if now the Spirit of God breathed upon us.
We got a different life, we got a new spiritual life, and it's the Spirit of God that guides us. He's the one that draws us into understanding the Word of God and closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
God's moral ways don't change from 1 dispensation to the next.
And so we see the importance of the place in Deuteronomy 12 and it doesn't change in this dispensation. And we've talked about this.
Snare of choosing and it's the tenant of Christendom.
Unfortunately, it's the Holy Grail of Christendom. Go to the Church of your choice and it's introducing Levin right then and there because it's giving giving me some credit for making a choice in those 650 denominations that are out there. No, this is sufficient right here to guide us and I'm just going to.
Ask Dave to carry on with the comment he started with a few minutes ago, if you still have it.
Well, I don't want to disrupt from what we've had here. I just I realized the subject that for us here is is the.
The Lord instituting this, this feast, and we need to we need to recognize that. But as we go through this portion by way of application, there are some practical things too for our personal lives. So I'm just looking around the room. I'm looking some of these young children and I think there are some things here for us that would be of a practical nature. So we look here, it says here as we started off in the eighth verse that says he sent Peter and John.
And I think that.
There should be a sense.
For everyone of us, every day that were sent, we all got up this morning, we headed down to that breakfast room. We, we had our breakfast. We, we, we go through our, our, our, our routine. And yet there needs to be, I think, a sense in every one of our souls on a daily basis that when we get up, we're sent.
We're not just left here to choose what we're supposed to do today. No, we're sent.
And I think it's, it's it's a, it was a very reasonable question for the disciples here to ask in the ninth verse that they said, you know, where wilt thou that we prepare? But it's a reasonable question for us too, as believers on a daily basis, to have a sense that we're sent, but also to have a sense where, you know, who am I supposed to visit with with when I, when I get to the get to where the meetings are? Who am I supposed to eat with at lunch? Who am I supposed to try to encourage?
00:55:18
I think those are things that are that are very needful for us on a daily basis. We're all sitting here now.
Were sent funds everyone of us is a sent one today and there should I think there there needs to be that sense in our souls as we go through this day, as we go through every day that we're sent and also a sense of where I think those are needful things practically. I realize that's not the subject here, but as we go through this portion, there are a number of practical things for our everyday life as well.
They acknowledged his lordship in the matter, didn't they? So you and I that know the Lord Jesus is our Savior. We say that He's our Savior. We say we're saved. We say we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
But he's also our Lord. He ought to be our Lord. There's a little expression that I heard some time ago.
He's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. He's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all.
You know, Norman Berry, who's an older brother in Montreal and used to have this little expression when he would speak to young people, probably David probably heard him say it, but.
They say, young person, are you saved? You know the Lord Jesus is your savior, You say yes.
He says when you got saved, did you call the Lord Jesus Lord? Did you acknowledge him as your Lord?
You'd say yes, he said. Well, when you got saved, you gave up your right to choose.
You called him Lord, and as Lord He has a right to choose for you everything.
And so many believers will acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Savior.
But not very many will acknowledge Him as Lord. What a privilege it is in this world to acknowledge him as Lord.
I had the similar thought and I was considering what you said Dave, and you know how sometimes we're failures at this and I just read the other day. Maybe it was a gems from Norm Hebert. But it was about how we start our day out and consider him as Lord. And do we get down on our knees and and ask him for all the direction that Dave just pointed out before our day starts, or do we find ourselves running off the business and and then remembering to pray. And I have to admit that sometimes I'm in my car driving down the road before I get before the Lord and ask him for help for the day. And so it was quite an awakening Timmy and when we consider him as Lord of all.
You know, when we consider our salvation and the joy we have in it, and then we consider the moment that like these twelve, he showed us that place. He invited us to his table, we received the invitation, we considered him as Lord, that ruler. And then what happens? Why is it that we lose the the luster of it, let me say, or the grandeur of it? What happens to us even in our Christian lives? Well, we set him aside.
We set them aside. Jonathan quoted in his prayer this morning, Matthew 17. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man say Jesus only. And that's the point. That's the Lord and the Lord of all King of kings. We lose sight of it and we start thinking that, well, wouldn't it be a little bit better if we did this in the meeting instead? Or maybe we see a little Gray area in God's Word, and we think, well, we could probably pull that off. That might work.
And now it's all our own doing. It's totally detracted from what we're here to do, which is remember Him in his death or honor Him, give him worship and praise throughout the meetings.
Everything just falls apart in our own hands, and can't we just see that He has given us the most blessed Book of instruction? Can't we just obey it by faith and walk in those things? I know I'll be tested for saying that, but I'm fully prepared to take the testing. Are you? That's what He wants. He wants us to follow Him. These ones, they followed Him. And it's simple. It's so simple. There's nothing more simple in God's Word.
Than how we can meet together and remember him in his death. He has made it so that nobody can mess it up. Why do we mess it up? He says this do in remembrance of me. If you're waiting on it, if you're considering it, if there's no sin in your life that's hindering you, do it.
01:00:17
Part of the problem we have is the influence around us about you. I find that sometimes what I hear during the day, what I've seen affect the way I act. So you might say, well, no, I don't watch anyone. Well, it could even be the radio you listen to. And there ever even being, you know, we say this, I've heard this stupid song and that was stuck in my head. Oh, OK, rhythm. The world. Especially when we think Christendom is saved.
Is not turn with me just a short verse in the book of Jude? Jude I was going to say chapter but we know there is only one chapter Jude verse 11.
I believe this give us a picture to be careful of who we are with, especially among so-called Christians.
Essential woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. Now let me preface this. There are three points I want to bring out in this one verse. So we just read that the 1St way is the way of Cain. Second one and ran greedily after the era of Balaam.
For reward the third one and perish in the gained saying of Korah. These people all seem to be religious as if it were they want to please God. And often I hear the phrase when people who leave us and go elsewhere they use God rather than Jesus and especially the word that was mentioned Jesus as Lord. We don't hear that. So what is the way of Cain?
Cain simply said. I've got a better way. I can bring my own offering in. Don't need blood. He thought he was smart. That's the way of pain. Do we see that even sometimes in our own lives, that we've got a better way?
Balaam. Well, I won't say too much on that, Balaam He'd do it for money.
Do we see that now? I don't think we should point fingers at other groups, but some.
Do religiously for reward for money. And then the third one, Cora rebellion against God's people or perhaps God chosen life. They think they can do better. This is the religious system and that we need to be careful with.
On the contrary, we need to learn things from those who whom are faithful men opposed that we have confidence in rather than just to listen to Christian radio. In fact, today I want a young people be very careful what what you can get answers from the Internet. You can Google almost any word, any phrase is any thoughts and you will get answers.
But it doesn't mean the right answer, so be very careful with it.
Yes, there's a question of the authority of the Lord being in the midst of his own, and collectively that is important. There's authority, not infallibility, in the assembly gathered to His name according to Scripture. But on the subject of lordship, that's something that we choose for ourselves if we want to go on.
In the context of our former life.
The Lord doesn't force us to be bond men or actually bond men. Is the word use for servants there in Philippians chapter one. It's something that we choose and when we contemplate the cost of our redemption, we look at Romans chapter 12. There we are exhorted.
To.
Yield our bodies a living sacrifice. That is a choice that we have to make. There in Romans chapter 12, you have.
Dedication. You have consecration, you have transformation, you have realization in those verses.
01:05:01
How are we going to use our bodies now?
Which are temples of the Holy Spirit? These members were used.
For the things of this world and for wicked purposes now we have a divine nature which loves to please God and guidance is our brother David referred to.
Is really a matter of communion with the Lord if we are in communion with the Lord?
And we have judged those things in our lives which we know are a hindrance.
May be different in your life than mine, but we judge those things. The Lord will guide us if we just look to Him.
In dependence and keep that will.
Subject to his word. Is that right, President?
The Lord Jesus will never guide us.
Spirit of God will never guide us contrary to it. So in this back to our chapter.
Ten, it says.
There shall a man meet you again, picture of the Spirit of God bearing a picture of water. As been mentioned already. It's a picture of the word of God. The Spirit of God and the word of God always go together, don't they? And so there's, there's a big faction increasing them today who are, are to dwell in on spiritual experiences. But they do that contrary to Scripture. They, they feel as though they're being guided by the Spirit of God through this or that.
But it's totally in violation of any scriptural principle. And yet they claim that they're being led by the Spirit of God and we can do the same thing. I'm not pointing fingers. We can do that in our lives and say, well, I feel the Lord is moving me this way or that. But you just might be going down a road that is in violation of the clear, plain instructions of the Word of God. And so therefore, you are not or I am not led by the Spirit of God in those instances. It's interesting, you know, we're talking about Deuteronomy 12.
And you know, back in Genesis 22 with Abraham and, and, and they're being a place where the Lord was, was directing his servants to be. And in Deuteronomy 12, it's interesting that the Lord never names the place. We know where that place was. It's Jerusalem. But he says, as brother Robert said six times, he says there is a place that you were to go to.
Now what is the Lord doing? He's exercising his people as to where that place is. And what is He giving them? Instructions, principles that that will guide them to that place of his choosing, not our choosing. And that principle applies here too with that question, Lord, where will thou that we prepare? And so it's not a place of art choosing, it's a place of his choosing. But we need to be exercised as to where that place is. And the Lord has already been mentioned, has made it very clear.
As to where that place is, it's nothing complicated, but if we are guided by the Spirit of God, according to the Word of God, we will indefinitely find ourselves at the place where He has placed His name. And there is only one place where the Lord has corporately identified His name with that ground of fellowship as already been mentioned. And, and you know, in John 717, it's been mentioned, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrines. That's that's great instruction, what that's telling us.
Is saying that I got to get out of the way if my will is involved with this decision at all, then I'm going to miss the mark. But I have to have a predisposed will and that is a will that is set aside to do his will. And then when when I set aside my own will and I open my my life up in my mind and my heart up to doing the will of God, everything then becomes clear he is then free to guide us by the Spirit of God to do what he will have us to do to be sent to be.
To as our brother Dave Vernon was saying, what are we to do today? Well.
Am I getting in my own way or am I am I predisposed to do his will and and let him guide me? So I think this principle is so important and we can't overstate it, that God leads us according to his word every time and anything less than that we're we're bringing in our own ideas.
01:10:04
Amen.
Placed into the promised rest, she looks the Path 22 in the attendance.
Transparent.
But forehead?
All night? Hardly. No, I can't stay. I'm standing. Progress more than Congress.
We shall be.
Danger.
Lord to me and nobody.
'S done with your heart.
Being like Grass Dance, we're secure.
In my presence.
All of that every time it comes to which I need to be granddaughter.
And I cried.
One drink.
From clear we are people left by the.
Lord King of Snide.