Maine Conference: 2019
Table of Contents
Ephesians 1:1-6
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Save your wild Lord.
And save your wild Lord being.
Nor Sing can come in now.
Why did my love?
Possess me now.
Our star divine light, our sun by day. I'm going to scream all the light.
Change the world.
My Gracious 1.
Apparently.
Have had sweet bless you.
And your Lord.
Is King of Hearts in the world?
I can give mercy still.
I would like to make a suggestion.
I feel a burden among us. We need to know the doctrines of Christianity and I've wondered about taking up Ephesians chapter one and going through those doctrines. You have to do with the blessings that are ours in Christ.
And read that it's.
But that would be the mind of the Lord.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Call an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. To Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. In the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He had abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
00:05:20
Having made made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He had purpose in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him.
Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory.
Who first trusted in Christ?
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that ye believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the Saints.
Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.
May give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.
And what his riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us? Word, who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places?
Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named.
Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet.
And gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
This epistle really brings before us the highest truth that God has given to the church, and it's one of the epistles just doesn't mention the coming of the Lord for his own because, you know, we're seen as already being there in the heavenlies in Christ. And that's really the right translation in verse three, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And so God has gone to great lengths to.
Try to teach us to to.
Write to us and to tell us what he has done for his own glory and for our blessing, but really what he has done for the blessing of man, because he delighted to do it, and that we might be associated with His Son. And so he gives us all these little terms, doctrinal expressions, doctrinal terms that describe the depth of His work. And so we're chosen in Him in verse 4.
And we're predestinated, we have sonship in verse five. We have we've been accepted in the beloved, we have redemption in Christ. We have forgiveness of sins in Christ. Each one of these little expressions the Spirit of God uses to display, to unfold the blessings of what Christianity is for the ones that are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I just want to paint you a little picture.
The Jew had the word of God in the Old Testament. He had the prophets, the law, the Psalms, the prophetic books, and he had a a revelation of who God was as Jehovah.
But he didn't know the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. They knew that God was plural because of that word. His title is Elohim is plural more than one, so at least two. They didn't know, but they had a relationship outwardly with God. And if they were in relationship, they were the descendants of Abraham. They were a part of that nation.
And God was dealing with them in an outward way.
But then the nation failed, as a testimony were set aside and the Lord Jesus came and introduced something new, absolutely entirely new, distinct.
00:10:11
And so now the gospel has gone forth, not only to the Jew, but to the Gentile.
And just imagine the Gentile that went to the heathen temple, that lived in immorality, all kinds of wickedness.
Didn't know the creator, didn't have the word of God, but now that Gentile and you and I are among the Gentiles, those that are the youngest to the oldest that are saved.
God has blessed us with everything that's possible. He's given us the highest blessings in relationships with the sun, as those that are members of the body of Christ, as those that are part of the bride of Christ. And you and I will have the highest place of blessing before God, before the sun for all eternity.
And God wants us to know what those blessings are now and to enjoy them now.
Something that's very striking in this first chapter.
Is that God?
Has a purpose and a plan and all that is mentioned in this chapter.
Is pointing to his purposes and what he is doing and we are privileged to be included in that, but notice how many times it's Speaking of him. This is all about him and his purposes and he's included us and that's why we're blessed. But just look in verse one in Christ.
And.
In verse three at the end in Christ, verse four toward the end before him.
In verse five, himself his will.
Verse six. His Grace.
Verse seven. His Grace.
And verse 8, wherein He hath abounded toward us, verse nine, His will, His good pleasure purposed in himself.
Verse 10 He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Toward the end in Him, verse 11. In whom and in the middle of him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Verse 12, His glory.
Verse 13 in whom He trusted, in whom also after that ye believed, He was healed with the Holy Spirit of promise, toward the end of verse 14, His glory.
In verse 18, his calling his inheritance.
Verse 19 His mighty power. Verse 20 His own right hand.
22 under his feet in verse 23, his body, the fullness of him that fill it All in all, it's it's almost every verse it's pointing to him and his purposes and it's him and what he is doing and we're included in that and that's why we're blessed.
All of this is on the basis of who He is too. We get that in verse 2. Grace be unto you.
Grace is God acting according to who He is. It is favor that is directed to us because of who God is. It's not. We haven't come into these blessings with any reason to claim.
Merit before God. We have this because of who God is, because of his heart of love, we know.
We were, we were falling. We had fallen short of the glories. We couldn't be found in any way with this to be said of ourselves if it weren't for the fact that God has poured this out because of his own heart. Peace is peace comes because of what God has done. We have this, this nearness, this relationship.
Because God chose to send His Son, to give his Son to go to the cross and to satisfy his righteous demands fully and completely to the point where the one who knew God's demands at the end of the time of the cross could say it is finished. And because it is finished, we have peace. And so grace is based upon who God is.
00:15:30
Pieces based upon what God has done and then the next verse. I think it's very important as we start this chapter to realize that the first blessing goes to the Father.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes we take up this chapter because the blessings, the spiritual blessings are outlined.
To us that God has had purposes to bring us into these things in Christ Jesus, but the chapter really starts out with the dressing him and blessing our Father. So he's the one to get the glory, isn't He? And if we start this chapter exalting him.
Then we really have a sense of what grace is, don't we?
This gives us a great deal of.
Confidence and assurance and peace because it is not based on anything that we do. It is all of him and that gives great confidence. If we lose that and add anything of ourselves that there's anything of ourselves that would would be the cause of our being included in his plan, you lose assurance.
But because it's all of him, that gives us a great deal of assurance. It's all of him. If we find ourselves included, it was him, and it doesn't depend on us. We neither brought ourselves to it, nor do we keep ourselves in it. It's all his great plan, and it's all for himself and of himself.
And the more we enjoy it, the more we'll be kept.
Brother, it's according to his own heart, and we're given a little glimpse of what his heart is like in this chapter. You read those words according to the good pleasure of his Will you ever give something? And you kind of give it grudgingly.
That's not the way God gives.
According to the good pleasure of his will, the servant that got the talent and hit it in the earth, he said. I noticed that thou art a hard and austere man. That's what man's view of God is, but that's not what it's like.
It's.
According to the good pleasure of his will, a happy God, one who gives, and he gives freely and he gives abundantly. And the apostle is enjoying that by revelation, and he he blesses God. And when we enjoy it, we'll do the same thing.
I think of the psalmist, how he could say, O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together, and I believe we see in this chapter.
God's desire is that we might exalt Him and we can be so thankful and we can rejoice in all the blessings that flow to us. We are showered with blessings.
As we have brought the Force in this chapter, but even more wonderful in the blessings.
Is the blesser himself? And so we see, I believe, God outlining what His purposes are, purposes of blessing, but they're intended that they would bring honor and exaltation to Him and to Him alone.
I was just noticing in Second Timothy we have similar truth brought before Second Timothy chapter one. It speaks here at the end of verse 8.
The last word is God, verse nine, who has saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
00:20:17
But is now made manifest by the peering of our Savior Jesus Christ and so on. So it's according to his own purpose and grace. And so how wonderful that.
We can thank the Lord for His goodness, for His blessing, but more than that, may we exalt His name together.
This is worship in verse one it tells us the vehicle that God used the servant of God, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. So God has the will and his will was to raise up this man, the apostle Paul and the apostle is really is a messenger. He was sent of God. He had a message what a message to deliver to the people of God.
What a message.
They'd never heard this.
The Lord Jesus touched on some of these little points a little bit in John's gospel and he couldn't unfold it because the disciples were not indwelled with the Spirit of God. But now we are indwelled with the Spirit of God. We have the capacity to understand what he's saying and to enjoy it. And so the apostle it, well, it didn't come from him, but it came from the heart of God. And he used the apostle to deliver the truth to the Saints. And it says here which are at Ephesus, but.
If you notice in the new translation, there's a little note and there's a question as to whether or not that word Ephesus is in there. So it's delivered to the Saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So it's delivered to us all. It wasn't only to those that were in Ephesus. And so the truth of God has been delivered from the heart of God to each one of us. It doesn't matter how old we are. You could be 12 years old or eight years old if you're a Christian here.
This morning you possess these things. It's a present possession. You don't hope to possess these things that God has desired to give to you. You have them. You may not be enjoying them, but God's intent is that you would enjoy them, that you would enter into those things and enjoy them. And so he speaks to those that are Saints, and the Saint is one that is a called out one, one that is.
A believer, one that is a true believer and you're a Saint of God.
So you're separated by God for a holy purpose and you're seen as one that is sanctified for his purpose. And he's delivered this message. So it's not, you know, the Roman system, Roman Catholic system says that.
There's a process that has to take place before you become a St. and so on. That's not the truth of God. Everyone that is a believer, a true believer, is the Saint of God.
They actually use this verse to do that because they say, you see it says the Saints and then it says the faithful. So most are the faithful and then there's a few that get to become Saints and they use this very verse to support that. But.
The Saints are the faithful in this verse and actually I think is a little word for our conscience.
It wasn't long after when the apostle was released from his first imprisonment and he went back to Asia. What did he find all day in Asia? Forsaken me. And so I think it's a little word for the conscience right up front, the faithful. These are things that are given to our trust to hold and to practically walk in in this world. And it's truth that's vital to the Church of God if it's going to be the vessel of testimony.
To the risen Son of God at God's right hand.
If the church is going to be a vessel of testimony to the man this world cast out, who's now exalted at God's right hand, it's going to have to walk in Ephesian truth. And so Paul, as he was on his journey back to Jerusalem, he purposed to speak to the elders at Ephesus. It was vital. What was going to be committed to them was vital. Later on he writes to Timothy Titicus, have I sent to Ephesus.
00:25:03
All different ones that went their various ways of their own accord, but he made sure one was sent to Ephesus. It was vital that that truth was maintained that was given to them in this circular letter, this first chapter. Also, when you think of it being addressed to Saints and not necessarily an assembly as such, it's because the 1St chapter takes up truths that are connected with us as Saints rather than collectively as part of the Church of God.
Because, you know, we have to be settled in what's true about our own place in Christ and what God has brought us into individually before we're going to be able then to go on and take up what is true of us collectively. If I'm not settled in my own soul as to my place in Christ and before God, I'm never going to be able to go on and take up and enjoy collective truth. I got to get settled.
First my place in Christ before God. Then from there I can go out to collective truth. Sometimes when we meet a new believer, or even one maybe who hasn't had the privilege to be under the ministry we've enjoyed, we want to get the church in front of them right away and we want to get the cart before the horse. Sometimes they need to maybe have Romans truth, or maybe what's presented to us is to individual Saints in Ephesians. Get settled in that.
Before we go on to what's collective?
I could just tie onto that you brought up the book of Romans and really if we want to understand the truth of being in Christ, we really need to have the basic truths of the gospel clearly understood. And in the book of Romans is the first time you have let's turn to Romans chapter 8.
I think it's very, very helpful for us to to see this.
I think I could stand being corrected. I wouldn't mind it at all in fact, but I think this might be the first time that this that the truth of being in Christ is mission. Romans 8 verse one says therefore there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
But there's something that's come before this chapter. We don't get the definition of being in Christ in this verse. We get the statement that we are in Christ now. But if we were to look into chapter 5.
From the middle of Chapter 5 on to the end, we're going to find two men in that chapter. We're going to find Adam.
To sin and who was the head of the fallen race?
And then at the end of that chapter, you're going to have the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is introduced as the head of a new race. And that that head of that new race is going to be the source in which God is going to channel every ounce of blessing that he has for mankind. Every bit of blessing that God has, he is going to bring.
Through the head of that new race, its price, and our identity upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our identity has changed. We know what we know well, what it's like to be in Adams, don't we?
We know, we know all too well what it's like to be an atom and to be associated with a fallen race. But God has introduced a new man. It's Christ, and he's the head of a new race. And our identity has changed now.
God doesn't see us in connection with Adam anymore. He sees us in connection with Christ. And so we are in, and you know what? We might not always feel like we're in Christ, but God sees us in Christ. The cross was the end of our connection with Adam. And it's very, very important. You know, this is lovely truth. This Ephesians truth is lovely truth.
But there's foundational truth that might need to come before, and I'm not suggesting we need to go there because we're just giving a little bit of an outline.
00:30:08
Of this truth so that we can understand the truth that we are enjoying now. But this is a very foundational truth to understand.
What is what is our identity now? Our identity is with the man that God has introduced as the source of every blessing that we will ever enjoy. And as we go through this chapter in Ephesians, God going to outline it for us. He's going to tell us.
What we have because our association with being in Christ.
Just like to make a quick note if I could.
To.
In verse two it says grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the epistle is going to end with this same kind of language that.
By the Holy Spirit, of course, it's inspired. The apostle wished peace for the Ephesians. He wished them to have peace and as the inspired word of God as this is that we can take from that as well that God.
Which is us to have peace?
And if you're someone that is looking for peace right now?
Maybe you know, you're saved, but you're you're looking for peace. You don't have it right now. Or, or sometimes you find that you don't have peace has has been brought out. These are foundational truths here. And sometimes we have to get back to the foundation when we're struggling with something.
And.
It's a guarantee that if we listen closely to the truths in this chapter and let them sink in and, and, and before the Lord, we we appreciate them and, and we come to understand them and, and own them for ourselves. It's a guarantee that we'll find peace. So I just like to say that as we continue learning these these wonderful things that God has given us that are laid out in this chapter.
Basically 3 lines of truth that we get in Ephesians. We're reading about the highest our position. We've been exalted by God to the highest position in heaven in Christ.
In the first chapter here and then we go on to the truth about the body of Christ, which is a church, and it's not just a local church spoken of here as we get other places.
But it's his body, the church, it's a whole church. It's all those that have been redeemed. So we have that line of truth about what the church is. And then as we go on at the end of the Ephesians, we have the instructions for the church, for the position in which we hold in him. We have instructions how we should conduct, conduct our lives in that position. So really.
Nothing depends upon man is what our brethren have been saying what the Scriptures say. Nothing depends our standing before God depends upon what Christ has done. We can never alter our standing as those that are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. It's impossible. Our standing is set. You are a son you don't know. You don't hope to become a son you are and so.
Everything depends upon Christ and upon His work.
Thinking that.
The fact that we are in Christ.
He's really.
Part of Paul's doctrine.
Paul's doctrine.
Is really what characterizes Christianity.
And as mentioned.
We are in the new Creation race.
In Christ before God.
Is not found in other epistles. It's.
It's characteristic of what Paul ministered. We have a position.
Before God.
In Christ now.
00:35:00
This is a special.
Blessing of Christianity.
And it's the individual aspect as mentioned.
Various headships, and that's one headship, that Christ is the head of that new.
Creation Race.
Probably the maybe the easiest way to think of it or remember it is to be in crisis in Christ place before God. Where? What place does he have right now before God? How? How accepted is he right now in heaven before God 99.9999%.
100%.
Perfect acceptance, perfect delight. It's to be in his place before God. And so everything flows from being in that place before God. As we go through this chapter, the Lord Jesus came, the Son of God came into this world, our Lord Jesus Christ. The deep purpose of his heart was to make the Father known.
And he could speak of my father, or sometimes he could say your heavenly father. But after his death and resurrection, he said to Mary Magdalene, I ascend to my father and your father for the very first time. It was said to the disciples, your father, your father, my God, and your God.
A relationship he had from a past eternity. My father.
But a new one for us, your Father, a new relationship for him as a man in this world. My God. A relationship we had from the beginning of our existence. He always was our God.
And now we know.
That one who was our God, as our God and our Father, but very specifically the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who is his Father is our Father, and that is what we've been brought into. And so he's presented in this twofold character as God. He is our God and our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in that twofold character he's blessing us, He's blessed us. And so as this unfolds, it says according as he hath chosen us.
In Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame. Before Him, in love, in this verse, He has sovereignly chosen us as God.
As God, He chooses sovereignly, and He brings us before Himself that we would be there according to His own nature.
He is light and He is love, and so He's chosen us that we should be holy and without blame before Him in His presence accepted in Christ place in love, so were there chosen to be brought before Him and be there in perfect accordance with everything that He is as holy.
And as love, so that's him acting as God.
In verse four, but verse five, we get Him blessing us as Father, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, our sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, and so he's chosen us to be.
Before him, according to his own nature, that's the election and he's predestinated us. He has a destiny in that choice, and that's to be in the place of sons before him, knowing him as our father. And that's relationship choosing has to do with persons, doesn't it?
00:40:00
And so God has a sovereign right to choose. He created in the past eternity. He knew who would be created. He created a He was going to create a whole world full of people.
And he wanted to have a bride for his son.
And it was going to be called that bride was going to be chosen for his son.
And each individual who was going to be a part of that bride was chosen. So God looked down.
From a past eternity. And he chose you specifically to be a part of his bride, of the bride of Christ. He chose you specifically to have these blessings, to have the blessing of sonship, to have the blessing of being chosen even.
And his brother Steve mentions it's really the same word is election. So election always has to do with individuals. He doesn't choose a group of people. So just think.
In the past eternity.
God looked upon you.
And you may only be an 8 year old child. And if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, I know that He chose you before the foundations of the earth were laid.
He chose you specifically as an individual. He set His love upon you, and so none of these blessings depend upon you at all. It was God that chose.
And so he's bringing forth here not man's responsibility, but God's choice was to choose you because none of us would have ever come to the Lord, none of us. And so we get that little further on that He really, he quickened us and he gave us life. He, he gives us, he chose us, but he gave us life. He gave us faith. He gives us everything so that we might go on and fellowship with Him.
Let us.
Important for us, as her brother was saying, to be able to have peace, to recognize that he chose you didn't choose him, he chose you.
Can we first Peter chapter one?
Verse 2.
We have elect according to the foreknowledge of God has been said elect is the same as chosen.
So that brings a thought to us that we look back, we look back in in eternity and we see that God had in his foreknowledge of things. The mention chose us. I.
Predestination.
Is not that predestination looks at what we have been chosen for?
Is a difference.
God, God always has left room.
For repentance in the heart of man.
We weren't predestinated to be saved.
That was our responsibility. If we didn't come to the Lord, we failed. But God has chosen us. That's something that He did. He chose us.
But predestination brings out the thought of what we have been chosen for.
We have been chosen to be in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ for all eternity and all the blessings that will accompany that position.
Over in Romans.
After.
Chapter 8.
The first there that sort of explains this.
We've been talking about in verse 29.
For whom he did for know or chose.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son.
He might be the first born among many brother. So it tells us there what we have been predestinated for, to be conformed to the image of his beloved son. That work is going on now within us, each one of us. We're being more conformed to the to the image of Christ day by day, a work that's going on inside of us.
00:45:01
But we've already been made 5th.
For that position in Christ.
We're in Ephesians. We have the predestination. There is our position in Christ in the glory. We're already there seated with Christ in the glory.
But we have been formed, we have been predestinated to be conformed to his image. So that tells me of a work going on within us. But we've already have the blessing in Christ. But there's still a work going on.
God, God can only be satisfied with one man, and that's his Son, the Lord Jesus.
His purpose, God's purpose, is to have the glories of the Lord Jesus reflected.
Through each one of us, you know, the trials, that the difficulties, the stresses, everything that we pass through are put in our path for one reason. And that is that God could make us like his Son, that we would reflect His glory, that there would be an attitude, there would be a spirit. Of course, we know that He's also given us the Spirit of God as the energy to display that life.
But God doesn't have any other purpose in mind for us is that he might be able to see Christ. And so as we pass through the the trials and as life becomes a struggle, there's a reason, one reason God is looking for Christ in peace.
And he tells us the motive they right at the end of verse 4 before him, in love without blame, not only wholly.
It's a act of God that we should be holy.
And without blame. Absolutely blameless.
Says that in Ephesians chapter 5 that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with washing by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Holy, blameless. But the purpose, the motive is love God. Love. God is love. That's why he desired to bless.
And sonship is peculiar to.
This dispensation in which we live.
Sonship.
Which is a thought in verse 5.
Is a doctrine that Paul develops, and it's peculiar to the Church of God.
We are the Church of the first born once.
Hebrews.
12 Church of the First Born does not refer to Christ. That is our position now.
Through the finished work of Christ, we're no longer children.
In the sense that Paul uses the term immature not understanding.
Christian position, but we are sons. That is, we have.
Intelligence now of our position in Christ.
It might help to understand.
What our brother just said if we.
Consider the the way things were done. I might put it that way back then if a child was born.
In a home.
It was obviously a real child. He wasn't adopted as a real child, but sonship was not conferred.
That position of sonship was not conferred until they reached a certain.
Age and and possessed a certain amount of knowledge, right and training. So at that time when sonship was conferred upon them.
That was called adoption.
And so we have to be careful not to think that God just kind of adopted us. His children are His real children. But as our brother said, when you reach a certain, attain a certain level of knowledge and understanding and appreciation, there was a sonship that was conferred that the child who was the real child of the father was adopted. In other words, sonship was conferred upon. If we understand that, it helps us understand some of these Scriptures more correctly.
00:50:19
Would you say it's the full privileges of those that are the children of God? And so you might have a son that's eight years old. He's a child and he has.
Intelligence. He has energy, he can read, but he doesn't have the capability or the maturity really to take the full responsibility of what it is to be a son. And he doesn't. He bears the character of the father. He bears the name of the father.
And but he doesn't have the maturity, perhaps not the intelligence, to fully take the responsibility that is his as a son and to bear the family name and character in its entirety. And so God speaks to you and I as those that are fully capable and fully intelligent and dwelled with the Spirit of God and have the spiritual capacity to understand what his heart is and what he desires to communicate what he did in the past.
For his own glory, what he's going to do in the future, and he wants us to enjoy it now.
So if we could put it in.
Layman's terms. You have a son, he's 8 years old, you don't give him the keys to the car.
But he turns 16 and you have, he comes into training a little bit. He and you, you give them responsibility. Say he he's 18 years old. He proves that he's faithful.
And you give them the keys to the car. You say, son, here's the keys to the car. You can use it for the blessing of the family. You can use it to go to the meetings and so on.
And so he gets those responsibilities. You might also unburden your heart and say, you know what, I have some savings and I have some plans for this particular piece of property. And I'm going to tell you what those plans are. I'd like you to enter into it, and I'd like you to help me to achieve those objectives. And so you unburden your heart. You tell them all about the plans that you had even before he was born.
Perhaps you had desired that this would take place and so he's brought into the full position and responsibility of a son. And So what the King James translates here is not really accurate adoption of sons.
It's really sonship that is being spoken of and the apostle Paul speaks of it in, I think it's in Galatians chapter 4 as well, those first few verses and he explains that relationship. So God.
This, this isn't Speaking of adoption the way we think of it. You go to an orphanage or whatever and you pick a child and he's adopted into your family. That's not what he's Speaking of. But Brother Ted mentioned it. You're born into the family of God. You are a son.
And now you have the full privileges of a son.
And He wants you to know what those privileges are. You have been brought into relationship with the Father. You know the Son. You're indwelled with the Spirit of God.
Our brother still mentioned he wondered whether this is the first time in Romans chapter 8 that speaks of our being in Christ. I just want to point out a verse in John's Gospel chapter 14.
John's Gospel chapter 14. We'll just read verse 20. At that day you shall know that I am in the Father, and ye, and me, and I and you. It doesn't mean we're indwelled with two persons of the Godhead. We're indwelled with the Spirit of God.
But we have the character of Christ. Christ is in us in that sense. But here ye and me. And he gives a seed plot, but he doesn't develop it in John's Gospel. Why? Those disciples weren't indwelled with the Spirit of God. They couldn't understand even if he had told them. And so he waited until the apostle Paul. It was given to him by revelation and then delivered to the Saints. What a marvelous.
Privilege it is for us.
To know that we're sons and the privileges that are ours. To glorify God in this way, and to understand that we are in Christ.
Really, Sonship is an upgrading. It's not.
00:55:04
We don't come into the family of God really by adoption, but we come in through quickenings were brought into the family of God. But I think it's brother Robert brought out it's it's in connection. It's consequently upon receiving the Holy Spirit of God.
That we have this knowledge of sonship, we must connect it with the Spirit of God.
Coming at Pentecost to bring us into the full Christian position.
Like to ask a question? Then let's turn to Romans 8.
Let's read from verse 15, and this is a question. This isn't a comment. This is a question.
Or if he or he have not received the spirit of adoption of ******* again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we Christ as a Father, the Spirit itself, beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Is this the Is this the same sense of sonship and the activity of the Spirit of God making that witness good to us?
So like you said, Brother Robert, if that's true, I'm asking.
The disciples couldn't fully enter into this because they didn't have the indwelling spirit. Well, here we have the the Scriptures speaking very expressly that we have this understanding by the Enlightenment of the Spirit of God. And so it all fits together nicely, doesn't it?
Yes, it is really essentially the same thought of sonship. And so if you read a little further on, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So you and I, as those that are sons brought into sonship, are heirs.
Now, you don't make a servant an heir. The children of Israel, those even that had faith, David called himself a servant of God. Solomon said, addressed himself as a servant of God. They all did. But God doesn't address you as a servant.
He doesn't look at you and say, brother so and so servant. You may try to do a little work of service. He's perhaps committed you a little work of service to you and your little corner of the vineyard, and that's fine. But he doesn't look at you as a servant. You have shoes on your feet. You're given the very best robe possible for a man to have. You're a son. And so this is what he's Speaking of. And because you're engwell with the Spirit of God, you now don't address.
The Lord Jesus.
As just Jesus, you address him as Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's because you're indwelled with the Spirit of God. You can do that, and you address God as your Father.
And you don't address them as your heavenly Father. That's a distant relationship. You address him as Father, ABBA Father.
You're in the very same place of acceptance as the sun is. He doesn't address God as his heavenly Father. It's ABBA Father. That's how he addresses his Father and you address him the same way. Oh, what a privilege is ours.
Perhaps we could turn to that force in Galatians 4. It's already been referred to, but I think it bears out what you're saying in Galatians 4.
Well, reading from verse one now I say that the air as long as he is a child if there's nothing from the service, though he be Lord of all, but it's under tutors, governors until the time appointed or the father. Even so we when we were children were in ******* under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time has come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them.
That we're under the law debt we might receive the adoption of sons and because the arsons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying have a follow, wherefore thou art no more servant, but a son, and if a son then an heir of God through Christ.
01:00:13
So it's a wonderful.
Truth that's revealed that we are indeed in a position of sonship with the Father, and how wonderful that He would share with us what His counsels, His purposes are with respect to our blessing, but also with respect to the exaltation of Christ.
And there's I could just go back to verse three, the word blessed.
It's two times in this verse 3.
Bless it, but first of all.
Paul is blessing God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The second lesson.
Is how that God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blesses you and me.
So I believe as we enter into the enjoyment of these wonderful truths lessons, it's really a favor.
A benefit that's bestowed upon us. This is what it means when God blesses you and me. But as a result, we ought to be blessing God, and this has to do with giving thanks, praising and worshiping Him.
For who he is.
For what he has done, and for the exceeding riches of His grace.
And his kindness to us, as we have later in this chapter.
Just like to go back to Romans chapter 8 again.
At verse 15 that was read.
We see in that verse 15 that.
We enter into.
These truths that we've been speaking about in our position before God and Christ as as a son.
We enter into that because we have been given the spirit of adoption.
Is the Holy Spirit that is dwells within us, that brings us into the intelligence and the enjoyment of our position before God. Is sons Adoption simply means Son's place in the Greek and so we have been brought into that position. The Holy Spirit that is within us gives to us the intelligence.
To enjoy.
Our position before God and Christ. Then verse 17 of that chapter also.
Means that before us our inheritance, that in Christ we are heirs of God. Join heirs with Christ.
So be if we suffer with them, that we may be glorified together. And verse 18 brings into us our position to come. We have it now, but in a coming day two we will have all that the Father has given to the Son to enjoy in that coming day. Son's glory we will share. There are certain things about the Lord Jesus that we can never share.
The glory that he had with God before he came into this world as a man, the sufferings that he that he accomplished in the cross and all those things. But we will share with the, with the, with the, with the Son, the wall that the Father has for the Son throughout eternity. We will share that with him. That's the position that we have been brought into in Christ.
Joint heirs.
Is the thought not necessarily of equal portions?
It's not the point.
It's the thought of equal status. So maybe there's a great estate and the one who owns the estate dies and he has a will.
And there are those servants that were on the estate and he wants to give this one something and that one something. But there are those that are the heirs of that will, that are joint heirs. They all have an equal status.
01:05:02
So that's a little different thought and it's illustrated in the life of Jacob and just turning back to Genesis.
Genesis chapter 48.
When Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph.
And verse five he says, And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine as Reuben and Simeon. They shall be mine, and thy issue, which thou bigot us after them shall be thine.
And shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
What was Jacob doing? When you think of the 12 tribes of Israel, do you include Ephraim and Manasseh? Of course you do. But they weren't his sons. They were his grandsons. They were, in a certain sense, his heirs, but they did not have the same.
Status as their uncle.
But now Jacob says, no, I'm going to bring them and I'm going to make them my sons, not grandsons, my sons. And I'm going to give them the same status as their uncles and their inheritance and any other children that you have, Joseph, they're going to be my grandchildren. But these two, they're going to have the same status as their uncles in the inheritance. That's why we have the tribe of Ephraim.
And Manasseh, sometimes it's mentioned the tribe of Joseph, but most often Ephraim and Manasseh. Equal status in the inheritance, joint heirs, and they are brought into a new place in Jacob's family. They have the place of sons that they did not have before. They were certainly children in the family, but they did not have the same place that their uncles did as sons of Jacob.
In this.
And these blessings?
There's a beautiful thought, I think, to glean.
What is the measure when God is blessing us? When the Father is blessing us, He blesses us as God and Father and those two characters. What is the measure?
He's blessing us commensurate with His appreciation of Christ. He's blessing us with blessings that are worthy of His Son.
I'm going to bless you, and in blessing you, I'm going to show you what I think of my son.
How I love him and how I appreciate him and what my delight is in Him and how He has glorified me. And I'm going to bless you with blessings that are commensurate with my thoughts of my beloved Son. I'm going to bless you in Christ in His place. The blessings we've been given are commensurate with His appreciation.
And his love for his well beloved Son. And so the next verse says it's according to the good pleasure of his will. It's his delight to do it because of his love for his Son, because of his delight in his Son. And then he says it's to the praise of the glory of his grace we have the riches of his grace is what he is towards us in the deep need that we had as sinners, but the glory of his grace is blessing us.
According to His own nature and character, it brings out His glory, and He says according praise of the glory of his grace, wherein in that pinnacle of grace He's brought us into divine favor. We couldn't get beyond this as to acceptance before God accepted. And the beloved in the one who is fully satisfied, His heart, who wholly occupies Him, He has brought us into favor.
In the beloved doesn't just say in Christ.
In the beloved, it really is bringing out the great love of his heart for his son, he says. I have accepted you in the beloved, the one who fills my own heart. This helps us, perhaps.
01:10:02
To understand.
What may be confusing in our experience as to how God is dealing with us?
He.
Each one of us needs to realize if we are in Christ.
Everything that comes to us is what would come and does come to his son.
And it has nothing to do with our.
With anything we do or our performance or anything, our enjoyment of these things is dependent on whether or not we are occupying ourselves with them and how we're walking and so on. But if nothing changes our standing, if we are in Christ, God approaches us, if I can put it that way, as He approaches His Son and everything that comes our way comes to us entirely.
Entirely on the merits of his son.
And completely apart from any of our own merit, good or bad, you know, when we say unmerited favor, I said, well, we didn't merit it.
Well, it doesn't just mean that, it means even if you did, it wouldn't matter.
It's got nothing to do with your merit at all, good or bad.
Your merit doesn't improve. It doesn't add to it. It has nothing to do with it.
If you're in Christ, God deals with you and approaches you as.
He would his own son, and as he does his own son, everything that comes our way.
Comes our way because we're in Christ and for no other reason.
Him right or put it.
So dear, so very dear to God.
That's our position.
Why? Because in the person of his son.
We are as near and dear as he is.
The more we stand her into the truth of this, we realize this. I believe it's going to cause us to rejoice.
And it's all to his praise and glory, isn't it?
It's to think that.
He is blessing us.
According to his good pleasure.
It's his pleasure that he blesses us.
Again, nothing to do with us, it's for His pleasure, according to His will and our being in Christ.
Was entirely of him. First Corinthians chapter one.
And verse 30.
It is. It is plain and unequivocal.
Of him are ye in Christ Jesus of him.
Nothing of us. It's of him for his good pleasure.
Is sometimes difficult.
To get our thoughts off ourselves and to consider what God is getting out of this situation. And like you say, He is finding pleasure. It's his pleasure to bless. And we sit here and it's with pleasure that we enjoy what our blessings are. But let's think about God's thoughts.
And the pleasure that he is receiving, you know, trying to look at it from God's perspective.
The hymn writer put it all to peace, forever flowing from God's thoughts of His dear Son.
Or the peace of simply knowing that on the cross all was done.
That's God's thoughts, His dear Son. Such are his thoughts toward you and me.
Because of faith in Christ.
God bless us on the basis of faith, not performance, so.
Epistle to the Romans really outlines, just unfolds all that God has done for the blessing of man. Just goes into all kinds of details to tell us what God has done for your blessing and for mine. But what we're reading is what God has done for his own pleasure, and that's a higher thought.
01:15:18
This answer that thought brother Rob, when we think of that his the good pleasure of his will.
Bring in the thought, the satisfaction of his own heart.
Because there are those who have done things for the good pleasure of their own will. Because a watchmaker likes to make a watch and it sets in motion. He just, he loves to see the gears go around.
This good pleasure of his own will involves his heart.
It's for the satisfaction of his heart. And so we turn to Luke chapter 14, and we find that man who prepared a feast and he says, compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. It was for the satisfaction of his own heart. He wanted every seat in that house filled. And that's so it's, it's a good pleasure of his will for the satisfaction of his own heart.
God has brought us into.
Place of infinite favor.
In Christ and.
We are in a position of.
Of dignity as as sons having intelligence, but.
It's all for the purpose of the purpose and counsels of God.
Are all going to be fulfilled.
But the foundation is the work of Christ. Verse seven. That is the foundation.
Of all our blessing.
The redemption, the finished work of Calvin. Without that we would never be brought into this place of.
Marvelous favor.
The thought of redemption brings in the state of our own condition.
Redemption has the thought of.
An individual being in slavery and.
A price needing to be paid to free.
The individual from their slavery, from their *******. And so God knew what the price of redemption was going to be. He knew that he had a fully righteous requirement that was going to require death. And it was going to be, it was going to have to be the death of an innocent spotless or a spotless victim. And he knew.
That the only answer.
For the price that righteousness demanded was that he would give his Son, who would provide a ransom.
But Redemption has another thought, too. It's it's not just to to to buy.
A slave, but it's also to set one free.
And the work of Christ has not only.
Satisfy God's demand to deliver us from our condition of slavery. But it has. It has set us free. God wouldn't have it any other way. God would not have.
His subjects that he loves to be in any kind of *******. So we haven't received the spirit of ******* bunch of spirit that we've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry out a father. There's nothing hindering now the relationship between us and our God. There's nothing really hindering us from having the spirit of Christ.
He said I do always those things which please the Father. There's liberty in the Christian life if we understand the value of the cross.
Could we sing 304?
01:20:01
To us now, the earnest given here by grace, these themes belong.
Do the Saints in glory? Singing will get joy. It's all the way.
All in right hand strange and feel free.
I love saying your snake.
Forever.
To all hands.
We also sig 10-4.
104.
Day today.
Feelings like children.
Crying to nobody.
What's your love to heaven? And I have one second.
We are going to be can.
All in one.
Of the boredom.
Oh no, I don't, precious.
Hearings inside.
The kids.
Seem to shine.
01:25:04
Out from God.
Once it was, it was so proud.
Near and still threatened to change, I suppose.
Water in heaven.
Great, thank God, glory and last time.
All the time.
I love Christine.
Rise and we can dream. Grace and 1.
Ephesians 1:7-14
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Shall we continue in Ephesians? Perhaps we could begin reading at verse 7. Ephesians chapter one beginning at verse 7.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom in revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward, who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him?
At His own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fulfill it All in all.
00:05:20
Her brother alluded to the fact that this term redemption has two thoughts connected with it. Two aspects you might say. One is purchase and the other is redemption and all of these terms you'll notice that there's an underlying thought.
That the Spirit of God is communicating to us, and so to be purchased really denotes the fact that we have new ownership. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. What was the price? The blood of Christ. And we're redeemed. What's the difference?
It Brother Phil mentioned, it has to do with liberty. You not only purchase, you not only have a new master, but you have liberty in the presence of the one who paid the price.
And not only liberty in his presence, but liberty in the presence of the Father. Then you have forgiveness of sins in verse 7 as well as really speaks of the condition that you had. You were once guilty before God, guilty, proven guilty.
But now God looks at you, the cleansing of the precious blood of Christ is being applied and you're cleansed, you're forever cleansed. He looks at you, He says not guilty. And so when it comes to redemption, there is those two things that we have been purchased. And it's good to notice the Lord Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 13. He speaks of the purchase.
I.
In verse 44, the game the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field.
Which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. So there was a transaction made, there was a purchase made. And perhaps we might say, the greatest aspect of the work of Christ in connection with the sin is the purchase of the whole.
Of creation you might say, and he purchased it for himself, the price was blood. And then it says later on in verse 45 that he bought that one Pearl of great price.
Bought it for himself, paid the price, sold all that he had, didn't spare anything that he might have it. And then if we turn to, I think it's second Peter chapter 2, just a one passage of Scripture. We could turn to several.
That speak of the purchase.
Second Peter chapter 2 and verse one. But there were false apostles also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift, swift destruction. And so the Lord Jesus has bought the field and all that is in it, every person.
Belongs to Him by right of purchase. They don't all own Him as their rightful owner. They actually in fact deny that He owns them and that He paid a price to acquire them. But you and I, by the grace of God, have acknowledged that He paid the price. And not only paid the price, but He set us at liberty in His presence. So to be redeemed was not only to be purchased, but be set at liberty.
And a complete peace with God.
Before Christ, in Christ, in Christ, place of acceptance, before God and perfect liberty. The Jews never had that liberty. We'll come together, Lord willing, tomorrow morning we'll break bread. We'll remember the Lord in his death. We'll come into the very presence of the Lord.
Who could do that in the Old Testament times? The high priest, once every year He came, and not without blood, and he was afraid when he came. But you and I have the liberty as those that are redeemed to come to the very presence of the Lord. And we're not afraid of it either, if we're walking in a path, a clean path.
00:10:00
Our standing is sure, and certainly I've enjoyed the thought that redemption makes us the Lord's.
Freed man, but purchase makes us the Lord's bond man, and so we are delivered from sin and Satan. And what a wonderful deliverance this is through redemption.
And that we are purchased by blood to learn that Acts 20 church is the purchase of his blood. We belong to Christ individually, collectively and.
We need to recognize that we aren't set free just to follow our own will, but to be subservient to the Lord Jesus. And really that is liberty to do His will. It's not a ******* that's difficult, it's a happy service that we can do.
For the Lord Jesus, your pastor Paul, you know when he was converted on the road to Damascus.
It was the second question, Yes, Lord, what will thou have me to do? He calls Jesus Lord. And so it's leaving on the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? That brings salvation. And I believe that faith is manifested in a life that's submissive to Jesus.
We have, we've been given a nature, haven't we, that loves to be subject.
To the will of God.
And to bring glory to Christ, they have a nature.
It's been given to us, it's our possession and we use it. Then God receives glory. Dispensation of the fullness of times, of course, is the millennial period and.
And Christianity.
We now have.
A full revelation.
Of all God's purposes.
And councils the mystery of his will. Mystery is not in the sense of anything mysterious.
But it is a secret for various mysteries in the scriptures, it's a secret.
That was not.
Divulged or made known to man.
In past dispensations, but now?
This dispensation of grace.
It has been fully unfolded to us. God has come out in all the fullness of His heart to make known His will, His desire for His church, something that was hidden in God from a past eternity. It was hid in God. There's types and shadows in the Old Testament, but no revelation.
Of.
The position of the Church of God and the blessings which we now have in Christianity.
Thank you the blood of Christ that mentions here, It not only has redeemed us, a price was paid for our redemption, but in Romans we have.
Look for Romans chapter 5.
And we have in verse 8.
God commanded his love toward us, and that while we have sinners, quite died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Not only did the blood of Christ purchase, our souls redeemed us.
But it also gave us justification before God. We're able to stand before God just as we had never sinned.
Cleared from every death payment was made in full and in Ephesians chapter 2 we have.
Verse 13.
Now in Christ Jesus used ye who sometimes were far off. That's us Gentiles.
Are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It's the blood of Christ that has brought us near to God. We are able to sit here today in his presence because a price has been paid for our redemption, The blood of Christ. Without the shedding of blood, it says there's no forgiveness.
00:15:13
And so it's the blood. God looks in the mercy seat and he sees the blood of his beloved Son, and that clears the center from all debt and has put us in the position our standing before. God is in his Son through that shed blood.
So he's come out in blessing as God and Father.
Chosen us to be before Him, suitable to his presence. Predestinated us to the closest relationship we could have to Him.
In that, he's been glorified.
Glorified in His grace, and in that we have been the recipients of the rich treasures of His grace, even to the giving of His beloved Son. Our sins seem to spoil everything. But God, as it were, retreated into the depths and resources of His own heart. And who was there? The Son who dwelt there from all eternity, and He sent him into this world, the deep riches of His grace.
Boundless resources of his grace and he sent his Son, shed his blood, put away our sin. Every cloud between us and our God and Father has been removed and he brings us into that place in this chapter and he takes away every anxiety that could be there. And he says, now I want to tell you about my purpose and my well beloved son, I want to tell you what I'm intending to do.
What everything, everything is about what everything hangs on the purpose of the ages and my beloved son. But until we're in that place, free of anxiety, fully accepted, not a cloud between US and him, He could not unfold that. But in that place now he says, now I want to tell you, here's what he does to a son. He confides in him, He confides in his son. He commits to his son the riches.
Of Christ, all that he has purposed in Christ and his well beloved Son, and now he's going to unfold that.
In this chapter, and then at the end of the chapter when we see Christ raised from the dead and seated and heavily placed, he said, I'm applying the same pattern to you who are dead in trespasses and sins and raising you up to the same heights of glory. That's where he's going to go with this. But he starts out with this eternal purpose and his beloved Son on which everything hangs like a wagon wheel. The center is the hub. If you didn't have that, the whole thing.
Falls apart.
Everything rests on that center. All of its structure, all of its pieces are tied into that center. That's Christ and God's purpose in Christ in heaven and earth.
So He wanted us to be at perfect peace, knowing His heart and all of the details that are given to us are so that we can be at peace, that we understand His heart of love and favor towards us. And so He says through His blood were redeemed, and because of His blood were forgiven. Will He ever remind you or I of one sin in heaven?
At the judgment seat of Christ, He'll review our lives.
Those things, those motives that we had and what we did, how we did them, what we said, from the time we were born to the time that we left this scene, our lives are going to be reviewed. But those of us that are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, who says our sins are forgiven, not forgotten, but he has the power never to remember them ever again. So it says their sins and their iniquities will. I remember no more.
And so the fact of the matter is that when you find yourself in the presence of the Savior.
He'll never tell you, oh, that one sin. I want to tell you about that one sin. I just know He'll never remind us not of one sin. The works that we did, the motives of our works, the words that we spoke will be reviewed and rewarded. Those things that are not for His glory will be put on the burden pile and they'll be gone. We'll never remember them again, I don't believe, but He wanted us to know that we have forgiveness.
00:20:13
Presently we are forgiven, we are no longer guilty and there's nothing that we can do to make ourselves guilty again.
It's impossible. It's an act of God to forgive, and He has the power never, ever to remember those sending iniquities again. And so that gives a piece that gives us peace. And His desire is that we would have liberty in His presence and our consciences would be at rest. That's what they didn't have in the Old Testament economy. They could go and offer a sacrifice for one sin.
Put the hand on the animal's head and in figure the sin would be transferred to the head of the animal, and then the animal had to be killed. The bloodshed for one sin. And it says it's, I think it's Leviticus chapter 4 says and it it shall be forgiven him.
Looking forward to the cross and not work being accomplished. But that one sin was forgiven. But that's not what took place at the cross of Calvary. At the cross of Calvary, all my sins were dealt with on a righteous basis. They're all forgiven, every single one of them. And so now I have peace. And that's really what he brings out. In Hebrews particularly, we could just turn to Hebrews.
Chapter 9 perhaps?
Verse 14, Hebrews 9. Verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience? That's the effect that it has on the believer. It purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And so we have purged consciences. Our consciences know.
The Spirit of God tells us that our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. That's a fabulous thing to enjoy in our souls, to think of the love of God to tell us this. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin, all nevertheless.
That being so.
Umm.
I've been thinking of those verses.
Having an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That's not an abundant entrance into heaven. We're all going to have that.
Regardless of how we have walked down here, we'll all have an abundant entrance into heaven. Not some are going to have a meager entrance there.
So that does not refer to heaven there. It refers to the coming Kingdom, which we are looking at here, the time when the Lord will have His rightful place and He won't take the Kingdom and the inheritance, which is the material aspect here, until He has the church with him. Inheritance is spoken of in two ways. As we know, there's a material size, which is the thought here in verse 11.
But there's also the spiritual side. We have a spiritual inheritance.
The material site has to do with this earth, and we're going to share with the price. All that he has is Son of Man. We're going to be the consort, the queen with the Lord on his throne. He's our heavenly bridegroom and so.
The abundant entrance depends upon our walk down here, brother.
If we are careless in our walk down here.
And we're not devoted to the Lord and his interests. We're not going to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom. To quote that exactly, look at first Feeder chapter one second Peter.
Yes, it is.
You get the.
Expression there.
Peter.
Chapter one, verse 8 For if these things be in you and abound.
00:25:05
They make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.
In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And going down 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the apostle is saying is, if you are careful as to your walk down here, and you manifest these beautiful moral graces that Peter speaks of, and there's separation from the world, you're going to have an abundant entrance.
When the Kingdom is established, you're going to have a place there according to your walk down here.
So that's something that should exercise us. Our place in the coming Kingdom will be, according to our walk down here, how careful we should be to.
Independence upon the Lord, knowing that all is going to come out at the judgment seat of Christ. Thank you.
This was a thing that was not known in the Old Testament.
So it's something revealed to us now, a mystery that is made known to us now, not known.
Before its revelation.
In the Old Testament they knew that Messiah was coming. They expected him to set up the Kingdom and to reign over this world and the Gentiles will be brought into subjection to Israel. Those things they knew that that Messiah would be head over all things and not only the earth but heaven as well was something not spoken of in the Old Testament. That was something that was not revealed.
Until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul and then the other apostles subsequently, I believe.
It was a secret, and so this was something new, that this coming one was going to have all things in two spheres headed up in himself. Those who opposed dispensational truth say, well, you have a problem. You say that God has two purposes.
You say that God has two purposes, one in the earth of the earthly people and one in heaven with the heavenly people. But we hold that God has one purpose, one purpose. And of course what they hold is that God's one purpose is the salvation of man.
God only has one purpose. It's not true that He has two. He has one purpose, and that purpose does not center in lost man and His salvation. That purpose centers in His well beloved Son, who He is going to exalt in two spheres, heaven and earth. God has one purpose that's going to be developed and manifest in two spheres, heaven and earth, but it is a single.
Uniting purpose, And it is the uniting theme that threads the entire Word of God together into a unified whole.
Is His purpose in Christ and in the administration of the fullness of times, and all the other times have run their course.
There is going to be 1 grand administration that is going to be headed up in Christ. It's called the administration or the dispensation of the fullness of times. All the other times of testing and the present day that we're in, they've all run their course and the time comes when the Lord Jesus will be manifested as head over all things for God's glory. Do you not want to know what God's thinking about?
You read it in this verse. This is what God is thinking about. This is what he's been thinking about from before this world ever was. This is what he's still thinking about. He says, I want to tell you what I'm thinking about. I want to bring you into. I want you to know what I'm thinking.
And he brings us into his confidence. He says this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm.
Planning to do and so both in heaven and earth, united system of glory for God's glory in his well beloved Son. Everything that man has failed him, everything that man has failed in, he is going to take up and make good in himself for God's glory.
00:30:17
Truth is that He wanted the Church to be there with him and to be associated with Him, to enjoy it with Him. He will be the head over all things. And so it says here in verse 10 that he might gather together to one in one. All things should read in the Christ, both which are in heaven or in the heavens, and which are on earth, even in Him. And so when it speaks of the Christ, it really refers to Christ and the Church.
Unitedly And so you and I will be with him and we will see him in that place of headship and be at his side when he is glorified in this way and God is going to have this His way. He said, I think it was Brother Harry Hale used to say that this was the central verse to really understanding the whole of the Scriptures. This is what God had in mind and He tells us in a nutshell what the whole purpose was.
To have this world and all of the things that have been created in it, it was all for His glory, which both which are in heaven or in the heavens and which are on earth. Even in Him. He's the central figure. And so I think Brother Steve mentioned it's not man. Man isn't the focus. We come into blessing as a result of the plan that God had, but that wasn't the focus. The focus was Christ and His glorification.
That's the focus.
I think it's important to see that there's maybe some confusion that fullness of times is not the same as fullness of time in.
Galatians 4.
4/4 the fullness of the time was come. That is, man's probation for 4000 years had come to an end.
And God is no longer proving man or testing man. That's the fullness of time when the Lord appeared. After all, God's culture and testing of man was a dismal failure.
But the fullness of times, that's a different, that's a different expression. That is the period as explained, when the Lord Jesus will have his rightful place not only on earth, but in the whole universe.
And that is all part of the mystery, as Robert expressed. Often have I heard times without number from our brother Heyhold. HEH. This is the key to the whole Bible, verse 10, the purpose of God, the glorification of His Son, and that we He's going to share it all with us. Why are we worried, brethren, about material things down here?
Why do we live and worrying and try to accumulate things down here? It's all going to pass away. We're going to share the whole universe with the Lord. Oh, that's the inheritance in its material aspect that we have. I think that that that's the.
The thought in Ephesians one is sharing the material heritage that has to do with the earth, but we also have a spiritual inheritance which has to do with heaven. Thank you.
The promise that.
That God made with Abraham was an unconditional province, a promise both to the the Jews and also to the Gentile for God's people, Israelites. It was a promise made to Abraham by God that in his seed all the nations of the world should be blessed.
Well we have the development of it here and we see the seed here that blesses eternally all the nations eternal blessing for men on the earth and in heaven is Christ. So it's it was a mystery and that in that sense that it wasn't developed yet, but we have it in the in the promise that God made to Abraham was an unconditional promise made both to.
00:35:08
Israelites to Abraham and the sea, but Gentiles the nations.
And so all the nations of the world will be blessed.
Through the faith of Abraham.
Might be helpful to look at.
That the Lord had. It was a seed plot, we know that.
All of God's purpose.
27 So God created man in his.
Over.
The head of the first race of man was given authority over the earth, and he ruined everything because of sin in the fall.
Having you that his man would reign over all.
And I.
It says in Second Corinthians chapter 5 that we're a new creation in Christ.
And so we're a part of that. So the Lord Jesus, the head of that new creation race will rule over all, not only earth, but the heavens too. And so that's the description is our brother John said of his material inheritance is all created things. That's his inheritance. It's not his church. He didn't inherit a bride.
He's going to inherit the all of created things right now they're not the creation isn't set at liberty. It has been purchased. The transaction was paid, the price was paid, but it still awaits its redemption. That's what he speaks of in Romans chapter 8. It will be set at liberty and when it is set at liberty, you and I are going to reign with Christ over it. And so that's really we're jumping ahead a little bit, but in.
Our chapter.
It says, verse 13, we could read in whom ye also trusted. He's Speaking of the Jews thereafter, that he heard the word of truth, or the Gentiles, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also that after that ye believe, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory.
So he made a purchase at the Cross.
Can he enjoy it right now?
No, it's in rebellion against him and it's suffering the effects of corruption. But it will be set at liberty, it will be redeemed. And so you and I are going to enjoy that. And how do you know? And I know that we're going to enjoy that inheritance with the Lord.
Were indwelled with the Spirit of God. We have the earnest of the Spirit. We have the down payment.
And because we're indwelled with the Spirit of God, we know that we're going to.
Have that inheritance until the redemption of the purchase, possession under the praise of His glory. So.
It's a broad plan that God had and he brings us into the knowledge of it. It wasn't something that was developed after man sin. It was a secret that God had in his heart from the past eternity. And now he's at liberty, so to speak, to unfold it and to tell us about it because we have the capacity to understand it, to enjoy it, and to walk in the good of it. I wonder if we could just turn back over to that chapter in Romans 8, just to we're we're having the inheritance.
God's purpose of Christ claiming his inheritance. But we have some real nice verses here that help us to understand our our place there. In verse 17 it says, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory.
00:40:15
Which shall be revealed in US and then it goes on to speak about that what you were saying that creation is set free from the sufferings and the effects that the 1St man brought in responsive and failure of his responsibility brought on the creation.
But what we are enduring right now is not the possession of the inheritance that we.
Are taking part as Co heirs with Christ right now we're experiencing the suffering of a of a world that is rejecting the authority of Christ and the effects of sin and so.
We we endure suffering with the anticipation of the coming glory.
Everything that we pass through.
Can be.
Softened or can can be.
We can be strengthened with the thought of the future glory. And the Lord wants us. He wants us to walk by faith. These are the truths God has said before us. And so he's he's given us these promises that if we lay hold of his, his plans for the future glory of Christ and our association with him, it will help us to go through the sufferings that.
Were called to go through.
So mostly we've talked about the Earth.
What about heaven and over all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth?
Turn to a verse in Matthew 24 and verse 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds. From one end of heaven to the other he shall send.
Whose angels?
His angels.
The angels of the Son of Man. They were the angels of God.
But now they're the angels of the Son of Man.
And Paul says to the Corinthians, Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? Not in the sense of fallen angels, consigning them to the lost eternity, but the sense of administration.
You know, when a new president is elected, there's a change of administration. And those that belong to the old administration, they move out and others take their place and there's a new order of things. There is a coming tremendous change of administration that is going to take place. He was made for some little while inferior to the angels, crowned with glory and honor and right now.
Because of man fall into sin, God has committed the administration of this world into the hands of angels, and they watch over the elect.
But there's a day coming when there's going to be a change of administration, and those angels are going to become the angels of the Son of Man, and we reigning with him. They will be under us. And so all things not only which are on earth but which are in heaven, are going to come under the dominion.
Of the Son of Man.
The Jew today does not believe there is any such thing as a man in heaven.
No such thing. Never will be, never could have been. Well, what about Enoch and Elijah? God killed him on the way up.
No such thing as a man in heaven. No such thing that a man would ever reign over a heavenly sphere of things. But he's going to. There is a man in heaven.
Spirit, soul and body just like you and I. And God has purpose to put everything under His feet in a coming day, even the angels subject to him.
A little bit of that you just want to turn over to 1St Corinthians 15.
Might be nice to read it in connection with.
00:45:00
What Christ is his work that is going on now and will go on right on through the tribulation period that's to come on through the millennial reign, 1000 years of Christ and then right into the eternal state. But it's all God's accomplishments will be accomplished in Christ. It says in verse 20 of.
1St Corinthians 15 But now is Christ risen from the dead?
And become the first fruits of them that slept.
He's ahead of the new creation, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For is an Adam all die. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits afterwards they are Christ at his coming.
Day of God then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom of true God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he that put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted.
That which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall he. Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all.
So all things that God had intended for this planet, for this scene down here before sin came in, in the Garden of Eden, His purposes that He purposed for man are all going to be accomplished in His beloved Son. The Lord Jesus is going to clean everything up for his, for God the Father, and in the end, God will have His way.
That which he purposed for man here on this earth for his own pleasure, He will accomplish it. There's going to be accomplished in the eternal state of things and it's all leading up to that. We're almost, I believe, right at the point of the tribulation when the rapture will take place and God will bring judgment in. But then you have the thousand year millennial reign, which we will reign with Christ during that time, but then you have the eternal state. Well, Lord Jesus will.
Clean everything up.
And hand hand this whole creation over to his Father and and rule.
And there will be a righteous rule for all eternity. I think it's important to see the.
The fact that.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
That's often applied to our forgiveness of sins. I wouldn't object to it, but in its widest application it refers to this period that we are speaking about here, when the Lord will have His rightful place as the head of the new creation race.
And.
When he will put away every trace of sin, it will be obliterated. Not during the Millennium.
Although at large measure.
Sin will not be active at that time, but in the eternal state every trace of sin will be removed. I think we only have a few minutes here and.
I don't know if we have another reading or not tomorrow. Last reading.
I was going to speak on the.
The Holy Spirit as the.
The seal that is for security.
The best illustration that I know, and I suppose it's threadbare, I go down to the market here in Bangor and.
I buy 50 sheep, all right, I take my money out, I pay whatever is required, and my hired man is with me. And I said, now remember.
These sheep belong to me.
00:50:00
And so that they don't get mixed up with another flaw.
When we get home, I want you to take the branding iron and put my name on every sheep's ear.
Now that seal doesn't make the sheet my own, it's the money that I paid for them.
That makes them my own, but now I want everyone in the neighborhood to know.
Those sheep belong to me no longer to their former masters. They belong to me because they have my seal on them. You can look at it.
So when we believe the gospel, brethren.
This is really a Christian blessing when we believe in the death.
And resurrection of Christ.
Rest upon his finished work. We don't have to pray for the sealing of the Holy Spirit. We can pray to be filled with the Spirit. That's another thought. But when we believe the gospel as we have in 13 here.
God seals us with the Holy Spirit for security. That is the mark upon us if you don't have the Spirit of God.
You all are in you. You really are not Christ in the full sense of the word.
So when you have the Spirit of God, your seals for eternity.
Secure eternal security and then the inherit the earnest of the inheritance I think is already mentioned.
Is a foretaste of the glory. Now, before we enter into its fullness, the Lord has given us a forecast.
Illustration that I have heard.
Of this is several given.
OK, I'll go back to the farming analogy. Here's those sheep I have.
I say to my hired man.
That beautiful field of Clover over there.
I'm going to put them in there in a few weeks.
When I'm not ready right now.
So I want you to go in there.
And take several big armfuls of that sweet Clover and bring it out and let them have a taste of it there along the side of the barn. I'm putting them in there in a week or so. But they can have a forecast of what they're going to have in all its fullness in a short time. And that's what the earnest of the inheritance is. It's the Spirit of God again.
Bought eight years.
Until redemption, that's by power.
We spoke about redemption through the blood of Christ.
The ground of redemption, but the power has not yet been put forth. And that's what the Lord will do. But meantime.
We have the earnest. We have a foretaste of what we're going to enjoy for all eternity with the Lord. Thank you.
#18 in the back.
And glory is good, and it's low, that's why.
That's wrong.
I saw the rise and travel the world.
00:55:09
The soul.
The Ten Lost Tribes
Address—Steve Stewart
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Jesus.
Christ.
Please create.
A show.
Every voice shall rise, shall nation to our God.
What I'd like to speak about this afternoon.
Is the 10 what are called the 10 lost tribes?
And.
Back in Israel's history.
There came a time when in the will of God and his ways and discipline with Israel.
10 of Israel's tribes revolted from King David's house.
And it was King David's family, his house, that were to sit on the throne of Israel, and in the days of Rehoboam, who is reigning at that time.
They said every man to his tent.
David see to thine own house.
And I'm going to read a verse now in Second Kings.
And.
Chapter 17.
Second King 17.
Verse 22, Verse 21. For he rent Israel from the House of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Knebat Kane, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them sin, a great sin, for the children of Israel walked, and all the sins of Jeroboam.
Which he did, they departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants, the prophet. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
Well, that left the tribe of Judah Benjamin.
Maybe a little scattering from some of the other tribes that weren't completely carried away in that land.
They too follow the same sin of Israel of the 10 northern tribes and idolatry and God allowed them to be carried away captive too to the land of Babylon.
But in time he brought a remnant of them back to Jerusalem, to the land of Israel, because there was coming a time when his Son would come into this world and be born a man in Bethlehem. And there would need to be.
00:05:02
Of people there to receive his son when he came, Judah would need to be back in the land because the Lord Jesus was born in the family of David and the tribe of Judah well, he came and we know what happened they rejected him the rightful king cast him out and put him on a cross and.
God.
Pronounce judgment on that nation because of their sin, not only in idolatry, but in that they rejected His well beloved Son when He came.
And God is going to accomplish that judgment in a coming day.
And he is going to raise up a people that he calls the Assyrian, and they have a king, and he's called the Assyrian, and they're going to come down in judgment on the land of Israel.
And looking over at Isaiah, just to pick a couple of verses out.
This is yet future and a coming day after the church is gone, God is going to bring His judgment on.
The Jews in that land where they are today.
And the instrument of his judgment is called the Assyrian chapter 10 of Isaiah, verse 50. Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.
And the staff in their hands is mine indignation. I will send him against the hypocritical nation.
Against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, to take the prey, to tread them down like mire in the streets. But then God will judge that same instrument, this Assyrian that he's going to use and we find.
A little later, verse 25, for yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease in my anger in there that is the Assyrians destruction.
So this army.
The Assyrian is going to sweep down through the land of Israel and when they do, Joel, if we turn the book of Joel, we won't. It says before them it's like the Garden of Eden and behind them it's like a wilderness. Everything is going to be destroyed.
God is going to marvelously preserve a little remnant and.
In chapter.
Eight of Isaiah.
He says to this little remnant, verse 13, Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, Let him be your fear, let him be your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary.
But for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel and so on.
So he's going to providentially preserve those who put their trust in him when this Assyrian sweeps down through. But those who are unbelievers, the apostates among the Jews, are going to be destroyed by this invading army. That army will sweep down through. The Lord Jesus will come out of heaven. That army will turn around to come back up through the land again, and the Lord will destroy the Assyrian.
That will be the end of his indignation against Israel for their sin of idolatry and in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
What's left says when that company comes down in chapter 5 and verse 27, none shall be weary and or stumble among them. None shall slumber or sleep. Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latched of their shoes be broken. When this army comes down, they're not going to trip over their shoelaces. They're not going to bump into each other.
That everything they do is just going to be executed. Florida State.
Find everyone of the apostate Jews and destroy them.
And they're going to destroy everything around them in that land.
It says.
In Chapter 7.
Initial Verse 21. It shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep, and it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall give. He shall eat butter, for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
And it shall come to pass on that day that every place shall be where there were 1000 vines, at 1000 silverlings. It shall even be for briars and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither, because all the land shall be come briars.
00:10:19
And thorns.
The destruction is going to be so complete that the few that are preserved by the Lord, the faithful.
When they come out from the places that the Lord has preserved them, there aren't going to be any crops.
There are going to be any trees with fruit.
Aren't going to be any fields with grain. There's going to be wandering animals around and you might gather up a cow and a couple of sheep and because there's nothing in gardens or anything left, the only thing there is to eat is honey that they might gather.
They forage and the and the milk they get from the cow and butter and honeys, all they'll have to eat.
And when they venture out of whatever little shelters they might make, they're going to go out with bows and arrows. Why?
Because remember what the Lord said about Israel taking over the land? It was going to be a little at a time. He wouldn't drive all the inhabitants out way back in Joshua's day. Why? So the wild beasts wouldn't take over the land. The wild beasts are going to take over the land. If you go out, you're going to need your bow and arrow.
Because you don't know if the bears around the corner.
Put it that way.
So thorough is going to be that desolation.
That's how God is going to take care.
Of the apostates among the Jews. But what are the 10 tribes? Where are they?
Turn over to Daniel.
Chapter 12.
Daniel chapter 12 and verse one.
And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. So there is a faithful remnant that he preserves.
Through that terrible time of destruction.
Time that is unequaled, unparalleled in all the history of the earth, the Great Tribulation.
Verse two gives us something else, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.
Some to everlasting life and some to shame.
And everlasting contempt.
This isn't talking about the resurrection that we read of in Thessalonians. First Thessalonians 4 when the Lord comes, descends from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ are raised.
That's not what this is talking about. This is talking about the lost. What we call or is called commonly, the lost tribes of Israel.
They're asleep in the dust of the nations and the dust of the earth. Where are they today? No one can tell you.
All kinds of speculations have taken place, everything from the American Indians to the Japanese to the Incas to whatever. There almost isn't a nation or people in the world that it hasn't been speculated that they're one of the 10 lost tribes. There was a.
Quasi Christian religion that was popular for years. It's dwindled. Called British Israelism and they claim that the British people descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel.
That it's actually still around today.
No one knows where they are. They're asleep in the dust of the earth, but they're going to awake in a coming day. Some. Some.
To everlasting life, that is the everlasting life of the Old Testament life in the Kingdom for as long as it goes on, however long that is.
And some to shame and everlasting contempt. Let's turn over to Ezekiel.
00:15:01
Chapter 37.
I know I touched on it, took this up in Hammer Bay at him saying so I maybe for some here you've heard me take this up.
Ezekiel 37 gives us a very.
A beautiful picture of this very thing that the Lord told Daniel.
I want to be dramatic, but I'd like to read this the way I think it should sound.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones.
And caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, Oh Lord God, thou knowest.
And he said unto me, Prophecy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you, and I will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking.
And the bones came together, bone to his bone.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above.
But there was no breath in them.
Then he said unto me, Prophecy unto the wind, prophecy, son of man.
And say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
So I prophecy as he commanded me, and the breath came into them.
And they lived.
And stood up upon their feet, and exceeding great army.
Then he said unto me.
Son of Man.
These bones.
Or the whole House of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones are dry. Our hope.
Is lost.
We are cut off for all our parts, therefore prophecy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people.
And brought you up out of your graves. And shall put my spirit in you. And ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.
In the Talmud.
Collection of rabbinical writings. One of the rabbis is quoted as saying as the day goes and does not return so.
So they have gone and will never return.
00:20:00
But that's not what God says. He says yes they are. And it is going to be as miraculous as what?
Ezekiel saw in the valley of dry bones.
But they will pass through exercises of soul.
As they're brought back into that place, into blessing. Long ago they had said to every man, to his own tent. David, see to your own house.
And the Lord goes on to say to Ezekiel.
Take two sticks.
And he says right on one and verse 16 for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and one for Judah, he says, take them in your hand and put them together, and they'll become one stick. And he said, not only is he going to bring them back into that land, but he's going to unite them together and the unity that he intended them to be in from the beginning.
One in his hand.
And so the exercises of soul that they pass through on the way back are with that unity.
In life.
And the thoughts of God.
Turn over to the 120th song. 120th song begins a series of Psalms.
Called The Songs of Degrees.
Some have said they were the songs that were sung when you would come from anywhere in the land up to worship in Jerusalem. Some said Ezra compiled these. I think that's probably right and put them in order in connection with the returning remnant coming from Babylon back to Jerusalem. But ultimately they really are prophetic of a coming day.
When those 10 tribes will return.
We love to read.
The second to last in this series.
Just turn to it before we start.
Verse one of 133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
But you know, there were steps to get there.
There were exercises of soul to pass through.
And so it begins with 120th Psalm. The songs of degrees are steps, steps of ascent to Jerusalem.
The first one, and we can only go through bare outline. The first one is their awakening.
So to speak, out of the dust of the earth.
Like the prodigal in a far country, they had gotten so far from the Lord.
And he came to himself, and he looks around in his distress, and he realizes he's in trouble. And so in Psalm 120, in my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me deliver my soul, oh Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. Verse 5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech. I dwell, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
They wake in a foreign land.
In Meshach, we turned over to Ezekiel. We'd find that really I think is Moscow or related to Moscow. It's the far north Russia, and Kedar is one of the sons of Ishmael, the Arabs. And so maybe this gives us sort of an idea where those peoples are going to largely be.
And those that they have been just dwelling with, fine. Now they awake to national aspirations.
And there's opposition. Psalm 120 and 121 are more individual exercise.
I will lift up mine eyes. 121 verse one unto the hills.
This put a little semi colon in there and the next phrase kind of stands by itself. From whence cometh by help question mark.
Oh, they look up and they realize we don't belong here. I belong back. And they think back to the hills of Jerusalem, of Zion.
But the journey is impossible.
The journey is impossible. Whence cometh my help, Oh dear one?
00:25:02
That can be the experience of our souls if we get away from the Lord to wake up and realize our situation. We've been settled down in this world and we're among those that hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Hate for the Christians. True hope is and love is.
How are we going to get back? It's an impossible journey. Like the Lord said to Elijah, the journey is too great for thee.
And they psalmist says, my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth. You know, they had fallen into idolatry. They had worshipped other gods. They had denied the true and living God who had made heaven and earth. But you know, they wake back up to that one they had once long ago left.
The one who made heaven and earth.
And have the one who made heaven and earth reminds us of the millennial title of God, Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. Man's happy to have him be possessor in heaven. You can have all the heaven you want. They say to God, just leave the earth to us. But in the millennial day, he's going to come out and be possessor of heaven and earth. And that's the testimony of the two witnesses in Revelation 11.
The God of the whole earth is the one they give witness to. It belongs to Him.
Well, they find they can put their trust in him. He will not suffer thy foot again. I think this is more individual. Suffer thy foot to be moved.
The Lord is thy keeper, Lord, as I shade on my right hand, the sun shall not smite thee by dare, the moon by night. He that keepeth Israel shall not sleep or slumber. But they had long slept in the dust of the earth, but he never did. He knows where they are. He's had his eye on them all the time, and they're just waking up to the fact. And just like Israel had that long journey from Egypt to Canaan, and they.
Pillar fire and the pillar of cloud. They can trust the Lord. There's going to be no pillar of fire, pillar cloud, but they can trust Him.
For protection day and night.
The Lord shall preserve by going out, and thy coming in from this time forth, even forevermore. Now 122 is more.
A collective exercise as as they're moved individually. And that's where it has to start.
If you've gotten away from the Lord, or maybe a soul has even gotten away from the Lord's table and drifted away.
Before the exercise and collective things comes, there needs to be an exercise in individual pathway. But now they find others. You know there is a path for faith and to go on with them that call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. And So what does he find in Psalm 122? I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the House of the Lord.
Oh, companions in the path, what a happy thing to encourage our brother and let's go.
To the House of the Lord, not calling the meeting the House of the Lord I just using the figure of speech. What a blessed thing to be in the Lords presence in the assembly meetings to encourage one another to be there. Let us go. Our feet shall stand within thy gates of Jerusalem. The wonderful anticipation.
Their feet are going to stand there. Why? Because in the previous Psalm, he says he'll keep their feet.
And he'll bring the mall safely there.
Whether Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together, whether the tribes go up?
Unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to thy name. They are set Thrones for judgment, The Thrones of the House of David. Oh, there's an awakening to things they have left behind.
This was where the tribes go up, not just one or two, all of them, you know, this reminds us that fitly framed and compacted together by that which every joint supplier, this reminds us of the unity of the Church and all its members.
And a laying hold in our souls of those truths and a desire to walk in the good of them. They are set Thrones. There's a place of administrative authority. Oh, they had rejected that before. How many have left the Lords Table because they rejected?
Administrative authority in the assembly and stumbled over those kinds of things.
00:30:04
If there's going to be restoration, there has to be a waking up to an acknowledgement of there are the Thrones of David, so to speak. Well, they're waking up to what they had long left behind. Peace be within thy walls. And for my brethren and companions sake, and I'll say peace be within thee.
Brethren and companions.
Relationship and friendship. You know, we have a relationship, don't we, as brethren? But we need a friendship too. Friendship too. And so these encourage each other in this anticipation. And now they wait on the Lord in the 123rd Psalm for direction.
Not going to just undertake in their own strength. And they, like Ezra by the river of Hava, with that little company that was returning from Babylon, they afflicted themselves. They prayed for a right way to know how to go and for their wives and their little ones in that journey that they were going to undertake.
And so unto thee I lift up my eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes laid upon the Lord our God, till that He have mercy on us. Oh, this isn't so much.
Looking for protection as it is for direction, independence. It's an expression of dependence.
Well, there's increasing opposition verse four, our soul is exceeding filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud. Oh dear one, you may find this experience of your own soul that when you get exercised.
About collective side of things, the truth of the Church of God and what it is to walk in accordance with that truth. You may find that there are those at ease and worldly and corrupt religion that will oppose your path and try and hinder you and say what is that worth? Just a lot of Babble. All the opposition increases.
124th Some, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side.
Now my Israel had not been the Lord who was on our side when men all it's more than speaking grows up against us.
The waters had overwhelmed us, the floods of the wicked. You know in the 69th Psalm where we get the floods overflowing the Lord.
That is the floods of ungodly and wicked men.
In the 69th Psalm.
But when we turn over to.
I think it's at the 37th Psalm. I'd have to go back and look. Now we find it's the floods of God's judgment, both rolled over the Lord Jesus. But here is the floods of the ungodly and the wicked. There is opposition.
Just because God destroyed the Lord, destroyed the King of the North when he swept down through Israel, and at that same time he also took the beast.
And the Antichrist and destroyed them. There are still enemies afoot. There is a tremendous enemy also called the Assyrian Gog and Magog.
And they are sharpening their knives.
As they look upon that land of Israel and it's out of their very territories that these ones are arising to return.
To Israel, and they're feeling that, and outside of the divine intervention of the Lord and His preserving hand on them, they'd never make it.
They would never make it.
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of a snare of the follower.
125 They that trust in the Lord shall be his mount.
Zion.
Which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. You know, in the in the 120 hundred 24 Psalm, they're on the way.
Through all kinds of opposition, but now in the 125th slam.
Those mountains that they had looked up for in the 121St Psalm come into view, the mountains of Zion.
00:35:07
And they see that place that God is going to bless, it abideth forever and they say.
Were like that place.
All the blessing that God has we had earlier today for you and I is commensurate with His value for the person of Christ. And they're saying the blessing that God is going to bring us into his commensurate with His value for that place where He's placed His name, Zion.
And we're going to abide forever, just like it abides forever.
And they see themselves and their blessing intimately associated with that place.
Where he had placed his name forever.
And the mountains of Jerusalem come into view. Verse 2.
She would be better to read this way. Jerusalem exclamation point. The mountains are about her as the Lord is about His people.
The rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous. Oh, they understand that God has come in and taken care of the Antichrist and his unholy, unrighteous claims upon that land.
No, he has no claim. God dealt with him.
Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good to them, that are upright in heart. That's the God of Israel, or the Israel of God. Excuse me.
Those that are his own. Oh, there's something else we're coming across here.
There's something else we're coming across that's so solemn.
As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel, the Israel of God.
What's happening here?
Hold your place. Turn to Ezekiel 20.
Ezekiel 20 takes up the returning 10 tribes.
Verse 34 I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein you are scattered with a mighty hand, with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured forth. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there I will plead with you face to face, like as I pleaded with your father's in the wilderness.
Of the land of Egypt. So will I plead with you, saith the Lord. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant, and I will purge out from among you the rebels. And them that transgress against me, I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord.
One more scripture in Amos.
Chapter 9.
Amos 9.
Verse 9 For low again it's the same subject to the 10 tribes. Berlow I will command, and I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like his corn is sifted in a sieve. Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth? But what will the chaff?
But not the least one who's real.
Not the least true grain, but the chaff will fall. Verse 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which said, The evil shall not overtake or prevent us.
He's gonna purge out the rebels at the border of the land.
And they're not going to enter that land.
And who's sharpening their knives and waiting to come down? The unnumbered hordes of Gog and Magog.
And they shall die by the sword. God purged out the rebels of Judah by the King of the North, when he swept down through.
And left just the faithful remnant. Now he gathers the 10 tribes out.
00:40:01
And he makes them pass under the rod like a shepherd, and he examines each one. Is it one of his sheep?
And the rebels are purged out. They manifest themselves by being rebels.
In this journey back, they've exposed themselves for what they were, and there's other scriptures that take that out.
And he purges them up.
They die by the sword.
So, but the scepter of the wicked shall not rest on the law of the righteous.
Separation from evil.
Is a necessity because God is there and He will have his people around himself.
And he will not allow any evil to mar that scene.
And so they go in, but the workers of iniquity are led forth.
126.
When the Lord turned again, that word, if you look in Mr. Darby's translation, has a thought of full complete restoration. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreams. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then said They among the heathen, The Lord have done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, where we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as streams.
In the South they that so in tears shall reap, and joy, he that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Oh, it's like a dream.
3000 years. 3000 years.
Have passed by.
It's a dream.
How could this be?
They just repeat it over and over to themselves. It seems to me in this Psalm. We just can't believe it. We can't believe it. You know, when those things happen, how you tend to repeat to one another over and over. You keep telling each other, oh, you know what? Yeah, I know it happened, but I can't believe it. Yeah, I can't believe. You know what? I can't believe it. And that's kind of how they are. They're just.
So overwhelmed.
Happened, but they say a second time turn again Our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the South, they're back in the land, but there is something that the Lord needs to deal with.
And their heart, I think in this little way is going out to their brethren. You know, the self is. Then again, it's the wilderness in the South part of Judah. And they say, Lord, we need a full restoration like streams in the South. They're looking for blessing on Judah that they had left long ago. They're enjoying being brought back into the land, but they want to see streams in the South. And the desert will blossom like a rose in the coming day.
They want to see that for their brother.
They that sow in tears shall reap, enjoy. They look back at their trials and persecution.
And now the blessing that is coming in. But when it comes to verse six, he, it's singular. He, this is the Lord. What is this restoration based upon?
The sufferings of their Messiah.
If he that bore their iniquities.
It's with His stripes they are healed. He is the one that went forth as a sower bearing precious seed, and He's going to bring His sheaves with him. Not only Israel, but think about it, brethren, when He comes back in that coming day, the heavenly sheaves are coming with them too. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun and the Kingdom of their Father.
That's you and I.
We're all coming back with him.
And then the wonderful anticipation of.
Of scenes of home and town in the next two psalms as they anticipate buildings, their homes, the cities, but especially Jerusalem.
Especially Jerusalem. Remember how we looked at that little picture? What are they coming back to? They're coming back to a land that is there's nothing there. It's been totally devastated.
Oh, you know, I think what a welcome sight this exceeding great army is, as Ezekiel calls it, comes marching back to the land. There's all the help to build stuff, you know, there's all these ones coming back.
00:45:07
And they're anticipating the joys.
Of that scene, and we do too, you know, these psalms, these two songs so overlap our own experiences, don't they? We appreciate those scenes of home and of the assembly, those two spheres of blessing that God has established for us, for our preservation. And so they own that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
No, it has to be built in dependence upon him. And again, I think this is especially the Temple in Jerusalem.
It's the Lord's house.
But all previous attempts in the flesh ended up in destruction. You know the Antichrist is going to sit in a temple called the Temple of God. Well, there's going to be nothing left of that when they come into the land. The 10 tribes.
Except the Lord keep the city. The watchman waketh, but in vain.
You know, in Ezekiel we read in the 38th chapter, Gog gets this thought in his mind.
And Magog, you know, down there in Israel.
All those people and they brought all their wealth as they've come in and they're living there with no protection, living in unwalled villages. Now is the time and they know that. They know there's opposition.
What about our own homes? What about the assembly? Isn't isn't Satan out to attack? Isn't it? Don't you feel like it's like an unwalled city sometimes? Like we just started defenseless? The Lord can keep us. He can keep us.
He can keep us in the assembly and in our families and we can worry and worry and worry and as one said, it's like a rocking chair. It goes back and forth and back and forth and it doesn't get you anywhere.
So they committed to the Lord for so he giveth his beloved sleep. No sleepless nights for them. Have you ever had sleepless nights? I'm sure you probably have.
Well, our trust in the Lord so little, isn't it, you know?
Though children are in heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward.
And I think this is looking on to the Lord himself. Arrows in the hand of a mighty man. He's the mighty man there in the 110 saw me as a dew of his youth. And you know, after Gog and Magog come down and he destroys them, he's going to take those arrows in his hand, the children of Israel, and he's going to use them for mop up operations around that land. They're going to fly on the shoulders of the Philistines and the Moabites. And we don't have time to look in those things, but there are arrows.
The hand of a mighty man, he's going to have his quiver full and he's going to deal with them. The end of verse five. They shall speak. Or Kelly has, I think, destroyed the enemies in the gates. But you know, as children in our own homes, if we feed them with the word of God, isn't it wonderful? Sometimes if you had the experience, we're out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. They meet the enemy in the gate and they just say something so.
And it just meets the opposition right there, puts it quiet.
That's a wonderful.
Experience the confidence of little ones in the Word of God as it's fed to Him.
Remember one of our boys coming back home one time and he was laughing and telling his mom, you know what they said in school, we're no different than dogs. You know the evolution thing? He says that's so stupid and he's just laughing. You know, he met the enemy in the gate.
He was fortified with the word of God.
Well, 128 blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord.
That walketh in His ways, the blessing of the Lord and obedience to His Word. They're bound together, they're intertwined. And so the psalmist owns that, that if there's blessing from the Lord, it's going to be the obedience to His Word. Happy.
Thou shalt, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. You know we do. We do eat the labor of our hands, and we want it to be a happy thing.
00:50:02
There is a reaping and a sewing, but you know, Scripture doesn't present reaping and sewing just in a negative way. It presents it in a positive way too. And I think here it is presented in a positive way. There can be a positive happy reaping of what we've seen.
In the home sphere and in the assembly, the Lord shall bless thee out of Zion.
You know, that would bring in perhaps more of the assembly sphere here with this returning company, the Lords in the midst.
In Zion and a blessing is going to flow out from there. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides are in the inner parts of thy house. Thy children like olive plants around thy table. Think of that land. Everything has been destroyed. The vineyards are gone, the olive trees are gone. And here the godly Israelite come back. He looks at this little family and he says, there's my vine, there's my olive plants, there's the future.
Potential.
The wife characterizes the home. She lends her character to the home like a vine that just spreads out and spreads out and covers the whole home. This from the inside, she lends her character to that home and those children around the table like little olive plants. Reminds me of putting little plants in pots, you know, getting ready to put them out in the spring. Every one of them has a potential.
You're getting them ready to put them out in the garden so they'll grow and they'll produce fruit.
And there they are, all around the table. He sees them in their wonderful potential.
And so each one of the children here, there's a wonderful potential, like little olive plants around the table.
God has been pleased in a large way to replenish the testimony through the children of the Saints.
Wonderful anticipation. Thou shalt see thy children's children's children.
And peace upon Israel.
Well, now there's deeper reflections.
As we come to the next song, Steps of Degrees and then the 129th, there's affliction. They only been afflicted off and and since their youth. So they look back at their long history and over and over and over again the Lord has had to chasten them.
They look at it in this Psalm as as themselves as suffering. And it was true, says the flowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. Plowing speaks of repentance. I'll never forget the first time I dropped one bottom plow into the ground and it cut through like a surgeons knife and neatly flipped over that sod and everything that was underneath came to the top. That's repentance.
That turning over the heart, that's how the good seed takes root.
And that of repentance in that seed bed of repentance.
Well, we know this is certainly Speaking of the Lord, but looking at them and ourselves to.
That's where good seed is produced. You know, some seed fell on Stony grounds. It had no depth of earth. There was number. Repentance sprung up quick.
Gone quick, but not this seed it's going to be.
Into plowed ground.
Well, it's not plowed ground and it's like verse six and seven. It's just going to wither away.
So are the wicked.
Well, 130th now. It's not just I've been afflicted. Look what I've suffered.
Why did I suffer?
Why? All because he was seeking to draw my soul.
Back to himself.
Perhaps back to the place where he placed his knee.
And so there's deeper soul searching out of the depths. He cries, Oh Lord, if thou should mark iniquities, who shall stand?
I find fault with my brother, the Lord marked iniquities. Would I stand? No.
No.
And so there's a looking to the Lord now there is a a drawing near the soul to the Lord, so that they say my whole my soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, more than those that more than anticipation of the glories of the coming Kingdom is the person of the Lord himself.
00:55:03
And that's been the work in the soul is to increase that personal affection and appreciation for the Lord, not just the coming benefits, so to speak.
131 The results of that soul searching.
Lord, my heart is not haughty.
Nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. This is probably when Eliab accused David of being proud and naughty and coming down to see the battle. And David said, what have I now done? You know the Lord passed David through that.
Because he was going to have to face Goliath, but he passed him through a humbling time first.
And it's from this place of.
Of justice saying, I'm not going to think lofty thoughts, then the Lord can use him for a wonderful victory, but it comes from this place. Surely I behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother. Oh, no longer the agitations of of of nature and demanding and so on, but just.
Quiet. It's a self judgment. I quieted myself.
You know this ones wean from mother's milk, and nature really has no place in divine things.
Nature has no place and divine things and how often it has caused upset and trouble and agitation of spirit, just like a child fussing when it's being weaned.
No, how wonderful.
127th and 128th Psalm. But we need to understand that.
That sphere of family, though it's a building block for the assembly, can get in the way.
Those relationships can get in the way sometimes of divine things, and we need to be weaned from that.
You know I enjoy Mr. Darby's translation. Surely I have behaved and quiet myself as a child that is weaned not of his mother.
With his mother, he's still sitting there with his mother he's weaned. He's been through all of that. It was hard, but he's still got the comfort of mother. Even though he's weaned from nature. It's with his mother. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, the Lord has said.
Well, now the 132nd Psalm, the result of these exercises of soul.
They're going to give the Lord his rightful place. Other things have been dealt with. They've passed through. Now they turn their eyes to the Lord. They say, Lord, we want thee to have thy rightful place. And so it's from that time when David wanted to bring the ark up to Jerusalem.
But it's suited to the exercises of Soul of the 10 tribes and the two.
In the land. And they're really united together in this. And so they want to have the Lord come in like the glory will come in, in the coming day, we read in Ezekiel and into the temple, and the glory of the Lord will fill that temple once again. They long to see the glory of the Lord return and fill that house that they built.
And.
It says low. We heard of it at Africa. We found it in the fields of the woods.
Six Africa was Bethlehem. Judah was David's dwelling place in his youth. From his youth he had heard about the ark neglected over there in the field of the woods, Kerja, and he longed to see it back and its rightful place. And what a joy for him when that day came to return that ark. And it's the same joy that they're experiencing.
They long to see the Lord and Throne and brought back into His this rightful place.
Verse 13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for his habitation. I just want to turn back 78 time. I'm sorry if I'm going over a little bit. 78 Psalm.
01:00:00
Verse 67 Moreover, he refused the Tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved, and he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth, which he hath established forever. He chose David also his servant. You know they're going to go through that exercise and own that house they once left.
This is who the rightful king is going to come from. His is the right to sit on that throne. Yes, that once Shiloh had been the place where Eli the priest and his wicked sons had spoiled everything, and Shiloh was that place. But the ark had been taken captive for long years that have been neglected. David restores it and he finds Jerusalem as the place where the Lord has placed his name. And now all the.
Want to own it this is the place it was in the failure of man in Shiloh that God marked out Zion and that's why Zion means grace, royal grace because God came in after all man's failure and marked out that place where he had chosen to place his name and they're rejoicing in that well the 133rd Psalm now we finally come to it you can't just.
To this song.
You've got to go through the ones before.
Now they're dwelling in a wonderful unity together in that land.
And.
Christ is high priest.
He's enthroned that place given his rightful place.
Ephraim and Judah are joined together.
Judah won't vex Ephraim any longer. Where? I can't remember exactly how the verse goes. Maybe the other way around.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Harmon, and as a dew that descended upon the mounds of Zion for the Lord.
There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Behold, bless you the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which stand by night in the House of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord, the Lord that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Zion.
Oh, and that wonderful unity now the Lord enthroned in his rightful place, the blessing just flows down. The Spirit of God will be poured out on the sons of Israel in that day, and they'll prophecy and the daughters of Israel in that day and blessing will go out. It flows from heaven down.
From that one who is enthroned down to the very skirts of the garment, to every extremity of Israel, and then in the 134th Psalm, praise goes up to the Lord.
And blessing goes out to the whole earth.
Gospel 1
Gospel—Wally Dear
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Shall we gather at his coming?
When the dead in Christ arise.
I think we need to make this personal. Will you gather that is coming?
The Lord is coming. We don't know when. It could be tonight.
And would you still be sitting on your seat here tonight if the Lord Jesus was to come? It tells us that the Lord Himself is going to descend from heaven with a shout.
With the voice of the Archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ are going to rise 1St and then we which are alive and remain.
Shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. So that's what this song is all about. It's about the coming of the Lord Jesus. And as I look on these rows here, I know there are those that are ready to meet him when he comes.
And if I were to ask, are you going to meet him when he comes, There would be without hesitation, yes, I'm going to meet him when he comes.
Now what would your answer be?
If I were to ask you, you know, this is a gospel meeting where we speak to a number of people all at once, but we like to make it one-on-one.
And if I was to go down the roads and ask, will you?
Gathered with Jesus.
That is coming. What would your answer be? Well, we hope that.
Each and everyone would be able to answer emphatically yes, I will gather.
That is coming.
So we're going to sing this little song #8.
Shall we gather at his coming?
Beyond the sky.
Yes, we will now. You're right, it's gone.
It's glory of his, glory of his comedy.
Neither make the same size. Come back and watch in the sand. You get a first life.
Glory us. Explore.
This Saints, and it's coming.
And washed in the Save your Father.
No, save your righteous.
Calming.
Shall it fall in glory? Praying? Will you be a man?
With you to his praise and swing.
His glorious. His glorious.
Service call me.
And Washington, save your response.
00:05:18
Yes, we've got a ride is coming. His glory of his glory of us coming together in the Saints and his coming.
It washed in the same glorious life.
So what makes a difference here between those that will gather that is coming and those that will not?
It's being washed in the blood of Christ.
Be your stains of sin is scarlet. He will wash you white as snow. So listening #32 #32 what can wash away my sins? This is a beautiful hymn that we've seen over and over, But I trust you never tire of singing.
This wonderful hymn because it brings before us the remedy to the sin problem, and there's only one remedy, and that's the precious blood of Jesus. So let's sing #32 begins with the question, What can wash away my sins? You know, questions are good.
Because questions put people on the spot and you have to think.
What will my answer be? Well, what can wash away my sin? So now we're going to start with another question in #32.
Or can wash away my sins nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh.
That makes me white as snow.
No.
Bounds I know now he lost the blood of Jesus.
For my friends.
Makes me white and so no.
Found I know.
Jesus.
Nothing can force sins at all. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not a good I have done.
Jesus.
Oh precious is the makes me whiter so no matter how I know nothing like a lot of cheese sauce.
This is all my.
Jesus.
This is all righteousness.
Nothing like the blood of Jesus.
All gracious is not full and makes me like a soul.
No other counts. I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.
You know, this is one reason that I like living here in the state of Maine because.
We get a lot of snow and I like snow and the Bible says there's treasures in the snow and one of the most wonderful treasures is the color of the snow is white. Is that a color?
00:10:10
Well, that's what snow is. It's white. And every time I look at new fallen snow, I think about the fact in the sight of God I am clean.
I am white. Why? Because of any.
Thing that I have done.
No, it's because I've been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.
Washed as white as snow. And in fact David, he said, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
So.
That's one of the treasures of the snow. It helps us to understand what our condition is before God.
As those that have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and who have been washed in His precious blood, let's look for the Lord in prayer for His help here tonight.
Our God and Father, we just want to thank Thee tonight for the wonderful message of the Gospel.
And we rejoice tonight to think that Thou wouldst love us so very much that Thou would provide.
The way of salvation.
And not through any effort of our own, but through.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And the precious blood that he shed there, his own life's blood shed there at the cross of Calvary. Our God, we want to thank Thee from the bottom of our hearts for thine own dear Son. We know without the shedding of blood is no remission. And we thank thee for providing the sacrifice, and we thank you, Lord Jesus.
That on the cross thou would suffer the jest for the unjust in order to bring us to God. We thank thee for thy precious blood that was shed there.
And we thank you to know that our.
A living, glorified and coming Savior. And we do earnestly pray for each boy and girl here tonight. Each older one is well, if there is one.
Who is not prepared to meet the Lord Jesus upon thy return?
At the present time we do ask that they might be convicted of their sin and their peril.
And that they might indeed turn to thee and repentance. Our God put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. So we ask this not only in this hall, but wherever thy word is being proclaimed.
We think of the billions of people in this world. We thank you that for thy love for each and everyone of the 7 billion and Father, we just ask I help and guidance here this evening. So we opened thy word, We ask and give thanks in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
So we got this book.
The Bible. What a wonderful book.
It's in a class all of its own. There's a brother reminded us not too long ago at a conference. It's the Holy Bible.
And.
We need it. We can't do without it.
You know, last fall I crossed the border with some books. Actually they were books for a brother Robert here, and we had to pay a little bit of tax, okay. We didn't have to pay duty, we just have to pay some sales tax.
Well, I went into the office.
And the custom official?
Give me the paperwork to fill out.
And as she begin to look into her books to find out how much tax do we charge on these books?
I said, well, these books.
These are books about the Bible. I suppose they call them religious books, but I said, you know, these are Bible books.
They weren't Bibles per SE, but they were books about the Bible. So she's looking in the.
Her book there and she says, oh, OK, here's.
Technical books, Manuals.
00:15:02
Manuals.
Well, I don't. They're not exactly manuals. Well, she thought, she said. I thought.
That the Bible.
Manual for mankind.
Well, she got that right.
OK. How much 5%?
This is God's manual for boys and girls, men and women.
This book can fix your problem. It's the Word of God, and I'm so thankful here tonight that we have the liberty to open God's Word and read from this book.
Because God's book, the Bible, is infallible. What do we mean by that? It means God never tells a lie.
You can trust.
God and His Word, His words are pure words.
Refined and they are to be trusted.
We live in a world where many.
Are afraid because they don't know who to trust.
And we find out that there are policies being formed and being presented to us based on lies and people are being deceived. But isn't it wonderful that when we come to this book, we can accept it as the unerring word of God and we can trust it, We can read it with confidence?
And.
Tonight we're going to open God's Word.
And read a little bit from God's word.
Now perhaps we could turn to Luke chapter 10.
And we had.
Portion in Matthew recently in our little Bible reading assembly meeting and.
It was with respect to how the Lord was exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. And you know the Pharisees, they were very religious people and they studied the law.
And they went into the temple, and in fact they carried even on their forehead, and their arms were written.
God's Word In little pouches called phylacteries, they would carry God's Word. And so they had it here on their arms and even on their forehead. But the big problem is they didn't have it in their heart, and that's what counts. You know we can.
Make an outward display that looks very nice.
And we can appear as though we're very nice and upright people.
But God, he looks into the heart, man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. And here tonight as I look around the room.
It's so nice to see each and everyone sitting here and many have their Bibles open. And I notice that you're listening and that's good. And you know, you're dressed nicely and you just really look very nice on the outside. But my question to you tonight.
Is what do you look like on the inside?
What does your heart look like?
God, he looks down right through this ceiling.
And he can look right into.
My inside right into the heart. And he doesn't need an X-ray machine to do it because he can do anything.
The eyes of the Lord, it tells us, are in every place.
Beholding the evil and the good, and his eyes are on you here tonight, and he looks into your heart. And the question is, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
00:20:01
Is your heart clean and white, or is it stained with sin?
Well, here tonight we want to present God's way of salvation.
Pharisees. They look good on the outside, but on the inside?
The Lord looked used very harsh words to describe what they were on the inside and.
Here in Luke Chapter 11.
If you'll notice.
In verse 39 the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter?
But your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
That is a very sad description.
Of the inside of a man.
Full of ravening and wickedness.
And we learned from Jeremiah, I believe it's chapter 17, that the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
Deceitful. We live in a world of deceit.
And it's because the God of this world is Satan the Devil. He is the master of deceit, and he is making people today to believe a lie.
And I would earnestly pray that no one in this hall.
Is going to succumb to Satan's lie.
The word of God is the truth. The Lord Jesus said Thy word is truth. This is what we want to go by here tonight.
Well, the Lord spoke more about these ones and I was thinking particularly though.
Of what he says in verse 42. But woe unto you, Pharisees, for you tithe, mint and rue in all manner of herbs and Passover judgment and the love of God.
These thought you 2 have done and not to leave the other undone.
Now I believe under the law they were to tithe.
And they were tithing mint and Roux, herbs, I suppose, some sort of spices and so on, but they were totally.
Passing over what is of supreme importance, and that is.
Judgment and the love of God. And so here tonight I would like to talk a little bit about judgment.
It's a scary word.
Judgment. We read about it in the Word of God.
God must punish sin, He must judge it because God is holy.
Is up to pure eyes in the behold iniquity he cannot look upon evil.
God is holy and.
Yet how many there are in the world tonight?
That stand up to God and they think that they are going to somehow, some way.
They will escape the judgment of God.
It's inescapable.
God must judge sin.
If we were to turn over to.
Tax Chapter.
17.
Acts Chapter 17.
And verse.
31.
Well, let's read from verse 30.
It says in verse 30, Acts 1730 and the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
00:25:07
And when we say men, we mean women. We mean boys and girls. It's all included.
God commands all men everywhere to repent, because He at the point of the day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
And so we learn that God's man who will judge is Jesus.
Jesus.
Tells us that God has committed all judgment to the Son, to his Son, the Lord Jesus, and so he is one that we need to deal with.
But many.
They go their own way. They have no interest in God.
Let alone in Jesus.
And.
They're kind of like Pharaoh, you know, Pharaoh in the Old Testament.
Who is the Lord that I should obey him? Pharaoh thought that he could live his own life. He was at the top of a very powerful nation.
The nation of Egypt.
Perhaps the most powerful. At least one of the most powerful in the world.
And.
He was opposing God.
And Moses, his desire was to go out into the wilderness to worship, and he wanted to take the children. But.
Pharaoh said no. Well, we know the story and how.
God judged Egypt.
And there were plagues.
And serious plagues. The water in the river was turned into blood. How can you drink blood?
You like a river to.
Drink the water, irrigate the ground, turn it into blood.
Another time.
He sent a plague of flies and frogs. Remember the frogs? And they jumped right into the ovens.
Right in, I suppose into the door when they bake bread, and they take out the bread and cut the bread, and they cut right through a frog.
It sounds kind of funny, but I must say that I'm sure that was not funny at the time to realize the terrible plague of frogs. And, you know, there was one plague after another after another. But Pharaoh, he hardened his heart against God. Is there anybody like that here tonight?
You hear God speaking to you, but you're saying no. Every time you say no to Jesus, your heart is getting a little harder and a little harder. And I would hope here tonight we don't have hard hearts.
But that's how Pharaoh was and, you know, finally God.
He sent.
A judgment on Egypt.
And all those.
Who did not have the blood of the lamb applied?
To the lentil and the side posts of the door, First born would be killed.
Pharaoh.
Thought that was a joke, I suppose. Who is the Lord that I should obey him? He didn't put blood on his door and neither did any of the Egyptians. And it tells us there wasn't one house in Egypt where there was not one slain. You know, it's a very serious thing to oppose God.
To say no.
I have my way, and yet that's what we hear in the world tonight.
My way We seek to present God's way of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus.
And often it's just like talking to a wall. People don't want to hear that they got their own way. They think it's a better way. Well, you know what? After that judgment at the Passover, we find that.
Pharaoh, let the people go.
00:30:00
And they went, and of course they went.
Out of Egypt.
To the Red Sea.
Pharaoh hit second Thoughts.
Why did I let those people go?
So he mobilized his army and now he's taken after the people to try to recapture them and bring them back into *******.
They're trapped. They got the Red Sea in front of them, they've got mountains on the side. Each side they look back and there is.
The armies of the Egyptian.
Now, if I'm not mistaken, God provided a cloud.
I would have to look that up, but I believe there was a call. Maybe I should just look that up.
That's in Exodus.
Exodus chapter 14.
Exodus chapter 14 and it says in verse 9.
The Egyptians pursued after them.
That is the children of Israel.
All the horses and Chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Paya High Roth.
Before bail Zephan.
Now if we read on we find out Moses says to the people in verse 13, this is a beautiful verse. Fear you not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today.
Salvation of the Lord.
That's what we're here to talk about here tonight is the salvation of the Lord, because salvation.
Is of the Lord. That's 5 words that Jonah.
He said in the belly of that great fish, he realized how helpless and hopeless the situation is. But he prayed and you know, he said salvation is of the Lord. And that fish vomited out Jonah onto the dry land. It's wonderful how God works when we trust Him.
And here we see how God is working too. He brings them through the Red Sea. But what I was noticing in verse 19.
It says.
And the Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them, And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other all the night. Now isn't that a wonderful?
Provision of God.
The people, they look back, they see these warriors and the horses coming with the Chariots and the swords and the Spears and.
You know they're fearful.
But God by Moses gives a word of comfort and encouragement. Don't be afraid, just stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord. Then the cloud goes behind.
And the cloud was darkness to the Egyptians, but it was light to the children of Israel. And so when they look back, they see this beautiful bright cloud. I just think it's wonderful how God undertakes for His people.
And I'm sure we've all experienced the goodness of God, His preserving grace.
We know that the sea parted. They go through.
God's people.
They go through on dry land Feral goes through.
No more dry land it becomes.
A mire, a swamp. And they're going around in circles in their Chariots, trying to deal with the swamp, the mire, because.
The walls of water are coming in, caving in on top of them.
00:35:00
And that's exactly what happened. And the next morning, when Israel looks back there, the whole host of.
Pharaoh is laying dead on the shores of the Red Sea, including Pharaoh himself. So who has the last word? You know what I mean? I don't know how people can be so foolish to oppose the living God.
We had this afternoon reference to 2nd Kings and we read about his situation there where there was another king, a very proud king.
Assyrian king by name is Sennacherib.
You know, Sennacherib, he went off against God's people to overtake them.
And he wrote a letter, and really it was a blasphemous letter. And, you know, he spoke about how that there were none of the gods of the other people that he conquered that were able to save them because his power was so great and he was so mighty and.
He said to the Israelites or to I guess it would be.
Judah Hezekiah.
Said you know.
Your God is no different than the rest of the gods.
No difference.
He can't help you.
And he railed on the living God, he said, to think, you know, that night it tells us.
That there came an Angel.
Into the camp of the Assyrians.
And just wiped out.
Every Assyrian.
Soldier and there was 186,000 soldiers and justice wiped out one Angel.
You see, God, he had the last word.
And we find people can speak these great swelling words against the God of heaven.
But judgment.
Is real and judgment awaits those that reject God's offer of salvation. And here tonight, as you sit in your seat, how is it with you? God wants to save your soul. He loves you. He wants to take you to be with himself in His happy home. And it's a wonderful place.
But if you reject.
The salvation that God offers through his Son, the Lord Jesus. You're going to be left sitting in your seat. If Jesus would come here tonight, you would still be sitting in your seat.
Now.
Does that make you afraid? You know, there was a time in my life when I was just terrorized by this kind of a message. I really was, because I didn't know that I was saved.
And I thought if I was to sit here and my parents are gone and all these others said these nice people, they all go and I'm just, I look around the room and I'm trying to decide, well, maybe there would be, would that tell over there? Would he still be in his seat or would that person be in their seat?
And I'm trying to find some consolation, but really there was no consolation because I I knew if Jesus would come.
I'd be left behind for judgment, and there would be no second chance. So judgment is a reality, and this world is coming under the judgment of God. But it tells us over in Hebrews that it is appointed unto men once to die.
And by the way, did you know that every second is about two people that die?
In this world, they go into eternity.
And it's happening even as I speak, as we speak here tonight, many are dying and going into eternity. But it tells us it's a point on men wants to die. And after death, the judgment, the judgment well.
This world is to be judged because of its rejection of God's Son, His own dear Son.
I trust that nobody here will experience the judgment, we call it the Great Tribulation, that you would not be left here because if you are left here for the Great Tribulation, you are going to experience another judgment, and that will be at the Great White Throne we read about in Revelation chapter 20.
00:40:18
And how that the dead, both small and great.
And this happens 1000 years plus after the coming of Christ, for the believers, for the church.
The dead, small and great are going to stand before God.
And it's going to be Jesus, because Jesus is God. And they're going to stand there and the books are going to be open, and it's going to be a Book of Records. And those records are right there. You know, I am so amazed in this computer age how records can be kept. When I was growing up, I didn't know anything about this.
But now I find you can do work on a computer.
30-40 years ago, I shouldn't say that long ago, no, maybe 20 years ago. And you could still have a record of it. And you can have a record of everything that's been done on the computer in the day and you might have 100 records. It's just amazing. And these records.
God.
His records, dear ones, he keeps records in his books and he's going to open the book and he's going to look.
And.
If you are not.
Washed in the precious blood of Christ. Your name is going to be in that book and the whole record of your life, every thought, every word and every deed, it's all there. Another book is open. It's called the Book of Life and it tells us whosoever was not found, written in the Book of Life.
Was cast into the Lake of Fire.
Is judgment, people say. I don't believe in hell.
Well, see what you want.
God's Word stands.
Hell is a reality.
I had a neighbor who came to me. Wally, do you preach about hell? I said. Yes, I do.
Really, he just come from a funeral and I think it kind of stirred him up. I said, you know what, The Lord Jesus actually said more about hell than he did about heaven.
In order to warn people.
Not to go there.
Well.
I pray for this man because.
He still is under the impression that because he has done so many good deeds, he's mowed lawns for people and he's stacked wood for people and he's helped people in the neighborhood. He says I believe I'm going to have my my reward when I get up there. But he's not interested in Jesus. Isn't that sad? And the Lord Jesus is the only way.
Yes, Jesus said, I am the way. There's a way that seems right unto a man. The ends are up in the ways of death. Don't go man's way, go Jesus way.
Here tonight God looks down. He sees you. You cannot escape.
His.
Eye you cannot hide. You know there was a man one time and he was in a court of law. His name was Gary Tingle.
And carry, he really had to use the bathroom really bad. So the judge Rodriguez said OK, let him go. So guards took him to the bathroom.
And they guarded the door. But while he's in the bathroom, he looks up. Who?
The ceiling, something like that in the bathroom. He climbs up on the plumbing, he pushes the ceiling open and he climbs up right over the drop ceiling and he headed South and he's carefully working his way along and the guards are outside. They're waiting for him and he was escaping.
But all of a sudden, about 30 feet from the bathroom.
He fell right through a ceiling tile. You know where he landed.
Right in the courtroom.
00:45:01
I'm not trying to be funny, but all I'm trying to say is if you think you can escape.
You better think again.
That man thought he could escape, but it didn't work. And there's money here tonight. They think they can escape the judgment of God, but how foolish.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great?
Salvation.
How is it with you here tonight? Would you like to be saved? Wouldn't you like to know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if Jesus comes here tonight and gives the shout, you're going to go?
Up.
With your mom, your dad, your friends, you're going to go up all together.
Well, it's very simple to be saved, and it's all a matter of faith, believing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Lord Jesus says be not afraid, only believe.
And believe is to take God at His word and put your trust in the Lord Jesus.
And believe that on the cross He died for you, and that he bore the punishment. He took the judgment in order that we might be delivered from the wrath of God. He was willing to be judged.
There at the cross, Lord Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say, and you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death.
On to life.
It's one of my favorite verses. You can pass from death unto life here tonight just by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus said, how do I do this? Well, you know what you can do if you just pray a little prayer and ask the Lord Jesus to save you and you say it from your heart, you know that indicates that you have faith in the Lord Jesus and that's what counts. You know, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Jesus.
Died.
Was buried.
Rose again, and he's coming again.
Well, may the Lord bless His word to our hearts. I might just say one more thing. If you accepted the Lord here tonight, tell somebody. It's what it means to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. I'll make you happy. It'll make others happy too. Just to tell others that you've accepted the Lord Jesus, that He washed your sins away well.
Apologies, we've gone over. I was going to sing this song. I don't think we have the time, but it's a wonderful little song. Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice. Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. Let's pray.
Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble
Children—Mark Gorgas
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We're gonna get started with some singing this morning.
I woke up with a little sore throat. Did anybody else?
Yeah, so I might ask for a little help with starting some of the songs. Let's see.
Does anybody have a favorite?
And if you have one, so.
This Gospel hymn sheet.
Has a lot of good hymns in it.
And some of them we might sing in the Sunday school. You'll find all throughout. And then on the back sheet you'll see some of the children's hymns and if you have one that you'd like to sing, that you normally sing in Sunday school.
I think we can probably do that.
If you have one from this book, we can sing that too. OK, who has a song that they'd like to start with Sandy?
#46.
And he calls and he calls all of the.
And he was told to be alliance to to.
The best beginning and have others to not wash away.
OK, since everyone is still filtering in, why don't we try that one more time and we'll try it with the girls?
Singing the girl line, the boys singing the boy line. Can we do that? You guys are awake enough for that, OK?
And he calls, and he calls all the GIRL, and he wants all the.
Skin.
And have others since I washed away very good, who is old enough to read that could tell me?
What the TIDINGS are?
Are they Isaac?
Yeah, what does that spell?
Tidings, right? And what is the good news?
That Jesus came to SAVE me. What is that? Mainly to save us. Jesus came to save us, and that's why we're here. And we can be happy this morning, right? Because the Lord Jesus came to save us. Okay, who else has a song they'd like, Cassandra.
46 cent in this book.
OK, that's in the house and out of doors.
I'll do it all for Jesus. We'll sing the first verse.
OK, another.
Yes.
Which one would you like?
#2.
OK, we'll sing the 1St and the last verse and if someone could help me start that I would appreciate it.
Come to Jesus gave me come with her and toilet breath.
When you're still flowering.
And I will give you rest.
Our universe and he wants a star.
On the cross, another word was done.
And the word by God now.
00:05:14
God is reaching.
Over every time.
So great echoes come.
In verse four we just saying come for Angel hosts are musing or this site so strangely sad. What are the angels looking at they find so strangely sad. You know, I was talking with one of my kids last night before he went to bed.
And they were talking about the gospel meeting, and they said, dad, I just can't imagine what it would be like to sit and hear that message and say, no, that's so sad. And you know, the angels are watching, too. They're watching all this that's going on. And they've been watching everything that's happened with man.
And I think they don't really understand it. They think, how can that be? And they think, how could it be that God would become man?
Foreman when he created Man.
And he'd come down here and he'd submit himself to man, and he'd be willing to pay for sins. How could that be?
How could that be?
But even more strange that they would look on and say, how could it be that one would refuse?
The invitation. OK, another song.
Yes.
Zacchaeus, like Zacchaeus, was a wee little man. Is it? Or should we ask Wally Deer to start that for us?
Would you mind with the action? Sounds great.
You come down.
What's so wonderful about that story is Zacchaeus. What did he want to do?
What did Zacchaeus want to do? Sammy tried really hard to do it.
He wanted to see Jesus. What's even more amazing about that story? Who wanted to see Zacchaeus?
And had planned to. Yes, Jesus wanted to see Zacchaeus.
Is that amazing? Zacchaeus thought. He wanted to see Jesus. Jesus wanted to see him and he wanted to talk to him. He wanted to come to his house. Okay, another song.
Sam #25 in the hem sheet, okay.
We'll do the first and last verse of #25.
Voice and Jesus tells you being in time.
And him singing along your way. You may find the world today and you're crying just too late.
In time.
Your happy choice.
00:10:01
Come from darkness into life from the way I seen it from.
Heaven tonight.
In time.
Being time.
You know what's peculiar about this time compared to the time to come? And we're singing about being time. That means there must be an ending to this time, right? You must be in time.
You know what's peculiar about this time is right now.
As you sit in your seat, maybe you're still lost in your sins. Jesus is calling to you.
He's calling your name. Maybe you hear him calling your name and.
And then there's going to be a time when this time is over, the door will be shut just like the Ark door was shut, and there'll be no more time.
And then Jesus will no longer be able to call you.
I think of a time coming. We're thinking about that time of despair when there's eternal punishment for sins. And maybe, maybe your voice at that time will call out and it'll be too late. Jesus will no longer be calling. And maybe you're not willing to call now, but you would call out for someone to help you in that day and there will be no one left. Now is the time.
To be saved. OK, we have time for one more and then we'll go on to the verse.
Who else? Joey.
Jesus loves me I think is on the back of this sheet.
#40.
And This is why we're here.
Jesus loves me.
So.
Strong.
She trusts me.
Yes, she helps us in the Bible tells me so.
Jesus wants me to die. He will wash away my sins.
Crossing.
Me.
Yes, you can translate the Bible. Tell me who tells me so.
She just loves me.
To make me waste you call me.
Every time. Yes, she is a sponsor. Yes, she is a suck me. Yes, she is a slight. Speaking of life.
Tells me so she.
Yeah, she response me. Yes, she starts like she tells me so.
Jesus likes me. He will stay close inside me all the way.
And I trust him, should I die he will Take Me Home thine high.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
00:15:01
Has anybody noticed that this is a pretty cruel world? Anybody noticed that? Maybe you don't notice so much when you're younger, but sometimes you do, and life can be pretty hard for a lot of people.
And a lot of people rebel against that. A lot of people die never really having.
Been loved by someone in this world, never feeling that.
But everyone that comes into this world and everyone that goes out of this world is loved by someone. That's the Lord Jesus.
And isn't it sad to think that someone might go to hell having been loved by the Lord Jesus?
And never loved him back. There's not one person you think of the most vile person, the person who killed the most people. That's in the millions of people. The person who was the meanest to his kids, whatever it might be, the worst person.
That hasn't accepted Lord Jesus. They won't go to hell unloved.
They'll go to hell with the Lord Jesus having loved them.
OK, we're going to go on to the verse.
I've estimated Lynn if she could help me.
And Lily, maybe you could too have some candy prizes for anyone who participates today. So there's chocolate and there's mince. This actually, you hold on to them and ask your parents before you have them after, after Sunday school. So the verse I learned is Psalm 5015. Did anyone else learn that?
Is that the right first? OK, all right. So that verse is call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 50, verse 15. If you didn't learn it, you probably know it by the end. So who would like to help me out? Someone that learned it. Did you learn it?
What's your view? OK.
Is there someone that learned it they'd like to start? You know it.
Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 5015. Very good. Would you like to say it?
Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 5015. Thank you. Would you like to say it? Would you like your dad to say it?
If your dad says that you can have a candy.
Would you like your dad to say it? Yeah, OK.
I didn't learn. OK, we'll give him an extra chance after Sunday school.
Silas, would you like to say it?
OK.
Would you like to say it OK?
I don't know. Psalm 5015 Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glory for me some. 5015. Thank you.
Anybody.
Psalm 5015 Thou shalt call upon me in the day of trouble. I shall lure thee, and thou shalt Lord find me. Psalm 5015 Good. You sound like you were learning it when they were saying it. I learned it already once. Psalm 5015 Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee thou, and thou shalt glorify me some 5015 Thank you.
OK, anyone over here would like to say the verse?
Charity 95015.
Call upon me.
And I'll show in the in the day till when I'll deliver and and I'll deliver it and I'll stop glorifying me. So I'm 5015.
Anybody else?
Cassandra first.
I forget how it started.
Psalm 5015.
Call upon me in the day of travel for.
And I will deliver the.
And now?
Shout.
Horrify me from 5015.
OK, if you didn't learn the verse, you might get another chance to earn a candy. Would you like to say it? OK.
Solve it.
00:20:00
I.
Thank you know it. Call upon me.
And the day of trouble.
Deliver the.
Thou shalt glorify, and thou shalt glorify me.
Anybody down here?
Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me from 5015. Thank you.
Abby right here. OK, yeah, sorry.
Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I'll deliver thee.
And also glorify Mason 5015. Perfect. Thank you. OK. Do you miss anyone else outside of the front row? These two right here.
Would anyone else like to say the verse Luke?
5050 and the day of trouble I will.
And thou shalt be saved.
And thou shalt glorify me.
5015, that was great. Thank you. Ezra, would you like to try it? Okay.
Anybody else?
OK.
Call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
High Time to Awake
Open—Ethan Porter
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Can we turn to Romans chapter 13?
If I could share something personal, there's a there's a verse in this chapter that I haven't been able to stop thinking about for.
Months now.
Recently I was had made plans to.
Go to a Bible study with someone and they were going to come pick me up. It was a Saturday morning and.
I was never very good growing up at being on time to things, but since I've spent some time on my own I've discovered.
The.
There's a secret that I didn't know that if you give yourself plenty of time to get ready, it's a little less stressful. And I knew this person was going to be there at a certain time to pick me up and I was ready well in advance and so.
I had a moment to sit on the couch by the window where I could see if they'd pull up and just have a little quick rest before they got there.
Knowing that they were going to come pick me up, my ride was all set. I didn't need to drive myself. I really didn't need to do anything.
Most of us.
Believe and know.
The Lords coming for us, he's going to call us home very soon.
Human nature would suggest to us there's absolutely nothing for us to worry about.
Which is true, since we trust the Lord so.
Maybe now is a good time for us all to.
Just rest a little bit knowing that our ride is coming soon.
Let's see what this verse says.
Romans 13, verse 11.
And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now as our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor.
Of light.
Salvation in verse 11. I have to believe it's referring to the resurrection.
The final piece, as it were, of our salvation.
For now, it's nearer than when we believed. We were saved when we believed but.
The salvation of our bodies, the resurrection, it's nearer now than when we believed. This is not of reason to take our rest. It's not a reason to take a break and begin to fall asleep, as it were. It's high time to awake out of sleep.
Let's turn to Luke chapter 12.
I.
I don't know where you are at personally. Maybe you're very well studied in the scripture. Maybe you only know a little bit. Maybe you're young. Maybe you're old. I.
Whatever the case.
Any of us.
Has this danger to fall into a wrong way of thinking about our lives here?
Verse 16.
Luke, chapter 12.
They spake 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 they were alive. He stole all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul.
00:05:06
Now has much goods laid out.
For many years take thine, ease, eat, drink, be merry. The goddess said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
No, this is not the way we normally.
Apply this parable, but in verse 19 it says.
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease.
Eat, drink and be merry. Could say repose thyself.
Take a break.
You've got a lot of goods. Everything is good right now.
You've stored up a lot.
Take a break.
What could be the harm?
Like I said, I don't know what your situation is, but.
If things are going well, that's not a time to go to sleep.
And maybe things aren't going well for you. That's not a time to sleep either. Cast yourself on the Lord. Study His word. Get to know it. Because.
No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow.
And.
I really appreciate what her brother was sharing before this and.
The Lord is looking for something from us during our time here, our time here. It matters. That's why we're here. And if we begin to go to sleep, we're going to miss out on spending our time here the way that He wants us to.
And if we go to sleep spiritually, we won't be prepared when they attack. The enemy comes and it will come and it will come again as long as we're here.
Let's just turn to Revelation Chapter 3.
Someone that's asleep is unaware of what's going on around them.
In fact, someone that's asleep might be unaware of something that's happening to them.
Or where they are.
Verse 14.
And under the Angel of the Church, the Laodiceans write these things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou art cold or hot.
So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich and increase with goods, and have need of nothing.
And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
Notwithstanding the proper address of bad doctrine or bad situations that exist in Christianity.
If you read these verses.
About the Laodiceans.
And you look at anyone else or anywhere else before you look at yourself. You do not understand why these verses were written.
Someone that's asleep doesn't know what kind of state they're in.
Don't fall asleep.
Keep a watch. The Laodiceans believed were rich were increased with goods. We have need of nothing.
I would suggest maybe even they thought it was time to rest.
It's not.
It's not a time to rest.
Someone that's awake.
00:10:02
They know what's going on, they're alert, they're keeping an eye out.
And we need to.
Watch our own state.
And perhaps the state of our assembly, but.
We need to watch our own state.
And we need to be honest with ourselves about what kind of state we're in. And more importantly, we need to be honest with God.
And before God, about what kind of state?
We're in so that we don't end up believing that everything's going well, that we're rich, an increase with goods, and we don't know that we're wretched and poor.
So you do examine yourself.
You'll find, perhaps, that you are in a state of great need.
Verse 18 I council lead to buy me gold dried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye cells that don't Maya see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore.
And repent.
So the Lord provides a solution for one that finds themselves in this position, and I'm sure.
That I'm only scratching the surface of.
These three things in verse 18.
But we have truth.
Elsewhere, we're told to buy the truth and not sell it.
We have.
A clean testimony and walk.
And we have.
Ourselves, that we might see to continue to be aware and no longer go back to that state of blindness. To be able to see and to be aware and alert and awake. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore, and repent.
If you're the Lord's, he loves you, He will rebuke you. He will chasten you.
And the only responsibility you have with regards to that is to be zealous and repent. Except what the Lord is bringing before you. Be honest with yourself and with Him about your state.
Knowing the time.
High time to awake out of sleep for now. Is our salvation near than when we believe?
The Ground of Gathering
Open—John Kemp
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Chapter.
Two.
I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
Then said I Whither goest thou?
And he said unto me To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breath thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold, the Angel that talked with me went forth, And another Angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls.
With a multitude of men and cattle therein. Right. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about.
And will be the glory in the midst of her.
Well, I just want to leave a few thoughts.
In relation to the ground of gathering.
We live in a day and age when there is a lot of evangelical activity outside of those who are gathered on scriptural ground. I'm well aware of that.
And.
We can be thankful for the work of the Spirit of God.
We are not.
Exclusive.
Of umm.
We are not the proprietors of the grace of God. The grace of God is sovereign and He can work.
By whichever means he may choose.
Possibly to our shame, but I'm thinking of the man with the measuring line here.
Jerusalem was in a very sad condition at this juncture.
Perhaps it was similar to what we have in Hagee Eye, where every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes. They were neglecting the interests of the Lord. They were occupied with improving their.
Their situation in life and renovating their houses and so on.
And they were neglecting the House of the Lord. That's brought out in Hagiah chapter one.
And he was raised up to stir those people up.
To energy in the things that counted, in the Lord's interests and his glory and his house.
And it was fruitful, Hagee. I was a prophet that spoke to the conscience of those people.
That were settling down in their own comfort and.
Um, not interested in those things which concern the glory of the Lord. Well, I think that I've often taken the measuring line out and when I look at the assembly, I can go back 40 years and think of times when there was much more power and much more.
Fellowship and.
Much more teaching from the word of God. I came up under the ministry of some giants in spiritually I would judge and when we compared things.
Well, when you compare things it looks pretty small. There doesn't seem to be much being done.
Is the Lord really pleased with this testimony that we are connected with, or should we seek a wider path where there's more activity and more results evident? Well, this is what Zachariah is saying.
Don't be discouraged when you look at things as they are now.
The point is.
Are you where the Lord has placed His name?
Are you giving him his rightful place and gathering according to the principles of the Word of God that are laid out for us in the book of Timothy and so on? Is there a path for faith amidst all the ruin that there is in Christendom today? And there's corruption, there's departure.
00:05:16
There's.
Compromise everywhere. Christendom is really a corrupt system.
And when we tested by the word of God, we find that.
There's been a serious departure from the original.
Mind of God, the apostles, doctrine and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. There's been a departure and although there may be activity, there is not concern for the glory of Christ and his interests giving him his rightful place. So brother and I would say.
Without talking down to you.
Continue in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of.
This is not just another denomination.
We have returned to that which is from the beginning. We haven't started a new sect or a new church. We've returned to what God gave us at the beginning. What was God's mind in the Apostolic days? We don't have Apostolic gift.
We don't have Apostolic power, we have the apostles writings most definitely. And are we valuing them? Are do we know what is comprised in Pauls doctrine?
Which many believers in the systems of men have no idea of, they are in. They are in a confused condition as to prophecy, as to the position of the Church of God now in this world.
And our our place in in the world as heavenly strangers.
How many?
Recommend that we.
Get involved in the political system and try to improve things. That is not our place down here, brethren.
Christianity is not a moral force to build a better world. That's not our place down here. Our place is to bear the name of Christ, to gather according to His word as members of the body of Christ.
And to value the truth that has been left to us handed down. Timothy there was given the truth by Paul. He was told to stir up the gift that was in him. And I'm glad to see that the young brothers here are being stirred up because we all need it. Neglect not the gift that is in thee. You may have a gift.
And it may be latent, Mr. Darby said.
If there is more devotedness among us, there would be more gift. That's rather strange expression. Does it mean that devotedness brings gift? No, he didn't mean that. He meant that if we were exercised to follow the Lord more devotedly, our gifts would be manifested in the assembly. If you have a gift, that is your.
That is your guarantee or your.
Your rights, and I don't like to use the word right, is your.
Authority to to exercise that gift.
To use it for the benefit, not of yourself. The gift wasn't given for yourself. It was given to build up the Lords people. You can be a help. I can look back on some brethren in Ottawa years ago. They didn't have a great gift.
Publicly, but their presence in the meeting, Their warm handshake.
Their participation, perhaps not in large measure, was an encouragement to me to this very day. So what do we bring to the assembly? We're all always occupied about what we get there, which is all right, we should have.
Have teaching that encourages and builds us up, but are we exercised to bring something to the assembly?
00:10:00
Christianity is characterized by what it brings, not by what it finds, Mr. Darby said. Well, if you go back to the book of Exodus without turning to it, but maybe I'll just refer to the chapter there in Exodus chapter 33, because.
It touches on the same aspect of things.
In Zechariah, the Lord pointed them on to the day when the Kingdom would be established in all its glory. Don't look at things as they are now. You'll be discouraged. Look on to that day.
At the judgment seat of Christ, when there will be a reward for faithfulness.
And when we can have an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As I said yesterday, it's not an abundant entrance into heaven. We all will have that. But our place in the coming Kingdom will be according to our walk down here.
And that's the abundant entrance that the Apostle Peter is referring to.
Those who?
Have lived for eternal things, for the glory of Christ. Have not compromised the truth. Have remained gathered to the Lorde name, though it may be in much weakness.
And we see that all around us were conscious of it in ourselves, but like Joshua in Exodus 33, verse seven, And Moses took the Tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, a far off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congreg.
Which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the Tabernacle. And he came to pass. As Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the Tabernacle. And the Lord talked with Moses.
Now.
Sin, very serious sin, idolatry had come into the nation of Israel.
And because of that, Moses took the Tabernacle, Speaking of the presence of the Lord, and he pictured a far off from the camp, and Joshua, the young man who was the servant there. In order for him to enjoy the presence of the Lord, he had to go outside the cap. The Tabernacle was no longer in the midst of that camp that was defiled by sin and idolatry.
And in large measure.
In Christendom there is.
Corruption and things.
Teachings, I won't say they're truths, teachings that are dishonouring to the name of Christ. For instance, to say that the Lord could sin, although he did not, is really blasphemy. But this is commonplace in evangelical Christendom today. The camp was where all the people were. And you might say, well, Moses went into the camp.
Yes he did. And you remember the occasion when Eldad and me dad said he came to Moses and said.
There are those that are prophesying in the camp.
Or Joshua I guess said there's those that are prophesying in the camp, Moses forbid them to do that. And Moses took a very humble spirit and he said would to God that all the Lords people were prophets. But the point is God is sovereign and.
Joshua was told to go outside the camp and to meet there, where the Lord had placed His name, outside of that whole system of things that had been defiled by idolatry.
And our position is outside the camp. To brethren, what is the camp? It's the religious system that we have around us.
Composed of innumerable denominations and sex, it's all part of the camp.
00:15:04
It's a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. That's really what the camp is now.
At this time it was Judaism, and Paul could say in Galatians, if I build again the things that once I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. You're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you go back into the camp.
And join yourself with that system of things. You make yourself a transgressor. And yet we look back on the history and the background. We see how many at one time were gathered. I can look back a number of years in Ottawa. Many of my friends that I worked with in the gospel, Ernest Nice Christians, are no longer gathered to the Lord's name.
Where are they while they're in?
Different associations, but they're no longer gathered according to scripture.
And this is a voice to each one of us.
There's no guarantee that we will finish our days gathered to the Lord's name if we are not walking independence upon the Lord in obedience to His Word.
In self judgment so needful, and in fellowship with our brethren.
In happy accord. Well, God is sovereign. Moses was in the camp.
And he was prophesying there. Umm.
And God is sovereign, and he can use whomever he will.
In the camp we have to leave that with the Lord, but our position is obedience to what God has given to us. Don't take out the measuring line and look at things as you see them. Perhaps you say, is there anything being done here? It's so small and insignificant, but does it have the approval of the Lord?
It's not what man says that's going to count brethren at the judgment seat of Christ.
It's the approval of the Lord that will mean everything to us. That's what we should seek now, not the approval of men.
That might make us feel good for a while, but we want the approval of the Lord. And to finish, I want to just look at a few verses in Malachi. We're all familiar with these verses, I'm sure.
Uh, Malachiya?
Is very analogous to the book of Jude. They go together, they complement each other in Malachiah. You just have to read the first few chapters to see the carelessness and the indifference to the glory of the Lord. They wouldn't open the gates of the temple unless you pay me. They were offering to the Lord.
The wounded and those animals that were blemished.
The glory of the Lord was forgotten by the priest. The priesthood was defiled. Just read chapters one and two. The Lords love for them hadn't changed because it begins right here at the I have loved you, saith the Lord. His love for them hadn't changed.
But they were in a sad condition, very similar to what we have in Christendom depicted in the book of Jude. But I'm looking at the third chapter here, which we are all familiar with.
I we're 16, then they've feared the Lord.
Spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spare with his own son that serveth him.
When I was young, jewels were always portrayed.
On black velvet, you may have different means now if you wanted to bring out the luster of a jewel.
You have to arrange your lighting in a special way and usually was on black velvet when I was a boy and it would it would shine brilliantly.
But you know, brethren, that we are jewels in His crown, and we're precious to Him and this little company amidst all this confusion.
00:20:09
And evil that had come into the outward testimony of of Israel. There was a little company that feared the Lord.
That thought upon his name, that gave him his rightful place.
That spoke of him, that umm.
Thought of Him. Do you know you sisters that were present this morning at the breaking of bread? You don't take part. That would be disobedience. But every thought that you had upon the name of the Lord this morning is recorded.
And the brothers too. Every thought that we have had about the Lord Jesus today is in the book of remembrance.
And you know what? The judgment seat of Christ.
Book of Remembrance is going to be opened and there will be the record of everything that you and I have done in our lives.
You know it's possible to have a saved soul and a lost life. None of us want to end up like that.
I could cite examples, but they're probably well known.
Lot was a man who lived for present advantage. He lifted up his eyes and looked, but not any further than the horizon of this world and the well watered plains of.
Of Palestine at that time.
What a sad ending you want had A child of God no doubt will meet him in the glory. I have no doubt of that. A saved soul, yes, but a lost life.
And he lived for this world.
He didn't live for eternal things. He got himself into that wicked city of Sodom. He picked up a woman along the way. I don't know, He seemed to be moving from city to city. He never, he never rested in one place, but he ended up as a judge and saw them as we know, and he was just pulled out and saved by the skin of his teeth.
And he had a shameful end.
Do you want an end in your life like that? I'm sure you don't. Let us remember, brethren, that what we have done for Christ is recorded. Everything else is going to be burned up.
But there's going to be a lot of.
A lot of a great pile in my life that no doubt will go up in flames, but there might be some precious jewel stone precious stones left.
Gold, silver, those things that speak of Christ and His interests. What you do for the Lord, it doesn't need to be publicized to others. God has taken note of that. He's not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.
It's all recorded in that book of remembrance, how you Live Today.
And the book is going to be opened and there's going to be rewards given the judgment seat of Christ, not the judgment of your person. No, your sins have been put away by the blood of Christ. Your persons will never be judged. Those sins that we have committed and were ashamed of by the amount of sins that been put away.
Through the work of our Lord Jesus at the cross, his blood is cleansed us. That's our title to glory. The light of God can't discern any uncleanness in the believer, but our walk and our ways are a different thing.
For the young people, just a simple illustration, you go to an art or an art show or an art display, or it might be to.
Country fair and there you see baked goods and.
Embroidery and so on that is being displayed. The judges come along and they taste that food and they put a ribbon first, first, maybe a cash prize or whatever it is, first, second, third. They're not condemning that those those artifacts, they're not condemning them.
But they are rewarding.
Faithful laborers. And that's what it will be like at the IT will be at the judgment seat of Christ. It's not like in a Court of Justice where a person is before the authority for some misdemeanor that he has done some crime. That's not the way in which we will stand.
00:25:15
At the judgment seat of Christ.
But as we read in the 2nd Corinthians 5, just look at that verse in closing, there will be a review.
You might say a manifestation.
Of our lives, check 2nd Corinthians 5.
This motivated the apostle Paul, one of the strongest motivations. Verse 9. Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be, it should be acceptable to him, For we must all appear before the judgment seek of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that He hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Well, the judgment seat of Christ here is in the in the general sense. This takes in the great white throne as well.
But in relation to believers, it's not a judicial size, no, but it is a manifestation of our walk, of our ways, of our service. All this is going to come up.
And the Lord will delight to reward that which was for His glory, in obedience to His Word. Even our motives will be.
Revealed as First Corinthians 4 brings before us may do the right thing with the wrong Motish anyway the judgment seat of Christ.
Will reveal.
Our whole lives.
Not only since we were saved, but everything in our lives from because you were in the body from the time that you were born. You weren't responsible at that time. But it says here everyone may receive things done in the body. So you're in the body from the time you were born. Anyway, it's going to do several things. It's going to magnify the grace of God.
As never before, it's going to fill our hearts with praise for all eternity as we think that the Lord in His wondrous grace would reward our feeble endeavor, which is only by His grace anyway. But He's going to delight to reward us for that. I believe the judgment seat of Christ will take place shortly after the Rapture. The Rapture may occur tonight. I hope it does.
And I think the judgment seat of Christ will take place soon after, because if you look in Revelation 4.
They have their crowns when heaven is open, they have their crowns. Of course we're going to cast our crowns at the Lords feet. Well, just one more point and I'm finished. Gone too long already.
I I think of one other character.
And I'll just close with a brief comment. The judgment seat of Christ motivated the apostle Paul as as nothing else could. Another thing the judgment seat of Christ will do is solve many of those problems in your life. Why has the Lord allowed this in my life? I tried to serve him. I've got this infirmity.
And I can't seem to get over it and other everyone.
Has things in their lives they cannot understand why the Lord has allowed it. We look at Brother Bruce Anstey, such a valuable servant of the Lord.
He's fairly handicapped now with that condition.
The Lord is still using him. One other reference, Jonathan. Jonathan truly loved David. Remember, he saw the head of the giant come off and he stripped himself of his royal robes. He was the son of a king.
And he gave everything to David, his bow and his arrow, as much as to say, David, if you can deliver us from Goliath, you can look after what's in the future. You know, the bow and arrow speaks of the future. Some of us are concerned what's going to happen in the future, the unknown. We get worried. That's like me, we get worried. Am I going to be able to meet this problem that I can see looming in the distance? Leave it with the Lord.
00:30:00
Put your bow and arrow into his hand and remember we've been noticing in Ottawa.
The sisters said who's going to roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre because it's great. It was a difficulty in their minds. They couldn't see how they could overcome it. When they arrived, the stone was rolled away. Maybe that particular.
Dread in your life that you you know it's in the distance and you don't know if you can meet it. Committed to the Lord and when you come.
To the situation, you could very well find that the stone has been rolled away and the Lord has undertaken for you in a marvelous way. Jonathan is in the glory. Jonathan went out, encouraged David, they wept together and he said, David, I know you're going to be king and I'm going to be next to you.
You're going to have the Kingdom. You're the Lord's anointed. That never happened.
Jonathan returned to his father's court. That was his problem. He thought he could change. His father couldn't change us all. He was an unregenerate man and he returned to the comforts of the court. And his end was very humiliating because he lost his life to the Philistines, Philistines. And they nailed his wall to the.
Nails his body to the wall of Bashan. Really a humiliating end for a servant of the Lord.
And when?
When David.
Record, I think this is referred to, recorded to his mighty men, those who had shared his rejection.
Which we should be willing to do when the when David recorded his mighty men in Second Samuel.
In 2324, Jonathan's name is conspicuous by its absence. There's one place there that is blank, that is not filled in. We don't know who it was. Was it Job, was it Jonathan? We don't know. But Jonathans name is not given in that list. And yet he loved David as his own soul. Well, I leave these few thoughts with us, brethren, and in concluding to the young people, I don't want to talk.
To you, but I've been gathered many years.
With many failures, but I say to you, you are in a place of great blessing to be gathered to the Lord's name and to have the precious written ministry.
At your disposal? Are you availing yourself of it? When you're young, you can take it in much better than at my age.
And are you availing yourself of this precious truth that you won't find in the camp, in the systems of men, and remain where the Lord has put His name? You dear sisters who labor behind the scenes for us, God has reported it all in the book of Remembrance, and it's going to be open someday. And a reward will be given far beyond our expectation. And it will all.
To His glory and praise, thank you.
318.
Our Walk With the Lord
Open—Robert Boulard
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
351380.
And.
Spin it.
He didn't even know himself ringside, standing in the beginning, and glory and joy and joy, Lord and Spirit.
00:05:11
The first one in Ezekiel chapter 13 and verse 3.
Thus saith the Lord God. Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.
First Corinthians.
Chapter 14.
First Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 29.
Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge if anything be revealed to another listed by Let the first hold his peace.
For ye may all prophecy one by one, that all may learn.
Might just turn to Amos chapter 3 verse 3.
Just the last part of verse 3.
I have it on my heart a burden on my heart just to speak of the our walk individually with the Lord just to walk with him and it says there in Amos chapter 3 verse three, can two walk together except they be agreed.
That's one thing, you know, to take the Lord Jesus as our Savior and acknowledge that we were sinners and to receive him as our Savior.
And to have a sense that our sins are forgiven.
That were purged worshippers, we can come freely into the presence of the Lord.
But it's another, you know, just to walk day by day with the Lord.
My brother was just speaking this morning.
And Speaking of how he got up one morning and he didn't read the word of God.
Didn't have time or things got in the way.
And it didn't happen, didn't happen in the morning, it didn't seem to happen at night. And a day went by.
Didn't happen.
You know the Lord desires communion with his people above it all. He doesn't desire service from his people. He will accept service and He will give us work to do a little service for himself. But what he desires most is communion with himself. And here he says.
Can two walk together?
Except they be agreed.
And I have to ask myself, and perhaps we each need to ask ourselves, are we agreed to walk with the Lord Jesus?
In the way that he walked.
And to walk in communion with him in the wilderness scene that we live in, we sang that him just at the beginning of this meeting in connection with the wilderness way. And the Lord knows that the path that the Saints are treading. So with that, let's just look at a couple of examples. I'd like to just turn to Genesis chapter 5 and read a couple of verses in connection with Enoch.
Then we'll look at some passages in the New Testament.
Chapter 5 of Genesis, verse 21. Enoch lives sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years.
And begat sons and daughters all the days of Enoch, worth 360 and five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Well, we know that he was the 7th from Adam.
And he was a righteous man, we know that.
At 65 years old, he begot a son. He was a father. He begat a son.
And it says that at that time he begat, he began to walk.
With the Lord.
He walked with God after he begat Methuselah. And so there's a sense of responsibility, those of us that are fathers, those of us that are parents, and we recognize that there is going to be an example set before our young. They're going to see whether we're walking with God one step at at a time, one day at a time. And it's going to be very evident if we're spending time in the presence of the Lord, so.
00:10:10
Our brother said he didn't. He got up one morning.
And I confess the same thing. Maybe you've done it as well. Got up, was busy, there were things to do. The phone rang. Whatever it might be.
And we didn't spend that time in the presence of the Lord.
Enoch walked with God and he walked with God. 300 years, you don't know and I don't know how many days we have left in this scene. You know, we're given 3 score in 10 years, 70 years, natural, normal lifetime. You might say it's.
25,550 days.
One day at a time.
And you know, I thought I'm not a very good example, but I thought in the mornings when I open up the word of God and just read a little passage of Scripture.
Sitting down in the presence of the Lord, just reading something of the word of God before the day gets busy and before.
Different circumstances come in and interrupt the thoughts interrupt.
I'm sitting there reading and the Lord is speaking with me.
And by his spirit just bringing different things to me and we're enjoying different things together, we might say.
And then, you know, comes a time when I have to set the Bible aside and have to get on with life, have to get on with the the day before me, have a little word of prayer.
And ask the Lord for help to have a sense of his presence, to have a sense of his presence. He says, I am lo, I am with you always, even under the end of the age. He is with us. We don't need to pray that he would be with us. He is with us, but we do need to pray that we will have a sense of his presence.
As we walk through the day, but I just say this, I have to consciously remind myself.
To desire to walk with the Lord that particular day, that very day to.
Have spent a little bit of time in the Word of God before the day begins, and then to begin to rise up, and then to take one step at a time.
In the presence of the Lord, to walk with God one day at a time. Well, how did he walk? How did the Lord Jesus walk when he was here? What characterized his walk?
Why is it important to walk with the Lord?
Well, if we turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter four, we might just look at some of the things that characterize the Lord and ask ourselves, would we be agreed to walk in the same way?
Would we be agreed to walk in the same character as he walked?
Let's read the first few verses and then make a few comments.
Matthew chapter 4, verse one. Then was Jesus LED up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command, let these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and sayeth unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Jesus said unto him.
It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain showed showeth him all the kingdoms of the world.
And the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get the Hence Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And the devil. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came.
And ministered unto him.
So the Lord Jesus was tempted of the devil. We know that he was tested in these three different ways, the less of the flesh, the less of the eyes, the pride of life. He was tested in every way, sin apart, and it proved His deity, it proved His Holiness, it proved the fact that He was he had a nature without sin didn't prove it to God.
00:15:13
Proved it to man. Proved that this was a man, the head of a new creation race.
And now you and I are a part of that new creation race and we can walk in the same path. We're indwelled with the Spirit of God and we have the power to live a new life.
But the Lord Jesus, you know.
Fasted for 40 days, there was a testing.
He wouldn't eat unless his father provided food. He walked with his father, he walked in fellowship with his father. So was a day he was in the wilderness and there wasn't any food provided that one day.
Night fell morning.
No food that day either.
No food night came.
No food. Third day.
There was number food. His father didn't provide that food and he wouldn't reach out and take it. He fasted in the wilderness.
He fasted 40 days, 40 nights. You know, there was a brother in our assembly.
When he was a young man he hitchhiked across Canada and he said he was a young man. His father had died when he was young.
And he said, you know, he, he was in Banff, Albert, Alberta, he didn't have any food. And the third day, that's all he could think of was food. The 4th day, that's all he could think of is food where he could get some food. How he he was thinking about how hungry he was.
And it wasn't, I think, until the 5th day that he got some food.
But the Lord Jesus would not reach out and take anything that God didn't give him. I wonder if we would follow the Lord if we would walk with him in this character. Would we walk with the Lord Jesus and not take something that he wouldn't give us?
You know, we live in a day, a Society of instant gratification, and I want it now. And it's drive up banking and drive up the food and everything else. But you know, I don't want to take Scripture out of context. But if we turn to I think it's First Corinthians chapter four, we have a little statement there made by the apostle Paul.
Says in verse seven, chapter four, First Corinthians, verse seven, Who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now without his receive it, Why does thou glory as if thou hast not received it? So that just this little expression, what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
To be able to walk with the Lord Jesus in companionship with the Lord Jesus.
We're going to have to exercise self-discipline, self judgment, and not to reach out and take those things that he doesn't give us from his heart of love and to in the sense ask permission for those things that we need that we would desire.
I'm not a good example in any of these things, I'm not saying that, but.
You know, I have a little habit in the morning when I get up in the morning. Maybe you have the same habit.
I just asked the Lord, what should I wear today?
What? What should I wear? I've got a closet full of clothes, what should I wear?
And justice, seeking the presence of the Lord just to take something that would be suitable for the day, for the activities of the day, and so on.
And so it's normal for us to ask the Lord for those things that we need and to await independence upon him, and not to reach out and take those things that he does not provide us. And so in one of these, in this character of things, we can walk with the Lord, We can walk with him step in step.
And we can wait for Him to provide what we need. The blessed Savior wouldn't take anything, not even bread. And He wouldn't take those stones and turn them into bread.
As a perfect holy dependent man.
He wouldn't do it.
And so it's an example for us to walk with the Lord and not take those things that He doesn't provide for us, even though we're tempted. And perhaps we have the resources to go and buy them or whatever it is. But to have a true sense in our souls that we can receive something from His heart of love. Isn't it wonderful to think of how the Lord loves us? He delights in us. He delights to provide for us, provide for our needs.
00:20:16
But the Lord Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Well, it's a wonderful thing to be able to take up the word of God in the morning. Particularly is perhaps some of us enjoy our morning reading more than anything during the day, but to get a little refreshment for our souls in the morning in the presence of the Lord. And life is not about things. Life, the Lord Jesus says, consisteth not in the abundance of the things which a man hath.
Life is to what is really life. To lay hold of life, eternal life is to lay hold of Christ and the things that have to do with him and his rights and his interests in this world. That's what life is really about. And so to have the word of God before us as necessary, Well, the devil, taking them up into a holy city, sat at the Mount of Pinnacle of the Temple.
Save them in himmoths I'll be the Son of God. Cast thyself down.
For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning the You know, the devil left off a little part of that verse. It says, to keep thee in all thy ways.
That's missing in the quotation.
In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at anytime thou dash thy foot. Jesus said unto him, and is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Well, in this character we walk with the Lord, we get up in the morning, we read the word of God, We spend a little time in the presence of the Lord, desire him to speak with us.
And we speak with him, we rise, and we leave that place, and we begin to walk through the day and have a sense of the presence of the Lord as we walk.
But do we tempt the Lord in a sense to go and put ourselves in a situation that we would we shouldn't be in?
Into a place that is contrary to His word, to the instruction in his word. If I could just give one example.
As a young person.
Do I Is there a young man that's showing an interest in a young lady but he's not a believer? Is there a young man who has an interest in a young lady and she's not a believer?
Is tempting the Lord, Is putting yourself in a place of danger and expecting the Lord to deliver you in that place of danger to begin that kind of a relationship, because it's contrary to the instruction of the Word of God and it's contrary to the heart of God that you would have a companion for life.
That would not be pulling in the same direction as you, that you would be in an unequal yoke, and so.
In this way we can.
Be presumptuous in what we do and the course of action that we take. And so we were not to put ourselves in the course, in a course of disobedience to the Word of God, and contrary to what the Word of God teaches, and then expect to be delivered.
I think we all know, perhaps those of us that are younger or older.
Some that have dated.
An unsaved person and eventually felt obligated or or the heart was allowed to.
Become engaged and then they were married, and then there wasn't that fruit for God.
In their lives and they were not delivered from that situation and then had to suffer for it during their lives. Well, the Lord Jesus, are we going to walk with him? Are we going to choose to walk in companionship with him? Can two walk together except they be agreed? And they're wonderful to have a sense of the presence of the Lord as you walk through the scene and then make those kinds of decisions.
And then walk with a partner in life.
Has faith in God. You know, I think of how when I was a young man, used to read the word of God alone in the morning and at night.
And.
Used to pray alone and then I got married May the 2nd 1981 and then I had one who I could read with. I could read the scriptures with my wife. I could pray with my wife.
00:25:05
I could walk in the path of faith with my wife.
I could walk, we could walk together in fellowship with the Lord. And now there was a new team, there was a new responsibility, but there was a new.
A new fellowship, a new relationship that I could share, but share with the Lord. You know, there's life is filled with those relationships, our brother read in Romans chapter 16 of Aquila and Priscilla. This young couple, I take it that they perhaps were a little bit younger or perhaps they were never told that they had any family, they had any children.
But they labored together and served the Lord, and walked with God together.
They had the assembly in their hosts together, They labored together. What a team. The Spirit of God records them in the Scripture six times. Aquila is mentioned three times first, Priscilla three times first. But that was a team and they walked with God one step at a time. And so there are different things that we could do that might tempt the Lord and might walk, might not be able to walk in communion with Him, not walk.
With his word and with his person, then he speaks of the other thing that the devil did, took him into an exceeding high mountain, showing all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
Set unto him, All these things will I give thee, and if thou will fall down and worship me, then saith the Lord unto him, and then say Jesus unto him, Get the hence Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Well, you might say I never would think of being involved in any satanic worship, never involved in idolatry or anything like that. I have no idea. No, no intention.
But we live in a world that is Satan's world. He's the God of it religiously, and he's the Prince of it.
Politically and in every other way, he's raised up a system of things politically.
In the business world, entertainment wise, it's all independent of God. And then you and I are called to walk through this scene in fellowship with the Lord and he never touched a bit of it. He said I know what is in the heart of man. He didn't need anyone to tell him what was in man, for he knew what was in man and he wouldn't walk in fellowship with that system and the things.
Time and time again in the gospel, he withdrew.
Went into Galilee among the working class of those that were in his day, and he walked with them. He walked in fellowship with those that were of humble nature, humble in their.
Outlook humble in their circumstances.
And so here there may be a temptation for us to reach out and to.
Seek better circumstances for could put it that way in our work circumstances seek better circumstances in connection with our standing and.
Wealth in this world, all those things, this world had no attraction to the Lord Jesus. He was the head of a new creation race, and all of those things had no attraction to him. But if you and I walked with the Lord Jesus one step at a time in fellowship with that man of Calvary.
Who always did those things that please his father if we desire to walk in fellowship with him.
Agreed with Him to walk in this world and seek His glory and the blessing of His people, and to desire and to value communion with Him.
Then we won't be reaching out and seeking some of those things for ourselves that having that aspiration for power and position and.
Wealth in this world, something that would be in independence of himself, that world system that.
Crucified him that rejected him, said we will not have this man to reign over us. And so you and I can be agreed to walk with the Lord Jesus in this character as well.
This world did not appropriate him in any way and so he walked day by day. If I just would point another couple of passages of scripture I just want to read in the 102nd Psalm.
00:30:06
Verse 6.
I'm like a Pelican of the wilderness, and like an owl of the desert, I watch, and then as a Sparrow alone upon the housetop. Mine enemies reproach me all the day. They that are mad against me are sworn against me.
Well, you know, the Lord Jesus came into this world. He left those courts of glory where he had enjoyed communion with his Father.
In a past eternity, and when he was about to leave, he said in John's Gospel, chapter 17, he says, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So we have that relationship before the foundation of the world. But he desired that you and I would be with him.
And we will be with him.
For all eternity. But His desire is for you and I to walk in fellowship with him and to be agreed with him.
In our doctrine, in our path, in how we conduct ourselves, to be agreed with Him and to walk with Him one step at a time, one day at a time. In this world. He was alone. A Sparrow I watch, and a mess of Sparrow alone. And so he bore the cross in his.
Alone upon the Cross, another little passage in Mark's Gospel chapter one.
But he desires your company and mine.
Verse 35 Mark chapter one in the morning, rising up a great while before a day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed the Lord Jesus alone. And before the day began he spent time in the presence of his Father, and he got the instructions for the day. And then he was able to rise up and begin his day and to walk in fellowship with his Father. He always had.
Of the presence of His Father. He always did those things that pleased him, but you and I can have that same relationship with Him. We can rise up after we spent a few minutes perhaps in the presence of the Lord in the Word of God, and we can have a sense of rising up and having some.
Instructions from him and to go and walk that one day in fellowship with himself.
Maybe just another little passage.
I was thinking of Revelation chapter 3, those that were despised of the Roman Church.
Had come out of Really.
The Roman Church and Protestantism now in Sardis, and he says this in verse four, chapter 3, Revelation verse 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
Is there any better person to walk with than to walk with the Lord Jesus?
Is there any better person? Would you give up a walk in communion with the Lord Jesus, fellowship with him, to be able to have companionship with any other individual? He is the one whom we should desire to have a sense of fellowship with and a desire to walk with and in a future day. You know those folks, those dear brethren during the.
Reformation and just passed just after the Reformation.
So ridiculed and maligned. Persecuted by the Roman Church.
Were alone, they felt alone and the Lord said that they would walk with Him, Walk with me in white, for they are worthy and the Lord will recognize it. So maybe you feel alone. Maybe you feel you come from a small assembly. You feel the loneliness of what it is to be maybe only the only young person in your assembly. Whatever it might be, you feel alone. Wasn't wonderful to have a sense of the presence of the Lord and to know that He values your company, He.
That when you have a desire to walk with Him just that one day, one day at a time, and to walk in obedience to His Word. And so just with these few thoughts, particularly in connection with Matthew's Gospel chapter 4, to exercise our hearts in connection with being agreed to walk with the Lord.
00:35:08
In separation unto himself, not desiring to have fellowship with that.
Which was opposed to him and to walk Independence Day by day.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Praise the Lord is made our own.
Love you so great divine.
Bahasa.
It will be great.
Gather joy.
Before the grown up crazy life.
Why don't your father's name?
I'm not. I'm not.
We praise when.
We go by myself.
As you hear.
Doesn't feel continue on in Ephesians or.
Most.
I think there's still much to get from this chapter. Might start at verse 15, but we could maybe comment a little bit on verse 14 again if it's necessary. Ephesians chapter one beginning with verse 15.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.
And what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us? Word. Who will believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come?
And have put all things under his feet.
To be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all. If anyone had.
Any questions on what we've previously gone over? I just encourage you don't, don't be afraid to ask just because it seems like it's going back a few verses. I do have a question I'd like to ask and that has to do with previous verse, verse 7.
Where it speaks about forgiveness of sins.
My question is related to that and what it says in Romans 4 that God justifies the ungodly. Is there a difference between justification and forgiveness?
And what kind of bothers me a bit is how can an ungodly person be justified? Well, in the the short answer is there is a difference. These are two different doctrines, two different terms that the Spirit of God uses. And to teach us really the magnitude of the work of Christ and justification really is to place us in a new legal standing before God. We have a new.
00:05:18
Standing before God.
On a righteous basis. And it's God that justifies the Sinner. We don't justify ourselves. And by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified, the Scriptures say. And so it's a new standing before God. We're justified by God because of the work of Christ, and our sins are taken care of according to the righteousness and the holy standards of God. Forgiveness is a new position, a new.
Viewpoint You might say we were guilty before God. We were sinners. We were born in sin and shape and iniquity. By nature and by practice we were sinners. We were guilty before God.
And because of the work of Christ, because Christ died upon the cross of Calvary and bore the judgment for my sins on the cross, in those three long dark hours, bore the strokes of judgment. And he said, it is finished. Then He shed his blood, the soul that sinneth, that shall die. He died in my stead. I didn't know that. And it wasn't preached to me until I was saved that He died in my stead. He was my substitute, but He was.
My substitute, I learned that afterwards. And so God on a righteous basis, now looks at me and he says I'm not guilty anymore. Not guilty. That's what it means. You're forgiven. So he's forgiven your sins and he looks at you as not guilty because someone else paid the price.
Might just illustrate it. There was a man that in Napoleon this time and they would go to war and the young men, if they had enough money and they were conscripted, they were drafted into the French army. They could pay another young man to go in their stead. And so this young man was wealthy. He was drafted into the army and he said.
He paid some other poor young man to go in his stead, and so he had to serve his term. And if he survived his term, then he would be released and so on. Well, he died on the battlefield. And then the French government, the draft board, sent him another draft notice. The rich man, rich young man, he said, you can't do that. He says I already.
Served the guy that I went out for me. He died. And no, they said no, you have to come. So he appealed to Napoleon himself. He's the two men.
One from the draft board. And this fellow that was drafted stood before the draft before Napoleon and Napoleon heard the case, he says. You can't draft this man.
He's dead hit. The guy that went in his stead is dead. He's free. He can never be drafted. He stands in a new position and so he could never be drafted. And so, you know, God has delighted to give us peace with him, to know that we're justified before him. We have a new legal standing. We can never face him as a judge. It's impossible because the Lord Jesus faced God as a judge.
And he sees us as no longer guilty. And so, I mean, that's a simplified thought that simplified it.
An explanation, maybe someone else has other comment to make, I might just add to that there. We used to when we were younger. We used to read the Bible dictionary, the Concise Bible dictionary. There's some good definitions in the Concise Bible Dictionary.
And Brother Bruce Antsy has written a little book, well 350 pages, and he calls it doctrinal definition. And so he goes through the definitions of these different doctrines of Christianity very thoroughly and in very simple language with lots of scripture references. And so isn't it marvelous, all these terms that the Spirit of God uses to tell us as the magnitude, the degree of accuracy?
That God has dealt with incompleteness.
Our sins and has brought us into us complete a blessing as is possible. And so all of these scriptural terms are very distinct and they're given to us not just for our head knowledge but to enjoy in our hearts. Can you imagine being forgiven but not knowing the heart of God? He said you're forgiven. You've never ever.
00:10:09
Feel comfortable because you'd wonder, well, what's my position before him? I'm forgiven, but.
Is he ever going to mention this before me again? Is it I'm going to be called into a court of law again? And no, he says you're justified. There's a new legal position that you have before him. You'll never face him as a judge. And his heart is now 100% for you. Are we able to move on, Darryl? Feel like you've had a question Answers.
Good. Well, it's fine. It was a good answer 1St 15.
We have faith and love and faith in the Lord Jesus is closely tied to.
Love of the Saints, that is, love of one another. Love of one another as believers.
Because if we say we have faith in the Lord and we ignore His top commandment, that's a contradiction.
His top commandments that you love one another as I have loved you.
And so faith in the Lord Jesus cannot be separated in any way.
And love for one another.
It is also true that that atmosphere of love amongst.
One another.
Is the.
It's the preparation or the right environment for God to reveal truth.
Letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and three. Philadelphia means brotherly love.
And it is to that assembly that he opens the window of heaven and reveals so much truth.
A door that he opens, no man can shut.
And so.
That is the atmosphere that God is looking for in order to reveal truth. It's evidence of divine life as well, isn't it? And so the apostle Paul heard of their love, their faith, and their love unto all the Saints. So God is love. And it showed that they had divine life. They were sealed with the Spirit of God, and now it showed. I was thinking of First Thessalonians chapter one.
And how the apostle Paul there could speak in verse three, he says, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father and our Father. Knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God.
So those things go together. Faith, love, hope.
And their evidence of divine life. And so the apostle Paul this epistle, this chapter perhaps could be divided into two parts and really the second part begins with that verse, that 15th verse or maybe the 16th in connection with the apostles doxology really after going through these 14 verses and having the truth of God, that secret, that mystery that God had this.
Knowledge.
And how he was going to bless human beings, men and women of the Gentiles that were dogs of the Gentiles, worthless, had no knowledge of him.
Without God, without hope in this world, he says a little later on. Strangers from the covenants of promise given to Israel, They were absolutely nothing, a bunch of zeros.
And Paul says now what God has done for his own pleasure is quicken those souls, quickened you, given you life, spoken to you.
And sealed with the Spirit, you're indwelled with the Spirit of God. And then he's told you about all these blessings that are yours. All heavenly, Nothing connected with this earth. You don't have any earthly blessings. You don't have any earthly hopes. You don't have anything here that's just transient. It's all in heaven. Heavenly hope, heavenly inheritance, heavenly. I know the inheritance is in two parts, that which is our heavenly portion, and.
Also what we're going to share with Christ and the universe.
00:15:04
An earthly portion, Earthly inheritance.
But really, he's brought us into the blessing of all of these things. He's revealed it a secret. And then Paul says at the end of this chapter, he just burst out in praise. He just can't contain himself.
And it should have the same effect in our hearts. We should not return home the same way that we came here.
We should, after reading these things and meditating upon them, chewing the cut ourselves.
We should marvel that God would look upon us and bless us in such a way, but it's only in our blessing, is only in connection with our association with Christ. Well, it shows too that Paul was a man of prayer, wasn't he? In verse 16 he ceased not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. And what was he asking? That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him.
The eyes of your understanding, I think it's the eyes of your heart being enlightened that you may know three things. What is the hope of His calling? What the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints? And verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power? So three things, and they all start with what He wanted us to know.
And to have our hearts taken up with those things.
I could just back up to the.
Last maybe verse 15 again, it says wherefore also after I heard of your faith and there's a lot of a lot of individuals in this room. And you might say that there's a very, there's a, there's a varied amount or condition of faith in the room. Some, some are, are just laying hold of things and, and I, I do believe that.
Faith does grow as it's exercised, but faith is is a gift of God if if you can, if you can, if it's faith in the Lord Jesus. So if you're if you have realized that the Lord Jesus is the source of your blessing and his work is what has made it possible for you to enjoy this relationship with this God who wants to bless.
So immensely that that faith that you have and the reason why you have this.
Things have begun to.
Become real in your soul is because of the work of God. It's a it's it's faith is is is a gift and it doesn't.
We don't have to be occupied about how with how much faith we have. Faith is the ability to enter into that which our natural 5 senses have no capability of entering into our Our natural 5 senses will help us to see and understand what is real.
With in the in the environment in which we now live, we use our five senses to know what is real in this environment. But faith is 1/6 sense. That is a gift of God, and it makes what the word of God says real to our hearts. And So what a wonderful thing it is that the apostle Paul could address these people and speak of their faith.
And their love, it was a work of God. And today we're here.
Because God has given us the ability to enter into spiritual things, this this book we hold in our hand gives us the understanding of who God is. Faith gives us the ability to lay hold of it and be able to consider it as real as what those five senses.
Make real in a natural sense. I just thought I'd try to break down that that.
Sense of what faith is for us and maybe the younger ones would appreciate.
Sometimes we might get a little discouraged that maybe our faith is weak.
00:20:03
But God will increase our faith as we read His word and seek to walk in obedience to it. Faith, that says is the evidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things in the Hebrews.
The substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.
So when we read the word of God, it has substance because it's the word of God. I might say next week I plan to go to take a trip to somewhere and it doesn't bear any substance to it because a lot of things can happen between now and next week. I may not get to go for a number of reasons. And I should say Lord willing anyway, as a Christian, it's a Lord. The Lord wants me to go, then he'll open the door for me to go.
But just everyday life with those that are not believers, they have faith in things too, but it has no substance to it. It's not a it's not a a guarantee. But when we read the word of God and what God says has substance to it, we can believe it because it's true and it's also the evidence of things not seen.
We know by faith.
That we're going to be with the Lord Jesus. We know that because the Word of God tells us that. And so the Spirit of God makes that good to my soul.
I have that evidence through the Spirit of God that I'm going to be with Christ because it's written in His Word.
So faith is natural. Faith has no substance and there's no evidence to it. But godly faith has substance and evidence attached to it. The world uses that term faith, and you can believe in anything you want. Might be real, might not be, but the biblical.
Term of faith What biblical faith is is it's.
I can reword what Brother Phil said. It's the ability to apprehend things that are real.
But which cannot be apprehended with our five senses.
But they are real. Biblical faith is in things that are real. So the apostle is going to, at the end of the chapter, introduce something else. Up to this point, he's taken up those blessings that are ours individually, but he's going to go on in this book to that which is collective. And this little, these two little verses before his prayer really bring before us.
That there's a collective side of things that includes all the Saints and a love for all the Saints. And so now he's going to take that up. And so the truth of the one body of Christ, of which we're all members of the Church of God.
In in carrying that truth out practically involves a love for all the Saints. And then in his second prayer you get in chapter 3, verse 18.
May be able to comprehend or apprehend because we never comprehend that is completely thoroughly understand every detail, but we get a hold of it. We apprehend with All Saints. What is the breadth, length, depth and height that's Speaking of the mystery. These are the truths that he's going to lay out are things we all enjoy together. You know brother Mark psychic at home.
Made the remark one time and I really enjoyed, he says. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord made a watermelon.
He said there's a fruit that you have to have others to enjoy it with. You can't just enjoy it yourself. It's too big. This is too big to just enjoy ourselves. It's to comprehend it with All Saints, enjoy it together because it's it's something that's common to all of us. We're all in it together. And so he's going to be introducing this collective side of things and he speaks of.
The love that he has heard of in them that isn't just towards their small circle, but it's all the same.
Wherever they are, irregardless of their condition, irregardless of their circumstances.
00:25:01
All of us are in this one body together. Love unto all the Saints and perceiving that, he says, you're in a good state. I'm going to keep praying for you.
You know, he doesn't say, I want to stop praying for you and just pray for those who maybe don't have love for all the Saints like they should. No, I'm going to keep praying for you because I want you to grow. I want you to keep increasing. And we're never going to hit a spot where there isn't more to grow in, more to increase in. And so he comes into this lovely prayer for us. And this is a prayer for us. This is a prayer for us, not just to the Saints alive at that time. This is for us.
Two and his prayer and the second prayer in chapter 3 go back to that.
Distinction We have at the beginning of the chapter that God is blessing us as God and as Father.
He chose us as God for suitability to His presence, to be like Him according to His own nature, and He predestinated us to the place of sons and nearest relationship to Himself. And these two prayers fit that. The first prayer he prays to God.
The God as he says of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember I ascend unto my Father and your Father, my God and your God. New relationship for him as a man here. He had never been a man before. Now he came into this world Incarnate, became a man. God was his God, new relationship for him. So hear the prayers. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus seen.
In that in his manhood.
Looking up to God independence. So he's praying to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the father of glory, The Fountainhead of all glory and and blessedness to all his own wherever they are. And the theme is glory and the theme is Christ being raised and seated in glory. And we follow that pattern and we're raised and seated in glory, the theme.
Is glory and suitability to his presence, being there like him suitable to his presence. It fits that beginning of the chapter chosen suitability to his presence. The next prayer in chapter 3, verse 14 for this 'cause I bow my knees unto not the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as you go through that, what's the theme love and it culminates into know the love of Christ.
Which passeth knowledge, its relationship in that prayer, nearest relationship in the deepest love that could be known.
Two beautiful prayers for us to be kept in the enjoyment of the revelations given to the Apostle Paul for our blessing.
So really, we're competent to display the glory of Christ now and in the Millennium the church will be displayed and will display the glory of Christ.
And we'll be at his side and be perfectly competent as the bride to display and really, you might say, compliment his glory. And so he desires that we would understand these things and that God.
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
That your eyes, the eyes of your understanding or of your heart being enlightened, you may know that.
That's a wonderful prayer. I mean, He wanted not only for us to understand these terms, but to enjoy it, to enter into the enjoyment of it. And we wouldn't be able to do it in, as you say, with our five senses. We would need the spirit of wisdom from God himself. We would need to ask the Lord.
As he asked the Lord to reveal it to us.
And especially important for.
Younger ones and younger ones that are.
Giving themselves.
Pursuit of the truth.
That truth is not.
Obtained, and I would say not obtainable, by mere intellectual exercise.
00:30:08
It wouldn't matter how much you studied, how much knowledge you obtained, without the Spirit of God to enlighten your heart and your mind, you would not get it. You just get knowledge, but you wouldn't get the truth. And.
You, we, we as human beings have.
A faculty our mind, and we have an imagination, and we use it.
Constantly.
It is what I believe the scripture is referring to when it says don't walk in the vanity of the mind. What's the vanity of the mind? It's your imagination.
It's a tool. It was not meant to be a dwelling place, but mankind, he says as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of mind. That's the normal way for unregenerate men to live. They live in their imagination.
We are called upon not to do that. We should have to do with the truth and we should be walking in reality.
Reality should be our.
Currency, you might say.
And that, by the way, is what the word truth means. It means reality, and it's not obtained. The truth of God requires faith.
And it requires a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Mere intellectual exercise will not obtain the truth.
Everything we have is by revelation. Everything.
And this verse associates the revelation of the truth with a person.
And so it says, revelation in the knowledge of him.
Who's him? That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. That's the hymn.
But it's really Christ himself, because who revealed Him?
You don't know anything about God outside of Revelation. And we really know God revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse is inseparable from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who has revealed God the Father and so.
He's praying that they would grow in the knowledge to learn more and more of God. And the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one who has revealed him. And all spiritual growth from the Word of God is as we grow on the truth at seeing it in connection with Christ. It's seeing him in all the Scriptures. It's really seeing him as the center of everything that God is doing and all of it rests upon him.
So this growth is intimately involved with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm never going to know anything in a deepening spiritual knowledge other than I'm growing in my knowledge of the person of the Lord Jesus. Just like to refer to Ezra Chapter 7. Just a couple of little principles. You might say, well, how can I do this? How can I learn this? I think this is very good in Ezra Chapter 7, verse 10.
It says Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. He prepared his heart. How did he do that?
I just want to make a suggestion. I'm not a good example, but oftentimes when I go to read the word of God, before I read the word of God, I asked the Lord.
To bless the reading of His word, I asked Him to help me to understand what I'm reading and to enjoy it and to make it my own. Then I read it.
Then after I read it, meditated on it a little bit, sometimes read a little bit of ministry, I thank the Lord for what I read. I just thank Him that He would even communicate this stuff to us and want us to enjoy it and know it.
And then I try to apply it. This is what Ezra did. He applied it to do it. And then he was able to convey the truth to others that he knew. And they didn't have as much as what we have by a long shot. But I just want to suggest this as you were sitting here, and this is very high truth, we're talking about a prayer of the Apostle Paul and the height of his prayer. He wanted us. This is practical. This is he wanted us to really enter into it.
00:35:12
It wasn't theory.
And so when we read it, let's pray before we read the Word and read some of this truth, let's read it with reverence.
And having a desire to bow to it, to walk in it and thank Him for it. And I believe there'll be growth. I'll believe that the Spirit of God will use the Word. And then if we're in a right state of soul, He will bring us into the knowledge and the enjoyment of it. I would like to ask a question. It's in regard with the truth that Steve just brought out in First Corinthians. We think we've already been here. I believe First Corinthians chapter one and verse 30.
With regard to.
The desire that.
Might enter into.
In reverse.
Just unto you, this given to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
And I believe, I believe Steve, that you may have touched on the truth of this verse, but it says in verse 30, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom.
And so it is, isn't it? The revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ it brings us into.
God's wisdom, it's, it's, it's having a glimpse of him isn't coming to know him that gives us the wisdom of God.
That's the, that's the importance, Brother Phil too, of, of really seeing the truth of Ephesians 110.
That the center of everything that God is doing is that he's going to glorify himself in heaven and earth.
In Christ. And if I put myself at the center and I make myself and God's deliverance of me and my salvation at the center, I'm never going to come to the knowledge of the truth of God in the way that I should. It's when I see Christ as the center of everything that God is doing, then the Scriptures unfold to me in a way that they never could otherwise. And I believe that that.
What you just said is.
Of the moment and very important because.
How many of us, if not all of us?
Were frustrated in reading the scriptures and not understanding them and trying to understand them and what was the problem. The problem was I was at the center.
That's the problem. If you're having trouble, it's because you put yourself at the center. You're still full of self, full of self importance, trying to get something for yourself. We have to see that God has a grand plan.
Not just for the future, but for now, to glorify His Son, to manifest Christ in this world.
And we're part of that. We bow our heads in humility that we're included in that.
And it required our salvation. It required all the blessings he's brought to us as individuals. But that isn't the center.
That was needed in order for Him to accomplish His purpose, That He would save us, that He would bless us, that He would pour out these things upon us. But that's because He has a grand plan that's greater than us. But if you put yourself at the center, you'll be frustrated. I wouldn't.
Say that it that is it is necessary for us to sometimes get beyond ourselves and I believe that's what the truth of deliverance do they get us out of the way so that Christ can become the center and as if a soul is under the the burden of the power of sin in their life, they're not going to have liberty to enjoy Christ if they're under the the the ******* of law, they're not going to be free.
To enjoy the person of Christ. And so there is truth which delivers, but it's not the center of God's purposes. It isn't it. It is a vehicle to get us to the center of God's purposes. So that's just, if you don't mind me. No, no, I, I think that's good, Phil, because Romans really gives us that in an expanded way. But in a certain sense we've had that in the beginning of the chapter.
What does he do before verse 10? He settles us as to election, as to forgiveness of sins and all of those things. We better be settled in our souls first or we're not going to be able to go on and enjoy these things. So I think that's absolutely right.
00:40:11
It's not revealed. The Lord prepares our souls to reveal truth to us. And see you in Matthew chapter 16 with when the Lord asks His disciples.
Who do you say that I am? He asked that question in verse 15. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. What a beautiful answer that Peter gave. What's the correct answer? But the Lord made sure he pointed this out. Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon, fire Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee.
But my Father, which is in heaven.
He didn't make a guess. It didn't come through his intellect. It came from God. The source was the Father revealed that beautiful truth to Peter, and then Peter was able to say, and so we have in First Corinthians 3 that the Holy Spirit that's been given to us reveals the truth to us at the right time. We don't get it all at once. You hear a little there a little, but we don't get it through our intellect either.
Don't get it through reading ministry books, they can be a help to us in in learning and getting knowledge, but actual truth to make it good in our souls is something that's revealed to us by the Spirit of God and that's from the Father comes directly down from Him and we get it through the Spirit.
The other thing that's brought out here, brother Enos, is that it's, I think a brother Rob mentioned the right translation of verse 18, The eyes of your hearts being enlightened.
It's not just the understanding as you say, we know it's it's, it's certainly the truth enters the ears and into the mind. If we didn't have minds, we couldn't understand either. But it's by revelation. But God nonetheless uses the mind. We our ears hear the word, our minds comprehend the words and and so on. But the heart is the dwelling place of the truth if it never gets passed the the ears and the and the and the mind.
It never, never has an effect upon us. It never really is ours. And so he wants the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened because the heart is involved with this truth, the the spiritual affections of the believer are involved with understanding the truth of God. So we need it by revelation.
And we need the hearts involvement if we're going to enter into and enjoy what God has for us. No the.
Pharisees.
They asked the lawyers. Sir, we blind also.
And he said, well, if you.
If you were blind, you wouldn't have sent. But now because you say you see your sin remains. Well, there's an application of that to the attitude we have to have in order to get more understanding of the truth. And the attitude is we can't approach it like we know really anything. The apostle Paul said, well, you know, we all have knowledge. But then he says if any man thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
We have to always, no matter how long we go on, how old we get, how much we accumulate, we always must approach the Word of God fresh like we've never seen it before. An open heart looking for God to reveal his truth to us. And I would also just give this.
I don't want to talk down, as our brother said, like it's a word of advice, but it's something I practice for years. I learned years ago.
That you read something and you're not, you're not getting it, and you spend a lot of time sitting there trying to get it.
If you approach the Word as spiritual food, you can just take it in, let it sink in, and sometimes an understanding of a scripture won't come for years.
But by letting it sink in, just let it sink in, you're spiritually fed, even if your intellect is not comprehending. I call those light bulb moments.
Light bulb moments. Sometimes you're reading, you read a scripture that you read 100 times perhaps and all of a sudden the light bulb goes on, reaches a heart. You get, you get the full meaning of, of that particular verse. Like brother Stephen was saying, it reaches a heart and it's like a light switch going on and it just brightens up your whole, your whole day when you when you get a truth.
00:45:30
You can enjoy it. I might just encourage everyone to you know, you can ask the Lord a question.
The Lord spoke to Daniel, he said, what does this mean? And John in the Book of Revelation, I believe several times he asked, well, what, what does this mean? And then he was given an explanation. And so it's all right to ask the Lord a question and say, if it's thy will, would you please just explain this to me? Drop it, leave it and he'll explain it to you if he will. He has the power to communicate that way. And you might go to the next reading meeting or even a conference or maybe even your private reading and.
He'll tell you what it means and you'll enjoy it. But it is important to read the writings of the teachers that we have that give accurate. They've gone through it. So it's good to meditate upon those things yourself when you're reading the Scriptures and then to make use of the gifts that God has given to the church that have taught some of these things. But the teachers aren't perfect either. And so there are some little gaps and you may have questions. And isn't it wonderful that the heart of God is such that He wants you to enjoy?
He enjoys what he has developed for the church and he delights to reveal these things and to have you enjoy them with him. I've experienced many times that that the understanding of God's Word has come home to me while I've been doing something at work. I've been at the table saw at work. The Spirit of God communicates when He's not hindered to communicate. So it's just at a time that He chooses to bring it home when.
Our minds are our minds are able to take it in. He chooses to do it whenever he chooses.
But that's not to say that we we don't we don't go to the word of God hungry and with the desire to get it then too. So if you come to the prayer meeting.
And maybe there isn't somebody particular on your mind, brother, to pray for something trial they're going through. Here's a good prayer. We need this every prayer meeting.
I think that John 717 might be helpful. I'll read it in the new translation.
If anyone desires to practice, its will.
We shall know concerning the doctrine. There needs to be an attitude.
Of dependence, a desire to obey, and these things unfold as the Lord would give them to us. I think all of this about.
How we are given truth by revelation is so wonderful to know that that the same point. I don't believe it. It detracts at all from the need to study the Word of God, as Timothy was exhorted to do, because the Lord rewards the diligent seeker.
And it says the soul of the diligent shall be made. And so the Lord delights to bless us with these revelations. But we do have to go to the word and we do have to read and we do have to consider and meditate on these things, you know, and, and as was said, read ministry. I mean, all these things are important. I don't believe that any of this conversation diminishes that. And I wouldn't want anyone to think that that's not important. I can just go and have my daily reading. And, you know, next time I'm cutting on the table, so I'll, I'll understand everything. It'll be all perfect.
It doesn't work that way. The Lord rewards the diligent seeker. I just want to make that comment. I would say this goes along with that Alex very much because what is he praying? He's praying for the spirit of that wisdom and revelation. He's praying for a state of soul that would go along with reading the word and and being under the sound of ministry in the meetings and so on. He's praying for a right state of soul. I was just going to mention Alex, it it says enrollment. That faith cometh by hearing.
Hearing by the Word of God. So we need to read the word of God to be able to hear what God is saying to us. But it may, we may not give get an answer to a question right away, but it shouldn't prevent us from reading. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. It's important to read, isn't it? The cleansing power of just reading the word of God isn't it has a cleansing effect upon us.
00:50:21
So I was thinking toward the end of our chapter here where we're coming into.
A different line of truth here, the body of Christ, that's really part of Pauls doctrine and it's a headship that is different to the headship.
In the new creation race, it's a question of union with the Lord that was.
Effective at Pentecost, so.
Not only are we part of the new creation race.
Which has been mentioned as a result of Christ's death and resurrection were associated with him. In resurrection that's individual, but now we have a collective aspect.
Church of God, the body of Christ, that that is union with the Lord.
And that took place.
When the Spirit of God descended and unite it all believers into into one body and through Christ in the Lord, nothing happens to the church but what the Lord allows these head over all things to the church, which is his body. That's another line of truth, another headship that the apostle goes on to develop further in the epistle, right.
He takes us up to the heights of heaven where our head is 1St and this chapter doesn't He and he seats us there with him, and then he begins to unfold all that flows from a risen Christ and glory and the remainder of the book. So when it is in his prayer that we would have this.
Right state of soul to be able to take in what GOG and reveals to us.
Through His precious word, then He says that we might know, we might be in the enjoyment of the hope of His calling when we get the calling in the first part of the chapter. And what is the hope of that calling? Chosen and predestined? The hope of that calling is that we're going to be with there and that we're going to be with Him. And like Him in glory, He's chosen us. He's predestinated us to that same place.
That same blessed place. So there's the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the Saints. There's a suited glory to that place that were brought into as sons and heirs, sharing Christ's inheritance with him as joint heirs.
There's a glory associated with that inheritance. He's going to come and take possession of his inheritance. The heavens are going to open and they're going to reveal him, and the armies of heaven are going to follow him. What a glorious scene that is. And God is going to take that back, that which is Christ by right, and he's going to give it to him.
But he's going to possess it in a Saints. It's just like the promised land that the children of Israel came to. Whose land was it? It's the Lord's land. It was his, it was Jehovah's. How did he possess it when his Saints went into it? He possessed it in his Saints. He possessed it in his Saints. He challenged the enemy and he took back from the Canaanites.
That which was his, and possessed it in his Saints, and when the armies of heaven followed Christ.
Out of that place of glory and he takes that which is his by right. We're going to be with him when he challenges and assumes the inheritance. It's going to be in the Saints. What a glorious scene that's going to be. He wants us to be in the enjoyment of that now. That's what's before us. So to know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance.
And the Saints. And then he goes on to the exceeding greatness of his power, which raised the Lord Jesus.
00:55:00
From the dead and seated him in heavenly places that power he's applied to you and I and he sees us there with him now and it's evidence that he has the power to execute his plan, his counsel. So it's not only that he had his counsel. He had this plan, but he has the power to execute it and I was thinking as you were Speaking of the Lord leading his people and and.
Obtaining the inheritance in the Saints. In Joshua chapter 5 you have a picture of it in connection with Joshua, and it says, just for brevity. Verse 14. Joshua 5/14 He said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now coming? Joshua fell on his face to the earth, did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? The captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy should the shoe from off like foot.
For the place where on the Stannis is holy, and Joshua did so well, it was the Lord, the battle was the Lords, and He was giving them the land. And so you and I come into the possession of the truth and enjoyment of it because of the power of God and through Christ, through the work of Christ. That scene, Brother Steve, that you describe of Christ coming in glory with His angels, we have it in the 2nd Thessalonians 1.
I read from verse 7.
And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified.
In his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. So what strikes me about this and I only discovered it recently. It's like you say, the light bulb moment.
His coming is to be glorified and admired in us. The judgment seems like a secondary thing.
But His glory is enhanced by His bringing us with Him. That's grace really sums it up in the last sentence of the chapter. The fullness of him that filleth All in all.
It's astounding to think that the scene would not be complete unless the church was there.
And that the Lord Jesus himself would not be complete. That's how it's presented. Which is His body, the fullness or the completeness of Him.
That filleth All in all.
So in the counsel of God he had already in a past eternity before the foundations of the year.
Conceived this plan and that it would not be complete unless you and I were there as members of the Body of Christ and as part of the Church. We won't be there, though, in the condition we are now. We're going to be there, we're going to be with Him, and we're going to be like Him. So His glory is going to be reflected through and through.
We're going to, we're going to bear his image, you might say, and that's the reason why there's going to be it's going to be such a display of glory because we think of what we are now, even though we have this new life and this new nature and we're far from we're far from the end, the finished product of, of what God is doing. And but when we're there, there's, there's, there's not going to be any taint of, of, of you might say.
Difference between the glories of Christ and the glories of his bride. It's you know, you, you kind of have that reflection in a, in a couple that's very close and they almost start to bear the same resemblance. And but that in that time we're going to be with him and we're going to be like him. The scene in heaven is not complete is it won't be complete until the Lord Jesus has us with him.
Above in the Father's house, I think this definition that we have here of the Church.
There's 12, I believe, different aspects mentioned in the New Testament, but this one that we have here is is the most intimate one, the body. We think of our natural bodies, we have a head and a body and different members.
01:00:14
With any of those missing, it's not an intimate body, is it? It's the head was missing, then that would be the most essential part. And if the body was missing from the head, well then.
It's not complete. And so the Lord Jesus is our head. He's in glory and He's waiting for us to join Him there. We're joined to him now by spirit, but in a coming day, what we're going to be with Him and like him for all eternity. But it also tells us further on in Ephesians.
How intimate it is that we're part of his flesh and of his bones that's so intimate that we are joined to Christ. We are part of Him. And so that's our standing before God and Christ. He looks at us as just being like his beloved Son. The church is not spoken of, it's being in Christ. Is it because the thought is union?
Like my hand here is not in my head.
It is.
Connected to my head, controlled by my head, but it's not in my head.
So in this relationship of the body it is union with Christ and.
I asked a question, Brethren, the.
It's caused me some.
Concern.
This morning we remember the Lord in his death.
We had one loaf on the table.
And as we have been often told, every believer in the world today is in that loaf.
But now, my mother and many of our brethren who have passed on.
They are not in that law, right?
They have, they're with Christ, they're going to be part of the bride of Christ, but they are not now in the body in its earthly aspect. Someone want to?
Elaborate on that. So that's that's true, Brother John. The body and its activity, those that have passed on or not seen in the body and its activity in this world, because otherwise the body wouldn't be complete. If you think of how many believers or members of the body of Christ that are not with the Lord, the body would not be complete on earth. And if the body was not complete, if part of my body's missing, then everything that's in my head cannot be displayed.
So the body has to be complete with all its members. If everything that's in the head is going to be able to be displayed. So Christ is going to be displayed as God intended him to be in his body here in this earth. All the members need to be there.
But I think this verse in the end of the chapter looks on to a coming day when all the members of the body will be with Christ and presented in glory and.
There it's more the body and its greatest expression when we're all with the Lord and every members there, we're still going to be the body of Christ. So you might say those members that have passed on have passed out of the activity of the body.
So the body is always seeing complete here on earth, but there's a coming day when Christ comes.
All the all those who are members of his body together with him will be the Christ will be that one body still, but there won't be members here on this earth at that time. We'll all be with him, coming out of heaven together with him and.
No, they're not. So they're part of the armies of heaven, certainly, but I believe we will at that time.
All those who are members of the body united to Christ will be seen in its greatest extent and that will include everyone who was saved and and dwelt by the Spirit of God united to Christ from the day of Pentecost until the day that the Lord comes and when that day comes and he takes the inheritance and as head over all things.
01:05:07
To the church, the church is the fullness of him, his full complement. But it goes on to say that filleth All in all the glory of Christ, and the church is going to make its impress on everything in God's creation, everything, because everything's going to be headed up in him and we're going to share that place of headship with him. It's going to make its impress.
The glory.
Of Christ and the Church on everything over which He has had in heaven and earth #18 in the appendix, 18 in the back.
And is it so I shall be like thy son #18 in the appendix?
I'm just so free to come on my own.
Deliverance from Sin
Talk—Phil Jennings
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Well, let's let's just look for the work for his health.
Father were so thankful for each.
One who is here today, we're so thankful for the whole day beginning with the children and then that wonderful privilege of gathering around the Lord Jesus and remembering him. That and what we're going to speak on tonight, Father, by your grace and through your health.
Will be centered in the value and the work of Christ's death.
And so we asked you, Father, that you would give grace. You know this has been spoken on before, but every time.
There's a fresh need to feel our need of your health. We pray for each one who is in the room. We pray that there will be listening ears and the Spirit of God would at some point in time in their life.
Take this message and make it good to their soul. So we give me thanks to Jesus name.
Well, I, I'm going to start tonight by saying that brother that called me his name was James. And he said that there's, there's this deal about about main time. And I don't really know what that means that I'm going to interpret it to mean that you can mainly talk as long as you want.
That.
We're trying to work with James.
No, I think I've got about.
Really, I don't want to talk any longer than that.
So I'm going to share a little something that happened on probably one of my last one of my one of my last months work in the school district where I used to work. I think I was up on the ladder and I was doing something with a cabinet that I could build and the class starts to let out and those of us who have been on the maintenance.
In the maintenance department long enough to know that.
That you need to be careful when the classes start left, not that you're on the ladder so.
I I was just kind of waiting for the kids to get by and there was kids with a spring walking, walking past me and he was, he asked his friend, he said.
You know, why do we live to die?
It comes up to the shop teacher, which is class I was right by and he asked the shop teacher, he said Mr. B, why do we live to die?
And you know, that was, that was the day I decided I, I really needed to retire.
Because that was a profound question.
With a very simple answer.
Profound question, but a very simple answer. And so the shop teacher gave him some answer and I'm not sure how much it satisfied the needs of this boys heart but.
After after class let out, I went up to Mr. B who is a professing Christian and I said Mr. BI said why do we live to die and.
He gave an answer and I said, well I think the answer is very very simple. It's it's a 3 letter word.
SI NSIN, we live to die because of sin.
And if there's anybody here in the room tonight who's living to die?
Because of sin without the remedy applied that we have been Speaking of this weekend.
I again want to put out a warning to you.
God has made a way for you not to have to live to God.
You can accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and you can live.
To live.
And that's what we're going to spend the rest of the time talking about.
Now I'm going to ask Tim Hatton a question.
Is he here?
Him what is the what is the motto of the state of New Hampshire? OK, I bet you that this this has been talked about probably 30 or 40 if you've had your conference here. Anybody.
00:05:12
So the model for and. I just noticed this as we were pulling into the rest area and I thought how nicely this fits into the to the to the.
Live free or die. And you know, it's kind of nice to live in a country where basically that has been the motto of our country. We can't live free. We're willing to die so that we can live free. And many have. And we can certainly be thankful for the men and women who have given their lives so that you and I could be here and we can talk about the freedom. That is a whole lot.
Somebody break the door down. Forget us. Oh, so that's the freedom I want to talk about. But I want to take that phrase. We're free to die. And I'm going to turn it around backwards and I want to say we die.
Yeah, we can even say we die. To live free, we die.
Three and so that's the that's the subject the main subject of our talk this afternoon this evening. So let's let's turn to root now I know you're thinking that this framework to come up with this subject and.
I thought you would think that I was kind of willing.
So I'm going to draw, I'm going to, I'm going to throw a little bit of turbine here. We're going to go to race because I was, I was sitting in our reading meeting on Wednesday night sometime ago during Ruth. And this could have hit several brothers writing about the right time and it was almost a big thing. But this truth was brought home to us and we enjoyed it so.
Great if I can get there.
OK.
Now Ruth is a book that.
God is used in my life.
Teach me some very, very wonderful truth. It's the books that shines the grace of God. And you know, I didn't always understand grace. I wasn't always in the good of grace, the grace of God, even after, I will say it wasn't always going to be very successful. And the book of Ruth was used by the Lord, by the Spirit to teach me.
The goodness that is in the heart of God.
What we would consider to be.
Made some bad decisions. I'm not going to spend a lot of time in here. It's it's about a famine.
And one of the children of Israel's family's lives and.
They made a decision to address their needs, their hunger.
Without consulting the Lord and they ended up going to a place that God never intended for them to receive blessing from him in. They went to the land of Moab. The land of Moab was not a place that was friendly friendly to the Lord and it was not a place that the Lord wanted his people to get their food from even though.
The food was scarce and if I go too long in this, I won't get to that. So we'll go on down and we'll find out.
That.
Three.
And a little at Naomi's husband died.
And she was left and with two sons.
And they took them wives of the women of Moab, The name of the one was Orca and the name of the mother Rage. And they dwelt there in about 10 years. And I just want to stop. This isn't going to have any real connection with the rest of the talk, but I love you all and I especially.
Loves you young people, and my desire for you is that you would never make the decisions that.
That Chilean and whatever this other man was a melon made and that was he made a permanently bad choice. They made a choice actually that.
00:10:10
Caused them to.
Not be able to turn around in their in the decision they made. They married Moabitess women and there was no Moabites allowed in Israel for 10 generations. They made a decision that was permanent.
But it was going to affect their relationship with the women. That was a bad decision. And, you know, some of the decisions that we made have the tendency to be determined. And I don't want anybody to make, you know, by the grace of God, there's some of us that have been to sit in this room and by the grace of God have been kept.
From those decisions, and you know what, for you all that are sitting here that are young and still have these decisions to make, we would desire for you, we wouldn't make these permanently bad decisions that will affect your ability to go on with the Lord and to be a blessing.
To be useful. And so I just make that and then we're going to go on because it's so important.
So what happens then?
And it says in Melon and Chilean die. And that's all I really want to take from Ruth. Except let's go on to Chapter 2.
Chapter 2.
Verse one and Naomi.
A kinsman. Naomi had a kinsman. And I'm not going to, I'm going to act as those. This, this person was not in Naomi's family. Just for the lesson that we want to learn. A mighty man of wealth. A mighty man of wealth, you know.
We can look at what happened with the death of.
Elimelech the dust of Chile on the death of Melon, and we can say that was a terrible tragedy, but in tight it was the best thing that could have happened.
Is investing because.
God was going to channel His blessing not through the first relationships.
Grace was going to come through the line of someone else besides Elimelech.
Male.
Going to come through.
Who is going to come through the?
And Boaz was a mighty man of wealth and the reason why God could.
Green roots to Naomi into such rich blessings was because of the wealth of Boaz and because of the heart of Boaz boaz's heart is filled with grace, though as does not lack the resources to bring.
Ruth.
And Naomi into blessing.
So this is only a type, it's only a picture, but it's going to help us to see the truth that's found in the gospel. Now let's turn to Romans.
I'm going to develop a truth that we began to develop.
When they began with the meeting in Ephesians chapter one.
But I'm going to develop it a little bit farther because there's some very important versus.
To.
Pinpoint is actually a key verse if it's not the key verse.
In Romans I think it's the key verse in Romans 5 and so Romans 5 and verse 14.
Now the stars were swelled, Wherefore as I, one man sent him through the into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
So in tight.
00:15:03
We've just spoken about.
A type Elimelech, Chilean and melon.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world.
Now let's go find Boaz.
Verse 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that not have had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression. And this is this is the phrase I want you to get ahold of. Who is the figure of him that was to come? Who is the figure of him that was to come?
The lesson we're going to learn tonight is that if there's, if there's, you know, I'm not sure how far we're going to get.
But we need to but the. But the point I want each one to think about here is here we have.
Two men.
We have atoms who send.
And passed on death to the whole human race. And we're under is the curse of Adam by nature.
But this verse 14, the end of verse 14, that the keys to understanding the truth of the gospel and the truth of deliverance, the truth of living free, is that Adam was only a figure of him that was to come.
Adam was only God. Never.
In sending for His blessing, and we have seen it so clearly in our reading meetings, the Christ is the center of all of the of all of God's purposes for the blessing of this world.
Adam was just a figure of him, and God never intended to channel his blessings through Adam.
The Romans 5.
Very important chapters we have the introduction of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who is going to be used to channel all of God's blessings to you and I.
We have the introduction of that man in such a way that we find our identities in him. You know, if we went into Chapter 6, we would find that through the figure of baptism, we as children of atoms go down.
We're associated with the death of Christ and with God's judgment of that man.
At the Cross. And that is the reason why death is the very central part of our liberty. It was necessary for Adam and all of his room.
To find his end at the cross.
And believe me, God found atoms in at the cross.
The problem is.
We sometimes have a hard time fighting atoms in at the cross because we see too much of the atom activity in our life.
But if we will apply the truth of death and resurrection as God sees it in our life, we will realize that Adam met his end.
Just go.
And God has taken ourselves.
In resurrection life.
Because he has told us your identification with Adam is over.
Your identity, you are now identified with Christ. You know we go back to the picture in Ruth.
The Roots needed food and she needed shelter when she needed when she needed a spouse. What happened?
She found every single resource that she needed.
00:20:03
For her wife, for her blessings, for her liberty, for her food.
In Town and Boa.
Have to worry about Jillian.
They were dead.
We don't have to worry about.
Because at the cross, God took care of him.
And that's not what I say.
That's what God has determined.
And if I believe the truth of the gospel?
I will see my identity with my Boaz.
I will see.
A mighty man of wealth, one who is able, who has the resources, who has the ability to help me.
With everything that I am dealing with in my life, you might say, Phil, this is pretty much doctrine. No, it's really not. It's pretty much absolutely necessary for me to live.
And absolute freedom from everything that once found a.
You know, as I share these truths.
I didn't get them from a book.
I'm sure that I got a little help from the writings of the brethren, but I needed these truths.
When I was the age of some of you out there, I needed to know how.
Three, I had influences in my life. One of those influences was the power of sin.
The power of sin if you're a child of Adam.
You know what the power of sin is when I take it we're all child children and that.
And there is a necessity for us if we're going to be free.
There's a necessity for us to know what God's remedy for the power of sin is, and you know what it is.
Another.
Well, we could make it a three letter word, but maybe a 5 letter word. You know God, he doesn't.
He doesn't make things, so he communicates in a very, very simple way the answer.
To me, living free.
Is death.
When I understand what took place at the cross.
Where God didn't just judge my sins, but He judged everything that I was, including that nature that was so completely opposed to His holy character. He took that and as it were.
Putting it at the cross where the Lord Jesus.
Was put to death from my transgressions.
So as I'm baptized in figure, I go down into the waters, and those of the waters of judgment.
And I died.
Under the water.
And then in figure I rise up.
That I rise with no connection to what I want.
I'm now associated to another man.
On resurrection ground.
Now that sounds easy.
Wasn't easy.
Because I didn't.
I didn't take care of the same question. I didn't die with a penalty of what? I wasn't having the Lord Jesus.
Wasn't easy for him to provide liberty.
Freedom.
But he did.
When I rose and figured on resurrection ground.
I was a new creature.
Not an atom.
But impress.
Now you say no. That's wonderful, doctor.
00:25:04
And if that's all it is?
Then I won't be free.
I won't be free, and the Lord Jesus will have gone to the cross, and I will only have gotten part of the benefit, you might say.
I can truly say that faith in the Lord Jesus does.
Free me from the penalty of my sentence.
But.
In the truth that I died there with him, I went into death with him, and I rose up again in newness of life.
That is freedom.
That is deliverance for my life now.
That's deliverance for my life now. So what is the key?
So there's a key.
It's fake.
Now I can share these groups with each one of you. And I prayed in my prayer, I asked the Lord that in his time.
He would show you the reality of these truths.
In his time, I can stand here and I can, I can, I can give you these truthful and glue in the face. I've done it before. One time I had a final study in my basement with one of the brothers in our meeting. I love to do this, by the way. I love to see. I love to set forth, contribute to romance.
And I had set forth the truth of deliverance.
And at the end of the time we have together, he looked at me and he's the kind of guy that's just absolutely as honest as he's been being honest. And he said Phil.
He said. I didn't understand a word he said.
I I knew the truths were true.
I knew that their work wasn't in jeopardy because of the lack of his just his ability to take it in where he was in his life right there.
And I'll guarantee you tonight you are where you are in your journey of faith with the Lord. I can give you these truths, and I hope.
That the effect of them is that there might be a longing in your soul. If there is a longing in my soul, that you, if you cannot appropriate them or make them good to yourself right now, I hope there's a longing in your soul that says I want to be free.
I want to be free, because if there's a longing in your soul that wants to be free, God is going to answer that long. But he may have.
Experience for you to pass through as I stand up here. I cannot tell the Lord how to bring these truths home to your soul. If I were to tell you how long it took for me to really enter into these things to the degree, whatever that degree is.
I enjoy them. I would have to tell you it was way too long and much longer than you'll want to wait to really be able to enjoy them.
And so we know that there is nothing.
Deficient in the work of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know there's nothing deficient in the blood which He shed cleanse us from our sins. We know there's nothing deficient in being associated with His death.
In the resurrection was absolutely not one flaw or weakness in God's design to set you and I free from the policy. And now I'm just going I'm just going to bring up to one more thing because as I've been chatting with the dear Saints that so many of my I just haven't known you and so we get to talking and I like to talk.
But a lot of times talking gets gets around to what you're interested in.
And obviously I think you can tell what I'm interested in. So I talked around to what I'm interested in and I find out.
That I'm not the only one that not only struggled, that the power of sin in my life and didn't have any idea how to get out the numbers until I realized the power of my death with Christ. But there was something else I struggled with. And if you've heard me speak a little bit about this, please forgive me.
00:30:14
But as I I was having conversations, it kept coming up in conversations, different conversations.
I think it's up to about four or five or six, but there's been a struggle with that.
You know the law was given to bring righteousness to the man. The man and flush.
It was given to try to produce righteousness to the first man.
It was God's way of showing man that he couldn't produce righteousness.
Every single one of us in this room have a difficulty with law and you say, boy, you're a rough guy.
But it's because I know that's what Scripture says, because when God says I want to bless you in the Old Testament, Man said.
Whatsoever you said, and it was without, it was, it was everybody who said.
Said whatsoever you say it to me will do whatsoever you say. And so man was saying, give Lord, give me a law, and I'll merit your listen.
That's what law is about.
But if we want deliverance from it.
We have to get free from the one that the law is given to. That's the first name.
Well, how do we get free from the first man? Well, we went through that principle before, yeah.
And so we get into when we get into Romans Chapter 7.
Of this reverse.
Verse 4.
It says, Wherefore, my brethren?
You are, you are. We also are becoming dead.
In the law, and I won't go any farther, you have become dead to the law. Why have you become dead to the law? Because the law was given to Adam.
And God tested that for 4000 years.
And he decided to stop testing.
And he presented a way in which he wouldn't have to seek blessing from man.
On the principle of law.
It was going to be for being to the deliverance of the Council.
And so.
It kind of hurts me sometimes.
When I think of how sometimes long it takes for us to lay the law.
To this to the to to, to lay aside the standards that we set up to try to to these righteousness for God. I'm not suggesting.
License.
Christian liberty has nothing to do with the activity of flesh. Christian liberty has nothing to do with the activity of the flesh.
Flesh is judged when there is liberty.
The life of Christ is an activity when there is liberty. The new nature is acting in a way that it desires to where there is liberty and there's no thought.
Taking part in Christian liberty. So the thought of not having liberty, not walking in liberty because you're afraid of the of of the questions we do need to be.
But if we really understand deliverance, if we don't really understand freedom, we'll understand that we don't have to be afraid.
That to speak about.
Setting along.
Well, OK, I just shared a message that really needs probably five or six meetings. But what I do desire for each one is that these truths become really, really good here so that your life begins to be characterized.
By.
Your association.
Life.
You know when it says?
I don't think I'm getting in the meantime.
00:35:04
But.
Romans.
I.
It says in verse 16th For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
For is the power of God unto salvation to everyone to believe it? You know God has power. You know, we spoke in the reading meeting today about God's power to bring to pass the things that He has purposed for the glorification of Christ and our association with him. God lacks no power.
Boaz was a mighty man of wealth.
And.
I'm not sure of the gospel of Christ.
For it is the power of God unto salvation. That salvation is delivered. Deliverance from the penalty of our sins, it's deliverance from the power of sin, it's deliverance from the man who was guilty of that sin, Adam, it's deliverance from.
The the consequences of what law does in our life, which causes the activity of the power of sin to well up and overcome us, and it delivers us.
Flesh in Romans 8.
We are not in the flesh.
My cave and I can see my. I can see my.
I might even be able to see my deliverance from the power since but the flesh.
You know.
These are truths.
That God is going to have to show you. He's going to have to apply them in your daily life.
But yes.
We are not in flush, but who are we as?
We're in.
The Spirit is the life.
For the Christ life.
Doctor, the Spirit is the power for the Christ life.
The flesh.
Is the power.
Of my atom nature.
Under an unsubjective will to God.
My flesh is activated because I have a, because by nature I want to think of that guy anymore.
I have a nature that opposes the will of God.
And the flesh is the power of that old man.
But I'm not in it.
That's why, because God said.
That's why.
So sorry.
Thank you very much.
We'll just give thanks for the food and.
Loving God our Father, we do thank Thee.
For this time that we've had through the weekend, thank you for the message that has gone out.
Think of the beautiful reality of these things.
And the reality of the power of God in our lives.
Can have to walk in it, I see.
Yeah. So we pray for each one here, each of us with our own.
Struggles.
And thank thee for the provision all the ministry each year.
Has fed us, has fed us again together this year.
Thank you for the food.
Natural food also prepared and the care that has gone into it and pray for each one as they would spend the evening together. Tomorrow morning perhaps.
We would all go back to our.
Daily responsibilities for assistance for us that we take these things with us and chew on them and make them our own. So we ask this now in the blessed name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.