Maine Conference: 2023
Table of Contents
Colossians 1:1-11
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Sing together #35 and #35.
Rise my soul, behold.
His Jesus sing besides one 100 grain eyes stand now again.
Glory, Satan.
Where God is saying no Lord can grow up.
God now praise our deepness. Kiss me.
Welcome.
At first tell me what abortion that is on.
Let's say Gloria.
And sunset.
19 by them.
Just pray your God our Father. We just pray that we would see Jesus, that our eyes would be upon Him as these scenes of confusion and creature complaints. We pray that He would.
Be able to come together and enjoy our deliverance, our our hope, our blessed calling a place, our purpose, our position, we.
Pray that we would know another name. We would.
Seek to know him to even.
Know the fellowship of his sufferings. We would win Christ.
Conformed to his image.
We thank you for this time dedicated to being together around your word.
Pray for blessing and leading of the Spirit.
I would like to just suggest.
The Epistle to the Colossians.
Just considering what we've had before us and some of the hymns.
We begin today by singing about the fullness that resides in Jesus, our head.
And I just wonder if it might be.
Helpful to consider the all sufficiency of Christ.
In the officials of the Colossians.
I just suggested I would really like to.
Know if.
That is commendable to others here before we before we read it.
But I I was thinking of perhaps a key verse in the epistle of chapter 2.
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Verses 9 and 10. For him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And he are complete.
How Christ is sufficient?
But is that something that would be?
The order would have placed on others parts as well.
Brother, I was also struck by the thought of the all sufficiency of Christ as being. Perhaps that's what the Lord would have before us.
Yeah, I was thinking, you know, especially in the first three chapters, I know it's a lot of ground, but maybe we could read Colossians chapter one today.
Selection Chapter one. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at colossi. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and of the love which you have.
All the Saints, the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof he heard before, and me in the word of the truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you. Since the day that he heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth, as He also learned of the ephemeris, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.
Who also declared unto us your love and the Spirit.
For this 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. He might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, and all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which.
Made us meet, meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible.
Whether they be thrown through dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, and He is ahead of the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence for pleased the Father, that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.
By him I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.
Yet now He has to be reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you fully and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, would you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul M, made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind.
Of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which sake? Which is the Church?
Whereof I have made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His Saints, to whom God would make known. What is the richest of the glory of His, of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, and you the hope of glory.
Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man.
And all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh, and me mightily.
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And you know, there's a lot of.
Ones here at this conference in different stages. There's a lot of children here. Somebody said there were 60.
I don't know if it was children under 12 or if it was. Does that include the young people as well? There's a lot of young families, there's a lot of middle-aged individuals and other ones.
And.
You know, there's a need for us to grow, there's a need for spiritual growth and development in each one of our lives.
There's a need for us to increase.
As it says in verse 10, in the knowledge of God.
But there there is something that can't change, that can't increase, and that's the fact that we are complete in Christ. We have something that can never be improved on because it's the greatest that God has to give, and that's Christ.
In reflecting on this epistle.
There are lots of different things that can come in to discourage and to turn us aside, but it all stems from one roof and that's.
The lie that we need something more than Christ.
Whether it's that we need to add traditions, whether it's to doubt what God has said.
Christ is sufficient, and we are complete in Him.
And the devil would like to come along and tell us that we're missing something.
If we just add something else that our lives will be better but what we find in this amazing epistle.
Is that there is a need for us to grow an increase, but that we it's really an increase in our apprehension and understanding of what we already have in Christ. So I just suggest this and trust that the Lord will bring out that which would lift up our hearts.
Establish us and strengthen us in our portion that we have in Christ.
Just to back up what our brother said in chapter 2.
And verses 18.
Through 23.
Kind of hits on what Paul's burden was in writing to the Colossians.
Similar, perhaps, to his burden for the Galatians.
Was that the colossians were in danger of slipping back to.
Earthly religion, if I can put it that way.
Or maybe just religion in general.
Because they did not see that price was sufficient and.
I think that reading those portions there briefly, you can see that Paul's burden was to make the Colossians see that they that Christ was sufficient.
As our brother said.
It's beautiful to see how even the first verse of this all introduced him himself as an apostle by the will of God. And so going back to the all sufficiency of the crisis starts with Our Calling. You know, not one of us willed ourselves to be one of his.
But we did bow the knee when the Spirit of God.
Christ before us.
In our as the remedy for our sins. But that was all of him and Paul was saved brightly in the road to Damascus and then Paul called to be an apostle by the will of God. And so again, it's not a matter of earning your way in any way, starting with salvation in terms of Our Calling.
Just a couple of additional comments.
Thinking as we have just looked before us, you know the whole New Testament, if you go to the first verse of Matthew, it says the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It's the first verse of the whole New Testament. What's the last verse of the whole New Testament? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Be with you all. Amen.
The whole subject of this whole book both old and new is the Lord Himself. And as we take up this book of Colossians it's interesting to me that the 1St 4 verses repeats Christ name over and over. As husband just mentioned, this is Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. In verse two it says.
The Saints and faithful brethren in Christ. And then later in the verse it says grace and beyond the UN peace.
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the next verse says we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you. And so we have this incredible theme that's brought before us. You know, sometimes it doesn't.
Particularly excite our hearts in the way that it should, I was thinking.
Just as we were praying about what chapter take up, you know, sermon, I mean the train now the transfiguration, the Lord was there and they had trouble. They didn't realize that they should see no man save Jesus. And you know, sometimes in our lives we don't see the Lord maybe the way that we should. A couple of days ago I was interested in hearing a man who I don't believe as a Christian.
Comment that he had a dream about all the great men of the world. He was in a graveyard and all the great men of the world.
All the warriors.
Stood up and started fighting with one another and then he saw them, the Lord and they all bowed down before him. And I thought, isn't that interesting Here's a man who's not even a Christian probably one of the greatest thinkers of this age had this very strange dream and what he saw is that nothing even began to compare to the Lord. And so you know if we take off a topic like this, it's.
Hard to do it justice in the way that we should.
And we have to hang our heads sometimes and recognize, you know, we don't really see Jesus always.
In the way that we should, but as the verse was read.
In the exercise with respect to this verse, it says in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So I hope as we take up these chapters in Colossians, it just in a small way our eyes can be turned over and that we can see Him for who He is and that we will grow in it as Josh has been bringing in. I was thinking.
About the amount of transfiguration as you say.
Where we find the Lord Jesus is glorified.
And we live in a world where the name of Jesus.
Is despised, it's trampled on. You hear his name taken in vain.
And.
Yet we find that there are those whose desire it is to.
Uphold the name of Jesus.
And just this past week, there was a car pulled up to the post office and walked out.
And there on that license plate on that car.
Was a knee.
That name was Jesus.
Jesus, Well of course that thrilled my soul to see that name, and I'm sure it thrills the soul of many here today.
To raise high the name of Jesus. And of course I want to know who it is that's driving this vehicle. Well, it took a while for him to come out of the post office. I thought, well, why not just talk to his wife? And so I went around and she rolled down the window and said, I like what you got on the license plate, Jesus. And you know, a big smile came over her face.
And she was so happy to meet another believer and to be able to talk about Jesus.
And then her husband came out of the post office.
And we had a great conversation. You know, I believe God appreciates when we uphold the name of His dear Son.
And often think of Malachi 316. It says there then they did feared the Lord. They spake often one to another.
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And Book of Remembrance.
Was.
For those who feared the Lord and who thought upon His name.
And this morning, here we are.
It's our privilege to think upon the name of Jesus and to exalt no other name.
And.
He truly is all sufficient 1.
There on the mount we find it. Peter. He wanted to make three cabinets, one for Moses, one for Elias, and 1:00.
For Jesus.
Three buildings. But before he could finish, he was interrupted by that voice out of heaven.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him.
And.
You know, it's so easy to become occupied with other individuals rather than Christ the Lord Jesus. And we know the bottom line there in that account was that.
They lifted up their eyes and they saw no man. Say Jesus only.
So I do believe it's God's desire that we like this morning.
See No man save Jesus only.
Rise, my soul.
Behold, this Jesus feels like wandering eyes.
There he is. I do believe in our very mixed this morning.
And it divides the heart of the Father. So here is speak well of Christ.
There's so much in this world to detract.
On that Lesson 1, and I speak to my own heart, you know, we're bombarded with media and news and it's easy to get wrapped up in the news of the day.
But I do believe.
With the Lord's help, He can enable us to focus our attention on His own dear Son, and I believe that's what we have here in this epistle.
Prod using salty the person of the son.
Kim Wells, all the fullness of the godhood.
And we are completing him.
You know, the measure of our acceptance.
Before God.
Is the measure of Christ acceptance.
And so we are accepted into beloved.
All his beauty and loveliness we are accepted in the love in Christ.
And you can't improve on Christ.
And God the Father made that plane on that mount of Transfiguration.
You're Christ, You're my son.
My beloved son, may we just hear his voice speaking to us this morning.
Brother Mark, you said that you didn't think we could do this subject justice, but if we would allow the words before us to be brought to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, I think the Holy Spirit could do the subject justice.
Three things stand out that were influencing the believers in Glossy and in that area. One was the philosophies that they had grown up with in the gentile world.
And the.
Man's mind seeking to solve the great questions of this world and a man and his life. Where did he come from? Where is he going? Why does he do what he do?
Why does he do what he does? And so on And.
Those things were pressing in, but outside of Christ, those are questions that can't be answered. Those are questions that end up just going round and round what Paul calls endless genealogies, just round and round and round and never any real answers. And on top of that, those philosophies, they're vain. They come from man's vain mind.
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And they never ever still the cry of any human heart. They never met the need of any human heart and never will.
But there was an effort to introduce those and mix those thoughts of man into Christianity, and he takes that up philosophy in verse 8 and vain deceit after the tradition of men. The other thing that was influencing them, as there are those, and it was the great vein of early Christianity, There were those who came seeking followings for themselves.
Teachers mainly from Judea.
Sought to bring the believers under law and introduce and mix the law and in circumcision we find in in the Epistle to the Galatians was a large part of that the ritual aspects of the laws and in in Acts. They even told them at Antioch they couldn't be saved unless they were circumcised, so strong was that teaching.
And so seeking to introduce the ritualistic aspects of the law.
Into Christianity, as if that was going to enhance Christianity and make it better and improve it. And he takes that up and he tells us in verse 11 of chapter 2.
He whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision made without him.
You don't need the circumcision made with dance.
He tells us.
Those rituals bring nothing to the table to add to Christianity. In fact, what they picture is what we are in reality, spiritually in Christ. The third thing was there was a rise in a teaching that is generally headed up under what's called Gnosticism, where there are those who come with Eastern mysticism.
From when I say east east of the Middle East.
Getting down into India and in Syria and those areas, bringing their idolatrous, mystical teachings and mixing it with Christianity.
And they taught that the spiritual world was all defiled and dirty and you needed to escape it. You, you were truly a being of light. And you just need to escape this shell that you have of your body and this defiled material world. And the way to do that is beat yourself up.
Afflict your body, make it suffer and escape it. And they had a lot of other philosophies. Well, he takes that up.
A little later in chapter 2, verse 18, Let no man beguile you.
Of your reward and a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. They had a whole Penelope of angels and and semi deities and so on and and and their worship that they thought to bring in and mix in with Christianity and down in verse 23, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body.
Not in any honor only.
Really, to the satisfying of flesh, fall in flesh, sinful flesh, those three things were pressing in on the Colossians.
All of them saw and said we have something to bring to Christianity and make it better, improve it. You're just in kindergarten here. You need to grow up and you need to bring these things in and they're going to make Christianity something wonderful and better and on and off.
You put it all under that umbrella.
I want to turn back to scripture in Genesis.
To illustrate.
A little bit of what has been already said and that there's nothing can be added to it. Then what we have in Price. Steve, Brother. Steve, just before we do that, can we make a quick correction? Sure. I think you misspoke on one thing. You said the Gnostics taught that the spiritual world is offloaded. I think you meant the physical. The physical world. Yes. I'm sorry. The physical, natural. Thank you.
Yes, that would have been very backwards.
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In Genesis 2 when?
The Lord made.
Says in verse 21, And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh and stood thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man may be a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
There is nothing that satisfies the Lord except what is from Himself.
The Church was formed from Christ, gone into death and raised again, and nothing else can be added to that. Nothing else will satisfy him other than that which came from himself.
Through Jeff and Resurrection.
Nothing else. And all of those things that were seeking to come into Colossia person on the Church today are all belong to a sphere to which Christ has died.
And as we find ourselves by sovereign grace in Christ, it's a sphere to which we have God.
And have risen again in Christ. And our baptism speaks of that. So he takes that up as well in chapter 2.
Verse 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the face of the operation of God, who have raised him from the dead. And so we are formed from Christ, from that ribbon side of grace, from the dead. That is our origin, and he is looking for nothing else but Himself.
Is there anything that can be added to Christ to improve Christ and nothing?
This is vote of my vote, flesh of my flesh.
That's what satisfies them. There was no helpmate found for Adam, none that were his like. But now in the church he has that which is his life. Don't add anything to it. All of those things will just spoil it. And not only that, as he has died to all of that old spirit thing, we have two in him and now we're risen.
And in a whole new place.
Which our baptism speaks, and now being risen. What is chapter 3 tell us?
We're dead to that old scene. If he be, if he, then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ said it on the right hand of God. Set your affection or your mind on things above, not on the earth, not on that old sphere, till it's in time.
So all of those things, none of them bring anything to the table. In fact, if anything, they just spoil it. He's only looking for Christ. He's only looking for that which is of himself in US. Verse five, the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.
That would be referring to the completion of our salvation, right? As in the.
The building from God and another scripture says it will receive it's it's when our bodies are changed to be like his and our salvation is complete. Is that right?
Good question.
Ritualism, Rationalism. Anything else? Touch it.
Can't be touched by any of those.
And goes on to speak there.
And yet verse 5, where I'll be heard before in the word of the truth.
Of the Gospel.
Which has come unto you.
How wonderful that you and I today.
We can build our faith on a firm foundation upon the one who is the truth. TRUTH and that's the Lord Jesus. He could say I am the way, the truth and the life and we have in our hands on our laps.
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The truth of God.
Lord Jesus said in John 17, Thy word is truth.
So we've come to know the One who is the living truth.
And we have the written truth, the Bible.
And the Bible stands.
You know, like a rock.
Undaunted.
Amidst the raging storms of the time.
And how wonderful that we have the truth. We live in a day.
When?
It's appalling, the deception.
In the world today, and it's growing worse and worse.
And it's in keeping with the Word of God.
Because it tells us that in the last days, evil men and seducers, they're going to wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
And.
I suppose most here have had experience on the Internet.
You know, it's something that can be helpful.
But in any measure that we spend time on the Internet, we find.
Their deception.
And.
Sometimes, you know, we're gullible.
And there's these offers made and they seem like.
Legitimate offers and so we sign on what we find out is a scam.
There's no truth to it.
And then we begin to wonder, you know, where does the truth lie?
And so another offer comes up.
And it looks so good. I think I'm good at.
Click on this. But then we think, well, you know, I've already been duped once.
I think I better find out if this is a legitimate offer, so we go to some other source.
You know, find out.
And then we find out that maybe this other source.
Is deceitful too. And then we begin to wonder. Well, you know what?
Are we up against here? I want to tell you there once we have an enemy of our soul and that's Satan, and he is the master of deceit.
May the Lord help us.
To not be.
Deceived by his devices.
The pastor Paul, he said we're not ignorant of his devices. He's a great deceiver. But thank God we have the truth and it's found in Jesus, the Ephesians, Jesus.
Writes about the truth as it is in Jesus.
I'm so thankful.
As it is in Jesus.
You'll never disappoint you. And this book, it's open today on our laps. It's going to be open in eternity.
It's the Word of God that lives, and it abides forever.
And there's no disinformation.
In this pleasant book.
We are complete in Him, but there's also a progression to look for and to find encouraging in the path of faith. And I believe that's intimated in who this letter is addressed to. To the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, we start as Saints.
We don't finish there five years after our death. Where?
Is is. The process has begun as Rome presents it.
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With some revenue, but we start there and.
That is we we should we should aspire to that. It's comforting. It's encouraging to see that and he had Timothy with him. There was there been progress in the path of life of Timothy. Just want to go back for an example of of one who was a St. but he was not among the faithful brethren.
I'm going to read from Mr. Garveys translation of the reference to that here.
I thinking of.
Of John Mark.
Acts 12 and 25 and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled the service and trusted to them, taking also with them John, surnamed Mark. And then.
Chapter 15 and verse 37. And Barnabas proposed to take with them John also called Mark. But Paul thought it not well to take with them him who had abandoned them, going back from Pamphilia.
So those are the early circumstances of John Mark and he was a St. But he wasn't one of the faithful brethren. And that word abandoned is a strong term. And then immediately following that chapter 16, he came to Derby and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there by name. So the Lord brought in Timothy to accompany Paul and to.
Be a help to him, thankfully.
Mark was, in the end, all could say, take Mark.
Mark was counted among the faithful brethren, and that's encouraging to see. The the restored servant was privileged to record the life of the perfect servant, the Gospel of Mark.
You really see the love of God through Christ and Paul here, can't you and he opens this up to those at quasi and you recognize as our brothers pointed out that which instead of the Saints and the faithful and and surely in this room there are those that are set apart except leaving the Lord Jesus Christ and their sins watching sins, watching this precious blood.
And then two, it could be that maybe there are those that are somewhat walking into more faithful way, but Paul doesn't judge that. He just introduces this to them in love. And it's such a letter of an encouragement to them that it's written to you and I as well. And the same things exist today that existed then. And so he says to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are our clause and grace be unto you in peace.
From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on with such a letter that he gives, he gives thanks to God for praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which he has to All Saints. Don't each and every one of us desire to hear these things and don't we need to hear them? It's not as though we're being puffed up by them, but we're being encouraged by them and so that we might go on. And so that is Josh pointed out at the beginning when he read at the end.
Verse 9.
That you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
And at the end of verse 10, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, and so on, that we might attain to that faithfulness in Christ and walk.
In the same path, in the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ did when he was here, as we can see in Paul. And so he then goes on to bring out the whole Have you and I at some point in our life lost sight of that hope that is in us through Christ? Do we not need to be reminded of it daily?
Do we not go out into this world every day, the rudiments, the elements of this world that are sucking this book of Colossians?
And somewhat get overrun by it and forget.
Surely we do. And so Paul and his love for these dear Saints, and in his love for you and I today, has presented this through Christ. God has allowed it to be written so that you and I can see it. And so he speaks of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. Where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which has come unto you? And not just to you, but to the whole world, that it brings forth fruit, and it brings forth fruit in you too.
Did you know that?
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What an encouraging thing to hear to have somebody tell you that you can bring forth fruit for God through Christ this time. And what a desire it is of his that you and I might walk in such a way that we too can do all things that are pleasing to the Father, and that we might encourage each other to do so as well. And so he goes on, and he speaks of Epiphros, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.
Who also declared unto us your love in the spirit. And so another speaks.
Of how you go on, the Lord Jesus Christ two is solidified, is made it true, and it is seen in you.
What a wonderful way to introduce an encouragement to the Saints into you and I. The start of the Bible conference here together like this. And then of course, he goes on from there.
To speak of what is needed and responsibilities that we have to live for him, not one who is All in all.
Just highlight verses four and five. Three things that characterize Christians, faith, hope and love. And I like when we find this character, when the three of those things are grouped together as we see here in Colossians. One says that we have faith in Christ Jesus and we know that without faith it is impossible to please God. So there needs to be.
A Trusting in the Lord Jesus. It says here that we have love to all the same.
And we know that. How does the world know that we are his disciples? It's if we love one another. So we need to show love to our brother. And then of course, as Jonathans mentioned, we need the hope before us. Hebrews calls it that hope is an anchor of our soul. And so it's so important that we don't lose sight of the prospect of what's before us. We know that.
Our life down here is very temporary, but we have eternity ahead of us to enjoy the Lord Jesus. Lord we will see His face and so we need to.
Keep that hope before us, and of course, we do that by living in the truth, which is in this book that we have opened before us this morning if you're heading towards a goal.
To accomplish something or to reach something and you take your eyes off the goal.
It's very easy to get sidetracked.
I think that's.
Somewhat of a summary of Paul's burden with this epistle.
The Lord Jesus said this is eternal life to know thee, the only true God.
Jesus Christ and love his Son.
That is the purpose of eternal life and of salvation.
It's not get everything right or do everything right. The goal is to know God.
And this term in verse 10 increasing in the knowledge or actually I believe it's the full knowledge of God.
Goes along with what it says when it says our Savior God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to us.
The full knowledge of the truth. And that's to know God. God is a God of love. He wants to be known.
By those he loves, he wants to be known. That's an inherent nature of love, is to want to be known.
God wants to be known, that is why he saved you.
It wasn't just to make you a good person or a righteous person. He saved you primarily so that you might know him. That's what he wants.
And bringing in any of the things that have been mentioned, earthly religion, and by the way, the rudiments of the world in this Epistle.
While worldly things can distract us.
That term in this epistle is particularly referring to the practice of earthly religion.
Trying to be right and do right in all these things and being occupied. Touch, not taste, not all these things are a distraction. From what? From knowing him.
I spoke with a Christian the other night who he's an older man and he said all his life he's just always had this trouble of am I doing the will of God?
You know, if I could paraphrase it and am I getting this right and my decisions right? And it's easy to get hung up and distracted with that.
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The truth is, what's the worst that can happen if you make a mistake?
You'll learn something.
You might get to know God better.
What's wrong with that? So we need to trust him talked about.
Blood of Jesus, we're cleanse, we're set free for what purpose? So we can go and do whatever we want? No.
But so that we can be free to get to know God. And that's that is what God wants. And this epistle deals with those things which would distract us from that.
Darby's translation has a different word for in and the end of verse 10 is by. So just to add what you said, it's.
If there's going to be increase in our spiritual life, this is the means by which that increase will come, the knowledge of God and so.
It's not only increasing in the knowledge of God, but increasing our life comes by the instrumentality of that knowledge as we know Him more and more than there's increasing.
Fruitfulness in our lives.
There's increase in our spiritual growth.
By the knowledge.
Has there become a distraction from this increasing by the knowledge of God, this better understanding of who God is, growth in our relationship with them? Has there been a hindrance to that in the?
Message in Christendom that the primary thing is for the Gospel to go out to the whole world and souls to be reached in the world in its entirety and etcetera, etcetera.
Back in.
Verse six, the end of verse five, the word of the truth of the gospel which has come unto you as it is in all the world. That's that. That's gone out. And yes, there are some parts of the world that are familiar with this wonderful message, responsible message. I gave a little pocket calendar to a woman at work this week.
Ten years ago from Iran and I handed it to her and I was explaining the importance of for God so loved the world and put a privilege that I had had and growing up in a Christian home and having that impressed upon my soul. And she held that she listened. And then she she she pointed to the little word John on that card. She said, where's John?
Not it not not not familiar with precious reference and.
That's that's sad to think of someone not being familiar with that. It's even sadder to think that she's been in Canada for 10 years and somebody hasn't made the effort to impress the importance of that on her soul. That's, that's evidence of a Laodicean state in president today.
I believe that all sends the decline.
With those.
Glossy, which is why he introduced this to them.
And brought this before them.
And so it's good to notice in verse nine that though he spoke of their faith and their love in the Spirit, and for this 'cause he says we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.
So the good to recognize the importance of prayer for one another. We often say, oh, I'm praying for you, brother, or I'm praying for the assembly there.
Let's do it without ceasing. You remember his love he had for Timothy. Another example of it there in Second Timothy chapter one.
Second Timothy.
After one.
In verse three he says, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembered.
My prayers night and day. So how important it truly is. It cost our cares up to Him for one another. And so he mentions that and he says into desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
00:55:15
I have a verse that I appreciate with that in Job chapter 28.
The last verse in Job chapter 28 and has to do with wisdom and understanding.
Job 28 verse 28 and on demand he said, behold the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom.
And to depart from evil is understanding.
So I believe how important that is in our lives as believers today, that if we want to walk worthy of the Lord.
Unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God and continuing that all the way down to the end of verse 17 is where that ended, at least in my Bible. To continue that, we have to walk in the fear of the Lord, have that written and have that understanding. We have to depart from evil.
So that is not taken up with the things of this world, or even as such, and Brother Porter pointed out the religions of this world, but to be taken off with Christ and with the Lord.
Believe that that the cost was desired was that.
Saints and philosophy might recognize.
OK, there's two ministries. There's the ministry of the gospel of the grace of God that you're speaking about, reaching out to souls that are in darkness without God, without Christ. They need to be saved. And how important it is that we might reach out to those around us.
Whether it be at school or neighborhood at work.
The gospel of the grace of God. But God's desire is that we not only be saved, but that we come to a knowledge of the truth. And I think that's what the apostles is referring to here. He speaks that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. There's more.
You know than just being saved.
From hell and knowing that I'm on my way to heaven. What God's desire is that we might recognize that we are not safe for the individuals. We are safe to be part of the church which is the body of Christ of which.
As it tells us later in the chapter.
The Lord Jesus is the head of the body of the Church.
In verse 18 and.
It's the privilege of ours today.
Give expression in a practical way to that which has been formed, in fact, I believe on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came down, and I believe that was the birthday of the Church. I put it that way.
The baptism of the Spirit being baptized by 1 spirit into one body. The pasta speaks of it in other places like Chris Corinthians as well. And so we find that here we are.
And we are part of this glorious Organism, the body of Christ, where members one of another, and Christ is our head in February.
It possibly speaks later in the chapter not to jump ahead, he speaks of it here in first.
24 at the end of the verse speaks about.
Which is the Church, whereup I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to His Saints, to whom God will make known what is the riches.
Of the glory of this fiscal. What is this mystery? It's the mystery of the church. It was hid from ages past. We don't have records for you in the Old Testament.
01:00:02
But your pastor Paul, he unfolds his marvelous truth, and he wants the Saints to get ahold of it.
That it might affect.
Their walk and their wings.
And it's all part of being filled with the knowledge of these people to knowledge and to demonstrate I believe in a practical way the truth is to the church.
The Colossians were in a more dangerous place because of what was pressing in on them and the Ephesians. And so the apostles able to open up in Ephesians in a poorer way than he did with the Colossians and he praised there for them as well in chapter one that they would be, they would have in verse 17, the spirit of wisdom of revelation.
And the full should bring full knowledge of him and then and holds the truth of the Church and then after that parentheses of unfolding the truth of the Church. And chapter four, he beseeches them that they would walk worthy of the vocation where with your call, In other words, to walk worthy of that truth.
And the position in place they had been brought into, the Colossians were not going to escape the error.
That they had slipped into and was pressing on them so easily.
And so he takes it up in a slightly different way.
Again, being praised, praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Wisdom says, I see how that fits. I see why that is appropriate. I see why that's cuddling. I see why that suits God.
This particular thing that he wants me to do and Knowledge says, I see how to apply it in my life. I see how to put it in action.
So it's filled with wisdom, receiving the rightness of the thing and knowledge, knowing how to make it work, applying it in your life to walk in it. He wants us to be filled with both.
And for what reason that he might walk worthy of the vocation? Where would he been called?
No.
Walk worthy of the Lord, because they were slipping away from that place of being subject to him, and holding the head and giving him his rightful place. And so it's walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
And being fruitful in every good work which those things that were pressing in were spoiling, being fruitful every good work increasing as environment brought out by the instrumentality.
Of the knowledge of God there would be that fruitfulness and increase in their life, and strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, occupied with a man at God's right hand has a decided effect in my life as to how I walk worthily for the Lord. Unto what patience for everything that's going to come along in the path of faith.
It's the first mark of strength in a believer patience.
It's the first mark of, of, of real spiritual strength and believers. Patience, patience.
Steve a couple times and others have mentioned.
I think the geographic location in which they lived. In this epistle we also read about Hierapolis and Laodicea. From the ruins of Laodicea you can see Colossae about 7 or 8 miles away, and you can see higher Appleus. In between Hierapolis and Colossi was a beautiful lake.
Sorry, Hierapolis and Laodicea.
Go to Laodicea and you go, wow, what a great place to have a city. But they had need of nothing and Colossae had other things going on and so.
So it is with us. We have people here from the East, from the Midwest from and even though we're living in the same time period, our geographic location influences us in ways that we often don't even appreciate. And like you said, we can can look at different things that we don't realize our influences of the world and see how it we think it fits into Christianity or our life or how it provides fulfillment. And we have to be aware of that.
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Each one of us has a daily walk.
And here we've been talking with this prayer because he would walk worthy of the Lord. You know, I was thinking there's a lot of discouraging things. Jonathan mentioned that things are going downhill and glossy at this point. But you know, it's as you read through these verses, this is not discouragement and defeat. It's the complete opposite. It is amazing. What it says here is that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.
Increasing in the knowledge of God's strengthened with Almighty.
Glorious power unto all, patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet takers of the inheritance of the Saints in life, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His near side. And you know.
If our focus is turned to the world around us, we'll find ourselves slipping and sliding and we'll lose all that power. But if we can turn our eyes towards the Lord, who is the whole focus of this book, it can be turned around in an amazing way. You know, I was thinking earlier, the Lord at the beginning of his public ministry was taken up into a high mountain by Satan, and Satan says, I'll give you all the kingdoms in the world.
The Lord rejects it to follow what His Father had given Him to do. You know, it's interesting to me about that, and I know others. You have heard me comment on this. We turn over to Mike that the Lord's going to set up the Lord's Kingdom at the top of the mountains, and the whole world's going to look at him. And the only thing they'll see and know is His power and His glory and His Majesty. And you know, Satan wants to take our eyes and get it on the world around us.
And so that we can't function in our daily walk in the way that we have here.
And I say this for myself.
Am I fruitful? Am I increasing in the knowledge of God?
Am I strengthened with All Might where I knew his glorious power? Do I have patience as it's just been brought out to us as one of the first markers of of our real spiritual growth? You know, these things are things that we need to consider. If we can get our eyes on the Lord, if we can see no man, say Jesus only lay and enter into these things that we've been translated into the Kingdom of his his.
And things will start looking a little brighter. And you know, even as we look at this world around, we can see things just completely sliding in the wrong direction. But we can know that in the not too distant future, the Lord will be put in His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of Lords. And the whole world is going to see him for who He is and all His power and glory and majesty. But Satan just wants to mask that and hide it and discourages every day.
As we walk our daily life and so we need to be deeply exercised with these things.
That's tomorrow morning we wake up.
And what does our day look like? We need to have the Lord before us.
When we're at a time I know, but it makes me to think Mark of brother Brad pointed out John Mark and Axe and you know, Mark recovered, didn't he? We see him there in second Timothy 4. He's mentioned in verse 11. Take Mark and bring him with thee. He says, and you know, maybe it's that.
You feel like in your life, you've gone through something that you just can't walk worthy. But Paul, he doesn't bring it up in a negative sense, as Marcus pointed out, he brings it up in an encouraging sense and he says that he might walk worthy. That sounds like there's lots of possibility there to me. And so I just encourage each one that if you've gone through a difficult time, if you feel like John Mark at the moment.
Will recognize that there's a possibility in Christ that you can be marked.
And that surely you can walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleases. You just need His help, we all do.
130.
Time together over Thy word, and pray that our hearts might be stirred, that there would be an individual exercise and desire to walk worthy of the Lord.
We would not be here is only but doers of my word, and so we just look to thee for blessing, wait upon Thee for continued health and Jesus precious name and.
Propitiation and Substitution
Open—S. Stewart
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Broken and creature salt man.
The working has spoken, shall surely bring them.
The.
Story never sounded.
You.
Sweet.
Low, painful. I present, swirl, see it's been for long, and then I'll try.
Thank thee, but I wonder, slob and grace in providing for us in every possible way. Thank you how it's given to us all things that pertain unto life and to godliness. We thank you for the love that Thou is bestowed upon us, that we should be called Thy children.
And thank you for that unspeakable gift. I know, dear son. So, Father, this afternoon.
We do commit our time to be as we would open that word once again. We pray that all of God.
Thy spirit.
Word that would be given that might be a blessing.
To each one present.
Including the dear children as well as.
Just ask.
All things being priced would have.
Preeminence, thank you for the villages and hours to contemplate.
The Majesty.
The glories that meet.
Might continue to exalt his name.
Together.
Just thank you.
Liberty ordered us to eat as we do.
So we do.
Kind of making an assumption we probably won't have time to get through everything.
But I'd like to look at a few of the verses.
That were.
Coming up next in our chapter.
And how they are illustrated typically for us in Leviticus chapter 16 in the great Day of Atonement.
So back in our chapter in Colossians.
Chapter One.
I'm skipping over some.
I'd like to take up versus 20.
00:05:02
Through 22.
And having made peace through the blood of his cross.
By him to reconcile all things unto himself, By him I say, whether they be things in earth.
Or things in heaven.
And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind.
By wicked works yet now hath he reconciled.
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you wholly.
And unblameable and Unruh provable in his sight.
We have in these.
Verses that we've read in this chapter, Three things.
The work of propitiation on the Cross. God Word.
The satisfaction rendered to God.
Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The reconciliation of all things.
Everything.
If there were, not, if there were, but I think, partly quoting Mr. Darby, if there were about one blade of grass that was not brought back under.
His authority?
And his as being his own.
It would not be to the glory of God. Everything, everything.
Every created thing and heaven and earth is going to be reconciled to Him. And then lastly.
Ourselves as individuals.
The side of the cross we call substitution.
That which is manward.
That which concerns ourselves individually and the wonderful reconciliation of persons, individual persons to go on. Well, let's just go back to.
Leviticus 16.
That was a one of the great feasts that Israel was to keep to the Lord.
Day of Atonement, a day when they would come.
And afflict themselves in connection with their sin.
And offerings made to the Lord, and they would be the basis upon which God could have to do with Israel.
Repeated year by year because the law made nothing perfect.
But the work of Christ on the cross did, and so that's a work that would never be repeated.
Let's look at this great Day of Atonement.
One of the first things, and it's not exactly connected with that first part of what we had in Colossians 1 propitiation, but it was that Aaron was to take.
In verse 12A, sensor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil, and he shall put the incense upon the fire.
Before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat, that is upon the testimony.
That he die not.
And so he was to take incense and take holes of fire from the altar of burnt offering is where those coals were from.
And as he laid that incense, his hands full of it, on top of those hot coals, smoke would just roll off. Sweet smelling smoke would roll off those hot coals. You know, it says about that incense, it was beaten small, was ground very fine.
And I'm sure that helped in the smoke coming off those coals.
But you know, it speaks to us of all that the Lord Jesus passed through, I think, at the hands of man. He was beaten small. He was made very little of by man.
But the coals on the altar would speak of all that he passed through in the hand of God.
And the sweet fragrance from the combination of those two things that ascended up to God in the perfection of His person, and all that He suffered from man, and then even more as He was laid on the coals of Calvary fire.
00:10:17
It just brought out the perfection of His person all the more. The finer you beat that incense, the more smoke would come off the coals. The more the Lord suffered, whether it was from the hands of man or laid on the coals of fire, the more was brought into beautiful exhibition of the perfection of His person.
And offering himself to God. And that smoke would roll off and it would go around the priest.
As he held and swung that censor and he would go in the veil where the ark was, and if I was him, I would want to make sure I'd swung that sensor all around me so that smoke was all the way around me. Because as he went into the veil, there was something other than the cloud of incense that was around him.
There was what we call the Shekinah Glory cloud. God dwelt between in the holiest of all.
Between the cherubims on top of the Ark, where the mercy seat was, was where he would speak.
And where he would commune with Israel, and where he dwelt in the cloud of His glory was there.
And Aaron would go in surrounded with a cloud of incense.
And a brother said one time, what does it take to meet a cloud, to meet the cloud of God's glory? It takes that cloud of the perfection of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ laid on the coals of fire to meet the cloud of his glory in that holy place. And so he would go in, and all the fragrance of that incense.
But he brought something else with him.
Previously in the chapter, Ebola had been taken.
And it had been killed and its blood had been poured out.
And.
That Bullock's blood.
Was to be brought within the veil.
And so as Aaron went in, in that cloud of incense, says in verse 14, he shall take the blood of the Bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger 7 times.
And so he was to take that blood. There was the mercy seat one time.
On the mercy seat, those cherry bombs looking down on the mercy seat where that blood was sprinkled, The eye of God was upon that mercy seat. And just as He had said long ago in Egypt, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That was for God's eye. But then He was to sprinkle the blood seven times before the mercy seat.
And you know God sees the work of the cross.
Once, if I can put it that way, he's satisfied.
But you know, you and I need a lot more assurance.
And so it's sprinkled in front of the mercy seat 7 * 7 times. And doesn't the gospel go out? And doesn't it preach to the unbeliever?
The full assurance that they can have, that God is ready and willing to receive them, that the blood is on the mercy seat. That's why it was in front of it seven times. A picture of that assurance that God would give to man, that he is satisfied with the work.
Of the cross of Christ.
The next verse tells us He shall bring the goat of the sin offering that is for the people.
And bring His blood within the veil and do with that blood as He did with the blood of the Bullock, sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. Well, now we have to back up a little bit. Where did this goat come from? Well, there were two goats that were chosen earlier in the chapter. Verse six tells us of the Bullock that was offered. And then.
Verse seven tells us there were two goats.
00:15:02
That were to be taken and presented before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots.
Upon the two goats, in some way, a choice would be made. That's what casting a lot was.
It's kind of like somebody rolls a dice, what's going to come up, you know? Or maybe they take a bunch of straws and they cut 1 short and they put them all in their hand where the tops are all even and pick one and depending on which one you pulled, a long one or the short 1A decision would be made and so a lot would be cast in some way. I don't know.
In something like that to pick which goat was the people's and which goat was.
The Lords one was the People's Law and one was Jehovah's law, the Lord's.
And so those two goats together made a sin offering, and that's what it says in.
Excuse me, Verse eight, you know, cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, and Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.
That's where that goat came from, that he brought the blood within the veil. It was the goat that was chosen especially for the An offering.
For the Lord.
He does the same with that blood.
In these two goats we have pictured two sides of the work of the cross.
The first side and the side that has, you might say the preeminence and has to come first is what was for the Lord first, the Lord's law, the goat that was chosen for him. And that blood goes within the veil. It's sprinkled on the mercy seat for the eye of God.
There's an aspect, beautiful of the work of the cross.
Of Christ, what the Lord did on Calvary's cross, it says in Hebrews 9. By through the eternal Spirit He offered himself without spot to God.
The Lord Jesus yielded himself up. I want to just turn to Hebrews because some of the verses there in chapter 10 are very touch on our subject and they're very beautiful.
Hebrews 10.
We read or I quoted from Chapter 9. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit, without spot to God.
But then in chapter 10.
And verse 5.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not but a body. Hast thou prepared me, and burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin. Thou has had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do thy will, O God.
And so.
When he came into this world, a body was prepared for him. He was became flesh and dwelt among us. He became a man so that he could lay down his life as a man at Calvary's cross, so that he could offer himself as a sacrifice to God.
For God's satisfaction.
And respect of the dark backdrop of man's sin in this world.
I wanted to try and explain it this way because this sometimes maybe is a hard or more difficult concept to get ahold of.
You know if someone has a home and they go away, lock it up and they come back and they open the door and go in and the house has been ransacked.
Someone has broken in. They've turned the place upside down, gone through all their personal belongings, stole things, wrecked the place, headed out.
That's quite a shock.
I've been told people have been through that, that even after everything's been put back to rights and maybe change the locks on the door and everything, next time they went on vacation and came back to their house and they went to put the key in the door.
There's a dread.
00:20:01
What am I going to find?
What am I going to find?
Because of the outrage of what took place previously to them.
Let me put it in a different way. Let's say you're walking down the main dragon Brewer, and someone jumps out and assaults you, and they rob you and insult you. And a crowd gathers around and they watch and they laugh. And there's a policeman and he's not doing anything. And there you are in the sidewalk, knocked down, robbed, and this guy's getting away with it and everybody.
He's laughing and policeman's not doing a thing. How would you feel? Just outraged, Just humiliated.
Well, let's say they caught that man.
And he was brought before the judge.
And the right and just sentence of the law was carried out on that man.
Whatever it might be in prison.
And the policeman was dealt with too because of that, and justice was done.
Now next week when you walk down the main dragon Brewer.
What will you feel like?
There'll be this sense of indignity and injustice and humiliation that was done to your person. Yeah, but the guy was apprehended.
And all your stuff that was stolen was restored.
And, and, and, and he received the the due justice that was his.
Why don't you feel good about walking down the main dragon Brewer?
The remembrance, the sense of the insult and humiliation could never be taken away.
By the fact that the criminal was apprehended.
The sense of the wrongness of your house being broken into could never be taken away by everything just being put back to right.
Man's sin has risen up like the Tower of Babel, brick upon brick, higher and higher and higher in this world, to reach right into heaven if he could. And it's insult and defiance against God in all its filthiness, in all its awfulness. And if God took every Sinner in this world, including you and I, and consigned us to a lost eternity, which would be.
Or do and cleanse this world from everything that we have done in this world.
It would never take away the insult.
Of the injustice and the indignity.
That sinful man had done.
You know, you and I might walk down the street and Brewer after that was done to us and feel OK because we got old and our minds decayed and we forgot.
God can't forget. That's human weakness. He can never forget.
Never.
You and I might want to try and forget and we can.
Only God can choose not to forget.
The work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross that we call propitiation.
Was that he gave himself up whatever was required by God, whatever the cost, whatever the suffering, whatever it needed to take to render a satisfaction to God.
In respect of the injustice and insult.
Of sin against himself.
And he took it away.
He took it away.
In the work of the cross.
So Satisfied is gone with the work of his son.
That he says, I want you to come and find here with me full and free forgiveness of sin.
A work in which he has not only been satisfied, but a work in which he has been glorified.
And the Lord Jesus took that all away.
00:25:04
For God's glory. It's the highest aspect of the work of the cross. It's that first goat, Jehovah's law, Jehovah's portion. Christ is God's portion in his sacrifice on that cross and our need as creatures for the forgiveness of sin, sins.
Can never precede the demands of the glory and the holiness and the righteousness of God.
That had to be satisfied first, and would we ever find any peace or rest in our portion?
If we did not know, God had his settled forever.
It's pictured beautifully when Elijah came to that with a woman and she had nothing but a little meal and a little oil and a vessel and Elijah said, make me there of a little cake first, little cake first. God's heart comes first. Then she found out the barrel of meal would never waste.
And the cruise of oil never fail till rain came on the earth. Then she found out about her portion.
Make me thereof a little cake. First God's part is first God has been propitiated. A satisfaction has been rendered to him. Now in the heathen world, they have gods, false gods that are angry, that are all kinds of things, and they need to propitiate those gods. They need to make those gods.
Favorable to them, and so they offer sacrifices.
To make their gods, as they think, favorable to them. Some of those sacrifices are so extreme they were even human sacrifices.
Is that what propitiation in the scripture means?
No, because John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
The Lord Jesus was not a propitiation in order to make God favorable to you and I.
He already was. He already loved us.
But it was to clear out of the way that which stood as a barrier between His love and you and I, that He might be full and free in the expression of all that was in His heart and all that He is.
He took it away.
And so the gospel is preached on that wonderful foundation that God has been satisfied. It's like that wisdom crying out in in Proverbs 9, come, all things are ready. My fat links have been killed, my wine is mixed, everything's ready. Come. Or like Luke chapter 14 in that great supper, all things are ready. Come, The work is done on the cross.
Whosoever will may come.
The next thing that took place on the Day of Atonement.
In verse 16, as he shall make an atonement for the holy place.
And so we find as we go down through these verses.
To verse 19 that he makes an atonement for all the holy vessels.
The Tabernacle and so on. Everything is cleansed and reconciled to God, all these inanimate objects.
And so in Colossians in our chapter, we find that he is reconciled all things unto himself, things which are in heaven and things which are on earth. You know, in Philippians it tells us that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess the things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, or infernal beings. Infernal beings are never reconciled.
To God.
But things in heaven and things in earth, everything that fell under Satan's power because of man's sin.
Is going to be reconciled back to God through the work of the cross. Part of the work of Calvary's cross is to set everything.
In perfect order and conformity to God and who He is, and as light and love, He's going to reconcile everything back into perfect accord with God and who He is in the entire universe. Everything.
00:30:16
He bought everything. Remember that parable in Matthew 13 of the man who found the treasure hid in the field, and he says he went and bought the whole field.
To have that treasure, well, the treasure we know is the Saints. But he bought the whole field through the work of the cross. He's bought everything. Everything is his. Everything is his because he is creator of all.
Everything is his because he is the sun and heir of it all, and everything is his because he won it at Calvary's cross. And on that basis he's going to reconcile everything to God.
There's even going to be a new heavens and new earth.
In the coming day. You know what's beautiful about that? Today we look up in the stars and what do you see? Constellations. Anybody know some of those constellation names? You probably do. Where do they come from? They come from old Pagan gods. But you're not going to look up into new heavens and see any constellation named after some Pagan God. No, that's going to be gone forever.
The Lamb of God beareth away the sin of the world, and its ultimate end is in a new heaven.
And a new earth, everything is going to be reconciled to God. And so he makes an atonement for all of these different things. But then he comes to verse 20. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place and the Tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. That's the second goat. That's the goat that was called the People's Law.
Jehovah's law, its blood is brought within the veil, but this one, that's the peoples, is still living. Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children, excuse me, of the children of Israel and all their transgressions.
And all their sins putting them on the head of the goat. And he shall send him away by the hand of a fit man.
Into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he shall let the goat go. The goat in the wilderness. This is a picture to us of the side of the cross that is manward towards you and I. And it's not so much that satisfaction rendered to God.
In the black backdrop of sin and man, sin.
But the individual bearing of sins. Just as Aaron laid his hands on that head of that goat, there was no laying hands on the head of the first goat. But this one he identifies with that goat the sins of the people, their iniquities, their transgressions, their sins.
And they're put on that goat in that way, they're symbolically transferred.
To that goat as he laid his hand upon him. Oh, they were not symbolically transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ in Calvary's cross.
Let's turn over.
To Hebrews again, Chapter 9.
Hebrews 9.
Middle of verse 26.
That little word. But now just a little hint. Paul uses that over and over again. Now means.
After the work of the Cross, but now once in the end of the world or the end of the age.
He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's propitiation.
He's put it away from before the sight of God.
And it is appointed, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
They are the sins of many, that substitution.
00:35:04
The Lord Jesus never bore the sins of every person.
That ever sinned in this world.
He put away sin.
He rendered a satisfaction to God in respect of sin, in which God is free to come out in His love and grace, but He did not bear every sin of every person in this world, and that's why it says to bear the sins of many but not all.
In the work of the cross of Christ, we call substitution is only for the believer, It's only for the elect of God.
That can say he bore my sins are going to turn over to that in first Peter. He bore our sins. Peter says first Peter and chapter 2.
Verse 24.
Who His own self bear our sins. The believer in his own body on the tree he bore our sins, the sins of many.
It is only the believer.
Look can look back to the cross and know that his individual sins were born were confessed just like Aaron confessed them on the head of that goat were born by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and those individual sins, those things that we did.
Were born and put away from the sight of God forever.
Forever He was our substitute on that cross. He suffered there the judgment of God for every one of my sins, and everyone of the sins of the elect.
Substitution is limited to the elect of God.
They alone are reconciled to God. All others who pass into lost eternity, those in that place, Scripture never speaks of reconciliation for them.
The work of propitiation Godward has laid the foundation where God is righteous to say whosoever will may come, and all may come.
But outside of the grace of God working in the heart and conscience, none would ever come.
But all those whose and whose hearts he will work, in whose hearts He will impart sovereignly new life, and they are born of God, will come, and it is those.
Whose sins he bore on Calvary's cross. Let me stop for a minute. If he had borne the sins of every single person in this world, who would ever be in a lost eternity in hell?
Could God righteously put anyone?
In Hell.
Who could say the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree?
God could not righteously put one in a lost eternity, but we know there will be those there.
Whose sins he did not bear.
He bore the mall at Calvary's Cross almost 2000 years ago. They were all passed.
When I was born, already born at that cross.
Already done.
Taken care of.
And so that's a side of the cross of Christ that is especially known.
To those who believe.
And when we preach the gospel, we preach on the basis of propitiation.
The throne of God has been satisfied. Come there is full and free forgiveness offered to everyone, and it's a genuine offer based on the work of propitiation.
But in, if we could say it, retrospect, when we believe, we look back and we find it's only the believer who sins he bore in his own body on that tree. And so back to our chapter in Colossians.
00:40:06
Verse 21 and you.
And you?
The Believer.
That were sometimes alienated, and in your mind, and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. There is the ground of reconciliation to present you wholly and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.
His work He will reconcile all things to himself, every created thing in heaven and earth. But when it comes to persons.
It's the believer that's in view and you at the reconcile.
We were enemies in our minds. Why?
By Wicked Works.
You know.
That's how the mind of man works.
He sins.
And he knows God is not happy with that sin.
God is going to judge that sin.
And what does it make him? It makes him afraid of being in God's presence. And so in Adam and Eve's sin, they hid in the garden. And if you sinned, you'd probably hide too. In fact, if you do something bad at home and Dad comes home, you'd rather not be around when Dad's home.
We'd like to be somewhere else, and that's how man is with God.
He's an alien to God in his own mind because of what he's done.
It's made him think about God.
In a wrong way, he says. You know God. Who?
Wants to judge my sin. Well, you know, he's kind of a bad person anyway because he wants to do that.
You know man has a neighbor and you know he.
He does something wrong to his neighbor and he's got a bad conscience and he sees his neighbor out there and he says.
I got to go to work, but I'll wait till he pulls out and gone because I really don't want to see him because he's got a bad conscience about what he did to his neighbor. So his neighbor pulls out and he backs out of his driveway and he guns it a little and runs over his neighbor's garbage can and then takes off. Because you know what? That guy's pretty bad guy anyway, You know, that's how the mind works. We do something wrong to somebody.
And we don't want to be around them. And we say, I don't want to be around them because they're a bad person and they deserve what they got for me anyway. And that's how man is towards God. He becomes an alien in his mind and an enemy by wicked works, and he ends up saying God's a bad person.
He deserves what what he gets from me.
But you know, through the work of the cross.
Not only has the Lord Jesus Christ borne our sins in his own body.
There's been a work of God in your heart and mine.
To break us down.
To show us his love.
In giving his son.
And proving to us beyond any proof, other proof he could ever have given.
That he loves you and he loves me.
And he breaks us down, and he reconciles us to Himself, and he brings us in his sons to share that place in light with the Saints, the portion of the Saints in light, and the Kingdom of the Son of his love.
And his love reassures us and reassures us for all eternity.
That were his, He is ours, and we have been reconciled.
To him.
It's far more than what took place on the Day of Atonement. Atonement means a covering.
And that's as far as it could go in the Old Testament and had to be repeated every year.
But in the New Testament, through the work of the cross, there's much more than atonement, much more than a covering. There's a reconciliation to God.
Seven Brooks
Open—M. Allan
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I'd just like to share a few thoughts that I've enjoyed in this.
Past week.
They're nothing particularly deep or special.
But I've enjoyed them.
There's been I love the outdoors and last summer our family had a family reunion and PEI and I was enjoying some verses about being by the sea.
And.
Was just thoroughly encouraged as I went through the Bible and took a look at where it mentions by the sea and then.
I got to thinking, well, maybe there's some other outdoor things that are in the Bible that could be of encouragement. And I looked up verses about paths. It was really, really, really encouraged.
About paths, you know, there's crooked paths and straight paths and old paths and paths that are well lit up and there's times there for encouragement. And, you know, I was thinking too. I thought, Oh well, what other things? And I was thinking about mountains.
And I was absolutely amazed when I went and just enjoyed some thoughts about mountains. And then I thought, well, maybe little valleys. And you know, valleys aren't quite as nice as mountains in the Bible.
And I thought, well, I should look it up and I did. But you know, I got to thinking about valleys a little bit and then I started thinking about.
In valleys there's often brooks, and that's actually what I'd like to speak about.
7 Brooks in the books in the Bible, and you know, often a valley can be a dark place.
I was really encouraged. You know, our family's gone through a bit of a valley the last couple of weeks. My brother shared some verses that were.
An encouragement about valleys in the shadow of death. And I enjoyed them, you know.
But what encouraged me, as I thought about the valleys, I realized there was Brooks. So you know, I've enjoyed Brooks since I was small. If you go to where the Chinese live, they live in the Mark Rd. I used to bike out there with my brother Danny, and we would go out to there's a place where there's some falls and we would.
Swim in the falls and fish stick our heads under the falls and watch the waves go ahead of us. And I always thoroughly enjoyed doing that. And you know, if you were to go to Jonathan Martins house, there's a mountain behind his house and there's a a brook that runs down the side beside his house. And I thoroughly enjoyed going there. And then this past summer we were.
At.
In Stellar and we went out to Brian Emeritus.
And if you ever want to see a nice brook, you go to Brian and Meredith's house. I'm inviting you for that.
You go down and there's a beautiful Brooke Mccollum's brook. I used to fish smell jig smelled in that that brook when I was small and I enjoyed it. And then, you know, I just going through the word of God the first time I'd like to look at it's amazing what's there in just these little things in the word of God and the first one that I'd like to look at.
Is the Brooke Jabach.
And this is in Genesis chapter 32. And as I said, I'm not going to go into the Greek words of any of this. And I realize that a brook feeds a stream, which feeds a river, which goes to the sea. And the words can get a little bit mixed up between them too. But I just wanted to share a few thoughts in the remaining and probably won't take the whole time that we had just about, Brooke. So this first one is in Genesis chapter 32.
And we're going to.
Go down to verse.
22 And just to give context, this is Jacob, and he's out of Brook now. Jacob's about halfway through his life. I don't know his exact age here. I think you could probably figure it out.
Up until this point in his life.
Jacob tried to do everything himself and you know when we try and do things ourself.
We find out we don't get very far. He did end up with two wives and he had twelve sons and daughter at this point and.
But Jacob was trying to get his blessing by working really, really hard.
But let's just see what happens at this brook. You know, what I enjoyed about these brooks is you get to this point and there's a brook, and sometimes you got to get over a brook to get to the other side. You know, Mr. Mueller, this weekend was worried about us coming here because the roads were closed. And there was three different ways to get here. And every one of them was closed because the brooks had overflowed their banks because of the storm. And the roads were washed out. And right up until the last day, we were unsure that we get here. And, you know, it was interesting for me to look.
00:05:26
At the roads as we drove by, just to see what the water had done. Well, here we have Jacob and he's out of brook. Let's just read what it says. This is in Genesis 32, verse 22. And he rose up that night, took his two wives and his two woman servants and his eleven sons, and passed over the Ford J Bock. And he took them and sent them over the brook.
And sent over that he had, and Jacob was left alone.
And there wrestled a man with him.
Until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he had prevailed not against him, he touched the hall of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall know shall be called no more, Jacob, but Israel, for as a Prince.
Thou hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
While this is a very interesting story, and I don't mean to get into the details of it, but at this book there was a wrestling match for lack of a better term.
And it lasted all night.
You know, Jacob had to get to the point in his life where he realized that he couldn't do it himself. He had to go, he might say, to the other side of that brook and realize.
That the blessing came from God.
And so, you know, it's interesting here. He had sent his wife over and he was scared to go see his brother. He was on his way back to where he grew up, and Esau was on the other side. I don't mean to go into the details of this, but he was scared to see his brother because the last time he saw his brother, his brother wanted to kill him.
And he's on his way back home and he doesn't know what to expect.
And up to this point in his life, he tried to do everything himself. And he gets to this broke.
And there's a wrestling match.
You know, in our lives sometimes.
We need to come to a point where we recognize we can't do it ourselves.
That only the Lord can do it.
And that he is the one that is the source of blessing. You know, here, Jacob, he wrestles this with this man.
Or with this Angel and he's given a new name.
Israel and you know, blessing comes from this and I'm not going to get into all the details of this, but I just I really enjoy.
What it says here if you go down further in it, Jacob actually.
Goes ahead of everybody else after this happened.
And he puts himself ahead and he puts himself in the most dangerous position. And you know, he, the Lord comes in and blessing anyway. And you know, very often when we come like to a point like this in our life.
If we give it to the Lord.
He comes in and blessing and he shows us that it's not us. And so I just I enjoy this little brook. So when Owen and Kara go down by the brook that's by their house, I hope they can think of these little stories that are in the Bible about brooks. Well, that's the first brook. I'd like to go to the second brook. This is the Brooke Ashkel, which is.
In Numbers, Chapter 13.
Sometimes we sing a song about Ashkel's grapes.
And you know this, Brook?
Was in a valley.
Matter of fact, if you have a margin in your Bible and you look at the word, it actually.
It says Valley Ashgol instead of Brooke so I don't know exactly.
I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but there seems to sort of go back and forth. But in this valley there was a brook, and let's just read what it says. This is a Numbers 13 and verse 23.
Then they came under the brook of Eshkol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they vary between two upon a staff. And they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs. And the place was called the brook Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes with the children of Israel cut down from fence. And they returned from searching the land after 40 days.
00:10:20
So at this brook, there wasn't wrestling, but you know, this was an important place, the children of Israel.
We're traveling from Egypt and they were going to Canaan and they had to figure out how they were going to conquer the land of Canaan.
And so they sent out some spies.
And those spies went, and they searched out the land, and they came to this brook.
And there was absolutely incredible grapes there. You know, my grandparents went to Israel.
After their 40th anniversary, which wasn't that long after Israel became a nation, but they brought back these two little wooden figures with a stick and a huge cluster of grapes between the two of them. And I always loved looking at that carving. Well, Ashgall is where those graves were. We wouldn't have find a cluster of grapes that would be that big now. But you know what? In order for Israel to come into the blessing.
Of those grapes, there was an enemy that needed to be conquered. There was an enemy that needed to be conquered.
And you know ten of those spies.
Were terrified and two of them trusted the Lord. And you know, I just thought a little bit.
About these?
Grapes and this little brook of Ashe call. You know, we come. We've been given so much. We've had a little bit of it this morning. The Lord has given us a tremendous amount. We've been blessed with all blessings in heavenly places. And you know, in order for us to enjoy them, the enemy is trying to keep us back from enjoying what God has given us and we need to have.
The courage of Joshua and Caleb.
To be able to go fight the giants and claim what the Lord is or we already have it. We need to to take what the Lord has given us. And you know, I thought about that a little bit. You know, maybe you have Jacob who is wrestling at the at the Brook Jabok.
And he had to learn.
That it was the Lord alone. It wasn't him.
Here at the Brooke Ash call, we had these men and they needed to learn.
To trust in the Lord. And you know, we need to do the same thing. You know, it's easy for us as we go through our daily lives and we're bogged down in, in what we see every day to forget about what's ahead of us. That is so incredible. And the enemy just tries to scare us with all of the terrible things that are happening every day so that we don't enjoy what God has given us. That's not what the Lord wants. He wants us to enjoy Ashcall's grapes. He wants us to know where the path leads. He wants.
To enjoy it. So I like this second little brook, the Brook of Asheville.
And to think about what happened there, they were traveling and we're all traveling home. And I hope that we can have the faith of a Joshua and Caleb who enjoyed were able to have the courage, you know, they had to wait 40 years because of what the other 10 spies did. And yet they did.
We find Caleb. There's an incredible story of what Caleb did when he got to the land. I'm not going to go into that. Well, that's the second brook. So the first brook was Jaybach. The second brook is Eschal. I'd like to go to the next one, and this is in Everybody knows. This story is for Samuel's Samuel 17.
This is another valley.
Actually, and I know.
My sister Bethany has been here. It's a valley of Elah.
This is where David.
Fought Goliath, so another valley.
And in this valley there was a brook.
Little Brook, you know, sometimes the enemy comes against us and he comes out and he mocks us and he makes fun of us. We didn't ask for it, but he comes out and he attacks us. Maybe it's at work, maybe it's at school, wherever it may be, the enemy comes out and he just laughs at us and and it cripples us.
But you know, here in this story.
00:15:01
Of David and Goliath.
David.
Recognizes.
That the bottle is the Lord's. This, this passage has been a tremendous encouragement to me. I think we had it here several years ago in the reading meetings and I really, really, really enjoyed it. But David here he goes down to the brook. He's put his trust in the Lord. And let's just read the verses about the brook here. So this is First Samuel 17.
And.
We'll go down to verse.
40.
I'm just going to go through these fairly quickly, it says here.
So David, this is just after David tries out the armor and he recognizes that it's not going to do him any good. He hadn't proved it, but he was trusting in the Lord. What does he do? And I don't know, he probably went down into that valley. Goliath on the other side. I don't know exactly where the brook would have been, but it says here he took his stuff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.
And put them in a shepherd's bag that he had, even a script and a sling in his hand.
And he drew near to the Philistine.
So here David, he's at the brook in the Valley of Elah.
And he has this enemy coming against him, and he's just a boy. You know, there's a bunch of boys in the front or guys in the front row here. And there was an enemy that came against Israel and mocked Israel, and they were terrified. It terrified Saul, who is the king. He was supposed to deliver Israel from the Philistines. He was head and shoulders above everybody else.
But he was scared. But what do we have? We have a little boy.
Or a youth who trust in the Lord, and he's going to use what he has proved from the Lord is useful. And he goes down to that little brook and he takes five smooth stones and he puts them in a shepherd bag.
And those stones are going to give him victory.
You know, I hope that we all can learn to go to the brook when the enemy is attacking and pick up those stones from.
Many applications of this, but whether it's a word of God or to fight the enemy, to have courage, you know, David is tremendous faith in the Lord. He recognized that Goliath was an uncircumcised Philistine and he has courage. He runs straight at him after and one stone hits him in the forehead, chops off his head and gets the victory. And it wasn't his victory, it was the Lord's victory. He said the bottle is the Lord's.
And the Lord did exactly that. You know, it's beautiful to me to consider this little brook.
That's in the Valley and you know, I don't know.
Where What challenges people here face in their lives? But I do know that everybody has them.
But we can always go to the Lord, and He will provide. So here we have David. I love this little brook. It doesn't call it the brook Ela here necessarily, but it is in the valley of Ela and in the valley of Elah there's a brook, and I just enjoy what it says. I'd like to go to the next one, and this is in First Samuel 30.
This is the Brooke bezor.
And I think of this.
From listening to kids stories and this is David again.
And David is at one of the lowest points in his life.
You know he's being chased by Saul the king.
And he's failed himself and he comes back to the city that he's living in. And he was fighting. He was fighting with the OR he had gone to fight against the Philistines and they turned him away, which was a mercy of God. And, you know, David comes back in. The city that he lives in has been destroyed, and his wives and his kids have been taken captive. And his army of men who were mighty men, wanted to kill him.
It was a low, low, low point in David's life.
But you know, David.
Goes to the Lord. We all know these stories well. He goes to the Lord and what happens?
It says this is in first Samuel 30 verse eight. It says Daniel inquired of the Lord, David inquired of the Lord and saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered, pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail fail recover all. So here David is told to go try and recover all. And you know I love that the Lord gives him this promise at one of the lowest points in his life. And so David's going to claim what the Lord had promised.
00:20:19
But was it easy?
No, David has to chase with his men. And they are.
So tired.
They just can't carry on. Some of them, they get to this brook and some of them are just absolutely exhausted.
Do you ever get to that point in your life?
Maybe it doesn't happen quite as frequently when you're young, but when you have children and work and everything that goes on, sometimes you get to a point in your life where you're just absolutely exhausted and it feels like you can't go on.
You know, they come to the brook bizarre and I just like to read what it says. This is in First Samuel 30.
And.
Verse 21.
Oh, sorry.
Verse 10 Sorry, but David pursued so he's following he and 400 men for 200 a boat behind which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Beazer. So 200 of these men were so tired they couldn't go over. You know, the rest of them went over and they go and they are able to get back everything and I love that.
And you know, those 200 men that stayed at the Brook Breeze or they go back and the other men were sort of like, well, they shouldn't get anything. They were too tired.
But you know, it's beautiful what David does here. Let's read verse 21. It says David came to the 200 men which were so faint that they could not follow David.
Whom they had also made to made also to abide at the brook bees. Or they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them, and he answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, and those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with, they shall not give them out of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then said David, You shall not do so, my brethren.
With that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth down to the bottle, so shall his part be that tarieth by this stuff they shall.
Part alike.
And so it was from that day forward that he made a stat, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel under this day.
Well, I love that David recognized that they were tired and they got just they were rewarded even though they stayed to look after the stuff as David pursued, you know, I David recognized that it was the Lord.
That gave the victory.
And you know, we need to recognize that too. It's the Lord that gives the victory. Earlier in the chapter, they wanted to kill David. But you know, David, he makes this a statute and an ordinance. And I love that. You know, they didn't have the current, they didn't have the strength to crossover the Brooke fees or but they still came into the blessing. So I love this little brook, the Brook of Beesor here in this chapter.
OK, let's go to the next one. This is the brook Cherith. Let's go to 1St King 17.
This one.
Is a little bit different. Again, this is Elijah first Brooke we had.
Jacob was wrestling the second one, it was Eshkol and the spies were traveling and Eli when David was fighting and then Bizarre when they were pursuing. Here at Cherith we have Elijah and what was happening in this story.
Let's just read it. It's in First Kings 17.
In verse five it says there.
Actually, we'll back up a little bit. Sorry, I'm not very organized here. We'll start at verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite, who is of the inhabitants of Gilead said on day have as the Lord liveth before whom I stand. There shall be no do nor reign these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, get thee hence and turn the eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan, and it shall be when thou shalt drink of the brook that I command did the.
00:25:15
To feed thee there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. For he dwelt by the brook, Cherith, that is, before Jordan, and the Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. It came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there have been no rain in the land. So this is a little bit different again.
Here we have Israel and Israel.
Most of the people there were worshipping another God, Bail.
And Elijah recognized that it was terribly wrong and that it was destroying Israel, and the Lord Israel had raised him up as a prophet.
To show them who the true God was. And you know the Lord tells them.
Or he tells the king there's not going to rain. Then he goes and he lives by this brook, and the Ravens feed him.
You know, it tells us in James it says Elijah was a man subject of like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not upon the earth for the span of three years. I'd have to go back and read the verse exactly. But here he was praying by the brook, and you know, it must have been heard, this little brook.
And Elijah is there by the brook and.
Three years, I don't know, it wasn't the whole time because he goes to be with the widow after. But you know, here he is praying that the Lord would come in, in deliverance. And it wouldn't be very easy to live by a brook, particularly in the middle of a famine, and just see it dry up a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more, a little bit more until it's totally dry.
But you know, he clearly he wanted to do what the Lord had asked him to do, but he recognized.
What was happening in Israel? And he wanted to see the Lord put back in his rightful place, and he wanted to see blessing brought to Israel again. And he obeyed. And, you know, sometimes in our life we can look at what's happening around us and we can recognize that things are falling apart. And, you know, there's a need to pray and to be a little bit like Elijah was here where he spent time. He was obedient to the Lord and what the Lord had asked him to do.
And he was just there by that brook in the Ravens feed him, and the brook gets lower and lower and lower and lower.
But he trusts the Lord. And does the Lord provide? Yes, the Lord provides as he always provides. And so I like thinking about this, Brooke, just as a place of prayer where the Lord came in and did exactly what he was said he was going to do. And you know, I love how this story ends. We know that it pours rain later on. And we can go through the story of Elijah. I'm not going to go in it today, but just.
Think about this little brook a little bit and I love.
Considering it, well, that's a.
Five of the Brooks, the Brooke Jabach call Ela Bees or Cherith. The next one I'd like to look at ties in a little bit.
With what we've had before us with respect to the Lord, and this one is over in.
John.
It's actually the book Brooke Key drawn.
Mrs. in John, chapter 18.
And verse one.
Says when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook he drawn, where was a garden into which he entered, and his disciples, and Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus oftimes resorted theater with his disciples.
Well, if you were to go to Jerusalem today, the temple is up on a hill, and if you go out.
You can go down into the Valley of Kedron and crossover, and that's where the Garden of Gethsemane is.
And you know, there was a brook there that the Lord passed over, and he went to that garden.
That Judas knew about.
You know, this is quite a brook.
To consider.
I don't think any of us can even begin to understand the depth of what the Lord went through. You know, he went to that Garden of Gethsemane, very moving thing to go there and see those trees there and realize the Lord went there anticipating what was ahead of them.
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Where he was going to perfectly fulfill his father's will and going to that cross of Calvary.
He crossed over that little brook and he went there and he, he recognized what his father had given him to do when he was going to do it. You know, the disciples were there and what did they do? They fell asleep. And you know, sometimes, and this is true of me, maybe we've had a big lunch or whatever, and we're sitting in these meetings and it could be a wonderful topic that's being discussed. And sometimes we just want to fall asleep. And it's not unlike the disciples, But you know, the Lord was there.
He crossed over that brook.
He went into that garden and he anticipated what was ahead of him. You know, I'm not going to go into the details of that.
But you know, I think of that and it's precious because that is the source. What the Lord did on the cross is the source of our blessing.
And to me, that is a tremendous thing to consider.
You know.
There's different places in the Word of God that are mentioned in the Garden of Gethsemane is one of them, and He.
He agonized there. And you know, sometimes in our life there may be times of agonizing.
But you know, often on the other side there is blessing. And if you think about.
Almost everyone of these brooks that we've talked, we've talked about. There was blessing on the other side. They had to get to the other side of it when it was the brook of J Bock. Jacob struggled there.
And.
There is blessing in his life after that point when you had the Book of Ash call, when they finally had the courage to go and fight the enemy and really lay claim to what the Lord had given him. There was tremendous blessing there when it came to Ela and David had the courage to fight the Goliath. There was blessing there when it came to bees or David and those his men had lost absolutely everything. They crossed that brook. The Lord gave it all back to them and there was just.
Everything was given by to them and then.
You know, the brook Cherith we see at the top of Mount Carmel where Elijah is saying the Lord, he is God, the Lord he is God. Israel recognizes who their God is again. And then he brings, he brings rain. You know, it's beautiful. But here in the valley of Kedron and you know, there's other beautiful stories about the Brooke Kedron, you know, and I don't, I don't go into them. I won't go into them just because of time.
But but tremendous. But here the Lord.
What's on the other side of the cross?
It's blessing for every single person in this room who has put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, as I I hope when I go and visit the Brooke at Brian and Meredith or the Brooke at Jonathan's or go back to that as I look, I recognize I just remember what the Lord has done for us and Lord as we come to these these brooks in our life that we may have the courage to crossover and and think about these little.
Stories and just enjoy them a little bit more, you know, It's nice, it's amazing.
What we find in this book, it's been amazing to me just to take these little topics of things that I enjoy. You know, I wasn't, I didn't know it was last weekend, I think when I started thinking about valleys and then was struggling with it a little bit and our failures going through a valley. And then I thought about the brooks in the valley and then the the blessing that comes from the brooks and the valleys and just.
To be able to just enjoy that a little bit.
And you know, I hope that we can learn just even a little bit from these because I recognized as I went through these little brooks that they're so pertinent to our lives. How often we.
We need to wrestle with the Lord. How often we need to.
Claim what the Lord has given us, how long, how often we need to recognize that the enemy attacks us, that the Lord, it's the Lord's battle. Each one of these things are so important. And you know, I would just, there's this one final one. This is the 7th one that I'd like to mention. And it's just a little verse about the deer panting for the water. Let's go to Psalm 42.
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And I think this sums it up beautifully.
Psalm 42 and verse one.
Says As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after the Oh God, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Well, I love that we sometimes sing the song as the deer panteth for the water. So my soul longeth after thee. I love singing that song and I love considering this. Well, I've enjoyed just meditating on this topic a little bit. And as I drove here yesterday and drove along the from Sugarloaf down to this area you're, you're driving right beside. I guess it's more of a stream or a river almost the whole way and thinking about these beautiful pictures that come from the word of God.
22.
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The rich ministry of this day.
Convenient food.
Provided so abundantly, unworthy though we'd be, and we would pray that.
Our hearts would be exercised.
To meditate upon these things, to assimilate it.
But it only is through assimilation that this food can.
Can give power in our lives we pray that our hearts might be exercised in these things we just.
Ask all with Thanksgiving in Jesus precious name, Amen.
Colossians 1:12-22
Reading
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Go to meet the Savior glorious face.
What manner of behavior?
And God's illumination by heart Walker right so that our preparation would be pleasing in His sight. 36 in the back.
Right, that's all my friends.
Please make it hear the stars.
Right story.
The meaning of.
Sinful man said.
The draw thy sovereign favor.
To the same.
Despair.
Uncle Thucks.
Us from the fall to break.
Thank you that we can be here this afternoon together in this way, the real Lord Jesus, and we just would pray as your word is open this afternoon again.
Your Spirit will be able to bring before us Christ and His perfection. This has been mentioned, we know.
The word that we've opened and your Spirit can bring before us in a way that is perfect. And Lord, help us to clear away the things in our lives that are distracting us from you, Lord, and help us to learn as your word is open. Pray that there be food here, not just for the older ones, but also for the many children here. We just pray that there would be words of.
Comfort, encouragement and teaching for each one and we just would thank you that we can be here together in this way and we just would ask for your help in Jesus name, Amen.
As much as I.
Look forward to getting to our death and resurrection of Christ later on in the epistle. I think that to bypass the second-half of chapter one would be a real shame is is that brings before us Christ as the preeminent one and it was very much on the hearts of many that we would have priced magnified before us.
So maybe if others are in agreement, we could begin with verse 12.
Chapter One.
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Also, since it's, it's difficult to speak on this book without going into other chapters as we were doing.
Perhaps we could start there and read also the entirety of chapter 2, Colossians chapter one, and verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet.
To be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities.
For powers all things are created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, and He is ahead of the Body, the Church, who is beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He might have 3 minutes. For please the Father, that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.
By Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated anatomies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you wholly and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight, if you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached.
To every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, and May administer.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now it's made manifest to His Saints, to whom to whom God would make.
Known What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, and you the hope of glory whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, they may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Where unto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them and Laodicea.
And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that your hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of the of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And as I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh.
Am I with you in the Spirit, joy and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ? As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walking in him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, so you have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy.
And vain deceit after the tradition of men, and after the rudiments of the word world. Excuse me, and not after Christ.
And in Him dwelleth all fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power, In whom also you have you are circumcised from the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, Wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And.
And in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it. Let no man, therefore judge you, and meet, or drink, or in respect of.
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Or of the new moon, or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let let no man beguile you of your reward and voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen faintly puffed up by his fleshy mind, and not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Therefore, if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is the living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed assured wisdom in all will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
Verse 12 reminds us of a comment made in the last meeting by our brother Saks that.
Is God that has done this work is made us.
His work, it's not anything we did.
And here we have it was God who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and light.
Him that made us meet.
We were talking at lunchtime a little bit.
Considering some of the ones that are a little bit younger.
And you maybe hear us say things like made us meet.
And some other things that are worded in this chapter as such.
Maybe you could explain to us what it means?
That he has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and light so that we all understand that.
Instead of the word meat may be fit, made us fit he, he put us in the condition.
That we could be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
He prepared us, He put us in the right condition to be able to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
That means for you, you're able.
I could put it that way. You're able to participate in this. You're able to be a partaker.
Of the inheritance of the Saints and light.
Sometimes we think of the young people as, you know, not quite being able to comprehend some of the truths that are taught and so on. It isn't true.
It's not true.
Sometimes seen I've seen.
Amazing comprehension of the truth. My children as young as three years old and I kid you not.
So don't. Don't sell yourself short because you're young or make an excuse.
You're able to comprehend the truth. God has made you fit to comprehend the truth and to participate in it.
But don't hide behind the fact that you're young.
If you want God and you want to know God, he's made you fit.
He's made you capable and able to do that.
And you're no less able to participate and to partake of the truth of God than anyone of any other age.
I think the Darby translation is very helpful here too. It says.
Giving thanks to the Father who has made us fit for sharing portion of the Saints and light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love. I was thinking of how you know, the Lord said he spoke.
In the Gospels of how, you know, when a strongman arm has his goods, when he's armed, his goods are in peace, but one that's stronger comes in, he can take those goods. I'm, I'm butchering the verses, but I think we all are familiar with those verses, right? Well, that's the Kingdom that we've been translated into. That one who is stronger than the Prince of Darkness has come into that, that Kingdom that he had here on the earth.
The world and he has he is stronger than him. He is plucking out of that authority of of Satan. He is plucking the children of light and you know he makes us fit.
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Has been brought out to understand and not only to understand, but to be able to do the things that he puts before us. You know, the Lord is not giving us instruction without giving us the ability to do it. You know, an unbeliever cannot do the things that please the Lord. They can't, but we can't. We have power to be the children of God.
It would be cruel.
To ask someone to do something knowing that they don't have the ability to do it.
God the Father is not like that.
He loves us too much.
And to give us requires to do something.
No, we can't do it. Gives the ability to do it.
That's wonderful truth, You know, it tells us that God works in us both the will and to do, not only the Willy, but he gives the ability to do what he wants. It's very important to see that.
I'm wondering about this inheritance.
Out If somebody passes on to death, they leave behind them possessions.
Fast for their family or to others.
It's called an inheritance.
Now we know in another place it speaks about.
Well, I'm thinking about Ephesians chapter one and.
There's 11.
It speaks here about in whom also.
To whom? Referring to Christ?
And whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
Being protested according to the purpose of him to work with all things after the council of his own will.
Well, we know that the Lord Jesus.
Comes into possession of every created thing in the universe.
But.
He shares his inheritance.
With you and I because we are like Co heirs. Is that the thought here in this person that speaks about the.
He made meat.
Any partakers of the inheritance? Is this the inheritance of every creative thing in the universe?
Well, what is the inheritance? Brother John wrote to us and the new translation is portion.
And it's a place as well.
So it's more than just inheritance.
But it's the place and portion of the Saints that is ours through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That we share together and the places where God dwells because God dwells in light unapproachable. We read this and.
Timothy, and so it's. I don't know if it's exactly the same thought as the inheritance of all creative things.
I would not say it doesn't include that, but I think there's more here. It's it's the portion of the Saints in a particular place that's in light where God dwells. How can he have us there?
Well, where are you referring to in Ephesians? One, He's placed us wholly and without blame before Him, in love, in His sovereign grace, but on a righteous basis.
The work of the cross and so.
He's translated us from the authority of darkness were to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. The authority of darkness does not have a claim upon us anymore. We don't have to respond to that authority just like the Romans five were those two headships. We're now under Christ. We don't have to respond to send anymore. We don't have to respond to that old headship under.
Ad.
No, we're in a new Kingdom.
What kind of a Kingdom?
Oh, there's a Kingdom of the Son of his love, the Kingdom where his Son, who is the object of his Father's heart, is the center of everything. We have been brought into a new place where we have the same person who is the object of God. The Father's heart is the object of our hearts, and it's a sphere of love. And so why do we obey?
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The love of Christ constrains us. We're not under the authority of darkness anymore, but we obey the Lord because we're in a sphere of love and the and the love of Christ constrains us and we're in a we're in a different Kingdom now. There's a different authority. It's the son of his love at the center. But I think it's beautiful the way he's characterized that way, the son of his life.
And so that love permeates that sphere.
Light, no sin can be there. He fitted us for that through the work of the Cross, took care of the question of sin for His own glory.
And to bring us to Himself in that place where he dwells for the satisfaction of his own heart. But at what a cost? At what a cost and whom we have redemption through His blood shouldn't be in there. That's the means. It's the greatness of the person that's in view that brought us into that place, not the means. You get the blood later.
But right now it's in verse 14 and whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins.
In who? In this person, who is the object of the heart of God, the Son of his love.
We have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. That's how she can make us, how he has made us meet to to enjoy that portion that is going to be the portion of all and is the portion of all his own in life. Verse 13 says we've been delivered from the power of darkness. That's a scary place to be.
And who's behind the power of darkness? I believe.
It's Satan, and I just want to say it's that same phrase when Judas came and.
And came to the Lord Jesus in the garden. And the Lord says to him, this is your hour and the power of darkness. And that moment in time when Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus with the kiss. We know Satan was behind that move. We know that Satan entered into Judas and he went out of that upper room.
But that's the domain that people are in before they've been redeemed.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a scary position to be in. The word redemption means to be purchased and set free.
That's what God wants for us. He wants his people to be free, free to serve him, free to worship him. So I think it's nicely been explained. But we have, we've been brought into a new place or a new sphere that's light to the very place where God dwells. We've been brought under a new authority, the authority of love, the strongest.
Force in the universe.
The power of God's love.
And then we have a new condition, and that's liberty to be set free. So we have light, love and liberty. God has brought us into all of that, and no wonder we can give thanks. I mean, we were as James has just described. Think of the condition we were in before he reached out to us in grace.
He has changed everything from darkness to light, from the power of darkness to the to the Kingdom of the Son of His love.
From the chains of sin to redemption, we can give thanks.
Light, love and liberty.
But then with that, with the bringing up of that person, his dear Son, and the Son of his love, the whole subject changes, doesn't it, to the person of Christ. And so he goes on in verse 15 to unfold the glories of that person.
Brother.
Facebook, being faithful to me, criticized my ministry to me a little over a year ago. And one of the things he said was you always start with what's wrong and correct it.
I I'm sorry that I have that tendency, but.
There have been some who have used this term, first born here to prove that Christ was not the eternal Son of God. And they, they, they, they come. This is one of the verses they use and they use this term first born. So I see he was born, you're born, there's a time you're born. So he couldn't have been the eternal Son because he, he was born.
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Is born first, yes, but.
Well.
This term first born, the Greek word is prototos, from which we get the word what.
Prototype.
He's the first born of creation, not because he was first to be born, but because he's the prototype. He is that which all of this creation was created in accordance with.
That's really what it means.
And the proof that it has nothing to do with him being born is the next verse, and you have the word fo it means What I'm about to say is the reason for what I just said.
And so it says he was the first born of creation. Why? Because by him.
All things were created.
He's a prototype of creation because it was by him or through him that all things were created. That's the reason. That's what makes him.
The first born of creation.
And that implies that in all creation we can see something of Christ.
It perfectly represented God. He that has seen me, has seen the Father, and the Son of God was made flesh. He stepped into his own creation, and He was the image of the invisible God, perfectly manifested God. And not only that, we read in Matthew 11.
That I'll just turn to it at my finger. There Matthew 11, verse 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
It was the burning desire of his part to make God known.
And he was the image, the perfect.
Image of the invisible body perfectly made him known in incarnation, and so when he stepped into his own creation, He who created all things, what place would be properly his?
The preeminent place and 1St born is not a priority in time. I have a family and there's a first born in my family. That's priority and time. He was the first one born. First born here is not priority in time doesn't just mean the oldest one, it means a place of preeminence above every other place.
When the Son of God stepped into his own creation, the only place that could be rightfully is and was worthy of him was the number one place of first place. And so that's why he is first born. It's it's the thought of preeminence rather than priority and time first place. And that's an incarnation.
He stepped into his own creation. In the Old Testament. It's it's again and again shown there that the first born had a particular position.
I think position might have been another word we could have used.
It just so happens that it was because they were the first born in time that gave them the position.
But that's not the case here. That is the case when you get down to verse 18, however.
Here it's.
First born of every creature, but in verse 18, it's first born from the dead. So there it is, the fact that he was the first to be raised up out from among the dead and gives him in that position because of that. There. That's not the case here, and you're still with the same object that he might have the preeminence.
At all things later, later on in the epistle, we find that there was there were those who might be guilty of worshipping angels.
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And when you just consider who this one is that we've been speaking about?
By him were all things created.
That are in heaven and that are on earth. Visible and invisible. Angels are nothing more.
And creatures, yes, they're wonderful creatures. Yes, they're powerful, intelligent, but they are still just creatures. Here is the creator, the one who brought all things into existence, whether invisible or invisible. How much greater? Think about the funds, the dominions, the principalities, things that you and I have. Really.
Know.
Full concept of He created all of that. This one is above all of those things.
They're all all created by him.
For Him, what a place that puts Him in in our hearts to bow before Him and to worship Him.
All those things.
You know, we might, we naturally tend to go low. It's like an archery. It's like you're still aiming low and you try again and the instructor says no, you're still aiming low. I think about that in John's gospel with those I am statements, you know.
Throughout this pathway here in this world, you have examples of many dear believers, Humans but redeemed.
But interacting with him and they show us just how we naturally are.
We, we aim to look, you know, at the, at the grave of Lazarus.
You know, it wasn't that the Lord Jesus just came to to stop people from dying, to heal sick people.
You know, and it wasn't just that he could pray to God his Father and that as a favor to him, the Father would raise Lazarus. He says, no, I am the resurrection and the life. You're aiming too low.
It's not just that he'll do this for me. I am the resurrection in the life. He's not just a branch. He I am the vine, he says. I'm not just the one who provides you with food. I am the bread.
Which came down out of heaven the human tendency is always to aim too low with our thoughts and the spirit of God would raise our our thoughts of.
Of the Son of God up to where He truly is as the preeminent One above all those things. He created them all. He is. He is preeminent above all of those things. That is where our hearts rightfully belong. We belong spiritually on our on our knees before Him in worship and adoration for who He is.
The Gnostics taught that.
The material world was a mistake created by a Demiurge God who was Jehovah of the Old Testament, who created the material world and their doctrines. We need to escape it, escape this material world. And at best they saw that Jesus Christ came to teach how to escape the material world.
The Spirit of God says no, He made it.
He is that God who made it all.
It just feels by the Spirit of God just deals a blow to that doctrine.
For that teaching he made it all. It subsists as his creation.
It exists because he is.
And he just places them in this preeminent place. He's not just a teacher to teach us how to get to a higher spiritual plane or some elevator plane.
Is preeminently above everything, and that's the very place that he wants to bring us into.
As his He comes from that place. He came from that place of light and love.
He don't he not only.
Created it.
But he is the one still holding it together and that's what that verse means. That word consists in your King James Bible should be subsist.
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What it means is that he's holding it together.
And in Job chapter 34, I think verse 14.
Job says if he take if he took his breath back to himself, everything would cease to exist. I'm paraphrasing, but that's what Job said. Essentially God with to withdraw his breath, everything would cease to exist.
And.
Here is a deeper mystery which.
Should be much more precious to us is that he not only created this physical world that the Gnostics said was work was evil, he entered into it.
How about that?
He didn't just create it, he entered into it.
Just to add to that a little bit, you know, it's not just the Gnostics. If you look at the world's prevailing view, separate from God right now, what is it is that there was a Big Bang. Something came from nothing.
And you know, we've just evolved over millions of years. We've gone from.
Slime in a pond to humans.
And you know, the interesting thing of that is there's no creator. There is no love.
There's no purpose, there's no morality, there's no nothing. You can't define what's right and wrong, and that's what's being pushed through the entire education system right now. But if you compare that with what we have, there is no comparison. Not only is there a God that spoke and it came into being.
But that God is the definer of love itself.
And he, with the relationship with his son for all eternity, wanted us to enter into that relationship. So he sent his son into this world as a baby to go to that cross to pay so that we could be delivered from the Kingdom of darkness. You know, if you look at the prevailing attitude of the world, all the, the suffering of this world is just things gone wrong in evolution. And there's no, no solution for it other than just to suffer.
If you take a look at what?
This chapter tells us not only is there a creator, not only does he love us, not only did he send his son, but his son is the head of the body which we become part of when we become believer. And he's preeminent in everything. And he's going to deliver us from. He's delivered us from the Kingdom of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear son. The contrast is staggering.
It brings meaning to your life. It brings the greatest of all emotions. It brings purpose. It defines what's right and wrong.
And the Lord himself is at the center of it all, that in all things he might have the preeminence. And that's what God, the Lord is trying to bring before us in this chapter is that who is the one is it that is at the absolute center of everything that we've been given the inheritance.
Not only the inheritance in terms of being joiners with Christ, which is almost phenomenal or beyond comprehension, but what we're actually being given as well in every respect. There is no comparison between the two. And it's it's good for us to consider that because if you take.
What this world is teaching today.
It's just there's nothing to it. But what we have here is greater than the greatest thing you can possibly imagine. And it's all centered in Christ that in all things he might have. And you know, if we can get just a little bit of a grasp on that.
The joy that that brings in the purpose that that brings is unbelievable. You know, I appreciate this, and I've said it before. My parents had this verse that in all things he might have the preeminence.
On the wall in our living room from the time I was.
Was an old picture Glee crossing on the beach.
At sunset and they had stuck the old letters on it with a big key in the middle of it. All things he might have the letters tore. They took it down. The kids are giving my parents it was they took a bunch of baby pictures and put it up in its place. My mom was deeply convicted.
About the Lord being in place.
00:40:00
Down. I made another picture. If you go to their house today, that's what's there. Where is the Lord in our lives when we recognize the position?
That he should have in everything. And I say that this is for myself because it's very easy for us to practically turn to living materialistically, which is what most of the people in this world do, or naturalistically where we just live for ourselves. We have to go to work every day and try and enjoy ourselves and then we die. I mean, that's that's the prevailing perspective, this world apart from Christ, but this is.
Infinitely better than that, and certainly worthy of us to consider deeply.
Can we sing a hymn? I know it's not the end of the meeting, but we could sing him #150.
Did you say 151 fifty? This is not to close the meeting, he said. He's not trying to close the meeting. We just want to sing this hymn.
#150.
So.
Just.
Your Death Day
Gospel—M. 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.
Found in the alone.
A piece of joy.
Joy, Lord Jesus.
Sounded me.
I saw that happiness.
Of year for them.
Nothing.
In his heart, let me go on being.
No, no.
The price concern is fine.
No other day for me.
There's love and light and light.
Joy, Lord, Jesus founded me.
Despite.
The other day for me.
There is love and life and life.
In control.
For Jesus.
Founded in.
Does anyone remember back in the meeting a little earlier, there was something we were talking about with Jacob that he did that was quite exhausting. So I remember what that was. Caleb, he wrestled any any of your boys ever wrestled? I think I caught the end of a wrestling match after dinner. You know who the last person I wrestled with was?
Sam, you know who was it? Yeah, I was your dad. Do you feel bad for me?
How long did it last you remember?
30 seconds. I thought it was a little longer than that, but you know, and at the end of it I was exhausted.
Wrestling takes everything that you have.
I was thinking about if you've been wrestling with God, how exhausting that must feel.
00:05:06
And I was thinking about if you've got 45 minutes here in this room or less and you're wrestling with God, if you're wrestling with his spirit and you're pushing back against his word, how exhausting that must be. And maybe if that's what you're, you've made-up your mind to do, maybe you'll you'll do just that for the next 45 minutes. You'll wrestle and you'll try to tune it out and you'll try to make excuses.
And you'll try to oppose God.
And I pity you if that's what you're here with the intention of doing because it's exhausting and it's going to end in misery. But if you you'd be willing to submit to God tonight, you could walk out of those doors this evening with a changed heart and a changed life. And we'll just pray and commit this meeting into the hands of the Lord. Father, we have enjoyed so much about the Lord Jesus and his preeminence or his first place that he has in all things.
Today.
And we want to give you the 1St place. And Lord Jesus, we do long to see.
You acknowledged before all creation as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
But Father, we are here with sincere hearts, hoping and praying that there will not be one left from this room.
Who will bow with the rebellious heart?
We pray that you would open up their heart this evening and pray that they would understand the gospel, that they would understand your love for them, that they would understand the love of the Lord Jesus and that they would oppose it no longer. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
I want to start by telling a story about a man. He's a real man. He's alive today, and his name is Bob. It's a pretty generic name, so maybe you can think about yourself as I tell the story, but Bob is a customer of ours.
And Bob started out, as I can tell, like any ordinary boy, and started out as an ordinary man as well. When he was a young boy, he was restless in school. And he would look out the window of his school, which was near a city in Chicago, and he would see construction projects on the horizon. And they were building skyscrapers and bridges. And he would.
Scribble on his notebook and dream of doing something outside of the classroom.
And he graduated from high school and he enrolled in college and.
After a while he dropped out because he wanted to. He wanted to build things. He started with nothing. He didn't have a family business he stepped into, and in the 1980s sometime he started his own construction business.
And Bob was and is a pretty sharp guy and he's pretty passionate guy. He's a forward thinking guy.
And he worked really hard. He tried to be innovative and he tried to think of new ways of doing things and new ways of including people and getting them involved. And he soon had a $10 million business that he built for with his own hands.
And he looked for work all around Chicago, and then he started to look for work around the country, and soon he had a $30 million business in just a few years.
And then he had a $50 million business.
He put everything he had into his life and he married his high school sweetheart and was deeply in love with her and they had children and he poured himself into his family.
And then he suffered loss and lost one of his children. And he had to kind of reinvent himself, he says. And he had to choose to not pity himself. And he chose to to kind of start over with his approach to life. And he continued to pour himself into his work and into his family. He had a $500 million business.
That's a big business. And eventually he had a $1 billion business and then he suffered loss again. His wife became sick with a rare disease and she passed away.
And Bob took a little time away from his work and from life and thought about things, and he decided that he wasn't going to let the tragedy define him. And he decided he would try to be as kind as he possibly could to all his workers and to his.
Customers and he would try to build things that mattered to people and he tried to share his experiences with people. And so he he went back to work with a renewed passion and he decided he wasn't going to let justice work define him. And he was going to travel the world and he was he was going to share his journeys with people and write about it. Little memoirs and soon Bob had a $5 billion construction company and today has one of the biggest.
00:10:18
General contracting companies in the United States today he is the chairman of his company and Bob is worth over $1 billion.
And I pay attention to things he says because he's a he's a diligent man and he has interesting perspective.
There was something that he said this past week that really, really caught my attention.
I can't remember if I knew about this responsibility of preaching the gospel at the time, but I thought of the gospel.
And I thought that what he had to say.
Sounded quite wise if you would turn to Hebrews Chapter 9.
And I'm just going to read part of a verse there.
Hebrews chapter nine. I think we read this once already today.
It says it is appointed for men to die once or once. To die appointed you have an appointment is something you have to go to.
Before the meeting I saw some boys and girls running around here and I saw someone standing at this podium and they may have left their Bible here if you're missing it.
And there was a lot of energy.
And someone was being convicted of a crime and someone was presiding over the case and witnesses were brought to the stand.
What would you call that?
Judgment.
Would you call it a trial or would you call it a mock trial?
Was it a real trial? Did he really steal the cookie?
Or you guys didn't decide that I'd call it a mock trial, OK, It was there was number real case. You guys were having fun. It was a mock trial. This man Bob, his statement was.
December 18th.
Today is my mock death day.
Ever hear someone say that before?
My mock death day, he said. Once a year.
I think about what it would be like to die.
It sounds wise, doesn't it?
To think about what it would be like to die and what would happen once a year. I stopped to think about what it would be like to die. Why does he need to do that? Why does it say here is appointed for men to die once? Why does it say that?
Is it appointed for men to die? Will men die? Yes. The answer is yes, right? So let's turn to the beginning of the Bible, to Genesis, and see.
Where we learn that?
Is true.
In Genesis chapter 3.
We know the story may be better than any other Bible story from the Old Testament. There was a man and there was a woman and they walked in a garden in innocence their husband and wife, and they were the first created humans. They were Adam and Eve and they had fellowship with God. They walked in communion with him and a certain the serpent came along.
And tempted them to disobey God. God had said not to eat of the fruit.
And.
Eve.
Made a mistake by stopping to listen instead of dismissing.
And saying what God says is true. She stopped. I don't know how it all happened in her mind or that fateful day, what all went down, but I do know what happened at the end.
She listened, she reasoned.
She reached out, she touched, she took, and then she took a bite.
There was a word that Adam and Eve knew, and that was they the word death. They knew the word, but I don't think they really would have understood.
In its depth, what it would mean to die because they hadn't seen it before.
00:15:05
And there was a feeling that she had never felt before. She took that bite.
But when she took that bite, I have no doubt that there was a little flame that started up inside her. And maybe you felt it before too, when you've disobeyed.
And it kindled and grew.
And started to overwhelm her, I'm sure, as she thought about what she had done and who she had disobeyed.
And then she did something that maybe you've done before, I know I've done in an attempt to make the feeling go away. What did she do?
Daniel.
She lied, but something that we often do with our sin Joey.
She blamed it on someone else, but then she shared it. You ever share your sin to make it feel a little bit better?
You know, if the spotlight's not just on you and you feel that flame kindling inside you and the guilt and instead of confessing the sin, you find others to to join you. Never happened to you. Well, she did that.
And soon there were two sinners.
And God knew it immediately. And they tried to hide, and God came to find them.
And he had to pronounce judgment.
After the fall.
And so in verse 19 of chapter 3.
It says, in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.
For out of it you were taken, For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
As in Adam, all die. Everyone who is in Adam, that's that's what we have inherited. We have inherited from Adam. He was the second one who sinned, but he was the first born of the race and everyone who followed after him would die because of that sin there in the garden.
And so that verse that we read.
In Hebrews Chapter 9.
Takes its authority from what God said right here is appointed unto men once to die. And so this man Bob, what he's doing sounds like a wise, wise thing. I want to I want to tell you just a little bit more about what he said though.
Bob said my life is complicated.
I have a lot of wealth. I have.
Several families now he's had a second marriage he has he sits on the board of all sorts of charitable organizations.
He, he's tried to create a legacy and he wanted to make sure that when he died, he said one of the, I think he said the kindest thing that I could do is to make sure when I die, it's not a burden to those who are left behind. And so once a year we initiate my mock death and we alert the attorneys.
And we alert my CFO and my general counsel.
And my chief of staff and all the wheels are put in motion for my death day. My obituary is kept up to date. We keep it up to date so it's ready to go. We know what will be said when I die.
We'll put all the people in motion.
And he said they have to move quickly because if they find my body, he loves to explore and go to remote places of the world. If they can get to my body, my burial will be within 24 hours.
And so.
We want to make sure that the most important people can get there and if there's a time to share nice thoughts, I want to make sure all the right people are there and no one misses out, and, he said.
Quoting.
There will be no funeral though, because those are *******.
And so I read through everything that he said, and he has everything perfectly figured out. He knows exactly what will happen.
And then?
If there was any.
Illusion or mention of anything beyond the grave. It was this he said something about. When the Grim Reaper comes to get him, he'll be prepared.
00:20:01
I'll be prepared for this world.
Beyond that, there was not a mention.
Of what really matters, he knew who would get his money.
And what his legacy would be, in his own words at least, and his mind. And he was encouraging others to do the same, to get ready for their death by having mocked death days to make sure that their death won't be a burden to others.
And I think this man Bob, missed the most important, most important point entirely. Would you say that's correct? Because he thinks he's ready or he's trying to make believe or trying to convince himself that he's ready to die and that it won't be a burden. And then after that, it's all over. Quickly bury his body. And then life moves on and his money does lots of good things.
But he has no thought about what will happen.
After that, and I want to finish that verse there in Hebrews Chapter 9 if you turn back there.
And I'm going to read the second-half of it, this time Hebrews Chapter 9.
And verse 27.
It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
And this man Bob, is giving no thought or consideration or preparation to the most important thing that will ever happen in his life, where he will have to give an account of not of the good things that he did, but of the bad things that he did. And he's going to stand in front of the Lord Jesus someday, someday, and he's going to have to answer.
For his sins, and that's not unique to that man, but I'm using him. I'm using him humbly.
And with a longing heart as an example, because he has made such.
Public declaration about having everything sorted out for death and has given no thought to the one who created him and the one who spoke these words.
And you've been invited here because there are there is someone in this room who has a care for your soul.
There's someone who wants to make sure that you are ready for your death day.
And they want to make sure that.
If you think things through in your mind and you run through your your mock death day, that everything goes the way that it should. And that you don't find yourself standing in front of the robes of white and the throne and the maker and sustainer of all things, and the one who has the right to all things and the one who has a crown on his head.
And stand before him as your judge.
And he has to pronounce that you're guilty on all charges. And not a word was spoken in your defense. Not a word was uttered, nothing was brought. No witnesses could stand to defend you. No one would risk their own testimony. And your own lips were sealed as you stood before the Lord Jesus.
And then?
You're bound.
And cast.
Into the Lake of Fire.
And it was a one way.
A1 Way St.
And what was said?
And declared and determined was sealed for eternity.
Are you willing to think that scenario all the way through? Are you willing to think about your sins that are upon you?
And are you willing to go all the way in your mind through your death day?
To the throne.
Whether it be judgment, are you willing to do that?
I wanted to take a little time.
To talk about another planner.
If you turn to Genesis.
Chapter 25.
I said planner like he had a plan for everything and he had a motive and he had something he wanted to accomplish and it was all about him and he really.
Most steps of his life, he he, he knew where he wanted to go and he knew what he needed to do to make it happen. We already talked about Jacob.
00:25:00
But maybe we'll just read a verse or two in chapter 25 of Genesis.
Let's start.
With verse 21. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his plea and Rebecca his wife conceived.
But the children, that's plural, struggled within her and she said.
If all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body, one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb, and the first came out red.
He was like a hairy garment all over, so they called his name Esau.
Afterward, his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. We'll stop there. I just want to spend a few minutes thinking about the life of Jacob because.
One thing we get as we go through life, by our actions, by our words, by our acquaintances, the places we go.
What do we get out of all those things? Can anyone help me?
Experiences something of a word that starts with R.
Relationships.
Anyone else? How about a reputation?
Get a reputation. Do you have a reputation?
I think we all have reputations, right? We're all known for certain things. And you have, you probably have something that you like to be known for. But you ever think about your reputation of what someone says when you're not there or what they think when you're not there, or what they what, what crosses their mind after you leave the room? You ever think about that?
Well, this this little boy got a reputation on the day he was born.
Supplanter, he reaches out, he's born 2nd and he reaches out striving for something and grabs the heel of his twin brother. And that became his reputation and that started to characterize, characterize his life from there on out. And so Jacob he had he characteristically, he was different than his brother and his brother was a hunter and was favored by his father.
And Jacob was a different kind of man and.
Was favored by his mother.
And we don't have time to go through the entire life of Jacob, but we know that.
He sowed some seeds in his life of deceit, of using trickery to get the things that he wanted. And when his father was dying, his mother listened his father's request to Esau for some of his savory meat, and she made haste. She quickly went to Jacob and said.
I have a plan for you, but you have to, you have to, you have to do the work. And I want you to go and take from the flock and I want you to bring it to me. And we'll cook up the meat in the way that your dad likes it. And as long as we do it quickly, we'll have it. We'll have it back to him before your brother gets back from the field.
And so he he, he listened to his mother, and he acted with her in deceit and trickery. And then he goes, and he comes before his father in disguise, in costume. His father's eyes are dim. And he tells him to come near. And he says, Who is that to Jacob? And Jacob speaks a lie.
And he says that it's Esau, and he lies to his father.
And then?
Momentarily a moment later.
He lies again, and this time he lies about God.
And he comes near to his father, and he steals the blessing of his brother.
And his brother comes in and finds that his blessings been stolen and he's furious.
And he pleads with his father to have something, and he.
Goes away in anger and in such anger that he wants to kill his brother and Jacob has to live with this hangover his head. He's he's achieved what he wanted and then he that that that feeling that Eve had that that came up inside him inside her and and started to kindle and burn and get bigger and bigger.
00:30:08
Jacob's life started to be more and more and more and more and more of that. The flame would start and he'd fight it, and he tried to fight his way out of it, and he tried to find another way to achieve what he wanted. And he could make the feeling go away a little bit. But then he'd see the next thing that he wanted, and he'd trick again, and he'd fight for it. And then he'd become miserable, and he'd get some of what he wanted, but it didn't satisfy him. And he'd do more and more and more and so.
The ends what he had to do.
Each time became greater and greater and greater in order to fight for what he wanted.
And then Jacob had twelve sons.
And we find that his heart and his motives and the things he allowed in his own heart are passed on in what we see in the lives of his sons, and so one of his.
Sons.
Is despised by his brothers and.
They take him.
And take his coat from him. They cast him into a pit.
And Joseph is sold into slavery.
And his brothers come back.
And they say that he was torn by a wild beast, and they had so much hate in their own hearts that they were willing to watch their father.
Here that his son was dead when it wasn't even true.
Joseph goes into the land of Egypt and he becomes in a high place in the government and the Lord has a special place for him and he he has a path that man never could have planned and through his wisdom and his listening to God, many lives are saved.
Back where Jacob is.
There's starvation, there's hunger and.
Everything that he's ever fought for is worth nothing and he can't even feed himself.
And.
He sends his sons away to Egypt to get food.
And they come back.
But we find that there's more sorrow for him.
And more sorrow and more sorrow and we'll be running short on time, so we'll just pass on. We find that there comes a point when Jacob has has nothing after all his fighting and all his planning and all his scheming and all his tricking and lying, lying to people and lying to God and wrestling with God and lying about God that he, that he has to be carried into the land.
Where his son is a prisoner and he's fed there but I.
Was just if you would turn over to Hebrews Chapter 11.
You know, we're all characterized by things as sinners, and some of them are pretty ugly.
All of them are ugly.
And if we take the time to contemplate, to think about who we really are and what we're really known for by the one who knows us could be a pretty depressing thing. But this is a gospel meeting. And that means that there's good news. And I, I wanted to read this verse. Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 21 Says by faith, Jacob when he was dying.
Bless each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.
This man who had wrestled with God, who had been brought to the end of himself, who maybe walked with a limp, who really all that he had fought for had been taken away from him and knew so much sorrow and death and his family and supposed death of others and hunger.
Characterized by one name, became known by another name. He he received a new reputation and he was made into something that you could be made into, and that is a worshipper. Jacob, who was a deceiver, became a worshipper. They leaned on his staff and he worshipped his creator. But how? How?
00:35:05
Can that happen?
I want to talk about the Lord Jesus. We have to Fast forward a lot of years from from Jacob's life, a lot of failure.
In God's people complete failure. And then we see that the Lord Jesus is born.
Onto this earth.
He's the Son of God.
And he came to save.
To seek and to save that which was lost. He grew up and became a man.
And he went all the way to the Cross of Calvary in order to do his father's will.
And his father's will.
Had two parts to it like we heard about earlier.
God's name had been.
Despised and.
Shamed.
By the ones who were created in his image.
And the Lord Jesus came here as a representative of God, but he came.
As man.
To answer.
To those charges.
And he suffered the hand of God to make all things right.
Concerning those who had wronged God. But then we're here this evening specifically to speak to you, maybe even just one individual who's maybe right in this moment more aware of their sins and their condition than ever. And and you feel the weight, that burden of sin on your shoulder.
And so there at the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus, the perfect man.
Hung between heaven and earth, but between 2 sinners.
Condemned by man, and spit upon and slapped and.
Anointed with a crown of thorns, the Lord Jesus on the cross.
Wanted to take your sins and make them his own?
Though he was righteous, he wanted to take your sins.
And bear them.
In the presence of a righteous and holy God, who would not let.
One sin go unpunished. The Lord Jesus offered to do that for you.
Because he loved you and he still loves you.
Sitting in your seat right now, the Lord Jesus loves you.
And He sees where you're headed, and He doesn't need to have a mock death day to know what will happen. And He's striving and He's sending His spirit. And He sent His word specifically to you to this very evening so that you could hear about His love and how He suffered on the cross for you, and how He is so willing to take your sins from you and make them His own and make them go away.
After suffering for them and paying for them in their entirety.
And so when he bowed his head.
Before he gave up his life.
He proclaimed emphatically that it was finished, the judgment of God was finished and sinned. My sins no more could rise. My sins that I had committed could never again be associated with me. Wash clean because of the blood of the Lord Jesus that cleanses from all sin. And right now in your seat, you have a decision to make.
You've been wrestling with God, you've been wrestling with a spirit, you've been putting off His word, you've been trying to drown it out, you've been trying to shut it out. And you have to make a decision. Maybe, maybe this will be the last time that you have to make this decision, but it'll be the last time that you get to make this decision. And so right now you stand with eternity somewhere on the other side of maybe that door, maybe just on the other side of your next step.
Eternity's there and the decision that you make for Christ.
About Christ in your seat right now will decide where you spend eternity.
The decision is, are you willing to admit that you're a Sinner?
Are you willing to admit that your reputation is disgusting before a holy God? Are you willing to say Lord Jesus?
00:40:10
I accept you as my personal savior.
I am so low that there is no other way that I can come and stand in the presence of a holy God.
And I accept you, Lord Jesus.
And I accept your blood to wash away my sins. That is your decision, and no one else in this room can make that decision for you. Your parents can't make it. You can't halfway make it.
You can't make it tomorrow if the Lord takes you tonight.
That is your decision to make, and it may be your final decision. And so we plead with you that you would answer the call the Spirit, that you would answer that soft and tender voice of the Lord Jesus who wants to make you clean and new and wants to make you so you will never fear the day of judgment again, and that you will stand righteous before the Lord Jesus. When you stand there with him, you'll stand alongside him.
And he will be able to say, well done.
Because of his own work. Just commend ourselves.
Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus. Thank you that we can proclaim the gospel however feebly. But we know that your Spirit is able, and we know that your love is not constrained. And this evening we pray that if there's one who's just putting off, maybe wants to say yes but hasn't had the courage, or maybe just isn't quite there at the end of themselves.
Does not want to proclaim themselves as guilty. Pray that you would work in their heart right now and that they would accept the Lord Jesus so there be no no more answer of no and that it would be.
Once and for all, yes, we pray that they would be saved by trusting the Lord Jesus and His precious blood. And we give thank you. Give thanks for this time and His precious name, Amen.
The Practice of Medicine
Children—P. Elgawli
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.
My grandson, this is the savior for me.
OK.
I'm sorry, what is your name?
Jess, you told me that yesterday.
Why would you like to say?
What number #40? Very good #40.
Jesus.
Tells me so.
Tells me so.
Jesus loves me, Oh my God.
It was to make me glad.
Waste to hold me and hands on.
Please, please stay safe from every heart. Yes, she's a slight sweetie. God bless. Jesus loves me.
Yeah.
Where I live, yes. She's a slow sleep. Yeah, loves me.
Yeah, streams are slugging. The Bible tells me so.
I trust and should I die, he will Take Me Home. My God.
He's not slums. Me. Yeah, she's a slugstone. Speak loudly by the Bible.
Maybe one more.
OK.
What song would you like it?
#46 OK.
#46.
Since we have a lot of kids, we'll try this.
There is a verse, there is a line in the song that says and he calls and he calls all the GIRLS. What is that word? Girls?
Girls, that's right. And then the next line says and he wants all that BOYS.
00:05:05
What is that, boys? Good. We have girls and boys here. So the line, when we start singing and he calls and he calls all the girls, only the girls and the ladies sing that long. And then the next line, only the boys and men will sing that one. And then we'll sing the rest of the song together. OK, we'll try it out.
Gladiator.
Well, thank you. That worked out great.
OK.
Now, I don't know if anybody has memorized the verse for this week, but the one that was on the Bible Truth Publishers Sunday School paper was a little bit of a long verse. It's actually part of two verses.
So I can understand.
If somehow difficulty with it.
Does anybody know what where the verse is found first?
Joy.
Do you remember where it's found?
Let me see it then. Romans 815 and 16. OK, that's right.
So would you like to start saying that verse?
You have received the spirit of adoption. You have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, have a father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Romans 815 and 16. Excellent, thank you. Anybody else would like to say the verse?
Yes, Lydia.
You have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry ABBA, Father, the Spirit itself.
Bereth witnessed.
Thou are spirit, spirit.
We are, we are the children of God. Romans 815 and 16. Excellent. Thank you. Anybody else I can help you too. Okay, Helen.
Romans 815 and 16.
You have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby would cry ever follow the Spirit itself beareth.
Witness.
Spirit for our Spirit for our Spirit for we are the children of God.
Very good. Thank you.
OK. Anybody else?
OK, Jesse.
Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby whereby we cry ABBA Father.
The Spirit, the spirit is so fair to witness, and with our spirit, with our spirit.
That we that we might be that we are the children of God. Romans 815 and 16. Very good, thank you. Okay, what is your name Okay.
Room 8.
1515.
He have received the spirit of adoption reduction.
Whereby we call ABBA Father.
The Spirit. The Spirit.
Itself.
Witness with our spirit.
00:10:01
That we.
Are the children of God very good? Thank you.
Anybody else? And this is a very hard verse there's.
Not always easy to remember some of these words, yes.
Almost 815 and 16. He ever received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry ABBA. Father, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Romans 815 and 16. Excellent, thank you.
OK, miss anybody that would like to say it.
OK.
You ever see the spirit of adoption whereby we cry ABBA, Father, the spirit itself, birth. Witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Romans 815 and 16.
Excellent. Thank you.
OK anybody else I missed?
OK, well, we're not going to talk about this verse in particular, but are these two verses but.
You are wonderful, wonderful verses to think about that.
First of all, they're speaking to.
Ones who?
Are the children of God right?
Now we hope.
We know all of you here in the front rows than we are.
Mainly directing our comments to you and some in the back too.
You're all children just by your age, right?
We have older ones and we have children, but we hope that you're just not children in age, but you are also.
The children of God.
Because you have.
Received a spirit by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've trusted in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells within you and you are a child of God. And so we hope that that's the case. But if somebody is not a child of God here this morning.
Our prayer is that as we take up the Sunday School lesson.
That each one will put their trust in the Lord Jesus and become a child of God.
OK.
So some of you don't know who I am, and that's OK.
But I brought with me my uniform that I wear at work.
This is my uniform sum here have different uniforms they wear.
And this is the one I wear every morning except when I'm off.
So.
What do you think this uniform is for? Yes.
Doc that is true.
So that is the uniform I wear and they call it the practice of medicine because we still practice. We try every day to know better.
So this is a book.
That somebody gave me recently.
A patient of mine at the office gave me this book.
You think it's a small book or a big book?
What do you think?
Why do you think a small book or big book? Big book, right? I'll tell you what the title of the book is.
To the page before.
It's called Library of Health.
Complete guide to prevention and cure of disease.
And this book was written in 1916 and updated in 1927.
00:15:06
Interesting. Excuse me, it's interesting. Obviously I did not go through this whole book.
But.
As.
Paul Reina would tell you when you go through schooling.
To become a doctor, you do have to go and read lots and lots of books. Probably maybe not one book that's as big as this, but if you put them all together, there's a lot of books.
Now one thing that's interesting that I did look in this book was.
That.
Back in that time frame, 1927.
Said they said, what is asthma now? Some people have asthma here.
And.
They said it was asthma is related to.
Some defilement in your blood.
Which we know today is completely not true.
A second thing they said How do you treat asthma?
Asthma is a condition of the lung where you can't breathe very well because your Airways get inflamed and tight.
And so one treatment they recommended for asthma was something called inhaled chloroform.
Now inhaled chloroform is actually toxic.
And we use it as an anesthetic or it has been used that way, but it can definitely be toxic to you. But that is what they.
Practice back then.
Another condition that we commonly see is an infection of the lungs called pneumonia. Some may have had pneumonia here. I've had it personally.
They said, well, what causes pneumonia? Well, back then they thought the cause of pneumonia was prolonged exposure to the cold if you're out in the cold weather for a long time.
That's how you get pneumonia. Now, maybe there's some truth to being out in the cold weather not being very good for you, but you would not just get pneumonia based on that. But the interesting thing is they said, well, how do you treat pneumonia?
Well, one of the treatments they recommended was.
Bloodletting. They would actually take let your blood get out of your body and that way the disease would leave you. Well, we know bloodletting actually can if you let enough blood out of you can kill you.
I think perhaps our first president may have been affected by bloodletting George Washington when he was sick. He wasn't good for him so.
The point?
You know, we learn all this information.
And this information changes overtime. Well, that's what they knew back then. That's what they thought was good. That's what they recommended. But as time has gone on, we've realized that that is actually not good at all. Well, let's turn to a verse in the Bible.
Because we have in our hands something that is much smaller than this.
But it's something that will not change. There's a verse in the Bible first, Peter.
Chapter 2 and it says.
Verse 25.
The word of the Lord.
Endureth forever the word of the Lord.
The Bible that we have in our hands endures forever. It's not going to change.
By time we're not going to find new information after a while and we're going to the Bible wasn't true about this. No, the Bible is always true and it it was written over thousands of years.
And it has not.
00:20:01
Changed the Bible is true today.
So first Peter.
2/24.
Sorry, chapter one and verse.
25, yes, thank you.
Let's read it again since.
Somebody corrected me, but the word of the Lord endureth forever first. Peter 125.
And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you.
So we can trust this book because it is true and it will not change.
Now.
What I'd like to do today is.
Do something called.
A well.
Checkup. So when I see sometimes children in my office and they come and they're not necessarily sick, sometimes they just come in for a checkup.
And some of the things we do, when they come for a checkup, we make sure that everything is just going right as it's supposed to be. So sometimes when you're doing a checkup, you discover that, well, maybe they're not as good as they should be.
So I'm going to bring out my tool bag.
This is the bag that I carry with me.
When we travel and it has my tools, I know some people will have other tools in their occupation, but this is the bag that I use and the point of what we're going to do is.
We're going to hopefully learn that.
A spiritual lesson from this checkup. Because the Lord Jesus he taught his disciples and the people around him.
By example, by natural things.
Taught them spiritual things. And one such example was when he brought up a child, right? He brought a child and he says you learn from this child. And so we are hopefully going to learn something.
From this exam now, I will ask for volunteers. I will tell you ahead of time that there are no shots.
That is the one thing that kids do not like when they come to see me. Are shots OK? No shots, promise I.
But there are prizes at the end.
Which is also something we always like to give is prizes. Who likes to go to the doctor? Does anybody like to go to the doctor?
OK, there are a few kids that do.
Some kids actually do like to go to see the doctor. Most times they like to go because their brother or their sister is seeing the doctor, but they're going to get the prize at the end.
So even if you don't participate, you're still going to get a prize, but I would like some participation if possible.
All right, so the first tool I use, and probably the most important one is this.
Who can tell me what this is?
OK, Peter.
Scope. That is right, a stethoscope.
So a stethoscope is very important. Probably if I couldn't have anything else, that would be the one thing I would need. Because what you listen with a stethoscope is to probably the most vital organ that you have. What is that part of your body that you listen to?
Yes, your heart, that is right.
Your heart. Thank you.
OK.
So I saw Joy holding her hand up there. She wants to be the first volunteer, so I'm going to listen to her heart, make sure her heart is OK. Where is your heart located?
00:25:15
Okay.
Sounds very good. She's not even nervous.
So the heart.
Now the Bible talks about the heart, doesn't it?
So let's turn to a verse about the heart.
In Jeremiah 17.
If somebody has a Bible, maybe they can read it for us.
We're going to run out of time soon. OK, Jared, maybe I'll read it.
Jeremiah 17.
And.
Verse 9. This is what it says. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.
This doesn't sound very good about our hearts, doesn't it?
I'll tell you a story.
Because like I said, sometimes we somebody comes in and they don't realize they have a problem. Well, I had this man come to the office one time and he was a little bit sick. He had a just a cold, which is not a big deal.
But then, as you would normally do, you listen to their heart and listen to the heart. And it's like this.
Does that sound like a good sound?
No, it's an irregular heart. The heart is not beating well, and he didn't even know that he had a problem. He just thought he came in for a cold.
So This is why we need the Word of God, because the Word of God tells us what we sometimes may not realize. It says the heart. Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's our hearts. That's our natural hearts. But here's the wonderful news.
Ezekiel, chapter 36.
Ezekiel 36 and verse 26.
It says.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the Stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. That is what the Lord wants to do to you today if you have this heart.
That speaks the Jeremiah speaks of desperately wicked. If we're still lost in our sins, God says, I want to give you a new heart.
Now this man, he didn't need a new heart man that came to me, he just needed some medication to help. But when it comes to spiritual things like our natural hearts that we are born with sin.
We cannot just fix it. It can't be fixed by doing something good or paying some money. We have to have a brand new heart.
And the Lord, that's what he wants to do to give you a brand new heart. How does he do that? He gives it to you by if you trust in the Lord Jesus, if you trust in him, he washes your sins away and you get a brand new heart. And then he says in Proverbs, my son, give me thine heart. He wants your heart now to for him to please and if you're saved.
We have to move quickly.
So the next tool we use.
Is this?
And there's variations of this tool.
So I'm not sure if you'll know what it's for, but.
What do you think?
Right next to somebody's eye. That's right, it's called.
And it's a hard word.
Ophthalmoscope and you kind of look in somebody's eye. You look at Luke's eye.
00:30:00
Magnifies things and shines the light into the eye.
And you can see things in the eye.
Well, sometimes.
There are when we do a baby exam, when the baby comes in, just a little newborn baby, we look into their eyes and we look carefully, something called the red reflex, because if you don't see that and you see some white in there when you look with that ophthalmoscope, there's a problem that baby may have.
Either something like that.
Blocking their vision like a cataract, which they can be born with or they can have even something more serious, a tumor in their eye. So that is an important thing that we do and that can the baby can be blind as they grow up if that's not fixed. So let's read a verse about blindness, Second Corinthians chapter 4.
And.
Verse 3.
It says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
And so.
I hope today.
That you're not blinded by Satan. Like this verse says, if you don't know the Lord Jesus, you're actually blind. You can see with your physical eyes, but you're blind to recognize that you're a Sinner and that you need the Lord Jesus and that He loves you. I hope your eyes can be open today to see.
That the Lord Jesus loves you and wants to save you. Know that the Lord when he was here on earth, he cured several blind people.
And in Luke 4 it says He gave sight onto the blind, Recovering of sight to the blind. And that's what the Lord Jesus desires to give to you today.
Light if you don't know him as your savior, and then if you're saved.
Bible talks about the eye as well.
In Luke Chapter 11.
It says.
Verse 34.
The light of the body is the eye, therefore.
When thine eye is single, thy whole body is full of light, but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
So boys and girls, the Lord, if you know him as your savior, the Lord wants you to have a single eye on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He wants you to have him as.
The preeminent one in your life. The one who's first placed to please him.
OK, well the next thing goes together.
So it's the same light, but we do something different with this light.
OK, Evangeline's over there.
Raising her hand.
Next, you'll skip that. So we're going to look in Evangeline's ear, OK?
Very nice. Sure, her parents were kind of concerned, but she her ears looked fine.
And let's look in her mouth at the same time.
You can see her mouth really good.
So the ear and the mouth.
Now let's just look at a person Mark.
A story there marked Chapter 7.
Because these things sometimes will go together.
Mark 7 and verse 31 And again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came on to Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of the capitalists, and they bring unto him one that is deaf.
00:35:11
And had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
We'll go down.
Verse 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto them, F fatha, that is, be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. Verse 37 He said, He hath done all things well. He maketh the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
And so that's what the Lord Jesus.
Does now.
I'm sure everybody here can hear pretty well, but I have some people that come and they cannot hear.
And sometimes it's a simple problem. You look in their ear and there's something called wax and it's full. Their ear is full and they can't hear. And thankfully we can do something right there, take the wax out and boom, they hear really good. And they're so thankful that they can hear again. But sometimes the hearing.
Is bad that it's not a wax problem.
Sometimes it's a tongue problem or it affects the tongue. So I've had a little boy that came one time and his parents were concerned. He was just maybe around 2 years old. And his parents said we just, we're concerned he's not talking, he's not talking and he's supposed to be talking by two. And we said, well, maybe he has a problem here, Maybe he.
Can't hear? Well, he didn't have a wax problem, but he did have a hearing problem, and when the parents took him in and corrected the hearing, he could talk because he could hear what they say and then he could talk.
And, you know, sometimes I've seen children and they do this.
They don't want to hear. They don't want to hear.
Do you want to hear this morning what God says? I hope you want to hear what God says, because God wants to give you life.
And He wants to bless you. And it has to be that you have to open your ear to His word. And once you can hear him, the Bible says you can speak. And it's a wonderful verse. In Psalm 40, it says He.
Put a new song in my mouth. Even praise to our God so we can speak with our tongues. And the wonderful thing we can say is thanks to God. We can praise Him for what He has done. Well, I ran out of time. There was one more thing I was going to do, but that's OK. We don't have to do that. But I hope this morning that we have learned.
Something from the spiritual.
Exam spiritual health.
That first of all, our hearts.
We have to trust in the Lord Jesus that our hearts we have a new heart and that our eyes would be opened, we can hear and then we can praise the Lord and give Him thanks.
All right, well, after we pray.
Please come and there are prizes here for each who would like one. Let's give thanks.
Our gracious God and loving Father, we thank thee so much for the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee for sending him into this world to be a Savior of sinners. And we thank Thee for each of these children and thankful for allowing them to be here. And Frank thank you for the parents that brought them in. Thankful that he can hear thy word. And we ask that each one would come to trust in the Lord Jesus as Savior. And 2:00 to.
Seek to live for Him while we're here. And so we just pray for richest blessing on each one. We give thee thanks name Lord Jesus, Amen.
The Rise and Fall of the Strong Man
Open—B. Erlandson
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.
Thread of scripture that's been before my heart.
In the last little while, and it is I could summarize with the statement, the rise and the fall of the enemy of our souls.
The rise and the fall of the strongman we've had reference in our readings to.
Deliverance from the authority of the power of darkness. Deliverance from the authority of darkness in Mr. Darby's translation, and the seed of these thoughts have come from a number of sources.
It's important to check your sources and in connection with that.
One other comment in.
Taking this part, I'm comforted and I'm encouraged by 4 words. Let the others judge that if there be anything that is not appropriate, that if there is anything of a discordant note, that it would be judged and that it would be clarified and I value that.
Those.
Sources one Mr. Mr. Ballot and some comments that he has made.
In respect to the.
The strongman and the binding of the strongman and the spoiling of his goods and clarity in this respect Matthew 4 we have the binding of the strongman and.
And we could say Matthew 8:00 and 9:00, we have a summary, a condensed version of the spoiling of his goods.
And.
Some I'll just read.
A couple of remarks of Mr. Ballot here. This binding.
Of him is the first great action of our Deliverer with our destroyer.
He then comes forth at once to enter his house and spoil his goods. In the due season he will be his bruiser as well as his binder and spoiler. He will bruise his head on Calvary. Then in the far distance he will cast him from heaven. Then he will put him into the bottomless pit, and finally he will cast him into the Lake of Fire. These are the ways of our great deliverer with our adversary.
It just thrills my heart to read.
Remarks like this and to think of what is going to develop and the.
The binding and the spoiling in a measure that has already taken place, but the fulfillment of it and so.
That.
That let's just let's just go to.
Matthew, Chapter 12.
To read of that, that remark, that phrase.
Verse 29, Matthew 12 and verse 29.
Or else, how can one enter into a strongman's house and spoil his goods?
Except he first bind the strongman, and then he will spoil his house. And that is what God purposed for his beloved son, to bind him, and to spoil his goods. Now the rise and the fall of the.
Strongman of our souls. Let's go back to Genesis. We had it in the Gospel last night, and we've had references to it in various.
Measures in in our other meetings, but just to just to consider the rise of the strongman Genesis chapter 3 and.
Just read a few different verses here. Verse one Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
Mr. Darby reads more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made were no match for the craftiness of this one. And we, we can go down.
00:05:06
Let's go to verse.
Verse 7.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sold fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
We little know what.
What a turn this is in the history of man.
The.
The fall of.
Adam and what it meant for this scene to.
To disobey.
One single instruction of the heart of God, and to turn away in disobedience, and to have the conscience awakened, and to be in fear of God from that point forward. 6000 years.
That's been the plight of man, to be under this.
Loss, this immense loss, and I've sometimes pondered what was the reaction.
In the heavenly company of the angels what what they saw here, They saw that creation taking shape, and then they saw man being created, God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life.
That that existence of God reserved for the human race and that link with God, that wonderful link and that communion that stemmed from that God coming down in the cool of the day and communing with Adam. What a blissful scene was theirs and.
In a moment of time, I'm sure it wasn't very long at all before the serpent came on the scene.
To to bring about this massive destruction that he he brought in. And so I've wondered about those angelic hosts. We know that they are capable of joy, joy in the presence of the angels of God over one Sinner that repents.
So they must be capable of sorrow too, and there must have been sorrow in that scene at what transpired down here.
And yet, in this account we have the deliverance intimated and we can we can go.
We can go on. Let's verse 14.
The Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle.
And of every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The Mr. Darby translates crush. It shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel under the woman. He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception and sorrow.
Thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. I know Adam, he said, Because I was hearkened under the voice of thy wife, and has eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall I bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, and the sweat of thy face. Shalt thou eat bread till thou return on the ground.
For all of it was thou taken, For dost thou art, and at a dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Just a little summary here of the effects of the Fall. The woman greatly multiplied thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and so on.
00:10:00
We were visiting just yesterday about the the existence of a.
Department in a hospital called the NICU Neonatal Intensive Care unit. And that's one of the consequences of the fall complications in pregnancy and in childbirth. And I can't help but point ahead in taking this up. The rise and the fall of the strongman, the enemy of our soul. I can't help but point ahead.
To this all being lifted and the millennial age.
When the reign of sin is going to end and one of the things that's going to be lifted is this sorrel in conception and bringing forth children. The lights in the NICU unit are going to be shut off for the millennial age. I don't know what it's going to be like to give birth in the millennial age, but it's it's not going to have this travail that.
That I don't know anything about.
Quite honestly. But that is part of the human existence. We've had three children and it's been without complication.
Healthy children delivered and I'm very thankful for it. We've had 12 grandchildren, very few complications. They're healthy children. So thankful for the Lord's mercy in these practical things. And then Adam and the sweat of his brow. It's a good thing young men to have the sweaty or brow. Don't shy away from that. It's it's good that a man bear the yoke and his youth and.
You go on and do that and you won't regret putting effort into the sweat of your brows. So there's things to draw from that should encourage us in the even in the constraints of the path that we are in, the constraints of the fall and.
There's there's one other point here that I just I marvel at this last verse. Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. I really appreciate that that he would use that name that that would be what he would do. She was the mother of all dying. But he says he he, he points to this and to the hope that they have in that seat, mother of all living. And so I really appreciate that that Adam would take that that.
Of things and it's we should take that side of things too. Let's try to do that instead of taking the the negative side and blaming, let's take the positive side and look at what the Lord is going to bring out of things. So this is the the rise of the strongman.
I was going to start with something and it slipped my mind. So I'm going to I'm going to go back to the end here before we go any farther because we're we're taking up a wearisome topic here and.
I want to, I want to just point out where it all ends so that we will not become too wary with the with the subject Revelation chapter 20.
I really really like the word picture here of divine inspiration.
Revelation Chapter 20, we'll just briefly hear, look at the end and then we'll go back to the the binding and the spoiling.
Verse one I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1000 years. That's the end.
As good as the end there's There's one more episode when he raises his ugly head, but it's brief.
And then and then he's done. But here it's an earthly scene and.
Just just one Angel. That's all it takes. And.
I'd like to see that chain. I would like to see that great chain because he's going to bring it down and the strongman is going to be bound. And it's it's, it's done. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan and bound him.
1000 years that's why that millennial age is going to be as peaceful as it is is because he's not in the picture so just just a quick reference there to where this is all going to end in spite of the the the weariness of the subject but.
00:15:06
The I hope that we focus more on the stronger than he than the strongman. So we'll go and we'll look at that that.
Binding First Matthew, chapter 4.
Matthew 4 and 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 hunger, and when the tempter came to him, he said.
If thou be the Son of God, command that 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 saith 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 shalt dash thy foot against a 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, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world.
And the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee. Hence Satan. For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Here is the binding of the strongman.
And the Satan comes out and he comes out as soon as the Lord Jesus begins his his earthly ministry. He came on the scene as soon as Adam and Eve were in that wonderful setting of a garden. And he spoiled that. He thought he was going to have the same results here. And he ran into a brick wall, if we could put it that way. And he ran into one who was.
Walking and perfect obedience. That was the difference. It is written, it is written, it is written and that is how the Lord Jesus answered the strongman. That's how he was the stronger than he and what a response and what a what a picture it is, what an example it is for you and I to have no other reference than this pressure volume for our guidance.
I.
I don't avail myself of it as I should for the path, the steps of my my life. I'm sure that there would be a lot of things that would have been avoided if I was more diligence in those three words. It is written. And so that is.
The the way the Lord Jesus meets him. There's much to learn from these these little accounts. If you would make the take the time and go back to our early writers, there's differences.
In each question and each answer and he he walks in complete dependence on God the Father and.
That's that's the key, the devil leave with him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now let's go to chapters 8:00 and 9:00 for a summary of the.
Spoiling of his goods.
It was.
Again, sources.
Bruce Anstey helped me with pointing out this chapter in connection with the spoiling of the Goods of the Strongman and the.
Condensed version of the Lord Jesus delivering different ones in different circumstances. Here there was, I don't think, there, I don't think a day passed in the life of the Lord Jesus where he didn't spoil the strong man's goods, where there wasn't a touch, there wasn't a deliverance, there wasn't a word.
That that would lift a burden. And so I don't limit it to just a certain, certain time here, but I, I think on the last day of his life, there was a spoiling of his goods. He instructed someone to take care of his mother, his mother in her need, the loss of her son. And that's an aspect of the spoken man's goods. And so.
00:20:05
And just just one other thing in this connection.
With with doing this, in spoiling these goods, he bore everything. He felt everything and he bore it in his own soul when he faced all of these trials and his sorrows and his difficulties. So we'll just read a few of them here in the 8th chapter of Matthew verse one. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him and behold, there came a leper and worshipped him saying.
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man, but go thy way. Show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus had entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at.
Of the palsy grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should have come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, Go, and he goeth, and another come, and he cometh, And to my servant do this, and he doeth it. And Jesus heard it. He marveled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no.
Not in Israel. It's wonderful when we find refreshment to that blessed man. Verse 11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the heaven.
But the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said under the century, and go thy way, and as thou hast believes, so would be done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self same hour. Next Peter's wife's mother Jesus was come up on a Peter's house.
Mother laid and sick of a fever, and he touched her hand, and fever left her, and she arose and ministered unto them. And when even was come, they brought on him many that were possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken by Isaiah's prophet, saying, himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses.
Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart.
Onto the other side, here's just.
Just a few of the spoiling examples of the spoiling of the strong man's goods, and that reference there to Isaiah surely have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows that remarkable.
Place of the Lord Jesus in his pathway and in his life.
And just want to look at one other scripture in connection with this.
This that he did.
I.
We read it this morning, but I can't put my finger on it just now. He.
He saw someone and he sighed at the at the condition and that the need and.
I've wondered how many times the Lord Jesus sighed in his pathway and in his interaction with his creature, and in seeing the the need and the failure, the weakness of man. And so he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. And so here in Matthew 8:00 and 9:00, He, I believe there are 12 instances.
Of the spoiling of the goods, but also.
A preview of the millennial age and all of these things being lifted. They won't be present in the millennial age. It just won't be. It'll be unknown in coming.
Another another aspect.
Of the rise and fall of the enemy of our soul, a strongman. Hebrews, chapter 12.
No Hebrews chapter 2.
Verse 14. Hebrews 2 and 14. For as much, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same.
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That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. I understand a better word is is a null him that had the power of death. He went down into death and through that work.
Totally removed the power of death.
Someone has said that the basis that this scripture is the basis.
Of death no longer being our terror, but now being our servant.
Because it takes us out of the sphere of the body and it brings us into the presence of the Lord Jesus. And it is only through the cross that this has been gained. And so the the bed of death with all its terror for the unbeliever is, is a scene of peace for us. Mom and Dad both taken into the Lord's presence in the past year. And it's it's their servant.
For all who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus as their savior, that's that's what death does. It just translates us into the presence of the Lord Jesus. Wonderful, wonderful favor to you and I now.
In.
Romans 6. Let's read a little bit more of that that deliverance.
Verse 4, Romans 6 and verse four. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man.
Crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more death, has no more dominion over him. For in the died he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
So further.
Evidence and testimony of our deliverance and and what is gained through the death of the Lord Jesus and our deliverance.
He died unto sin once. If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, freed from sin. Wonderful condition that we are brought into now.
Ephesians 6.
And.
What's described here?
A sphere of the strongman.
Verse 12.
Good.
Fusion 6 and verse 11 put on the whole armor of God.
That ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the ruler of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
We don't know what this spear is like, we are no match against it, but it is.
Principalities powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world. It's a strongman and it's his domain and it he operates from there. And he from that, from that vantage point, from that leverage, he's the source of all the sorrow and all the misery that we see in the world around us and.
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The Wiles of the devil.
Heal, work his.
His craftiness, he'll work it in my life, and he'll work it in yours.
And the only answer is the guidance of Scripture. And it may go on, it may go on for a year, may go on for 10, they go on for 30. But I am confident that the Lord is going to reveal everything and bring everything to light and that this will not have the last say.
But it is it is a very present.
President Sorrel, my dad told the story of hearing of someone experimenting with mind altering drugs in the early 60s and wondering how he was going to raise a family when this is what society was dabbling in and he I appreciated the the account this was.
Not that many years ago.
And how this stressed him out? It was, ironically, it was a man called Timothy Leary.
An English professor at Harvard University.
A an Ivy League school and he's not satisfied with his circumstances in life, so he's experimenting with LSD and see what it'll do.
He got some publicity at the time. He also lost his job at the time, kind of a pretty.
Dumb trade off if you ask me, but that's the that's the natural mind and.
The Lord and His mercy took care of a household from my dad.
Household for me. Now he's taking care of a household for my children. And you'll take care of your households too.
And he'll protect you and I from this.
This scene and now I want to go to the fall of the strongman and.
See see the end of this and see the replacement of it. It just it thrills my heart. Now go ahead to Revelation chapter 12.
I can't help but smile when we look at Revelation 12:00 and 7:00.
And with the backdrop of what we've just read in Ephesians chapter 6, because here in Revelation 12 and seven spells, the end of what we just read in Ephesians chapter 6.
Verse seven And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed. Not neither was their place found anymore in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a voice saying, In heaven now has come salvation and strength in the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accursed them, which accused them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives onto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you.
Having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And so here Michael and his angels, they fight, and the the dragon fights and his angels, but they prevail not. There was no place found for them anymore in heaven. And so the scene that we just considered in Ephesians 6 has come to a close.
Do you know what's going to replace it? Do you know what's going to replace this scene and who has made it up? You and I are. The church is going to take the place of what has been the source of misery and sorrow and unhappiness in this world. And the church, drawing on the source of Christ, is going to administer.
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Joy and happiness and peace here in this scene, in that millennial age.
You and I will have a hand in that. It'll all come from Christ, the head in the glory, and it's just such a thrill to my soul to think of.
That being closed and all the misery and sorrow that has come from that that sphere. And now that you and I are going to.
Take that place and we've been reading through Revelation, the early chapters of Revelation, our reading meeting at home.
And I was looking at some of Mr. Darby's comments and he makes we just just finished chapter 5 and Mr. Darby makes an interesting comment. He says that what takes place here in this scene, the devil being cast out, it happens before Revelation 5 begins. So he's gone when?
That scene takes place and the title deed to the whole earth.
Passes from the hand of God to the hand of the Lord Jesus and I just that's that seems to be perfect order to me. The revelation isn't necessarily linear and so that was I enjoyed that comment. Now let's go ahead and and finish this.
Chapter 20 where we where we read before.
Again Revelation chapter 20 and verse one. I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1000 years. Cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up, Set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the 1000 years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Now.
Verse seven. And when the 1000 years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. Gog. And May God together them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed, compassed the camp of the Saints about, and the beloved city.
And fire came down from God out of heaven.
And devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. For the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. That's the close of the course of the enemy of our souls, the course of the strongman. And it's going to come out one more time, and he will be answered immediately.
And that will be his, his end and lake of fire.
What a what a comfort it ought to be to you and I in this scene and in the conflict of it, that.
That is going to be the the close of the scene. May we? Maybe we seek to go on in faithfulness in the little while that is left for us.
Faint Yet Pursuing
Open—J. Grinton
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We've had quite a bit before us this weekend about the place that we were.
And the place that God the Father has brought us into through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this hymn we sang. Father, thy sovereign love is sought us captives to sin gone far from thee.
The work that thine own Son hath wrought has brought us back in peace and free.
And now, his sons before thy face, with joyful steps the path we trade, which leads us on to that blessed place prepared for us by Christ our head.
What a pitcher. Our brother has shown us just now of what's to come, but presently we are here in this world.
And this world, most surely, is a difficult, possibly even frightening place to be.
And what came before me?
In our readings in Stellerton recently in Judges.
Was two little words.
Well, I suppose it's three. Faint but pursuing. Faint but pursuing.
And I've had that on my heart ever since we read it. And you know, we've just read a verse in Romans 6.
But I had not been thinking about but.
It says.
In verse 4.
Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
And I was considering once again what I had been taken out of and brought into.
And we had read in Colossians.
As well, in the reading meeting we had taken that portion up.
And I noticed over in chapter 3.
And verse nine, it said.
That you have put off the old man and his deeds, verse 10 and have put on the new man.
And have put on the Newman.
Josh and I were talking just a few moments ago before this meeting. He's got a nice new Bible and it's got some special things in it that.
Make some of these words a little bit more clear and I had not noticed it before, though considered to put on the Newman is something that you do one time, you do it one time, you never take it off and you carry that your entire life as a believer in Christ. You put on the new man, you put on Christ. Look in Mark Chapter 9 just for a moment, you see.
The blind man in Mark Chapter 9.
Well, maybe it's not Mark Chapter 9. Mark chapter 10.
Mark, Chapter 10.
Verse 46 And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal. Thou, son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, Rise, he calleth thee.
And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
I like this little story. I made a note here years ago.
I'm not very good at taking notes, but I marked here that garment.
Is equal to or is a picture of character.
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Garment is a pitcher of character.
Blind Bartimaeus took his garment, and he cast it away, that old man.
And then if you look at the end of verse 52, it says he followed Jesus in the way.
He put on a new garment, He put on the new man. He took on Christ as his character.
Probably everybody knows how much I like the verse and the end of Second Timothy by now, as I probably say it every time I get an opportunity.
So I should be able to quote it, right? Second Timothy.
Chapter 4 and verse 22 it says the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.
Or thy attitude, that you and I might have the character, the attitude of Christ in everything we do.
In this life, while we are here, in the way that we conduct ourselves, the way we behave ourselves, the way that we care for one another, the way that we love one another. Our brother got up and he mentioned something that has been going over and over in my head for days and I'm so thankful to my wife that she found it for me last night. But he mentioned in his comment a discordant sound.
A discordant sound, and if you look in hymn #208 in the little flock.
It says very simply.
In verse three no stain within no foes or snares around, no jarring note shall their discordant sound all pure without all pure within the breast no thorns de wound no toil to mar our rest no discordant sound. And you know many know recently that I've been.
Extremely caught up with the church.
And the one body of Christ. And I have very much enjoyed thoughts that I had of Joseph.
And his coat of many colors, and the pieces it says in the margin that were used to make up his coat.
And when I think of you and I taking on the characteristics of Christ.
Having an opportunity to have the attitude of Christ.
Being brought into something that is so immense that we almost can't bear to even understand it, It's overwhelming for me to think about.
Being an individual, a member in particular, making up something so much greater at the power and the force of God to move it, the head Christ.
And so I think of you and I.
Individuals, the responsibility we have in that to one another before God and Christ the Lord Jesus. And I wonder if it's OK to ask you how serious you are about that responsibility.
How serious are you about it? What does it mean to you? Or are you more interested in yourself?
And the individual that you are.
You know, I think of this discordant sound and we won't go to all these portions, but if you look in in Judges when Gideon was there, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, you know, I'm going to have to turn to it. I'm sorry.
Just a small example here.
He gave instruction.
In verse 16 of Chapter 7, he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pictures and lamps within the pictures. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do so shall ye do, as I do so shall ye do. I have left an example.
That you should follow in my steps.
When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
And you know, if you read further, you see that they followed the instruction.
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To the letter.
And you see there was great result.
Great result. There was victory.
The Lord delivered them.
And he is here today to deliver you and I from all the things in this.
In this world.
And to keep us and to help us. But we have a responsibility and we have a part as individuals that make up the greater whole, the body of Christ.
You know, I had this picture. I'm not going to go into that whole part that I enjoy so much, but I had this vivid picture in my head that goes along with the one of Joseph pulling this coat on over his head and the head coming out wherever the head went, the coat.
It goes everywhere with Joseph.
It's the same picture of you and I following after Christ, the head going exactly where he wants us to go. But I had this picture.
Of all those pieces that made-up the code.
And maybe you could think that as they were.
Interwoven knit together to make up the whole coat. Maybe you could just take a piece?
And you could grab it and you could rip it out, but that wouldn't happen. It's sewn together. And when you grab a piece of somebody's coat, more goes with it.
And here comes the discordant sound.
If any of those ones back in Judges 7.
Had gone against the instruction that was given.
If maybe possibly.
They used a different instrument.
Maybe they shouted instead of blowing the trumpet.
They would be going in a different direction than the one that was laid out for them.
You can read the story of Jericho in the Walls as it came down and what they had to do as they marched around that city. The instruction was very clear.
And as you remember, they followed it once again to AT.
They had victory.
And were delivered.
Had they not had somebody?
Or persons gone against the instruction in a different direction.
It would have been chaos.
Most likely failure.
And so I point this out because I wonder when I looked up the word discord.
And it said.
As far as music went.
You know, and something's out of harmony or possibly when one or two have a disagreement and don't get along.
Dear ones, we don't have that opportunity. There's nowhere in God's Word that there is instruction for you or me to give a discordant sound.
In the body of Christ, these dear ones that were with Gideon were faint, yet pursuing.
Our responsibility.
Is to follow the instruction that He has given in His word. Everybody here has one.
Do you dig into it? Do you find out what your course is? Or do you listen to your heart?
Do you listen to what your brain tells you and you think you've got it figured out?
Do you look at one another and discern that you have to go take care of a problem, and so you take it upon yourself to do it?
Do you look at the outside world and you see what man's systems are like?
What Satan is offering.
And you think it'd be nice to bring that in amongst those that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the body of Christ?
That is all a discordant sound, and it has no place in the direction in the instruction book that he has left for us.
What he wants for us that are faint and pursuing is to encourage each other.
He wants us to take up his word like we have been in Colossians.
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He wants us to listen in the meetings to the instruction so that when we leave here.
We don't walk out the door and somehow peel off the Newman and go about our daily lives for the next 5 days or six days until the next Lord's Day. He wants us to bear it, He wants us to keep it, and he wants us to walk in a way.
That is pleasing to him.
And we need each other.
Do that.
Sure, we came to Him as individuals. Sure, He saved us, washed our sins away. Sure.
We have responsibility before Him as individuals, but if each one of us as an individual is doing that thing with which He has given us to do, that part that we know in our heart belongs to Him, being filled up with Christ, having the attitude and the character of Him.
That body is going to move in the exact direction that he intended and wants it to.
And so I really challenge each and everyone of us. We all have mirrors.
Have a look in it, be honest with yourself.
Is there a discordant sound because of you?
Is there something?
In your life that is hindering your enjoyment of the Lord and therefore.
Affecting all those that are around you.
If you are full of Christ.
If you have the character of him.
If you have the attitude of him.
Everybody with you, you go along together, following after him.
We see that one that led here was Gideon, but I believe he is a pitcher.
We see that one in Joshua, but I believe is a pitcher.
I even feel I see it as brother Mark brought it out yesterday in First Samuel 30 which was maybe possibly something for later but.
You know when he came back.
We better back up. When he went after the Amalekites, he went to the Lord and he asked for direction and the Lord said pursue. He said pursue. And so he did and he recovered. He recovered. It says he recovered all, but he recovered and they came back and there were those there that were faint that needed to be encouraged.
I don't know how many it says those would be loyal.
But to me, it's those that were not taken up with God.
And you know, there are one or two possibly that said, oh, we're not going to share with them.
They weren't a part of the battle.
But they are a part of the battle and they were in that day and you are today and so am I. And there are ones left at home even that we can consider at this point, but maybe even here in the room that need to be shared with that maybe need an arm.
Maybe need some special care.
And David made sure of it in that day. And you and I.
Have the responsibility to make sure that everybody has that today.
We have to go along together.
Following after him sure there are certain uncertain.
There are certain things that come up that have to be dealt with at times.
But we deal with them through the love of God and through His instruction book.
We don't take it upon ourselves to make a discordant sound about it. The Lord would have us to be in harmony.
Flowing in the way that He is laid out before us. And dear ones, He has made it so clear.
I trust that we can consider that there's a couple of verses in.
First Samuel.
Chapter 13.
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Samuel was speaking to them here, but all the wickedness they had done.
Don't really want to bring that part up as much as it is here.
Going to read around it in verse 20, Samuel said unto the people, fear not.
A little further down it says, Yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
I think that connects well with that portion that we had in Colossians. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.
Moreover, As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He hath done for you.
I can only think of all that we have had before us in the Lord Jesus yesterday and today, what great things He had done for you and for me.
There's a little song I wish I could think of, the words We sang it at the kitchen table not that long ago. But something to the effect of why would he save me? Why would he love me? And if you knew everything about me and my past, you might look at me and say, yeah, why would he save you?
Why would he love you?
But you know he does, and I'm so thankful for it. It means so much to me. What does it mean to you?
Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart. Be true to yourself as well. Look in that mirror and ask yourself that question.
Am I real?
First, John.
Chapter 3.
Verse 28.
First John two and verse 28.
And now little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
Just consider that verse for what it says.
He loves us so much as his little children.
He's put that banner of love over each one of us.
Sure, he's promised us a place with him.
In eternity, forever. And it will be glorious, I can assure you. I don't even grasp the whole concept of it, how great it will be. But I believe that He has given us such an opportunity here in this lifetime to abide in Him, to shine for Him, to encourage each one.
Faint, but pursuing to take another step every day.
And I just want to encourage us each one today, that whatever we do together, let us do it. To build each other up, let us do it.
To stir each other up, to go on in the way that He's laid out before us and let us comfort one another that is coming draweth nigh.
I trust that this might be something that works in the souls, the hearts of each one of us, as we see so many difficulties that seem to pop up amongst us. And I'm certain if we looked at them really, really closely and in simplicity, we could see that their discordant sounds and they're just caused by.
The simplest of things.
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That really don't add up to very much. Maybe our own hearts, our own desires.
Whatever they might be.
I just remind you that our own hearts and desires aren't written in here. This is God's instruction book for you and I and how we can walk to please Him until He comes. Let's find the answers in His Word, let's dig into it, and let's do it together.
Let's do it together so that when he moves, we move. We don't go to the left, we don't go to the right, we go in the direction that he intended all the way along.
Can we sing?
Colossians 1:23-29
Reading
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200.
Straightforward.
Can ride along.
Our living Lord.
Cancer.
God and their Father, we would just give thanks for Thy kind provision for us.
My word, we've been able to have together over the last couple days and.
We just look to the again freshly hold up our hands as little children expecting to receive again more concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please guide us as to what portion will be thy mind for us to take up.
That would be for the glory of our Savior. Just thank Thee for we've been able to consider Him. Just ask for help too. That we would not just be hears of thy word, but that we would be doers as well Just.
Ask for help in this time. Do so in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
23.
23.
If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul, and made minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the Church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God.
Which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God even.
To the ministry, to the mystery which hath been hid from ages past and from generations, but now has made manifest to his Saints, to whom God would make known. What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? Which is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that you may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
Whereunto I also labor, striving according to this, to his working, which worketh in me mightily. For I would that ye knew what great afflict, what great conflict I have for you and for them, La Tocia, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding.
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To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
In whom we and whom are hit all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit. Join, and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as he had been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through the philosophy.
And vain deceit after the tradition of men, and after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the putting off the body of the sins, the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which is contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers. And He made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you, and meet or drink.
Or in their respective and holiday, or in the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. The body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward and voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment.
Ministered and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world. Why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, Touch not, taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in All in all worship.
And all will worship and humility and neglecting of the body.
Not any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
Somebody could give us a little help with the way the word IF is used in Scripture and to help us understand how it's used in verse 23. I don't think I want to make an attempt at that, but I will ask a question of you. Are you referring to the way that if is used in the Old Testament as a strong negative and also in the book of Hebrews? Is that what you're thinking about?
Well, I think there's a way, you know programming language. There's if then statements. If this is true, then that is true.
And then there's a if of a more of a question, but I don't know how to explain it well I think.
I know that.
Talked about in the book of Hebrews, quoted the Old Testament when he said, if they shall enter into my rest.
It wasn't a question. It was they're not going to because of unbelief. And that's the strong negative use of that word. But I don't know that that's what was intended here. I think the faith here is not personal faith, but the body of truth that has been given to us in New Testament, revelation, the Christian faith.
And certainly.
Delivered to us through the Gospel.
And he speaks of the hope of the gospel, which I think we get in verse 27, the hope of glory that is to be with Christ.
Where he is glorified, that's the hope of the gospel, and that gospel has been preached in all creation.
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Rather maybe than every creature which is under heaven, but rather in all creation under heaven. And Paul was a minister of that gospel, and there were those who were putting a slight on the gospel.
In colossi and saying, well that's just a elementary thing and you know a good place to start get.
Percenters But now you need to get past the gospel and grow on to.
Better things and sort of leave your childhood behind there. And Paul says I'm a minister of the gospel.
And not only that, the gospel brings you your hope, the ultimate end which God is going to bring you into and glory glorified with Christ. And he really he really puts the gospel in the place of honor that it should have and he says I'm its administer and he does not take place for those who would put a slight.
On the Gospel in any way.
But really, he presents.
His ministry have two platforms and the first one is the gospel and that it brings really that platform forward strongly in the epistles to tie this in Philemon where he presents God as God our Savior and the Savior God will not is not willing that any should perish and it takes the place as the first platform.
In his ministry when he presents it that way.
But the second platform of his ministry is the truth of the mystery, the church and the the teaching and administration of that truth that was especially given to him. So 2 great platforms of Pauls ministry, the gospel and the truth of the church. It's a mystery.
Yesterday in the open meeting we had two aspects of reconciliation. We had the fact that the Lords has reconciled all things.
His work on the cross and then we had the fact that he has done the work to reconcile us believers individually.
One that was general, one that was broad, one that encompassed all creation. And then there's another aspect that is specific to believers.
And now it's as if Paul says if the work of Christ.
Had two aspects. Then my ministry has two aspects. I'm a minister of the gospel which goes out to through all creation, but I'm also a minister of the the truth of the church.
You know, and it's, it's a, it's a beautiful thing.
To what what Christ has done on the cross influence the way we think and the way we serve.
That we not lose sight of the gospel in our daily service for the Lord.
It's so important, but then there's that other side of things that he had a special object in view.
Paul had both those things in view.
And we should as well.
Follow the question.
Question with the if.
So if you continue in the faith.
Grounded and settled be not moved away. It's not putting a question mark on the certainty of.
Internal security I believe. Where is it that if there?
I would maybe I need to be correct, but I would think that.
The true believer will continue in the faith.
And.
Will not be moved away from the hope of the of the gospel. So this is not a verse that some will take and say, well see, you have to do something. You have to continue in order.
To be certain of your salvation.
Is that correct? I think that's right. It really ties in with.
That we have been reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. That's true.
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Then the other is true. It's really, if this is true, I'm one of those reconciled, then I will continue in the faith. You know, it's, I think it's, it's not a question of will I continue in the faith or not.
But it's really if one is true, then the other is.
They were falling into asceticism, which is the thought that if I afflict my physical body in some way, deprive myself in some way, I'm going to be more spiritual.
Now there is there is a place for fasting and neglect of occupation was S in that way and and to be set apart for God. But that's not what they were doing. They were seeking to deprive themselves and click physical pain and thinking that was going to elevate them to some higher spiritual plane or enlightenment.
And Paul says I've got afflictions too. I'm going to tell you what mine are, and they're nothing like yours.
I'm suffering afflictions of Christ in my flesh, Bruce Body sake.
He suffered for the truth of the church that was committed to his trust. He was. And he gives that long list in Second Corinthians of the things that he suffered in connection with the administration of that truth. And it really was when he told the Jews that he was told by the Lord to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
They wouldn't suffer him at that point to hear him anymore through dust in the air and said away with this man. It's not fit that he should live on the earth. And really it was for that truth, Jew and Gentile and one body united to a glorified man in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he suffered in his body to achieve a higher spiritual state.
No, for the sake of the truth and that the Saints would have it and enjoy it.
Walk in it. Why? Because Christ would be displayed in this world that cast him out. If they went on in that truth and walked in the in the good of it and light of it, Christ would be displayed. You know we had a little bit before us about the strongman Satan.
You know, he thought he got a victory.
When the Lord was put on that cross and he died.
You might say, he said. Well, good, we got rid of him all. But then three days later he rose from the dead.
Disappointment.
Thought I got rid of him. Well, anyone back to heaven? Well, good. At least he's back up there. None of the Day of Pentecost. He was here again, and the members of his body and Satan well knew what took place in the Day of Pentecost long before the Saints did. He knew it was a Christ in his members here on this earth.
We are united to a man.
Who has been glorified at God's right hand, God's righteous and just response to the man who glorified him in his death and calvers cross. We are not united to a man in his humility.
In his lowly pathway here was brought before us, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground, and died abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit in resurrection.
And ascended into glory. He sent the Spirit of God down. And that is what united you and I to Him in heaven. We are united to an exalted and glorified man in heaven.
And as we walk on in that truth, and it is walked in the reality of our lives, Christ, the glorified, exalted man is displayed in this world. And Satan hates that testimony.
It's not even just the lowly man in his humiliation and grace that's displaced. It's the exalted man that's displayed, the man that he thought he got rid of on the cross, but then finally out of the scene in heaven. What? He's exalted at God's right hand. And that is the one that's displayed in this earth, the one who's coming, the one who's going to claim the Kingdom, which is his by right, who is going to take Satan's.
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I'll gotten dominion from him. That's the man that's displayed. Do you think he wants that? Do you think he wants a little company to gather to his name on the ground of that truth? That there is one body composed of many members, a display of Christ in this world? It's an affront to him. He hates it. Why do you think he tries to attack that truth?
Because of the display of that exalted man in this world and the very truth that he has defeated.
And his end is coming.
Hates that this one and so Paul suffered.
That's a suffering that's acceptable with the Lord.
Not the suffering of their asceticism.
That had that had no value on the side of God. It just ministered to the vanity of the first man and the flesh.
And that's really what it means in verse 23 of chapter 2. Not in any honor.
To the satisfying of the flesh. No honor before God, just the satisfying of the question.
And certainly not even any honor to our natural bodies, which are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
If any younger, I don't necessarily mean young, just younger.
Brothers might have a question that they're afraid to ask.
About these scriptures, if you ask it, it could prove to be very useful to the Holy Spirit.
In this meeting so.
Don't be afraid to speak up.
Just the way it comes by way of orientation, because this is a very precious chapter, but we read the beginning of it yesterday and perhaps we've lost the context of why these things are brought before us. I just suggest that would be in verse 10.
That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful, and every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Perhaps you could help us out, someone that knows more than I do about how the chapter is broken up because I think it's important to see, you know, our King James Version is all versed by verse and really there are paragraph breaks and I believe the first break besides the greeting of the first verses and the 14 and then you have the preeminence of Christ.
From verse 15 down to 23 and then you have Paul's ministry to the church.
This chapter so I'm sure someone can illuminate us a bit more in that it helps us understand the little chapter in a better way.
I think you just did a pretty good job of it brother, actually.
I just wondered if anybody had a?
The question as to how he says there's a lack in the sufferings of Christ. That sounds kind of alarming, doesn't it?
And so we need to understand what he's saying here. There was number lack in the sufferings of Christ for our redemption.
None at all.
But what he suffered at the hands of men for the testimony that he bore was martyrdom.
That suffering was not a.
Redemptive work. That was a martyrdom. That was a witness, a testimony.
And it's so suffering we can share in. You get that? Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10.
We are. It's our privilege to partake of the sufferings of Christ, not the sufferings for redemption.
But the sufferings of martyrdom for his body's sake, and is exactly what our brother Steve was saying. Paul suffered, and he suffered physically for his ministry of taking this truth to the Gentiles. And he suffered mostly at the hands of the Jews, sometimes at the hands of Gentiles too, but usually stirred up by the Jews.
But those, those afflictions of Christ.
We all have the privilege and the possibility of being able to share in those sufferings that are for His body's sake, for the sake of the building up of His body. So Christ suffered for the Church that He gave Himself for it, but the truth of the Church was not known. But in making known the truth of the mystery which could only come after the Cross, all suffered for that truth.
00:25:16
That it might be administered. And so he was preeminently the administer of that truth. The stewardship was given to him, a dispensation. He had to dispense that truth. He had to administer it. It was given to him especially to administer it. And so he suffered in that way. So the Lord could not have suffered for the truth of the church. The church hadn't been formed, but that was the object of his heart.
So he gave himself for the church. He's like the man and Matthew 13 that found that Pearl of great price and sold all that he had that he might have it for himself. But Paul subsequently, that's why it says that which is behind. In other words, it's really what came afterwards. After the truth of the church now is made known. There was suffering connected with its administration.
But if fulfilled or filled up or completed the revelations that God had to give and.
So the truth of the mystery, once that was brought out, God had no more revelations to give out. Well, we have the Book of Revelation though, don't we? Written long afterwards. True. And there's things in there that were not known previously. True, But Revelation really is an unfolding of the prophetic ways of God that were spoken of in the Old Testament but now filled out with truths connected.
Church, because not only do you get God's judgment in connection with apostate Israel and Judaism, but you get His judgment with what eventually is the apostate church too. And so there's a filling out of details, but it's not new. And that sense it was already the subject of Old Testament prophecies that Christ was going to come.
There is going to be a period of trouble and judgment. The day of the Lord would then unfold on this earth. He would take His rightful place in a millennial Kingdom.
So John doesn't really give us anything new in that sense in the revelations of God. What Paul brings out with a mystery completed all the revelations that God had to give.
To to us. And so that truth of Christ in the church, the mystery unfolded. It completes the revelations that God has to give. There's not some secret in the heart of God.
Like the mystery yet waiting to be unfolded. It's true. I have not seen nor ear heard. The heart of man hasn't entered into those things that God is.
Purpose to give us, but they are known by the Spirit to us now. And certainly there are things to unfold in the wonders of God's creation and all that He's going to bring us into in the new heavens and new earth. But there's not going to be some new thing like the church and Christ in the church yet to be unfolded.
It's the peak has been hit, the pinnacle has been reached. There's no further revelations to be unfolded.
From the heart of God.
This is his masterpiece.
Paul is referring to at the sufferings that we have reported in Second Corinthians for the church.
The mystery of Christ and the church was a secret in the heart of God that could not really be revealed.
Until the work of the cross was finished.
The Lord certainly introduces.
A subject in Matthew 16, Upon this rock I will build my assembly, but it really does not unfold the truth of the mystery. Let's just turn back to Ephesians to get the core of that truth, that there was going to be a new assembly in contrast with the assembly of the congregation of the wilderness.
With Israel the Lord brings out, and it was going to be founded on himself.
Dead and risen, That's what we get in Matthew 16. But in Ephesians chapter 3, we get the core of what Paul calls the mystery, capital T, capital M, the mystery. And so he takes that up in verse six of chapter 3, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs or joint heirs of the same body or joint, body and joint.
00:30:23
Takers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, and that we get in Titus 2.
Let's just turn to it, because sometimes there's been a little confusion on that. Titus chapter 2.
Excuse me, chapter three. I think it's the verse I'm looking for.
Verse seven. That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, that is, the hope of which we are joint partakers as Jew and Gentile.
The hope of eternal life, eternal life in the Old Testament was the life that they look forward to, to living in the Millennium for as long as the Millennium went because they had no thousand year definition of the time or length of the Millennium like we get in Revelation.
The Kingdom would come and it would just go on and on and on. And any Old Testament reference to eternal life is just that. But the eternal life that we have referenced here at Titus is that possession of the very life and nature of Christ which we have in the hope of the gospel. That was part of the mystery that was hid in God.
Joint partakers of His promise in Christ, the promise of eternal life.
In the gospel the other thing was that we would be joint heirs with Jew and Gentile together with Christ, joint heirs, equal status in the inheritance with Christ and with one another, and of the same body or joint bodies, members of the one body of Christ, of one another, united to our head in heaven those.
Thanks. Have no revelation in the Old Testament scriptures. They do not form part of any prophetic Old Testament utterance. And I will be quite bold to say they do not form any part of any typical teaching in the Old Testament scriptures. Yes, there is typical teaching.
Of the truth of Christ in the Church, and the aspect of the bride of Christ.
You get it with Eve, You get it with Rebecca. Truths that could not be known. You would never know them from those types until the truth itself had been revealed.
But the truth of the mystery in its core joint body, joint heirs, joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, we do not even have in tight. It was a mystery hid in God, not even hit. Typically in the Old Testament, it's not there. It was something that was just in the heart of God.
And it's been now revealed. And so the strength of the New Testament language in it.
The mystery which has been had hit hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His Saints, where we were reading in Ephesians. We get it so strongly put.
Which in other ages verse five was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto this holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
Verse nine. And to make all men see what is the fellowship or administration of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hitting God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known.
By the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, Romans 16.
00:35:04
Romans 16.
Verse 25 not to him that is a power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. First platform of Pauls ministry. According to the revelation of the mystery. Second platform of Pauls ministry.
Which was kept secret since the world began.
But now is made manifest and by it should read by prophetic scriptures, not by.
The scriptures of the prophets, whenever you get the expression in the New Testament, the Psalms, the Law, the prophets is referring to Old Testament scriptures. If the right translation here was the scriptures of the prophets, it would be referring to Old Testament.
It's really by prophetic scriptures or scriptures that have a prophetic character that is New Testament prophetic scriptures, because the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, New Testament apostles, New Testament prophets, gifts of Christ to his church that have unfolded this truth, and so now it's made.
Prophetic strippers, not the Old Testament prophets. That's not the point of Revelation 16. Otherwise it would make no sense that it was a mystery. Hidden God only now reviewed. It would have been part of the prophetic scripture three times over. God stresses this is a mystery that was hidden God. It is not part or subject of the Old Testament prophecies.
That is the fallacy of the reformed theology.
That says the Old Testament prophets are Speaking of the Church.
It's not true. It was a mystery hitting.
Thank the the imperative point of understanding what you very clearly pointed out, Steve, that this is a part of the increasing of the knowledge of God, isn't it, where we have the truth of the word of God as to the position that we have as a church as opposed to being a continuation of Judaism?
We're not that. We are a different thing. We've been made one Newman.
Is that not correct, Ephesians? This brings it up clearly in other places too, but I think that's the import. A lot of times we don't necessarily connect. What you've said is very excellent, and yet we need to know the why. And I think what you just brought out at the end there is very important. It really gives us clarity as to the church's position.
Why do we meet the way we do?
I think here's the wine we may have touched on before. Why? Because that truth, what it speaks of, is the display of Christ in this world. That's the importance of it. And the importance of the ground on which we meet, the ground of the one body, is that each local assembly meeting on that ground.
Is the local expression of that truth and that place.
And it is God's testimony for Christ in this world. And the church is the vessel of the testimony to the risen, ascended, glorified man in God's right hand. And it's that which Satan opposes in this world. That's the importance of it.
It's the exaltation of the man that we have in this chapter, and that's the theme of this chapter, the exhibition, the glory of that man.
And the truth of the Church is bound up with the glory of death.
And so he says, to whom God would make known what is the richest of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. Here in Colossians he especially has the Gentiles, and views that truth going out and reaching the Gentiles.
Among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you? The hope of glory. What does that mean? There is only one person in the Godhead that indwells the believer, and that's the Holy Spirit.
00:40:03
Christ in you. That word you is is plural. It's collective. It's Christ in you, Gentiles who form the Church of God on this earth. It's Christ displayed in you in this world, all of the features of the glorified, exalted man.
Displayed in his church.
And that display is a testimony and witness to the hope of glory that is ours, of being there with that ascended man, glorified with him. The display in the Church now of that glorified thing is.
Truth that we are going to share that place of exaltation with Him for all eternity.
Christ in Israel had Jehovah with them, the Glory Club.
The hope of the land for us, the church. It's Christ in you, the hope of God. What is the percentage of Christianity Today that.
Is in the enjoyment of these things.
That would be walking worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the true knowledge of God.
What percentage of the Christian testimony today is in the good of those things? If we had a true sense of that, it's it's it's, it's a remnant at best, and a sense of that. And if we had a sense of what's expressed in these wonderful Scriptures to the Lord's glory.
All we can do is weep.
At what has been lost?
For God's glory.
And it should make whatever is left in that remnant character versus.
Especially if we see how precious it is to God.
Every man 100%. And he wouldn't stop until that truth. Yeah. He wanted to carry it to the regions beyond. He wanted, as it says here at the end of our chapter, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. If you're sitting here and you're hearing what some of these brothers have been talking about, the truth of the church, the mystery, you think you know?
You know, all I all I need is to know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I just need something to Get Me Out of my bed, get me to school, get my homework done and fall back into bed at the end of the day.
Paul would not agree with that. He would say, actually, I want to present you.
Perfect in Christ Jesus and this truth is required. It really is to be full grown. To be full grown and to really see the big picture, you need to see this truth.
Of the mystery.
Chapter 2.
We've read it a couple of Times Now and haven't got a chance to touch on it, but you know, he says verse two, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery.
It's God wants us to understand this truth that we've talked about and then it goes on to say in verse three in whom? But it's really a poor translation. It should say wherein our hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You know, guys, this is not just some bonus thing. This is not just some side issue.
In this truth of the mystery that we've been talking about.
Our hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
You you can't see the the the the mind of God displayed without understanding what we've talked about here. So I do realize that perhaps it's been a little bit hard for some of.
Think about when I was your age, my early teens, this these things were, I perhaps thought they were over my head, but you know, they're really not. And when we lay hold of these things, it allows us to grow.
00:45:08
In our understanding, as Brian mentioned earlier, of the knowledge of God. So I just encourage you in that you know, these things aren't maybe say whether they're over our heads, but you know you can you can still reach up and and lay hold of them and God intends them for you.
And he's not. He's not going to be satisfied any less than Paul was satisfied to until he could present every man perfect in Christ Jesus or full grown.
Romans 16 really bears that out because he says not to him that is a of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. We won't be established Christians really and a stable steady pathway going on for the Lord's glory without knowing that truth.
Isn't establishing truth as to our pathways, believers? It steadies us. It keeps us going straight in a way that's pleasing to him.
Oh God.
I wanted to dress up.
Mistry.
Bright love rise.
Our loving God, our Father, we thank Thee for this time We've had together in that presence these beautiful crews concerning Thy will. I desire Thy purposes.
00:50:09
That we that we have just sung. We are.
That was part of as the church that.
And so we give you thanks for these things we thank thee for.
Liberty enjoyed.
Spirit to bring forth these things.
The refreshment we've been able to have together considering these things.
Love binds us together.
So we just give thee thanks, bless the name of our Savior.
Jesus Christ.