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March Gospel, chapter 10, verse 17.
And when he was going forth in the way, there came room running and kneeled to him and asked him, Good master, what do I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why calleth thou me good? There is none good but one that is gone.
Gone was the commandments do not commit adultery. Do not kill, do not steal.
Do not bear cross witness defrauding Honor thy father and mother.
And he answered, and suddenly him master, all these have I absorbed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him, love him, suddenly him. One thing thou likened, Go away so whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thus will have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross and follow me.
And it was sad at that saying, and why do we grieve? For he had great possessions.
Jesus looked round about and stuck unto his disciples. How hardly shall they that have Richard enter into the Kingdom of God?
And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again. He set unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust enriches to enter into the Kingdom of God?
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.
The neighbor has done a lot of measure, saying among themselves, who then can be saved?
And Jesus looking upon themselves. With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.
Then Peter began to say, In the Lord, We have left all. When it followed thee in Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no amendment left, house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake in the Gospels. But I shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come.
Eternal life, but many that are first shall be last.
And the last first and never in their way, going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus went before them, and they were amazed.
And as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again to the 12 and began to tell them what things should happen unto him.
Saying the holding up in Jerusalem. And the Son of Man shall be delivered under the chief priests, and under the scribes. They shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him.
And the third day he shall rise again.
We have in this passage the Lord Jesus with his servants.
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With those that were following him and.
They're given to feel.
The nearness to which He has come to them, and so to us.
We also learned in this chapter how little we understand ourselves and how much we have to learn.
In regard to ourselves, to really appreciate grace.
Now we may look at this young man to think of him as one who was a far off from God, and he certainly was. But this is the case with each one who comes to the Lord.
And we little know our own hearts.
And I believe it's a good thing for us to to ponder this passage of this young man.
For a moment to see the principles involved in connection with what goes on within the human breast. The the lacking of understanding of the things of God. The distance man is from God. Naturally he may be enclosed with religion, and he may be surrounded with every convenience and blessing.
But that doesn't bring him one bit nearer to God.
He has to have a complete change.
Already pointed out that he did not know his own heart. This is not the same question as Acts 16, whether Jailer says what must I do to be saved. The jailer was owning in that that he was lost and there was nothing in himself. He needed something outside himself to save him.
But here this young man is looking at this in Jewish aspect, and he's looking for eternal life on earth, and he thinks that there's something he is able to do to inherit it. As our brother has pointed out, that shows again the deceitfulness of our hearts. And even as Christians, how little we realize what's deep down in the recesses of our hearts, and the Lord brings it out.
Remote resume.
Here we have a young man.
They come running.
The Lord peace which shows that he he was furniture, He ran, and then the other aspect is He deal.
He was kneeling before the Savior, which would indicate at least he was biased.
And the other aspect is he inquired about eternal verities, eternal life.
He's hurt, he's pious, and his pious concerning eternal life.
So that the Lord Jesus applies.
Three things to him.
I don't know of any portions. So sad though as this portion before spread.
Showing the lack of sincerity.
On the path of this man.
The Lord Jesus applies pretense. Notice, please.
The first Test came as regards his possession. As regards his possession, he had possessions, he was a rich man. And then the second test.
Was as regards the cross.
And the third, if you'll notice, please.
As regards the Savior himself.
So you see the Lord Jesus knowing the intent of the heart.
His inmost in the most thoughts. He applies these three tests to him.
Which we shall notice as we go along.
The effects of.
We have the expression here used.
Good master.
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Now some have thought that the man was simply using this expression.
In connection with the Lord owning him only as a teacher, which really is the thought, I believe, a master.
But I believe we have something a little deeper here as well that we learned from the 16th sound, if you will turn to the 16th sound just for a moment.
Now I'm looking at this sound in connection with what the Lord answers this young man.
Why call us thou me good? There's none good but one that is God.
Now in the 16th Psalm.
The Lord says.
I believe this is the Lord speaking, although it may be applied in principle to as some of the things of this Psalm to the remnant, but.
Here we have the Lord speaking. O my soul, I was set unto the Lord. Thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the Saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
The Lord Jesus.
Came down as man, and he took a place as identifying himself with a little remnant of faith.
And so as taking that place as man, he speaks this way to God.
My goodness extendeth not to thee. He would not take the place.
As it were as man, as long as he was identifying himself with the remnant of that place of goodness, although it is true of him, but he stooped so low to be associated with the remnant that he would use this language of the of the 16th Psalm in connection with it. My goodness extended not to thee, he humbles himself. Now there's there's something very precious about this.
Because.
He associates the remnant with himself.
And we see in the early part of the Gospels.
Where he is baptized, identifying himself with the remnants and so that the claims of righteousness might be fulfilled. Not that he needed it himself, but simply to identify himself with a little remnant of faith.
And so he would not accept this man's.
Salutation as being good.
He wouldn't accept it, possibly for the two reasons, and one was that the man wouldn't own him as God, and the other that he was now to identify himself as the perfect servant with a little remnant of faith on the earth.
Perhaps in order to make it clear to many of us as to the remnants, we can.
Turn for a verse in the book of Zephaniah.
In Zephaniah the third chapter.
And verse 12 we refined to Jerusalem. This chapter refers to Jerusalem in her sin and degradation and in the 12 verse.
Of Zephaniah 3 I will also leave in the midst of the and afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not show iniquity, nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. I believe when we use the term remnant, we are referring to the small nucleus of faith.
After the general testimony has been rejected by the whole nation.
So Israel is a whole nation, rejects the truth of God, rejects the person of Christ.
But there's a feeble fuel who hold on, who believe, who receive it.
And it is this company that we speak of as the remnant. It's not the vast nation. It's a small part of it.
Now I believe when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He in faith and principle, as our brother has reminded us from Psalm 16, He took the place of the remnant that His voice and the Psalms is not only His own voice, but the voice of the godly remnant among the Jews that God is going to raise up according to Zephaniah 3, when we have been caught away. I just mentioned this for benefit of the young. When we use the term remnant, we're referring to that small nucleus of faith that will be found in Israel.
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After the church is gone.
We have this young man.
Expressing certain things to the Lord that would indicate that he didn't realize that the Lord could read his heart.
The Lord could read his heart. The Lord knew him altogether.
May we turn to another Psalm, just for a moment, because I think it will be helpful in this connection. Psalm 139.
In this Psalm the writer.
Is apprehensive of the Lord searching him at the beginning.
But at the close of the Psalm, he invites that search because something is transpired in the meantime.
And this is what the young man lacked in the 10th chapter of Mark. He had never had this experience of the 139th song.
Now, one of the reasons for my suggesting this passage today is just this, dear brethren.
I believe many of our dear young people have been brought to know the truth of the Church.
Of the one body, and they have never realized the importance of the gospel.
And especially the truth of this chapter.
And they become discouraged and turn away sometimes.
When they face the world because they've never known what it is to take up the cross and follow Jesus.
They've never known what it is to set aside those things which the natural heart desires as objects.
Now, that's true of all of us, but I'm speaking now of not having perhaps even the faintest realization of what it is to set aside these things that this young man held the deer down here.
And so in this 139 Psalm we discovered something.
We discover that we're read through and through. We read a few of the verses.
Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest by down sitting in mine uprising.
Thou understandest my thoughts.
The far off.
And thou purpose of my path or winnowest my ways.
And my lying down. They're acquainted with all my ways, For there's not a word in my tongue but long.
O Lord, thou knowest death altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before.
And has laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge, or all knowledge, too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it.
Whether shall I go from my spirit? Whether shall I flee from my presence, if I ascend up into heaven?
Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold art there.
I suppose that's the great if I take the wings of the morning.
Dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me. Even the night shall be light about me. Yeah, the darkness hideeth not from thee, but the light shineth us. Today the darkness and the light are both alike to these. And so on.
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Now what we have in this Psalm, I believe, shows us that there isn't a movement.
But what the Lord understands and sees in each one of us, and there's one thing that we, all of us, I'm sure, have to admit, and that is there's so little faith, There's so little trust in the Lord. We'll lean on the flesh. We'll lean on those things that men have set up to lean on, but we won't lean on the Lord. And I believe we missed much in our souls.
Because we can't simply trust the Lord and our present circumstances. We're living in a world today that's artificial, and there's a danger of those who are believers to become artificial in our ways and to lean on flesh instead of the Lord.
The Lord Jesus applies.
Retest of this young man notice please.
In verse 21, we notice here that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. This is one precious fact Jesus loved.
And said unto him, One thing thou lackest.
Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.
And thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come.
Take up the cross and follow me, brethren. The cross speaks of crucifixion.
Not I that Christ liveth in me, and I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, So he applies.
3 truths which we would desire to emphasize this afternoon.
Notice first.
There was something to give up. Now this is something that we.
As young Christians need to learn at the very beginning, there is something to give up one day, a very lovely Christian young lady said to me.
After a message along these lines, she said Mr. Smith, must I give up this?
And must I give up that? Well, I said, dear sister, why don't you say, what things can I give up? What things can I give up that the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in my life and testimony?
So there was something for this young man to give up, but not there. Did it stay?
There was something to take up.
There was something to give up.
We sometimes speak of perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The fear of God will what His Holiness, dear ones?
But the exclusion of everything from my life and testimony? That would be contrary to God's mind and to God's nature. That, by the way, is not my own quotation. That's Mr. Darby's explanation of perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord to exclude everything from our lives and our testimony.
That would be contrary to God's mind and to God's nature, so there was something to give up.
There was something to take up.
The apostle could say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
It was crucifix and there was something else here.
There was someone.
To follow.
Something to give up, dear one.
And we would speak to the younger Christians here this afternoon. There was something to take up and there was someone to follow.
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Well.
When I think of the cross, I'm reminded of the poem written by a dear friend of my late wife before she went to India. She died a few weeks out.
Keep me in the shadow of thy cross. Be alone. Keep me in the shadow of thy cross.
Mindful of the sins of mind that nailed thee to the tree.
Grateful for the pardon that I shed blood wrought for me.
Walking in the fullness of thy blood bought liberty. Keep me in the shadow of thy cross.
If you wrote that before she went, my late wife played it over and put some music to it, and in a few weeks she would hold. When the Lord died of fever in India, was it worth? Indeed it was so, dear young Christians, and we would feel for the young Christians here this afternoon.
There is something to give up as Christians.
There is something to take up as Christians.
And there is someone to follow.
As those who profess to belong to Christ.
How about it?
I was talking to some young people lately and I said, how long have you been saved? Oh, Mr. Smith, we've been saved a few years.
Have you asked for your place at the table of the law and they said no?
And I said why not?
And they hung their heads.
They hung their head. No response. Yes, there is something to give up.
There is some.
One to follow.
What about?
We say the root of the problem with this young man was that he had one, one thing he lacked and he lacked, he said.
Proper appreciation of Christ, he displays the right value appreciation of who that blessed one was. That's what was lacking, wasn't it? And if the Lord if we have the there's the we we appreciate value price who he is and blessedness of this person and his love to us, the wonderful blessed Savior that he is. That'll make a big difference on these three things, won't it? Verse 18 was there that I was thinking of that very thought.
Verse 18 is a test.
As to what this young man thought as to the person of Christ, now we enjoy the person of Christ.
The giving up will become easier. In fact, it will become so easy. Let's turn to Philippians 3 and see what Paul gave up. And it wasn't hard either because he apprehended the person of Christ. Philippians chapter 3.
And in verse.
Sabbath.
What things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ.
Everything that gave him our place of standing in the world, He gave up for Christ. The current loss. But notice verse 8.
Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dumb that I may win. Christ, the person of Christ was so far before a soul, that all the good things of nature and of the flesh that would give him a standing, He counts it as the off scouring of the earth. He counts it as spilled. If we let something go, we let it go with the groan. We said, well, perhaps that isn't pleasing to the Lord, and it hurts me a bit to let it go. That wasn't Paul at all.
He knew the person of Christ and his glories and these things fell off. So coming back to our chapter, I think that 18th verse is very practical. Why call us now Me good? There is none good but one that is gone. Are you acknowledging me as God? Are you giving me my rightful place? Do you really believe I am God? Oh, that's the test. I believe it's the person of Christ that will enable us to give these things up.
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The commandments that the Lord mentions to him.
Are all in connection with what is seen outwardly and in connection with man.
But the test for this young man was rather what was inward.
And what only God could see. And it's a pattern.
For.
Christendom, really, because Christendom is willing to go on with the outward forms of Christianity, but leaving God out. That's really ungodliness. Now this young man had no place for Christ, as is seen in the rest of the chapter.
Because there were certain things interfering. Now we learn elsewhere in Scripture that there are two things that are prominent.
In hindering souls, and one of them is our habits.
And the other are companions here. This man's habits were interfering with his eternal blessing.
Present things were before him. He was willing to give up the gross things.
Of evil He lived in a certain environment where it probably was easier for him to live outwardly, respectably. And no doubt what he said was true, that he had in a general way walked uprightly before men. But God was reading his heart, and before this passage is closes, we see that it caused him to be very sorrowful, because he realized that he was in the presence of God, at least in measure.
Because the word of God, always.
Reaches the conscience.
Remark to that the Lord in quoting the commandments.
He quotes those that are all Manwood and leaves one out. There's one Manwood that's left out. There's no commandment. The law doesn't quote Thou shall love thy neighbors thyself. He quotes the other side of the man's side of the table. And this was a very test for this man. Did he love his neighbor as himself? And that's not brought in here, showing how the Lord was sifting him with the human side, man's side of the commandments, but God's side isn't brought in.
Buying the truth.
Yes, I like to think of the of the rest of that verse too. That's Proverbs 23 and 23.
I think that it is a great deal in that verse if we think of the whole verse.
With all the thoughts.
Of the verse by the truth and sell it now appraise it what's it worth buy it cost something but also wisdom that cost something too. And instruction. That's the way of life instruction or correction. The word instruction I think in Proverbs often is used in way of correction, is it not and.
Understanding what we learned in Proverbs. That understanding is the wellspring of life.
This were to buy and not sell all of these things that are mentioned.
In this verse, our brothers called our attention to.
Sam 100 and left, and we learned how to give a good understanding, do we not, 111.
Here the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Good understanding have all they that do his amendment.
So there's a good understanding coming from obedience.
Want to understand? We must debate.
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One thing now lack is, and what a sad thing this is what so many souls lack in this world today, and that's Christ.
This is one of the five one things of scripture. There may be others, but there seem to be 5 prominent ones in scripture that.
Seem to command our consciences.
These one things, one thing thou lackest.
Now that is the savior.
If we lost everything else.
And as a Savior, we could do afford to lose it all, couldn't we? For the saving. Because we find that we have everything in Christ.
And not that's a good test for the Christian too, I think what we have in Luke 12.
Treasure is there with your heartbeat also.
And the Lord spoke that I believed to his disciples.
And what is that we treasure most of all?
Something is down here in that world. Or is it the Lord Jesus?
The Lord is reaching the conscience of this young man when he starts speaking to him about.
The possessions that he had because this seemed to be the sore point in this man's life that was hindering him for the blessing.
Sell whatsoever thou hast. What a test.
There were those in Hebrews who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that in heaven they have an enduring substance.
That it was a real test for this man. Now that's all he had was his possession.
Functional problems. A man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul.
Who? I'm reminded of a friend of Father's.
He'd heard the gospel from his youth up the same as my father, and had spurned it even as my father.
Did until later in his life and.
He thought to become rich by going to a special gold mining area in Australia where I preached for a year called Bendigo and he found gold there, but as he wouldn't trust the banks, he made a huge.
Waistcoat.
And inside of that race coat he put gold that he crushed. It was a fortune, of course, that he had around him. Well, I remember the night when the boat was wrecked off the coast of New Zealand on his way back. His name was Patterson, an old friend of father's. And it struck in a foggy night, one of the reefs of the barriers called the Great Barrier.
And there were 240 passengers on board.
The only man who was lost of the 240 was Mr. Pettis, for when he struck the water he went to the bottom of the sea like a stone, with his vest and gold around him. Well, that was a solemn lesson to us all.
Concerning possessions, how often they're swept away below.
It's not money that is a root of all evil, it's the love of it as we know.
And here was a young man who was rich.
And his possessions had superseded his interest in eternal matters.
And he went away grieved. He was a lost soul.
Well, there's a lesson of course for us there also for those who belong to Christ.
Isn't there?
Where the vast world our own and all its Boston stores.
Thou, Lord Jesus word unknown, we still report.
Though this young man was poor, not only poor, but he was sorrowful.
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Because he had great possessions. It's put that way here, I believe, to teach us that it was the possessions that were hindering his soul's blessing. Now they needn't because God has entrusted men at times with possessions to use for him and.
They did use it for His glory, but that's a different thing, isn't it? As stewards? But here was a man who had possessions before him instead of Christ.
I'm reminded brother Love Dean of my older brother recently gone to be with the Lord.
I got that word when I was in Central America that Frank had gone home.
Well, he was a man who had possessions.
But in the crisis of 1926.
He couldn't meet the demands that were upon him.
He was a wool broker and other things in which large sums of money were inverted and wool dropped to a few pennies the pound and Frank was ruined with thousands more. So when I went back in 33, I went to see Frank and I shook his hands and braced him. I said, Frank, how are you? I said, how do you feel after the loss of all your hair? He said Eric was the best blow God ever gave me.
And brought me to my senses and to my need. And he went home happily. Who were a man, but happy in the Lord.
Well, let us be careful how we speak of these things because God can bless His servants as their as their stewardship impresses them with the need of being faithful. May I just mention one case which was very, very interesting to my soul when I was in London many years ago as a young man, I was invited to visit a brother there in London.
A bachelor brother, but I couldn't make it. I didn't get to see him, but he used to go out and feed the pigeons every morning.
With his little bag of food for the pigeons, and no one took much notes of that old gentleman. One day he didn't come out to the to Trafalgar Square, and the policeman on the beat thought he must be sick. So he went to the home and knocked the door. No response, so he pushed. He broke open the door to find the dear old brother dead on his knees.
Well, no one took much notice of that old brother, but when his testament was read, this is how it read. I bequeath £1,000,000 for the dissemination of the Word of God among the Spanish speaking peoples of the world.
I was the first one to start the distribution resolve free and I gave out thousands of portions of the word of God all over Bolivia. In those when I went to Bolivia that fortune was all gone, but there was a case rather where stewardship came in. Now think of that was quite a sum of money and the those Bibles and testaments. First of all, I put 20,000 in the soldiers markets and 20,000.
In the soldiers pocket each soldier of Testament 20,000 professors. Well, it wasn't that a joy. Now that man banked that in heaven. Of course he banked that in heaven. So the stewardship there is and how blessed it is to remember that here we have no continuing city. We seek one to come and we are stewards here of His magical grace. That impressed me very much. The dear old man was a rich man.
But a humble man, and a good steward of the manifold grace of God.
The disciples here seem to have a little understanding themselves of what this means to forsake all to follow Jesus. In a sense they had, but still they were quite surprised when the Lord speaks of riches in this way.
The Jew had been promised blessing in earthly things, and it was quite a transition of the mind and heart to change and see everything here lost for Christ.
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But that's where it must be if we're going to be happy in our souls. Now, as our brother said, one may be a steward, but still to have this spirit of everything lost for him below.
We sing it.
How good it would be if we really felt.
I suppose we ought to consider the expression here. Take up the cross. It doesn't say take up the gospel, it says take up the cross. The cross is that which levels us down, shows that we are nothing before God. Let's turn to Galatians chapter 6 for a verse.
Verse 14.
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom the world is crucified unto May, and I unto the world again. I say, it isn't the gospel, it's the cross, the Spirit of God. And using that term has a definite meaning. The cross is the death to the flesh. When Christ died, I died with him.
And so if we would have the cross before us, that which brings in the end of the flesh.
But a different thing it would be then we could have this object. Notice that Christ. It's by Christ that the world is crucified to me.
And I to the world it brings in death, and so I believe, taking up the cross.
Is the practical application of that to all that we have before us, all that we do?
The cross has a special application to Christianity.
What I mean by that is Israel and their blessing in the coming day will not be following a rejected Christ.
But those who own Jesus in his absence today are following a rejected Christ and it's it's bringing in the cross. They're following one who died on the cross, was rejected and despised and cast out. And so the cross in that sense has a special application.
To those who are blessed today in this these 2000 years.
This is an introduction of a new line of things for the disciples.
They they were used to blessing on the earth, but now it's all rejection on the earth.
The masters rejected, and so they're rejected.
A little bit about Kitty. I wanted to talk to himself and David when he was rejected and there he was a stranger and David wanted to induce him to come back home.
Second Samuel 15.
Alright, there's an Idi, answered the king, and said, as the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the king liveth, surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in death or light, even there also will thy servant be.
Is this taking up the cross and following Christ?
I think so. Brother David is a type of Christ. And you get it brought out too, of course, in Jonathan as a believer, don't you? A believer?
There is the taking rejection.
Of course, with that, with the Lord Jesus, now this is something very important as Christians, as young Christians.
We're not only saved.
Since guilt, but we are kept by the power of God unto salvation to be revealed of course, but the separation separation they want to Christ. Separation is to Christ, and consequently from the world, its sin and its systems.
So here was in the case of this man. He took rejection, didn't he brother? He took rejection with him.
There's another case too, where David would have saved to go to war. But no, they wouldn't be soldiers. They would. They wouldn't tolerate that. They said Thou art worth 10,000 of us.
00:50:09
Well, there's something there in that too. Whom have we in heaven, dear ones, but they. And there is none on earth we desire beside thee. Reference has been made to Philippians this afternoon.
Will Philippians is really the wilderness book of the New Testament and so reads beautifully with numbers. Which is the wilderness book of the Old Testament.
In the first chapter of the Philippians, we have Christ our life there in the second.
Pattern in the third, the object of the soul's affection, and in the fall their strength. So that's a wonderful epistle. Christ our life, Christ our pattern, Christ the object of the soul affection.
And strength. And so it is important, isn't it, as Christians, and we are speaking now to those who belong to Christ, of course, be thou the object right and fairly, and satisfy that.
I remember a young man who asked for his place at the table. This was 30 years ago.
His wife was breaking bread, but the brethren didn't feel happy about receiving him.
His life seemed to be in keeping with the gospel, but he always seemed to be very friendly with the world, and the brethren didn't. They weren't happy about receiving him.
So he wasn't received and this went on for 20 years and finally one day he confessed Christ as his Savior.
Wasn't even saying. And he admitted that he wasn't saved at the time he'd asked for his place. The table well.
The world was in his heart, just like this young man that we have in our chapter. It might be money or it might be something else, but still, it's the world.
And that's supposed to God.
Difference between these two?
And the young man in March Gospel and ATI, the Lord says to the young man in Mark, He says to me, Should I go home? Should I ask you to go with me? When I wander, I know not where I may go.
To the to India. It was also a question that brought out what was in his heart. Idi was so occupied with the person of David that he wanted to go with him cost what it made the Lord introduced wanted to introduce him to go home, take the easier path.
Welcome to ourselves often would be a clear invitation to take it easy.
But the Lord doesn't tell us that doesn't. Well, when the Lord when David here.
He had ceased that. If the eye was too hard, then he says, go Passover.
He took him with it, but the test had to be there first. Are you sincere about following me? Do you mean it? The Lord wants a clear answer from our hearts, doesn't we?
Lovely illustration and I believe he was a gentile too, was he not?
Well, we're never loose. He's going to give up something for Lord our guys thinking. You mentioned that verse and Matthew 16.
Brother Smith earlier the 20 Matthew 1626 I think you quoted, but nice to see the two verses of Free Speech at 24th verse.
The Lord said unto his disciples, If any man come after me.
1St we have to come under him. He says come under me, all you the labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest. But here it's going further than coming up to him. Now it's following Sunday. Man will come after me.
May cost a little something.
He said let him deny himself and take up his cross. That's what we've been speaking about. It may mean the South denial.
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Putting the flesh in the place of death. It cost something they said and follow me, but I was thinking of the last part of the 25th verse that.
Will lose his life from my face so find it. He's not really the loser, is he?
We only find what is really life and.
And and in Christ and I'm seeking to follow him. Then we have that which is then we can lay hold as we get in Timothy and that which is really light.
I'm thinking I have Timothy. The words I'm thinking of is have to turn to it to be sure, but the translation is not the best team James.
And.
And the last chapter of First Timothy.
The Lord told this man on the 10th of March. He spoke to him about telling what he had given to the poor well in the.
First Timothy, the 6th chapter and.
Eight feet first. That speaks about the.
Well, the 71St.
Charge them were written in this world not to be high minded their trust and not certain riches within the living God and give us all thinking richly to enjoy and then he began communicating, which was mentioned in the 10th of March. He says that they do good that they may be rich in good works ready to distribute, willing to communicate layout for themselves a good foundation against the time to come. Now it's the next clause that I really had in mind that they may lay hold.
That which is really light, I think that's the better translation and lay hold of that which is really light.
Well, happiness is found in knowing the Lord Jesus.
This man is sad and he's grieved, and it's his possessions that are standing in the way.
It might be many things in many different lives, but here is possessions. But it brings sadness.
But to find Christ and to be in communion, the one who made us, the one who loves us, even loved this young man, it says.
To to know him and to trust him. We get that word here, don't we trust. It's a very simple word, but oh how important it is, the simplicity of this expression. They that trust in the 24th verse, trust enriches.
That's the important thing.
The whole thing there are those that, if you would point Christians, are they all right?
This is the Friday of modernism through the world, brotherhood of man, the fatherhood of God and so forth. And it's really the object. It's not a representative so funny. It's above. It's not those that have possession that shall have difficulty in entering entering into the Kingdom of God. For those that impression business is devoted before the heart. John says little children, keep yourselves from idol.
Reminder of the evidence that by an object here below, which would be by my heart. See, while we think of idols oftentimes as statues and so forth, really an idol.
Anything is that it comes in and bites the heart. It's a motive other than the Lord Jesus Christ and it's really not the possessions here at six. This man, you can see that his motive is possession. His motive is the board this case because he goes away sad, but it's a motive of Christ that brings happiness and an idol can be anything, anything rather than divide our hearts. Isn't that correct? I was thinking of that same voice in connection with the 49th song.
We have the 49th song, we have those who have.
This worldly object before them.
And it says of them in verse six of Psalm 49.
They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.
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1St 11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man, being an honor abideth hot, is like the beast that perish when the unsaved man. It makes no difference how wealthy he may be, when he dies, everything is leveled off. He's no different now than this than his janitor or whoever worked for him.
Death is a great lavella. He's lost everything he had, but all are a wonderful thing. It is when we know Christ we can carry with us what he's given to us. I remember a man on the train one day I had an opportunity to speak to him about a soul and he thought he he tried to do a little mocking about it. He said, well, when I die, he says they say you can't take it with you. He says, but I'm going to take it with me. He says I'm going to have to put all my money in the casket and and this sort of thing.
I looked him in the eye, said there's only one thing you'll take with you sentence. Do you die without Christ? The only thing you'll take with you is your sins. But I said when I if I should be called upon to die, I'll have the same blessing. I'll have Christ the one I have now. What a difference. So as our brother has pointed out, it's the object. And that's why John, as we've been reminded at the end of his first epistle, he says little children, keep yourself from idols. He'd been showing him that eternal life in that place before God.
Now don't let anything come in between your soul and God to interrupt your enjoyment of the blessings I've given you.
I was thinking about selling all that you have. We should acknowledge the Lord claims over everything that we have so that when we are saved there is nothing that we call our own. We find that on the early part of the act it says that no one said that anything that he protest was gone. But that didn't mean literally that they stole everything. But in another sense they did because everything was now the Lord's disposal and they were willing to use it all for Him.
And until we are willing to do that, we will not really be happy Christians. It isn't the question of how much we give, but the question I believe, rather than acknowledging the Lord claims over everything that we have and then throwing him as the one who left his father's home on high school, as it tells us 2nd Corinthians 8 though he was rich, how rich would be in comparison with the richest man on earth?
Why the silver and the gold for 1000 hills were his. He left everything and came down and was born in a Manger. And so he walked through this world all that his disposal of what he was here saying. Show me a penny.
Probably believe in the very hard searching thing for us, because isn't the question of whether we have little or much, it's a question of whether we acknowledge the Lord Complaints over every sense that we have, our homes, our cars, everything. There's nothing that we hold back anymore. It's all His.
And to be used for him. And that's the path the Lord pointed out to this man. It's the true Christian path, isn't it? Is that not the reason the Lord?
Speaks this way in the 23rd verse and then Peters answer in the 28th verse.
Because Peter is made to feel it.
The Lord intended that this lesson should go into the hearts of His disciples in this 23rd verse. And so it says, Jesus looked round about and sat onto his disciples. How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God?
Because the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And so the two are not compatible as objects at all.
It must be a complete separation and Peter is affected by this.
And he wants to know what he will have there. And so the Lord gives Peter to understand that if he's left all to follow him, the Lord will take care of that. And that's trust again, isn't it? Full confidence in the Lord?
But a lot of contrast this is with the Old Testament principle of tithing.
And tithing a Jew could must give a 10th. From then on it was his through with as he pleased. But.
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Today, rather than giving a percentage, it all belongs to Christ.
And we are his stewards to account for the way we use that which is committed to our responsibility.
It all belongs to Him. Every bit of this belongs to Him. We're barely steward. The unsaved don't realize it. We should be very conscious of it. They can't take their next breath off the power of God. He sustains all. All things were created by Him. So at all they were nearly given it to take care of for a while to redistribute communications.
Astonished. Pardon me. Go ahead, brother. Well, before we leave the thoughts about this young man, I'd like to ask and mention something as perhaps made some of us wonder. There's a little incident reported in Mark's Gospel also, and that was at the time that the Lord was apprehended.
In the 3rd 14th chapter of Mark.
One is that thoughts about why the scripture bring this in, and perhaps someone does have a better thought on it. Verse 51 or 50 it says. And they all forsook him and fled. And there followed him, a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. And the young men laid hold on him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them.
I've been wondering whether this young man upon whom the Lord had cast his eye and love him, didn't always have that consciousness that he had been in the divine presence of the Lord Jesus, and he couldn't quite free himself from that stuff that.
Is only a real company was the Lord Jesus, and in this hour the Lord was betrayed.
Here's a young man that appears on the scene too.
But at the same time, we could draw the parallel with another young man who also left a garment in the hands of one who tried to lead him into temptation, and he fled. Now that dear young man in the Old Testament, Joseph, he fled from evil, leaving what he had, but he resisted evil, and he fled from it. But here's a young man who came near to the Lord, not Clinton.
Found this to see their Lord not only being rejected, but was apprehended.
Take part with that one at that moment he left the garment too and fled instead of taking apart with that rejected woman and take the consequences. Why was he there? We do not know. Scripture hasn't revealed it to us, but there's 1.1 is enjoyed now. Why did one clean and leave a garment in the head of the temperature? God was to his honor that he wanted to plead from evil.
And he realized it was God holiness that could not, that sin could not.
Erase his life and here's a young man he refused to be identified from Iran.
With be identified with that one who went to the cross from here. I suppose that young man that you referred to would show us that we cannot follow the Lord and the energy of the flesh. If we seek to follow the Lord and the energy of the flesh, our nakedness will soon be seen.
We cannot trifle with God. Some years ago there was a young man who wanted to be received to the Lord's table. I'm not going to identify names or places. And he professed to be saved, and some might have even felt he was. But there was some discernment on the part of the brethren, and they felt that he was not. They couldn't receive him. He was seeking to take part and follow the energy of the flash. But later on.
There was real conversion and when he was asked at that time.
How can we trust you now when you tried to deceive us before?
Always says the burden is gone now, the burden is gone now There was a reality. But if we seek to put on and follow the Lord and the energy of the flesh, it will be detected and seen and our nakedness will be manifested. I believe that's one lesson here. And this young man.
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Practical wretchement. And there was the outward display that seems to be very, very correct, but underneath there was nothing. So that when he was put to his hat he planned, and I believe it's quite possible for us to go on with an outward display in the way to see our brethren.
Pretending to be very spiritual.
And put to the test of following Christ, were quite unprepared for it. And I believe that the strong lesson here and for us all were not only for an unbeliever, but also for for those of us who are Christians, We might be able to deceive our brethren, we might be able to deceive our parents, but we have never deceived the Lord and the past.
Going to come in everyone of our lives, young and old, as to whether we are really following the Lord because we have Him before us or whether it's just something on the outside. There's nothing underneath the nakedness, but I believe that past comes in our lives.
So the disciples were astonished at this. They they couldn't understand.
Why the Lord would speak in this way about riches, when they had been promised the blessings of the earth?
Now in Luke's gospel, the Lord very definitely in the 9th chapter, puts before the disciples the subject of rejection when he says, don't call me the Messiah.
The Son of Man shall be rejected. And so there was a definite turning point in that 9th chapter. Don't you believe, Brother Smith, when the disciples had to learn that from now on they were not going to get the blessings of Israel down here on earth?
But they would have to give it all up.
And take the place of death with the Lord Jesus. That is the principle of being set aside as to earth and everything that belongs to earth, so that they might have, and having an enduring substance, the rejection of the cross to follow Jesus. And that path of rejection supplants the old path, the blessing down here on the earth. And this is a hard lesson even for the Christian to learn, I believe.
Three was mentioned.
By a brother.
I believe that Philippians 3 is the one is a the model of the true Christian and so we find here is the apostle Paul.
Speaking in verse 7. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. Christ was His all. Christ was everything to Him. Yeah, doubtless I count all things but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but down.
That I may win Christ.
Who? What a wonderful statement this is. And then he goes on to say and be found in him.
Well, I've often thought, brethren, that it's the model of a true Christian Philippians 3 For here we get the Christian standing is in Christ That's in verse 9. The Christian standing is in Christ that.
We do stand before God in all the perfection of the Lord Jesus. There's not a spot.
The The Loyalties has dealt with the question of sin as regards its root and principle on the cross of Calvary. And so and as regards our sins, He's born in his own body on the tree, that we, being indeed dead up to sins, might live unto righteousness. By her strike we've been healed.
So the Christian standing is in Christ and the inverse in verse 10. I believe we can say that we have the Christians object.
There in verse 10, but oh, in verse 21.
We have the Christians hope to be like Christ in Christ verse 9, to know Christ in verse 10, and to be like Christ in verse 21. So the Philippians 3 is indeed the model of a true Christian.
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Notice that how God blesses after his own nature. Here the character and fullness of it in verses 29 and 30 of our chapter the.
God uses an entirely different conjunction in the 29th verse than he does in the 30th. In the 29th verse he says, or in the 30th verse he says. And if it be leaving or giving up in the 29th verse is there is no man that left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold now.
This time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world it comes eternal life. If anyone thing is given up out of faithfulness to Christ, he gets the whole package of blessing. And and so God always blesses in accordance with his own, the fullness that's in his own heart, not according to our measure.
There was seen #24 in the offending.
Nothing but pride is only Fred gifts on Christ, God's living breath, strapping hand and feet well shot. Nothing but Christ, the Christ of God.