Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Lord Jesus, come.
Also pray Lord Jesus song.
Lord Jesus.
Wants a man of patience.
Waiting now.
All of joy for every.
I must say, do what always.
Express my.
Lord Jesus.
Come on, praise us on the.
All I love you my Lord Jesus from.
Everything on you, please come back.
To us.
In Morocco.
We will fall again, voice say. Come.
Yeah, for thy word from black crying.
It is your king. I will.
Play.
00:05:03
Please.
Revelation chapter 22.
Verse 20.
He which testifieth each thing says, surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
Exercise to suggest that we take up the in the Gospel of Matthew.
Chapter 25. Just the last similitude of the Kingdom.
In connection with the story that the Lord told of the 10 virgins.
And that's a little historical outline of church history given in that little passage. And as we have had Luke chapter 22 before us, a little historical outline of how the church was formed and the work of the Spirit informing the assembly and forming and gathering us to His precious name. And then the little passage of Scripture as well in connection with the large upper room in Acts chapter 20 that we took up yesterday.
I wonder if it would be a nice close to these meetings to be considering the coming of the Lord Jesus for us.
Verses. Is that what you had?
That would be nice.
Matthew 25 verse one.
Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept, and at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, Go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us, and you but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for ye know not, for ye know neither the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of Man cometh.
If you'll just forgive me get into this, I'd like to just make a little comment that I think would be helpful for those who are younger in studying the Word of God and taking up the gospels in all portions of the Word of God. Some of the older brethren when we were younger gave us little hints as to our study of the Word of God and as to keeping things in their context and not miss applying different scriptures and having what Timothy was told as a young man to have an outline of truth.
I just want to pass along a couple of little hints now that we've turned to the Gospel of Matthew.
So we have 4 gospels. Now, we know that the four gospels, as we're often told, bring before us the Lord Jesus in four different ways. We understand that. But I want to give you another little hint as to taking up these four gospels and these stories, these parables, these similitudes, and the instances in the life of the Lord Jesus.
Matthew is the Gospel that is most dispensational in its character, and when you go through them, it's the most Jewish in its character, and yet it's the most dispensational in its character and when you go through these incidences in Matthew's Gospel.
Look for that little dispensational outline that you alluded to when you suggested this portion. It's very, very helpful. Another little tidbit in connection with Matthew being the gospel that's most Jewish in its character. It is the only gospel that introduces to us the church in its broad sense. In the 16th chapter on this rock, I will build my church and provision to go on in the local aspect of it in the 18th chapter versus 5 through 20.
00:10:05
So that's just a little help. Matthew's the gospel, most Jewish in its character, yet most dispensational in its character. Mark is the gospel that's most chronological in its character. And the Lord goes from as the servant. He goes from one busy activity to the other. If you want to know the chronology of the Lord's life and activities, you've got to go to Mark's gospel. Having said that, Luke is the least chronological. People get confused when they read Luke's gospel. Even the incident we took up in the upper room.
It's given in Luke in a moral sense. Luke presents to us moral principles, not not the chronological.
Order in which things took place. You want to see the moral aspect of things, go to Luke's gospel. John is the gospel that's most doctrinal in its character. And as we said, the seed of every truth that is later developed in the epistles you're going to get in the gospels, but particularly in John's gospel, the Lord Jesus is introducing the truth of Christianity, just the seeds of it. True, because as he said to them in the upper room, there were many things that he'd like to develop, but they didn't have the Spirit of God or the capacity.
To take them in at that time. So that's just a little help, another little help too in taking up these stories and instances when you find the Lord Jesus in a house or in the ship.
Dispensationally, it has to do with his dealings with the remnant of Israel, or even Israel at large when he takes them up in a future coming day, when he's down by the seashore or out on the hillside speaking to the multitudes. It has more to do with this dispensation in which we live, where the truth and the gospel is going out.
Beyond the walls of Judaism. So bear with me. I'm glad you bore with me on that because those things have been a real help to me, given to me. My Mr. Lundeen and Albert Hayhoe and Gordon Hayhoe and Dan Anderson and those older brother, they gave us those little hints. And just keep those little hints, young brothers and sisters, tucked away. And it will help you to keep everything in its proper context and order.
Nick Simon has a little book, the BTP cells, it's called short Sketches and he goes over some of those very points in that little book. And so if you want to have a little outline of every book of the Bible, that little book short sketches is excellent. And so you can find a little outline as well in the Bible dictionary, the Concise Bible Dictionary, but that I highly recommend that next Simon's book, and we might just say introductory to I said that this is the last similitude to the Kingdom.
That's mentioned in Matthew's Gospel. The Lord Jesus gave little pictures, little illustrations of church history. The whole of the church history is not a surprise to God at all. He already knew what would take place. And so the Lord Jesus in Matthew's gospel gives us 10 stories that give us different perspectives of his as to the church history. So let's just look at, I'll just note, point them out.
And then you can read them in detail a little bit later on. But it's a help to understand the outline of Christianity if you read those and understand them, that the older brethren used to tell us there were three sevens that we should understand in Scripture. One was the seven feasts of Jehovah, a little outline of the history from a Jewish perspective of in those feasts. And we can study those feasts and understand what God's purpose was in connection with Israel.
And also what would take place and how it would mesh with the church, the Feast of.
What was it? Pentecost and so on. And then we have these 10 similitudes of the Kingdom, seven stories that are told in Matthew's Gospel chapter 13. And so those are another three sevens. Then we have the.
Seven churches. The address to the seven Churches in Revelation Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.
So that gives us a little bit of picture of church history. So the church was hidden as far as it's the truth that there would be a church. It was something that was hidden to the children of Israel. They never knew. So the Old Testament, it doesn't bring it out. And there were little glimpses as we looked back. God wasn't surprised. He already knew what he was going to do in connection with the church. But in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 13, we'll just point out these seven similitudes.
In so in the, in chapter 13, as Jim has said, he went out, he sat by the seaside. Now he's going to take up something from a Gentiles perspective. He's going to take something up that's entirely new. He left the house and figuratively he was setting aside Israel and he was going to deal with the Gentiles. He was going to deal with this in this world, but in a different way. And so he tells us how he's going to do his work from verse one down to verse 23. This is how he's going to do his work. He tells us that there's going to be 4 different responses as the gospel goes forth.
00:15:33
And then he says, he uses this little term to introduce each one of these stories about the Kingdom, about the Kingdom period during his absence. Verse 24, he put a parable forth unto them saying the Kingdom of heaven is likened unto. Every time you read that little expression, the Kingdom of heaven is like an unto. Then you have one of those stories. So verse 24.
He goes over that similitude. Then in verse 31, the second one, the Kingdom of heaven, is like.
2:00 And then in verse 33, the third one, the Kingdom of heaven, is like to unto leaven. We've already spoken of that in these meetings. And then a little further in verse 44, again the Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden the field. The fifth one is verse 45. The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. Verse 47, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the that was cast into the sea. So that's the 6th, 1:00.
Then you find a little bit later on in.
This book and see if I can find them all.
I think it's chapter 18 that you have the next one. It's chapter 18, verse 23. Therefore is the Kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. So you have the story of having a forgiving spirit.
Christianity was going to be marked by forgiveness, having a forgiving spirit. And then a little bit later on you have, I think it's chapter 20.
Verse one for the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is in a householder which went out early in the morning, so there's a work of service for him. So that's the 8th similitude. And then you have another similitude. Chapter 22, verse 2, the Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. And then the last one is where we read in chapter 25 S, isn't it?
A little bit of an overview. And so there's a progression. The gospel of the grace of God goes forth and there's four different responses in chapter 13. And then he goes through a little history of how the church would conduct itself and the responsibilities that we have. And here's the last one. It has to do with the coming of the Lord. And so he gives the mixture. There's five wise virgins and there's five that are foolish.
Five that have divine life, five that don't have divine life. And so in Matthew's Gospel and in the Gospels particularly, there's a mixture of that which is real and that which is not real, professing Christianity. So there are people that think they get saved because they get baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They go on in the Christian profession, but they're not real. And so this is the story that the Lord Jesus tells in connection with the reality.
And the reality and how it was, the appreciation of the Lord's coming, how it was.
Presented by the Lord Jesus in Seed Plot himself, John's Gospel chapter 14. But he didn't give details. He left it for the Apostle Paul. After the church was formed and the Spirit of God indwelled the believers, then they could understand.
But because it's a sphere of things in which the king is outwardly owned.
And so in Christianity, it's the great house that's taken up in another way in Two Timothy. That's why it's the Kingdom of heaven. As you say, it doesn't necessarily mean everybody in that sphere of things is a true believer. Garvin Seymour, who laborers in the in the Caribbean, he has a very unusual way of and simple way of putting things sometimes. And he was speaking on this subject in a gospel meeting. And he said there are three categories of people at this gospel meeting.
00:20:06
Those who are lost, those who are saved, and those who think they're saved. And I thought that was very interesting because we're going to find that these five foolish versions, they thought they were OK. And I think there's people brought up, as you say, in in the sphere of Christendom or the Great House. They've been baptized. They've been confirmed in some of one of man's denominations and they think they're saved. You talk to them, they're OK. You've talked to people. I've talked to people tell them they're sinners and they're on their way to hell and they need to be saved.
What do they tell you? Oh, I, my parents brought me to this place. They had me baptized when I was a baby. I've been confirmed. I've gone through this, the Apostles Creed and so on. They think they're saved, but they're not. And these virgins, they in the sphere of profession, in the Kingdom of heaven, they thought they were OK, but to their detriment, they found out too late they were not.
Well, what's the difference between the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God? Well, we look at Romans chapter.
11 I think it is.
Now it's chapter 14, chapter 14, verse 17.
Romans chapter 14 verse 17 says for the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. And so the Kingdom of God really has to do with the moral side of things and we might say practical Christianity and it's something that's not seen.
It's the evidence of it is seen, but the Kingdom of God has to do with our moral, the moral aspects of the Kingdom and recognizing the Lord reigns in our hearts. And so that's why in Matthew's Gospel chapter 567, you have the Lord Jesus outlining the moral features of those that are a part of the Kingdom. So the Kingdom of heaven really is the rule of the Lord Jesus from heaven.
And it doesn't have a little bit different. There's no territory.
That you might say the Western Christian world that professes Christianity, professes to accept the rule of Christ is his territory, but it's a Kingdom. It doesn't have a demarcation of territory. And so the Lord Jesus reigns and he reigns. Where does he reign? He reigns in the heart. We accept his authority and we acknowledge that he has a right to reign, that he is the King. And so he's not our King, He's our Lord.
And we're in relationship with him, but in this aspect of things, he's the king and we recognize his authority. And so he says, if you do recognize my authority, well, this is how you'll conduct yourself.
Robert told us there were 10 similitudes, and the word similitude just means that comparative resemblance. So it's taking something and comparing it to something else that's unrelated to teach a point.
And someone might be looking at their Bible and say, well what about verse fourteen of our chapter that we didn't read. It starts out for the Kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling and so on. But if you notice the Kingdom of heaven, there is an italics in a more literal translation like J and DS.
Takes that out so it's not one of the similitudes. Also in Matthew 13 where they begin.
The parable of the sower. Some might wonder about that, but that's really it's more of a general thing, isn't it? It's the Lord.
On this earth, taking the word and he's sowing it and how does it affect different individuals? So it's more general and it's not considered one of these ten that he mentioned.
That is that there are two phases to the Kingdom, and so the Kingdom is in mystery now, but it will be manifest very shortly. And so it's in mystery. As the king was rejected, he was crucified. He ascended on high in the glory, and so began the Kingdom in its mystery form. And so it will end in that form. At the appearing of the Lord Jesus. He'll come and the Lord.
Will reveal himself as the king. He'll appear in this scene and he will set up his Kingdom. And so the Kingdom will be manifest and it will be in existence until the end of that millennial scene. And so the Lord Jesus was showing here that there was a period of time when he would be absent, and this is what would characterize the day that we live in.
00:25:24
So when the king returns.
And to give an account of our stewardship, the truth of God has been committed to us in his absence. So again, if we were to read on in this chapter, as John has pointed out, the king has taken his journey into a far country. The Kingdom wasn't to be for the time the king was rejected, but he is going to return. And what is our response in connection with his absence? Now we sometimes sing a hymn. Reign now within our hearts alone. When we were growing up, we often sang that him, Lord of my life, I crown thee now.
And we want to be very clear, brethren, because there's a lot of confusion today on this subject. We want to be very clear that the king is not outwardly reigning. Now here in this world, as we've been saying, the Kingdom is in mystery. And there are many Christians who are caught up in misteaching that this is the reigning time. Now the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians who had come to this conclusion that they should be reigning as kings. He said, would that you were, because he said if you really were reigning as kings, we'd be reigning with you.
And so it says in Hebrews 2. We see not yet all things put under Him. He has his rightful place in heaven. He's crowned with glory and honor, but we see not yet all things put under Him. And that won't be till He comes back to take the Kingdom and to establish the throne of His glory to reign over the heavens. In the meantime, though, He wants us to own Him as Lord and be faithful stewards of the truth that has been committed to us.
And brethren, we've sat in these meetings and we've had a lot of things before us in connection with our privileges here on earth, and we're going to leave these meetings. If the Lord leaves us here in a little while, what are we going to do with what has been committed to us? You know, you and I, having sat in this room this weekend, are far more responsible than when we walked in here the other day. Just let that sink into our souls for a minute. You and I are far more responsible.
When we leave this room in a few moments than when we were when we came at the beginning of this week. And why? Because we've had the truth presented to us again from the living Word in the power of the Spirit, and we are held responsible now as stewards. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And when the King returns, what are we going to have to say in his presence?
Production commenting but there the Lord Jesus himself gave the seed plot of the difference between the appearing of Christ and the coming of the Lord Jesus for his Saints. So the coming for his Saints is what we call the rapture. It's not really found that word in scripture, but it's really the thought of it is the Lord will ****** the church out of this world he'll rapturous.
There's a difference between the rapture and the appearing of the Lord Jesus. So the very next thing that we're looking for, the church is looking for, is the coming of the Lord Jesus for his Saints. And then there's going to be a little time of judgment, seven years, and then he's going to appear and he's going to appear with all of his Saints. Now, in the Old Testament, they knew about the appearing of the Lord Jesus to come and to set up his Kingdom.
They had no idea how the Saints would all get there into heaven and how they would have their bodies glorified, what they would look like. They had no details. But Paul is used of God to flesh out the thing, and he received those revelations from God. And he gives us a sequence of events that's going to take place in First Thessalonians chapter 4. And so we know how we're going to get there. And he tells us about the change that's going to take place in First Corinthians chapter 15.
But they didn't have any of those details. And so these, the translators at the King James Bible, unfortunately, were steeped in covenant theology. And so they didn't understand. They mixed the two together, the rapture and the appearing.
And so I'll just point this out. There's two comings that are mentioned in chapter 24, chapter 25 S. In verse 42 of chapter 24, it's the appearing of the Lord Jesus. He's speaking to them as Jews.
00:30:12
Watched therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good men of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up every time it mentions a thief.
It's always the appearing and then it says, therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh. Now you look at chapter 25. It's the rapture that's being spoken of, and it says, let's just read verse 11 after the rapture. Afterward came also the other virgin saying, Lord, Lord, that's profession open to us. But he answered and said, verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. That's where it stops. They translators didn't understand, and so they added wherein the son of man cometh. That's not in the text. So just put a bracket. I put a pencil bracket in front of those words wherein and then after where the son of man cometh, and I just put a bracket there and a little light pencil line through it so that I know it's not in the text. So you can read it this way. Watch therefore, for you know, neither the day nor the hour.
And so we're not the subject of the Son of Man coming. He's not going to come at the Son of Man for the church. He's coming as the Son of God to receive his bride. He's coming as the man Christ Jesus, the glorified man, for his church. He's going to come at the appearing as the Son of Man. That's his title as a judge. And man is going to know that the Son of Man is the judge.
He's presented in Revelation Chapter one in all of the dignity, in all of his glories as a judge, and that's his title.
The Son of Man. So we need to see that distinction.
Thief comes we had our house broken in two years ago when we were away one summer. There's two things that characterized the thieves that broke into our house. They were unexpected and unwanted. And so for the the coming of the Lord as we had yesterday were to be watching and waiting. We're to be expecting the coming of the Lord for us as to the rapture we're to want it. Brother John read us this morning. Even so come Lord Jesus, that's to be the response of our hearts. So again.
These little things, again, are helpful hints so we don't misconstrue the truth or misapply it. The thief, as you say, just to echo it because it's important. The thief is unexpected and unwanted. It's never in connection with the rapture. The Son of Man is always in connection with judgment. That's not my blessed hope. My blessed hope is the Lord coming to take us out of this world that's under judgment, and to change our vile bodies, bodies of glory, like unto His body of glory, and to be with Him and like Him.
For all eternity. So these again, and I just say to the young people, if you can just get ahold of these little hints, it will really help you in your understanding and searching of the word of God. Just to go back to what we have here now because time is pressing on. So we have these five virgins and they all, they five had oil and five did not oil. As we often say, it's one of those invariable types in Scripture. It is always, I believe invariably a type of the Spirit of God.
And for those in this dispensation who are real, they are indwelt by the Spirit of God, because what characterizes this dispensation is the abiding presence of the Spirit of God both collectively in the House of God and individually in our bodies, which are the temple of the Holy Ghost. That was not characteristic of believers before the dispensation that we live in before the Day of Pentecost.
So the Spirit of God is the energy in which God has always moved, and the Spirit of God came upon different ones in the Old Testament, even unbelievers sometimes, because God moved by his Spirit, even using unusual means. But you never had the indwelling, you never have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit until the day of Pentecost, the formation of the church. And that's why the Lord Jesus in the upper room, Speaking of the coming of the Spirit of God, He said he will be with you.
He had been with them in a sense, coming and going before. But then he adds, and He will abide in you, He will abide with you, and He will abide in you, the abiding presence of the Spirit of God. So we find here that there were five wise and five foolish. Now if you were to look at these 10 ladies who were sleeping outwardly, you would not have been able to tell who was real and who wasn't. I think that's very searching. And I want to say something to those of us who have oil in our lamps, who are real, who are indwelt by the Spirit of God.
00:35:25
Because when we take up this similitude in the Gospels, we stress the five that were foolish, and rightly so. And if there's someone here and you're not saved, you need to get saved and you need to do it immediately because the door is soon is soon going to close. But think of these five who had oil. Sad to say, they had sunk down to the same level as those that were not real. And it's dispensationally, of course.
A picture of the level to which the Church of God sunk at that ushered in the dark ages. And we took this up a little bit the other day. But let's think of it in a practical way and apply it today as we move about. Have we as individuals sunk down to a level that no one would be able to tell in the weekdays or weeks that follow if we're left here, whether we're a true believer or not?
You know, it tells us in Romans it is high time to awake out of sleep for now. Is our salvation nearer than when we believe what salvation is? That it's the salvation that's going to take place at the rapture, the salvation of our bodies when we're delivered completely from the power and presence of not only the power of sin, but the presence of sin. That salvation is almost upon us. We're almost about to hear the shout. It's high time to awake out of sleep now. Again, to keep things in their context, sleep is taken up in three different ways in the Word of God.
There is physical sleep, of course, the Lord was weary as he was crossing the sea with the disciples and he got a few minutes sleep in the back of the boat. Sleep is sometimes taken up in connection with the death of a believer. The body sleeps because it's a temporary state of things and it's only the believer in Scripture, an Old Testament, New Testament, only someone that died in faith. That is referred to as sleeping because when you lay the body of a believer in the ground, you know it's only a temporary state of things.
We lay down and went to sleep last night in our hotel rooms or our houses. We had every expectation that in the normal course of things, a few hours you rise up and you, you go on your way. So the believer is referred to as sleeping. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, the Lord said about him when he had died. But this is quite another thing. This is a moral lethargic condition that comes in to the Christian sphere of things. It's a it's being indifferent to the claims of Christ.
To the truth of God and becoming so outwardly like the world that they look on and they can't tell whether we're a believer or not. That's why when you come to Second Timothy and you have the great house, a similar illustration. The Lord knows them that that are his. But brethren, this ought to exercise us. What a sad condition for the four that were wise, who were real, who eventually went into the marriage with the bridegroom. But what a sad condition that they had fallen down to the level of those who were not real.
Say too, that when you sleep you're unconscious. And so they became unconscious of the coming of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said himself, If I go away, and I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. They forgot they became unconscious, and it was a very slow process, like Eudicus in the upper room. It didn't happen immediately, but there was, I think Mr. Darby's translation. It says he became overpowered with sleep.
And so he became unconscious of what was taking place. And so in chapter 25 here of Matthew, we have, I think it's four stages of the church's history that is brought out here. And so I'll just point them out. It's versus 1-2 and.
Three.
4 is really the.
Apostolic age and so it says they took their lamps and they went forth to meet the bridegroom. It speaks of spiritual energy to go forth a rise and go forth. Then you have in verse five the thought of the really after the Apostolic age. The bridegroom tarried. There was a time when he he said he would be gone for two days.
00:40:12
And two days in Scripture speaks of the day of grace, and those two days are almost up.
And so here we are, the day of grace is almost over. God intervened. The whole church was asleep, unconscious of the fact that Christ was returning, and God intervened. And so it says in verse six that at midnight there was a cry made. Behold the bridegroom. It's not Behold, the bridegroom cometh there again, put a pencil mark around the word cometh. It's the person that we're waiting for. Behold the bridegroom.
The midnight cry went out as the truth was recovered in the early 1800s and perhaps in a sense during the Reformation. There was a little bit of lightness to the coming of the Lord, but the whole truth of it was not brought out. And the difference between the appearing of the Lord Jesus and the Rapture was not known until Mr. Darby's day. Mr. Bellette and those other brethren that were with them, it was revealed that there was a significant difference.
In a difference of time between the rapture and the appearing. And so that midnight cry went out and it's gone out now for almost 200 years. And then the last part of the story, verse 10, that while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. So that speaks of the rapture. And then as we know that perhaps you might say the fifth part of it is verse 11, the Lord Lord. It's always profession when it's Lord Lord. And so after the church, the true church is taken.
Why there is still going to be a professing church here, though Solemn.
To think they'll be gathered under the names of different church systems. And it's possible that those that have gone on in among brethren, there may be some that go on that have gone on professing Christianity, but not real and they're left behind and there is no second opportunity to receive Christ's Savior. So this is a part of the teaching of this passage, that there is no second chance.
So it's good to see this little outline. There was the Apostolic age. They went forth, and then the bridegroom tarried the second part of it during after the Apostolic age. And then into the dark ages, they fell asleep. They slept and slumbered. And then the Lord's intervention himself, where the midnight cry went out at the beginning of the 1800s, and then the rapture.
Just about to take place.
So, as we said yesterday, it is the truth of the coming of the Lord, firmly understood and enjoyed in our souls, that gives us stability in our Christian life, that gives us vision, and that gives us spiritual energy. We noticed yesterday in connection with the Thessalonians in the second epistle, that when Paul wrote about that Good Hope, then he spoke of them being established in every good word and work.
The being established in every good word and work was directly connected with the Lords coming. And our time ran out yesterday and I didn't have time when we went to first John chapter 3. But there we found that our hope is a purifying hope because again, I believe in the measure in which we have an appreciation and understanding in the right order from Scripture of the hope of the Lord's coming. It has a purifying effect, practical effect on our lives.
And I say to have it in the right order and to have things delineated properly because as we've been saying, and, and I think it's, we don't want to sound mundane, but there's so much confusion. And I know some of our brethren when they go to school and work, they're bombarded with the truth of the Lord's coming. But mixed up again, as you said, Robert earlier, the truth of the rapture mixed with the appearing and the appearing with the rapture and the Son of Man and the Lord coming for us and the thief in the night and all these things.
But you know, there are several good books and pamphlets that outline for us the difference between these things and the the problem in Thessalonians was they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. But they didn't understand how it was all going to pan out. And some of their number died. Had they missed out on the Kingdom? And when how were how were they all going to be part of the Kingdom when the Lord came back? And so Paul writes and leaves nothing unexplained as to how this is all.
00:45:11
To pan out and there are there's a lot of good ministry that sets sets this out for us. Take time to read it, get this established. Go through your Bible, make some notes, make a little outline. Sometimes in the back of my Bible where there's some blank pages, I'll just jot down a few little scriptures that give me an outline on some of these things. These these things are helpful Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly divided.
The word of truth.
How did it happen? How was it that the church fell asleep as to the truth that Christ was coming? How could such a thing happen? It's so profound. There was so much at the early church period. There was so much persecution, and there was. Why wouldn't you be looking for the Lord to come?
Well, if we look at Second Timothy chapter 2, I wonder if this is really perhaps a key to understanding what took place. Chapter 2 and verse two, Second Timothy, the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same.
Commit or entrust thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
We live in a day of change. We live in a day when you don't, quite frankly, the church, the truth of the coming of the Lord and the distinction between the rapture and the appearing is in the process of being lost again and then the Christian profession. And the reason is that there are those that are changing the truth, changing what they want to accept. They try to perhaps introduce something of Judaism and the thoughts of the Lord's blessing.
And the prosperity gospel, all those sorts of things. And then what happens and there's a blurring of the distinction. We need to read Pauls ministry to be able to get the distinction between the appearing and the rapture. And so we need to read First Thessalonians and 2nd Thessalonians. Read it, I suggest, in the new translation, as I say, the King James translators.
Were steeped in the error of covenant theology and so they didn't understand the distinction and so it's not clearly demarcated as far as the King James in the 1St and 2nd Thessalonians. But read the new translation and as Jim has suggested, Mark where it speaks of the appearing.
Mark where it speaks of the rapture and be clear as to the distinction. And let's be sure that we continue in the same things that we were taught when we were younger and read that old ministry, the ministry that Brother Jim has been mentioning. There are those like Bruce Ansi that's read all those old books of ministry and brought it into a little synopsis. You might say he has a nice little booklet on the coming of the Lord Jesus.
And he goes over those things very nicely. And he goes, he has another little booklet on the similitudes of the Kingdom. He goes over those things very clearly. And so we can be sure of getting the same things that our older brethren taught when the midnight cry went out. Let's value those writings of those men and that were raised up of God. And when they wake up call was presented, a cry was made at midnight. Behold, the bridegroom, the very person of Christ was about to come for his own.
And another thing that really caused the church to sink to the level of the world and lose sight of their heavenly calling in the Lord's coming was when the world embraced the church. When the world persecuted the church, the light shone bright. But then Constantine came to the throne as the emperor of Rome, and he decided that these Christians aren't so bad after all. They're honest, they have integrity, they work hard. We'll just become Christian. He never relinquished.
His head of the Pagan church, but he set himself up as the head of the Christian Church. And what happened?
00:50:03
It caused the Church of God to sink down to the level of the world. And even today, isn't it true in countries where there's out and out persecution, really, the light of Christianity shines far brighter in the Middle East. The light of Christianity is shining bright. We've been talking about our brethren in Egypt. You know when you're over there, you realize there's no neutrality in a country like that. You're either out and out for the Lord or you're not. You can't be 1/2 hearted Christian and float along in a country where Christianity is completely illegal and where there's where there's persecution and you have to be circumspect as to how you meet and.
And so on. As I say, the real believers are out and out for the Lord and they're happy and they give testimony and people are getting saved in unusual ways, remarkable ways. So that really did more detriment to the Church of God. When the world embraced the church, it really did more to cause it to sink into a morally lethargic, unconscious state of the person of Christ and his coming than out and out persecution.
But I want to just say this too, and Roberts alluded to it. But behold, the bridegroom, brethren, that's the key, isn't it? We can talk about all these doctrinal principles and we can talk, we talked at length about being gathered to the Lords name and all the principles about being gathered to the Lords name. We can talk about the doctrines of the Lord's coming. But if the person of Christ, if the bridegroom doesn't grasp your heart and mind, then it we can be as to doctrine, we can be cold as ice.
We can be clear as ice and just as cold. Doctrine is wonderful. We've stressed that. I don't want to take away from that, but it must be the truth as it is in Jesus. You know, it's interesting in John's Gospel, and I think Brother John alluded to it in the Gospel or one of his comments in the reading, there's two statements about being free. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Absolutely true. But later on in that same chapter, it says if the sun shall make you free.
Ye shall be free indeed. Why is that more? Well, we can know the truth in an intellectual way, but if it's the truth as it is in Jesus, you can't know the Son and not have true liberty and freedom. And so it's the sun, it's the Bridegroom, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And if He is our object and grasps our heart, how can we help but not be looking to be physically and unhinderedly in His company and want nothing less?
So I think this is very important. As a result of these meetings and all the principles we've taken up, are our hearts enlarged as to the person of Christ? If they are, then our feet are going to follow in the path of faith and service.
Share a little experience I had with one of the Lord's people that we love there in Saint Louis we've we've come into contact with them through work, relationships and and now there's even.
A. A marriage in connection with this relationship but.
We we do have to realize that as, as as we mingle amongst the Lord's people.
As we enjoy fellowship to some degree with others of the Lord's people.
That there are those that have been taught.
Truths that conflict with the simple truth that each one of us have enjoyed and raised in most of us. And these truths are precious to us, but there are those who have been mentored in the Word of God.
In ways that are contrary to what we have enjoyed here.
And I remember just recently we were sitting around a campfire and we were enjoying the Lord together.
And as the conversation turned to.
The Lord's return turned to I could tell that we were just about to get some truth that was going to be contrary to what we held and so I just with this dear brother that we were enjoying fellowship with, I just.
Explained to him that umm, you know we believe that God has a special.
Place a blessing for the nation of Israel and He is going to bring them into blessing.
00:55:00
This was truth that.
And this dear brother just said, you know.
He said. I was. I've been raised all my life to believe something else. And so instead of that.
Breaking fellowship with another believer, we just, I just recognized that if these truths are going to come home to his soul, it's going to be by the Spirit of God. And there's a, there's a measure in which I can go on in fellowship with that brother.
Enjoying the Lord with Him and maintaining happy fellowship to the degree in which.
That which we have been.
Taught will allow us and.
We I I I specifically when when the the teaching which I thought was going to be hurtful to those who have been raised in the truth came up, I specifically sought to make a clear distinction in the way in which.
The truth was being presented, but at the same time I did not want to.
Hinder.
The fellowship of this dear brother from being able to enjoy what we do.
Share in common and I just want to encourage us that we do live in a condition when the church is in confusion and we we we won't be effective in bringing others into the truth if we cut off their ears. And if we have a spirit that would not be the spirit of Christ. And so I just I have not detected that.
One bit as these truths have been presented. I'm not saying this in any way to be critical with what has been brought out. I feel that the spirit has been the spirit of Christ. But when we do come in contact with those this brother, he just said he just simply said I wasn't raised with that and he's he's been very faithful and and seeking to be faithful in that which he has been brought up in and I I I respect that there's an energy.
To be faithful to the Lord. But there's also the ability for the Spirit of God to bring light to his soul when the Spirit of God has that opportunity. I want to be there when the work of God is taking place so that there might be the ability to help that soul come into more light.
And so I just bring these this, this out because we do live in a day of confusion, but that doesn't mean we can't go on as members of the body of Christ enjoying what we can enjoy together.
Proof being recovered, and you probably have read some of those writings, but those, dear brethren, they did suffer persecution for bringing out that truth and that distinction between the rapture and the appearing. We don't think of it very often, but we don't suffer reproach that way. We may in a sense, as the day gets darker and and the Christian testimony.
Falls into the error of covenantal theology at once again.
Darkness descends, so to speak, but at the time of the recovery of the truth.
Our dear brethren, that learn the truth of the rapture that was just about to take place in the person of the Christ that was about to take His bride to be with Himself. And they spoke of it and they wrote of it. They suffered persecution from those that were in the establishment, so to speak. But as you say, we the servant of the Lord must not strive. They presented the truth as they saw it from the Scriptures and these delineations as we brought out in Matthew 24, the difference between the appearing.
And the difference between the rapture, they brought those things out and they did suffer persecution. But I might just point out this little expression in Hebrews chapter 13. It says verse 13. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing His reproach. And so in connection with Hebrews, they were going to have to leave Judaism and all of their associations in Judaism.
And they were going to have to go forth in the energy of the Spirit, in obedience to the Word of God.
01:00:01
And they were going to have to go forth unto him, to go to that large upper room, to be there and to enjoy the truth that would be given to the church. But here we have that expression here in this verse. And it's really the going forth in the energy of faith and in response of heart affection for Christ, knowing that I need to separate from those associations and those things that might hinder me and go forth.
In activity and faith to meet the Lord, to be in a state that would be. He would delight to see me in at the time of His coming. Isn't it wonderful? The Lord Jesus is going to come for us very shortly? Wouldn't it be nice to be in a state of soul, a state of communion with Him, that we would go from the presence of the Lord in this world and to the presence of the Lord physically?
They trimmed their lamps, they arose and they all trimmed their lamps.
Now Fay and I, in the winter we like to get out these old fashioned coal oil lamps and use it on the kitchen table when we're having our evening meal. It gives a little ambience to the place and a little cheer on a drab winter night. But when you take that Wick before you light it, you've got to trim it. You've got to trim off that which hinders the light from shining. And that's what happened dispensationally, isn't it? A lot of things had come in to hinder the light from shining.
The true light of Christianity and as to the Lord's coming. And so those brethren were raised up of God. It began, I believe, with the Reformers. But God doesn't flip flop things. There's always transitional period when truth is given freshly like it was in the Acts, or when truth is recovered like it has been in the 1800s. And even in the Old Testament, those times of recovery, there was always a transitional period. God doesn't flip flop things. And so they trimmed their lamps, that is.
They got rid of those things that were, had come in and they weren't really truths. They were false statements as to the Word of God, as to Christianity and the Word of God and so on. And the truth began to come out so that the light began to flicker again. And then it flamed up into something beautiful, as you say, under Mr. Darby, Mr. Cronin, and those those early, early brethren. Now I want to make a little practical application. Let's bring this home to us.
What are there things in our lives that are hindering the light from shining and hindering our joy in the truth of the coming of the Lord? Do others look at us as those who are strangers and pilgrims and on their way our way to something far better? If that's true in my life, then I need to get out that little scissors and I need to trim my lamp. I need to get rid of those little things so that the light will shine brighter.
The other thing too, of course, is there has to be oil in the lamp. And you notice they all trimmed their lamps. And if you notice again, Mr. Darbys translation, when the five foolish came to the wise, they said our lamps are going out. Because if you light a lamp, a coal oil lamp, and it doesn't have oil, it will flicker for a few moments, it will flame up for a few moments and then it'll go out. And so there was this flicker of profession because it's like when they came out of Egypt.
There was a mixed multitude came out. There were those who made a profession and they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. But God brought to bear circumstances in the wilderness that showed that they weren't real. And so in the early days there were those who, I don't want to reduce this to some worldly expression, but there were those who joined the bandwagon. There were those who got on board because they saw the power. They were like Simon in the book of the Acts. He saw the power of the apostles and he wanted to join in and be part of it.
But he wasn't real. And so they all trimmed their lamps. Their lamps all flickered for all lit. But the five that had no oil, no reality, their lamps only lit for a little time. And they said our lamps are going out. And what did they do? They came to those who had oil, but they came with the wrong motive. They said, give U.S. oil that our lamps won't go out. Won't go out. Now, again, I'm going to make a very practical application.
You know, being brought up in the profession of Christianity, being brought up in a Christian home, we can't count on others to have the Spirit of God or to be saved. We have to make it real ourselves. And so they said you go to buy, you have to, you have to make it your own, you have to get it yourself. And children and young people brought up in Christian homes, the day comes when they have to make it real. Timothy had a God fearing mother, he had a godly grandmother. But Paul, as Paul said it was through faith, which is in Christ Jesus that had brought him.
01:05:17
To the good and the knowledge of salvation and the knowledge of the truth. So we need to trim our lamps.
The oil is that it has to be there, but it's something that we have to make good ourselves personally. Another cannot do it for us.
Time's almost gone, and the bridegroom came. You know, brethren, we're sitting here in these meetings talking about the bridegroom coming. Someday we're going to say, and the bridegroom came. And as I said yesterday in one of the meetings, we're closer to the Lord's coming than we've ever been before. And won't it be a wonderful thing to look back and say the bridegroom came? It's a reality. It's not just a theory. It's not just a doctrine. Brother, we need to get this down into our souls as a reality because that's what's going to have the moral, practical purifying effect on our walk.
Ye rather to them that sell. So there needs to be a personal transaction with the Father and with the Son. We need to be brought into relationship with them. And as you mentioned earlier, the oil is a picture of the Spirit of God inside the lamp. It's a testimony and in the upper room there were many lights there.
There needs to be that oil, the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, that there might be a true testimony and the Old Testament Saints. David had the oil anointed to his head, a picture of the Spirit of God coming upon him.
And the Spirit of God was upon David all of his life, apparently right to the day that he died. But he was never indwelled with the Spirit of God. You and I don't have the oil anointed onto our heads, but we have the Spirit of God inside of us. So there's a little bit of difference between the Old Testament and the New, but in.
The final the Lord Jesus told this story and the very final thing that he said.
Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
So we need to be in anticipation, we need to be practically watching and waiting for him.
Door was shut the universe town and remind you of the ark that the Lord shut them in and when it's his work he he knows when he's going to shut the door. And so when they come they say Lord Lord open to us. That expression is used five times in the New Testament. It's used three times in the book of Luke. I'm in Matthew in this this gospel and twice in the book of Luke and every time it's profession Lord Lord, so you can look at that up.
Sing 23 in the appendix.
Those precious.
Savior went Wilt thou return?
Ours with both fulfill your to thee, our master term.
01:10:20
He all enters all good to see me who was small because.
That makes it great.
To lose great dust who can be sad? No, I love.
Forever.
Our smallest and.
Lord and Lord are trouble.
We're all joy and they will end.
Oh, that's so gorgeous.
Now we wait. Lovely.
The power that breathe the sun for heaven we see you.
We shall be happy.
Cheers and flower more.