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The.
Symptoms cross night.
And walk.
So.
Those Dark Souls and.
Everything.
Love Grace, I must have wondrous working of.
Shut up Brown with glory when it is quietly work.
In home.
Bless the God and Father, we thank thee.
Are not fleeing from the.
Mowing fig leaves and seeking to hide from God, we have been brought nigh unto thee.
Have the righteousness of Christ which covers us.
Help us to learn more of the position we've been brought into and how to walk.
It's children of God as sons of God.
Being conformed to the image of Christ, we give thanks for the Thy Word, give thanks for Thy Spirit. Help us to walk in the Spirit and we rejoice in Thee once again, our Father, the relationship we've been brought into by the Lord Jesus Christ, and in His precious and worthy name, we pray for help as we open Thy word. Amen.
Would verse 13 be all right or did we cover 13 and 14 enough?
Harry, carry on. Eric, what do you think? It would be good.
Think 13 would be good to start with. Thank you.
Matthew chapter 5 and verse 13.
You're the salt of the earth, But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted. It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. You are the light of the world, as today, that a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men Light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on the Candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before man, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jaw or one title, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven. For whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.
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For I say unto you, that accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka shall be in danger of the council.
But whosoever shall say thou fool, shall be in danger of Hellfire.
Therefore, if they'll bring thy gift to the altar, and they'll remembers that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst they were in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and they'll be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence.
Till thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing ye have said, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right I offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if they right hand offend, they cut it off and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and that not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
We didn't bring it out last meeting, but it might be nice to helpful to see that there are two things that the Lord Jesus was bringing out here. Verse 13, verse 14 unique. The salt really has to do in connection with the people of God being a preservative, having a preservative effect upon those that they are amongst. And so we know that this is Speaking of that time during the time that the disciples were there.
In verse one, it speaks of this disciples, he came unto him, he opened his mouth and taught them. But it has a similar we have a similar effect in this world. We're a preservative. We're allowed to be here in this scene and we're a preservative against the corruption the that's coming in moral corruption. And so a believer that walks in a testimony that is for the Lord Jesus identifies with the name of Christ and the principles of Christianity.
Why we are a preservative in this world and so in connection with the light where really we illuminate this world and really the world walks in moral darkness. And so we shed the light as we walk in the light of Christianity. And there's a testimony presented. That's why it's the Christianity we can apply it to Christianity. You see that is set on a hill cannot be hid. So the reason that you and I are here as a testimony.
It's set upon a hill. There is a purpose God has displayed, and I believe Brother Dawn was bringing this out in the latter part of the meeting this morning, that there's a purpose God has for the assembly and it's to be a display to this world of the order that He has and the desire to bring man into blessing. So the light really illuminates, but when the light dissipates, when it doesn't shine brightly.
And there's reasons why it won't shine brightly. We have a little bit later in this passage, then moral darkness comes in. So we need to have the light of the truth of the word of God before us and to walk in the light of the revelation of Christianity so that this world has light. It has a testimony of light. And when the Lord Jesus was here, he said I am the light of the world. But now he's in heaven. He's on high, in the right hand of the majesty on high. And so you and I are here.
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And we are to be lights in this world, so we have that responsibility.
The difference between the word Earth and world.
It's important to recognize that you look in the Mr. Darby's translation, you see that the earth could be the land. In other words, the salt of the earth here has to do with the preservative principle among the general profession. So remember that the Apostle Paul had two ministries he speaks of in Colossians chapter one. The one is the gospel.
The other is the mystery of the Church. And so the point here is that ye are the salt of the earth we have as Christians. I know this is a little beyond Christianity, but still the principle applies. We have the privilege and responsibility to be the preservative principle within the wider profession. That's an important thing the Lord said when He was on the earth. But when the Son of Man cometh, shall we find faith in the earth?
And so he asked us to be faithful to him till he comes to take us home. So that's the earth, the salt of the earth. Mr. Kelly says. I have a footnote here. Salt is the guard of holiness, the preservative energy of God's rights in the midst of corruption. And we know that there's corruption and Christendom all around us, but we're called not to compromise with the correction, but to be true as we read the pure in heart, to be true, to be the salt.
Of the of Christianity within the great profession of Christendom. But the world is a different term. The footnote here says the cosmos, which is the wide world as we generally speak of it. God so loved the world. So that is the evangelical outreach that we know the Jews will will certainly take upon them in the last days when they preach the Kingdom of heaven. And the believer has the responsibility and the privilege as well.
But there's that clear distinction between the term earth, which could be translated land has to do with profession, and the responsibility to the world as a whole, which is all the men of the world.
And it's beautiful to see, isn't it? How the Spirit of God?
Through our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ brings out both the Jewish side of things and yet in anticipation of the church. And so here we have the Lord Jesus essentially presenting himself as the rightful King and saying, here are the principles of my Kingdom.
But yet he doesn't go all the way with it because he knew very well that he would be rejected. He knew very well that he was going later on in the same Gospel of Matthew to bring in the Prince or the truth. Upon this rock I will build my church. And so you and I can look at it, and we can see on the one side how that in a coming day the godly ones will.
That is the godly Jews during the Tribulation.
Will preach the gospel of the Kingdom once again and they'll recognize all these principles, but at the same time the Lord Jesus puts out that which you and I can look at. Yes, they are the principles of his Kingdom, but they also represent what we are to be in the earth. So that's and in the world. So that's I really appreciate that Eric that on the one hand, we are preservative in the earth.
In that part of the earth that has, at least in an outward way, recognized the rightful king. But then there's a testimony to the whole world too.
If somebody likes some more help on that, it was Mr. Kelly in his book on Matthew.
That brought that out when I first heard of it, so it's very helpful, isn't it?
Might be helpful to notice that there are a couple of other preservatives and they're spoken of the apostle Paul as part of Paul's doctrine. I believe Second Thessalonians, he brings it out that there are the governments of this world are preservative as well as the Spirit of God is a preservative in a we are preserved from judgment. The world is.
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Preserved at the particularly the professionally Christian world is preserved from all out corruption because the Spirit of God is present. So that's Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse six. And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth will let, or he who now hinders will hinder, until he.
Be taken out of the way or be gone. And so there are two things. One is earthly government. God has put government in place to withhold evil, to restrain evil, and to.
By laws and governance to restrain the all out corruption that would be evident in this world if there was no restraint. And so government is one thing, and then the Spirit of God will be taken out at the time.
Of the rapture. So it's he who now letteth will be taken out of the way. And I might say that the why do we see all this violence and corruption in the day that we live in in the Western Christian world is because the Spirit of God is grieved and he's not restraining as he once did as much as he once did. He's grieved. And so there's he's allowing things God is allowing things to develop more in the mystery of iniquity.
Continues.
Judaism was not a full revelation of what God is.
God did not fully reveal Himself and all that He is even to the favored people, the Jew, when they were separated from other men and became a nation, the most favored nation on earth and purposed of God for blessing. But you can't in Judaism, looked at in the Old Testament, you don't see the heart of God.
Revealed in its fullness.
The Lord Jesus came and he came to that nation here in Matthew, and He presents himself with the King. But he could not be less than he was. He had to be and was exactly what he was. And that is more than Judaism. And so he could say, when I am in the world, I'm the light of the world. He could not be less than light. And as such, that's why what we have here is the beginning.
To us of a fuller revelation of what God is, we don't get the fullness of it until Christ dies and rises again and returns to glory. And then we have an even more full revelation of God in the New Testament, particularly by Paul's epistles. But if you and I are real.
Then we're encouraged here to be what we are.
The Lord was the light of the world. What light does the world have today? Your life.
Is where the world's light is to be found. And you are and I am responsible to live according to what we are. And we had this morning some of what we are. We have the nature of God in new life and we have the power of God in the spirit that dwells in US. And so we are to act what we are. And if we do.
We will be preservatives, we will be lights and is. So he's bringing out that which to those who are his own here, that He's bringing them into the beginning of the understanding. They don't get the fullness of it here in Matthew 5, but the truth of it is here. And it's important for us to recognize that today we have the responsibility even though we live in a different dispensation, as it's called.
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We we have that responsibility to be what God has made us. It's a serious responsibility.
Take it one step further. Turn to Revelation.
Chapter.
Two, I believe it is.
In Revelation chapter one, the last verse of chapter one of the Revelation, it's just an amplification on the principle of what I've just been saying.
Verse 20 The ministry of the seven stars which thou sawest in thy right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. Here we're talking about light bearing the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. And then in that is those who have light, or are the Candlestick of on which light is.
Have a responsibility to be light.
To the world. Here in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, we get a moral history of how well that responsibility has been carried out.
Has the church been the light of the world? Has it in practice been a preservative?
Well, when we read what's written here, we find the very sad and whatever measure you and I have contributed to it, don't look at don't use the words Christendom to say well, that's Christendom and that's not me, that's not my life, etcetera. Take it to heart and ask your own soul before the Lord have I individually have we together.
Walked as the light of the world.
The testimony of these two chapters is a sad one. What the Lord is saying is you have not.
And now I can't use you anymore.
I must put you aside. And he himself in chapters four and five establishes his own right first as creator and four and and chapter 5 Redeemer to set things right and bring light into the world that will last throughout the Millennium. And so there's a voice to our conscience as well as understanding to our minds in these chapters is.
Sometimes the Lord speaks to our conscience to ask us, are you being what I have made you, given you the responsibility in the community, on the street where you live, in the assembly where you are? Is it bearing the light that you are responsible to be while in a full sense of the word as a whole? No, it hasn't. And that's what's being set aside here, that what is being exhorted in Matthew 5.
Will be carried out, but the Lord himself will have to do it.
And when he does it, then he will work with the Jewish remnant during that seven-year period when he's working, he will work with the Jewish remnant to bring the things that we have here to them that they themselves might learn how they as the Jews had failed. And then they will become the salt and light of the millennial period.
And suggested that there's seven great witnesses that God has given to men and we have two of them in the chapter that we've been reading. I'll just briefly summarize some of the others. Creation, of course, we're well aware of we have that of and and Psalm 19 as well as Romans one. We have conscience, the testimony of conscience, the fact that we have a sense that there's a difference between right and wrong.
And that there's somebody who's the arbiter of that, which of course ultimately is God. That's also in Psalm 19 and Romans 2, and Scripture of course also.
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In Psalm 19 and of course many other places a great powerful witness or God's testimony to man and then of course Christ. This is also would be a good gospel message for others. Some might might appreciate that.
But then there's three more that are not quite as clear, perhaps one of circumstances. The Lord used circumstances to witness to Job and Jonah, to the apostle Paul before he was a believer. But then in our chapter we have two, two different ones. One's been called the law of complementarity. And that's what we had in the Beatitudes by and large. In other words, if the Lord gives us a longing, he puts that longing in our hearts because he intends to fulfill it.
In his proper way.
And so in our chapter we've been reading blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted and so on. So that's been styled the law of complementarity and I appreciate that. And then the last one is what don't been speaking about a well lived Christian life when we apply it to Christianity and how important that is the the.
Do we? Are we the salt of the earth, the light of the world? So there are 7 testimonies at least and witnesses that God has given to this world and how important it is for us to to recognize them and to do what we can.
Which is according to our privilege and responsibility.
In verse 15, it says neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel. And a bushel speaks of work. A bushel is what holds apples or or corn cobs or something. And I think how important it is that our words match our actions. Or maybe I should say, do we walk the walk? It's easy to talk the talk. I remember once we had a conference here in Walla. Walla wasn't in this building and the brothers blessed their hearts were literally tripping over each other.
They would interrupt each other. They weren't letting them finish their thought. And dear, beloved brother, he says, Selah, we should wait on one another. And somebody, he wasn't even done talking. And somebody started talking. And before he was done, the same brother that had just said that, he jumped in again. And I was like, dude, you should have just saved your words. Sometimes we live in such a way that what we say is just washed out.
And it happens way more often than we would like to admit. So let's help us, as our brethren have encouraged us, that we would walk.
To be a blessing and a help. Don't put it under a bushel. Don't hide God's light by what we do. So our walk would meet our talk. You put it on a Candlestick and then it says at the end of the verse it giveth light to all that are in the house. And what I used to do is I would carry my flashlight and I'd shine it in people's eyes.
Here, this is the truth. Look here. Well, no one appreciates that. And and our brother was talking about me when I was younger, going around the meeting room and shaking salt on everybody that was me. I'm so sorry. I appreciate everybody's patience. It's so freeing when we understand that light works best when it's shining down from up above and it lights our pathway. And it says in in this verse, verse 15, it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
And the best use of light is when it illuminates our path and then other people can see the light and they can see to walk to we get into like a pocket of freedom and other people can see that and see the love and grace of God and they can come and join us. And then in verse 16, it's not about me, it's not about us. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Our job, our mission is to glorify him.
So when we do it right, we're just saying, OK, Lord, it's, it's all you. It's, it's not about us. And that's so freeing.
The Lord Jesus was really revealing to us, to his disciples, that there were some dangers involved in connection with the demonstration of that light and the clarity with which it would.
Really go forth. You know when I was younger didn't lived in a place and didn't have electricity, so we had coal oil lamps and you had to adjust the Wick. There was a little knob and you had to adjust it so that would burn properly to have enough oxygen.
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And have enough fuel and it was bright and it wouldn't smoke and then.
The smoke would.
Accumulate upon the inside of the globe of the glass, and then you didn't get the light that you needed. And so there are different things. And so the Lord Jesus was just saying here that there are some dangers, There are some things in responsibility that we need to judge in our lives that might come in and detract from the light that should be bright.
And it does need to be trimmed that we do need to exercise self judgment. And so the bushel really is a vessel. I think it's called a vessel in Luke's Gospel. And it would refer to really perhaps earning a living and being involved in mercantile activity. While it's necessary to provide for our families and a man that doesn't provide for his own is worse than infidel. He's denied the faith practically, but we need to.
Recognize that our careers are not what God has put us here for. We are here to render a testimony, a light and a testimony for him. But we will need to be exercised about how we conduct business and how much time it takes and whether to be in that particular business because it's so time consuming and so on. And so he speaks of this, putting it on a Candlestick, making sure that it's visible. And that's individual responsibility for a disciple.
Just like to make a suggestion. I know that this room is full of young people and you're hearing a lot of older brethren talk.
And if you are like me, and I pretty sure you are.
I have been here too, I'm behind some of my older brother that have been doing all the talking but enough experience to know that.
We don't change as we get older.
And we've read about this and it was suggested that these beatitudes and we needed an attitude adjustment. These beatitudes are perfectly displayed in the Lord Jesus as he walked here and we can look at him as an example.
And then if we read the rest of the chapter.
We would find 7 times that the Lord Jesus says, and he quotes something out of the Old Testament, He says, and then but I say, and he takes that thing that's written and he raises it so that there is absolutely an unquestionably no way that I can ever measure up. It's impossible.
And so sitting here and we need to be a light, we need to be tender towards one another. We need to love one another. All these things that that I look at inside of me and I find, Oh my goodness, this is just never going to happen. Or if it does, it's so inconsistent that it's like I'm just a failure. I might as well give this up, throw it over. I'll never make it.
But as I'm sitting here listening.
I'm wondering at what Jonathan said yesterday when he started to speak. He said this and Jesus is able to make you whatever he wants you to be. We've read about the Kingdom of God and the King coming in and little later we can read about the king that comes into Zion. He says meek and lowly and riding upon an *** in the cult.
The full of an *** and I know this this verse in math in 1128 that we all know so well.
And it was said, Come down unto me.
And the rest of that verse?
We sang.
O patient spotless one, our hearts in meekness train to bear thy yoke, and learn of thee, that we may rest. Obtain you know these, these seven things that are perfection, that there are just completely condemning.
How can ever those things be?
Typified in my life for those beatitudes that I find that I fall so short in.
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And I think of the invitation of the Lord Jesus. Take my yoke.
My yoke? You mean he's already there? A yoke is for 2A collar and a harness is for one.
And that's just so like the law.
It's impossible. I can not do it on my own.
But he invites me into his yoke now, he says I'm with you.
And I know many have heard the example of the young oxen that was put in yoked with the old one so that he would learn. And so when he lunges ahead, that old one that's always plodding on steadily, it would slow him down. Or when he starts dragging his heels, he would feel the pressure to come forward.
And the Lord Jesus says, take my yoke upon you.
I want to walk beside you.
And I think of the word surrender. I think it might have been alluded to submission yielding.
What is that?
Surrender, I give up Lord. I can see this is impossible for me.
And he says I'm going to help you do this.
One step at a time.
Just trust me, count upon me, and we'll get through this together.
I think.
And I'm asking this is a question again to my older brethren, is this the way that these things can be fulfilled in my life, be characterized by my life by surrendering to the yoke that he invites me to come into?
And he's going to show me how to do it one step at a time.
Well, I believe that's very important from a practical side because we can set out in our Christian pathway and this is a practical application of what we have here and say I want to be better salt in this earth, where I want to be better light in this world. And that's a good thought that if I set out to do that.
Ultimately, if I'm not careful, it ends up occupying me with myself.
And as a brother used to remind us years ago, the one who is occupied with him or herself is never happy. And nor will I be a good light or be good salt. Because ultimately I will either end up being too much salt or too little. Or I will end up being so occupied with how much of A light I am that, as I said a moment ago, it occupies me with myself.
What we really need to do is to be more like Christ.
And we had that. I believe Brother Don mentioned it in his address in 2nd Corinthians 3 where it talks about we all with open or unveiled face beholding and leave out as in a glass. It shouldn't be there beholding. The glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory. And then the salt will come naturally and it'll be as we get in.
Colossians, chapter 4.
Where it says let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.
Every cook here knows that salt is important in cooking.
But the right amount of it is important. Too much Oh my, makes it unpalatable. Too little. Equally unpalatable in the other direction. The right amount, just perfect. And so we need that. But it's great seasoned with salt. And then the light. I don't need to worry about being a light any more than Moses asked himself when he came down from the mound. Is my face shining enough?
How much is it shining today? What's it like?
I see my brother Dan smirking over there.
He didn't do that, did he? No.
He didn't even know his face, Sean, but others did and they saw it. And so it is what the believer, isn't it? Anything that is of salt or of light in your life and mine is ultimately a reflection of how well I know my Savior and how much I have been in His company. And it will show.
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And I don't need to be occupied with it.
I remember your father-in-law telling the story of meeting two young sisters at a conference or somewhere and he asked them how they were doing when they came up to greet him. And they said, oh, we're really doing well. Can't you see how our face is shining?
And I knew your father-in-law. Did I know him well enough to know that he didn't quote this verse, but he quoted it to the rest of us years later, and I'm sure he thought it in his mind, Moses whisked. Not that his face shone.
And so, as you say, our proper occupation with ourselves is when the Spirit of God brings something before us that we need to judge.
And when we judge, it is self judgment, self denial, self sacrifice are good things that are attached to self. And if we judge ourselves and the Spirit of God will be free to bring before us in Christ as you quoted in 2nd Corinthians 3, will be occupied with him and his people and we'll leave the rest with him. Often we're the we're the most testimony when we have not the slightest thought that we are.
The opposite is sometimes true.
We think we are. Maybe we're not so much.
Being the salt of the earth.
And a light is a responsibility, but it's not an object.
Significant importance between the two.
The Lord Jesus, when He came, was sent from His Father. Here on earth, was truly the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but it was not His object. His object here as a man was to please His Father.
This object here of a man was not to glorify himself, but to glorify his Father.
And so he could say, I do all, I do always those things which please the Father. He could also say, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. But he, incoming the perfect man, was not occupied with himself, and he was here on the behalf of his father, and he was occupied with that which would please his father.
And fulfill his father's will and sending him. We too need that same focus.
And if that focus is there, if I could put it this way, if the Lord Jesus is a man, the Father gave him everything that was necessary for him to have to fulfill the reason he had been sent. And so he was up to the task of doing what was given to Him to do. But again, I say, and it's already been said, I'm just using a different set of words for somewhat the same thought. We need to be occupied.
With the one that we are called upon, as it says in our chapter.
Verse 16, the end of the verse, the light, your light so shine that they may see your good works and glorify you. Is that what it says?
That absolutely does not that they may glorify whom your Father, which is in heaven. And so if we're motivated in being light love, whatever you want to say is a good and a virtue. If you're being occupied with that, you won't be.
As it says in First John Four we love.
Why? Because He first loved us and He put that love in us. It's not something we put in ourselves, it's not something that we even aspire to or aspired to, but rather for His own purposes. He creates us for His own will in to fulfill and the end result, If He is the object, He will use the life to glorify Himself.
Glorify in the sense of the display of honor and majesty that glory is, and he, God, would have Himself glorified on this earth today at this point in time.
Because his son is not here and he's taking his son home, and yet he has. The son has left us here to do that, which he was doing in that way, not redemption.
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But rather to glorify the Father.
This chapter introduces the the Lord Jesus was introducing the name of the Father and introducing the person of the Father and it really the Jews had in a Jewish context. It was at a bit of a distance. So their Father which is in heaven. But it wasn't until the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that he could say that he would to go to his brethren and to say I ascend unto my God.
And your God, my Father, and your Father and so.
We don't pray to our Father, which art in heaven. That's a bit of a distance and it's beneath the dignity of the position that we occupy as those that are sons. And so we address God as our Father. And it's I, I just enjoy Galatians chapter 5. And I think it's Galatians and maybe it's Ephesians chapter 5.
He speaks there of prayer.
And he says in verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have the revelation of divine persons, and we have communion with divine persons. Brother was speaking this morning of abundant life, and abundant life is to have eternal life, is to be brought into relationship with the Father and with the Son.
To be indwelled with the Spirit of God and to know it and to enjoy divine relationships. Here they were being introduced to the to the Father. But the Jews, even on earth during the Millennium, will not have as near a relationship with the Lord as you and I have.
That is not a subtle difference.
It's a new and living way.
And.
Speaking of younger folks, you're you're already no doubt encountering this in Christian friends in your school or your university or your workplace because your brethren that are in the denominations or in the independent churches.
Are under the sound of ministry that essentially makes no difference between the faith of an Israelite and the present faith of a Christian of a believer.
And the more you learn about the special character of your present position and privileges as being those that have been initiated into the mysteries of God and the great mystery of Christ in the Church, the more you learn about that, the more you will easily see.
That as the Lord Jesus heard his or the governor of the feast and John two said, truly you've kept the good wine until now. So it's not that you need to study covenant theology and get all kinds of books and get all prepped up on error, but I would encourage you to steep yourself and your Christian privileges that you presently possess. Most Christian blessings are presently possessed.
The blessings promised to the Israelite were generally future.
And they are future today, certainly during this time when lo, I mean not my people has been written over the nation.
But once you begin to see the heights to which God has glorified his Son and you in him, it's the the distinction and the vast contrast will be obvious. It's not as if there isn't that which we share in common with men and women of faith. Hebrews 11 brings that out. But the special place of a believer is a mountain peak, as the old brothers used to say. It couldn't be any higher. And those are the things that we need to be to school ourselves in.
You say, well, I'm in a meeting. I've been traveling lately, I'm in a meeting. There's only two people, three people. There's five or six or seven. The Lord knows that could have put you in a meeting of 500. Take responsibility for your spiritual education. It has never been easier to have access to very good Christian ministry.
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And exposing ourselves to the nourishment that comes down from Christ, who's head of the church.
Doesn't mean that it has to be somebody who's living the same time as you.
Lord has raised up gifts and some of them are now with the Lord, but their ministry remains in written form. Mostly you can avail yourself of it and it's the fulfillment of Ephesians 4, if you know what I mean. That nourishment is coming down through the joints and bands with the purpose of growing you and me up in our in every facet of our Christian life unto Christ. And so that's like in between meetings I've.
Had discussions with some of you that are younger and I know you're encountering this all the time. And just as an aside, I would suggest that that's what you focus on and the distinction will be obvious.
Much to your own enjoyment and and encouragement.
So the Lord Jesus.
While he looked ahead here and definitely brought out principles here, which although written within a Jewish, spoken, I should say within a Jewish context, and in that sense will be good for those in the coming day, yet he didn't, well, let me rephrase that. He recognized that ultimately he was going to be rejected.
And that the only way they could be brought into blessing would be through his death and resurrection.
And that ultimately too, He was going to bring in, as we have just heard, the precious truth of the assembly, that highest truth that God ever gave to man. But in the next few verses, beginning with verse 17 and going on to the end of 20, we find the Lord making it very clear that nothing He said or did set aside the law. Absolutely nothing. They accuse the apostles when they preached.
They said.
They're teaching us contrary to those things that Moses commanded us. Was that true? No, it was not. But it went beyond what Moses commanded. And so here the Lord Jesus reinforces the law as that which was of God. And to teach the law, that is the moral principles of the law, was certainly in every way in keeping with everything the Lord Jesus said.
And it's in keeping today. If a man sins, I am entitled to, let's say a man steals, I am entitled to tell him. The law says thou shalt not steal. And it's true. And it's true for all time. If a man goes out and or a woman either and commits adultery, I can tell them. That's what the law says. But as we well know, the law reveals the condition of man's heart.
Doesn't do anything to change it. And so here the Lord reinforces the law. But he points out that the mere keeping of the law in its letter was not enough. Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Of course, we know very well that they didn't really keep the law. They had all kinds of loopholes and ideas of their own to get around it. And as we've already had brought before us previously in Matthew 23.
The Lord calls them out pretty severely for that, but nevertheless he reinforces the law, but then proceeds to tell them that if they wanted to be part of his Kingdom.
They had to go far beyond what the law said, and that could only be, as we know, through the work of Christ.
The Lord Jesus uses an expression in verse 22. I'll just quote it at the beginning, but I say unto you.
So here he is speaking with his disciples in verses 1718, and he says that till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. And then he adds, But I say unto you, it gives us to understand that it was the Lord Jesus himself that gave the law, and the Lord Jesus himself that had the authority to go beyond what he had given to Israel. And this is really what he's doing here.
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Is giving the principles that go beyond what they had under the law. And so in that the grace of God, the kindness of the Lord to give us something better than what they had in Judaism. And I know, as we've said that this is in a Jewish context, but it's the the going beyond and in grace and favor, mercy, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So he goes beyond what?
He gave them in the law. And so as I say, it just gives us to understand that it was the Lord Jesus himself that delivered the law to Moses. And he says, now I'm going to tell you something that I didn't say to Moses. And it gives light, further light as to the character of how we can bear testimony in the day that we live in.
Hud's revelation has been progressive, hasn't it? It builds and builds, goes higher and higher. And just to support what we've been speaking about, if we remember church history, we know that these highest truths that God has entrusted to any of his creatures was lost for most of the period of church history.
It was lost very quickly after the 1St century. We just read a little about that and it's not hard to see that. In fact, I just was impressed. I mentioned to several people that it's remarkable that about 360 AD, just to give an example.
At a council at Laodicea, the powers that be decided to dictate that there would be no congregational singing, only the professionals would sing. Guess how long that went on?
1000 years until Wickliffe Day and some of the other pre reformers. So the truth that were truths that were speaking about were lost and yet they've been gradually recovered again and that's where a lot of covenant covenant.
Truth or teaching came in was because they were emerging out of the darkness that had come.
They were coming out of the darkness and they were still mixing Judaism and Christianity, but now the light has gotten brighter. And so as Bruce was saying, the the truth of God as to Christianity, the highest truths that God has entrusted or will entrust to mankind have been brought out again in these last two centuries. And we can be so thankful for it. We don't need to have 1000 books.
In our library either because we can get them online. Our brother Wes Fitting had over 1200 lines of books and many of them were multiple books. In that one example, probably over 2000 books altogether. We don't need that many books, but we can go online and and get these valuable resources. BTP brother Don is here, but we can be very thankful they've got an excellent free online library, biblecenter.org.
Is one of my favorites, STEM publishing and so on. So these things are available. The question is, are we going to take advantage of it? And I think the real issue is not so much us as we've been saying, because it's often been said, the Christian motto is in Galatians 220, not I, but Christ. The real issue is that God, by allowing sin to come into the world is going to show that he's going to triumph over sin.
How does He do it? By a life lived for His glory and honor. That's really the issue. It's not what I get out of it. Now we get tremendous blessing without a doubt because God has deigned that His glory is connected to our blessing and that a wonderful thing. But we don't need to worry about our blessing except to learn what the Lord has entrusted to us. But what were our great concern is His glory. And if we're occupied with His glory, then we'll get the blessing. We don't need to worry about our blessings so much.
Except to understand what the Lord is entrusted to us. But if you're occupied with the Lord's glory, then that's that's that's sufficient. We get the blessing, He gets the honor. That's the right order.
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But one of Satan's most common tactics is to mix dispensations. Isn't it? Mixed dispensational truth. Things that were true in Judaism, he mixes them with Christianity. That's what come The tourism is in a nutshell.
Let's not get confused about it. That's all it is. When we have the full light of Christianity, we don't have to worry about mixing Judaism with Christianity because it falls to the ground. So we need to learn our proper Christian position and realize that the real issue is God's triumph over sin, and he has made us, by his grace, some of the vehicles of that.
Allow me to read.
Some of the blessings we have in Christ.
Find out chapter one.
We've been given grace, peace, all spiritual blessings, chosen, made holy, made blameless, predestinated, adopted, made into children, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, given wisdom, prudence.
Reveal the mystery. We have an inheritance. We've been sealed. We've been purchased. We've been given understanding and power. That's just one chapter from the Word of God.
Uncle Dave, Tony asked a really good question. How are how are we supposed to do this as we read these things as our as our brother mentioned, it's like the ante. If you could use that word, it gets raised and raised and raised and raised. There was nobody who keep the law and Jesus is but I say unto you and he raises the bar. I don't know how many people in here ever did a high jump.
You you see the bar and then you're dislike.
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run. And you turn over backwards and you fall backwards and throw your feet in there and you just barely make it and they raise the bar. Now what are you going to do? There's no way you're going to make it.
Some of these things in our chapter, it talks about one of the things that I know is a difficulty for us as humans. And verse 27, you've heard it said about adultery, but I send you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her. Like no way, How am I supposed to do this? Supposed to look at a sister and say, wow, she's pretty And that's the end of it. You go and think about something else and these these different things. It's this is what I said.
But I say unto you, don't do this, do this like how are we supposed to carry this out? The answer isn't in a set of rules. The answer isn't trying harder, telling people that is mean. The answer is the power of a brand new life. In 2nd Corinthians 517 it says if any man be in Christ, he is a brand new.
Creature, all things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new and I feel that in my body and what we, what we don't understand, what we struggle with is the flesh is still inside of me.
That's true. That's 100% true. However, I still have the flesh and I can choose to operate. As our brother said, God's given us the opportunity to obey, to submit, to honor the Lord and get that blessing. I have two natures and I have the opportunity to live in that new nature and to experience the blessing and to be an overcomer. And that's what he's calling us to. And it's so beautiful how Jesus does this.
And he's the perfect example. And he says, if, if greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And what does he do? He gets up and he goes, and he lays down his life.
What a beautiful example and these things are so.
They're so useful and practical in in verses 21 and 22. Don't kill. Don't even be mad at your brother. Like it's our natural tendency. We want people to do what we want them to do. That's where all friction.
Relational friction comes from when people show up differently than I want them to. And he says if you have a trouble with your brother.
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This is so practical. Leave your gift at the altar in verse 23 and go fix your relationship. We spend so much time and we think, oh, this doesn't matter. It starts vertically with Jesus. We get our life, we get our power from the Lord, and then He calls us to love and serve those around us. That's horizontally.
But brother, maybe an illustration would help on this. There's been difficulty many times. I have someone used to say if you're you don't keep the law, then you're lawless. But the law, the scripture says we're dead to the law. And I think an illustration which my brother.
Will be sick of but let me just try. There was a there was a town where they had speed traps. That's the way they made their money.
Nobody ever went through there without getting a ticket. Many tickets because the things you could see, but they were you didn't go a certain speed, you got ticket. If you if you went too slow, you got a ticket. And so it was impossible to get through there. 10 years goes by, nobody's ever gone through with a ticket. But I go through there and when I get through, they say how many tickets you get. I didn't get tickets. It's impossible.
How did you do it? I knew the person who made the tree tree trap. So he says, don't even look at the signs. You follow me when I stop, you stop when I speed you, you speed up. When I slow down, you slow down. Don't don't be occupied. You be occupied with me. And I went through there and never got a ticket. The last illustration of it, the righteous, the the righteousness of the law.
Is fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So the spirit is never going to lead you to break the law. But that's I think that's the secret, how we can say that we're dead to the law and yet the righteous, righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in US. And I think it's a little illustration. So it's the walk in the spirit.
We have that ability.
So I think that maybe help some of the young people when you, when you say, well, you can't keep the law and and we're not under the law. Well, but then the Scripture says that the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in US. And I think that's a little illustration of how it is you follow the spirit.
You'll never break it.
Like to make a couple of comments on Hebrews chapter 13.
Starting in verse 20.
Now the God of peace that brought.
Again we have trouble saying what I want to say, The God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, the God of peace make you perfect, and every good work to do His will according, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen. Brethren, we've had in the last hour so on that which is brings before us on one side human responsibility, to be salt, to be light and so on. And the God by his wisdom and by the Spirit, we talked about the life that gives the desire, the true power is in the Holy Spirit in us working in that life.
And so on.
And it's God's way to give us these things, to exercise our conscience and many things that would enable us to fulfill the responsibilities that are given to us. But I want to make this.
Funny comment on God's behalf.
When it's all said and done.
The end result is God working in you. He is the one.
That will fulfill the fullness of all that we've had before us in the last hour. It's not a one of us, whether you're 5 or 20 or 50 or 100, that will get to glory and say you did it right. The end result of it all and the reason why it will all come out to the end is it is God that worketh in you to fulfill His purpose for you.
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And his purpose for you goes beyond Matthew 5.
It goes beyond the principles of the Kingdom of heaven. God's purpose for you and I is He wants us to be just like his Son in his family, and that purpose and that work of the nearest possible relationship to himself that it's possible for Him to bring His creature into. He will finish the work.
That he's been given to do. And I want to just give one brief example of the sense of God's grace and responsibility. The highest truth that's given to the church in the New Testament is was given to us by one man who doesn't bring it out until by his failure, he's put in prison. The truth of the church comes from the epistles that were written by Paul after he had failed.
And was put into prison and in prison God then revealed to him in that state of his life where he was because of his own life is where the revelation of the church is found in the epistles of Ephesians and and and Colossians and so on is the highest truth we know of in in the word of God in revelation as to bringing us into blessing, but he used a man that failed.
And he brings out, and I believe that's to show us that ultimately everything depends on the heart of God and His work. And we do well not to put aside responsibility, but rather we do well to, in spite of it, recognize where the end result comes from.
Yo, brothers used to say there's no substitute for communion and so there is no substitute for communion, but that that is a responsibility that we spend time with the Lord, isn't it? And I remember brother Lynn Junior used to say you become holy by spending time with him. That is holy. So we have to spend that time. And when Paul was put into prison, he had nothing to do but sit there and have communion with the Lord.
And his state of soul was such that he could reveal these truths to us, so we cannot.
Not have communion with the Lord. There's a, there's A and I'm taking time, but I'm, I'm not going to take that. I'm just going to tell you that I met a man who was saved out of the Catholic Church and he said, I get up every morning and I spend 1/2 hour just in the presence of the Lord, just just enjoying the Lord and let him enjoy me. That was a real rebuke to myself. But I think that's where power is. There's no substitute for communion.
112.
212.
Second verse that all the height of lifts my Lord.
Be to owe it all and share it all with the 212.
So no curse of all.
Here was sovereign grace.
And.
Glory in my unwilling.
Really love.
Us away, I send those scarlet on.
Watch us from every snake and.
Run of snow.
We are a stranger.
Here we do not pray.
Of honor which gave me 1000.
Thyself are treasure in.
A bright.
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Skin.
Spray.
Father.
We thank thee.
That thou hast taken.
The treasure of thine own heart.
And brought us to know Him as the treasure of our heart.
We thank the Father that Thou has purpose, that we.
Together share with thee.
The enjoyment and the eternal joy of that shared treasure.
Forever.
We bless the Father in my precious name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.