Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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The three scriptures I'd like to read first of all.
In Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough.
To receive it.
And then I'd like to turn to Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14 for this, 'cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.
That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the bread, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in.
Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. And then in first Timothy chapter one first Timothy chapter one, verse 3. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister.
Questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.
From which some, having swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. For we know that the law is good if a man used it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for unholy and profane.
For mergers of fathers.
And murderers of mothers for man, slayers for ************ for them that defile themselves with mankind for men, stealers for liars for perjured persons. And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious.
But I obtain mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this 'cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long.
For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I commit unto thee, Son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them might hast wore a good warfare, holding faith, and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith, have made shipwrecked. Of whom?
Aeneas and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blasphemy. Well, in the meetings that we've had the addresses, I believe a great deal has been brought before us, and necessarily so that we should understand the scriptural way of gathering how very important and blessed it is to be gathered according to the Word of God. That is our sure our only guide, the Word of God.
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But is the person that makes the place.
And to be occupied with him is everything. And this afternoon, perhaps with the Lord's help, I'd like to speak of the practical side of it, because it's a wonderful thing, a very blessed thing, to have the privilege of being gathered as members of the body of Christ, to be gathered according to his word.
But I believe there's also a need for each one of us to be concerned that we might contribute that which would be for the help and encouragement and blessing of the people of God. And each one of us have our place. Often we have a fellowship meeting. We come together, the sisters go to a great deal of work to provide nice food for us. We enjoy the time of fellowship. We enjoy the food that has been provided.
And I believe.
Children that were not sufficiently exercised about good spiritual food that as we come together there might be that which nourishes us and builds us up and encourages us. There are many difficulties among the Saints of God. There are many that come to the meetings with heavy hearts, discouraged and sad over things that have happened, perhaps in their personal lives, perhaps even in the assembly, that have caused them to be discouraged and just as.
We enjoy that good food for our bodies. Isn't it important that we should go away from the meeting feeling refreshed in our souls that there has been something that we carry away that I've often said, I heard a brother say one time he said the Lord saved a lot of good cooks and we do get a lot of good food at our fellowship meetings. But sometimes perhaps we who are brothers who have a responsibility to seek to feed the flock of God.
We might lack in this, brethren, We might fail to think of the spiritual needs of our brethren, and not bring that which would be for blessing.
I was struck as I read that passage in Malachi. As you read through the book of Malachi, there was a lot of things that could really cause you to be discouraged. They were saying it was vain to serve the Lord. They were questioning the Lord's love to them. They wouldn't open the doors of the Lord's house for not. They were offering the lame and the blind. Had the heart of God changed toward His people? His desire was that there would be meat in His.
House and he said, Prove me now herewith had the heart of the Lord changed toward his people because of all that had taken place and all the things that they were saying? Not one bit. He wanted to pour out a blessing that there wouldn't be room enough to receive it. The heart of God is so large, so full of blessing, that He will never be satisfied until everyone of his redeemed people is supremely blessed.
Blessed in such a way that it would be impossible to measure the full extent of it. And it isn't just for a day or for a year. It's for all eternity. For all eternity, every day. We'll never say we hope you have a nice day tomorrow. Every day will be the same eternal joy from whose heart? From the heart of God who will never be satisfied, I say again, until all his own are supremely blessed. It says he shall see of the.
Of his soul, and shall be satisfied, says They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. And thou wilt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure. So the Lord said to his people, Bring all the tithes into my house. Now we don't give tithes, that's part of the law system. But you know the tithe with a tense. But when we are saved, if we realize that we appreciate what the Lord has done.
For us, perhaps a little words of the hymn express it. Love that transcends our highest powers demands a 10th. No, demands our soul, our life, our all, nothing less than our all. We belong to him. And so he says, let's recognize the Lord's claims over us. And you say, well, that's kind of difficult at times. But he says, I'll pour you out a blessing that there won't be room.
To receive it, the assembly, brethren, ought to be a special place, where when we come together, there would be meat in his house. The Lord said to Peter before he was going away, feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep. He cared for them, and he commissioned Peter in his absence to do this. And so even in the telling forth of the gospel, it says, We pray you in Christ.
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Instead, be reconciled to God. When He was here, His heart was overflowing in blessing, seeking the blessing of man and women in their need, and children too. And now he's gone away.
And when he, when he was going away, he said that repentance and remission of sin should be preached among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Why begin at Jerusalem, the place where they crucified him? Ah, it's because nothing changed his heart toward his people.
The reason I read to you in Ephesians is because probably he had. What I read in Timothy was that Paul had besought Timothy to remain at Ephesus and that he was to try and be a help in that place. And it wasn't in a very happy state. You say how could that be? They were so abundantly blessed. Surely that would be the happiest assembly on earth, the one at Ephesus who had received the highest truth. But it wasn't.
It wasn't was it because the heart of God had changed? Oh no, it was because they hadn't appreciated. They hadn't laid hold of it so that out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Out of his belly means you've made it your own. Not just out of your mouth, out of his belly. It's been made your own and it comes out as something that you have enjoyed. I just like to speak briefly for a few minutes there on Ephesians chapter 3 in connection with.
What he is saying there, Paul was praying for this assembly. This wonderful truth had been communicated to them, and he was praying for them. There were two particular burdens in that prayer. First, that they might know the largeness of the blessing, and secondly, that they might be in the enjoyment of the love that had provided the blessing.
Sometimes in reading those verses in Ephesians 3, we might just miss.
The point there because it says to know the length and breadth and depth and height, but notice not of the love of Christ, but and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. We could know, shall I say, an intellectual way, how richly we are blessed. We could talk of the wonderful privileges that we have as gathered to the Lord's name to understand what the Church is, to be able to look out intelligently on what's going on in the world.
And say we know what's going to happen in the nations. That's a very great and wonderful thing. And to know the future that's ahead of us as believers to share as the bride of Christ in all that coming scene of glory in the nearest possible place to that blessed One who died for us in order that he might have us as his bride. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. But it says to know that and.
You know, I sometimes illustrate it like this, just like a young man who's going to get married and he has a beautiful home provided for the one who is to be his wife. She hasn't seen through this home that he has for her, so she comes to see through it. She steps inside the door and says, oh, it's so beautiful. I don't need to see the rest. How would he feel?
He'd say, Oh dear, I want you to see it all.
No, no, I don't want you just to look at the doorway here and the vestibule and the entrance. I want you to see it all. He leads her from room to room and shows her all that had been provided, each room more beautiful in the room before she's overwhelmed. But when he's all done, he puts his arm around her and he says, and I want you to know the love that goes with it. I want you to know the love. It passes knowledge and we are blessed. Are we enjoying the love?
There's some grand homes, I suppose in this very.
Area without love, lovely homes provided with the very best that money could buy, but lacking in what makes the home love. And so there's two things for us. Not only to know how abundantly we are blessed, but to be in the enjoyment of the love that has provided it. And brethren, we can't contain it. If we do, if we know something of this, it passes knowledge.
A remark that Mister Darby made.
Has been a help to me through my Christian life, he said. This Christianity is known by what it brings, not by what it finds. I'm afraid, brethren, we often are occupied with what we find. We find problems, home problems, business problems, assembly problems, and what do we bring? What do we bring? We can see the problems.
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But Christianity is knowing what it brings. Christ came into this world, a world.
That was filled with sorrow. His people were in ******* to the Romans. There were lots of tears and sorrows. Wherever he went there were crowds of sick people and broken hearts. He came to bring. He came to bring. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Isn't it blessed that we and we have been able to bring something too? You have this wonderful privilege and if you and I are in the enjoyment.
Of Christ, then we bring.
Can pardon me if I speak specially to those who are brothers. The sisters are very generous in providing lovely meals for us at our fellowship meetings.
Brothers, are we bringing something to feed the flock of God, to refresh them, to encourage them to go on?
The meeting when I was working, I used to often come discouraged by the things that happened through the day. And you know, when you come there and there's something that ministers Christ to your heart, you feel refreshed. You go to bed feeling an awful lot better because we're well fed. You're well fed.
Now Paul left Timothy at Ephesus, this very assembly, who had this highest truth, this very assembly, who had been so greatly blessed through the ministry of the apostle Paul.
And he listened to what was going on there and what was happening there. Listen to what it says here in First Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3, as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou might have charged some, that they teach no other doctrine. Yes, there had been a giving up of doctrine in some things, and we know that.
We can see that in Christendom. How many real Christians don't enjoy the security of the believer? Some of them have lost the present hope of the Lord's return, and a number of other things. How easily those things creep in. Do we value the deposit of truth? O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. O brethren, may we value the precious deposit of truth that has been committed to us.
They have been given a tremendous deposit of truth at Ephesus, but there were only some that were not appreciating the precious deposit of truth, and Timothy was to try and encourage them to hold fast the truth.
And then it says endless genealogies, which minister questions. Now, these things might have been wrong. Genealogies are often very interesting, but they don't feed the soul. They don't really give something that nourishes and builds up. Just to illustrate what I'm saying, it happened among a group of Christians. I didn't know this particular group.
But they came together to study the word of God and had a little.
Bible study, Someone asked them afterwards. What did you take up in your Bible study? Well, we spent the whole time trying to find out how the devil got the Lord on the pinnacle of the temple.
Now, did anybody get any food out of a thing like that?
It might have been a very interesting discussion to listen to it. I don't think it was any food in that at all. And brethren, we can get occupied with things that don't feed the soul if it's necessary for the truth of God, if it's sound doctrine, let's stand for it. It's not brethren's doctrine. It's not my doctrine. It's the truth of God. And we are just given it as a charge that stand for that. But there's a lot.
The things that minister questions. So I'm sure that if you'd asked that group when they departed, did you get your question answered? No, all they could say is a ministered questions. They ministered questions. They didn't get something that fed their soul. Well, I just say this, brethren, pardon me. It's practical, isn't it? How are we building one another up in our most holy faith and those things that really feed the soul?
And then it says, rather than godly edifying, what is edifying? Well, edifying, I believe we could simply define it as building up, building up. And we need to get built up. We get built down or knocked down, perhaps I should say, quite often we really get down. It's a world full of discouragement, a world where everything.
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Because King Solomon said he that increased.
Knowledge increase us sorrow and years gone by, people knew what was happening in their own little community. Now, almost every morning, people know what's happening worldwide.
And they know what's happening in other assemblies. And you know, there's a lot of things that can really get us down if we get occupied with them. I'm not in any way raising a question about the great responsibility of maintaining what's for the Lord and for his glory. But I'm speaking now of ministry, brethren, ministry in the assembly. And isn't this lovely?
A godly edifying and I think he defines what it is.
Here notice this, this fifth verse. Now the end or the end in view. That's the point. The end in view of the commandment is love, charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Unfeigned means unpretended.
Now this is really quite a little searching definition of edifying, isn't it?
And I believe when we take part in the assembly, we ought to have those three main things before us. First, love out of a pure heart.
Secondly, a good conscience and faith unfeigned or faith unpretended. In other words, let me put it simply, like this.
If the ministry helps and is really edifying, it has that three fold effect upon us.
Our hearts are drawn out to Christ and to one another.
A love out of a pure heart. Love out of a pure heart.
We had to go away from the meeting having our affections more freshly drawn out to the Lord Jesus and to one another. That ought to be the theme that occupies our hearts.
Then the next one is a good conscience.
Perhaps I might come to the meeting and there's something that hasn't just been right in my life, something that I've allowed through the day, something that's just a little bit questionable and it's going to spoil my enjoyment of the Lord. I haven't confessed it to the Lord, but I come to the meeting and as I think of the Lord's love for me and what it cost him to put away my sins.
It stirs my conscience. I've allowed something.
Come between my soul and the Lord, and I sit there and I say, Lord, I don't want to continue in this thing. It's robbing me in my soul and it's robbing Thee of thy glory. We have to feel that in the Lord's presence because we're two or three are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst of them. Have you ever felt that way? I have. I've sat in the meeting and things were said.
That touched my heart with the love of Christ.
But also made me feel I want to live more devotedly for the Lord Jesus and don't want to continue to allow that thing in my life. That's a definite hindrance to going on with the Lord and enjoying His love and enjoying happy fellowship with my brethren. I don't need to define all the things. I think we ourselves know them too well. Maybe somebody spoke unkindly to you. Really hurt.
It's not wrong to feel things, the Lord said. Reproach hath broken my heart. He felt things. But oh, don't let those things get the better of you.
The Bible says that if we don't forgive, we're delivered to the tormentors. And I don't know anything that makes a Christian more miserable than an unforgiving spirit. Oh, you say the person was wrong. Well, of course you wouldn't need forgiveness if they were right. It's because they're wrong that we need forgiveness. And so how great a debt The Lord forgave us.
Forgave us. So you sit there in his presence and there's a bad feeling. You say, I can't let that remain. Lord love me so much. I don't want to let that. And so our souls are fed, there's blessing, we're edified. And then, you know, our faith tends to get weak. Perhaps something happens and you say, why did the Lord allow that to happen to me?
I see some other brothers and sisters. Things seem to run so much.
More smoothly for them. Why me? Why has all this come?
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Satan's trying to shake our faith. He's catching us with the shield of faith down. He knows that he can get his fiery darts in if we have that shield of faith down.
But isn't it lovely to see the spirit of Job? Can you think of a man who God himself said he was an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil? And God took ten of his children away in one day and he lost all his wealth?
What did he say? What did he say? His faith was strong. He said the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the shield of faith, wasn't it? Is there anybody here and you've got the shield of faith down? You've had some bad setbacks in life and you can't understand why it happened to you in It's robbing you of your joy in the Lord.
The Lord wants, he says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Maybe I would bring it home a little more practically, brethren.
Those of us who are brothers have a responsibility that the part that we take would help our brethren in these three things. It would help them in their affections for the Lord and for one another.
Them if there's something that they've allowed on their conscience, that it might be judged in the Lord's presence and dealt with, and that they go away and say, oh, that meeting strengthened my faith. I feel that I can trust the Lord because As for God, his way is perfect. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me then.
Thou knewest my path, you do get overwhelmed.
You don't know what to do, but the Lord knows what to do. He knows in all thy ways. Acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy paths. And so I say again, brethren, there's been helpful ministry in connection with the privilege, and I count it a tremendous privilege to be gathered, not according to some plan of our own, but have the word of God as our guide as to how.
Come together in how we assemble and gather to remember the Lord and in ministry, but.
That there may be meat in my house. That there may be meat in my house.
Paul said Timothy, you know Paul gives a nice commendation for Timothy in the second of Philippians, he said I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state. I think Mr. Darby translates it, care with genuine feeling. Isn't that a lovely expression, Genuine feeling.
You like it, don't you? When you meet somebody, you've got a burden and you tell a person a burden and you feel they have a genuine feeling. That's the kind of a person Timothy was. He had a genuine feeling for those who were going through situations. And Paul said, Timothy, those people at Ephesus know a lot of truth. They probably have more truth than any other assembly at the time of the apostles.
But they're getting off until.
Other doctrines and ministering questions. They're losing sight of the Lord.
Well, then he goes on in this chapter. How is this to be corrected? Well, there were some that were concerned about what was going on there at Ephesus, and so they were bringing in the law. They were bringing the law. Notice what it says here.
The seventh verse.
Desiring to be teachers of the law. Understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
For we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, to the ungodly and profane, for ungodly, and for unholy and ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for mergers of fathers and murderers, of mothers, for man slayers.
For ************ for them that defile themselves with mankind. For men, stealers for liars for.
Injured persons, if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, the law does have a use. It was right and proper. But you know, for Christians, I believe it's always to seek to bring before them what pleases the Lord.
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And the law was made for those who thought they could live up to God's requirements, and they couldn't. But.
We know that when things come in among the people of God, the answer is not the law. The answer is to have the heart touched with a desire to please the Lord, and then we can point out. And as it says in Romans 8, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Perhaps to get this point a little clearer, I remember hearing a story about.
Two men who were walking along the street.
To Christian man 1 felt that Christians should be under law. The other one was trying to show him that Christians were not under law, but that they sought to please the Lord without being under law, and he they couldn't quite come to a point of understanding between them last.
Came along and they decided to go into a store. Just before they went into the store, the brother who had been showing that as Christians were not under law, were under grace, caught a hold of the coat of the other man. And just before he went into the law, into the store, he said, Now don't you steal anything in this place. The law says thou shalt not steal. He said, What kind of a man do you think I am? What he said.
Still believe that Christians should be under law, so I was just bringing it before you. The law said thou shalt not steal. Well, neither of them stole in the store. But why didn't the Christians steal? Why didn't the other man steal?
Because they were Christians, they had a new life and a new power. If you're only living up to certain things because you're under the principle of law, you haven't laid hold of the grace of God.
You know what always encourages me in talking to the Lord's people is this.
That every true Christian has the very life of Jesus in him and God will never ask you to do anything as a Christian that the new man doesn't delight in doing.
I delight in the law of God after the new man. That's the character of the new man. He delights in pleasing God. Oh, you save it. It's hard. No, God says I've given you the power. I've given you the power. It says God giveth, not his spirit by measure. God doesn't. The Spirit of God is a person. No Christian has more power than another.
The only problem is that we just don't always use the power.
Or I often say, it's just like a car. You can have a very fine engine in your car and you can still stall on the hill if you don't step on the gas. There's nothing wrong with the engine, but you're not using the power that's there under the hood, and so you stall. We stall too, not because we don't have a new life, but because we're not using the power that God has given to us.
I was just mentioning the other day.
Maybe I mentioned it here, or perhaps a bear is repeating. When I was a boy, I remember we went to a farm.
And I was pumping away trying to get some water out of the pump and the lady came out with a dipper and she said here, here, just pour some water in the in the pump there. And so I had been pumping real hard for quite a little while and I didn't know why I wasn't getting any water. And I just poured in perhaps half of the dipper fold and I got far more out than I put in.
It came out there was nothing. There's plenty of water in the well, but the.
Was out of order. The pump was out of order. If you're a Christian, there's water in the well. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Sometimes you have to pour in something to get it out. But if the person is a real child of God, you'll get a lot more out than what you poured in because there's water there. And so this is what he's bringing before us here. Principles of law are not the way.
To correct a Christian who's got away from the Lord, it's to minister those precious things. What is it? Charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned. Go away from the meaning. Oh, I never realized how much the Lord loves me, and I ought to be showing that love to my brethren, and I ought to be in some small degree returning His love, and I don't want to.
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He's such a wonderful friend and it cost Him so much to put away my sins. I don't want to allow things in my life that grieve Him when He's done so much for me. My conscience is reached in my faith is strengthened in Him to go on in the pathway of faith. Brethren, it isn't law. Then that's the answer here. That was actually happening in Ephesus. Did they know better than that? Or just read Ephesians 2? By grace are ye saved through faith?
Not of yourselves, but here were people in Ephesus that were teaching love, and so by grace you say, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The next verse is, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. It isn't that people say, Oh, you don't believe in good works, Oh yes, I do.
I do, but not for salvation, but the result of salvation. Good works indeed.
And so here, where they were under law then, he also brings in his own case an appreciation of grace.
Paul looked back. What kind of a man was he before God saved him? He was a man who was a persecutor and injurious. Mr. Darby translates it an overbearing, insolent man. He calls himself the chief of sinners. Brethren, let's look back to how the Lord saved us. Did we deserve anything?
He saw us in all our sins and all our wretchedness and all our guilt.
And His grace was unbounded. The grace of God, our God was exceeding abundant. He says, oh, and it has been too. And so he says, just think of the grace of God. Just think of what we were. Just think of how we were going on that broad road and he stepped into our lives and He saved us.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Good thing to look back to that. You know, brethren, I've often enjoyed this thought of the similarity between the remembrance of the Lord and the gospel meeting.
You know, when we come to remember the Lord, what are we remembering? We're remembering Calvary, we're remembering what our precious Savior did for us. That's what we did this morning, His body given and his bloodshed. And in our worship, we're telling God our Father how much we appreciate his love. In sending his Son, we're telling the Lord Jesus how much we appreciate that he came down and bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Then we assemble for the Gospel meeting.
Giving the same news to the center, we're telling the Sinner the same thing. What we were telling God, how much we appreciated and how much we appreciated our precious Savior. Now we're telling sinners, He did it for you and you can receive Him. You can know Him. Yes, there's a great similarity. Let's not forget the gospel meeting, brethren. It's important. We need to reach out and tell others because the remembrance of the Lord just brings it freshly to our minds.
Times so they lost the appreciation of grace. I just want you to notice what was happening here. Other doctrines, endless genealogies, questions.
Getting under law, forgetting grace. Well, how sad this was. Timothy was left there. Oh, he says. That's a discouraging situation. I wouldn't want to be an Ephesus. Well, maybe Timothy felt kind of badly too. But Christianity is known by what it brings, not by what it finds. He was told to bring something. Bring something that'll warm those people's hearts of God's love, that will touch their consciences little strengthen.
Their faith. And so he breaks out in praise. Isn't this beautiful in this 17th verse? Now unto the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Could you think about love like this and not break out in praise? Could you think of it? How can we sit in His presence like we did this morning and remember Him without just feeling praise welling up in our hearts? And this is what happens here. This was the way the state of things was corrected. Are you in problems in your home, in the Assembly?
Situations that you're meeting. Here's God's answer. And it was a young man named Timothy.
Who had the privilege of trying to be a help to these dear Saints at Ephesus? What a privilege was given to him. And now I just want to. There's a warning here in the end, too, this 19th verse, holding faith in a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. No, a true Christian can never be lost.
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But brethren, there's a warning here if we don't heed these things.
If we are allowing something in our lives that gives us a bad conscience.
We're losing that simple faith and confidence in God because a lot of problems have come in our lives and in our assembly.
It's possible to make shipwreck.
Oh thank God, that doesn't mean that you'll be lost. But there's such a thing. And even a Christian's life is shipwreck of faith. Isn't it sad? You can have a saved soul, but a lost life? But the Lord wants us to have a life that in that coming day will be manifested to His glory and his praise.
So he gives a little charge here to Timothy. He says here in the 18th verse, This charge I commit unto thee, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war, a good warfare. He gives us little charge now to Timothy. I see young brothers here coming up.
The Lord does come, we who are older, not always going to be here, but you're going to have the same Savior, the same one who died for you, who died for us, the same precious Word of God, the same power by the Holy Spirit of God.
And the media, the assembling of ourselves together, ought to be the happiest place on earth. And if the enemy has succeeded, it does in bringing in other things. A wonderful that you and I.
Can cut a meeting not just as receivers. I think we do receive I often receive a lot in the meeting, but we can come as givers. Givers, Lord said to his people of old, none shall appear be empty. And how could we when we think of what a wonderful savior we have, when we think of what he's done for us when we think of what he means for us when he means to us in the future that's ahead of us. How could we come before him empty? We have to.
Come with our baskets full of praise, and as we see in our times that we come together as brethren to help and encourage one another in ministry and so on, may we come not only with praise the Lord, but feed the flock of God which is among you. Oh, how great our privileged brethren. I say again, the Lord is coming soon. The enemy wants to spoil the last days of the Church's history on earth.
He wants us to get all discouraged and sad when we ought to be rejoicing that soon we're going to see our Savior and that we have the privilege, A privilege which they never had in Paul's day, to sit in a meeting with the whole word of God in our hands.
Paul say we have it, may we value it, may we praise the Lord for it, and may we share with others the unsearchable riches of Christ.