Michigan Family Camp: 2013
Table of Contents
Session #1
Q&A
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We have three questions this morning and.
We don't want to spend a lot of time on.
We don't want to spend too much time on that question.
So there's some some questions that will take more time than others. But if we we have three questions today. So if we can go through the 1St 2 a little more concisely and then the third question I think gets a little deeper. The first question is in Galatians Chapter 6.
Galatians, chapter 6.
And verse 7:00 and 8:00.
And I'll read verse 7:00 and 8:00.
OK, how this question answer meeting goes is I'll read the question and make a comment or two and then it's open for for others to to make comments.
Galatians 6 verse seven Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever. A man soweth that shall he also reap, For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall have the Spirit reap life everlasting. And so the question is, how does Galatians 6-7 apply to believers if Christ has died for us and our sins are.
Way so for a believer.
What does it mean?
Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
I think the context of the chapter that these verses are in is talking about Christian giving. And So what you sow you'll also reap. And if you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption. This is always connected with with Christian giving. And if you sow to the spirit, you'll reap life everlasting.
And so I I believe that sometimes.
If we can be mean or not nice to each other, or we can be bitter towards one another, and if we sow that bitterness and meanness.
Towards our fellow brethren, it's it's going to, it's going to have fraud. There's going to be problems and difficulties in our in our relationship and in the body of Christ.
And specifically connected with give Christian giving.
If you're sowing to the flesh.
That would be spending your money, your resources on yourself.
But if you're sowing to the Spirit, you're using your your resources to further God's work for the gospel, for the, for the Bible teaching and.
I think it's. I think that's the context of of these verses.
It answers to also the government of God.
We live our lives as Christians. It's true we have a new nature, but we still retain the flesh. In the previous chapter in Galatians chapter 5, it says verse 16 this I say then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
So we have both natures and as we walk in this Christian life, if we choose to walk after the flesh, then we're going to reap the government of God in our life. You can see that throughout the the Bible. David is a perfect example of it. David was forgiven for his sin with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, but the government of God remained upon him for the rest of his life. The sword will not depart from your house.
His child, his child was taken and the same with our life. If we choose to walk in the flesh, then there's going to be consequences.
But it's not all bad because the government of God acts the opposite way too. And it says there in verse eight at the end, But he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That also is the government of God. And we can rely on that and be thankful for it in our life. So a believer who's serving the flesh, they're serving something that's going to decay and die.
00:05:04
And what good is that?
But if we're sowing to the Spirit, we're serving the Spirit.
Or by the Spirit.
He that soweth to the Spirit shall reap of the Spirit life everlasting.
And so if this, if they're your service or your giving, is for the Lord through the Spirit of God, there's going to be eternal benefits for that. You're going to enjoy your spiritual, your eternal life here and now on this earth.
As well as there's going to be a reward in heaven.
I was I was thinking of that expression to be not deceived. You know, the hardest deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Sometimes we might feel that we can soda the flesh a little bit. We're not going to results of it. We're deceiving ourselves because God is not mocked whatsoever man soweth that shall he also read that specific sewing will be read. What is it that comes in and discerns the word of God is quick and powerful.
Than any two edged sword you're seeing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints of Marilyn, and it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that has not made manifest insight where all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do so. It's what's mentioned. The government of God is very real and it and he deals with each one of his own faithfully and so on our part be not deceived. We might think that we're getting.
With something but we get away with nothing and it's and it's good that the Lord feels with each one of us faithfully in that way. It's a good thing and it was brought out recently invested that.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in the sight that when the Word of God comes in and judges what's really in our hearts, it's a very good thing. It's not something that we need to to fear at all.
The next question is.
Going to Acts chapter 16, verse 31.
I think we all know this verse quite well. Acts 1631 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
The question is, why does it say thou shalt be saved and thy house, that last part and thy house? Why does it add that when Paul is preaching to the Philippian jailer Cornelius, Lydia, et cetera?
Specifically, that was said to.
The Philippian jailer.
And with Cornelius and Lydia, their households are mentioned there.
But thou shalt be saved in thy house.
I don't think that there's any thought here that if if you believe, it means your whole household is going to be saved because of your belief.
I think it's more that.
Believe and you will be saved and your household needs to do the same thing. Your household needs to believe also if they're going to be saved. And so the emphasis is on the belief and if after you are saved.
It might be that you need to share that same truth of salvation with your family. God likes to deal with households and and He's delighted to save full family.
But it's there's man's responsibility too, and if we are saved, it's good to share it, especially with our families.
I think it should be an encouragement to you, all of us, to you. Remember that the Lord delights the blessed families and.
Just it's very encouraging to see how the Lord can save one person and over a few years, maybe you're or less time there's a whole family that's being brought to Illinois Jesus, so.
Don't be discouraged. I remember we talked about this on Wednesday night, Freeman.
About asking and receiving and say, well I asked the Lord for five years for this person to get saved and nothing happened.
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Well, don't give up. The Lord delights the blessed families and I remember as a kid there was a lady and her children that came to know the Lord. They were rightly saved and Charlie was the name of the dead and he was an amiable guy. He didn't want to hear the gospel that interested.
And my brother answered asked entirely, Are you safe? Nope.
20 years went back, Charlie got saved, so the Lord delights the blessed families and.
So just be encouraged by that, your testimony, your light.
Is bearing fruit for the Lord. So don't throw in the towel and say no, no use it is. It's valuable. It's important that the world will use it.
Well, our third question is a little more extensive, probably in its scope. It's about the judgment seat of Christ, says what is the judgment seat of Christ and what happens there in relation to the believers. And I think we can start by going to 2nd Corinthians 5.
2nd Corinthians 5 and we'll we'll read verse 10, nine and 10.
And it says that wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
There's there's various aspects of the judgment seat of Christ in different found in different places, different scriptures.
And I think they address different points of the judgment seat of Christ and what it is and what happens there. The judgment seat of Christ is the place where the believer would stand before the Lord.
And his life will be judged. And in this, in this chapter here, I think it's his whole life that's going to be reviewed and it's not going to be reviewed in order to punish the the believer. You don't need to be afraid of the judgment seat of Christ.
The judgment seat of Christ is for blessing. And it's something that we look forward to. I look forward to it because that's when the Lord's going to go through my whole life and, and he's going to see the things that we've done in our bodies, the good and the bad. And I think he's going to point out to us everything that we've done in our life and how how it affected our life and how and even before we were saved, how it LED us to the Lord Jesus.
Some of us were raised in Christian homes and we thought we were always saved and until we got saved. And but we'll see how God used different things in our life to make us realize, Hey, I need to get saved. And and so I think the whole life is going to be reviewed and that's what we have in this this these verses.
That we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
And so I think it's all that we have done that's going to be reviewed and the good will be will be rewarded. And that's the purpose of the judgment seat of Christ, to find out what in my life have I done that was done to glorify the Lord Jesus. That's why we're here. We're here in this world to give glory to the Lord. And so the Lord's going to find out what have you done to give glory to him?
And those things that you've done.
That did not give glory to Him. They will be pointed out and they will be put away. They've already been put away at the cross.
But to our minds and our consciences, or at least to our minds, there's still things that come up in our minds that will distract us from from giving glory to Christ. There's things in our minds that will just take us down the wrong path.
But after the judgment seat of Christ, all those things that we did that give us those memories that lead us into the bad path, they're going to be put away. They're they're not going to be there and there there's going to be replaced with, with those things that honor the Lord, all those things that dishonor the Lord, It's going to be burned up. But then what's remaining is of value.
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And that's what the Lord's going through ward us for. I wonder if First Corinthians chapter 3 right have some.
Thought about this.
Corinthians 3, verse 11.
For other foundation can build and lay that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones.
Wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest.
For the day shall declare it.
Because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is of any man's work abide which he had built around, he shall receive a reward. But if any man's work shall be burdened, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved.
Yes, so I expect, planned so on. Well, the Lord Jesus.
Is the chief cornerstone.
Nation he has laid.
The Foundation.
Of their soul.
But throughout your life, you and I are doing things every day.
Building with gold, silver and precious stones or building with wood and stubble. So Sean, if you took imagine.
Put it into a bail of a What happens to it?
We left the fire last night. What happened to the wood? It burned up.
So.
Here is this opportunity, if you will, to.
Build with gold, silver and precious stones.
And I think this might tie in a little bit to the first question too, in that.
The things that you and I decide to do on any given day.
We're planting seeds.
So if I plant a corn seed, what kind of plant is going to come up? Raspberries. Is that how it works? Yes. You plant corn seeds. What comes out again? Corn. Corn.
In spiritual things, when you make a decision to do something.
You're either building with gold, silver and precious stones or with wood aged double.
Also, when you're selling those seeds in your life, that's the crop that you're going to get. Now, can you lose your salvation if you plant seeds or build with wood, hay and stubble? Plant seeds of envy, anger, discontent. This is the Lord have to say, well, that's it. Third strike, He's out, gone. That's not the way it works.
But here in this judgment day.
There's a loss.
To those that have lived their lives in a way that is not building with.
Gold, silver and precious stones so.
I like what you said to him about this being a time of reward, it says here.
That there would be, yeah, any man's work abide which he had built, he shall receive a reward.
Would it be great to have a Savior say to you? Well done, good and faithful Sir.
I'm afraid that there will be a number of times when it's going to have to say Bernie.
There's a loss here.
So to be mindful of the way we're living our lives, the way we're interacting with each other, the way that our attitude is, the way that we serve the Lord.
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Matters, so I want somebody else to take over.
The judgment seat of Christ is not just for believers, it's for believers and unbelievers. The great white throne is the judgment seat of Christ, and we get that from that second chapter of or that 5th chapter of Second Corinthians where we already read. Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, knowing judgment is coming for those who are unsaved unbelievers. The apostle Paul went out to try to persuade men to accept Him as their Lord and Savior.
For you and I, as has already been mentioned and pointed out in First Corinthians chapter 3, we have various aspects of the judgment seat of Christ for for believers. And when we go to heaven at the rapture, the Lord is going to, as has already been spoken, review our life and He reviews it in various ways. We had just there in First Corinthians.
Chapter 3 Our works What have we done?
With our works, what have we built for him? He's going to review our works. If you turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 4, the next chapter, we get motives. The apostle Paul talks about nobody being able to judge motives. He says, but there's going to be one who can judge motives. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The day will reveal it.
That's the judgment seat of Christ. Things that you have done in this life might have looked good. It might have been a good work.
But what was your motive? Was your motive for self that they will declare it. We had in Second Corinthians chapter 5, the body deeds done in the body. He's going to look at all these aspects now you might think.
Because sometimes we saw God short that what he is doing is he's nitpicking and he looks at a particular instance and he says, let me see if I can find something wrong so I can take away that reward. But I think it's just the opposite. God's hardest to bless us and we're failing creatures and we might fail in our works, but maybe our motive was right.
Do you think God will not bless us? I think He will.
What about things done in the body when something else was lacking? Maybe our our work wasn't quite white, but we sacrificed our body for him. Then there's going to be a reward. I believe he's going to look at all those aspects at the judgment seat of Christ that he brings out.
For a reason to find one little reason to be able to bless us for all of eternity. Because that's His heart. His heart is to bless His heart as well.
I just have a couple of verses in Ruth chapter 2.
Connection with the judgment Christ through chapter 2 and verse 11. And Boaz answered and said unto her.
You have been fully showed me all that thou has done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband.
How thou hast left my father, my mother, and the land of thy nativity, and are coming to the people, which I don't know, it's not heretofore the Lord recompense thy work.
That's what we've been having here and the full reward being given the Lord God of Israel under whose mainstream to trust.
Speaking of rewards also, what's the practical side of the judgment seat of Christ? Only what's done.
In view of the judgment seat of Christ now that is acceptable to him will be acceptable at that time. And what's the result with Ruth verse 13?
And she said, Let me find favor in thy side. Thou has comforted me and thou has spoken without a spoken friendly under thy campaign. She took courage in view of a reward at at that her works, you know, were before her but but the faithfulness of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings should come to trust and we put our trust in Christ. And he is the one that's sitting on that judgment seat, as was said wherever.
Christ sitting in judgment. It is the judgment seat of Christ, and some of the great white throne is certainly the judgment seat of Christ.
So I just thought it was encouraging to Ruth and oas is the type of Christ, you know, a mighty man of wealth who came from Bethlehem, and so did my precious Savior. But he is the one that's sitting there, one who has put away all our sins, and one who will faithfully make us comfortable in the Father's house. As we were singing clean every width thou sets it. Lord, shall one suspicion learn. Thy surely is a faithful word, and thine finished work.
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He wants us to be comfortable in His presence. Is there anything that's suspicious and lurking in our hearts? The judgment seat of Christ will clear it away forever and will be perfectly satisfied and comfortable in the Father's house. And He wants us to be there right have made himself ready. I think that speaks of going through the judgments of Christ.
There's a verse in Luke chapter 8 like to look at too. I think we can apply this to the judgment seat of Christ.
Luke chapter 8 and I'll read verse 16 and 17.
No man when verse 16 Blue Gate, no man when he hath lighted a candle, covers it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but sendeth it on a Candlestick, that they would enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad.
There's things that we do that who don't like other people to see, and then there's some things that we do.
That God doesn't want other people to see. He says go into your closet and pray. He says let your your giving be done in secret. But there's nothing that's done in secret that should not be made known. And when you're saved, you're like a candle.
And your candle is going to shine.
The Lord is going to reveal.
Those things that have been done for him in secret.
And I think he's also going to reveal, as we said earlier, about our whole life being examined. There's things that we don't remember that we did. There's things that we did and we tried to hide them.
But I think after the judgment seat of Christ, I'm going to realize all the different ways that I used to try to run away from God. We read about Jonah, how he ran away from God, tried to run from the presence of the Lord, but he couldn't get away. And so I think at the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to review our life. God is going to review our life with us.
And we'll see how we tried to run away from God.
And the different incidences in our life. And then what they meant to draw us to Christ.
And, and I think after the judgment seat of Christ and we realize how selfish and how bad we really were, I think we're going to appreciate the three hours of darkness that the Lord had to endure when our sins were put on him.
The judgment seat of Christ isn't made isn't to make us look bad, it's made to glorify the Lord Jesus. And so when we see how much we've been saved from, it's going to draw out our hearts in praise and glory for the Lord.
Joe is mentioning in First Corinthians 4 about the motives. Maybe we could read some of those verses in First Corinthians chapter 4.
And the first 5 verses.
1St Corinthians 4, verse one.
Let a man sow account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or a man's judgment gay. I judge not my own self, for I know nothing by myself, Yet am I not hereby justified, But he that judgeth me is the Lord.
And verse 5.
Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
The Lord is going to reveal the councils of the hearts. That's the that is the motives why we did what we did. And sometimes we do something for the Lord and it just doesn't turn out.
We get our motive such that.
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The Lord appreciates the motive. Remember what I was working in, in New Jersey cleaning carpets. We we cleaned this one ladies carpets and I worked real hard to get that carpet clean. I wanted to please that Lady. And it got nice and clean and she called us back the next day and she said we shrunk the carpet and that was kind of devastating.
Because we worked hard to clear my business and we ruined.
So we had to replace the carpet. The motive was that we wanted him to do a good job, but the result was was destruction, and it didn't last. Well, the Lord, when he looks at your life and he sees that maybe what you did wasn't the best thing to do, but your motive was such that you really wanted to keep the Lord in that.
The Lord's going to find whatever He can to bless you for and to give you a reward for in your life. And so he says He will make manifest the councils of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God. Everyone here who knows the Lord is their Savior. Maybe you think, oh, I haven't done much for the Lord, but you know.
He's going to find something that you've done that he can reward you for. You will have praise of God.
We mentioned that, Tim just mentioned that.
God will find a way to give us praise.
We might fail on various aspects and but the point isn't that we say, you know, I'm going to live as best as I can and do some things, but you know, when I get to heaven, it is what it is. I'll I'll get some praise from God.
And there might be some loss.
It's a motive that is not in communion or having common thoughts with with God throughout the word of God. You read through the New Testament, you read of these two days, this day and that day and you see for, for instance, the apostle Paul and his his life of faith and what motivated him to go out and to do the Lord's will.
Was that that, and he mentions it over and over again. That day, that day, it's that day of manifestation, that day where the Lord Jesus Christ will be reigning.
And glory and I Thessalonians it mentions or Second Thessalonians.
I'll just read it. Second Thessalonians.
Chapter One.
And verse 10 when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day, leaving out the parenthesis. So the point for you and I is to live our lives completely for the Lord and is it is it burning that was that your name was mentioning the what's going to be burned with fire and.
Bruce Anstey had a an example, he said.
Every day you live your life, it's like you're building a present for the Lord. I don't know if this was his example, but I heard him say it and he said, how sad will it be when you get to heaven and you open up that present and all that's in that present is wood, hay and stubble. All things that will be burned with fire. Nothing that will pass into that. They have displayed that millennial scene to bring forth glory to the Lord. So.
For you and I, it's to live in light of that death, to understand that there's going to be a day where.
We can bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ because of what we've done today as trophies of his grace and not just live haphazardly, not just live for the moments, the fleeting pleasures of sin for a season which many of us who can attest to, and we can attest to loss that has happened in our life. And we would just encourage the young people to not follow in the footsteps that others have made.
To reverse enrollments 14.
And I think we should look at 2:00.
And we'll start at verse 10.
Why does thou judge thy brother, Or why does thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord. Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give accounts of himself to God.
Has been mentioned it's both saved and unsaved who will be at the judgment seat of Christ and different. There's two different sittings of the judgment seat of Christ. One has been mentioned as the judgment is the great white throne for then believers.
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But as a believer, we're going to have to give an account of ourselves to God. And it says, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. You may be saved and and living your life, but you're not really bowing the knee.
To Jesus as Lord, it's you. Perhaps you have a selfish life.
Living for yourself and what you can get, and as we mentioned earlier, serving the flesh that eventually is going to corrupt and die.
But are you willing, am I willing to bow the knees to the Lord Jesus and and give him the first place in in my life and allow him to be my director in my life? Lord, what would you have me to do today? And, and then be willing to do what he asks us to do.
You have an opportunity to bow the knee to Jesus today and give him the places, Lord in your life.
At the judgment seat of Christ, every knee will bow. We will all have to bow the knee and give Jesus his place of honor and glory in place of Lordship.
And so.
If we get a reward or we will get a reward, what are we going to do with the reward? What does it mean to us?
Let's look in Revelation chapter 4.
Revelation chapter 4.
And 40 verse 1011.
The four and 20 elders. I think the four and 20 elders include here the the believers.
Of the.
4 and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever. And I listen to this next part it says, And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
What are those crowns? They're casting their crowns before the Lord.
Those are the rewards that we receive at the judgment seat of Christ, I believe. And those rewards, they're not for our own glory. They're not for our own desire that we can be achieved some place of prominence in the Kingdom.
It's for the glory of God. Yes, the Lord will give rewards. He will give us a position, a measure of, of reward in the Kingdom and that we will be able to, to serve him in special ways in the in the Millennium.
But it's not for our glory. It's not for our honor. We're casting our crowns before the Lord, and it's to give Him the glory and the honor. So as we serve the Lord, we're not doing this to make ourselves look good in front of everybody. If that's the reason you do it and you look good in front of everybody, that's your reward. And it doesn't go any further than this earth.
And it gets corrupted and burned. But if you're if the motive and the and the the the work is done.
To serve the Lord, to give glory to Him. That's the purpose of service. Because then when we get our rewards, it goes right back. The glory goes right back to the Lord Jesus. I have a question.
When will the judgment seat take place? At what point? It's after after we go to after the Lord Jesus comes and the rapture and calls us to heaven. But at what point is the judgment seat of Christ? It has to be before the the wedding feast.
Because the brides adorn with the righteousnesses.
Of the Saints that all those acts that were done, it would be almost one of the first things that happens after we go to the glory. Somebody has mentioned, I don't know how how active this is, but.
He fits our bodies.
Glory at the rapture and He fits our minds for glory at the judgment seat of Christ. And so He's going to review our life. One of the very first things He's going to get rid of, everything He's going to get rid of. He's not going to hold it out. He's going to give us reward. Perhaps the next thing that happens is Revelation 345, then the marriage supper of the land. I can't imagine this, this time being held out.
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And glory very well. We wouldn't feel comfortable, I believe, if in heaven, if we didn't go through that judgment seat first.
Today.
There are, there are triggers that somebody says something or we see something and it triggers something in our mind that puts a perhaps a picture in our mind, in our, in our and it perhaps defiles us.
And or we have bitterness in our heart that that we haven't gotten rid of and, and just to remember the memory of you see somebody in your soul, that person did this and that and.
And so I'm just going to avoid that. Well, in heaven, I think those things are going to be taken away at the judgment seat of Christ. There's nothing going to happen to to mar our enjoyment of Christ. And if we're speaking to the Lord and all of a sudden we have a bad thought, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And I think the judgment seat of Christ is going to be part of that process.
Sometimes we think of that it's going to be a long period of time, but I know in Luke 4 when it speaks of the, it says the devil showed the Lord is showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
There are some things that we don't know, and we won't know until it happens.
One other thing I mentioned in reference to what Tim was mentioning as far as casting our crowns at his feet.
And having a wrong motive today as to what drives us or the reason why we might serve the Lord in some capacity. And when we get to heaven and we cast those crowns at His feet, we're acknowledging that.
Whatever reward we received, it was put there in our hearts by him. It didn't start with us. And in first Corinthians First Chronicles, sorry chapter 29, David mentions this similar thing. He says in reference to receiving all of the items that were going to be used for Solomon to build the the temple. He says, but who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of.
And have thy known, have we given that? So to have that thought today, not just when we get to glory, to have that thought today that if any, if in any capacity, the Lord allows me to be used in in whatever sphere of life, the motive, everything that is that is proceeding for God has been put there from him. It's not something that I'm doing. It's not something that that I've done for for or I've I've reached some some point or pinnacle in my life where I've been able to do that.
It was put there from God and him alone, and anything outside of that thought, we allow the flesh to come into the spiritual realm and that'll be something that certainly is, is burnt with fire.
Our time is.
Almost up. If anybody got any final comments feel free.
Just I just like to make one comment about the when the judgment seat of Christ occurs. And I agree with everything that was said as far as being quite quickly after the Lord takes us home. But I've also enjoyed the thought in in Ezra chapter 8 that when the holy vessels were brought to Jerusalem.
Says in verse 32 And we came to Jerusalem and abode there three days.
And then?
The every vessel was accounted for by weight and measure after three days. And the thought I enjoyed was that when the Lord calls us home to be with himself, there won't be an immediate, so to speak, evaluation of our faithfulness. He just wants us to be with him. You know, we we want to enjoy three days, so to speak, of just being with the Lord.
Then there's an evaluation of our work.
It just to me it just seems fitting that his affections must be satisfied first before there's any question of our faithfulness in that way.
#162.
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What rich, eternal burst of praise shall fill you on courts through endless days, When time shall cease to be round and around? The note shall swell, as each redeemed one joints to tell thy love so vast, so far.
Each shall the Savior's likeness bear a royal crown. Each brow shall wear with robes and sullied white. The everlasting song shall be to the O Lamb of God, to thee. Mid scenes of pure slight. December 3.
Our choice.
Our eyes only in thine, Lord.
Father, we would just thank Thee that we can truly say with a true heart that our sins have been forgiven and washed away. But oh, if there's any in here that are yet in their sins, we would just pray that through Thy spirit that they would be convicted and they would see their condition before a righteous and a holy God, and they would get right with Thee.
We would just pray for this and we think of each one of us that are waiting anticipation to be taken to glory to see our Lord and Savior.
Holy, what a hope we have. We would just pray now as he for help through the day. We would pray for the activities for safety and pray that our conduct, one with another would be.
To build us up on our most holy faith, we would just pray for this. We pray for safety. We pray for those, perhaps some still traveling, give them journey mercies.
We would just ask this and thank thee and thy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Follow Jesus
Address—Bernie Roossinck
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.
Good evening, everybody. Well, it's certainly a joy to see everybody here. So look around, there's a lot of young people in here and it wasn't very long ago that.
I was you and somebody else was up here, so it's with a lot of weakness that I'm going to talk to you tonight.
But I have a subject on my heart that has been with me for a number of years, so I I hope I can express it to you well. But.
Disregard me, I want you to listen to what the Lord Jesus has to say.
So let's begin this meeting by singing #283 together.
#283.
Well, we survey.
The one.
Cross always the Lord.
Boring.
We.
Let's ask for the Lords help.
The loving God and Father, we are so thankful to be here with so many of my known people tonight.
Father, we think of the needs of each one that's here, well known to the.
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We asked for.
Thy help that some of those needs might be met from thy word.
Lord, we consider the world that we're living in and all there is to distract.
And to turn aside, and to deny thee.
By proper place in our lives.
We asked for help this evening.
We looked at the for direction. We pray that the message given might be of thyself and we count on Thee for a blessing. We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
As I mentioned before, hope it's alright if I move around a bit. As I mentioned before, it wasn't very long ago that I was 12 or 10.
And it was somebody else up here.
But I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a young person, and I hope it's OK if I speak mostly to the young people tonight. Is that all right? I think those of you that are older remember what it was like to be young, and those of you are their kids.
And just a blink of an eye, you're going to be a young person. Hope Shannon will forgive me for this, but.
Shannon got her driving permit this past week and it feels like we just brought her home 2 weeks ago. So it goes fast. So what I want, what I have in my heart, young people to talk about is usefulness to God.
The Lord has a purpose for your life.
And the Lord has a claim on your life. If you truly believe and have the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus has a claim upon your life.
And it's my exercise that we just do a little bit of thinking tonight about.
What are the claims of the Lord Jesus in my life? What does the Lord have me to do?
I want to talk a little bit about.
Some people that received a call.
And how they responded to the call.
So first.
What's more important what the Lord says than what I say? So let's open to Luke 14 first, please.
I.
It's going to read a few passages of the scripture without much comment, and then we'll talk. Luke 14.
26.
If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yeah, in his own life also.
He cannot be my disciple.
Then whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower sinneth not down 1St, and counteth the cost, whether we have sufficient to finish it?
Less happily after he had laid the foundation and is not able to finish it.
All that behold, it began to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king going to war against another king sitteth not down 1St and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassador and desire conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsake it, not all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Now let's turn over to the Gospel of Matthew.
Chapter 16.
In verse 24.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it.
And who's the where will shall lose his life for my sake shall find it?
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And now one more passage in the Gospel of John.
John 21.
In verse 15.
So when they had done, Jesus said to Simon Peter.
Simon, son of Jonas.
Lovest thou me more than these?
Then he suffered unto him. Yay, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
And he said unto him, Feed my lambs.
And he said to him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
And he said unto him, Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He said unto him, Feed my sheep.
And he said unto him the third time.
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep.
Well, I've read these three passages to the start.
And these are.
Pretty sharp passages.
It says.
We've read whoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
I find young people in my life and I know this is true in your lives.
There's a lot in this world to say.
Give me your attention, give me your focus, Give me your time. Give me your energy. Give me your money.
It doesn't say here if you're half in and half out, you can be a halfway disciple.
That says here cannot be my disciple. That's a sharp thing.
Sharp word.
The Lord has a calling for each one of us, and I don't know what you're calling is.
It may be.
That you're calling moms is to provide a home of safety and security to raise your children. Dads, it may be that you're calling is to provide for your family. I don't know what the Lord is calling you. It may be young people that the Lord is calling one of you to serve Him in the foreign land.
I don't know what that is.
But the Lord has a calling for you, and we cannot be.
Half in and half out, the Lord has a ownership, if you will, of our lives. So we've read here.
Whoso will lose his life will save it.
Now let's just go back to the passage of Matthew for a minute. Or Luke, I'm sorry, 14.
It's a little bit hard to understand when it says that you have to hate your mother and father and brothers and sisters in order to be the Lords disciple. I think what it means says if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yeah, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
We have to take scripture in its proper balance. The Lord doesn't want us to hate our mothers and fathers. The the message that the Lord Jesus was giving here is.
That.
All has to be put in the second place.
Does that make sense?
That our family relationships are.
Friends.
Our work it all has to take a second place to the Lord Jesus and His claims on your life.
So what I would like to do is speak about a couple of individuals that had.
The opportunity to follow and to serve the Lord. Boys and girls, young men, young women.
The Lord has worked for you to do it might be as simple as picking up the spoons and forks after fellowship meal right now.
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But when you're faithful in small things, the Lord will begin to give you.
More and more and more it might be as simple as just shoveling the sidewalk for your neighbor.
And doing it for the Lord.
So let's look at a couple of individuals.
And I think we can find some instruction in this for our souls. Turn to First Samuel chapter 18 please.
This is a story of David and Jonathan. I love these two individuals.
And they're very instructive, David and Jonathan. David has just won the battle against Goliath.
So let's read from chapter 18.
And verse three. Now let's read from verse one.
Came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David.
And Jonathan loved him as his own soul and.
And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more to his father's house.
Then David, Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul.
And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle.
Here in this passage, David is a picture, a type of the Lord Jesus.
Saul is a type of the unbeliever.
And Jonathan is a type of the believer. So what do we find here? There's this covenant between Jonathan and David. He loved him as his own soul.
Young people.
The Lord Jesus gave his life for you.
You know who he was thinking about on the cross when he was saying in there?
Rachel.
Who is he thinking about?
He was thinking about you.
Have you ever felt that love of the Lord Jesus?
Right there in your heart.
You feel.
A burning.
Drive, but a desire to be with the Lord, to be in His love, to be in His purposes.
Here we have Jonathan as a type of the believer that says he loved him as he loved his own soul.
What the Lord Jesus is looking for from us.
Has the Lord Jesus ever felt that from you? He loved him as his own soul. And there begins the stripping process, where Jonathan is giving to David the things that he had that were dear to him, Gives him his coat and his clothes, his sword, his bow.
We know from other places that Jonathan was a mighty warrior. He gives it to David.
But there's a sad thing here, and that is he didn't give him his shoes.
What does that mean?
What do we learn from that? He didn't give him his shoes. Jonathan was not willing to walk with David. Young people, are you willing to give your shoes to the Lord Jesus?
Where you say, well, I can be here at this camp and I can live a godly Christian.
Week. But when I go back to school two weeks from now, I'm just going to see how it is with my buddies, with my girlfriends or whatever.
My to go back to work, go back to the shop, go back to the office. Are you willing to give the Lord Jesus your shoes?
It's a serious question.
Jonathan didn't give David his shoes.
And it was a it was a sad thing. It cost Jonathan dearly. Let's follow this up a bit.
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Chapter 20.
I'm sure you all know this story well.
Saul has basically a death threat out. He wants David dead.
The enemy of your souls, that's how he feels about the Lord.
Enemies so Jonathan and David had this secret deal made and the lad was to go out and shoot the arrow right and that would be the signal to tell David if it was safe to come out so they they do that I'm not going to read that whole story but.
We'll pick this up in verse 41. As soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the South and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another.
Until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, for as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, between my seed, and thy seed forever. And he arose and departed.
What does it say? Jonathan went with him. Is that what it says?
No, Jonathan went into the city.
Why did he do that?
The city speaks of the attractions of the world.
Jonathan had a real love for David. Many of you young people I know belong to the Lord Jesus. I know that you love the Lord. But young people, I plead with you. Consider what Jonathan did here. David arose. Jonathan went back to the city.
Oh, young people, there's a cost to going back to the city. The attractions of men, the attractions of this world, the Vanity Fair, if you will.
It's so strong.
I really love what it says in verse 41.
Says David and Jonathan kissed one another and wept with one another.
Until David exceeded.
Felt that.
Ever been in a spot in your life where you felt the exceeding love of Christ?
I know that some of you have.
When something hard happens in your life.
You don't understand why? Why, Lord, have you done this to me? How could you allow this? Or perhaps there's been some disappointment?
You ever felt the kiss of the Lord in your soul?
I know that some of you have. I have.
What should the response be? Jonathan made a retrograde step. David's love exceeded, he should have said.
The Lord be between thee, my seed, and thy seed. And then they should have been like that. What happened?
Jonathan went into the city. What a mistake. Young people, be careful. The Lord has a calling for your life, a purpose that He has placed you where you are, in the family you are, in, the state, you are in the city, wherever the university, the high school, whatever it is for a reason.
Oh, young people, be careful about man's attractions.
Jonathan didn't leave his shoes with David.
And now he goes into the city is the wrong step.
Let's go a little further in this story, Chapter 23.
Now we have David wandering through the wilderness, living in caves, living in the woods. When I was a kid, I thought, man, that would be the life. I'd way rather live in the woods than. But anyway, I don't think we have any concept of how tough it was to be a haunted man.
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His soul was hunting David like a Partridge.
Anyway, here David is in the woods, so let's read verse 18.
And they too made a covenant before the Lord.
David abode in the wood.
Jonathan stayed with him. Is that what it says?
No, Jonathan went to his house.
The house to me speaks of family attractions.
Young people.
Don't let.
Family.
Thoughts. Family attractions, perhaps the fear of what other people might say. Don't let.
The Lord has laid upon your heart to do something for him. Do it. Never mind what you think I might think. If the Lord has given you something, do it.
Here Jonathan goes back to his house. Now Jonathan probably had a wife and family and everything else, and so we understand naturally why he did that. But spiritually, young people, he gave it up, said David, I love you. I'll see you next week.
And he wouldn't give up all that he had. David Jonathan had a lot to lose.
He was the Crown Prince of Israel.
David was God's anointed, a man after God's own heart. He speaks to us of the Lord Jesus.
Jonathan goes back into his house.
I hope it's OK if I share the story when my parents were feeling when my dad was feeling the Lord's calling.
To go to Newfoundland, he shared that with a brother.
I'm not going to say who it is because he's a dear man.
And he was counseled to wait five or ten years, get your family established, get married first there. He's planning to be married at that time. It was it was bad advice. When the Lord calls you to do something, never mind what you think I'm going to think or Tim's going to think or Doug or Dave or.
Mark or whatever, if the Lord has given you something to do, put on your shoes. Give him your shoes.
And do it.
Let's go just a little further in this story, Second Samuel 1.
Jonathan was a dear man. I believe we're going to see Jonathan in the glory, but.
He had failure in this that he wouldn't walk with David in rejection. Our Savior is in rejection right now. Are you going to walk with him or are you going to turn your back on it? The Lord said you cannot be my disciple unless you give up all that you have.
What happens to Jonathan Second Samuel 1?
I'm just going to read this part of this lament that David has for his friend Jonathan. Let's begin with verse 25.
Are the mighty fallen?
How are the mighty falls in the midst of battle?
Oh, Jonathan.
Thou slain in thy high places.
I am distressed for the my brother Jonathan.
Very pleasant has thou been to me, but I love to me was wonderful.
Passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished? Oh my.
Jonathan wouldn't walk in rejection with David.
And yet here we have David saying my love to me was wonderful.
The Lord Jesus say that about you. He can, He does.
Perhaps you've made decisions in the past that have been not right. Perhaps you've denied the Lord Jesus proper place in your life. The Lord Jesus can still say this about you. I love to me. It was wonderful.
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But wouldn't it be better if Jonathan was standing there with David?
And they were lamenting together the loss of Saul. But here Jonathan is dead, dead on the battlefield. Young people were engaged in spiritual warfare.
And Jonathan, this debt on the battlefield, useless for Christ.
I don't want that to be you and I don't want that to be me.
Searching, isn't it?
Searching you know there were the enemy is so subtle in inserting things into your life that take away your ability and your willingness to give the Lord Jesus your walk.
Becky and I were just talking the other night.
How easy it is for things that creep in and you and you get hardened to it and you get used to it and and.
We're in a spiritual warfare, young people.
Can't remember exactly where the verse is where it talks about.
I've lost my train of thought. It talks about no man that worth entangle with himself in the things of this world. Oh young people, you can lose what the Lord Jesus the the blessing that the God has for you, that the Lord the the work that the Lord Jesus has for you.
We're at work, young people.
You have a service, you have a gift that the Lord has given you. You've been placed where he wants you to be. What are you going to do with it? You're going to walk into the city and walk out, walk into your homes and say Sunday, you can have me.
Monday through Saturday, I'm fighting my own battles. Is that the way it can? It needs to be no people every day. Jonathan should have been with David in his rejection. You might say, Lord, I'll do this and this and this, but I can't do that.
Yes you can.
Yes, you can. Oh Lord, I can. I can do this and I'm willing to do that. But I cannot do this. Yes, you can.
Yes, you can. I want you to be encouraged, young people. Let's give our shoes to the Lord. Let's walk with the Lord. Jonathan was a dear young man, but he was a lost dynamic.
How are the mighty fallen?
Kill people. I'm not that old, but I look back on people that I loved dearly, young people that I was best friends with.
That have made.
The choice not to give the Lord their shoes.
It's a sad thing. How are the mighty fallen?
Oh, people that had gifts, people that could, that were a great encouragement to me, and they're gone.
Now that's between them and the Lord, now by young people.
It doesn't have to be you.
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. That's how. That's what the Lords thought. Heart is for you.
By love to me was wonderful. Every one of us in this room has failed many times, and yet the Lord can still say.
Mark, my love to me was wonderful. Isn't that great? He can still say that it's not too late.
It's not too late.
That's what I had on my heart for a young person that made mistakes. But now let's look at another young person.
And those of you that know me well know I love this story.
Turn to 1St Kings Chapter 19.
Imagine with me, young people.
A brightly lit grand hall.
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Lights everywhere, beautiful setting, huge festivities and somebody comes along.
Extinguishing the lights and the darkness is beginning to close in on that room, and light after light after light is being extinguished.
And light up and it's getting darker and darker, OK.
In the land of Israel at the time of the story we're going to read.
Ahab the King and his wife Jezebel.
Were wicked, wicked people.
And their goal, particularly Jezebel's goal, was to extinguish every single light, every single light in Israel if there's some light for Jehovah.
Snuff it out.
Stop it out. And it's getting darker and darker. And yet there was one light that Jezebel did not get. There's actually 7000 lights that Jezebel didn't get, but there was one in particular that I was thinking of. And we know the story of Elijah, the prophet of God.
And just as an aside, imagine what most of you know that I grew up in Newfoundland.
Giant mountains, torrents of water, waterfalls, rushing Rapids hits the valley. Nice smooth brook into the ocean.
Elijah was like the.
Water coming off the mountain, fast, rough.
Abrupt.
Powerful.
Elisha was like the.
Calm river of grace and peace.
As that river makes makes its way to the sea now.
Elisha here or Elijah?
Has just won a tremendous victory over the prophets of bail, and the Lord has responded in a gigantic way.
As the fire came, comes down and burns up the sacrifice. You guys remember the story. Burns up the rocks, licks up the water. All the prophets of bail are killed. I think it was 400 if I remember right. This tremendous victory, The people that are crying out the Lord, he is God, the Lord he is God.
Jezebel sends a message to this man, says tomorrow you're dead meat.
This guy just won a huge victory. What happens?
Bolts, he's gone. 40 days journey into the wilderness. He's out.
And there he is on that mountainside, and the Lord says to him in a still small voice, See Elijah, what are you doing here?
What doest thou hear, Elijah?
Oh Lord, I'm the I'm the only faithful person in this assembly, if you will, ever felt like that.
Everybody else is gone.
I'm the only guy I just it's enough now. Just take me now and here poor Elijah was in that state of discouragement and fear and the Lord says to him, I got 7000 people that haven't bowed the knee to bail. So let's pick up the story where I all that was on the side by the way, but these are it's a great story.
I really want to talk about the call of Elisha.
So let's pick this up in verse 16.
The Lord is giving instruction to His Prophet here.
Middle of the verse and Elisha the son of Shepat.
Of Abel Nihola Shilpa, anointed to be prophet in thy room.
Alvers 19. So he departed fence and found Elisha, the son of Shepherd.
Who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the 12Th.
And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him, Go back again, What have I done today?
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And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, And they did eat. And he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him now.
Let's consider who this young man was.
Here is by the way Abel and see if I pronounce this right.
Abel Mahula.
Means the Valley of the Dance. Here's the Jordan River Valley. Here's Jezreel.
Sitting in that ivory palace is Jezebel, probably.
15 to 20 miles away. And here in this valley of the dance is a family, one of those 7000 that had never bowed to need a bail.
And here is Elisha, the son of SEPTA.
The Valley of the Dance. What does that tell us?
There was joy and peace there, tranquility. Here is this young man plowing in a field with 12 yoke of oxen. Now, most of you that know me know that I I'm involved in agriculture and I love horsepower and tractors and plows and big white planters and my wife is laughing at this. So is Doug.
OK, imagine Dad.
Combining with 12 Combines side by side. You think about that? Now I know these were just 12 yoke of oxen, but think about it. This guy came from a wealthy position. Here he is. There's 11 servants and they're they're all lined up plowing this field one after the other. Perhaps I'll stagger down and he's on the last set.
And he looks up.
Here comes a figure of a man strolling across the field. Who could it be?
And he recognizes him. He's that prophet, Elisha, Elijah.
Here he's plowing along.
The license just goes.
Puts his mantle on the guys shoulder, just keeps going.
What did it mean?
God had said go anoint Elisha to be prophet in your place.
He knew exactly what it meant.
Says come with me, follow me, serve with me. What does he do?
He kills the oxen first. There's a test though. He goes after the prophet and he says let me, let me just go settle things up at home and I'll be back. The old prophecies.
What have I done? It's a test. Yeah. The Lord might give you a call, young people. And you might wonder, is that real?
And there's a test of conviction here. This young man knew exactly what the call was.
And he did it. He goes back, he kills the auction, he burns up the yoke and he's gone.
We're not told what he gave up, but I imagine it was a lot.
You're plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. You're probably from a fairly wealthy position.
OK, he gave it up.
Whosoever shall lose his life shall save it. That's why I read that in Matthew. OK, what was this young man doing for the next seven years? This is a young man that came from probably a position of tremendous.
Wealth and privilege, What was he doing?
Just to find out, let's go to 2nd Kings Chapter 3 for just a minute.
In verse 11 here now Elijah is the prophet of God in Israel, but here's what it says about him.
Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel Servants answered and said, a picture of this.
00:45:01
Oh, here's Elijah, the son of Cephad, who poured water around the hands of Elijah.
What was he doing for seven years?
Here he probably had servants to do as every whim.
And the call of God comes upon his life.
You know what he did for seven years? He walked a dusty hot.
Israelite life pathway through the dirt and the heat, and they lived in caves, perhaps in ravines, and drank from the stream. We read how the Lord fed his prophets with the the Ravens bringing food and whatnot. He gave all that up because God called him to do something for seven years.
This man of privilege, you know what he did? He was the servant.
That poured water on the hands of his master. That's it.
I think there's a lot more than that, but that's what he was recognized as. Seven years young people went by and here the king of Israel, servants like, oh, yeah, that's the guy that followed the other guy around washing his hands when he got dirty. Does that sound like privilege and grandeur to you?
It was the right thing to do. That's what God had for him to do. For seven years He did that.
But you know what? I just picture those two men, the old man and the young man.
Seven years they walk along together.
And I think that Elijah was sharing and teaching and instructing him in the ways of Jehovah. By the way, Elijah means Jehovah saves a great name to have.
Seven years go by, these two walking together, serving the Lord together.
Now let's look at Second Kings Chapter 2.
Verse 9.
This is the last day that these men are together.
The old.
Abrupt prophet and the young gracious servant.
That came to pass when they were gone over it, that Elijah said unto Elijah, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. They he knew. Today is the last day. I think they both knew that.
And what did he like to say? A chariot and about 10 horses? Unlimited food. Is that what he says? No, Elijah said, I pray thee but a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said thou was asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee.
But if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on and taught.
That they hold their appearance, chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and part of the asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
They lights aside and cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more.
And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.
And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back and stood by the Bank of the Jordan.
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he had also spit in the waters, they parted, hit her, and thither, and unless she went over.
Young people.
I know that you all know this.
The older generation is passing on.
The torch is being handed to you. What are you going to do about it here?
The old prophet says to the young man.
I'm about going to be gone. What do you what do you want?
What a great answer, he goes. I want to be have a double portion of your spirit. Young people, the Lord has work for you to do.
In your life, in your assemblies, in your homes.
00:50:02
You know what?
I think this began to sink home with me when Mr. Belicelli passed away.
That man was a spiritual father for me. We lived about 10 minutes apart. I spent the many summers at their cottage.
He and Uncle Donnie he was to us and Aunt Betty.
Were spiritual parents to us, to my family, my generation, and when he passed away, it began to sink into my heart.
This mantle is being passed to somebody else.
I remember when my Grandpa Pilkington passed away.
This passage was brought to me and some of my cousins.
He's been taken away. What are you going to do with the heritage that you've been given? What are you going to do with the call that the Lord has for your life?
You say, forget about that. I want to live my own life. I want to do what I want to do. Or are you going to say, I'll take that mantle and give your shoes to the Lord and do what He wants you to do? I don't know what that is. It might be working with your employees at your work. It might be homeschooling your kids right now. It might be doing the best job as a nurse that you possibly can. It might be going to.
Some foreign land to serve the Lord in the gospel work. I don't know what that is. What are you going to do? Walk by the mantle and say, huh, Finally got rid of those guys, Now we can do what we want to do with no conscience? No, the Lord is calling you. I know that the Lord is speaking to some of your hearts. What are you going to do with it?
What are you going to do with it? Reminds some of you that are Canadian will know this poem.
I've memorized this many years ago in Flanders fields. It says take up our quarrel with the foe to you. From failing hands we throw the torch.
To you from failing hands we throw the torch.
Be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, Although we lie in Flanders fields. That's a song written about wartime, but the message is right.
To you from failing hands. We throw the torch and now we're just about out of time. So turn over to Timothy.
Burst Timothy 4.
First Timothy 4 verse 12 Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in Word and conversation and charity, in spirit and faith and purity.
Then I was thinking of verse 14 in particular. Neglect, not the gift that is in thee.
You know.
A man said to me a while ago.
Some of you young men and women are older today. I certainly am. That John the Baptist was when his ministry was over.
Think about that, OK? I still feel like I'm pretty young. John the Baptist was already dead. Ministry complete.
Young people, you may have come from an assembly where there are older brethren and you don't feel like you can participate and share and you know even at right thought, young men and women is fruit for the Lord.
Despise not thy youth what no man. Despise thy youth. Don't sit there on the sidelines till you're 40 or 50.
Down. The Baptist ministry was over.
At the age, some of you men are young men and I want to encourage you, it says in Song of Solomon.
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Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice. I think it says countenance, for sweet as thy voice, and my countenance is comely. That's what the Lord Jesus says to you and I. It doesn't say, Sit there on the back row till all the old people are dead.
No, despise not thy youth. The Lord wants to hear your voice.
Now, I'm not saying that you should dominate the whole meeting. The Lord gives you a hymn to give out. Do it.
The Lord gives you a verse on your heart. Stand up and read it. I can't tell you how thrilling it is for me to hear a young person.
Stand up and justice, pray for 30 seconds or to give out a song and read a verse of it and you know that it has meaning to them.
Let no man despise thy youth.
I'm not giving you permission to dominate the assembly. That's a whole nother meeting. But young people, now is the time. God is calling you, he says. I want to hear your voice, want to see your face. That's just on Sunday for an hour.
Every day at your office, that's your work, at your school, at home.
OK, Second Timothy, chapter one, because we are out of time now.
Second Timothy One.
The first time, the apostle Paul told Timothy, don't neglect the gift that you have.
And now he says, I'm putting you in remembrance. This is verse 6. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee. Stir it up young people, God has the work for you to do.
A calling, a mantle is being placed on your shoulders. What are you going to do with it? Shrug it off? Pretend it didn't happen? It's not convenient for me right now.
Who also lose his life for my sake shall save it.
Think about that. Isn't the Lord Jesus worth that? I think when you're going to get to heaven, you're going to wish that you would have spent a little more time on the spreadsheets at the office and less time sharing the Lord with one of your coworkers or whatever it is. I don't know what your circumstances are.
Young people, stir up the gift. God is calling you for something. He didn't put you here just to sit here. He put you here to be an encouragement.
To be a help to respond.
That everybody is called to do what Hudson Taylor did or Jim Elliott did.
Some, some of you may be, I don't know if the Lord is calling you. Never mind what you think. I might think that the Lord is calling you. Respond to it, do it. Give him your shoes.
Last verse Joshua chapter one.
The key phrase of the book of Joshua is Moses, my servant is dead.
Young people, Joshua was being handed the torch right here. The mantle was placed on him.
The Lord said Moses, my servant is dead.
You're my man, if I can say that reverently. And here's what he says in verse seven. Actually, interestingly, he says this message about three or four times in this chapter. Only be thou strong and very courageous.
Says that a number of times. Be thou strong and very courageous. The Lord delights to bless you. He will help you in your path. He will provide.
I could talk till 10:00 about the ways that God provided for our family.
When we were growing up in Newfoundland.
It's very encouraging things. See me afterwards and we'll have coffee together. But young people be strong, be courageous. It says in Deuteronomy and the Rules of warfare there were four things they had to do. One was they, if you built the house, yeah, they have lived in it. Young people build a house, a spirits will foundation that's yours and live in it.
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They had to if they had a vineyard.
They had to have harvested it and eaten the fruit. OK, how do you do that?
Dig it out. This is your vineyard right here. Dig it out.
Can't remember what the third one was. The last one was be strong and courageous. If a man was fearfully had to go home, OK, it is a little bit scary to step out in faith.
But God will provide. If the Lord is sending you to do something, He will provide.
So young people, I'm sorry that I'm past time because I know it's.
Saturday night and but I just have this on my heart for you.
If the Lord is calling you, and I know that He is.
Do it. Don't be like Jonathan who was a fallen in the midst of the battle. Be like Elijah that got the double portion. Okay, so I think I would like to close. This is not a song in our books, but we probably know it well enough.
Let's sing together. I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided.
To all of our team.
Oh, doesn't go away.
Let's close with prayer.
Our loving God and Father.
We commit this time into your hands.
Father.
It's our desire that we be found faithful.
It's our desire, Father to.
Please thee and to walk in thy ways to respond to the calling.
That thou art making to our lives.
Lord, we're so thankful for what was done for us by the Lord Jesus at the cross.
Lord, we pray that, Lord Jesus, we ask that thy exceeding love would override and compel us to respond.
And service for thee.
Lord, I just pray for each one of these young people.
I don't know their hearts, Lord, but you do.
I ask you to boss them, Father.
I asked them to be.
Willing to accept.
And to be willing to go down the path that you are marked out for them.
And Father, we ask this humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Simons
Children—Tim Kaiser
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God and loving Father, we thank Thee for an opportunity this morning to have Thy Word open before us and to have words like this on our lips that would bring fresh thoughts of Calvary and what the Lord Jesus did for us there before us and.
May it well draw a response from our hearts together this morning we would give the thanks and praise for Calvary's cross.
If there is one here this morning that has not yet come into the good of the work of that cross, has not yet found the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, the all Sufficient 1 to take care of the sin question for them that this morning they would put their faith and their trust in the Lord Jesus and be saved. We give Thee thanks and praise. Ask for Thy help, so we would open Thy word together.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Now I know this is a Sunday school this morning. It's not a normal Sunday school. We have lots of age groups here and knowing the head count of each group, children, young people and adults, I thought that perhaps the Lord brought before me something that wouldn't be like a regular Sunday school, but more a message for for everyone.
Myself included.
Let's open our Bibles to First Samuel.
Chapter 3.
First Samuel, chapter 3.
In the middle of verse 9.
It says, Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth. Now let's turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
And verse 39.
And she?
Had a sister called Mary.
Who also sat at Jesus feet and heard his words.
Marks Gospel.
Chapter 4.
And verse 9.
And he said unto them.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.
Mary sat at Jesus feet and heard his words.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, the Lord Jesus said.
What do you think I have on my heart to talk about this morning?
Hearing, listening, yes, in a way, you know, we were going to be here at these meetings, Lord willing, and enjoy the time together.
But the real purpose of this time together is to hear the word of God, isn't it?
Now there is a person's name in the Bible and the definition of their name means to hear the word of God.
That's what their name means to hear the word of God, and it doesn't only imply just by the ear.
But the best definition of it is James chapter one and verse 22.
James chapter one and verse 22.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.
Yes, there is a name in the Bible that means that that is the best definition for the meaning of that name in God's Word, right there to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
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Uniquely enough, it is the name that is used more than any other name in the entire Word of God.
There are more people in the Word of God with that name than any other name.
And I started writing down those names and looking at the lessons of life that were taught from each one of them that had that name, all the same name.
And it got so much for me that I didn't know if I could cover it in 45 minutes.
So I wrote a bunch of things down, and with the Lord's help, we'll highlight on some things that He would bring before us as important.
One of the books of the Bible start out with that man's name. It's a man's name. I gave part of it away right there. Does anybody know what that name is? The most popular name in the Bible?
Nobody else named more. The use of that name used more than anybody else for that name.
Who knows? Somebody got to guess.
Lord, the Lord, that's a wonderful name, isn't it? But you know, there's only one person that we know of that is the Lord, and that's wonderful, isn't? I hope everybody.
Knows the Lord. The name is Simon. There are more people in the Bible named Simon than any other name.
It means to hear, to listen, and to put into practice what we hear.
So for the children this morning, we're going to do a little game together. You ever play Simon Says? OK, this game is not going to be Simon Says though it's going to be almost like it. But Simon Says is not really what the sign, the name Simon means. We're going to say Simon hears and Simon does. And we're going to see if these people that we look at named Simon in the Bible.
If they really hear, or if they really do.
OK, now the first one we're going to look at. He was a brother of the Lord Jesus.
The Word of God says it was his brother, so I believe that we can say that as well. So let's turn to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew, Chapter 13.
And verse 55.
Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, Joseph, and Simon, and Judas and his sisters?
Now let's turn to John's Gospel, Chapter 7.
John Chapter 7 and let's read together a sad verse, verse 5.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
At this time, his brethren did not believe in him. What does this bring to our minds? Here's the Lord Jesus growing up in a family. In that family there was a mom and a dad. Lord Jesus. Of course, he was conceived of the Holy Ghost. That's wonderful. So these were his half brothers and half sisters, but he had four brothers and two sisters, just the opposite of our family. We had five girls and two boys.
The Lord Jesus in his family he grew up in, there was five boys and at least two sisters. Pearl, we don't know, He might have had more than two sisters, but it was at least two sisters that the Lord Jesus had. And here the Lord Jesus was in this family and his siblings, they did not believe on him. I wonder, you know, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, The Lord Jesus lives within your heart and if your mom and dad know.
Lord Jesus as our Savior, and some of your brothers and sisters do too. But if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior and you live in the same house they do, you're just like the brothers of the Lord Jesus. That's a sad verse, isn't it? Neither did his brothers believe on him. Oh, that's sad. Well, was the Lord Jesus true?
Was he who he said he was? Did he really come to do the Father's will? Was he really the sent one of God? Yes, he was, wasn't he?
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Well, I hope that every boy and girl here wasn't like that, Simon. Now let's do our little Simon. Here's Simon Says. Do you think that that Simon?
Wanted to do and hear the word of God.
Neither did he believe.
Is that hearing and doing the word of God?
No, no it's not, is it? That's Simon. I hope there's no one else in this room like that, Simon. Now let's look at another Simon Matthews Gospel chapter 26.
Matthew 26.
And verse 6.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany.
In the House of Simon the Leper.
This Simon had leprosy and let's get some more of this story, some more details of it by going to Luke Chapter 7.
Luke Chapter.
Seven and verse 38, we're gonna read about this woman.
That was at the same house.
That the leper was we read in.
In verse 36 that this this leper was a Pharisee Goodman on the outside.
But in verse 38 it says, And she that is this woman that came in, stood at his feet behind him weeping, and washed his feet with her tears, and it wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with appointment. Now when the Pharisee which was bitten saw it, he spake within himself, saying, If this man were a prophet.
Would have known who this and what manner of woman this.
This that touched him, for she is a Sinner. And Jesus answering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master, say on verse 44. And he turned to the woman, and said, Simon, see us, thou this woman, I entered into thine house, and thou gave us me no water for my feet. She hath not. She hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gave us.
Kiss but this woman.
Since that time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet, my head with oiled out. It's not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my head with oil. Verse 48 He said unto her, license are forgiven.
This Simon, Simon here's Simon does. Did this Simon hear and do the word of the Lord?
Did he want to hear and obey the word of the Lord?
No he didn't, That's what his name means. But no, he didn't want to hear and do and obey the word of the Lord.
There were probably a lot of people at that house that day, but there were two people that the Spirit of God wanted us to know about that were in that house. This woman that came with very precious anointment and anointed the Lord Jesus head with that appointment and then washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
It's one of the people. The other person is a man who owned the house. He was a Pharisee, good looking on the outside and everything. As far as his behavior went, he was just top of the line. He had leprosy and he was criticizing this woman for what she had done.
Two kinds of people in that house, they both had problems.
They both had problems, but you know the woman, her heart was attracted to the Lord Jesus.
Do you guys know what a magnet is? What's a magnet?
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What does a magnet do?
Is not technically. That's right. I have a magnet right here.
I wonder if we go stick it on your chair what it'll do. Let's see what your chair is made out of.
That's a strong magnet. That's a really strong magnet. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a magnet that strong.
I have a lot of strong magnets. We use them where I work. This is one that the cover broke off of and I use it for other things now, but I have something else in my hand and it's also metal.
I wanna pick that up.
Kind of metal. Why won't it pick that up?
Let out the wrong stuff, isn't it?
It's made out of the wrong stuff, and I'm going to say something that's the truth. If your heart is not attracted to the Lord Jesus Christ, you're made out of the wrong stuff.
If the Lord Jesus doesn't grip your heart's affections in some way, you are not saved.
I mean, in some way I know that a believer can get away from the Lord and the Lord tugs at their heart, but that's evidence that they're saved because the Lord and his love will touch something in there. And there's something in everybody who knows Christ as their Savior that will respond in some measure to the love of the Lord Jesus If I use a little paper clip.
Come down.
You ever see a paper climb jump that high?
There's something that responds to the magnet.
You know, if we stay away, If we stay away. I have a washer here that's pretty strong too. If we stay away.
From the Lord and His love, we're not going to feel that love, we're not going to feel that closeness. It's only as we draw near to Him, but it will influence us.
And it's the magnetic field, you might say, is a good illustration of how the Lord Jesus captivates our hearts and holds us that way. These two people were like the contrast between aluminum and steel in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
You know, we can't blame our problems on our relationship with the Lord.
We can't say, you know, I have so many problems that it hinders my walk with the Lord. It's a heart issue. You know, maybe some of you have heard of these people that I'm going to mention who have problems, OK?
There's a man named Nick who was born in Australia.
And does anybody know what is wrong with Nick?
His name is Nick.
Spelled VUJICICI can't pronounce it. It's born in Australia. Nick has no arms and legs. He was born that way naturally. Has anybody ever heard of Nick?
OK, there's some hands going up. Nick is an amazing man. You know, from what I know, as far as as last year, Nick has led more than 200,000 souls to Christ.
Through his witness and his testimony, he's a motivational speaker. He has no arms and legs. You think he has problems? When he was eight years old, he wanted to commit suicide because of the way kids made fun of him. And kids picked on him all the time because he had no arms and legs. And he came to know the Lord Jesus as his Savior. And now he speaks in front of huge crowds and tells people of the love of the Lord Jesus. If he was here this morning, we would have to lift him up and set.
Up here and he would hop along on his stump up here to preach, but he's got a head just like mine.
Just like yours.
And he loves the Lord Jesus, and he loves souls, and he loves to lead people, Lord Jesus.
I've heard of another lady now, she would be about the same age as this Nick.
Her name is Lizzie. Lizzie has a rare skin disease.
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But only three people in the world have, and her skin looks like leather or rubber.
And poor Lizzie.
When Lizzie was in high school.
She found I believe it was on a YouTube video, an 8 second video where there was no sounds. It was of her.
Calling her the ugliest person in the world.
And underneath that eight second video, there was more than 4 million comments.
Of people making fun of her.
Telling her things that were very, very unkind.
From what I understand, you know what Lizzie does today? She's a motivational speaker. She goes around and she speaks to crowds and she tells them of the love of the Lord Jesus.
Sound like a physical problem or a heart problem?
That was in this House here.
I tell you about the time our oldest daughter was born.
Two other people.
To other people, the time our oldest daughter was born up in Minnesota, there was also 2 girls born and their names were Abby.
And Brittany, you know who I'm talking about.
Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Abby and Brittany are twins.
You know what kind of twins they are. Have you ever heard of Siamese twins?
Two people. Two people.
If you saw them from shoulders up.
2 girls standing next to each other.
Right here.
Below their neck they share the same arms, they share the same legs and everything else. They have their own heart, they have their own lungs.
Right now, I believe they run a babysitting business. The kids love them. When they were growing up, they were made fun of two people in the same body.
Think they had problems?
Lots of problems.
From what I know, those girls, both of them in the same body. Both.
Of them consciously love the Lord Jesus.
Isn't that wonderful? For one of them passes away, the other one will too. But they both love the Lord Jesus. Think of that.
Do I think I have problems? No, I don't have problems unless it's a heart problem. There isn't anybody in this room that has no arms or legs.
That shares a human body with somebody else or would be labeled the ugliest person in the world.
No, you know the the Lord Jesus loves everyone of us the same, doesn't he?
They were in the same house with the Lord Jesus. They shared the same meal with the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was their same guest, one of them.
That was at that house didn't provide any water for the Lord Jesus.
The other one.
Didn't cease, and it appears by what is written here that she was still weeping and washing his hair with her feet.
When he was talking.
And the other one.
Gave no kiss. She was still kissing his feet.
What have we done for the Lord Jesus, you know?
To follow here, we'll sit down to remember the Lord Jesus.
Will our hearts be flowing in worship and praise to Him for what He has done, or will we be indifferent as we all sit together?
In the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Let's look at another Simon John.
Gospel chapter 6.
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In verse 71.
He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, who was Judas Iscariot. He was one of the Lords disciples.
Later it says in the verse for he it is that should be betray him.
This man spent 3 1/2 years with the Lord Jesus.
And he betrayed the Lord Jesus with 30 pieces of silver.
He was the one who.
Permitted the way or opened the way for the Lord Jesus to go to the cross and sold the Lord Jesus.
Today's money that would be worth $950. But if you take that money and translate it back, then it would be worth 250,000 American dollars at this time. What could you buy with $250,000? And Judas probably thought, you know what, I'll get that money and the Lord will just vanish out of their hands and I'll have the money and I'll be gone. He'll be just fine. He'll be fine, I'll be fine.
In today's world, we say I buy a house, new nice new car and everything I want.
Simon Says, Simon does, Simon hears. I mean Simon does did this, Simon here and love the Lord Jesus.
No, no he didn't.
No, he didn't.
Isn't that sad? Well, I have some other Simons written down here. Let's look in Acts chapter 8.
Acts chapter 8 and verse 8.
And there was great joy in that city. But there was a certain man named Simon.
Which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people. The end of the verse he gave out. That himself was some great one.
Because Simon wanted self focus. Is that like Simon who wants to hear and obey the Lord?
No. And our time is getting away from us if we're going to cover anymore assignments. So I'll just tell you what this Simon did.
This Simon wanted to buy his way.
To give people the gift of the Holy Ghost, so that other people would think that he was special because he could give them the Holy Ghost.
What is that self-interest?
Simon hears.
Simon does.
Simon sound like he wants to hear and do the Lord's will and the Lord's word.
No, see, there's lots of Simons in the Bible that did not want to hear and do the Lord's will, but they had the name.
I wonder if there's somebody here this morning that has the name on the outside but inside.
Oh, there's not reality.
Now let's look at some good Simons, some Simons to encourage us because it is sad to know and I hope there's nobody like these Simons that we first looked at. And if there are any Simons like that in in this room here this morning that the.
The glory of God would come before you in such a way that you would see your need of the Savior.
And be saved. Let's look at Matthew's Gospel chapter 10.
Matthew's Gospel chapter 10 and verse two it says these are the names the 12 apostles.
And then it gives a list of names. The one I want to look at right now is in verse 4.
Simon the Canaanite and let's look at Luke chapter 6.
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Luke chapter 6 and verse 15, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon called as a lotes.
Same man as Simon. The Canaanite had two names. He was called the Canaanite and Zelotes.
How instructive? Who were the Canaanites?
They were idolaters that the children of Israel were to drive out. Their lives were noted by the idol worship that they had.
And they were to drive out the idols, get rid of them. And here this man was named, he was of of those, the Canaanites. But now he was also called Simon Zelotes. What does that mean? It's the same word as a zealot or somebody who was fervent.
For what they believed and what they did. And they did what they heard. So.
Wonderful. He practiced what he believed in. He wasn't fake about it.
But he was once noted as from a nationality. It was noted as of terrible, terrible idolatry and the things that they did in their idol worship was awful. You can read about it in the Old Testament of the offering of their children on the altars and things like that. Terrible.
Let's turn to 1St Thessalonians chapter one.
For Thessalonians chapter.
One and the middle of verse 9.
Says he turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven. That's a verse that reminds us of this, Simon. He turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his sons from heaven. What is an idol?
What's an idol? Does anybody OK, go ahead.
It's something that you worship. Who's in English class right now? Raise your hand taking English. Anybody in English class? Oh, I mean, I know you're not in school right now, but okay, who knows what a noun is? What's a noun?
A person, place, or thing. Most nouns can be idols. Be careful of nouns.
Most nouns can be idols. Anything can take the place. A person, place, or thing can take the place of the Lord Jesus in our hearts. That's the lesson we should learn from this wonderful disciple.
Where I worked there was a man whose name was Jerry, and he liked this man named Mark Martin, who was a race car driver. And he was always talking about Mark Martin. And one day I came into his work area and he was just all over me about Mark Martin. And I looked him right in the eye and I said, Jerry, did Mark Martin die on the cross for your sins?
It led to that man's salvation.
Is there anything, person, place, or thing that's taking the place, the rightful place of the Lord Jesus in our heart?
It could be anything, it could be a toy, it could be a vehicle, a house, a particular singer or a group of singers, somebody who can really play an instrument well or do some sports activity very well that we idolize. And they're taking the place of the Lord Jesus in our heart, if that is so.
The rightful place that belongs to him.
Have I an object, Lord below that would divide my heart with thee in answer to?
It's even flow.
How does it go in answer to thy constancy? Oh, teach me quickly to return, and 'cause my heart a fresh divert to burn. The last part of it says that I may undistracted be to follow, serve, and wait for the the Lord help us that we don't have idols.
00:35:00
In our hearts, if we turn to Acts chapter one, we'll see this man again.
Acts chapter one and verse 13.
In the middle of the verse, or the towards the end of the verse, it tells us he was in the upper room with those who were gathered there. And I have no doubt that he was with the group that in the second chapter, where it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and breaking of prayer, bread and in prayers, and great fear was upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
This man, who used to be an idolater, was among the number of the faithful.
Disciples in the early Church.
Where are we going to be found?
Our idol is going to take our hearts off away from the affection of the Lord Jesus. Or are we going to put them away?
Put them away and let the Lord Jesus grip our hearts.
That we might be in his service.
Another.
Simon, Mark. Chapter 15.
In Mark chapter 15.
And verse 21.
And they compelled 1 Simon A Cyrene.
Cyrene Cyrenian is that that is North Africa. What's, what are they doing? Clear over in Jerusalem, this man.
I'd like to look at this man a little bit, this real briefly, who passed by coming out of a country the father of. Now, why did the Spirit of God want us to know this?
The father of Alexander and Rufus to bear his cross. Why did God want us to know that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus? I believe it was to give us courage as families.
To hear and to do the word of God together. Did this Simon want to do and hear the word of God together? Yes, he did.
He wanted to hear and know and obey the Word of God, and he wanted his family involved as well.
Acts Chapter 19.
I am under the impression of and would like to be corrected if I am wrong, but I believe this is the same Alexander.
In Acts chapter 19 and verse 33 it says and they drew Alexander out of the multitude.
The Jews putting him forward, and Alexander beckoned with his hand, and he would have made his defense under the people, his Father, or the cross of the Lord Jesus. And he stayed close enough to the apostle Paul in his ministry that he could make a public defense.
For the apostle Paul and the Jews drew him forward, just as they drew his father forward to bear the cross of the Lord Jesus. They said we're going to draw this man forward as well who is bent for the cause of the Kingdom of God. Young people.
Many of you have a mother and father that want to go on for the Lord Jesus. Are you going to follow in their steps that way like this, Alexander?
Let's go to Romans last chapter 15.
I'm sorry, Chapter 16.
Romans 16 and verse 13.
I believe this is the same Rufus.
Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and I believe this woman was Simon's wife.
His mother and mine.
No doubt Simon had gone on to be with the Lord, and his wife was like a mother to the apostle Paul and.
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Rufus and Alexander were like that with the Apostle Paul in his ministry. The Lord wants us to go on for him as families did this Simon here and do yes he did wonderful.
Our time is going fast. There's Simon the Tanner.
Beautiful examples in him in.
In Acts 10, we won't turn to it. We're running out of time.
But a Tanner is one who and, and Peter was with him there. Simon Peter was with him in the same house. And at that same house, Simon Peter got the revelation that the word of God would go out to the Gentiles as well. Wonderful, wonderful.
This Simon was a Tanner and, and you get, you get tannin, which is tannic acid from tree bark, mainly the oak tree. And then when you when you take an animal hide, you treat it with this. And that's where we get our belts, our shoes, our Bible covers our billfolds, our purses from leather, profitable things coming from.
The death of the animal, the sacrifice of the animal and of the tree remind us of the Lord Jesus going to the cross.
And they're bearing on that cross His body, bearing our sins there away.
You know how many of us, how many of us would like to go on for the Lord Jesus?
How many of us as scripture says that our life also?
Let me let me turn to it. Second Corinthians, chapter 4.
It says.
In verse 10.
How many of us would like to say that we want the life of Jesus manifests in our bodies?
How many of us like to say that I would like the life of Jesus manifest in my body? Isn't that wonderful? But we don't want to go through with the first part of it always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Why? That means the end to this self first man, doesn't it? Simon the Tanner reminds us of that, a man who is going to put an end to self, that the life of Christ might be manifest in his body.
Not putting self 1St and self-interest and.
And and self motivations forward but putting Christ 1St and Peter had fellowship with that another of course one of the Simons is Simon Peter that we don't have too much time to to get into but the first words that.
The Lord Jesus said to Simon was follow me. Some of the first words and some of the last words that the Lord Jesus said to Simon Peter was follow me. Same word, same message. And in between those two we see a life in Peter that was filled with bumps and struggles.
He came walking onto the water.
To see the Lord Jesus, he's death, Lord Jesus, to see if he would come walk on the water and he came on. What happened when the Lord Jesus was with her when Simon Peter was walking on the water? Who remembers?
Well, he started to sink. Why? He got his eyes off the Lord, and it wouldn't have mattered if there was waves or if the water was calm. Circumstances don't matter. It's when we get our eyes off the Lord we sink.
Fear.
So what? Peter had fear of the waves? Do we have fears? Fear Fera false evidence appearing real?
Or do we have faith, full assurance in the heart?
There's lots of lessons in Peter.
Let's look at second Peter.
Chapter One.
Before I read this I would just like to mention one more thing that was mentioned last night in the life of Simon Peter in the meeting last night where the Lord says do you love me?
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Three times the Lord Jesus says, Do you love me? And if you go look up what the Lord Jesus is saying there to Peter, if you have like a strong's concordance and look up what the words mean, you'll find that the Lord Jesus does not use the same words every time. When he asked Peter if he loves him the first time, he says.
Are you fond of me, Peter?
And Peter says that he's fond of the Lord, and the Lord commissions him to nurture his lampkins, the baby lambs.
Next time he says to the Peter again, the Lord does to Simon Peter, are you fond of me?
And.
Peter says to the Lord, Lord, I am, I am fond of you. And the Lord instructs him to feed his sheep.
Now the Lord uses a different word. He says, Peter, are you attached to me? Why did he say that? Because he knew Peter's heart, and Peter knew that if he answered that question, attachment to the Lord would have to mean detachment from everything else.
But he would only have the Lord to follow.
That everything else had to go.
That the Lord would be first and #1.
And then with those words out of his mouth, we know it was real with him by what happened in the chapter of Acts.
It was real with Peter. Is it real with you? And we know it was real with Peter by these words that we would like to read together right now in second Peter chapter one Simon Peter, a servant of and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them.
Who hath obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, and so on.
We could read down through the.
1St 8 Four of these things being you and abound, they make you that ye be maybe neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The things within these verses, we don't have time to go over it. Please go over it if you want to be fruitful and abound in these things, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go over these things. It's very instructive if you want to be fruitful in the Kingdom of God.
It's right here. Peter will tell us how.
I want to close with one more Simon, but I want to say this first and this will help you understand how it's the most used named in the Bible. Simon is how we say it in Greek. Simeon is how we say it in Hebrew. Think of all the Simians.
And the last Simeon I want to or the first Simeon that we're going to look at, but we have to close what this is in Luke chapter 2.
Luke chapter 2 and.
Verse 25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
He was just and devout, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. Why? He was waiting for something, the consolation of Israel. He takes up the baby Jesus in his arms and he blesses him.
Titus two says looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, are we looking for that hope?
Simeon had a hope before him and it formed what he did in his life.
Do we have a hope before us of the Lords coming in his return? Does it so captivate our hearts that it has an influence on our behavior? This Simeon he heard and he did.
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Let's close in prayer. Our blessed God and loving Father, we thank Thee for the examples that are in Thy precious Word of all these people whose names mean to hear and to do Thy Word. And blessed Lord Jesus, indeed, there isn't anyone in this room who knows the other Savior, that somewhere deep down inside they do want to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only.
Yet, Lord Jesus, we need Thy help as we go through the school of life to learn.
The lessons that are before us, that our hearts might be attached to Thee.
That all other attachments must go. So help us Lord Jesus.
Do not just to hear thy word in Jesus name, Amen.
Relationship with Christ
Address—Tim Ruga
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OK, let's start our meeting by singing #24 in the appendix. Nothing but Christ is on. We tread nothing for everything lost for Him below. Nothing save him in all of our ways. I want to talk a little bit about that today. 24 in the appendix.
Nothing but.
Crisis on retreat?
Love, you've gone right, so I'm slave.
So.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee that we have such an object. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee that we can take up with Him every day of our lives here on earth and get to know Him better. But we thank Thee that thou has given Him not only to be our Savior, but also our constant companion.
And that one with whom we will spend all eternity.
We pray that that would give us more of a heart for him now and that his love, his person, his glory, and every part of him would fill our hearts while we're here in this world as we know it will in that coming day, we commit this meeting to the we pray that thou will just bless thy word is that is shared today.
And we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Let's start by turning to Matthew chapter 6.
Matthew 6 and.
Verse 24.
No man can serve 2 masters.
For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God in mammon. Now if you go to the companion verses to these in Luke chapter 16, you will see that in that chapter speaking, starting out talking about an unfaithful servant, a steward, and the subject there is money. And so you're wondering what this word mammon is, is speaking about money. I think riches is what's referred to there.
In Luke chapter 16.
And so we could talk.
About God versus money. But this afternoon I want to speak about Christ versus the world, because the principle is true.
It's true of things that oppose, it's true of two masters simply so that you can't serve 2 There's only one that you can serve. And in our house, we have a a picture that sits by the computer in our living room, and it's a picture of a man who's I would guess to be in his 30s, and he's standing.
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With one foot.
In one canoe and the other foot in another canoe.
And you can see these two canoes, and they appear to be slightly diverging. And this man is not standing straight upward. He appears to be going slightly backwards. And it's not hard looking at that picture to imagine what must have happened in the next moment. And so it's a really good object lesson. The verse is printed on the picture.
Because it's not possible.
Now we think we can do it, we think we can serve 2 masters, but like I said, I want to.
And take this up in order today.
In connection with Christ and the world today, I'm speaking to believers. We who are here profess to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. It is possible that there are some here who have not trusted in Christ. I will not be speaking primarily to you. And yet the principle still remains. First Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 22 Says if any man love not.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord is coming.
And so even you, you have a choice. You've got the choice of going after what your heart desires, those things that attracted in the world, or you can choose Christ, but you can have both. And so.
In the gospel, we can only preach Christ. That's your only hope.
And if you haven't yet trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is something you need to do today. Put your faith and trust in Him as the only one who can save you from your sins. But like I said, my purpose is to speak to believers. And so if you're a believer here today.
Please listen to what I'm going to say. I'm not going to speak this perfectly because I can't.
I'm speaking about choosing between 2 masters and the only way to do this perfectly is to be devoted. I am not. I ought to be. I purpose in my life to be and I failed many times. There was only one man, whoever lived on this earth who is devoted in all his ways. He could say I do always those things.
And that please him Speaking of his father. And his father could speak from heaven and say, This is my beloved son, in whom I have found all my delight.
To some degree or another, we fail. And yet still, as believers, we have a choice to make. We're either going to follow after Christ or we're going to follow after something else. And I'm talking about the world today.
So let's go and just look and define our terms a little bit. We'll go to First John chapter 2.
It might strike you that already some of the things I've said were similar to what was said in the Sunday school by brother Mark.
I was struck by how what was on his heart was similar to what the Lord had put in my heart, and perhaps that's what the Lord would have for it at the beginning of these meetings.
Is to really think about what our relationship is with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are, we are going to stand. We've got a whole week right now to be challenged about that.
And it's relatively easy to make a stand and a choice when you're surrounded by others who at least profess that they want to go on with and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's a lovely thing. But then we're going to leave here. We're going to go back to the world. We're going to be challenged individually in the world as to where we stand. And that challenge is going to come over and over again until the Lord Jesus comes. And so we really want to think about this.
First John 2, verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Now we're talking about the world, and in defining our terms, the world is that place that is really the system of the world. The Lord Jesus in his prayer said, pray to the Father. He said, I pray not to take them out of the world, but to deliver them from the evil. And so there's a whole system of things in the world around us.
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That is opposed to God and is opposed to Christ, and the word of God calls that the world.
And it's that system we're talking about. It's really important that we understand that, because you go back into the workplace or to school and you talk to the unsaved person who's next to you, and you find out that, well, this is somebody who's in the world, but how can it be bad to be talking to them? Well, that person is in the world if they don't know Christ.
But it's not speaking specifically about them, it's talking about the system that they're in and that they're enjoying and that motivates their heart.
It's talking about all that this the world desires, going after, the things that entertain it, the things that motivate it, all those things that were here when our Lord Jesus Christ was here.
And before he left, he said when the Holy Spirit has come, he will convince the world.
Of sin, of righteousness, of judgment.
Speaking of that second one of righteousness, he said of righteousness because.
I go to the father.
If there was righteousness in this world, anything that pleased God, the Lord Jesus Christ would have been here still. But He's not, and we're going to talk about that some more so.
These three things.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, these are the things that.
Fill up what the world is.
They correspond to each one of us. They speak to us who they speak about the other two enemies we have, the flesh, the devil speaking about the world today.
Our flesh, even though we're saved, desires the world. Satan uses the world to try to get us, and so we can take up those enemies in yet another way that the world doesn't. But the world is my subject because it's what is so often used to attract us and take us away from Christ.
These three things, the lusts of the flash, that's the body.
The lust of the eyes, that's more of those things that appeal to us and capture our affections that be our soul and the pride of life at which comes out of us as to maybe there are more thinking part our spirit.
All of that is appealed to, and Satan appealed to that rate in Genesis chapter 2 when he first approached man and caused man to fall.
And Eve saw after Satan spoke to her about the fruit of that tree.
That it was good to be desired for food. It's good food, rust of the flesh, and it was something that was to be desired. So they saw with their eyes it was a good thing. And then also it was the one that something can make one wise. If I had that, I would be wise and then people would know. I'd be able to discern things and pride came in.
And so Satan deceived, and he was deceived us. The fact that we're believers does not mean we're immune to this, because we have.
Still the flesh within us that will respond to what he says.
Now.
Having spoken briefly about Christ and the world, I just want to ask a question. Why should we?
And be devoted to Christ. Why should we choose that master? Now, I hope that answer to that question would be very obvious to every believer that's here. And yet, if you're honest, and I'm honest, we will say, we'll have to admit that we struggle with that answer, don't we? Because if we didn't struggle with that answer.
Satan would never be able to tempt us with the world.
We wouldn't get away into these other things. We would have a devoted heart for Christ.
But the fact of the matter is there's other things that come in and I want to talk about some of the reasons because it's good to see that.
There's a basic reason.
And that is that the Lord Jesus.
Bought you.
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He created you and He bought you. Let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 6.
First Corinthians, chapter 6.
Verse 19.
What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, that you have of God, and you are not your own, but you are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body.
That's what it says.
He owns you. He owns me. He.
Created us too. He's not full rights over us.
We call him Lord, don't we?
There came a day when you believed in your heart, and you confess them as Lords. What it says in Romans 10/9 right? If thou shalt believe in thine heart, thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. And so there came a day when you were saved.
And that's what happened. You said He's my Lord. You had believed on him.
And yet having called him Lord.
What living reality did that have in your life?
Thank God it had some. It had some. If you're a believer here today, it has some reality in your life. It has had some reality in my life. And yet, how weak has it been? How often has the failure been there?
Because He owns me, because He created me, I ought to be giving everything to Him, let alone this fact that I've called Him Lord. Look for a moment in Luke chapter 6.
This is a verse that has condemned me many times.
Maybe it is condemned you too. If not, it's good for it to start condemning you now.
Luke 6 verse 46 Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say now those are absolute terms.
That's black and white.
You almost read a verse like that and say if you call him Lord, but you don't do what he says and you're not a believer at all. Thank God the word of God doesn't quite speak that way. And yet the Lord Jesus said this. Why do you call me Lord and you don't do the things that I say?
That's very stark. That's very abrupt to speak that way. And yet that's what it is. If we say he's Lord, He's the one who rules over our life. He's the one who we own as the authority in our life, and yet we're going to do what we say. What are we saying? In effect, He's not the Lord.
I'm the Lord, I'm the one who governs my life. I decide.
That's what we're saying. We don't think of it that way.
If we did, we wouldn't be believers at all.
But it's good to think about what the effect of our actions is. The effect of our thoughts is is to deny His rightful place as Lord over us if we act that way.
You know, there's another higher motive.
For serving the Lord.
And that is, not only did he buy us, but he bought us with his blood.
He gave up everything that he had so that he might have you is that he might have me. But that's a great reason. The problem is we don't often think about it. We don't often realize it. We don't often think about what He really did for us. And it was really good to be here this morning to remember the Lord and his death. And the Lord knew that we would need that, and He instituted that feast that we would.
At least once a week to do that, because our thoughts and our minds and our hearts need to be recalled to what he did.
It's that important and we should do it many times in the intervening moments that through the week until that time comes again when we remember him and his death.
Let's go over to the verses that our brother read this morning in Chapter 7, just a page over.
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I.
The verse at the end of Luke 7.
We have here.
About Simon, again, I'm going to skip most of the story, but just talk about the woman now.
And.
First of all, the Lord said to him, he said there was a certain creditor in verse 41 which had two debtors, 1 owed 500 pence and the other 50.
And when they had nothing to pay, frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?
And Simon answered and said, I suppose he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou is rightly judged. Now here is a lot of the problem that we have. Sometimes they don't really think about what we are, what we have done. And this woman knew. And so the Lord Jesus says here.
A little further down, just one part of that.
He says verse 47.
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.
For she loved much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Now tell me, who in this room has had little forgiven them?
Really. Have you had little forgiven you, or has it been much?
It's been much for all of us, hasn't it? We don't often think about it, but it has been much for everyone of us.
And so if we really consider that fact, how much it was that we were forgiven, what will it produce in our hearts and lives? It will produce a sense of gratitude for Christ.
I want to go through another example, John chapter 20.
It's another woman.
She didn't have much intelligence about what was going on.
But she understood something. She had been forgiven much.
And all of her hopes in this world had come to an end.
They had been buried in a tomb, and she was in that place looking at that tomb, and she came there and she found something had changed, and she didn't know what it meant, and her heart was broken because the whole object of her love now was gone.
John, Chapter 20.
And.
Verse 11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weaving. This is after verse 10. The disciples went away.
And verse 14, let's just skip to there. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
And Jesus said unto her.
Woman, why weepest thou whom seeketh thou?
If.
She's supposing him to be the gardener said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabbi and I, Which is to say, Master.
Now this woman didn't know much, but she had a heart for Christ, and here she is at this tomb, weeping like we said, and she's looking there.
He's gone. She turns around and sees this man. And the words that she says, I've often been struck by them. She just says here.
Sir, if thou is born immense, tell me where thou hast laid him.
He's just, she's talking about him and him. Who's she talking about? Well, maybe the gardener could figure it out by whose tomb she was sleeping in front of. I don't know. I don't think they would have labeled it, and certainly not the time there. I'm not sure how she reasoned that.
I suspect she didn't reason that for her there was one person in the whole world.
He was gone.
Her heart was devoted.
That's the kind of heart he's looking for.
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He doesn't need the intelligence. He wants the heart. He wants the heart filled with love.
To vote, the Lord chose this wicked woman.
Whose heart had been touched by His grace? He chose her to appear to her first, and He gave her the message to go to the disciples.
It wasn't the intelligence of faith, but it was the heart of devotion for him.
That's what we're talking about today.
That kind of a heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, you know.
The world had ended for her. There was no more there. That's where the world is for me and for you. In fact, let's go to Galatians Chapter 6. See that again.
I know these things are often spoken on, but we need them, We forget them. Galatians 6, verse 14.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Here it is.
We too. Our life in this world ended at the cross.
The world sees us too dead there.
There's no more. The world put him on the cross. The world gave him a grave. That's where his life in the world ended, but for the power of God.
And that's where our lives end too, with that grave. We are buried with him. We are risen with him.
Now when we look at the world, we see that whole system of things that took our Savior once and would take him again.
And crucify him and we're with him.
Or at least we ought to be.
That's our place.
Let's go back to Matthew chapter 6.
Because I want to speak about these things.
Practically.
Matthew, Chapter 6.
And let's just go up a little farther.
Verse 21.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be. Also here again is talking about money.
I'm talking about Christ, it's true.
Christ is your treasure. Your heart will be there.
If your treasures in the world, the things of the world, whatever it is, your heart will be there. But you're not going to have both. It's a simple choice.
To have both is a moral impossibility.
Verse 22 The light of the body is the eye.
If therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
If I be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?
The Lord Jesus is speaking to disciples here.
And he's speaking about those who would have light.
And he's now talking about two kinds of an eye. And what he doesn't say here, I want you to notice, is that there's a single eye and there's a double eye. He doesn't speak that way because there's not a double eye.
There's a single eye and there's an evil eye, and I'm going to tell you the evil eye is single too.
But it's not single for Christ.
The evil eye is a single eye that's on anything else but Christ.
And that produces one thing inside of the believer, and that is moral darkness. And the Lord Jesus said, if that light that is in you, be darkness, and how great is that darkness? The darkness inside the believer that comes from an eye that is not for Christ is greater darkness than the darkness that you find in the unbeliever. How great is that darkness?
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Oh, God can recover us from it.
Thank God, and he does. He's faithful. He doesn't believe. He doesn't leave us where we are.
But we need to understand this verse 24 No man.
Can serve 2 masters.
For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise for the despise the other.
You cannot.
Serve Christ.
And the world.
You cannot serve God and Mammon, it says here.
And moral impossibility. Earlier this year, I met that man.
Like I said, he appeared to be about 30 years old when he was standing in those two canoes. When I met him earlier this year, he was in his 70s, so that was an old picture.
I asked him what happened to you? Oh, he said one moment later. I was wet. I was very wet. I went right in the water. I want to tell you that man, although he's not gather to the Lord's name, that man is going on and live his life for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's had a devoted heart for Christ and now in his 70s, he lives his life for Christ.
He's done it.
We can do it.
Let's just go a little farther on here. You say, you know, I know I have to live my life for Christ, but.
I also want to live for myself.
There are things I need in life. I've got to make a career. I've got to do things first for myself.
No, you don't.
No, I don't.
None of us have to do that. I thought so when I was young and the Lord impressed on me. This 33rd verse. Let's read it. Matthew 633.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Except that's not the way I read it.
Seek ye first, all these things.
And afterwards the Kingdom of God is righteousness will be added unto you. That's the way I read it.
Yeah, I'll go out, I'll get money.
I'll get things under control in my life and in the world.
I'll enjoy some time right now.
Later on, I'll have time for Christ.
Have you heard that lie before?
Straight from the devil.
If you haven't heard that lie then maybe the only one in the room. I've heard it many times from him.
It's a lie of the devil, and like every other lie of the devil, you can easily find out because it goes directly contrary to the word of God which says.
Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Did God say that? Yeah.
God manifests in the flesh, is it true?
And to doubt it is to doubt God Himself.
All these things shall be added unto you. Put him first, and all the rest is added to you. Are we willing to do it? You know our brother was talking earlier much about hearing the word of God.
We've just talked about the moral impossibility of serving 2 masters.
Word of God makes us very clear that there is only one thing we can do and that is to put the Lord Jesus Christ first in our life.
I want to talk just a little bit again about what our brother was bringing up.
That is, to spend time with the Word of God.
If we are going to put Him first in our life, we have to know what He is going to say to us, but we can't know what He's going to say to us unless we take up the Word of God.
It's no sense saying you've got a heart of devotion for Christ. If you care nothing for what he says, why do you call me Lord? Lord and you don't do the things that I say. You don't even care to know what it is that I say.
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You don't take up the word and read it.
So let's go on. Let's look at Luke chapter 10.
We'll probably refer to this this morning.
And we'll just start from verse 38 again.
Luke 1038 now came to pass. As they went, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.
What a place that is.
There's 40, but Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said Lord.
Does not dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore.
That she helped me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha.
Martha aren't much careful. They were careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.
There was one thing needful, and Mary was there to get it. Martha wanted something else. She went.
And spent time serving the Lord. That's a good thing, a wonderful thing to serve the Lord. Martha also had devotion for him.
I don't want to speak bad about her, but the Lord taught here about what was the one thing.
That was needful and it was that thing that Mary was doing.
Mary spent the time.
To know what the Lord was going to say. And you know, later on a test came, a test that no other disciple passed.
You go to the Gospel of Matthew and you read there how this the Lord was walking up towards the cross of Calvary five times over in that gospel, he told the disciples specifically.
What he was going to do?
That he was going to go and he's going to suffer, he's going to be betrayed, he's going to be offered up.
And they couldn't hear a word, he said.
They hadn't spent the time.
And they were thinking about other things, their thoughts, their hearts.
Were attached to him in some way, but they were also.
Divided, they weren't able to serve 2 masters either.
They wanted the cheapest place in the Kingdom. Their thought was on the world as they envisioned it.
Their own glory in it, not His glory.
There came a time.
Recorded in John chapter 12 just before the cross.
Where?
This woman Mary comes into the house with the Lord Jesus was and she had a pound of ointment spike in our.
Judas, Judas tells us.
We could get 300 pence for it.
That's what he thought it was worth.
Spirit of God says it was very costly.
And Mary took that, and she used it to anoint his feet.
And the Lord explained what she did because nobody else understood she understood.
She was anointing him against his burial.
And she's the only one who was able to do it.
A little bit later, the Lord was crucified. The other woman. They loved him very much.
They went to the grave. They wanted to go take his body and anoint him so much. They loved him.
But they hadn't spent that time with him to know what his mind was. They hadn't heard his word.
And so they weren't able to do it. When they came there, they found an empty tomb. He was gone.
And they loved him too, but there was only one who was able to anoint him against his burial.
It was this woman.
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Mary, the one who sat at his feet and heard his word.
She's so treasured and valued what he said. That's how far her heart went in devotion for him. The disciples didn't know till long after this.
Little later they were running away in terror for their lives. It was until after the Lord rose again that they knew what happened.
But here Mary knew.
That's what it means to be devoted.
Not only to love him, but to have that care, to sit at his feet and hear his word, and to do that over and over again.
Let's see another example by that devoted one himself, the Lord Jesus. Go to Matthew chapter 4.
Here he was tempted, just like we all are, by our enemy, Satan.
With of course 1 notable difference. The Lord Jesus could not be tempted with evil being God.
He was holy.
And yet he stood in the temptation to provide that example for us.
And I'm just going to pick out the second one.
Verse 7. Matthew 4. Verse 7. Jesus said unto him that Satan.
It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Verse 8. Now the second temptation.
Satan persists in it.
Read that last verse and the first temptation because it's important.
We may go away from this meeting thinking I stood a test. You may have a test that comes and you stand against the enemy. Well, be sure he's going to come right back again.
Verse 8 the 2nd temptation again.
The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.
Has Satan done that to you?
Oh, he's sure done it to me. And to my poor failing eyes, the glory of the world has looked pretty bright.
It's silly though. Put your eyes on Christ that changes.
Verse nine He said unto him, All these things will I give thee a foul, fall down and worship me.
Now we've got idolatry.
Our brother spoke about idolatry this morning.
I liked how he said that. Beware of nouns. It's a good point.
Person plays her thing about anything can become an idol. Come between US and the Lord.
And so Satan would tempt the Lord to come and worship him, go into this very gross form of idolatry. The Lord answers verse 10. He says, get the hand. Satan is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Now here are the two points that we're talking about today.
We can only have one master, you can have two.
Take up with the world or anything that Satan has to offer, as he did here, is to lose the other. Thank God not for eternity. You can't lose your salvation.
But practically in our lives down here, we will lose the Lord Jesus Christ as our Master. We will lose the practical presence of his life in our lives.
It's a great cost.
And the Lord Jesus said, no, you can't turn me aside from that path of devotion. Everything I have is for Him.
And I won't listen. And what did the Lord Jesus use?
The very same thing that you and I have. I think our brother was was stressing this morning the word of God.
He answers Satan, and that's what it is.
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And by thy word thou has kept me from the path of the destroyer, tells us in songs.
It is the Word of God that will keep us from that which Satan wants to take us and turn us into that path that is belongs to Him.
He will tempt you to go into some other way. And it doesn't look like it's the path of Satan. It may not even look like the world.
But the test is Christ.
Is that thing whatever it is? Is it that which would draw me closer to Christ, or is it that which would take me away?
Let's just look at a few other verses about hearing the Word of God, Luke chapter 6.
We'll just read a few verses here, and just for the expression of them, one is in Luke 6.
Verse 47 Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I show you to whom he is like. And then the Lord talks about the the house built on a rock and the one on the sand. But the point here is this expression hearing and doing. Let's go to Luke 11.
Verse.
28 But he said, yeah, rather blessed are they that hear the word and keep it. Now it goes even a little beyond just doing.
Doing is great. Hearing is vital. We're not going to do if we don't hear. By the way, I hope we got that point. If you don't hear the word of God, you're not going to do it. And it's not enough to have heard it once. We forget.
Spirit of God reminds us those things that He has said unto us, and it's that which cleanses our way day by day. But here it goes beyond to keeping It's not that you did it once, but you're going to keep doing it.
You got his word and you're not going to let it go because his word came from him and you love him. You devoted to him and so you're going to keep it. It's more important to you than anything else.
And his word, he recognized himself.
The living Word of God.
And so his word is that which has value in the life of a believer, if we want to please him.
John 14.
John 14 and verse.
15.
If he loved me, keep my commandments.
Like I said, it does no good to talk about being devoted to Christ but caring nothing about what He says. That's meaningless. Why do you call me Lord? Lord and you don't do the things that I say. He says if you love me, keep my commandments. Verse 23.
Jesus answering, said unto him.
If a man loved me, he will keep my words.
Simple commandments, His words, whatever they are, say, well, I'll just keep whatever He directly commands me. No, it's His word. Whatever he said, that's the expression of his heart. That's what he desires here. It is the word of God. We have it in our hands. We can take it up every day.
And by keeping it, we love him.
It doesn't mean we don't go to the Lord Jesus Christ and tell Him that we appreciate what He's done for us. It doesn't mean we don't pray. Yes, we do that too. That's plainly there.
The Word of God tells us that, so we know that as well. But we're going to take this precious book up. We're going to know what it says, and we're going to do it. We're going to keep it.
But there's one other practical thing. There's many practical things that could be raised with this, but I want to talk about the coming of the Lord Philippians Chapter 3.
Because this is very related to the subject.
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And we'll just take a few verses out of this.
But verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul had his eye, and that coming glory, and all that was going to be his in that day.
Thank God when that day comes, everyone of us will be perfect.
Our hearts will be fully undivided.
Then.
Wouldn't wait for then, he said. Right now, forgetting the things that are behind, he says. I'm pressing for that. What's the alternative to that?
Let's look a little further on here verse 18 for many walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly.
And whose glory is in their shame?
Who mind earthly things?
Can we do this as believers? Yeah, we can. Does it mean then we're going to destruction? Thank God, no.
But we take the place of these ones spoken of in this verse. We get away from Christ and we have that evil eye. This is where we end up.
Verse 20.
Where we end up, by the way, is mining earthly things, not destruction. Hope that was clear.
For our conversation has citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
And so we have before us this coming glory. The Lord Jesus is just about to come. He's going to come out of heaven as Savior. I think it's a better way. This should be expressed. And He's going to deliver us from everything here. But that should take our hearts. That should capture our hearts and take us completely away from this world.
To His glory.
You know.
Our time is just about gone. I want to skip ahead then to just one other thing and go to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews 12. Sorry.
Because now.
We're sitting here, we're considering this, and every single one of us, speaker included, is that just a certain point in the journey of our life?
And whatever happened before this point in our life has happened, and there's nothing that we can do right now to change the fact that it happened.
But there's everything that we can do right now to change what will happen in the future.
And so as I look around at this group, I see many who are young, many who are older and.
It always strikes me the same way and sorry if I've said this before, but here it is again that we have a choice.
And tomorrow we're going to have another choice, and every day after that, until the Lord comes, we'll have another choice. And that will be a choice as to what we're going to do.
And it has often struck me that among those in assemblies, often we're going on very weakly. We say it's a day of small things and we're struggling and we're saying where are the others that can come in and be a help and encouragement to me.
And few are saying where are the others that I can go be a help and encouragement to.
Because that's what we have the privilege of doing.
I'll tell you where is the one who can be a help and encouragement to you. He wants to live every moment of your life with you.
He wants your heart devoted to him and you can lean on him anytime, day or night. He will never move.
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He'll never let you down.
His side is perfect, he's only looking for living relationship.
Look what it says in these verses.
Verse 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.
And make straight paths for your feet, less that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
And follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
That's enough right there, you know, as I think about all the young people here.
Can cut most of your life in front of you.
You especially need this.
Simply because you've got more life. If the Lord doesn't come to live for Him, then those of us who are older do.
What's the cost if you don't?
Those of us who have gotten older have seen the cost many times in our own lives, sometimes in the lives of others.
Maybe the Lord is married for you.
You're going to marry the right one.
Are you going to make that choice for yourself without him, and hope that somehow he overrules as he might do in your life and gives you the right one?
I'm going to tell you right now many who have gotten older.
And lived their lives without reference to him, even though there were two believers made a terrible mistake in that regard.
Others of us have gone and gotten into sin.
Others have gone out and gotten the wrong job.
You're going to get a job, young people. What job will it be?
Is it a job we're going to see first seek these things and afterwards the Kingdom of God is righteousness. Are you going to make sure that your job allows you to be where the Lord is?
This is very practical. You can't say Lord, Lord and don't do the things that he says.
Is it possible that you're going to go out without the mind of the Lord and get yourself a great school debt that you're going to be paying off or half your married life?
I'm not speaking against education.
That's what the Lord wants you to do. You'd better do it.
But ask them.
What does he want you to do? And if you're going to live your life for yourself right now as a young person, you're not in a position to know. If you're not going to take up this precious word and get from him what this book says, you won't know.
And this is the critical time of your life where when you make these decisions and you're wrong, you're going to live with those decisions the rest of your life.
So don't go away from here and say this isn't important, it is. It's vital. It affects your whole life.
And I pray God you won't think back at some future date and say I wish I had paid attention to that then.
You don't need to make the mistake and the way you won't make the mistake.
Is to stay close to Christ.
Starting from now.
Those of us are older, so we've made lots of mistakes. Can we not live our life for Christ now? Can we not go on in our assemblies seeking to be used by Him now?
Yes, we can.
Can we not go and encourage our brethren?
Give to the Lord the expression of our hearts before Him in His presence. Seek to be used any way He chooses.
Yes, we can.
If we love him.
It's not in the power of our strength that we can do any of those things, but in the heart of love and devotion for him.
You know, that's the practical side as to our day-to-day life, but you say what is?
The attraction really, because the world has the great attraction. I just want to end on that in Psalm 16.
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This Psalm is speaking.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was a devoted man.
And what it says about him here and most of these verses apply to us.
Who followed him? We're in Christ. We have his life now.
I'll just read a few of them in closing verse five. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.
Yeah, I have a goodly heritage and I'm going to tell you right now.
A living day by day relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word is so far beyond anything that the world can give.
Many in this room perhaps have tasted and known that. If you haven't, I just say try it. You'll discover a joy that you can never possibly know in this world.
Verse eight, I've set the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
This one doesn't need support. I'm not saying he shouldn't have it. This one is able to support others. Oh yes, the Lord uses brethren to help one another. Thank God for that. I've received plenty of that help.
Because I didn't really get what I needed from the Lord, and yet He was always there and to be in this place. Now we're ready to be used by Him to help another. And the Lord knows as many who need it. And our primary help ought to be the same thing. To lead them to Him, put them next to Him, they can. Lean against Him, they can. He can never be moved.
I shall not be moved. Is that because I'm strong?
Not for a moment. You put me by myself, you'll move me in an instant. But when I lean up against him, you can never move me.
Same with all of us.
He's the rock that cannot be moved. Never.
Any of us leaning on him are unmovable.
Away from him we've got no strength whatever.
Verse 11. Last verse.
That will show me.
And the path of life.
And my presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. We often think about this as heaven, and it is.
But I'm going to tell you this heaven on earth as well, that we can all have by simply dwelling in His presence.
We don't have to wait till then for this first to be true. It's true right now by having that devoted life, living relationship with Christ, enjoying fellowship with Him through His Word, and speaking to Him. That's my encouragement at the beginning of these meetings. I hope as time goes on through this week.
That will encourage one another on in the Lord and then as we go away from here.
That will live our lives true for him and not it turned away by that one who wants to take us after the world. No man can serve 2 masters. Let's pray.
Our God and their Father, we thank thee for.
That precious man, that one who is devoted, that one who is our Savior, Redeemer, our Lord.
Our companion for eternity. We thank thee that we have him right now.
Is our object, our hope, our life, our All in all we pray.
That that would make this more real in each one of our hearts, day by day.
Each one of us here would live lies for him and for thee, devoted to him.
We thank thee that soon will be in another place.
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With the temptations of this world are over.
But until then, we just confess our weakness and we ask for thy help. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Lessons in Creation
Gospel—Tim Roach
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Good evening. Welcome to the Gospel Meeting tonight.
I want to start by seeing #38 in the back of the book.
We adore the evermore Savior for thy boundless grace, for the cross, whereby to us sure is made eternal bliss.
For thy death which set us free from sins, cruel slavery.
For thine all atoning blood, which hath brought us nigh to God. Hallelujah. You tonight can be brought nigh to God, but it's only going to be through the blood of Christ. It's not going to be by what I say tonight. It's going to be by the word of God. It's going to be by the power of the Spirit. It's going to be by the blood of Christ.
Let's sing #38.
We adore the.
Oh.
Our God and Father, we give thanks that we can stand here once again with the gospel, the gospel of God's grace, and we just pray for anyone here tonight who may be struggling with life, struggling for the purpose of why they're here, struggling for why God put them on this life, and not knowing what to do with life. Father, we just ask for for help this evening that they would see Christ in in God's overall plan.
We just asked for help this evening. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
I want to talk tonight about lessons we can get from history and create and creation. And I want to read some verses in John One and Genesis One, and I'll just read a couple verses here from John One verse one and two and it's about the beginning. But before creation there was always one true God.
And the one true God had no beginning.
And in John chapter one, verse one and two it says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
Now the word here is the Son of God, and they called his name Jesus.
Jesus is God. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Creator. He's the one who made you. He's the one who puts you here in this room.
Tonight and in verse three it says all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made these verses. They show the eternality of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ existed before the beginning, you and I. All we know is things that have beginnings, but Jesus Christ had no beginning. When you go to Genesis 11.
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Genesis 11. We see that it was in the beginning that God created the heavens and the earth.
That is when measurable existence began, when God created the heavens and the earth, and I say measurable existence. But man really has no way of measuring the age of the universe.
They try with all sorts of different scientific methods, but they're always finding that the universe is far more exceeding and excessive and extensive than they can calculate science.
Science suggests that the Earth is maybe millions or billions of years old.
But.
What is that with God? What's a billion years with God? God existed from everlasting. That's a billion years. That's nothing.
From everlasting the The definition for everlasting is time out of mind. See you just it's we can't comprehend it Time out of mind so a billion light years in the past doesn't even begin to touch.
The beginning of the existence of God. He always existed, but he uses the words in the beginning because that's what our finite minds.
Can understand we can. We can't really even understand that, but we can grasp a little bit in the beginning.
So what was God doing ever since the beginning? What was he doing a billion years ago?
Somewhere in that unmeasurable existence, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 11 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning.
We can't comprehend when that was. God is so infinite. We can't limit God to time after that initial creation. We do not know how long of a time there was.
Before Genesis One verse 2, let's read Genesis One verse 2 and.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters about 6000 years ago.
The earth was found in a state of confusion and chaos. The Bible says it was without form. It was envoy. It was waste and empty. Isaiah 445 and 18 says that God did not create the world waste and empty, but here.
In Genesis one verse two, what do we find? The world is waste and empty. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11 Says God created everything beautiful in its time. But here in Genesis one verse two, it was not beautiful.
Something happened and this earth became shrouded in darkness and it was covered with water and the Spirit of God, Genesis one verse 2. The Spirit of God moved.
Upon the face of the waters, Can you imagine what God was thinking when he came down? The Spirit of God was moving over the waters of this earth through the darkness in the chaos, observing the waste and emptiness that was the earth had become.
It was after this that there were six days in which God reconditioned the earth, for He fixed the earth up.
And that's what we refer to as creation. God. God prepared the earth for man to stay in. Man had a had to have a place to live. He couldn't live in darkness and in an earth that was covered with water. So God had to fix it up. And he He prepared, He made a beautiful garden.
And he provided everything in that garden that man would ever have to need for life.
And the last thing that God created was man and woman. He made man from the dust of the earth, and he made woman from a rib that he took out of the side of the man.
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Now the rib of Adam who is close to his heart.
That's because God wanted Adam to love that woman.
And it was also the rib was also under his arms, near his hands, because God wanted the man to provide for his wife, and he wanted that man to protect.
The Woman. Let's go to First Timothy Chapter 5.
I want to talk about providing and protecting. These are gods. Can I use the word primitive?
God's primitive state that he put man in and it and his his standards really haven't changed. They haven't changed ever since the beginning of time.
And so I want to talk about provision. We said that the woman was made from the side of the man. She was not made from a foot of the man. She was not the slave of the man. The man is supposed to provide for the woman. The woman's not supposed to provide for the man. The woman's duty is to guide the house. And in First Timothy 514 it says, I will therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
The women to guide the house According to Strong Streak Interlinear guide, the house means to be the head of.
I go to some people's homes and they have a sign up there and says Christ is the head of this home. But this verse says that the woman is the head of the house. It says she is to rule the family. And so God's original plan for the family is that the man is out working and providing and protecting.
And making a living for the family and the wife. She rules in the home sphere.
And she prepares the home, and she raises the children and she teaches them. And she prepares the children for adulthood.
The woman is not the head over the man.
Ultimately, we husbands are the head of the wife.
And what she does in the family and in the home, it rests on our shoulders. It's our responsibility. Even the woman, even though the woman is the ruler in the house, she is still to be subject.
To the man.
And she needs to operate under the authority of her husband. That's God's plan, and that's how he set it up, right from the primitive beginnings of man. So husbands and fathers.
We will answer to God for the way we have used or abused our headship.
In our relationship with our wife and our families, let's go to Colossians Chapter One.
That was provision. Now we're going to talk about protection.
Because the man also has the responsibility to protect his wife and his family from all dangers. And there's a lot of dangers in this world that we need protection from. There's physical dangers, there's moral dangers, and there's spiritual dangers. And let's read Colossians chapter one and verse 18.
And it shows us that in all things he might have the preeminence that speaking about the Lord Jesus, Jesus Christ should have the preeminence in all things. Preeminence means that Jesus Christ gets first priority in our plans.
First priority. But there are so many things that come in and they distract the family from a life that owners gone, even you children, you know, there's things that come in life and in school and in sports and things and they take our minds and our hearts and they try to lead us away from God.
And so it may be hard to recognize some of these dangers. Well, Satan tries to occupy us with so many seemingly innocent things, such as, like we mentioned, the sports and music and work, perhaps family reunions.
And other things and when these things become more important to us and we give them first priority over.
Jesus Christ.
These other things, innocent things, they can replace our devotion to Christ.
00:15:04
And so we need to protect our families from becoming occupied with these distractions.
Otherwise, we'll begin to forget the assembling of ourselves together.
In the assembly meetings.
If I regard for the respect of Christ becomes a second priority.
This is going to teach our children that it's OK to give God second place. Our children, they see what we do. They know how we act and they know what's important to us, and they know what's first priority in our lives and they know what second priority in our lives.
And they will think that it's OK to give God second place when there's something else more important, and what defines something that's more important.
Dad, you and I, we define what's important.
Eventually.
If the ways of the Lord Jesus are not important.
Our kids will see hypocrisy.
We'll see hypocrisy in US parents.
And it won't be long before they stop coming to the meetings at all. Everything becomes first priority. Everything with Christ becomes second priority. Let's go back to Genesis 2.
In verse 18.
And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him help me for him.
So the woman was to be a helper and a friend to the man. God breathed his life into the man. He gave them life. He put the man and the woman in the garden. You know God made the man first.
And then he made the woman. And because God made the man, first he gave the man instructions on how to conduct himself, how to live, how to behave himself in the garden.
And he gave the man to be the head of that relationship.
In the in the relationship of husband and wife.
And the man was responsible to pass the instructions on to his wife.
And so we've had protect, provide and protect. Now we see that there's headship. And in this headship we see that the husband in a small way, becomes responsibility for being a prophet and a priest.
As a prophet dads husbands.
We present God to our families.
And we do that by reading the Bible. It's the word of God.
And as a priest, a man presents his family to God. He prays for them. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6.
And we'll talk a little bit about the profit, what the Prophet does.
Each each husband must perform the duties of a prophet in his home and we we spoke earlier about a woman's role of guiding and ruling in the house in the family yet.
It's very important for the man not to abandon his responsibility in the family, and here in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse six says Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
Up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. I believe this can relate to a family Bible reading.
Bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord we fathers and I include myself in this admonition.
Fathers, we need to get serious and to take our responsibility to nurture our children.
Nurture them in the ways of God and the admonition of the Lord. We need to teach them and we need to be an example to them.
00:20:00
An example of purity and integrity and honesty.
Generosity and so many other qualities, we need to be an example to our families and we need to raise them in the fear of the Lord.
And so as a prophet.
We husbands should be a spiritual leader in our home. I know this is a gospel meeting and we haven't had much gospel, but this sets up God's order. What good is the gospel if there is no order? And so God put man on the earth because he wanted to love them. He put them on the earth because he wanted to have fellowship with them. And that's the purpose of the gospel meeting, to put you into a position where God can have fellowship with you before you can have fellowship with you. We just want to sit.
Up God's plan that he has for man. Let's go to Second Timothy, chapter one.
I know the man to be the spiritual leader in the home, but what happens if the woman happens to know more than the man? And sometimes that's the the case. What can you do if the woman, the wife, knows more than the husband? Well, thankfully the wife hasn't helped me and she can help her husband to understand some of the things.
In the word of God, and I think that could be quite orderly.
But it is your responsibility, fathers, husbands, It's your response. It's our responsibility to make sure that we have the Bible reading. Maybe we don't know how to explain it, but we have the responsibility to present the word of God to our families.
Eventually, as we read through the word of God, we'll learn more about about what God wants us to be. But first, first, we need to be willing to take the responsibility of spiritual leader in our in our homes. And in Second Timothy chapter 3, verse one, he says, I thank God this is Paul speaking that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. This is the Apostle Paul. He's praying.
Who's he praying for? He's praying for a spiritual son that he had. The man has the responsibility of being priest in the family.
A priest is one who goes to God in prayer for his wife.
On behalf of his wife and his children.
And so we need to pray for our wife. She has the responsibility of guiding the house.
Do you pray for your wife?
You pray for discernment and ability for her to manage her responsibilities.
And so we see that family prayer.
Is important.
Family prayer together. It's important and so.
Some of us maybe aren't very good at praying.
But yet we still have the responsibility to pray with our family and for our families.
But God doesn't ask you to be a good prayer.
God wants us to have fellowship with him as a family. You see. God wants to have fellowship with you, whether you're old or young. God wants to have fellowship with you. And so we learned to have fellowship with God when we have Bible and prayer readings.
In the home. And so again, let's read the verse 3 second Timothy 1/3. I thank God.
That without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. So the Apostle Paul, as we mentioned, he was a spiritual father to Timothy, and he prayed without ceasing for his spiritual son Timothy.
He cared about him. Do we as husbands and fathers?
Do we pray for our wives and for our children? Do we pray with our families? Let's go back to Genesis 1.
In brief, we've had as a prophet we read the Bible, we try to discuss it a little bit, and as a priest we pray for our families and present them to God, and and on we go to God on behalf of our wife and our family.
OK, let's continue now with our our history lesson, because back in Genesis 1.
00:25:04
And verse 31 We see that God looked at everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
God looked at what he had. The earth was there in chaos. It was waste and empty. And he fixed it up. And he looked at what he had done over those six days, and behold, it says it was very good.
And so God rested on the 7th day.
In chapter 2 and verse 19.
We see that Adam and his wife, they were to rule over the creation and then Adam was told to give names to the animals and it says whatsoever.
Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name of it. And so God created man.
Special after he named the animals.
We find that God created man special.
Do you see animals naming people?
No, the animals they they're on a very low level. Some of them have higher intellect, but not not like a man, not like a human. God created man special in his own image. In verse 26 of Genesis one we find that God created man in the image of God created he him. So God created man different from the animals.
Adam gave the animals their names but for us.
He made us in the image of God, and God did this because he loves people. He loves you, and he wanted the people to be his friends. That's how many people are in this this world. Oh, there's too many to count. God put them all in here, all the people in this room. God put us on this earth because he wants us to be his friends, and God wants to have fellowship with his people.
And in Genesis 2 verse 24.
We see that God was thinking ahead, and he was thinking of Christ in the church. When he had joined Adam and Eve together in marriage, he joined. She wasn't named Eve, yet. He he he joined Adam and the woman together in marriage. Genesis 224 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be 1 flesh.
So just like God gave.
Gave to Adam the woman. He gave him the woman to be his helper and his friend. Well, God the Father wants to give you to Jesus Christ to be his friend. He wants you to be his friend. Jesus wants you to belong to him.
He wants to make you one with him. He wants you to be a part of his body, a part of the body of Christ. He wants you to be joined together with him.
But there's a problem.
And that problem is that we're born as sinners.
But.
God wants you to be together with him.
God told Adam.
He told Adam and his wife to be fruitful and multiply, so there could be more and more people on the earth, so there would be more people for God to love. And that's why you are here tonight.
Now there was no sin in the Garden of Eden. It was perfect.
Adam and his wife, they were sinless.
But they were not holy. God is holy. We're told that in Him is no sin. He could not sin because he is holy. But we know that Adam and Eve were not holy because it wasn't long before Adam and Eve they sinned.
Adam and Eve sinned and they turned away from God and in Genesis 3 verse 8.
We see that they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. So we see there's a problem.
Adam and Eve sinned.
There was failure.
And when there was failure, when they disobeyed God, they received a conscience, and they knew they were sinners, and they hid from God. Man and woman had good lives in the Garden of Eden. They didn't really have any work. They had no hunger, they had no thirst, they had no pain, and they had no clothes. And they were not ashamed.
00:30:20
There was number sin. There's no corruption, there's no pollution, there's no global warming. Everything was perfect. And God came down to talk with Adam and his wife early in the mornings, it says here in the cool of the day. So he came to visit Adam and Eve. He wanted to have fellowship with them because he loved them. God told them don't eat.
Of one tree in the middle of the garden, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Well, the woman, she came close to that tree. She looked up at it. It looked pretty nice. It looked pretty good even to eat.
And then Satan he called to the woman.
And he tempted her, and he made her doubt what God had told her. And then he lied to her.
Let's read Genesis 3 verse four. He says. You will not die.
He lied to her because God said if you eat the fruit of that tree, you will surely die. He said You won't die.
Verse 6.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make her wise, oh, she looked at that tree. She she said, Oh, it looks good for food. It's going to make me wise.
When she saw that she became covetousness and her covetousness turned to lust. And as we read in James one verse 15, when lust had conceived, it brought forth sin, that is, she ate the fruit, she lusted for that fruit.
And she took it, and she ate it when she became a Sinner. And she received a conscience. She brings it to her husband, and he gives it to him to eat.
It says.
She gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
So Adam and his wife, they disobeyed God.
They could try to blame each other or blame Satan, but it was their own fault that they had sinned against God.
And sin.
When it is finished brings forth death, Adam and Eve. They began to die because Adam and Eve became sinners.
After Adam and his wife ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, guess what? They had knowledge of good and evil. They had a conscience.
And the fruit, the fruit made them understand. When they ate that fruit, they understood immediately that they had done wrong. They knew that they had sinned against God. And they looked at themselves, and they discovered that they were naked, and they became ashamed.
Adam and Eve, they went to the trees, they took some leaves down, they sewed them together, and they made themselves aprons from those leaves. Let's look at verse 7.
Genesis 3. Seven And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
I think they would have been better off to leave their aprons on the tree.
But because the leaves did not cover their sin.
We can find in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 13. It says that all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Adam and Eve, They sinned against God, They ate the fruit, and they realized that even with their their leaves that they had to cover them.
They were still naked and opened.
Unto the eyes of God.
How many of you are sitting in this room tonight? Maybe you're ignoring the message. You don't really want to hear it.
00:35:05
Your mom and dad, they think you're saved because you sort of confessed the Lord is your savior one day.
But you didn't really understand.
Maybe you are saved, but perhaps your life does not have the evidence of repentance.
God can see right down into your heart. He knows whether your salvation is true, whether you have repented.
And whether you have believed?
When God came down into the garden to have fellowship with with Adam and the woman.
It couldn't happen. He couldn't have fellowship with them because sin had broken the fellowship, so they could not come together. And so the man and woman, what did they do? They hid from God. They went and hid behind the Bush because they had disobeyed.
And they were naked.
In verse nine God called and he says Adam, where are you?
In verse 10, Adam says I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and then got us out of me, says verse 11. Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
Then Adam.
He had to confess his sin.
But God was not happy because the sin had broken the fellowship. God had come down to have fellowship with man, but it was broken.
Fellowship between God and man.
God had said that the man and the woman would begin to die. Now let's look at a verse in Genesis 315 when there when sin.
The result is death.
And God spoke here in Genesis 3 speaking to Satan in Genesis 315, and he says I will put enmity between you and the woman.
And between your seed and her seed, the seed of the woman shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Adam. He believed that this was a message of hope, a message of hope for the people of the world. He believed that a Redeemer would come and destroy the power of sin and of Satan. And he believed that there would be a way of escape from this sentence of death.
And the day that you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will surely die. Now there was going to be a Redeemer, one who would stand in the gap and take the punishment.
Adam believed that.
The Person of God the Father. He sent God the person of God the Son to be the Savior of the world, and they called his name Jesus. Jesus is the seed of the woman that was prophesied here.
In Genesis 315.
Jesus, He is the Redeemer.
And it's only through Jesus that you can have hope of eternal life.
How do you get eternal life? Let's go to Act 16, Act 16, verse 31.
How do you get eternal life?
You've heard it many times. You've learned the verse in your Sunday school papers.
And you're going to hear it again tonight. Act 16, verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
But why believe in Jesus Christ?
Because he is God. Because Christ died for your sins. Because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from every sin.
Maybe you'll try other ways. Maybe you'll just ignore Jesus Christ. But you cannot ignore the fact that you are a Sinner separated from God because of your sin. And one day, the fact is that you will stand before Jesus Christ as your judge, and you will give an account of yourself to God.
And you will ask the question. You will have to answer the question.
00:40:02
What did you do with Jesus, who is called Christ? What did you do with Jesus?
Did you believe?
God loves you. I know you've heard it all your life, so it maybe it doesn't really mean anything to you. God loves me. But where is God? He's up there and somewhere in the in the sky, if he's really there.
But he loves you.
He can only understand that by faith.
God loves you and He wants you, and he died to redeem you.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. But you can have eternal life.
What will you do with Jesus?
What will you do with Jesus? Will you believe in? Will you receive him? Will you believe on him?
Or will you reject him?
Let's go back to Genesis 316.
And God speaks to the woman here in Genesis 316.
And he's telling the woman that she's going to suffer pain and sorrow when she's pregnant and when she enduring her childbirth.
And God said, Then God says to her, says her desire shall be to her husband.
That means her desire shall be to her husband.
That means she will want to be with her husband.
She will look to him for her direction.
And she will want to take care of him.
And she will want to be LED spiritually.
Fathers and husbands, we are the leaders in our home. We need to lead spiritually.
We may need to make spiritual decisions. We may need to make moral decisions.
We may need to make practical decisions and the woman desires her husband to take the lead in making those decisions.
And as a friend.
To her husband, she will be connected to you through good communication.
And yes, I know.
That I fail at this, that much of this.
But those are God's desires that God has put into a woman and.
Then God says to the woman.
About the man.
He says the man he shall rule over you. The man shall rule over you. Let's go to First Timothy 6 and verse 8.
OK, so now we have a man who's going to rule over the woman.
What does that mean?
It does not mean that the man should rule as a king or a tyrant, or act like the boss. Some people teach that, you know.
But a man should rule as one who looks out for his wife's best interest.
And as the head of the wife, the husband, he leads in prayer.
And he reads the word of God to his family, and he works to provide food and shelter and protection and clothes for his family. And then in First Timothy 6 verse eight, it says having food and raiment. Let us speak content.
That let us be there with contender, let us be content with that food and raiment.
But we've become discontent.
And we want to provide.
Instead of just food and raiment, we want to provide entertainment, we want to provide pleasure, we want to provide riches.
And then it becomes hard for our kids to get saved.
Because in this rich society, it makes it difficult for our kids to enter into the Kingdom of God. Because what do we need God for? We have everything we want. We have all the enjoyment and pleasure that we want.
So what do we need God for?
00:45:01
You know, Adam, he should have been protecting his wife. She wanted that fruit.
She shouldn't have had that fruit. She needed to be protected.
And so is so. Adam should have been protecting his wife from those spiritual dangers that were lurking in the garden, with Satan coming in to tempt her.
We husbands need to protect our families and protect our wife from the spiritual dangers. Because Satan and his enemies, they're never very far away. They're always ready to take us down.
And he has his demons that run around too, and they're trying to destroy.
You too. And they're trying to break down the walls of protection that you maybe have set up. And they're waiting to destroy our morals. They're waiting to to damage our our integrity. And they they want to weaken our faith, our trust in God. Let's go to First Peter 5.
First Peter 5.
And so we as husbands and fathers, we need to protect our families from the wild of the devil. And here in First Peter 5 verse eight, it tells us to be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about.
Seeking whom he may devour.
Plus, Satan is so tricky.
The Wiles of the devil. Satan likes to use commitments.
To very insidiously drag us down because he knows that a commitment or that he knows that we believe a commitment is a good thing and commitments are good things, but when we are committed to an association.
And we are in league by association with the league or society or or an activity or anything else that compromises our devotion to Christ.
Then the walls of protection, they begin to crumble.
Fathers and husbands.
We need to protect our families from the influences of all the spiritual wickedness and the Wiles of the devil.
Go back to Genesis 3.
Genesis 3.
In verse 17 and 18.
And in these verses we see the.
God curses the ground.
And he curses the ground so that it won't grow the food as well as it did before.
And it's grounds going to grow thorns.
And as a result, man's going to have to work hard. He's going to have to live by the sweat of his brow to provide for his family. He's going to have to sweat.
And that's true. Isn't that true? We need to sweat. What happens if we do not sweat?
When we work hard, our body temperatures go up. And when our body temperatures go up, it helps to kill germs that that that invade our bodies. And if we don't sweat, we don't get our body temperatures up high enough to sweat.
We might get sick and so why do we see people going to the gym? Why do we see people going out and run so they can sweat? Why? Because we work in air conditioned offices. We try to change around the the way of God. I know we don't, but society has changed the way of God, he says You got to work hard and sweat to provide your food. But we like to sit in our our nice cool offices, but that's just the way things are today. And so we need to do something else to make us sweat. And so Adam.
Adam believed.
That God's promise that a Redeemer would come and bruise the head of Satan by redeeming the world.
Adam He was saved by faith. That's the only way you can be saved by faith. Adam's faith was shown to us when he gave his wife her name. He called her Eve. Now the name Eve, that means the mother of all living God had said that the soul that sins it shall surely die.
But Adam believed God's promise of a Redeemer that would redeem and provide a way of life to save sinful man. He believed that promise that we had in Genesis 315. So let's go now over to John first John Chapter one.
00:50:19
First John chapter one.
And as a result of sin, Adam and Eve, they had a bad conscience, and they were ashamed, even with the leaves covering them or trying to cover them. But God is merciful, God is merciful, and he made them coats of ice.
Animal skins. But the animal had to die. The animal had to die.
To cover their results of their sin. And when that animal died, God had to shed the blood of the animal. And immediately God was thinking. When he did that he was thinking of Jesus Christ, who had come to be the Lamb of God who would be slain at the cross of Calvary. And our sins would be put on him, and he would be punished for our sins.
And so God covered the results of our sin through the death or through Adam's sin through the death and the shed blood of an animal. It is the blood that cancels. Sin is the blood that cleans from.
Sin in first John 17. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Adam and Evan went out of the garden.
And they were separated from God because of their sin. They were now classified as sinners because they had sinned. God sent his angels with swords with flames on the swords, and the angels stood there by the entrance of the garden. And the swords were going back and forth, going every which way to keep Adam and his wife Eve out of the garden. God didn't want people going back into that garden.
And those angels? They would stop sinners from going back into the garden to get to the tree of life.
Because there was another tree in the middle of the garden, and it was the tree of life. And if they had eaten of that tree of life, they would have lived forever in their sinful state as sinners.
But God, by his grace, he promised that man, if he sinned, he would die. He would not live in eternal state as a Sinner in a world corrupted by sin. That was God's promise, and so he kept them away from that tree of life. But now God has provided a way for you to have eternal life without the sin, and so you can live forever without sin, and that is called eternal life.
Let's go over to Genesis 5 again.
Well, Adam and Eve, they started to get old. You could see them, they're getting older and older and eventually they die. And Genesis 5 verse five, it says all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. Well isn't that true? The wages of sin is death. God promised they would die and guess what, they died.
The wages of sin is death.
Just to review a little bit what we've had.
We've learned that sin.
Separates man from God. And that's why we have the Gospel meeting. Because when you have how many people we have in here, 100 and 8000 and 70, when you have 170 people in one room, the chances are very good. There's probably one or two or three people who are not saved. And that's why we have the Gospel meeting. That's why we prayed before the meeting for you, that you might hear the gospel.
That you might be saved. There is someone here tonight who is not saved. You know who you are. I'm not going to point you out. God knows who you are and he's going to point at you tonight. He's going to point his finger at your heart. What are you going to do with Jesus tonight?
Your sin has separated you from God, and the blood of Jesus has not yet washed away your sins and you've ignored God.
Maybe you're ignoring me too. Maybe you're whispering to your friend.
And you don't want to hear the fact that you are a Sinner and that you haven't really accepted him as your savior. And you're just going along with the flow of other Christians and you're fitting in and you're trying to do the things that they do.
00:55:15
You've tried to get along without God in your life.
Maybe you try to hide from God behind a cloud of indifference.
And you're reaching out to this world, trying to get more for yourself, but you find that the world just doesn't satisfy. It's only Christ that can satisfy the emptiness that's in your heart.
And you have an emptiness. Maybe you don't want to admit it, but it's there and it's eating away at you. And you have a longing and you have a struggle for peace in your heart.
You need to put your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Put your trust in Him that he died for you, the work that He did for you at the cross.
We we read in Romans 10 and 9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Your choice.
I'm finished.
It's your choice. Now. Will you choose Christ?
He's the only choice. I don't. I don't offer you any other choice. God doesn't offer you any other choice. Your only choice is Christ. Believe on him. Let's close by singing.
#332.
1St 2 verses.
332.
Just as.
I shame.
Before we sing the last two verses, I want you to notice that these first two verses were the song of a believer, someone who had already come to the Lord Jesus. It says, oh Lamb of God, I came.
Now we're going to sing these last two verses for you. And as we sing these verses, I want you to come to the Lord Jesus. This is your opportunity to be saved tonight.
Oh Lamb of God, I come. Can that be your can that be your prayer tonight? Verse 3.
Just.
As.
That's great.
Our God and Father, we give thanks for the Lord Jesus. We give thanks that He created us and put us on this world and and made this place a place where we could exist.
But Father, we also know that because of sin, our existence comes short of the glory of God. We have all sinned. Father, there's some here tonight who would prefer to laugh and whisper and ignore.
The Gospel Message.
Some would hide behind a cloud of indifference.
Father, we ask you to break the hardness of heart.
That they might come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. We ask this in the name of your son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Session #2
Q&A
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Next meeting to begin, we have a number of questions. We'll answer some of them today. We won't get through them all, so we'll do some of them tomorrow.
The first question for today is what are some important things parents can do in raising their children? So they will learn to love the assembly, the word of God and want to live their life for the for the Lord. So what are what are some important things parents can do in raising their children?
So that they will learn to love the assembly, the word of God and want to live for the Lord. Let's start with I'm thinking of of some verses in Genesis in connection with Abraham chapter 18, Genesis chapter 18. And the Lord was sending his Angel to come down and talk to Abraham.
And he's going to talk to him about some things.
And he he says in verse 17.
The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? I think that was when he was going to destroy Sodom. But but what he says after that, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great nation, a great mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
Now look at verse 19. For I know him, See God, He knows Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon them.
May bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. And so it says here that he knows that Abraham will command his children after him. We had a little bit in the meeting last night about raising our children and nurture and the admonition of the Lord and.
It may take a consistent life like Abraham. He he continued on. He was a man of faith and he trusted the Lord for his family. He commanded his children after him. He didn't make it an option for them to. You can either follow the Lord if you want, or you can you can go off and do the things of the of the other heathen people.
No, Abraham had been called out of the of the heathen nations in the idolatry that was around them.
He was called out to go to a land that didn't belong to him, but God was giving it to him and he was willing to go on. And he's going to teach his children about it and command them, and they would follow him and, and he knew that Abraham would be faithful to do that.
So I think it begins with a step of faith to be able to.
Believe what God has told us and to share it with our families and and.
As we we had a bit last night to have have Bible readings in the whole and to, to have prayer, prayer for our families. If we, if we just skip those things, we're not going to have. I think those are important things that we need to raise our children to present to them the truth of God's word. In today's world, there seems to be no absolutes, but there are still absolutes.
In God's word.
Is absolute and we need to present it to our children as as the highest authority in life is the word of God as parents.
We have authority in our families, but the highest authority is God's authority. And so Abraham, he was commanding his family after him under the authority that God had given to them, given to him. And the truth that God had presented to Abraham and Abraham was sharing that with his family. And and that was the standard that man had to live by, the standard that God had given to Abraham.
This the the goal that Abraham had before him.
And so in our families, we can present the truth of God's Word as the ultimate standard for our lives. I'm not a father. I won't be anytime soon. But.
As as it's always been very encouraging to know that my my parents were praying for me.
Especially when I was struggling, you know, just to think of that when I was giving me some encouragement.
Read them already last day or so here but.
00:05:00
Verse 5. Verse five. When I call to remembrance, the unclean faith is in thee, which dwell first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother unit, you see, And I am persuaded that indeed also.
There again what Tim was saying example that the parents set for the children.
Is so very important. They can see really right through our words and are more motivated by our actions and our words. So if you want the children to be interested in the word of God, what do they see in us? If you want them to be interested in walking for the Lord, what do they see in US and their parents? If you want them to be interested in attending meetings and being faithful in that regard, what do they see on us?
Just write my mention something that has been always agreed to me when we are planning our next vacation.
Parents, are we going to hear a meeting so we can make it to the meetings for the weekday and the weekend meeting? Or will we be enjoying God's creation somewhere far away from the from the assembly? There's a lot to see in the world, but it's more important to make it to the meeting to show our children an example from us, from our desire to be there. We desire our children to be there. We ought to be there too, so when we plan our next vacation.
Plan it's near meeting.
Be for their good as well as ours. Really isn't the Lord worth it is that our hearts need to be filled with something and if we take things away from our hearts, there's a void and it needs to be filled up with something. Same as true with our children.
Look at.
Psalms chapter 17 for a verse.
Just a little expression in the middle of verse 14 says from the men of the world which have their portion in this life and we may raise our families to say yes, our portion is in heaven. And the men of this world, they just have their portion in this life. And so we have to be careful what we take up with because.
The things of this life are only temporal and and so we have to be careful because the men of this world, they have their portion in this life and we have to be careful. Well with we take up with and if we just leave it at that, there's a void.
And our hearts wander to try and seek something to fill it. Let's look at Jeremiah chapter 35. It was the stranger was not to come into the House of God. But there was.
A situation here that God was going to use a family to open the eyes and reach the conscience of the state that the children of Israel were in.
And verse two says, Go into the House of the rectified, and speak unto them, and bring them into the House of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
Wine is intoxicating. Yes, it speaks of joy, but it's also intoxicating.
And there are things of this life that are intoxicating.
The There are pleasures and things that we can take up with that will dull our senses and spoil our joy in the Lord. Now they set wine before them, and they refused it. Verse seven. Neither shall you be built houses, or so seed or plant vineyards, nor have any.
But all the days.
Ye shall live and dwell in tents, and he shall live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have ye obeyed the voice of Jonathan, the son of wreck of your father, in all that he have charged us to drink no wine in all our days.
We and our lives and our sons and our daughters.
Nor to build houses for us to dwell in. Neither have vineyards, nor fields, nor seeds, and so on. Well, wonderful that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. They obeyed the voice of John about their father, and as a family they were a witness.
To Israel of faithfulness to the Lord, but it's not just the the taking away of the things of this world out of the life that is going to be the preservation of our children. Go to 1St Corinthians.
00:10:16
16 and verse 15. I beseech you, brethren.
We know the House of Stephanus which is the first fruits of a chaos, and they have addicted so to the Ministry of the Saints. What a better feeling could they have to serve the Lords people?
That will kill any voice if we just say you're not going to go in for this thing or that thing because it's things of this world and it's intoxicating spiritually. It's the portion of the men of this life that they have and we have a heavenly calling.
That's wonderful, that's true. And Christ needs to be our object and to fill our hearts. But their service, that needs to be done too. And if the family unit is bent towards meeting the needs of the Lords people, it really helps fill that void and.
Causes the children to see the need of the permanence of the Kingdom of God and among those especially who are gathered to the Lords name. And I wouldn't say that our ministry should be limited only to those in the assembly. Look in Genesis.
Chapter 49, verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful vow, even a fruitful vow by a well whose branches run over the wall. But where was the roots? The branches right over the wall. So the roots have to be in the assembly. It's just a picture. Of course, keep your roots in the assembly where the truth is.
Of being gathered to the Lord's name and the beautiful principles that we have in the Scripture.
I reach out the branches, run over the wall that's a healthy brine. But remember the needs of the lost people and be addicted to ministering to those needs. And if we're not busy helping the Lords people and thinking of their needs, it's easier for the things of this life and the things that are like the wine that the gigabytes refuse.
Things of this world and the things that the men of this world just enjoying this life, the things that they have put there to fill the void and the ache in their heart that they don't that should be filled by Christ. To put those things before our family and our children is an encouragement to them to keep on in the things of the Lord and follow along and.
The things that pertain to the furtherance of his Kingdom and the assembly.
Exodus chapter 12. We all know that this chapter is the Passover chapter and it's a beautiful chapter, but I was thinking of verse 26. This will come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean you buy this service?
I gotta misread this. Young people pay attention that you shall say these are Moises rules. Do what he says. Is that what it says He shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt and so on. It was very helpful when I was younger.
To not only know what we were doing, but why we're doing it.
And I think that is true in the assembly.
In exercises that we have as parents, what we're going to allow in our homes, what we're not going to allow, where we're going to go, where we're going to have friendships with, I mean, there's so many areas.
Of decisions that need to be made. Hey Dad, I want to have a sleepover with my friends. How do you decide what to do?
You know, when the kids were really young, I could, you could just say.
Well, why that? Because.
That worked good till they were four, then after that as well because what? So it's, it's important to, I mean, these questions come up. What do you mean by this service? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? Why did you decide this? Why did you decide that?
00:15:04
And to be able to say what we're doing and why we're doing it and to find that in the scripture that because.
I heard Mr. Gorgeous say it, so now I'm going to say it or not because Mark said it at the camp sale. That's why no be able to to go into the Scripture and be able to say what we're doing and why we're doing it.
And do that because that's where.
Exercise is built into the children, so we find in Deuteronomy that it talks about have been returned to it if I could find it.
That talks about Speaking of these things all the time and having them on your gates. And yeah, verse Chapter 11, verse 18.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul? Notice it doesn't say memorize them like the Catechism or some intellectual creep. It is good to memorize, by the way. I'm not throwing that under the bus. Therefore, so you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul.
And find them for a sign on your hand.
That they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them your children, Speaking of them for 10 minutes every Saturday night. That what it says, no?
Speaking of them, when they'll sit us down in my house and when they'll walk us by the way, and when they'll lay us down and when they'll rise us down. It's constant. It's not just for a few minutes on Sunday.
Or when brother Tim is coming over for supper. Now, kids, don't make me look bad. Tim and Joel notice. No, that's not the way you instill and I hope you don't mind me being a little bit of the cease system. But yes, is when you're walking in the way is when you're sitting down. It's when you're rising up. It's a it's a continual consistency.
That's being given.
And thou shalt write them upon the doorpost of thine house, and upon thy gates so.
I think it's, it's instructive and it's been helpful for our family in a weak way, I'm sure, to enter into some of these things as to not just what, but why, and to have it in a consistent way.
It may cover a little some of what we said, but I hear making a lot of comments about.
The parents being responsible to teach their own children and that's vital.
Fathers bring up their children with nurturing admonition of the Lord and was reminding us of that last night.
I think that's where we often lose the battle right there. That only can happen if as fathers, we know with the nurture and admonition of the Lord is.
Which means that the issue starts with the youngest person who can understand it.
It doesn't start when you need to be a father or a mother.
It starts when you accept the Lord as your savior. Life is a struggle. It's a warfare.
It's serious, deadly warfare and preparation for the rest of our lives.
Starts now.
Taking up the word of God every day and what does it say what does it mean what does it mean to me? What does it mean to the rest of my life? How will it affect the way I'm going to live my life to the glory and honor of God and.
Unless every one of us, speaking especially to the young people right now, bless every one of us, takes up the word of God that way.
We're not going to be prepared when the test comes later on.
So that I think is the basis for this discussion. But if we can assume that moving forward, then we get to the point now at some point where his fathers and mothers, we have children and they're our responsibility. They're not someone elses responsibility.
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And it doesn't say bring up your children in a place where someone else can show them what the nurturing and admonition of the Lord is.
That's good, actually.
We should bring them to the assembly, we should seek to give them food, but.
To give them a Christian instruction video, you know, the children songs and think that's enough. Or books that are written by other people. I'm speaking to homeschoolers maybe more now. There's all kinds of Christian instruction books out there. You get that put in your curriculum and think, well, I've satisfied this requirement. My kids are getting good scriptural instruction.
And all you're doing, without even paying attention to it perhaps, is giving them some good and some bad, a lot of what isn't the word of God at all.
We have that responsibility ourselves, first foremost, primary, to give the word of thought to our children and teach them what it means. And then having said that, we also want to bring them to the place where they can hear it. Bring them to a place like this is good. Bring them to the assembly is vital. God gave the assembly.
As that place where he wanted his people to be, He did not save us from the world.
To leave us by ourselves.
Intended that we should be in the assembly. So he made the assembly, He was part of the assembly, functioning parts of the assembly. And if we recognize that and have any ******** at all, we'll have our children there too. There's just two verses I want to mention with regard to that part. Acts 21. Forgive me if somebody else already read this.
I won't but.
Apostle Paul.
Came there to Cesarean.
And.
He was there at the House of Philip for a while.
And then?
They find it here.
And they went out from that place.
Well, let's see, was higher released before they got to Caesarea? And then at verse five it says when we accomplished those days, we departed and went our way and they all brought us on our way. These were the ones that he found that were there, the disciples, since they all brought us on our way with wives and children till we were out of the city and we kneeled down the shore and prayed.
Now, that's what they actually did. It's not a picture. These people were concerned. They were in this together and they understood that they were together as believers.
It's a similar picture to it my brother was reading to us from Exodus, maybe even closer to Exodus chapter 10, where Pharaoh wanted the he finally capitulated to allow the children of Israel to go out. But he said you can go out.
But don't take your children or your cattle, Moses says. No, we're going to go out with our lives, our children, our little ones. We're all going to go. And that's what the world wants. In some way. They want us to leave the little ones behind them. But we need to take all of our little ones with us, and right from the earliest ages.
We need to bring our children to the meeting. You know, a lot leave the children at home so they won't disturb the meeting and yet they can be brought there and they can Start learning when they're infants as to what it is to be in that place and what.
Is suitable for that place and start hearing the sounds that are there. And I can tell you from my own experience, I learned a lot more than you would expect when I was very, very little the assembly someone was by observation, some of it was by what I heard. So that's really important.
One other example in that Colossians chapter 4.
So it acts it was a prayer meeting office that it's only a prayer meeting. They didn't say that.
Colossians, chapter 4.
In verse 16.
Says and when this epistle is ran among you, 'cause that if you read also in the assembly.
Of the latest, the ends. And that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea, say, well, why would you read that? Well, it shows that here was an assembly of philosophy. They were there and they didn't have the Bible the way we did, but it was read in their assembly. It was a letter that came to them. It was the word of God.
00:25:12
And it was red and it was read to people. Now who were the people? Well, you say it was the ones in the assembly. But look, just a little bit earlier here in Colossians chapter 3, verse 20, Children, obey your parents and all things for this as well, pleasing to the Lord and so on. Father's mother's servant.
Has spoken to children. It was a letter read in the Colossian Assembly, and it's addressed in part to the children who were there.
Now how are the children going to hear what was in this letter if they weren't there?
They weren't going to hear it.
The very epistle to the Colossians assumes that the children were in the assembly or wouldn't be written that way. Doesn't say fathers, when you go home, tell your children to obey. It's written directly to them. The children were there, and so we need to bring our children to the assembly.
Where they're going to hear the word of God. It's very important. All these things strike me darkly question and it's important that we ourselves now, it's important that we ourselves take responsibility, not put it off on anybody else. And then it's important that we bring our children to where they can hear the word of God, particularly the assembly.
You mentioned, Tim, that it's vital to bring our children to the Assembly.
And Randy, you mentioned that if you're going on vacation, it's, it's important to plan your vacation so you can be at the assembly on Lords day or even Wednesday evening and rather than just skip it or, but my question is, why is the assembly so important if if I move because of a job to some other city where there is no assembly or I go on vacation?
Why can't I just go to some other?
Church just for that week.
Well, why is the assembly so important? And a very big one.
It's part of, it's an extension of this question because this question says they want them to learn to love the assembly. Why is the assembly so important that we have to love that assembly?
Because if we want to live, if we want to live for the Lord and we want our children to live for the Lord.
It has to be something that starts with the parents. It doesn't have to start with the parents. It can start with the children. If we want our children to follow in the steps and the pathways that we we walk in, we really need to believe what we what we walk in and what we practice. Do we really believe that the assembly is important? So my question is, why is the assembly so important?
That we want our children to love the assembly.
And to and why do we want our children to live for the Lord? Why would he? Why do we want them to love the word of God? Why do we want them to to love the assembly? What's what's so important about the assembly?
Answer times question. Let's say we were all at the meeting room in our hometown.
And the word got out the Lord Jesus Christ himself was at McDonald's that morning. Would we stay at the meeting room or would we all rush to McDonald's?
I want to be where the Lord Jesus Christ is.
I think we would all go wherever he was. And I just say, I just use that as a statement of a meaning, as a place to be. That's really the principle of why we need the way we do, because the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to be in our midst and he's promised to be there. And if we're just in some other town, that's why we just don't go anywhere.
The Lord Jesus hasn't just promised to just be anywhere.
We go where he is in the midst and the IT just happens to be that we have meeting rooms because it's convenient to meet that way as those gathered to the Lord being led by his Spirit to come together in that manner to go along with that.
She might say, well that's fine, well good for you because you believe that. But what about the children who don't know it?
And I think the story of Samuel Samuel is so beautiful in that regard.
00:30:01
His mother didn't think that way.
She brought Samuel and gave him to the Lord.
She didn't hear what Samuel thought of. I'm sure she cared, but it didn't depend on what Samuel thought of it. Samuel didn't know the Lord. He was an obedient child. He went along.
He had no idea what was in his mother's heart, the extent of it, but she brought him there, He gave him to the Lord. And then there came a time when the Lord in that place revealed himself to Samuel. Samuel saw it himself. Everything changed for him then.
But it was his Mother's Day first, the Lord honored. And So what you're saying is vital that the Lord is in the midst. But to wait until our children see it is a big mistake. Faith doesn't do that. Faith acts on what the truth is and respect to our children. We have the behalf of our children and later on we trust by faith that the Lord will show them that same truth.
Please.
Mark, Chapter 10.
Verse 13.
And they brought young children to him.
Why that he might touch them?
The word Jesus interested in touching the life of a one year old?
Absolutely.
Hey, you like sit there and go and I might sit there and say, oh, it's a lot of work to haul a one year old child to the evening reading meeting. It is.
So why do you do it? That he might touch them? Well, the Lord Jesus honor that absolutely.
And I just love the heart of the Savior here. The disciples are suing him away. So busy things to do we got.
Disease to heal and you know.
Get those kids away. Lord says no, no, when Jesus saw, he was much displeased and said, Suffer the little children that come unto me and forbid them not.
For obsesses the Kingdom of God, That's a big encouragement. It brought them to Jesus that he may touch them.
I would love to have the Lord Jesus put his hands on my head and I'm 40.
More Jesus and take those little ones you know, you see the mayor in the front row attendee school.
They just wish you'd see the Lord because I think if the Sunday school song, you know, I think when I read that sweet story of old when Jesus was here among them, how we call them children, his lands to his bowl. I should like to have been with him that I wish I said, but my parents brought us out.
And I I would encourage you to bring your children that way. You know, we don't know what the Lords calling on their life is going to be, but here it he says they brought him out and he, his husband, he touched their lives. Yes, he will. And do it in faith. The Lord will honor that.
We have about 20 minutes left and.
We have other questions.
And this one is again referring to the family. It says, can you explain the rules of fathers and mothers in a Christian household? I'm not sure if it's the questions asking about the spiritual roles in the family or physical practical roles, but.
We can maybe address both sides.
Can you explain the rules of fathers and mothers in a Christian household?
Back in the before I knew him verse 19 that he will command his children and his household after him.
I grew up in a Catholic family where in many families, very typical, the woman had the spiritual responsibility in the household. The men were interested in watching football games and basketball, especially on Sunday afternoon. That ought not to be the case, really with Christian fathers. They should take the spiritual leave.
00:35:09
Yes, the wife is responsible, the mother who's responsible to keep the house in order.
But here it's command the household and his Children Act. So he sets the spiritual tone in the household and the wife. The mother would follow up when he is over the house.
The feeling is a disgrace, I think, to have the wife be the spiritual head of the household, especially when there was a Christian father.
But not to be like the Catholics.
It's important, Randy. Last night I was mentioning a little bit about the meaning of guiding the house.
And the, and maybe that's what this question came from, from some of the practical roles in the, in the in the house. But as you mentioned, it's still the, the, the father who is, who is responsible.
In the in the family, in the house for the nurturing admonition of the Lord. He is the one who's responsible for what what the household.
What what goes on in that house and what he allows to go on in that house?
And and it's often times.
When we when we work, we the man works hard all day and he comes home.
And he's tired and he wants to just sit there and read the newspaper or watch the television and he doesn't perhaps have the the energy to to involve the kids and so forth. And so that gets pushed off on the on the wife. And we've been working so hard all day long. We don't realize that the wife's done anything at home. But she's been busy at home too, if she's been there.
With the kids and and the chores and the duty's in the home and.
We don't think that, well, they might be tired too, and so we just sit there and do nothing.
And, and the, the woman, and I'm guilty of this too, but then the woman is doing, keeping, keeping things going and, and they don't get a chance to stop. They don't get a break to sit down and read the newspaper. And so just a little practical side of that. It goes right along with the spiritual side. I encourage all the younger sisters to be able to be a cook.
And a keeper of the whole and the practical way before you're married. Learn those things.
Has taught for your mother around the house and so you can there be a smooth transition into Whitefoot and motherhood. Likewise, the men to be prepared their field before they build the house. It might be a smooth transition both financially and spiritually to be familiar with the scriptures. They're going to be coming to you for questions. They need answers. There be a smooth transition into fatherhood and husbandhood.
Chapter 5.
Two instructions, one for wives and one for for husbands.
And the question is to mothers and fathers perhaps, but if we don't have our roles right as husbands and wives, where our children are going to see and the first is to lives and it says, why submit yourself into your husbands? Now, does this say this because women are less spiritual?
Does this say this because women just don't know as much?
It certainly does not. Tim was mentioned last night. There's time to and a home where.
Maybe a wife knows more than the husband does.
She's help me.
But the point here, as Tim pointed out last night, is that this is a way for a woman to show God's order and creation. What this world tries to do is it tries to twist and turn around God's order and make it sound as if maybe Paul's a woman here and we get to thinking perhaps that we need to take up with the women's feminine movement.
Need to set things right. I need my place.
And we get rid of God's order instead of looking at this as something positive and saying this is a way that I can show God's order and creation to this fallen world.
We look at it as a negative, so let's look at it as a positive. Does this mean that a husband shouldn't take the advice of her, of his wife? Certainly not. We can look back into the Old Testament. We can find where Abraham was to listen to the advice of Sarah. There are many times in my life and my relationship with my wife or my wife is right.
00:40:09
But let's say that there comes a time where the husband and the wife.
Just don't see eye to eye and it comes down to a time to make a decision. The white field before the Lord that they should go in One Direction. The husband feels before the Lord that they should go in another. What should you do?
Why submit yourselves to your husbands?
Trust the Lord that if the the path that you're going down is wrong that you'll show that husband.
God will honor faith and he'll honor this position and you showing God's order. Now for us husbands, we have something that is incredible. It's his husbands. Love your wives even as Christ also loved the church.
I don't think there's one of us.
Who comes close to this standard? What a standard does it mean that we?
Just give as good as we can and say that's, that's what I'm going to do now. This is the standard that we try to live by. This is God's order and we love our wives.
If we love our wives the way we're supposed to, imagine how much easier it would be on the wife to submit to us, knowing that we love them as Christ loved the church.
Now, submission to the wives is not based on our love for them, nor is our love to them based on their submission to us. Both are individual. We both have to do it regardless of the other party. But when they're both working in unison, it brings about a wonderful family relationship, a wonderful family home.
Wives, submit yourself unto your husband's husband's love.
Dear Wife.
By one woman sin entered into the world. Great brain doesn't see that.
Woman was in first course but is ultimately responsible for the sin. It's the man, the man. So whatever goes on in our family.
The man is ultimately responsible if he is the head.
Why is the sin of the world or why has sin affected the world so much but because the man was quick over the medium of God. He was he was to have dominion over the creation because Psalm 18. Yes, it requires in the long run to the Lord Jesus, but primarily.
Or initially, man was given that responsibility.
What is man that's our mindful of him or the Son of man that thou business, that's how it goes. I was quite over the works of thy hands. So as man was responsible, so why is this the sin? So a sin has so ruined creation, because the one who was responsible for it all was the one that found his sin. Why was Israel's soul?
Troubled when David sinned because he was the king.
He was the responsible one. So by one man, sin entered into the world. Man is responsible. Not much. The woman, she is too, but ultimately it's the man.
Sorry, Tim, I'm going to change the question just a little bit again.
There's some who are not married.
Young women, young men.
And we've been speaking about a little bit about the roles of, of the husband, roles of the wife in a in a marriage and in a Christian household.
Well, you're not married yet, so you don't have to worry about this. Or do you?
The person that you're perhaps interested in.
Are they going to be able to fulfill the roles of a husband? Are they going to be able to fulfill the roles of a wife?
Sometimes we call it blind love.
And we go on and we don't ask other people about the person we're interested in. What do they believe?
00:45:03
Do they really come to the meetings or do they just? Or are they only there and shown interest when you are around? But when they go back to their home assembly, they hardly ever see the person at meeting and you may be going on the basis that they love the Lord and that they're very devoted to Christ.
Are they? Have you asked others in the local assembly about that person?
The family may give you a good report.
But it's wise to find out about that person before you get emotionally attached and before you become in a marriage relationship. Because if you really desire to follow the Lord and your husband or your wife doesn't really care.
You may be going to meeting yourself.
Without your husband or without your wife. And so I just want to encourage you before you get involved in a relationship where you're committed to that person.
Make sure you're on the same page. We have 3 minutes for any final comments.
But Miriam saw that Moses was a goodly child, and she hit him.
Smother the shooter might woman suggested to her husband that they build a chamber for the proper.
And it was taken care of.
Abigail had wisdom.
Naval did not have.
In Proverbs 31, is full of.
Life to his husband confided in fighting with her.
It's for godly women.
Thank you.
We thank you that we can consider thy word this morning.
We pray that we would each be hearers by word and then doers also.
Some of us here are fathers. We ask you for thy help.
That we may take up with our responsibilities according to Thy word, recognizing that it's the blessed and happy path. We pray for help, and there's others.
Different roles and we just pray, Lord Jesus, that we would each learn to trust and obey the look. Lord Jesus to Thee as the author and finisher of faith, and we may lay hold of my word in the right way.
00:50:01
And then have courage practice. So we thank you that we can receive instruction and we just commit ourselves now that I care for the rest of the stay, thanking me for the beautiful day that thou has given us and the occasion being together, and we thank Lord Jesus and my Amen.
The Church
Address—Joseph Countouris
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Maybe we could start by singing #172.
So teach us more of thy blessed ways, Thou holy Lamb of God. Could somebody start that please?
I'm going to ask him for his help.
Our God and our loving Father, we thank thee so very much for thy Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank you for this time that we have to open up Thy word. We would just ask thee for help. Ask thee for help to speak well of thy Son and to present the truth that is in thy word and.
Clear and accurate manner. We think of the greatness of the message that we have tonight.
And the weakness of the vessel presenting it, and we just would be cast upon it to undertake. We thank Thee for all that that was done for us, Lord Jesus, and Thy name we pray. Amen.
Tonight I would like to.
Talk to you about the church.
And specifically, I would like to go over what the church is.
Various aspects of it.
And then get into the truth of what is commonly referred to as the One Place or the Divine Gathering Center.
I trust that we can find tonight as we open up the Word of God, that this is not just some brethrenism, just some truth that has been made-up and passed along, but that it's in the Word of God. And if it is in the Word of God, then we should be interested in following it. My brother read the verse the other night. Tim.
Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?
00:05:03
If he's interested in it, shouldn't we be interested in it as well?
So maybe we could start tonight.
In Ephesians chapter 2 and what I'm going to do is I'm just going to ask a series of questions. Can I ask as I asked a series of questions? I'm going to look into the word of God and try to find an answer.
So the first question that I would ask is what is the church?
What is it?
Ephesians chapter 2.
We'll read from verse 11. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision, and the flesh made by hands. But at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off or made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain. 1 Newman, so making peace.
As you look around Christendom today, or speak to your friends, your Christian friends, some may tell you that the church is simply an extension of Israel.
As you look at the word church coming from ecclesia or called out ones.
They'll say, well, listen, Abraham was called out.
Abraham was part of the church.
Israel must have been part of the church, and today we're simply an extension of Israel.
But these verses show us that the Church is something different.
The church are the Church is composed of those who have been called out of those who are Gentiles and Jews.
And the Lord has made something new he hath made of twain. 1 Newman, Maybe we could turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 32 will show us these three different groups of people.
This has given none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.
Before Abraham was called out, this world was composed of one group of people. Abraham was called Isaac.
Jacob, the children of Israel.
We have in them two groups of people, Jews, Gentiles or Israel Gentiles.
Today we have three groups of people, Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God. At the rapture, when we're called home to heaven, it'll go back to two groups of people, Jews and Gentiles. And after the Millennium is over, eternity begins, we'll be back to one group of people on earth. The church will be in heaven.
So what is the church? Is it this building?
Is it a building with stained glass? Is it a building with a steeple and a cross? Is that what the church is commonly referred to in this world? I'm going to church.
Now the church is you and I. The Church is those who have been called out of being both Jews and Gentiles, believers and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next question I have is when did this church begin? We've already mentioned that some might believe or say that it was an extension of Israel and maybe we could turn over to Acts chapter 2 to see when it began.
Acts chapter 2 and verse one. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Lorded prophesied when he was here, and John, you can read of it that he was going to leave, he's going to die, rising in the third day, ascending to heaven. And when that happened, he was going to send another comforter, the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God comes on the day of Pentecost. This is what's called the baptism of the Spirit of God, and we're going to read about this a little bit later in First Corinthians. And there's some error in Christenham today as to what the baptism of the Spirit of God is. Some believe that every believer is baptized with the Spirit of God. When you're baptized with the Spirit of God, it's almost like an extra gift that you get. And when it happens, you can speak in tongues, you can do miraculous things.
00:10:28
That's not quite true.
The baptism of the Spirit of God is the act of the Spirit of God informing the church, forming something that was never there before, something that was hid in God from the foundation of the world.
How do we know that?
Well, one way we can see it is the baptism of the Spirit of God is mentioned seven times in Scripture, four times in the Gospels, with.
John the Baptist and once with the Lord in the previous chapter, Acts chapter one.
All of those times they look forward to an event, they look forward to something, something that's going to happen.
And then there's 2 * 1 in Acts Chapter 11 and one in First Corinthians chapter 12 That we'll look at later. And they look back at something. What's in between the day of Pentecost?
This is the baptism of the Spirit of God. This is when the Spirit of God took 100 about 120 believers in that upper room.
Join them together and they became the Church, united with their head, the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, something that was completely new.
Next, I'd like to talk to you about some ways that the church is viewed in Scripture.
As you look through the Word of God, oftentimes the Word of God will present a truth.
And the Spirit of God will look at that truth from various angles you can look at.
New birth, for example, being born again when the Spirit of God imparts life. One way the Spirit of God looks at that is by being born again. You can read that in John chapter three. Another way you can look at it is by quickening.
Both are looking at the same.
Truth. It's just looking at it from a different angle.
The church is much the same. The church is taken up in I believe either 10 or 12 different aspects to put that as a city, a bride, a Candlestick, various ways, but there's two main 2 main ways that the church is viewed. One is a house and one is a body.
And maybe we could turn over to First Timothy chapter 3 to see the aspect of the house.
First Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15 says, But if I tarry long the thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Of God presents to us.
The Church viewed in its testimony before this world.
And you and I are to be a pillar and ground of the truth that we hold. And our lives bear that out. And.
If we walk according to the word of God, we will be that. And if we don't?
We won't be that.
As a house, we're to show this world as you go through First Timothy, that we have a savior God, a God who loves and a God who desires to save. And as we live according to the word of God, men look on and without us speaking, they see that aspect of the church.
The other aspect is that of a body.
And this is the main way that I want to speak speak tonight. And we can read this in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one, verse 22 Says.
Actually I'll read from.
A.
Verse 20.
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
00:15:02
Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world.
But also and that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet.
And gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body.
The fullness of him that filleth All in all, the church, which is His body. So he saw the church, which is the house. Now we see the church, which is His body. An incredible thought here that it says, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all. How can it be that you and I, composed of the body of Christ, fulfill?
The Son of God, it's an amazing thing to think about. He is our head.
And as the body, we take direction from him.
So we've seen a few few instances of how the body of Christ is viewed.
Now I would like to focus in on how the Church is viewed as the body of Christ and what instruction you and I get.
From this aspect.
In the word of God. So maybe we could turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 12.
First Corinthians chapter 12 Says.
In verse 12, whereas the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
He's speaking here of a human body and he's giving us a picture and he's saying look at a human body.
Look at all the members of that human body, the fingers, the toes, the legs, the hands, the arms.
And he says there's many members.
But there's just one body.
So also is Christ or the Christ.
Verse 13 For by 1 spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been made, have been all made to drink into one spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many. Here's the verse I was alluding to earlier, the baptism of the Spirit of God which looks back to Pentecost. If you look in the Mr. Darby's notes, I believe it is.
He speaks of this being in the heiress tents, which means it's a once and for all and forever act.
That happened on the Day of Pentecost.
You and I, when we get saved and sealed by the Spirit of God, we join this already formed body.
Verse 20 But now are they many members yet but one body? Verse 25 That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.
So on and so forth. So we get a picture here first we get a picture of the body, the human body. What is it? Many members acting as one. So also is the Christ. The church is the same. You and I are the same. We are one body.
Just one we're not two, we're not three, we're not 4. Every believer sealed by the Spirit of God in this world today, we are all.
Let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians presents to us.
God's eternal councils. And in the first chapter, if you read the 1St chapter, what you'll find is God reveals his eternal counsels and his eternal counsels is that his Son would be glorified in heaven and earth during the dispensation of the fullness of times. And what's brought out during this epistle, primarily only in this epistle is the fact that the church.
The body of Christ.
Is a special vessel.
That's been hidden God from the foundation of the world to bring forth glory to the Lord Jesus Christ in that day.
And he unfolds that in the first chapter and the 2nd chapter where we just read. What we find is that God is met with several difficulties.
That he has to work through in bringing his eternal counsels to pass in this day. The 1St is the material that he's using and it's dead material. We were dead, we were filth. There was no life in US. And God comes in and he grants life.
00:20:15
Another thing that we read that was a difficulty that he was met with is that there was enmity between a Jew and a Gentile. They didn't get along. They didn't like each other. How is he going to overcome that? He was going to make something new.
No longer were you going to be a Jew, no longer were you going to be a Gentile. You were going to become something different. You're going to become the body of Christ.
Chapter 3 He shows us how he made this known through a special vessel, the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul went out and he preached on this, the gospel.
He come to chapter 4 and what he presents to us is how do we apply these truths from the first three chapters practically in our life today? How do we walk in that today?
First one I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body.
What does it mean to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called?
It's to walk practically in light of what is true, in fact.
What's true? In fact, we are one body. The call to you and I today, as it was 2000 years ago, is to walk practically as one body.
Because we are one body.
Maybe we could turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 10.
First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 15. I speak as to wise men. Judge you what I say, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Behold, Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered and sacrificed to idols is anything but? I say that the things with the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the devils, and not to God. And I would not have. I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.
He cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and the Table of devils.
What we have presented here is a.
Truth concerning our fellowship and we have three different fellowships presented to us. One is the Lord's table, one is the table of demons, and one is the Israels altar. And briefly what is brought out is that when you partake of one, you're associated with everything that that table has you're associated with everything that that fellowship has. So if you were go go into a.
A. A demon's temple, some place where they worship the devil.
Anywhere to partake of that?
Sacrifice. You're associating yourself with everything that that.
Table is associated with. If you were to go back to Judaism and partake of the altar, you're associating yourself with everything that Israel has to offer.
But what is presented here as well is the Lord's Table. And what you'll notice is that there's just one. And somebody might ask, well, what is the Lord's Table?
Was it that table that was here in the middle of the room Lord's Day that we had the loaf and the wine on?
Certainly not.
Because there's only one.
Were there any breaking bread in Grand Rapids that that morning?
What about back in Dorothy? Where I come from, if they had a table in the middle of their room, that would mean that there was at least 2 tables.
That's just the table that we put the loaf on. That's just the table we put the cup on.
A table speaks to us of fellowship.
And what the Lord wants is he wants to have fellowship with us. He wants to have communion. What's communion? Communion is common. Thoughts common?
00:25:07
Thoughts with the Lord What common thoughts with the Lord in regards to what?
What's verse 16 saying? It says the cup of blessing which we blesses and not communion of the blood of Christ.
There are some churches in Christendom where you have to be something to join the Church of England. Not sure if it's still that way, but you'd have to be English to join.
Church of Scotland, same thing. Others produce a doctrine and say you have to hold to this doctrine. Maybe it's you have to be baptized. Baptism becomes the standard.
We have the broadest.
Fellowship there is, you don't have to be English, you don't have to be Baptist, you don't have to be Scottish, you have to be saved. You have to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ at this table, the spiritual table where the Lord is seeking to have fellowship.
And Communion. There's a place for you there. There's a place for every single member of the body of Christ in the entire world at this table. Everyone. It's there.
Doesn't mean that you are there or that anyone else is there, but there's a spot for everyone who's saved.
But let's continue. Common thoughts about what? What is the Lord seeking to have common thoughts about the bread which we break? Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
The Lord wants to have common thoughts and fellowship with you and I about the fact.
That we are one body that every Christian.
True believer in this world, we are one body with them.
There's only one.
In Ephesians we saw that he wants us to practically express this truth that we're one body.
Somebody might say.
Well, you think you're the only ones who have the Lord in your midst.
It's looking at the truth completely wrong.
First you have to establish whether or not there is a truth that there is one place where the Lord is gathering by the Spirit of God.
To this table where he can have fellowship with us and communion where he will be in the midst.
And if there is such a table, if there is such a place?
And the Spirit of God is gathering, and I'm there. There was nothing on my part. It was simply the grace of God that brought me here.
The point isn't that we have it or I have it. The point is that the Word of God says it, and the Spirit of God is gathering and I want to be there. I want to be where the Lord is. Don't you?
Shouldn't we all?
If his desire is to be with us.
Wouldn't we want to be where he is? Somebody might say.
When I go to my church, the Lord is with me just as much as He is with you. You telling me he's not with me?
And to an extent that's true. Maybe we could look at Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse five. It says at the end of the verse where he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Our brother mentioned Lords day morning that if you're a true believer, the Lord Jesus Christ lives in your heart. He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Personally, he will always be with you.
But there's something else that the Lord presents to us in His Word that goes beyond just His personal presence with us wherever we go.
00:30:02
Maybe we could turn over to Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20 says.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This isn't personal anymore, this is collective.
This is a promise he gave.
That where two or three were gathered together, he was going to be in the midst of them.
Now somebody could probably have an entire meeting on this subject from this verse.
I'm simply presenting to you what I've enjoyed from this topic.
And I just want to bring out a couple of things from this verse and then look back at the previous verses.
The first thing is that the assembly is composed of at least two or three or more.
The second thing is that there is a gatherer it says are gathered. It's not just simply that we come together.
That, you know, we're going to get together on Saturday night and you know something because we're getting together, the Lord is going to be there.
Is that what this is saying, that wherever two or three believers get together?
We say tonight at 10:45.
Before everybody goes to bed, a few of us are going to meet back here and we're going to pray.
And this verse tells us that we're going to have the collective presence of the Lord. Is that what it's saying? It's not. And we'll we'll see that.
But what it is telling us is that there's a gatherer, and that gatherer is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is trying to take those who are in Christianity Today and gather them.
To the Lord's Table, where they can have common thoughts with the Lord in regards to the truth that there is one body and practically express this truth.
I want to share with you something I heard in North Carolina.
From a brother, Nick Simon, and I've never seen what he mentioned before.
And they made the trip for me.
Worthwhile just for the one comment that he made.
He mentioned that if we read back here, and I'll just read it from verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gain thy brother. But if he shall not hear thee, then take with thee to one or two more than the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it under the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man.
Why these ones have to bring it to the church?
Why did they have to go and take that extra step and bring it to the church?
There was two or three of them there.
There was the original man and there was one or two more. If the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is collectively in our midst, whenever two or three come together, they had it. They had two or three. They could have judged that matter because the Lord Jesus was collectively in their midst, because they had come together, but they couldn't and they didn't.
And they had to bring it under the church. Why? Because it's not just when two or three come together, it's when two or three are gathered by the Spirit of God.
It's not just when we happen to come together or plan to come together. There's a reason behind it.
And there's the Spirit of God behind it.
I'd like to take a digression.
And look back at history for one minute.
So far we've seen what the church is.
Ones who are called out from Jews and Gentiles to form the Church of God. We saw where it began. But it's a new dispensation, a new working with God, a new man.
00:35:01
At the day of Pentecost we saw various ways in which the church is viewed as a house, as a body, various ways in which we are, we have responsibility in regards to how the church is viewed from truth and the Word of God.
We saw that there was one table, one fellowship.
Where the Spirit of God is gathering Christians to express the truth that there is one body.
And his promise that he would be in the midst of two or three.
But you might talk to a friend who tells you that's all good, that's all fine, I'll go along with that.
For 2000 years ago.
Because the truth that you tell me from First Corinthians and the truth that you tell me from Ephesians was written at a time when you didn't have 4000 denominations or 5000, or however many is out there. And quite frankly, there's no possible way for us to express the truth that there's one body.
Because in Christendom, most believers aren't interested in it.
So what I'd like to do is I'd like to just go back to the beginning, the early church.
Maybe we could turn to Acts chapter 2.
Acts, chapter 2, verse 41.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day. They were added unto them about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together.
And had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men.
Every man had need, and they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to the Church daily, such as should be saved.
How many tables were there?
During this time.
How many fellowships were there?
How many?
Expressions of the one body were there. There was just one. They're all going on as one, just one church practically expressing that truth that they were one body because they were one body.
Somebody might say, well, you know.
I don't think that God anticipated the ruin that was going to come in.
And what was good for them back then, quite frankly, we just have to set aside the word of God because it just wasn't anticipated and as absurd as a thought as you and I might find that maybe there's some here who have heard that.
Maybe we could turn to Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20, verse 29. The apostle Paul, speaking to the elders at Ephesus, says, For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock also of your own cells shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples.
After them and then First Corinthians Chapter 11.
Verse 18 For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear there will be divisions among you, which is sometimes we use the word division to speak about a division that occurred back in such and such a date, an outward division, but division is more.
Defined in the Word of God by something that is internal in the assembly, not yet external. And he says, I partly believe it, For there must also be heresies among you.
That's the outward division, but they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Do you, thank God, did not anticipate ruin coming into the church.
We could multiply scriptures, Revelation Two and three Timothy over and over again to show that God anticipated ruin coming into the church.
00:40:11
I have a question to ask you. If we look at the church in its early history and we see it going on with one accord, practically expressing the truth that they were one body.
And all of a sudden you have grievous wolves coming up among the flock.
And it says, and they drew disciples away to themselves.
Where were they? They were at the Lord's Table. Where were they drawn away from the Lord's Table?
What was established? A table of man Men's tables.
It's what you see throughout Christendom today.
Men establishing their own tables.
Now let's take a. Let's just look at this and say that there is an assembly there.
And.
They were going on.
And all of a sudden there was a schism in the body of Harrison and there was a man there and he took away half the assembly, say the assembly was 100 people and he took 50 people away.
And they said we're not going to stay here or leaving. They left. And you know what they did? They set up their own meeting track. They set it up right next door.
And they had a meeting room right next door, and after about a week or two, they were able to.
Come together and the way they came together was almost identical.
To the way they had just been meeting two weeks before, almost identical. The only thing that perhaps separated those two groups was the point of contention that caused them to divide.
Now they were at the Lord's table. The Lord was there in the midst when they gathered together by the Spirit of God.
Some left.
Started another table, another fellowship. When they got all established, what did the Lord say? What do you say? Well, I mean, they're going on almost just the same. I guess I'm going to go over and be in their midst as well. I'm going to have the Spirit of God gather to either one of these places.
The Spirit of God can choose. He can either choose A or he can choose B, and he's going to leave lead a believer to either go to A or to go to B.
What do you think? Wouldn't that be a practical denial of the truth that there is one body?
You have two groups of Christians who can't fellowship with one another, and yet the Spirit of God would be gathering to both of those.
It's impossible.
It would be a practical denial that we are one body.
Next question, has he given any instruction?
On how to practically express this truth that we are one body and the day we are living in.
Can we find anything in the Word of God that would help us to see that you and I can still practically express the truth of the One Body even in the midst of such chaos and ruin in the church?
Let's look over at Second Timothy chapter 2.
Second Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 18.
Who concerning the truth have aired, saying that the resurrection is passed already, and overthrow the faith of some? Nevertheless the foundation of God stand is sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified.
And make for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. We also use the lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them. I call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
00:45:05
Second, Timothy presents to us the House of God in ruin. It's no longer a pillar and ground of the truth pillar in support of the truth. It is now looked at and ruined because of what man has done.
And the apostle Paul gives instruction to Timothy.
On what to do.
In such a day, this is the day that we're living in. We're living in a day when the testimony of the church is in ruin.
He presents to us three things to look for, doctrinal evil, the word sewn by Hymenaeus and Phalidus, ecclesiastical evil and moral evil.
And the call is to separate from those. Even within Christianity, he says there needs to be separation because he says in Christianity you're going to run into run into some who don't care about the doctrinal evil. They don't care about the ecclesiastical evil, they don't care about the moral evil.
He says you need to separate yourself.
From those.
The point that he wants you and I to get to is that he wants us to be a vessel.
Meet for the masters, use and prepare it unto every good work you know you can leave here in six months from now, a month from now, two years from now.
You can leave the assembling and you can go to a church if you're choosing.
But I'll say to you that.
You won't be able to be.
A vessel prepared unto every good work, you still might be able to do good. I have no doubt there are very there are many very well meaning Christians who love the Lord and christened them today.
But the Lord wants us to be prepared unto every good work. You take this picture of this man's house.
It's this rich man and he has a huge house, a great house, and he has all these vessels. Let's say that he just went and he just had a big dinner. And they take the plates and they take the silverware and they throw it into this big sink.
And in that sink you find good.
You find good vessels, but they're all mixed up with things that aren't very good.
And let's say you reach down into that sink and you pick up a fork, and on that fork it's got some bits of food on it.
Would you want to go sit down at the table and eat with that? Say no.
Could you use that fork for something? Sure you could. You can go out to the garden.
And you could weed with that fork, right? You could find multiple uses for that fork, but it wouldn't be a fork that you could use for every work you couldn't use it to eat with.
Well, what the Lord is instructing here is that He needs you to separate from that.
To be put into that drawer where the silverware is clean so that you can be used for every good work.
Now this truth isn't specifically dealing with the assembly. This brings you to the doorstep of the assembly. This is as you're traveling through Christendom and you look around and you see all the ruin, and you say, what am I to do?
And the Lord says separate from it.
And then follow them, which call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Even when you separate from ones who are going on carelessly with doctrinal.
Ecclesiastical or moral evil, the Lord promises that there are going to be some that you can still go on with. There are going to be some that you can still practically express this truth that we are one body with.
So you could tell your friend who had asked that question.
Can we really today practice the truth that we find in Ephesians chapter 4 when the body of Christ doesn't care? You can say, yes, we can, but we have to look at Ephesians 4 now through the porthole of Second Timothy chapter 2, and we have to see that the truth is still there and we can follow that truth in every aspect, but it's no longer.
00:50:07
Up on top of the deck of the ship, wide open, expressing that truth with every believer. Not anymore. Not in the ruin that's here today. Now we're down below.
It's more constricted, there's not as many.
But the Lord promises that you can still express it. You can still practically walk in that truth. Now why is it important?
Do you call him Lord?
The Lord says in.
John, Chapter 14.
He says, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. There's nobody who wants to bring bring us home to glory more than the Lord. He wants it more than you and I.
Do you think there's anybody else today before that day happens?
That he wants to share.
Time with her brother, mentioned Mr. Bremen. Forget your first name, sorry.
If the Lord was at McDonald's, where would you and I be? We'd be there, right? The Lord has promised us that he's in the midst. He's in the midst. Lord's Day morning for breaking of bread, for the reading meeting, for the prayer meeting, for the meeting, for ministry, for meetings, for discipline. He's there in the midst.
If you could see him with your eyes, if you walked into that meeting room and you actually saw him sitting there in the front row in the midst or standing, would you show up? Would you go? Would you make sure you were there? I certainly would.
He's there.
Just because you can't see Him with your eyes doesn't mean it's any less true. He promises us in His word that He's there, and if He's there, He wants you to be there. Now my point isn't tonight to tell you where that place is. It's not to tell you to get gathered. My point is for you to just see that there is a truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst.
That the Spirit of God is gathering.
Souls.
And if it's true, ask the Lord where it is.
Ask the Lord, tell the Lord that you want to be where He is in the midst, and if you're honest in your soul, He will lead you there.
That's His promise. That's all I have. We just thank the Lord for the time.
Our God and our loving Father, we thank thee again for thy Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord Jesus for all that thou has done for us, and we wonder how it could be that.
Such a God of grace.
Could love us when there is nothing in us to love? How could be that?
Now its desire to spend time with us, and yet we know from Thy word it is true, and we just ask Thee to help us to have a desire in our hearts. Put a desire there to be where Thou art, to recognize Thy order.
And to have a desire to walk in the good of it. We just thank Thee again for this time, thanking Thee for all that that was done for us. Lord Jesus and thy name we pray. Amen.
Session #3
Q&A
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Quite a number of questions that came into the question box and some of them are questions that could take some a lot of time to answer, but if we take a lot of time to answer the questions, we're not going to get through all of them.
So I have five of them here with me today. There's still more back in the other building. So we we try to get the answer.
We'll we'll probably just scratch the surface, but we'll try to keep on moving through the questions. This question we have is in the last few chapters of Ezekiel, a temple is described and sacrifices are described.
I have heard that this takes place in the Millennium.
Why does Israel need to make offerings for sin after the Lord has died and rose again? Example versus in Ezekiel 4318 to 27. So I think I'll just read through some of those verses. Ezekiel 43.
Now read from verse 18 to verse 27.
And he said unto me, Son of Man, thus saith the Lord God. These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when thou, when they shall make it to offer burnt offerings thereon and to sprinkle blood thereon. Now remember, this is supposed to be during the time of the Millennium. The Lord Jesus has already died, He's already shed his blood, and here they're they're doing.
They're going to be doing sacrifices again during the Millennium and and I believe that's this time that's spoken of here in Ezekiel and thou shalt verse 19 and thou shalt give to the priests and Levites.
That be of the seed of Zadok which approached unto me to minister unto me, saith the Lord God. A young bullet for a sin offering, and thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it upon the four horns of it.
And on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border roundabout, thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it. Thou shalt take the Bullock also of the sin offering, and shall burn it in the appointed place of the house without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering, And they shall cleanse the altar as they didn't, as they did cleanse it with the bullet.
When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young Bullock without blemish.
And a ram out of the flock without blemish, and thou shalt offer them before the Lord. And the priest shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord. Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering. And they shall also prepare a young bullet. And a ram of the out of the flock without blemish. Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they shall consecrate themselves. And when these days.
Expired it shall be that upon the 8th day. And so forward the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.
And so in the back in the Old Testament, in Exodus chapter 12, we see that there was a the Angel of the Lord went through the the.
The eat the land of Egypt and the first born was killed. But the Israelites had a lamb, the Passover lamb. They celebrated the Passover and they had to kill the lamb and take the blood and put it on the side post in the top of the the door.
And that was a picture of Christ coming into this world to die for them to for us to shed his blood, to take away our sins. And to God, that was a picture of Christ coming and dying on the cross. The people, they didn't understand that, but God understood it. And he asked the people to do that for a memorial and.
But that was looking forward to the cross. Now if we look in in First Corinthians chapter 5.
We find that Christ is our Passover.
00:05:00
And now, as we remember the Lord, as we did on Lord's Day, we're looking back to the cross, back to the time when the Lord Jesus died for our sins, the one sacrifice for sins. The Lord Jesus forever sat down at the right hand of God. And so the question is.
If the Lord Jesus already died and paid the price for our sins, why are these sacrifices going on into the Millennium?
I think they did have with it is that now that we've come to Christianity, we know that the sacrifices have ended and we have the that which answered to them. So why would there be any going back to that in the future?
And.
It's impossible to understand this issue outside of God's dispensational ways and dealings with man.
And Christianity, we do have the complete passing away of those things, and in Judaism as well, actually, when it comes to the idea of an animal being actually a sacrifice for sin that could answer to God, that ended in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With God, it always was. So like Tim said, he always knew that those things could only be as Abraham on the mount. You know God is going to provide himself a lamb. And so here this ram, that's just a little picture of something that's going to happen.
Hebrews chapter 10 I think states the difficulty pretty well.
And verse eight he says if Albany said sacrifice and offering and burn offering and offerings for sin, that would have not neither had pleasure there in.
And then you find out in verse 12 what Tim just called this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down the right hand was. So why is it that there's any going back to that? Well, I think we have to understand that when it comes to actual sins and putting away sins, God could never have pleasure.
In those sacrifices, you never did and you never will. There was only one thing that could ever answer him.
And that was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, insofar as those sacrifices in the Old Testament spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, God did take pleasure in them. This verse isn't saying that God didn't have any pleasure at all. No sacrifices saying when it came to sin He didn't, but when it spoke of Christ, he did.
And so if you go back to Leviticus chapter one, just as an example, there's many places.
And.
Verse 17 just is just quite a few verses like you say, verse 13 and so forth. But verse 17, the end of the verse speaking about the burnt offering, it is a burnt sacrifice and offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. That was always a sweet savour to the Lord.
And in the coming day, it will be again.
And so I think it's important to make that distinction, first of all. And then second of all, we need to see that these animal sacrifices belong to the law, God's covenant with his people. It belonged to earth, it belonged to that earthly.
System of things that God gave to his people and.
I thought it was imperfect.
So as we're talking the other day and and Dorothy, we just came to the verses in Hebrews Chapter 7 about with the change of priesthood, there is a change in law. The Lord Jesus now taking his priesthood of the order of Melchizedek. There's a change in law entirely. And for us in Christianity, it's away from the law to grace and we have an entirely new order of things and we have the Lord's Supper for one thing, instead of.
The Passover and and so forth, but yet in a coming day, they're going to be under something different from what we are and they're going to be under a form of the law again. And I think it's that's something we have to understand and recognize. Let's just one final.
Verse or couple verses Jeremiah 31.
00:10:00
And verse 31.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, with the House of Judah.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I wasn't husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel.
After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, And I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Now this is not talking about us. Many people think it is.
But this is the coming day, as it says very plainly here. The Lord is going to make a new covenant with his people and says.
In verse 31, again, the House of Israel, the House of Judah is not the church, and they're going to live under covenant relationship again with him under law, and these sacrifices are going to be reinstituted now as a memorial.
Even then, just like in the past, there's nothing with these sacrifices that can or will take away sin. But they will remind man and they will remind God of that perfect sacrifice for sin, and there will be pleasuring them in that way. It'll be a sweet savor to God.
OK. The next question.
It starts out, summer is over, harvest is passed and we are not saved, and gives Romans 10 verse 9, which is that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So it brings in believing there as as the way of salvation.
And the question is this, is there two parts to being saved?
And it says confession, repentance.
Repent and be baptized.
And then it then it goes on to another part of the question. But there's, there's often been a question, how do you get saved? Is it just by believing or is it just by repenting? Or is it both by believing and repenting? Or is there more to being saved than than that? Who's their confession? Do we have to confess our sins to be saved?
And it goes on to say, could a child be saved by asking the Lord into his heart?
With what seems like a childlike faith, but later there seems to be no repentance for sin. And so we for an example, there's a young man, he told me he was saved when he was young. And he tells me once I'm saved, I can never be saved. I can never be lost, right?
And so I explained to him.
When a person is saved, they.
They.
Can never lose their salvation. I gave them scriptures to show him that. And then he came back to me and says thank you. That gives me comfort. But the reason he wanted to have comfort was because he was going on in an immoral lifestyle, a wicked lifestyle, and he wanted me to give him assurance of his salvation. Well, I can't give him assurance of his salvation and I'm sorry I gave him comfort.
In in his life of sin. But the question is.
When a person gets saved or thinks they're saved and then they backslide, or maybe they're not even saved at all at all, is repentance a necessary part of salvation?
Yes.
Second Timothy chapter 2 it says nevertheless the fountain verse 19 nevertheless the foundation of God stand assure having a seal on the Lord no offend that are his hand. Let everyone name in the name of Christ department of iniquity.
This is what proves to us that we are safe. Is a Christian refuses to depart from iniquity, then we have to doubt ourselves.
00:15:05
If we look at Hebrews chapter 6.
It says in verse four word is impossible for those who are once enlightened and tasted as heavily.
Takers of the Holy Ghost have tasted the good word of God and the power from the world that comes all right to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucified themselves the Son of God impression and to an open chain. This speaks to us of the sphere of Christianity where there are blessings and benefits.
It's very possible that there's somebody in this room here today who's going on as a Christian, who's enjoying this camp, who's enjoying Christian privileges and Christian fellowship. Yet there's no reality in your soul and you're teetering on the brink of giving it up and falling away. And when you do that, the word of God tells us it's impossible for a new year again.
So when you have a soul who has confessed Christianity?
And they go off into an immoral lifestyle.
And they refused to judge it. We have to question their salvation and we have to be worried that this is a statement they would fall into of being an apostate, one who professed to be a Christian and then gave it up. The Gospel of Mark, chapter one.
Verse 15.
The time is fulfilled. These are the words of the Lord Jesus. After that, John was put in prison. The time is fulfilled.
And the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent ye and believe the Gospel.
Then in Acts chapter 20.
False testimony before Jews and Greeks verse 21 was this.
Acts 20 and 21 Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I've heard it said that repentance is no savior.
But there's no salvation without it. The first words of the Lord when he arrived in his public ministry were repent and believe the gospel. And as to childlike faith, I enjoyed the expression because naman when he dipped into the Jordan 7 times, his flesh came again as the little child, and except to become his little children, he's yelling no wise enter into the Kingdom of God.
So it's a beautiful example of that.
But repentance means to rethink and means to think. Repent means to rethink. If we think that we can have a light acceptance of Christ and go on in our sins, we need to repent. We need to rethink that course because that is not true salvation. And so that repentance is to take God's thoughts concerning what we are by nature and practice.
And to acknowledge that we need a savior.
And one who is willing and ready to accept it, and to save to the uttermost them that call unto God, them that come unto God by him, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him when he saves. It's eternal, there's no question about that.
The question mark is not in our hearts if we have really, truly repented and received a Savior.
Separately together, don't they? And fate is as it hasn't have in John chapter three. He that hath perceived this testimony has said to his seal that God is true. And So what God says is right. And the first thing God tells us about ourselves is what we are.
What we are is completely lost.
I'm done and dead in trespasses and sin, and so there's no believing in God without that part of what God has said.
We can't accept all that he did in the sacrifice of sin without the reason for why there had to be a sacrifice of sin. And so these two things go absolutely inseparably together. And it's no use in saying, I believe, if there's not been any acknowledgement whatsoever.
Of the reason why I had to believe Now that being said, true faith always.
Will recognize that and the gospel can be preached from the standpoint of trusting in Christ alone.
00:20:08
When there's that recognition and those ones come to the Lord, you have that in Acts chapter 16. They didn't go at all into the repentance with the Philippine jailer, but they simply said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And thou shalt be saved. God had already started a work there. This man knew that he needed help, and the message went out that way. You go through the Gospel of John, which is specifically given by the Spirit of God. These things are written that you might believe in that believing you might have liked through His name. It's the gospel of the gospel. And you won't find the word repentance in there once.
And yet it's.
Implied in different ways. Faith everywhere, but the repentance is always going along with it. If you go to the book of Romans, it's the teaching of the gospel. You'll find repentance there. Once in chapter 2, it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance.
After that, you don't see it again. All the teaching of the gospel, but it's everywhere, implies it goes along with B. And so I think it's important we recognize that those things go together. But it's fate that saves us. Brother Mark, we're safe.
There are steps to salvation, but they're really inseparable because they're all a work of the Spirit of God in US, aren't they? If you go to Ephesians chapter one, it might show that.
There's a verse that says He that hath begun a good work in you will complete it. And Hebrews chapter one and verse 11, the last part of the verse, we find that it is him that worketh all things.
After the council of his will.
That we should be the praise of His glory, who are the first fruits in Christ. And then we have some steps here, in whom He also trusted. After there's a step that you heard the word of life, the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also there's another. After He believed, he were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.
There are steps to salvation, but they all couple together and they are all the work of the Spirit of God within us. Just like the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. Last night we heard that that was the activity in the Spirit of God to bring a soul to Christ.
And that in itself is not repentance. But when that happens, the light of the glory of God shining in the soul of the Sinner shows the sin, and it brings repentance. And then they fall on their faces at the foot of the cross and accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior. And these wonderful things are sold all together.
Maybe you're here today and you confess the Lord as a child.
And that's part of the question here. Is it possible for a person to have a a confession sort of like a child, seemingly real confession with childlike faith and and it not really be true?
And and I speak also to the Sunday school teachers because and, and parents, sometimes we tell our children, oh, just ask the Lord Jesus into your heart and you'll be saved.
And you ask your child, how do you get saved? Oh, you ask Jesus into your heart. And if they in fact do that and say, Lord Jesus come into my heart. And then they're putting their faith in that prayer. That prayer doesn't save you. It's faith that saves you. Sometimes that prayer is a result of the faith that the person has.
And that's just their way of expressing expressing that to God.
But would you ask the Lord Jesus to come into a heart that's wicked and full of sin? The Lord can't do that. First he has to clean the heart. How does he do that? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And then there's the question of repentance. Luke chapter 3, verse 13 says unless you repent, you're going to perish.
And it goes inseparably, as has been said with faith, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 318 says if you don't believe, you're condemned already.
00:25:03
Doesn't matter what sort of a prayer you pray, if there's not faith, you're condemned already. John 336 If you don't believe the wrath of God abides on you, you're already under the wrath and judgment and sentence of death and judgment in hell.
When we go to conferences.
I'm sorry, young people, if I divulge what happens.
But sometimes the young people go out and they drink. They go out to the bar and they drink at a conference. And I know some people have who have gone out and had sexual impropriety at a conference. And here is supposed to be a time when there's spiritual uplifting. And, and we talked last night about being on a spiritual high when we come to places like this. And these are professing Christians and they're going out and getting drunk.
Or doing drugs.
Or smoking pot.
At a Christian.
Event.
Is that repentance? Is that coming from a heart that loves the Lord? Is that coming from a person who is saved? Is that coming from a person who is repented? The Bible says by your fruits he will be known, and perhaps you are saved, but your life does not show it. I have a brother.
He was raised in the assembly. He was gathered to the Lord's name.
He came to the meeting. He even preached the gospel.
And then he turned to a life of homosexuality.
He has two children with his, I don't know what you call him, his partner.
And I asked him, do you tell your children about the Lord Jesus? He said no. Do you read the Bible to them? No.
And this is a man who professed to be saved, he told me. I'm already saved. I can't lose my salvation.
There's no repentance. Perhaps trusting in a prayer as a child, being attracted to the love of the Lord Jesus as a child. We all love to be loved. Every person loves to be loved, and when Jesus loves us, it attracts us.
But it takes more than appreciation for love.
It takes repentance. There needs to be a realization that there's sin in the heart and we cannot be saved by.
A love relationship. We can only be saved by repentance and and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I told, I said to my brother, why haven't you told your children about the Lord Jesus? He says, oh, they have to decide for themselves, I can't bring that before them. I said, well, how can they choose if they've never heard it?
You can get pretty far away from God.
If you refuse.
To repent. I'm afraid, Mike, I'm gonna, I am afraid that one day I'm gonna be sitting beside the Lord Jesus at the great white Throne and my brother is gonna be standing there.
And I'm going to hear the Lord Jesus say depart from me. I don't know who you are. You go to hell and he's going to be there forever.
If if someone is living a lifestyle of wickedness and smoking pot and doing drugs.
And you profess to be a believer, we can only take you by your fruit. And So what is our responsibility to you who claim to be a Christian?
My responsibility is to give you the gospel and tell you you need to be saved.
Because I don't know the heart. God knows the heart.
Let me tell you, you need to be safe. Don't, don't, don't mess with God because you're going to lose.
The next question is about sanctification.
And it says it's being sanctified, giving 100% of our body to the Lord, like being saved is giving 100% of our soul to the Lord.
00:30:09
This question is about sanctification giving up. Is is being sanctified giving 100% of our body to the Lord? And is that like being saved as giving a 100% of our soul to the Lord?
Taking a question. Taking a question.
Whoever asked it is trying to make a distinction that I don't personally stay in scripture.
Probably good to just discuss what sanctification is, but first of all, maybe more to the question. First Thessalonians chapter 5.
And verse 23.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that first goes together.
And sanctification has to do with our spirit, our soul and our body. But before we speak any more about that, we think we need to understand that Scripture speaks about sanctification and different ways.
And before you talk about that, you should even talk about the sanctification is because that's the word we don't use in English.
Sanctification is being set apart.
And.
We also use it in the terms of being holy.
But when we think of being set apart, we take something and we set it apart from something. But Scriptures talks about being set apart from something to something, and it's really from.
The world and it's to God.
And so.
I think it's helpful to see it in this regard. A brother presented in terms of two young people who have to do with other young people and.
They mingle in the group and they have got a lot of relationships and what's to do with each other. But there comes a time when this young man and this young woman have an attraction to one another and the relationship changes between them and as a consequence it changes with everyone else. Now they're set apart and we can think of that being set apart on the two sides.
They're still with other people, but they're not the same way.
As they had been before, the pregnancy relationship with all the others has changed.
But if that's all it was, it would be kind of dry, wouldn't it? No, they're set apart to each other. There's an affection there, there's a relationship attraction, and that's where the joy is. And so it is in Christian sanctification. We often think about it being in terms of being set apart from the world, but it's set apart to God, and we have been taken away from all that we were in and now put into a special relationship.
Uniquely to Him. And so that really gives the idea of what it is. And because God is holy, when we're set apart to Him, then there's that which corresponds to what He is. And so we are holy or we are to be holy. Now that brings in the second part of it. There's at least four ways Scripture presents this, and two of them are really important to get a hold of.
The two have to do with our standing before God and our state.
Our standing is what God has done with respect to us, and that's always perfect in Scripture. It's absolute, and we have nothing to do with it. And so Scripture talks about sanctification as that which is absolute and the work of God, what he has done for us. And maybe the easiest way to see that is.
In there's quite a few verses, but Hebrews chapter 10 is a very clear verse that we all know.
Hebrews, chapter 10.
And verse 14 says for by one offering he had perfected forever.
00:35:03
Them that are sanctified or the sanctified ones?
That's God's work. The moment you trusted in Jesus Christ, God took you from where you were and set you apart forever and perfectly to Himself. And that was by the offering in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many other verses and scriptures speak of that. You find that the Corinthians for all the wrong things that they were still going on their assembly with. In chapter six he says such were some of you.
But you are watched. You are sanctified.
God had done that and so that was perfect and it did not depend on what they did day by day.
Now we get to 2nd Thessalonians or First Thessalonians. Chapter 5 is 1St and it talks about something else because it's not talking about something that's complete and perfect. It's talking a prayer here that the apostle Paul had for the.
Thessalonians that this work could go on and be completed in them until the day of unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so there's a part of that work that the Spirit of God is doing inside of each one of us day by day. Some call it progressive sanctification because it goes on.
Maybe practical sanctification that has to do with our standing, what we are in our responsibility in this world.
And so here the prayer is to God to go on and do that in them. Now just two more verses. So that's something else explain about this. But and 1St, let's go to first Peter and see the responsibility side of it.
Verse 15 First Peter one. Verse 15 But as he which hath called you is holy.
So be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written. Be holy, for I am holy. So because Goddess sanctified us.
He wants us to live by Sanctified 1.
And we have a responsibility to go and live our lives more like Him because He is holy. We're to imitate, emulate, count. Now that's our responsibility. Now one other verse that comes to mind, John chapter 17, the Lord prays there about the way that we could be sanctified.
And.
We find no surprise there that it's going to be the word of thought. John 17.
And verse 17 Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth.
And so this is what the Lord prayed for us to be practically set aside to God by, and that was the word of God.
And it's not going to happen practically in our lives unless we take the Word of God up day by day and seek to read it. But that's just a brief outline.
How I understand sanctification, and it's really a total thing, spirit, soul and body, the part that depends on us, that part that we have responsibility, and the practical part of being set apart to God in our lives is to be in the whole of our being, not just part of us. But what God did when he sanctified us, His perfect work, was also the whole of our being, and that was done forever perfectly by the work of Christ and the cross.
I think this question is like the first question about salvation, where there are different parts to it, but yet it's almost the same thing. And as brother Tim has been telling us.
It's it's, it's a whole thing. And those are the.
Keywords in that verse that he read in in First Thessalonians 5.
Is whole, but the display of it would be in our body of all of it. And so we get in the chapter previously for Thessalonians 4 and verse 3. For this is the will of God.
00:40:00
Even your sanctification, and this is the showing of it in our body.
That you should abstain from fornication, that everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. And then in First Corinthians 6, that Brother Tim mentioned, he mentioned this, but, and I thought, I think it's very good. He spoke of it quickly, but I would like to reemphasize it so that we could see.
It definitely has to do with our state and our standing.
And what he spoke of in verse 11 would be our standing. It is always in that way. But the rest of the chapter has to do with our state. The rest of the chapter is a practical living out in our body what the Lord Jesus has done for us, spirit, soul and body. It's showing it out in our in in our body what has been done for the whole spirit.
And body.
Yeah.
First Peter chapter 3 in verse 15.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.
3 and 15 First Peter 3.
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, having a good conscience.
And then in Romans 6, I know the first read yesterday, the baptism.
Verse 12 Letting us sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, Romans 612 That you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield to your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
I just wanted to point out that sanctification is hard work. It begins inside the heart and then works its way out to remember the body, realizing that we are dead. We've died with Christ, and now we reckon ourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin and the working of it and the members. But the heart has to be engaged.
Otherwise it becomes legality.
Separation, like the Pharisees separated themselves.
Why is practical sanctification so difficult?
Why is practical sanctification so difficult? Practical sanctification is our our day-to-day life, our living. How do we live a life that is is holy like it was mentioned, be holy As for I am holy. So how do we do that on a day-to-day basis? Why is it difficult? Why do we have.
Troubles and struggles.
With the with the flesh. One reason is because we have the flesh.
If we live by the Spirit, we will not live by the flesh. But how do we live by the Spirit?
It is a resurrection of the Lord Jesus that gives us the power to walk in the Spirit, isn't it? In Romans chapter 6 and verse four it says therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead.
By the glory of the Father, just think of that power.
The Father raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. That power is at our disposal every moment of the day. Even so, we also should walk in units of life and the struggle is there with the don't appreciate that power that is given to us at our disposal every moment of the day.
00:45:02
You might also have something to do with.
Whether we really condemn the world that we're in or whether we actually kind of like it here.
I.
Read a couple of verses I'm sorry when we remember the Lord and his death and since we take sides of him against the world, right and so we're dead with him so when we say we're dead with him, then that means that there's nothing in the world that we really like that we really are attracted to but.
That's why I can't say that that's true of myself. On the other hand, I mean it's.
The repentance and faith.
It's not one time.
Deal. It's not a one time funk activity. It's it might be moment by moment, it might be daily, might be.
And when the Lord Jesus says.
He loveth his wife.
Shall lose it. He hated his life in this world. Shall keep it. I think there's something there too that's part of.
That occasion, the work simplification and it might even be a lifelong event, a lifelong activity to to learn to die to self and be fully engaged and loved in love with the Lord. I believe it's true.
Yeah. Just in connection with that, I mean, we, we had a whole meeting, much of which.
Spoke of connection to the world and to love, not the world and the things of the world and.
We're just thinking of Romans 12 and verse one and two.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
And, and just in connection with what our brother was saying about.
Attachments to the world while.
You know, it speaks here of renewing your mind.
All that the world has for us, all that they they listen to on a daily basis and speak of and and and watch and TV's and movies and it all.
Promotes quite the opposite of a practical sanctification.
It makes things like fornication, adultery.
Alcoholism, drug use all seen the norm and seemed to be the the fun way to go and and the best way to live.
This certainly goes against the mind of God and that we need to be be in the Word of God.
To know the mind of God, what he wants from us, and to walk in the Spirit and.
You know, for me personally, I can't listen to the music of the world or taking the entertainment of the world without it having a negative effect on me spiritually. If you can, if you can do that, I know a lot of believers think they can separate that.
You're, you're, you're better than I am. Then I, I, I, that's not something and and I see it as a harmful thing. And I just find that to be very clear in this world, in this verse, these two verses.
You know, if they go hand in hand, not being conformed to the world and renewing our mind.
And we know who the the Prince of the Power of the Air is and and he would like to.
Derail us with with ungodly thoughts or even possible.
In the reverse in Ephesians 4, I'd like to read.
A.
A lot of those things that have been mentioned that the, the, the Satan has so many things in this world that he uses to attract us and to and he knows our flesh is, is weak and, and he knows what can attract us. And like brother Dave was saying, maybe we, maybe we like the world too much and we don't. And as Jeff was saying.
00:50:13
That things become so commonplace when we look at when we go to school, especially in school, the public schools, and then you look in the televisions and the movies and all these things we become desensitized to, to moral evil and spiritual evil and we we get taken up with.
With some of these things, but look in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26.
It tells us to be angry.
But I thought anger was a sin. Anger is a work of the flesh, and here God is telling us to be angry. But what are we supposed to be angry at? It's not anger at people.
And others it says no, it says be angry and sin not. We need to be angry at the sin. That's what this verse is talking about, being angry at sin. And don't let the sun go down upon your anger against sin.
Some people say it's OK to be angry with your wife as long as you get things settled before you go to bed before the sun goes down. That's not what this verse is talking about. It's a joke. People make a joke of the word of God. No this says be angry and sin not let not the sun go down of upon your wrath is talking about the context is sin allowing sin in our life. Don't allow sin in your life. The minute you you become desensitized to sin you.
Hating it. And when you stop hating sin, then it's easy to fall into it. And so God tells us to be angry at sin and don't sin.
Going over to someone.
There's a.
A lot of young people in here, I know that.
You've been faced with this because I have been continue to be faced with this.
That there's a constant effort.
To call you back.
Into the world to ruin.
The plan that the Lord has for your life.
To mess up, if you will, that setting apart that the Lord has called you to. So what do you do?
OK, what happens when that I think everyone of Mr. Baranas with ourselves have to raise their hand with guilt and say guilty?
I messed it up.
So what do you do?
Read the first few verses of someone blessed. Is the man their woman or young person?
That walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of a scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
Water in it that bringeth forth is brewed in a season. Its leaf shall not wither, or whatsoever he doeth shall prepare well. This ties into what was brought out in the Gospel of John about being in the Word.
Says in Psalm 119, wherewithal shall a young man or woman cleanse his way? And what's the answer? Washing along with soap.
Forgetting about it so by taking heed there to work so.
It's easy. There's a progression here. You say, well, I'm not going to sit down with these people, but we're going to walk along together. But you know what happens? Because I'm guilty of this.
You're walking along and you're maintaining a little separation, and then they're like, hey, sit down.
OK, so there's this progression, walking and standing and then sitting right down, it says in James, know ye not?
That friendship with the world is enmity with God.
That's that hurts.
It's very Chuck if we were in the military today and.
We decided to be double agents and.
00:55:03
And.
Turned over all of our military seats. So many of you know American history. Think about Benedict Arnold, OK?
He had he changed. He switched his allegiance. What happened? He was a traitor. What's the penalty?
It's treason. Death.
So I mean, thankfully the Lord is gracious, but young people think about what it says, friendship with the world.
This enemies with God.
You love the Savior, I know that many of you do.
And this is a challenge. There's the Wilds of the devil are constantly being thrown at you.
How you gonna stand that?
His delight shall be in the law of the Lord, and in His law that they meditate day and night be in the Word.
Be with other Christians. Don't walk in the way of sinners or stand there with them or sit down. They're going to corrupt you. It's like saying if my clean fork is in The Dirty dish pan, I'll be able to just maintain cleanness. You won't.
So don't spoil or compromise your sanctification the the enemy.
May not be able to get your soul back if you belong to Christ, but you can ruin all of the effectiveness of your life.
By winning in this.
Bell. So I want to encourage you.
To be in the word, that's the wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way. And we're all guilty.
There's the remedy for the believer.
We we had just real quick the positive side of just to say one second. This is all very helpful, but let's not forget, just like with the relationship with a boy and a girl, the greater thing is that they're separated to each other. Let's have the word cleans our way, but let's fall in love with Christ through it.
We had a lot of questions for today. We did three. I'm going to squeeze in #5 and we'll skip #4 and we'll do 4:00 tomorrow.
And #5 it kind of goes along with what we've had here with the sanctification and, and separation from the world and sanctification set apart away from the world and to Christ. And it says what makes us saw worldly aside from the lyrics. But we know you can go from the words, whether it's you can compare the words to the word of God to know if the lyrics are.
Are godly or not?
But then the question is, could a classical or certain beats or drum patterns be considered worldly? Some of them could. Could all of them?
I don't know.
But if it excites the flesh.
It's worldly.
Music can control us by the beats, the beats they they become one with our soul and they can control us. I know some people don't like us to use the word that music controls us, but it does. The apostle or not the apostle, but.
Kingston he had David Common and soothe him when he was angry and upset and so he could change his his mood with music. A lot of stores or not some stores play music outside their their store.
To be to be music and beats and rhythm that most people don't like, so people won't loiter there around their store and.
Yes, music can be worldly, and I'm not going to tell you which one is which one isn't. If you got a conscience about it, maybe you shouldn't do it.
I sorry we didn't have a lot of time for this question, but.
I think it goes along right along with the lesson we've had here on sanctification and set apart for the world. If someone else has a one or two-minute comment, feel free, but your time is up.
01:00:07
If if somebody could get ahold of the tips from Lassen, I don't know, maybe it's five or so years ago. Doug Buchanan did a really good series on music. It's well worth listening to.
Just remember that rhythm is made-up of time, and we as those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ are going to be in eternity where there is no time. So there's nothing that will substitute the fellowship with the Lord Jesus. No rhythm, no beat or anything like that will produce happy fellowship in the soul like communion with the Lord Jesus.
I could say too on a case by case.
Basis so we can get the answer to this question from the Lord Himself, and just two verses real quick come to mind for that.
The Colossians, chapter 3.
And verse 16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom.
Teaching and admonishing one another, Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
OK, what does that mean?
Well.
We can ask him.
Verse 17 Whatsoever you do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by Him. He has the answer. If our heart and our motive and whatever we do is for Him, then He'll make that funny clear enough case by case to her.
Take 318.
318.
Oh well my God, still keep my soul here by yourself.
With only her interests changing.
I need to be sweet and.
Shall we?
All I say is.
Great, our loving God and Father, we thank Thee for this morning. We thank Thee too for Thy precious word. And we know in Thy word Thou is all things that pertain unto life and godliness. And yet we know there are many questions.
And we know that we can find the answers in Thy precious word. We thank Thee for this. And we would just pray that times like this, that we would see in Thy word that Thou has a plan for each one of us. We would just pray. We think of the young people are truly at a crossroad in their life. We would just pray that they might choose.
01:05:15
The path we think of how Moses chose to suffer.
With the people of God and rather to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season we would just pray for each one in here we would pray too for the day that's before us for safety and our fellowship we might be able to speak a word in season to our.
Our brother and sister, the Lord, we would just pray, for this might not be a stumbling block to anyone. We ask all thank Thee once again for Thy love and care for each one of us and Thy name we pray. Amen.
The Life of Peter
Address—Etienne Leger
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.
Let's ask Lord for his help.
My godfather, tonight we come to you in prayer.
Thank you for this camp. Thank you for the opportunity to have tonight to open your precious word. Just pray that what is said may glorify the Lord Jesus Christ may be made more precious to our hearts.
Lord, beginning with the speakers, pray that.
But it's said to be a challenge to my own soul. Just pray that if anyone here.
Stranger to thy love, oh Lord. May tonight be a night of decision. First a Savior and then as Lord.
Just pray that if anything that is not said by the Spirit, that I may fall to the ground and die. But one is capped. Might just be that which is for the building up and encouraging. As the brothers and sisters here. It's the name, Lord Jesus Christ, the only name that is worthy to be proclaimed. We pray, Amen.
Tonight, I have all my heart to share.
Several.
Episodes or snapshots from the life of one of the apostles.
It is apostle. I'm going to say it is. It's Peter.
And I'm not here to do any Peter bashing. As we say sometimes and people say, well, we're always taught life will tend to. What I've heard is that, well, we always tend to criticize Peter because he he failed a few times and and this and that. But I want to say that that we could put my name right there instead of Peter's name because there's many things that Peter went through and struggled that we're going to go through tonight that I could personally.
Just insert my name there because we're all no better.
In James it says that Elijah was a man subject to like passions.
And also has written that whatsoever things are written before time, written for our learning. And so these lessons that hopefully will go through in the life of Peter, through the Gospels in the book of Acts, hopefully can have some type of application to our lives.
And so let's start off and I'm not going to go in chronological order and I don't want to present what I'm presenting is being something that's a doctrinal truth. I want to apply these things more for for application or everyday life. And so let's start off the first mention, one of the first mentions of Peter in the book of John, Gospel of John, chapter one, verse 40.
John one verse 41 of the two which heard John speak followed him was Andrew Simon Peters brother. He first finding his own brothers. Simon said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus, And when Jesus beheld them, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by exportation a stone.
You know, Andrew is a disciple. Another one is just disciples. We don't hear very much about Andrew as much as we do compared to Peter. Andrew is more of a we hear him a couple of times in scripture. We don't hear of him. He's not as prominent as Peter was. Peter, I can assume, if I can just imagine him, I can imagine him being a strong, big, strong, loud man. The large burly fisherman and Peter and his brother Andrew.
I assume I don't know exactly but I can just say he he was someone that brought Peter.
To the Lord.
And you know, I think of it this way, in our lives, we don't know the people that we bring to the Lord, what kind of influence that they will have for the Lord. I don't think Andrew, in bringing his brother Peter to the Lord knew what kind of an influence that Peter would have and all the work that Peter was going to do for the Lord later on, but he brought him the Lord. And so that's something even the kids in the front row or the older ones can do as well. We can bring our friends to the Lord. We can tell them about Jesus. We can say, hey.
I have a savior. I have someone that I want you to know about.
There's a couple kids when they arrived at the camp, they came running, I think T series here. They were happy to see me and they, they told their friends always tease here. And that was, I was honored. I was happy to see them, but they were excited that someone was here. And you know what, that's the same way we can be excited about our savior Jesus.
00:05:06
That's not the first point.
The second point I'd like to turn to is in John, Sorry Luke chapter 5 and verse 12.
Before we go further, I'm going to give you a list of the things I'd like to talk about in Peters life.
Ironically, they all start with the word see. 10 words with the word, starting with the word see. We'll talk about Peters conversion. Peters calling Peter, counting the cost, seeking companionship with the Lord. His claim of courage, his true condition manifested this complete denial, his conversation with the Lord.
And this consecration at the end, I'd like to close one more challenge for those of us there in the room. And so these are the 10 points I'd like to go through systematically depending on how much time we have. So we'll see how how it goes. So Luke chapter 5.
Luke chapter 5.
And verse 2.
Verse three and Jesus entered into one of the ships which was Simon Peters.
And prayed that he would thrust out a letter from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he sent to Simon, Launch out your Nets into the deep, and let down your Nets for a draw. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and we have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at the word, a thigh word, I will let down the net.
And when they had done these, they enclosed a great look through the fishes and their net break when they back into their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.
And were filled both ships, so they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw he fell down to Jesus feet, knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of fishes that they had taken.
So is James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners of Simon.
And his 7th assignment Fear not, and henceforth thou shalt catch men. But when they had brought all their ships to land, they forcedlook all, and followed him.
The Lord got into Simon Peters boat.
And he borrowed Simon's vote and as the story goes along, he the Lord performed a miracle that day. He performed a miracle in Simon Peters life and it brought Simon Peter in verse 8 to say, depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord, I just want to bring in the gospel here for a few minutes because this is critical because all things we're going to talk about might sound good. It might get you laughing. You might think like it was really nice quote what he said. But if you don't know Jesus Christ as your savior tonight.
Everything else that we're going to talk about is of no use.
We've talked about the gospel many times. This program was brought up this morning and the question and answer meeting the importance of being safe and tonight if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you haven't been like Peter and said depart from me. I'm a Sinner if there's been never a work of repentance in your life.
What we're going to say this evening is not going to have root in your soul.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved that will confess that thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God raised them from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And so I'm just asking you if you are not a believer tonight, this is important because.
I'd like to go on. I want to make sure we're all together on this. I don't leave anyone behind because this is something that I've enjoyed in my life, not the story of Peter. I want everyone to be able to enjoy it the same way. So if you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm asking you, consider it now.
Let's move down to verse 11.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forced the call and followed him.
But wait a minute here, this is Peters best fishing day. His ship is so full of fish that his net is going to break.
But when he does, he quits his job on his best day. It's like if you're getting a promotion to the corner office and you quit your job. Doesn't make sense, really. But Peter's heart was one. He had been won by the Lord. He realized his need of a savior and wanted to follow him.
That's who he quits his job and he starts us calling, you know?
The quote fishers of men, that's an interesting, interesting occupation. Before he used to catch fish. Now he's fishing men. And I want to just talk about fishing, how we can all be fishers of men like Peter was. You know, the Lord has placed us all in different places. He's placed some of us in schools, in jobs in different countries, different areas. It's not just the gospel meeting on Sunday night.
00:10:15
At the meeting that where the gospel is preached, your life is speaking very loudly, people say there's a quote out there that says people would rather see a sermon than hear a sermon. The way we live our lives, the way we conduct our business transactions, the way we.
Act with our friends. Demonstrate the newness of life that is inside of us for those of us that are Christians.
You know, whenever it comes to fishing, we have certain things we need.
Last year, Joseph Sikora was fishing, and I remember he had a whole bunch of fishing tackle him in the room, and he offered some fish in the freezer at the main lodge. We were wondering where it came from. But whenever he went fishing, he had his Taco, he had his rod, he had certain things that he needed to go fishing. He didn't just go out in the boat and call the fish in the boat. And I want to make an application this way.
Whenever we go out and preach the gospel, it's it's good to have a life that is consistent what we say, but that's not enough. There's a lot of good people that are going to end up in hell one day. Good people that maybe have done good deeds, have had good right righteous lives, but they're not going to be in heaven because the only way to go to heaven is like something large is Christ as your personal savior. You think of if a fisherman says I'm just going to influence my fish into getting into my boat, it's not going to work. We don't.
Influence them in We got to go out and catch them. It takes work. It takes an effort, it takes being shut down sometimes, it takes not always getting the fish.
Devotion and we can't be surprised within the world we're rejecting. We preach the gospel. We have a good message to preach where people don't always want to hear it. People don't always want to hear what the gospel is about. Paul could say the cross is an offense. It's not popular. The message we preach it because it brings glory to God.
And so when Jesus told Peter to follow him, in another portion, he was telling him, You got to follow me and I'll make you a fisherman.
Our life and our words are like 2 wings on a plane. You need both of them to fly. You need both your life and your words to to have a good testimony. In Matthew 5 it talks about a city on a hill cannot be hit and let your light shine forth before men. But then we see your good deeds and glorify your Father which in heaven. So both are important.
And I'm going to tell a story, a personal story. I was getting ready for my the meeting tonight downstairs.
And just to show that it doesn't take a big courage to speak the gospel. And I was downstairs and I was just getting ready and our friend little Levi here was just came downstairs and asked me if I could he could help me find his his car. I told my I didn't know where it was. We looked for it, we couldn't find it. And he laughed. He came back. So excuse me, do you love Jesus?
I was OK. Those kids freaking the gospel. He should take the meeting.
And he said, do you love Jesus? And I said, yeah, I do. Why should I love Jesus? And he gave me the gospel. And I was like, this is so cool. This little kid, No one had to tell him to do that. He just came and gave me a clear gospel. And I was so encouraging. It doesn't take.
A lot to preach just a couple words you love Jesus and he told me how I can I have to confess my sins and the Jesus day on the cross for me out of the mouth of babes it says and so that wasn't that was encouraging for me to see and just I was I was actually preparing this part of the message the Lord sent someone to encourage me. That was great. So let's continue here. I'm going to talk about counting the cost because.
It wasn't just a simple OK when I come to Christ.
We're going to follow you, Lord. We're going to forsake what we have, forsake our lifestyle. Just follow You there. There was a cost involved. I'm going to read a couple of verses in Matthew 16.
Have to do with counting the cost to discipleship.
And I'm going to just read these verses with not much comment because I want these words to have their own power. And as a brother that said once he said, don't take the edge off these verses.
Let these verses speak and convict because when we cut, when we come to Christ as our Savior, he also wants us to make him our Lord. There's a second step. There's whenever we decide that OK, Lord, you're a Savior, I want to make you number one. I want your claims on my life to be #1 So let's read these verses.
Matthew 17 verse 24 Jesus sentence to the disciples, including Peter. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
00:15:16
For what is a man prophet? If you gain the whole world and lose his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Whenever we would see in the if we were back in the in the Roman time, we'd see a man carrying his cross. We wouldn't assume this man was just up for a nice walk and a nice day. This man had a had had a condemnation over him. We knew this man was going to die and he carried The Romans made their crucifies carry their crosses as a public demonstration.
Of what was going to happen next so other people would beware, and as Christians.
We have to carry across, we carry approach to be called Christian. It's not a popular thing. Christianity is not popular because we follow rejected Christ. The Lord said if they reject me, they'll reject you also.
Luke 14 and verse 26.
If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yay his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. I swear whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build the tower sitteth not down 1St, and count the costs whether he has sufficient to finish it?
Happily, after I'd laid the foundation is not able to finish at all.
I'll be all that behold, it began to mock him, saying This man began to build and was not able to finish.
It's not saying here that we have to hate, literally hate our parents and hate our family. The Lord instituted family in scripture, and that's important. We can't. Scripture is clear that we are to love one another.
I believe what a thought is in here is that we have to put the Lord before everything, and to be a disciple of the Lord is to put the Lord's claims before other things in our lives.
And I'm not standing up here preaching as if I've understood those things.
I'm challenged to live by these things every day, to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, but I want to just present like when I see scriptures standard of a disciple is going to turn to one more portion in terms of counting the cost in John 6.
On 6 and verse 66.
We're turning to a lot of verses, but I believe the word of God is.
A lot more adequate in describing what we have to say here than I could ever say.
John 6 and verse 66.
From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then Jesus said into the 12Th, will that also go away? The Simon Peter verse 68.
John 668 and Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom will we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe in our sure that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.
Peter is making a declaration here, making a declaration that we've counted the cost. We've decided that we're going to follow you.
And you know, I don't know if Peter this point realized what this would have meant, how that one day he was going to actually give his life for the Lord, but he counted the cost and decided it was worth it.
Whatever with the Lord, whenever we come to Christ.
These disciples when they came to the Lord, there's there's a certain verse that I'd like to turn to that describes what the Lord what what transpired with them and the Lord wanted their companionship. And let's turn to that in Mark 4, Mark three and verse 14.
I.
Mark 3/14 and he ordained 12 That they should be with them, or they might send them forth to preach.
We come to Christ. He wants us to learn of Him.
In Matthew 11 it says, take my yoke and learn of me crying, meek and only of heart to be with him. And it's an important that as we go on a Christian lives, we don't neglect that time with the Lord to be with him in his word, in prayer.
I know myself, I have a I have a business and I get very busy and it's so important that if we're going to be with an effective disciple that we take time to be with him. They might send us out to preach.
00:20:12
The greatest?
Christian act is not service. The greatest act is being, as Paul could say, that I may know him, and in Philippians 3 that I may know him and the facts. My desire to know the Lord, to take time to get to know Him, they'll influence what I do. It will influence where I want to go serve Him, how I will serve Him, and what are my motives.
But some encouragement to.
When we come to Christ.
Not forget to get back to him, to lean on him.
No, we, we become what we follow after. The more we're like, the more we learn of Christ, the more we learn of him. If you have someone that learned that knows a lot about hockey or about basketball or football and it's all they, they study, it's all they learn about, it's all they read and eventually they'll become a part of them. The way they'll talk, the way they act, the way they dress will have to do a lot with what they.
Putting first in their life. And if you put the Lord first, those things that we that are characters of him will become characteristic of us. The Lord didn't choose educated men. He didn't choose scholars, noblemen, people of power and prestige to follow him. He shows everyday people. He chose fishermen, tax collectors, different people, different walks of life. And that's the same thing. Now the Lord doesn't call the mighty. He doesn't call those that have education.
Although he can use those, he can use education. I'm not talking against that, but he's calling us individually to be his disciples, not just a follower, but to be a disciple.
And there was an influence which I said before we become what we follow. But in Acts 4 verse 13, there was a result of this.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them. But they had been with Jesus.
I wonder if that could be true of our lives if there were someone among us that spent the the last couple days of us here at camp and was listening into our conversations, listening into how we how we played the sports, how we how we acted one with another in our in our fellowship. Could they say that about us?
Could they say that they took knowledge that we had been with Jesus? That's a challenge.
Because our lives speak loudly of what, of the hope that's within us. And if our lives are are consistently say there's a testimony, you know, these men that said they're unlearned and ignorant men. You know, Peter never went to Bible college.
But he was used mildly of the Lord, and the Lord can use us too. He doesn't just.
Our lives speak out loud with the things that we say, that our lot and what we do with our actions are going to be a testimony.
You know, I kind of wish I could just end the meeting now and say, OK, we learned all these nice applications from Peters life, let's go off and do this and that would be okay. I guess some of you are tired, but you know what, it's not the end. And I whenever we claim something in our lives, whenever let's say I believe something, I've read something in the word of God or I listen to a conference and there's something that.
I really start coming to me, I said. I claim this is being truth in my life. The Lord will test us.
Just as what I'm saying tonight, I know that will test me. The Lord does not permit us to have a theory of the truth of the Word of God without giving us a test to practically walk in it. Christian life is not about knowledge. It's not about having a body of knowledge that I know and I have it in my head. It's meant to be a pod in my in my walk.
And so we're going to go through a couple of.
Downward steps in Peter's life. We're going to go through it hopefully within the time that we have left. And just to explain and to see that Peter was a man who had a lot of zeal, a lot of courage. But when he trusted in his own self, when he trusted in his own heart, it was an influence on others that was negative and also in his own life.
So let's move on.
Let's turn to Luke chapter 22.
00:25:04
I'm just going to set up the scene here. The scenario, The Lord is in the upper room with his disciples. He's instituted the bread and the wine. It's a it's a communion. He's washed their feet. He's spoken about who should be the greatest and they're arguing amongst each other. The disciples were in Jerusalem on the last night before he was betrayed.
And he says an interesting comment to Simon Peter in verse 31.
Luke 2231 Lord said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has a desire to have you, that he may sift you as we, but I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and now it converted strengthen my brethren, I want to ask a question.
The Lord, we're here tonight.
Or if we were in that scenario at that time, would the Lord say of us? Lord say of me?
ET Satan wants the 5th, she wants to get rid of you.
But I prayed for you and this is the question, are we being an effective witness for the Lord that Satan wants to get rid of us? We think of an army and an army. The soul is that are are in the reserve in the back. They're not really going to get attacked by the enemy.
But that sniper that got us in the front making progress, advancing the enemy is going to go after him and go after him hard.
And it's a challenge to our own souls. Are we acting in a way in our lives that Satan says, I want to get rid of this guy or get rid of this girl, get rid of this mom, get rid of this dad. Because the stuff that you're doing, it's bugging with me. It's messing with me. If I'm asleep in my face, if I'm not attacking them, advancing, Satan's going to say let sleeping dogs lie. We're not going to bug them. He's happy there.
Whenever we start taking us moving forward from the Lord, wanting to make a difference, wanting to preach the gospel, that's when we started.
Getting on Satan's nerves, the Lord is above all, but it's just a little application for our life. So Satan, I think had a knew that Simon was going to be used as the Lord. So we want to get rid of him, but the Lord prayed for him and the Lord prayed for us. Theatre sees for us the right hand of the Father. We can have that confidence, but the Lord is anticipating Peter's or kind of prophesying what's going to happen. He says when you're converted, strengthen or when you're restored.
Your brethren.
And now Peter says, OK here, verse 33 Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. Lord, I'm your man. You know, I'm your man I'm Peter. I'm the strong guy. I'm the I'm the guy that you know, lay down in his his fishing career for you. I'm not going to let you go. We're friends. Later on, we see you guys a knife. He's like, you know what, I'm ready to go. We're going to take these guys on.
The Lord says I tell you Peter in verse 34.
The crock shall not dot growth this day before the Thou shall thrice deny that thou knowest me.
That was Peter, I'd say. OK, Lord, we'll see what happens. I'm the guy.
And we'll see what happens. And I think that it's interesting how the Lord kind of warned him once in verse 32 and 34 again, the crow shall not not crow. This day before loss of time, it thrice deny me.
And I can, I can see myself right there. I start having a bit of confidence in myself, thinking that I'm doing OK, I don't have to maybe worry about things anymore. My Christian life is going well.
And I think that's when we're the most vulnerable is when we have the most confidence in ourselves thinking that we're something, we're somebody.
The Bible says He that standeth beware lest you fall.
And this is where.
Peters test really comes later on.
In verse, in verse 50, you know it's Peter in the garden. He sees the the soldiers coming take the Lord. So he's got to start with them. He's going to protect the Lord, right? So he goes and cuts the guys ear off.
Boxes ear off. But the Lord says no, no it's not this isn't your time, this is not time to do this. And he takes step and heals the man. But then we see we don't see Peter going out and continuing on. We see him. He drops back a bit, He follows afar off.
Verse 54 and Peter followed afar off and when they had Kindle Fire in the mitzvah hall, they were set down together and Peter sat down among them. So Peter starts just to, you know, I'm just going to sit here a while. I'm going to associate. We often speak about association and we talked about this morning about in Psalm one plus there's a man that walks not in the council of the ungodly, stands in the ways of Sinner or sits in the seat of the scornful. Now these people were scorners. They were scorners that were making the Lord and he put himself in a situation.
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By being with the wrong crowd. By taking those steps in the wrong direction.
And then comes the test.
Verse 56.
But a certain made beheld as she sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know I'm not.
After a little while another saw him and said, Thou art with them. Peter said, Man, I am not.
And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, This fellow was also with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter said, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake the cock crew.
Another gospel that says that he with oaths and cursings denied the Lord.
And it also says that his speech betrayed him.
And I wonder at that time when Peter started cursing and swearing he didn't know the Lord, the old Peter came back. And we think of certain trades as being rough trades with rough language. I know in Montreal we have the construction industry. And if you're in that industry, there's a lot of rough talk going on. And I'm sure these fishermen were, they were low class people. They had probably a really rough language and the things that were coming out.
Were really denying who he really was, but Peter had taken these steps down or he kept going down and down and now now he's in a situation where.
He goes into compromise.
But then it says in verse 61 The Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
Ouch.
I wonder how that how at that moment how Pierre felt him who had a few minutes ago and we see down verse 61, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said it to him before the crew. Thou shalt the 90 thrice.
I wonder what Peter was thinking.
He's going back in his head. He's going back at the times when he had taken such a stand for the Lord. I'm not going to go into death with you, Lord. I'm the guy. I got my knife.
And now where is he at? He's denied the Lord not once, twice, three times.
He sworn he didn't know the Lord. Complete denial.
So how do you get that far? How do you get from there to here? You know, while the Lord was in the garden, he told his disciples to watch and pray at the Internet temptation. And at the time when he was praying, Peter was sleeping. When that goes into what we're saying before about the importance of being with the Lord.
He he ordained 12 to be with him.
They might send them out if we're with the Lord and we're in communion with Him.
We're reading and praying and not just because it's a habit but because we love the Lords to make a difference. We're not going to end up in these situations.
But then he wept.
He went out and wept bitterly.
You know we have a.
This big man Peter, this man that had it all together, this this leader, one of the disciples, often we see in the Gospels, he's kind of like the the spokesperson, the leader of the group, he denies the Lord.
You know what, I'm going to ask the question tonight.
We've seen a little step downward in Peters life and often I've asked myself the question personally.
Where am I?
In my in my denial of the Lord, and I'm not saying I'm not saying this today, you guys are all denying the Lord tonight, but I'm saying I think in our hearts there's certain parts of it that we might not be letting the Lord have the 1St place we might be letting.
Our flesh have have the first hand. We might be letting things in our life that we know our Lord compromises compromises and Peter was compromising and won't compromise that to another and to another and to another.
I think at a camp like this, sometimes I don't personally, I've gone to young pools, weekends where I come and I turn the front and I say, well, yeah, everything is good, everything is great. But inside of me, I know that I'm I'm not all that I maybe I'm shifty. I'm starting to stray away from the Lord, but I know enough knowledge or enough doctrine so I can sound good. I sound good enough so no one questions me.
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I know I'm not the only one here.
And there's often times when I reminded by those verses in in Revelations what being hot or cold, that's a challenge.
We need to be real with ourselves. Peter had to need to need to be real with where he was in his life. He wasn't enough just to.
It was it was too late for him just to come back and clean things up at this point. He, he had to, he, he went out with it bitterly. He said this is over. I denied the Lord. They're going to crucify him. My master, my Lord, the one that I love, the one that I followed, the one that I gave everything for. He's, he's, I'm done.
It makes me think of a verse in Jeremiah. We'll turn to it real fast. Jeremiah 1.
Speaking about Israel and Jeremiah. Sorry, chapter 2, verse 2.
Let's say, if the Lord I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thysels, will not win us out after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. What is saying He, Israel, remember, Remember where you were at. Remember when at the beginning, when you loved me, whenever, everything, when I was everything to you, whenever you cared so much about me, whenever we were. We're so close.
This is verse 13. The results and what happened for my people have committed 2 evils.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water and viewing the mouth cisterns.
Broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Peter replaced the Lord with something else, with confidence himself.
And I know that I can do that, and I've done that. I've replaced the Lord with things in my life that weren't of Him.
And then I wonder, well, why Lord, why you so far away? Why are we not as close as we used to? And often, instead of going back to the Lord, I just keep on drifting further and further away.
It takes an effort to read my Bible and pray. It's not something that comes naturally and we tend just to go on and go on.
This is Peter Peters hit rock bottom. I know I've hit rock bottom in my life. When I said, Lord, I'm I've gone so far away from you, I don't think I can come back. I just, it's useless to keep going.
But it's nice to know the Lord wasn't done with Peter. Now when the Lord rose from the dead, it says he had a conversation with Peter.
In Luke 24 verse 34, I don't know what was said, It's not said exactly what was said, but the Lord met Peter and Lord had a conversation with him and it's nice to know that.
Peter was repentant when he went out. When he when he was far from Lord, he was repentant and the Lord took him back.
Imagine the relief Peter saying oh the Lord is alive and he forgave me and I can I know that I didn't let me denying him didn't mean he died. And imagine that relief that Peter had. But then there was a need for restoration and then restoration Peters life. Because I believe that when we go far from the Lord we can be forgiven. But then what about the restoration part of it? What about coming back to the Lord about communion being rebuilt? Let's turn.
John 21.
John 21, verse 3, seven Peter 7 To them I go a fishing and they which are the disciples said.
We also go with thee. And they went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
You know, there's different applications to this. People could say, well, Peter had to get back to his work, he went back to his livelihood, he was a fisherman. That's okay. But I want to apply it this way.
Maybe.
Someone here, maybe you've gone far from the Lord and maybe you think, well, the Lords give forgiven me. Maybe I've I'm forgiven, but maybe I'm I'm no longer useful for the Lord. Maybe I'm no longer able to do his work because my testimony is shot.
I don't have the confidence, my brethren. My family doesn't trust me.
And I'm going to just apply it this way for Peter. He says, well, the Lord is alive and that's great. But I'm going to go back to.
My lifestyle I want to go back to to what I know what to do because frankly, I've messed up so bad.
00:40:02
But I heard to say God is the God of second chances. He does. He forgives, He restores. He's a God of not only forgiveness, but he's a God of restoration.
And it's interesting that he brought others with him. Peter was a man of influence. He brought others with them to go back to their lifestyle with fishing.
Whenever we're going through a discouragement.
In our lives.
Often it will influence others and will tend to bring others down with us. They say misery likes company. We bring people down with us and say well.
It's not just me. We tend to bring others with us and Peter brought others with them. They all went. They went back to their lifestyle, back to fishing. The Lord wasn't with them at the time, but they caught nothing. There was no, there was no fish for them that night.
And it reminds me of the first occasion when the Lord found Peter. There was no fish either, and the Lord made a miracle. And here's another miracle.
The Lord says in verse five, children, have you any meat? And they answered him no.
He said cast the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find. They cast therefore, and now they're not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Therefore the disciple who Jesus loves them, to Peter it is the Lord. Knowing Peter heard it that it was the Lord, he gird his fissures coated onto him, for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea.
And the other disciples came in the little ship, for they were not far from land, and there's about 200 cubits dragging the net of fishes.
And the Lord makes them a breakfast there and Peter sees us to Lord, and he's not going to wait and roll back. He's like, no, I'm going, the Lord worked this miracle in my life. And maybe he remembered the first time the Lord worked a miracle in his life. He's like, I got to go back. And so he just dies out and just swims to shore to be with the Lord.
You know, And then the Lord prepares him a fire. He prepares them.
A little little meal, I mean, he says bring the net efficient caught and he feeds them.
It's just thing he doesn't just the Lord was trying to draw Peters heart, but he doesn't just come and harp on him and said hey Peter, we'd have a talk. He takes care of, he feeds them, he gives them sustenance.
But then he asked him a question he's trying to get to his heart in verse 15, when they had dying Jesus seven to seven Peter Simon said of Jonah love to sell me more than these and he said unto him, yay, Lord not know us, I love thee. I can just imagine this. I mean, it's happened in my house before where we're around the table and question to someone we're like ET, did you do your chores or did you do this? And I didn't do them. I'm saying yeah, and I tried to like mutter it. So I answered it, but he didn't hear me.
A little louder. Have to answer a little louder.
I'm embarrassed because everyone else knows I've ever done my choice and I'm still kind of muttering. But then the third time when he says it, okay, everyone's attention is there and we know what's happening. And it's interesting that the Lord asked the question three times to Peter, Do you love me? Do you love me, Do you love me? Peter denied the Lord three times. He asked the question three times to the Lord.
But the Lord asked Peter the question three times. Do you love me?
Peter three times answered to him that he loved the Lord, and three times the Lord gives him a Commission to feed my lamb, feed my sheep, feed my lamp.
The Lord Peter had made a public denial of the Lord, and the Lord wants him to make a public restoration.
And it's nice to see that Peters ministry doesn't end there.
Peter's ministry as we see in the book of Acts, on the first day that they went preaching, he got 3000 souls that came to Christ.
That's for me is a great I'm sure Peter must have been floored by that 3000 in a day that's can't imagine that really he was restored and the Lord had forgiven him.
His Commission was to feed the sheep and to encourage those that were around him.
You know.
I don't know where everyone else is here tonight. I don't know where you're at in your soul.
Past for present failures or circumstances.
But I know God is a goddess, second chances, and he says in farms, my son or daughter give me thine heart and he can use the circumstances, the things that we go through, our failures and whenever we're restored, we can help others, we can encourage others. And Peter's we we see that very clearly in his ministry.
00:45:00
In first Peter three it says be ready to give an answer. He wasn't ready to give an answer before when it came time to say do you know Jesus, he denied it. But now he's restored. He says he could write about it. He talks about the trial of our faith being more precious than gold. He also talks about in second Peter to notice how to deliver the godliness of temptation until this is Peter, Peter restore Peter being an encouragement.
To those around him.
And you know God can use you. He can use me to speak in the lives of others.
From our past experiences we're going through now.
I can't say I can't be everything, everyone, and I don't think tonight in this meeting that everyone, this applied to every single person. I hope there was something that could have been an encouragement. There's my burden to say that if there's something going in your life, and you might understand, why is the Lord bringing me through this trial? Why is he allowing this? What have I done?
The Lord, when he brings you the trial like he might, he's trying to work your character in your life. He's also might be using it for a blessing of someone elses life. Cannot be using that circumstance to show to someone else that they can do it, that they can follow him.
And so we kind of did full circle here. We've gone through life of Peter. We've seen some ups and downs we've seen.
His failure, his restoration, But the Lord is faithful. The Lord loved Peter, the Lord was for Peter, but he wanted Peters heart. When Peter was able to let go of his confidence and fully trust the Lord, the Lord could use him again.
It's my prayer tonight that this message, we've been something that would encourage people here because we all go through struggles and I don't come across here pretending at all that I have acquired this and I have now moved up a level. I struggle with these things.
But we know what the Lord is faithful. I'm just going to reread one of the verses that I was thinking about and #5 in the back of the book.
Going to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Yet thou Lord hath deigned to seal it with thy spirit from above. Rescued thus from sin and danger, purchased by the Saviors blood, may I walk on earth a stranger as a son and heir of God.
Let's close in prayer.
Oh Lord, you heard it was said tonight.
You know.
Our hearts, how we are prone to wander, prone to leave.
The God we love so much of what we may be claim to be. Truth is something we don't actually live. Starting with myself. Lord, just pray that there might be a spark in our hearts to go on to live our rest of our lives for Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. I pray for anyone tonight that might be struggling.
That might be discouraged in their soul, that might mean it might not show it outwardly, but inside there's a battle going on. Just pray for them, for their pray for comfort, for someone that might be able to reach in and speak into their life to be encouragement.
Spread that over said tonight my fault to good ground to good good hearing, so I be fruit for your glory. Oh Lord, thank you that you are the one our perfect example, the one who not seen we love. May this be our motivation in our life and it's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we pray, Amen.
Session #4
Q&A
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Question again deals with family matters.
And with all the divorces in the world, and even many and even among Christians now, what can a Christian couple do to safeguard their marriage?
I'll read the question again. With all the divorces in the world and even among Christians now, what can a Christian couple do to safeguard their marriage?
Can you start maybe by going to first Peter chapter 3?
And we'll read verse 7.
Likewise he husbands dwell with your wife according to knowledge, giving honor unto the white, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.
Please just one simple point. I'm sure there's a lot of point in this, but.
To live together, According to knowledge, there's a.
If you're living together and you don't understand the desires and the concerns of each other, or if you don't understand the concerns of your wife.
And you don't try to fulfill her needs and concerns, it's going to put a wedge between you.
And there's going to be difficulties.
And, and in that sense, your prayers are going to be hindered.
Prayers probably an important part of the marriage.
What strengthens the marriage family? Prayer. Prayer together.
I believe that's vital prayer in the word of God and a Christian family that's set up.
So let's start with the wedding night.
Say that everybody starts to think a certain way.
Let's think prayer. This is your first night together for those who are contemplating marriage, and it's your chance.
To start right off before God.
And one piece of advice I like to give.
Is something that we took into our marriage is to both pray together, express the thought of your heart before the Lord in the presence of the other one, and really seek to know the mind of the Lord together.
And that is what keeps the marriage strong. It isn't just praying either. We know that. We often talk about that.
I'm just talking to God isn't enough. We have to hear what he says. And so you need to take up the word of God together and read it together. And this is the thing that makes the marriage strong. It doesn't mean that even with that there won't be difficulties. But without that, especially for, I should say, in the Christian relationship, there's not going to be much chance. Remember when?
We were married, brother Gordon Hagel spoke and I can mention this last year, but.
I'd like to mention it again Ecclesiastes 412 with reverse that he had on his heart.
It says.
OK, so verse 11 is the one we often think about even at that time. But verse 12 and one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
And so we need to take into a Christian marriage, or if we are Christians, we're in a marriage right now. We haven't done it and we have this opportunity.
00:05:02
We need to bring the Lord into every part of our marriage.
To have a 2 pole cord is not what's spoken about here. There's some strength in that, but it's not enough. Needs to be 3 fold cord. It needs to be two believers going on with singleness of heart together with the Lord and the Lord finding that marriage together every single day. And that's where the strength will be.
He also said my wife is reminding me of her wedding. He said, you know, I often say that in a marriage you should go into the marriage where you're each one of you planning to.
Fully do your part. Each one of you is going to do 50%.
I said that's not going to work. You each need to be 100 percent, 100% for the other, and together you need to be 100% for the Lord. And when we enter into marriage or at whatever point we are in our marriage, we endeavor in our hearts to live in our marriage. That way it would be a strong marriage. The Lord will help us through all those bumps in the road that surely will come.
Surely do come and help marriage of happiness and blessing.
In a lot of marriages or.
Some marriages.
There's a lot of arguing and fighting and putting up with each other because they know it's against God's divorce. They know that divorce is against God's will and but.
They're not really getting along and there's a lot of fighting, but I think what Tim has mentioned.
Is is going to be very powerful to help you in your marriage if you're fighting a lot, but it takes both of the husband and the wife to be on the same page, willing to give up their own will and to be able to look out for the will and the desires of the other and not to be selfish.
In the marriage. And so if you're having, if you're struggling in your marriage and you're just staying together because God says so, that's good to stay together, but it's not good to it doesn't help the marriage situation just because you're staying together. There needs to be that effort made.
To to to be together with God, like that three fold cord that Tim was speaking about.
We were bringing out that first appears together, the grace of life. There's the grace that God gives for life and and it's a tremendous privilege. We can go. We're heirs as Christians. The husband and wife can take that up before God through his word to say, wow, this is all that he's given us to share and enjoy together and help each other along in it. Those two verses go together very well that night in.
Enthusiasts for these are things that a husband and wife ought to share and enjoy every day together in the Lord.
I was thinking.
Also the expression of the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians chapter 8, he says don't we have the ability as the other apostles to lead about a sister?
As white and then he said we didn't take that, that's our privilege, but we didn't take that. And he served the Lord as a bachelor. But the way he puts it there as the other apostles were, they had a sister in the Lord that they were taking in with them.
In the service of the Lord as wife and the first thing he puts there is a sister in the Lord. It's tremendous. He saw this as one who is one who valued the Lord and His word. And that relationship is as being a spiritual relationship 1St and then the wife is mentioned 2nd. And what a grand thing that is here, here brother and the Lord or sister and the Lord that you're married to.
And you can take up that relationship with them and encourage and strengthen each other in the Lord's things.
That's something that if we look past, we're going to lose such a benefit as we can never regain it, perhaps until we get into eternity.
00:10:04
One thing that I would like to mention.
Chapter 17.
Verse 13 This is the setting where this widow, she had she had a son. She was about to.
Guy and she had she had a meal enough for a trip and the prophet Elijah came to her and said.
In verse 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not go, and do as thou hast said for me. Therefore a little K 1St and bring it to me, and after may for thee and for thy son.
That principle is, I believe, so important in the whole, as husbands and wives were to provide for our family, and that's so important. But.
Notice they were to give The Cave first to the prophet, I believe to the Lord.
If we want to.
Give the Lord the 1St place we have to give him the cake 1St and that might mean I know like an example of this, we we had a family get together a while back and.
Right at the very beginning.
We made it very clear we wanted the Lord to give His portion first and though we had an enjoyable time in fellowship and just like we're having here.
But we wanted to give the Lord, put the Lord into it in everything, and it will make the difference. It's just like this camp.
Doing having the fellowship and the activities, the games and so forth, this is nice, but it has to, you have to get the Lord the 1St place and all the other things come second. If that is the case in your home, that's where the Lord will be honored if he's given that portion. So when?
You're having whatever your meal.
If there's somebody that invited to your home but do it, give it to the Lord first. Give him his first place. Don't give him the leftovers.
I'd like to throw a red flag here for the young people especially.
Umm, this world is full of help so-called help for the marriage. There's all kinds of books written and advice given psychology and you can even go to a Christian bookstore and find all kinds of written help that is the ideas of man or has the principles of.
The study of the mind behind it.
There was a young lady who had a family came to me and she said, you have seven children. Can you give me any the names of any books that I could use for the raising of our family? And I said yes, it's called the word of God.
In these books you'll find of the study of the mind, how to get along, how to communicate things, to do things to say, things not to do, or whatever.
I just like to make the point that Ananias and Sapphira would have been very well with those psychology books. They knew how to communicate. They knew how to interact with one another very well as a married couple.
But they didn't have the Spirit of God leading them, and it cost both of them their lives. Acts chapter 5.
00:15:02
The next question has to do with elders in the assembly.
By elders I don't mean the old people, I mean bishops or overseers in the assembly, an overseer. And in Titus chapter one, verse five, that's what the question comes from.
Titus one verse five. And this is Paul the apostle Paul talking to Titus and he says something similar to Timothy who is going to do other assemblies. And he says verse 5 for this cause left thy thee in Crete, that thou shouldst, you know, set in order the things that are wanting.
And ordained or appoint elders in every city.
As I have appointed thee.
So Paul is telling Titus, you go to these different assemblies and you set up a an oversight in each assembly and appoint elders in the assembly. And so the question is this, why don't our assemblies appoint elders as in Titus 1/5?
There seems to be a clear directive to not simply assume elders.
As seems to be the practice.
So the question is, why do we assume elders in in our assemblies? And first of all, it's not our assemblies, it's God's assembly.
And why do Why are elders not appointed in the assemblies we we find here in Titus?
A decree to ordain the elders and then he gives a list of qualifications what to look for in the elder. These are God's standards for a man.
If you're a man, these are God's standards for you.
And as a young man.
This is what you can live and try to make your model for life to become the man God wants you to be.
But that doesn't in itself make you an elder. It's good for a man to desire the to be an overseer in the assembly.
But it's the Spirit of God that makes you overseers.
The elders were appointed back at the beginning of the Church by Apostolic authority. Today we don't have apostles.
And so we don't appoint elders because we don't have any apostles. Timothy and Titus weren't apostles either, but they had direct.
Instructions from the apostles, authority from the apostles to do that. And we don't have the apostles giving us the authority, neither do we have the word of God to give us the authority to appoint elders. And if you look in Acts chapter 20, verse 28.
Acts 20, verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which he hath her.
With his own blood. And so the spirit of Spirit of God was now making.
A person, an overseer. Well, how do you become an overseer? Well, it goes right back to the qualifications. Is that part of who you are in your life that your your life is, is.
Governed by who you are. And is this who you are? Is this how we live before God? And as you read the word of God and you learn and you're instructed by the word of God, and you live.
And practice those things that you learn.
You are making yourself an available instrument for God to use.
In an overseer perhaps is developed over time and so we don't appoint elders. God works with you in your heart and gives you a care for the people of God. Some people don't like to have the responsibility and so they just ignore God's standard for man and they don't take that responsibility because given them, but there's an overseer in the assembly.
00:20:25
Is one who cares for the people of God. He takes the chart, takes responsibility for things in the assembly and and he's one who is looked up to for his spiritual guidance and direction for matters in the assembly. So it's the Spirit of God that takes the instrument that you are.
And leads you along into the place of oversight. But there has to be something there to work with. And so God gives it the instructions as to what these apostles had sent Timothy and Titus, what they should look for in a in a man to put in that position.
I don't know that any of anyone fully fulfills all the requirements or the qualifications. So they're not really qualifications. It's more of a standard that God has for a man to live by and as he learns the Word of God and he's able to apply the word of God to situations.
The over the Spirit of God can make you an overseer.
Remember, the question correctly is why don't our assemblies have point outers? And then it goes on to imply that this is the plain word of God that is 1/5.
Hope we all can see that it isn't. It's not at all what kind of 15 says in fact, in the word of God, we never ever once find assemblies appointing elders. They appoint deacons. Get that in Acts chapter 6, but not elders. And so here just to go back again.
He says for this cause left ID and creed that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordained or established elders in each city.
As I had appointed or ordered, Big Titus was directly ordered by the apostle Paul on Apostolic authorities. Tim was saying to go and appoint these elders, and he went to Crete, a whole island full of assemblies, and appointed voters. And those assemblies, not one of those assemblies appointed their own elders.
And so it is in every other case in the scripture and so.
And there are ones who come along today who say that you need to go as assemblies and appoint your elders. And of course, the way we do that, especially in North America, is we're going to do it by vote, say suffrage or whatever. So they get together and, and vote as to who their elders should be. And they think they.
That's fulfilled Scripture, but they haven't because Scripture never gives instruction for that for some reason to say, well, the apostles are gone, So what else do we have? There's only assembly, so.
That's the way we have to do it. But if it was so, I would have told us. And he hasn't told us that. And so Tim mentioned the verse in Acts chapter 20. I just go look at another one. And 1St Thessalonians chapter 5. And here was an assembly that probably wasn't more than a month or so old. The apostle had been there less than three weeks.
And he had to leave because of persecution.
And these ones got saved and they were carrying on as an assembly.
But you take people or a month old as believers.
Now, who's going to meet the qualifications of an elder among them?
And indeed you find when the apostle went around and people got saved in assemblies then were established that elders were not appointed. It was until later that he would go back and appoint elders in those places. And so here was an assembly that was in its infancy. And one of the qualifications of an elders says not an office.
That's being lifted up with Piney Falls in the condemnation of the devil.
And so they didn't have any of these who weren't novices. They were all spiritual novices. They had to learn the word of God. It was even harder in those days because they didn't have what we do. They had the occasional letter coming through. This is one of them for Thessalonians.
00:25:05
And so Paul says something here that was important. First Thessalonians 512.
Well, even back to verse 11, Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another.
Even as also you do, and so they had that to help each other with, but then there was something beyond that. Verse 12 he says, we beseech you, brethren, to know them, which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteemed them very highly in love for their works sake, and be at peace among yourselves. And so already in this infant assembly there were those who the Lord was raising up just exactly as how Tim was bringing out.
In Acts chapter.
And the others were to recognize them and to say, I recognize that God is raising these ones out in a special way to take the lead among us in the Lord.
And to give them their place. Now you just say that's wrong. There's a clear direct to do otherwise. Well, here's a clear directive to recognize those whom the Lord is raising up in a place where the apostle wasn't there to appoint elders.
So where are we today? Are we in a place where the apostles aren't here to appoint others? Yes. Does this Scripture then apply to us? Yes, that's where we are. And the Lord does raise up those ones, and we recognize them, there's no doubt about it. It's just as clear as if they were appointed by apostles. And we need to then.
Recognize them and give them their place. There's also another helpful principle in Second Timothy chapter 2.
From verse one it takes all. Therefore my son, be strong and the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And then we have.
Some steps, perhaps four of them here.
The things which thou hast heard of me, the apostle Paul among many witnesses the same commit thou Timothy to faithful men. There's another one faithful men who are able to do what teach others also. Now this is about teaching and teachers, but I believe the principle is the same too, that if someone has a desire for oversight to help the Lord's people.
It's passed on by being a faithful man.
Verse four, it speaks of not entangling ourselves with the affairs of this life and so on. If somebody has a desire that way, these things are passed on. That way the faithful men were able to teach others also.
Two examples I've seen over the years happen and they weren't getting gathered assemblies.
The first example was.
The pastors of the church were going to appoint elder.
And so when the day came for the appointment of the elders.
The pastor appointed this, this person, this husband and wife. I guess it was.
And another.
White couple were offended because they had a dream, they said in the 19 quarter that was supposed to be them. So they left the church in kind of a hop and went to another church.
Who's who's appointing the elder? Is it man? It was the pastor of the church.
You know, we, we feel that it should be ourselves.
I think it's people more that naturally gravitate to it that people will see in more of that role or people that don't want that kind of a title. You will see in maybe assemblies people that have more of those qualifications and if you have a question, you will tend to seek them out. But to a point somebody has not really gone away, especially we don't have any offership that was there for.
Another example, the church, totally different church is appointing another pastor. So how do they do this?
All the church got together and they have both. They had an election.
I'm not sure where we've got to have elections before, but they have elections when they get out of the palace and they counted them and this one gentleman won the election.
Well, apparently his son was the person that had the ballots. So there was a bit of a hair cobble because people were saying, well, no, I didn't vote for that person. I voted for this person. This person should have won. So now we have another division. Why? Because man is.
00:30:24
Look at Acts chapter one.
This is before the day of Pentecost and.
Judas had committed suicide.
So there were 11 disciples and one was missing.
And in verse.
15 through the end, they're deciding what to do.
Verse 26 it says they gave forth their loves, and the lot fell upon Matthias.
Well chapter 2 verse one says and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and we know that the Spirit was given.
In chapter 2 verse one, this is the last time that we find them drawing straws if you will.
The question that the apostle Paul said to the Lord.
On the road to Damascus was the right answer.
Not shall I draw draws and see what to do. He said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And then the Spirit had the answer.
In fact, I guess in that case it was the Lord Jesus directly said, Lord, what do you want me to do? So I want you to do this. There's no drawing straws anymore. The Spirit that was given.
There's no casting lots.
I hope I'm.
Making too many assumptions here, but I think I'm right in this that we never again read in the New Testament after the day of Pentecost of casting a lot through drying stuff or whatever. So the question for us is, what wilt thou help us to do? And then if we ask that genuinely, he'll tell you.
There's a verse I can't put, I can't remember exactly where it is. It says if any man will know, will do his will, he shall know what? The doctor So I can't you and I young people can't say to the Lord.
You know, let us tell us what you want and then we'll let you know if we're going to do it, we're not going to get the right answer.
But to say to the Lord genuinely, and I think this relates somewhat to the sorry Tim again, sidetracked here, but.
In in the question to say, Lord, what wilt thou have us to do?
That's the right question, and the Lord will manifest what His perfect will is.
But we can't say have a almost like a little hidden escape.
Say, well if I don't want to do that then I won't, but tell me what it is first, then I'll let you know if I'm in or not. That doesn't work.
So anyway, I think it's important to recognize his spirit of God that we should be guided by in the Word of God.
Not my favorite brother when I was a young person, I could list off, you know, people that I thought, man, if I go to Montreal conference, I hope this guy's having an address and that guy and this other guy. And, and I don't say that's totally wrong because.
Yeah, I remember as a kid, you know.
Different brethren would take an interest in US children, and we appreciate it, and then we loved them. But.
To say, well, I'm going to pick these five guys to be the elders because they're my favorite ones. That's not the right way. The Lord, the Spirit will establish in his way, and that's the happy path.
To the knife or.
00:35:01
The first chapter and Oklahoma what you're saying brother kind of alliance to number of things we've been talking about.
With our very.
Change that to one of your fires.
Sometimes our drive is in the way, we get down on our knees and we're real with the warrior.
Really where the rubber moves the room and any of the black wisdom.
Let him out of God. They give us the almond literally and upgrade God and give them.
No.
The moment we've had them there that ever lived, those Lord Jesus Christ.
I have that need every day.
I just want to make one comment add to what has been said because there may come a question that while it's true that the Spirit of God always was there and no longer was the lot cast into the lap so to speak after the Pentecost yet.
The apostles did appoint. In case that question comes up in anybody's mind, we have to remember that the apostles were part of the foundation of the Church.
They were put there to establish order in the beginning when the mind of God was not yet fully known. As to these matters, you have to remember before the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians, nobody had this part of the Word of God. And so the apostles were needed there until the Word of God was complete. They were part of that foundation. Now that foundation is laid.
And we've got it preserved to us in the Word of God.
Today we look here, we find all the guidance for what we do here and that is why we don't go and appoint elders anymore. We wait on the Lord as to who they are.
Parting a practical application of the appointing of elders. Years ago, I was sitting in my office and the phone rang and an older brother was on the end of the line and he said, John, I got to come talk to you.
So I told him come on over and he came over and he sat down and he said.
John The.
Doctors have told me that I have cancer, that I have to have an operation at the end of this week and the Lord may not pull me through.
And he said.
Before the Lord takes me home, he says I just wanted to come over and tell you that.
There are some things in the assembly you need to take care of.
And I know when we get on the on the subject of elders and apostles, we usually think of it in terms of ministry. And here's the list that he gave me, he said item number one.
The women's restroom has to be clean. Make sure you clean it and clean the men's restroom too. And don't forget about the kitchen floor. The sisters don't like that floor to be dirty. And don't forget about the windows. Get the windows clean and make sure you sweep up the leaves in the parking lot. Now, you know, sometimes young people, as we think about elders, we often think of those that stand up and speak, and that is correct.
But there's also a practical side to eldership. It is doing that which is practical around the assembly. And it's interesting too, that older brothers.
Sometimes in Hamid we in Hemet, CA we refer to older brothers as Q-tips because they're white haired but.
You know.
These older ones have a real like apostles and elders did in the early days of the church. And so they passed the baton, so to speak, to the younger generations. And sometimes the younger generation is very surprised as to what they pass on. I mean, I never thought that old brother would say, go clean the toilets. You got to be kidding, you know.
00:40:13
But it's good, it's good to take care of what the older brothers and some of the older brothers are very good at in taking care of the practical responsibilities of the assembly. And it's also very interesting, I find something in all the years that the Lord has graciously kept me gathered to His precious name.
That I find that those brothers that do the practical care of the assembly also have a very practical.
Application of the Word of God when it comes to spiritual matters.
And so I would suggest that, you know, as you young people, you look around the assembly and you say, well, what can I do?
Just stop and do it. As unto the Lord, pick something to do. There's lots to be done and books to pass out and books to pick up. There's things to clean up around the assembly, but it's a care. We were talking a little bit about the marital relationship.
We often.
Look at a verse in Corinthians that says that a unmarried man cared for the things of the Lord.
And a married man cares for the things of the world that he made please his wife. Well, you know, a lot of times we consider that as a negative, but that's that's God we order. A married man will care for the things of the world as to how to please his wife. Husbands like to keep their wives with the cares of the world and keep them.
Happy they do have cares there are certain things that a woman.
Likes to do. They like to arrange things in our lives, and it's good for our husband to be sensitive to that sometimes. I like curtains. They want certain curtains put up. They want certain flooring down. They want kitchen cabinets and dishes, just soap. And we thank the Lord for our wives with that because these are the cares of the world.
And so you don't have to sit there and argue with your wife saying why do you like those dishes?
That's not being practical. God's word says the married man is going to care for the things of the world that please his wife. To keep our wife happy for those of us that are married, not that serving the Lord unmarried.
Is any what can we say? There's less distraction, there's less care I have to worry about if you're serving the Lord.
And you don't have a wife to be distracted, But you know, it should be an encouragement to us that are married that the Lord has made it such that we do care for our wives.
When the apostle Peter, who was an elder himself, and he was giving instructions for for others.
He talks about cleaning toilet goals. Brother, let's go to first Peter chapter 5.
In the 1St 456 verses, he's talking to the elders, to the overseers in the assemblies and.
Middle of verse five it says be clothed with humility for I think in Darby's translation he writes it. All of you bind on humility toward one another and so.
We tend to think of an overseer as one who's kind of like a ruler or a king perhaps, but that's not what an overseer is. An overseer is one who has to get down and do the and become involved in things that are.
Sometimes cleaning the toilets and spiritually, sometimes having to go and speak with somebody who is and that's part of the shepherds work too. But to someone who's getting off the path that needs to be talked to and and try to encourage them to go on and.
And so a lot of it could be a private work, but.
00:45:02
This versus Tim spoke about in Thessalonians know them that take the lead among you.
And those who take the lead among you.
There also needs to be a humble side to them. Sometimes you don't see that humility because it may not be there.
We're all failures in some ways.
But.
Humility is a very big part of God's standards for man.
And for an Overseer, we have one more question for today.
Why are so many discouraged these days and are leaving or threatened to leave the assembly?
Why are so many discouraged these days and are leaving or threatened to leave the assembly?
I'm going to give one example, and I'm sure there's many reasons why people get discouraged.
And but why does that discouragement lead them to want to go somewhere else or not to be connected with, with the Lords Table and they want to go somewhere else? Why? Why is there that discouragement? And I think Tim talked about it the other night about the world that comes in.
And.
Draw their hearts away and if we go to Galatians chapter.
5.
In verse 16.
This I say, then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And so the flesh is going to be something that.
Wants to be have its own self will wants to do its own thing once. I want my way to be preeminent in everybody else. And if there's a decision to be made or a choice, I want it to be my choice and.
I I, I live by the power of the flesh rather than by the Spirit. There's in in Ephesians 4 talks about endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I'm going to give you an example that I know of that a one man had to be put out of the assembly for some.
Some erroneous teachings and so forth.
His son came and tried to negotiate a unity in the assembly and he tried to usurp the authority of the leadership in the assembly, the oversight and he tried to force.
His peacemaking attempts to try to negotiate a unity that we could all live with in a compromise.
That was.
Not Spirit LED. The unity of the Spirit is not compromised so everybody can get along together. The unity of the Spirit is based on the Word of God and if a person needs to be put away at first for some.
Terror like that or whatever it may be, there's no negotiating unity to try to get them back. If there's rest, if there's repentance and restoration to the Lord, then there's restoration to the assembly and the the leadership, the oversight in the assembly, they have the responsibility for those decisions. And if somebody thinks that they're restored in their hearts to the Lord, then the oversight needs to go in and inquire about that. But.
To negotiate a unity is not.
God's way is in agreement with the Word of God. Then there's a verse in John 7.
And if a person doesn't get his own will, like this man I was speaking about, he became discouraged.
00:50:04
And he no longer comes to the assembly. He goes somewhere else because he could not have his own way.
In the assembly and so the assembly is not about having our own way or or exercising the flesh in decisions. It's called according to the unity of the spirit and in in John Chapter 7 verse 17.
Let's start in verse 16.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
The Lord Jesus was very keen about the doctrine of the Father.
If any man will do his will, the will of the Father, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. And so if you are willing, I think this principle can apply here also. If you're willing to know what the will of God is, if you're have, if you have a desire to do the will of God, you're not going to want to negotiate a unity.
He wants to be subject to the Word of God.
I'm sure most of us are affiliated first it's a first Peter 5 verse 8 starting the verse you registered the devil with a roaring mind walk the boat sitting when we made of our Satan will try to use whatever he can.
Going to discourage us from close the way, whether it's things in the world or, you know, struggles in the assembly. But so it's especially important to remember the first part of the horse. Be sober, be vigilant.
The same same kind of situation that we have in the question that was asked.
John chapter 6 and verse 66. From that time many his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then the question needs to be asked in our own souls. The Lord Jesus asked his disciples this question and may we take it from him? Jesus said unto the 12 Will ye also go away? There's a heart searching question as to what it is that really occupies our hearts and Peter answers this way.
Then Simon Peter answered.
Him more to whom? It's a person. It's not a system, it's not a set of rules, it's not the meeting or the belief of the brethren, or whatever you might want to say it.
Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe in our sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We have spoken. Now Peter has had so many times, but he had this in his heart, deep rooted. And that's something that needs to be deep rooted in each one of our hearts as well and as it's rooted.
Our hearts, we can be an encouragement to others who may be discouraged to point them to Christ the Center.
Where's its origin? I believe its origin is and failing to have faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. Discouragement usually comes from circumstances. Circumstances are something that comes into our life.
Various ways.
And so that circumstance overcomes us also. We can think about that circumstance. We fail to see that there's a God who loved us behind that circumstance.
And that nothing happens in our life that isn't placed there by a God who loves us every day of our life. God is working with us. He's trying to conform us to the image of His dear Son. And He puts things in our life for a reason. And when we fail to recognize that this was placed here for a reason by a God who loved me, all of a sudden I'm consumed by what's going on in my life, by the circumstance.
00:55:02
And I get discouraged. If we turn over to First Samuel chapter 30, we have an example of some who got discouraged and some who overcame when circumstances came into their life that were.
Not very good.
Verse one it says, and it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South, and Ziklag and spittin Ziklag, and burned with fire, and had taken the women captive.
Is that where they are in They slew not any either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taking captive.
That's not a very good circumstances.
That's a terrible circumstance.
And David and the people that were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to lead. It's not wrong to wait over a circumstance that happens in your life sometimes. That's the place where God is trying to get us to, where we have no more power in ourselves and we're completely cast down.
Now what happens on the other side of that circumstance is being brought to our knees.
Do we respond and stand up in the energy of the flesh, or do we respond and the energy of the Spirit? That gives us two things here.
And David's two wives were taken captive, and him, the Jezreelite, Abigail the way from naval, the Carmelite, and David greatly distressed. For the people speak of Stoningham, because the soul of all the people was grieved at responding in the energy of the flesh.
That's taking that circumstance not from God.
And trying to meet it in the energy of the flesh and use the flesh to combat that circumstance.
You will never find peace. I will never find peace or joy in responding to a circumstance in the energy of the flesh. Satan wants you to think that if you respond this way, you'll get some satisfaction, you'll get some gratification, maybe you'll get one over on somebody who you have feelings against, who did something to you, but it won't bring about joy.
Or peace in your life.
And it goes on, every man, for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself and the Lord his God. David lost two wives here. The city that he was living in was burned with fire. And yet on the other side of that circumstance that brought him to his knees, he responds to the energy of the Spirit, and he takes it from God.
And he goes further and he prays, and he seeks God's mind, and he says, what should I do?
What, what is the path that I need to take to overcome the circumstance? And that's the path you and I can take. And that's the fact that you and I can encourage other ones in. Sometimes we want to sugar cook discouragement. And I'm not saying that we don't have care when we go to somebody who's discouraged. We need to have great care. But as it's already been said, we need to bring them back to Christ. There needs to be a recognition of what that discouragement is and where it comes from.
And then to recognize that I need to act in the energy of the Spirit of God.
Sometimes you discourage it because we have an expectation of maybe our brothers and sisters that we thought they should act a certain way. And when they don't act that way, we get discouraged and we say, well, if they are not in this way, I'll go somewhere where I'm getting encouraged. I'm a friend that he felt there wasn't enough shepherding in the assembly, so he went somewhere where he felt he could be shepherded.
And I just want to read a verse in, in, in thinking of why we're, why we're at the assembly and who's there. And it's an application in First Samuel 22.
First Samuel 22 and verse 2. This is the time when David was fleeing from Saul and was in the key of a Abdullah.
And it says everyone that was in distress, everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them. And there with him about 400 men, you know, in the assembly. I don't choose my brothers and sisters. I don't pick this brother, that brother to be there on Sunday morning. I don't decide. And it's not the best people are in the meeting.
There are way, there are other brothers and sisters, I love the Lord a lot more than I do that are not in the assembly. I don't I don't go there because it's the best Christians. I go there because I believe the Lord is there. And these people, if they're giving you a David, they have to go with where David was. There were all these misfits, these people that were in debt and people that weren't happy, but they went as a Lord because David was the type of the Lord was there. And if we have that as our view, I think it'll help us from being discouraged because if we expect our brothers to be perfect, expect a meeting to be perfect.
01:00:21
We're going to be disappointed one day.
It's by looking to the Lord and realizing He is the one we come visit or He come we come to remember. It'll keep us being disappointed from our brothers and sisters around us.
There's another side of this. All of that is absolutely true, but there's also the side where we can turn others away, and that's in Hebrews chapter 12. One place at least.
Just the one, verse 13, make straight paths to your feet less that which is lame be turned out of the way. And so if we're going to be honest about it, we'll have to admit that sometimes in the assembly we act in certain ways when we say certain things.
That we may have the tendency to turn others aside, and it's very important that we take heed to that as well and be careful to make straight paths for our feet.
We may say things as well. Just an example that has come up was raised by a young brother recently. Sometimes we may speak in the assembly as if we're the only ones who are believers even who are in love or you know outside of the assembly it just very wicked people to even save it all.
And there's a lot of believers who know other believers who are with us, and they know that's not true. They know there's people everywhere who are not gathered who love the Lord very much, and there's much faith and much desire for the Lord.
In other places than where the Lord is gathered. And so there are things that we can say and do to discourage others, and we need to be conscious of that and be very careful.
Not to do those things and to really leave the truth of God where it is as it applies to ourselves. Now, what are The Who are the ones that would be turned out of the white? Well, they're the light, and they do exist. And there's no excuse for that. None of us ought to be lame, and yet it happens at different times in each one of our lives. Perhaps we are the lame ones, right?
I could be the lame one, and have often been, and so it's important.
It's monopoly one at the moment. Don't stumble one who is. But if we are, and this is what has been brought out mostly that if we are a lame person.
Has, in the sense of this verse, we ought not to be, the reason for discouragement. We've been given every resource not to be. And when it comes even to the issue that I've just raised, as to being discouraged because the ones in the assembly speakers, if they're only the ones in the assembly, are those who love the Lord.
And how can that be? And I'm so discouraged.
Well, what are you going to do about that? What do you believe in your heart? And this is what some of the brethren have been bringing out. John 6 and brother Mark was mentioning. Do you see that the Lord Jesus is in the midst of those gathered to His name or not? I believe that He is. I believe that I'm gathered in that place. And I say it without apology. And that's an important question. It's why our brother took a whole meeting on it the other night.
Important that these things should be presented, and very important for everyone of us to get ahold of these truths so that we can look past all of the things that are said and the things that are done right to the one who himself is there. And if we see that the Lord Jesus is there and troubles come in, whatever they may be, even if we're horribly discouraged, the question is going to be just as her brother read to us, to whom should we call the Lord?
Where else am I going to go? Yes, I can leave the assembly and I can go with some other group of Christians and in some ways.
Will be there too, yes, certainly, but not in the way that he has promised to be with those gathered to his name. Just want to tie it into that other truth, but to remind us all that we need to be careful not to stumble our brother.
Our God and Father, we give thanks for these thoughts. We've had questions that have been answered, and we just trust that we've been helped by these discussions and that we might be built up in the most holy faith.
01:05:04
That we would not be discouraged as we go on through this Christian life and Father, we we just ask for care and safety today as we go through our activities and in time of fellowship together. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Prayer Closet
Address—John Ruga
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There is a spot where souls unite and St. meet St. in heavenly light, Those thundered far by faith. They meet before the common mercy seat #246. Let's open our meeting this evening by singing #246.
From every.
Stormy wind and.
From every.
Where?
Our.
Game.
Let's just look to the Lord.
Our God and Father, another day of Thy grace and here we are at the evening meeting and we just seek Thy help now as we open my precious word to just glean from a few verses to encourage our souls on for Thee to draw the affections of our hearts closer to Thee, Lord Jesus.
00:05:14
And so we just commit ourselves to thee for Thy blessing now, and my most precious name, Amen.
May we take our Bibles and open them up to the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew, Chapter 6.
And verse 5, Matthew chapter 6, and verse five. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward, but thou.
When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Now what I have on my heart tonight to speak about is the prayer closet. You know, I think sometimes as young people and I know I I was this way. I had a lot of misconceptions about raising my voice up to the Lord in prayer. And I always thought that, you know, with the prayer closet that this was talking about those grey headed Q-tip brothers, you know that they're grey headed that they always would go into their.
And and pray. And I figured, well, maybe someday I'd get to be a Gray headed Q-tip brother and maybe I'd go into a closet and pray and the house that we have.
Is kind of interesting, but you know, a prayer closet, as we have just read has a few characteristics to it and that is one it has a door and you know if I were to go around the room and ask you what?
Do you have in your closets at home? You probably have a very typical closet that has some clothes and maybe some recreational gear and maybe some other stuff on the shelves. But we seem to use our closets to store a lot of stuff.
How many of us really use a closet for prayer? Now I'm going to take a little bit of liberty when we talk about a closet here because I've had several in my life time. Closet.
Go to to pray.
And some of my closets have had radio controlled airplanes in them with landing strips. Some of my prayer closets have had polo fields in them where the horses run up and down playing polo.
And, you know, sometimes when we think of a prayer closet, we have a tendency to think of a four walls. But, you know, in the day and age in which we live, we find that a prayer closet, if your life is anything like mine, is very hectic.
My current prayer closet is roughly 25 miles long.
And I leave my house in the morning, and I have 25 miles to talk to the Lord till I get to work.
And, you know, it's interesting that we have certain times where we can go and talk to the Lord in prayer.
Now prayer closets come in all shapes and sizes.
But the main thing about the prayer closet, if you notice in the verses that we read, is that they have a door. They have a door. What would you use a door for on a closet? Well.
It hides us, doesn't it? It hides us from the world.
And it keeps the world out.
We find that with a closet, you know, when you're having company, I don't know if you do this or not, but at our house, you know, if we have company coming real quick, you know, and they're coming over, you open up the closet, toss everything in, close the door, they'll never see it, right? We use our closets that way, don't we?
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But a prayer closet? Think about a prayer closet now. It's a place where you can go and talk to the Lord.
A place where you can meet the Lord, now the children of Israel.
We're told to build an ark, and on this arc there was a mercy seat, as our hymn has suggested, where God would meet with the high priest and the priest would offer a blood sacrifice for their sins.
It's a place of communion, a place to address the Lord in our lives.
And I have to say this is that, you know, as a young person, I really didn't understand that too much and I wasn't quite sure how.
How I was supposed to go about and establish a prayer closet. But what I would submit to you, dear young people today is that if you're not in the habit of praying.
There's no reason why you can't start today. There's no reason why you can't kneel by your bed and lift your voice up in prayer to the Lord of glory, the Lord of glory, your Savior. And so we find here that.
We have some instruction in regards to a prayer closet, but we also I want to turn to a couple of verses and the first one.
Turn to is in the book of. Let's go to the.
Book of the Book of Daniel.
And we find something very interesting there.
Now in Daniel, what I was thinking about was.
In Daniel chapter 6 we find something there that.
We know that.
There were various presidents and Princess.
There in the Kingdom and they were jealous of Daniel because he was number one in the Kingdom and what do we find there that.
The the king made a decree about.
That they were not to pray to any other God.
And I'm looking for the verse where it says about he kneeled upon his knees. There it is, 10 Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10. Now here's something kind of interesting about Daniel. It says now when? Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he nailed upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks.
For his God, as he did a fourth time. Here's a couple of things about Daniels prayer closet. We find that he was very much in the habit of going to this prayer closet. We find that he had a window in his prayer closet. It says that he kneeled on his knees. He prayed three times a day.
And we find too, that he gave thanks before his God. Now Daniel was in a fix. He was going to go against the law.
The land and here we find that Daniel, regardless of what the laws of the land are, he was going to kneel and pray to his God and give thanks to.
His God.
Now I ask you, dear young people, if somebody were to come into this room tonight and say to you, I catch you praying, I'm going to take your head off, would you give up praying?
You know, there are people in this world where if they are found praying, there's a good chance that they may lose their life.
And Daniel prayed three times.
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And he opened his chamber. It was his habit to pray, dear.
Young person, do you have the habit of prayer in your life? Are you in the habit of as you go through your busy day, to just take a few seconds like Daniel said here and gave thanks before his God? When you're busy at school or you're walking to school, do you take a few minutes and just thank God for his Son, the Lord Jesus?
Have you ever thanked him for dying on Calvary's cross for your sins?
There's a passage that comes to mind a verse over in Exodus.
That I find very interesting.
If we turn over to the book of Exodus.
And we go over to chapter.
14 Exodus 14.
Let's go to Exodus 14 and 19 and let's let's read these verses here. It says Exodus chapter 14 and 19. The Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them. And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness to them.
But it gave.
Light by night to these so that the one came not near the other all the night. I read this because you notice that there's this pillar.
Of the cloud that goes between the Egyptians and the children of Israel, on one side is light, on the other side is darkness.
I know we weren't.
When Tim asked me to speak, I told Tim I had been thinking about this subject of prayer. I didn't really mean to, to turn it into a gospel meaning. But you realize, or maybe you don't realize yet, but if you're lost in your sins, if you're on the pillar of the cloud, that's on the dark side, my friend.
You know have to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior to be on the light side of the pillar.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior tonight, you've lived on this earth one second too long.
Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is a day of salvation. And may it be that each and everyone is you. Sit in your seat. May you look into your the depths of your heart and say, Lord Jesus, are you my Savior? Do I really know you as my Savior? Am I just coasting along with all the other young people?
Maybe I got a front on me and and maybe I got an outward shell that it's just hard to Pierce.
But tonight, dear young person.
Is God's day of salvation. This past weekend we buried a brother in our home assembly. His name was Jim Hamilton and our brother Ralph Rusink had come down and he was talking to a man in the mall and he made this comment to Ralph.
And it really struck me and his comment was this.
He said we believers that know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the closest to hell we'll ever get is what we have right now on the face of the earth.
And for those people that do not know the Lord Jesus as their savior, this is the closest they'll ever get to heaven.
Have you ever thought about that?
Those that don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, for all the crazy things going on in the world, this is the closest that they're going to get to heaven. Why? Because God, God's Word, tells us where those that reject Christ as their Savior are going to be.
And outer darkness, Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. How solemn.
How solemn. But you know, if you're a believer and you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, we look around this scene and we say look at the immorality, look at the famine, look at all the wars. This place is falling apart. I have the glory before me. I have a Savior on high in the glory that wants me for all eternity under the shelter of His precious blood shed on Calvary for me.
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That's my hope. And can I not lift my voice up to such a Savior and just say thank you Lord, for saving my soul? Can we not think of that passage of the Pharisee and the publican who smote on his breast and said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner? And what does God's word say about that? That man went down to his house justified.
Justified dear friend, tonight stop and think about it. If you don't know the Lord Jesus is your Savior, stop. And anywhere you're currently sitting right now in this room, lift your heart up to the Lord and accept him as your Savior, the Savior of sinners, Savior of sinners. He saved the sinners such as me.
You know, it was kind of interesting. We a week ago Friday, we.
My wife and I called our brother Jim Hamilton up.
And it was his 83rd birthday.
And.
We went over to his house.
And we took our car key if you ever have to.
Rouse somebody in the house with the police. Officers taught us to do as they say, take a car key and tap on the glass because it makes a distinct sound that will catch people's attention. And so we tapped our key on the glass. I called his name and there was no response.
And my wife said you have a set of keys to the house. I said yes. And I said.
Will go and open the door so we open the door and as soon as we open the door we we could tell that the there was a high humidity in the house and the shower had been running and and my brother Jim there he had passed away and taking a shower.
But you know.
One thing about.
Jim was that we had talked about that day coming for about four years and he had even walked me back to the bedroom and he said, John, you know, when the Lord takes me, you'll probably find me dead on the floor right here.
And I, you know, I think, you know, that's kind of hard to take sometimes to talk about these things, but.
Yes, dear young person is a reality.
God is going to use something to take you and I out of this scene if the rapture doesn't. If the Lord doesn't come first and rapture us out, it will be something. It may be sickness, may be an accident, who knows, but He will take us out one by one as He sees fit.
Number your days. Stop and think about it. How many days did Jim have? He had roughly 83 years on the face of this earth. You know when you're young, you don't think about dying and when I was in my.
Early 50s I was sitting at my desk and.
I get these emails from the personnel department saying plan for your retirement, click on it, delete.
Next day and for your retirement, save money, we can roll in a 401K plan, click delete, you know, and after doing that for a while, I thought, hey, you know, they might have a point. You know, if the Lord carries, I might end up getting into my 60s.
The Lord is tarry. I'm over 60 now. What can we say? Retirement is getting very close for me.
So we plan. We have to number our days. You only have a certain amount of time. I don't know how much time you have. The Lord does, though. The Lord does.
Number your days. Use each day for the Lord. Commit yourself to the Lord in prayer for each day. Make each day count. Don't waste the day. Stop and think about.
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What the Lord would have you to do?
Now I want to turn over to the book of Esther because I want to take a look at a a a young lady there.
And look at her comment in regards to. Again, very similar to.
What we read earlier.
Chapter 4 of Esther.
Here's we'll read the the 11Th verse. This will give us the background of what Esther was, the day and age in which Esther was living.
It says all the King's servants and the people of the King's Providence is do know that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come on to the king into the inner court who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death.
Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live.
And now let's go to verse 13. Then more to Kai, commanded to answer Esther, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the King's house more than all the Jews. And let's go to the end of the 16th verse. And here's her response. And so I will go.
And unto the King, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. Does this young lady have purpose of heart?
Does this young lady have a goal set before her hearts? Affections for her people, Israel for her uncle that was faithful and telling her what to do. Here she has this response if I perish.
I perish, you know, when we pray, and I read this because, you know, sometimes I have to admit when I pray, I ask the Lord, well, Lord, here's here's a situation and and you know, it's kind of a tough situation and I'd really like it to go this way.
You ever pray like that?
You know, sometimes.
Favor one way or the other, when we commit things to the Lord. But when we commit things to the Lord, like Esther did, she said if I perish, I perish. She didn't really.
Have a have a desire one way or the other. And so it is when we pray, dear young people, we take things we committed to the Lord and ask the Lord to answer the prayers.
Now.
In my life, I grew up in the.
60s late 60s there's a lot of student unrest and what not going on. But the day came when I needed to buy a car and so I went down with my brother in laws and we went down to the dealership and we piled into a 73 Torino Grand Sport bucket seats, 351 four barrel carburetor.
And it was a really slick car.
And we took it for a test drive and.
Took it back to the dealership and, and I was thinking, boy, you know, this would be the ideal car to get because one, it has a lot of power. And the other thing that we were into at that time was I was pulling a lot of boats because we were getting together with young people and, and Phoenix and, and water skiing back and forth. And I needed a car to do that, you know.
I might say it might have been a little bit on the overkill side, you know, but it was a.
Kind of a cool car, you know. So I turned it back to the dealer and the dealer says, well, can I sign you up tonight for it?
No, tell you what, let me think about it. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Well, you sure you don't want to sign up for it tonight? No, I tell you what, I'll just.
And I just couldn't get it, get it out of my mouth that I wanted to go home and pray about it. OK, That was what I was really trying to tell the dealer, but he was trying to close the deal, you see. So they finally left the dealership and my brother in law's, they were kind of quiet.
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You're going to get that car.
I think I'll ask the Lord about it.
So I went home and I got on my knees, got my Bible out.
And just started coming through the pages, you know, and you get you just kind of.
Wondering well, Lord, you know, there's really no verses in in your word that deals with buying, you know, the 73 Torino Grand Sport. You know, it just there's just nothing in there that I can find.
At least I thought that and sure enough I got over to. I think it's in Galatians where it says ye did run well.
OK.
Go sign the papers tomorrow.
Now I know, dear young people, you know, we, we try and I mentioned this because, you know, sometimes we think there's some special.
Revelation that we get, but sometimes we open up the Word of God and we just see a portion of the of the verse that gives us direction as to what to do.
And so I went ahead and I and I bought the car and sure enough, we got the trailer hitch, the air shocks on it hooked up the boats and and my desire with the car was to use it to go water skiing with young people and encourage them. Now you got to watch your underlying motives because I believe that the Lord for as weak as maybe I had as an exercise as a young person.
But the Lord honored that and he gave me the means to pay the car off and always have gas and provide for the.
The costs of going skiing and and having a good time with.
With young people.
Going water skiing again, you say, well, why did you do water skiing? Well, when I was in high school, I played water polo. I swam in high school and I I like the water. I like to be around the water. It was a lifeguard. And you know, you sit around on the pool decks or on the beach and watching the having the responsibility of pulling people out.
But you know, each and everyone of us have a different vent too. I mean, some of you guys might have some other some other activity that you're interested in. And all I can tell you is that committed to the Lord, committed to the Lord.
Did I have to get in a prayer closet and close the door? And no, I just simply got on my knees and and asked the Lord to.
To give me a verse to encourage me in the pathway, whether it was.
Good to go and get a car or whether it wasn't good to get a car.
But there's many decisions in our lives, dear young people, that we make even when we get older. And I, I say these things to be practical because, you know, sometimes we have a tendency to say, well, that's kind of a trivial thing. I, I really shouldn't bother the Lord with it. I'll just go do it the way I want. No, that's not exactly what how the Lord would want it. He would want to see your exercise with.
The things that you do.
The directions that you choose as you go to school. The classes that you select.
These are things that are practical to submit to the Lord and ask him, hey, should I go and and take in my case?
I remember my sophomore year of high school, I used to walk by the drafting department and I saw these drafting tables with these arms. And somebody, one of my friends said, oh.
That's an engineering class. And I, my heart sunk because I was wasn't too good in math and I thought then I don't want to take take that. Well, in my sophomore year, the counselor got ahold of me and said, thou shalt take this, you know, okay, you know, so I took a drafting class and I found out. Well, it, yes, there was some math, but I found that I had the mathematical ability to do it. So I went ahead and and took the class.
Well, in the 60s, what happened was there was a lot of student unrest. There was a lot of.
A big thing at this high school that I went to was to light trash cans on fire. And everybody would, you know, they try and get the fire department to come out and disrupt the schedule of the school, you know, and all of this. Well, some of my friends that I had made on the water polo and swim team, they said, hey, come on, John, let's go and we're going to go set some trash cans on fire.
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And I thought you got to be kidding. You know, this would not honor the Lord.
So we headed down the hallway, and at the end of the hallway you could turn left and you could turn right. And my friends went left out to the trash cans and I went right. And so I went back into the drafting class.
And I spent my time studying the drafting. Well, what happened there was I excelled in the class and I completed four years of the drafting and the advanced classes and.
When I graduated as a senior, I was awarded they had a student body award. There was a 24 inch high trophy on the table.
And you know, my buddies and everybody, you know, they're all sitting there looking at the trophies and say, wow, look at that one. That's a big one. Wonder who the guy is that gets that.
And.
When?
They called my name.
Went down and picked up the trophy and they announced to the whole student body what it was for in the scholarship and stuff and all of that, you know, And I went and sat back down. Well, you know, all the friends that I had gone to school with, they all wow, John, you really, this is cool, you know?
Man, I didn't think you were that smart and.
You know I'll never forget because I had an older sister.
Who was?
What Val Victorian, She was just flat out smart and she came over and my friends are standing around and they and she comes up and she says, I don't know how you did it, little brother, but I know you're not that smart to get a reward like that. I know you're stupid.
Sitting there like, OK sister, go away, you know?
But what I found was that later in life.
You know, as we make friends at school and you're going to have to have some friends if they decide to go off and do something that you know is not correct and would dishonor the Lord.
I found that.
The Lord opened up another door where I could Chan all my.
Studies and and excel in my studies.
Tom.
And these things are practical, dear young people, because it's on a bended knee that when I was a.
Sophomore again in high school.
And I don't know how many sophomores we got in the room, but.
One of the other things that I always prayed for, two things that I prayed for for the Lord in regards to prayer, was one, to have an occupation so I could support a wife and make the weeknight meetings, and then the 2nd.
Request that I had at the Lord as a sophomore in high school was for a wife that was saved and was gathered to the Lord's name.
Now you know, dear young people, over the years, what can we say?
Trials come and go.
The Lord honored, I believe has honored those two requests all the way from my high school years because I very rarely have I ever had to work a Sunday morning in my career. I think I may have worked maybe one or two and it was totally disastrous because we didn't accomplish anything and I could have just gone to meeting and, and and done with it.
And sometimes I still get called to to come in on Sunday morning. So I'll usually tell him, OK, you guys get there at 5:00 AM Sunday.
We'll take a look, have the problem solved by 6, and then you guys can figure out the rest of Sunday to figure out how to get the production line back up again. And so the Lord has has blessed me and I really feel that it's been because of those years in my youth. Now let's go and take a look at another individual again, this is going to be about the age of.
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Young people here in the Book of Psalms.
Let's go to Psalms 121.
Psalms 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil.
He shall preserve thy soul, the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. Now this Psalm is talking about David, and he says I will lift up my knives onto the hills, from whence cometh my help? What's he talking about?
What's he talking about?
He's talking about his prayer closet. He happened to have some sheep in it. He's talking about the times when he had his heart and he was on those Judean hillsides and there he would sing to the sheep. He also had a sling. He slew a bear and a lion. He's talking about those times when he would sit there and he would talk.
To the Lord, to Jehovah, lift up his voice in song, and just a little bit of praise.
Probably thanking him for the mercies of the day.
He has a prayer closet listed here and it's the bad hillside. Dear young people, you can have a prayer closet where you can get away from this world. close that door, close the world out. You get those iPad things and ear plugs, pull them out, turn it off, put it aside. Pick up the word of God.
That's what that means. When you close the door, you're shutting out the world.
And you're focusing just on the word of God, reading something to encourage your soul and hear. What did David say? I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Dear young people, how you establish your prayer closet in your youth will be a great comfort to you when you get older, if the Lord carries that long.
What you do in your youth won't come back to haunt you if you seek to follow the Lord.
And read His Word faithfully on your knees with an open heart, asking the Lord to direct.
I say that because Saturday, when we buried.
Her brother Jim.
Jim and his youth.
Treated the things of the Lord very lightly.
He paid a price for it.
But in the last 20 years that I knew him.
He was drawn back. He realized that that path, he was now old, He was getting into his late 50s, early 60s, and he realized he wanted to draw close to the Lord.
Now dear young people, I'll tell you one other thing. I see a bumper sticker sometimes on the back bumper of cars. It says God allows U turns. If you find yourself in the pleasures of sin out in the world, God will allow AU turn. He will allow you to draw closer to himself. The Lord always has an open year.
Like that?
Publican had smote upon its breast. God be merciful to me, a Sinner. He always has his ear open so that you and I can draw closer to Him, that we can enjoy His presence, what He has done for us on Calvary.
00:45:01
We were at the.
YMCA because we had a meeting room on Rosecrans and the owner was giving it to his daughter for a blood bank for the Red Cross. So we had to vacate the meeting room and so we moved into the YMCA.
And so we were in there for a couple of years and.
Our brother Jim.
One Sunday.
Stood up.
And poured out his heart and giving thanks for the loaf and the cup.
That was on the Lord's Table.
It left us all in tears.
To listen, to know what that man had been through and that he could draw close to the Lord and pour out his heart in Thanksgiving to his Savior.
Dear young person, I just sit in your seat.
Don't let the locusts eat the ears of your youth and waste them.
Stop and think about when you're in the Lord's presence and you see the loaf, and you think upon what the Lord has done for you on Calvary.
I know it's very tough sometimes to stand up.
But you know.
Dealt the light the heart of your older brother.
You don't have to worry about what to say, you just have to pour your heart out to the Lord and Thanksgiving.
In prayer to him.
You know.
We sometimes think that older brothers, they stand up and they have such an eloquent way about them and giving thanks for the emblems.
But you know.
There's also room for the young brothers, too.
To lift your voice up and praise to the Lord of glory.
We go through these things as a course of life.
We experience many things down here, dear young people.
And I know that a lot of times we get involved with peer pressure.
But you know, it's kind of hard, and the hardest gospel to preach is to your friends and your relatives.
It is really tough.
Because.
Some of our relatives have become gospel hardened. They know exactly where we stand in in regards to the work on Calvary.
And they usually will tell us, oh, I don't want to hear it.
I don't want to hear anything about the Lord's tape.
And what can you say?
It's sad, but some of the toughest gospel meetings to preach is to your own relatives, to your own brother or your own sister and your own family.
May the Lord encourage us and always seek to.
To keep us steadfast to himself.
I I always enjoy this 27th Psalm in verse four that David.
Has.
That the Word of God has penned these words, Psalms 27 and verse four. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
Ah, dear young person, may it be true of your heart that you have that one thing that.
You have desired and that's the follow and serve your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will turn to what Psalms 139. I just want to point something out there too because it's a very interesting Psalm. I had this pointed out to me in the Fullerton the other night.
00:50:14
Psalms 139 Let's look at this first verse. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understand this, my thought afar off.
Isn't that wonderful, to know that the Lord, thou hast searched me and known me? Notice it's written in the past tense.
Right.
And I and I thought, man, that's, that's so great because the Lord has searched me. He knows all about me.
And I thought, wow, that's really cool until I got down to the end of the chapter. A brother pointed this out. He said look at that 23rd verse. Search me O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
The searching hasn't stopped. As long as you have breath in your soul and I have breath in my soul, the searching doesn't stop. It continues. It's a lifetime occupation. The Lord is going to search our hearts. He wants absolute purity in our hearts. He wants your whole heart's affections.
It's not a one time thing. It's not.
If you read that, that first verse, it sounds almost like it's done and over with, but it isn't. It's ongoing. He's always going to be searching our hearts. There's always going to be the test. And so we have to be on our guard. That's why, you know, sometimes you'll hear older brothers say, well, you know, you should come out to the weeknight meeting.
Well, you should. You should make the weeknight prayer meeting.
And it's good to make the meetings because your heart and mind are such that if we don't go to meeting and have that time alone with the Lord and our prayer closets, we're going to go off and get involved with the world and some of the attractions in the world. We're going to wander away. We're going to get wrong thoughts about the Word of God.
And our hearts affections are going to be drawn out to other things.
Before you know it, we forsake the meetings. We start leaving them behind.
And we start getting occupied with other things and our hearts gets get filled with the things of this world. But may you search your own heart in prayer, on your knees before the Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in me. You know that's a hard thing to pray.
That's a hard thing to pray.
And if there is a wicked way you find it a wicked way pointed out in you forsake it.
Confess it to the Lord, Get rid of it. You have a Savior on high in the glory.
That has an ear open and ear ready, willing, able to forgive you and draw you closer to himself.
I just wanted to also mention.
Tim had shown me some of the questions in the question box.
And I hope by some of these examples that I've given you that hopefully you have an understanding that prayer practice in your life is very practical. It's very practical there there's.
Anything in your life if you're not sure about?
Or even if you are sure about, you can commit.
Your activities for the day to the Lord and ask Him to keep you and bless you.
Do we pray intelligently? You know, I, I thought about that.
And I suppose the only passage that I can think of a of a intelligent prayer is that one with the publican that says God be merciful to me, a Sinner. Was that an intelligent prayer? The word of God says it was. He went down to his house justified.
00:55:08
Was it very long? No. It was a nice short prayer. And you know, sometimes the shortest prayers can be the most intelligent. Sometimes in our lives we're going to need.
Help. Pardon another example. In high school I took an electronics class.
And.
I knew it was going to be Thursday morning. Wednesday night was a prayer meeting and I was thinking, well, I should stay home from the prayer meeting and study to pass this class because I really needed it to get my GPA up and whatnot. And but then again, I didn't want to miss the prayer meeting. And so finally I studied for a while. It was time to go to prayer meeting. I just turned to the Lord and said, Lord.
You're going to have to help me on this test.
So I went to the prayer meeting, came back the next day, I went into the electronics class, and here's the exam. The instructor had three electronic classes set up that semester, and so I was in the second class and he went through and I took the exam.
Monday morning the instructor came in and he shook his head. He says I don't believe it. He says. I have never seen the scores on any of my electronic exams as low as this one.
He says either you guys are not listening to what I'm telling you about diodes and how they function.
Or you guys just have not studied, you know, we thought.
And he comes back and he says, and I know you guys didn't study because Ruga got the highest grade.
I wasn't an electronic whiz. I think I got 86 out of 100 questions.
And and then my heart sank because he says, I'm going to throw that quit that test out the window. You know, obviously it's not not a good test. You know, my heart just sank and I just said, Lord, you got to help.
And sure enough, the instructor said, well, OK, it wouldn't be fair to Ruga. So what we'll do is I'm going to give you guys another exam and you can keep the highest of the two grades.
Man, that was music to my ear because that next exam, it doesn't matter how I answered the questions. I already hadn't had my grade, you know, So, but I went through and took the exam and I I tell that young people because that's something practical.
I I've had other cases in.
With college.
I had an English class where the Kent State riots had broken out. There were shootings on the campuses. Cal State Fullerton had shootings on the campuses and on my English instructor was the faculty advisor for the student radicals on campus. You know, I mean, this guy was he, he was, he had it in for me. So the very first day I get into his class.
And he sits down and he looks at me and.
He's calling roll, you know, and he's, you know, So and so here. Yep. OK. So and so here. Yep. OK. So and so here. Yep. OK. John Ruga. Yep.
John Ruga. And he looked at me.
And he looked.
You're different than the rest of the kids in this class. And I sat in my seat and I said, Lord, I'll put up the floor. I want to fall through.
The whole semester he was on my case big time. You're different than the rest of the kids in this class. I don't know how how he singled me out that way or what he saw in me, but you know, I, I really shuddered that whole semester. I was trying to learn English and this guy was more interested in talking about all the riots and students.
Rights and all this other stuff, you know, and it's just over my head, you know?
After six years of college, you would think I'd have the most best distinguished, but I don't. OK.
And it's very interesting because as I proceeded on in my college.
01:00:05
Education. I then got into a philosophy class at Long Beach State.
And I had a professor that said that reason that water doesn't boil at 212°F. Any reason did away and I sat there. Look.
I'll boil some water. You stick your finger in there and tell me it's not 212°, You know, And I thought, boy, this guy is really, he's off. So the second class meeting, what did he do? He reasoned the way that people.
Have a soul.
And he said, we know people don't have a soul. I said, really?
And he says I can prove it. We had a baby.
And we weighed it before it died. After it died, it was 25 grams lighter in weight, therefore.
The body doesn't have a soul, you know he and he, you know, logically with reasoning reasoned the way that we don't have souls.
Well, I'm not the most intelligent individual when it comes to logical reasoning, but one thing I do know, the word of God says every man, woman and child has a soul.
And that's what the word of God said. So I went to the counselor and said, look.
I just can't. This philosophy class is just beyond me. I just don't want to stay in this class.
OK, no problem, I'll give you an art history class.
Cool.
You know, I have some artistic talent. OK, I'll take the art history class. So I got to the art history class.
And the instructor says.
We're going to have a Renaissance Fair in a about, you know, near the end of the semester.
And what we have to do is make triumphant arches out of these cardboard boxes and paint them up.
And then at the end of the Renaissance Fair, we gather up all these cardboard boxes that you guys are going to paint. We put them in a big pile and set them on fire.
Uh-huh. OK, so I went from psychology to art history, Scotch taping together cardboard boxes and painting them.
OK, well, higher education at its best. What can we say?
However, got my grade and it helped my GPA to go up and so I thank the Lord and we move on.
But I say these things, dear young people, because you know, as you go through school, you may have a tendency to think that again, the prayer and committing things to the Lord.
Is for the older brothers, but it's not.
I look back in my life and I think of the things that I committed to the to the Lord.
Maybe 50 years ago.
And it's an encouragement to me now.
To know that my Savior has stood by me all these years and that my Savior is on high in the glory, and that.
As life continues on, I know I can go and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and lift my voice up to Him in my prayer closet and know that His ear is ever opening, open and will hear my request, my petition to Him.
It's very practical. The prayer closet. May you establish your prayer closet.
Hopefully tonight take time to thank the Lord for the mercies of the day.
Thank the Lord for his.
Kindness.
For his love.
For what He has done for you on Calvary and make Calvary ever get sweeter to your soul. And if you're not at the Lord's table, my friend, you're missing out on a privilege that the Lord has given us where we can sit around in His presence. Sit around His table, in His presence.
01:05:02
And thank Him for washing our sins away for suffering on Calvary.
To pay the price for my sins. And they're gone forever Gone.
I'll tell you what it does to my heart when I think about it. 38 in the back of the book. Maybe we can stand up and sing #38 in the back of the book. In closing.
We adore the.
Evermore.
For the swear by you.
Sure, it's made me hurt always.
Who runs him through?
A pledge of alludes.
Let's just look to him.
Our God and Father, what can we say?
As this another day of Thy grace draws to a close, and we thank the Lord Jesus that thou hast gone to Calvary to redeem us, to pay the price, to redeem us from the pit of corruption.
Because without its delight in US and that it's desire us for all eternity, what can we say? We offer thee this thanks, and we praise the Lord Jesus for Thy unbounded love to us, to sinners saved by thy matchless love and grace. And so, Lord Jesus, we just commit ourselves to Thee now, asking thy safekeeping and care upon us for the rest of this evening.
And my most precious name. Amen.
Session #5
Q&A
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.
Our first question is could attend give a recap of the 10 C words he used in his meeting? So ET. I think someone wants to mark down the the 10 season the references.
OK, well, so the story over here, the first thing that Peter's conversion and that was John 40 and 41.
And loop 5 verses 2:00 to 11:00.
That also is tying into the second one, which is the calling Peter's calling. There's also blue 5 OK.
So you have conversion.
And calling.
The third one is counting the cost.
That was Matthew 1624 to 26.
Luke 1426 to 30.
John, chapter 6666 to 68.
4th one is companionship.
Mark chapter 3, verse 14.
And Acts 4 verse. Sorry, Acts 4, verse 13.
The fifth one is the Peter's Claim of courage. Luke 2231 to 34.
Next one is Peters condition was manifested.
Luke 2254 to 62.
Then you have a complete denial.
Luke 2256 to 62.
Peter's Conversation with the Lord, Luke 24 to 3024, verse 34.
And then you have consecration and restoration. John 2115.
And the last one was a personal challenge to use our the things the Lord brings us through to help others. I'll just go. I'll just say the list of the keywords again in case you in this.
Conversion, calling, counting the cost, companionship, claim of courage, condition manifested, complete denial, conversation with the Lord, consecration, restoration and the loss of the challenge.
Would anybody think it's already done? You can ask your friend or ask you.
OK, this question is it's a long a long question, so I'll read it.
And it's about discipline in the home, or just discipline with our children. This world's wisdom is finding root in modern law regarding the rights of children, and as such has the potential to place fear in the heart of the Christian parent today.
And there's a list of verses. I think we can read each of these verses.
Jim, I'll read the reference. If you want to read the read this verse Proverbs 22/6.
Proverbs 22/6.
Train up a child in the way you should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs, 2215.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Proverbs, 2223.
For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoil them.
I'm sorry, it was chapter 23 verse 1314.
Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his his soul from hell.
00:05:11
And then chapter 29 and verse 15.
29 Verse 15 The rod of reproof. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Okay, these verses.
Are clear as to the need for disciplining children and the way we should do this. Could you please comment and encourage young parents in this fundamental duty?
Is spanking correct in the face of these laws?
So these verses are very clear that they've come from God and.
Our responsibility is to discipline our children. Part of the discipline is teaching our children, instructing them, and part of that instruction includes spanking when necessary and.
I think part of the reason for for punishment like this. A child needs to know that he is a Sinner if there's never ever any correction.
Never any.
Affirmation that he's a Sinner.
The spanking, if we don't spank them, they don't realize that they're a Sinner. And so when we spank them, they remember, Oh yeah, I was bad at that time, I am a Sinner. The more spankings you get, the more you realize you're a Sinner.
Some children are quite well behaved as as babies and they don't get spanked too often and as they get older they they.
They.
Tend to go off easier than those who've been spanked more when they're children. Is all God's wisdom in raising children.
So I just encourage you just to do what God says.
Some children, he spanked them and they don't even feel it and.
They can laugh it off, but even when you have a child that spanking doesn't seem to affect. Even when they are spanked, they their conscience is touched.
The other thing they need to realize too is that there is authority, and if they don't learn it when they're young, they're going to have difficulty when they get older because we never get out from under authority. In fact, as we get older, there's more and more authority. They go to school and there's the authority of the teacher and the principal. They get into the workplace. There's going to be different levels of authority and different levels of authority in government and in the world.
Authority that God has established and set up.
For order and blessing on on the earth. And so they need to learn that there's authority when they're very young. I remember my 4 year old sitting at the end of the table after some discipline had been enacted and my wife came out and with between sobs she said, oh mom, if dad would only obey me, things would be a lot happier around here. But we laugh. But that's what it that's the natural bent a.
Child, as young as they are, thinks that they can be in control. That's that's the natural bent of man. But we had to explain very clearly that that's not the way it works and that's not the way of happiness. And so there needs to be that. But I'd like to just look at a couple of verses in connection with, I think what the tenor of this question is, because it is a day when we have to be very, very careful.
Before we look at a couple verses, just say this too one thing.
That we sought to impress upon our girls when they were little was that if they called 911 or child services, it wasn't dad that was going to be removed from the home, it was they. And that they were going to be in a worse situation than they thought they were in. And it was a very hard concept, especially for my older 1 to get a hold of. She thought if she complained, they'd take dad from the home and she and mom would live happily ever after.
00:10:02
But we had to impress upon her that that was not the way it worked. But we do need to be wise in disciplining our children in the way that these verses have brought out. I just want to read a verse in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10.
And verse 16.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And I believe that perhaps more than ever before, as parents we need to be wise in where and how we discipline our children.
I know sometimes when you take your child to the mall they need a good spank.
And I understand that, and I'm always been a great believer in taking care of things right away, but be wise.
In in Canada, where I come from, there have been many cases where a parent has laid a hand on a child in public and the results have been disastrous. And so the Lord said, and I know it's not specifically what's in this verse, but I think there's a broad application to what the Lord was saying here.
We are as sheep among wolves today. There are those who are watching us and who would like nothing better than to tear apart the family and especially the Christian family. Let's be very, very careful where we where we are when we discipline our children. The other thing I'd like to say too, and I want to read a verse in Ephesians.
Chapter 6.
And verse 4.
This is a word to fathers particularly.
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
There's nothing angers our children more in discipline than to realize that, then for them to realize that we are angry when we discipline them. And I, I didn't, I'm pleased. I'm not, I I blew it when it came to raising children. But just as far as just just a couple of little pieces of a practical advice.
That I can at least give in retrospect.
And I trust very humbly as a failing father. And that is that when two things I made sure when I disciplined my children in this way, one is that I didn't do it in anger. And sometimes it took just stepping out of the room for a moment and saying, Lord help me, Lord help me to calm down. And I know there's some here who know me best and know that that was a very necessary.
Part of my my discipline, and I believe the Lord can, can give us that grace to not do it in the heat of the moment or in anger.
The other thing in connection with what the verses that we read that were listed on this question is you'll notice in every verse it speaks of the rod. I never took my bare hand to my children. Never. I think I can honestly say I never did because I never wanted my children to fear my hands. A father's hands in Scripture are always to dispense blessing. You read of our God the Father.
Hands, they're always in connection with dispensing blessing and I always made sure I had something available to use in connection with spanking my children. They never feared my hands. They feared what we called the rod of correction, which sat on the kitchen counter or on top of the fridge. They feared the belt. But I think I can honestly say they never feared my hands when I reached my hands out to my children, I.
Wanted them to come to me as recognizing that my hands were reached out in love and blessing. So just a couple little things. I know others have more to say, but I just passed those practical remarks on.
Example in Our Heavenly Father, and I would say this even as Jim mentioned as a failing father, but in Hebrews chapter 12.
00:15:05
And verse 9.
It says, Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits, and live?
How does God deal with us?
In love and in grace.
In Psalms 103.
And verse 13 it says like as a father pity at his children, so the Lord pity at them that fear him.
And these verses that were read in Proverbs.
Would probably bring before us how to deal with algin outright rebellion. That is not always the case.
And we can, as parents can form rebellion in our children if we discipline them too strongly for things that are on accident.
I'll give an example.
If the child spills their milk at the table and it's an honest accident, did they get a spanking for that? If it's an honest accident, what would happen if we spanked our child for an honest accident?
It would breathe rebellion in their heart, wouldn't it? So we have to be before the Lord as to how the Lord deals with us, before we take our hand and responsibility or the rod to our children. And I say our hand also because the hand can embrace in love.
You probably could have read the next verse in Hebrews 12 also says for they our own parents, Verily for a few days chasing this after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of His Holiness. Well, that is an example for us and it recognizes that we as parents aren't always deleted in the right way. That's true, but the Lord, as you mentioned, is our example.
And authority has been committed to mankind.
Whether it's to parents or to governments. And they've abused that power. And so that's why the pendulum has swung the other way. There have been legitimate cases of child abuse and where children didn't need protection from parents, and that's a sad thing.
And we don't need to talk about how governments have acted and I was, I was going to say in the past, but are continually to act abusing the power that God has given them.
And so it leads to rebellion.
Whenever something is committed to mankind.
It eventually crumbles and we're talking about authority or things even amongst the the Christendom. So there's a lot of failure.
We certainly need what you said, the example that the Lord has given us, and to be wise, knowing the day that we're living in.
But I think it's very important too that we don't throw out one because of the other.
It often happens today, it seems like there's not much love nor much discipline shown to children, and both are mistaken. They're both very harmful. What we have in Proverbs is very much neglected today, as well as the side of love. So the question was about that. I think it's important not to blunt the force of what these verses.
Who are about here? The one verse is read that foolishness is found in the heart of a child. The rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Now that's acknowledging the fact that there's something in the heart, something that's just there, a bitter root that wants to spring up. And God has given that restraint into the hands of parents to keep that in check.
The world today denies that it's not true. Man is basically good and all we need to do is encourage the good and if we do that then they will grow up to be good people.
That's the typical worldly thinking, and it has come in among Christians so that we tend to ignore these verses in Proverbs. And we do that to our apparel because we all have within us as we know the old nature, and our children don't know that teaching yet what it means. But we ought to and we ought to do what God has told us to do in His Word in dealing with that.
00:20:10
And so another verse comes to mind. Proverbs chapter 19.
And.
Verse 18 she.
Chasing thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying now. It almost sounds like a desperate situation.
But I think you'll find the earlier on you do this, this is a very little problem and it's not so desperate if it's left left to go on till later when the child is older and it gets more like how this first sounds like.
And a child will later on come to resist more and more. But if the practice of discipline and learning to obey the authority is trained in early in life, then it will be very different when they get older.
Also in Proverbs 23.
Verse 13 Withhold not correction from the child, for thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
You could probably get taken into child services for a book like a verse like that.
That's what the word of God says. You get how many Christians are actually doing this today.
Verse 15, sorry, verse 14 if I'll beat him with a rod, thou shalt beat him with a rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. Now this gets down to one reason why it's so important. We're not just playing a game as Christian parents, we have children that the Lord has given to us.
And it's our responsibility.
To bring up our children for the Lord, and one day we are going to stand before Him.
An answer to him for how we did that. We're not going to stand before child services and answer to that or other Christians. We're going to answer to him as to how we handled his word and the instruction he gave us and and dealt with these issues.
This issue of authority is so important.
The issue of love is so important. We neglect either. We've lost much. But again, like I say, we're talking about the authority.
And that part of it, in these verses, I want to say that when I was a very little boy, I didn't understand anything of these verses.
And I learned authority from my father, and it hurt, and it hurt a lot.
But I came to learn it and respect it, and I knew he loved me too, and I knew he loved me when he did it.
Then later on, his gym was springing out. I went to school.
And the teacher now is in a position of authority. I didn't struggle with that. There were times I was tempted to try to do things, you know, And then the authority back home, I had to step in.
But that was helpful. Then later on I came to see the policeman and that wasn't a trouble. And later I came to see the Lord.
And he had authority, too, and I didn't struggle with that authority. That's why I had learned it as a little childhood home.
And I'm just going to say this for Christian parents if we don't teach our children that when they're little.
We're actually hurting them with regard to this lesson of the authority of the Lord in their life. I think it's very important. We need to teach them that, yes, they're going to have to trust in Him individually, but our hearts are rebellious by nature, and I thank God for any help that I received from my parents in that regard.
And that's the responsibility that we all have if the Lord has given us children.
And really the Christian home is the only place today where they're going to learn authority. You've seen a bumper sticker several times in the last couple of years that says question authority. Our young children and young people are not going to learn authority in the God, this godless world because authority is questioned on every level. Where are they going to learn it from the word of God?
And in practice, it's what they see and learn in the Christian home. But we need to be careful too. Just again, a word to those of us who are responsible to enact discipline. You know, as Ralph said, we're extremists by nature. Now, my mother, when she was going to school 80 years ago, she got a slap on each hand for every spelling mistake. That was one extreme and so.
00:25:20
They came in to try to balance that well, we've gone the pendulum has swung too much the other way. But I want to say this too as as parents remember that our Father in heaven got our father doesn't treat all his children the same and we're to bring up a child in the way should go where the thought is really according to the tenor of his ways. Every one of our children have a different tenor and a different bend to their nature. Some have.
By nature, very strong will, some not so strong. We all have a will, of course, but I think it's good for us to be sensitive to that. We, we only had two, One, you could show them the rod of correction and they melted. The other we always said would have made a good martyr. And we had to come up with other things to go with the, with the spanking. And so we need to discern that. And the verse that Ralph read is important too.
Our father got our father.
It says He chastens us for our profit and let's be careful when we chasten our children in any way that it's not for a selfish motive. Sometimes I chastened my children just for because it was a selfish motive. If they were making noise and I wanted to read, I told them go out of the room and if you don't go out of the room, there's going to be some consequence. But that really wasn't for their profit. That was a selfish motive.
Our Father always chastens us for our prophet, and as earthly Christian fathers, let's be exercised that whatever chastening we give our children, that it's going to be for their profit in the end.
Genesis chapter 44, the first part of verse 34.
What? What verses were they? First part of verse 34, chapter 44 of Genesis.
For how shall I go up to my father, and will that be not with me?
We put this as our model. How shall I go to my father and the lad is not with me? Then we can chastise our children in a correct way, I believe.
Another quick thought.
Sometimes we have to show mercy to our children as well. And there are times as parents that we make a mistake in disciplining. Maybe we we discipline the wrong child. Sometimes the younger ones can be sneaky and set their older ones up as well. So beware of that. And if we do make a mistake?
We should own up to it and apologize.
Yeah.
Allow me an example with my son Ron's expense.
I think what was brought out.
In connection with.
Disciplining a child when there is hope.
Is.
Very important. We've all had the experience of going to a mall.
And seeing a mother drag a kicking and screaming screaming child.
Down the hall and at the mall.
If our children.
Are disciplined properly.
At the right time, there are no mall experiences.
If our children learn to sit still in the family reading, there's no meeting experiences. None. They've already learned that. So what's a child doing?
00:30:01
When they commit something.
That requires discipline.
I'll use this example when I was.
When I was very young, I remember being disciplined by my dad and I thought, well, you know, if I was very young.
I thought, well, if my dad can discipline me.
I should be able to hit him back.
Which I did.
That never happened again.
Never ever happened again and I was very, very young.
So we used, we live in the place that we are now and.
We didn't want our children to go out in the street and so.
I remember taking Ron.
And pointing to the end of the driveway.
Just like this here.
When the road was there to try, leanness was there and telling Ron, you know, step over that line. So what I remember is from is hold the line through the match at the house, see what that would do.
Ron and I have had a few sessions.
That are not quite as happy as today in the same room.
But it's been a long, long time since Ron's had to be disciplined.
A long, long time.
Discipline your child while there is hope.
OK. Let's move on to the next question.
And I think these next two questions.
Can be somehow connected, but we'll go to the first first one. What qualities should young people look for when looking for a spouse and what is an appropriate age to start dating?
You obviously don't agree with dating.
Whether we call it dating or.
Courting or getting to know one another.
With marriage in view.
That's what it should be. If you're not ready to get married, you shouldn't be looking for a woman. You shouldn't be looking for a man.
Dating only leads to immorality.
And if you look at the world, I don't know what statistics are, but if you look at people who date.
They get into sexual problems.
Because.
Remember the line that Dave drew across the driveway?
If there's a line, that's a limit.
A limit.
It's only as good as your conscience.
And.
Limits are not as strong as emotions.
And desire.
And if you set a limit, you know on a date you set a limit.
We can only do this and this.
You're going to get as close to that limit as you can and you're going to put your toe over the line.
And you're going to see what your partner, how they respond.
So I don't think there's a.
I don't think dating is considered in Christianity in the in the word of God.
00:35:09
So sometimes I've heard young people say, well, I know how far to go. Let's be very careful to make a statement like that. Let him think that he standeth, take heed lest he fall. It also tells us he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And I know it's a little different, but with Peter, he thought he knew how far to go.
He could, he thought he could associate.
With the world and he would, he could stop at a certain point, but we know the sad consequences. Back to our question then. In the end, the last clause of the 13th chapter of Romans tells us make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof, and we want to be careful that we don't put ourselves in a vulnerable position.
Now social dating, as Tim said, I don't believe is according to the word of God. You never have a precedent.
However, I would just say to the young men, I've often talked to young men and some who are not so young and they say, well, I'd like to get married. And you talk to them and you realize that they are ready in many ways. But I often point out that verse in Proverbs that says whoso findeth the wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord. And I've often told.
Young fellas, it's wonderful to pray about it, and that's very, very important, very necessary. The Lord, before he chose the 12 disciples who were going to be closest to Him during his public ministry, spent all night in prayer.
Pretty interesting, isn't it? I don't know if any of us spent all night in prayer concerning the one who is going to be the closest companion to you in your pathway here.
But we need to spend time in prayer, but we also need fellows to open our eyes and find her whoso findeth. I sometimes have said, I wish that word find was printed in capital letters in our Bible. Because the man is the aggressor. The man is the one who has to initiate things. And God has put a drive in a young man to go out and find a wife. That's normal.
There's few Apostle Paul's there's few who can abide.
The calling that the apostle Paul was realized, he was called to, and that was to serve the Lord without that companionship. But that is the exception rather than the rule. So it's the man that before the Lord has to get up off his knees and take the initiative. And the problem is in the world today.
The girls have have become so aggressive.
And fellas, you got to work for a godly Christian girl. You don't have to work for the girl across the desk at school or at work. They're aggressive. But if you're going to get a godly Christian girl, you're going to have to work at it. And it's not always going to be easy. A girl who's truly going on with the Lord is going to wait for the man.
To take the initiative and she's going to want to pray about it too. She's not going to want to be in a hurry. And so there may be some courting that needs to happen, but as Tim said, it always needs to be in view of the relationship eventually culminating in marriage.
Godly Christian women have emotions too, don't they? And.
Sometimes a guy, he's looking for somebody.
Who's excited rather than godly?
And not that a godly woman is not exciting, but you may be looking for other things. You may be think, well, God's a girl, she's not going to be so, so fun to be with. But that's not always that's not the case.
We just want to emphasize the scripture that Jim brought before us.
I'm going to sort of open up here a little bit. It's a bit embarrassing.
In light of.
Married every girl I prayed for in my early days. I would have had far more partners than the woman at the well.
00:40:05
I'm very thankful that the Lord didn't answer all my prayers but the scripture that Jim brought before us.
It says this.
Whoso find us, why it does not say Whoso chooseth a wife?
And so the young men say, Boy, the sea is full of fish.
That's not the thought, it's not who shall chooseth, it's whoso findeth the thought there.
Is that the Lord has already chosen a partner for you. The choice has already been made.
It's not a question of choice that's been done. It's a question of finding the choice of the Lord. Now, I did not do well with that. I'm very, very thankful the Lord did not answer my prayers in the way I prayed until the time came when I was able to find His choice for me.
But don't look at the situation and say I have to choose. It's not a choice that we have to make. It's a question of finding the choice already been made by the Lord.
April is another woman at Oh well, Janice is 24. And that was where the servant of Abraham found Rebecca, and that was something very important.
That he went and found her there. Somebody else can explain that a lot better than I but the well Speaking of the word of God there and and so he was there waiting by that well asking the Lord to make it clear in that place who this one would be that would come to the same place. And so that's important, I believe very important what Dave was saying here just along with that.
In the last verse of First Corinthians 7.
And speaking about a widow here, but I believe the principle of self, verse 39, the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is a liberty to be married, to whom she will only in the Lord now.
Certainly only in the Lord would be only a believer. Did you get that? Clearly enough from 2nd Corinthians 6 that the not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. But this goes a lot farther, doesn't it? When we speak about the Lord, we speak about.
His authority, his chosen.
Choice for us. And so it wasn't even whom she will as to her own will, but her will is tied up with his. And I believe that's very important if we want to have the right one. If you're looking for the right qualities, well, that's a good thing And I suppose we were going to talk more about that but.
First and foremost, we need to be down on our knees before the Lord.
Because we're simply not good enough to know.
I think I said this last year, but I'll say it again, almost like what I said earlier here, somebody did put it this way. If we had to be wise enough to make the choice as to the ideal partner would be for us, then we should all wait till we're very old to do it.
Because it would take a tremendous amount of wisdom, but the wonderful thing is that we know somebody who has all that wisdom and has already made the choices, Brother Dave said.
And so we need to be very much down on our knees before the Lord, asking him who that one is. And as with the servant of Abraham by the well and looking for the other one who's going to come by the well, where the word of God is treasured and sought not only in that matter, but in every other. And then one other verse. And I mentioned this the other day, but we didn't turn to it. First Corinthians.
Chapter 8.
I'm sorry, Chapter 9.
The Apostle Paul says, have we not power or right, the right or the authority to lead about a sister, a wife as the other apostles as well as other apostles? Now Mr. Darby has a sister as wife.
And this is a really important thing if you're looking for a brother or a sister to be married, that's what you're looking for, a brother or a sister. First and foremost. This is a brother or sister in the Lord, one that loves the Lord, values the things of the Lord and his people. And even after you're married, this would be a huge.
00:45:23
Primary part of your relationship that you're not just marrying.
A person in the office is sex, but you're marrying a brother or a sister and you're going to be together.
As heirs together, the grace of life, to share together the things that God has given to you. That isn't going to happen magically after you're married. That's already self. God and his grace may rule and He may produce it in spite of our failures and mistakes. Thank God that He does. But we're talking about what we're looking for when we go into it. And if you're looking for that.
The one who values God and His Word, then that's going to be what's going to work well in marriage. And of course, that begs the other question, how can you look for that if you don't desire it for yourself? So first and foremost, what you think would be good in marriage before the Lord, make sure it's true of yourself, and then trust Him for the rest.
Now it's just in that connection we don't want to discredit.
Some other aspects of things in a natural way. And so we've taken it up from a spiritual standpoint and just say in connection with your comment about in the Lord doesn't say Mary and Jesus are in Christ. That would justify marrying any other believer, but it's one who owns the Lordship of Christ in their lives, as you say. So I think that's vital. That's very, very important because I've heard young people say, well, they're a Christian. They they belong to the Lord, they love the Lord. That may be so, but it's not.
Marriage in Jesus, it's not marriage in Christ, it's it's marrying in the Lord. So very important, but I'd like to and I'm moving on because I know our times. There is also the natural when it says I quoted the verse last night in connection with prayer in first Peter when it says that their heirs together of the grace of life that is this life here now. Marriage is not a spiritual tie.
Just let that sink in for a moment. Marriage is not a spiritual taught, it is a natural tie.
Given by God set up at the beginning for the blessing of man on the earth. There's the spiritual side of it, as we've been saying, but it is a natural tie for man on earth. Marriage is not going to continue in the same way. When we get to heaven, what we have spiritually we enjoy now and we're going to enjoy for all eternity our spiritual blessings and so on. What we have naturally is for the blessing of man on the earth when it God's order.
Is followed in the in the proper way it's for our for our happiness and so we know from other scriptures that marriage is not going to continue the the paramount relationship in the father's house is going to be Christ and the bride and all other and and God and his children and all other relationships are going to pale into the background that have been given for for here on earth and so.
We're heirs together of the grace of life that is this life here.
And having said that, then there are natural considerations that need to be taken into account. Can I honor the this this lady? Is there a physical attraction? There has to be. Can I honor her in public? Can I honor the man? Am I going to have a difficulty in submitting to him as the head?
In the Lord is there a compatibility? I know sometimes opposites attract and my wife and I have found over 28 years that in many ways we are very opposite.
And that's true, but there are those things that we must take into account how you've got to, you're going to be thrown together to live with this person in the closest relationship that God has given for man here on earth. And it's for life. It's for the rest of your life.
Other things are not an option. I know the world looks very lightly.
On divorce and and so on. But those things in a Christian marriage, marriage and the Lord are not an option.
And so these things are real and they have to be taken into consideration. So the first thing is the spiritual, yes, as Tim and others have brought out. But then there is the natural aspect of things that has to be taken into account. Is there going to be compatibility so that I can live with this boy, I can live with this girl until either one is taken in death or the Lord Jesus comes and carries.
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Us all the way.
There's probably some of that in First Thessalonians 5. Just a little phrase in verse 23. Spirit, soul, and body.
Now, when I was a kid, I had it backwards. I wanted to pick out the prettiest girl in the whole conference.
Right. And some of you?
I did get a priest girl here. The order is Spirit which has to do. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Has to do with the spiritual, then the soul, which is the personality, and then the body. Now, as Jim said, we're not asking you to marry somebody that has to have.
A paper bag over your head, if you will. I say that respectfully, but if you spirit first, then the soul and then the body, not the other way around you, I may find the prettiest girl.
In the world and that person may be utterly incompatible and have no use for the.
Call or of God on your life and be a real distraction from you living your personal life, be it girl or guy, the Spirit 1St. And like Tim said, this person has to be a believer, has to have an exercise to be found walking in the path of faith.
In the way that God has called them. And then there's the soul. So if if my interest is skiing and yours is.
Something completely, perhaps tropical, that could be a problem.
I'm just pulling examples out of the air, but these things are real. Like Jim said, you're going to be with this person for the rest of your life. So you want to know, ladies, how you're going to be treated?
Watch a young man with his mother.
OK. And his sisters. OK. Do you want to know how you're going to be treated? Don't observe that person when your heart is already engaged and involved. Just stand back and watch. How does this person treat the young kids in the assembly, the older ladies, his mom, his sisters? It's going to be it's a good clue.
That's how you're going to be treated.
On the other side.
Young men, you want to know what your relationship with your wife could be. Watch that girl with your dad. See how it is. If there's a rebellion and a disdain, you're going to struggle.
So don't immediately jump in with both feet. I know Jimmy said to actively find your wife. Let's stand back and watch a little bit. You're going to see and the Lord will open your eyes.
You know, it's when I was younger, so I'll speak to the guys.
Particularly, I didn't have a clue. I didn't. I think I was married for five years before I realized that women had evokes sins.
It's it's maybe not that bad, but.
So I realized that today.
Yeah, back when I was a kid, you asked somebody else to him sing and then you apparently you don't do that anymore, so you're Facebooking or whatever, but.
I thought it would be cool to ask a girl out, so I did.
And you know what? I was way too young. I didn't know what I was doing to that girl's emotions. And when it was enough, I just quit it. And I just, I hate to say it, but I just crushed.
Correct. And it was a it was a bad mistake.
I smack God's way, it says in Ruth. Boaz says to Ruth. Abide fast by my maidens. Their safety in that.
Boaz Speaking of the Lord, a bypass by my name and ask the Lord to open your eyes. I agree Jim about the finding. I I totally agree with that. But be careful young man, especially girls have emotions. It's not a game.
00:55:17
My dad used to pound into us. Never ask a girl out unless she could be married to her.
And he tried.
There's so much damage and harm that you can do and you don't even realize it. So I'm not beating you guys up because I was there. I just want to encourage you to get on your knees, open your eyes, ask the Lord. It's. I know this is out of context, but I'm going to say it anyway.
In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved.
It would be better young people, to stay focused on what the Lord has in your life and.
Let the Lord open your eyes. When I met my wife, I came to Michigan with 0 aspirations to find a wife. None. I came to make money to finish college with no doubt.
And you know what happened?
And it took me a long time to see this. The Lord said to my heart, have you noticed her? And I told him I'm here to do a summer internship. I'm not interested right now.
And he said, have you noticed, Becky, that finally I yeah, I have, I guess. And the Lord blessed that. And now we now this is our 17th year together. Young people trust the Lord. Don't trust your emotions.
Get into the word, ask him to show you and.
I don't know if I can express this right. I just it's not a game. There's the stakes are high and you can hurt yourself and the other people involved. So just be careful and the Lord will honor those that honor him, the Lord said. And Samuel boast that honor me, I will honor the Lord wants her blessing.
So let's not get in front of the Lord and say, well, I've already I got the plan now I don't need your help. Now we need the Lords help every single decision that we make and he has chosen your spouse. What a disaster to make a mistake and go, Lord, I don't want your choice. I pick mine already. It's going to hurt. He doesn't want that. But I didn't lead you.
And because I'm the youngest guy here, I'll be quiet now.
I have a purse that I think it would be good for both the young men and the young ladies to look at and you all know what it is. What the 2nd to last verse of Proverbs says. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
There are attributes that bring beauty.
And.
As has been stated, it's a matter of finding the right one and you don't need to try and fix yourself to impress other people.
Be what the Lord has made you to be. And if you're seeking to honor God in all your ways, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. And what the world calls beauty is emptiness. And so try and see beauty through.
God's eyes in the way He has made each individual special, and He will show you who is the right one for you.
And there'll be real love as a result with Isaac and Rebecca. He took her into his mother's tent and she became his wife. And the crowning statement of that whole chapter is, and he loved her. And young people, it takes real love to get along through life.
Marriage is not easy. Marriage is hard work marriage. You're never going to have perfection this side of heaven. But if there's real love, you'll get through and make sure in the end that there's real love. And if I can just say this to when you have dated a girl or courted or whatever term.
Or a boy if there doesn't seem to be that real love.
01:00:02
And the Lord is pricking at your conscience.
Don't go ahead.
If the Lord we all make mistakes and if we go on a course that in the end we feel is not of the Lord, it is better to cut it off than to go ahead into something that is may not be the Lord's will for you and may lead to disaster and heartache in in your life.
Once you take that step in marriage, there's no going back.
As far as the Word of God is concerned, and you need to be very, very exercised about it before the Lord, it is next to salvation, perhaps the greatest step, the most monumental step that you will take in your life. And the girl you marry, the guy you married is going to make or break you spiritually. It's going to make or break your life. It's going to make you fruitful.
In your life or it's going to make you barren in your life as far as fruit for God. And be very, very exercised and careful. And if there's not real love, then step back.
And don't take that step. So in review, what is an appropriate age for dating?
Or what is an appropriate age to start a relationship with a man or with a woman? And in Proverbs 24.
In verse 27.
Says Proverbs 2427. Prepare thy work without make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house. So and like Mark said, it's important to be able to provide for your family. But I guess he said that yesterday.
First, you want to be able to be able to provide for a family.
To be able to provide for housing, to be able to provide for utilities, to be able to provide a house and you may say, well, I can get a mortgage to pay for all that.
That's why we had that question the other day, I guess.
Is it OK to get get yourself in debt? You need to be careful about that.
Oh no man, anything. So you need to be ready to be married before you start a relationship.
If you start a relationship before you're ready, it's not easy to start it, to go for a long time in a close emotional relationship with a, with a, with a person, because you will get into a, into compromising situations where you're going to have to draw a line somewhere. And where will that line be drawn and how long can you keep that line in one place? We have to keep moving that line.
And so it's best.
Advice to wait until you're you're ready to be married before you start a close relationship with the with a person. OK, now what qualities should you look for in a young person, in a in a person that as a spouse. If you're a godly woman, you're going to want a godly man. But if a godly woman waits too long, emotions may get the best of her and she may go for anybody or if you as a man, if you're the same thing and so.
What qualities are there for to look for in a spouse? Well, to be godly and what what are godly qualities? We went over those for the qualifications of an elder for the men. Those are God's standards for man. That's not just for an elder. That's for you as a young man. Those are qualities that you can can work towards and women, you can look at the man. And I know it takes us a few years to grow up.
Some of us a few more years than others, but.
There's there's a like, like burden was saying, look at the parents and how do they, how do the children relate to the parents? And, and often a parent is going to be what the children emulate. And so if you look at the parents and you see how they act.
Often the children will be similar to that, but.
It's not a guarantee, so there's amount of faith and trust. Some marriages are arranged and you don't get the chance. Like Rebecca, you don't get the chance to see the guy or the girl before you're married. But it's still you're still required to love and respect one another.
01:05:06
If a woman's looking, if a man is looking for a woman, what qualities do you look for?
Proverbs 31 has a good good list there of of nice qualities.
To look for in a woman, but you want her to be godly. And I think others have mentioned enough about other qualities so I'll leave it at that. And then as far as the in the Lord to marry in the Lord when you're looking for a spouse.
They should be.
Compatible to you in in faith, if you go, if you're gathered to the Lord's name and the woman goes to some other church or the man goes to some other church, you're not really compatible because there's going to be a compromise. You're going to have to compromise what you believe or she's going to have to compromise what she believes and.
Compromise is not good because it's not really.
A basis of faith.
Everything we do as a Christian life comes from a basis of faith. And so if we are.
Are following after someone who is not believing and practicing the same way as you.
There's going to be difficulties. And so I, I, I give advice that you, it doesn't mean that somebody who's going to a church somewhere can't learn. And I know many people have.
Gotten their wives believing wives who do, who have learned and do believe the truth of the word of God. So the so this goes into another subject, but I'm not going to elaborate on it. But you need to know first what do you believe? Do you really believe what we practice and why do you believe it? What verses do you have? And then it's good to find a wife or find a husband who believes the same way you do.
Otherwise, there's going to be compromise and difficulties down the road.
He gets her times up.
Yes.
Just saw some of the young folks here don't look at marriages with a red flag. Obviously some of our experiences are different than others. I found marriage to be not not hard work at all. It's been very, very easy. It's been very, very comfortable. It's been very, very beautiful.
In and of the Lord. That's what the Lord's desire is for us, not that it be a struggle.
No, and I didn't mean it to be a struggle, but we do have to.
When there's real love, of course that the motive is is right.
But there are things that we always as husbands and wives have to keep before us as to the needs of how the husband pleases the wife, how the wife pleases the husband. There is that exercise, which is, thank you, what I meant. But when there's real love, then as you say, there's that comfort in the home and the Christian home, the Christian marriage and the Christian home is really the only bulwark there is against the world today.
So, gentlemen, make sure you know it's not an active hunting expedition.
Be about the Lord's work, but keep your eyes open.
Leave out your schooling, your work, your job, but the Lord's business. Keep your eyes open and make sure that your car will pass the safety because her father will appreciate that.
Pray our God and Father, we give thanks for these practical considerations that we've had today and just help us, Lord, to to look to you for our our direction and wisdom and discernment for our relationships one with another. And we just commit this day into your hand. Father, we pray for those traveling home. We just give ask for safety and care for them. We pray for Emma also with her, her chemotherapy.
Treatment today strengthen your Lord and and as I will heal her completely with this and give give Andy and Eileen strength to we commit this day into your hand. Jesus name we pray Amen.
OK.
Prayer Part 1
Address—Jim Hyland
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Fun failing friend 243 if someone will please start it.
We must have all things and.
Bound through by sufficiency.
You're well tear off. Your blood rolled by the end of the life.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father, how thankful we are this evening for this happy day we've enjoyed together. And now we thank Thee for an opportunity to have Thy living Word before us once again. We pray that as we open and read it and meditate it on on it tonight, that thou guide and direct that Christ might be ministered to our hearts, and according to the need we pray that there might be that which would encourage us and spur us on in the path of faith and service.
So we ask thy help. We ask thy blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
By way of introduction to what's on my Heart this evening, I want to read 4 portions in John's Gospel. First of all in John's Gospel, chapter 14.
John's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 13.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And then in the 15th chapter and verse 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Verse 16 of this same chapter. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
And ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you, and then one more portion in the 16th chapter.
Chapter 16 and verse 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. I have it on my heart this evening, and if we have opportunity on for those of us who are still here on Lord's Day, evening.
To go on with the subject that our brother introduced to us last night, and that is to talk a little bit about the resource that we all have in prayer, that is, those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. Because it's a very, very important subject. And it's a subject that we have all through the word of God and a subject that I believe is important for us to all understand. Tonight, we're going to turn from one scripture to another very quickly.
00:05:20
I may, for the sake of time, quote a number of scriptures. I know some of you are taking notes. You can jot these scriptures down and look at them later. We're going to try to cover a vast amount of ground tonight, but I just want to give a little outline as to the powerhouse that we have of prayer in every aspect of our Christian lives. You know, when I was younger, I sometimes would read the stories of missionaries and men and women of old.
And the stories in the word of God, of men and women and young people who had great power in their lives, and as a result of their work and testimony, there was much fruit and blessing. And I used to marvel and shake my head and say, oh, be wonderful to experience the power and blessing of God like that. But in examining their lives more closely, I've realized as I got a little older that their secret was prayer.
Martin Luther said. I have so much work to do for the Lord, I dare not spend less than three hours a day in prayer.
No wonder he was a man mightily used of God during the Reformation as things were being recovered.
He knew the secret of power, and there's no other way to have power in the different spheres of responsibility in our lives, apart from the from the fact that we become men and women of prayer. But I read these four portions. We're not going to spend long on them. But I read these as introduction because the Lord Jesus here was preparing the disciples in what we sometimes refer to as the upper room ministry.
He was preparing them for his departure out of this world, and he brings before them many things in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of John.
In this final address to them before he goes to the cross, and then in resurrection return to the Father.
And one of the resources he brings before them, which is later developed in the Epistles, is the resource that they were going to have in prayer. And he brings before that it before them in four different aspects. First of all, in the 14th chapter, he stresses the name. They were going to have the privilege now of coming to the Father, not directly to him like they had when he was walking with them here in this world.
And they could come directly and talk to him, but they were going to have the privilege now of coming to the Father. We'll speak of that in a moment.
And they were going to have the privilege of coming in his name. That's why when we pray.
We so often, and rightly so, end our prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the name is the Great Qualifier Qualifier. Let's suppose you come to Smiths Falls and you're visiting me and I have an account down at a local store. And suppose you go into that store and I've told you whatever you need while you're here in Smiths Falls, just go down to the store and put it on my account. Tell them you're a friend of Jim Highlands and they'll put it on your account, no questions asked.
But suppose you go down to the store and you ask them one day for a carton of cigarettes and a case of beer. You think they're in my name. You think they're going to give it to you? They'd say, well, you know, I'm not so sure we can give you this request in Jim Highland's name. We know he doesn't smoke, and he doesn't or he doesn't drink beer. It qualifies what we ask for when we ask in the name. And so we come to the Father with requests, but when we remember that we're coming in the name of the Lord Jesus.
It qualifies what we ask for. We realize that when we ask, it is in keeping with those things that please the Lord Jesus, those things that are according to His mind and according to His word. Then we find in the 15th chapter there's a condition and Lords day evening. If we have opportunity we'll develop this a little bit. But there's a condition here in connection with asking and having our requests.
And that condition is abiding in himself, But I'm not going to speak of that right now. Later on in that chapter in the 16th verse where we read it's the the emphasis is on who we pray to. We usually pray to the Father, the disciples, as I say, we're going to have the privilege of now coming directly to the Father, a far greater privilege than they had in even coming directly to the Lord Jesus.
00:10:25
When he was here on earth, he says, Now you're going to be able to come to the Father, as he said to Mary, I ascend unto my God and your God, to my Father and your Father. And we have a direct relationship in line to to the Father. We can come to him. And that's why we generally, as I say, pray to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now just as a little parenthesis, I will say this.
That there are times when we pray that it is proper to come directly to the Lord Jesus.
I'll give you a couple of examples. In John Four, we read that he's the Lord of the Harvest.
And he says There, pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would raise up laborers and thrust them into his field. And so we pray and we pray about the gospel. We pray that the Lord will raise up those in the gospel field, that he'll provide for them, give them fruit for their laborers and souls. We pray the Lord of the harvest. Another time we might come directly to the Lord. Jesus is in connection with difficulties that affect the body of Christ collectively.
If there's a problem in the local assembly, it's proper to come directly to the Lord Jesus. Why?
Because he's the head of the body, and as the head of the body, we look to the head for direction and help in those kinds of situations. And there are other times it's it's proper and right to come to the Lord Jesus directly in prayer. I will just say this too in passing. We never have a precedent in Scripture that would teach us to pray to the Holy Spirit. We pray in and by the Spirit.
But there is no scripture to teach us to address the Holy Spirit, and in that regard I'd like to just give a little warning.
You know, when my girls were growing up, we would often buy at a Christian bookstore a tape of Christian songs. And I found it very difficult because there was usually on those tapes, I guess they're CDs now or MP threes or whatever they are. But on those tapes, there would usually be at least one hymn or song that was addressed to the Holy Spirit. We do not pray or sing to the Holy Spirit. We pray and sing in and by the Spirit. So we pray generally to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Or in certain cases we pray to the Lord Jesus. We want to be careful though that we don't confound the persons of the Godhead. To thank God the Father for dying for us on the cross is simply unintelligent. We thank the Father for sending the Son, We thank the Lord Jesus for dying for us and and so on. And so that's who we pray to. Then in the 16th chapter where we read It's when in that day what was the Lord referring to in the day when he was no longer physically with them? The hour was fast approaching when he would depart out of the world under the Father.
And so there was a time coming when they would come and they would pray to the Father in his name. Well, as I say, that's an introduction. Our brother John last night brought before us that verse in Matthew's Gospel, and we won't turn back to it. I'll quote it again. It says there thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
If you read the context of that chapter, you will find the Lord is making a contrast. God often teaches us by contrast. And there were those in the days of the Lord Jesus who liked to pray in public with long, elegant prayer, eloquent prayers, so that they could be heard and given a pat on the back for how well they could express things. But the Lord turned to his own, as was brought before us. And he said, when you pray, you get alone with me, you go into your closet, you go into your room and shut your door.
You get along with me and pour out your heart before me, and I'd like to say echo what John said last night. And that is that I believe it's very helpful that while we can pray wherever we are in any situation, yet I believe it's helpful to have in our daily routine and habit a stated place for prayer, somewhere where you can just slip away. And when you're in that place, you're alone with the Lord.
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You're there to pray without distraction. It's good too, to have a stated time for prayer. Daniel had stated times for prayer. He was a busy man. He was promoted under the king in all those kings and under the Last King there he was a busy man, but he not only had a stated place, his room, but he had a stated time for a stated time for prayer, but and a stated place. And so these things are very helpful.
In the routine of our lives. And I want to encourage all of us to cultivate the habit, the routine of prayer in our personal lives. It starts with our personal lives. And so we're going to break this down a little bit tonight, and we're going to take up 9 characteristics of personal prayer. And many of these characteristics spill over to other aspects of prayer. Prayer in other spheres of our lives, which we will also.
Mentioned very quickly. Before we do that, I'll just say again, as Brother John brought out last night, if there's someone here and you don't know the Lord Jesus as your savior, these things do not apply to you. You need to pray first of all, like the man in Luke's gospel who went up to the temple to pray. In fact, there's a contrast there again. Two men went up to the temple to pray, but oh how different their prayers were. You know, it says of one man he prayed thus with himself.
In other words, his prayer never got above the temple roof, but the other man, he wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, smote himself on his breast and prayed. God be merciful to me, a Sinner, the Lord Jesus said about that man. This man went down to his house justified rather than the other. He went away. This a different He went away in a different condition than he came. He was a saved, a justified man.
And if you haven't come to that point where you realize you're a Sinner and prayed not in so many words, but prayed in the same sense that the man in Luke's gospel prayed, I plead with you tonight to come to that point in your life because that is the beginning. But now, as I say very quickly, I want to take this up in not as to 9 different characteristics of prayer. Let's go first of all to Psalm 45.
Psalm 45.
And verse 11.
So shall the king greatly desire to thy beauty, for he is thy Lord. And then this is what I want you to notice and worship thou him. I want to talk for a few moments about worship. We worship a person for who they are. This is the highest note that we can give to either God the Father or the Lord Jesus. Now if we were to go over to the end of Revelation, we would find that in Revelation 19 and verse 10 if you want to jot that down.
And I'm not sure. I think it's the 21St chapter again twice we find that John.
Overcome by the visions and the wonderful things he sees and is shown by the Angel, he falls down at the feet of the Angel to worship the Angel.
And on both occasions the Angel says to him, see that thou do it not, I am thy servant and my fellow, and so on. And he says, worship God. What I want to point out is that there is no scripture that would teach us to worship any created being or person. Worship is always in scripture, reserved for deity. I know that in under the old British system there were and still are those who are referred to.
Respectfully as your worship, but it is not scriptural to refer to someone or to worship as their worship or to worship someone. Worship is reserved for deity because we worship a person not so much for what they have done, but for who they are. We worship God for who He is, the Eternal God Our Father. We worship the Lord Jesus for who He is, the eternal Son of God. And I say it's the highest note that we can give.
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And the more we have an appreciation of the person of Christ, the more that there's going to be worship from your heart and mind. Again, I said we're doing this very quickly now let's go for the next thing to the 54th Psalm.
Psalm 54 and verse six I will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord.
For it is good. Now we're going to speak about praise. Now. We pray. We worship a person for who they are, but we praise a person for what they have done. Now just say in passing, it's not wrong to praise other people. It's not wrong to praise someone we know for what they've done. I've often praised one of my children for something that they did. Maybe they got a good grade on that project. Maybe they helped their mother do something around the house and they did a good job.
You praise them. The Lord didn't say when he was here not to praise others, he said. Let another man praise thee and not thine own lips, a stranger and not thine own mouth.
Now flattery is wrong, but praise is proper, and so we praise someone for what they've done. And so we may praise God for sending his Son the Lord Jesus. We praise the Lord Jesus for that mighty work of Calvary and all that he accomplished to the glory of God while here in this world. And I want to make a little differentiation before we go on between praise and the next note that we're going to speak of.
And that's Thanksgiving, because when it comes to those scriptures, we praise the Lord Jesus more specifically for what he's done to the glory of God.
And we need to realize that the work that the Lord Jesus accomplished in this world had one first and foremost motive, and that was that he accomplished things to the glory of God. He was here to glorify God on the earth and finish the work that He had given him to do. Now, another difference between worship and praise is this worship, while it is sometimes audible, such as on Lords Day morning when we're together, to audibly and collectively worship the Lord.
Yet worship isn't necessarily audible. Let me give you an example. Mary of Bethany in the 12Th of John poured out her ointment at the feet of the Lord in worship. She was so occupied with the person of Christ as he walked here in this world that at the end of it she comes with a heart overflowing with an appreciation of the person of Christ. And that's what worship is. It's a heart overflowing with an appreciation of the person of Christ.
And she came and poured out her ointment. But you can read that account very carefully. You'll never read of Mary saying one word there.
She never said one word, and yet the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. This is a little aside, but I think of it on Lord's Day Morning. The sisters don't take part in the same way that the brothers do. But a sister who comes on Lord's Day Morning with a heart overflowing with an appreciation of the person of Christ, a heart full of worship, the whole house is filled with the odor of the ointment. It has an effect on the assembly that perhaps we little realize. And so worship, while it may be audible, is not necessarily, but praise in Scripture is always audible.
It's the fruit of our lips. It's you notice he says. I will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, Oh Lord, I counted one time well over 20 times in the Psalms. It speaks of singing praise to the Lord or some similar phrase we in the New Testament. It says the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, whoso offereth praise, not silence, but who so offereth praise.
Glorifieth me, and so he wants to hear our voices, the bridegroom said to the bride in the Song of Solomon. Let me see thy countenance. But he didn't stop there. Let me hear thy voice, For thy voice is sweet and thy countenance is comely, and he wants to hear our voice. I'm always encouraged when I visit in a home, and I hear the the lady of the house out in the kitchen, and there's a little note of praise, little song on her lips.
Working around his shop or his yard and you hear that little note. You're driving your car alone.
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You know, sometimes when I'm driving, I listen to some terrible singing by man's standard. But, you know, our voices are sweet to the Lord Jesus. He wants to hear our voices. I know sometimes when we're younger, especially guys, it's not cool to sing. But he wants to hear our voices. He wants the fruit of our lips. And so it says, he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Now it's true that praise needs to come from our hearts, because the Lord Jesus said of those in his day. This generation draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and praise with me with their lips.
But their heart is far from me. He doesn't want, as we sometimes say, just lip service. He wants it from our hearts. But nevertheless, I say he wants that note of praise. And so much does he value it that he counts it as a sacrifice, The sacrifice.
Praise. He values the very response that he puts in our hearts when we give it back to him. Inaudible praise. So much does he value it that he counts it as a sacrifice, and I believe he jots it down in his book of remembrance. As fruit you want to produce, you want fruit for God, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But then there's something else in the 116th Psalm.
Psalm 116.
And the Psalmist raises a question. In verse 12 he says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
And then notice the answer, at least part of the answer. In verse 17, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of Thanksgiving.
And will call upon the name of the Lord. So we've spoken of worship. That's the highest note that we can give to deity. We've spoken of praise. We worship a person for who they are. We praise the Lord Jesus for what he has done, particularly to the glory of God. And then we thank him for the benefits that we have received as a result of what he has done. Let me again give a little illustration that will perhaps help to differentiate.
Between praise and Thanksgiving, when my girls were in school, sometimes they would come home with a good grade on a paper, or they did very well on an assignment or a project, and I would praise them for what they had done. It wasn't really that they did it for me, and it really was no reflection on me. I praised them because they got a good grade or did a good job at school or for somebody else.
But we'll suppose that one of my children then helped me on Saturday with some project around the house and they did a good job and they stuck at it till the job was done. What do I do? I not only praise them for what they've done, I thank them because they've done something that has helped me out in my situation. And so while it's not the highest note yet, it is a very important and vital part of prayer of speaking to the Lord.
And that is Thanksgiving. Have we thanked God for sending His Son so that we could be His children? Have we thanked the Lord Jesus today for dying on the cross so that we could have salvation, be saved from hell, have a friend to care for us all through life and all the wonderful things that not only we enjoy now, but we know we're going to enjoy in that home that He has prepared for us, called the Father's House.
How often do we stop and thank the Lord Jesus? Did you thank the Lord Jesus today for something that he's done for you? We'd be in great indeed if someone did something for us, maybe paid a great debt, saved our life, got us out of a difficulty, and we didn't return to give them thanks. Think of those 10 lepers when they realized they were cleansed, one returned to give thanks. And the Lord Jesus valued that, the response of that man's heart. And I can just hear the sadness in the voice of the Lord Jesus.
As he said to that man, were there not ten cleansed? And where are the 9?
Wouldn't he have desired that the other nine return? Two to thank him as they saw this wonderful thing that had transpired in their life? Why, it was a miracle to think that they could be completely cleansed of their leprosy. And so these are the first three things then, after we're saved, worship, praise and Thanksgiving, and we need to cultivate the habit of these three things in our personal lives.
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But now I want to speak about something a little different, and we're going to read in First Timothy Chapter 4. This might seem like a strange verse to read, but we'll speak about it.
First Timothy chapter 4.
And it's in connection with the food we eat. And in verse five, Speaking of that food, it says for it is sanctified.
By the word of God and prayer. And then I want to read in first John chapter one.
First, John chapter one and verse three, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, as I say, this verse in Timothy may seem like a strange verse to speak to read at a time like this.
But I want to speak now for a few moments of prayer in the aspect of fellowship. Or if you notice Mr. Darby's translation here of the word prayer, he translates it as freely addressing God. You know, prayer is more than just making requests. We're going to speak of that in a moment. Prayer, in its simplest form, is speaking to the Lord. Isn't it a wonderful thing that we can come and address the Lord of the universe?
You know when you read about the greats in the Old Testament and in history and today?
Why? Most of them we wouldn't have access to. Even Esther in the Old Testament didn't have complete confidence in coming into the presence of her husband, the king. When Mordecai encouraged her to go in, she said, OK, I'll go, but if I perish, I perish. We know the end of the story, so we read it with confidence. But she didn't know whether her husband would hold out the golden scepter and she'd be able to speak to him freely, or whether she'd be hauled away to be executed.
If I was to show up at the gates of Buckingham Palace, or you were to show up at the gates of the White House tonight, why? And wanted an audience with the president without an invitation. Or I wanted an audience with Queen Elizabeth of England, why, They'd laugh at me. They'd say, you don't have access, You don't. You need an appointment. And even if you applied for an appointment, you probably wouldn't get one. But I have complete 24/7 access to the throne room of the universe. I can come and freely address the Lord.
And the only language that is required in freely addressing God or the Lord is that which denotes reverence. We always want to be conscious that we are addressing deity, but that is the only qualifier as to the language that we use. And so we can come and freely address God. And that's why I read in in First John, because we're told there that our fellowship, our communion is with the Father.
And with the sun, and it's a wonderful thing. Have you talked to the to your father today?
Have you talked to the Lord Jesus? I'm not asking you if you had a specific need or request. I'm simply asking you have you talked to the Lord? You know, I've enjoyed what it says about Daniel. When Daniel in the 6th chapter was faced with the difficulty, it says he went into his room and it doesn't say he opened his windows. If he'd opened them on that occasion, he would have been courting persecution. If he closed them, he would have been a coward.
It says his windows being open. It was the habit of Daniel's life to keep his windows open towards Jerusalem, as they had been instructed to do in the Old Testament, to pray toward God's house at Jerusalem. And it says he kneeled down and prayed three times a day. And then I want you to notice this not just when he got in trouble, but as he did a four time. It was the habit of Daniel's life to talk to his God three times a day, even when things were going well.
In fact, everything had been going so well for Daniel prior to this. That's what had invoked jealousy amongst his coworkers. I just pictured Daniel sometimes not having any special need or request, but communing with his God three times a day and developing that relationship. And you and I need to develop that relationship. We need to speak to him as a man speaks to his friend, if you have a friend and you only come to that friend when you're in trouble.
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Pretty soon that friend gets tired of you, they say. Oh, you only come when you have a problem, when you have a request. Can't we just enjoy happy times and so we can enjoy those happy times of fellowship in freely addressing our God. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now let's go to Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10 and verse 9.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Hold your finger here. I want to read a verse in Daniel in the 9th chapter.
Daniel Chapter 9 and verse 20 and whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin.
And the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, and so on. I want to speak now of prayer in connection with confession, but I read in first in Romans chapter 10. First because we have confession in two aspects here. First of all we have confession and connection in the ninth verse that we often quote in connection.
With the confession similar to what you have with the thief on the cross, he turned to the Lord and he said Lord first of all he confessed Jesus as Lord. Some have pondered why in the ninth verse it's the confession first and then believing in the heart and then it's reversed in the in the 10th verse. But I believe it's just this. First of all the thief on the cross he confessed Jesus as Lord.
Have you done that initially in your life in connection with salvation, and then to confess him as Lord of your life in connection with your Christian pathway?
It's not enough to know the Lord Jesus as your savior, but we used to sing a hymn when we were growing up. Lord of my life, I crown thee now Thine shall the glory be. But so it stuff Thou shalt believe if thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart. But then you notice in the next verse, the confession is a little different. It's reversed. And so he says in the next verse, For with the heart man believeth, and then what's the result? And with the mouth confession is made.
It's confessing him publicly to others here, Have you confessed the Lord Jesus to others? You know, there's nothing brings more joy to a parent or a grandparent than a child or grandchild coming to them and saying, you know, dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, I know the Lord Jesus as my savior. That's the result of confessing because there's been a work of God in the in the heart. Have you done that? And you know when you do that, it gives refreshment to the soul and it gives confirmation.
As to the reality in the soul, I know we read of those who simply say Lord, Lord and that's profession. But when there's reality in the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. But I read in Daniel because we find that confessing doesn't stop there. We find that Daniel was in prayer and he was confessing his sins and the sins of the people. And this is an ongoing confession.
That needs to take place perhaps every day of our Christian life, because it says again in First John, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And there it's in connection with the believer having an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. When I confess my sins as a believer and I don't have to ask to be forgiven, that's been taken care of, but I confess my sins. It's just as if the Lord Jesus.
In the presence of the Father says I've paid for that sin. That's how he can be a righteous advocate. And when we confess our sins, it's for restoration. It's so that not our salvation can be restored again. That's secure by one offering. He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, but it's so that the joy of the fellowship and communion that we just spoke of can be restored. It's for the maintenance of that communion, that fellowship.
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That joy of being able to come and freely address him in every situation.
Now let's go to Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I want to speak of groanings now.
You know, you've probably experienced this. I know I have many times. And the older I get and the more experiences I have in the Christian pathway, the more I've said to my wife I've learned what it is to groan in spirit, to get into the presence of the Lord. And sometimes I can't even express what's on my heart. Sometimes I just can't put it in words, you know, you like to have a friend. You say I go to that friend and I don't have to say anything. They know what's troubling me. They know because we've enjoyed happy times together.
We enter into one another's thoughts. I'm thankful that I have one who knows me so perfectly, knows all my problems, as David said, knows my down sittings and my uprisings, and sometimes I've got into His presence alone and I've just grown. But I'm thankful that for this verse the Spirit makes intercession again. We don't pray to the Spirit, but the Spirit takes those groanings and presents them to the ear of God and the ear of the Lord Jesus.
And by the time they get from my bedside or the seat of my car to the father's ear, they've been taken and perfectly formed. And he understands and he wants us to come with groanings. Are you going through some real trial, some difficulty? There's many parents here that are going through real trials with their young people and their children, get into the presence and groan. I just say it's a good exercise for the soul.
Maybe you can't express it, but just groan in his presence and know that he takes those groanings and he understands and he wants us to come. You know, if I came to you too, too many times and just groaned in your presence, pretty soon you'd say, Jim, stop it. I just. I don't really understand. I can't empathize Just when you can say it, come in and talk to me. But not so when I come to the throne of Grace and I'm encouraged to come to the throne of Grace. I don't deserve it, but it's a throne of grace.
And it says to find grace to help when in time of need. And so there are many needs and we can come and we can grow them. But now I want to read in Philippians.
Chapter 4.
Philippians chapter 4.
And verse 6.
Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. We're going to speak of three more aspects now, and some of these overlap in the verses that we're going to read. But in each verse I read, I'm going to stress 1 aspect. And what I want to stress here in Philippians is requests, because as I said earlier, requests is certainly part of prayer. And maybe there's someone here tonight and you say, Jim, it's OK for you to speak the way you've spoken tonight, but I've got a lot of requests.
I've got a lot of needs and isn't it wonderful that this verse encourages us to come with our request? First of all, he says be careful for nothing. Sometimes these Old English words lose their thrust or sense in our modern English, and when you have the suffix full, it's referring to what is preceded as being full of it. And so it's he's really saying don't be full of care. Sometimes we use the word careful in a little different way. It's like awful. We use it in a little different context today, but it's really saying it's full of awe.
And So what he's saying here is don't be full of care. You know, this speaks to me because so often I'm full of care. You know, so often I worry about things I think are going to happen tomorrow. And it says take no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient under the day is the evil thereof. What was the Lord saying there? What he was saying is don't worry about tomorrow, because when tomorrow comes, the thing you're worried about may never happen.
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I worry about things I anticipate that never happen. I guess that's why I appreciate those ladies that were coming early to the Sepulchre on the resurrection morning. Because Marks Gospel tells us the subject of this conversation. Who of us shall roll away the stone? They were worried about a problem they thought was going to present itself when they got to the Sepulchre, but they needn't have worried when they got there. The stone was already rolled away. Not so the Lord could come out in resurrection.
But so that the difficulty could be removed and they could see that the Lord Jesus had bodily risen from the dead. And so let's not worry about things tomorrow, Not that we shouldn't occupy till he come, but leave those things because even if the problem arises tomorrow.
Is the Lord not going to be as sufficient as he was today? He's the same yesterday, today and forever. Did he help us yesterday? Is he helping us today? Will he be any less tomorrow? And not only that, brethren, but tomorrow may never come. We may be safe home beyond the problems and difficulties and the need of praying and making requests before another son another sunrise. And so he says, be careful for nothing but in everything.
Not just some things, not just the things we think are big, but I could save myself a lot of frustration in my life if I would take heed to this word. Everything. I'm no more for able for the little problems than the big problems. Peter had to learn. He could no more walk on the water when it was smooth.
When it was rough apart from dependence on the Lord. And then He says in everything by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving. And then this is what I want to stress. Let your requests be made known unto God. Now He knows our needs and requests even before we ask, but He wants us to come. Independence and confidence. And really, if we can boil our subject down tonight, that's what prayer is. It's the expression of those two things, dependence and confidence.
Pray I'm telling the Lord I'm not able for the situation, but I'm also telling the Lord that are expressing to the Lord that He's able. I'm putting my confidence in Him, and often I believe the Lord withholds something to bring us to that point and we'll speak of that another evening. Prayer doesn't necessarily change things, it changes me. It gives me a whole different attitude that is necessary for my relationship with God and the Lord Jesus.
Us in my Christian life, and we'll develop that another time. And so we need to come with our requests. Now let's go to Ephesians Chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. I want to speak now of supplication. Supplication is to implore or to beg earnestly. Now I want to qualify my remarks on this subject by saying we want to be careful we don't beg the Lord for something that may not be according to his will.
Because in his permissive will he may grant it, the children of Israel begged for flesh, and he granted them their requests, but sent leanness into their soul. We always, when we pray in the everyday circumstances of life, we want to pray in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. Not my will, but thine be done. We if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. And so we don't want to beg the Lord for something that isn't according to his mind. But there is such a thing as earnest supplication.
And I know you've experienced this. You've been in earnest as to perhaps some sickness, some circumstance in your life where you're just at the bottom of things, maybe the salvation of a loved one. And you've got into the presence of the Lord not just to make requests, but to supplicate, to implore, to beg earnestly. And I believe he desires that we would do that. And perhaps if we would do that more, we would see more answers to prayer.
Now one more, and this I believe is the 9th if you're making notes and counting and I want to read a verse in First Timothy chapter 2.
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In First Timothy chapter 2.
And verse one, I exhort there that I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men and so on. I know it's in connection specifically here with praying for those in authority, and we certainly need to do that, as we've been reminded recently of our brethren in Egypt and other places and so on. But I want to focus for a few moments on intercession, because intercession is to intervene on behalf of another.
You know we need to do that. It's a wonderful privilege. I'm often selfish in my prayers. I pray for my own needs and circumstances. And again, that's right. But how much do we know about interceding on behalf of others? Family members, brethren, we know that are going through difficult circumstances. You know, the Lord Jesus intercedes for us. He prays for us every hour of every day as our high priest to preserve us.
And as we've said, as our advocate, to restore us when we fail, but we also have the privilege of interceding on behalf of one another. And we see wonderful examples in scripture of those who were blessed because they interceded on behalf of individuals or the people of God collectively. And I want to encourage us to do that. OK. We've spoken of these nine aspects of prayer. Just say this too, that we don't have to be.
In any specific place or any specific position to pray, Kneeling, as we often get in scripture, is a sign of dependence and perhaps even reverence. You come into the presence of deity, I'm sorry, of royalty today, and often you're required to kneel. It's a sign of reverence. It's a sign in scripture to of dependence. And so it's good to be to if we have opportunity to kneel before the Lord, kneel before God the Father.
It's good, as we've said, to have a stated time and place for prayer. But a Christian can pray anywhere at anytime in any position. And isn't it interesting that a conscious Christian may not be able to do anything else, but they can always pray. It's the last thing that's taken away from a conscious Christian. I've been to visit Christians who are lying flat in bed, who are paralyzed, who can't speak, who can't hear, who can't see. But you know what? They can pray as long as they are conscious.
God gives us that resource. Now I just want to say this before we close. Prayer, as we've said, is the powerhouse of our lives individually. You want power in your Christian pathway. There's only one way to have it, and that's prayer. I'm going to give you some scriptures. If you're taking notes, you can jot these down and you can look them up. We've spoken of prayer in our personal lives, and it starts with the individual. We fine too. There's another aspect of prayer, and that is what I'm going to call brotherly prayer. You know, there was a a point in Daniel's life where there was a problem that not only affected Daniel.
But it affected his three friends as well. And if you're jotting these references down in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 17.
You'll find that Daniel gathered his friends together and they had a little prayer meeting. Do we have friends that we can go to and pray with when there's problems and difficulties? David said. I am a companion of all them that fear thee and that keep thy precepts. I want to encourage you to develop companionships where you're comfortable to go and to pray together as brothers and sisters in Christ. It'll be a tremendous blessing in your life and as I say.
God honored the exercise of those four men. Then there's family prayer in First Peter chapter 3, verse 17. It speaks of the husband and wife relationship. And the husband is to give honor unto the wife as under the weaker vessel as heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. And it's a wonderful thing for husbands and wives to pray together. And then when there's children to pray together in the family circle.
The I saw a billboard. I'm not much for catchy cliches, but I saw a billboard that caught my eye. It said the family that prays together stays together. I thought that was very good. And so there's family Prayer first, Peter 37, Acts, chapter 10, verse two and verse 30. There's a little hint that Cornelius was not only a man of prayer himself, but he brought his whole household under prayer. Two more things. Assembly Prayer Acts 242.
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And then the example of it in Acts 12 verse five and that whole context where Peter was imprisoned.
But the early Brethren, they continued steadfastly and the apostles doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer, those are the assembly meetings. They came together in Acts 12 because there was a problem that faced the assembly as a whole. They were concerned about the deliverance of Peter and they prayed and gone honored their exercise. 1St Thessalonians 5 Verse 17 gives us what we might call instantaneous prayer or pray with There it says pray without ceasing again anywhere we are.
Wherever we are, we can pray. Nehemiah was in the presence of the king, like Daniel, but he didn't have time to gather his three friends together and have a prayer meeting. He didn't have time to go into his room at the state of time of prayer and pray about it three times a day. He had to give an immediate answer, it says. So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said, under the King, between the time the king asked the question and the Nehemiah had to give an immediate answer, there was a swift little prayer went up, and God honored his request and worked in the heart of the king to answer his request and even more than he asked. I know we've covered a lot of material tonight, but I trust that it will encourage our hearts, if nothing else, to cultivate the habit of prayer in every sphere and aspect of our Christian pathway. Let's pray our God and Father. We're thankful.
For this these scriptures that bring before us the need and the exercise of prayer, and that thou has spelled out to us very clearly how that we can come in every sphere of responsibility in life. So we ask thy blessing now and for a happy and safe evening and night, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Session #6
Q&A
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Our God and Father, we just give thanks for your graciousness to us in these question answer meetings. We just give thanks for the the desire to understand and learn and know more of thy ways. And we just think of the questions before us today, some about our practical living in in this world and and how to keep separate from it and how to be separated.
To to the Lord Jesus and Father. We just ask for help and discernment to answer these questions.
And and that there would be a desire to understand and to to practice.
A life of purity and, and the life of godliness. And, and Father, we just commit this day into your hand. We pray for those who be traveling, some starting to go back to their homes and we just give thanks that they're able to be with us Father, and we just ask for a blessing for each one. We, we just commit this day into your hand. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Here we have 4 questions. We'll have to move through them.
We have an hour to do this. This question is.
There seems to be many standards regarding displays of affection between young unmarried men and women. What does the Bible have to say on the subject?
So this is a.
Question about the public displays of affection between unmarried men and women. What does the Bible have to say on the subject?
The question is as many standards regarding displays of affection.
I guess a display of affection would be in public, but there's all I think we could also include.
Displays of affection in private, which is probably a little more.
Challenging.
We had a little bit in the question yesterday about.
The physical relationships and dating and and so forth.
We talked about limits.
The reason for limits is because.
A man and a woman want to have a physical relationship.
And it starts by perhaps holding hands, putting an arm around the person.
And it progresses through the through the physical.
Steps.
Towards a closer relationship and.
We talked about.
A limit setting a limit putting a line in the sand and don't cross over that.
And we can set our limits.
But the limits aren't real real helpful when there's emotions involved. And there's a verse in Galatians.
Galatians, chapter 3.
Now limit limits are good.
But we can't depend on limits, and this verse here in Galatians 3 pretty much tells us that setting a limit.
Isn't really a good idea.
Although it could be a good idea.
Verse three says, are you so foolish? This is talking to Christians, you've begun in the spirit. Are you now made perfect by the flesh? And so if we set a limit, that's that's our flesh.
00:05:02
That's going to be energized to try to stop ourselves from being fleshly.
And so we need to be careful about limits. Are we really need to guard our hearts rather than setting physical limits to guard our hearts towards that person that we want to be with?
Talks about standards.
I have my my standards for the camp.
If you're not married, I don't want any physical relationship. Holding hands, giving back rubs.
Whatever, I don't want any physical contact between those who aren't married.
And that's my standards. I I can't force that on you unless you're at my camp.
But others may have some more to say.
For my standards.
First Corinthians 7/1, right?
Yeah, yeah. First Corinthians 71. It's been on the the touch football.
Sign in the in the dining room.
Is not good for a man to touch a woman?
Yeah, it's open to that passage.
It is not good for a man to touch a woman. So young people, especially you young men, God has made us.
To respond.
Visually.
And you, young women, God has made you to respond by touch.
And God has made.
Hope I can say this, I want to say this with as much love to you as I can.
Displays of affection are leading somewhere, and God has made that as a beautiful thing.
Between you and your wife or you and your husband?
It tells us in Hebrews 13.
Verse 3, verse four, Marriage is honorable in all, and the better defiled. God has ordained that and it's a beautiful thing, but it's reserved.
For your marriage.
Now turn over to Ecclesiastes.
Chapter 10.
In verse 8.
The second-half of Mercedes whoso breaketh in hedge.
A serpent shall bite him.
Young people.
I want you to hear me say this with as much tenderness as I can.
God has your good and your blessing and heart.
But he has set intimacy to be reserved for marriage.
You can spoil what God has for your blessing by not leaving.
God has placed the hedge here. Don't break the heads.
There are Jim, correct me if I'm wrong on this. Fornication has as part of its cost a very there's a sure how to say this.
I think we should look at the Scripture, go ahead. And then when you're done, there's a cost personally to your body, to your emotions. I remember when I was quite young, a brother that I valued a lot took some of us aside and he said, fellas, intimacy is like a river.
So I like the fly fish. OK, So don't let me describe this scene to you. There's a river. It's flowing nicely.
Trickling along, it's within its banks and there is beauty and enjoyment. But when that river gets outside of its banks, what happens?
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Disease destruction.
Regret and so.
God has given us in First Corinthians 7.
The remedy How do we keep the river in its banks?
It's good for a man not to touch a woman. That's going to lead. It's very, very, very hard to stop.
The progression, you might be able to stop it today, but over two or three months or a year, it goes a little more, a little more. Suddenly the rivers out of its banks and there's remorse and regret. And God has your blessing at heart. Trust Him.
I I really want to just tell you that with as much tenderness as I can.
God is not telling you this because He's a restrictive God that wants to inflict pain in your life. He's telling you this because He loves you and He has made something for you. That's blessing. But don't break the hedge. So before we look at the scripture that Bernie's referring to in connection with his thought, I want to say this too.
Connection with public display and that is remember.
That what you do in public, you're going to go further in private. If you don't do something in public, you're not likely to do it in private. And so I think it's a very good safeguard as we've had. And just just remember that little principle. If if you don't go across a certain line, if there's a certain line while others are watching, that's a safeguard for what you're going to do when.
Desire, and I'll just say this in this regard too, as relationships are forming, don't put yourself then in a vulnerable situation, in a situation that can lead. If you will allow me, I'm going to speak very, very plainly for a moment. There's nothing makes my soul cringe more than to be in a home where there's a young man or a young lady who's going with someone.
And you find they've gone up to their bedroom to look at the computer. You're putting yourself in a bad situation. You're making provision for the flesh. Stay in a place where there's a safeguard. Someone always there, someone coming and going in the background. Don't say I know how far to go and I can draw the line and keep that line drawn.
Again, I think we had in a previous meeting. Peter thought he knew how far to go. Though all deny thee, yet will not I deny thee, You might say, well, others.
Others will do it, but I won't do it. Be careful. Let him that thinketh he standeth. Take heed lest he fall.
Now on one more comment before I read this portion in Proverbs. Just so we're very clear, fornication and adultery are sexual activity outside the marriage tie. And God absolutely in His word, prohibits it. Not to make life hard, not to make life difficult. But as Bernie has said, it is for the blessing of man on the earth.
And God has a plan. And do you think it isn't a happy plan?
God has our blessing in view and another reason it's such a serious thing to have sexual activity outside the marriage tie is because it spoils the type of Christ in the church. You know, it's beautiful that with Rebecca, Isaac and Rebecca, who are one of the most beautiful pictures of Christ in the church. In the Old Testament, we never read of Isaac taking another wife.
That interesting never read of him taking another wife and so God has this standard, but I want to, in connection with what Bernie alluded to, read in Proverbs chapter 6 to show how serious it is to engage in that which we have been talking about.
Proverbs chapter 6 and I'll begin reading at verse 31 or verse 30. Men do not despise a thief if he still dissatisfies soul when he is hungry.
But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house. OK, that's one thing. That's a crime. Theft is a crime. But he says there's excuses and remedies and so on. But now notice verse 32. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. This is what I want to notice.
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A wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Every other sin that a man does is without the body, the New Testament tells us. But he that sinneth with a woman wrong if his so sinneth against his own body. And it's very interesting here that when it talks about adultery or fornication, he says not a scar but a wound. A wound in Scripture, you'll find, is something that doesn't heal.
And I when a person commits.
Sexual acts outside the marriage type, it is something that remains on that person, a mark that remains before God on that persons body for the rest of their life. Now there may be restoration and God is greater than our sin and greater than our failure. But here I'm going to give you 2 Old Testament examples of what we have here. One is Abraham.
Abraham acted without the sanction of God in what he did.
And Ishmael was born, and I have just been in the Middle East, and you can see that there though Abraham was happily restored to the Lord, there have been consequences because Ishmael and his descendants are still the enemies of the people of God to this day.
When David sinned with Bathsheba, David was happily restored to the Lord and used as a king in Israel for the blessing of God's people. But God told him, a sword shall never depart from your house forever. There wasn't a consequence. Not only that Dave, Abraham, and David had to bear for the rest of their lives, but it had consequences on generations to come.
And again, it is so serious because it spoils God's.
Picture of Christ in the church and it is completely prohibited by God's word, by Scripture.
And I just said, conclude my remarks by repeating what I said earlier. How you act in public is going to carry over how you act in private. And remember, whatever distance you go in public, you're probably going to go further in private, in private.
Be very, very careful. God has a plan for our lives. It's a happy, it's a blessed plan.
When we simply follow His word.
Two other verses that were helped to meet one of the young fellows that works for me just asked me about.
A relationship with a young sister that he's interested in, he doesn't, he said. It just doesn't come to the assembly. But he's a believer and I referred him to First Timothy 5.
Versus one and two.
I'll just read them. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
I just encouraged him to.
Treat this young woman as if it was his sister in a sense that he would be pure and maintain that purity. And as what's been said about marriages was very helpful, but I believe that before that there needs to be this purity that's maintained and maintained before the war in the fear of the Lord.
Well, here we go.
Three more questions.
Some of them are connected to the same.
Theme of but I'll read this one, society says that such things as *********** sex before marriage, homosexuality, et cetera are OK. How do we safeguard ourselves and young people against those things? So I'll just add that to the conversation too. It's kind of goes along similarly.
00:20:07
Question just asked now rejoice it in the Lord always may be occupied with the Lord constantly. All these other distractions were not being in the forefront and actually diversity. Repeat the song rejoice in the Lord.
As a single man of 51, I'm happy to speak about only bunk price. I get sidetracked. Other things will come into play. I don't want to get sidetracked.
So I try to remember this verse, rejoice in the Lord, be occupied with Christ, be occupied with Christ. You're not going to be occupied by these things of the world and what what they're doing.
You're not going to fall into that trap.
I just received an e-mail.
Yesterday from brother Daniel Kabagi in in Malawi and he had some sad news that a brother there that we regarded quite well.
He's a leading brother in one of the assemblies.
Well, his, his son, they, they don't have Internet, they don't have the ***********.
And all of that they just have they just take a second wife or a third wife or fourth wife.
And this brother condoned his son to take a third wife, and he paid the dowries for her and.
That brother had to be put well. Both of them have to be put out of the fellowship because of of this.
So when a man takes a second life, that's adultery. It's fornication, adultery. He needs to be put away.
From among yourselves as a wicked person.
And.
But we tend to think that *********** maybe isn't so bad as the actual act, but it's a step towards that, that actual act.
And so.
Well, I just forget the verse I was going to turn to.
Oh yeah, Matthew. Go to Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew 5 and verse 28.
But I say unto you, Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her in his heart.
When we are looking at *********** or you're looking at another woman.
Maybe you haven't committed the act of of sexual intercourse.
But when you're looking at the ***********.
Does something to your brain and to your heart and your and you're looking at that picture with lust in your heart and you maybe act out the adultery even though it's not adultery in itself.
And so we think, oh, that's OK.
Other people think, well, I can't, I'm not supposed to have sex or be occupied with a woman. And so they take out their sexual frustration and they turn to homosexuality. And that the question here is how how do we guard ourselves from from these things coming in the *********** sex before marriage.
Homosexuality.
The government is trying to promote homosexuality all throughout the world.
Russia is taking the country of Russia is taking a stance against homosexuality and they're being castigated for it by America and by many other countries for not allowing homosexuality. And so it's such a prevalent thing even in Malawi they're they're allowed.
00:25:02
Other Western countries are giving them money sponsorship.
But only if they allow homosexuality in their in their countries and these countries, they don't want it, but they want the money, so they allow it. And so how do we with with it being so prevalent in this world? It's all around us. We know people who.
Are friends, our brothers, our sisters, our children.
They're turning to a life of homosexuality.
We know quite a number of them.
How do we safeguard our hearts? I think it's all part of a similar question as we had over the last couple days. Maybe someone else has some thoughts and verses. Turn back to First Corinthians 6 please.
In verse 19.
This is a.
This is a test for a hearts here.
1St Corinthians 6 verse 19 What?
Here's the question. No ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you.
Which you have of God, and ye are not your own. We are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior today.
This doesn't apply to you. You haven't been bought with the price. But if you're a Christian young people today.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Think about that. So.
Let's let's role play for a minute.
Jim and I decide that, Jim, I hope this is OK, that you're angry into this. Jim and I decide, you know, we're saved. We can't be lost. We're going to we're in a city. And and let me just say as an aside, especially you young men, your company puts you on an airplane. You travel to another city. Be careful.
Be careful. I have been in situations and continue to find situations where you know you're with people that you, your coworkers and they say, all right, here we go, we're going to this place of that. Don't do it. And by the way, fly your flag early. The first time you tell them why you're not going, they're not going to ask you a second time. Don't make up some excuse as well.
I get it today. So tell them you belong to the Lord Jesus and you can't do that.
They won't ask you a second time. But anyway, be careful young people. But so Jim and I are going to this place, okay?
We ask ourselves if the Lord Jesus were walking in trio with us physically right now when we walk into this place.
No, we wouldn't.
Well, they'll do it. It's a good test. The Lord indwells you as a believer. Don't forget that. You know if you're going to hear both will look at something. Young men, ask yourself if would I show this to Christ?
No. Then don't forget there's a, there's a, there's a blessed path. It's a, it's a good recalibration tool, if you will, to say. And you know, sometimes I think we get.
Tell us and we're exposed to it and it becomes less shocking, if you will.
The thought yeah, well, it's all over the place though. Ask yourself.
Did I do this with Christ?
He'll do it. So I just want to encourage you. It's a good way to stay.
Calibrated in the face of evil to remember who you belong to and who isn't dwelling your heart. It's the Holy Spirit and.
And again, I just say, especially you young men, you know the verse that says.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You know I found in my life young people.
00:30:02
If you confess the Lord Jesus, you're not only going to be saved from your sins, but you're going to be saved from a whole lot of trouble too. You know, to tell somebody the tempter.
I can't do that, and the reason is I belong to the Lord Jesus.
They're not going to ask you again. They're going to get it. So the Word of God is the solution. And I just want to encourage you, young men and women, remember who you are. I want to give a little antidote in that connection because the problem is as we go to school.
Or work, or wherever we operate in our day-to-day life. If we're not careful, we become desensitized.
If I can speak very plainly again for a moment, I believe that television has done more to desensitize the believer than perhaps any other modern invention. Now, I know there's the Internet and so on, but.
What? What?
Came before the Internet was television. I'm going to tell you a little story that to illustrate what I'm saying.
When I was growing up, my grandmother lived across the field from us and on the other side of my grandmother, my Uncle Berwick and his family lived. So we were one big happy family living on a section of the old Highland farm. Neither my dad or my Uncle Berwick had a television, however, my grandmother had a little black and white television that got a couple of channels and after school we would often run across the field.
And have hot chocolate and brown bread at grandma's. And we would watch some of those little shows after school. I'm not saying that was good. But now let's jump ahead 30 years. My wife was brought up, wasn't brought up in a Christian home. So she was brought up with television. We jumped ahead 30 years. Now we were in a home where there was television. The children came home from school.
The television was turned on. I'm not talking about 11:00 at night, I'm talking about 3:00 in the afternoon.
My wife and I couldn't believe what they were watching. Why? Because we hadn't seen it regularly for some 30 years.
And when we talked about it in our room a little later, we concluded.
That we were shocked because.
What we watched back then and what they were watching now, things had been introduced so slowly and insidiously over 30 years that it was like the frog boiling in the water. They didn't even know how bad it was. And we want to be very careful that we don't get desensitized now. What is the antidote? I want to read you some verses in the 119th song.
While you're turning to that, if you make a note, you can jot it down. But in Lamentations chapter, I'll just give you the verse chapter 3 and verse 51, verse 51, the verse that's there that says mine. I affecteth my heart because of all the daughters of the city. You know, what we look at is going to affect our hearts. What we look at is eventually going to get down.
Here and what's in our hearts is going to affect what we do. But I want to read you some verses in the 119th Psalm that I suggest are the antidote, and Bernie alluded to it first. I'm going to start at verse 33. Teach me, oh Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law.
You observe it with? Yeah, I shall observe it with my whole heart. I'll just stop there a minute, you know?
God wants is wholeheartedness, and if your whole heart is full of Christ, there isn't room for anything else. Fill a glass to the brim, there's no room for anything else. Fill a cup with wheat, there's no room for the chaff. And then he says, make me to go in the path of thy commandments. Wherein do I delight? So when there's an understanding of the word of God and there has to be a knowledge and an understanding.
And then a desire to go in that path, he says in verse 36, Incline mind, heart unto thy testimonies.
And not to the not to covetousness. And now notice this turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.
And quicken thou me in thy wayness, and so on. In other words, what the psalmist is saying here, establish me in the Word of God, give me that desire to walk in it, And in the midst of that, keep me from looking at that which is going to affect my heart and leave me in a bad path. And we have to. I want to give you one more verse.
00:35:22
In Rome at the end of Romans one, I think it is.
Because it goes along with the comments.
You say, well, what's so bad about just watching it? I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to watch it. See what God says in this chapter. He condemns sexual activity outside the marriage tie. He condemns sexual relationship between women. He condemns sexual relationship between men. And now notice what he says at the end of the chapter.
Verse 32 Who knoweth, who knoweth the judgment of God, and they which commit such things are worthy of death.
But he doesn't stop there. He says not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. You sit down and watch this on the television or the Internet or any other source. You're not actually committing it yourself, you say, but you're having pleasure in those that are doing it.
Yeah, I'm going to speak very plainly. You watch the soap opera.
He said I wouldn't do that, men and women living together, men with men, women with whatever. So I wouldn't do that. But you're having pleasure in those that are doing it. And you know what? You're worthy of death. God says it's an abomination. It's bad not only to take up with it yourself, but to take pleasure and watch and enjoy.
Those that are doing the very thing that God condemns.
Is not only the watching, but there's also the there's a lot of novels and books that are, are very immoral. They have more immoral content and overtones and undertones and, and they can be very ****** and they can, they can take your heart and your body and your soul away from following Christ. Now with the question, I, I don't don't think we really answered the question.
I think the question is how do we safeguard ourselves, our children and the young people against those things?
We spoke about things we shouldn't do.
Nelson brought in about rejoicing in the Lord, being filled with the Spirit and following him. And but the parent perhaps is full of the Spirit and full of following Christ. How do they safeguard their children who are not full of the Spirit? You can't dump the Spirit into the kid.
And say, OK, you're full of spirit now you follow Christ. No, there's some. I think the question is what?
Precautionary measures can we take to safeguard ourselves and our our children from getting involved in these things before it becomes a problem Or if there is a problem, how do we safeguard to prevent it from following again? Perhaps like I don't understand how these things are work, but some sort of a block on on websites on the computer. Are there practical things that anybody has done or tried or can recommend?
That might, that might be a help. Perhaps putting a computer, not allowing any access on the computer in in private should be done in the public air arena in the home or but when we have smartphones, it's it's very difficult to legislate smartphones, but are there any other practical things that we can suggest?
And then I think we need to to progress on to the next question, which?
Has similar thoughts.
Thinking of more of the question, how to safeguard, listening to the warnings and so on. And that's wonderful. We need those. And there are safeguards for not to make provision for the flesh, are we? But we can't do it in a legalistic way or it won't have the right fruit in our life.
And I'd like to look at relations.
Chapter 6.
#7 it says, be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh shall have the flesh, flesh reap. Corruption. But he got sold to the spiritual of the Spirit. Reek wife ever at lasting. And let us not be weary and well doing, for in due season we will, we shall reap.
00:40:25
Not as it, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good, and so on. There is more said in this subject on the positive about sewing to the Spirit and reaping life everlasting than there is about sowing to the flesh. It's there, but there's more about the Spirit. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 4.
And verse 12.
Says the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.
Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and is A and the joint of moral and is a determiner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's wonderful to somebody who's walking in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus, that's wonderful and.
We often hear this scripture and in Galatians as a scripture to speak to the heart and conscience, and it's rightfully so if it is needed in that way. But also don't forget the Word of God can be used as a safeguard. I'll give you an example.
In in the first part of the comments of the relationship between a young man and a young lady, we have over and over again in the song of Psalm and where it says my sister.
My spouse and I would just lay that out as a word, especially for the young man.
If you are interested in someone, know her as a sister. Keep that relationship as a sister until she's your spouse and young lady. Seek to be in that relationship with your friend that the Lord has given you if it is so, and maintain a sister relationship with him until.
You have marriage and so have a scripture.
If there's a weakness, get a scripture that you can hide in your heart. Just one verse. Have one verse that you use as a safeguard. Then you don't get into legality. Yes, it's true. I do know of somebody who had to get rid of their laptop and they did it and it was to the salvation of their weakness.
OK, that's fine. That's wonderful. If you have to do that to make no provision for the flesh, please do it.
But if you don't fill that void with something of the word of God, something of the leading and guidance of the Spirit of God in your heart and life, it's legality. So have a verse of Scripture, something you can bank on, something to strengthen and encourage you in the right step. Hang on to that verse for that chapter, that portion, that line of thoughts. But I'm just suggesting, especially for the young people have.
A verse, A portion of a verse. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.
If I might suggest one verse that I just noticed here in first John chapter one.
First John, chapter one.
We'll start your first age.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
It's very easy to say why. I'm not doing anything very bad, not totally wrong, not entirely evil.
It's not that bad deceiving ourselves if we say that we have no Sinner, we receive ourselves if you say that television shows isn't that bad.
Or that music isn't too awful. It's got a nice.
Acoustic rhythm or something to it, but I'll make the lyrics aren't quite that great receiving ourselves.
And then just going up to verse 7. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son from all sins.
00:45:07
Try not to put yourself in those situations.
Parents, monitor the television that your children are watching.
Just because it has a general audience rate doesn't mean that it's generally good for anybody.
There are safeguards you can put on computers on the.
Different kind of fire boxes on the routers and things that you can adjust to different settings to prevent certain websites coming on. Be very careful, You can Google a common word and get really surprised with the results you get.
Really have to.
Watch yourselves and watch what our children are doing because there will be a time when there isn't a safeguard in place, a man safeguard where they're at a friend's house or they're at school or those things are quite readily available and it'll be quite a shock to them when they see it.
So we really have to pray for them that they will know when there is something wrong, but they know the difference between right and wrong and sin and good.
I mentioned this earlier in the week but I I want to say it again.
Verse 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, or a young woman cleanse his way?
What's the answer? By taking heed thereto, according to thy word?
Fill your hearts, young people, with the word.
And there is.
Pleasing. I just. I won't say anything more about it. Think about that verse. Meditate on it. It's the remedy.
So there is a responsibility of parents to protect and to provide. We need to protect our families. We may need to do some of those safeguard things to protect our families.
But we ourselves, you yourself, you need that purpose of heart.
Daniel, he purposed himself in his heart not to defile himself with the King's meat. We're talking about Satan is the king of this world. He's the God of this world.
And his meat is all this filth that we've been talking about. You need to purpose in your heart not to defy yourself with the King's meat, with Satan's lures that he has to take us away.
From Christianity. I'm going to read the next question. It kind of goes along the same lines. It's a little different.
But I think we should interject this one also into the discussion. What are practical ways of separating ourselves from the world?
And I think separating from the world and separating to the Lord.
So I'll just put that question out too.
You know, just say something in connection with the world that I think is helpful to distinguish when you read the word of God, and that is that the world is taken up in three different contexts. And it was helpful for me to see it that and I'll put it, I'll start three things with P that will perhaps help you to help us to remember what I'm saying. Sometimes when you have the world, it's the planet, It's the physical globe on which we live. Christ Jesus came into the world.
Save sinners, that is, as a man in incarnation, He came to this planet physically and he walked on planet Earth. So sometimes when you read the word world, it has to do with the physical planet on which we live. Sometimes it has to do with the people that inhabit this planet. So sometimes it's the planet, sometimes it's the people. God so loved the world. He didn't love a planet. If I can speak carefully, He loved the people on this planet.
And so sometimes the world is referred to in that way, but sometimes it's the program.
There's a system of things that has been set up on the planet Earth.
By Satan, of which Satan is the is the God of this world religiously and he's the Prince of this world politically and there's a great there are great religious and political programs being propagated on planet earth that are swallowing up the people of this planet, but they are not according to the word of God and that is when we talk about separation from the world that's what we.
00:50:05
Talking about and remember that separation is not isolation. The the monks that cloistered themselves in monasteries hundreds of years ago, they thought separation was isolation and that it would be pious and godly to go up on the mountain and build a monastery and a nunnery or whatever and completely isolate themselves. We are here to be a testimony on planet Earth.
To the people and will never be a testimony if we don't walk circumspectly, but not in isolation. Now having said that, it's the program that we're it's all that Satan is head of that we are to separate from like to read a well known portion in the first song.
Psalm 51 Psalm one verse one. Blessed is the man. Want you to notice three things here that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. This is not isolation from the world. This is going through the world in separation. And there's three things here. First of all, blessed is the man that walketh.
Not in the Council of the ungodly. We often talk of our walk through this world.
We have a walk through this world, but we want to be careful that we walk in separation from the Council of the Ungodly. The Council of the Ungodly is come and join us in this run for political office, come down to the casino with us, get involved in this and that and get involved in the betterment of this world and all this kind of thing. You know Peter and I want to parallel this again with Peter.
Peter, it says he followed a far off.
You know, he followed the Lord, but he followed afar off. Part of his heart was open for something else other than the Lord. He wasn't like Caleb, of whom we read. He wholly followed the Lord then, it says in our verse. And nor standeth in the way of sinners. You know, in one of the Gospels it tells us that Peter stood.
At the door when they took the Lord Jesus into the hall at his trial.
He stood at the door, and he stood at the thought, went in and stood at the fire with those who had no love.
For his Lord he associated with those who really wanted the Lord Jesus condemned wanted to get rid of this world he stood get him out of this world. He stood in an association that was wrong and defiling and then it says in our verse nor sitteth in the way of the scornful and the next thing you read about Peter is he sat down with those who had no.
With his Lord for his Lord.
And it led to him denying the Lord three times with those in curses. You know, John followed the Lord too, and he went a certain distance. He went, I think, to the door as well, but he never went in. He maintained a degree of separation. John, who had been leaning on the Lord's bosom, appreciating the Lord's love in a deeper way than all the other apostles.
Who was closest to the Lord? Jesus refers to himself five times in his gospel as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He maintained a degree of separation, not isolation, but separation, and it preserved him from the sad end that Peter had. Peter was restored, true, but if he had maintained that level of separation, he like he would have been like John, who never denied the Lord.
The last verse of Romans, chapter 13. We referred to it often this morning.
Romans 13.
In verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Now there's two things in this verse. There's a positive and there's a negative and those two things are important I think with every question we've had so far this morning.
Here we have the pudding on of something, and I think Bernie mentioned that earlier.
00:55:02
Fly your flag early, you said. Very important.
Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. Get out in front of our friends in the world.
And we're at work, whoever it is, and tell them that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and it just saves all kinds of trouble right off the bat.
We often think about just the second part of this verse and it's important, but without the first part, it's not going to work.
And you find these things together often in scripture. Sometimes the negative dispersed, other times the positive is first. For instance, in the last verse of First Thessalonians of Lawrence says you turn to God from idols.
Living and true God and weep for Son from heaven. So they turn to God the positive, the important and their brother here was bringing out about rejoice in the Lord.
It's essential that we do that, but the other has to go with it, and they're always together. A little earlier in this chapter, we have.
Verse 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness.
And let us put on the armor of light here. The negative is first, then the positive second, but they're together.
And if we take up the one without the other, it's not going to work.
And so we need to be very careful to put out of our lives those things that are the idols, the the temptations, the snares. But together with that, it's vital that we take that which God has given for us to be occupied with that power of our new life. And I just wanted to say a little bit more about the negative side for a minute.
I think the positive is essential and.
Hopefully we dwell on that more, but.
You know this says make no provision for the flesh to fulfill their luster up separation from the world or the things that we had before it.
That always starts.
Breaking, separation, going into that, whatever it is, the world with the lust thereof, it always starts with this town. A small step, and we talk about a slippery slow post.
The other day, forgive me for bringing up again, but we talk about a slippery slope, and in the world, when they talk about logic, they call that a fallacy.
Because they don't like that they want to deny the nature of man with the word of God doesn't call that a fallacy, it calls it what it is.
Just turned for one moment to James chapter one, so see the slippery slope laid right out there.
James chapter one verse 14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own loss and enticed.
Then when lost hath conceived, it brings forth sin, or gives birth to sin.
Darby has and sin, when it is finished, brings forth that. So here's the loss. Just a little step, whatever it was, you know, making that click on the computer or, you know, maybe going a little too far with touching the things that we've been talking about here. But it goes on, it grows and eventually gives birth to sin and so.
We don't want to take that first step instead.
Whenever we're tempted, we want, like our brother to said, you know, it's good to have that verse to be a safeguard, but we want to turn positively to the Lord and think about those things that are right and rejoice in the Lord. I think that's where the power is.
The Lord Jesus was our blessed example. There's one element that He has left with us when He has gone back into the glory. First Timothy, chapter 3.
And verse 16 Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. This little expression right here justified in the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus never did anything to grave the Spirit. He never did anything to break the fellowship with God by.
Agreed to spirit by the Spirit of God being greed as I speak of the Lord Jesus as a man on earth and we also have the Spirit of God and in seeking not to grieve the Spirit of God.
01:00:15
That would safeguard us as well as far as the question of worldliness and things of this world. And I think that it's good to mention too, just, well, personal reference. We live out in the country, spend a lot of time outdoors. We love it out there. My boy and I were out at the river catfishing and I said to him, Lane, do you know the difference between?
Worldly mindedness and earthly mindedness.
And we can talk a lot about not being worldly minded believers and being separate to the Lord and these things. But I think we also have to be careful not to be earthly minded and get too comfortable down here. That's when these things that we've been talking about as temptations slide in so easily and these steps come along.
Time is going and there's.
Some brothers who haven't had a chance to get a word in edgewise. Does anybody else have comments on the subject before we move to the last question?
Tim mentioned that we go through, you know, one thing leads to another from my own practical experience, because I've been guilty of that.
James well known verse Confess your faults 1 to another.
When we find ourselves going down that path, we need to not only stop it, a lot of us stop it. Pray to God, say I hope I never do that again. I don't want to do it again. We need to confess it, and not just to.
A blog to someone who matters, to someone who is painful to confess to.
Because that will lead to healing and.
Lead to stoppage of those kinds of behavior. So a lot of us make a mistake and I hope I never do that again.
Or I pray and open up to the confession is extremely important.
One other just thought. A few weeks ago I went to Barnes and Noble with all the kids. My I got four kids. They were busy. My 10 year old had 20 bucks to spend.
He.
He's a great reader, he's fast, he got his books. I was worried about the two year old pulling stuff off the shelf, all that kind of thing. Anyway, he showed me the authors, he showed me the titles and said, OK, that's fine.
We pay for them. Probably by the time we got home, 60 minutes, he probably read three of the books, and he's fast. Anyway, we got home and my wife, who was blessed to have a father who read every book that she had taken home to the library before she ever got the chance to read it, she said something like, you know, Paul, I wish you paid a little more attention. I said, well, these are authors. I recognize he already has these authors at home.
That doesn't matter.
I would encourage you to.
Read your children's books. You know I don't like the books he has and I'm not a fast reader. I don't want to do that, but I shouldn't put that burden on my wife.
If we're not, I think what we're hearing here is if we're not actively thinking about these things, if we're not actively participating in our children's lives and constantly thinking about it because the target is constantly moving.
We're not doing that and we're losing.
Lott moved his family to Sodom. We all know that was a big mistake. But what Sodom is is constantly changing. Right now, I send my kids to public school. I think it's OK to maybe a day my school district is different than yours. And maybe a day when I realize that's on them, I can't do it anymore. Maybe a day when I realized, you know, I can't. It couldn't be a doctor anymore.
It's constantly changing. There was a time when I was a teenager you just didn't go on certain stores and you could stay away from Coronado Test. That's not true anymore.
There may be a day where every milk box has a naked woman on it. You know, it's constantly changing.
Back to the book of Proverbs.
01:05:08
Proverbs, chapter 4.
Verse 23.
You know the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Keep thy heart with all diligence.
Or out of it are the issues of life. Verse 25.
Let thine eyes look right on. Let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet.
Let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.
Remove by foot from evil.
OK. Last question.
Just we're kind of at a time, but this is the last question, this last question answer meeting. So we'll just take a few couple minutes on this if anyone has a comment to make about this. Practically, how does a Christian maintain the spiritual high or rush from a week like this that we've been having here at the camp? How do we maintain this spiritual high?
Sorry guys, I can only handle 10 days.
When we go home, we spend as much time in the work. God is when we spend when we're at camp.
If we're feeding on the world for five hours a day when we go home, can you expect to maintain that spiritual high?
I think that's very good and the the way it's possible for a Christian today to be filled with the Spirit and the way we are filled with the Spirit is to keep in the close to the Lord.
And how do we keep close to the Lord? We read the Word and we pray.
We keep the conscious sense of His presence with us and that is what is going to keep a person filled with the Spirit. And what God wants in our lives is not just spiritual highs. And I'm not saying we don't have those sometimes, but He wants consistency in our lives. You know, it's easy to come to these meetings, get spoon fed and encouraged.
It's easy, isn't it, too, when you're with a cabin of boys or girls, young people, to get up in the morning and read your Bible?
And to have a little time of prayer because the others are watching you and so on. But are you going to maintain that consistency when you go home from here, home from a conference, home from a young people's weekend? He doesn't want us in that sense to come down from the mountain. Yes, there's reality. The disciples had to come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and there was a man with a with demons, and they couldn't even cast him out. That was reality.
We're not home yet, the kingdoms not yet, but we can maintain that spiritual level of enjoyment of Christ every day by, as you say, prayer and the word of God and walking in the conscious sense of the Lords presence with us.
Remember, not a Sprint. So don't, I wouldn't recommend to go home and say well I'm going to get up at 5:00 in the morning and what happened? I know there's a brother who was super encouraged to me. He was getting up like 3 hours early and then a month later I said well how are things going? He says well I'm not enough at 5:00.
Or 6.
And then a few months later, how you doing? Well, I'm not getting up at six. I'm getting up just before I go to work. Well, it's it's not a Sprint. It would be better to start slow and work up.
Don't say, well, I'm going to go, I'm going to read my Bible. It may be good if you could, but don't start it along, you know, reading your Bible in the morning for a whole bunch of time and then you're going to get burned out. I remember being in a race.
I know I took off and I was right in front and I had a rush and I went and I went down several hills and it was great. And then all of a sudden I got tired and I just saw people passing me left and right and I just got so discouraged. Finally finished the race, but I learned it's not a Sprint.
01:10:21
Be better off, just start slow and work your way up.
Appreciate what you just mentioned today that you were checking up on that individual through the courses few months it sounds like. I think that's really helpful to it. It is an individual relationship, individual faithfulness.
Appreciate what brother Mark?
Mentioned about asking his son how he was doing when they were fishing. We do need to check up on each other and our families.
Our children, our brethren, young people, you know, before you ask about the ball game or whatever, maybe you could ask about how they're doing with the Lord.
So many distractions, and I hope you're not all going to the movies too often. There's a lot of things that, you know, we say we're separate from the world, but we do sure keep our eyes on how the world is doing.
It's real. It's a real battle.
The word of God is a wonderful thing to pursue and.
The Armor of God is going to put on a keeping tabs on each other. I guess. Mainly the thought I have. I'm not real good at communicating. I need to work on that myself and our own family.
It's real. It would be wonderful thing that of course we need to walk the Lord ourselves before we can ask, you know, perhaps how others are doing with the Lord. But try to we can try to make that more of a priority than than.
And some of the other things that jump into our heads about I even don't even know the newest tournament terminology, but game boards and all those things that you know, have you gotten the newest? Don't even know what they're called. People play with them playing the games and their their thumbs. You know, if you're talking about that all the time, you're talking about that first, they were really not being much help to each other spiritually.
Keep her each other on or to encourage each other to stay on the path.
And I suppose even if you talk about what goes on Facebook.
And you know, what? Are we throwing up on Facebook? Is that really beneficial to anybody or is it really defiantly? There's a lot, there's a lot going on.
Again, I'm not that familiar with those things.
But, and so it's a more important, you know, forms of communication and it's wonderful to be trying to communicate. We need to work hard on.
Communicating and current each other and encouraging each other.
Continue in the past phase not to get distracted.
Thank you everyone for the questions and and the answers. Appreciate everybody being with us during these past week and a half. I guess we're out of time.
You're saying number 76 in the back?
Jesus, I'm no more than five.
01:15:52
To my journey.
I cry.
And fall in love.
My Lord.
So.
I give you the light.
Appreciate.
Yeah.
Our God.
Give thanks for this time we've had this morning over your word. And Father, we just pray for some of these ones who have been mentioned earlier, Chihuahua who's been struggling with his health. Father, we asked for strength and encouragement for him. We just give thanks that his sickness has brought glory to the Lord through the salvation of his Father. Father, we pray for Bill Shane we had prayed for a few days ago. We just asked for continued.
Wisdom for the doctors to find out what his problem is. And Father, we pray especially for each of the young people here and the families and the parents and and help us.
Father to be able to.
Live in the Spirit.
And to set aside the things of the flesh and the world. We know it's not easy. That's it's, it's ever present. Father, we just ask for strength to, to follow thee. We just ask this. Oh, we just pray for those who are traveling home. There's a few people leaving over the next couple days. And you ask for your mercies and and blessing for each one.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Family Relationships
Address—Dave Mearns
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.
I wonder if we could sing this evening?
At the beginning of this meeting, the last verse of 154.
#154.
The second verse.
The fire, thy love path.
Canvas, however.
They were now.
Not here. And he said right everywhere.
*** **** hiding.
Will come.
Oh, make it cry more, right? It's rightly.
I first more friends.
Could we ask the Lord for His help?
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus.
We thank Thee that it's our privilege to be able to call Thee Father and know that Thy desire is toward us not as care for us far more than we care for ourselves and our God. Tonight we just would earnestly pray that as we open Thy precious word that that would touch each of our hearts at the speaker's heart would be touched, and each one of us as we sit here.
Our God, having had such a happy time today, we just would ask for thy help now.
And give us to have listening ears, pray our God for clear minds and for energy. And so we'd ask these things our God as we.
As we consider what's before us in the worthy and the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, Amen.
I.
I've been thinking a little bit about.
What to have tonight?
And.
It's a kind of a tough time of the day.
We've we've had.
A day full of activities, we've got our tummies full and it's, it's perhaps a hard time to to stay clear, but we trust that tonight that we'll be able to do that. I'd like to look at.
A subject tonight that.
It affects most of us here and at some time in our life will affect all of us.
And it has to do with a certain aspect of the marriage relationship.
That's a rather large subject. We had some thoughts this morning in connection with the bringing up of children and whatnot. I was thankful for being able to sit here and listen.
And the direction I would like to go particularly is.
In in our marriage relationships.
What does the scripture have to say with regards to our in laws?
Not something we hear about very much. And I don't, I don't have any agenda here. I don't know most of the folks real well, not close to them. I'm close to Jim's, not very far away from where we are.
I've met his in-laws once, I don't know what his relationship is with them, so I got no agenda there. Paul and Carrier close at our assembly, very thankful for them. They know me, they've heard some of these thoughts, not all of them, So I have no agenda here. I just feel that this is what the Lord has laid in my heart and trust that it would be for profit now.
00:05:23
In looking at this subject, there are those here tonight.
Who? Our mother in laws.
There are those here who are daughter in laws.
There are those here who are sister in laws.
And there are those here who are all three.
There are those here who are father in laws.
There are those here who are brother in laws, there are those here who are sons in laws, and there are those here who are all three.
And if the Lord should tarry?
Most of us here at some time in our life will become a son-in-law.
Or a daughter-in-law, and perhaps also a brother-in-law. Or sister-in-law, a mother-in-law and a father-in-law. There are some here who are very young and are a brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
I think of.
Paul and Kerry's two boys. They have a couple of brother-in-law's. They're very young. They have a couple of brother-in-law's and they they have a sister-in-law.
And as we look at this, this relationship often.
There are difficulties that develop in the marriage relationship, which takes a long time to manifest itself.
And often it's through the vehicle of our in laws.
Now I just want to consider that as we look at some scriptures, what does the what does the Word of God have to say about that relationship and what becomes me as a brother in Christ?
With regards to my behavior.
To my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my brother in laws, and my sister in laws.
Now let's let's open by. I had an interesting thing happened two days ago.
Two days ago, maybe three days ago now I'm driving to Ottawa and.
It's about a 45 minute trek. I'm halfway there. There's a man on the side of the road hitchhiking. Don't do this often. I pick them up. Big black guy, 240 lbs, six foot 6 sitting there beside me.
We we chat, find out about his where he's from. He's from Saint Vincent, he's been here for 30 years.
Wife, children, what he did for a job, went through his whole life, went through mine. I paused for a minute and driving down the road and I look over at him and I said so.
How's it with you and God?
And his eyes got real big.
And he looked straight ahead, and he took a big, deep breath.
He took another one and he said.
You got me.
And I didn't know quite what that meant. Here's a man, brother in Christ, gotten away from the Lord.
Friends haven't addressed anything with him. Family hasn't addressed anything with him. Now here, he's hitchhiking down the road. This guy picks him up. What are the odds that someone's going to ask him that question when it's a critical time in his life before the Lord in a bad state of soul?
Here's the comment.
You got me. I wasn't trying to get him. I was had an interest in him. And you know, I would just say tonight that as we embark on this subject.
Trust that everyone of us here would be able to listen to what the Spirit of God is bringing before us from His precious Word.
So let's let's embark now in the book of Genesis. We'll turn there just to start the book of Genesis.
00:10:02
The book of Genesis, the 26th chapter.
And we're going to read 2 verses at the end of the chapter.
It says the Nissan was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Bury the Hittite, and Bashamath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebecca.
You know, that's a pretty sad commentary. To read these verses concerning Isaac and Rebecca, we could look at their history.
And now we come to this point in their life and we read these words. They were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebecca. And I might say that it's been my observation to observe many dear brothers and sisters in Christ that are my senior, and they have daughter in laws that are a grief of mind to them.
Or they have sons in laws that are a grief of mind.
To them.
Now let's flip over a chapter.
Chapter 27.
We're flipping one page, we're flipping 40 years.
One page 40 years.
So let's go to the end of this chapter.
And Rebecca said to Isaac.
I am weary of my life.
Because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob should take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
What a sad, sad cry.
Of a dear lady that's one of the people of God to have to say this about her daughter-in-law's.
40 years.
Of such unhappiness to the point where she says I'm weary of my life.
It's also been my observation.
To observe dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
That are so burdened because of the relationship that they have with their daughter in laws or their sons in-laws is so bad and has been for such a long time that they would have to identify with Rebecca here in this chapter.
Let's go now to.
The New Testament.
Turn to Marks Gospel.
Mark's Gospel, the 1St chapter.
And we're going to take up with.
Peter's relationship here in verse 30 of Mark chapter one.
But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever.
And and on.
They tell him of her, and he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
And not even when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils, and all the city was gathered together at the door.
You know, here we have a scenario with that we have in the Word of God, as mentioned elsewhere, where Peter's in this marriage relationship and we find that in connection with his mother-in-law in this particular portion, she's got a fever.
00:15:03
And often the relationship between sons in laws and mother-in-law's, father in laws and daughter-in-law's is such that there's a fever every time they get together.
The temperature gets elevated and we can sometimes be resigned to the fact that that's the way it is. It's been that way. It's not going to change. I'm not going to worry about it.
You know, there was a little discussion that took place.
Between 2 creatures.
One was an eagle.
The other was a frog.
So the eagle is flying through the air all around.
And the eagle says to the frog.
How big is the sky? How wide is the sky?
And the frog says.
Two inches.
And the eagle says the sky, it's hundreds of miles wide. It's hundreds of miles wide. And the frog says, no, it's two inches. And they argue, they argue back and forth, two inches versus hundreds of miles. Here's the eagle flying through the air. The frog, incidentally, is down on the bottom of a well, 40 feet. And he's looking up and he sees this little piece of light at the top, and it's two inches.
Very emphatic that it's two inches.
Sometimes we can argue.
The two inch concept.
And not realize that the Lord would have something much better for us than the situation that we find ourselves in that is less than good.
Here, it's beautiful to see that in connection with.
Peter and his relationship with his mother-in-law and there being a great fever, the way that that situation was fixed, that the Lord comes along and notice what it says. It says He took her by the hand, He lifted her up and immediately the fever left her and she ministered unto them, you know, and after that point we find so much more blessing.
And I I'm convicted in my soul.
That so often there are situations in our life.
That put us in a position.
Where the blessing of the Lord is not able to advance, and possibly it's because there's a fever often in those relationships in which we find ourselves.
Let's turn now back to the Old Testament again, back to the book of Genesis.
Genesis Chapter.
38.
Genesis chapter 38, it's kind of a sad chapter.
But we read here another relationship between a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law, and you know the story. Well, we're not going to go through the story, but let's just pick up in one verse, verse 24.
It came to pass about 3 months after that it was told Judah.
Saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot, and also behold, she is with child by warden. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
Pretty tender relationship, isn't it?
Pretty harsh. You know what's interesting? We read a portion this morning or had a portion read to us in connection with the life of Judah.
This beautiful portion as Judah pours out his heart to Joseph and says, How can I go to my father and the lad be not with me?
You know, a lot of transpired between the first time that we read about Judah and Joseph and the pit and Judah is saying about their brother, let's throw them into this pit. And then he's saying, you know, let's let's not kill him. Let's try to make a little money off him. We'll sell him to Egypt. And the point that we had this morning.
00:20:08
Where Judah says to Joseph.
How can I go up to my father and the lad be not with me?
You know, often the difficulty.
Between the relationship.
Of a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law like we have here.
Or the mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. Or vice versa, the mother-in-law and a son-in-law. Often the difficulty that presides is not knowing that the difference between a son and a daughter.
Now everyone of us here is either one of is one of those we're either a son or a daughter. Sons are different than daughters. They're different. And we have that portrayed in the word of God and they're to be treated different. I was, I was amused with Bernie saying this morning that he didn't realize that his wife had emotions until five years into their marriage.
I also.
Had some units the unit 5 in our marriage and it was about 5 minutes when I realized the emotions that my wife had.
They are different.
There are those here who are sons.
And there are those here who are daughters. You're different.
And sometimes those of us who are parents, we don't really see the difference between a son and his daughter. Now I'm going to substantiate this with the word.
Let's turn to.
The Book of Two Samuel.
Second Samuel.
Second Samuel, the 12Th chapter.
Second Samuel 12.
In the previous chapter we have the sin with David and Bathsheba. That's interesting because we have another relationship there of David and his grandfather in law, who happens to be Ahithophel, and that was not a good relationship.
But now we hear, we find here that David has sinned this sin, and the Lord wants to bring it before him. And we read here in the first verse, The Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor. I might just say this as we consider this portion that the Lord brought into David's life. 3 prophets.
And their character was very, very different there was in those early days.
When?
When David was young, there was Samuel the prophet who really helped David along in those early days and was such a great encouragement to him. And then as David went into rejection, there was another prophet that came along that the Lord sent very expressly and that was the prophet Gad. And then we find later on in David's life we have Nathan the prophet is brought and they all had a very different character and we have a tendency to appreciate the character of a of a Samuel annual put his arm around us.
And kind of encourage us in the way and help us in our, in our difficulties. And the same with Gad when we're a little older, that the Lord sends a gad into our lives. We don't particularly like a Nathan who the Lord sends into our lives as well. It says thou art the man.
But we need all three. We do. But here in David's life, it's Nathan that the Lord sends.
And Nathan, he addresses David. He has an agenda.
And he wants to push one of David's buttons. So let's read.
There were two men in one city, the one rich, the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing.
Save 1 little you lamb, which he brought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children, and that Eva's own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as now notice what the Spirit of God puts here. It's not a random word.
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With the Spirit of God says, was unto him as a child, was unto him as a son. No, Nathan is going somewhere with this by the Spirit of God. And he lays out before that clause exactly what this little lamb was. And how was it a little you lamb?
It wasn't a male man, it was a female which he had brought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children, and that eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and it lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
Now what happens?
You know at this point in time.
David had Nathan's attention, just like I've got yours. He had his express attention.
And exactly what Nathan wanted happened, we read, and David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. David was furious.
That someone should treat this little you lamb which was like a daughter.
You know, David's just enraged. He's just enraged. And I might say this at this juncture.
That whenever there's a difficulty in our life.
However old we are.
The Lord always brings ministry in our life, which if we would only take heed.
It would be a salvation to us.
So let's turn over a chapter.
Chapter 13.
You think that pass after this, that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister whose name was Tamar?
And on the son of David loved her.
It won't take the time. If we were to go through this chapter, we would find.
It's the chapter where Amnon defiles Tamar, who happens to be David's daughter.
Now David finds out. And what happens when David finds out? You know we read exactly the same thing as his reaction when he hears this story of the ewe Lamb, because it has to do with a daughter.
Let's look at the wording.
Verse 21. Second Samuel 13.
When King David heard of all these things, Mr. Darby said he was very angry.
You know, I read these things because.
Often.
In our relationships.
With our children, often there's not the understanding of the difference between a son and a daughter, as I mentioned earlier.
You know there are.
There are sisters here, a lot of them. Some of them are grandmothers, some of our mothers.
And some who are single young sisters, you have some characteristics about you that I don't really understand as a man.
You know, and it's been given to you from the Lord. It's been expressly given to you from the Lord. What we find, we find that female character often used as an example in connection with the Lord.
So that we know it comes right from him. And I'll just, I'll just reiterate what I'm trying to say. And that is if we were to turn to the book of numbers, we would find a discourse there on the red heifer.
Picture of Christ. It's not not a red book, it's a red heifer.
We find if we were to go to Isaiah, that the picture there is as a lamb before her shearers is dumb.
So he opened. It's not his mouth, it's not his shear. It's her shears.
When the Lord Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem.
What's the example that he used? He said how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathered her chicks and he would not.
Interesting examples that the Lord uses. You know, I don't know that about you sisters. I have a wife, I have daughters.
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I treat my daughters differently. If we were to turn back to First Samuel, we would find there that the ewe lamb, it was held in the bosom of the poor man as a new lamb.
I have two daughters.
One's older than the other, one's married. The married one still comes to me and she kind of cuddles herself into me and we give her, give her a nice hug and that's our relationship. It's always been that way. My older one too. Now I hug my sons too. I hug Ron, I hug Craig. But it's not the same way. It's a very masculine hug that I give to them and the difference is that.
Our daughters.
They're affected by touch. It's not exactly. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that those of us who are males were affected by sight, and this world knows that. And so they put right across our vision everywhere in our life that which would attract our attention by our eyes. But our daughters are affected by touch. And those of us who are fathers, those of us who are young fathers, those of us who are older fathers if we do not.
Give our daughters.
That affection that we see in First Samuel that the ewe lamb got, they're going to look for it somewhere else and that often happens.
Well, here Nathan, he tries to portray to David just the thought of a daughter and we know the desired result and David is just, he's absolutely furious. Absolutely furious.
You know, often.
In our lives.
As sons in laws.
As daughter in laws.
As mother-in-law.
As father in laws.
There is not the understanding and often that's where the difficulty lays between in laws.
I'd like to just.
Turn now.
Umm.
Let's turn to the book of Ephesians for a moment.
Ephesians chapter 5 It's been my.
My sad portion as a husband.
Perhaps at times not to recognize the responsibility that I had as a husband, particularly with regards to my in laws.
And so.
On occasion.
As we've taken up a little of the tenderness of the female character, I have spoken to my sister in laws.
In a way.
That was less than respectful.
In a way that caused that beautiful flower just to wilt because of the callousness of my tongue.
And we can do that as males.
And I've said things to my sister in laws, you know, and I was only kidding.
I was only trying to be funny.
And I just saw them just completely wilt.
Because of my callousness.
There needs to be.
In the relationships that God has put us.
There needs to be.
That tender care.
There needs to be the respect.
That it's so easy for us of speaking to those of us who are males. It's so easy for us to step over that line and say things that are just less than good and can be very, very harmful.
Here in the book of Ephesians.
We find now.
00:35:01
And I don't want to develop this this chapter, but just to make this comment that.
In our relationships, one with another.
And when I enter the marriage relationship, one of the things that perhaps has been a little difficult for me to understand in the early days was that when I married my wife.
And I became one with her because of that relationship. Her family was now my family.
And my family was now her family and we sometimes struggle with that. And that's where the difficulties comes in, comes in with in laws.
And it can be very strange. It can be very hard.
Now, I would just say this in connection with the dear sisters.
Because our position is different before the Lord, let's read the 33rd verse of Ephesians chapter 5.
Nevertheless, let everyone of you in particular so love his wife as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband. I'll ask this question now. Those of you are sisters, you have a man beside you.
Do you reverence your husband?
I'm not asking you if you love your husband.
Let's be very clear, you may love your husband very, very much, but do you reverence your husband?
We have an example if we were to go into David's life, we have an example of Michael and we have two accounts where it says of Michael that she loved David.
That's established.
But we also have an account that very, very.
Graphically portrays that she did not reverence her husband.
She did not reverence her husband.
Let's go over to Peter's epistle.
The second Epistle of Peter.
I'm sorry, The first epistle of Peter, the third chapter.
And we read in connection with the wives here. Now likewise you wise be in subjection unto your own husband. But then it goes down into verse seven and we read this.
Likewise the husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.
And that's a that's a responsibility that I have that sometimes slays me as seeking to dwell with my wife according to knowledge. It's recognizing those characteristics that Bernie was referring to this morning that he had difficulty with very early on in the marriage.
And if if I cannot dwell with my wife according to knowledge, it's going to affect my testimony, you know, our largest testimony in this world as those that are married couples.
Is that beautiful picture that we are of Christ in the church?
And perhaps the other greatest testimony that we have is our joy in the Lord.
It's the greatest testimony to our families, It's the greatest testimony to our brethren, It's the greatest testimony to this world is our joy in the Lord.
And often the relationships into which we find ourselves.
When they're not going the way they should, I don't dwell with my wife. According to knowledge, she has a hard time. Yes, she loves me, but she doesn't reverence me. It causes our testimony to go South and we lose our joy and we find there are other things here that that.
Are not good in the situation it says it says.
00:40:01
At the end of the portion that we won't be heirs together as the grace of life and our prayers will be hindered.
You know, and often, let's turn to the book of Ruth. We've spent quite a bit of time on the negative line of things.
But.
So often in our lives, we're so selfish.
We're so very selfish. And you know, when I was younger, I, I appreciated playing the violin.
I played a little orchestra and I enjoyed playing the violin, and as a result I enjoyed playing certain music better than others. And there were some some composers I really had appreciation for, other composers I didn't quite have an appreciation for. The one that was perhaps my favorite was Beethoven.
If there are any musicians here, you know what I'm talking about. If they're not, doesn't matter.
Tremendous ability in composing terrible life. One of many children, the oldest of them, had to provide for the family at a very early age because his dad was an alcoholic and a very driven man.
But part way into his career there was there was a Prussian Prince that was holding an event and he wanted a very, very special piece of music composed for this event. So he contacts Beethoven.
Contacts him and he lays out exactly what he wants in the way of this piece and Beethoven's. His response is this.
Such nonsense. There are many, many Princess. There is one Beethoven.
You know, sometimes.
We can have that characteristic in our lives of being very, very self-centered and selfish.
And it often finds its way into.
Our relationships with our in laws, there's a lot of young sisters here and there's a lot of young brothers and you think I don't have any in-laws? If the Lord were to leave us here, you soon will.
You soon will, and these things are vital. They're vital to our relationships, they're vital to our testimony in this world.
Now let's look at the Book of Ruthless.
The Book of Ruth.
And the second chapter.
So Boaz, in the fifth verse, Boaz says unto his servant that was said over the reapers.
Who? Who's damsels this?
And the sermon that was said over the reapers answered and said it's the Mobitus Tramsal that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
So there's a discourse between them. But now notice what we have.
In verse 10 he says, Ruth, she fell on her face, and she bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And boat answered and said unto her.
It hath fully been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband. How hast thou hast left thy father and thy mother the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore? The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust the first and foremost.
Feature that Boaz mentions here is.
Ruth's interaction and her conduct with her mother-in-law isn't that beautiful.
Well, let's just ask ourselves how? How am I doing with my in laws?
I don't just mean my parents in laws, I mean my brother in laws, my sister in laws. I've got a responsibility because.
As I said earlier, because I'm one with my wife.
Her family is my family. My family is her family. We tend not to look at it that way. We tend to look at it. That's my wife's parents, That's my wife's brothers. It's my wife's sisters. No, they're mine because I'm one. If I'm not one, then I'm going to have that attitude. I really am. So how are we doing with this?
You know, if we're not doing real well.
I just trust that tonight it would touch our hearts.
That we would take a look at what the Lord would have us with regards our responsibilities and perhaps with regards to our future responsibilities.
00:45:08
Let's turn over now back to Peter.
Peter's epistle. We'll look at the.
The first epistle in the 4th chapter.
First Peter, chapter 4.
And verse 8.
And.
Above all things.
Have fervent love.
Among yourselves, for love shall cover a multitude of sins.
Above all things.
Have proven love among yourselves, for love shall cover a multitude of sins. Well, just trust that these few thoughts in connection with this subject would touch our hearts as to our natural relationships that we find ourselves in down here. I wonder if we could close by singing the hymn that we opened with. But we'll sing the whole hymn #154.
154.
Our Father we would worship in Jesus holy name.
For anyone, ever.
Jesus forever.
And so.
Freedom of God, I like praise.
We commend ourselves.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus.
We thank Thee for that wonderful example that we have in that Blessed One for our pathway down here, and we thank our God of the thoughts that we've had before us this evening.
Let us know the heart of each one of us here, our God, and we just would pray that Thou must direct these thoughts according to Thy gracious will. We think of the relationships in which we find ourselves, those here who are sons, those who are daughters, those of us who are fathers.
Those who are mothers, grandparents, and many of us here with in-laws or God, we just would pray that we might have a desire to above all things.
Recognize the love that we need for each other that we might be able to go on in a manner that's consistent with Thy precious word, that we would be a testimony that would shine brightly in our marriages and in our family relationships to this poor world. We just would ask these things, our God, and pray thy blessing and just would pray for the rest of the evening as before. She would be one of real prophet. And so our God, we'd ask these things, giving thanks.
00:50:16
In the worthy and the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Gathered on the Ground of the One Body
Address—Tim Ruga
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Good evening everyone. Let's start the meeting tonight by singing hymn #206 in our hymn books.
#206.
Oh Lord, we know it's not How sweet.
A song.
Maybe.
No, I want.
For us, now we know hiding.
In my word.
I know we often sing this hymn. It's a hymn that has expression in it by those gathered through the name of the Lord Jesus and speaking about His precious name. Things that I intend to talk about tonight.
And there's far more in the hymn though that I'll be speaking on, but I thought it was a nice expression.
For those so gathered at the beginning of the meeting. So let's start with prayer.
Our God and our Father.
We come before the the beginning of this hour and pray that thou would guide.
In our thoughts, our readings, our meditations, all that is said.
Pray that it would be for Thee and what is not would fall to the ground as we so often ask. We just pray that this time would be for blessing and for Thy glory. We ask Thy help in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Now there was one more question in the box than what we had today.
00:05:04
And I'll just read it.
Because it has to do with my subject says. I am unclear what is meant sometimes when brothers refer to the assemblies recognizing the truth of the one body in a way that Christians and denominations don't.
So yes, oftentimes we talk about.
The truth that there is one body and that we are gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on the ground or on the basis that there is one body. And that is what I would like to talk about a little bit tonight. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Before I start, I just want to say a few other things.
I've heard it said that we get this truth of the one place because that's what I'll be talking about, the one place that the Spirit of God gathers through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this truth shoved down our throats, and we're tired of it.
And that might be so I'm sorry, but we did just have another question and.
I just want to say this, if you feel that way, OK, fair enough. I just hope you'll listen in the meeting this evening and give me a chance to explain how I feel about it.
If possible from the word of God.
But also I want you to consider this about this truth.
Do you believe it or do you not believe it?
If you don't believe it, then it's not a matter of having it shoved down your throat too many times. It's just that you don't want to hear it, and the real question is whether or not it comes from God.
Or whether it's from man, that's the real issue.
Now, if you do believe it and think it's spoken about too many times, well then how does that compare with the gospel? You know, we enjoy hearing the gospel. It's the truth of God. Why do we not complain about having that shove down our throats? I'm sorry to go after it like that, but.
Let me ask another way. Could you explain this truth to someone else? Have they asked you?
Another believer. If you've heard it many, many times, do you know it?
OK, so please bear with me if you have to hear it again one more time tonight.
Another charge that I've heard made is that this particular truth is often spoken in pride, and often we say that we are right and everyone else is wrong.
OK, now, shamefully, yes, those kinds of things have been said, and that's too bad. They ought never to be said. But one of the things I'm going to ask you to do tonight is to try to separate in your mind the difference between what God says, what is His truth, and how men hold it in responsibility.
There's a difference between those things. When it comes to man, there's failure.
When it comes to God, He's got truth and He gives it to us and we're responsible to Him for that truth. And one day we're going to answer directly to Him for how we handled His truth. And so one of the verses that was mentioned already in these meetings was John 7 verse 17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the teaching. And the Lord Jesus Christ was talking about His teaching.
And they would know.
Whether it was from himself or whether it came from God. And what was the criteria? It's the same criteria for any truth, That is, if we have a desire to do the will of the Lord.
That's important because a lot of the times we come to the truth of God and we judge it according to what is convenient for us or what we think is fair, what we think is right. But that isn't the right way to go about it. When we come to the truth of God, we need to judge it according to what Scripture says and leave our thoughts and our feelings outside of it. We need to have a desire simply to hear Him and to do His will and get ourselves completely out of the way.
So having said that.
Let's just go on to Ephesians 4 and verse four. There is one body. Now, Joe Contours took this up already, and I'm not going to go into detail, but I want to just take up some of the direct teaching about this truth briefly at the beginning of the meeting and then go on to some other points about it. There is one body. That's a fact.
00:10:17
It's simple. There's nothing that we can do about it that isn't committed to us and responsibility. And that one body of Christ includes every single believer on the face of this earth. Doesn't matter who they are, if they've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, they've been redeemed by his blood. They are made part of that one body of Christ, and it's a wonderful thing.
Every single one of us is going to be together one day.
We have nothing to do with that other than by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're made part of it. We're in it.
But if we back up one verse, there's something that we very much have something to do with. Let's go back to verse three. It says endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Why there is one body. Now this we have something to do with. We are called to keep the unity of the spirit, not the body, because that is belongs to God.
And we are Simply put in that it's inviolate.
When it comes to the Spirit of God, it says that He has a unity and we have responsibility to keep that unity. And before we pass on from here, I just want to know something else, that it is not our unity, it's the unity of the Spirit and it's that which we're to keep and the only way we can keep the unity of the Spirit.
Is by doing what the Spirit of God wants us to do.
And the only way we're going to know what that is, is to find it in the Word of God. And so we need to go through the scriptures. And given that our time is very short, only less than 45 minutes left, I can only cover very, very few of the scriptures on this, but I trust they'll be enough and see what this unity of the Spirit was by example and by teaching.
In a few verses, let's go back to Acts Chapter 11.
So in Acts Chapter 11, this takes us right back to the beginning of the church and very shortly after those days when.
The Lord went back up into heaven. The church was formed by the Holy Spirit coming down out of heaven and baptizing all believers into one body. And then there was various things that happened. The time we get to Acts Chapter 7, there was a persecution.
Steven had been stoned, and there was a persecution that arose in Jerusalem from that, and because of that, believers who were there were scattered. They went out and some of them went as far north as Syria and came to a place called Antioch. And while they were there they preached the gospel. This is wonderful news, and they passed it on to others. And there were those of the Grecians that heard them. They believed, and an assembly was formed there.
It was a man named Barnabas who was in that place who went to encourage them and help them along in their new Christian faith. He realized he needed some help. He went back to Jerusalem and got Paul. Paul came there and they taught a whole year. They had an assembly there for a year. And that's just background. I want to hit one verse here. If we go down to verse 26, really 2 verses.
I'm sorry, verse 27. And in those days came the prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Verse 28 and there stood up one of them.
Now this shows just one of many examples in Acts of what was happening in those days. Here was an assembly in Jerusalem and an assembly in Antioch, and these prophets came up from Jerusalem to Antioch.
And they weren't invited. The Holy Spirit sent them there and they went, and they didn't have to ask permission to speak. They were in the same assembly. There's only one body. They went there and one stood up.
He was free to do it. Why? Because they were practicing what we had in Ephesians 4. Three, the unity of the Spirit. The Spirit of God was free to use them. They were going about without any restriction. There were no denominations of men.
00:15:06
There was nothing to prevent the free action of the Spirit to use these men as he chose. And so like I say, this is just one one of many examples and let's pass on to see another one. First Corinthians. I'm sorry, Second Corinthians, chapter 3.
First one, do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we as others, pistols of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you, just to introduce the subject of letters of commendation? This is what they were doing then. The apostle didn't need one because he was known.
If there were witnesses, they weren't needed, but the fact is they were using them and that was all that was needed because.
When a believer went from one assembly to another, they didn't have to be received all over. They weren't independent. They were together. They were keeping the unity of the Spirit. And so you read about these letters of commendation over and over again. In chapter 18 we get Apollos. Romans 16 we get Phoebe. You get Epaphroditus in the book of Colossians and Anessimus in the book of Philemon. We have all these letters of accommodation in the Scriptures.
They practice them widely, and that is another example of what we're talking about.
It didn't last. Let's go to 1St Corinthians 1.
First Corinthians one verse 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it have been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are the House of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am appalled, and I have Apollos and I have Cephas.
Of Christ is Christ divided? To ask that question is to answer it. Of course Christ is not divided.
And yet and they were acting as if Christ was divided.
And the argument is plain. How could it be? If Christ is not divided, and Christ cannot be divided, then how can you act as if he is?
They were not practically acting according to the ground that they were gathered on. And so there came to be divisions in the assembly. These weren't complete breaks. These ones still came and met together in one place, and it was getting worse. And I believe that the Lord gave them a reprieve because of this ladder. But there was coming a day when those divisions were going to get worse until there was a complete break in that assembly and there were no longer meeting in the same place.
Let's go see that in Chapter 11.
1St Corinthians 11 verse 17 Now that in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it.
For there must be also heresies among you.
That they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Now this verse 19, there must be heresies. It's talking about full blown division where there's two groups that no longer meet together. And he said there's a day coming when that is going to happen.
Well, we're way beyond that day. Today. There's so many divisions that you can't even count them. But here is before that happened and he said in Corinth.
That day is coming and when it comes, this is what's going to happen. There's going to be a group that's approved.
What about the other one?
They're not approved.
Now we don't like that. That's not fair. How can you speak that way about believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, Children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ? That's not very nice. But notice the verse says that there are going to be the approved, which definitely implies that others are not approved.
Is that hard to accept?
It is. It's hard for me to accept.
00:20:02
But I want to stop right here, and I want to say I believe that the Spirit of God knew all about that.
And knew that maybe we would struggle with that. And he gave an example in the Old Testament, you know, in First Corinthians chapter 10, just back in chapter, tells us that in the Old Testament, all those things that happened to the children of Israel happened to them for examples. And they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And so we know that those things are given for us to learn from.
And I don't want to go just to a picture now, I want to go to something that actually happened. In this very regard, let's turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 12.
Deuteronomy chapter 12.
And verse 10 says that when you go over Jordan and dwell on the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies roundabout, so that you dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. Thither shall you bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices.
Your ties and your heave offerings.
And of your hand, and all, of all your choice fouls, which you vow unto the Lord.
Verse 13 Take heed to thyself, that thou offer, not thy burnt offering in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes.
Let's just go back to verse 5.
But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there.
Now notice what it says here. It's a place that he would choose, and he would put his name in it.
Now we are not talking about the church here, but we are talking about God's people.
And God himself dwelled in the midst of his people, and he decided he would put his name in their midst. And so it becomes a very good example for us because it is analogous to what we are today. We are God's people even though we are not Israel. And so.
He says they were not free to go and worship the Lord and offer their sacrifices and offerings anywhere they wanted to, but they had to do it only in that place where the Lord chose to put His name. Now let's just turn over to Second Chronicles chapter 6 and we'll see where that place was in the Old Testament.
So David is speaking about what?
The Lord had told his Father, and they're referring to that. He says what the Lord said, verse 6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there.
Just that part. And so the Lord confirmed to David and Solomon that Jerusalem was that place. And this isn't the only place, but one place is enough when it's stated definitely.
And so there was no question about what God had in his mind for his people that Jerusalem was to be that place. They were to bring their sacrifices and their offerings there, and there was no other place for God's people. Now let's go back to First Kings chapter 12.
Because here we see.
A division among God's people. And that's where it got difficult, and this is where it is difficult for us. If we were all living in the early days of the church, we would not be having this discussion.
First Kings chapter 12, verse 24. In just one part of this, you'll find here that the 10 tribes had rebelled against Solomon's son Rehoboam.
And they had followed a man named Jeroboam and they were now splitting apart from the other two and.
The two tribes under the rightful King Rioboom wanted to go out and take their brethren back. They didn't like that there should be a division among God's people and they wanted to make Israel whole again. And so the Lord had to tell them something. The middle verse 24 he says for this thing is from me. He said you don't go up there, you don't do that.
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This thing is from me.
No doubt it was their failure, but the Lord allowed that that division should happen. Now the division having occurred, Jeroboam, the leader of the rebellion, realized something. If those people went back up to Jerusalem, it would be a problem for him. And so he says in verse 27. And this people go up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. And then then shall the heart of this people turn again to their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, the king of Judah.
And they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboth, king of Judah. And so then he goes on, and he makes 2 calves, puts one up at that Dan, and the other at Bethel. And more significantly, he makes an altar and puts it at Bethel. Now we have an altar. And there was the altar of the Lord of Jerusalem. There was another altar at Bethel.
And that altar was used by God's people just like the altar in Jerusalem was used by.
God's people.
And the vision among God's people, some on one side, some on the other, each having an altar. Does that sound familiar?
That's where they were. It's an example for us. Let's go to Second Chronicles chapter 30.
And for the sake of time, we're just going to pick a verse or two out of this chapter, but we're skipping many years ahead in the history of Israel. And there had been a lot of kings and Judah and Israel, some of Israel now was carried captive. And there came a time in Hezekiah was king, and he read in the book of the Law, and he saw there what?
To be done. And he said now we need to keep the Passover as the Lord commanded. And he recognized too that it didn't belong just to those two tribes, that it belonged to all the people of the Lord. And so he sent posts down into Israel to call them also to come so that they might worship the Lord and sacrifice the Passover as the Lord had commanded. And so just skipping ahead.
Let's go down to verse 10. So the post passed from city to city, through the country of Ephriam and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, because that's in the 10 tribes that had gone away in division.
But they left them to scorn and mock them.
Of course, how can you say you're better than us? How can you say your altar is better than ours? You talk about our Ahab and our Jezebel, but look at your ASI and Atholiah. You're no better than we are and just laugh the scorn.
Well, it says verse 11. Nevertheless, divers of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. That was the place where the Lord had put his name, and they came there.
I go through all this to make one simple point. Let's not say the Lord wouldn't do this.
He did it.
Here in the past He had a place, He put his name here, He had his people here. His people failed. They failed miserably. And yet still his name was there. It never left that place. When the Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth and he went up to the temple, there came a day he went in there and drove the money changers out and he said, you have made my Father's house identifies.
He owned it.
Until he was rejected at the very end.
And He had to say, Your house, behold, your house is left unto you desolate. It was no longer honed of Him. The place changed then, but up until then it wasn't a matter of the people who were there. It was a matter of where the Lord had placed His name. And shame on the people who were there for not living according to the one who had put His name in their midst.
That was to their detriment.
That's the lesson we need to learn from that. But let's not say that the Lord wouldn't have some of His people associated with His name and some of His people not because He definitely did. And you can find the whole history of it in the Old Testament. Now let's go back to the New Testament. By the way, in a coming day, it's going to be so again with Jerusalem, the last verse of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 4848 we have.
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The Lord saying there.
The name of that city will be called. The Lord is there. So in the future today it will be so again, but today it's not. So where's the Lord's name today?
Well, Matthew 1820.
Yes, I know we read this verse a lot. It's important. It's so important that the Lord didn't even leave it to the apostles to say.
He said it himself because it was something vital, a change of something that he had to make clear himself.
He had to give the authority for this change.
Matthew 18 verse 24 where two or three are gathered together.
In or unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. Now the place isn't anymore a city on earth, it's not Jerusalem. But now it's the Lord putting it in the midst of two or three gathered to His name. And I just want to go over this verse again, because this verse is taken by most believers that I know.
And take in different ways. And I think Scripture very clearly and very definitely teaches it one way. It is for where two or three are gathered together as an assembly. We'll see that in a minute.
By the Spirit of God, we'll see that too. Through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There am I in the midst of them.
I want to show those two other things that I inserted into the passage.
First one I'm not going to spend much time on because Joe went over it very well in his meeting, but I want to restate it because there's some others who are here. It's where two or three are gathered together as an assembly. You know, most people and in fact, Bible translations just say we're two or three come together. Think if you just have two or three Christians that get together, then that's where the Lord is. It's not. This is talking about the assembly gathered in His name.
And we get that.
Clearly by going back and looking at the context, because if you start from verse 15, you find that this passage is talking about personal trespass.
And in the personal trespass, there's somebody who offends another, and that other person who's offended now goes to that one and tries to win them. And if they fail, they get one or two other believers and they go back and try to win them. Now what do you have? You've got two or three believers.
But they can't do anything except try to win this brother. They've got no authority to act. They've got no authority to do anything except to try to win a brother.
If they fail, what do they do? They've got to go to the assembly.
OK, verse 15, let's see that. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him, and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou gain thy brother, but if you will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more.
That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Now the assembly. And if you will not, and if you shall neglect to hear them, then tell it.
Unto the assembly, church or assembly. But if he neglected here the assembly, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Now this one refuses to hear the two or three. They've got no authority to do anything. They bring it to the assembly. The assembly, if it's refused, has authority. Why verse 20? Because we're two or three are gathered together and to my name they're mine in the midst of them.
That's the teaching of this verse. Verse 18 Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And so here we have the assembly with this power and authority to bind and to lose. To bind means to take one and put them under discipline, or really to remove them from the assembly, put them out.
Toulouse means to lose that action and bring them back into the assembly.
The assembly has that power and that authority to do it. The two or three Christians that were together did not, and the assembly had the authority because the Lord had put His name and His presence in their midst, as we have in the 20th. 1St. That is a special power and a special privilege that goes with those so gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus explains that here.
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Now this is part of what it means to to keep the unity of the Spirit.
If The thing is bound on earth in the Grand Rapids assembly, it's found in heaven. It isn't a matter of whether I think it's right or wrong. It's a matter of the fact that the Lorde authority was there and the thing was done in the name and the authority of the Lord. And so where I am in the assembly of Dorothy, we simply accept that.
We bow. That's keeping the unity of the Spirit.
These are important verses, and because they're important and because they're recognized, you'll find that these particular verses are the ones that are most often attacked when it comes to this truth.
Now let's go back down to verse 20.
Because there it says forward two or three are gathered together unto my name. They are mine in the midst of them I've been putting in unto. Mr. Darby has that.
But you can leave it in and you can say, you can try to say get together, but the word of God doesn't speak that way. You know, nowhere in the Word of God are we left up to doing what we want to do.
That's the thought of man.
In the Word of God, the Christian is called to be in obedience and we're to look to Him for everything that we do. And so the idea that we will agree to come together as some independent group is completely far from the Word of God. Not only is it not there in the beginning, there is no instruction for doing that anywhere. All of the instruction is otherwise. And I want to take this up from the standpoint of Luke chapter 22. So let's just go there now.
This is right at the very end of the Lord's ministry on earth, and He's getting ready to go to the cross. But first of all, He was going to go and eat His Passover, eat the Passover with His disciples, and He did something significant when that happened. I know we've heard these many times before, but please listen to me. I'll try to bring it out freshly if I can.
Chapter 22.
Verse 7 Then came the day of Unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? Wonderful. This is where we are in Christian position.
Has not left up to us.
Just because all so many other Christians are going out, not all so many other Christians are going out and saying I can decide doesn't mean it's left up to us. We need to ask him. These disciples had the right thought here and so they asked and he says.
Verse 10 He said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in, and you shall say unto the good men of the house.
The Master saith unto thee, Where is the gas chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples, and he shall show you a large upper room furnished there. Make ready.
Now why did the Lord Jesus do this? He didn't have to do that. He could have told him exactly where to go. The Lord Jesus knew that house. He knew the street. He knew the place. He could have given them exact instructions. They all knew the city. But he didn't do that.
Because he was about to go away and he was about to commit them into the hands of another man, and he needed to give them this object lesson.
So that shortly after, when he met them in that place, he would tell them exactly who it was that he was going to commit them into his hands.
See what he was doing? I don't say this man was the Spirit of God, but it was definitely a picture of the Spirit of God, and the Lord Jesus intended it for that. It's not some application. The Lord Jesus intended that it should be that. And this man was identified by bearing a picture of water. Water in the Word of God, especially when it's contained in a vessel, speaks of the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus takes a base and starts to wash the disciples feet in John 13.
Ephesians 5 We've got the Lord taking and washing the church by the water of the Word in many other places.
And the Spirit of God.
And the Word of God are characterized by the truth, the Word of God, John seven verse, John 17, verse 17, the Lord Jesus says thy word is truth. We're going to see in just a moment that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth. And so this man is the Spirit of God associated as we always have, inseparably together with the Word of God, which is our guide for today.
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Now let's go see that John chapter 14.
John 14.
Verse 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth.
So the Lord Jesus is talking about how he would go back to heaven and he's going to pray the Father and ask for the Holy Spirit to be given then to them. And we find that that's exactly what happened. Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came down and took those believers. He came and dwelt on them and in them. And Peter says shortly after that, the Lord Jesus having been.
Ascended up to the right hand of the Father. He hath received that promise, and he hath poured out this which you now see in here. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit.
But I want to notice something else here. He says he'll give you another comforter. Now this word comforter.
Is a good word, it tells us something about the Holy Spirit, but it's not the best word to describe the meaning this paracletos. I understand the Greek word is and it really means someone who takes care of all the affairs of another so.
Really, the Lord Jesus had been their comforter up to this time, and that's why he says another comforter. This word, another is the Greek word I understand, Alice.
There's another word, heterose, and you get that in Galatians chapter one where it says another gospel which is not another Alice or heteros means a different kind, but this one Alice means another of the same kind. And so the Lord Jesus is saying, I was the one who took care of everything for you. I took care of all your affairs. I told you what to go, where to go, what to do. In the past I would have told you where to find that house.
But I'm putting you into the hands of another one.
Who's going to take care of all of your affairs? And that one is the spirit of truth.
And so if we go down to verse 26, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. So this spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit that, as we were reminded in the last meeting by Joe, was what the Lord Jesus poured out in the day of Pentecost.
Forming us all into one body, He dwells in the midst of the church today. The Spirit of God is here, and we now have that one in our midst, the one who is sent here to guide, to lead, and to take care of all of our affairs today. The question is, do we say, where will thou? It's not a trivial question.
And the promise is just like the Lord Jesus led the disciples in that day.
The Holy Spirit will lead us in this day if we give him this place. And if we do that, what is he going to do? He's not going to gather us in division. He's going to gather us together to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These principles have not changed. We saw how it was at the beginning of the Church. We saw how they practiced. There was a unity and discipline. There was a unity and reception by letters of commendation.
There was a unity in how gifts were exercised among the assemblies. There's nothing in the Word of God saying that that has changed.
And that's still what characterizes the place with the Spirit of God would gather people today.
It doesn't matter that there are many divisions among Christians. The truth hasn't changed. Just like it didn't matter in the Old Testament that the majority of the tribes had gone off in division. The truth hadn't changed long after. In the days of of Nehemiah, things were still the same. There was still one place where they could go.
And meet together and find the Lord.
00:45:04
In their midst and they would have to go there to Jerusalem. And so it is today. The truth is still the same, that there is one place where the Spirit of God is gathering believers together to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is true that there are characteristics of that place, and some of those were brought out a little bit in the last meeting too. I just want to go back to that briefly. First of all, there's a name in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We had that they were gathered together in my name. Matthew 1820 not taking some other name Revelation chapter 3 and verse eight. You see the Lord valued that you have not denied my name. One of the ways to ways to deny his name is to take another.
That doesn't prove everything, but it's a characteristic of the place.
Another thing is the person and work of Christ will be held in their purity. There you won't have fundamental error where the spirit of truth gathers. Will there be failure? Certainly.
Because there's failing human beings gathered in that place, but the spirit of truth maintains the testimony and you will not find fundamental error going on in that place.
The true gospel will be preached there also. You'll find that there is subjection to the Word in that place. The church does not teach Second Timothy and First Timothy chapter 3, verse 15. The assembly is the pillar and the ground of the truth.
It's held there, it's taught there. The Spirit of God uses various ones that get up and express it there, and he governs that and makes sure it happens. And so you have these characteristics that are so. Another thing is that there's going to be separation in that place. Very important spirit of truth does not go on with evil. Let's just go over to those verses briefly. Second Timothy, chapter 2.
I know they were referred to before, but they're very important.
Wow, wow.
Second Timothy 219 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth shore having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Should be Lord there, not Christ, it's His authority.
Verse 20. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold, no silver, but also wood, and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified in meet for the masters use.
And prepared unto every good work, flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord at a pure heart.
There are other verses too. 1St Corinthians 5 talks about purging out the leaven. In that place with the Spirit of God is gathering through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be purged vessels.
There cannot be the going on with evil continually. It doesn't mean that things don't come in from time to time and that there isn't space for repentance.
Before the Lord deals with it, but discipline and purity is maintained in that place. Another thing that you'll find in that place is that there is.
That the ones who are there have gone out without the camp. Let's just go see that Hebrews 13 just giving a few of the characteristics.
Hebrews 13.
And verse 10 We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest, her sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.
Now the camp is very plainly laid out as to what it is in the book of Hebrews.
It's that whole system of things that belongs to Judaism, everything having to do with the temple and the earthly religion that God himself has set up. And the early believers were slow to leave it, and they were called to leave it entirely and go away to it, and they had to.
And if they were to remain in there, they weren't going to be in the place where the Lord Jesus was. Why?
Because the Lord Jesus himself was without the camp. And so we have to go forth unto him, out the without the camp. And that means to leave beside all those practices of Judaism, those legalistic things, the things that have to do with the, you know, the like having church or temple, like buildings and robes and incense and and so on. So many things like that.
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That you could take a whole meeting to go into.
That won't be in the place where the Spirit of God is gathering through the name of the Lord Jesus.
Another characteristic of that place, One final one. The Spirit of God will be given his liberty. Liberty in that place. Let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 12.
1St Corinthians 12, verse 11.
Speaking about the spiritual gifts, but not just gifts, spiritual things, spiritual manifestations that include singing, praying, and other things that the Spirit of God would be free to bring out among the assembly of God's people. And so it says in verse 11. But all these worketh at one in the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
And whether it's in the exercise of gift or the exercise of of priesthood and worship, the Spirit of God is clearly presented in Scripture is the one who is leading in the activity, in the assembly of God's people. And yet that has been largely set aside among Christians. In that place where the Spirit is gathering, that will be done. That's another one of the characteristics of that place. Again, I don't say.
That there isn't failure there is because there's people there, just like there was failure in Jerusalem. But yet the Spirit of God is there gathering believers together and there are certain characteristics, there's a certain testimony that He himself maintains in that place. And the reason why I bring all of this up is because of what the Lord said in the next verse in Luke chapter 22.
Let's just go back there for a minute.
Luke, chapter 22.
We head ran down to verse 12, which said, And he shall show you a large upper room furnished there. Make ready verse 13.
And they went, and found as he had said unto them.
Now I challenge you.
If you can lay your feelings aside, thoughts of fairness, everything, and just take up the word of God and honestly ask the Lord, where wilt thou have me to go?
Ask him honestly.
And see what he says.
See where he leads you by the word? I'm not going to tell you he's going to lead you where I am.
I'm satisfied in my heart and my soul before the Lord that I'm gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God in that place where the Lord has put His name. But I can't convince you of that. That's something that you need to take up yourself between you and the Lord and with the Word of God, and you need to see it for yourself there. Any amount of convincing that I may do.
Is never going to work on you, but the Lord will.
And His word will. And so at the end of this meeting, all I want to do is point you back to Him. And really, the ultimate expression of what any one of us should be when it comes to any question like this is what the Lord Himself was. If we go just a little farther in this chapter, go over to verse 42. And the Lord was faced with something very difficult.
The end of that first, he says nevertheless.
Not my will, but thine be done. And so this is where we need to be, to get our wills completely out of the way and come honestly before the Lord and ask Him to know His will and that His will would be done in our lives. Let's close with prayer.
Our God and our Father, we thank you so much for thy love to us.
We thank before the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for the assembly.
For the privilege we have to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray that that would help us to take up Thy word.
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That each one of us could be fully convinced and settled in our own minds before they as to what Thy truth is, and to go on with a free and clear conscience before they.
We just pray for Thy blessing on this meeting, the remainder of our time together, and at the close of this meeting, as we've been talking so much about division and heartache and sorrow and what our path is in it, we thank the Father that we can look beyond it all.
And remember what the Apostle Paul said.
Beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him.
We think of that great gathering together when every believer will be there. We thank Thee for that, Father. We long for it. And again we pray that it would even be today. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
The Trap of Sin
Children—Paul House
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.
He's got a song that we can start with this morning.
Any of the kids? Children. What about a little child of seven? We know that one.
All right, let's do that.
Anybody.
Dave, I'll do it all for Jesus. Boy, can someone help me on starting that one?
In the house.
I mean by nature.
I can do, I'll do it all origins.
All of you, Jesus, I don't know what it's coming rather than.
Do you bring?
Me through.
I want to.
Well, let's pray and ask the Lord to help us to listen good and that we would have a good lesson today. Our loving God and our Father, we thank thee for sending the Lord Jesus.
Thy son, to come down here to this Dark World.
To live here as a man, to heal people, to be so kind. And then people like us put Thy Son on the cross. And we just pray that as we are here together, to think a little bit about him, that we would be thankful for thy love to send him, and that we would think of His love for us in coming.
And we think of his sufferings and how he did it for us.
If there's a boy or a girl or perhaps an older one here today who has never opened their heart to the Lord Jesus yet that they may do so this morning. And so we ask for thy help. We ask for the leading of thy Holy Spirit, that thou might work here today for the blessing of someone, or maybe more than one. And so we give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Does anyone remember what the verse is for today from the Sunday school paper?
Where I come from, we have a bunch of kids and they go out under the trees.
For Sunday school.
And somebody speaks to them and they learn the verse in the Sunday school paper each week.
This week my little guys didn't do too good on the verse because their dad didn't help them very much. Their mom did, but their dad didn't. I didn't even know what it was. That's not very good.
Does anybody else know though what it was?
Anybody.
Bigger people too.
I'll help you. It says this. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 832 The truth shall make you free.
00:05:11
I have in my bag here.
I'll pull this out and see if you know what this is.
This boy here?
A cage, What's it for?
For pets, well.
Maybe pets you want to get rid of?
I'm going to see if I can get this open. I put these things in here.
I thought I was smart putting this basket inside, but may not be quite so smart.
We have a real problem in our house with squirrels.
And the problem with squirrels is that they can get into your house.
Just need to get that cage up and over. Thank you. The problem with squirrels is that they get into your house and they can make a terrible mess on the wiring and I had to learn that.
When electricians put wires into a building, they often do this. They pull the wire along, and if they do it in the summertime, they're sweaty and they get sweat on their fingers.
And then that sweat dries off. The water is gone.
But something stays. That's the salt that's in our sweat. And then months later, that salt is still on the wire.
And.
The squirrels.
If they get in your attic or in your walls, they say, ah, they're salt. I'd like to have the salt and so they chew the wire. Well, if they chew through the wire, they can cause the.
The house to burn down. If the two wires touch you can have a fire. So you don't want squirrels in your house? Are we having some troubles here?
If you're good.
Thank you.
So we have this squirrel problem, like I said, and the little red squirrels that we have in our house are the toughest of the of the squirrels. We have grey squirrels, we have black squirrels, and we have the little nasty red squirrels. The reason we have so many squirrels.
At our place.
Is that there was a man, and some of you know him, called Doctor Wood and he used to live in Chicago. I'm going to put this right here.
And I think I can set it.
So it's ready to go. Let's get this.
There we go.
And doctor, what he planted, he brought these these things from Chicago once, many, many years ago. Who can tell me what this is?
Anybody. This boy?
A what?
It's a black walnut.
See, so if you cut through this casing, this green casing, there'll be a seed inside of here. And inside the little hard shell is a nut. And that's what the squirrels like to eat. Well, Doctor Wood planted a whole bunch of these behind our house, and now they're trees like this, and they're huge and they have hundreds of these.
So we have hundreds of squirrels around that try to live near our house to get near to the food, and they stash these away. There's piles of them here and there and in our woodshed and all kinds of stuff. But there was a squirrel that was particularly ornery and I tried to catch him with my trap and I could not catch that squirrel no matter what. He was so smart.
He would jump up on the top of this thing and tap dance on the top and it would make all kinds of noise because it's there's.
So you can imagine that squirrel.
00:10:04
So that was our first demo.
So he would tap dance on the top of that and sometimes he would set the trap off and then he would kind of almost seem like it was laughing at us.
And we trapped all kinds of squirrels. And we would get rid of the squirrels after, but more would come and more would come and more would come. But this one squirrel, he would, we could never get him. And I knew it was him because I'd go out in the morning to go to work and he'd just start yelling at me and he'd yell and yelling. Finally I said we got to catch this squirrel. Well, the boys and I, we like to pick up the nuts. And so Tom and Ernie have this big.
Wagon about like this, with sides like this, well, we can fill the whole wagon up with these.
So we collected a whole bunch, maybe 4 inches in the wagon. So that'd be a few, and we brought them all to the front door of our house. Well.
This squirrel was so angry that we were stealing the his nuts that instead of going to the tree and getting the hundreds of them from the tree, he started taking them out of the boy's wagon. Those are my nuts, he would say, you know, and he would take one knot at a time and one knot at a time.
And then my daughter Tammy said, you know what? Why don't we do this? Why don't we put a nut in there and we'll put one there, We'll put one there, we'll put one there, we'll put one here and we'll put one here and see what happens. Well, that squirrel, he's like, those are my nuts. Those people have taken my nuts. I'm going to get those nuts back. So he came running up and he grabbed the 1St.
Not in a way when so this knot was gone.
Then a few minutes later, the squirrel came back again and he kind of looks up at the house and he goes, that's why not. And he takes it and he goes and he hides it somewhere. Then a few minutes later.
He came and he looked at the house, a little more careful this time. It's like that's my nut and where he went with the nut.
Then he came.
And he came toward the trap. Now he knew this was dangerous.
So he went up to this one and he kind of looked really careful everywhere. And then he kind of went closer and closer and then grabbed it like that and away he went. But then he had to go into inside, right? So he came to the front of this and I, we watched out the window. This took about half an hour.
And he came like this and he went around.
And he went on top.
And he looked inside and then he got down on the side and he looked. He looked and he looked and then he went to a boat. Here he stuck his head in and nothing happened. Nothing happened. And he quickly went and he grabbed it.
And he went away, but there was still one there.
It was still one and he knew it was there and he wanted it. So guess what happened?
He came back and he thought, now what am I going to do? I'm going. I don't want to go in there, but I want that nut.
So we thought.
What will I do? So he looked at the house for a while. Just like you guys have my nut and I want to get that nut. And he looked at the house, looked back. Then he got up on top and he ran around the whole thing a whole bunch of times. He looked in and then he thought, you know, when I went in a little bit, I didn't get caught.
So you know what? I'm going to take a chance.
And you know what he did? He went in just a little bit and then he looked all around. Then he went in a little bit further and nothing happened.
And then he hit the little piece of metal here that makes the track close, and we had him. He was in the trap. And if squirrels can say terrible things, that squirrel said every terrible thing you can imagine.
He was so mad, but he was caught.
And after all those weeks of listening into that squirrel yelling at me, he was in the trap.
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And he was caught. And you know what? I never had to listen to him again.
But I learned a lesson, boys and girls, that day.
And we've been talking about this a lot this week when I've been sitting in the meetings. I've been thinking about that box, right?
I've been thinking about how, you know, we think, well, you know, it's maybe not so bad if I do little things that are wrong.
You know, when that squirrel took the nut that was out here, he probably thought, you know what? I'm I'm OK. And then he took the next one. He was closer to the trap, but I'm still OK. And then he took the next one and he said.
I'm OK still, nothing's happened to me. Then he took the one inside. Nothing happened. But he was pretty close to danger, wasn't he?
Then he went too far and he was caught.
Now I want to talk a little bit about sin, boys and girls.
You know, we may think that we'll never do something.
But we have a tempter and he puts things before us, just like we tempted that squirrel.
And the squirrel went closer and closer and closer, and then the door shut and he was caught. And sometimes we may think, oh, I'll never do that.
But we get closer and closer and closer.
And then we get caught.
Now how could that squirrel get out of that trap?
Does anybody know?
This girl.
He could have stopped and never got into the trap, but he went too far and so he got trapped. Now that squirrel got out of the trap, but he was dead when he got out of the trap.
I took the squirrel out.
Bring it to the.
Yeah, because this you see when there's a squirrel in here and you put it under the water then.
After a few minutes, the squirrel doesn't move anymore.
And that's kind of sad, isn't it? But you know, I don't want my little boys.
And my wife and my other children. I don't want them to burn up in a fire. So I would rather have the squirrel die than have my little boys die because the squirrels would chew our wires. So I have to decide what to do as a dad, and I would rather get rid of this bad squirrel than to lose my little boy.
That's why I do it. It's not because I don't like squirrels. I do.
And in fact, some of the squirrels aren't dangerous. So when we catch a black squirrel in there, you know what I do? I take it out in the back and I open it and let the wax squirrel out. And the grey squirrels, I let them go too, because I like squirrels. But the black one, the Gray, the little red ones are the ones that get into my house. They do. They chew right through the wood to get in.
Because they the trees are near our house, they say, you know, there's a nice warm place I could live too. And I could store all my nuts in Paul's house.
And I'll live there too. I'll be one like one of his kids, and I don't want that.
Now I want to turn to the book of Luke.
And we've heard this story before.
But I want us to think about it in connection with the trap.
Luke, chapter 23.
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And verse 33 if you have your Bible.
And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
This is speaking about the Lord Jesus, and Calvary is outside of the walls of Jerusalem where they crucified the Lord Jesus. But the day that they crucified the Lord Jesus, there was two other men that they brought to die too.
And they put the Lord Jesus on the center cross.
And then they put one of these malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
So sometimes I've seen a picture that somebody painted of this and tried to make it look like it probably was. And there was a cross like this in the middle, and the Lord Jesus was on that one. And then on each side of that main center cross, there was another cross. And there was a man on the first one and a man on the second one.
Now who can tell me why those two men were hanging there? This boy at the back?
They had done something bad, that's correct. They had done something bad, and I think they had done many things that were bad, but they had got caught.
They had got caught because they had done something wrong. Now who can tell me what they did wrong?
This girl.
They were, they had stolen things and in those days if you got caught stealing.
You got hung on a cross to die. You know you'd think twice about stealing, wouldn't you? If you knew that if you stole something, that you were gonna maybe be hanging on a cross the next day. You think, hey, maybe I shouldn't do that?
Now may let me ask you this question, have you ever taken something that didn't belong to you?
Boys and girls.
We've all taken things that we weren't supposed to have.
Now there's lots of different kinds of sense. That's just one thing.
But in God's word, the Bible, we learn about what's right and what's wrong, and when we do something that disobeys what God has said, then we commit a sin.
And there's punishment for sin. We understand that in the world, don't we, that we live in. When I was coming here, I drove by a whole bunch of cars that had blue lights and red lights on the top. They're police cars. And there were people at the side of the road that have been going too fast.
And so the police pulled them over, said excuse me, but you are going too quick. How come?
Personally, I'm going to the cottage.
Going too fast? Here's your here's your fine, here's the punishment for going too quick. And we understand that if we disobey, there's consequences. And a lot of people think that.
They're good enough to get to heaven that God's just going to say, well, it's OK, you've done things that are wrong, but that's OK. So is that how it works in the world? You do something wrong and you you say to the policeman.
I was going to, he says you were going too fast. And then he says, oh, that's OK.
You've done a few other good things, so I'm not going to make give you a fine for going too fast. Of course not. He's going to say here's your ticket. You were going too fast. We understand that. And God is the same. God holds each person responsible for everything that they have done. Now let's read a little bit more about these these men that were caught stealing.
So it says one was on the right hand and the other was on the left. Then said Jesus father forgive them for they know not what they do.
Drop down to verse 39. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, But this man.
00:25:21
Hath done nothing amiss.
Nothing wrong.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
So we're going to talk for a minute about this trap again.
And let's just give it a little shake, see if we can get it.
So if you look at this strap, you see the door shut. Now there's no way for something to get in, but usually.
There's something already in and there's no way to get out.
So what I have to do as the owner of this trap, is to push this little bar like this and lift this gate, and then the little black squirrels and the little Gray squirrels can run out and be safe, but they can't get out unless I open the door.
Now what about these thieves?
Were they going to get off those crosses that day? They had nails through their hands and their feet, just like my Lord the Lord Jesus did.
They weren't going to get down. They were going to die. They were in this trap, weren't they? The door was shut, as it were. They couldn't get down. They were stuck there and they were going to die. And their only salvation was in Jesus.
And one of the men, he turned to the Lord Jesus, and he said, Lord, Remember Me. But what about the other man?
The other man, he didn't. At least we don't read that he did.
And so that man, said the thief that came to the Lord Jesus said, Lord, Remember Me.
When The Alchemist into thy Kingdom, he first said Lord, he recognized who the Lord Jesus was.
His Lord.
The Son of God. And he said, Remember Me. And if I can say it this way, when you're a king in your Kingdom, I want to be part of it. He believed that the Lord Jesus was going to rise again and then he would too. And he wanted to. He had faith in the Lord Jesus.
Today I want to talk a little bit about the other man.
You know, we don't often talk about him.
But maybe there's somebody like that here today.
And.
You're locked up.
In sin.
And if you've never said to the Lord Jesus, Lord.
I want to have my sins forgiven.
Then you're like the squirrel that's in the trap and the door is shut. And I talked a little bit about what happens to the squirrels that need to die because they're going to make us trouble for us. We put them down under the water and we leave the trap there for a while. And you know, if you're in your sins and you've never accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then maybe you won't die right now.
Maybe you say, well, I'm still young, I have lots of time to live. Maybe not.
Maybe you won't get home this week and don't know. Maybe you will be an old, old man or an old, old lady someday. But if you've never come to the Lord Jesus, eventually you're going to go into punishment. Now. Sometimes.
When I set my trap in the morning, a squirrel comes in in the morning.
Right after I go to work and that squirrel is in the trap all day.
And it's running this way and that way and this way and that way, trying to get out, chewing on the wire. You know, squirrels teeth are pretty sharp, but they don't work good on steel.
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Anyway, I come home and then I have to decide what I'm going to do with the squirrel. And that squirrel may be waited one hour, 2 hours, five hours, six hours. But you know what? If it's a bad squirrel, then it's going to have to die. It didn't die. Maybe right away it thought, oh, well, you know, maybe I can still get out some other way. I'm going to try and try and try. And they chew and yell and make all kinds of noise.
But if they're going to die, then they're going to die.
Maybe not right away, might take three hours when I get home or 8 hours. Sometimes we don't catch anything all day and it just stays open and then at night we catch them and then they wait all night in the trap until I come out in the morning.
Sis, like boys and girls who say, well, you know what, I have lots of time. I'm not going to get saved right now. I'm going to put it off. But eventually there's judgment isn't there for those that don't know the Lord Jesus as their savior. So let's have a couple more songs and then we'll pray.
Anymore to sing this girl.
Once was a wild little donkey OK?
There once was a walk.
When Jesus was driving up on him.
It went just the way that he should.
I write some. Basically, I'm kidding.
So by God bless, I love God.
You know, we just sang, the Lord wants to make us happy and.
What was the last thing free? You know, it's such a relief to those black squirrels when they get out of that trap.
They may have been trying to get out for days if I've forgotten about the trap, or maybe hours, but they're so glad to get out. The Gray ones, too, you know, it's a wonderful thing to have our sins forgiven. I remember when I was a little boy, and I knew because I'd been to lots of gospel meetings.
And I knew that I had done lots that was wrong.
And I remember laying in bed.
Maybe there's somebody here like this?
I remember laying in bed on my back and I look up at the ceiling and I was having trouble going to sleep.
Because I remembered the stuff that I had done wrong.
There was a little voice inside of me that was saying, Paul, what about the time you did this?
Paul, what about the time you did that? What about the time you disobeyed your dad? What about the time you were rude to your mom? What about the time you took something that didn't belong to you and I remembered my sins and I couldn't go to sleep?
Perhaps there's somebody Last night you couldn't get to sleep because you were worrying about your sins.
I trust that's not anybody here that you know, your sins are washed away and the good part of the story is that.
00:35:00
I remember accepting the Lord as my savior and I didn't worry anymore about those things.
I was sad that I did them, but I knew that Jesus paid for my sins. OK, one more.
When he cometh. When he cometh to make.
Progress you'll promise you lost.
It's all done in the storm, like a swine fall down your way.
Little children let no children.
Who are very king, right? I want you to love Christmas juice.
It's all. Kind of. It's all.
Letting us die.
Just before we pray.
If there's a boy or a girl and you want to have one of these to plant at your house.
I have six of them.
First time I ever saw one of these was in Dorothy, NJ and I was standing talking to Tim Ruga. I'd be the man who spoke last night up here where I am now.
I was standing talking to his mom.
And one of these fell out of a tree way up high and hit her right on the head. And I wondered what it was. Somebody told me what it was. And then when they started falling out of our trees, I knew what they were. So if you want to plant one, you can have one. So let's pray. Our God and Father, we give thanks that we could be here this morning to consider.
These two men.
These two men that were sinners.
And who were on a cross on each side of the blessed Lord Jesus. We think of the Lord Jesus dying there, and how he could say, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. And we think of the one thief who realized who the Lord Jesus is and how he cried out to him.
And asked for forgiveness and asked that he would be.
His Lord and that He would be remembered in eternity. And we pray for any of the boys or girls that are here, or older ones too perhaps have not put their trust in the Lord Jesus yet we pray that they may do so. We think of these two men who were locked in their sin and could only be freed by the Lord Jesus. And we just pray for each one of us today.
That we might tell others about the Lord Jesus and how He's died for us.
And how he gave his life on the cross of Calvary. And so we give thanks for this time together, and we ask for thy blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Prayer Part 2
Address—Jim Hyland
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.
Let's start with 319.
Particularly thinking of verse two, Our wants are known to Jesus. All fullness dwells in him. He healeth all diseases. Who did our souls redeem? We tell our griefs to Jesus, our burdens and our cares. He from them all releases who all our sorrow shares. 319 If someone could please start it.
With my Jesus.
He took them all and bring us from the pandemic.
Of a hard yell was born by Jesus.
You can watch the friends and say.
Why didn't I, precious?
Till not in, what's hard remains.
Otherwise I don't do.
Jesus, all fullness well in him.
He He was haunted.
The name of.
Jesus.
The grace of God the Lord.
Like fragrance on the.
Princess.
It is famous friend love abroad.
We waited long to be blessed in all the grindstone brown.
You sing for right is crazy.
The One eternal sorrow.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father how thankful we are this evening for the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank thee. We have one who has not only died for us, but one who is living for us at thy right hand, praying for us, interceding for us every hour of every day. And now we thank thee for this happy time we've had together at camp. We pray for those who have left us and are traveling, bring them on their way in safety, encourage their hearts. We do pray. And now, as a few of us are left to have one more meeting, we pray that we might have Christ much before us.
That our hearts might be encouraged and that our feet might be quickened in the path of faith and service.
So we ask thy help and blessing tonight. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen. Just to very quickly recap what we had the other evening. When some of us were together, we spoke a little bit concerning prayer. We spoke of nine different aspects of prayer. I won't go over them again for the sake of time, but we broke it down and showed how that prayer applies to every aspect of our lives.
Not only did we speak of nine different aspects of prayer, but we spoke of how it, as I say it, applies to every sphere of our lives. We spoke of it in the aspect of personal prayer. We spoke of prayer in connection with brotherly prayer, praying, being able to pray with our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who are our companions. We spoke of family prayer, Prayer In the family circle, we spoke a little bit of briefly of assembly prayer.
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And we spoke of instantaneous prayer, or prayer without ceasing. But what I'd like to do this evening is I'd like to continue on with the same theme of prayer, but in a little different aspect. We're going to take it up perhaps tonight under three different headings. We're going to speak, first of all, of answered prayer. We're going to speak secondly, of unanswered prayer. And we're going to then look at a New Testament example of a man of prayer.
Again, as we did the other evening, we're going to move very, very quickly. I'm going to give you some scriptures. We'll turn to a few of them, and we'll leave these for your further meditation. I might just say this too, in passing, that when we come to meetings like this, whether it's at camp or any meetings for Ministry of the Word, ministry is always to whet our appetites. We give a little outline of something, a few aspects of some passage or line of truth.
And hopefully our prayer is that you will go home and search these things out for yourselves, because with the Bereans they were more noble than those of Thessalonica. You know the Thessalonians were noble, but there were those who were more noble at a nearby city.
Because they didn't just listen to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. It says they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. What things? The things that the Apostle Paul was telling them in oral ministry. They went home and got out whatever little parts of the word of God they would have had available in their day. They wanted to make sure that what they heard was according to the word of God. And no doubt they wanted to search it out further for themselves. And so that's our prayer, that that which we've heard in these meetings.
During the past few days, we'll take home with us and search these things out further for our blessing and profit. As we speak of answered prayer, we're going to speak of three answers that we get when we pray. Let's go first of all to Psalm 37.
Psalm 37.
And verse four, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. And then I want to read a portion in Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 7.
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 7.
And verse 11.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? I think of another verse that says no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. And so the first answer to prayer, that we want to speak up tonight, is yes. You know, when we ask, and God sees that it's for our good and blessing, and according to his will he's going to answer.
That prayer, because as we find in these verses that we've read, he wants to do the very best for us. When it's when David said in the 37th Psalm, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart, He wasn't, didn't mean that He gives us everything we want in a natural way. That's not what this verse means. But what it means is when we find our delight in the Lord Jesus.
When we find our delight in himself, then his delights become our delights. You know this yourself if you have a friend or family member that you love very much and the feeling is mutual. As you go along with that person, you learn what delights them.
You learn what brings joy to their heart and their joys. Their delights become your delights. And so I believe that as we walk in communion in fellowship with God the Father and with the Lord Jesus, as we spoke of the other evening, His delights are going to become unconsciously our delights. And when we ask, we're going to ask for those things that he is going to delight to give us.
And can we doubt that he wants our blessing? That he wants to give us the very best? That's why I read in Matthew's Gospel, because there the Lord Jesus says if as earthly parents, we know how to give good gifts to our children.
00:10:13
How much more? Your Father, which is in heaven. I have to hang my head and confess that when my children were growing up, I didn't always discern what was good for them. Sometimes they asked me for things that I thought perhaps were good for them. But in retrospect, I had to admit that I probably shouldn't have granted that request. I shouldn't have said yes. And so, as earthly parents, we don't always discern what's best for our children.
But as I quoted this morning in The Breaking of bread, it says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. And so if he sees that it's for our best, if it's according to his will and delights his heart, then he's going to grant us the request. He's going to say yes. But now I'd like to look at another answer, and that is, we're going to read a verse in the 84th Psalm.
Psalm Psalm Psalm 84.
And verse 11.
I already quoted this first, but I'm going to quote read it again. For the Lord. God is a son and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. And so, as we well know and no doubt we've all experienced in our Christian prayer life, sometimes the Lord says no. Sometimes when we ask for something, the Lord comes in in a very definite way.
And doesn't answer our request. Now again, God always, if I can put it this way, God always answers our request.
Or God always answers our prayers, but it may not be in the way that we had hoped or anticipated. And so again, if it's for our good and blessing, and according to His will, he'll say yes, but if it's not according to His will, he's going to say no. And we need to be careful, and we'll develop this perhaps a little later. We need to be careful when we make a request that we don't. We don't beg the Lord for something that may not be according.
His will. You know God has a directive will for us in our lives, and His desire is that we would follow that will because He has set out for us a path in His living word. But you know, sometimes God allows things in His permissive will that are not according to His directive will. And if you beg the Lord for something in your Christian pathway, though it may not be according to His directive will.
He may allow it. I'll give you one example. The children of Israel wanted flesh. God gave them manna, and that manner was sufficient food to sustain them for the whole wilderness journey. It tasted good. It was provided fresh every day.
And it was packed full of all the vitamins and nutrition that they needed for the wilderness journey. But they begged for something else. And it was not according to God's mind, to give it to them. But it says in the 106th Psalm. It says he granted them their request but sent leanness into their soul. And there are other examples, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, where God granted something or allowed something.
But it was because of a low moral or spiritual state amongst the people of God. And when he granted it, there was always a loss in one way or another. There were always consequences that needed to be born. And so sometimes, as I say, the Lord says no. And if he says no, it is not, rest assured it is not for their good and our our good and blessing.
Again, with my children, sometimes I withheld something from them, sometimes I said no when they asked for something. Sometimes it was just because I was selfish. I didn't want to go to some extra expenditure of energy or expense and I said no, but.
I had to again confess later on that it would have been for their blessing. It would have been for their good and happiness if I had said yes. But when our father says no, he discerns perfectly. You know, he is the Father of Lights. Isn't that interesting? He's the Father of Lights. He discerns perfectly what is for our good and for our blessing. But now I want to turn to the hardest answer of all. There are many scriptures we could read. But let's just back up to the 27th.
00:15:26
Some.
Psalm 27 And the last verse. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. So we've spoken of how when we make requests, sometimes the Lord says yes, sometimes He says no. And if we're really walking with the Lord and desire His blessing in our lives, it's fairly easy to accept either one of those answers, even no.
But to me this is the hardest one of all. If my mother were able to be here tonight and you talked to her, she'd say I had a son that wanted everything. Yesterday I was. I'm a very impatient person by nature. I think it was. My mother commented one time that my name being James. Perhaps that's why in the book of James, seven times, at least in the King James Version, it speaks of patience. And we do have need of patience. At least I do. I'm an impulsive person.
When I ask for something, I want it right away, and sometimes I've had to learn in my Christian pathway.
That when I've asked the Lord for in prayer is the right thing but the wrong time. Sometimes I get ahead of the Lord. I guess that's why I like that verse that says thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, say, this is the way walking in it. When you turn to the right hand or to the left, the Lord wants us to follow him, but sometimes we get ahead of the Lord. He doesn't forsake us, but you know He wants us to stop and wait to hear His voice.
You know, sometimes when my girls were little, we'd go out for a walk and if we were in a town or city and they'd get ahead of me on the sidewalk and I knew they were coming to a corner where it was dangerous and there was a lot of traffic, I'd speak behind from behind them. I'd call ahead and say wait, stop at the light, wait for dad to come. You're coming to a busy intersection. And I always appreciate it when they heard that voice behind them, when they would stop, it was for their preservation.
It wasn't wrong that they were going to cross the street, but they got ahead of Maine.
And they needed to wait until I got there before they went across the street. And so when we pray about something, sometimes the Lord does say wait. Are we willing to wait on the Lord? You know, I've been impressed in going through the life of David and particularly reading the psalms that are headed A Psalm of David defined how many times David speaks of waiting on the Lord. I often picture David as a man who liked to get things done.
Maybe he was a bit impulsive, I don't know. But he was certainly a man who liked to have things in order and get things accomplished. And David had to learn like I've had to learn, at least in some measure, to wait on the Lord, you know, We see it beautifully too illustrated in his life. He was anointed as a young boy to be king over Israel. You know, he waited a long time for that. And there were a couple, at least of opportunities where he could have done Saul in and seized the Kingdom.
But he wouldn't do it. He knew God had a perfect timetable in his life, and God has a perfect timetable in your life and mine. And so this is, as I say, what we might call answered prayer. And again, God always answers our prayers. Sometimes he says yes, sometimes he says no, and sometimes he says wait a while. Now, having said that, I don't want to contradict myself by the next topic that I'm going to speak of.
But there are things I believe that hinder our prayers and so we're going to for the.
Sake of the English language and lack of a better expression, we're going to label the next section of our talk Unanswered Prayer. I know it sounds a bit like a contradiction, but we're going to label it in that way, and I think as we go along you'll understand what I mean.
We're going to notice seven things that hinder our prayers from being answered in the way we thought they would be or the way they should be. We're going to quickly look at quite a number of scriptures that will help to keep us awake and alert if we turn hit her and yawn in the word of God. Let's go. First of all, Doctor Matthew 7.
00:20:32
Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 7.
Ask and it shall be given you. And then I want to read a couple of verses in the book of James.
James Chapter One.
And verse 5.
If any of you lack wisdom, let a mask of God that giveth to all men, liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. And then just notice part of a verse in the 4th chapter.
Chapter 4.
And just the last part of verse two ye have not because ye ask not. Well, this is the first reason why we don't always see answers to prayer the way we should.
And it's simply because we don't ask. You know, there might be have been many things that my children were good for my children when they were growing up, but I didn't know because they didn't ask. Now don't misunderstand me. God our Father, of course, always knows our needs, even before we ask. And I might just say a word on that, because I believe that God often brings us to a point where we realize our need. We have no other resource.
And we get before him and ask. And as we're even asking, well, we're yet asking. He's got the answer right there. He just withholds us, holds it to bring us to that point. Because as I said the other evening, prayer doesn't necessarily change things. I'm not saying it doesn't always, but it doesn't necessarily change things. It changes me. It gives me the proper spirit and attitude to receive the answer that he has for me.
And so in these verses we read basically what he's saying. You don't have because you don't ask. Have we asked today? Have we asked for those things that we know are according to His will, or seek to discern or according to his will? Those things that are for our good and blessing. Those things that are for the good and blessing of the people of God. Those things that are according to His will as far as salvation, the salvation of souls?
Maybe a loved one or family member, someone at work or school that you've been working with and you say they just don't seem to get it. I'd like to see them saved. Well, have you asked again today? And so ye have not because he asked not. Do you lack wisdom in some situation?
Maybe you look back and you say there was a situation and I just I needed wisdom, I needed discernment. But it just wasn't there. Remember what we said about Nehemiah? He stood in the presence of the king. Very difficult situation. He could have lost his life. When the king asked him what he made requests for, why, he knew If he didn't answer wisely, he was in deep trouble. So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said unto the king.
And so, as we read here in James, if you lack wisdom, do you ever lack wisdom in a situation? I lack wisdom in a lot of situations. Maybe someone at work asks you something. Someone at school asks you to go somewhere, something that has to be wisely. You say, if I don't say the right thing, I'll lose my job, or I won't get my promotion or whatever it might be, and you just send up a swift little prayer. The Lord will come in and he'll grant you the request. He'll give you the wisdom.
Maybe it's only just, Lord, help me. You know, David, on one occasion in the Psalms express that Lord help me. I like that prayer. In fact, I knew a brother, and he had a little scripture motto right at his desk at work. It was just those two words. Lord, help.
I thought that was a good motto to have on his desk at work because he realized there were times when he didn't know what to do. He needed discernment from the Lord. And so if any man lack wisdom, let him ask Ye have not, because she asked not. And so he wants us to be specific in our request. You know, I believe that sometimes the reason we don't see the blessing in our lives and the answers to prayer, that we should.
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Is because we're not specific enough? Are you specific when you get into your closet and pray? Are we specific in the family circle as to those things that affect us as families? And if I can just say this too, when we come to the assembly, I realize we need to use discretion in our public assembly prayers. There are some things that are better saved for our closet. There's some things that are better saved for the family circle.
But if I can just suggest this, if we were more specific in our assembly prayers as to those needs that are known to the assembly, I believe we would see more answers to prayer in the in the assembly that there would be more blessing. Again, we need to use discernment, but I suggest if we would pray for one another name by name and need by need in the assembly.
It wouldn't tear us apart. It would draw us closer together as we heard and felt expressed on the hearts of one and another, those burdens and those cares. I believe it would touch us. And as I say, it would draw us closer together and we would see more answers to our prayers. Don't get me wrong, it's good to pray for the gospel worldwide. It's good to embrace the whole household of faith. But you know, brethren, sometimes when I visit an assembly, I wonder, is there no specific need in this assembly?
Are there no individuals that are known to the assembly as to some specific problem or difficulty? Why is it we're so general in our assembly prayers? And again, this is a little aside, but I'll just say this too, you know, I believe it's a chronic problem amongst brethren today.
That we don't at the end of our brethren's prayers, say audible and hearty amens. You know, I believe if we would do that, there would be more blessing as well. You know, it tells us in First Corinthians 14, where you have collective assembly, prayer taken up that were to say Amen at the giving of thanks. The brother who prays praise on behalf of the assembly, he's the voice of the assembly, the mouthpiece of the assembly.
And it is proper to say an audible Amen. And if I can just say this to a few of us who are a little older, I believe there's nothing more discouraging for a young brother when he prays in the assembly than dead silence or a few half hearted amens at the end of his prayer. Have we heard the prayer? Have we agreed with it? Let's together audibly and heartily say Amen. I would just say that in connection in regard to that.
That when you pray, you need to pray so your brethren can hear you. I know some of us have voices that carry better than others, and some of us have less problems speaking up, but we can all lift our heads out of our chairs. We can all learn to speak up a little and enunciate our words. You know, when a brother prays and I don't hear his prayer, I might say Amen and confidence knowing the brother, but I can't say it intelligently. Give you a little another little example too, to encourage us in this regard.
When Ezra prayed in the Old Testament, it says on all the people said Amen. You know, I've talked about this many times in meetings like this, and then when I pray at the end of the meeting, there's dead silence. I've almost said I'm going to try that again, but let's be exercised to together say Amen at the end of our brethren's prayers. And so we need to learn in every sphere of our lives, whether it's in our closets, in the family or collectively in the assembly. We need to learn.
To ask, and to be specific in our requests, let's read another verse in the book of James.
This time back in Chapter One.
James, chapter one and verse 6. But let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Well, sometimes we don't ask, but sometimes we ask. But we don't ask in faith. We need to learn to ask in faith. I mentioned the other evening that often we read the stories of men and women and young people in the past who.
Went out in the Lord's work in one way or another, whether it was missionaries to foreign countries, whether it was George Mueller who took care of hundreds and hundreds of orphans. And we shake our heads and say marvelous answers to prayer. What answers why George Mueller? He'd set these tables of orphans down to a meal. There was nothing to eat. He'd pray. And the the knock came at the back door and the food was there already, provided you say tremendous.
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Answers to prayer. But he prayed in faith and we need to learn to pray in faith. When we ask, you know there's nothing more disheartening to an earthly father when a child comes and asks for something, and it may be something that's very good, but they come with fear and trembling, they really don't come in faith. We would like our children to have confidence in us as earthly parents that we're going to answer their requests if it's for their good and and blessing.
And our father wants us to come, and he wants us to ask in faith. And so let's learn to ask in faith. Nothing wavering. Let's go on now. Again, we're going to have to move very quickly, but let's go to John's Gospel, Chapter 15.
For the Third Point, John's Gospel, chapter 15.
And verse 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. And then I want to read a couple of verses in first John.
First John Chapter 3.
And verse 22.
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing.
In his sight and then notice one more portion in the 5th chapter and verse 14.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. Well, I know we've alluded to this a couple of times in these talks, but I want to stress it for a moment. The Third Point I want to make as to why we don't always see the answers to prayer that we expected is because we don't ask according to his will. How are we going to ask according to His will? It's only by abiding in him.
You know, when I married my wife, I thought I knew what pleased her. But after 28 years, I find that I really didn't know what pleased her at all. I've learned over those years as we've gone on together in marriage, what pleases her. And now, when we make requests and talk together amongst ourselves, sometimes we don't even have to express those requests audibly. Sometimes it's just a little facial expression. A little.
Movement of the hand or something?
And I know what my wife desires. I know what will please her. And so again, if we're going on with the Lord, and finding our delight in Him, as we mentioned earlier, we're going to ask for those things that please and delight Him. And so it says, we didn't read it, but back in the 37th Psalm. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass again. It may not always be to pass in the way we had hoped or thought.
But if we are willing to leave it in His hand, and we ask according to his will, it's going to be in the way that is the very best for us. And again, that's why we need to pray in the way the Lord Jesus prayed. Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.
Now I want to go back to the book of James to the 4th chapter for the 4th point.
James, Chapter 4.
Verse 3. Eoskin receive not because Yeaska miss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Sometimes when we ask, it's just for a selfish motive. It's just to get something for ourselves, something perhaps to gratify the flesh or to gratify self. And if that's true, then the Lord isn't going to grant the request because, again, he wants the very best for us.
Again, I suppose as earthly fathers, sometimes we've seen that in our children.
You know, I've been in homes where a child asked for something and the father didn't grant the request. And I thought perhaps it was that the father should have. But then I've had to realize he knows his child best. He knows the motive of that child. He knows the heart of that child better than I do, who are just visiting in that home. And he no doubt discerns that perhaps it was just for a selfish motive, something that they want it so that they could consume it on their lust.
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Now the.
US fifth point I want to make and read a verse in the 66th Psalm.
Psalm 66 and verse 18.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now I suppose the Lord always hears us. The Lord knows everything, and, you know, just say in that regard. When we pray, we don't have to utter one word aloud. How often have we prayed in our hearts? No doubt during this meeting there have been those of you who have prayed in your heart concerning something, and so we don't have to say anything aloud. He always hears us.
But it's interesting how the spirit of God puts it here so that we can understand very clearly that here's another thing that hinders our prayers and that is unjust sin in our lives. And maybe there's something you're praying about in your life and you say the Lord just doesn't seem to hear me. The Lord just doesn't seem to come in and answer my prayer. Well, get before the Lord. Maybe there's something you've been allowing in your life.
That is not judged, because when we have unjudged sin in our lives, it breaks that communion and fellowship that we spoke of the other day in connection with prayer and speaking to the Lord. And again, that's why we have an advocate with the Father, and as our advocate, He's praying for us that we might be restored. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Let's look now at the Six Point Proverbs chapter 8.
Proverbs, Chapter 8.
And verse 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my door. And then I'm going to read a verse in Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. The 6th point I want to make is sometimes we don't get the answers to prayer. We should because we're not watching. We miss the answer you ever have, someone you were expecting to come to the door or phone?
And their call was important, their visit was important, but perhaps you slipped up just for a few moments and you weren't watching or listening for that knock at the door or the telephone to ring. And afterwards you said, oh, I wish I hadn't missed the person when they had called or come to the door. And so we often find, for a number of reasons, watching, involved in prayer. They're very, very closely connected.
I suppose, again, one reason we have watching is because we need, as we've just said, to watch and keep those things out of our lives. That would hinder our answers to prayer. But we also need to watch for the answer, for the answers. You know, my wife tells me that when she was growing up, she and her sisters used to swing on the garden gate in the late afternoon because they were watching for their father to come home from work.
They wanted to be there to greet him when he came and they didn't want to miss him coming home.
Are we watching for answers to prayer when the Lord comes into our lives? Do we miss the answer that we should have got because we weren't watching just say 2 before we pass on in connection with the verse? I read in the 6th chapter of Ephesians that we have this at the end of the His listing. The pieces of the armor, the armor, the Christian armor is really various aspects of Christ.
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Taken up and utilized to meet the enemy, the Wiles of the devil, prayer is not part of the armor. It is the spirit and attitude in which we take up the armor and effectively use it to meet the Wiles of the devil. Because as we said the other evening, prayer is the powerhouse of our Christian lives. In fact, the more prayer, the more blessing there's going to be now the last the 7th point.
And that's in Colossians chapter 4.
Colossians chapter 4 and verse two continue in prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving. I believe sometimes we don't see the answers to prayer we should because we give up too easily. We don't learn we haven't learned to continue in prayer. Now again, we never want to beg the Lord for something that's not according to his mind.
But when we have scripture for it, do we give up? Do we pray for something a time or two and then move on? Let me give you an example of something you shouldn't give up praying about. Maybe you're praying for the salvation of a loved one. Don't give up because you have scripture for that.
You know it's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Maybe you haven't seen the salvation of that loved one yet because you haven't continued in prayer.
Maybe you're praying for the restoration of someone. Someone you know is the Lord's, but they've got away from the Lord.
He delights to restore our souls, don't give up praying. And so there are many things that we need to continue in prayer, Epifras and Colossi. If we had time to read of him. It's a beautiful example of a man, I believe, who it says he labored in prayer. Do we know what it is to labor in prayer? I don't mean just to mention something in passing, but to really get before the Lord and labor in prayer.
And again, even in the assembly, you know, sometimes I notice we pray about something, a time or two, a week or two, and then we move on to something else. And we never see the answer to prayer. We never see real blessing because we didn't continue. It says of the Saints who were praying for Peter in the 12Th chapter of Acts. Prayer was made for him by the church without ceasing. I don't think they just came together on their regular prayer meeting night to pray for, cease for the deliverance of.
Peter I picture those Saints having special prayer meetings and coming together night after night and God honored their exercise. They didn't have much faith, but God honored the exercise of the assembly and delivered Peter. Now I very quickly now want to go to the book of Luke and notice a beautiful New Testament example of prayer. Before I say anything further, let's go to Luke's Gospel Chapter 3.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 3 and verse 21. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased. We're going to look, of course, at the example of the Lord Jesus.
And I would just say in Luke's gospel we have 7 times that the Lord Jesus as the perfect dependent man is in prayer because dependence is the essence of a perfect man and the Lord Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his steps. And one of those examples is the example of prayer. He was the Son of God. He was a perfect man, and in Luke's gospel as he's presented as the perfect man.
He's in prayer. 7 * 7 is the perfect number, of course. Now just qualify what I'm saying by saying this. The what you have in Luke is not an exhaustive list of times the Lord prayed. There are times in the other gospels you have him praying that you don't have in Luke's Gospel. But nevertheless in Luke you have this series of times that I believe is very instructive. This is the first time at the beginning of his public ministry.
He comes to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was baptizing a little remnant in Israel.
Who were coming, confessing their sins, and coming to John for the baptism of repentance? Did the Lord have any sins he needed to confess or repent of? Far be the thought he was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But as a man, as a godly Jew, he identified in the waters of baptism with this little remnant in Israel. Because baptism always identifies us, I'll just mention a couple of things very quickly in connection with this incident.
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Because we find here that it's the only gospel I know. In Matthew and Mark you have the same incident, but it's the only gospel where this incident is mentioned that we find the Lord Jesus praying in keeping with the character of what we have here. I think of this too in connection with what it says in the 5th of Hebrews. It says in the days of his flesh when he had offered up his prayers with his prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears.
That's what we have in Luke's gospel. The Lord Jesus in prayer. Again as the as the perfect man. What do we learn practically from this to apply to our hearts as that perfect example? Will I suggest that in the measure in which we are independence and prayer before God, we enter into the fullness of the place that we have through grace? Now it's interesting here that when the Lord Jesus prayed, heaven opened.
Opened because the Lord Jesus prayed for us. We pray because heaven is open. The Lord Jesus is back at the right hand of God, interceding for us. The heavens are opened for us now, and we can come freely to the throne of grace and pray just in passing. 2 There are three remarkable things that took place here as the Lord Jesus prayed when he came up out of the waters of baptism. You find that the sun had become tangible. The Lord Jesus was here bodily. A bodily has a body. As thou prepared me, handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me have he said. In resurrection the Lord was here tangibly.
The sun was tangible. We find that the Spirit of God momentarily becomes visible.
In the bodily form of a dove to mark him out, lest there be any doubt in the minds of those who looked on, that he was the anointed of the Lord. A chapter two later he read in the Old Testament that prophecy, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and so on. The sun was tangible, the Spirit of God visible, and the Father was audible. Now let's go on to the next incident. It's in the 5th chapter.
Chapter 5 and verse 16.
And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. Now I want to comment on this second time very, very carefully. I believe what we learned here for us is the need for prayer in the midst of our service for Christ, as we have been reminded that every one of us have a service and a ministry for Christ.
Samuel ministered to the Lord as a young boy. There are so many in scripture at various ages, from the very early days of their youth to old age, who had ministry and service for the Lord and the Lord. Jesus had begun in these chapters his public ministry.
And three times prior to this, including the verse Just previous to the verse, we read the 5th chapter and the 15th verse. It says that his fame went out abroad as his public ministry and service began. And now again, I want to say this very carefully, but I believe the lesson we learned for us is the need for prayer as a safeguard against pride in our ministry. Was there any pride in the Lord Jesus?
Of course not. But again, he's left us an example that we should follow in his steps and in the midst of his busy service.
He stops and he gets alone with his God, because we cannot be alone with God.
Truly conscious of His presence and retain any element of pride in our hearts. That's the safeguard, and I want to encourage every one of us. Whatever little ministry and service the Lord has given us, make sure we get a loan with the Lord during that service. Have a place where you can slip away.
And spend time in His presence in prayer. It's a safeguard for our against pride and again, it is the power that's needed for our ministry. Now let's go on to the 6th chapter.
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And verse 12. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer. You know, a mountain in Scripture speaks of a place of separation.
And the Lord Jesus often separated from those around him in separation to God his Father, and spent time in prayer. There are a number of instances. In Matthew 14 he went up on the mountain alone to pray. We need to walk through this world in the path of separation so that we can comfortably spend those times alone in prayer with the Lord Jesus. But one quick practical lesson I believe we learned from this is.
That we need to spend much time in prayer in connection with those that we associate with in our Christian pathway.
The Lord Jesus was about to choose the 12 That were going to be closest to Him, and during his public ministry, did he know who he was going to choose? Of course he did. But as an example for you and me, He spends all night in prayer showing the need for prayer in these decisions, whether it's in connection with our business associates when connection with our friends and companions.
Our our closest companion in life, A spouse.
Whether it's in connection with those, but the group of believers we find ourselves in fellowship with, we need to spend much time in prayer, and as we said earlier, we need to continue in prayer. Now let's go over to the 9th chapter.
Chapter 9 and verse 18.
And it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, whom, say the people that I am? And we know the story. Peter gives that wonderful confession. What we find here. It says, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with them. You know, I find that a very interesting expression. Have you ever been alone in a crowd? You ever been with others? And you felt alone? You know, sometimes I believe the Lord Jesus felt that way.
And here he was, surrounded by those who had been chosen to be closest to him in his public ministry. And yet, even in the midst of his disciples, I believe sometimes the Lord Jesus felt alone, alone in his exercise before God. They didn't always understand what he was doing and what he was saying, but there was one that he could always commune with. And maybe you feel alone in a crowd sometimes. Maybe you feel somebody. People don't understand me, even my family, and those are my closest friends. They don't always understand me. I can't always turn to them.
With my problems and difficulties and unburden my heart, but there's one that you can.
And so the Lord Jesus was alone, praying His disciples were with them. And then he asked them this question. I believe that testimony and acknowledging his claims and understanding who he is will only come in the measure in which we spend time in prayer. You want to really know the person of Christ. You want to really want to understand who he is, you must spend time alone in His presence. Now notice the fifth one. It's in the same chapter.
Verse 28 And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings. He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And again, we know the story here on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is again the only gospel where you have this incident that it is mentioned that he is praying. And I believe the practical lesson we learned from this is that the power to represent the Lord Jesus here comes from being.
Alone in His presence in prayer, because in the measure in which you spend time in the presence of the Lord Jesus in prayer.
And fellowship with himself you will reflect something of Christ in your lives.
It tells. It tells us in. I think it's Second Corinthians chapter 3.
We all with open face, beholding us in a glass. The glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
And the measure in which you're in his presence and occupied with the man in the glory, there will be a reflection of Christ in our lives. It's what it is referred to in Romans chapter 12 verse 2, where it says be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If you want that transformation, you want others to see Christ in your life, you must spend time in His presence alone in prayer. Now let's go over to the 11Th chapter.
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Chapter 11 And verse one. And it came to pass that he was as he was praying in a certain place. When he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Well. Here we find the Lord Jesus praying, and he was praying in a certain place. Again, I want to encourage you to have a place for private prayer somewhere where you can just slip away.
You're alone with the Lord, you're not going to be disturbed, and somewhere where you know when you're in that place, you're there.
For the specific purpose of prayer, the Lord had a certain place where He prayed, and as He prayed, it encouraged the disciples as to prayer. You know, those who I know as prayer warriors who or who spend much time in prayer, They've been a tremendous blessing to me.
I've seen the results of prayer in their lives. It has encouraged me to learn to pray more and so they say to the to the Lord Jesus teach us to pray. If we were to go on we would find He gives them what we sometimes refer to as the Lord's Prayer. It's probably better referred to as the Disciples prayer. The Lord's Prayer is really what we have in the 17th chapter of John where the Lord Jesus at the end of his public ministry just before he went to the cross.
Lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed, but he gives them. If I can make this suggestion a pattern prayer, it's not so much here what what they pray, but how to pray. It's not just reciting words. I was thankful when I went to school that they still recited. We still recited this every morning at our desk before we went to our classes. I was just thankful for any recognition there was of God and the scriptures.
But it's not so much how what to pray, but it's how to pray. And if we had time, we could go through, give us this day Our Daily Bread, Wonderful to look to him every day for that provision and when He provides it, to thank Him. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. Well. We don't look for the Kingdom in that way, but we're to love His appearing. It is part of our hope, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing to address him with with reverence.
To not ask for the forgiveness of sins in Christianity, but as we've been saying to confess our sins and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to pray that we'll be kept from temptation and delivered from evil. And so it's not reciting these words as vain repetition, but it's a little pattern that He was giving the disciples as to those things that would be were necessary in their daily daily prayer life. But just say before we go on to the last one too.
That I think it's important to realize that the Lord Jesus never prayed with the disciples.
He was alone praying on a number of occasions. He never prayed with the disciples and he never solicited their prayers. He prayed for the disciples, but he never asked them to pray for him. He always remained distinct as the dependent man. He was still God and he was deity. Now the last one has been referred to a couple of times this week and but I just want to read it again in the 22nd chapter.
It says in verse 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. Just mention one little thing in passing about this his being removed from the stones cast often wondered why the spirit of God measured the distance in this way. You know, the Jewish way of execution was stoning. They picked often they picked up stones and cast it.
At those who rebelled and those that under the law needed to be put to death. But the Lord Jesus was not going to be put to death in that way. He was removed from the mastones cast because he was on his way to the cross to be put to death by the Roman way of execution, as it had been foretold so many times in the Old Testament. And we find us the most, the, the deepest hour of his trial of his life here approach.
Again, he kneels in prayer to his Father, but he prays in this spirit nevertheless. Not my will but thine be done. And so we need to always remember this as the perfect example. And if I can just say this in conclusion, if the Lord Jesus as the perfect man, felt the need for prayer and dependence in his life, here, how much more you and me? Well, we've taken up this subject in these two nights together.
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In a very, very quick and brief way. But again, I trust you'll go back over these things, meditate on them, and remember, if you want blessing and power and fruit in your Christian pathway, we must be men and women of of prayer. The moments coming when we're not going to need prayer anymore, we're going to be safe home. But until that time, this wonderful resource has been provided to every believer on the face of the earth.
Let's pray our God and Father. We are indeed thankful tonight for these scriptures that we have looked at, albeit so very briefly. We are thankful for the perfect example of the Lord Jesus himself. And now we are thankful, as we look back over these days at camp for all that has been before us from my living word, the encouragement, the fellowship, the times we've had of activities and fun. We pray for the children who've been here, the young people, those who are raising families, those of us who are a little older.
We thank thee for these happy days together, heaven on earth, and we look forward to that day when we're all going to be together.
In the Father's house. And now we pray again for safety for those who are traveling, for those of us who will be traveling, we pray for much blessing. We know this of Thy mercies. We're not consumed. We ask things, these things. We commit ourselves to Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.