Montreal Conference: 1965
Table of Contents
Open Mtg.
Eyes
Prophecy
Prophecy - 2nd Address
Prophecy - 3rd Address
The Blessing of Christ in the Midst
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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.
The 19th chapter of the Gospel of John.
Beginning at the 38th.
And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate.
That he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an 100 LB weight. And they took the body of Jesus, and wounded in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre. Forin was never man yet laid.
There lay they Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews preparation day for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre.
And we know not where they have laid him.
Just pass on to the 11TH verse. But Mary stood without it, the sepulchre weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth 2 angels in white sitting, and the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou?
She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 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 seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Surest thou have borne him hence?
Now 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, Rabboni. Which is to say, Master Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God.
Mary Magdalene came.
And told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Then the same day, at evening being the first day of the week, where the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord on the 24th verse.
But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hand the hands, the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after 8 days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said.
Peace be unto you.
From my thought, brethren, in reading these few verses.
Is to show how the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the means of blessing and of drawing out the hearts of these different ones. And I believe it's so important for us too to be occupied with the Lord Jesus in all that he has done for us. And I believe this is the secret of growth and progress in the soul.
We find in these different ones brought before us Joseph of Arimathea.
Nicodemus, those women that prepared the spices and the ointments.
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Peter and John, the other disciples, Mary Magdalene, we can see that in each one of these. It wasn't a rebuke to them as I drew out their hearts or that caused them to grow in their souls. It was learning more about the Lord Jesus. It was occupation with him. And I believe that's so important for us brethren, for as our brother remarked in.
His little talk to the young people. What was it that? What was it that caused a Theophilus, as far as we could see, to make progress? Why it was occupation with the Lord. And what is it that will cause us to grow in our souls? We may be all at different stages in our Christian progress. There was the condition of Nicodemus.
And of Joseph of Arimathea. And then there was the condition.
Peter and John, there was the condition of Thomas. They were all different and were all different. We have made different, different measures of progress. We're at a different place in the family of God. But all the Spirit of God this afternoon would occupy us with the Lord Jesus. And so here we read of Joseph of Arimathea. Up to this time he had been a secret disciple.
There had apparently been no real courage in his life to take a stand for the Lord, to identify himself with the Lord. Is there someone here like that? Perhaps there's some dear young Christian, or some older 1 And in your heart you love the Lord Jesus. You're a secret disciple of his, you belong to him, but you've never really.
Identified yourself with him openly.
You've never taken a stand. Why might stand here and give you an exhortation that you ought to do this? But I believe it wasn't because someone told Joseph of Arimathea that he ought to come out and make a public stand. But all he saw that cross, he heard that cry, It is finished. He saw what the Lord Jesus had suffered at the hands of man.
And this caused.
Him to truly learn what separation was from the world. And Joseph of Arimathea, that secret disciple, comes forward and openly, in the presence of all those who had rejected and cried away with the Savior, he comes and reverently and lovingly takes that body down from the cross.
And buries it. What was it that produced the change in the heart?
Of Joseph Baromethea Why? It was occupation with the Lord Jesus. He was occupied with him and his death, and that caused a mighty change in his life. True, he was a believer before, but there was a lack of open confession. There was a lack of being truly identified with the Lord. There was a lack of separation.
And.
This was what caused the change. And all this afternoon I would like to point your heart and mind to that precious Savior. Have we heard that cry? It is finished. Have we seen the attitude of this world toward the One we love the most? Oh, doesn't it? Doesn't it make us want to be separated unto Him?
Our brother read to us in Galatians where it says, 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. And Nicodemus, He too had been a secret disciple. He'd first come to Jesus by night. He had in a kind of a way.
Taken a measurable stand in the council in favor of the Lord.
Garden. But he'd never really come out for the Lord. But here we find this same mighty change takes place with him, and he brings this mixture of myrrh and owls about an 100 LB weight. And here he identifies himself with the Lord. He was no longer a secret disciple, but he was one who comes openly.
And identifies himself with that precious savior in death.
What was it that brought the change? I say why it was that he too had his heart's affections drawn out through the death of the Lord Jesus, through that precious Savior who there cried. It is finished.
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And then there were others too. Here it says here.
And.
It says.
There in the 42nd verse there laid they Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews, preparation day for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
And then we have Mary Magdalene. It tells us that she came out early in the morning.
Unto the sepulchre, while it was yet dark.
What was it that caused her to get up so early this morning? Why was it that she couldn't sleep that night as an ordinarily which she perhaps would?
All her Lord, the one she loved the most, had been rejected and crucified. He had been put to death. And now we find her heart stirred and she comes out early in the morning. She didn't know very much.
She knew more, perhaps, than Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus.
Here she comes now early in the morning. I say it wasn't a great deal of knowledge, but it was attachment of heart to Christ. Is there attachment of heart with you and I to Christ?
Is this true in our lives? Oh, I feel that we don't lack knowledge. I think most of us in this room have quite a knowledge of the things of God.
Probably much more than Mary Magdalene had. But do we have attachment of heart to Christ?
That was what drew her. And so she comes out with her little bit of knowledge, but with great attachment apart, and she comes to the sepulchre and it's empty. It's empty till she runs.
And tells Peter and John why the Lord's sepulchre is empty. What was it that caused her to have all this special energy to get up early to run and tell Peter and John all the ones she loved the most had been taken away, she knew not where.
Well, then, Peter and John, their hearts are stirred too. It says as yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. But they had been sort of, shall I say, delinquent. They had apparently not.
Stirred themselves to come out to that sepulchre like Mary had. But when they heard that the Lord Jesus sepulchre was empty, then they come forth and they run to the sepulchre. They want to see what has happened all here again we see the drawing power of that love that drew them to that place where the Lord Jesus had been buried.
And it tells us how.
So it says in the sixth verse. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Yes, they came now and they saw, but still there wasn't with them.
The full result that there should have been.
And we may hear these things, we may have our hearts in a measure moved, we may have a desire increased in our souls to follow the Lord. But the Lord was going to lead them on farther still. He was going to lead them to the point where they would desire to be together with His own, and where He could stand in their midst and make Himself known to them. But at least we can say there was a measure of progress here and isn't.
Lovely to see that growth, that measure of progress. President, we ought to look for this in our brethren. I've often thought of what it says about Samson. It says the Spirit of God began to move him and what we love to see.
As parents, when the Spirit of God begins to move our children, don't we love to see when the Spirit of God begins to work in the hearts of His people? Perhaps we expect too much all at once. Here we see energy. And then it seemed to die down and they went back to their homes. But the Lord wasn't through with them. He was to lead them on further still. And we may see little surges of energy. And then it seems to.
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Die down again.
Seems to lose its freshness. But here we find that the Lord dealing with these ones is leading them on. And he's seeking to lead us on. Brethren, as we often sing the little hymn, Lead on. Almighty Lord, lead on to victory. What is He leading us on to?
Fuller knowledge of Himself, till we all come in the unity of the faith, unto the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and the heart of the Lord. Jesus will not be satisfied until every one of His own is supremely blessed.
When is our brother read to us? He'll be able to joy over us with singing.
And when our hearts will respond as they should to His love.
While there was deeper devotion with Mary Magdalene, and when the others went away, Mary Magdalene stayed there. It says about the disciples. As yet they knew not the Scriptures that he should rise from the dead. Often our lack of progress is an ignorance of the Scripture, and so how important it is that we read the Word of God day by day.
How important it is?
That we watch, that we do not neglect.
The reading of the word Let each one of us be more diligent in this.
So they hadn't known that he would rise.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. Well, she didn't know that the Lord was going to rise, neither did the disciples. But Mary had deep devotion of heart, and that was rewarded. And if there is with us a desire to learn more of the Lord, He will lead us on. He will teach us more of Himself.
If there's a heart here this afternoon that is saying, Oh, I want to follow the Lord, but I'm not sure of my path. I'm not sure what He would have me do. Why? If there is that desire in the heart, He will lead you. He will. It says If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Well, while she was weeping.
These angels in the sepulchre.
They said woman, why we bestow.
She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Oh, she didn't know a great deal, but she wanted the company of the Lord Jesus, and he wanted her company. Do you and I want the company of the Lord Jesus? He wants our company. He wants that He's going to have our company forever in the glory, and He wants it now.
Well, it tells us then.
The 24 and the 14th verse. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Oh, I think this is so sweet here. Sometimes we may feel discouraged. We may feel that our desires after Him are unnoticed and frustrated and disappointed.
The Lord is standing dear. The Lord is standing near.
We may not recognize him, we may not know that even in that which brings tears to our eyes, he's standing, watching. And so he called her.
And he said, Woman, why weepest thou?
And she supposed the Lord to be the gardener? I'd just like to pass down a little thought about this. She supposed the Lord to be the gardener. I think sometimes we can suppose the Lord to be the gardener too.
That is, we can sort of have this thought in our minds that because he saved us, he's going to make this world such a pleasant place, just like a great garden for us.
But in the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, but there was also a sepulchre.
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And this world, with all its beauty and with all its attraction, is a place with a sepulchre. And if we think the Lord is going to be the gardener and just make everything smooth and nice for us in this life, we may, we may have to come to realize that this is not so. He wasn't the gardener, but he had something better for her. He had something better.
The gardener could have made the place look all so beautiful and nice around there, but the one that she wanted was absent. Supposing it was made beautiful without a satisfied her heart? No, indeed not. And if the Lord should straighten out all the problems of our life and remove all the difficulties that perplex us, would that satisfy our hearts? No, brethren, it wouldn't. It wouldn't. It's himself alone.
That can satisfy our hearts.
And he turned. He wasn't the gardener, he said. Mary, Mary.
Oh, she turned, and she recognized at once who he was. Yes, it was the Lord Jesus. He wasn't the gardener. And what does he do? Always, Says Mary. He's a better place up there.
There's a relationship for you up there. This world has been spoiled for you now I know, and I haven't come to restore it and to make everything beautiful for you down here.
But he said, I ascend unto my Father, and your father, and to my God, and your God.
How her devotedness was rewarded, How her sorrowing heart was comforted. Why? Was it because she wanted the company of the Lord Jesus? That's why. And if your heart and mind is longing after a better knowledge of the Lord Jesus, He will surely make himself known to us, brethren. He will surely lead us on. But He may not correct.
All the troubles and burdens that are on our hearts.
He did not remove all the troubles of earth for Mary, and He doesn't remove all the troubles of earth for us, but He does point our hearts heavenward.
I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. It was a happy thing for Mary to find out that he wasn't the gardener, but he was the one who had said, I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And so here.
When he says unto my Father, my God.
I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. She was to enjoy a new relationship, and she was to know God is her God. Oh, how precious this was. So she was led on too, in occupation with the Lord. Her soul was led on. Then what did she do?
Why? She went to the disciples. She haunted them up.
And what was the impact, what was the result of this progress that had taken place in her soul? The result was an outflow of blessing to others.
The disciples had gone away to their own home. The rest of them hadn't been enough concern to be there at the sepulchre at all. But Mary goes, and she hunts them up.
And she says I've got a little message for you.
She didn't go out preaching, that wouldn't be the sister's place, but she did go with a little personal message to them. And she said, the Lord's risen, and here's what he said to them. I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. What was the result of a heart full of Christ?
Not much knowledge, but much more than she had when she first came to the sepulchre. But what was the result of a heart full of Christ?
Why that evening?
Ten of the recycles were together.
It says here, then the same day, at evening being the first day of the deceased, the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst.
Yes, her word, I believe, were used to encourage these disciples.
And ten of them came together where they disappointed.
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Oh no, they came together for fear of the Jews with sad hearts, but they came together. They came together. Sometimes we come together with heavy hearts too. Sometimes the meetings may not be all that we would like them to be. There may be trials even in the meetings where the Lord is in the midst.
But isn't this lovely? The Lord Jesus came, and he stood in the midst and said.
Peace be unto you. Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shone unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord? And I say again, for this is the point that I particularly want to press home, Was it because they were told they ought to be at the meeting? No, it's because there had been a little testimony for Christ that made them want to be there.
And when they were there.
Then the Lord made Himself known to them, and they learned a little more of Himself by being there. Yes, it was Himself that drew out their hearts, and there was progress. They knew not the Scripture that He would rise from the dead, but now they knew He was risen, and more they knew that He had said, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God.
How lovely it is to see this growth, this progress as the result of occupation with the Lord.
But then more there was one that was missing.
I said there were 10 because Thomas wasn't there.
Thomas deserved a good scolding, you say. Should have been there. Why wouldn't he have been there? Oh, he was doubting.
There wasn't much excuse for it. Perhaps he was doubting. So what did the other disciples do? Well, they followed the same pattern, the same thing that had drawn out the heart of Joseph Baromethea and Nicodemus and Mary Magdalene and the two disciples and then the rest of them. The same thing that had wrought upon their hearts.
Would work upon the heart of one who was absent from the meeting.
The same thing. And so the disciples go, and they say Thomas.
You should have been of meaning. No, they didn't, they said. Thomas. We have seen the Lord. We have seen the Lord. That was enough.
What brought Thomas there? Was it his brethren? No. He wanted to see the Lord. He wanted to see the Lord. And brethren, that's what our hearts need. We need more occupation with himself. We may have to, and we do have to confess how little we know. We have to confess that often we have tears of sorrow and disappointments and frustrations in life.
But always in this precious occupation with him.
Leads to growth in the soul, leads to more courage to confess him, leads to more knowledge of His word, and draws us back when we've been away. So the next time they're together, Thomas is there. And the Lord welcomes Thomas. He singles him out among the rest and speaks to Thomas.
And says reach hit of thy hand and trusted into my side.
And so on. The Lord singles him out and is there one of us that have grown cold and we need to be restored, we need to be brought back? Isn't it lovely to think that if you do come back, the Lord will especially notice you all? You say, well, the others have been there all the time. I'm the one that's been careless. Why should he specially notice me? Well, he does.
And he specially noticed promise.
And if there's one little bit of movement in our hearts toward himself, cold and careless, as though we may have been the Lord. Especially noticing that right now and when we return to our little meeting at home.
When we return to the assembly where we've come from, the Lord is going to notice. He's going to take knowledge of any little desire in their in our hearts to live to please him. Or may He grant that occupation with himself in his sufferings and his death and his resurrection in his ascension may lead to progress.
And growth. And that our lives might be made a blessing to others.
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As Mary was, and as the disciples were made to town.
The Word of God not Bound
Can Man be Just with God
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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.
Would you turn with me tonight to job the 9th chapter?
Job Chapter 9 Then Job answered and said, I know it is so out of truth, but how should man be just with God if he contend with him? He cannot answer him one of 1000 He is wise in heart.
Remind me in strength pardon himself again.
Comfort.
And they know not, but you will return us them, and linger which taketh earth out of, and the pillars thereof.
What's command sun rises not and feel about the stars.
Which alone spread about the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh arduous Orion and Platies, and the chambers of the South. Which doeth great things past finding out. Yeah, and wonders without number. Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not. He passeth on also, and I perceive him not.
Behold, he taketh away. Who can hinder him?
Who can, Who will say unto him, What doest thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. How much less shall I answer Him, and choose out my words to reason with Him whom I were righteous? Yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my Judge.
If I had called and He had answered me, yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice?
But he breaketh me with the campus, and multiplieth my wounds without 'cause he will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. If I speak of strength, he is strong. And if of judgment, who will set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own heart shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul, I would despise my life. There is one thing, therefore I said it. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slays suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked. He covereth the face of the judges thereof. If not, where and who is he?
Now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away, they see no good. They were passed away as the ship. They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself. I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. If I be wicked, why then labor I in vain?
If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean.
Yet yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any days, man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me.
And let not his fear terrify me, then will I? Would I speak and not fear him? But it is not so with me.
And just one passage in First Timothy chapter 2.
First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
Well, the book of Job is full of deep interest to us, and I think it is especially interesting because it shows us God's interest in the individual. We're living in days when people are grouped together. We're living in days when individuality is perhaps being lost. But I want to tell you, dear friends, that you are an individual before God.
That He has given you life and breath and all things.
And that you have to deal with him. And above all things, the most glad and joyous message that God loves you. That He's looking down upon you sitting in this seat in this room tonight. And he knows all your history. He knows everything you have said and done thought. He knows every sickness in your life. He knows what your friends have said about you. He knows everything.
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And yet, knowing all that, He loves you, and He not only wants to pardon your sins, but He wants to have you as a companion there in that bright glory. He wants to bless you far beyond your highest thoughts or expectations. And at great cost to himself, He has devised means that this might be so.
And so I would beg of you tonight not to be indifferent and callous as I seek to present to you that precious savior, but that you would realize that it's a message for you.
When the Lord Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, his wife sent a message to him and said, Have thou nothing to do with that? Just man, For I have suffered many things in a dream this day because of him.
And perhaps that's the thought that's in your mind because you have been troubled at times about your spiritual state before God. You are perhaps taking that same attitude. And you say, I don't want to have anything to do with these things. Every time I think about them, they bother me. But dear friend, I want to warn you that it is impossible to escape having to do with God.
The advice that Pilate's wife gave to him.
Was very foolish. And yet there are many people that think the very same. They don't want to have anything to do with Jesus. They want to live their lives as they wish and they don't want to feel their responsibility to answer to God and to God's beloved Son. But I want to tell you tonight that this is an absolute impossibility to escape your responsibility to God.
It's not something that is optional.
Optional. It is something that is obligatory. It is a responsibility that rests upon you. You are going to look into the eyes of the Lord Jesus, who is the Judge. For it tells us in Acts chapter 17 that God is appointed today in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. For as He hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead, it also says.
Passage God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. I say again, this is not something that is optional. You may say, well, if you're interested in religious things, that's all right, No one's going to bother you. But I'm not interested in those things. But friend, you must be interested. You're going to meet God someday. The day has been set. The judge has been chosen, and.
God commands you to repent. Why does He command you to repent? Is it because He wants to judge you? Because He wants to bless you? It's because He wants to save you. That's why He commands you to repent. Because it's still the day of His grace. It's still the time when He is offering salvation. Phone free to whosoever will, and He's offering it to you tonight. He wants you to enjoy peace with God.
God, He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven and that you're ready when the supreme moment comes, when you leave this world, not to come to the end of your existence, but to begin an existence in another place where your eternal destiny will be fixed. And it's our desire that that destiny should be to be with Christ in glory and not with the lost in hell.
God only tells us of two places.
He tells us in His word, these shall go away into everlasting punishments, but the righteous into life eternal. There are only two places, and you are bound for one of those two places tonight. If you are bound for judgment, if you are still going on without Christ, it is not too late to turn, it's not too late to be saved.
God has held the door of grace open till another Lord till another Saturday evening.
That you might have this opportunity, and wouldn't it be a grand thing if this night, this Saturday night, was the birthday of your soul, when you receive the Lord Jesus into your heart as your own personal Savior.
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Well, I say again, God has an interest in you as an individual. Just think of this book, 42 Chapters long, and it's all about one man and about a thickness that he had in his life, what Satan said about him, what God said about him, what his friends said about him and what they said to him, and how Job felt when he lost his money.
When he lost his family, when he lost his health and when his friends.
Talked against him. All this is faithfully recorded and perhaps you've had some similar instances in your life. Perhaps you've had some great sorrow. Perhaps you've seen the things that you live for crashed before your very eyes and everything seemed to come to nothing. And you said, what's the use? And you didn't know that behind that scene that there was a loving God who was looking down upon your life and that that crash.
What the robbed you of something that was near and dear to you? That that terrible sickness, that Doctor Who told you that you had a serious condition, that this was no accident that came in your life any more than it was in the life of Job. And God brushes aside the curtain and lets us see that he is working behind the scenes and that he was interested in this man and that he was so interested.
That he took 42 Chapters.
Out of His word in the whole book to tell us His dealings with this individual. Oh, dear friend, I say, He loves you tonight. He is concerned about you. And that big sorrow, that great disappointment, that trouble it has come is with a purpose, as it tells us in the 32nd, 33rd chapter of this same book. Lo, all these things worketh God.
Oftentimes with man to withdraw.
Man from his purpose to hide pride from man. And it goes on to say that he might be delivered from going down to the pit because God has found a ransom. And so I say tonight, I trust that this will speak to your heart because you may be in the very same position that we find job here tonight.
And perhaps these thoughts that Job has expressed.
In this chapter, our thoughts that are very common to many of us, perhaps these very things have risen in your mind and you have raised the same questions that Job raised and you felt they have been unanswered. But I say God has an answer. Job had one supreme wish. He said all that there were a day's man if there was only someone.
That could put his hand upon God and put his hand upon me.
He said all my questions would be answered in him. Oh, I want to tell you that that's the one who I have the privilege of announcing tonight, that blessed Savior, the one we've been talking about in our Bible readings today, God's eternal Son who came down that he might be a day's man, a mediator between God and man.
The Man Christ Jesus.
Well, our chapter begins by telling us about Job's answer his friends had said some things that.
Hurt job somewhat.
They had said that God deal dealt with sin and that was true.
And you'll notice what Job says in this second verse. He says, I know it is so of a truth. He said, I know God deals with sin, but how should man be just with God? How can a man who his conscience tells and the word of God tells is a Sinner? How can he be just with God?
If God knows everything and sees everything. If God.
Of pure eyes, and behold evil. And cannot look upon iniquity. And the Bible says he is. If this is so, how can you and I, who are sinners be just with God? Well, this is surely a very important question. How should man be just with God? How can I, a poor guilty Sinner, stand up here before you?
And tell you that I'm just with God all the only answer is.
That God Himself has provided the ransom, God himself has provided the Savior, and blessed be his name. That lovely verse in one John one and seven says The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleansed of us from all sin. Acts 13 verse 38 says.
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Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man.
Is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all the beliefs are justified from all things from the which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Yes, God gives the answer to the question that Job asked. How could a man be just with God? The blood cleanses from sin and believing on the Lord Jesus.
All who believe are justified.
Not from some things, because if God left anything, we couldn't settle it. Because we cannot put away our own sins. It is impossible for any of us to put away sin in the presence of a thrice holy God. Because the Word of God says none can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for Him. It says not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saves.
Your best friend can't do it for you. You can't by your own works put away sin. So the answer must come from God.
But you know, we're slow to accept God's answer. Isn't it strange that we'll try everything else before we'll humble ourselves to accept the provision that God has made? And this chapter shows us the reasoning of the mind of Job here. And I suppose it's common, as I said to most of us, that we.
That we try to.
Shall I say we try to work?
Things out by our own wisdom.
So notice here it says if he will contend with him, he cannot answer him. One of the thousand. He says there are many things that I just can't understand. But isn't that true?
Aren't there are many things that about God and about God's ways that are quite beyond us?
And if God were pleased to ask us an array of questions, that he could ask us 1000 questions and we couldn't answer one of them.
God knows so much more than we do.
The way people speak today, they would have a God who wasn't wondered beyond their own minds.
Who was nothing beyond their own ability to understand and explain. But you know, God could raise 1000 questions that you or I could not answer. He is beyond our minds. He is infinite, He is eternal. It isn't the eternity of matter, it's the eternal God. It's the one who created all things by the word of his power. And it says in the beginning.
God created the heavens and the earth.
Yes, it's the one who made all things and truly the one whom we bring before you tonight is one who is far greater than you or I. And yet I say he has an interest in us. To think that he could ask 1000 questions and we couldn't answer one of them. That he made these stars Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South.
Who puts the sun in its? Put the sun in its place.
Who did all these great things? And then to think that he should be interested in us, Little Hymn says. And couldst thou be delighted with creatures such as we, who, when we saw thee sleuthy, and nailed thee to a tree, unfathomable wonder and mystery divine. The voice that speaks in Thunder says, Sinner, I am thine.
Yes, he is interested in you.
It says He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered all. There are many people who harden themselves against God.
On its side, we meet it every day. Because people can't understand God's ways, because He does something that they can't understand, they harden themselves against God.
Oh, I beseech you, dear friend, young or old, educated or uneducated, whoever you may be, I beseech you tonight, don't harden yourself against God.
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He is your Creator. He has given you life and breath and all things.
Or you say I can do as I like.
Yes, solemn fact, if you want to go to a lost eternity, God may allow you to go to that awful place, but He doesn't want you to.
He wants to save you, He wants to bless you. And I beseech you, don't harden yourself against him. If there's been some great sorrow in your life as there was in Job, and I think Job's sorrow probably was greater than any that any of us in this room have experienced. Flying one day. He lost all his wealth and his ten children all in one day.
All his possessions.
And the whole ten of his children in one day.
Yes, he did, and he didn't harden himself against God. He said the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, how wonderful. Yes, that was faith that glorified God. A dear friend, even if you can't understand or I can't understand.
Oh, I beseech you, if God has brought some great sorrow into your life.
Don't harden yourself against God. You won't prosper.
I don't mean that you may not have a good bank account and that you may not have a nice home and a nice car, but I'm Speaking of the things that really count.
You may prosper in this world. The rich man in the 16th of Luke who lifted up his eyes in hell. He'd been a prosperous man in this world, and it was said to him in hell.
Thou in my lifetime receiveth thy good things.
And likewise Lazarus. Evil things. But now he is comforted.
And thou art tormented. And beside all this, between US and you there is a great gulf.
Yes, if you harden your heart against God, you may prosper in this world. You may have the best job in Montreal. You may live without much sickness. You may get along. But remember.
After death, the judgment.
After death, the judgment who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered. And I plead with you tonight, do not look at things just as they appear in time, because the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Which removeth the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger.
And then the 10th verse, which doeth great wonders past finding out, yeah, and wonders without number. Oh, what a mighty God with whom we have to do.
One who has such great power, who not only made all things, but sustains all things. As it was said to Belshazzar the night of his great ball, when he invited so many guests and was having a merry time, It was said to him, The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways.
Hast thou not glorify?
Yes, he was having a good time as this world turned things, but that night the decree went forth.
That that night his soul would be required of him. And it was told him, God hath numbered thy Kingdom, and finished it. And it says in that night was Belshazzar the king slain. Yes, he had his good time while he was slain that night.
Hardened his heart against God, the very God who gave him life and breath. And so I say tonight, God is the one who is giving you that breath that you are drawing. Tonight. Perhaps you say, I wish I'd die.
Some people think that to commit suicide or to die is the end of all their troubles.
But it's not So. Was it the end of that man's troubles in the 16th of Luke when he died? No. It was the beginning of far worse troubles than he ever knew here upon earth. And I want to warn you, my friend, that if you die in your sins, your friends may say nice things over your casket, but after death comes the judgment.
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And all the nice words that may be said will not change the fact.
If you die without Christ as your Savior. So the first thing that's brought before us here is God's great power, His great power, and you have to do with him, that one who made all things and who's given you your life.
Now we come to something else. From the 11TH verse on it says, Lo, He goes by me, and I see Him not. He passeth on also, but I perceive Him not.
Behold, he taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
Yes, he said God not only created the universe, but he said he passes by and we don't see him.
When one of those communists went up into space some time ago, he made the comment I didn't see God in space but he forgot this verse it says.
LO, he goeth by me, and I see him not.
He passeth on also, and I perceive him not, but man was flying around in space in his capsule and saying that he didn't see God. God was looking at him and he passed him by as he flew through space. Yes, he saw him there and he passed him by. And God is passing you by tonight. He sees you.
And the cry went forth long ago, when God the Son was here.
Upon this earth Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
He didn't pass by unseen at that time. He came down that he might be seen by mortal eyes. He came to look down upon us in our trouble and sorrow. He came to die for you and I, That one who is invisible, became a man in the person of his son, and went through this world.
And died and as we were reading today.
It tells us in John One, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him that one has come down.
And then it says, He taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
That is, God has a right to do as he pleases, and it's not for us to say, why are you doing this? We haven't the right to question his ways.
We may learn by them, but not to question them. It says if God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
And sometimes men, when God begins to deal with them, they become rebellious.
But it says that if God doesn't withdraw his anger, the proud helpers or the margin says the helpers of pride stoop under him. Men have many helpers of their pride. Perhaps you have something that helps your pride. Perhaps you have good looks, Perhaps you have a good mind. Perhaps you have many possessions. These things help your pride. They make you think that you're somebody in this world, somebody very important.
Well, God can take away those things. He can take away your good looks, He can take away that keen mind that you have. He can take away our wealth. He can take away anything that we have. And if God doesn't withdraw his wrath, he brings down those helpers of pride and all. How many a man has been brought down, down, down.
Till he's come to the feet of the Savior and been willing to acknowledge.
And he was a Sinner. Oh, God doesn't want to have to use these means upon man. He wants to bring us to see us ourselves, to humble ourselves before him as dear Job did in the end of the book and say, I repent.
And abhor myself in dust and ashes. He took his true place before God.
So he goes on here and says in the 14th verse, how much less shall I answer him and choose up my words to reason with him? That is, in the first part he recognized God's great power in creation, and then next he recognized that God could do as he pleased and that there was no use telling God that we didn't want to take this or take that.
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We hear people say, well, I'm not going to take that.
But when God begins to deal, friends, there's no saying that to God. You can't say that to God. Because if God doesn't withdraw His wrath, the helpers of pride stoop under him, and you and I can't reason with him. We can't come to Him and question His ways. We can come as sinners. And indeed, He does invite us to reason if we want to reason about those things.
That he has brought before.
As necessary for our souls. He gives us this lovely invitation in Isaiah 1 and 18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool. If your reasoning with God, and questioning His ways, why he may not answer you, he may not give an account. It says in another place.
Shall strive against him free give us not account of any of his matters but if you want to raise the question of your sin and how you can have your sins put away. He asked you to come he asked you to come he says come. I want to talk this over with you. I want you to have your sins put away. I want you to be white as snow. Oh what a savior he is he wants to be your savior tonight. He wants to bless you my friend young or.
He wants to bless you and He wants to make you white as snow in his presence.
Well, now we find a third thing brought before us in the 20th verse. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Yes, when man becomes awakened, then the first tendency is to justify himself.
How often we find that when we begin to talk to people, they either say that they're not concerned or they begin to justify themselves. They begin to tell us what good living people they are.
And it tells us here, if I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. And you know very well, if you try to contend that you are and that you're perfect and that you haven't any sins, your own mouth, your own heart condemns you. You have a conscience. You know God has taken care.
In the fall, that man receives.
To conscience and every responsible being before God knows that he is a Sinner, He knows that on 2 Counts. He knows it because God says it in his word, and he knows it because his conscience tells him. People that haven't seen the Bible know that they're sinners because they have a conscience. Go to a tribe if you like, in the dark places of the earth, who never saw a Bible and they have a conscience that certain things are wrong.
Man does know that he is a Sinner and he has a religion away of trying to justify himself before God.
But it says here if I justify myself.
My own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect. It shall also prove me perverse. There is no use trying to make out that you are not a Sinner. You are a Sinner. I am a Sinner. God says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That is you, that is me.
How does each person in this room tonight? There's no escape from this verdict.
When Job did speak of his own righteousness, why the Lord said to him, Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? And if you say that's your righteous and that you don't need salvation?
You're you're condemning God's verdict. You're as good as looking in the very face of God and saying why your verdict about me is untrue. God says you're a Sinner. He says I'm a Sinner.
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He says there is none that doeth Good know not one. Well, it's a good thing to see the progress that is taking place, even although there's reasoning going on. He recognizes that he needs to be just before God. He recognizes that God has power in creation. He recognizes that God has a right to do as he pleases.
And then his conscience begins to be awakened, and he says, if I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. Oh, I hope that you will feel condemned in the presence of God tonight. Oh, you say you'd like to see me miserable, do you? The Bible says there's joy in the presence of the angels of God.
Over 1 Sinner that repenteth. Notice it doesn't say there's joy.
Over 1 Sinner that gets saved.
Why does it say there's joy over 1 Sinner that repenteth? Here's a Sinner on earth, miserable. He can't sleep. His sins are bothering him and God's rejoicing. Why? All because until there has been a sense of guilt before God, man doesn't turn to Christ. He goes on his own careless way. And I thank God tonight. If your sins are troubling you, I hope they are. I hope that there's a boy or girl here tonight.
From man or a woman that's not saved. That your sins will trouble you. Because if they don't trouble you in time, they'll trouble you in eternity when it's too late to have them forgiven. If they trouble you now, there's salvation for you. But if they trouble you in a lost eternity, there's no blood, there's no salvation, there's no pardon in that place of eternal judgment.
Well, then he begins to argue again in the 22nd verse. There is one thing, therefore I said it. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. What? We often hear people reason like this.
When their sins begin to bother them, then they say, well, there's no justice in the earth.
People do wrong and they prosper and they do right and they suffer. Well, he said, I don't understand. If God is righteous and God is holy, then why are these things existent in the earth? Why is it that ungodliness seems to prosper? Why is it why? He said The only way I can see is that God laughs at the triodyn.
Oh, dear friend, I want to tell you one thing that perhaps you've never thought of before. This world in which we live is not an adequate platform to display God's governmental way. We can't tell by what we see about us, God's governmental ways. God does overrule, but he does not openly interfere now in the things of this world.
Oh, perhaps, you say. I wish you would.
Well, I'm glad he doesn't, because if God did begin to interfere and it did begin to judge sin.
Why? Where would any of us be?
The psalmist said, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified. He said in another place, if thou Lord should mark iniquity, O Lord, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I say, I am glad God doesn't openly interfere. I'm glad He doesn't openly judge sin.
Because he would have sent me to hell because I was a Sinner. I'm glad that this world is not the place where he adequately displays his government. He does work behind the scenes, his very dealings with Jobs shall that, but he doesn't openly make manifest these things. And I want to say to any unsaved 1 here tonight, don't judge God's ways in connection with sin by what you see in his ways with man.
This earth, there is a day when righteousness will reign, but it's not now. There is a day when it says a king shall reign in righteousness and Princess shall decree justice. But you and I ought to be thankful that that day hasn't come. Every time you repeat the Lord's Prayer and say thy Kingdom come, if you're not saved, you better say in your heart, thank God it hasn't come yet. Because when the Kingdom comes.
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It says He will gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and will cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And if you say the Lord's Prayer and you're not saved, it's a good thing God doesn't answer it because it would mean judgment and a lake of fire for every person outside of Christ. Oh, I beseech you, friend, be real about these things.
Job couldn't understand. He raised the question. Perhaps you've raised it. I suppose most of us have raised the same question and asked why this was.
Well, it's nice that God didn't leave Job there.
The 25th verse, he says now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as the swift chips.
Well, he realized that time was passing. And I want to warn you, my friends, perhaps you say, well, I'd like to think this thing out, but I want to tell you that time is passing.
You don't know when you may have had your last opportunity of salvation, how many a person has been cut off in the prime of health, how many a person has been ushered from time into eternity without a moment's warning. And you or I may be the next.
Our days are as it tells us here.
My days are swifter than a post. They flee away another place that says they're swifter than a Weaver shuttle. Did you ever watch the Weaver shuttle? Why, you can hardly see it move. It flies around so quickly. Dear friend, time is passing by. Life at best is very brief and while you're beginning to argue and reason with God about His ways.
Moments are passing by, time is hastening along.
Is it hasting you on to heaven or to hell?
Is the tick of the clock hastening you on to eternal glory with the Lord Jesus, or to a lost eternity without Him?
There's no time to be wasted. A man that's sinking at sea doesn't argue about the why the man was a little slow in throwing the life belt or why the life belt was this or that. No, he's glad if it's within his reach. He puts out his hand. And I beseech of you tonight, there's no time to be wasted. Design moments are precious. Thy time for departing from earth draw us now.
All come now this moment, and He will receive you and spend your eternity with Him on high.
Well, when he says in the 27th verse, if I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself.
Well, sometimes the devil whispers this in people's ears too, when they begin to get troubled, he said. Oh, forget about it. You're just going to make yourself sick thinking about these things. Forget about it.
And that's just exactly the point that job comes to. He says here, if I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself. I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. Don't forget it, friend. Don't forget it. Don't walk out of this meeting and say.
Oh, I don't want to hear those things. They bother me.
They make me uneasy. I can't sleep after a gospel meeting. I'm going to try to forget it all. That's a solemn thing.
Young man, and one time he was troubled about his soul.
He could hardly sleep.
So I got out of his bed and asked God to leave him alone. God did leave him alone.
He left him alone.
And as far as I know, he died in his sin.
Dear friend, you want God to leave you alone? Are you going to go to somebody who tells you you mustn't take these things too seriously? Just forget about them. This is too important. The way out is not to forget about them. It's to receive Christ. That's the way. That's the way to receive him.
Now he comes to another step. This is his last struggle, if we might speak in that way, he says.
In the seventy 30th verse.
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If I wash myself with no water and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch in mine own clothes, shall it ***** all he said, as it were. If I try to straighten around, if I try to do what's right, I just seem to get worse instead of better. I just seem to get worse, he said. If I make myself never so clean, God just seems to plunge.
The ditch he just seems to. It just seems I'm worse.
And I guess many in this room were saved tonight can say yes, I had that experience. I had it. I tried to clean up. And the harder I tried, the worse it seemed to become.
Well, that was the last struggle. God blames you to that point, my friend. I hope he's brought you to that point. I hope he's brought you to the point where you've tried to clean yourself up and you've found that the harder you tried, the more unhappy, the more uncomfortable you became. But isn't it lovely to see that when he comes to this point, it's just like a drowning man? You know, when a man is drowning, they don't go and rescue him while he is.
Struggling full strength. They have to wait until he's exhausted or knock him out. They have to bring him to the point where his struggles are over and he's willing to have somebody save him. Willing to have somebody save him. And sometimes people have to be almost unconscious before they come to that point.
Well, isn't it lovely here that when this when?
This Saul is brought to that point.
He says in.
33rd verse Neither is there any days man betwixt us that he might lay his hand upon his US both all, he said. I've struggled, I've struggled, I've tried to think this thing through. Oh, he said is if there was a dazed man. I don't know a days man he said if there was one, but there isn't 1.
Dear friend, there is one. There is one.
There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. I want to tell you tonight there is a days now there is someone who is just waiting to put his hand of love upon you. He's already settled with God about the question of sin.
At Calvary's cross, that blessed precious Savior.
Came down and died for sin, it says in First Corinthians 15. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And I want to tell you tonight, there's a living Savior at God's right hand tonight. Don't despair, don't give up. There is a dazed man. There's a man in the glory tonight.
The Savior who died on Calvary's cross.
Whose blood cleanses from all sin. He's up there tonight, and he has settled a question of sin before God, and he wants to put his hand upon you. He's the day's man.
And he wants to speak peace to your soul. He wants to speak pardon to you all. Look tonight to that blessed Savior, don't despair. Don't give up. Don't say it's no use.
That blessed Savior is waiting with outstretched arms up there in the glory. He's saying, Come unto me, all ye that labor under heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Is there a boy or a girl? Is there a young person here tonight? Is there an older one? And you'd like to have peace with God?
It's not religion you need. It's not arguments you need. It's Christ you need. It's Christ you need. Jehovah's brought to the point where he said about the days man.
The woman at the well in the 4th chapter of John, where it was brought to the point where every prop was knocked out, and she said, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. Lord Jesus said, I that speak unto thee. And he, the Lord Jesus made himself known to her, when she came right to the end of herself.
And if you've come to the end of yourself?
The Lord Jesus is right there with outstretched hands, full of love, full of grace.
He settled the question of sin. I say he wants to pardon you tonight. What are you going to do? Job said. How should man be just with God?
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It says in Acts 13, which we already quoted and by him all that believe are justified from all things from the which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. You can be just with God, you can have peace with God, you can know that you're saved. Don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that you can't know in this life. You can know it says in one John 5.
Verse 13 these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that she may know that she has eternal life. Or will you receive that precious Savior tonight? If he's troubled you, if he's brought you to the point where you realize you can't cleanse yourself, you can't make yourself fit for his presence, He can do it in one moment.
He'll do it in one moment. Or won't you just close in with his offer of mercy? I say again, dear friends, it's not religion we're preaching to you. It's Christ. It's a living Savior. He's at God's right hand tonight.
He's the Savior of many in this room. Many would be glad to stand up and say thank God. He is my own personal Savior and He wants to be yours tonight. He's holding the door of grace open. Receive Him this moment and peace shall be thine.
1 John 4:1-5
1 John 4:19-5:1