Montreal Conference: 1975
Table of Contents
Two Men
Address—J. Brereton
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975 Addressed by John Brearton.
To have it before me this afternoon.
To look at the episodes and the lives of two men.
In some ways, what befell them was very similar.
And in other ways, it was very different.
I'd like you to turn with me forth to the first man to the book of Jonah.
Jonah Chapter one.
And we'll begin reading with verse one.
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah.
The son of Amitai saying.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty Tempest in the sea, so that the ship was light to be broken.
Then the Mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.
So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper, arise, call upon thy God? If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not.
And they said everyone to his fellow come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose 'cause this evil is upon us.
So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee for whose 'cause this evil is upon us?
What is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country, And of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am of Hebrew, and I fear the Lord the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid? And said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled.
From the presence of the Lord because he had told them.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee?
That the sea may be calm unto us, or the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great Tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life.
And lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, And the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the great of the fish, 3 days and three nights.
Notice the end of the ninth verse. Salvation is of the Lord.
And the Lord spake unto the fish, and had vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose and went on to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and he cried and said.
Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, so the people of Nineveh Begie God.
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And proclaim the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them.
The 10th verse. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not, but it displeased Joan exceedingly. And he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray the O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness and repentance thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee, my life from me, For it is better for me to die than to live.
Now if you would just keep that place for a moment and turn back to second kings.
Chapter 14.
Second Kings, Chapter 14.
And verse.
23.
In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah.
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned 40 and one years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amitai the prophet, which was of Gath hepther.
For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter. For there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he wore, and how he recovered Damascus and Hemeth, which belonged to Judah for Israel.
Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
And then I'd like to turn again. I'd like you to keep the place in Jonah, but turn over to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12 and verse 39.
Or we should read verse 38. Then certain of the scribes of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was 3 days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation.
And shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas.
Is here.
We find dear young people.
A very sad lesson in the life of Jonah.
We find that Jonah.
Father's name was Amitai which means truth.
And Jonah's name?
Means a dove, I suppose. I believe God is bringing before us here. Perhaps a little picture for your soul and mind of one who know the truth.
And one who was the Lord's he was characterized by that being a clean animal, clean bird.
But Jonah decided.
That he had had enough.
Of the presence of the Lord. Isn't that sad?
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Jonah decided.
That when the message came to him to be a prophet.
To go to Nineveh and to proclaim against that great city.
That God's judgment was going to fall upon it.
Jonah decided.
That he would rather go to Tarshish.
Now if you go back to the 10th chapter of Genesis.
You find there that Nineveh was a city that seems to have.
Sprung out of Babylon.
It finds its origins in Babel, a place of confusion and all dear young people, that's just what this world is.
Man has made a whole city.
But it's all founded on a false base, all founded on that which has nothing real about it at all.
It's all confusion.
We find.
That Jonah decided that he would rather go to Tarshish.
But you know, Tarshish is one of the places, and there are numbers of them in the Bible. But Tarshish is one of the places that cannot be identified. Today. We don't know where it was.
It was probably somewhere South and West of Israel.
Jonah lived in Galilee, in Gath, Hector.
And Nineveh.
Was to the northeast, perhaps 5 or 600 miles northeast of where Jonah lived. And so Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction.
And it tells us in our chapter that Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. I wonder why dear young people, he told why he chose Tarshish.
Well, I'm not going to say definitely, but I would like you to turn with me for a suggestion to the 10th chapter of First Kings for a moment. We'll be coming right back to this chapter again.
First Kings, Chapter 10.
And verse 22.
For the King, that is King Solomon.
Had at sea a Navy of parsha or tarshish the same place.
With the Navy of Hiram once in three years came the Navy of parishes, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes and Peacocks.
Now we'll notice there was another reason as to why Jonah fled away.
But I'd like to talk to you for just a moment about this place called Tarshish.
We find that things that characterize Tarshish.
Or gold and silver.
That which perhaps speaks to your heart and mind of the material things of this world.
The next thing we notice is that there was ivory there.
Now if you look at the.
18th verse of First Kings, chapter 10. It says moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best of gold. The throne had six steps and the top of the throne was round behind.
Solomon, the one who reached the pinnacle of human glory.
Had a throne made out of ivory, all covered with gold.
Do you think, dear young people, that the Lord may be suggesting to us here?
But Tarsus not only suggests that which was attractive for its material benefits, but also it had that which spoke of human glory, attainment, that which would speak of a goal, that which young people and those who are not so young can set their hearts upon something that they would like to achieve.
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Solomon got his throne of Ireland.
We find the other thing and I don't want my imagination to run away with me.
But they're young people. It says there were apes there. Why does it say that? What is so particularly important about apes?
Well, what it suggests to my own heart.
Dear young people, is that characteristic that is so common to the human heart of wanting to be like each other.
We even use the term they ate one another, they copy one another. You go into a zoo and you see a lot of monkeys and they're all doing the same thing. And you know, dear young people, that's one of the characteristics of this world. Nobody wants to, as it were, be different. They want to fit in.
They want to fit in. They want to be part of the crowd.
And then lastly.
It says there were Peacocks.
I don't suppose it takes much imagination or much thinking to see what this picture to us in Peacocks.
You go to a zoo and you see Peacocks and you see that great big display.
Of feathers, of all colors and designs so attractive to the human eye, what we might call human vanity.
Well, this was what it was, a Tarshish, and Jonah decided that that's where he wanted to go, but to get there.
He had to leave.
As far as he was concerned, the presence of the Lord. You notice the language here in Jonah chapter one.
It says he rose to flee unto Tarshish.
From the presence of the Lord. Now what does that mean for you and me?
Well, dear young people, I suggest to you and to my own heart that if these things that we see at Tarshish are important to us.
We are not going to enjoy.
A sense in our souls of the Lords Company with us it cannot be.
If my heart is set on human glory, if it is set upon vanity and vain things, if my determination is to fit in with the crowd, If I'm going to make material possessions, the important thing in my life.
Then recognize the fact that the Lord is going to have to be left out.
They won't go together.
It was Tarshish, or the presence of the Lord.
But not both.
We find it says in the third verse.
He went down to Joppa.
And he found a ship going to Tarshish. Or wasn't that wonderful? How convenient that was. There was a ship going in the very direction that he wanted to go in.
How many?
A dear child of God has fallen into this very snare.
That is, he starts out. I speak to my own heart. Dear young people bear it in mind. He starts out on a course of his own choosing.
And then?
Attributes to the Lord.
The fact that the way seems to be opened up.
Here was a ship, and it seemed to be going just where Jonah wanted to go.
Could he not very well have said?
The way seems to be opening up for me to go to Tarsus.
But it was a course of self will.
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He was going in a way of his own choosing.
The next thing we notice is it says that.
He paid the fare thereof and went down into it. Now, dear young people market Jonas course was a downward course.
But it says that he paid the fare.
And beloved young people, I say to your heart and to mine.
If our hearts are set on Tarshish and all that it signifies.
Then it's going to cost you something.
You're going to pay the fare. How many? A dear child of God has set his heart on things here?
Only to find that it wasn't worth the cost. The cost was too much.
He lost in his soul.
He lost in his enjoyment of Christ. He lost in the sense of the Lord's presence with him. He lost in fruitfulness to God.
He lost. He paid the fare. And beloved young people, if you and I choose.
The path of self will.
We cannot help but pay the fare.
The next thing you'll notice is.
The fourth verse, the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty Tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the Mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God.
And cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.
It didn't seem to bother Jonah Tall, did it?
Here was a storm. The Lord had sent the wind. The Lord had sent the wind.
The Lord comes into our lives.
Sometimes it's a win.
Sometimes what comes into our lives, as we'll notice in the next case, is what the Word of God speaks of as a contrary win.
But here was a wind sent from the Lord. The Lord was seeking to speak to Jonah.
But Jonah was fast asleep. Jonah was fast asleep.
And dear young people, you and I too can get so far away.
May it be a voice to your soul and mind so far away that when the Lord seeks to speak to us, when He seeks to come in to your life and mind to speak to us of that course that we're on.
There seems to be no response.
I sometimes have heard young people. I may very well have said it myself.
When one sought to speak to them of a course that they were gone.
The answer was I have no conscience about it.
I've even heard it say it shouldn't bother you because it doesn't bother me.
Well, it didn't seem to bother Jonah either.
But it should have. It should have. And the time came when Jonah was so far away.
That it was the unbelieving Mariners in the ship.
That told Jonah.
That he was wrong.
That rebuked him for what he was doing.
You know what? This seems to me one of the saddest things in this account given of Jonah is what we have in the end of the tenth verse.
Says for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.
Jonah was so far away from the Lord in his soul.
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That he could.
Of his path of self will.
With unbelievers.
Dear young people, remember Jonah was a child of God.
But he wanted.
To get away.
From the pathway that the Lord had marked out for him to walk in.
We find that in the history of Jonah, we're going to have to Passover this rather quickly now.
But you'll find that there were really four events that took place here in this first chapter in connection with Jonah after he had entered the ship.
You find in the fifth verse.
Says the Mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them the first step.
The seventh verse, they sent everyone to his fellow come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose caused this evil is upon us. So they cast lots in the lot fell upon Jonah.
The second step they take up with Jonah. They find out that it's Jonah.
And they take up the matter with Jonah.
And they asked Jonah in the eighth verse, Tell us, we pray thee for whose 'cause this evil is upon us?
What is thine occupation?
Oh dear young people, what is thine occupation?
At the unbelievers in this world, come to you and say what is thine occupation?
What answer do you give?
You notice, he goes on to say, whence comest thou? What is thy country, and of what people art thou?
And Jonah's answer is I am a Hebrew.
You know, that's very close to the equivalent of someone saying to me, what is your occupation? What country do you belong to? Where have you come from? So what people you do, you belong. And my answer being I'm a Canadian.
Dear young people, I'm far, far more than a Canadian. You and I belong to Christ. What is your occupation? Well, if you remember the 12Th chapter of Matthew, the Lord Jesus tells us what Jonah's occupation was. He was a prophet.
Joanna the Prophet. That was his occupation.
What country did he belong to? Why he belonged to Israel? He was one of the people of God, one of the people of God.
Beloved young people to you and I and joy in our souls, what we really are, We belong to Christ. Heaven is our home, and we're on our way there. Where we come from, why we've been come from this present evil world. We've been delivered from it.
We don't belong to the world at all. That's where we came from.
We once were part of Tarshish and all that it meant, but we've been delivered from that.
What is thy country and of what people are thou?
Well, you know, Jonah.
Seems to have been.
The type of profit that was quite happy.
To prophecy. Good news.
In second Kings chapter 14, where we read this afternoon.
We find there that Jonah prophesied.
That the King of Israel would be successful in recovering part of the Land of Israel.
From Judah, and it was So what he prophesied came true.
And there is no indication that Jonah was hesitant about delivering that prophecy.
But when the prophecy was, Nineveh is under judgment.
Nineveh will be overthrown.
That's when he decided he wanted to go to Tarshish.
Dear young people.
I mentioned that there was a second reason, another reason, a reason given to us in the scriptures as to why Jonah ran away.
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You turn over to the 4th chapter for a moment.
Of Jonah. But it pleased Jonah, displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray the old Lord, was not this my saying? When I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled out before unto Tarshish, For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentency of the evil.
Jonah had run away. This doesn't tell us why he chose Tarshish, but he had run away from the presence of the Lord because he was afraid that God was going to be gracious to Nineveh, that his reputation as a prophet was going to suffer when he prophesied that in 40 days Nineveh would be overthrown. And then.
Because the people might repent and God was gracious.
His prophecy wouldn't come true.
Dear young people, you and I are called upon to be prophets.
To prophecy? To speak for God. Yes, dear young people, you're called upon by God's grace. And what a privilege to speak for God in a world that is built on confusion.
And to say that this world is under judgment, It's about to pass away. But all beloved young people, if our hearts are set on Tarshish, we are not going to be prophets.
Our hearts are silent, Tarshish. We're not going to be prophets and.
If our hearts.
Are discouraged because of the long delay.
Because of God's long-suffering grace.
If our hearts get discouraged because of that long delay, nearly 2000 years now.
We're not going to be prophets. We're not going to speak for God.
In Nineveh.
Well, we find, as I mentioned, 4 episodes in connection with Jonah. We've noticed.
Two first one when they cast the wares into the sea, the second one when they consulted with Jonah, the third one when they tried again in the 13th verse.
Nevertheless, the man rode hard to bring it to land.
Jonah had said.
That the answer was to throw him overboard.
Jonah now knew.
This storm was because of him.
The.
Sometimes, dear young people, the Lord speaks to your heart and mind and circumstances.
Perhaps he sees our hearts getting away.
And he comes in with a great win, with a tempestuous sea.
But if we're not careful.
We can end up in the language of Scripture, despising the chasing of the Lord.
Perhaps one of my children.
Gets very sick.
And I can end up saying well.
It's the kind of thing that happens to everybody sooner or later. It's the kind of thing that's just one of those things that can happen.
That's despising the chastening of the Lord.
Refusing to see, dear young people that the Lord is speaking to my heart, speaking to me.
Jonah now came to see and told the man that it was for him, even though all these others were involved. The other men were in the ship too, but it was for him.
That that storm had come the third step they try to roll.
And the 4th step they throw Jonah into the sea.
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They cast him into the sea, and dear Jonah.
This one who had sought to get away from the presence of the Lord.
This one, dear young people.
Who had had enough?
Of the pathway of the Lord's choosing for him.
Didn't like that path.
Chose his own.
Found.
That the Lord was not ready to let him go.
Not ready to let him go.
They're waiting, was the great fish.
What the Lord had provided to swallow up Jonah.
The time came when Jonah went under the waters of that great sea. Yes, he did. Dear young people. Jonah had a lesson and all how the Lord sought in his wondrous love and grace to this dear prophet of his to teach this lesson to him.
To seek to get away.
To choose our own course.
Can only lead dear young people to us finding out that the fair that has to be paid is too high.
And that it leads. It leads.
To ending up underneath the waters.
Jonah was there all. The Lord brought him through. Make no mistake about that. Jonah was a true child of God. The Lord brought him through.
But he was under those waters for three days and three nights.
When the great fish delivers Jonah up onto dry land again, you'll notice this, I trust as we go on to the next portion now. But Jonah, there seemingly is all alone. No testimony. He's delivered in his grace, but no testimony, no fruit.
Now he's restored, at least in measure in his soul, and he goes to deliver the message to minimum makes that long journey 5-6 hundred miles, whatever. It was up to Nineveh to deliver the message. And just as he feared, God was gracious and forgave them, and the judgment didn't fall at that time.
All beloved young people. What a sad course for Joel. What a sad course.
Started out with him getting.
Away from the presence of the Lord to go to Tarshish with all its attractions.
Now would you turn over with me to the 14th chapter of Matthew?
Matthew Chapter 14.
And verse 22.
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the 4th watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea.
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it is a spirit, And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I be not afraid.
And Peter answered him, and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore did thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God.
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All beloved young people. What a contrast.
Here we find those, including Peter, who were acting under the direct instruction of the Lord Jesus. He constrained them to get into the ship.
In Second Corinthians chapter 5, it says the love of Christ constraineth us and they dear disciples and Peter included, acting in obedience to their blessed Lord.
Get into the ship to go to the other side. No mention of them paying the fare.
No, dear young people, Jesus paid the fare. If I could use that term, they went across that ship.
As directed by the Lord Jesus.
But there was a contrary win.
In all that speaks in.
Ephesians chapter 2, I believe it is. It says that Satan is the Prince of the power of the air, and I believe that's what we have pictured to us here in this contrary wind, this wind that sought to hinder their passage.
Across the sea.
Well, the wind was contrary, but there was one up on the mountain. Dear young people.
One up apart alone and he was praying. And all beloved young people, I say to your heart and mind. The Lord Jesus has given us in His precious word the direction that we need for our journey across this sea in which we live the sea of life. But there is a contrary wind. All there are forces, powerful forces, arrayed against us.
But there is one upon high that's interceding for us, praying for us.
One who appears in the presence of God for us, our great High Priest, and there the Lord Jesus, seeing all the power.
I raid against us, intercede for us. He prays for us.
But then it says he came. The ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was conquering. And in the 4th watch, Oh, I was struck. I don't want to go too far with these persons, but I was struck with the fact that there were those four steps, it seems, in Jonah. And now we find it's the fourth watch, this last step. Dear young people, we're in the 4th watch now.
The Lord Jesus is about to come about to take us to glory, about to appear for us. There is no doubt a prophetic character to what we have here before us in connection with Israel in the ship and Peter who steps out to go to Jesus. But I believe, dear young people, there is a great moral lesson for us here. We find that it was in the fourth one that Jesus came.
Jesus went unto them.
Walking on the sea, you know, in the case of Jonah and all, to me it's just so precious. In the case of Jonah, Jonah was seeking to get away.
And the Lord had to use a great fish.
But in the case of his own, here he didn't send the great fish. He came himself, He came himself, Jesus went unto them. And it wasn't something that went down under the waters. It was something that walked on the water, someone who walked on the water and came.
Above all that stormy way, here was one who could walk on the waves and come to them.
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it is a spirit.
And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I.
Be not afraid. You know, dear young people. I have thought about Jonah again in this connection.
When Jonah found that ship going to Tarshish, everything seemed to be smooth sailing. But it wasn't the mind of God for him to go. And here for these disciples, everything seemed to be against them, The storm, the waves. And they could be in that ship and look at the storm and the troubles and the difficulties, and they could say, the Lord put us here, the Lord told us to come. The Lord told us to get into this ship. The Lord sent us across this sea. And here's the storm.
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But Oh dear young people, what a lesson they learned in the storm that day, that Jesus was above the storm, that Jesus could walk on the waves. And they learned another lesson, and that was that they could walk on the waves with him, Walk on the waves with Jesus. So it says, he said be of good cheer. It is I. It is I.
Who was this one? It is I. Oh dear young people, may the Lord give you an eye to see that in the circumstances that the Lord allows in your life and mind, it's the Lords way, as it were saying to your heart and mind, it is I.
In his eye and his eye. Be not afraid. I was in some time ago, long way away from here, to see a young lady who at that time was very ill. She's gone home to be with the Lord now.
And we read this portion together. So very ill she had just learned that day when I went in to see her.
She had just learned that day that she would not recover.
And we enjoyed together, the Lord Jesus sang in his eye. Be not afraid. It is I, Oh dear young people, to welcome the Lord's presence, to be so thankful that the Lord Jesus is the one who not only controls every circumstance of your life and mind, but gives us to know and enjoy His company.
Along the way, oh how precious it is, I be not afraid.
Would you welcome him? Do you welcome him? You know, we heard that expression this morning. We can have as much of Christ as we want, and our lives show how much we want. Well, we find here one who, when he found out that this was Jesus, this was Jesus walking on the water. Why, if I can say it reverently, the beloved Apostle Peter said I want more, I want more.
And so he says.
And Peter answered and said, Lord, if it be, thou bid me come unto thee on the water. Lord, I don't want to be here in the ship. I want to be out there with you all beloved young people. Dear Peter, dear Peter, what a difference. Jonah trying to get away from the presence of the Lord. Jonah ending up going under the waters in that great fish, still through the Lord's goodness, God's preserving care.
But what about Peter?
All Peter walked out to Jesus, not away from him.
He seeks more of his company, not less, and he ends up walking on the water, not underneath it.
So he steps out on the water. Why? How could he dare do such a thing?
One word, all beloved people, dear young people, one word come, come. The Lord Jesus wanted his company. He had it on the authority of the Lord Jesus himself. He was welcome come, And so Peter, it says. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water.
To go to Jesus, to go to this one.
That he knew and that he loved.
Well, it says about Peter and when he saw.
The wind Boisterous. Now there are young people. I'd like to draw your attention specifically to that.
We sometimes hear it said, and I'm sure I've said it often myself.
That when Peter saw the waves. But that isn't what the word of God says. It says when he saw the wind, when he saw the wind, that contrary wind, when he saw the force that was arrayed against him as he walked on. The water wasn't the waves, it was the wind. When he saw that contrary wind, he began to sink and he cried, Lord save me, Lord, save me, dear young people. Where had Peter's step of faith taken him?
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When he stepped out of the ship in faith, a heart longing to be closer to Jesus as he stepped out in faith, where had taken them? Why had it taken him closer to Jesus? It had taken him a step closer. He knew more of the Lords company.
And he knew more of the Lord's preserving care than of those who remained in the ship.
He went to Jesus.
All we often speak about poor Peter.
Well, dear young people, it wasn't poor Peter here. Sure, Peter failed. Here he saw those boisterous waves. And you and I may indeed look at the powers that are arrayed against us in this world and what our hearts might indeed sink. Unless we realize there's one standing by. There's one standing by Who walks on the waves. There's one standing by. Whose hand is there to lift us up. There's one standing by who's praying for us every hour of every day.
There's one standing by, ready to hold out a hand. And dear Peter, dear beloved Peter.
A heart attracted to Christ stepped out and was so close.
That the Lord could reach out his hand and pick him up All how one covets dear young people, one covets to know more of the company of Jesus.
The company of Jesus.
Here we find that dear Peter. He's lifted up.
And it says, and to me it's so precious.
It says. And when they were come into the ship. Oh, can you picture that?
Peter and the Lord Jesus walking on that sea back to the ship, the two of them together, when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Now notice that too. If you read the account given to us in the 4th chapter of Mark, I think it is of when the Lord Jesus was in the ship asleep on the pillow.
It tells us there that he arose and rebuked the wind and it said there was a great calm, but it doesn't say anything about her being a great calm here. All it says is the wind ceased. Why is that?
Well, dear young people, I suggest to you and to my own soul that the Lord Jesus is showing us here.
That as far as the power of Satan is concerned, the contrary wind that's arrayed against us, that which Peter saw and caused them to begin to sink. The Lord Jesus has that in control. That is in control. He is in control of all that Satan can do in your life or mine. Let's remember that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
But there's no indication that the waves decease.
Why is that, dear young people, the Lord Jesus hasn't promised, hasn't promised to take all the waves out of your life and mine?
But what he offers us is the privilege of walking on the wings.
With him, with him walking on the waves, that says in the end of Habakkuk, I believe it is he giveth us Hinds feet, that is that which goes over the difficulties walk on the waves with the Lord of glory. Oh dear young people.
Away from the presence of the Lord, you pay your own fare. You lose in your own soul the sense of the Lord's company. All the Lords, still in his wondrous grace, may overrule in his preserving care, but there's a loss of fruitfulness, there is a loss of testimony, there is a loss of power, there is a fair to be paid, and the end result is little or no understanding.
Of the heart of God, but dear Peter, their beloved Peter.
What of him? When he saw it with Jesus, he wanted to be closer. When he stepped out in faith that brought it from to him he had the joy of walking on the water with Jesus back into the ship. And one of the testimony why it says that those who were in the ship.
Says they came and worshipped, saying thou art the Son of God. Now again, if you compare the account given in the 4th chapter of Mark to me it's very striking because in the 4th chapter of Mark, when the Lord Jesus was in the ship.
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In the ship with the Disciples.
He calmed the wind and the sea.
What they said was, what manner of man is this, that the wind and the waves obey him, the wind and the sea obey him?
But when they saw.
One of their own.
Walking on the water with Jesus.
When they saw the power of this one to lift up Peter.
And give him to walk on the water with him back to the ship. Then it was that they said he's the Son of God. All beloved young people. What a testimony to all those in the ship. How it drew their hearts out to Christ too. And if you and I give him the 1St place, it cannot happen, Cannot help but attract to Christ. I would just say without turning to it that Peter.
Who walked on the water with Jesus?
Who long for more of this company?
Peter entered into the heart of God, and in two Peter Chapter 3 you'll find that Peter talks about God's long-suffering not as something to be rejected or displeased about as Jonah did, but he says account the long-suffering of God as salvation. Oh what a joy it was to Peter to see, even though he knew that the world was under judgment.
He marveled and rejoiced in God's grace.
And could speak there of a day being with the Lord as 1000 years and 1000 years is 1 day. And he says there that what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
May our hearts, dear young people, long to know more of the company of Jesus.
Are walking ways more consistent with His company and our heart, entering with the heart of God into his long-suffering, patience, and grace.
Ye Are Not Your Own
Address—G. Hayhoe
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975.
Addressed by Gordon Hayhoe.
Thine Jesus, thine no more. This heart of mine shall seek its joy apart from Thee. The world is crucified to me, and I am Thine. I trust this is true of each one of us here, and even those who do know the Lord is our Savior. I think we must sing this hymn as a prayer, and I trust it will be from our hearts.
Why Jesus died?
Ah.
Would you turn with me first of all to 1St Corinthians chapter 6?
First Corinthians chapter 6.
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And the 19th verse.
What? Know ye not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit.
Which are gods? Well, they're young people. This afternoon I'd like to speak about this subject. You are not your own. You are bought with a price. And I'd like to speak of how we can acknowledge the Lord's rights and claims over us. And particularly, I had three things before me how we should let him speak to us, and how we can speak to him, and how we can speak to to others about him.
And so in this verse we have first of all the recognition of his rights.
And of His claim over us. I trust that each one of us here know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. If you do, you belong to Him, You have been bought, indeed with a great price. We can never fully estimate what it cost God to give His Son, nor can we fully estimate what the Lord Jesus went through upon that cross of Calvary in order to make us His very own. How great the cost.
And yet, how wonderful that he loved us enough and that he gave himself.
For us that we can say like the Apostle Paul, the son of God.
Who love me and gave himself for me. I heard of a young couple who had this verse hanging in their room, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, and a man came in to transact some business with them.
And while he wrote the room, he was sitting there just reading that text over and over again.
And when they came back, he said, I don't wonder you're happy if you really believe that. And dear young people, we really do believe this. We know it's true. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And if there should be anyone here this afternoon and you don't know him as your savior, let me tell you that he loves you. Christ died, for all the way of blessing is open for you.
And you can be brought into the circle of blessing this very afternoon, if you will just yield to His claims, if you'll just turn to him in repentance and faith, there's blessing for you. There's cleansing through His precious blood that cleanses from all sin, and you can be blessed this very afternoon.
And then it tells us here now that when we are saved, when we do receive that cleansing, just like the cleansed leper on top of the blood.
Was placed the oil, and so we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.
We have a power now for our walk, because how can we ever go against the current of this world if we didn't have the power for it? The current of this world is getting stronger and stronger as it sweeps on toward judgment, and I'm sure you all feel it. Two dear young people feel it much more, perhaps, than those of us who are older. Those of us who are growing older aren't exposed to it in the same way, but as you go to school and as you work in offices.
And as you contact the world, you realize more how strong the current is that is against you. Well, God is not asking us to go to warfare at our own charges. He's not asking us to do anything in our own strength. He provides all that's necessary. And when he made us his own, a spirit of God, that divine guest came to indwell our bodies. And he's the Comforter. He's the one who sheds the bronze, the love of God in our hearts, and He is the power to for our walk as well as the pledge.
Now that we're going to be carried through, the captain of our salvation is going to bring us safely home to glory. What a comfort, what a consolation. But we can't ask ourselves this afternoon, how much do we really acknowledge his claims? Isn't it true that we're really liable to have a certain corner of our heart and that we keep for ourselves? We're not fully yielded. It's as though we said, well, I know the Lord has done a great deal for me.
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But there are certain things in my life I think I should choose for myself.
Well, dear young people, can you really believe that the one who loved you enough to die for you and to prepare for you, that home above where no sorrow will ever enter, that place where there will be pleasures forevermore, not for a month or a day or a year, but forevermore, Can you doubt that he is seeking your good and your happiness?
In the 8th chapter of Proverbs we find that when this world was built, when it was prepared, it says his delights were with the sons of man. And I remind you again that he is delighting in you, shall I say, The Lord loves young people as they spring up into manhood and womanhood, He loves to see them. And there's a verse in Jeremiah that says, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me and say?
My father, thou art the guide of my youth. Oh dear young people, to have a guide through your youth in school. They have guidance teachers, But these guidance teachers often give the wisdom of this world and not the wisdom of God. But we have guidance from one who knows all about us, who knows our frame, who understands all about us, knows our family background and everything, and who's really seeking our good and our blessing.
Every step of the pathway here, well, perhaps someone might say, but it's very hard to discover the Lorde mind. It's very difficult to know what is his will for us. Well, let me put it this way. Do you think he wants you to know? Do you think he's holding it back from you as though he didn't care whether you really knew his mind and will or not? And that you really want to know, but he doesn't want to show you?
Think that this is so. Well, I assure you it's not so. A scripture says, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Another first says, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. And it tells us in the 10th chapter of Jeremiah. Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.
It is not in man that Walketh to direct his steps. So I want to begin by saying that the Lord wants to show you. He wants to direct you. He wants to take the place as leader in your life and to be the captain who guides you in all things. And so if you and I are willing, why he's more than willing to teach us and to show us the way. Of course we know what the hindrance is.
It's our own wills. We all have that stubborn will that likes to have our own way.
And it tells us in the 53rd of Isaiah we have turned everyone to his own way.
It says in the second of Ephesians.
That we followed the course of this world. And so the two things.
Are linked together in our lives. We want to have our own way and we want to be accepted by our peers. We want others to feel that we're sort of one and part of the crowd. And so I believe we can say that these things are the hindrance. We only have to read through the scriptures to see that through the history of man upon the earth, of those who seek to sought to walk to please God were often misunderstood.
Often found themselves, yeah, perhaps I could say always found themselves in the minority rather than in the majority. Because the Lord Jesus said street is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
And it's not wrong to desire to be accepted. Everyone of us have that desire, and it's not wrong to have that desire. But the question is with whom do we wish to be accepted? Paul said that it was the great labor of his life. He said, I labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. He wanted to be acceptable, accepted. We like to be accepted. We like to feel that our appearance is accepted. Our clothes are accepted. Our personality is accepted. This is not wrong.
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About the question is, whose acceptance do we seek? Do we really speak the Lord's acceptance well, if we really seek His acceptance, and to do His will? And isn't it lovely? And that he wants us to know it, and he wants to make our joy not half full, but full, as it says these things right, I unto you that your joy may be full. And so this afternoon, without having particularly the thought of studying before you certain things that you might say, well, this is what I should do.
I would like to speak to you about those principles that I believe should guide and direct our pathway.
Because I have often said that when I find out that a young person really wants to please the Lord.
Then I don't worry about them because I know the Lord wants to show them the way. I know He wants to bless them. And when we really have that desire, then how he delights to show us His mind and His will, to give us his joy, his peace, his love for our present portion and His home at the end of the journey. And so, with this in mind, I'd like to speak to you about those three things I mentioned first of all.
To let him speak to us, and I suppose we could say the way he speaks to us is through his word. I wonder if we could turn to Psalms first of all in the 78th Psalm.
Psalm 78 in the first verse.
Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children. Showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength, and his wonderful works that he has done, for He established a testimony in Jacob.
And appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children.
That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children. That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God and keep His commandments. Oh, you also turn with me to the 119th Psalm and the 97th verse.
Oh, how I love Thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments, has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients. Because I keep Thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way.
That I might keep thy word, I have not departed from Thy judgments.
Thou has taught me how sweet are thy words unto my taste, nay, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And now just one more passage in Jeremiah chapter 13.
Jeremiah, chapter 13.
And verse 15.
Hear ye and give ear. Be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he caused darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And while he looked for light, he turned it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if he will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride.
And mine eyes shall weep sore and rundown with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.
Well, we can see from these scriptures perhaps two things in connection with letting God speak to us, and that is how he wants to give us instruction for our pathway and then the solemnity of refusing that instruction that he gives us. So these verses that I have read have to do with letting God speak to us. Oh, how important this is to your young people, not only for you, but it's important for me. The Bible speaks of an old and foolish king who will no longer be admired.
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So it doesn't matter how old we are, we still need the word of God. We still need its instruction. We find that there are warnings for youth and there are warnings for old age, and there are just as many dangers in old age as there are in youth. The only reason I'm speaking to you is because this meeting, especially for you. But it isn't because I don't need it myself, because the warnings are just as much needed for me As for you. Well, in the first one that we read in the 78th Psalm, we find here the instruction given that should be passed on from generation to generation.
And I think it's nice in this fourth verse, but it says we will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord.
And his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. And surely as we read God's word, we find those three things The praises of the Lord, His strength and his wonderful works that he has done. Oh, just think, all that has been revealed to us in this precious book. I can't overestimate the wonder of God's precious word. There are some people I know who doubt the inspiration of this blessed book.
Believe that It's the inspired word of God. They're practically saying that God hasn't given us any message that we can rely upon. He's put us in this world and He's made us responsible, and yet He hasn't told us how we can please Him. He hasn't given us any warnings. Is that so? Is it really true?
No, dear young people, we have a reliable message from God. We have His book, and this precious book has stood the test of the ages. It stands. It contains within itself abundant proof as to its veracity. Hundreds of its prophecies have already been fulfilled. It's more up to date than the daily newspaper. It fits what is happening in this very present age just as much as it did 50 years ago.
And it'll do the same tomorrow. It's God's book, it's God's message, and it tells us the praises of the Lord. Oh, how wonderful when we think that the one who made all things is the one who deserves the praise of our hearts. And then it says.
And his strength, because when we speak about these things, we might easily say.
All but it's a very difficult path. It's very easy for you to stand there brother, hey ho and talk about it. But you know, when you meet the situations, it's an entirely different thing. But God gives the strength that we need the beloved apostle Paul, who probably knew more of suffering for Christ than any of other, any other of God's messengers. He said I can do all things through Christ.
Which strengtheneth me. He found that there was a source of strength for his pathway. His strength? And you may be faced with real difficulties at this time. There may be some situation in your life. And as I'm talking, you're saying I don't know how I can get over the hum. I don't know just how I can make this. It's a big grade to me, and I'm afraid it's too much for me. What is it too much for the Lord? Are you like those men who went in to spy the good land?
And ten of them, when they spied the good land, they said it was a good land. But they got their eyes on the giants and they got their eyes on the high walls, and they said there's giants there and the walls are high. It's a good land that we can never possess, that it's too much for us.
How about the other two? They saw the giants. They didn't underestimate them. They saw the high walls, but they also saw the Lord. And they said if the Lord delights in us, why he'll bring us in, He'll give us the land. The 10 measured themselves in comparison with the giants, and they said we felt like grasshoppers beside the giants. But the other two, they measured God.
Beside the giants. And it was the giants that looked like grasshoppers because God was so much greater than the giants. And so it is. There are things that are insurmountable in our human strength. They're just entirely beyond us. But it tells us his strength, his wonderful works that he has done. He has proved himself in the past. He has helped his people through all kinds of problems and difficulties.
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It tells us in Peter, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
1St Corinthians 10 I believe it is. And God is faithful. Yes, he is able, and he passes his own through all the same temptations that men of the world.
Face. And then he shows that he's able to sustain them in these situations and give them the strength for them.
Adele And then it goes on to tell us that these things are to be passed on. And that's what I'm trying in my little measure to do to you today.
I was once a child and a young person sitting in the meetings. I occupied the place of the young people. I heard, those who were older and as I listened to them.
I'm sure I often wondered about how I was going to be able to get along through the problems of life, but now I can look back and say the Lord is sufficient. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
So he speaks of his wonderful works that he hath done, and we declare these things to our children.
And they passed them on to others and I'd like to encourage you to your young people.
To read God's precious Word and make it the habit of your life. Be sure that each day you pick up your Bible and read something from that wonderful book, God's Word. It has a message for you. I know that some of you are very busy.
Life is terribly pressured in these days and it's hard to find time for the things of God. It's very difficult to even find 2 minutes. It seems sometimes. To get over God's precious word for the enemy seems to squeeze so many things. And I have found in my life the truth of that little ham. Take time to be holy. You'll never have time unless you take time. There will never be such a thing as saying, well, I had plenty of time. It just seems you always have to take time.
For the things of God, But oh how well you'll be repaid. For it And more of the missile, I'll tell you that. What you read and what you take in and use. If the Lord leaves us here, you will remember what you read. When you're older, you will enjoy, but you won't remember. It won't stay with you. It's when you're young that you can read these things and take them in, and they become part of yourself.
That's why in the end of the book of Leviticus, when it's talking about the value of people in connection with vows, it says that the man who was, the man who was I think 20 years of age, he was worth 60 shekels. And Can you believe it, when he passed, when he passed 60 years of age, his his value went down to, I think it was 15 shekels. That's quite a drop, isn't it? Doesn't make some of us who are older feel very important.
When we realize that God places such a great value on the young people, and he tells us that our value has dropped considerably because we can't remember, I don't mean that we can't be useful and that we cannot stand with the precious things that we have known and enjoyed, but we can't take them in and retain them in the same way that you can. Dear young people, our energies have begun to wane a little bit, but your energies are right at their very best.
And so you need direction. Many of you go to school and to college.
And the trade schools to prepare yourself for your occupations. Do you think you can go through a world like this with all its confusion, with all its many paths, with all its temptations, and you don't need any direction at all. You don't need directions from your maker. Can it be that you should actually think that? That at your age of life that you don't need to? You never thought that in connection with your job you didn't go down and apply for a job that required skill?
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Tell them, well, I'm not at all trained, but I think I can do it. The first question they're going to ask you is what training have you had?
And so, may I ask, have you made it the habit of your life to read God's Word?
Are you seeking to take it in as the very voice of God, your Father, to you? Have you sought this instruction from him, that passage? Let's turn to it again in the 119th Psalm.
This 119 Psalm is a very remarkable Psalm has 176 verses. The headings on it I believe, are the letters of the Greek alphabet. And remarkable as it is, it has the whole Greek alphabet. Here it's the longest chapter in the Bible and in every verse almost. I think there's one or two, but in almost every verse in the whole Psalm.
There is some mention of the word of God, either called commandments or statutes or testimonies.
Or thy word, some word that has to do with God's message to man. The longest chapter in the Bible. The whole alphabet, as we might say, knows all about it from A-Z. Why the whole thing is here And where are we going to get all this information? It's God's Word.
It's God's word. And you, as our brother Chapter Brown used to remind us so often, we can never be wiser than God. We can never be wiser than God. There isn't a situation in life that I can have more wisdom than God has given in his precious word. Some of these verses that we read, that 97th verse of this 119th Psalm, oh how I love thy law. Who do you and I find our delight in this precious book?
Are we like another who said, thy words were found? And I did eat them, and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Do you find delight in this precious book, God's revelation of himself to you, and a marking out of the pathway for you? And it says, it is my meditation all day, and I don't like to speak of myself, but you know, I read a great many of these stories in the Old Testament.
Without having any real understanding of what they meant. And I used to read them and they were just stories that my parents told me and that I read. But as I've grown older, those stories have assumed a great importance in my life. And I tell you when I have tried to make the habit of my life, that whenever any situation arises in life, I try to think of some incident in God's word where someone was placed in a similar situation.
And I have found that every situation that comes up, God has given a story in His Word, where men and women were placed in similar situations. And God has shown us how they acted, whether they acted wisely or unwisely. And He has shown us the wisdom and the blessedness of following His Word and the folly of disobeying it. And the Bible is God's picture book. It abounds with these wonderful stories.
And so I want to encourage you, you say, Well, I hear a brother get up and he talks about some story in the Bible, but it never meant that to me.
But if you read it, then when the situation arises in your life, that God by his Spirit can bring that story back to you. He can fit it into the affairs of your life and make it a blessing. But you know, I, I must repeat what my father once said, because people say, well, I don't understand the Bible, so what's the use of reading it? He used to say, But the Spirit is the remembrance, Sir. And he said God doesn't work miracles to encourage laziness.
If you and I neglect his word, he's not going to work a miracle to bring something back to us that we never read. He intends us to read it, and then he brings it back to our minds and he makes it a blessing to us. And then it says.
Thou, through thy commandments, has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. Yes, there are many enemies when you go to school, or enemies.
When you go to work their enemies, you're going to meet those who are going to try to trip you up. You're going to meet those who are going to try and turn you aside. I don't need to tell you this. You've experienced it already and you say I don't know what to say to them. But God can make you wiser than your enemies. He can give you the wisdom to answer what they say, and you'll be surprised that when you answer by God's word.
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If you say, well I don't believe that way, then they'll try to make you believe their way. But if you cool the verse of scripture.
There's a power in this wonderful book. It says it's the sword of the Spirit and when it's used in communion by the Spirit, it is really strong. The Lord met Satan in all his temptations by just simply answering. It is written.
And so it says, wiser than the mine enemies, for they are ever with me, and I have more understanding than all my teachers or thy testimonies are my meditation. That is, when you go, they teach you things. They sound often quite sensible and logical, as they sound as if they were a little wiser than God's word. But you have more understanding than them, because you have received your instruction from 1:00.
Whose wisdom never fails? Whose very name is wisdom? Or how often men have had to change their opinions. They've often said the books that we studied when we went to school. They're so outdated today that you'd probably laugh at them if I pulled them out and showed them to you. You'd say why we've left those things behind long ago. Wise men change their opinions, but God's Word is suited to our day.
And it tells us here you have more understanding that all your teachers, all your young people.
Store up your mind with God's Word and when you're faced with infidelity and atheism.
When you're faced with the changing standards of man and they say, well, people used to think those things were wrong, but you know you're you have to keep step with the times and people's ideas change all. Be careful. You're not going to be judged by the opinions of man. God's word doesn't change. God's word is ever the same, and he's able to direct you and instruct you. And then the result in the 101St verse.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. And so in the last verse he says I hate every false way. Here we have again I say the blessedness of God's Word. And so before we go on to speak of the next, let me again say to you, read God's Word each day, value it, and even if you only have a little time.
I found comfort by what it says about the gathering of a manna. It tells us that each person was to gather an Omer a certain amount for each day. And it tells us the men were to gather for their households too. Responsibility of the head of the home.
But then it tells us as you go on, it says they gathered some more, some less. And perhaps you might say, well, I don't always have a time to read a chapter. Perhaps it's long and I don't have time, while God has put in something very wonderful in that chapter that I thoroughly enjoyed. And that is, it says that some gathered more and some less, and then it says it came to pass.
Measured it into their Omer. He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. Now, that is, if you have time to read a great deal, well, thank God for it. You won't have anything over. You need it all. But if you don't have time, the important thing is to measure it into your armor, to take that portion and fit it into the needs of the day. Fit it into the needs of the day, and you'll find that it'll become a great blessing because you'll find it. It's suited to just what you need. God knew what you were going to need that day.
And so you can fit it into the needs of the day. So this, perhaps we could say these scriptures bring before us the importance of God's Word, and that one other scripture in Jeremiah. I say again, it's a warning. It's a warning. And it says that if you refuse to hearken, the time will come when you want to have light for your pathway and your stumbling on the dark mountains.
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Oh, there's many young people that have come to that point in their lives, that they have refused the instruction, and then they come to the Dark Mountains, those situations that are just impossible. And they say, oh, if the Lord would only guide me, but they rejected all his instruction. And what did Jeremiah say? Well, he said, I'll just have to weep for you. You'll put yourself in a position.
By disobeying God's word. Where now all I can do is weep for you.
All dear young people, there's a lot of wrecks along the pathway of life, but you won't have a wreck.
If you follow the light and wisdom of God's Word, read it each day, seek to learn what God has for you. And it says Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. May God grant that you'll let God speak to you each day through His Word. I say again, let Him speak to you. He speaks to you through His Word. Don't neglect your Bible.
There's a little song the children saying cling to the Bible.
My boy, may you value it, May you cling to it in your youth. And as you we grow older too. Now let's turn to the next one, and that is speaking to the Lord. So first of all, I'd like to turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
And verse 15.
By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
And that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
And now let's turn to Matthew, Chapter 6.
Matthew Chapter 6.
Verse 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou art shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
And in Acts chapter 2.
Acts, Chapter 2 and verse.
42.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers, And then one other passage in Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah.
Three books before the Psalms Nehemiah, chapter 2.
Nehemiah 2.
And the fourth verse. Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, If it pleased the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would ascend me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it.
Well, I've read these four different passages and I believe they bring before us speaking to the Lord.
As I said in the other scriptures, it's the Lord speaking to us and how He makes himself known and His will made known through His word. But now in these verses we have speaking to the Lord. The reason I read first of all in Hebrews chapter 13 is because the first thing is worship, and that is we speak to Him in Thanksgiving and praise and dear young people cultivate the habit of praise and Thanksgiving in your life.
Cultivate the habit, I say, of praise and Thanksgiving in your life. It's easy to develop a critical, grumbling spirit. It's very easy. And as we go through situations in life, it's very easy, if we're not watchful, to become like the children of Israel and only look at the circumstances and not see the hand of love that is behind them all about if we see God's hand in our circumstances.
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If we cultivate the habit of praise, it's a very blessed thing. Someone has said we cannot always see God's love in our circumstances, but we can always see His love displayed at the cross. That's why when the waters were bitter, the only thing that would make them sweet was to cast the tree into the water. And I'm sure some of you are facing situations and you are saying right now, I can't see how God is showing His love to me.
In a situation I'm in about, you can see that he loves you by looking at the cross.
You can see what he paid for you. You can see the home that he has prepared for you in his glorious promise that he's going to come again and let that fill your heart with praise and Thanksgiving. And I'm sure, as I say, if you cultivate this habit, it's going to make a difference in your life.
And so let us learn to speak to the Lord, to thank him.
Every day, over and over again, for all his goodness, thank Him for dying on the cross to save us. Thank Him for every blessing that we receive along the way. Thank Him for all the answers to prayer. Cultivate the habit, I say, of offering.
Sacrifice of praise to God continually the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name, and then till when we come to the meeting, as we did this morning. I've been much impressed by that verse, and none shall appear before me. Empty. When you come to the meeting, come to give, come to give. The Lord is there, and you can give to Him. Give the sacrifice of praise.
Just think of what he's done. Perhaps you say. Well, the meeting seemed to drag. There didn't seem to be much praise about you. And I can come to the meeting to give and even the sisters can give to. I believe that's why in the 12Th chapter of John, it doesn't tell us about a man who anointed the feet of the Lord. Because we might say, well, the brothers can take part. How about it with the sister? It was Mary who anointed the seed of Jesus.
And the house was thrilled with the order of the ointment. And a sister whose heart is full of praise, a sister who is flew on with the Lord in any meetings is a tremendous blessing. To the meeting is a great encouragement in the meeting, from which others can receive help and encouragement. So let us cultivate first of all the habit of thanking the Lord over and over again, praising Him for His wondrous grace. It's going to be our eternal occupation above.
And then in the other three scriptures that I read, we have prayer brought before us in three different ways. First of all in connection with what we might call private or closet prayer. Secondly, assembly prayer, and then thirdly.
What we might call instantaneous prayer or another scripture pray without ceasing. Now I believe those three things are important in our lives too. Now, that is, we have spoken about the importance of reading God's word, but we also need that time of prayer in the Lord's presence. It's a grand thing to cultivate the habit of getting a loan with the Lord. Perhaps the family pray. That's very nice. That's very lovely.
When the family kneel down and you kneel down and there's a family prayer.
But there is such a thing as getting along with the Lord. The Lord said about a certain problem that the disciples had. This kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. And many of us have found the blessing of getting somewhere just along with the Lord and just as the scripture says, pouring out our hearts before him, just telling him the whole situation because he loves to hear us. Come when you have a friend that you have confidence in, that friend comes.
And he does just that. Or she does just that. They just pour out their hearts and when they've done it, you say we understand one another, we understand one another. Isn't it a grand thing, dear young people, that you have a Savior who wants you to come and pour out your heart before him? There are things you can't say in the Bible, in the family, reading a prayer, prayer time. There are things you can't say in the assembly prayer time, but the you can say them when you're alone with the Lord.
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And so the Lord Jesus said, go into your closet, shut your door, just get along with the Lord.
And oh, what a blessing this is. Many of us can look back and think of those victories.
Have ever won upon our knees. The little poem says Satan trembles when he sees the weakest St. upon his knees. So don't forget the importance of talking to the Lord in prayer in your closet. We praise him, but then we need to come and pour out our request to him. And then there's the second one. Now there is assembly prayer. That in the second of Acts I believe refers to assembly prayer.
It says Speaking of those 3000 who were saved, it says they continued steadfastly.
In the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. These, I suppose we could say, are the assembly meetings when we come together for the reading of the word, for prayer, for the breaking of bread, we need these meetings, But here it's particularly prayer. A difficulty arose in the 12Th of Acts, and they gather together as an assembly to bring this matter before the Lord. And the Lord answered their prayer and delivered Peter.
And he has often answered assembly prayer. There are things that come up in the assembly prayer meeting that concern the people of God as a whole that are concerned concerning God's interests here in this world. And it's a good habit to be at the assembly prayer meeting.
We don't come to the assembly prayer meeting to get. We come to pour out our hearts to make our requests known unto God. Again I say this comes in the part of talking to the Lord, talking to Him. He talks to us through His word. Now we come and talk to him. And then we come to the third one. And here was a man named Nehemiah. He was the King's cup bearer. He was in a very tight spot in his business.
And those.
Men who had authority in those days had the power of life and death, and Nehemiah was afraid in the presence of the king, that if he said the wrong thing, that he might perhaps even have his head cut off.
Perhaps you say, Well, I often have situations and I'm afraid if I say the wrong thing I'll lose my job.
Or I won't get a promotion that I'm hoping for. It's just so difficult when you're working just to know what to say and the right thing. And sometimes something comes so fast, so quickly you just don't know how to answer. And if you say the wrong thing, it's just too bad you can't take it back.
Isn't that so? We often have situations like this. Nehemiah had a situation like this, but prayer was the habit of his life. And so when the king said, Nehemiah, for what are you making requests before he answered the king, He said, it says, So I prayed unto the God of heaven, and I said unto the king, I don't believe the king knew that that little prayer had gone up. But Nehemiah knew and the Lord knew.
And the Lord gave him wisdom, and the Lord gave him favor in the sight of this great king. It was a tremendous request that naturally speaking, had never expected it would ever work. But when he made the request, the king granted the request, and even more than he asked.
All friends weren't in touch with the one who says that the King's heart is in his hands, the one who rules the universe, the one whose head over all things to the church, which is his body. Dear young people, cultivate the habit of having, shall I say, an open line between yourself and the Lord, that you can just turn to him at any time? Some boyfriend asked you a question. And before you answer.
Stand up a swift prayer. Somebody asked you to go someplace. Before you answer, send up a swift prayer. You might give the wrong answer. You might say the wrong thing, and it might affect your whole life. All dear young people, the Lord wants us to talk to Him.
He wants us to talk to him. He's talked to us here. He's told us his will. Now he wants us to talk to him.
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He wants us to talk to Him in prayer and praise. He wants us to talk to Him in our closet. He wants us to be at the assembly prayer meeting and talk to him there. And he wants us in every situation, whether it's in the office, whether it's when you're driving your car, at all times, as it says in First Thessalonians 5. Pray without ceasing, pray without ceasing. So we can talk to him, but now, the last one, we can talk to others about him. Let's turn to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2.
And verse 15.
That she may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. That I may rejoice in the day of Christ. That I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Here we have, perhaps we could say, two ways that we can talk to others about him.
One is the life we live and the other is the words that we speak. That's why it says holding forth the word of life. I might say that consecration means both hands full. Somebody comes in on your birthday and both hands are full of parcels. There's a great deal of warmth and there's a feeling that that brings us both hands are full. And here these, they say, these are all for you. Well.
Isn't it nice that as Christians we can have both hands full, full of lot, full of Christ if we let him talk to us? We've talked to him now. Can it be that we don't want others to know what a wonderful savior we have? Are we going to keep all these good things to ourselves? The world has many empty hearts. The world realizes that what it has doesn't satisfy. You only have to read its magazine.
Or to read its comments or listen to its comments and you find how people have no solution for the increasing problems and they just don't know what to do. Isn't it lovely that as Christians we go through this world and we can let them see that we have been with Jesus, blameless and harmless? The world is watching us. We have a testimony to live. Sometimes they won't listen to what we say.
But they will listen to what they see in our lives. They can't help it. They watch us. They say sometimes they'll make a comment like this to you. Well, you have something that we don't have, and especially in times of stress, they'll say that.
Because the world can get along when things are moving along fairly well and smoothly and they're getting promotions, and it's a time of inflation and lots of money. And so people often don't think so seriously. But then difficulties come and they'll turn and they'll say you have something, you have something. Oh, isn't it lovely? It serves, you shine as lights in the world. The Christian just shines out.
And one Christian in an office, he sort of shines out. People notice him, they see that he's different.
And so that's one of the ways that we are a testimony in the world, and so we speak to the world about our Savior. When Moses came down from the Mount, he didn't have to tell the people that he had been with God. They knew it because his face was shining. And then it tells us in a 16th verse holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
That is. Now when they see this, we say, well, here's the reason I know the Lord Jesus. I know what he's done for me. He's my savior. The way is open now to present Christ to them. And we have the opportunity of speaking to others about him. Oh dear young people, we need these things in our lives. We need to go on through this world. God doesn't intend you to go through life with an empty heart. He has filled your heart. He wants your joy to be full.
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He's done everything that love could do to win your heart and mind. He's told us we don't belong to ourselves. He's he has delivered a message to us so complete that it covers every situation in our life and warns us about every difficulty he has opened, the way that we can talk to him anytime, 24 hours in the day. People have what they call a watch line and they can phone long distance. But isn't it lovely that you and I have a line that can be open at all times? We can talk to the Lord.
At anytime we can go into our closet and talk to him. We can come to the meeting. What a lovely thing. And then when the world says and what do you have that we can then talk to them about him. He's everything to us. He's won our hearts. And when we get home to glory, what are we going to do? Well, certainly up there we won't need instruction for our pathway, but it does say forever. Oh Lord.
Thy word is settled in heaven.
We won't have to make requests up there because we'll have everything that we want, but forever we'll be talking about him. We'll be talking about him and talking to him. Oh my God, Grant dear young people, now that we may acknowledge His claims and seek to live to please him as we think of the nearness of his coming. I just like to read one little verse here in the 86th Psalm before I close and.
Perhaps it can be the desire of our hearts. Psalm 86 and verse 11.
I'd like to read verses 11 and 12. Teach me thy way. O Lord, I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I will glorify thy name forevermore. May the Lord grant it may be so with each one of us.
Seven Openings
Address—D. Andersen
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975.
Addressed by Dan Anderson.
I apologize for the.
Let's sing #2 in the appendix.
To him you gave out was right in line with the ministry we've been having.
And it's a good hymn to remember, and especially what it says.
In that verse concerning the Holy Ghost.
#2 in the appendix.
This hymn, as many of you know, was written by.
Our late brother Jay and Darby.
It was written when he was 45 years of age.
And.
That's simple, and yet there's depth in it and there's something really.
That fits everyone of us, whether we are young or old.
I'm thinking of verse 2. Yet, Lord, alas, what weakness within myself I find no infants. Changing pleasure is like my wandering mind. You ever have that that experience in the meetings, young people?
You're sitting there in the meeting and we're having something before us concerning Christ.
And his precious word. And the first thing you know what? Your mind is way off somewhere.
Well, we older ones, we have the same experience.
But then it says, Yet thy loves unchanging, and doth recall my heart to join all its brightness to peace its beams in part. How good to know that the Lord still loves us and He cares for us. #2 in the appendix.
Someone started please?
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To try all the brightness.
You have to cry with us.
Among the people.
I'd like to have you turn with me to Luke's Gospel.
Chapter 24.
I believe this is a chapter that's familiar to many here, perhaps most.
And I trust you young people have read this chapter at least once.
But it's a wonderful thing to read the whole word of God.
There may be parts of the word of God that you don't seem to get much out of, and even those chapters where there's so many names. But if you look closely at some of those chapters, you might get something out of them too, because you find little things hidden in the midst of all of those names and those chapters. And if you Passover that chapter, you're going to miss it. God has so much in his word and it's in a way hidden away there. But we thank God, as we've had before, that He's given us His Holy Spirit.
Who's in our hearts? And He does teach us. The Lord isn't here to open up the scriptures to us now personally.
But the Lord does, by His Holy Spirit, open up the word to us. And we have something about that in this very chapter that we're going to read. I'm not going to read from the first of the chapter, and I'm not going to read the chapter before we begin, because.
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There's so much here that our trust will be able to cover some of it. Anyway, we're not going to exhaust this chapter. And don't ever think that you're going to exhaust any part of the word of God, because the Word of God is of such a fullness that we down here in this scene will never exhaust it. And there's so much there that it'll occupy us for all eternity.
Now we start with the 13th verse of Luke's Gospel, chapter 24, and it says and behold.
Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem. About 3 score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
It says here.
2 Two of them.
Behold 2 of them, two of whom? Well, I take it that it's two of the disciples.
And evidently they had been at Jerusalem, and they had been together with the other disciples.
But now they were on their way out into the country, away from Jerusalem.
Away from the little nucleus that was gathered together there.
And I don't know why they were going out into the country, but we find out something of what they were doing as they were going along the way.
And they had heard about some things that had taken place.
Because they were talking about them.
It says they talked together of all these things which have happened now you'll notice in the first part of the chapter.
It speaks of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These women come very early in the morning.
And the first day of the week.
The Sabbath had ended.
And they were coming.
And they were coming with their spices. And of course they were coming expecting to take care of the body of the Blessed Lord. But when they got there, they found the stone rolled away, and the Lord wasn't there.
The Lord wasn't there.
What a mercy that God saw to it, that the stone was rolled back, that the grave was opened up, and they could look in and see that the Lord wasn't there.
What would be our state today? What condition would be we be in?
If the Lord had remained in the grave.
If they had looked in there and he had still been there, have you ever thought about that?
Oh, what miserable things we would have been without hope, No hope of resurrection.
No hope of being with the Lord Jesus Christ. No hope of being in glory with him.
But oh, how wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen.
And in connection with this I just want to remind you of a scripture in the end of the book of Romans chapter four, that the Lord was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Now there are two things brought before us in that verse. The Lord delivered for our offenses. We look at him on Calvary's cross and there Peter can say about him, He bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
He took the judgment for our sins, He paid the penalty for our sins, He took the guilty once place, and he died under the judgment and wrath of a holy God.
His wrath against sin. And He took the judgment for all those sins, and every one of us who knows the Lord Jesus Christ his Savior, can say He bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
And because the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin, God can forgive our sins when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we we do enjoy and appreciate the forgiveness of sins. And everyone who knows Christ as Savior has the forgiveness of His sin.
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But we have more than just forgiveness. We have justification.
We have justification, that is, we are seeing before God.
As righteous in him, God does not see us in our sins, but he sees us in Christ.
And it speaks of us in Ephesians as being accepted in the Beloved.
Were placed before God, righteous.
This is a marvelous thing.
And that's what it tells us about in Romans 5 and verse one, therefore being justified.
By faith we have peace with God. Not only our sins forgiven, but were justified before God seen righteous before God. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's our standing before God, and we'll always have that standing, standing in righteousness before God.
And you, dear young people, sometimes perhaps especially right after you're saved.
You begin to wonder.
About what's taking place, what's happening?
Because after you've had the experience of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you know your sins are forgiven.
And you're really the Lord. You find that you still want to sin.
You still have those motions of sin within you, and they disturb you.
It is. It is disturbing.
And perhaps you've even wondered, Well, I wonder if I'm saved at all. I thought when I got saved, I wouldn't be troubled this way anymore.
Oh dear young people, we still have an old, sinful nature, and I'm afraid that when we get saved, it begins to act up worse than ever.
It's like the time that Isaac was born.
Abraham had another son about 13 years before.
Ishmael. And of course Abraham had been looking for an heir, and even Abraham himself looked upon Ishmael as the heir of his household.
The inheritor of all his substance.
But then God made it plain to Abraham that it wasn't in Ishmael, but it was in Isaac.
That all would head up. And so there was a promise given to him, and they had Isaac 13 years afterward, and the day came when Isaac was to be recognized as the heir of Abraham's household substance and all, and we find Ishmael mocking.
Old enough to realize what was going on. And he didn't like the idea that here was another one, just a a child coming on to take the place that he had perhaps learned by this time was his. He was ruling the roost, as it were.
Well, this is what happens with those who are not saved. The old nature, the old flesh is ruling the roost. But when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
Of whom Isaac is a type, and he comes into your heart.
The flesh begins to act up, and oh how you need the Lord then, and you just must give the Lord Jesus Christ the whole.
Room in your heart. Put him on the throne in your heart and recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ has a right to your life.
A right to your heart. A right to the first place in your life.
And you know, as you give the Lord Jesus Christ that first place.
You'll find that you have grace and strength when temptations come, and that's why it's so important to stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be in his presence and to talk with him and just tell the Lord I want you to have my whole heart. I yield it all to thee. I want you to have your way with me, and the Lord will give you grace and you can go to the Lord.
For grace and mercy to help you in your time of need. Oh no. Just because the flesh begins to act up worse than ever in you, that's not necessarily a sign that you're not the Lords. Perhaps it is a sign that you are the Lords. And oh how you need to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart.
00:20:16
Well, we're thankful for the open grave and if any of you want to follow.
These things along, I don't know if we'll get through them all, but there are at least seven open things in this chapter, and the first one we meet is the open grave. And we can say thanks, Peter God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. You find that verse in the Resurrection chapter in First Corinthians 15.
Now these two who were leaving Jerusalem, it says they were talking together and it says while they commune together and reason.
They commune together and reason.
Well, they were having a visit about these things and they were reasoning about the things that had happened.
But all the time they were reasoning what was happening.
They were getting further and further away from Jerusalem, farther away.
From the center further out into the country, there were really Wanderers.
Wandering away from the Lord, Wandering away from his own. Wandering away from the company of the disciples there in Jerusalem.
But look at the faithfulness of the Lord. Have you young people?
Ever had the experience of wandering away from the Lord, getting away from him?
Perhaps even getting away from home, or getting away from your brethren, or getting away from those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, his disciples.
Remember, if you're getting away from the Lord, he's not getting away from you.
He draws near to you, He says. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Just think of that. You may not be aware of it. You may not be conscious of it. Just like these. It says their eyes were holding that they should not know Him. And while you've been away from the Lord, you're not aware that the Lord himself is with you and he hasn't forsaken you. But how sad a state to be in not to know that the Lord is present and that He's near us.
And you know, we miss a lot when we're not aware that the Lord is near us. We're not enjoying His presence just like these. We're reasoning and getting further and further away from the Lord. But the Lord went along with them. It tells us here. And he says to them then. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk on our side? If you're away from the Lord, if you're away from His people, you can't be anything but sad.
And perhaps you dear young people are having an experience like this, and you're not really happy. You can't be happy away from the Lord. You can't be happy away from your brethren. You can't be happy away from the assembly. Oh no, It can result only in sadness.
And one of them, whose name was Clippers answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?
And have not known the things which are come to pass in these days.
And he said unto them, What things?
Look at the Lord. He asked them a question. Why? To draw out their hearts?
And that's what the Lord does with us. When we get away from him, he begins to speak to us. He perhaps tries to draw out our hearts.
He said unto them, What things, Well, they continue to tell him.
Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in peace and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this today is 1/3 day since these things were done.
There was a note of disappointment in what they were saying. Have you been disappointed, dear young people?
00:25:02
Perhaps you've been very disappointed.
And that disappointment that you experience threw you off the track somehow, and you seem to get away from the Lord.
And perhaps you really enjoyed the Lord to begin with after you were saved, But that disappointment upsets you turn your side.
Well, this is sad, isn't it? It doesn't have to turn it aside. It doesn't have to upset us. No, we need to keep our eye on the Lord. We need to stay close to him. We need to believe what he says, because the Lord goes on and tells them and we'll read on about.
Their slowness of heart to believe.
Yeah, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the Sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us, went to the sepulchre and found it, even as the women had said. But him they saw not. Then he said unto them, all fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Fools and slow heart, just think of what the Lord says to them.
Well, these two were his dear children.
They were disciples of his and look at the strong language. He uses fools and slow heart to believe all well it was meant all the word of God, all that the prophets have spoken. Now remember.
When the Lord was speaking to them, they did not have the New Testament.
They had the Old Testament scriptures. They had what the prophecies spoken. That was the word of God. But they should have known about the Lord Jesus Christ. From these scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, did you realize that you can learn something from the Old Testament about the Lord Jesus Christ? Where do we get all of the types and shadows, the types of the Lord Jesus Christ, those things that point forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Where do we find them? We find them in the Old Testament. Do you ever read the Old Testament?
Oh, it's a wonderful book.
I'm thankful that God laid it upon my heart to read the word of God when I was young.
I was reading the word of God even before I was saved. I don't know why I did it, but I believe it was God that was laying it upon my heart to do it.
I read the Bible through 1 1/2 Times before I got saved.
It was the Word of God that was used by the Spirit of God to convict me, make me see I was a Sinner and I needed to be saved.
Oh, don't think likely of reading the word of God. Don't think likely of reading the Old Testament. And you know, I read the Old Testament and I read in Genesis especially where you find the beginnings of most everything that you have in the word of God. It's the book of beginnings.
And read it, meditate upon it and you will find, especially in the story of Joseph, oh, something that can really speak to the heart of a young person. Don't give up reading the word. Don't give up reading the Old Testament. That's what you young people need. You need the word of God. We can't do without it. Those of you who are the Lords, you need food for your soul, and the word of God is food.
Food for the soul.
That makes me think of that chief over in Ghana.
Brother, sister and I went to visit him.
And brother Sister was telling him about how he had been sending the word of God over into Ghana and other places in Africa, I suppose. And so this chief speaking through an interpreter I found later on. He could talk English, but to show his importance he wanted to speak through an interpreter to us. But he said through his interpreter, you see that room back there and that table over there?
We saw that there were books on it.
He says those are Bibles, and he says I spend a little time every day reading the word of God.
Because it's food for my soul. Think of that black man a chief.
And he was just a young chief. He wasn't more than in his 20s. He'd been made chief when he was 14 years of age. But somehow, somewhere along the line, perhaps some missionary had given him the word of God and impressed upon him the importance of reading the word of God. And he found for himself that it was food for his soul. Is it food for your soul?
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Four wonderful day will dawn for you when you find that the word of God is really food for your soul and you just long to have time to open it up. And when you get to that point, you're going to take time to read the word of God. Oh dear, young people, don't get under any kind of compulsion or law and try to do things in the flesh. You're going to give out after a while, but just get the Lord before you and get into His presence and you'll develop a hunger.
For this thing and you want to take time to read the word of God.
Sometimes you see older ones reading the word of God and you think, well, I wish I had a desire to read the word of God like that. I see brother so and so and sister so and so.
Going aside, reading the word and perhaps you can't understand why, why they're doing that. They're getting some food for their soul.
Why did you go down to lunch this noon? Or you felt you needed some food for your body?
Did anybody compel you to go down there? Did they put any pressure on you to go down there? Of course not. There was a hunger in your body for that food and you went after it.
May we ask the Lord to give us a real hunger for Himself and for His word. You know, we so many of us.
Are in a kind of a cyclic condition spiritually and when people get sick. My wife just had that experience in the hospital. She was ill, She didn't feel like eating anything. And we're that way sometimes spiritually. We get sick in our souls, away from the Lord, and we're not going on well, and we have no hunger for the things of God. Our appetite is gone.
Let's get close to the Lord and lets us let us value the Lord's desire to draw near to us.
And we can always depend on it that when we want to be in the presence of the Lord, he's right there. He's never far away. No, He's right there. Get down on your knees before him and talk to him. Commune with him. And the first thing you know, you'll see something that you've been going on with in your life that isn't pleasing to the Lord. And the Lord will give you grace on your knees to judge it. But you've got to get into the presence of the Lord. You've got to get on your knees or sit before the Lord.
And justice? Talk to him, and perhaps let him talk to you too, as we were here yesterday.
But the Lord will show you those things that are hindering you and causing you to be sad. Oh how we need the presence of the Lord. And we thank the Lord for His faithfulness in drawing near.
Jesus himself, Junior. Just himself, just to be in the presence of himself.
Things happen when we're aware, when we're conscious of his presence and we're communing with him as being in his presence.
Ought not Christ have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. There's that word himself again.
As you read this chapter, you cannot get away from himself. In fact, as you read the whole word of God, you can't get away from himself because it's an account about himself.
There are those that approach the Word of God as history. Well, there's history in the Word of God.
But the word of God is really His story. The story about himself, The story about the Lord Jesus Christ from beginning to end, whether it's in the Old Testament, in types, there he is. Whether it's in the prophets, there he is. Whether it's in the Psalms, there he is.
And then you come to the New Testament. You find him in the gospel he's spoken of everywhere. It's about himself.
It's a wonderful thing to get introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. And don't you thank the Lord young people.
For that time when you really came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you confess Jesus as Lord, you came to know him as your Lord as well as your Savior, and you got a little acquainted with himself. And perhaps you've gone on and grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming better acquainted with himself.
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Well, this is what the Lord wants. But here we have the Lord opening up the word to them, opening up the scriptures. Isn't that wonderful to have the Lord open up scriptures to us? He's doing it now by His Spirit who is here. And dear young people, don't forget those of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior know your sins forgiven. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, and it's because of that that you know that you're a child of God.
And that God is your Father.
It's a wonderful thing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart because.
He will take the things of Christ and show them to you.
Don't grieve him.
Don't do anything to grieve him, because if you grieve the Spirit of God, he's hindered in showing you the things of Christ because you'll have to show you your sins first. He'll have to put pressure upon you that you might confess that and be cleansed. Then you'll be free again to minister Christ to you. But if you get in a bad state of soul, heal minister Christ to you who died on the cross and show you his sufferings there.
As we have it illustrated.
Or typified in the 19th chapter of Numbers in the in the Burning of the Red Heifer.
And all that that was put in the burning, reminding us of the terrible suffering that the Lord Jesus Christ went through.
And the Spirit of God will point you to that and show you, look, you have done something that caused the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it'll bow your heart and you'll see all how wretched I am. And you confess to the Lord, and then you'll be forgiven. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, Isn't that lovely? Don't be afraid to go to the Lord with it. Oh, I know when you get away from the Lord and you've done something to dishonor the Lord.
Into a bad state, but ask the Lord to help you to trace that thing right back to the root of it, where it started right down in the old nature.
And sometimes we're so busy judging fruit that we we forgot forget to judge the root of the fruit, but in any kind of restoration, whether it's individual restoration before the Lord or.
Restoration collectively, where someone has gotten out of fellowship with his brother or has been disciplined put away.
All remember.
To trace that thing back to the root and judge the root. It had a beginning somewhere. It had a beginning somewhere. May the Lord give us grace not to judge only fruit, but the root of sin.
And they drew nigh unto the village whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us for this toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to carry with them. They opened their home. I suppose it was their home at least they said, Come and stay with us. And they opened the door to him.
Now some of you young people are married and you've already started your home.
Have you invited the Lord in?
Have you opened the door for him to come in?
Don't hold back on that.
Because if you're not giving the Lord Jesus Christ a place in your home, there are a lot of things that are going to come into your home that don't belong there.
But I believe if you give the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place, not only in your heart but in your home, that's going to keep some of these things out, that dishonor the law and that drag you down, tear down your spirituality.
You know, we got to get out the positive side of this thing. Perhaps you see somebody that doesn't want a TV in this home or something else in his home.
And perhaps you think, well, this must be a good thing. You try to imitate it, but you breakdown after a while. Why? Because you haven't given the Lord Jesus Christ the place that belongs to him in your home.
You give the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place in your home. There will be the power to keep these things out.
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Well, up until this time, the Lord hadn't really revealed himself to these two because their eyes were still holding all the way down to where we've read now. But he went into tarry with them. Now what purpose did the Lord have in that? Oh, the Lord's heart was yearning for these two. He cared for them. He went all the way with them, all that trip and into their home.
What for?
Well, it says, and it came to pass as he sat at meet with them. He took bread, and blessed it, and break and gave to them.
Are they seen this done before? But the Lord was opening their eyes now.
And it says their eyes were opened. They didn't open their own eyes, nor is the Lord that opened that says their eyes were opened. It's in the passive.
It was somebody else acting upon them.
And you know, dear young people, we don't get our eyes open by ourselves, but it's the Lord that works.
In us to will and to do of his good pleasure. He's the one that opens up our eyes. Don't close your eyes again. No. The Lord may give you a little glimpse like He did here. Their eyes were opened and they knew him and ivanished out of their sight. Just a little glimpse they got of him. The Lord opened their eyes. I remember.
While we were still in the Congo, my wife and I.
We began to see some of the truth of gathering being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of the one body.
And we began to see some of the responsibilities that were ours as members of the body of Christ.
And without knowing that there was anybody else in the world gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we felt constrained.
To begin to remember the law.
But after a while we learned that there were others in other places, and then we wanted to find them, that we might be with them because the Lord had shown us that it wouldn't be right for us to go on independently by ourselves. Oh dear young people.
Think about this, there's a lot of independency of spirit these days amongst.
So-called brethren, so-called a lot of independency.
There's no independency in the body of Christ where members one or another. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one head of the body. And just like the members of the human body are interdependent, dependent one upon another, so the members of the body of Christ are dependent one upon another. There is no such thing as independency in the Church, in the assembly, in the body of Christ. No. Let us feel our dependence.
Upon one another. Well, in those days.
The Lord gave us a little glimpse of himself.
And thank the Lord. He kept her eyes open.
And he led us little by little, step by step, until we were finally with those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We found the place where the Lord is in the midst.
And we hadn't experienced something like these, where the Lord stands in the midst and will read on.
And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11 gathered together. Not only the 11, there were others there too, and then that were with them, a company that would represent the assembly.
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to sign.
Now they were finding out that the Lord really was risen.
And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Just visualize this company. Now there the 11 Judas was gone, but there were the 11. They were gathered together, and there were others there with them. A nice little company.
And then it says, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And I remember the day my wife and I.
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Were received.
And remember the Lord.
For the first time with those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was like the Lord saying, Peace be unto you.
It was a wonderful day.
When I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
But what it did was when I came to know him as the center of gathering, and found where he was in the midst. And he said, Peace be unto you, You dear young people, have you had the Lord speak that to your heart?
I know, but a number of you have taken your place at the Lords table and I believe that you you believe that the Lord is there. You've seen him there in the midst, and he's speaking. He has spoken peace to your soul.
But there are some of you here this afternoon.
You're not at the Lord's table.
Wouldn't you like to hear him speak? Peace be unto you the second time you heard him speak peace to your heart, the peace of salvation. Wouldn't you like to hear him speak the peace of gathering to your heart?
He loves to have you there. He wants you around himself. He wants you there, remembering himself.
He wants you there, giving expression to the fact that you're a member of the body of Christ, because that's what we do when we break bread.
Then perhaps there are some of the young people here, and maybe older ones too.
But this is especially for the young people you are at the Lord's table.
But perhaps you do not value very much.
Himself who is in the midst.
Perhaps you have taken your place there because somebody else did it, and you haven't really seen that the Lord is there.
If you haven't get before the Lord above, just ask the Lord to show you. Make this thing clear to you, because he says plainly where two or three are gathered together until my name, there am I in the midst of them.
There am I. Do you believe the word of God?
It's that simple. It's not some complicated experience that you have to have, but you get it from the word of God.
4 Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. The Lord is in the midst.
Just like he was here in all simplicity, the Lord himself stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto you.
Isn't that wonderful to have that piece to be settled on this thing?
There are some here this afternoon. We haven't been settled on this thing. The Lord wants you to be settled.
Just as much as he wants you to be settled on salvation and knowing Christ as Savior, he wants you to be settled on the matter of gathering. And knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of gathering.
The Lord is in earnest about this thing, and if you get in earnest about it, the Lord will show you. If any man will to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
But it says they were terrified and afraid. Suppose they'd seen the spirit?
He said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why this ought to rise in your hearts. Perhaps we can enter into this kind of thing too. We've had thoughts rising in our hearts. We've been troubled, and so on. Just like Jacob when he was going off to Peyton Arab.
He lodged one the first night and he had a stone for a pillow and he lay there and had a vision and then he realized God's in this place and he was afraid.
He said. This is a dreadful place.
Is that the way you feel about the assembly? Is that the way you feel about the place where the largest in the midst? It's a dreadful place. Is that why you're afraid to take your place at the Lord's table? It's not a dreadful place. It's a blessed place. It's a place of peace. It's a place of joy and happiness to be where the Lord is in the midst.
May the Lord give you grace to see that it's not a dreadful place or you. It's a place where you have to reverence the Lord. That's true.
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Place where you must respect the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I found out when I took my place at the Lord's table. And this is really what I was expecting that I would feel. Well, now I can't do as I please.
It's not a proper for me to have an independent spirit and to go on independently.
It's my place to go on with my brethren, in subjection to my brethren and in fellowship with them, and to have their fellowship in anything that I would seek to do for the Lord, especially as to the work of the Lord.
Yes, we have to give due respect unto the Lord and His authority in the assembly.
He says Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Just look how often he speaks of himself, myself.
I myself handle me and see for a spirit of not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when He does spoken, He showed to them, He showed them his hands and his feet. What did they see? They saw the wound. They were reminded of Calvary. And when the Lord is in our midst, like it was yesterday morning, we're reminded of Calvary.
We're reminded of how much He suffered for our sake and that he died. And His precious blood was shed there at the cross. Shed for me, shed for everyone that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And while they yet leave not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have you hear any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.
What ministry they were getting from the Blessed Lord Himself.
And the Lord still gives us this ministry by His Spirit who is among us.
And teaches us the things concerning himself.
Says, then open he their understanding that they might understand the scripture.
And open understanding.
And opened understanding.
Have you ever noticed that dear young people and when you come to the reading meeting, your understanding gets opened up to understand the scriptures?
It's been a blessed experience for me. I went to a Bible school before I was gathered. I was one of these that had the title Reverend tacked on to his name and ordained. According to men, men's empty hands put on my empty head.
But after I came.
Into the place where the Lord had placed his name, sitting with my brethren in the assembly, reading meetings.
I learned many, many, many more things, many more truths than I ever learned in the Bible school. The assembly is the place where God by His spirit opens up the word and opens up our understanding To understand the Word, don't look for any other place. Just take advantage of the place where the largest in the midst. Or you say we're only two or three where we are. We're only half a dozen where we are.
Doesn't matter. The Lord is there, and the Lord by his spirit will open up the word to you. Or you say we don't have any gift where we are. It isn't a matter of gift, it's a matter of the Spirit of God being there. It's a matter of the Lord being there and by his Spirit opening up the word and opening up the scriptures. And perhaps you. You don't get a lot of things that you might get in general meetings like these, or in an assembly where there are more brothers and so on, but still.
I have found that the Lord is faithful to the two or three, even in a place where there's only one brother.
And I go back to one of these places now and then, and I'm amazed at the growth of that young brother.
He's growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord is opening up the word to him.
Why? Because these were the largest He's there in the midst.
Well, he goes on and says to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooves Christ to suffer to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of this these things, and the Lord is really telling them. Now you get your mouths open.
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But that's way down the line. They found the Lord in the midst and the Scriptures have been opened up to them.
And their understanding has been opened up. Now they're ready to go out. We find that the tendency in Christendom today is that as soon as a person gets saved, he thinks he's got to go out.
And preach the gospel.
How important it is to stay in the assembly?
And have the scriptures opened up and have the understanding open up, and know what it is to have the blessed Lord in the midst. And and know something about the authority of the Lord in the assembly. And learn the ways of the Lord in the assembly. These things are very important. And I would, I would advise council, any young brothers among us who haven't exercised about the gospel, wait on the law, spend time in the assembly.
Be in the presence of the law. Be among your brethren, and if you do go out after a while, keep 1 foot in the assembly. Keep 1 foot in the assembly as you're going out with the other foot with the gospel. Oh, it's so important to have a home base and to have brethren.
With whom you're in fellowship.
I don't know what I would do without my brother.
In Des Moines. I'm thankful for them.
Let us learn, let us learn to value our brethren.
Dear young brothers, let us learn to value our brethren.
Seek their conscience, seek their advice, seek their encouragement. And if you're going on in simplicity, in fellowship with the Lord, independence upon him, and you're going on humbly, you will have the encouragement of your brethren and you'll get a lot of help from them.
Well, he wants us to get our mouths open, first of all, to praise him, speak well of him.
And then go out with the gospel to others. Well, this chapter closes with the open heaven, the Lord going up into the open heaven. And soon, one of these days we'll see him coming back through that open heaven, and he'll catch us up to be with himself, that we might be with himself forever. The one himself we've learned to know a little bit about down here. And all will be with him. Be like him, see him as he is.
Just himself in the glory.
What God Saw, Heard, Said
Gospel—E. Pilkington
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975. Gospel by Eric Duffington.
Shall we sing #25?
#25
Life at best is very brief.
Like the falling of a leaf.
Like the binding of a sheep.
Be in time. Fleeting days are telling fast that the die will soon be cast and the fatal line be passed. Be in time #25.
Life at best is very brief, like the like.
Good evening, good evening.
And everything.
I was here. I'm getting you out, same as you're going to run.
But I can't hear your phone. I still alone day and time.
Time is lightning swiftly by.
The cross forever away from Hybrid Cross.
A problem?
We are warning voice the Lord your happy joy.
From God that came and still alive. From the way that's very proud of you.
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And sorry for heaven.
Could we stand and sing the 1St and the last verse of #14?
The first and the last verse Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Have you been to England?
Are you all in the world?
Are you falling in his brain?
After you are, just come on.
Oh, are you all?
And a bridegroom comet with Gerald.
White in the world.
I'll be ready for the Land of Right. And he was in the past.
In the in the.
My father's father, you are.
We have sung a question tonight.
And I wonder whether each one in this room now would ask themselves that question before I begin.
Are you Wash? Will you ask yourself that question? Is my soul washed in the precious blood of the lamb? Oh, I want to warn your friend if such there be one here tonight.
If you cannot say in truth that you are washed in the blood of the land all tonight we want to again give you the invitation to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as your own personal Savior. And if you do, then you will be able to sing in truth that you are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And when the Bridegroom, Thomas all at a glorious day, awaits the believer.
You, my friend, then, too, will hear that call, that will summon you into the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I want to speak of three different things.
And it is found in the 6th chapter of Genesis. And the three things are this, what God saw, what he heard, and what he said.
Genesis Chapter 6.
We'll read verse 5.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. This is what God saw. Read the third verse. And this is what God said. And the Lord said. My spirit shall not always strive with man.
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For that he also is flesh, yet his day shall be 120 years.
Now, for what God heard, would you turn to the 22nd chapter of Job? Just hold our chapter and we'll turn to Job 22.
This is what God heard.
Job 22 and verse 15.
Hast thou marked out the old way which wicked men have trodden, which were caught down out of time, whose foundation was overflowing with a flood, which said unto God, depart from us? And what can the Almighty do for them?
That's not US verse 14 of chapter 21.
Therefore they say unto God, depart from us.
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Well, how solemn it is to think, dear friends, tonight.
That the eyes of the Lord runs to and fro throughout this world tonight, and the God that saw what took place in North Day, He sees what takes place today in this world.
And not only that, He knows what has taken place in your heart. Yes, He knows all about your heart and mind. And if God looks down upon this world tonight, what does He see? What does He hear?
All my friends, as he looks down, he sees that this world is corrupt. He sees the same thing that he saw when he looked down in Noah's day.
He sees everyone doing that which is right in his own eyes.
Yes, and what does he hear?
Did he not hear the same thing depart from us? For we desire not the knowledge of thy way.
Or how true it is. And so, friend, tonight you might be speaking to yourself in your heart. But remember, there is a God above who knows what you think in your heart. He knows what you say in your heart.
And all my friends, you and I cannot trust our hearts.
No, it tells us in Jeremiah 17 verse nine. I believe it is that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who cannot.
Oh I the Lord, yes, the Lord knows what is in your heart and what is in my heart. Well, just think of this condition that existed in the days of Noah as God looked down and saw the wickedness.
Of this world.
Oh, it repented him that he had made that.
Yes. Oh, he saw the wickedness, the sinfulness of man's heart. They love friends. It says God repented that he had made them. Oh wonderful. Let God provided a way of escape for all those who would believe and accept the remedy. So we'll read a little more in Genesis chapter 6.
And that tells us about Noah in verse 8.
But God.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generation of Noah. Noah's a just man.
And perfect in his generation and no walk with God.
And verse 12 And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all place had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto her, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of Gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.
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And then we get the fashion of the arc, the dimensions mentioned in the following verses. We'll just stop there for now. We'll go back to what the Lord said in the third verse. We find that the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with that all friend, tonight.
When God uttered these words, he meant what he said and how true it is.
And it's still true tonight.
God's spirit will not always strive with men, and I am sure that everyone in this room who is of the age of accountability.
That is, who knows their right hand from their left hand?
Oh, I'm sure that in your heart you have felt the Lord's spirit speaking to your heart.
All I can remember is a little boy.
When I wanted to do something.
That I knew my parents did approve of, when I knew that any Christian would frown upon it. I looked this way and I looked that way. Why? Why did I look around? Because my heart was condemned me in that thing.
Ah yes, God's spirit all be loved. Whether you're young or old. God spirit is speaking to you, and in your soul you know that He's speaking to you. You know that He loves you and He wants you to be saved. This is why we have gospel meetings. Oh, how wonderful to have the truth of what we've had before today. How wonderful to know that the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh.
At the Lord Jesus coming to claim his own blood bought people and take them home to glory. This is a wonderful hope and they love our hearts. Rejoice as we meditate on this hope of the inheritance that is ours. But all friend, tonight this is a gospel meeting, because there are those who we feel that are in this number.
Who are not saved and all we think of the little children of the boys and girls that are grown up. How about it? You have sung that hymn, but did you sing it in truth? Are you wise in the blood of the lamb?
All how sad if you sit here tonight under the sound of the gospel and go out that door still in your sins. Oh, I want to warn you friend tonight don't go out that door till you have made sure.
That you have received the Lord Jesus as your precious savior.
Oh yes, he is speaking. But remember, his spirit will not always strive with man. He speaketh once and twice, and man perceiveth it not. I remember a man who often we had given the gospel. Some of us in this room had speak to that man many times.
And you know, he professed, he said, yes, that's right, Sir, that's right. But, you know, in our hearts we felt that what he was saying was a lie, That what he was saying with his lips, he wasn't saying was from his heart. And I want to tell you, that man was suddenly cut off like that without any warning.
All friend, be warned tonight, God's Spirit will not always strive with you.
If you continue to resist.
God's spirit, I want to warn you, God may stop speaking to you.
Oh yes, it is appointed on a man once to die, and after death the judgment. But all beloved so Christ was once offered, Yes. What for? To bear the sins of many and all unto them the look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation. So God said, his Spirit would not always strive with men. And as God saw the wickedness.
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Why we find that he also saw one man. He saw a man there named Noah isn't as nice. And we have the name of Noah mentioned here that he was a just man. He was one that feared God that walked with God. And you know, tonight the Lord looks down and he sees the heart of each one of us. He knows whether we're saved or not.
Oh friend, he knows whether you're saved or not. Oh, you might say that you're saved. And how many do that to avoid a little embarrassment?
But all dear friends, we want to warn you.
Oh God, is not Mark. He is not Mark. And whatsoever man saw that shall he also reap. I remember a young boy.
When I went to school.
And this young boy.
He grew up into his teens.
And he said to my brother, he says, yes, I know what you're saying is true, but I'm going to have a good time 1St and then I'll get saved.
I want to tell you that young boy only lived two weeks. After he uttered those words, he lived two weeks.
All be warned.
Be warned dear friends, Be warned whether you're young or.
Oh God, Spirit will not always strive with you. Tonight you have the opportunity.
Of receiving Christ as your Savior and having your sins washed away. And so we find that God saw the wickedness. And in Job 22 he heard what man said. Isn't this an awful thing for men to utter against his Creator?
Depart from us. I wonder if there's one here tonight.
Although you may not dare to say it with your lips.
Are you seeing it in your heart? To God, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.
All beloved friends, you know what God said in that 22nd chapter of Job. If you continue to read it, you'll find what God says a quake. Now thyself with him and be at peace. Old friends, God wants you to have peace. He wants you to have peace.
And so he says, Acquaint thou thyself with him. How are you going to get acquainted with the Lord Jesus? There's only one way, and that's to come to him and receive him as your savior.
So now God saw the wickedness of man, and God heard what man said.
And what does God do? And verse 13 God said unto Noah.
The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is still with violence through them, and behold, I will store them at the earth, make thee an arc of Gopher wood, room shall thou make in the ark, and shall picture within and without with pitch.
Oh, isn't this wonderful? To think that God before he would destroy this world with the floods?
He provides a means of escape for all those who avail themselves.
All this, all this ark speaks to us of Christ.
It is salvation, and God has salvation for every one. Here we had read before this afternoon, dear friends, that salvation is of the Lord.
Thank God it is. And you know you can have it tonight by receiving the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Yes, salvation is of the Lord. And so here we have God providing a way whereby man might escape this terrible judgment. All to think of it, God is going to destroy this world with a plot.
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Oh, in those days, you know they have never seen rain.
And it never rained before.
And how fully?
Man thought how foolish to build an ark up there on dry land.
No one around How fully all friends you might raising. You might reason in your heart. I don't want to warn you, don't reason. This is not faith. Do you want to be saved? There is only one way to be saved. You want to have your sins forgiven. There's only one way, therefore be justified by faith. We have peace with God. Oh yes, there's only one way.
And it is through faith. Well, now God is going to test man. He tells Noah to build this ark. Yes, the ark is built. Noah is given the dimensions of how to build it, and we find that Noah went ahead and did as God told him.
And as Noah built this ark, beloved, we learned from the New Testament scriptures in First Peter.
That the spirit of Christ in North day and no no doubt preach to those people. And can you not be loved, friend? Just think of Noah. He believed God. He believed there was going to come a flood that would destroy the whole world and he proved that he believed that he proved that he had faith because he built the ark.
And.
Believe in this, oh Noah. Preach to those people around them.
Every prone of their wickedness.
He warned them. And beloved friends, we want to do it tonight. All this world is no better than Noah's day. This world is fast going on to judgment. Yes, it is, as we think of the terrible things that they didn't know it's day.
Dear friends, we know in our own hearts that perhaps today there are more wicked things going on.
That went on in Noah's day. Oh yes, and still God is waiting.
Why? Why is he waiting for it? It is because of one thing, and that is his love for your soul. He is not willing the death of the Sinner. Ezekiel tells us no, he is not willing. And as Jonah said, why? The Lord was long-suffering. Yes, Oh yes, the Lord is long-suffering. He's full of mercy.
And so here's the proof of it. The building of the Ark. Oh my dear friends, as I look into the face of many young people here tonight.
As God looks into your heart, what does he see? If God reads your thoughts, what does he hear?
Or I'll never forget what I heard one night and the young brother was faithfully warning.
So of their need of a savior, I heard some whispering, and this is what I heard as I sat on a back row.
I don't care.
Dear friends, whether you care or not, God cares for your soul, and he's waited till now. He has given you another opportunity to receive Christ as your Savior and to have your name written down in the Lamb's book of Life. Oh, I want to warn you that coming of the Lord is drawn I and dear friends, if your name is not written in God's book.
When the Lord comes, you will be left behind. For judgment, yes, for judgment.
Well, we find God said to Noah, make the anarch. Now let's just go on a little bit and the 7th chapter we find the Lord still speaking.
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house, into the ark. For thee have I seen righteous before me and this generation.
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Oh yes, the time has come. Nor has built the Ark.
He's 100 years building this ark and as he preached, dear friends.
Of righteousness and of judgment that comes there was only no his wife, his three sons, and their wives. 8 souls. Believe what God said. Only 8. Just think of it. Only eight people.
Believe what God said.
Or how sad.
Outside.
Can I ask you to turn to Romans 5 for one verse?
The 5th chapter of Romans.
Just a part of the last part of verse 20 Romans 5 verse 20, the last part of the verse.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more about.
Always this wonderful they love ligament. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Here we have Noah.
Oh, think of the grace of God that could wait for 100 years.
And now the last day had come when God said to Noah, come.
Oh, isn't it wonderful?
Come thou all thy house into the ark. And dear friends, this is what God is saying tonight. He is saying, Come, Oh yes, he sees into your heart.
He has heard what you have uttered with your lips or with your heart, Yes, and seeing all the enmity and the hatered, the disobedience, the Self will, and many other things.
Oh, think of it, God is saying, Come, come thou in all thy house into the ark. Isn't it precious? And you, dear children, who are here? Is this not a proof that God loves to save households?
Thank God he does, and a lot of responsibility for the parents.
Oh no. Have this message from the Lord come thou and all thy house into the ark. Oh, this ark was the only safe place. There's only one way to escape this judgment from this one that it was going to destroy this world one way.
The ark, the ark. Come thou and all thy house into the ark. All that ark is Christ, friend. What about it? Have you come? If not, will you come? All the invitation is still going out. Come down. Yes, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. So this is salvation. And this was the only way.
This was the only means to escape this judgment, that it was going to come down upon this world the only way. And so we find in verse five that Noah was obedient. Nor did a cordon unto all that the Lord commanded him. Just notice that. And verse five of chapter seven he did all that the Lord commanded him. Now let's notice.
It says.
In verse nine there went in two and two unto Noah of the ark, the male and females God had commanded.
No, that is of all the clean animals and fowls they all went in. And it says in verse 11 and the 600 year of Noah's life. And the second month, the 17th day of the month, the same day we're all fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were open and the rain was upon the earth. 40 days and 40 nights in the South, same day entered no shem, ham and jape at the son of Noah.
And no advice. And the three wives of his son with them into the ark verse 15 And they went in unto know into the ark two and two of all flesh.
00:35:07
Verse 16 And they went in, male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shot him in. Oh, think of this now it says here that they went in.
Yes, God says, Come, thou and he stand a knight. Come, What are you going to do?
All friends think of the long stopping of God. No way in through that door into the ark. And that door tonight speaks to us of Christ. Yes, the Lord Jesus said in the tent of John 9, verse 9.
I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
May I ask any here tonight again? Have you entered the door? All through faith have you except the Lord your Savior?
Remember, the Lord is the door now they went in through the door, and the door is open. Friend to let you in. But remember, the day will come when God will shut the door. Oh, it came here. But I want you to notice. Oh dear ones, God waited seven days.
Before he shot, Before he sent that judgment.
Yes. With no in that ark, God waited seven days. Isn't this a picture of his grace? Oh friend, what are you going to do? He's still waiting. He's still waiting.
Judgment is a strange work. He doesn't delight to judge, but he does delight to bless. Well, we find that God shut the door.
And the flood was 40 days upon the earth.
Yes.
Oh, can we not use our imagination a little?
And as we think of those people who laugh at Noah, and I'm sure they did, I'm sure they thought that Noah and his family were a little odd.
Yes, to go into that ark.
And as they saw that door shut.
And nothing happened.
Perhaps they thought a little more.
That Noah was a little little odd, you know, not right in his mind.
But dear friends, when that rain came down.
I am sure that those people outside the Ark would have paid any amount of money. They would have done anything to get inside.
But they couldn't. It was too late. Too late. All the solemnity of a dear friend, the solemnity of a think of these people outside the Ark.
Oh no. For 100 years. Earnestly I'm sure. Preach those people.
Bought only eight, believe only 8.
And now it is too late. They're outside. Oh yes, I'm sure that they climbed the highest mountain, but you know that water rose higher and higher and higher.
Why? Every living creature perish. There was no escape, you know, the Apostle says in Hebrews he asked the question, How shall we escape?
If we not lack so great salvation, there is no escape, no escape from that judgment, friend. All those people Perry's in their sins, and where are they tonight? Where are their souls?
Oh friend.
Do you know where their souls are tonight?
In the first epistles of Peter.
We find that those spirits in the present House of the lost.
Those spirits who listen to nor preach, And first Peter there there in the present House of the Lost.
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Yes. Oh friend, I want to warn you, if you die tonight without Christ, your body will go to the grave. But I want to warn you, your spirit will go to the prison House of the lost awaiting that resurrection day, when you, my friend, will stand before the Great White Throne, when those books will be opened and that book of life was opened.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into like a fire. Oh friend, tonight do you wonder that we are in earth? We are in earnest tonight because we believe what God says, and if we didn't believe it, we wouldn't be here. But we believe what the word of God says all. There are many tonight that say.
That the story of the flood is just a myth, The story of Noah. Why, It's just a fable.
And friends, tonight there are some who stand in the pulpit, who utter those words, who deny the story of no and the flood. But I want to warn you, friend, if you deny the 6th chapter of Genesis, where are you going to stop?
Because we have the flood mentioned in Joel 22 and we have the Lord Jesus speaking about Noah.
And we have the Apostle Peter and his epistle speaking about Noah and friends.
Or if you deny one part, you don't have anything left. You don't have anything left.
All I want to warn you, this is a word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God.
We mentioned what God saw and what God heard.
And I'd like again to bring before you what God said, Oh, just think of God, oh the Lord Jesus says, for God so love the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, oh the heart of God.
Yes, he's still saying the same words. We have His precious word tonight that tells us the gospel of His grace. And we have the words of the Lord Jesus saying, Come unto me all ye that we're in our heavy laden, and I will give you rest, oh friend, tonight have you come? If not, will you come? Will you receive the Lord Jesus tonight as your Savior?
A few weeks ago, after a gospel meeting, my heart was filled with joy and a little boy about six years of age came right up to the front after the meeting to shake my hand just about 5 or 6 and said I received the loyalty that my Savior think of that a little boy.
A5 or six. He confessed the name of the Lord Jesus. I wonder if there is any here tonight who love the Lord Jesus. Have you confessed his name? We do it tonight. All that glorious verse in Romans 10 and nine that if thou shalt, confess with thy mouth.
The Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart.
That God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved, old friend.
Do you want to be saved? Sometimes people say what folly. What from? I'm all right. I'm in no danger, old friend. Tonight if you're not saved, you're in danger of slipping down into a lost eternity.
Yes, you are.
And if you don't accept price as your savior, you will. You will.
Oh, remember then what God saw what he heard?
And yet despite it all, despite seeing the rebelliousness, the stubbornness of self, will, of the human heart, God so loved the world that he sent it only Son, Oh dear friend, I think of that verse in Matthew where the Lord Jesus speak. And he says the Son of Man came not to be ministers unto but to minister, and to give his life.
00:45:25
A ransom for many.
He doesn't say all for many, but it is to all upon all who will believe tonight. Oh, yes, He gave his life a ransom. And so all the work has been accomplished and still it or is open wide. What are you going to do? Are you going to come in? Oh, we sing that him God's house is filling fast. Yes, it is. How about it?
How about our dear friends? Have you entered the door? Salvation. Oh, how precious well we find here.
In chapter 8.
God remember not. Yes, he remembered North. And the day is coming. And all of your friends we had before us today in the 14th of John about the Lord coming again.
He's kind to take.
Everyone who has put their trust in him, he's coming to take us home to glory. He hasn't forgot his promise. God remembered Noah. And I want to tell you the day is coming when God is going to remember that promise and the Lord Jesus going to come. Oh what a wonderful day that will be. What a wonderful day for North when God remembered him.
And you know, then we find that the rain stopped.
And the waters went down, down, down.
And then we find God speaking to to Noah and verse 16.
God speak unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark. Thou now wife, and thy sons, and my son's wife with thee. And so Noah went forth. Oh there he was saved by a great deliverance from this judgment. Yes, God remembered Noah.
Oh friend, I like that. And you know it's gone. If God was to forget you, my friend, for one moment, your soul would Perry.
If he was to forget this world, this world, my friend would perish. But God never forget. No, he never forgets. And so.
God remembered Noah.
Oh, I am loathe to close this meeting because.
As I think of that terrible judgment that fell upon those who rejected knoweth message.
The judgment fell. And as I think of those spirits of those men, they're bound in a prison household loss.
And they're still going to stand before God. They're going to answer for what they said to Him when they said depart from us. For we desire not the knowledge of Thy words. Is there one here tonight like that?
Are you indifferent to the word of God? Is it nothing unto you that the Lord Jesus Christ?
Died on the cross for your sins. Is it nothing to you?
Oh, I want to warn you.
T Not Mark.
Whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap. Oh yes, if you go on in your sins, you are going to reap the result of it.
You're going to come under his judgment. Well, God remembered Noah, and so the day came when he came out of the ark.
Some time ago.
I was on an airplane.
And I had my ticket.
And I sat in the waiting room waiting the final call to go on board, just like there are many here in this room tonight, waiting for the final call that will call us into the presence of our precious Savior.
And as I sat there, I noticed that the waiting room, the airport, was full.
00:50:12
And finally the call came to go on board.
And so immediately.
I wanted to get on as fast as I could. I didn't want to be left behind.
And so I got on board that aircraft.
And you know, I had AC to find to me. The number was on my ticket and I found my seat and I sat down.
And as I sat down, it felt good to be in my own seat.
And as I looked at all the people that were coming on, I began to wonder how they all going to get a seat.
How they're all going to get a seat. There were so many.
But is somehow other one by one they all got seated except one one man.
And there he stood in the aisle.
One. Perhaps there's one here. Not safe, I don't know.
Well, the authorities came along, stewardess. She looked at his ticket and called another officer.
And this time, this man, he went right down all the seats on the aircraft. He wanted to see the ticket of everyone.
Everyone was questioned. Let me see your ticket.
And you know, I was interested.
My eyes followed him down the one side and back up the other side, and he came to me and I hand him my ticket.
And he gave it back to me with all the.
And then I began to be more interested, and I saw him go.
Down the aisle and he came to a man that I had somehow suspected that he was on there illegally.
Because there was a look on his face.
That told me he wasn't at peace, he was uneasy, and that officer looked at him.
Let me see your ticket.
And he said, you get off.
And that man, my friends, had to get off that flight.
He didn't have a word to say.
He had to get off.
The other man sat down in his own seat.
The door was shut.
And that man was left behind.
Left behind. Why? Why was he left behind?
Because his name was not in the captain's book.
His name wasn't in oh again.
As I look into the face of many here tonight.
I can't see in your heart, but I'd like to ask you is your name.
In God's book. Is it in God's book if the Lord was to come tonight?
Would you be left behind?
Would you be left behind?
Oh, I trust not. That man was left behind. For him it was nothing serious because there were other flights following during the day and no doubt he got to his destination before nightfall. But friend, when the Lord comes, he's only come at once to take all the believers home to glory and then.
My friends, it'll be too late to be saved. It'll be too late to get your name in his book.
Now, how you're going to get your name and God's book.
Are you asking how can I get my name in God's book? Oh dear friends, I'll tell you how you know what it says in Romans 6 and 23. It says the wages of sin is death. And that's true.
And we know that every man in this world.
Is a Sinner and the proof it is because people die, Old and young alike, they die.
00:55:04
The wages of sin is death. But all God said. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. How about it? Is there one here tonight Who will receive the Lord Jesus As your savior, would you put your trust in him? Oh, if you do, my friend, God will record your name in his book.
I'm going to read the last chapter, Revelation.
At least the 20th tapped in the last verse.
And who Solero has not found, written in the book of Life, was cast into the lake of fire. This my friend.
Will be the proof? Yes, it will be the proof that what God says is true.
Yes, what he says is true.
When you stand before God, as you will at this day, if you're not saved, you're going to stand before God here.
When the books are open, yes you will. And if you're not saved, your name will not be there.
And you'll be left behind.
All I trust that each one of us will remember.
That God sees everything that we do and He hears everything that we say.
And all I trust that each one here will hear what he is saying, what he is saying. He knows what you're saying in your heart. And he's saying tonight come, he's saying come, for all things are now ready.
#24
We know there's a bright and a glorious HomeAway in the heaven high.
Where all the regime shall with Jesus dwell, but will you be there, and I?
Will sing the 1St and the last verse of #24. So we sat.
We know there's a pride and a glory.
All the dream is common.
Lord will do we have?
If you take.
All of it save your.
Water.
Time.
When you are burning up early.
Thirst!
Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975. Gospel by Albert Hayhoe.
We sing together hymn #2.
Comes his Jesus, gently calling.
Ye with care and toil oppressed with your guilt. How air appalling comes, and I will give you rest for your sin. He once has suffered on a cross the work was done, and the word by God now uttered to each weary soul is.
Come, come for Angel, hosts are musing, or they sight so strangely sad.
God beseeching man, refusing to be made forever glad from the world and its delusion. Now our voices rise as one while we shout God's invitation heaven itself.
Reactos come.
Haunted Jesus. Gently.
Calling.
Gathering.
The war.
The old lady.
Come over, They can't go our way.
For Angel.
Or they type of strangely.
Important as the glass.
00:05:43
Pull the track out of his pocket and offer it to the lady who was at the front of the group. She took it from him and read the title aloud. And the title was If thou Knewest, the Gift of God. And she crumpled the track in anger, and turned and looked at him with hatred, and dropped it on the ground, and trampled on it and stepped on the Street car.
Disappeared from sight.
If thou knewest.
The gift of God, friend. I don't believe that your attitude is the same as that of the woman who trampled it under foot. Otherwise, I don't suppose you would be here tonight. But I warn you solemnly that no matter how polite you may be about it, if you refuse, if you reject, if you neglect the wonderful and costly gift of God, you'll be lost forever.
As truly as the woman who trotted under foot and turned upon the giver of the track with a sneer of hatred.
I want you to turn to that verse, please. And John's Gospel, chapter 4.
John's Gospel chapter 4, verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God?
Oh, that's how I feel tonight. As I stand here, I feel my utter inability to present to you that which wells up within my heart if thou knewest the gift of God.
I want to speak about this tonight. I want to speak about the giving heart of God, and it seems proper that we should begin with the third chapter and the 16th verse.
John 316.
God.
So loved the world that he gave.
Aren't those marvelous words?
We say, well, we've heard these words often. Everyone knows that God is a God of love. Is that so? There are many parts of this world to which you and I could travel this night and find that the natural concept of those who think of some kind of supreme being is certainly not that of a God who loves. It's a revelation from God.
To make known to man that the one who gave you your being.
The one who gives you every breath that you draw, and the one whom you someday certainly shall meet, is a God who loves you. Oh, but that's a marvelous revelation. It's a marvelous item of news for God so loved the world.
That he gave.
I like to stop there and allow even those words to sink into my soul.
For you've heard the account, I doubt not of a little girl. Many, many years ago in Germany, when printing was first being introduced, her father worked in a print shop. And in those days everything was done laboriously, letter by letter, by hand, and many a sheep was spoiled, spoiled and wasted, and the little girl was walking around her father's shop.
And she discovered one of these discarded pieces of paper on the floor. She picked it up, tucked it in her dress, and took it off to her room to read, spread it out. And carefully, letter by letter, she read in German these words for God, some of the world that he gave. And then there was a big smudge of ink, and there were no more letters. But she read it over and over.
00:10:25
And it dawned upon her for the very first time that God, whom she had heard of, was a God who had love in his heart. This was new to her. She had always thought of God as someone who hated her, someone who watched all her naughty and disobedient ways, and who was just waiting for the opportunity to punish her. She was terrified at the mention of his name or the thought of meeting him.
And when she read those words for God so loved the world that he gave, Her little heart was warmed by this wonderful bit of news.
So warmed that after a few days, her mother said to her. My dear.
What secret are you holding from me? For three days now. I know that you have a secret because I can see that there's been a difference in you. You seem so happy about something. Tell Mother what your secret is. And the little girl then began to wonder if perhaps she had done something she ought not to have done. She said. Well, Mother, I'll show you. I hope I didn't do anything wrong, but come please, to my room. She spread out the paper and said, Mother, I found this paper and Daddy's print shop.
And I brought it to my room and look what it says. And they read the words together. And it impressed the mother in the same way in which it had impressed her little daughter. For God so loved the world that he gave. And together they agreed that they would go and ask daddy, is this just part of a sentence? Is there more to it than this?
They went to him.
And quite casually, he said. Oh yes, there's more to it. I spoiled that page, but I have completed it now. Would you like to see it? Can you stand by while they read these words for the first time? Can you imagine what went on in their hearts when they read for the first time the word that you have heard, that I have heard so many times, so many years?
Committed them to memory. For God so loved the world that he gave. What was it He gave? And they read the words His only begotten Son. Is it true? Indeed it is true.
His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The wondrous truth lay hold of the heart of that mother and of that daughter, That the God who knew all about them, loved them enough to give this most wonderful of all gifts His only begotten Son, in order that they, in order that you, my friend, might know what the rest of this verse tells us, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting life, their delight was unbounded. They couldn't understand the indifference of the father, the printer. There were only words to him.
Thy wonder, I wonder, are there those in this room this evening who have been brought up in Christian homes and you could stand up right now, I have no doubt. And quote John 360, you wouldn't need to look at your Bible. You know it by heart, and I think you do too.
John 316. I think every child here could stand and quote it, but I want to ask you.
Do you really know that God loved you?
Not the person beside or behind you, but you so much that He gave his own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take your place to die, for you to shed His precious blood that your sins.
00:15:04
I wish I could point to everyone of you that your sins might be washed away, gone forever, that you might be the possessor of that wonderful gift which we may see later in the word of God, the gift of life everlasting.
Am I entitled to stand here and say I possess this wondrous reality? Jesus, the Son of God, died for me.
His blood has washed my sins away, and they are gone. Am I presumptuous to speak this way, or have I the authority of the word of God? I have God's word for it. And I rejoiced in the authority of this most wonderful book, for the day is coming. I'm going to leave this world and face the one who is the God of eternity, the one who knows all about me, you know, just before coming here.
I stood in a Funeral Home in our little town, looking at the body.
One of our townsmen, who in a moment had stepped from time into eternity. His sorrowing widow, was standing by, and I was speaking to her about the Lord Jesus. And there was a man standing in the background in the robe of religion.
And he heard me speak of the Lord Jesus.
And I don't think it pleased him very well. I think he felt that he was the one that ought to speak of these things and no one else. So he stepped up quite quickly and said, your name, please. And I told him my name, He said, I suppose you realize that the time comes to everyone when we must leave. I said, Yes, Sir, I know that I've seen many a person come to the time in life when they had to leave.
In fact, I will remember my dear father as he grew older and the time approached when he knew that he was going to leave both physically and mentally. I could see that the time was near when he would leave us, but I said I'll never forget the attitude of my father as he realized this.
Paul, what do you mean? Well Sir, I can still see my father raise his right arm and say, oh, if you only knew the prospect that was before me. I'm soon going to meet the man that loved me enough to die for me.
And the man took a step backward, and his face got very red. I didn't say another word to him. I walked away and left him beloved friend, it gloriously, wondrously true. The time will come for you, and the time will come for me. When we leave. It may be that one or another here might be called away in death. I know not. But this I do know that the moment is near hand when that glorious assembly shout is going to call the redeemed of the Lord home into his.
Wondrous presence. And when that moment comes, thank God. I repeat the words of my dad as he drew near that moment. I'm soon going to see the man that loved me enough to die for me. Is that true about you, friend? Is that the prospect that lies ahead for you? Here is the gift of all gifts, the gift that God's own heart has given to this poor world.
The gift that is offered to you this site. A person, not a religion, not a creed, not a plan, not a request from you that you surrender your life, that you give your heart to the Lord Jesus. That is not the gospel. The gospel is the giving heart of God.
He has given his beloved son.
And his beloved Son is my Savior. And God, whom I dreaded and whom I feared, is my Father, and he loves me. Now the 4th chapter once again to consider the verse that we began with chapter 4 of John and verse 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God.
To whom were these words addressed?
Well, first of all, they were addressed by Jesus.
A weary and thirsty man sitting on sigh cars well.
00:20:00
God's beloved Son, the Creator of all things, the one that gives breath to every living thing, was sitting weary and thirsty upon Sychar's well, and there came forth from the city.
A woman whose life had been again and again stained with sin. She was astonished to find this man sitting thus on the well the conversation developed, and the Lord Jesus think of it. The Lord Jesus said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living.
Water. Isn't that wonderful living water. Have you ever been really thirsty?
I haven't been really thirsty very often.
But Bill McCullough is here tonight and I think he will remember, together with me, an occasion when both of us were.
Quite thirsty.
We had been together on a firefighting expedition.
And we had been inhaling a lot of smoke and through the heat of the day.
And had had nothing to drink, nor was there any evidence that there would be anything to drink for a long time, and not far from where we were working.
A heavy truckload of equipment rumbled past and left deep tracks in the soil. And I think Bill will remember what we did. We went over there and put our faces down in the tracks that those truck tires had made.
In the road and sucked up a little bit of mud that we could find there because we were thirsty. Now I believe that I have seen a thirst far, far more severe than that I see all around me today in this world through which I'm passing a first and an attempt to quench that thirst.
In the sin and entertainment and amusement of this poor, guilty Christ rejecting world, I see thirsty man and thirsty women going on to a thirsty eternity and refusing to hear the pleading tender invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who says it's our newest the gift of God, and who it is that settled of thee. Give me to drink, thou Wis have asked of him, and he would have given thee.
Living water.
Oh, how I thank God with an overflowing heart for that day that came in my early youth, when the stubborn, rebellious knees of mine were bowed in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
And I received him as God gift to me. I received the forgiveness of all my sins through the precious blood of Christ. And I received that which I didn't even ask for, for I can't truly say that I was looking for it. Then I was trembling under the burden of my guilt, and trembling at the prospect of hell at the end of the road. Those fears were by the grace of God, removed. But I'll tell you something else I discovered.
That the one who was offering himself to me as Savior has become to my soul over the years.
One who can truly satisfy. Are you thirsty, my friend? There's one who can satisfy you. Have you tried? Are you trying the broken, mocking cisterns of this poor world? And the devil suggests well that one didn't satisfy, but this one will.
Did you ever stop to think what the word amuse really means?
It means not to think. The word muse means think. The word amuse means not to think, and the devil's been busy at that for a long time. He wants to keep you. He wants to keep any one of us from thinking about these matters that are much more vital than those passing things that can only add to your pitiful thirst.
Beloved friend, there's one who can satisfy. There's one who says to you this night he would have given the living water. Why, even when we come to the very close of this book, the book of Revelations, as though God couldn't close that book, and all the tale of judgment found in that book without saying once more to him, that is a thirst will I give?
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The fountain of the water of life freely.
I warn you, friends, as I read these words, that there is at the end of a Christ plus journey and eternity.
Where there will be unending thirst.
You know, the Bible does not exaggerate, and the word of God pictures to us a man who had everything that life could give.
Who stepped out into into eternity lost. And the curtain is drawn aside so that you and I might look into the eternal destiny of that lost man. And we hear him crying out in anguish.
Saint Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
As much water as could be held on the tip of a finger was never granted to him. Does the word of God exaggerate? No, beloved friends? This is why we are in earnest tonight, for we're looking into the face of the sons and daughters of Christian parents. We're looking into the faces of those who are bound for eternity. And you are bound for heaven to meet the Lord Jesus, to thank him for ever, for taking your place.
For shedding his blood to put your sins away or you are bound for that only other alternative, hell.
Described as a lake of fire, the condition of those in it described as weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. It's not possible to exaggerate such language. Those words came from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ that I believe, my friend, if you were here this night.
He would look at you with much more yearning than ever this poor heart of mine is capable of, but he would warn you in solemn words of the destiny of your soul, if you have not accepted him as your savior, if your sins have not been blotted out.
By His Precious Blood. Oh, let me try, with God's help, to make it plain and simple, I say to everyone present here tonight.
That at this moment, under the sight of God, you are in either one or the other of two conditions, will you listen carefully?
You are either lost.
And guilty And on your road to hell right now. Or And this is the only other alternative known in the word of God, or else.
You are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, redeemed and on your road to the glory. I'm going to pause to let you answer before God. In which of those two conditions are you at this moment? May I repeat them, that you may answer them?
Lost Guilty before God and on the road to hell.
Let it sink in or else and this is the only alternative.
Cleanse from all those sins by the precious blood of Christ.
Saved and on your way home to the glory to meet the Lord Jesus, if I say no more, I want you to sit silently for a moment and answer in your own soul, Please do In which of those conditions am I in the sight of God now?
Young and old, I want you to answer it. The eye of God looks down upon you, and he cares so much more than I care. Or you say don't dare point to me and call me lost and guilty. I know that nowadays men's consciences have become so hard and so indifferent because of the change of standards around about us and that which perhaps used to trouble the consciences of youth.
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A generation ago is now passed off as being perfectly acceptable. Nothing wrong. Who said it was wrong?
You know this woman to whom the Lord Jesus was speaking here in this chapter, realize, when he spoke to her, the guilt of her wayward, sinful life. The Lord said to her, Thou hath had five husbands, and he whom thou hast is not thy husband.
Did she say?
Excuse the language, but did she say what of it? That's what people say today. That kind of record usually brings the headlines in the paper. Nothing wrong at all. 5 husbands and he who now, now hast is not thy husband. What's wrong with that? Folks will not talk that way in the presence of God and friend. You are in the presence of God tonight. Let men change standards as they will. God's standards remain unalterable.
They changed.
The ways in which they measure things, they change the words that guide us, but you know very well that's whether it's called 32 above or zero, it's still freezing point. Whether it's called 212 or 100, it's still boiling points.
And whether the distance from here to otherwise 120 miles or 200 kilometers, it's still the same man can't change those inalterable laws that they know very well gone has established in creation. They remain fixed then may change the wording and you and I may have to learn a bit of a new language in order to fit in. That's all right. I'm not complaining about that. But what I'm saying is this, that they know very well that these inalterable laws of God.
In the universe remain fixed and they cannot touch them. And remember this, my friend, that although things today may be called perfectly acceptable, right, proper, and to be boasted of, if God's word calls it sin, it's sin in God's sight, and it's recorded in his book.
And I warn you that the day will come when you will stand before the one who penned, Who inspired the words of this book. The God who has kept the record of your life, the record of mine, Pay, doctor, paid of all the stains of my life were written down.
But thank God for His word that declares I even I am he that blot up out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins. They're gone. I was trying to make this plain.
To a group of children a while ago, and I suggested to them that if all those sins of ours were written here on a blackboard.
And then someone came along with an eraser and rubbed the mall off. Where would they be? On the blackboard? No where would they be on the eraser? No. Where then would they be? And one little fellow raised his hand and he said they'd be still in here.
He must have been an observant little fellow at school that when the teacher wrote something on the blackboard and then erased it, he tried hard to remember. Isn't it marvelous that God knows all about what these thoughts of our hearts might be? And so he says, not only are they blotted out and removed from the record, but God says to be remembered no more. Thank God for that.
Now will you turn with me please, to Galatians chapter 2?
Verse 20.
Just the last part of the 20th verse of Galatians chapter 2.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me the gift of all gifts God gave his only begotten Son. And now I find that even the heart of the Lord Jesus, the beloved Son of God, is included here in this most wonderful gift. And who was it that pen these words?
00:35:11
The chief of sinners. These words he penned by divine inspiration. I hope it's not wrong for me to picture his penning of these words. I don't believe he just sat there as a secretary and recorded them by divine dictation. I believe they were part of the very soul language of the one who penned them, inspired though they were. And I think I see.
Paul writing the Son of God.
The one whom I hated. The one whose name I tried to block out from under heaven. The one who's devoted followers I arrested and imprisoned and consented to their death.
Who loved me? I don't think he hurried on to the next words.
I think he must have looked at those words in thrilled amazement. The Son of God who loved me when my heart was filled with rebellion and rejection and hatred. The Son of God who loved me and marvel of Marvels gay himself.
For me, I don't believe he hurried on to write the next verse. I wouldn't be surprised if the original page.
Held a few tear stains on it at the end of this verse as Paul looked upon those wondrous words. The Son of God loved me all the persecutors, and gave himself for me. Beloved friend, what a gift, What a giver. He loved you enough to give himself for you. Upon the cross of Calvary he gave himself, He knew before he left those courts of glory for Bethlehem.
He knew where the journey would lead him, to the cross of Calvary. But he loved you. He loved me, and he longed for my company up there in the glory. But there was a barrier. There was an impediment. I could not be there with those stains of sin.
There was only one thing that could take that stain, that could remove that impediment. And that one thing was the precious blood of that spotless holy victim, the Lord Jesus Christ. And again and again I delight to proclaim the blood of Jesus Christ.
His son cleanser us.
From all sin us. Does that mean you? Does that mean you Oh, if we could but go around this room and not miss anyone and just take everyone in coming right back here to myself and say the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth come now, do you belong in that verse? Would you have to step outside that circuit somewhere?
And say it's not yet true of Maine. It can be beloved friends.
Here you sit, surrounded by those who, by the grace of God, know the certainty of forgiveness through the precious blood of Christ. We know it on the authority of the Word of God. Would you step out from where you are in order to be outside the boundary of that most wonderful statement, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin? I remember reading. I think it was in the Traveler's Guide years ago.
About a gentleman who attended a gospel meeting.
It was either the custom in those days or he was a very fashionable gentleman, but he carried a cane.
And when he came near his home, returning from the Gospel meeting, his mind was going over and over what he had heard in the meeting. He knew that he was lost. He knew that he was a Sinner, fashionable and accepted by his neighbors. He knew that in the sight of God he was a Sinner, that he knew that in that gospel meeting he had heard proclaimed simply, lovingly, and faithfully the removal of every stain of sin.
By the precious blood of Christ, the gift that God delights to offer his own beloved Son, the water of life, eternal life, all what a giving God we have. And he knew that He walked out of the door of that little meeting hall, still lost, still guilty.
00:40:01
And he stopped. Not far from his home. He stopped to think it over.
Took his cane and slowly, solemnly drew a line on the dirt Rd. in front of him. And he stood looking at that line and he said, if I step over that line, I hear and now accept the Lord Jesus as my Savior. If I walk around the end of it, I'm going to put it off. Not yet.
What would you recommend for that man?
There anyone here that would say, well, it would be perfectly all right if he walked around the end. You needn't make it quite that personal.
You needn't make it quite that urgent. He stood there and thoughts came to him of what it was going to mean to him.
His fashionable friends and their mockery. But then he fought of eternity. He thought of eternity. My friend lost forever. And he stepped across that line, Wendy, and announced to his wife and family, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior. Have you ever told anyone that in all your life? I'm going to be very, very pointed about this. I'm going to ask you plainly and clearly.
And I want you to answer it in your own soul. Have you, Have you ever in your life turn to anyone And said, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior? I've heard those words, and they thrilled my soul. But I'll tell you, I know that it delighted the heart of God much more than it delighted my heart.
I remember one night after a gospel meeting in Smith Falls.
A young man took my hand, not given to, expressing himself very readily.
But he said to me with real warmth tonight, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, and he was gone.
Well, I was very, very glad to hear that. I knew him well enough to know that it was real with him. And the last one to come out of the meeting room was his father.
And I shook the hand of his father, and I said just a little extra happy tonight.
A young man confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Well, I know that father very well, and I just wish you could have seen the happy look on his face. Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. It's such good news.
When anyone except Christ as savior, I'm so happy. Who was it? I said it was her oldest son.
You know, I took a look at his face, My father, the 15th of Luke, joy in the presence of the angels of God. And I could see that joy reflected in the face of that Father, and I thought of the joy of heaven.
Why the gospel friend? Because God loves you, that's why. He's far more anxious to see your soul saved than any father ever has been. And I know that I'm looking to the faces of fathers that have shed tears. And here stand one right here.
Have been in tears before God.
That we might know that our children are under the shelter, the blood of Christ.
And if I have felt that way, if other fathers and mothers here have felt that way, have you ever thought of the heart of God? He loves you more than any human love.
And here Paul says.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What a gift. Could you turn, please, to Romans 6?
Verse 23.
For the wage of a sin is death.
But the gifts of God.
Is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Another gift.
They're all wrapped up together, for the word of God just delights to enlarge upon that which is offered to you.
00:45:03
In accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior here, He solemnly presents to us.
The wages of sin.
You remember when Jacob went to work for Laban? Laban inquired of him.
Tell me, what shall my wages be? You know, I looked at that question presented by Laban and thought it was a pretty serious question. Tell me, what shall thy wages be? You're going to reap wages, friend. And I can tell you what those wages are if you refuse to accept the gift that here is offered. The wage of a sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Would you, Would you spurn? Would you reject a gift like this? You know, it's just such a sad thing when a physician has to shake his head and look with sadness into the face of awaiting loved one when there's no hope.
I guess you've seen it.
Perhaps you've experienced it. I have not.
I've seen it in the hallway of the hospital.
And you can tell by the look of the Doctor, You can tell by the shake of his head that they've done everything that can be done, and the loved one is slipping away. But if the doctor came out and said we have found a remedy, your loved one will live.
Oh, what a difference. What gladness. Now, beloved friend. In this verse, God is offering a gift, the gift of eternal life, that which the believer now possesses, that which we shall enjoy throughout those endless ages. And we have been looking forward to the wonder of it as we have been going over the word of God today.
We're just looking forward to that most wonderful moment when the shout of our returning Savior will, in one glorious twinkling of an eye, cause home to enjoy in the atmosphere suited to it the eternal life which we already possess.
Do you possess this? It's not something to be paid for. It's not something to be earned, to be attained. It's something to be accepted as a gift. Now we give gifts to one another.
Sometimes.
Sometimes.
I hope this won't embarrass my wife, but perhaps you give as a gift to someone.
Something that you have in the home that you don't have any use for and you give it as a gift and you know very well it didn't cost you very much, if anything.
And you're a little bit embarrassed by the thankfulness of the one who receives it. Perhaps. On the other hand, you do pay a significant amount for a gift.
But when I think of this gift, beloved friend, this gift the most costly gift that heaven could give.
God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, giving himself the wonder of the water of life, eternal life, all of it wrapped up in the mighty sacrifice of Calvary, where the Lord Jesus bowed his head, yielded up his life, shed his precious blood that you might even read or hear such words as these. What a gift this is. And if you want to insult a giver, you just pull out your wallet when they offer you the gift.
And say now just let me just let me make a little contribution toward this. You know what your friend would would feel? You know how he or she would react? How pleased you are to think that someone loved you enough to purchase this gift.
And offer it to you out of love.
Beloved friend, the burden of my heart tonight is this. That God loves you so much that he has provided and offers with open arms gifts beyond my power to describe to you. But I'll tell you something. They're mine. It's a rich man that's standing up here. It's a rich man that's standing here. And I'm going to take these riches home to glory with me.
00:50:19
For I have received, by the grace of God the wondrous gifts of his love that cost him, I say once more, the agony of Calvary.
Before we go on, and I know our time is just about endless, I want to take you to Calvary that you might see there. Why these gifts ought not to be spurred there upon the cross of Calvary, there upon that middle cross.
Hung crucified God's gift that be allowed Son of God. And God laid upon him as He hung there upon the cross.
My wretched sins, all of them.
Known to God, laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, And then the strokes of judgment ought to have fallen upon me, fell instead upon God's beloved One, there from the cross of Calvary, and during those three hours of darkness during which he endured the agony, the wrath of God against sin.
He was forsaken of God for me because of my sins.
The three hours ended. He cried out in glorious triumph. It is finished.
He bowed his head. He yielded up his life.
A soldiers spear is thrust into his side and forthwith flowed their own blood and water. And God's word delights to declare the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sins. What a costly gift.
And what answer will you give? What answer will you give if you stand before God, Guilty. In a coming day, if the book is opened, and the record of those stains is found still to be there, you will be speechless. Oh, I have heard men in their mockery tell me when I stand before God in that day, I'll tell him, and I don't go any farther. I wouldn't dare repeat, but some men have uttered.
But I know very well, and you know it too, that in that day they'll stand there.
In space.
Absolutely speechless, sealed lips, the record of their life reviewed and the sentence of God pronounced depart from me into everlasting fire is solemn. Beloved friend gifts they are costly gifts they are. But if they are rejected, if you do not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you rise up from where you sit and go out that door with those stains of sin still upon your heart, I warn you solemnly, beloved Friend, that although God is truly a God of love.
He cannot and he will not overlook one stain, Sid one lie.
Is enough to shut you out of heaven forever. It must be removed by the precious blood of Christ.
Our time is gone. But suppose, beloved friend, that you wish that this very moment.
To make all this your own, suppose that at this very moment you were to say, I don't want to go out of this door guilty. I don't want to put my head on my pillow. Loss. I want, I really want to have the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior. Remember this, that Ephesians chapter 2 tells us by greater he saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God. I stand here to admit that even the faith.
That accepted him long ago as my savior in itself was a gift from God, everything I owe to Him, and he's ready to do the same for you. Are you willing to own your need? You willingly put yourself in the hands of a physician when he diagnosis your problem and suggests that he knows the remedy. Beloved friend here is the one who has pronounced your your infirmity.
As a stain of sin and a sentence of death and the certainty of judgment beyond. But he has a remedy, that costly remedy, the precious Blood of Christ.
00:55:07
Well, may we say, as Paul did, thanks be unto God for his.
Unspeakable gift. Is that the language of your heart? Oh, I know. As I look up and down the Rose tonight, I can see that response.
Unspoken but shining from the face of many in this room tonight.
God for his unspeakable gift. I'm privileged to stand here and say it aloud, but I know you're saying it from your heart.
Come now. Is this really the language of your heart? Do you look up at this moment and say thanks be unto God for his?
Unspeakable gift He gave his Son, the Lord Jesus gave himself the water of life, eternal life, forgiveness, faith to trust in Him. All of it, all of it comes from Him.
I wish our time were not up, but it is beloved friend. The word of God is so full of it. Peace, I leave with you.
My peace I give unto you, There's not much of that in this poor, groaning, disappointed, troubled world.
Just come with me for a moment.
And let us sit down in the Coliseum and far away Rome.
And look down upon that most blood stained spot on the face of the earth, the sands of that great arena, and you'll see there in the middle of those sands a young girl. She has accepted Christ as Savior. She has been arrested and imprisoned because of her faith in Christ, and she stands there presently. The grating is open and out steps, arriving us lying. And she knows what's going to happen in a few moments. And you take a look at her face and what do you see, beloved friends?
Terror.
Of course I've never seen it, but you and I have read a count after account. I stood there and looked at that spot and just pictured before my eyes that which has so often been written of those who had to face the martyrs death because of their faith in Christ and beloved. I'll tell you, it's marvelously and gloriously true that one of the gifts that he delights to bestow is peace I give unto you.
And there the greatest testimony that ever stirred the hearts of those in Pagan days was reflected in the peace that was seen and those who laid down their life for the Lord Jesus Christ. I was just reading an account the other day.
Of those who spent their day.
Those endless.
Mild The darkness of the catacombs.
160 miles of tunnels beneath that city.
Over half a million laid down. Their lives were buried down there in those endless tunnels. And you know, my wife and I walked through the darkness of those tunnels. And there you'd look into a room and you'd see a pile of skeletons, a pile of them. They looked into another room. There was a little table, a little table in that room.
Table made of earth.
And I asked the gentleman, what would that be for?
We sit down here in the darkness.
They held the service of remembrance of the body and blood of Christ.
Beloved friend, I want to tell you that the Savior who loved me and died for me has given me the water of life. Everlasting life, Peace in this heart of mine has also put before me the happy.
And wonderful privilege of showing him as we did together in this room this morning.
Our.
To him for giving himself for us.
Privilege.
I had no intention of bringing that point in, but I trust it may touch the heart of someone.
He's given himself for you. Have you ever responded by showing him that you remember?
Could we sing the first hand on our hem sheet #1?
01:00:03
Almost persuaded now to believe, almost persuaded, Christ to receive, Seems thou son soul to say, go, spirit, go thy way some more convenient day on the alcohol.
Almost persuade.
All the way.
And cry.
Slowly.
Go there.
Go my way.
Far more convenient now.
All our gladden.
Invite you here.
Morning.
On my.
Behold
Gospel—J. Irvine
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975. Gospel by Jim Irvine.
We would like to welcome everyone to the meeting this evening, and for that purpose of the gospel of the grace of God in this world where there is so much to discourage, so much to weigh us down, it's wonderful to have good news on an occasion. It's wonderful to have that which can bring joy.
To our hearts all my friend, it's wonderful that you're able to be here this evening and to be under the sound of the word of God. A few minutes ago, a few of us were gathered together in a little room while we were waiting.
For the hour to come where prayer might be offered up for this.
And as we sat there waiting, everything became silent. And I wondered.
How my thoughts ran back to a previous occasion.
When there was a man in his family beckoned to come into an arc of safety and it says, And yet 7 more days before rain fell upon this earth. And during those seven days, I wondered as Noah sat there as he may have looked out the door looking, is someone going to come? Is there going to be another?
Who's going to walk up, as it were, and come inside this ark of safety? Is there going to be another?
Believe the wonderful message of God. And it just made me think, my dear friend, that maybe God has been waiting for you. God has been waiting for you to come and receive His gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
His son, Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary. And my friend, it's wonderful to be able to tell you that he died for you. He died for me, and he's washed my sins away in his own blood.
And my friend, he's died for you. And all of you believe this wondrous message that God loves you and he sent his son to die for you. Why? You too can have your sins washed away and can know that you're on your way to heaven. Yes, that's good news. To know where you're going to be. To know that you're not going to spend your life in this poor world, not going to spend your life in the regions of the unknown.
But rather to spend your life eternity in the glories of heaven.
With the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God all, my friend, do you want to be in that company tonight? God loves you, and he wants you to come and be saved. I wonder if we might begin the meeting this evening by singing #23 Behold, behold the Lamb of God on the cross, On the cross. For us he shed his precious blood on the cross.
On the cross. Oh, here the overwhelming cry.
Eli Lama Sabachthani draw near and see the Savior die.
On the cross. On the cross, yes, the Son of God forsaken that you and I might be saved. May we rise and sing #23.
Cross.
For you loving.
The Cross.
While.
My beloved, I have one word before me this evening. I've just one thought.
And this word that I have has been with us, I believe, every day of the meetings, this last day, this last meeting, 3 days of being together over the word of God. And yet is it possible that there may be still those that are outside of the grace of God, still those that have not yet believed in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather have listened to the whisperings of the enemy?
And have given themselves over to the foolishness of life, and have not yet received what God has proclaimed here in his precious word All. My friend, I believe sincerely that this is the Word of God, that this is God's message to you and to me. And for that reason I'd like to tell you about the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the only hope of man. It is your only hope of eternal life.
And so I'd like to speak about one word this evening. And that word is behold, Behold, oh, how wonderful, what a precious word to have brought before our souls to night. Behold, oh, it's not a word that we use very often today.
It's a word that's found throughout the Holy Scriptures. But all what a word it is, behold, what does it mean? Oh, it means to see. It has the implication of look, draw your attention. I want you to see something. I want you to see something that's important. And we find that the one that has these words before his soul is God. And God would speak to you and to me. And he would say, behold.
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I have something important to tell you. I have something that's so vital to you.
That I'm going to take time. God, the creator of heaven and earth, is going to take time to tell you and to tell me. Be whole, he says. I want you to look. I want you to pay attention. I have something that's so vitally important. Or to call us aside here in this hour, and to take up of our time all that God might give unto us. Not time in this world, but all the time eternal with himself in the heavens.
And so we find this word. Behold all that. God would have us take note of these things, and that we might weigh them in His presence, because they are so very, very important. Behold, this might be the most important hour of your life.
Behold, God is speaking to you under this hour, all for so many years you've gone on.
And not paid any attention to the word of God. It may be that you've heard about God. It may be that you've heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be that you've heard about the work of Calvary Cross. It may be that you've heard that yes, there is a way in which your sins can be forgiven, but you haven't taken a hold of it.
You haven't realized it's God's message for you as an individual. God says, behold, I want you to look. God is speaking to you and to me. And he's saying, behold, I want you to see all how wonderful tonight to be able to speak to you not in my words and not into the words of someone else, but to speak to you concerning the words and the will and the wish of God, the wish of God for you that you might be hold.
And so could we turn to the first chapter of John's Gospel, the 4th book in the New Testament, the book of John, the Gospel according to Saint John, and chapter one.
Verse 29 and we find this word.
Here the first scripture that we shall look at with this word in it, verse 29.
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and sayeth behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. All God says, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Here's that word, and now God brings it right down to that which he would have us to be occupied with. He brings it right down to that which he would draw our attention to.
He wants us to see His only begotten Son. He wants us to see the one that He has chosen to take away your sins and mine. He wants you and me to see what He has done for us all. Such marvelous grace, the grace of God, that He would have you and I to.
Look to his Son that we might be saved, you and I, that deserve not the slightest mercy of God.
You and I that deserve not the slightest consideration, but instead he says, Come now, I want you to look at my son. I want you to see the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
Well, we find a lamb mentioned in other scriptures.
We find the lamb mentioned in the 12Th chapter of Exodus as that Passover lamb. We see it mentioned in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, Genesis there, where we find the one who is offered as the heir of all and in the 12Th of.
Exodus. We find there the one who would.
That which would protect us all, that would be the protection for all. And now here in our chapter we find the one who is the fullness of the mind of God, the one that is the answer for each one of us. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And so we find that God would present His Son before our souls, that we might see well. We know that the Scriptures would speak to us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
No, you and I could not be in heaven. We could not, as it were, enter into those courts of glory.
Without blood being shed. But all to think, dear one, that the blood that was shed.
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Was shared by the Lamb of God, his own well beloved Son. And so God would draw our draw our attention to this one. The Lamb of God isn't that striking. He draws our attention and he says the Lamb of God.
He doesn't say a lamb, He doesn't say some lambs, but he says the lamb. Why? Oh, dear friend, here tonight, I don't know what you've been thinking. I don't know what you've been taught. I don't know if you've even had any considerations towards the things of God at all. But God in his word says that there is the lamb, there's only one, there's only one way into heaven. It's not according to my thoughts, it's not according to my abilities, but it's only according to what God has put forth in his words.
He says, behold, the Lamb, the only one that can take away the sin, can take away your sins and mine. Yes, God is very clear, he says, Behold the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, doesn't this strike us?
You know, it tells us in another place. First Timothy chapter one Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I used to look at that verse and I say, no, I don't like that verse. I don't think that verse is very nice. But you know, as I thought about it, I think it's a wonderful verse today. I think it's a wonderful verse. Why? Because as I look into your faces, I know nothing about you. And yet, you know, I can say to each one in this room.
You are a Sinner. You are a Sinner. And it isn't because, as I say, I know anything about your personal life. But God does.
God knows all about you. God knows everything that you have ever done.
Everything that you've ever said, and you know what he has to say about it, He says All have sinned. All have sinned. You're a Sinner and so am I. And isn't that wonderful? God says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
If I wasn't a Sinner, I couldn't be saved. If I didn't take my place as one who was guilty before God, how could I have salvation? I couldn't know. There would be no way for me to enter into heaven. And in ignorance, I'd enter into the courts. That place of the of the dam that enter into that awful place that's referred to as hell. Oh, I didn't enter there. Why? Because I say I wasn't a Sinner. I haven't sinned, but all when I enter that place, I'd realize what a fool I'd been. I'd lied to myself.
And all that. I had only listened to God. All that I had only believed the message of God. God, who cannot lie, tells you and I tonight that every man, every woman, every child in this world, all have sinned. All. What a condemning word that is. It's guilty. And there's no way in which you and I can escape it. There's no way that we can find an escape, No way that we can find an exception. God says guilty.
We're guilty. We're sinners. All have sinned and all. If that's the only message that I had for you tonight, oh, you couldn't go out of this room with your head anywhere but down. How I weigh things down upon you. And in addition to all the problems that are in this world, in addition to all the problems that you have in your life, in your home and in your family, on top of I say before God and in His presence, you're a Sinner and condemned to hell.
Oh, what a sad message that would be.
And so we turn again to that verse. In First Timothy Christ, Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Oh, there's hope for me. There's hope for me. All that I might have my sins washed away, that I might receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior. Yes, God sent his Son into this world to save me and to save you. Or will you put your trust in such a Savior? Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Your sins and mine all our sins are gone, washed away in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful message, The Son of God. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
I think that's so wonderful. All dear friends, think about it. All of your sins, so great, so many. All born by the Son of God. All born by the Son who loved you. And the Father sent him. Yes, the Father sent the Son. The Son of God came into this world and was taken.
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And then put upon that cross of wood all, what a thought that is. Yes, he bore my sins away.
Has he borne yours many years ago?
I went into a place.
It wasn't the first time that I had sat where there was a Bible. It wasn't the first time that I had, as it were, had someone stand up before me as I'm standing before you this evening. But I must confess, my friend, it's the first time I ever saw that which I'm going to tell you now. Excuse the personal references, but I went into that place because there was heaviness in my heart.
I was lonely. I was separated from my family. I was away in an army camp, and I went into this hall, into this place, and the man stood up and he started telling me the same message that I'm telling you. He told me to be hold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And as I was there, he seemed to reach forth into my seat and draw me, draw me.
Back far, far away, he seemed to take me across the ocean.
And bring me to a hill. And there at that hill, as I looked up, I saw three crosses. I looked up and I saw those crosses there. And as it were, he pointed to the 101 That had lied, had stolen, had murdered. Oh, what a miserable individual he was terrible. Oh, and as I looked at that man on that cross, I said, that's me.
That's me. That's my heart. That's me. Oh, there was a man getting the rewards that he deserved. There was 1 receiving that. Just punishments of the law. Oh, what a thing it was. But then he turned my attention away. Not to the one on the other side, because he was just like him, guilty, guilty. But he instead turned me to the one on the middle cross. Turn me to that one that was there in that middle cross.
And he pointed out, this one had done nothing amiss. This was one who had never lied. This was one who had never stolen. This is one who had always been obedient. Why was he there on the cross? Why was he being condemned by men? Why was it that he had to suffer such agony? And as I looked at that one in that middle cross, I found out that it was for me. It was my substitute. He was paying my guilt. He was paying the penalty of my sins. Yes, I looked up, and I beheld the Lamb of God.
Which taketh away the sin of the world. He took away my sins. He washed them away all. My friend. He can do the same for you tonight. He can do the same for you.
If you but look to that man on that Middle Cross, behold, look, God wants you to see. Behold his Lamb, the Lamb of God, which taketh away. The sin of the world takes away your sins.
Clean every width that you might be in heaven, all that you might be, clean sins, every stain of sin removed, that you might be found in those courts of glory. Or, dear friend, tonight will you look to the to the cross of Calvary.
Look close and see the Son of God. Will you look close and see the one that was chosen of God for you? Will you look at that one who's given his life that you and I might live? Oh dear one, as you sit in that seat tonight, think about it. God loved you so much.
He loved you so much that he sent his own son.
To die for you. Oh yes, that's true. That's true. On the authority of the word of God, I can say that the Son of God came into this world to save you and save me all by His grace. He saved me and now he's waiting for you. He.
Your answer tonight, my friend. He wants you to be saved. Oh, look to the one on the cross of Calvary. Look to that one who died for you. Oh dear friend, tonight. Behold, look. Behold the Lamb of God.
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Which taketh away the sin of the world, your sins and mine.
All. Let's turn over to Revelation, the last book in the Bible.
And Chapter 3.
Revelation Chapter 3.
And verse 20.
Behold.
Oh, here we find another verse.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him.
And will Sup with him and he with me all I believe in that first verse that we referred to in John's Gospel. I believe that's the invitation of God the Father. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And you know, it's as though sometimes we don't hear. And now we have a personal appeal from the Son himself. Yes, the one who paid the penalty of your sins. Now is it worse, stands at your heart's door.
And knocked and says, behold, look, I want you to pay attention. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Yes, he stands at your very hearts door tonight wanting you to listen. The Son of God wants you to listen. Oh think about it my friend. Sometimes your neighbors have hardly time to say hello to you. And here's the Son of God. The Son of God has time for you and for me.
He has time for you. And he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. Yes, the Son of God wants you to be saved. The Father wants you to be saved. Or to think about it, God wants you to be saved, wants you to be with him in heaven. And now this evening, he's shown you the way.
Pointing you to the cross of Calvary. He's pointing you to his own begotten son. Oh, behold, I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice. Have you heard the voice of Jesus tonight? Oh, I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and I will give you rest. Yes, my sins that would weigh me down. He's taken them and cast them into the depths of the sea. He's cast them into the deepest part. He's taking them and cast them as far as the east is from the West.
And I sinned in iniquities, will I remember no more all God has taken my sin so far away.
And all my friend, tonight he offers the same thing to you and to me. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if you only hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's willing to pardon you. Yes, He's willing to forgive you all your sins, all your sins.
All of them. Oh, don't think that there's any sin that's so great that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot cleanse you. First, John. Chapter one says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. Oh, think about it. Cleanse us from all sin.
Oh, my friend, thus the the Son of God standing knocking at your heart's door.
That you might be saved some years ago.
In my home.
There was a man.
And a woman.
I can still see everything that was in connection with it, my dear friends.
Can remember the color of the room, the color of the couch.
The color of the grapes, The curtains.
I can still see their faces. I can still see them sitting on that couch.
My wife in the chair over here. Me standing in the archway, speaking to them, Speaking to them about the very same things that I'm speaking to you about.
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And as they sat there, they owned. They admitted that everything that I said was true.
Yes, they admitted.
They knew there was a heaven, They admitted that They knew that there was a hell.
They admitted that they knew that there was a time that they were going to meet God. They admitted everything that was presented to them.
And when we asked if they would turn.
These are the words of both of them.
I would rather.
Go to hell.
Then give up my life.
I would rather go to hell than to give up my life.
They wanted, they chose to go on in their sinful course. All my friend. You think how serious that must have been? I tell you it's not a story I tell you. It's the truth.
And I'll tell you something more.
It was one of the last times that I ever saw my mother alive.
All my friends, the Son of God was standing by her heart's door.
Saying behold.
I stand at the door and knock.
And they refused.
What about you?
You might look at my mother and her friend and say she made a foolish choice. You might say that she didn't think about it enough. She didn't give due consideration to the fact that she would enter into eternity in a few short months.
My friend, I can only ask you one question. What about you?
Behold the Lord Jesus says I stand at the door and knock at your hearts door. The Son of God wants to save you tonight, wants you to have peace concerning where you will spend eternity.
He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven, washed away in his own blood.
There at the cross of Calvary. Yes, my friend Jesus died for you. Oh, isn't that wonderful? God loved you that much that Jesus died for you. Are you going to throw off his offer of mercy tonight? Are you going to give an answer of no to the Son of God? All my friends, think of the seriousness of it, the Lord Jesus himself.
One of the Godhead stands tonight at your heart's door knocking. And if you will just hear his voice and let him in all he'll save you. He'll wash your sins away. You don't deserve to go to heaven anymore than I do. But oh, God loves you. He loved me, He loves you. And I know that the mind of God is that he's not willing, that any should perish.
But he wants you to be saved tonight. Do you want to be saved? All the Lord Jesus wants you to be saved.
In the 1800s there was a man by the name of Lord Shackleton. He was one of the great explorers of the North and South Pole, and he ended up in the Antarctica on an expedition with 27 men.
And while he was there, he got into dire trouble.
All of that which was support to him was lost.
The ship that he had taken into those icy gulfs was taken and broken like a matchstick.
Supplies were lost and drifted down below the depths of that ocean.
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And there he was, stranded in that place.
And they fought their way back.
Along an explorers route until they came to a somewhat protected place, if there is such a thing in that land of ice and snow. And there he left 24 men.
And he sat out across the ocean on a raft, three other men to an island, I believe, which is called South Georgia.
Which was the most Which contained the most southern, most town or city in the world?
And he had an impossible task as he set out for that place. He had to scale the mountains because he came in on the wrong side.
And get safely down the other side, hundreds of miles in Iraq in that forlorn place.
And get safely into that supply station, get supplies in another ship and come back. And this journey was almost beyond human expectation.
But Lord Shackleton did make it.
And he did get that ship and he did go back and he did rescue those men.
And you know, when his ship came into view to that place.
There wasn't one man that hesitated.
When the word was given, behold the ship, there it is.
Everyone got in and went away. They didn't even take the things that were there. They didn't take any consideration. There was the escape ship. Rescue had come and they left. All these men didn't stand around. And tonight, my dear friend, behold the Son of God is standing at your door.
Maybe you don't realize your peril. Maybe you don't realize that there is a lost eternity ahead of you. Maybe you don't realize.
That hell is real. Oh, there's so much goes on in this world today that the devil, the enemy of our souls as it were, seemed to take the fear out of the thought of hell a place of torments. Why we see individuals today killed right and left, we see.
People being murdered before our eyes. And so we lose the thought of, oh, how terrible death is. But all, my friend, I want to tell you that death is real, eternity is real, hell is real, but all the offer of God's mercy is real. Tonight too. All he offers you pardon and salvation. Yes, my friend, the son of God who loves you.
All tonight, behold the Savior at the door. He wants you to be saved. Here's this one knocking at the door. And we, as it were, would take it lightly. Oh, think about this one, who is the Son of God. He stands at the heart store. He is the Son of God.
And you may reject him tonight, but oh, what are you going to do in a coming day? Let's turn to the Book of Esther.
And the 6th chapter.
We see in this count account a man that was despised.
And all that's what we find in this world today, my friend. The Son of God despise.
But let's see what happens to this one that is despised.
Let's go back into the 5th chapter.
The 13th verse, that we can see the hatred of the heart of this one. And he is speaking here. Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's gate now Well.
Then let's go over.
Into that 6th chapter.
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Verse three And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done unto Mordecai for this?
Then said the King's servant that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him. And the king said, Who is in the court?
Now Hammond was come into the outward court of the King's house, to speak unto the king, to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the King's servant said unto him, Behold, Ham, and standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Ham, and thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?
And Haman answered the king. For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought, with which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king writeth upon, and the Crown Royal which is set upon his head. And let his apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of the one of the King's most noble Princess. That they may array the man with all whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city.
And proclaim before him. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor. Then the king said to him, and make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do Even so to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the King's gate. Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken, then took ham in the apparel and the horse, and arrayed more to Ki, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him. Thus shall it be done unto the men whom the king delighteth to honor.
Oh dear friend, might I just explain it simply this way? Here was a man that hated another man.
Here was a man that despised the goodness that was in this other man's heart.
Because this, this man had shown what was in the hearts of men, and so the Lord Jesus and coming into this world, he's displayed our hearts open. We know what's in each one of our hearts, but God has given a remedy and that one who knows, that's all what's.
Knows everything about you tonight. Wants you to be saved. And so this one, he said, He said, I'm going to take care of that one. I'm going to wipe his name off the face of the earth. And that's what Satan would like to do here. He would like to be done with the name of Jesus. And all my friends think about it. The Lord Jesus tonight offering you salvation. And there's a time coming when God is going to honor this one. And so we find that Mordecai came forth and he wanted, as it were.
Have the place of honor for himself, but what's the end result? The result is that he takes this one through the streets, proclaiming the one whom the king delights to honor. He says, Behold, behold the man the king delights to honor. Behold all the same one that tonight is standing at your heart's door, beckoning you to behold. I stand at the door and knock this one that will offer you salvation tonight, but all to refuse him. What is it?
Oh, it's just as it were to wait until another day, when he shall be exalted, when he shall be given his proper place, and every eye shall look upon him. And yet you, because you refused him. Now, tonight you can be honored with the Son of God, but on that day to come, to be condemned, to be banished from his presence forever. All this one sought honor for himself. But, my friend, all that you might seek honor and glory for the Lord Jesus.
All tonight he stands before your heart's door, beckoning that you might be saved. Behold.
The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Turn over to Revelation chapter 22.
Now believe that this verse was mentioned at the beginning of our meetings.
And I believe that the Lord has allowed us to behold this one, and so might we, as it were, use these scriptures in closing the 22nd chapter of Revelation, verse 7.
Behold, I come quickly, verse 12 And behold, I come quickly, verse 17. And the Spirit and the bride say come.
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And let him that hear us say, come, and let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Verse 20 He which testifies these things they have surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come, Lord Jesus, Oh here we are, dear friend, I believe the Spirit of God bringing before us that we are to be whole the sun once more.
The Father and the Son and the Spirit, speaking to each one of us tonight. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the one who comes quickly, the one who would have us, each one to be saved, the one who's coming again.
The Lord Jesus is coming again, he says. Behold, I come quickly. What does that mean?
Oh, it means, my dear friend, that you may never have another opportunity to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Or it may be that tonight is the last night. It's the last night of these meetings. Oh, how much prayer is going up for this time together? Three days ago we came together, and now the time is gone, completed over. And it's the last moments of this time together. And just as that is, so shall it be when the Lord Jesus returns. Behold, he says, Look, pay attention. I come quickly.
Oh, he's going to come down and take away those who are redeemed by His precious Blood. Be all I come quickly Who the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, The one that offers salvation tonight for you and for me. All this one, this same Blessed One that says.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock tonight, offering salvation. Tonight he can be your savior. But all when this takes place, it's all over. It's finished, It's completed. There's no chance, no second chance. All my friends, think about it. Tonight you have an opportunity to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. But behold, I come quickly and it's too late. It's too late.
Oh, we're not speaking men's wisdom. We're speaking the word of God.
Not too long ago I was in a bank in Sackville and there's a man there that likes to pride himself in his knowledge. And so I was speaking to him about the Bible and about the Lord Jesus. And he says, oh, he says no, no, about those things. There's no I said, I'm not sure that the truth is. But he says if they are true, I'm all right. No, I said wait a minute, There's something here I don't understand. You say first hand, you say you don't believe.
And then you say you've read enough that you're all right, He says, Oh yes, he says. I've read in there. And it says that when the end comes, why there's going to be somebody come around and want to write a number on my forehead, and when that happens, I'll believe.
Oh, I said. Oh, Sir, I said, I'm sorry, but it's too late. Oh, no, he says I'll be all right, he says. I know that if that's if that happens, it's true, I say it's too late.
No, but he wouldn't listen. He wouldn't listen. Oh, he says. Behold, I come quickly.
No other opportunity, all my friend, can I tell you this way? You see that door over there? Most of us came in that door. Most of us will go out that door. I am so sure that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. I'm more sure of that.
Than I am of going out that door. I'm more sure that the Lord Jesus is going to come and take his own to be in glory with him. Those who sins are washed away in his own blood. I'm more sure of that than walking out that door tonight. Oh, I know the word of God is true, but in a moment I could fall down here and be gone into an eternity with Christ. I could leave this scene just like that and all, My friend. I wouldn't ask it a week. I'd ask you to rejoice because I'd be looking into the face of Jesus Christ, the man who died for me.
What about you? Oh my friend, think about it tonight God offers you salvation and you can be sure of eternal life. You can be sure of having. You can be sure of your sins are given. But you can't be sure of getting home tonight. All my friends think about it all. The Son of God, the Lamb of God who loves you, who taketh away your sins. We have believed in him. Tonight we are receive him as your own personal savior. Yes, my friend, the Son of God has is coming.
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And are you saved tonight? Oh, are you saved tonight? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Yes, your sins washed away, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Oh, my friend, it's going to happen. And all the redeemed are going to be gone. And if the Lord Jesus came right now, how many seats in this auditorium would be empty? You know, there's going to be great confusion in this world.
Going to be great confusion because all of a sudden masses of people disappear.
And I come to one of the saddest points that I can think of.
Not sad for me.
But you know, as I look around in your faces.
I wonder.
Who's going to tell the world what happened?
They're going to come around and say.
What happened to those people? Where those people go?
And you're going to have to say, well, I was sitting there listening.
And I heard that Jesus was coming again, and I guess he came and he took them to heaven.
Oh, is that what happened? Yes.
Who went all my mother, my father, my neighbors? My friends.
They all went yes.
Why didn't you? Because I didn't believe. Because I didn't believe.
All my friends, think of it as you sit there tonight. This message is for you.
God loves you. Jesus died for you, and the Spirit of God would bid you come. Let him that is a thirst come, come. Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely. All my friend, Tonight, as you're sitting there in your seat, it's as simple as bowing your head and asking the Lord Jesus Christ to come in. Will you be saved tonight?
Behold, the Lord Jesus is coming again. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Behold, I come quickly.
All my friend, are you going to obey the word of God tonight?
All believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior. All, my friends, throughout all eternity we shall look on the Lamb of God who died for me, and we shall proclaim His glory. Behold the worthy. 1 Behold the one who died for me. Will you be in that company, or will you be in a lost eternity? Oh, tonight, my friend God offers you salvation through the work.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ, could we sing #20?
Hold the savior.
Away.
Along in the end, it will rain.
Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.
How are you?
John 14:1-6
Reading
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General meetings Montreal, October 1975 First reading meeting.
109.
109.
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Things.
And through the soon coming, blessed Lord.
Thinking of his presence here.
For us.
I'm thinking of his great love.
For the values with the 14th of John seems to be the subject.
Directed to.
I think that's that's good because there we get it in simplicity.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
Let not your heart be troubled.
We believe in God. The new house will remain.
In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Then if I go into a fair place for you, I would come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whether I go, you know and the way you know.
Said that him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus says, And I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If he had known me, you should have known my father also, and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
Philip says unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and suffice of us.
Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you yet? Hath thou not known me, Philip?
These that have seen me, have seen the Father, and House they have thou. Then show us the Father.
Believers are not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that draweth in me, he doeth the work.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very worst sake.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He will believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also.
And greater work than these shall they do, because I go unto my Father.
And what the weary shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the sun?
If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
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, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knoweth him.
But do you know him? For he draws with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless, but I will come to you.
Yet a little while in the world seeth me no more. But ye see me.
Because I live, ye shall live also.
At that days and know that I am in my Father, and ye and me.
Than I and you.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is a loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said unto him, Not as curious, Lord, how is it that I would manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he would keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
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He that loveth me not, keepeth not my saying.
And the word which you hear is not mine. But the fathers which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, Being yet present with you, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You ever heard how I said in view, I go away and come again unto you?
If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I go into the Father, for my Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass you might believe.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you. First into this world come of nothing in me.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do. Arise, let us go hands.
Twice in this beautiful chapter we got the Lords own precious words. Let not your heart be troubled.
And we're living in a troubled world, and we have our troubles.
In trying circumstances.
But the Lord he is not thinking of himself. He's about to go to Calvary, but thinking of his own.
And it's very striking to notice that he himself was traveled in the three previous chapters.
He turned the 11Th chapter.
And the 33rd verse.
When Jesus, after all, saw her wedding.
And the Jews also weeping with which came with her. He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
Troubled, undoubtedly, of what Sinner brought, brought death and family.
And sorrow for his own and then in 12Th chapter, verse 27.
Now is my soul trouble.
And what shall I say?
Father saved me from this hour.
But the discourse came I unto this hour.
Trouble here, undoubtedly because of the awful suffering about to befall him.
And the thought of coming into contact with sin, that's in question.
In the 13th chapter.
I.
Verse 21.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit.
And testified, and said, Verily, verily, I said to you, that one of you shall betray me.
And yet, in spite of this, he can save you his own. Let not your heart be trouble.
What wondrous love and compassion, what thoughtfulness on behalf of His dear children, not only His disciples, but for each one of us today, because we do become become troubled so easily, and so the Lord would encourage our hearts first of all.
Say, let love your heart be troubled.
Then he gives a reason.
They were anticipating the loss of their blessed Lord.
They had been with him in his ministry, followed him from place to place, received instruction from him. It was no matter too small that they couldn't bring it before him, even when they had an empty net. He told the Lord about that their hearts were broken. They went to him about.
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Well that need now he was to go to the followers he has stolen.
But he says, as our brother has brought out, let not your heart be troubled. And then he says he believed in God, believe also in me.
Now the people of God had long had this privilege of.
Going into the presence of God, making their petitions.
I'm telling you about their wants and needs. We find that record of that all through the Old Testament. Many of the psalms will be prayers of God's people. Well, now he says that he believed in God. Believe also in me.
That is the same way that they had gone to.
God above, they were now to approach him.
For he was going up on high. He was to take his place there on the right hand of God. But they could still address him, they could speak to him, they could bring all their wants and cares to him personally. So he says he believed in God.
Believed also in me? No. That is there to know.
In the same way that they have known God as the invisible and yet the one who was concerned about all repairs.
Now there's worth a walk by faith. Or they're not.
I have been with him down here, now he's leaving them.
I think the verse in John 17 in connection with our first verse.
You believe in God, Believe also in me.
Anything will believe there is God, and that's not sufficient.
John 17 Three And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast spent.
So it's necessary to know the Lord Jesus Christ as well as acknowledging there is a God.
How time was connected point that you mentioned brother Barry with the instructions that the Lord Jesus gives in the 16th chapter where he speaks tells them about prayer and he says.
In the 23rd verse, in that day he shall ask me nothing.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Would you?
Tell us, show us the relationship between these two points. You could do it very well.
Well.
The the reason the Lord said in that day shall ask me nothing.
That is in the way that they had asked him when they were with him. Now he was leaving them, he would be unseen.
Now they were not only to go to him as they had, and that's simplicity of children, but they were to ask him the father's name, a new way of approaching him now that he was being no longer with him. Is that the thought?
I suppose it was difficult for these disciples to always realize that Jesus, the one in their midst, was was God, because they saw him as a man and he looked like any man.
I suppose they had to be brought back to this reality time and again. And no doubt this is what the Lord is doing here, bringing to their attention that just as.
As they had believed in God in heaven, now they were to believe in him because he is God.
And it was not to be on a human basis that they were to know him. It was not to know him in a human way and just making requests of him, and as they might of a prophet. But it was as God that they were to know him.
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I was thinking of.
In connection with this, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him, and then also in this chapter a little farther down, where the Lord said to Thomas, he says, or rather Phillip he said in the ninth verse, tenth verse.
He would have seen me, has seen the Father.
Pardon me, It's the.
Yes, the ninth verse. He that has seen me has seen the Father. So the Lord Jesus in this gospel of John is revealing the Father and now they were to know the Father in an intimacy that never could be known. In Old Testament time God dwelled in the thick darkness. The relationship of knowing God his Father was not known in the Old Testament. But now the Lord Jesus had come and he had revealed the Father.
And the wonderful thing for them to learn was that they could now address the father in a known and enjoyed relationship.
Because of him, because he was the one who had revealed a Father. He that hath seen me as seen the Father. And so it isn't that we cannot speak directly to the Lord Jesus. We find prayers such as Steven and the book of the Acts. Lord Jesus receive my spirit and the Apostle Paul, asking the Lord in connection with his thorn in the flesh so that we can address the Lord Jesus.
But something very blessed and wonderful we can address God our Father in a conscious nearness, because the sun has revealed him because of Christ. And I believe that perhaps that's the thought that is being brought before us in the 16th chapter.
And here in this chapter I believe also in me. Is our brother has remarked was to know him as an object of faith. We have it in Peter's epistle. It says who by him do believe in God now? That is, since God has now been revealed and we believe in him, the one who has revealed the Father. What a blessed thing, that just as God is the object of faith to our souls, so the sun.
Who is God Himself is now to be known as the object of faith to our soul.
So we sometimes are told, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. But then in John 5 and 24 it says He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, so that we believe in the Father as the object of faith, and the Son. And then, as we have beautifully brought before us, the Spirit of God, making all these things good in our souls, has now come, and.
Tells us.
That because ye our Son, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, have a Father.
The Lord would expect that the disciples would understand, since He had been revealing the Father all through his life and ministry, that his home would be theirs.
What else could they expect? What else could parents expect if they were? If they were going to move and have another house to live in, what would the children expect? But that's our home, because that's where our parents are to live. So the Lord had LED them right up to that point, and it is with rather.
Surprise wave of the large replies.
Now they knew where he was going. Why didn't they know where he was gone? He had revealed the Father to them. And if he was going to the Father, why the Father's house must be the home that's awaiting them. And this lovely two to see. Isn't it that now the blessing Son of God has been here in this world, that we get a higher thought than David?
That gives us in the 23rd Psalm where he gets the leaders on in connection with the shepherd's care.
Until he says, And I shall dwell in the House of Jehovah forever. Well, that was as high as an Old Testament St. could take in the future that was before him the House of Jehovah. The Jehovah was the God of Israel and.
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The God of Israel's house would be their house, but now the Lord has revealed.
The same Jehovah God as the Father. Now it's the Father's house. And that speaks of infinite relationship, doesn't it? Not only being there as the place of rest and and joy at the end of the journey, but also.
There in full and blessed and wonderful relationships, where God is our Father.
Perfect love cast us out fear. And when the Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, he revealed an entirely new kind of life for man. And in John we have that life seen in this world.
Not simply the life we'll have in heaven, which is true, but it's that life was brought down here so we could view it. He was never known before. And now we discover due grace that we have that very same life, and along with it goes the same intelligence and the same feelings. Not natural feelings of the natural man or the first Adam. I'm not Speaking of Adam after he'd sinned, but I'm Speaking of Adam.
As he was created, not that line of things, but a new line of things that belongs to heaven. Now there was only one reason, beloved, why the Lord Jesus chose us. And that was because he wanted us and he loved us.
He went through this, this world, and he saw something that attracted his eye. In John 13. It is a treasure. And so he bought the whole field without treasure. And then he saw a Pearl. He saw a Pearl, and he found it a great price. And so he has chosen us because he wants us.
Now there should be some response from our hearts, and shall I put it this way?
There will be response from every newborn soul.
If we do not allow the things of this world to come in between.
Now I'm going to read a verse in in Leviticus, if you'll bear with me just a moment. And Leviticus 27.
Verse 18.
Now the Jubilee is coming. We know that Israel. There's a jubilee spoken armor in Israel, but we're applying it now to our own in this 27th chapter of Viticus and verse 18. But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon under him the money according to the years that remain even after the year of the Jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
Now, does this not have a word for our hearts this morning? If the Lord were to come this afternoon and we can well expect it, What is? What is all about this world? What's the value of it in our sight?
And so it's a valued according to the years that are left.
Now the years that are left is behold, I come quickly.
And so perhaps we pay too much attention to present things. Perhaps this is the reason it was said by a very Asian brother that we've all enjoyed his writings, he said. How is it? Why is it, brethren, that's so seldom we ask the Lord to come?
So seldom we ask the Lord to come.
Are we really waiting for his coming? Are we more interested rather than the present things?
I wondered if there's something very, very, oh, shall I say, hinder and affectionate in this expression. Let not your heart be troubled. Not only that which our brother brought out in connection with the troubles that we experience along the journey we read in Peter, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. But could it be connected to with the end of the 13th chapter, where the Lord Jesus has just told them that he's going to go away and leave them?
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And he saw counts on their love that although they haven't said anything about it, he would, as it were, say, now I know that this news is going to trouble you. I know that you've loved me so much that the news that I'm going to go away and believe you will trouble you. But let's not your heart be troubled. And then, as we have heard, he's presented to us now as an object of faith, together with the promise that he's coming back again.
It would be a very sad thing if someone whom we love very dearly told us that he or she was going to go away and there was absolutely no sense of loss in our souls at the news. So it seems to me, when the Lord Jesus here says let not your heart be troubled, although they haven't expressed anything that we could perhaps recognize as a troubled heart because of the news, he counted on it.
Let not your heart be troubled. I will now be an object of faith, and in addition to that, I'm coming back again not to.
Continue what I was doing here before, but to call you to that home.
I believe there there is that, and it's very precious. There is also the fact that their thoughts were Jewish and they were looking for the setting up of the Kingdom. They asked in Acts 1, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? And they had expected too that they would have part with him in connection with the glory of that Kingdom. And in these chapters 14/15/16 and 17, he's leading them out of the fold of Judaism.
And leading them into the blessed place that we now have in Christianity.
And in connection with that about the Father's house, it is remarkable that in this gospel a large Speaking of the earthly temple said, Make not my Father's house and House of merchandise. Now that is, it was the IT was spoken of in this way because the Lord had love and desire for blessing for His earthly people, and they were following Him expecting to see the Kingdom established.
And I believe that's why it says here in the second verse, reading it is in the new translation. In my father's house are many Abol, if it were not so, I would have told you. Notice that little expression. If it were not so, I would have told you. That is, since they were expecting the earthly Kingdom to be set up, they were following him, waiting till that time when he took the Kingdom. Well, he said, I wouldn't have called upon you to follow me in a path of rejection and reproach.
If I didn't have something better for you than what you had expected, you had expected the earthly thing, and you had expected the Father's house here upon earth, the Lord. There's something more wonderful than that, and you're going to have a place in that, and in the temple. It will be built according to the end of Ezekiel. There were abodes for the priests. The priests were to occupy a place of nearness to the Lord in that millennial temple.
Well, but in the glory above, there are many above. There are places of nearness to him there. And so He's encouraging their hearts, as you say, counting upon their affection and their desire to be with him. He's showing them that they were not going to be with him in the earthly scene, but they were going to be with him in something more glorious. And that is the heavenly scene. And so I think it's very lovely to see that the Father's house here is associated with.
Glory of all about, there will be a wonderful time of blessing for this earth on the you and I will share a more blessed place, and He is preparing them for what they must expect during His absence, until He comes and takes us to the Father's house above.
In connection with this portion, let's notice a verse in Exodus 23.
Sometimes the Lord uses very special circumstances to burn a truth into our soul. Some years ago one had the privilege of going to the Dominican Republic, and on this occasion it was very difficult to leave and to go. And my dear wife sent me this verse, the 20th verse of Exodus 23.
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Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared well. That was a present truth for me, but we think.
Of this verse applying to Israel.
And how the Lord came down.
As an Angel.
And undertook to bear that people, to carry them all the days of old, and to bring them in to that place which he prepared for them. Now that's by way of contrast. Let us notice in our chapter how much better off we are than Israel was. They had an Angel to go with them, and when you read the history, you'll continually read of that Angel appearing.
And standing up on their favor now the Lord Jesus has undertaken.
To bring us into the place which he has prepared on his thought of the 13th of John as the Lord preparing them for the place. Now in our chapter He is preparing the place for them. Both belong to God the people, and the place heaven was not prepared for man.
But the Lord went there to prepare it for us. Well, how much better are our things than Israel? Now let us turn to Hebrews 2. You'll notice a little further.
How very wonderful it is, what the Lord is doing for us. Surely we ought to trust in Him, have our confidence in Him. Hebrews 2 and verse 10.
For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
But the Lord has undertaken to carry us into that heavenly play. Can't we trust Him for that? He's going to do it. He's already there. Well, since we're in this chapter 2 of Hebrews, let us notice there's three quotations.
That the Lord that is used here by the Spirit of verses 12 and 13.
For, I believe they applied.
Verse 12 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Oh certainly we enjoy the Lords presence leading in the singing in the assembly. And then the next quotation, verse 13 I will put my trust in him.
It seems to me that the Lord Jesus does that.
In the 17th of John, where he asked the Father to keep those whom thou hast given me, and then the next quotation at the end of verse 13, the whole eye and the children which God hath given me.
This would be his introduction of us into the father's house. He's going to bring us in and introduce us to the father and say look, here we are. Well, can't we trust him? Along the way he's undertaken, he's prepared to play for us and he's bringing us there.
I was thinking of your remark, brother, flooding, about the danger, or our danger of being occupied with the things of the world, to the exclusion, perhaps, of Christ or the nearness of his coming. I was thinking what Joseph said to his brethren. Regard not your stuff.
That's all we have stopped. But he goes on to say, for the good of all, the land of Egypt is yours.
And we have all these wonderful blessings God has provided for us in Christ. So we should not regard our stuff, should we?
That's all I gotta go one day.
And he remains, Thou remains.
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And my brother Barry mentioned the last verse of Psalm 23.
I think it's nice to connect that with Psalm 27, because in Psalm 23 the psalmist would say I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever, the end of the journey. In Psalm 27 verse four he says one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek After that I may dwell in the House of the Lord. Doesn't say forever now, all the days of my life.
So it's possible for us to live in that heavenly atmosphere now, before we get there.
In my father's house, many abode the largeness of the plate. I remember when I was a young man hearing Brother close give an address to the young people.
And he used an illustration. Of course this was in the state.
Of the president, supposing that the president were to invite all his citizens to.
To Washington that he might entertain them, he said. How long was the White House be able to?
To receive so many that would be accepting the invitation. Why? He said. It wouldn't be long before Washington would be overrun.
Well, now you said, just compare that with the greatest man, the president of this country.
With the Blessed Lord, he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you, but how much room is there in that place?
Well, it's large enough for all God's children. Just think of the immensity of it.
Then he said suppose that after.
I were possible for me to be there and I say, well, Mr. President, this is very, very pleasant to be invited, but I'd like to sit with you and help you to run the government.
He said What would he say? I can't have you entering into the government of the country. That wouldn't do it. The thing of the blessed Lord that we're not only going to dwell with him, but we're going to reign with him over a new word.
A renewed Earth, a Kingdom that he will set up, and we're going to share that Kingdom.
Where the king of kings.
Be no isolated soul in heaven.
There's no partiality with God and everyone will will feel.
That place of nearness, I think 2 of what has been said about.
The difference between the expression God and the Father in this way that in Hebrews you get particularly the the expression God because of the mediator there, but in John here it's the Father and we have it too, and the other Gospels.
And.
With the believer, the sense of father brings us into a closer place and a place of warmth in connection with worship. Now, it's true that we are creatures of God. We're responsible creatures and responsible to our Creator. But how? How beautiful, how precious?
To be conscious that the Spirit would make us conscious.
To cry out of Father and to realize that when we worship, we worship Him as our Father. We come into His presence in prayer as our Father, we address Him as Father. Israel won't be able to do that directly or the nations, but.
The church was brought into that place of nearness, And I'm not verse in John also that says, if the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And that suggests to us that the liberties that the Son of God has in his own house, in his own home, in the Father's home, of the same liberties that you and I will enjoy.
Then. But he wants us to anticipate them now, so that our hearts might be.
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Directed to heavenly things because there's not a thing rather than this world that can satisfy your heart. You can look for it, but it'll never satisfy your heart.
It's all what we have here that will really satisfy our hearts search where we may. Only what we have in Christ will really satisfy our hearts.
That's why Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon are placed side by side, is it not?
To find their Solomon in Ecclesiastes and everything his heart could wish for, says, I will held not my heart from any joy. He could try everything out. And he did, undoubtedly. But what did you say at the end? All is vanity and vexation of spirit. So we find there the hardest to be to be satisfied with anything under the sun. But in the Song of Solomon we have a different object. That's Christ. There we find the object is too big for the heart.
Heart cannot contain him more.
It was not, Brother Gordon's father often used to say. We can have as much of Christ as we like.
And Jerusalem said concerning his relevance, give them as much corn as they can carry.
And we can have as much of Christ as we can carry too.
I think statement I think brother flatting was that cure your life will prove how much you want to Christ. Is that the rest of the Jordans?
When our brother mentioned just now Brother Gordon, he he quoted this 18th verse of the first chapter of John.
No man, I've seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him the Father.
We've had this brought before us so much that John declared the father.
And then we find that John himself occupied a very near place, the heart of Christ. So he declares the sun. Also He declares them both because he occupies such a near place, the heart of Christ. He could speak of Christ, which he does. And then we find that the Lord Jesus occupied a near place. He was in the bosom of the Father. So he declared the Father in John 17 and says he has declared his name and the manifest of his name.
The father's name.
Right. Ask the question.
When and how did the Lord prepare the place? He says distinctly. Here I go to prepare a place for you. When was that place prepared?
Well, in the Lord Jesus entered heaven and manhood, wasn't it? I was thinking about the temple, it says in the first second chapter. Isn't it 40 and six years? Was this temple in building and wilt thou prepared in three days? Well the Lord Jesus speaks of himself, and in Revelation that says the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. So as our brother remark a few moments ago, heaven wasn't really prepared for man.
But since the work of redemption, why we find that the Lord Jesus going back there has taken a place above the angels as man. And now the place is prepared because there's a man in the glory. He's the first fruits of the harvest. And 1St Corinthians 15 says Christ the first fruits. Afterwards they there are Christ that is coming. So it isn't the thought of all those years like the temple was in building by the time it will take to build that beautiful millennial temple.
About the Lord Jesus, there now as a man has prepared the place.
And it's already for us. And when he gives that shout, he'll receive us unto himself. And each believer is a living stone in the building, and somehow blessed to see that when we get there all will be gloriously complete. And he'll introduce us, as our brother mentioned, with those words, Behold I and the children which God has given me.
I've heard this expression, and it sounded good to me that the Lord Jesus came down here into this world in order that we might be prepared for that place, and he surely accomplished that. Then he went back into that place as man, that it might be prepared for us.
I do believe that his entrance into that home as man is that which prepared it for us.
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But I don't believe there's anything there that will bear witness to that which has been created.
For that which has been in the process of preparation, I believe it's beyond all that has been created there. The Lord Jesus as man awaits the joy of welcoming us home. And how will we get there? Brother Hale, you told us how you prepare the.
While he was here and how he's going to prepare the place and now how about our being brought into that place?
That any better than reading the third verse, did we?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. I suppose that in reading this verse we just naturally read into it.
That which we have gleaned from other scriptures such as First Thessalonians, 4 But it couldn't be put more beautifully than we have it here. I will come again and receive you.
Perhaps we could also add the fact that he is now preparing us for the place that we are to occupy there.
And so in this same chapter, this 14th of John, it says Here in the 22nd verse Judas saith unto him, not a scariest Lord, How is it that thou was manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
And then connecting that also with Ephesians chapter 5.
And the end of the 25th verse. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
That it should be holy and without blemish.
Since in this 14th chapter of John the word abode is the proper word, in the second verse, in my father's house are many abodes.
The disciples might have thought, well, it's necessary for us to wait till the Lord comes in order to enjoy that a bowl that has been prepared. But isn't it lovely? When Judas asked this question in the 22nd verse, the Lord says, as it were, well, you can enjoy something of that abroad before you get there. He says that the one who walks in obedience, my Father, will love Him, and we that Father and Son.
Will come unto him and make our abode with him. And then in Ephesians he shows how this process takes place as a washing of water by the Word. And that is through these meetings. He is applying the Word to our souls, and preparing us for the place, so that in spirit, as we sing in spirit, there already soon we ourselves shall be in soul and body perfect all glorified with these.
Anything in us that is not becoming to that place that we are going to occupy is not suited for us here. And so in the washing of water by the word He is preparing our souls and our spiritual sense for that place that we are going to occupy there and giving us a poor taste of it. That as we walk in obedience that we walk in the enjoyment of His company here and now, Father and Son, making their abode with us.
So it's lovely that we can enjoy something of this now while we wait the time when we enter it without hindrance.
That has nothing to do with our title to glory, does it? That was all settled at the cross and the moment we accepted Christ as our personal Savior, we had a clear title to heaven, and nothing can ever take that title from us.
So we need never question the fact that we belong to heaven, that we're redeemed, that our sins that would shut us out of heaven have been borne by our substitute on the cross, and that now everything is settled as to our our home. There we're just waiting for the summons that called us to be with himself.
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We can never rise any higher in sole experience than fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. This will be our portion for all eternity. This is stressed in the epistle of John, especially the first chapter.
Where the believers portion.
Is to be in the light, that's where we are, and in the enjoyment of that fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, this expression of many abode says.
Call to mind an experience I had some years ago with a man who was studying in this country from China and.
We had.
We had some possibly a year together.
Various evenings.
We went over the Gospel of John and the book of Proverbs and the part of Luke.
And when we got to this chapter, I don't believe the man was saved, but he was interested in the scriptures.
And we got to this part of the 14th of John where it says.
In my father's house and.
Which is the verse yes in my father's house, verse 2.
Many mansions are abode, he said. I think I can explain that verse.
He said my I come from a family that dates back in China. I don't know the beginning of that family. But he said my grandfather, a great, great grandfather when he settled in this part of China.
He built a home, and he built a large wall around the premise.
And he says during the years as each one of the children grew up and got married.
It was a custom in that land for the father to choose the bride for the son, and the son would bring the bride home and they would build another abode on within that same wall.
Of the father's house, he said. I think that's what this verse means, he said. Now there are many abodes there, so this gives us perhaps a little thought of the book of Ezekiel and our brother Gordon Hale mentioned the many abode for the priests that all we know, that Christ is the one who goes there to prepare that place in His presence is what prepares us. Still, it's lovely to think, isn't it of the fact that.
He has a place for us and he's prepared a place for us and we're going to be with him in that day. We don't want to miss the very personal note we have here.
Receive you unto myself.
Now the common thought, I suppose, in Christendom is in connection with those Christians that die. When they die, they go to heaven.
And perhaps in connection with the coming of the Lord, well, the Lord is coming to take us to heaven.
Just the house is before them.
But I believe the Lord wants us to have Himself before us.
What are we going to heaven for?
With him.
And what does he want us there for? Justice to be in heaven? No, He wants us with himself near himself.
This is his heart.
And I feel, brethren, that we're missing this in our life.
Thinking of the Blessed Lord in his own person.
Being so dear to us.
That were just long.
With himself.
Because that's the longing of his heart. He wants us with himself. He's going to receive us unto himself, and what a joy that's going to be to him, to have us with himself. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. He's not sending someone else together himself. He's coming because he's He's longing for us.
And if we could enter into his joy just a little bit, the joy that he's going to have in receiving us to himself, it would certainly detach us from things down here. On our way down in the car, my wife was reviving an address book that we have, and every once in a while can come across the name and say, oh, she's with Christ and she'd stroke off the name and address.
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And it strikes us a little bit, because we have become so accustomed to it that perhaps it just doesn't register the way it ought to, that our natural way of referring to this one or that one who has left he is very often to say he or she has.
Gone home to be with the Lord, and I hope we never become accustomed to the beauty and wonder what that really means. I remember hearing of a dear sister whose mother had been ill for quite a long time, and in the early hours of one morning her mother went home to be with the Lord. Now the neighbors all knew that this elderly lady had been sick for quite a long time, and the next day on the street they asked the daughter, how is your mother?
Well, last night Mother went home to be with the Lord, and she said you just couldn't picture the consternation among neighbors to know how to answer her. At first they they always and that too. And then they'd stop. They didn't like to stay. Isn't that too bad? And they didn't like to stay. Isn't that wonderful? It was just language so foreign to them. They were silent, some beloved. It's true, as our brother has remarked, we speak of the abodes, we speak of the.
Home but when he refers to it.
To be with himself. And it may be today that everyone in this room who knows the Lord, will be there. I've enjoyed the comments that were made about the present enjoyment of that which we anticipate, that wondrous home that awaits us, but the joy of having a foretaste of it here.
And it seems to me that this abounds in Scripture, and the Spirit of God seemed even to have chosen words.
That would perhaps link the two thoughts in our hearts. We read in Revelation 5 as we see a description of the worshipping host of heaven in the midst. That's the Express News. In the midst of that post there is the lamb that had been slain. And the minute you read those words, you think, oh, but what a foretaste we are privileged to enjoy while we're here.
Matthew 18.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
And then you come to John 17, the prayer of the Lord Jesus. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me.
Be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Always say what a prospect, what a future that will be.
So you turn to 2nd Corinthians 3 and you read we all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, as though he would tell us there is a glorious future. There are abodes there. There's one who will be in the midst up there. You'll behold his glory up there.
In the meantime, we can have the wonder of it along the way while we wait for that moment.
It's remarkable, isn't it, that in a chapter where we have so much about heaven that the word heaven isn't found in this chapter?
Receive the unto myself is really what the Lord is setting before his disciples, and that way before ourselves.
Many years ago I went through this chapter and just counted how many times the Lord brings himself before us.
Notice how it starts out. You believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house, and so on. I go to prepare a place for you. 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 often whether I go. And if my account was correct, I counted 75 times the Lord.
Brings himself before. I may be wrong in that count, but any of you dear folks and you young people check that sometimes and just see how many times the Lord brings himself before us in this wonderful chapter.
Our brother Stan Allen of Skeleton. When he was in England school teaching he was invited to Buckingham Palace as.
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Courtesy in connection with the school teachers and he met the Queen there on in the garden and it was very nice privilege to have. But the Queen didn't invite him and Missus Allen up into their quarters in Buckingham Palace.
But it's nice to connect this with the fact that in the first chapter of Song of Solomon, verse four, it says the King hath brought me into his chambers. And it's the present condition, isn't it? For each one of us as priests we approach God, but as children were brought into a relationship with the Father. And here we have this beautiful relationship. We surely have been brought.
Into his chambers to enjoy what shall be our future portion now.
I suppose the preparation for our being with him started at Calvary, did it not? Because apart from the cross, we never would have been with him.
So that's where it started, the work of the cross. But now he's gone there himself to prepare the place and his very presence has prepared it, hasn't it, His presence there.
For the Apostle Paul to bring out the way he would.
Come and take us to the Father's house. There you get the full description. I will come again and receive unto myself.
That's what we get here and there the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
For the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, the dead in Christ will rise 1St, and then the living are caught up to medium. There we get the full description of the way we'll be taken. But one has rejoiced in this the the authority with which the Lord speaks here, because there's so much unbelief in the world as to the coming of the Lord, and even in Christendom the present hope of the Lord's coming is being denied.
Far and wide. But isn't that encouraging to hear him say I will come again?
So we're not to expect anything else, but the unbelief of man will be more and more manifest, for Peter tells us in In the last Days golfers should arrive saying where is the promise of his comings. They look at nature and they say all things continuously were from the beginning of the creation.
But oh, how lovely. Above all, the unbelief and skepticism of man stands gift soul assuring words. I will come again.
But a foundation to rest our souls upon.
Paul after in John 16 not merely heaven, but the person who be there.
John 16 verse 16 A little while and you shall not see me.
And again a little while, and you shall see me. Doesn't say you shall see heaven, You shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then says some of his disciples among themselves. What is this that he says unto us? A little while, and he shall not see me.
And again a little while, and you shall see me. And because I go to the Father, I said, Therefore, what is this to be said? A little while. We cannot tell what he says. Now Jesus knew that they were desires to ask him, and said unto them, Do he inquire among yourselves, as have I said, A little while, and you shall not see me. And again a little while, and he shall see me. He doesn't say. In a little while you'll see heaven.
You'll see me.
And further down.
22 And he now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again.
And your heart shall rejoice and your joy. No man thank you from you.
It doesn't say you were rejoiced when you get to heaven.
But I will see you again In your heart shall rejoice. I take it in seeing him.
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I've enjoyed the 6th of Exodus in connection with the I will come again and the I wills of the New Testament which have not yet been fulfilled. Within the 6th of Exodus there are, I believe, seven times where the Lord tells the children of Israel what He will do.
As an example in the sixth verse, wherefore I say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their ******* and I will redeem you, and so on Believe seven I wills, And they were all all accomplished, every one of them. So when we come to those I will, I will receive you unto myself. It hasn't taken place yet.
But we're assured it will be, because he's accomplished everything that he has promised so far. You'll not let us down now. They also get 7 * a little while in these verses I've just read.
Precious to remember, he said. A little while.
Now, I met a Christian once who said that the law was not coming for 50 years. Well, that's contrary to this verse. The Lord says a little while, seven times. What for? Why does he repeat it? Well, to encourage your heart and mind. That's only just a little while. And we're going to see him and be with him. He has the same thought in Hebrews yet a little while. He that shall come, will come, will not tarry.
But here, how very encouraging. 7 times, he says. A little while. That's all it is.
Some of us think perhaps we're going to drag on in this weary world for many years yet, but Beloved might be today, as we've been reminded, that we shall see his face and his name on our foreheads. How precious.
I wouldn't be thankful for the questions that Thomas asked.
The very fact that Thomas was a doubting disciple led him to ask questions that have cleared up for ourselves. And here is 1 where Thomas says, Lord, we know how clearly thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And then the Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Thinking about the simplicity of the word, a member of Brother Jail Scotland used to live in Rome, GA. This is a poor old colored one that was dying or had a very short time to live. And he said, Lulu, you're very thick, aren't you? Yes Sir, there will be. You're going to die. Yes Sir. He says no. Where are you going when you die?
She says, how do you know you're going to the Lord? And then she quoted these words. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. So think of that poor old woman, I suppose, without any education.
And yet she laid hold of something that was of greater importance and more value than all the wealth of the world.
How wonderful the Scripture has given us so that the most simple, unlettered uneducated can grasp the meaning and rest on it for their souls eternal security.
And the unbeliever should take notice of this verse too, brother.
The Lord says I am the way that's in the present tense. He does not say I will be the way tomorrow, so there was number need to hurry.
So we are unbelievable here. Should take notice of this. It's very important.
In the presence I am the way now. He's the way now. He may not be this afternoon.
So you dear young people here who are not saved, you better hurry up. There's no time to lose. Delay is dangerous. I am the way. Not a way, but the way.
I suppose when the Lord said in this fourth verse, and whether I go, ye know, and the way he know he had already told them, that he was the corn of wheat that was to fall into the ground and die, and that there would be much fruit he had told him of his rejection, and they ought to have known. But as your remark, Thomas hadn't entered into this. But isn't it lovely, the simplicity of the Lord's answer, instead of rebuking them for not having paid attention to what he had said?
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He just as it were replies and say, well, knowing me, you know the way, just as if I was going someplace and I didn't know the way. But I say I'm someone who's with me and he knows the way. And so I'm not worrying because he will take me there. Well thought it was. They didn't enter into those things that the Lord spoke of because he was going by way of the cross, as it was remarked at the beginning.
By his own soul passed through in anticipation. And what he passed through upon that cross, they could never know about it. Through that that he endured. Through that work that he accomplished, that the way has been opened for us, and now he himself is the way to the Father. He's the truth about the Father, and he's the life from the Father. So that the way has been opened. The Father has been fully revealed in the Son. And then the truth, how blessed it is, It tells us in John 18.
He shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The world is in uncertainty, more and more uncertainty, or how thankful we should be, brethren, that we have the truth. We have the word of God and the Lord Jesus, who is the one who could say I am the truth. And in the 17th of John he says thy word is truth. So the person and the living word they're brought together, and then the light.
How could we enjoy heaven if we didn't have a life suited to it? Why, if you and I were taken into some place that was completely unsuited to our natural disposition, we couldn't feel at home there, no matter how much the person wanted to show kindness to us?
But all is that blessed. The way has been opened through this Blessed One. We know all about it because it's been revealed in the Word through this Blessed One. And we possess his life so we can enjoy it when we get there. All this is ours. And so he says, No man cometh unto the Father but by me, because those who speak of believing in God, and who reject the revelation that God has given of himself in the sun, don't really know the way or the truth or have the life.
It's all in him. It's all in the person, the person with whom we're going to spend eternity.
Is the person who has prepared the place for us, who is going to take us there and who has given us his life so that we can enjoy it, enjoy it now by faith, enjoy it fully when we get there, because we have that life that can.
Into the very thoughts of God. And I just mentioned that in the 17th of John.
Where the Lord says, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ. Whom's our sense? Some think of eternal life merely as the duration of the life. Well, it isn't the duration as far as that is concerned. Everyone has a life that is going to live as long as God lives, but God doesn't speak of the position of those who die in their sins as being light.
But death, because they are separated from him. But he has given us a life.
So that now eternal life is a life by which we can communicate with God as our Father, enter into His thoughts, enjoy His presence, and look forward with joyful anticipation to what we can call our home.
Firstly mentioned that we were to close the meeting on time and so on. I don't think we can close the meeting on time unless we sing to him.
127.
I don't think there's anything like that.
I'm sorry.
John 14:7-17
Reading
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General meetings, Montreal, October 1975 Second reading meeting.
Precious is the blood that heal us. Perfect is the grace that sealed us.
Strong the hand stretched forth the Sheila. All must be well, 334.
Strong Gospel chapter 14.
And verse 7.
If he had known me, he should have known my father also.
And from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
Phillip says, and him Lord, show us a father and suffice it.
Jesus other name, Have I been so long time with you? And get past Thou not know me, Philip.
He that has seen me, have seen the Father, and thou sayest thou, Then show us the Father.
Believe us or not, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself. But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the work.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
For the very work sake.
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Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believeth on me the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall they do, because I go unto my Father.
And whatsoever he shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in his Son.
If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
If you love me, keep my commandments, 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, whom the world cannot receive. Because I see them not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you.
Get a little while in the world seeth me no more, But ye see me because I live, you shall live also.
That day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye and me, and I and you.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them he it is a loveth me, neither loveth me shall be loved with my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said unto him, Not his carrier Lauren houses. I will manifest thyself underwater, and not under the world. Jesus answered and said unto him.
The man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our vote with him.
Love with me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which you hear is not mine. But the fathers were sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
Not as the world giveth, give I unto you, neither let your let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.
If you love me, he would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I've told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass you might believe.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father. And the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do.
Arise, let us go ahead.
Comments were made at the close of the last meeting.
I enjoyed. I think it was like this. I am the way to the Father, I am the truth about the Father, and I am the light that brings us into relationship with the Father. And it seems to me so beautiful and so honoring to him that I have wondered if that's one reason why Satan has so vigorously opposed and attacked this and even presented, it seems to me.
In the last epistle, sort of a counter foot of this well we read in Dude, woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of chorus. It just seems to me that in those three little statements we have sort of a counterfeit, an attack against that beautiful truth we have here.
I am the Way, the truth and the light, and there before the scripture closes, we have they have gone in the way of cave ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perish in the game thing of Korah, as though everything that the Lord sees us here presents is attacked and given a counterfeit by Satan, presented as a warning there in Jews.
There's also.
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Something that is spoken abroad quite generally in Christendom, and that is that Jesus is a way of life, as though there might be other ways of life.
And it's taken over in Christendom, so much so that.
They're even conniving with Pagan religions and mixing them up.
The scripture says the Lord himself says I'm the way of I am the way not a way, the way. I'm not some of the truth. I am the truth.
There's not some other way. That's the life. I am the life, not some other religion. There's only life in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the only life that can bring us into relationship with God, so that we know Him as our Father and ourselves as his children. Of course, when I speak of that, we also have to recognize that we must have the power of that life, the Holy Spirit.
That we might come to the consciousness to know consciously that God is our Father. And it's wonderful to see that the Holy Spirit is brought in here in this chapter in that connection too.
Will it be in order? Just to mention with that Brother Anderson a warning today as to the various translations that have come out? And our King James translation is good and we don't need some of these new things that men's minds have brought up who were not able in the 1St place, not knowing the language, the 2nd place not spiritual man to prepare the scriptures and translate them.
And so I believe it's an order. There should be a warning because there's a widespread use of some of these translations that are there should not be used at all by Christians because the young people.
Do not understand sometimes the the meanings that are introduced in some of these translations which undermine the various essential truths of Scripture and in such a subtle way.
That.
The average person, unless they are acquainted with the doctrines of scripture, they'll be tripped up, turned aside. I've had some experience with translating translating scripture into the language of the tribe in the Congo.
And I found that I could not translate word for word. I must seek by the grace of God to get God's thought that was there in the scripture before I could adequately translate it. Well, in a case like that, it means you have to be before the Lord in deep exercise, you have to be in touch with the Lord, and you need to be exercised about being in a state of soul where you can do that. And when these translations come out, we feel and we know.
That some of those who translated were not spiritual men.
In fact, on one committee it was found that there were some communists on the committee for doing this translation work. Well, how can it be suitable? How can it be a spiritual translation? Another thing, the Greek language is such a perfect language, a complete language. And it's not that I know much of anything about it, but I have studied it some.
Some of the words in the Greek that are so full of meaning that it's impossible to translate them by another word in another language. Now, in order to get a translation as close to correct as possible, you must get the mind of the Lord as to what word to use to translate that word. And if the mind is not spiritual, that person might take a shade of meaning in that word.
And use the word in the English or some other language into which is translating. Use a word that translates into the English only that little side meaning that might be in the word, and then you get something that's not exactly correct and it throws the word off. It's not in balance.
I don't mean to get off our subject, but I did feel it was necessary to call attention to this, by the way. Well, I think we have to be on our guard against using these other translation.
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And I believe God was in it when this translation that we're holding in our hands was made years and years ago. I believe God was taking care of this and sought to us that we got a translation that would be shooted. And I don't see any reason for forgiving it up.
It's all right to use like JN Darby's translation and refer to it, but I believe we do well just to stick with the King James Version in our reading meetings and in our meetings generally.
In First Corinthians 2 and verse 13 I think it's important to notice this verse, First Corinthians 2 and verse 13, which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teach us, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.
Comparing spiritual things with spiritual Now, that is, the very words of Scripture are inspired, not just the thoughts. And so when a translation is made, it needs to be in the very words of scripture to be accurate if we try to substitute our own thoughts. And many of the so-called translations are not really translations, They are called paraphrase, which means that an attempt has been made to put them into words that they thought were more understandable.
And so they departed from the very words that the spirit of God had used. I think it is so nice in Mr. Darby's translation, when he did have that difficulty of which you speak, of trying to get an English word that corresponded with the Greek word. If he couldn't get the word, he has a little footnote explaining that he tried to get as close a word as he could in the English because he was very much impressed with the fact that it is.
In the original, the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, I believe we must always bear that in mind. Because it's not just the thoughts that are inspired, it's the words that are inspired. And we can be thankful for the translation that we have. But I believe rather than we can be very thankful for such a spiritual man as Mr. Darby, who not only had scholarship but had communion with the Lord.
And another thing, when there is a little difficulty and perhaps the translation is not too accurate, the Spirit of God is seen to it, that another scripture somewhere else will make it clear. And when you find a translation, perhaps even in the King James, that's not thoroughly accurate.
If you refer to some other verse in the scripture, you can see where the discrepancy has come in. I just mentioned this for the sake of some who might have had a problem.
In Revelation chapter five we read about those who are singing in heaven and it says and they shall reign on the earth. Now I'm not a scholar, but I did take the trouble to look it up and see that in many cases the same Greek word is translated on.
In other cases it's translated over to. Therefore either word could be a translation of the original Greek word. How is 1 to know which words should be used? Well, by referring to such a verse as Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse one, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. We see that the believers eternal portion is in the heavens therefore.
If we're raining, it's not going to be on the earth. Now, the Greek word would allow either one on or over to be used. But a spiritual mind, as it says here, comparing spiritual things with spiritual or communicating spiritual things by spiritual means, A spiritual mind then discerns and that the correct word was the word over, well, it isn't just making a random choice of two words.
But we must remember that God's word is 1 harmonious, complete, whole, and it all stands together. When the enemy quoted scripture to the Lord, the Lord answered it by quoting another scripture, and we'll find the answer within the pages of this blessed book. Well, we can be thankful for a good translation, but I only mentioned this, I would say, to be aware of anyone that is called paraphrase, and then I agree that.
We should be concerned about who it was that did the translating. Did they walk in the fear of God? And you often find in the preface of the Bible something that will set you on guard. I've noticed in reading the introduction to some of these new translations that the men didn't They were not men that trembled at God's word. They were not men who really accepted it as.
00:25:24
The very words of God.
Well, as soon as you find that in the introduction, beware of the translation, because the man hasn't handled it as the living, precious word of God.
Very few quoted this morning from the first chapter of John and the 18th verse. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared him so the Lord is making that clear here that.
Him was to have seen the Father, and I take from that that we will only see the Father revealed in the Son, even when we're in glory.
Some have objected to that thought. Well, surely we'd see God our Father. But no, I think it's only as we see Him in the sun that we'll see him in glory. I suppose the scripture in.
Revelation chapter 22 might be one that.
They used to.
To come to that kind of a conclusion.
But I think if that if that scripture is looked at closely, we'll find that it's Speaking of the Lord Jesus, Revelation 22.
Verse four. And they shall see his face.
But whose face is it? Well, it says in verse 3. And there should be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. Well, it's the Lamb that's on the throne, like we see.
And more places than this in the Book of Revelation, but he's seen as God as well. So it's the Lord Jesus Christ and it's his face that we will see.
Two and nine help.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily Speaking of Christ.
And he never left that bosom, did he?
Who is in the bosom of the father? Even money was here. And so as he walked through this world, he gave expression to that new that life that was never known here before.
Which to us, of course, is new.
Not new to him.
It's that life that he always had, but now as a man giving expression to that life and even the very feelings now.
In a human body of that new life that would be found with each one who has that new life, the very same feelings, the very same understanding and appreciation of things, that new life and that life is that eternal life. And the sun came down to reveal that life which was in the Father and in the Son. Of course now we have the communion and fellowship with them in that life.
And unless there is holiness, we can't enjoy it.
That though.
We will not see the Father as such. Don't you think that his presence will be very real to us and enjoyed by it? Indeed it will. It should be enjoyed before we get to glory down here. Father's presence. A Father himself loving you.
Because you have loved me and been with me, so we can enjoy our Father's presence of Father's companionship all the journey from beginning to end.
In chapter six I think there's something there. First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 13. I give the charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all things.
And before Jesus Christ to before Pontius, Pilate witnessed a good confession, that they'll keep this commandment without spot unremuchable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate.
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The king of kings and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality.
Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. We need to remember, brethren, that the glory there is a glory in connection with the Godhead that cannot be seen by mortal eyes. And the Lord Jesus became a man, but he never left his place in the Godhead, and there is a glory about his person.
That even.
He, that one who became a man, there is a glory about his person.
That is beyond us. And that he will always be infinite and we will always be finite.
Even when we're in the glory, and I believe it's good for us to remember this because as the little hymn says about how wondrous the glories that made in Jesus and from his face shine. And then it says.
His glory. Not only God's Son in manhood, He had his full part, the glory of his person and how he was perfect. God and man we'll never be able to fully comprehend even for all eternity.
But all that can be revealed and all that can be made known of God has been an is revealed in the sun. And beyond this we must be careful not to go, because even the Lord Himself, I say reverently, has a glory and that is beyond our minds and that we'll never be able to see because he never left his place in the godhead.
Would Matthew 11 give us that subject to?
Matthew 11.
And.
The 27th verse All things are delivered unto me of my Father, And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither nor any man the Father say the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him.
That is, the sun does reveal the father, but when it's the subject of the sun.
It simply leaves the subject by saying, and no man knows the Son but the Father, so we mustn't try to go beyond.
What is revealed? The higher mysteries of Thy fame, the creatures grass transcends. He only that thy blessed name of Son can comprehend That was beautifully put in in that hymn.
And expresses it so in such a wonderful way.
One also brings up before us that what God intended was that the sun should display this because in the first chapter in the 1St 2 verses.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time fast, and the fathers by the prophets after these last days spoken unto us by his Son, who may have appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, for being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and so on. Well speak, Sarah, God speaking unto unto us, and the person of his Son not as one sent simply like the prophets.
But in himself coming down here to reveal God himself to us.
Lord always has his distinct place in the Godhead. There are narrower confused, so that bursts in the first chapter of John's Gospel.
And it says there that which was from the beginning.
Oh, I'd have to read it.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You see there, the Word was with God, shows he had a distinct personality in the Godhead.
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So it's the in the beginning was the word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Chapter 14 The sixth verse where the Lord says I am the way.
I was thinking of the testimony of the early Christians.
In Acts, when Saul went after them, he went after them as those that are known of this way or the way. The fact was that they were such a good testimony that the same thing is said about them. As the Lord says about himself, I am the way, and they were known as those of the way as well. Well, that's that's purely a lesson to us, but.
I was thinking also that the answer here goes beyond the question Thomas had asked. Where are you going and how do you get there? What's the way? Well, the Lord says I am the way, the truth and the light. And he said, no man cometh to the Father, but by me that's where he was going and that's where we are going.
There was always perfect communion between the Father and the Son. So you get in the 10th verse. Believeth thou not that I'm in the Father, and the Father in me the words that I speak unto you? I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. That's really Divinity. You couldn't speak a word of God's children.
In the same way that the Lord speaks of himself there when he speaks of believers. Farther on in the chapter he says.
At that day he shall know that I'm in the Father, and ye in me. That's the 20th verse of the chapter. That day he shall know that I'm in the Father, and he, and me, and I and you.
Well, that's our position in the sun, but the position the Lord takes of being in the Father.
Is giving us the truth of divinity that was only true of Him.
Wonderful thought when we think that God has been fully made known and the little hymn says there are no stranger, God shall meet thee. Now that is every attribute of God has been fully displayed in the sun. Do we wish to know what God is like? Trace the pathway of the Lord Jesus.
And we see in every step of his pathway.
His his words, his works, everything, revealing what the Father is. And so he could say here he that has seen me has seen the Father, and in the end of the next chapter he could tell them that if they rejected him, they rejected the Father also, because he was such a perfect display of the Father that they were rejecting the Father so fully and perfectly revealed.
Now that's why the unpardonable sin could be committed in the life of the Lord Jesus, because he so fully revealed the Father, that when they rejected him, they rejected one whose every action, whose every shall I say word, And the very tone of his voice, was all a display of the Father's heart, and was by the power of the Spirit of God. Rejecting that, they rejected a perfect testimony.
When they reject us, they don't reject the perfect testimony, a very imperfect testimony. And so the unpardonable sin was it says neither have forgiveness in this age. That is when the Lord was here or in the age to come in the millennial age when he reigns in righteousness.
Well, I mentioned this because the Lord Jesus was that perfect revelation of the Father and for us a blessed thought that when we get to glory, we'll feel perfectly at home. When we go to live with someone, we don't know all about them before, but all that can be known of God.
Has been fully displayed in the sun, and as we learn about him down here, heaven becomes more and more.
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Our home, the place where we feel fully understood and fully known. What a blessed thing for us to think of.
It seems rather strange that Philip should ask this question after the Lord had said in verse 7. If he had known me, he should have known my father also, and from henceforth you know him and have seen him, Philip sat under him. Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us all now is a sad mistake. I believe there's a challenge there to each of our hearts.
The knowledge of God is our Father. Suffice us.
Or doing crave for something different, something more?
I believe, President, a challenge there for my own heart.
So no God is my father. That should suffice me. It should be everything to me.
But is it so?
Something very beautiful about these three chapters isn't there the disciples in the upper room, and they seem to have liberty in the presence of the Lord to commune with him. And perhaps something like we have this morning here that we're.
For in his presence and the Spirit of God opening to us the precious truth, there it was the person himself. And so we find at least three of the disciples here who who ask questions. Now, they weren't perfect in their questions, as has been suggested, but at least we see a heart for Christ in it. And I believe that we're not perfect in our questions here this morning, perhaps in this site altogether. But he does see the heart. He reads the heart.
And we're still learning, each one of us the truth. And so he he graciously answers these questions, even though we might say, well, Philip, you should have understood this, but but he didn't understand. We must remember the Spirit hadn't come at this time. And later on we find that when the Lord was risen, then understood the His words. And here we find a different apostles Thomas.
And fill up. And then in verse 22, I believe Judas. And in a way, they're real intelligent questions too.
They show a desire. Now this with Philip notice granted, what's been said about it for ourselves, we should.
Lay hold of the truth that's given us, but Philip says, Lord, show us the Father and suffice with us. It seems to me it's just a little bit of the spirit of the Queen of Sheba.
She she wanted to know. She came all the way to know. And you know, brethren, if there isn't a real burning desire for the truth in our souls, why there's not much evidence of reality with us. There should be always a burning desire for the truth of God. Otherwise, we're asleep.
I was thinking in connection with where the Lord says in the 11Th verse, Believe me that I am.
In the Father and Father and me, or else believe me for the very work's sake.
For before that he said that the Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works. The an illustration of what is said there is the resurrection of Lazarus, which was just one of the many works, the Father in which the Father is seen.
The Lord loved Mary and Lazarus and Martha.
Well, the father loved.
That family too there were sisters and that brother. And when the Lord reached the grave of Lazarus.
How he He speaks to the Father. He waited for the Father's time, you remember, because when they sent the message, Lord, he who thou lovest is sick. The Lord remained for two days where he was. He didn't go until he had a word from the Father. And then Lazarus was dead. And when the Lord stands there at the grave, that's where they drove the stone back.
He said, Father, I know that thou hearest me always, but for the sake of those that are here, I said it well, how perfect communion between the Father and the Son, about this greatest of all the miracles. Doubtless that the Lord performed here, raising a man who had lain in the grave for four days, so that Martha says, by this time you stink it, and there in perfect communion, he didn't have to address the Father.
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Like Peter had to get down and pray for darkest to be raised. He didn't have to pray the Father for that, but for the sake of those that are here, so that they might realize and there have the proof that he was in full communion with the heart of God the Father.
About the sorrow of those sisters being bereaved of their much loved brother in full communion with a father. So we can see the Father which is in me, he doeth the works. There was that full communion between the Father and the Son. About this marvelous miracle of raising Lazarus. So it is with all the works of Jesus they were all a display of.
The Father, the Father's love, and the Father's concern for his children down here. For God is a father and He has children. He loves them. And the Lord displayed that love of a Father's heart for his children in this scene.
Of our hearts to unbelief. So He gave them not only His word, but He also gave them the works. And I think this is so lovely. Through the scripture how the Lord would seek to remove those doubts which are so natural to our hearts. In Speaking of the assurance to a believer that says these things, Have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that she may know that she have eternal life when He's assuring us we know that all things work together for good?
He doesn't stop there. He goes on and shows us how that we were chosen before and that God had a purpose and is working out that purpose that we might be conformed to the image of His Son. And then I was thinking of the 6th chapter of Hebrews, and the 17th verse says, we're in God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.
We might have a strong Consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus.
High priest, forever after the order of Melchizedek, that is God could have just given us His word. How could we doubt when it's the word of God? But he said in order that in order that he might willing more abundantly to show under the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, he gives his word, and then he gives his own, And then he says, And the one who has accomplished all these purposes is up there at the right hand of God.
How lovely it is to see a God knowing, as I say, the tendency to unbelief in our hearts would give us everything that his love could give, to give assurance to our souls. For he doesn't want us to be in doubt. He doesn't want the Sinner to doubt that his welcome. He doesn't want us when we receive Christ to doubt, not eternal salvation. He doesn't want us to doubt about why the trials and difficulties come. He doesn't want us to have any doubt about the glorious future.
And he's done everything I say that could possibly be done to give us the assurances that our souls need.
To go on in a world full of unbelief.
That seems perhaps to be the significance of the expression. Verily, verily, I say unto you, every word of God can be perfectly relied upon. But when I read those words, verily, verily, it just seems so, so touching, so marvelous, I must admit. I think I needed them, and they meant so much to me. I may have mentioned that one time, as we were driving along, there had been a very violent rainstorm.
And very shortly after the sun came out and I said, I think we're going to see a rainbow. And presently the rainbow formed in the sky. And it became so colorful and brilliant. And I said, I think we're going to see the second rainbow, which I know most folks here have noticed. And sure enough, presently the second rainbow formed that there were two rainbows in the sky. And I thought of the promise in Genesis, I do set my bow in the cloud.
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Never promised to give us two of them, He did promise to give one as a sign of his.
Promise. But to look up and see two rainbows in the sky, it made me think of my favorite first John 524. Verily, verily, as though God would say I know what your doubting heart is like. So I'm going to give confirmation of my word and I'm going to double it. Verily, verily, I don't know how we could doubt that. Well, the verily, verily of the verse that you're quoting from the 12Th verse.
I say unto you, He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, Because I go unto my Father, Seems to me the important plot in that verse is because I go into my Father. The Lord's presence in glory with the Father has the result of the same works that we see in his life.
Now.
Those works in the in the ministry of his disciples. An even greater works because I go to my father. That is, I take it that it's more wonderful that those works should have been performed after the Son of God had gone back and left poor, failing, weak disciples to carry on the work. It must have been an immense encouragement to their hearts to think well now the Lord's going and all the works that we've seen.
There will be no one to carry on these works. So no, the Lord says you're going to do those works on even greater works because I'm up there with my father.
In a complete.
Supervision of everything going on below.
Of course, we know that much of this was literally fulfilled because Peter walking down the street to even his shadow cured all that came within the reach of his shadow. We don't read of a miracle like that in the Lords Ministry, do we?
3000 saved in one day.
Greater America.
During the Lord's life we do not find that, but only individuals came for 3000 in one day.
Never been equal then?
Was it not greater because it was his name and not him?
I say was it not greater work because it was done in his name and not it? Wasn't it the Lord doing it himself?
Spirit of God at the Pentecost, wasn't it?
I suppose we have the two things here asking in His name, and then we get the promise of the Holy Spirit coming, and these are the things that would make for these great works being greater.
How do you understand that, Brother Anderson whatsoever?
Whatsoever he shall ask in my name, that will I do.
Well I understand that something like this that.
When you're Speaking of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or asking anything in his name or doing anything in his name, it's that which is according to himself, that which is pleasing to him.
For instance, if like it says there, if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Well, that's not a blanket statement. There's a guard in there. It's what's asked in his name, that which is According to him what he is in himself, according to his nature, what pleases him. I just can't ask for anything that I want and expect to get it. But if it's according to his pleasure and will I I'll get it, for instance.
I think his brother Brown that gave an illustration like this.
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And I'll I'll use his his name in connection with it.
Someone might go to the store.
And he might say to the storekeeper, I want to get a box of cigars in the name of Chapter Brown and carrying a note along with it, Well, it's a forged note, of course, but the storekeeper says no, I can't. I can't give you that box of cigars because I know Chapter Brown and he would never send a note wanting to buy.
A box of cigars. So even though he came in that name and said said it in so many words, it was sort of a formality. Yet he didn't get it because it wasn't according to the life of Brother Brown, that he didn't smoke cigars. He didn't want those things.
Well, perhaps it's something like that in connection with the Lord. We ask in His name. But we better be careful that we're in tune with the Lord so we know what his mind is and we may make a mistake and say it formally in his name. And then the Lord says, no, I can't give it to you because it's not according to that name. It's not pleasing to the Lord, it's not according to his nature. Would that be? That's very good, brother. You remember what Brother Brown also said that?
Sometimes the Lord says when we ask for certain things, yes. Sometimes he says no. Sometimes he says wait a while.
Big Brother Barry to connect the 15th chapter, the seventh verse of that.
He abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
Yeah, that's very helpful, Brother Felton.
I think the remainder of that 13th verse two gives the answer, doesn't it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son? The answer must be such it would be for his glory. And if it's not for his glory, then we ask to miss as it says in James He asked and he asked amiss. And so there are times that we don't just know exactly what is according to the mind of God, says in the 8th chapter of Romans, we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God. So even though it may not be intentionally that we are wanting it for our own lusts, nevertheless the one who searches our hearts knows exactly what is right and best, and that's why we should always in prayer say.
If it be thy will, because to be absolutely sure that we have his mind, we would to be, we would have to be absolutely sure that we were in communion and sometimes.
We don't realize that we're not in communion, Paul said. I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? Job looked over his own life, and said that his heart wouldn't reproach him as long as he lived. But Elihu said to him, surely it is meat to be said unto God, that which I see not teach thou made, and brethren were often not aware of things in our hearts.
That are not according to the mind and will of God, but the one who searches our hearts is well aware of those things, and he makes intercession for us, and he makes intercession according to the will of God. So the answer will always be such as will be glorified, glorifying to the sun. That the Father may be glorified in the sun. I might also add too, for I think it might be important that confidence in prayer is the result of obedience and communion.
But the answers to prayer are according to God's own heart tells us in John's epistle. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. We know that they were gathered together in the 12Th of John and praying for the release of Peter. They certainly weren't expecting the answer, because when Peter stood before the gate, they were surprised and wouldn't believe it. Yet God answered the prayer. Why?
Well, because the answers according to his own heart. And he knew that it was good that Peter should be released and be of service to his people. And so he answered according to his own heart. But they didn't have the confidence. And I believe often when we're not near enough to the Lord, he still answers our prayer because He's greater than our heart and knows all things. But sometimes he allows us to be so in communion with himself now that he gives us to know that he is going to answer the prayer.
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And that is a secret between ourselves and the Lord. It isn't something that we boast about. It says hast thou faith have it to thyself before God? Well, I just mentioned this. I also mentioned a little comment that has always been helpful to me in connection with prayer.
By Mr. Darby, he said prayer is based on the privilege of having common interests with God. I think this is lovely Now that is God. Your Father knows what things you have need of before he asked him. But he brings our souls into communion with him, lays upon our hearts those requests that are pleasing to him, and gives us the joy of knowing that we are in fellowship with him. Perhaps a little illustration will just bring this out.
Supposing that.
I think of some gift that I would like to give to a friend. And then one day the friend says, you know what I would really like? And he mentions the very thing that I wanted to give him. Oh, isn't that nice? The very thing that I wanted to give him is the thing that he really is requesting. Our hearts are now in fellowship. We find the mutual joy and our father knows what things we have need of and he delights to bring our hearts. So in the fellowship with him that we ask for the things that are his delight to give.
And then the Father is glorified in the Son.
Think about partying.
We have another warning, I believe in Psalm 66 in connection with David.
Psalm 66 and verse 18 He says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
It appears that David then was at a communion in Psalm 32, he says in verse 3, when I kept silence.
You haven't apparently had not judged himself, or judged the sin. My bones waxed all through my roaring, all the day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into drought of summer. Now he says, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity. Of I not his, I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin.
Lenin Jones, Epistle Chapter 5.
Verse 14.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hear thus? And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired off Him.
Well, the fiery God iniquity in my heart. How can I expect the Lord to answer my prayer until I've exercised self judgment?
Could we have a word or tell on the 16th chapter of John, the 23rd and 24th verses?
In this connection.
Well, I believe myself that it has to be taken in connection with the other verses that have been pointed out, the 15th chapter of John and the seventh verse that was mentioned or the one that our brother just mentioned in the Psalms.
The thought that is being brought before us in the 16th chapter is the privilege.
That we now have to go right into the presence of God as our Father, and that our Father delights to grant those things that are pleasing to him according to his will.
They hadn't yet gone to the Father. When they were in difficulty, they came and spoke right to the Lord Jesus. When John the Baptist was slain, it tells us that they came and told Jesus when they served him. They went to him and told him what they had done and what they had taught. They talked directly to the Lord Jesus. Now he was going away and he is telling them that they can talk to the one whom he had revealed the Father directly.
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Make their requests known to him. And I believe, as I say, though, it needs to be qualified by these other verses that chill now that it supposes that we ask those things that are pleasing, that are in communion with His thoughts, and if so, he will grant them, because it's that the Father might be glorified in the Son.
In the 100 and the 6th song we have something that might be a good warning in connection with insisting on something that we may wish to have, that may not be the Lords mind for us to have it some 106 and 15 and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls would not bear on this subject.
Rachel said. Give me children, or else I die.
Well, she did die. The Lord gave her children, and she did die.
So she asked for something which was not according to the mind of the Lord. Well, to go on with our capture in the 15th verse, if he loved me, keep my commandments.
Now the Lord demanded that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength. But it only proved that men was powerless. Carry out what God required of him. But here we see, the Lord says, And I will pray the Father instead of some some warning of judgment if they fail, like the law.
Condemn those who for every act of disobedience, it says, And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another.
May abide with you forever, That is we. The Lord requests and tells how.
The the way that we can.
Can please him, if he loved me, keep my commandments and then He gives the Holy Spirit to dwell in the believers so that we can.
Keep what he has requested of us and what a test that is beloved to our hearts. If he loved me. Ah, we're sure of this, that one couldn't be a child of God without loving the Savior. But there is a love of the love of complacency that the Lord delights in to do His will. That's what is especially in view here, isn't it?
And that is the fruit of keeping his commandments.
Of course, as we all know, does not refer to the 10 commandments of those commandments were given to man, God's requirements for man in the flesh. But now, where love is active, everything that he desires us to do has the power of a command. What is characteristic of the new life is that we are children.
That is, we're not, as our brother brought before us in the young people's not to do our own will. We have been brought now and to knowing the blessedness of the will of another.
And so, how lovely. Everything that He wants us to do now is to have the power of a command, for that's what has happened when we own him as Lord. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, we own His authority over us. But it's the law of liberty, because one is often remarked that God our Father, will never ask us to do anything that the new life He has given us does not delight in doing.
And saw the new life that we have is one of delights in doing what his word reveals as the mind of God to us. Someone said that if it had been possible to take away the Lords liberty, it would have been to take away his ability to do his father's will, because that was liberty to him. And so he spoke of what his father gave him to do is he kept up my I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, but it was liberty.
But the 10 commandments to man in the flesh are spoken of as a yoke of ******* which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. I mentioned this because there are those who think that after we are saved that we are placed under the law. But that isn't the thought at all. After we are saved, we have a life that is characterized by obedience and all it is the revealed mind of God, for us then becomes the delight of our hearts, the proof of our love.
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The wonderful thing to have the Spirit of God indwelling, but in these three chapters he's spoken of as the Spirit of truth.
So that we must be conscious continually that the Spirit of God not only shows us things to come as in the 16th chapter, but He's the spirit of truth that reminds us of that which is in keeping with that new life.
Because the tendency of our hearts is to is to be taken up with what's around us, and we need the spirit of truth.
The truth itself is presenting to us Christ and is this way that we see how inconsistent we are at times because that perfect life was down here, manifested to us, and the Spirit of Truth keeps us reminded of that life as we read the Scriptures.
Particularly the Gospels.
Is it correct to say that the word comforter is the same word?
You get in in first. John 230, Man sin. We have an advocate with the Father. Is that correct? It's the same word. I believe it is. And of course, the thought of an advocate is one that takes up our cause. Well, when the Lord was here, He took up the cause of His disciples, and what a comfort and encouragement He was to them. Well, now He's not here. But the Holy Spirit has come, and He takes up our cause.
And He encourages us. He comforts us because he occupies us with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he brings us the truth before us that can feed our souls and and give us a real ground for standing.
For the one who was the Comforter to them while he is here, was here upon earth, has gone up there, and he's the Comforter or the Advocate or the patron for us up there at the Father's right hand now. But he's given us another Comforter down here. Now that is the Holy Spirit of God. And so it says the Spirit of Truth. Because whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. That is, the world doesn't really want the truth.
Because they live in a lie. They don't know themselves and they don't know the heart of God. And Satans. Great attempt is to keep man from the true knowledge of God and from the real knowledge of himself. If he gets into the presence of God, he finds out what he is in himself. He finds out what God is. That's why repentance toward God is a change of mind toward God. Repentance means the simple meaning of the word is a change of mind.
And the natural man has wrong thoughts about himself, and he has wrong thoughts about God. He thinks he's pretty good and he condemns God for anything that he can't understand. But all how different. When we get into his presence, it's ourselves we condemn. It's altogether change. We get new thoughts, we get repentance, we get a change of mind. And we say, like Job, I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes, but we justify God.
We see on his love and His wisdom. We see all that He has done for us What a marvelous thing. Repentance is a change of mind. And so the world doesn't receive the spirit of truth. It testifies of it that the works are ever evil. It reveals God and man and his sin likes to hide from God.
About how wonderful that we delight to know the truth about ourselves, because knowing all about ourselves, we find out that God has made full provision through the work of Calvary.
That he's made full provision even when we fail as believers. He hides nothing of what we are and loves us in spite of it. How marvelous.
Then he says, and he shall abide with you forever. The Lord was going away, but the Holy Spirit would never leave them there will he leave them until the Lord comes and gives a shout in the air. And then the Spirit goes with the bride. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. So the Spirit and the bride are caught up together.
And this present time in which we're living is specially characterized and distinguished by the presence of God the Holy Spirit down here. It's a very wonderful time. We couldn't have lived in a more wonderful time than the present time when the Spirit of God, for the Spirit is just as truly divine and one of the Godheads as the Sun or the Father.
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And God the Holy Spirit is here.
In this scene and he is dwelling in believers, and as the Lord says here, he.
For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. That is, he dwells in the each believer, and he dwells in the assembly collectively.
Because when he said this, was he not, I'm sure he was brother. And isn't this one of the one of the sure sureties that we have of eternal security that the Spirit of God who now dwells in US will abide with us forever? And once you have received Christ as your Savior in the in the the first chapter of Ephesians, I think the 13 first.
Having believed your seal with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Here we have the truth that he abides with us forever. We're secure forever.
There are some of those who believe in the insecurity of the believer. That what David said in the 51St Psalm, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, indicates that the Holy Spirit could be taken away, But I believe the right translation is there. Take not thy Spirit of holiness from me. No, when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in his heart, he comes to stay.
Forever.
Course, in David's time the Spirit of God was not indwelling believers. So as you remark, it was the Spirit of His Holiness. Because after failure there is always a tendency with us to look lightly upon sin, and I think that's a very lovely expression and very heart searching. That is when we are restored. It's not to look lightly upon the sin, but to have still a spirit of God's holiness. That is the sense of what the sin is before God.
So that we abhor it. I was thinking too some something that's very lovely. I think in this expression he shall abide with you forever. We sing in a little hymn sometimes about heaven by the Spirit, all pervading hosts, unnumbered round the Lamb. Because down here much of the energy of the Spirit of God is to help two things that will not bother us when we get to glory. The Spirit helps our infirmity, and then it tells us in Galatians.
The Spirit lusted against the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. So the energy of the Spirit of God Now much of it is to help our infirmities. Much of it is to help us to keep the flesh in check, Keep it in the place where God has put it. When we get home to glory, we won't have any infirmities, we won't have any old nature. So the Spirit of God will be unhindered forever.
To take of the precious things of Christ and show them to us. To reveal to us all those things that we only know in part here. For it says we know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is common, and that which is in part shall be done away, is it a blessed thing? To think the same blessed Spirit who is seeking now to occupy us with Christ is going to carry on that work forever only about without hindrance? What a, what a blessing thing to know.
Now he often finds these hindrances in us, but he's waiting for the time he's groaning because he's waiting for the time when he'll do like the servant who brought the bride back and presented her to Isaac. And he will be presented to and what joy there will be where the Spirit can occupy us forever with Christ.
172.
45.
John 14:17-21
Reading
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General meetings.
Montreal, October 1975, Third reading meeting.
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How far did we get in John 14?
John Gospel.
Doctor 14 verse 17.
Even the spirit of truth over the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.
Get a little while in the world, see if me no more. But you see me because I live, ye shall live also.
That that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye and me, and I and you.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them he it is that loveth me, neither loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Jurists are done to him, not his carrier.
Lord, how is it the Thou would manifest thyself under us and not under the world?
If a man loved me, he would keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
He's in love with me, not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which he hear is not mine, but the fathers resent me.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.
Whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world give us give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, come again unto you.
If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I'd go into the Father, for my Father is greater than I.
Now I have told you before counterparts that when it is come to pass, we might believe.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh and has nothing in me.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do. Arise, let us go ahead.
We're seeing in the earlier verses where the Lord says I am the way, the truth and the life.
Now here the Spirit is spoken of as the Spirit of truth.
I judge that is because the Spirit is here to exalt and to manifest the Son who is himself the truth.
Three times in these three chapters, isn't it?
And then special way.
In this chapter later on we'll notice that.
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It's connected with is going away.
Whereas in the next chapter it's connected more with the thought of the testimony and the bearing of fruit, in the last chapter of the 16th chapter it's more connected with the fact that.
Their hopes as far as the world are gone, and they.
May face martyrdom, which they all did, perhaps except one. And so he showed them things to come.
So all three of these are very profitable for us to meditate on. We may not be called upon to go through martyrdom, but.
Someone has said, you know, it's sometimes harder to live.
Than to die for Christ.
And so we're living in a day when there are special things that would turn us aside in the path of faith, and we need all three of these.
Shall I say exhortations, because in a way they are the spirit of truth is the spirit that reaches the conscience as well as the heart.
Here we have the Holy Spirit being given by the Father.
And in that connection, he has no link with the world.
Where we get a similar line of things brought before us in in the Epistle of John. And there we have that.
That which is of the world is not of the Father and 1St John.
Chapter 2.
Verse 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves 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.
So.
The Father has no length, no connection with the world. There's no relationship there all, and that system is going to pass away. But the family of the Father is going to remain. And here we have the Holy Spirit spoken of that the world cannot receive him. It doesn't see him, doesn't know him, But then it speaks of the ye, the children of the Father.
They know not only the Father, but they know too the present indwelling of the Holy Spirit and their conscious that God is their Father because they've been given the Holy Spirit, although at this point in which the Lord is speaking, the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet. But do we find that in John's Gospel many things are spoken of by way of anticipation, and it's a wonderful thing to have the minister of the Lord himself?
In these things. And then we get the ministry of the apostle Paul when it actually takes place.
Let's just say that the Lord was preparing His disciples here for the coming of the Spirit. And would you say that He's preparing our hearts now for that happy day when we'll be in His presence?
We hear a great deal today too about the activity of the spirit of God. Now we need to test it whether it's according to truth, because the Spirit of God will never lead contrary to the word of God. And so we find constantly the test applied because there are evil spirits. And in John's epistle it speaks of the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Now that is, there is a power behind error. The enemy is seeking to attack the truth of God.
And thank God, there is a power behind the truth, there is the Spirit of truth. And the Spirit of God would lead our souls through the Word of God into the truth that which God would teach us concerning His mind, and above all to glorify His Son.
I remember one time that Fredericton, that one of the general meetings, it was a preacher there that said he could talk in tongues. I read to him in First Corinthians 14, where they were told that if there was no one there to interpret, they were to be in silence. I said, would you talk in tongues if there was no one to interpret for you?
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He thought a minute, and he said, if the Spirit moved me, I would. Well, that would make the Spirit of God contrary to the word of God, so it would not be the Spirit of truth, would it? And I think of another case I was talking to.
There's a cousin of mine that he said that one company.
That made us Christians to remember the Lord so-called, rather that they were all equally gathered to the Lords name and had the large presence in the midst. I said, suppose here's two meetings. Well, you know that in Oak Park there are two meeting rooms that look very much alike, not more than a block apart. I said with the Spirit of God leads some of the children of God to this place.
And some of the children of God to this other place.
He had no answer. Well, I said, if he did, why then he would contradict his own words. For when the subject of division is spoken of in First Corinthians 1, the apostle says, is Christ divided?
According to that, Christ is divided. If we accepted the teaching that he was holding, well, he had no answer at all. I was having some gospel meetings in a place in Kansas. It was in a school house.
There were a few that came in and then I saw a couple and his wife come in and they sat down the back.
And after the meeting that night, I went back and spoke to this couple.
And we got to speaking about the truth and the truth of the church. And I found out that both this man and his wife, they sort of took charge of the church so-called that they were connected with and they would be called the ministers of that congregation.
And in conversation with them, I found out that she would get up and preach as well as he.
And so I asked them, well, what do you do about First Corinthians chapter 14, where it says that the the sisters, the women are to keep silence in the assembly? All but she said, when the spirit comes on me, I have to get up and say something.
Well, I said. Would the Spirit of God who indicted this portion of Scripture leads you contrary to what is written down here? Well, the end of the conversation.
Solomon to think that people are not subject to the word of God, and will allow some other spirit to leave them contrary to the leading and the truth of the Spirit of God that has been indicted by the Holy Spirit.
We had a woman coming on Bible reading one night and she sat next to Brother Walker.
And the meeting hadn't started longer before she stopped above him. So he read that scripture too, and she got up on temperament when as quickly as she could.
Pardon.
Who is that?
I can't hear you at the back, I said. We had a woman coming on Bible reading one night.
And soon she sat next to Brother Warner. And soon after the meeting began, she started butting in and giving her thoughts and opinions. And Brother Walker read the scripture Brother Anderson just quoted that your women keep silence in the churches. And she looked at them so angrily and Garvin went out.
I'll have nothing more to do with you.
Well, that was the mercy.
The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophecy.
Well, here it says where he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Purpose this.
I believe from Saturday.
And I believe the thought was that this anticipates Pentecost. That is the when the Spirit of God came down as he did.
Has a rushing mighty wind that he sat up for the clothing tongues as a fire sat upon each of them.
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And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. It was an individual entrance of the Holy Spirit. And then he filled all the house so that there was a collective.
Manifestation of his presence.
And there was only one Pentecost.
For when the Spirit of God came, as we have already read that he abideth with you forever, so the Spirit wasn't lacked the blessed Lord who came and who returned to the Father. The Spirit remains until the Lord comes in the air, and then the Spirit will return with him.
I think as well if we notice again the passage in First Corinthians 2 That was brought before us on Saturday.
It has been well said that the time will come and.
May be here already when?
Many will think that.
The activity.
Of the false spirit is the activity of the Spirit of God.
And so we have the guard in this second chapter of First Corinthians in the 12Th verse now we have received.
Not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God first.
We've received, that is that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Now that's divine intelligence for the believer.
Then in the 13th verse which things also we speak?
Not in the words which man's wisdom teaches.
But which the Holy Ghost Teacher?
Comparing spiritual things with spiritual or discerning things by spiritual means is that not the thought.
So that we have received and we also communicate by the Spirit. Otherwise it isn't the work of the Spirit. Now this was particularly needed in Corinth because of the danger there of the natural.
Mind the human intelligence.
Going ahead of Scripture, going ahead of the mind of God. So the apostle wouldn't even.
Go further with them, and that's the first part than the cross of Christ. Later on he speaks further of things, but he wanted them to realize that everything depended upon the work of the Spirit of God and the control of the Spirit of God. Now if we're to be aware of the evils around us and which are coming in fast.
We we must realize that it's only.
And the measure in which our hearts are taken up with the truth of God independence that we will be kept.
Dependence upon God. And so we have received by the Spirit, we communicate by the Spirit, and we discern by the Spirit, not by natural intelligence.
I don't know that I rightly understand the end of this 17th verse. He dwelleth with you, seems present tense, and shall be in you.
Does this entirely refer to that which was yet to take place at the time of Pentecost, in its anticipating that it says he dwelleth with you, or does it have any reference to the presence of the Lord himself?
Be with them at that time. I'm just asking in the way of a real question.
Well, certainly every activity of the Lord Jesus was by the Spirit of God and so.
When they spoke about his casting out devils by the Beelzebub, he said, If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, that is, he was himself perfectly led by the Spirit in everything that he did. He was the one who was as the meat offering, not only anointed with oil, as at the day of as that is baptism, when the Spirit came upon him like a dog, but mingled with oil.
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That is every action, every thought, everything it is blessed pathway here was by the energy of the Spirit of God, and saw that they could see in him that perfect display of one who was led by the Spirit. It's not always so with us.
We are indwelled by the Spirit, but we are certainly not always filled with the Spirit. So we are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit. And I have thought myself that in this verse what the Lord was saying, that he dwelleth with you, that they have seen and watched His blessed pathway, one who was ever led by the Spirit of God and energized by the Spirit of God and everything. And then he was going to come to indwell them.
This on the day of Pentecost, Saw that now.
It tells us ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And then too there's a verse in the third of John that says He whom God hath sent speaketh the word of God. For God giveth not His Spirit by measure. In our translation the 2 words unto Him are added, but in reality it's just God giveth not His spirit. By measure He saw that the precious Savior.
He was energized by the Spirit of God. We have received the same power, but the hindrance in US is the flesh, which often hinders that manifestation of the Spirit. But we have within us the same blessed Spirit of God, who was in our precious Savior in His pathway, here only perfect, unhindered by anything, so that He could say I do always those things which please Him.
I believe it's very important for.
Newborn babes in Christ, those who have just received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, to be aware that when they are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in their heart. And that He is a divine person. Not just an influence or simply a power, but he is a person. A person as much as the Lord Jesus Christ and as God Himself. And you remember that when?
Ananias and Sapphira, they sinned against God. Well, Peter says you've lied unto God, but it was actually the Holy Spirit they had sinned against. And so the Spirit of God is looked at in Scripture as a third person of the Godhead and Brethren.
I'm afraid we don't realize very much what it really is to have that divine person dwelling in our hearts.
Oh, if we were in the consciousness of this morning the good of it more, I'm sure it would have a deep effect in our lives, for good and for holiness and respect for the Lord and His truth.
I would like to ask a little further about the end of the 17th verse. He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I had had this thought from myself that the width is a collective in the assembly presence of the Spirit of God, and in you the personal individual indwelling of the Spirit. I'd like some help on that.
That's what our brother Barry was speaking about, and it's certainly true. And I believe it's very important that we should realize that the spirit of God dwells in the house as well as in the individual bodies of believers. And in Acts 2, as it was remarked, he filled the house where they were sitting. He also sat upon each of them. And if you turn to 1St Corinthians 3, we see the difference between.
His dwelling.
Individually and collectively, when we compare 1St Corinthians 3 and 1 Corinthians 6.
1St Corinthians 6 we read yesterday, says, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you. That is an individual thing. Our personal body as believers is the place where the Spirit of God dwells. But in First Corinthians 3.
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It's the collective thing that is brought before us, similar to what we have in Ephesians 2, where it tells us we are builded together for inhabitation of God by the spirit. Now notice this in First Corinthians 3.
Here he says in the ninth verse, We are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, Ye are God's building according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another build it thereon.
Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon for other foundation Can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if a man built, any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, would 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.
Any man's work abide which he have built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire, knowing he not the T are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Now here he's not talking about the Spirit of God indwelling the body of a real believer. If that were so, it would mean that a person could be saved and lost because he says in the 16th verse the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. And then he says in the 17th verse, if any man the final, the temple of God, him shall God destroy. So we can see here it's the collective thing that he's speaking about in some places in Scripture.
Building is looked upon as being composed of all living stones, and as living stones it is the work of God the Lord. Jesus said I will build my church, and as we have in first Peter chapter two, we have living. He also has living. Stones are built up a spiritual house, and that is where God is the builder and all who are built by him are living stones, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
But as you read this scripture, you see that man is taking part in the building, and he doesn't just build in living stones. He builds in wood, hay and stubble. He brings in that which is going to be manifested in the fire and burned up. And so there are three classes of workmen brought before us here. There's a saved Workman with good work, and his work abides. There's a saved Workman with poor work, and he himself is saved.
But his work is destroyed because it was not of God. And then there's a man who defiles the temple of God. Where did have such a man as Pastor Russell bring his evil teaching? He didn't bring it into a heathen land. He brought it into the professing House of Christendom. He brought in under the name of Christianity, into the very place where the spirit of God dwells teaching that attack the deity of Christ.
He defiled the temple of God. Well, he's going to come under the judgment of God because it was much more serious for him to bring it in where the Spirit of truth is and bring in and associate with that which the the Church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth and to associate it with, with an error. And I think this is a very solemn thing and it's a very important thing for us to see that the Church is responsible to hold the deposit of truth committed to it.
But when man takes the place as a builder, he often brings in where the spirit of God dwells, of that which is evil, and the manifestation is going to bring this out. And so the Lord spoke about the tares and the wheat growing together to the harvest.
Now that doesn't mean that as gathered to the Lord's name, we are not we are responsible to be separate from evil. But here brings in another point that I think we should understand that where the house is looked upon as a great house in Second Timothy chapter 2, the one who would be faithful is not told to go out of the house. He would have to renounce Christianity to go out of the house. But he separates from the vessels to dishonor in the house.
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He doesn't leave the house, that's where the spirit dwells, but he separates from the vessels to dishonor.
And as gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. And we seek to be a testimony in Christendom to the truth, and we are responsible to hold it. We are responsible to recognize the presence of the Spirit of God and give him the place now that is due to him. Recognize that he is the Spirit of truth, Recognize that liberty that is according to truth. And this is all in the house which has now become a great house.
So as I say, I believe if we look at First Corinthians 3 as what is going on in the Great House and 1St Corinthians 6 as the individual indwelling of the Spirit of God in our bodies, we see those two aspects of the truth brought before us, I believe.
I just like to give a warning as to bringing in wood, hay and stubble in Christendom. It has been absolutely disastrous.
Pastor of a church and near Woodbridge, NJ, came into the meeting one night and we had a talk with him, he said. He didn't. He didn't have any place to go Sunday night. He was a pastor of a Methodist Church.
And he said the preachers are to blame for the condition. He said they have filled these churches with unconverted people and now they won't have the gospel. Well, that's a characteristic condition of the so-called churches. Many of them sound and fundamental, but in their anxiety to get numbers, they got confessions that were not real and they were received and baptized and.
Given membership and after a while it just becomes a system.
Of unconverted people? Well, brethren, we're in danger of falling into the same ways that we see in Christendom and in having gospel meetings. The anxiety to see some result will lead to getting confessions of times that are not real. Now, I say this. Not that I'm condemning others, I've done it myself to.
And realize the seriousness of getting.
Confessions that are not real and we can easily fall into that same condition and get our poor little meetings.
With many mere professors among us, and its weakness and a danger that we should be warned against, I know the most useful brethren that I remember as a child, Brother close and Brother Hart.
They would preach the most powerful gospel among a class of people who had heard very little gospel before.
But they never would try to press people to make a confession. They left it with the Lord and often walked out to rather disappointment of some that they didn't try to get.
Converts, but they saw the danger.
Uh, pressing people for a confession. Our newer brother that just got all kinds of confessions and they were not real and it was just, especially among children, because you can talk children into making the confession very easily. And where there's a desire to see some results, you can get hold of children and get confessions from them, and it only weakens the testimony. Leave the testimony, leave the result.
Of the preaching of the gospel with the Lord and the life is real, the Lord will work it out and sometimes we can even get a confession. Maybe one is saved, but you have only hindered the work of the Spirit of God that is exercising that soul, And that repentance the soul is going through is very important and to get a confession before.
There has been a deep and real work of repents.
You've only given relief to a soul and hindered his growth so that maybe he'll be a weakling all his life. Now, I didn't want to carry that any further, but since it's coming up about wood, hay and stubble, let's be careful, brother, for we can weaken our testimony just as we see so much weakness all over Christendom.
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By Mike, nor by Power.
But by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. They needed that word.
In the Old Testament days. And it's Zechariah that gives that word to those at Jerusalem, the little remnant that had come back from captivity.
And they needed that word to make them realize that in their weakness they were not able to do anything but that they must trust God by his Spirit.
To energize them and to guide them and help them that they might rebuild the city of Jerusalem and build the walls not by Mike, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. God hasn't left us without instruction and His word about this. I think it's very important.
The all of the book of Acts is telling us how the work was done in the early days when God established the testimony. And you won't find one single instance in the whole of the Acts where anyone was pressed to a confession, but you find thousands that were saved. The Spirit of God was working and it was a real work. But when human pressure is brought on, it only spoils what God is doing. And I believe it's very, very helpful for us to read.
And see the divine pattern for the way God would have his work to be done.
Brother who are zealous for the work of the Lord, and it's good to see that they want to give out the Gospel, give out tracts, preach the gospel in the open air, and so forth. But I would advise you to read the book of the Acts. The Lord gave me a lot of help in the Congress. Just a young man over there trying to do the work of the Lord. But reading the book of the Acts was a big help to me. So read it, reread it. The Lord gives instruction through His word.
Brother, what's my?
Question or two in two parts.
Is it not sold as corrected by wrong, that the President of Christ as a state from the presence of spirit? The one is selective and the other is individual? Am I correct in that?
I believe we could say the presence of the Lord is collective, and the presence of the Spirit is collective also in the sense that we were Speaking of now, that is, he filled the house. We are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. But I I will say, well, perhaps there's a misunderstanding about this that I believe when it says in Matthew 18 and 20, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
It speaks of the Lord's authority and approval of that which is according to his mind, so that if we were to use the name of the Prime Minister of Canada to associate it with something without his authority, we would be wrong.
We would need his authority to properly use his name, and so it must be that which God owns to be properly and scripturally gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But his presence is there collectively, but the Spirit of God dwells in the house.
And so that those who are in the systems, those who are in all that is organized about us, are responsible because they do not recognize the presence of the Spirit of God on earth as a divine person. And so I wouldn't say, and I don't believe it's scriptural to say, that only those who are gathered according to the word have the presence of the Spirit of God. That would be denying his presence in the house. I would say that when we are scripturally gathered, we seek to give the Spirit of God his right place.
And to acknowledge his presence, but not to say that his presence is only there. But I believe Matthew 18 and 20 has to do with that which is according to truth gathered by the Spirit to a person. And I believe it's a very searching question for each of us. Are we seeking to be gathered according to the truth of God, where the Spirit of God is gathering to Christ?
00:45:11
I believe we have a principle Psalm 144.
In connection with wood, hay and stubble, some 144.
Twice we find the sound of saying deliver me from strange children, from strange children and further down, he says.
Repeat this in verse 11. Read me and deliver me from the hand of strange children whose mouth treat vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of falsehood. Now he says that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of the palace, that our garlands may be full, affording all manner store.
That our sheep may bring forth thousands and 10 thousands in our streets.
That our oxen may be strong to labor and this is important that there be no breaking in.
And nor going out.
Solemn thing it is to find that there are those who have been received in the assemblies and caused no end of trouble. I knew the brother in England who was received into a meeting. He came from the Raven Company. The Brethren were warned not to receive him, but they kept him waiting a while, then received him, and he was one of the strange children. He brought in the Raven Doctrine right away and he had to be put away. But here it says no going out.
What a solemn thing to go about. We have been received. It is the work of the Spirit of God. We should remain where He has placed us and serves a warning here, no bringing in and nor nor going, no going out.
The second part of my question I was bringing up was the fact that I cannot speak from my brother, I can only speak for myself.
I haven't been confirmed in the Church of England.
I realized that the Lord was not in the midst. I left it.
Now if I was to step back into that system.
I might have Spirit of God. I was moved to get off and speak.
I would be told to sit down because where the spirit of the Lord there is liberty and I think myself and myself, that I can always speak my own feelings.
That I came into this assembly department and felt the Lord's in the faith, and I cannot believe that.
He would be in any other system of man. Am I right? Am I wrong? Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and I am not permitted to get up and speak in that congregation. In my village where the ministers that God leads or in prison, he will have last to sit down and recall my brother hail going to hail save that Mister darling with lead.
Church Think about because he couldn't ask the apostle Paul was speaking in churches because he was not ordained of man.
The end of the third chapter.
For the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Does it not have to do with the?
New order of things that has been brought in, that the old order was under the law, but now we have that which is brought in, which is more glorious.
It's in the eighth verse, the ministration of the Spirit, and in the ninth verse the administration of righteousness. And so in that sense we're brought into a liberty that the did not have in the Old Testament.
Now that doesn't mean though that there's liberty for the flesh. And sometimes someone will think that now that they are in this new position, that there's perfect liberty to do as they feel. But as was quoted this morning, the spirit of the prophet is is subject to the prophet, and he's subject to the word of God.
00:50:23
And so he might feel that.
He should say or do something, but he should always be controlled by what the Word of God says. Now we have been brought into the place of full liberty, and one walking in the enjoyment of communion would act according to the Spirit of God.
Now, one more thought I'd like to mention in connection with this verse we're considering.
In the 14th of John.
It says he dwelleth with you.
And shall be in you about when we think of the place that the Spirit has now dwelling within the believer, Is it not a very solemn thing?
That the Spirit of God is dwelling within us.
If we think of this, would it not color our ways?
Have its effect on all that we say and do if we realize that the Spirit of God is dwelling in each believer, and then we may have this.
When you and I have been gathered.
To the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
Is it not a very special?
Solemn thing to consider.
That God in his ways has down through the ages.
Manifested that he had a purpose and that was to gather the children of God together.
In one and then these very closing days before this world is judged, God has been pleased in the last days to gather to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
What a privilege it is.
Would you and I dare in any way to mar this privilege by our actions, by our ways, allowing things in our lives, because whatever we do affects the rest of the Saints.
And whatever one assembly does affects the other assemblies. And I really believe that we have in this chapter before us that which should exercise our hearts both as to the fact that we individually have the Spirit of God indwelling us, but also that we have a privilege that no one else of another day has had to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
And I believe that where we are gathered to his precious name, he has promised his presence in the midst. We can be assured of this.
Well, are we ready to go on to the 18th, 1St?
Exactly that spirit of error. I know we're lingering a long while on that verse, but in first John Four we are told that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
Is not of God, but if the spirit of Antichrist and 1St Corinthians 12 and three.
It says Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God follow Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. I understand that in the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement that they were not speaking in tongues, but they were prophesying and.
Evidently speaking well of Christ. But there were things of course mixed with it that would be discerned now. In Luke 4 and 41 we find demons.
Let's say the devil came out of many crying out and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God.
And rebuked them, suffering them not to speak, for they knew that he was Christ. So here is a a false spirit, a demon, apparently confessing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. What is really the intent of first John 4? How do we apply that?
00:55:21
How do we apply that today? Is that your question?
Spirit of error.
Jesus, that he was the Christ, the Son of God.
Well, in that 4th chapter of John, there are different ways that we are to detect.
The air the 1St as you quoted he that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in place without the inflation.
There were gymnastics were bringing in false doctrine as to the literal.
Humanity of Christ. And of course that that was settled by this.
And then?
Then he says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The presence of the spirit of God in the believer, if he's walking in communion, detects error and.
Exposes it if necessary, then we get the third.
And the sixth verse.
We are of God. He that he that knoweth God heareth us. Now notice that's emphatic. Hearth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby knowly the spirit of truth and the spirit of air. That is the third way of discovering the the spirits that are not of God is are they giving the truth.
From the Word, the word of God is a test there as to whether.
They are of God or not.
And a clerk, when John says us, he's taking in all the inspired writers. So that's one way that we discovered just like that man I was talking about that said he could talk in spirit by immediately when he rejected the word as to where he could, as he said talk in the spirit. While that proved that he is what he said was the spirit was false because it was contrary to the word.
Second, the pistol of John in connection with the demon confessing the name of Christ.
Louder please. The 2nd epistle is gone.
And verse 9.
Think of this in connection with what our brother said about the demon confessing the name of Christ. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not, abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, He have both the Father and the Son.
I believe there in John's epistle where it says about Christ coming in flesh, that it's important to see that the Lord Jesus was perfect God and perfect man in one person and that we find denied. Very often they'll recognize that the Lord Jesus was a perfect man. Or as the Gnostics, as our brother said, they would recognize that God came but they wouldn't recognize that he was actually in a human body. They would make a mystical person out of him.
But the truth is that, as the little hymn puts it nicely, we mentioned before.
His glory. Not only God's Son in manhood, he had his full part. And we know that even error has come in among those gathered to the Lords name by one who couldn't see the union of the Godhead and manhood in one person, our precious Lord Jesus Christ, So that we see there are insidious ways in which the enemy attacks the truth of God.
And if a person said, well, he was a mystical person, but they deny that he was a perfect man, they have actually denied that God and man were together in one person in the Lord Jesus Christ here upon earth. And I believe that was the particular emphasis in John's epistle. I believe in Corinthians Owning Jesus as Lord is really owning his authority. It tells us in Matthew that many will come in that day and say Lord, Lord.
01:00:12
But it's just the repetition of words, just the same as you might give a person a title and yet not recognized as authority. So that owning Jesus as Lord is more than just repeating words. It's that which comes from the heart. Thou believe us that there is one God thou doest. Well, the devils also believe and tremble now. That is, they believed who the Lord Jesus was about. They didn't do like the blind man.
Who? When he found out, the Lord said, Just I'll believe in the Son of God. He said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And when he found out that he was in his presence, he said, Lord, I believe, And he worshipped him. So that we have to remember that God speaks of and deals in realities. For instance, it says, Whosoever shall deny me before men, him shall I deny before my Father, which is in heaven.
Now Peter denied the Lord before men, but he's not going to be denied before his Father, which is in heaven, because he didn't do it from his heart. He did it through fear, under pressure, about when he realized what he had done, he went out and went bitterly. So we need to realize that God is dealing in realities and I'm sure that in our dealings with these people we have found very often that while they can repeat, just as the one mentioned in Matthew, Lord, Lord.
There is no recognition of His authority. If there was the recognition of His authority, and there would be the bowing to His word, there would be the worshipping Him and recognizing those divine mysteries connected with His person that are beyond our mind to take in.
Saw that it isn't just some shall I say, little phrase that's out of place. It's the whole attitude of the heart that's wrong and not owning really the glory of his person or his authority.
Is that orphans in verse 18, brother? Very yes. I think that's the correct word. I will not leave you orphans Well, we can think of.
A form where both parents have been taken.
I think a very sad case by Cliff. And what a sad situation it was. No father to go to, no mother to love them. Let their hopeless without parental care. Well, the Lord speaking to his disciples, He assures him that he is not to lead them in that way. As far as he says, I will come unto you.
And I take that to be the coming of the Holy Spirit. They would have His presence via the Spirit, so that they would have His care, His love for manifested 2 of them, now that He would no longer be visibly present with Him. Is that your thought? Yes, but isn't it sweet too that He's introducing them to the Father?
So that they'll enjoy the father's love.
And.
Even though he leaves them, they will enter into that new relationship that Christianity brings.
That is, to know the Father. We get that in the 20th chapter of John, don't we? The introduction of that truth, particularly in his resurrection, it was not known before, but here he's, as it were, anticipating for them that time, so that when he finally is gone, they will enjoy that new position of knowing the Father. And so as we pray, we address the Father and.
We know that he hears us because we're his children and we have that enjoyment as we address him in prayer that he hears us and he knows beforehand what we have needed, but he loves to hear us addressing.
I might just mention, since you have brought our going to the Father and my attention was called to a statement I made at the beginning of the meeting that now we call on the name of the Father. Well, that's not just correct. We call on the name of the son, but we do address God as our Father in perfect liberty now as His children. I just mentioned that to correct air.
01:05:07
And we want to go right on with the next verse yet a little while, and the world sees me no more. But ye see me because I live, ye shall live also. Well, that's in keeping with the second chapter of Hebrews, where we read this. Now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus was made a little lower than the angels.
For the suffering of death, crown with glory and honor. Now faith sees that glorified 1 seated at God's right hand. And you know the the vision of faith is is more absolutely true than things that we see with our natural lives. All times we get deceived we think we see something beautiful and.
Maybe it turns out to be very different from what we suppose.
But faith is never deceived. What is revealed to the heart by faith is just as sure as if we were already in the scene that fate directs us too. So we see Jesus. We gaze upon him, gazing on the Lord and glorious we were singing yesterday.
While our hearts and worship bow.
So he says here.
The world seeth me no more, but ye see me. Then here's something very, very precious. And because I live, he shall live also. Seems to me that that is a special character of the Christian life that is occupied with Christ. As we've been Speaking of, believing by faith is there.
And enjoying the thought of knowing him there.
Our glory is one that died for us on the cross, now living for us on high, while it produces a special character of life down here is so, he says. Because I live, he shall live also. What a precious, wonderful life that is, and how we should cover to be in the good and enjoyment of a life like that.
As a living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father.
So he that eateth me shall live by me. And this is what the believer can enjoy daily, is it not?
I believe that's what the Lord referred to in John chapter 10. I am calm that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. That is, the more abundant life isn't just the idea that some Christians live a more spiritual life than others by its the whole character of Christianity as contrasted with the position of those who had divine life in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament they had divine life, but they weren't in the liberty and enjoyment of relationship. About here is one who has gone off, who said, I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God, who breathed on them and said receive ye the Holy Spirit or Holy Spirit. And now by the Spirit of God we enter into and enjoy that relationship. And that is really what is spoken now as the abundant life. It's the present position of the believer in contrast with Judaism.
It's set before us again in Galatians where it speaks about the child who's the heir, but he's not in the liberty of his position. But when the time comes appointed of the father, he is now declared to be in the liberty of his position. And just like Prince Charles, when he was going to the school, he was under tutors and governors. But now he's in the liberty of his position and his heir to the throne, and he knows it and walks in that enjoyment and dignity, or at least is entitled to.
I believe that's the thought here, Because I live, ye shall live. Also. It's the more abundant life of Christianity.
But its occupation with Christ, when we are really in the good and enjoyment and in a practical way are living that life. Because if we had just worldly objects before us by then our life protects the character of the world around us.
01:10:08
So it isn't a matter of 1 giving up his job and going off into seclusion or anything. He can be in a busy.
In officer, in the factory, or farming or anything, and in the enjoyment of Christ and the that life manifesting itself is in the good of it.
Charles returned and placed himself under tutors and governors. He is denying the liberty. That's rightly his, and that's what the Galatians were doing. They were returning back to law and ******* and not enjoying the liberty they had been brought into. And so in these meetings the Spirit of God would seek to lead us into the liberty of this position, first to know that it's ours, and then by the Spirit, to enjoy it and walk in it.
Well then in the next verse at that day. Now that's very important to notice at that day. That's really Pentecost. I take it when there would be the.
The presence of the Spirit of God, dwelling in the believer and in the house.
It introduces a new line of things.
In that day, at that day He shall know that I am in my Father, and ye, and me, and I and you. We find that until the Holy Spirit came, the disciples were in great darkness as to the instruction the Lord had given them in His life and ministry. They never seem to understand the Lord. They always misunderstood what He was saying. The Lord told him plainly about his crucifixion and death. And yet they were when He was taken and they buried him, they didn't seem to understand that he would actually be raised again.
They wouldn't believe the women when they came and told, but he plainly told him he was going to rise again. But when the Spirit of God had come, and then dwelt the disciples and those who were waiting for the promise of the Father, why then they entered in an intelligent way into the truth that the Lord had been teaching them in His ministry? And rather, doesn't that remind you and me?
Of the marvelous.
Position that we're in at this time in which we're living. We're living in the time of the that the Holy Spirit is dwelling here on earth. There never was a time like it before and there'll never be a time like it for all eternity. A special, peculiar and wonderful time that we're permitted to live and have our being and and pass through this scene when God the Holy Spirit.
Is dying here in this world. Now in the Old Testament they they knew goddess the Jehovah. It was briefly characterized by Jehovah God. He had chosen the people and they were called his people the people of Jehovah. But for a short time the Lord Jesus the sun was here and that brief time that he was here on earth.
Characterize the time of his sojourn. Now he's gone back to the Father, but he has sent God the Holy Spirit down. And we're living in that special time of untold blessing for his preparing God's people who live at this time for the special place that dare to occupy in the coming scene of glory and in connection with the Kingdom and then going on into the eternal ages.
Speaks out here, extends to the present time, doesn't it? And it's it's really the longest period of time that has been known. We speak of dispensation.
Or periods of time in which God is dealing with those on earth, especially who are his people. And this is the longest day, really the longest period of time. And I suppose it's because it's the day of grace. God is gracious and not willing that any should perish. He's very long-suffering and patient. He wants all to be saved. And so the day is extending out. But we're longing for the Lord to come to take us home.
01:15:16
To end the day, aren't we?
Well, I suppose is in connection with what we have in the beginning of the chapter. He was going away. Their hearts were troubled because he was going away. Now he says by the Spirit you will see me and also is walking in obedience. You can enjoy my company during my absence by the Spirit. And I think that's so lovely if we bring bring in these verses that follow in connection with the first part of the chapter.
And in Hebrews 2 But we see Jesus. Now notice this 21St verse, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them. He it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. While now as we see Judas couldn't understand how this could be during the Lord's absence, but the Lord explains it, that it's by the Spirit that we could enjoy the Father and the Son making their abode with us, walking in the enjoyment of that circle of love.
And in obedience. What a place we have been brought into now. So it's true it'll be more blessed when faith has changed to sight. But what a blessed place is ours right now.
Notice, he says here at that day he shall know that I'm in my father.
And he and me, and I and you. Well we can see the Lord graciously beats the situation along the disciples, because Philip had said, Lord, show us the Father, and the Lord had said, Have I been so long with you? And hast thou not known me, Philip, he that hath seen me?
Has seen the Father well, they feebly entered into or believe the Lord's words, although they didn't contemplate the extent and and the full meaning of it. But here the Lord says, in that day you're going to know that I'm in my Father, and more than that that ye in me. Well, that's a wonderful thought that we're in Christ.
Before God, that's what a Christian really is, isn't it? Really. The word term Christian has been so corrupted in Christendom they little understand it. They think it would be a very wrong thing to therefore 1 to say he was saved. Well that's a more general term than to be a Christian or the those that.
At Antioch were first call. They were first called Christians at Antioch. That is, there was something about them that reminded them of their savior and Master, their Christ.
So really, a Christian is one who is in Christ before God and for Christ before men.
We could say that oneness is spoken of in the scriptures in three different ways in connection with Christianity. In John's ministry, it's particularly that we possess his life and so possessing his life. Why we are one in that sense that we possess his life. We are in Christ before God, and then in Paul's ministry we are looked upon as being one, as being members of the body of Christ.
Now that is members one of another and a priest who is the head in glory. Now that is particularly that which was revealed to Paul. And then in Hebrews chapter two we have oneness and kind. Now that is, there's a real man in the glory. We see one up there at the right hand of God who wears our nature on the throne, that holy man who is there, a glorified man, entering into all that we are passing through here as men.
And he's not ashamed to call us brethren. Isn't it lovely to see these three?
Lines of truth brought before us such a place of nearness, possessing the same life members of the body of Christ, and associated not to an Angel, but to a man in the glory, one who is truly God and truly man.
01:20:12
I've enjoyed this little thought that Phillip in his little faith who might say he uses the Word, show us the Father. But here in these verses that we have now before us, the Word is much stronger and the Lord says I will manifest. Well that was a lot more full and more complete, wasn't it, than just show us the Father.
He did half my commandments. That carries with it the thought that there's a responsibility.
Now in the new nature.
There's a nature that loves to do what he wants.
We find with the children of Israel, having heard they provoked, that is they they knew it wasn't ignorance they had heard and they provoked. Well, it's a very solemn thing, isn't it, To have the truth and then reject it or refuse to walk in it. That's really the first step of of declension, having heard and then not acting upon the truth that we've heard.
We've heard a great deal of truth in these meetings and I'm sure it should exercise our hearts because it's a responsibility as well, because if we don't, we're not going to be in the enjoyment of that communion that we have set before us in the next verse.
The disciples were no doubt disappointed when the Lord spoke of his going away.
And they were hoping that the Lord would set up the Kingdom and reign on the earth. But if he were going away, this couldn't be.
Well, that isn't what the Lord is bringing before them here, reigning his reigning on the earth, but perhaps it's more it's reigning in their hearts in a moral way.
Their subjection to him and letting Christ fill their hearts.
And reigning over them. They're giving the blessed Lord the throne in their hearts and reigning in their lives in a moral way.
Really up because it takes about 5 minutes to.
That's 18 in the appendix.
John 14:21-31
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
General meetings Montreal, October 1975 Last Reading meeting.
300 and 31331.
In dying on the power of their love sign builds the right heart and cloud restore. What is the law that made us mind?
It builds all that power without 331.
Fall to my father.
'S.
Heart.
I'm hearing.
The rest we love and there are white reward. All things of sin shall be removed and all evil turn away. We shall dwell with God and love it through God through German Day #48.
For my father.
John Ross Post, Chapter 14.
21.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them.
Here is a loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
00:10:01
Not a scarier Lord. How is it that our manifest thyself underwater and not under the world?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he would keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our opposed with him.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my saying, and the word which he heard is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
These things have I spoken unto you. Being yet present with you puts a comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.
Jesus will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you love me, you would rejoice, because I said I'd go to the Father, for my Father is greater than I am. And now I have told you before counterparts, that when it is come to pass, you might believe.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the President world cometh, and that's nothing in me.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandments, Even so I do.
Arise, let us go ahead.
I was requested to.
Dogs we believe are gathered on divine grounds in the Lords name alone.
All I would say is to this is that every true believer has called the Holy Spirit dwelling in it and if any company of Christians meet together.
And.
Desire to learn from the word or be instructed.
That the Holy Spirit is there ever seeking to exalt Christ. And so they will be blessing if they're seeking to honor Christ, if they're seeking to learn more about Christ. And there might be even greater blessing and a greater evidence of.
Blessing even than in a place where we believe that those gathered are divinely gathered to the Lord's name alone there might be a low stake, although they're in the right place.
And of course the system, although there are many groups that hold fast to the gospel and fundamentals when they put a man up as.
As the pastor, of course, there's a great limitation for the Spirit to.
Minister the truth because they have interfered with the the Order in connection with the Spirit left to Guidance and the Ministry of an Instruction of the Word.
Now that's all I would have to say about it. The Spirit of God is there.
Makes the human arrangements.
And the usurping of his place there, so very serious because he is there, but his presence is.
Rejected, so I.
I remember when I stood.
Behind the pulpit.
In the denominational church where I was for a while.
It just seemed like the Lord spoke to me from heaven.
Scripture had already been before me, and I had seen some things in the Word.
00:15:05
But it's just like a voice from heaven that said to me, who are you to think that you're to take the place of the Lord? And then I saw too that it was really trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit, because I was there to direct the whole meeting, especially when we were together, as they would say in church.
But how sad it is that that a man should.
Take the place of Chairman in the meetings. The Holy Spirit is the Chairman, if we want to use that word, chairman, we think of it now as the one who is guiding us. The Lord guides us by His Spirit.
And we need grace to give the blessed Lord His place, and the Holy Spirit his place too.
We need to distinguish, of course, between what could be called an assembly meeting and a meeting that is for the exercise of ones gift. That is in the gospel meeting by the one who tells out the gospel He's the Lord servant and as such he is responsible for that time, that hour, or whatever it may be, that he is there in the capacity of the Lord's servant. We're not gathered as an assembly, but to hear that one who is a servant of the Lord addressing us.
But when we come together as an assembly, then we are responsible to recognize the presence of the Spirit of God in the assembly. I just mentioned that difference because there might be some who would come to a meeting and say, well, it didn't seem to be the liberty of the Spirit. One brother gave out the opening hymn. He prayed, He preached. Well, it wasn't an assembly meeting. He was there as the Lord's servant, Justice Paul, when he visited different places, why he conducted a meeting, and as the Lord's servant, he proclaimed the gospel or proclaimed the truth.
But when they met as an assembly, and that is the scriptural way to meet as a local expression of the body of Christ, then we are responsible to recognize the presence of the Spirit of God in the assembly.
Well, we were speaking at close of the last meeting of the 21St verse. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, here it is that loveth me.
And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father.
And I will love him and will manifest myself to him. I think we should see that there are different characters of love now. There is the love of relationship. And looked at in that way, every believer is just as much loved as another.
They're all God's children, and that one that was saved today is just as much an object of love.
As a brother or a sister who's walked in communion for many years. But there is definitely a love of complacency, And I, as I see it, that is the love that's specially spoken of here, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them. It is that here it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, That is, the father takes delight in one.
Showing his love to the son because the father's love is error.
Yeah, ever it connected with his delight in the Son who has done all his will and is now his full delight in heaven is glorified man.
It's a similar truth that you have in connection with the unequal yoke, isn't it in the 6th chapter of Second Corinthians, the one who separates?
And walks in separation and does not find himself in an unequal yoke. God says he'll be a father to him. Well, he was his father before, but there's a sense in which he enjoys this now because he's walking according to the word of God and in communion. So there's a special sense here, is there not as well?
There is the love of obedience in the 10th chapter and the.
00:20:04
Seven, The 17th verse.
It's very beautiful to see that law. It says here, therefore dust. My father loved me because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
It's just lovely to see. Of course the Father always loved the Son, and perfectly. But here the obedient Son gives an added cause to the Father. And so he says therefore. But how obedient was he?
He was obedient unto death.
The next that now a brother with the last verse of our chapter.
That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do. There's testimony, isn't it?
I believe this is the only occasion where we get this expression from the Lord. I love the Father in John, isn't it? I don't know about 7 times we get Father's love to him and so it would suggest to me that he's more occupied with a Father's love for himself than his love for the Father. He mentions it once.
Lots in keeping with what we have in our verse, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them.
Now the Lord Jesus placed himself in that position of obedience.
Willingly. And that's what characterizes the Newman and the distance was a testimony to the world that he loved the Father.
Now this is the case with the believer. He that hath my commandments and keep them he it is that loveth me. And how does the world know?
We test our own hearts this way too, do we? Not that if we are not keeping His commandments, there's a little slight difference perhaps between what we speak of as His word and commandments, which we'll get later, but those things specifically which He requests.
As we have here.
There's a testimony.
Rendered.
In keeping his commandments walking in obedience.
And it's then that we enjoy that love, isn't it?
And the Lord.
In the 11Th chapter of.
Matthew's Gospel. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And then in the Epistle of the First Epistle of John, it might be well returned to that the First Epistle of John and the 5th chapter.
Yes, as well.
For this the third verse, for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
And his commandments are not grievous.
Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world. Our faith, well, there's so many that seem to feel that that to really walk consistently as a Christian and to follow the Lord with purpose of heart, that you're denying yourself of a lot of good times and pleasures and you're going to have a rough path.
But just rats weigh those words. My yoke is easy. I believe that set mean that.
The the yoke of sin, and even the yoke of the Law which Peter speaks of, would neither we nor our father were able to bear. Is a yoke like a poor animal that it bruises.
His shoulders and leaves him sore and injured. Well, the yoke that the Lord is Speaking of, that's a healing yoke, and it says there that the that His commandments are not grievous.
Oh, we only have to prove it, beloved, and we'll find everyone who has really proven that. Who has really thought to go on in his soul with the Lord has proven to his own joy and satisfaction that those commandments were not grievous. They were not like some had picture two of them as a hard path. You're going to give up good times down here instead of that.
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You spared the sorrows many of the sorrows.
Arctics and disappointments in this life.
Very well. Broken in before we received it. Is that the thought?
There's no rough spots on the yoke when we receive it.
That's why you speak of it at large, speaks of it as mile.
And that is the yoke of perfect obedience and submission to the will of the Father.
And he has been in that chapter on the 11Th chapter of Matthew. He has been speaking about how he was rejected in the cities where his mightiest works were were wrought out, he had to say, And thou Capernaum, which are exalted on the heavens, shall be brought down to hell.
Or are they the works, as such works have been done entire and side, and they would have repented long ago in sackcloth. Tenacious. And then he says, I thank the old Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because I has revealed these things, hid these strings from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. That is when the Lord saw his work, and where he accomplished.
Works that no one other man ever did, to see the whole city turn away and refuse him, and reject him, and turn him out of their synagogues and.
And just put up their hand against him well in view of all his rejection.
The Lord can thank the Father, and even if the wise and the prudent of those days had rejected him, or he would get the babes in spite of all all that had rejected him here below. Well, now it's really that learning of Him, we learned in that way to accept our circumstances from the Lord, to bow to his hand, to learn of Him in that way.
And then we find rest for our souls. Is that the connection with Paul in Philippians, where he says speaks of the fellowship of his sufferings?
You see, brethren, it's one thing to serve Christ and to feel these things alone, and that's another thing.
To through the scriptures.
To walk in fellowship in the sense of being in the same path.
Following in the same path that our Savior has been in and that's the benefit of of being acquainted with the scriptures because we get the comfort in every step of the way, as Paul mentions having fellowship in his sufferings. Paul wanted to go all the way with Christ, but that was one of the points that he he wanted to have fellowship in his sufferings.
Yoke of first of Matthew 11 Could be.
Contrasted with the yoke of 2nd Corinthians 6. In 2nd Corinthians 6 it says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Now that is a yoke is really for two. It's that which links us with another. And so when one is linked with an unbeliever, it's an unequal yoke. He has different desires, he doesn't have the same motives. Just like the ox and the *** linked together, it's called an unequal yoke because the *** was a fast moving animal. They the oxen was a slow moving animal. It was unequal. But isn't it wonderful that God has given us a life and nature, the very life and of Christ himself?
And so when we are linked with him, he said, well, you have the same life and so we desire to do those same things. So John says in his epistle.
That.
He that saith he abideth in him on himself also, so to walk even as he walked.
And so it's not grievous, it's not grievous to do the things you want to do. And isn't it lovely to go through life linked with the Lord, having the same desires as himself, possessing his life, given his power, so that we might go on? That's a happy path.
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What does he referred to when he says in my birth of his life?
Well, it is a pathway of service. And as Paul spoke in the as he spoke in Acts, he said we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. But then Paul could say we are exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. There is a yoke, it costs something to follow Christ, but he's with us and the joy of his company under his love makes it an easy path and.
As another has said, the path of the Christian is worthwhile.
Even if it were 1000 times harder than it is because of the company that we're in, the love that we share, so that it's a blessed path. But we couldn't exactly say that there are not trials, as our brother brought before us in the young people's meeting on Saturday. Both Jonah and Peter both were in a storm. But with Jonah, it was an unhappy and unpleasant thing to be in that storm. But for Peter, I suppose it was one of the most wonderful experiences of his life.
To have walked in company with the Lord upon the waves, well, it wouldn't be considered easy to the natural man, but for him it was a great joy.
And it was easy when he had his eyes upon the Lord.
That is, no proceedings. Reminds me of one in the Maritimes many years ago.
Our brother Bob Richard pointed out to me.
That the option which stood in front of us by itself, They called a Smiler SMILER. And I said why didn't call it a Smiler? Well enough yoke with another one and he's free.
He said go its way and that joke he says it might be Oak and Christ was upon us. It's easy. The other one is hard to walk with. One do not agree. So they each want to go the wrong way. That makes it far.
We don't have a list of the large commandments to the as we have over the 10 commandments.
But as judged that we could take different passages that give us some of the Lord's commandments if we looked at the 13th of John.
And the 34th verse, a new commandment I give unto you.
That she loved one another as I have loved you. That she also loved one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. If you have love one to another, well, that's very practical for us.
And that's one of the Lord's commandments.
But there's no definite list. I asked Brother Potter one time.
Remember that was in Montreal years ago. He had spoken one night. I said, Brother Potter, what are the commandments of Christ?
And his reply was this. He said, the commandments of Christ are doing those things which we know are pleasing to the Lord, has learned from His word independence and obedience. Well that takes the whole subject in, but like this one that we just quoted there.
That she loved one another is a very definite word that we should seek to be exercised about. And the Lord gives the measure of that love as I have loved you. So there's no limit whatever when we think of how much He has loved us. And then that bears testimony to the world around that others that the world may know, as he says there.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. We have loved one for another. The world looks on and sees Christians going on with deep affection and love and desire to go on together. It has a powerful effect on the unsaved.
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Commandments, however we have to keep before we can be saved, not two of the 10 but in the 17th of Acts God now commandeth.
All men everywhere to repent as one, and in first John chapter 3 and verse 23. And this is his commandment that we believe.
On the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, how can we be saved by keeping those two commands?
No salvation apart from those two.
This is done. All right. What shall I say the the Great White Throne judgment will be?
Upon those who have violated those two things and this was seen in Lot's wife. That's why I believe it says remember Lot's wife. Disobedience and unbelief is what characterizes.
The. The unbelieving.
Religious world today because they've had a testimony and disobeyed it and they do not believe the word of God.
Now in this.
Scripture we have here.
The commandments. But we also have a little later the word and the verse was already quoted in first John.
The second chapter.
And the fourth verse he that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, But whoso keepeth his word in him, verily, is the love of God perfectly.
Hereby know we that we are in him.
And so, as was quoted before, he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
Now I believe that when we get the expression word.
It carries with it perhaps a little further thought that is.
We see a new kind of life entirely in this world as we follow the Lord Jesus in His pathway, and this is what the word would suggest to our hearts.
The whole pathway of the Lord Jesus, his life that set before the believer.
Now the one who is walking in that pathway.
In him.
Is the.
In him, verily is the love of God, perfected, perfected. Now he doesn't say we're perfect, but he says perfect. That is, there is that throwing up unto him in all things isn't there?
And also that new nature, that new life that we have.
Responds exactly according to the life of seen in Jesus.
But of course there's no fullness with us, or perfection. But it's the same path, and so the love of God. Why does it say that? Because it's obedience, just as we had in the last verse of our chapter.
Obedience demonstrates it. You say you love God.
Well, it means nothing unless we walk in obedience. There's no use of talking about saying you and saying you love God if you don't walk according to His word. Again, we say there's no perfection here, but it's the heart and the demonstration of it in our ways. We may stumble as we walk, but the heart is intent upon pleasing Him.
And that's the thought I've made. Mr. Kelly has given a very helpful illustration on the difference between commandments and his word. He likens the commandments to a mother who was going away for a time, and she leaves her oldest daughter in charge of the home. While she's away, she tells her the various duties that she's to perform.
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And that obedient daughter does everything, just as her mother would have her.
Carry it out. But the daughter, being acquainted with the mind of her mother, thinks of a lot of things that her mother didn't tell her to do, but which she know knew would be pleasing to her mother, perhaps.
She brings a lot of when her mother's coming. She has flowers, decorating these different rooms and she's tidied up things and all. She has everything just to fill a mother's heart with satisfaction and pleasure.
Well, those things weren't commanded. But just knowing and being acquainted with her mother's mind and having lived with her and having loved her and why she does all these things that she wasn't told to do, Well, that might be a helpful illustration that the word goes. We are sure of that in this passage goes beyond the commandments, and you'll notice that there is a difference.
As to the result where he says in the 21St verse, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him, in the 24th verse, he says he that no, the 23rd verse Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he will keep my words. I believe it's word, isn't it singular? And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
In the first case, it's like the Lord says I'll make a visit here in this 23rd verse, they come to make their abode, and it's both father and son. And so it's the very highest thought that we could entertain a communion with a father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
What is the thought in John's first epistle in the second chapter? And they're just asking a question?
In connection with John's first epistle, chapter 2 and verses 7:00 and 8:00.
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he has from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which he had heard from the beginning.
Again, a new commandment. I write unto you, which thinketh through in him and in you, because the darkness is past or passing and the true light now shines. I was just wondering what's the difference? I think you could explain that to us, Brother Little. We'd like to hear you how that he speaks of of the old commandment. I I think it's connected with the first part of this epistle, the first chapter, isn't it?
This which was with the father. This was from the beginning, wasn't it? But then, thinking in connection with the new commandment, this is the way it is.
Been revealed to us in time, The Lord Jesus has been made known to us. It's like this is a new commandment. I write out here that thing which is true in Him and in you. That is because we have the life of the glorified man who has ascended and is seated at the right hand of God. So the very light in him is the life that's manifested now and those who walk in obedience.
And then it says for the darkness is it should read is passing.
I'll pass, but passing and the true light now shineth. That is every time a Sinner is saved. There's just that much less of the darkness left in this scene, and the more the believer walks in obedience and in that love that is mentioned here.
That all commandment really becomes the nuke. The old command becomes the new commandment in connection with the glorified Christ. There are just that, much less of the darkness of hatred and unbelief that belongs to this godless, sinless world, sinful world.
So it's passing when the Lord was here, he said. I am the light of the world, but man love darkness rather than light.
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And so at the cross man did all he could to put out the light. And I believe we could rightly say that this world's sunset at the cross of Calvary, and this whole time from Calvary on, has looked at as one long dark night. Although it's the day of man's progress and all the wonderful things he has accomplished and discoveries he has made. But God looks at it as one awful night.
Well, when the sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings, then the new day begins for this poor, sad, united world.
I don't think it's that statement that's often made that Jesus is the light of the world is a correct statement, is it?
I don't believe so. As long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, the night that you gave it right first.
Get the same word abode as we had in the early part of the chapter. Do we not hear dwelling place? It's a.
It gives us just a little thought as to what heaven will be like. It won't be divided off into houses or rooms, but it'll be his presence wanted.
That's what makes it what it is.
So the Spirit of God gives us expressions we understand, but in a way that would lead us on into fuller things.
Yeah, well, we're all here to see that the same word that we have in in the second verse of the chapter in my father's house are many mansions. It's really abodes as the same word that we have in this 23rd verse, in other words.
What we'll have in glory, we can have.
In a major down here.
And we can have it in in the way that we go on in communion.
With the Father and the Son, and that in the path of obedience and learning his mind for the word would speak of that. The more one goes on with the Lord in communion, the more he gets acquainted with the mind of the Lord, so that he has that consciousness in his soul that is what is pleasing to the Lord, so that now.
They.
The one walking in that way has the very atmosphere of heaven to enjoy before we get home.
And are actually embodied in in the Father's house.
Say there are some things that purposely God hasn't given us direct a direct word in His precious book, because He intends us to walk in fellowship with Him and discern His mind in this way. Like you were saying. And this is very lovely. And that is to think that He counts upon our love sufficiently, and that He desires that we should walk in company with Him and learn what is pleasing to Him without a direct command.
And we know that with those we love, there are many things like this that we have learned to know their mind by walking in company with them. And so in the Word there is either a direct scripture or a principle. And very often there are principles that we learn in acquaintance with the Lord that help us to discern his mind where we couldn't give a direct scripture. But it's in harmony with this whole revealed mind in the Word. And the Christian who walks in communion discovers this.
And there is, as has been remarked, a very special joy in this and in this relationship.
And in connection with that about the old and new commandments, it is perhaps a little bit puzzling. Perhaps a little illustration like this would help. Supposing I'm working for a man, and he tells me certain things he wishes me to do. But then the time comes that this man that I've been working for adopts me and he makes me his child. After this, he tells me the same thing to do as he did before.
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Oh, I say, this is new. This man's my father now. Well, it isn't that he told me to do something different, but in the relationship it's new. And that's why it says which thing is true in him and in you, because we have been brought into the relationship before God as his children.
The Lord Jesus said in resurrection I ascend unto my Father. He ever walked in the consciousness of that? But he said unto my Father, And your Father, now we're brought into that too. And so in this relationship, which thing is true in him and in you? What a lovely place. Then we have been brought into, and all that might have seemed as if, Well, is this what God wants me to do? Now becomes, oh, my Father desires that I should do this. He loves me. He's proved his love to me through the gift of his Son.
His son has revealed his love to me, and now we're brought into this enjoyment and fellowship in which obedience is a joy.
In speaking along that line that you brought before us, brother, hail, I'll never forget something your father said once.
Showing even in singing to know the mind of the Lord and to live in communion. But we mustn't ever get self confident.
In thinking that we always have the mind of the Lord.
Many years ago there was a brother that made a statement when he was in Montreal too, in connection with the 16th Psalm. My reigns instruct me in the ninth seasons and this brother said that that meant that one can be in a state of soul when something comes up that he immediately knows.
That he has the mind of the Lord. Your father's broke up, brother Hale and said, when? When there are things that are not clear, he says, I've found that it's best to leave those things with my brethren. This brother seemed to be annoyed over his answer, and he repeated what he said first word for word.
The rains meant you could have, you could instantly know you had the mind of the Lord.
Well, that brother caused a sad division and went off astray and was never restored.
Now he had so much self-confidence in his own judgment, that when he took the wrong course, he would never own that he had taken the wrong course. He never judged himself forth. I thought the difference between that brother, both leaders and both very useful and gifted men, but the one was willing to be subject to his brother when?
When something came up that you might not be absolutely clear and sure about.
There's always the danger, isn't there, of self-confidence creeping in and tripping us up and and connection with our testimony and our going on in the things of the Lord.
He that trusted in his own heart is a fool. We can't trust ourselves, but we can't trust the Lord. And when we continue leaning on him, we're safe. But when we get into a spirit like that, an independent spirit, we're not leaning on the Lord and we're in great danger.
In looking at that statement again in the 23rd verse, if a man loves me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. It seems that the apostle Paul entered into this when he was thinking of the Saints in the third chapter of Ephesians and the 17th verse.
If we go prior to it, he says in his prayer in the 16th verse that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. And now this 17th verse, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by face or make you the bold. Isn't that something similar?
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That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.
That the Apostle desires the same as the Lord did there in that 14th chapter John.
And the result is being rooted and grounded in love. And then you have a list of things that follow.
The apprehending is the way it should be, and there's no apprehending unless there's the result.
Unless there is the love for the Saints as a result of just what you've been saying, the communion. Then there's the apprehending, isn't there? It's nice to see that the love comes in there, and love to the Lord and love to the Saints too.
Well, would you say that in the 24th he that loveth me not? Is that a careless, indifferent Christian, or is that a one who is never saved?
It's sometimes difficult to say because he gives the manifested character of the family, doesn't he? If he doesn't see the manifested character of the family, he doesn't say that the person could be a child in the family so that it's true. A Christian might get into a path of disobedience, but he's not acting like a child of God.
When he doesn't keep his sayings, is he? It's put in such a way that it should exercise it, isn't it?
It still is the test though.
Is it not? And if one, if one is going on in the evil way, you and I have no right to regard him as a child of God.
But I mean, if this is the character of his life, just because he is outwardly made a profession doesn't necessarily mean anything. If his life shows that nothing but walking in a course contrary to the word of God, we can't regard him as a believer.
Is that what it means? From the Lord says by their fruit she shall know them?
In the first chapter of the first official of John.
Says If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
And again it says If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say a vast first, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar.
That's that's really without question. One who has never saved. You might say that the one where it says he that sent he hath no sin deceiveth himself. I take it that a true believer might deceive himself into thinking that he wasn't sinning.
But he may deceive himself, but not other people, but the one that says he that he that he never sinned. He's making God a life where God says in his word that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Then you had said it was not unbeliever.
There are two things that we must keep separate, and one is we may not feel we can have fellowship with a certain person, but we're not their judge.
By that I mean when David.
When David took up the bones of Saul and he buried him in the land of his inheritance, that is, he wouldn't be his judge. He left him on the ground of his profession.
So that we cannot stand in judgment on another. We may not be able to have fellowship with them if they're going on badly, but we can't say they're not saved, although we may feel it, but we we we're not their judge.
Connection with the power and authority in our lives of the Word of the Lord. I think I've heard the 13th of Acts referred to as a specific example of this, which seemed to be a time to be so remarkable.
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The 13th of Act.
And the 46th verse.
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you, and duck yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, low, we turn to the Gentiles, For so hath the Lord commanded us. Say, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou should be for salvation under the ends of the earth.
Who would ever take those words to be a command to volunteers? And yet their hearts were so devoted, and their desire so near to the will of the Lord, that a verse like that became to them a command which they promptly obeyed. So the word command needn't cause any anxiety or fear. In our hearts we I trust delight to feel the authority, the power of a command.
When we sense the wish or word of someone whom we love very dearly, it does have a happy power of a command in our life. And perhaps this is an illustration of it. It is not in the 13th of Acts. Yeah, that's for me. I was going to say to your remark, Brother Albert, that wouldn't you say that?
A man is always in the position where he needs to be instructed and to be told what to do. Always. That's why we have the word. So we're always waiting for his command, are we not? If we use our own mind or thoughts, we always go wrong. It's only the Scriptures. So we must have the scripture for everything we do. The only thing I was going to say was that quotation is from the 49th chapter of Isaiah.
And it's remarkable that it said about the Lord Jesus himself of prophecy as to Christ. So if you took it in its direct application there, in Isaiah it refers to Christ. But the principle is there, just as Brother Gordon Hale was saying, there are many principles in the scriptures that are given to guide us, and the principle that you find in that passage are not turning to it for the sake of time. But read it and you'll find that it's.
Concerning the Lord Jesus and when his people had rejected him, why you find that he's going to turn to the Gentiles?
Just as Paul says that Barnos say they will hear the word so that the principal was there, although referring to Christ that that the time was coming in connection with the gospel when the gospel would go out to the Gentiles.
And I think that's important that there are many principles in scripture that our guidance for us, although it might not be a direct.
Application of the truth of the passage as to its distinct meaning in the place where we find it.
By spiritually discerning, as we have in Corinthians.
Well, the matter is coming here to the meetings in Montreal. We have no direct scripture to tell us. Well now I want you to come to the meetings in Montreal, but we do have much encouragement about coming together over the Word. But we have to be individually before the Lord about whether he wanted us to be here on this occasion, and that is a matter of communion. But as our brother Barry said, that is something that is between the soul and God. We don't boast and say the Lord sent me to Montreal.
But we saw his mind. It was according to his mind that his people should come together, and we sought to be before him. He can give us the sense in our souls that we're doing what's pleasing to Him. I just mentioned this is one thing, and so it is. And so many things in life. There are decisions to be made every day. There are certain principles in the Scripture to guide us, but they cannot be carried out unless we're in communion with the Lord. And there we discern His mind for every given occasion.
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I remember.
Our late brother Thompson in Des Moines.
Speaking along this line.
About saying thing, saying it in a way to make it sound like we were very sure that that it was the mind of the Lord that we had the mind of the Lord, he said It'd be much better to say. It seems that this is the large mind for me. It seems that this is the thing that he wants me to do, not to be absolutely sure about it. We find that with the apostle Paul when speaking in that way and 1St Corinthians chapter four, he said.
I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified. For he that judges me is the Lord. Now, that is, even the apostle himself wouldn't say when there was no direct scripture about a thing, and that he had the mind of the Lord. He would say, I know nothing by myself. But he said, the Lord is the judge, and we see this in connection with his going up to Jerusalem, that is.
He believed that he was doing what was the mind of God.
But the scripture reveals to us that he hadn't properly discerned the mind of the Lord because his eye wasn't single. And so I don't believe in any decision in our lives where we don't have a direct scripture that we should boast and say The Lord told us to do this or go there. He can give us peace about it in our souls. But it's the secret between the soul and God. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God?
In connection with this, I suppose this chapter is part of the upper room ministry, isn't it? And I was thinking of a verse in the 13th chapter where the Blessed Lord washed, the disciples speak, and just one verse there just comes to as I look at it here, thinking of what this desire is for us.
It says in the 17th verse, if we know these things, happy are ye if we do them, while there are many, many things here in these precious chapters of upper room ministry.
Happy are you if you do these things. So where do we find the instructions in the word of God seeking His mind and what his desire would be? I think the first thing is the humbling part of the business.
So again, you have obedience and happiness going together, don't you? For the little.
The 26th verse, we see that there is a positive will of God for our whole pathway, he says, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost and the Father, will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. Whatsoever I have said unto you, I think it's important for us to see that there is a positive will of God for every step in our pathway. It is never right for us to say, well, there's no scripture, so I just do what I think is best.
Now the Spirit of God teaches all us all things, brings all things to our remembrance, takes and applies the Scripture to the situations that arise, because the divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And I believe it's good for us to realize this because sometimes when we don't have a direct scripture, there might be a tendency to say, well, there's nothing in scripture about it. So therefore I think I can decide this matter myself. Oh no, the Spirit of God has been given to lead us into all truth, to teach us all things. And as it tells us in Ephesians can be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
There is a positive guidance for every step, if we were near enough to the Lord.
But I fully agree with what our brother Barry said. We shouldn't be boasting, but we should be seeking the Lord's guidance for every step of our pathway.
I propose there are things that a Christian might do which he would might think are all right to do because he says, well, there's no definite command in Scripture against it or if it's something.
Else that needs a a positive thing, positive command. When he says there isn't any positive command for this, well now in connection with say smoking or drinking liquor.
I suppose there isn't anything in Scripture definitely against it, although there is in the Proverbs, perhaps. But still to settle the thing, we have the principle brought before us that Brother Hale brought before us yesterday in the young people's meeting, that you're bought with a price you're not for your own glorify God in your body, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. There's the principle, and that makes me.
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Conscious that well, I have to be careful what I do with my body because it's the temple of the of the Holy Spirit.
Now you do have all uncleanness of the flesh of the Spirit, don't you? It's certain things like tobacco is definitely the uncleanness of the of the flesh, and we need to cleanse ourselves from that.
Applying the will of God and not saying positively, I know I have the will of God to do something.
There is this about it, isn't there, that if we know definitely from the scripture that we are to do something, that we are to act, then to say, well, I'm, I'm waiting to find out the will of God. Hesitate this this is wrong. Do it or not. And we should. As 1317 of John points out. You know these things happy are you if you do that. So we are to act when we feel that we have the mind of the Lord. We could be mistaken at some time but if we feel we have the mind of the Lord, we'd be wrong not to act.
Is the next what you said, brother? Singing the verse in Second Peter, verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims have stained from fleshly lusts.
What else? Which war against the soul?
So that should come with tobacco and drinking soon.
Well, that's covered by this verse, isn't it? The Spirit of God bringing these things to our remembrance.
Also in Pauls ministry, don't we? I was thinking of what brother gladding just the first he mentioned I was just looking at Romans 12 and verses one and two, which for me is another.
Principle of.
Of a direct verse. I know we've had those questions come up. Well, is it wrong to do a certain thing, or is this wrong, or is this right? Well, I believe there here we get in Romans chapter 12 and verse one. 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 or intelligence service.
And be not conformed to this world.
I believe in that statement. There's a there's a mind there be not conformed with this world, but be but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will have gone. Where do we get it?
In the Word of God. In the principles of the Word of God don't, because we have a few thoughts on the next two verses which are so precious because our time is almost up.
You give us those thoughts that you suggest now, brother.
You mean like verse 27. Peace I leave with you my peace I give it to you, not as the world giveth. Give our unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Well, I have thought that the first piece peace I leave with you is like the peace of Romans 5, therefore being justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he speaks of the peace that he leaves with them, he says.
Peace, my peace, I give unto you. That's the the calm, quiet submission the Lord enjoyed and communion with the Father and all his pathway through this scene. He walked in perfect peace as to everything because he was doing the Father's will, so he leaves his peace.
That peace that passes all understanding that you get in First Thessalonians. No, it's.
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Philippians, isn't it the 4th chapter in everything? By prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
That's really what the large piece of he says. When my piece I give unto you that is going through a world.
That's all in commotion and where the sorrow and trial and and heartaches on every side that we can be like our blessed master, wending our way through this sea, enjoying.
That peace in our souls and walking in communion with him.
Now, is that right, brethren, or am I?
That first piece, correct.
Family not say exaggeration. The Blessed Lord is the only one who would execute his last will and testament.
He not only died to leave his a fortune, but he rose again to administer the estate.
In this verse, peace I leave with you. Well, I might leave you $1000, but.
I wouldn't mean in the position to hand it to you, it'd be in my will. But I'll have to be aligned again to hand it to you. So the Blessed Lord before he went to the cross.
In between three things to us, did he not?
Before he left the scene. Peace, joy and love. What a legacy. And so I think we can say it without exaggeration. He was the only one who could execute his last will and testament.
This was the piece, was it not, as you've said, that he enjoyed down here in communion with the Father. That is the second one you mentioned, and it's something like the next chapter, the joy he had.
In communion with the Father down here. And this is what He wanted the disciples to enjoy, so that their peace and joy might be full. Because in walking in obedience and abiding in Him as we have in the other case, they were, they had peace.
And then they had joy as well.
I wondered perhaps if both of them might be included in the statement of the Lord in the 20th of dawn, where He looks on his disciples in resurrection says peace beyond you. And when he had so said, He showed unto them his hands and his side. I personally enjoyed, and I hope it's right that in showing his hand that his side he was perhaps giving them evidence.
Of both of these forms of peace that have just been spoken of its side perhaps would speak of that precious blood that flowed from his wounded side, by which we know the wonder of peace with God concerning our guilt forever gone. But he also showed them his hands.
And I have thought that perhaps the showing of those hands was also the basis of the peace that we are privileged to know, as mentioned here, my peace I give unto you. They have seen those hands stretched out in deeds and miracles of kindness and love and blessing, touching the eyes of the blind, touching the 45 leopard, as we heard the other day, stretched out to rescue Peter when he began to sing, he could have done all those things by the spoken word alone.
But he reached out his hands to break the load, to touch the leper, to lay them upon little children, to rescue Peter. And now he shows them those hands as much as to say, you have seen what these hands were able to do on your behalf while I was yet among you. Now I'm going up there in the glory. But don't forget, these same hands will be uplifted there forever. Now the nail marks were there to remind them also of the devotedness of his love that took him to the cross.
But the last sight they had of him, those hands were uplifted as he went up there to the glory. And it just has really delighted my soul to think that the disciples, perhaps in times of difficulty and distress, that might come upon them.
Could hear the Lord say to them, peace be unto you, and could recall the sight of his hand as well as his side.
And the other girl, his hands on his feet. Isn't it speaking more of his walk down here, I suppose. Perfect walking. Obedience and subjection to love. How often we get ruffled in our circumstances, and we act unwisely and say things we shouldn't say.
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How we do need this peace that the Lord gives, and the Lord was never ruffled.
Always unruffled, going along calmly, quietly, How we need that peace.
That we might just go on on an even keel.
If you love me, you would rejoice.
Here again it's if he loved me, if you loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father.
Well, it's really, even though it may be in tears sometimes, it's really a joy to know that a loved one is going on to be with the Lord. But think of this, the Lord himself going to be with the Father. But the disciples didn't understand it. They didn't enter, But he wanted them to remember this after his resurrection. And then they did remember it, we're told.
So the chapter begins with the Father's house and ends with arise, let us go hence, doesn't it? And covers the journey between those two wonderful statements, Yes, with regard to what the.
To the garden.
And there he sweat his word, great drops of blood. I was wondering we could sing that him, Lord, we rejoice as our gods 216.
Sit upon the Father's throne.
Thy path of shame and suffering. All thy heart shall breathe and mourn no more.
United.
Make it work.
For the world.
01:25:02
Lord.
In your face. Oh my God.
282.
282.
My spur. We won't longer be. I've only my friend everything. But I hate something about your concept, so I'm a romance.
And all who are giving you what I want to go.
Well, don't stand up. All right. Thanks forever.
Across the county and heaven to Run or graceful so far from forever daughter. No problems. Always circle of souls.
I have to reach out here every day and say.
282 away.
Waiting to see the morning star, all right. Oh, God in majesty.
Oh Lord.
Your graceful in life where I hate everything.
Fellowship With the Father and the Son
The Gift of God
John 14:17
The Heavenly City