Montreal Conference: 2019
Table of Contents
Ye Are the Light of the World
Open—David So
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276.
276.
Guide us, oh thou gracious Savior.
Dinosaur.
Saver.
Elegance from his family.
We are awake by the.
Or thou has drawn after we one second.
Lord, how has gone?
By us from.
My presence.
I saw my whole heart so big time.
Our success.
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That's the Lord's help.
Joined with me to Matthews Gospel leaders in chapter 5 in last week Sunday school. If you remember Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, let's begin by reading this verse first. Matthew chapter 5, verse six. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.
And glorify your Father.
Which is in heaven. So some of you, I trust, will remember learning that from last week's Sunday School.
Not sure if I could be able to expand on this verse. We know this word verse. Many of us know it well. But I came with this exercise because the brethren here have put something in the invitation letter that really stayed in my heart. And perhaps many of us know that when a letter of invitation was sent out, all we want to hear is when is it.
Am I able to come? Please let me take the liberty to reach as part of that letter.
And see if we can apply this verse to it in the third paragraph on the invitation from the local brethren says this. This year we have been especially exercise about the spiritual war being waged against God's people. An increasing disinterest in God's Word is resulting in a famine.
A lack of desire and and hunger for spiritual things.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. Amos Aid, verse 8 and 12. I'm just going to read just a little bit more. Second Timothy 4, verse three and four describes the stage of much of Christian world today.
In quotation. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves. Teachers having itching ears, they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables. I'll just stop there.
This.
Resonate deeply in my heart.
Terrible condition, isn't it? That there will be people who want to hear?
But don't really want it here.
Perhaps some of us would stop pointing our fingers at someone across and say I believe that person or that group of young people.
I don't believe that's right. As we often say, when you point your fingers out that way, three come back pointing back to yourselves.
Their time truly is getting darker. We were reminded this morning. Darkness, power of darkness. We see we're in a country where the word of God truly is not. I should say, are not freely proclaim.
Certain phrases, certain words that you know, it's against the word of God. The world would be rejecting it.
Moral sins.
You cannot even condemn.
Why are there darkness out there?
Darkness is not the opposite of light. Sometimes you say, well, dark and light just the opposite is not.
The natural state of man's heart is darkness. The natural state of this world is darkness.
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Light dispels darkness when there is light. If this room if we were to turn the lights out, close the curtains, perhaps would even thicker light proof curtains you will see very dark room.
But when there's a small light, even if someone were to ignite a match, you will see that in any part of the room, wouldn't you?
It may not be very bright, but the light will dispel darkness. So we had let me just read the verse we had before us in Matthew 5, verse 16. Let your light so shine before man.
We are to shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Oh, we know that. We even sing sometimes in children's songs. Hide it under a bushel. No, with the shine, aren't we? You know that's how I'm going to be, don't you? And I'm sure you sing it often. This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine.
So why are there darkness?
And there seems to be increasing.
And I believe part of the problem is that Christendom as a whole is no longer shining that light it ought to.
When we stop being a testimony, being a light to this world, darkness seems to prevail. But you know, there's something interesting about darkness and light.
We as a little light cannot be shining in the whole city. Can you imagine you hold a Lantern in your hand?
There's a little bit of light coming out from it and some of your teenage boys will say, well, is it an LED or is it an 00 bulb that don't shine very well? Well, it doesn't matter. You can get a very, very bright LED bulb so it shine brightly in this room. How far would this light go across the city Of Montreal, let alone elsewhere?
I believe each one of us need to worry about this little corner.
Never mind about what's going on across town, across the world for the moment, how are we to shine where we are?
Now I'm going to go back a little bit from this scripture here.
Yeah, the light of the world. What did that light come from?
We're told from scriptures we were darkness.
Do we recognize that we, by our own nature, didn't have any light of our own? Let's just thinking of verse in Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. We know these verses well. Verse 11. Wherefore remember that the being in time passed Gentiles in the flesh.
You will remember that.
Without Christ, without hope in this world.
So you may say, let's shine for the Lord. Do we acknowledge that we're the source of blessings come from?
God has to put that light.
And to give us life.
So we find academics learned that.
Can enter the Kingdom.
Unless to begin with is with the Word, with the water and of the Spirit. That's a man need to be born again.
Is from God, isn't it? He gave us to the light so that we can have life in order to recognize heavenly things. So to be born again and often we'll say what this man is born again, he's saved. No, not yet. It's nice to know that he now sees what God want us to see. Now this verse is interesting too. I hope you don't mind that I will use a little bit of worldly example.
Because we have young people I find sometimes don't always listen and I'll tell you why. I know it wasn't that long ago I wasn't listening, so I'd like to get your attention.
In learning they teach you this thing called consciousness.
There's a phrase he may learn that later on about learning, he said. The first phase of learning is we were unconsciously unconscious.
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It means we don't even know what we don't know. You may have heard of that. And when you learn a little bit, then you become consciously, I'm sorry to be incompetent, unconsciously incompetent.
And then we become consciously competent. We sort of now know what we have to learn to be competent.
And then when you learn to be competent, then you become what they say consciously.
You become consciously, oh, I'm sorry, you become consciously that you answer the phrase consciously confident in what you do until you become unconsciously confident. You know what? What does all that mean? I'm going to look at some of the young people here. Some of you are not quite 16 yet. And I remember when my children, just before they were sixteen, one of the desires they want to drive.
And in their mind, and I'm sure some of you are going through this, you are going places, you're driving in your mind, these fancy car.
You don't even know what it takes to run a car, drive a car, but that's OK. We are so unconscious of what we don't know. And I remember one of my children when I first took this person, I got to be careful not to say he or she.
This this one first driving lesson. Who came to a stop sign?
And this person got right through the stop sign, I said, didn't you see the stop sign? Yes.
How come you didn't stop?
I was going to.
There's some translation got lost between his eyes, this person's eyes, brain and feet. You need to learn and practice, don't you? So with the spiritual things, I believe the first thing we have to understand is that we by ourselves don't even know what we don't know. We need it from God to teach us that.
And then as the person start to learn to drive, now you're learning a little bit.
And then you think you know, and I don't know about you now. I remember when I was learning to drive, I asked the person helping me, so how many cranks do you have to make for a right turn? Do you remember that because you were now conscious that you need to do something? How many cranks do I need to make a left turn?
And then you look at someone who's been driving for a while.
They're actually very.
Unconsciously capable of doing so. Just how many turns? Well, you just do it. How many still think of how many turns to make the wheel to go? You just do it. It become part of you.
So we need to recognize that let ye are the light of the world. The Lord put that light in. Yes, there are darkness around us.
The Lord takes care of that, doesn't He? Yes, some of us, in fact, in this room, we have various stages for our young people, for our children. Sometimes we make the comment too. And young people, please excuse us, older one, and we will say you should know better. This is, brethren, something I'm beginning to realize.
They don't because they haven't heard it. They don't because it's our fault. We may have talked about our subject 25 years ago. This young person is 14 years old.
So there is yet another generation. Even among ourselves growing up. We know not the Lord.
There is nothing wrong with repeating the word of God. One is for our own encouragement. 2 is to remind those who have learned. Three, there are younger generations that need to be taught. I remember a young man years ago said to me he was 19 by that point. He said I just learned what the word fornication is. Everybody assumed that you should know what fornication is.
That was too big of a word for him.
So with all these darkness going around us, are we to fear? Are we to be dismayed?
I'd like to turn to 1St Thessalonians chapter one.
I like this book because the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Thessalonians who are fairly new in the faith.
So I find sometimes when there are problems we need to go back to the basic. If we sometimes use the phrase, we got to go back to square one. They are new. He was only in cards for a very short time, 3 Sabbaths.
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How can you teach someone in a few days what the word of God is? What? The answer is very simple. We can't.
Is the Spirit of God, isn't it? That teaches us So this morning we were praying for our brethren far and wide, from Malawi to Brazil to right here back in our own backyard. What a testimony that we forget. It bears the testimony. First of all, there is one body. We were reminded of that, but there's one spirit, the same spirit.
Who would teach you as our brethren in Brazil as in Malawi?
Toward the things of Christ. Isn't it precious to know that it's not up to you or I, but it will be very nice that the Lord can be make use of your service for my service when we're ready and sanctified for the masters used So here is interesting that these are new Christians.
The apostle speaks to them to encourage them. As I look across the room, many of you, I have known you for many years.
We don't have a lot of new Christians here, but there are some, our young ones, our little ones. You're young and new in faith. How do you grow? How do you learn? What are you to do? I'm going to skip the greetings in the chapter.
Let's start with verse two. We give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in our prayers. So the apostle begins by saying, we remember you young Christians, young people, little ones.
You're being remembered by many and we pray for you and for some of you perhaps can honestly say, you know what? I didn't do that regularly. What an encouragement that we should pray one for another. Pray for the encouragement of the young one. Now this is very interesting. Now remember the new Christians, verse 3, remembering what thou ceasing.
The three things here that the apostle bring out the work of faith, that's why.
And labor of love. That's two.
And patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
Well, we may say what, what? What is this work of faith?
I believe we all would have a different definition of what work of faith ought to be. For someone who is saved 3 weeks ago, they may see the work of faith being somewhat different than perhaps someone who's been walking in the path for 50-60 years. Which one is right? I can't say. But is it a faith? Is it just work? Or is it a faith? And some of you heard me use this example before. We often relayed faith.
Work together, right? Work. Faith without work is dead, but work is not faith. Often we associate the two and say we have to do the work.
Faith and work is not the same. Fire and smoke is not the same. We say where there is smoke there is fire, but where there is smoke it doesn't necessary give you warmth and heat a firewood. I don't think we need to prove that because I know many of us try to be a good Boy Scout and start a fire and often we get smoke instead of fire, right? So fire and wood is not the same but works.
Illustrate or demonstrate that faith was at work, the work of faith, the work that you do, that you believe it is from the Lord. And for the Lord you go on by faith. And may I say a little bit, add a little bit more to that. Often others will look at you and say you're crazy.
Is it from the Lord? You know the the Ephesians Saints, they have work.
You can see that in the second letter in the book of Revelations, the John Sept wrote in there says, the Lord said, I know thy works, The Lord knoweth the work, the Lord knows the work that we do. But how is it different to the Ephesians, that the assembly that was given as if it were the highest truth, even the assembly truth? The Lord said, I know thy works, but I have somewhat against thee.
Now I remember brother said the word somewhat really is not proper because it softened the rebuke. We should take that word somewhat. I have against it. Oh, they have work, but they may not be work of faith. So you as a young person, do you do the work of faith, the labor of love?
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Do you do things out of love? I remember last year here.
A theme that keeps recurring from some of the younger ones that commented was love. We need to show love, don't we? But what is love?
Is spoon feeding love and we have many mothers here. How long do you spoon feed your little one? I don't see mothers here chasing a nine year old trying to spoon feed. There are times that we've got to show love from a different weight depending on what it is and what part of the pathway they're in. We shall love differently and I use this example before and please bear with me on that. Have you heard it before? So if a nine year old come to you and as a parent and say.
I'd like you to buy me firecrackers.
Would you say out of love I will buy my son firecrackers? No, you know better now. Of course, as a child we don't understand. I want the firecrackers and my parents won't give it to me.
And some of us are so wayward that that's OK, I'll find a way to get it.
Is that love or is it because you don't care? It is love that you don't want your children. And at that age they do not understand what the consequence of having what they wanted. And perhaps one morning you look out there, you see the son of yours with a bandage around his hand. And young man, I know this phrase is quite common. What happened to your hand? Nothing.
Did the firecracker didn't work too well? It exploded too early? I don't know. But as a mother, we know what love is. The mother don't sit there and scold the child because he somehow got the firecracker and it exploded in his hand. So we know in this case that we all love exhibit. You look after that first, don't we, Michelle? I see Bandit out of hand. You didn't have firecrackers, right?
So the labor of love it could be simple thing is when a brother is in difficulties.
You know, I never saw this. When I come to a conference, everybody looks so nicely dressed, smile on the face.
And now?
As I'm approaching perhaps my later days, my latter years, I see that there are difficulties.
It seems that many assemblies, many families in the assemblies, have various sorts of difficulties.
Could be employment with money. It could be family with children.
It could be with so many things in life that hindered our enjoyment from the Lord.
By being there Sometimes the question is, I don't know what to do, just be there. That is labor of love, isn't it Labor of love. And the third thing they already learn this new Christian was the fact that.
They have hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh dear, once do we forget that.
When we are redeemed, we realize how blessed of a portion we have that we have that hope, knowing that we soon shall be with our Savior to be of the Father's house.
Is that fresh in your heart or do we sometimes fall into the trap that say Lord may not come tomorrow? I just bought a new car, at least let me enjoy the car for another day or two. Do we find that? But they have those things in their hearts. I'm going to just.
Jump down to the end of the chapter. I don't want to speak too much longer. Verse 9 for they themselves show us what manner of entering and we had unto you, and how he turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus Christ which deliver us from the wrath to come. There they are. They didn't have it easy.
There are idolatries all around. There are idol worshippers. Do you think we have it bad that we can't freely talk without someone complaining? We're in a land full of idols as well, you know. We pray for our dear brethren in different countries. They perhaps don't have a lot, perhaps hunger, perhaps poverty.
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But you know, in a land for plenty, we have different problems. The Lord put us through different trial. We have pride, don't we? We have idleness. We have different problems. You know, I said to a client one day, I said, yeah, it's, it's kind of bad to see that there are temples in the city of Toronto. You see various temples being put up. I said those idol worshippers, He said, what do you mean? He said you.
Worshiping idols all along. You had those idols for years now is it? What idols?
You go up downtown, just look up how many tall buildings do you see? What's on it? The banks name.
You folks worship money just the same. Oh, there are different kinds of idols. That's why we're told to be careful with these idols. So when we don't even know what we don't know, we go on. And perhaps do you want you at that stage? And I pray that you see and hear the Word of God working in your hearts.
That you need to be safe. You need to come to the Lord for help, in fact.
Let me change the statement a bit. Listen to, hear, and see that the Lord is working in your hearts to save you. And then once we're saved, we learn something, don't we? We learn there's so much we don't know, but yet there's so much we want to know.
And then the third phase is the toughest because when we think we know what we think, we can expand some scriptures. Then we walk into dangerous ground, don't we? But then we're really is going toward that phase where we shall know. I like to read to him before I step down and let someone else have the time there. If you look at Mr. Darby's hymns.
Those of his hymns are not about problems here, but rather.
Heaven words go through that as an exercise, but I'm going to just read one for your encouragement. This is what we shall understand, shall see, shall walk in the good of it without worry. He sees this hymn #270 We're not going to sing it. I'll just read part of it, maybe all of it, he said. And shall we see thy face and hear thy heavenly voice?
Do we have that in our hearts and be reminded why we are here?
Do we say that within ourselves? And shall we see thy face and hear thy voice? Well known to us in this present grace? Oh, as I sing that I go. Is he really well known to me in this present grace? We think that Well known to us in this present grace. Well may our hearts rejoice. Do we do that while he's looking back, as if it were, And enjoy that.
The in garments white but the darkness all around us. No, let's oversee that we are heavenly citizens. We are already lifted up in heavenly places in Christ. If he be risen with Christ, we're told to seek those things which are above where Christ is with thee.
Garments white. Lord Jesus, we shall walk, and spotless in that heavenly light of all thy sufferings, Talk close to thy peers at side in fellowship divine. No clouds, no distance. Air shall hide glories that then shall shine. I'm going to skip down to the second.
Verse six we wait. Do we really believe in that as we sing it?
And I trust that you would turn and look at these hymns for your own, for your own hearts to enjoy. We wait to see the Lord, yet now within our hearts Thou dwells in love that doth afford the joy, the joy that love imparts, yet still wait for thee to see thee as thou art be with thee.
Like thee, Lord and free.
To love with all our heart.
Restoring Fellowship with God 1 John 1
Open—Bob Thonney
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Let's turn to 1St John chapter one.
This is the first ministry meeting of the conference.
And here we have in verse one, the beginning.
It's helpful to go back to the beginning, isn't it?
In this life, in this chapter, we have about the light that our brother has been talking about. But let's just read this chapter. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it.
And bear witness, and show unto you.
That eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.
That ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father.
And with his Son Jesus Christ, and these things rightly unto you that are, your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declaring to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie.
And do not the truth, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship.
One with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in US. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in US.
Interesting.
To meditate on John's writings, John does not speak of the church as the as such. He speaks of the believers as the family of God. And so we have in John one verse 12 to them which received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God to them that believe on his name.
Which were born not of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And so it's a matter of being born into God's family, and those that are born into God's family have the characteristics of those by whom they were born. God is manifest, has manifested himself in the person of our Lord Jesus. And so the beginning in this verse one is not the beginning. We have in Genesis 1 The beginning of creation.
It is not the beginning. We have in John chapter one where you have.
In the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is the beginning of the manifestation of an eternal life in this world. When the Lord Jesus came into this world, that's the beginning of the manifestation of eternal life. Verse two says the life was manifested and we have seen it.
For the first time, eternal life could be seen in a real person in this world, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's beautiful how he speaks of it here in verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon or contemplated.
And our hands have handled of the word of life.
In this amazingly wonderful brethren, that we have been brought into the full revelation of who God is in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that is amazingly wonderful. We need to stop and think through that a bit.
You know, the Muslim people say that God is unknown and unknowable. You and I can know God, yes.
Isn't that amazing and wonderful? God has become a man in the person of the Lord Jesus and has demonstrated to us who God really is and eternal life is to know the only true God.
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And Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. So eternal life, sometimes we think of eternal life is something that goes on and on and on and forever. That's true, but it's really a lot more than that. Eternal life is to revel, to know the person of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior who came into this world. They heard him.
They saw him, They looked upon him. What's the difference between seeing and looking upon him?
Oh, brethren, and sight of somebody. I might see a person in the street, and I saw that person today. Have I been just a glance? But looking upon him, contemplating, is a lot more detailed. Somebody has said it this way and I have enjoyed it. One look to Jesus saves the soul. Every after look is the power of Christian living.
So look at him.
Oh, the more you look at him, the more you will see only perfection. You know, it says in the Old Testament, O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. You start magnifying men. Brethren, we need to be careful about doing that because when you magnify men, what's going to come up is their defects.
But the more you magnify the Lord Jesus, all you will see is complete perfection. You look at the Lord Jesus when they brought that woman taking an adultery to him, what a serious sin that was. And they said Moses and the law said we should stone this woman. What are you saying? They thought they had him in a bind, but the Lord Jesus didn't answer. Sometimes it's best not to answer right away.
He stooped down and wrote on the ground, and when he stood up he said.
Let him that is without sin among you, cast the first stone at him, at her.
That wasn't an answer to their question. That was an answer to their conscience.
How important that is, how much we can learn from that. Then he Stoops down and writes again. And all those that accused her went out, till it was only the woman there and the Lord Jesus. And she said, woman, where are your accusers? As no man condemned you. She said, No man, Lord, he said, neither do I condemn thee.
No more. Wait a minute. He was without sin. He could cast a stone at her, but He had not come for that purpose. He had come not to condemn. He had come to say, did He make light of her sin? No. Oh what perfection it is. The more you see Him in detail, the more you see the perfection. His glorious person. But I like it. The end of this verse one.
That which our hands have handled.
You know, to handle a person you have to get really close, and God has come so close in the person of the Lord Jesus.
That the apostles could say our hands have handled of the word of life.
The word life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. There's the fellowship of the apostles.
They wrote it out. We have their writings in the New Testament, and the purpose of that is so that we can have fellowship with them. But it doesn't stop there. It says, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. So the fellowship of the apostles leads us into the fellowship of the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I think this is so amazingly wonderful.
Are we reading the scriptures? Dear young people, dear older ones I see so often neglect of reading the scriptures.
Please take time to read every day something of the precious Word of God, and don't read it just flipping over one part and one time and another part another time.
Re consecutively.
So that you can understand the message that's been given to us, how important that is. You take time to feed your physical body every day.
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Or is there somebody here that hasn't eaten anything today? I don't suppose there's very many that haven't eaten anything.
Is your body more important than your soul? Oh, how important it is to take time.
To read the scriptures, I was just.
Noticing the other day I was going to check in how long it took us to read a chapter. I think it was about 40 verses long. I think we read it not too slow, not too fast, but we read it in just a little over 5 minutes. 5 minutes isn't that much. Don't you have that much time to listen? God has given us a wonderful.
Revelation of who He is in the person of the Lord Jesus. And the way we get it is by listening to what has been written, what they heard, what they saw, what they looked upon, what they, how they handled the word of life. May the Lord help us to take time to really listen. I want to encourage you when you read scripture not to read it.
Hastily but to read it.
Really truly listening to what the Lord has to say to you in it. Oh, how living this book is sometimes, you know, we think, well, we've gone over this chapter quite a few times. I think I know what it talks about. Don't worry about going back over it again and again. It is living the living word of God. So in verse three we have.
The fellowship of the apostles, and then it says true lair fellowship is with the Father.
And with his Son Jesus Christ, you know, brethren, we have been made for fellowship. That's the way we are as creatures. A person by himself does not heal himself complete. When God made Adam, he said it is not good that man should be alone. So he made him and help me for him. We are made for companionship. God himself is a triune being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Chapter of the Bible it says God said let us make man in our image who's talking. God in his triune being is communicating and so we are made to communicate.
And above all, it's with God to know God as our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse four says these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full.
Not half full.
I can say to you right now that if you are not walking in fellowship with the Father and his son, your heart is rather empty. And this is the answer to that emptiness of heart is to walk in fellowship with the father and his son. You know the word fellowship occurs.
Four times in this chapter, two times in verse 3.
Once in verse six and once in verse 7. If you notice in verse seven says if we walk in the light as his in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
So what I want to point out here is that fellowship, one with another does not come first in this chapter.
Yes, I enjoy fellowship with my brethren, going from country to country to see that the same spirit in our dear brethren in other countries. What a wonderful thing it is to have fellowship. But that's not first. What's first is fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, and then the measure that you enjoy that fellowship with the Father and his Son. And I do too, when we meet up together, the result is that there's fellowship between us as well.
Oh, how important to keep those things in perspective. Sometimes. I think sometimes we get so focused on meeting together, and meeting together is important. Don't let me.
Put that in any way down, but that's not first first is fellowship with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and then fellowship one with another has its very definite important place. So when we come to verse five, he says this is the message which we have heard of him and declaring to you that God.
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Is light.
And in Him is no darkness at all. Light and darkness do not mix. In the very first chapter of the Bible, God divided the light from the darkness. You can't mix the two things. They don't mix. God is light and then Him has no darkness at all.
What a basic statement, how important that is. We live in a World of Darkness.
And we are light in the Lord. We are light in the Lord because our God is light. We are born of God. We are to walk as children of light. And so in verse six, I want you to notice the very the 1St 3.
Or the 1St.
Yes, the 1St 3 words of verse six if we say. Notice the 1St 3 words of verse eight if we say notice the first few words of verse 10 if we say you know, it's easy to talk.
But the Scripture tests our talk here. It's easy to talk. If we say verse six that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. John doesn't put anything in shades of Gray, puts it in black and white so he can tell just where you are in connection with the truth of God, how important that is.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness.
You know, we can say I'm walking with the Lord, I'm fine.
That's easy to say, but the reality sometimes is different. Lord help us, brethren.
But in verse seven it says if we walk in the light as his in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And notice the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Sin is what breaks fellowship between man and God, and between brother and sister and brother and brother as well. Sin breaks fellowship. God has provided the means by which that which breaks fellowship can be taken away.
And I think it is beautiful to see that that's the basis that we can come back to God in repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus and have our sins washed away. It's not that every time we sin as believers that the blood of Christ continues to wash us. No, the blood washes once for all when we've accepted the Lord Jesus. After that, we need the washing of water by the Word.
And that's a constant daily.
Activity that the Word of God washes us, so the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins. God so wants fellowship with us that He has provided at all costume self that which can take away that which hinders fellowship.
I like to look at the last three verses of this chapter as the way.
For restoration when fellowship is broken, said it so many times in Latin America. And I think it is important point salvation is something that can never be lost.
Scripture is very clear about that. There are those who perhaps have said they are believers, but they really weren't in their hearts and they wander off and.
Who knows if they were real in the 1St place, but once salvation is truly possessed, it's something that can never be lost. What can be lost is fellowship. Here I am walking down the street and the Lord has promised never to leave me nor forsake me. He's right there with me.
And we're walking along in fellowship and I have a temptation to tell a little white lie.
And I do now is their fellowship.
No, no way. Can there be fellowship? Is he still there? Yes, he's still there.
What I have to do, and I find that so many young people don't understand how to get back into fellowship once you've lost it.
Remember a young brother in South America that we went to visit one time that had been.
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Strayed for quite a while, little over a year and we went to visit him in his home and.
We asked him, as did you ever confess what you did to the Lord?
He put his head down, thought for quite a while, and he said, No, I just confessed it to the brethren.
I said that's the problem, it's to the Lord you need to confess it first of all. And so that's what we have in verses 8-9 and ten. I just want to point out if you look at verse 8 and verse 10, they're quite similar, but there's a difference. Verse 8 says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US. Verse 10 says if we say that we have not sinned, we.
Liar and His word is not in US. Notice the difference between those two verses.
Verse eight is the root of sin that is in US. Verse 10 is the act of sin that is committed. Why do we sin? Because of that root of sin, that sin nature in US and sometimes we don't recognize that we like to blame others, just like Adam who said the woman who you gave me.
She gave me to eat and Eve said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat. So we like to push the blame on somebody else. If I have sinned, I am the guilty party and I need to recognize it and confess it to the Lord. So not only do we confess the act of sin in verse 10, but we need to confess the reason we sinned is because of that.
Sin nature that there is in each one of us. Then verse 9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Doesn't say if we ask for the forgiveness of sins. No, it says if we confess. And there's a big difference between those two things.
If I ask for the forgiveness of sins, I'm calling into question the disposition of the person I've sinned against.
That's not what's necessary because God has already showed himself to be disposed to forgive us. We don't have to ask for forgiveness of sins.
Sometimes people say, well the Lord taught his disciples to say forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. That was before redemption was accomplished on the cross. You look in your Bible, after redemption is accomplished, you will never find it necessary to ask God for forgiveness. We might have to ask our brethren for forgiveness, but not God. He has shown Himself to be disposed to forgive us. What does God want then?
He wants confession.
Just say what you did. That is confession.
Number one young brother who?
Drank too heavily and he lost control. Got drunk.
And he realized he was guilty of something serious. So he came to an older brother, said this is what happened to me. So the brother read this verse nine and they kneeled down to pray. He says you have to confess it to the Lord. Oh Lord.
I really messed up this time. I really made a terrible mess of things. The older brother nudged him and says tell him what you did.
So he starts out again and he says, oh Lord, I was in bad company. And he starts off again in another Tell him what you did.
Oh Lord, I got drunk.
That's confession. Say it just the way it is. It's what He wants. Doesn't He know about it? Yes, He knows about it, but He wants you to say so. That's confession. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You as a believer can't even do the cleanup job.
Even though you are a believer, you can't do the cleanup job.
Confess it. He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. I do want to make a point that when it says forgive here, it's not judicial forgiveness that we're talking about. Judicial forgiveness is that which we receive once for all as a believer in the Lord Jesus.
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This is governmental forgiveness.
Forgiveness that God has in his family doesn't mean that you have sinned, that you have lost your place in the family of God. No, you've lost the fellowship of the Father and his Son, and you need to confess so that he can forgive you. Sometimes say if I say something to my boy, I don't want you going out tonight and he deliberately disobeys me and goes out.
When he comes back in again.
He sees that I'm rather reserved toward him.
And maybe he comes up to me and says, Dad, if I've done anything wrong, forgive me.
Is that going to resolve the issue? Not at all, because he's not confessing anything.
When he confesses it, when he says what he did, you told me not to go out and I did it anyhow. Then there's the basis upon which I can forgive and open up in my love, the display of my love toward him. So these are important points in connection with fellowship and fellowship. Is that normal?
Condition in the family of God the Lord help us to cultivate fellowship again. I say, brother, and are we reading?
The precious word of God on a daily basis. Oh, how important. That is another thing.
That is so important is prayer.
Remember, I think it was Martin Luther who said.
I have so much to do every day that I dare not take any less than three hours to pray.
Brethren, do we know how to pray?
Praying is I find hard work, I don't find it easy work.
But it is important work. It helps me to get into God's way of thinking. Sometimes somebody has said prayer does not change God's mind. It changes my mind so I can think more of God's thoughts. But to take time in prayer before the Lord, when we read His Word, he's speaking to us.
When we pray, we are speaking to him. Both are necessary.
If we are to maintain fellowship, Lord help us brethren to walk.
In the joy of that fellowship with the Father and his son, and as a result, with one another as well.
46 #46 in the back of the book.
Have I an object Lord?
Consensus.
Enjoy your.
Christian Liberty and Unity
Open—Matt Roach
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.
In the time that we have left, I'd like to say share a few thoughts on the idea of Christian liberty.
And Christian unity.
I'd like to read some verses from Romans chapter 14, Romans chapter 14 and beginning in verse one.
Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs. Let him that eateth, Despise not him that eateth not, and let him that eateth not. Judge him that eateth. For God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master? He standeth or falleth. Yeah, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand.
For one man esteem with one day above another, another man esteemeth every day alike. But every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day regardeth that unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not today to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord. For he giveth God thanks, and he eateth not to the Lord. He eateth not and giveth God thanks.
So in this part of the chapter we have Christian liberty.
We have certain things we can enjoy in Christ and we may have different exercises and enjoying those things or not enjoying those things.
I'm going to read some verses in the rest of this chapter, but first I want to go over to chapter 15, kind of the summation of this in verse.
Verse five of chapter 15 it says now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another. According to Christ Jesus, ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is it that on one hand we can have Christian liberty?
On the other hand, we can have like mindedness and unity and be in one mind with each other.
Well, it's what comes in between when we read some more verses in chapter 14. We have responsibility.
We can have liberty before the Lord to enjoy certain things He's given us, and we can also have like mindedness with their brethren.
Because of what's in between, and that's responsibility. So let's read back in chapter 14, verse 7.
So it says, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords. For to this end Christ both died, and rose and revived, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why does thou judge thy brother? Why dost thou said it not thy brother? We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me.
And every tongue shall confess to God.
So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us therefore judge, let us not, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. And I know, and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to the man that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now, walkest thou not charitably?
Destroy not himeth thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Let not your good be evil spoken of. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the thing which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroyed not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with a fence.
Is neither it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine or anything whereby.
Thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. So as Christians there are certain things that we could have liberty to enjoy that someone else walking with the Lord may not have liberty to enjoy. And yet we are called to be like minded and to be of one mind, and that's their responsibility.
To contrast that we live in a world that wants to have liberty, freedom, and they want to have fraternity brotherhood. They may call it inclusivity.
But do they want responsibility in the middle? How can they have freedom in this world? And how can they have any kind of unity?
They don't put responsibility in the middle, they put equality. And equality is horizontal. It seeks to level things out. And for an example of that, suppose you're in in high school. High schools have different levels of math. A second grade, 12, there's kind of your basic math, your intermediate and maybe your advanced math. People can choose based on maybe their intellect or the desire to learn math to go into one of those levels. But let's say the school said we have to have equality of instruction for everyone.
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Does that mean everyone goes up into the top class?
Can you raise the basic understanding of the student with the lowest intellect? No, it brings everybody down. You have to bring all the students down to that base level because equality seeks to level the playing field. It's about each person being a lookout horizontally and say, all right, I'm even with that person. I'm satisfied, though it's not really satisfaction. But how can you have equality?
And have true liberty.
Liberty is the freedom to make choices based on your conscience before God. Equality smooths that out. So the world has to put law in place. They have to create rules to ensure that the playing field is level and that there's equality. You don't get fraternity or unity at the other end. You get servitude. What do we have in in Christ is we have the ability to disagree on certain things within the bounds of Scripture and conscience before God.
Because we live in responsibility to God.
Tells us in verse 12 so that everyone of us will give a count of himself to God. We live in light that we have a responsibility to God.
And a responsibility not to offend others as we continue on reading.
And what I find fascinating about this is this chapter is not about you recognizing what you have freedom to do and insisting on everybody else recognizing that you have that freedom. It's reversed. And let me use this example. Suppose I invite you over to my home on a Sunday for dinner, and I have a beautiful pool in my backyard, and I believe it's OK to swim on Sunday. And perhaps you don't agree with that. You don't believe it's right to swim on Sunday.
If I invite you over, we have our meal.
It's not up to me to think, well, I had a response, I have the liberty to enjoy swimming on Sunday. I'm going to go jump into the pool. And it's not your responsibility or your attitude that you look at me and say I don't agree with winning on Sunday. You better not jump into the pool.
My responsibility as a Christian is to recognize what my brother or sister has in their heart and their conscience before God. I don't worry about what I have the right to do or what my freedom is. I look at my brother or sister and concern and recognize that they may have a different opinion, a different conscience before God and therefore I'm not going to judge them for what they have the liberty or feel the liberty to do or to not do. Instead, I am to recognize that my responsibility.
Towards God is to not to offend, not to judge them. And if you're coming into my home.
Attitude towards me should be the same. It's not about what you're bringing as a right or as a as a liberty that you tried to force upon me. Your attitude should be again responsible for God not to offend me. And if we each come into Christian relationship with that idea of what is the other's conscience before God?
Not what my rights are, my liberties are, but recognizing the other person may have a different liberty.
And seeking in unity with Christ to uphold.
That like mindedness in Christ that we may glorify, that we may have one mind and one mouth, glorify God. Christianity is not about selfishness, it's not about my rights. It's about responsibility towards God. And I think sometimes if we forget the fact that Christians do have liberty in certain things and we draw a hard line or make a rule, then we end up judging our brother or sister and what they have freedom to do before God.
So we need to remember that we have liberty.
Before God and a pure conscience to do certain things others may not have that liberty to do. And yet we need to be like minded and live in unity. And the only way to get those two things together is to remember responsibility. Before God. The world tries to smooth things with equality. Equality can only bring people down and only can be done through law.
But we have a savior that fulfilled that law for us. That doesn't mean that we can do anything we want and expect others to say, well, I can't judge them.
A conscience before God is obviously governed by God's Word, and if we keep that before us.
I believe that our enjoyment of each other will be that much more if we can recognize that we had the responsibility to the other person not to ensure that our response or our freedom is met, but that our brother or sister is is welcomed, is encouraged, and that my attitude is for them.
Rest my soul, the word is.
Done.
And.
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It's now somewhere.
There is something here.
Right.
Personal Exercise vs Uncompromisable Truth
Address—Joseph Countouris
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.
#172 if somebody could start that.
Oh my gosh.
Ask for help.
The message I have this afternoon.
Has to do with the Word of God.
And it's similar to what our brother Matt spoke on this afternoon.
It has to do with the distinction, the difference between a personal exercise and an uncompromisable truth.
A personal exercise and an uncompromisable truth and the dangers and pitfalls and snares that we can get into.
I spoke on this briefly. I spoke on this recently and Dorothy. So for those who are from Dorothy, I apologize for the repetition. I'll appeal to Philippians Chapter 3, which says to speak the same things is not grievous but is safe. So to begin, I'd like to recall our minds to a little bit of church history and if you'll think back to the time of the Reformation.
When there was a recovery of truth.
And.
The two that we know the most or attribute the most of that time frame has to do with what is commonly referred to as sola fida or fida. I don't know how you pronounce that, and it has to do with the thought that justification is by faith alone, as opposed to the thought that works can provide me with justification.
The second is Sola Scriptura.
Which means that the Word of God is the final and only authority for the believer.
Not too long after the 1500s, when these truths were recovered, another truth was brought out, another theological position.
And it was prima scriptura. Prima scriptura presents to us that the Word of God is first. But not only. Things like common sense reasoning traditions also have.
Just as much divine authority in the life of a believer as the Word of God. Now, I'm not up here to teach theological physicians, but just simply to look back in the history of the church to see where the Spirit of God recovered some of these tremendous truths that we hold today.
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And I'd like to ask you a question tonight. What do you hold to Do you hold to the soul and only authority of the Word of God?
Or do you hold two other things as well?
Your mind, human wisdom, tradition, things that you've been raised with.
Or is it only the Word of God? Let's look at look to see what the Word of God says.
Second Timothy chapter 3, Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15.
Says in that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.
Thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Perfect here speaks to us of full growth.
What is missing from this list?
Reasoning traditions, Human wisdom.
They're all missing. Why?
Because what we need is to have the Word of God as the final authority in our life.
What's the difference between a personal exercise and an uncompromisable truth?
Well, before we get to an exercise, oftentimes we have a conviction.
Maybe we read the word of God, we listen to somebody speaking to us, and we're convicted about something. They'll confess. In my life, oftentimes I've been convicted about a great many things and I haven't been exercised to practice them. So it's an exercise.
Let's turn to Acts chapter 24.
An exercise I would.
Say, as this verse is going to tell us, the apostle Paul had an exercise is to act upon a conviction.
Acts 24, verse 16 And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. This was an active exercise in the Apostle Paul's life. He had an exercise to do something.
Now, what's a personal exercise?
I want to make a distinction briefly before we go on that my thought isn't to continue with what our brother Matt was taking up.
Though what I have is related, Matt took up from Romans chapter 14, where we have the thought of Christian liberty and our responsibility towards somebody who is deficient in Christian knowledge. They don't understand Christianity. They still think in that chapter in context, that they had to adhere to Judaism.
And for us to exercise our Christian liberty in front of them.
Was going to cause them to stumble or be offended, meaning they were going to do our personal exercise, which to them would be sin.
We're not talking about somebody who is simply offended because my shoes are brown.
And he says, how could you do that? You should wear black, black shoes. That's not what Romans 14 is talking about.
That's not the aspect that I'm taking out.
So what is a personal exercise interesting versus First Corinthians Chapter 7?
It's interesting to read these verses in light of.
Inspiration of Scripture and to see how the Spirit of God the one who would inspire the entirety of the Word of God.
Could take somebody's personal exercise and it becomes inspiration and there's a few things that are tremendously important in reading these personal exercises of the apostle. So first Corinthians Chapter 7, verse seven for I would that all men were even as myself, but every man hath his proper gift of God one after this man or another after that I say therefore to the unmarried and widows it is good for them if they abide even as I.
That was Paul's personal exercise.
He was a godly man. His personal exercise was to remain unmarried.
Let's look down at First Corinthians Chapter 7, same chapter, verse 25. Now concerning virgins. I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained the mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore, that this is good for the present distress. I say that it is good for a man. So today important to see a distinction here between personal exercise and what we're going to read next, which is uncompromisable truths.
00:10:19
The second thing that is critical to understand in reading these personal exercises is the way the Spirit of God brings it out.
Look at the spirit of the Apostle Paul when he takes up a personal exercise.
He is speaking as one that has this himself.
He even feels as if it would be good if everyone were able to do it because then we would be more free. We wouldn't have the cares of our wife. Wives wouldn't have the cares of their husbands, as he goes on to say. And yet he recognizes that not everyone is going to have the same personal exercise as him, and that's OK.
That's Christianity. That's what is normal to Christianity.
So let's look at a uncompromisable truth to see the distinction. I might also refer to this as a Thus saith the Lord.
It's where we have a verse we can turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 5 that we cannot rest with it. It says what it says. It's doctrinal truth. It is objective, not subjective. It's what the Word of God says, not what the word of God doesn't say. First Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 11 Says, But now I have written unto you, not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner.
With such a one, no not to eat.
Doesn't say if I agree or if I want to, or if anything. It's just. It's just an uncompromisable truth.
It's a doctrinal fact. This is something that we cannot compromise on. If somebody has called this, if somebody is going on in one of those, these sins with such a one, no, not to eat, do not mix with them.
We could turn to many uncompromisable truths. My point isn't to add Scripture to Scripture, but just to bring out these principles. Let's look over at Romans chapter 12, and we're going to see here a verse that presents to us both.
An uncompromisable truth and personal exercise.
Romans chapter 12 and verse two says and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Be not conformed to this world. That's absolute. That's an uncompromisable truth.
It's a thus, saith the Lord, We can't rest with it. Now. How do you apply that?
Why doesn't this first follow with a list of things for us?
Why don't we have a legal standard here?
Why don't we have all my personal exercises after this verse?
Because the way this verse affects me is going to be different than in a way it affects you. The way this verse affects me today is going to be different than in a way it affected somebody 500 years ago. So when we read this verse, we need to read it and understand that this is an uncompromisable truth. Be not conformed to this world. And then we need to take this verse up carefully.
As we apply this verse to our lives and we need to be careful of how we then apply this to other people's lives. Now, why is that? I'm going to ask a series of questions as I go through here. What happens when I take a personal exercise and I push it on someone else, either directly or indirectly?
What do I take up with?
So I've taken something that the Word of God has not specifically said.
I have an exercise about it like the apostle Paul had. Then I take that exercise and I say if it's good for me, it must be good for you.
And I say you should be doing this. What am I taking up with? That is the definition of legality?
Legality.
Let's look over at Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6 and verse 12.
As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised only, lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
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When we take a personal exercise, something that is not an uncompromisable truth.
Something that is not a Thus saith the Lord in the Scripture, and we turn it into an uncompromisable truth for the Saints.
For others, and we present it that way, we're taking up with legality.
And we're seeking to just simply make a fair show in the flesh. But it's just the flesh.
It's the flesh in its religious form, which is just as nauseating to God as the flesh in its license form in its worldly form.
When I do this, I have dominion over your faith. The apostle Paul exercised himself in Second Corinthians chapter one to not have dominion over the Saints over their faith. We don't want to have dominion over one another's faith. But by forcing my personal exercise on you, I would be having dominion over your faith because that thing that I'm forcing you, forcing you to do, is not faith.
Let's go back one chapter.
How serious is legality? I find that, at least among the gathered Saints.
I feel that legality oftentimes gets a pass.
And I know that there's it's often that people cry legality and really what they want is a looser path. I understand that.
But we can take those thoughts and we can erase our failures and our shortcomings, the areas where we have gone after legality.
And I believe that it often gets a pass because it looks godly. It looks the part, and if something can just look the part, we're OK with. It makes our assemblies look good. Looks like we have an assembly that's really going on well, even though it's just a fair show in the flesh.
That's not what God wants. In fact, let's read these verses. It's condemned Galatians chapter 5 and verse seven. You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not from him that calleth you. A little, little Levin leaveneth the whole lump.
The Word of God says that to take up with legality for me to push my personal exercise on you, it would be sin. It would be sin. Oftentimes what happens is I have exercises and those exercises come and go. And I'll have an exercise and I'll push it on the Saints and I'll go over some of these later ones that I have done and then that exercise will go and.
I'll take up with another exercise.
But I never judge.
The sin Remember, our brother was just standing up here.
Earlier today. And he said if we sin, we have to confess it to the Lord, the sin that we committed.
Have we taken up with pushing personal exercises on the Saints? Has it been for their benefit? Does the Word of God outline to us that that is for their benefit, to push uncompromisable personal exercises as if they're uncompromisable truths? I ask you think about it, and if and if you have done it as I have done it, we need to confess it.
Confess it as sin, and if we don't, a little leaven leavens the lump.
We always like to look perhaps out at Christianity and apply these verses to organizations that horrify us.
How does this apply to us? How do these verses apply to you and I? Have I pushed my thoughts on others?
Galatians, chapter 2, verse 21.
I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain. How important is this subject?
At the heart of this subject is the cross.
The cross.
When we take up with the law either as justification for a believers life or for merits to stand before God, I take up with the law and Christ is dead in vain. What was the point of the cross if I can merit a standing for myself or force you to merit a standing before God? What was the point of the cross? And yet the cross stands as the answer to man's depravity, being unable to.
00:20:06
So, so to take up with that which has failed is to set aside the cross. We can't do that. It's not profitable. It won't benefit the Saints.
Why do we fall into this snare?
Well, on the one hand, we fall into this snare because.
We have an idea of what godliness is and our lives are made-up of following the word of God, following uncompromisable truths, but then having personal exercises. And oftentimes we take that idea that we have at any given time and we think that this is the model way for the Saints to go on. And oftentimes what we do then is we fail and we fall into the snare of the the enemy and we try to get.
Unity.
Through uniformity.
That'll never work.
Another reason that this this snare comes into play is because as our brother was exhorting us this morning to read the word of God, we need to read the word of God.
If I need to know what the Word of God says for myself, because it's the final authority, I actually have to put the time in to the Word of God to read it, to know what it says. But it's a lot easier just to come perhaps to meeting and to sit down and to have somebody tell me what they think it means and we begin this vicious cycle.
We have to, each one of us, dig into the Word of God.
What does Galatians 5 present to us?
It presents to us the end result of taking up with legality and and assemblies, and that is biting and devouring. How is it that you can have an assembly where you have brothers who agree even on personal exercise and uncompromisable truths? They almost agree completely and yet that assembly is ridden with biting and devouring.
Because the Bible says that's what's going to happen.
He says if we take up all the gap with legality then we're going to bite and devour.
Now we can either stop and say the word of God says this.
There's something in it for me.
Or we can gloss over it and act as if it's not happening. Or perhaps we need to actually judge.
Where I have taken up with this. Confess to this sin. Recognize it for what it is, Recognize how God sees it.
And then go on according to what God has said.
Next question, how do I take up with the Word of God in a way that does not deny this truth?
Let's look at Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
And verse 9 says, be not carried away with diverse and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. Would you like change in your assembly? Would you like zeal and real growth in your assembly? Would you like that in your life? Would I like that in my life? You know the way that I get that in my life?
It's not by.
Creating a fence or a fold by going to Old Testament truths.
It is by understanding and dwelling and thinking about grace found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Considering what he did, where he came from and where he went to.
Other than that, it will not profit them that are occupied. That's what the Bible says, it will not profit.
Let's look at another verse in First Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6.
I'm going to read this in the new translation, the Darby translation.
That there's one verse.
That I would like everyone in this room to walk away with this afternoon. It is this verse.
And to go home and to think about this verse and to study this verse and just ask, what does it mean?
Now these things, brethren, have I transferred in their application to myself in a policy for your sakes, that you may learn in us the lesson of not letting your thoughts go above what is written.
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That you may not be puffed up for one up one for such a one against another. I trust we all know First Corinthians. These first four chapters deal with division. Division that came in as a result of human wisdom.
Human wisdom that was expounded by gifted men, gifted men who had people rally around them depending on the different views that they presented, extra biblical truth. And so one person would stand up and he would present something, human wisdom, extra biblical truth. It was beyond Scripture. And you know what would happen at Corinth? There was about 20 of them, let's say. And they all said that, brother, he's got real discernment. He can see what I can't even say.
I don't see that in the Bible. And they'd rally around him and the next person would do it, and the next person would do it.
And pretty soon there were divisions.
In that assembly, all rallying around teachers.
And the apostle Paul comes in, and he presents himself and Peter, Apollos, in the place of these teachers who are doing this, who are presenting human wisdom, extra biblical truth, as if it was divine.
And he told them, as we have in this verse.
Learn the lesson in US of not letting your thoughts go above what is written. What a safeguard.
That you and I, everyone in this room.
Can see what God wants us to do because we all can read what God wants us to do.
For me to go beyond what is written.
Would for me, would be for me to offend in these points. Let me give you an example. Imagine the apostle Paul, he writes First Corinthians. He tells them that my judgment is I think it's best if you remain unmarried, don't get married.
And the reason I think that it's good that you don't get married is because that you can serve the Lord freer. You don't have a wife, you won't have children, you won't have to provide a home and covering. You'll be able to just serve the Lord.
Is that true? Yes, it's true. Now imagine if he went around after writing this epistle. The pistol gets sent around, It's read in the different assemblies.
And he comes to an assembly and he comes up to you and he says, don't get married. Getting married is wrong. And you say, well, I thought you, I thought you wrote, I thought you said.
No, no, no, don't get married. They'd be wrong. I'm not married. You don't get married.
You know what Paul would be doing? He would be offending in this verse. This verse says don't let your thoughts go above what is written. Even the apostle Paul who wrote Scripture could not let his thoughts go above what is written. He couldn't do it. Can you and I do it? Can we come up with extra biblical truth? Can we read in between the lines of Scripture? We can't, Not without harming ourselves or harming others.
The greatest safeguard that we have is sticking to the sole authority of the Word of God as the Word of God, as God gave it what is written.
What are some ways that we practically deny the sole authority of Scripture? What are some ways that we have struggled with?
The first one I'd like to look at is traditions.
Let's look at 2nd Thessalonians 2.
Because somebody may turn here.
As a justification for using traditions, what is a tradition?
That's continuing on with what has always been done, because if it's always been done, it must be the right thing to do, right? OK, so Second Timothy, Second Thessalonians.
Two verse 15.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught. Somebody might say, well, this, this is telling us we need to hold the traditions right. Let's keep reading. Context is always key, whether by word or our epistle.
Whether by word or our epistle, this word traditions could be translated instructions. The same thought is in the next chapter.
It has to do with the thought of the Apostle Paul handing down instructions as he would travel around, either by word or by writing it down.
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It's not teaching for us to continue on with what has always been done because it must be always right. Let's look at Mark Chapter 7.
Mark Chapter 7.
Verse six. He answered and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah Isaias the prophet prophesied of you hypocrites, prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people on earth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Teaching for doctrines, for truths, for uncompromisable truths.
The commandments of men for laying aside the commandments of God ye hold to, ye hold the tradition of men.
As the washing of pots and cups and many other such things such like things you do.
What a rebuke have we taken up with traditions? Give you an example of the tradition and the danger of it.
Lord's Day morning in our assembly.
Oftentimes when we remember the Lord in his death, when the Money Box has gone around, I believe it's when the Money Box has gone around or just before the money boxes. Put that back onto the table and the loaf is covered and the the we have a little.
Like handkerchief that covers the wine glasses and it gets folded and everything gets nice and neat.
And week after week, somebody does this.
It's a tradition.
Is there anything wrong with traditions?
Traditions in and of themselves, I would say there's nothing wrong with them.
You might have family traditions. Maybe you have pizza every Friday night. Maybe you go shopping every Saturday.
It's a tradition. Things you do in your family. Maybe you have a family night. We have a family night in our family. It's a tradition. Is there anything wrong with that tradition? No, there's not. That's not what the Lord is talking about. The Lord is talking about when we spiritualize tradition. And so the danger is, is for us to look at that tradition that takes place at the end of breaking of bread and to spiritualize it.
And to say that this is something that is honoring to God and then it becomes a spiritual, uncompromisable thing.
Before you know it, and that's what he's talking about.
There's nothing wrong with putting the bread back together. I'm not telling you that you shouldn't put the bread back together. Or put the little napkin. Fold it up.
But when we spiritualize tradition, things that have just always been done.
And we try to put spiritual weight behind it that won't be for the benefit of ourselves or our assemblies or the body at large.
The next one I'd like to think about or like to talk about is what I would call buffer rules. Buffer rules.
So the Word of God will present to us that there are things that we should not do, but what we like to do because we have the fleshness and the flesh desires law.
Is to create buffer rules in front of those.
And we like to instruct the Saints. Sometimes we like to instruct you young people on these buffer rules.
And our thought is, is that if we can create these buffer rules for the Saints, they will be even less likely to do the sin that is that the Word of God outlines is wrong.
Let's look at Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
Verse 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die. Genesis 33.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, This is Eve speaking. Now God told them, Don't eat. Now Eve is speaking to Satan, to the snake. God hath said, Ye shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
What did she do? She created a buffer rule.
Did that buffer rule keep her? It didn't.
In fact, I would put forward to you that when we create buffer rules, we are more likely to offend in the sin that we are trying to keep ourselves from, because the strength of sin is law. That's what the Bible says. So instead of just taking up what God hath said, that uncompromisable truth, I'm not talking about going as close to it as possible.
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The Word of God instructs us, Turn from it. Walk not by it, turn from it.
Pass away. I'm talking about putting an active rule in front of what God has said. It won't work. It hasn't worked for 6000 years. It's not going to start working today.
Take God up with what he has said, His uncompromisable truths.
What was the first thing that Eve did? She touched it.
And when she touched it, then she ate of it. And I would submit to you that when we create these buffer rules for the Saints, for the young people.
And we present them as uncompromisable truths when they offend our law.
They say, well what's the point? I already offended it.
I might as well go all the way. The strength of law, strength of sin is law.
Those laws do not work. They will not benefit the Saints.
They will not benefit ourselves.
Let's look at another one, another difficulty that we we struggle with.
And it is Brethren, sayings and phrases. Brethren, sayings and phrases.
And so we might say, well, Steve Stewart says, or Robert Bullard says, or Bob Tony says, or Dad says, or Darby says.
Or, Kelly says, maybe somebody likes Kelly better than Darby.
Now.
Am I saying that we shouldn't listen to Steve Stewart?
Robert Brillard, Bob Tony that we shouldn't read Ministry Garvey or Kelly? FB Hole or Hamilton Smith.
I say listen to him and read, dig in, but understand what they were given for.
These men have gifts, they have gifts that were given for the church in some instances or to the church in some instances, and therefore our benefit. But they are for our benefit to know what God has said, not what they have said. And so for example, I'll give you an example, a brother who is back in the Dorothy Assembly.
He went to meeting one time and there was a gentleman came out from school and the gentleman was a Catholic, a Roman Catholic, practicing Roman Catholic.
And after meeting, he was talking to him. They were both in high school at the time, and he was talking to them, to him. And they got into a debate on some point of scripture. And finally this brother and a bit of frustration says, well, Darby says this.
And the Roman Catholic said, who's Darby? Why isn't the word of God enough? Now think about that for a minute. A Roman Catholic saying, why isn't the word of God enough to somebody who's gathered to the Lord's name? Well, this smote that brother.
And the truth that I'm presenting was a help to him and he has passed this down and has been such a tremendous help to many of us.
If we read Darby and we are simply quoting Darby, Darby had a tremendous gift. He was a gift to the church. But if we are just taking up Darby and quoting Darby as if it is divine inspiration, then we just become a Darbyite. That's all we become.
What Darby can be used for, what he should be used for, what he would want to be, I'm sure used for would be to show us what the word of God says.
If we take and rally around anyone, whether it's Darby or Steve, Robert, anybody, we go back to what the same problem was in the in Corinth. We need to make sure that we don't do that. Be careful of brethren sayings and phrases.
Next one human wisdom. First Corinthians chapter 2, the introduction of human wisdom.
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, verse 6. Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the Princess of this world, which come to nought.
Be careful, brethren of human wisdom.
Human wisdom was taken up first in Corinth amidst all of those difficulties. Why? Because if they didn't fix that problem, they couldn't fix any of them. If they didn't fix the issue of not letting their thoughts go above what is written, then they couldn't fix any of them. Not even the moral issue, which they couldn't even comprehend. Or some of them couldn't.
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We have to fix this issue first, allowing human wisdom. Sometimes we think of human wisdom and we think it's like something to do with the world.
Like some crazy idea, but it can be very religious sounding. It doesn't have to be some crazy worldly idea. It's just called human wisdom because it doesn't emanate from the word of God. It comes from our mind, from our thoughts. Don't allow that into divine things. Next one, misuse of scripture.
I'm going to read a verse from Proverbs 24.
Proverbs 24 and verse 21 My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.
This verse has been used an attempt to keep the Saints in a fold.
And we argue that from this verse, we are told that if you want to change anything, then you're offending this verse.
We shouldn't change anything.
I am sure I can just imagine, I'm not sure I can just imagine that Luther was told this verse.
I can imagine that Darby was told this verse. Imagine the change that they went through.
Now.
Should our lives be characterized by change, meaning we get a new job every day? Now, I'm not justifying that.
But if there are Saints who are concerned with tradition and legality and returning to the Word of God as the final authority where an assembly has possibly struggled with that, we shouldn't use verses like this to set that aside. That would be resting with Scripture and offending on this point.
Two more Jeremiah 6 and Proverbs 22.
Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said We will not walk therein.
Proverbs 22 I believe we all know these verses. 28 Verse 28 Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set. Oftentimes these verses are taken up again for the same way that I have just spoken of, not always, but sometimes. And what we're told is that the old paths in the ancient landmarks are what our fathers have said, meaning our literal father or grandfather or great grandfather.
Those men were failing, fleshly men.
The application, the proper application of these verses, if we're going to stick with tradition or whatever it is, is going to be to go back to the Word of God. The old paths are the Word of God. The ancient landmarks are the Word of God. Don't go back to some time in history. Go back to the Word of God, not to somebody's thoughts, not above what is written.
We have to go back to the Word of God.
Another one.
Another area where I believe that we have struggled with and that is adding phrases onto statements to try to make them of more spiritual weight. So for example, I may give a personal exercise to somebody here and then I add on for the glory of the Lord, or because holiness becometh thine house, O Lord. Now if I add on.
A. A phrase from the Word of God to something that is beyond what is written. Does it make it more spiritual?
Does it make it more godly? It doesn't. So imagine Paul again. We'll go back to that example.
He comes to your assembly after saying that his, his judgment was that you shouldn't get married. But every man has their own gift. Every man has their own calling. But then he comes and he tells us, he says don't get married because holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, or whatever it might be to have a willing heart from Exodus, whatever it might be. Does that add spiritual weight?
To what is being said, it doesn't.
What we're really doing is we're trying to rest with Scripture. We're actually perverting it. That isn't a help to the Saints. That isn't a help to our assemblies. That isn't a help to us.
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I want to talk now about the application of this truth, and I'm going to get even more specific than I've gotten already.
And I'm going to talk to you about. I'm going to start with one that I have failed in. But before I do that, I'd like you to think about.
What I've already mentioned tonight, this afternoon, and that is Catholicism. When we think of Catholicism, what do we think about? We think about this, this huge organization with a tremendous amount of doctrinal and ecclesiastical evils.
Does that mean that there's nobody who saved in Catholicism? No, not at all. Or that there's nobody who has life in Catholicism? No, not at all. But as an organization, the truths.
And the false doctrine that are held by that by them is horrendous.
We're horrified at it, or at least I hope that we're all horrified at it. But I'd like to ask you a question.
Where did they start?
Where do they begin?
Where did the thought of transubstantiation begin?
Did it just happen overnight or was there a process?
Steps that were taken.
I know in my life most of these things begin with little steps.
Little steps away from the Word of God, little steps adding to the Word of God. And pretty soon these little steps are huge steps. Now, I don't know where you're at in your life or where your assemblies at and their lives, their spiritual life.
Those in your assemblies.
But I want to ask you.
Does this have any application to us?
Or are we sitting here trying to have this not apply to us?
I'm going to tell you how it applied to men. It wasn't too long ago that I, for all intents and purposes, was a teetotaler. The teetotaler is somebody who writes off the use of wine or alcohol says it's sin.
And I had a personal exercise against drinking any form of alcohol.
But as is often the case when we have a personal exercise and we have all this zeal, it never stays with us, right? And it didn't stay with me. And so in our assembly I began to teach my personal exercise as if it was an uncompromisable truth that if you were to take up with drinking alcohol.
You would be doing something that the Lord is not pleased with.
I used little phrases I picked up along the way when we were going through First Timothy chapter 5 and I said, often times what we want to do is we want to take up with the Apostle Paul's remedy without having Timothy's malady. He had a sickness and I used.
Verses and phrases like that to preach.
Law.
Thou shalt not drink. I justified it with the thought that the Word of God talks about getting drunk and says it. This is sin, it's excess. Don't do it. Be not drunk with wine. And I thought similar to the way the way you thought is that the best way not to get drunk is to not drink at all.
I spiritualized.
A personal exercise.
I went. I let my thoughts go above What is written? What does the word of God say?
The Word of God tells us in Luke Chapter 7.
Verse 34 The Son of Man has come, eating and drinking. You say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a wine Bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.
Now, if drinking is wrong, what have I had just attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ? What do we do every Lord's Day morning?
If drinking alcohol is wrong.
Now.
Am I telling you this afternoon that you should go out and drink? No, I'm not.
Not at all.
There are some here who are too young to drink.
There are some here who possibly have a weakness for drinking and shouldn't drink. There are some here who perhaps know of ones who have a weakness for drinking and you shouldn't drink in front of them, or anyone should drink in front of them.
As we have in context from First Corinthians chapter 8.
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But for us or for me or for anyone to take this personal exercise that I might have, which would be fine for me to say I'm not going to drink, that's OK. But to take that personal exercise and push it on the Saints and to say you shouldn't do that either.
Would be letting my thoughts go above what is written Would be having dominion over faith.
Would be introducing the principle of law would be sin would need to be judged of, repented of.
I had to judge that sin. That was sin.
I would submit to you that if that is your thought to this afternoon.
That more likely there's going to be a difficulty with drinking.
Than otherwise, because the strength of sin is law. I'd like to look at another one.
You and your verse, thee and thou.
Has this ever been pushed?
It's been presented that the endow is more respectful when we address deity.
Is that so? What does the Scripture say? We have to come back to Scripture. And so I'll tell you what I I find in Scripture when I open up the word of God and I looked into this subject, I looked at the pronouns that were used, the personal pronouns that were used. And you know what I found that there was not one personal pronoun that the Spirit of God separated.
For man to use to deity.
Every personal pronoun that is used is used Interchangeable.
Between man and man, between the Lord Jesus Christ and his Father, God and God, between man and the Lord Jesus Christ or between man and God, they're all interchangeable. There's none that are set aside.
So when we come today and we say that we're going to set aside certain personal pronouns because we think it is more respectful, is that an uncompromisable truth?
It's not. Does that mean that I'm telling you you shouldn't pray in you, thee, and thou? No. If you feel it is more respectful to pray and be in Thou, then please continue to pray in thee and thou. But be careful about taking a personal exercise and allowing your thoughts to go beyond what is written and pushing a personal exercise on somebody else.
I've heard others say that this is akin to blasphemy because we remove the truth of the Trinity.
The truth that there are three individual persons in the Godhead, and when we pray in you, we're saying that there's only one.
And this argument takes us outside of scripture and into the English language.
And a simple Google search will show that the personal pronoun U is both singular and plural.
There are other arguments that have been made that I won't take up here, but each one of them.
Is rises to the level of a personal exercise that is not uncompromisable truth. And we need to be careful, brethren, when we take these things and we make them more than they are and we push them on the Saints, it's not for their benefit.
And take another one, pants and skirts. Maybe some of these issues that I'm taking up here this afternoon, they're not an issue to you in your assembly. Maybe you've never heard of them.
But there's many here who have.
Dancing skirts. Let's look over at Deuteronomy chapter 22 and Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse five says the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto the man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.
Does this verse.
Mention pants or skirts.
Is that what is written?
Does it tell us that this is talking about pants or skirts?
I don't think Moses will wear pants.
And in fact, if we were to look into the Word of God and we were to do a word search for skirts, you would find that it is attributed 11 out of 13 times to a man.
Now what is that telling us today?
Well, what that's telling us is that culture is what dictates what we wear. And the culture, when the the Spirit of God gave this verse was different than the culture it is today. And the Spirit of God knew that cultures would change. And knowing that cultures would change, he didn't write down a list of things that you were not going to be able to wear or wear that the list would be endless.
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And yet in every culture and in every time, there are things that pertain to a woman and there are things that pertain to a man. And so, he says, make sure that you're not wearing.
What pertains to a woman? If you're a man or a man woman.
And so in our culture today, what pertains to a woman?
Well, that's a personal exercise. Somebody says, well, women wearing women's pants pertains to a woman, and somebody says men wearing men's pants pertains to a man.
Somebody might say, well, there's a there's a question of immodesty.
The woman's immodest. What about the man? The man I'm honest for wearing pants.
Now there is a question of modesty.
We have to wear what pertains to a woman if you're a woman, and we have to wear what pertains to a man if you're a man in whatever culture you live in. And then we need to find out if there's other verses on the subject. And there are, there's verses that deal with modesty. And so then a woman would have to wear pants that are modest, that pertain to a woman.
That's what Scripture presents and when we try to take up these subjects and we go beyond what is written and we take those personal exercises that we have and we push them on the Saints, it's not for their benefit. It's not for our benefit. We could go on with this list wearing makeup, dress codes in the assembly.
Head coverings.
Hair lengths. The point isn't to come up with a list of things that deal with us now. It's simply to give us the principles for every single one of us in this room to look at, to take inventory in our life, to think about what we hold and then ask ourselves, am I holding a personal exercise in a way that goes beyond what is written? Am I pushing a personal exercise on the Saints and is it harming them? I talked to a brother just recently.
Who is burdened because of the difficulties in his assembly?
The difficulties of what we've been taking up here. And he says every time he tries to take up an address how these things are pushing personal exercises on the Saints, he gets told that you don't, that you need to make sure that you don't offend me and that we need to do things decently in order and all kinds of verses that are out of context of what is being said. Brethren, those things are not helps. This is a difficult topic to take up. It's a difficult thing.
To take these truths up, it's a difficult thing to hear them if we have taken up with them.
And my hope, my prayer is that every single one of us, me included, because I have fallen under the snare and I may fall again. And if I do, I ask that you tell me, Joe, you're letting your thoughts go above what is written. And I ask you to be willing to listen and hear. If somebody comes to you and says you're letting your thoughts go above what is written, don't let your thoughts go above what is written.
I know where time is up. I want to give 3 warnings 1 to husbands. Husbands, we have wives.
Let's look at a verse real quick. First Corinthians 9.
Verse 5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?
Our wives are made in God's order to be subject to us, not because we're smarter or better or more spiritual, just simply God's order. But our wives have exercises. They have personal exercises, and we need to be careful as husbands that we don't run over them with their exercises. Be careful about that, parents.
Be careful when you're raising your children.
As I have raised my children and failed in this very thing, and we present things to our children and our children say, well, why is that? And we don't have a real good answer from Scripture. And so we spiritualize it and we add things to it and we make it seem to them as if it's more spiritual than it is. And they go out and all the zeal of a little child.
We're going to harm them. We're going to harm them. Don't do that.
Just tell them this is daddy's personal exercise. This is mommy's personal exercise. It's just what we hold.
I don't celebrate Christmas. I think that Christmas for myself is not right.
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I think it is returning to the rudiments of this world, but if somebody else celebrates Christmas.
Is that OK? Yes, it's OK, But I can raise my kids to think that if somebody sells rates Christmas, they're akin to the devil. We need to be careful. We need to be very careful, young people.
You're going to return to your homes, you're going to return to your local assemblies, you're going to have older ones in your assemblies who have.
The Spirit who take the spiritual lead.
In your assemblies, and maybe you're going to return to them and you're going to say, what about these things that we've heard? I feel like you're taking up things that are beyond scripture.
And if they repeat to you, I don't care what was said, this is what we do. Or whatever it might be, I don't see it that way. Submit to them. That's what the Word of God says. Submit to them. They care for your souls and appeal to a higher authority. Talk to them. Open up the scriptures with them. Don't rebel. This meeting is not about rebellion. It's about all of us understanding what is written in the distinction between not letting our thoughts go above it.
Not about rebelling against your local brethren, that will be of no profit for you or your families or your local assemblies. It's just thank you for the time.
Zedekiah A Message of Hope
Gospel—James Ferguson
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.
We'll start off tonight by singing a hymn from your hymn sheet #17.
Let's sing #17.
Have you any room for me?
All right, let's look to the Lord.
OK, I want to start off with a scripture tonight in Romans chapter 15.
The message that I hope to tell forth this evening is of utmost importance.
Very serious topic. And so I hope that everyone will listen very carefully to what is said because each one of us are going to be responsible for what we've heard tonight, responsible to God. And like I said, this is a serious matter that we're Speaking of tonight. So I hope that you'll listen carefully.
Romans 15, verse 4.
For whatsoever things were were written aforetime were written for our learning.
That we, through patients and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
And so the message that we have tonight is a message of hope.
And you might have guessed it from this verse that I turn to, but I'm going to go back to the Old Testament, look at a number of scriptures and look at 1 Character in particular who isn't necessarily a character. While it is not, I should say, a character who would fill us with hope. But when we look at this man's life, we can apply the lessons to ourselves. That's what this verse says that we should do.
That the things were written that were written for our learning. We can apply the lessons to ourselves. We can make.
Right decision about the Lord Jesus Christ and because of that we can have hope in our hearts.
00:05:08
Knowing what will shortly come to pass, so I want to look at a King of Judah. He was the Last King of Judah before.
Judah was captured by the Babylonians and.
He was the Last King, and his name starts with the last letter of the alphabet. AZ sounds like Hezekiah, which I'm sure many of us know. But the king who I want to talk about, his name was Zedekiah and maybe to some of the younger ones. You might not be real familiar with King Zedekiah, but we're going to talk about him, see what sort of choices he made and.
We'll present the Gospel message tonight, So second Kings 24.
So where we'll start off? Second Kings 24 and.
Verse 17.
It says. And the king of Babylon made Matania his father's brother king, and instead and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was 20 and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Ham, Utah, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
According to all that Jehoiakim had done. Let's pause there for a minute. So we're reading about this king.
Zedekiah, I want to look at his family situation for a moment.
And I could be wrong on this, but I was reading in some other verses here in Kings and there was a king, his name was Josiah. Very good king followed the Lord, did that which was right.
And after Josiah, he had a son. His name was Jehovah has.
He reigned, it says in the previous chapter, just three months in Jerusalem.
And then he was replaced by his brother Jehoiakim. I should mention Jehovah has was not a good king at all. A wonderful father. Like many of us sitting here in this room, we have a father who loves the Lord and wants to bring us up for him. But Jehovah has didn't seem to have any want to have anything to do with that.
So his brother replaced him on the throne, Jehoiakim.
Also Josiah's son Jehoiakim was number better than Jehovah has did evil he reigned for.
I think it was about 11 years. I see. And then his son was.
Jehoiachin not a good king either, and Jehoiachin lasted only.
Three months, I believe. And then and then we pick up the story where we started off in verse 17 and we see that.
Zedekiah is.
Jehoiachins uncle, or you could say Jehoiah Kim's brother. So Jehovah has Jehoiah Kim, Zedekiah I believe are all brothers. They're all sons of Josiah, a good king who did that which was right. But none of these three brothers did right in the sight of the Lord. Instead it says about each of them that they did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And I believe that each of our lives can be summed up in such a simple way as well. Either we do that which is right in the sight of the Lord or.
It would be a sad thing if it were said about us that we did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and.
Of course it has to do with our works, but I think when I'm standing here this evening, it has mostly to do with what we would do with the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, the one that he sent down here to save us from our sins.
If we would accept God's offer of salvation that he freely offers to each one of us here tonight, even if we do a lot of things that aren't quite right, I think it would be said that we did that which was right and that we obeyed the word of the Lord and believed in his Son. But if we choose to neglect the offer that he has for.
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Us this evening.
Of believing in his Son, the Lord Jesus.
I think it would. God would have to say we did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, even if we did all sorts of other good works and good things. There are many people who do all kinds of wonderful things, but they don't have faith.
And you know what God says about that?
I won't flip to it, but Isaiah 64 verse 6.
God says all your righteousnesses are as filthy rags, so no matter what we try to do to please God, we know that from His word. He says without faith it is impossible to please God and so that's why He sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins and if we would believe in Him.
If we have faith in the Lord Jesus.
We can be saved from our sins another verse if we're trying to please God and get to heaven by works.
Would be found in the book of Titus. I believe it would be chapter 3. It says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. He has saved us and it's it's just the mercy of God.
That he would see us in our condition as sinners.
Before God, and that he would.
Make a remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ, and send him.
Into this world today at Calvary's cross for us.
Verse twenty of Second Kings 24 for through the anger of the Lord.
It came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Chapter 25. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the 10th month, in the 10th day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came he and all his hosts against Jerusalem.
And they pitched against it and they built forts against it roundabout, and the city was besieged. And onto the 11Th year of King Zedekiah.
And on the 9th day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was number bread for the people of the land, and the city was broken up.
And all the men of war fled by night, by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the King's garden.
Now the Caldes were against the city roundabout, and the king went the way toward the plain.
It's going to stop there for now.
I want to mention too that.
Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign. We had read that earlier. Maybe there's somebody here who's 21 years old.
I remember being 21, it's a tough age to be. You have a lot of decisions to make at that age.
Maybe what you're going to do for a job who you would hope to spend the rest of your life with.
Where you're going to live, many big decisions at the age of 21. So important to be reading the word of God, to have faith in him to help you in these decisions. So it could be said of us that we did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
And not that which was evil. We see that Zedekiah reigned for 11 years.
So he would have stopped raining when he was 32 years old.
A little bit younger than I am now and he had a lot of responsibility.
In those eleven years, being the king of Judah.
But he would have had a similar responsibility in his own soul between him and God that you and I have tonight. And we see that he didn't make.
A wise decision.
And I hope that that's not said about you.
I want to look at a parallel portion in Second Chronicles 36.
Versus.
11 to 16.
Zedekiah was one and 20 years old when he began to reign and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord is God and humbled, not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking.
From the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God.
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But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning onto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the House of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
And the Lord God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up be times and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
So what can we learn from this portion?
Zedekiah would not humble himself before Jeremiah. What words did Jeremiah speak to Zedekiah?
Says that they were words from the mouth of the Lord. Tonight we all in this room have our Bibles open and these are words from the mouth of the Lord.
Their words that God has written down that we would do well to read it.
And to not only read it and hear it like you are tonight, but to obey it. And God has clearly said in His word that we are born in sin and shaping and iniquity all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that our sins have separated us from our God. And there is no way for us to come into the presence of God in our sins.
And so that's why.
He sent his son, his one and only son.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God himself down into this world.
But Zedekiah also says of him, that he stiffened his neck, and he hardened his heart to turn unto the Lord God of Israel.
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or do you have a stiff neck?
That means that you won't turn your head to look another way, you're just going to continue on in your own way.
Because you think it's best? Do you have a hard heart? All these words that are spoken tonight.
Do you feel like they don't apply to you? Do you feel like you're different than Zedekiah?
Or do you feel like God doesn't see you?
Remember that it says Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the Lord.
God sees you where you are right now.
Not only does he see you on the outside, but we know in the book of Samuel.
It says that God sees not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
God sees where your heart is at tonight.
He offers you salvation and He would love for you to accept it.
We see that God sent many messengers and prophets.
Because he had compassion on his people.
And he has compassion on you tonight. He loves you.
But what did they do with God's messengers? Verse 16? They mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, misused his prophets, and it says that the wrath of the Lord arose till there was no remedy. And we know that they got taken into captivity in Babylon.
Because of their wickedness, but thank the Lord.
He has sent a remedy in his Son Jesus, that one who was crucified at Calvary's cross and shed his precious blood.
Let's go back to 2nd Kings 25 and I want to read a few more verses. I want to read what happens to Zedekiah.
Because it doesn't end well for him.
So Zedekiah is running from the Chaldeans from King Nebuchadnezzar.
It says that he.
Fled by night by the way of the gate. He probably thought if he was able to escape by night, he'd be able to run and nobody would see him, and he might be able to escape.
What is Hebrews 2 Say to us?
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? There is no escape, is there?
00:20:07
And Zedekiah did not escape this judgment that was looming on him.
Second Kings 25, verse 6.
Sorry, verse five and the army of the Khaldi's pursued after the king.
And overtook them in the plains of Jericho, and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Ribla. And they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. What a sad state.
For the King of Judah to be in.
He didn't. It didn't have to end this way.
But what did they do? They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
What a sad thing.
Does anyone remember how old Zedekiah?
Was when this happened he was 21 years old when he began to reign. He reigned for 11 years would make him 32 years old. Do you think those sons were very old?
I'm maybe a year older than Zedekiah was and my oldest daughter is 8 years old.
Not very old. I wouldn't imagine these sons would be much older than my kids. They were killed before. Zedekiah's very eyes might have been the last thing he saw before they took his eyes out.
How well do you think Zedekiah could see once he had no eyes?
Not very well, could he?
You know what?
Those sons that were killed.
They remind me of another son who was killed. God the Father, the Father sent the Son.
To be the savior of the world and the Lord Jesus was killed.
Not because of anything that he had done, not because of anything his father had done. He was killed because of what I have done, because of what you have done. He was bruised for our transgressions, wounded for our iniquities, and he willingly was crucified at Calvary's cross.
To pay our penalty of sins, if you would accept him.
Well, Zedekiah wouldn't be able to see very well with his eyes taken out, and that was the judgment that the king of Nebuchadnezzar had pronounced on him.
And there's judgment pronounced for you if you do not accept the Lord Jesus.
Heaven is real and it's a place, and we can read about it in God's Word, and hell is for real.
And it's a place. And in the book of Jude, it's described as the blackness.
Of darkness forever.
So.
A solemn thing, but if somebody in this room would end up in that place.
I think they'd see about as much as Zedekiah could see without his eyes.
And I think that their thoughts would be similar to the awful thoughts that Zenaki would have had having just seen his.
Sons killed before his very eyes, before they were taken out. Solemn, solemn portion.
Well, let's flip over here to the Book of Jeremiah.
Chapter 21.
Verses 8:00 and 9:00.
And so God had said that he had sent messengers often to the people, and he sent special messengers to Zedekiah.
Pleading with him to obey the word of the Lord. And one of these messengers was the lamenting prophet Jeremiah.
And in Jeremiah 21, eight and 9:00.
Thus saith the Lord.
I'm starting halfway through the verse. Behold, I set before you the way of life.
And the way of death, He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. But he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that besieged you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
00:25:08
So all Zedekiah had to do.
Was to.
Turn himself in to the Chaldeans and I think.
Would have been a different story for him, but he wanted he tried to run instead.
And he was judged. The Lord says that He set before him the way of life and the way of death. And tonight there is a decision for you. You can choose eternal life, which God has abundantly provided for you, or you can choose the way of death. Let's go over to John 336.
It very clearly gives us.
The two choices that we have.
John, chapter 3, verse 36.
Says he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him life or death.
Believe on the Son everlasting life. Believe not the Son.
The wrath of God.
Romans 623.
I'm sure most here could quote this first by memory. That's a wonderful thing.
But we need to make sure that not only can we recite this verse, but that we understand what it means. It says for the wages of sin is death.
Because we are sinners, we deserve death, separation, eternal separation from God and from the Lord Jesus who loves you.
But the gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Is there anything that we have to do to receive that gift?
Note we just accept it, just like when somebody gives us a gift.
You might try to give somebody some money if they give you a gift, and if it's a true gift, they'll say no, no, it's a gift.
That's what God says to us. You know what? The work's been done. The Lord Jesus paid the price.
At Calvary's cross and all we have to do is thank him and accept him.
Let's go back to Jeremiah for a moment.
Jeremiah 37.
Versus one to five. And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Kanaya the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah. But neither he nor servants, nor the people of the land did hearken onto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
And it says that Zedekiah sent a couple of people to Jeremiah saying pray now.
Unto the Lord our God for us.
Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison. So Zedekiah, he realizes that Jeremiah.
Is a messenger sent from God and he comes to him and says, would you please pray for us? We're in a bad situation here. How often do people, when they get into a bind, come to those of us who are saved and say please?
Pray for me. And it's a wonderful thing to be able to intercede on behalf of somebody else to pray for them.
But how much better if they would realize?
The power of God, who he is, that he can forgive their sins and that they can come to Him in prayer themselves.
Jeremiah 38.
Verse 20.
This is a final pleading from Jeremiah to King Zedekiah.
To just obey, To humble himself.
But Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee. So it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
I plead with you tonight the same words obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee.
00:30:05
It shall be well with thee. Thy soul shall live if you believe in the Lord Jesus on the.
Authority of the Word of God.
We have hope.
Before us, peace in our hearts, knowing that whenever we leave this world.
We go straight to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
Let's go to Jeremiah 28 for one moment.
There was a prophet in those times, a false prophet. His name was Hananiah, and we know that.
The Jews.
Were in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, but Hananiah thought he would give everybody some encouragement and preach that they'd only be there for two years and then they'd be set free. He was a false prophet. It was not of the Lord.
And so in Jeremiah 28, verse 15 then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet here Now Hananiah the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou maketh this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth. This year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hannah and I of the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
This was judgment on the false prophet Hananiah.
And for our lives nowadays?
Want to just say that there are many false prophets.
Who are preaching all sorts of things.
Maybe not necessarily from the Lord, but they just seek to distract people from the truth and from the serious decision that's before them.
And they say things like if we go over to Jeremiah chapter 8 for one moment.
In verse 11.
I think we probably hear this all the time.
Peace. Peace when there is no peace.
And another common phrase that we might hear out there is everything's going to be OK.
But you know what? Without the Lord Jesus, everything is not going to be OK.
Everything's going to be terrible.
And it's important for us to realize.
That all these bombardments that we get from the world that are contrary to the word of God, they're lies.
And the Lord will judge them in due time, but we need to make sure that we listen and that we obey the word of the Lord.
Hebrews chapter one.
First one, just thinking of Jeremiah.
How he was a prophet sent from the Lord, How he preached.
Constantly to King Zedekiah and the rest of Judah to repent.
To surrender. They would not hear him. But this is a day in which we live now.
Hebrews one verse, one God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed on to the fathers by the prophets.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. In Genesis one verse one, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We know that it was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
There working together.
So it says that the Sun is the heir of all things.
We know that verse air heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, those of us who believe.
Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.
And upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. This is the Lord Jesus.
He's.
God Incarnate. He's the brightness of God's glory. He veiled that glory when he came down from heaven to walk this earth, but he was still God, and he was the express image of his person. So he was God himself. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
00:35:10
Says here that He upholds all things by the word of His power as well. We know that He spoke creation into being, and we know that through His word.
The universe continues on. Our planet continues to orbit around the sun.
Rain falls on the earth for plants to grow.
We trust that we can take our next breath because of God's goodness. The Lord Jesus is doing all this, this very moment, by the word of His power.
Not only that, but it's a work that he's done in the past when he had by himself purged our sins.
Now he is seated at God's right hand, because the work.
Is done so he can take a seat.
Knowing that it's accomplished, knowing that the God is completely satisfied with what's been done at Calvary's cross.
It's so important though that we don't put off this decision. I want to just share a little story and.
We were taking somebody to the train station recently and the train was going to leave at 5:50.
So.
We were sitting down to eat supper and they were gathering up their belongings and they just didn't seem to be in a big hurry to get in the vehicle and head for the train and there was some dawdling and.
Some other procrastination and maybe a phone call or two made anyways.
So finally headed out the door, jumped in the vehicle, headed to the train station and all of the cars are pulling out of the train station parking lot. And in a small town, there's only one reason why all the cars are leaving and that's because the train has left.
And so the train was missed and so it wasn't a big deal because.
They were driven to their destination and it was a minor inconvenience.
But the reason I tell this story is that maybe you're thinking well.
I hear what's been said tonight, but I'm just not really ready to give up anything at the moment. I kind of enjoy my lifestyle that I'm living, and maybe when I'm a little bit older I'll reconsider, think more about it. Well, you know what? By that time, it might be too late. The train might have left, and it's not just a minor inconvenience where you can get another ride to heaven. If the train leaves, it means that either.
You've passed away, and even if you're young, that can still happen tonight.
Or more likely, I would say the Lord Jesus has come maybe this very day. He says that he is coming quickly, coming back very soon to take all those who believe in him up to heaven to be with him. And if we're not ready when he comes, we missed the train.
It's a solemn, solemn thing to think about, because not only do we miss the ride to heaven, but.
We end up in the other place.
The blackness of darkness forever hell. A place that Matthew 25 says was prepared for the devil and his angels. Not a place that's meant for you, but a place that you will go to if you reject God's offer of salvation. Well, our time is almost up.
I want to recap just in three verses. Try to make it simple.
Sometimes.
We use steps 1-2 and three, but I want to just change 1-2 and three to the letters AB and C.
OK, and maybe you'll remember this.
So step A A is for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You need to realize that.
Step B. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Remember, all have sinned, and the blood cleanses us from all thin, every single one, every single one of our sins washed away in the blood of Jesus.
And step C, what's left for us to do? We could say, I think it's a verse on the wall here in French, but step C in English says, come on to me. I'll ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. And so all that's left for us to do in step C is to realize that the blood of Jesus Christ washes away our sins.
00:40:24
Accept them for ourselves. Ask Him for forgiveness.
We're now a safe soul.
Peace in our hearts join our lives and we've listened and obeyed.
The word of the Lord, unlike poor, poor kings. Zedekiah.
Let's pray.
Deux Hommes Viennent A Jesus
French Gospel—Francois Leger
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00:35:00
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00:45:06
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Hymnsing 1
The Dung Gate of Jerusalem
Talk—Craig Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
All right.
What's our heads? And ask the Lord for his help.
Our God and our loving Father.
Thank you for this day that we've had together, to have fellowship together and to spend time over Thy word of God. We thank thee for it. We thank thee most of all for work on the cross. We thank Thee for redemption.
We thank thee for all here that are saved. No, Lord, we trust each one is saved.
But now, Lord, for the journey of life, we all need practical help. We ask you that if we opened our work for a few minutes.
That that would speak to us from it.
Give us something that would be a blessing in our lives and notice the individual struggles that we all have.
We face a mighty foe, oh Lord.
And we ask you that that would help us to learn a few things today that we can apply to our lives. We thank this for so much. We've already taken in.
Just a little bit more, Lord, we pray that we could feed on.
In the coming week ahead and further out than that, that would be a blessing in our Christian lives, we committed to the United event.
All right. Not going to talk very long. I know you guys got skating ahead of you and you want to get out and play hockey and that sort of thing. So I want to talk very short here tonight. I want to talk about a subject that's a little bit odd in Sunday school at home. We've been doing the 12 or 1210 gates of the city of Jerusalem. There's actually 12 and we've been taking up the 10 gates.
In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 3, there are 10 gates mentioned and I want to talk about one of those particular gates.
And that gate is the dung gate.
That down gates.
Anybody want to tell me what do you think the dung gate was for in the city of Israel? Anybody want to go on a limb and tell me what that gate might have been used for?
Deportation, yes.
Done. That's a nasty subject, isn't it? #2, maybe, we might call it, but you know what else went out of that gate? And it's rubbish.
And garbage. And dung. Excrement. Manure. Gross. Osity. Disgusting stuff.
But you know what? The city.
At Jerusalem had to have that particular gate, the double gate.
Why do you think they had to have that gate? Why do you think it had to be rebuilt with all the other nice gates like the water gates?
The fountain gates.
The nice skates, the sheep gate, The fish gate.
I'll tell you why I need to be rebuilt, because.
You don't want to live around dung. It's gross. It stinks. It smells.
It breeds flies, rats. It's disgusting.
And so in the city of Jerusalem, they needed to rebuild that game. I'm just going to read where it says that in Nehemiah chapter 3.
It says.
Verse 13. The Valley Gate repair Hannon and the inhabitants of Zenoa. They built it and set up the doors thereof. The locks are of and the bars thereof, and 1000 cubits on the wall unto the Dung Gate.
But the dung gate repaired Melchizedek, the son of Rekha.
The ruler of part of Beth Sharon.
He built it and set up the bar, the doors thereof, and the locks are of.
And the bars that are all.
Dung gate.
This fella here, he built it and repaired it. You know, if you go, when you go through all the gates here in this Nehemiah Chapter 3, you'll find that the gates in the walls, there are all kinds of people helping rebuild those gates and walls.
But when it comes to the dung gate, it only mentions one person rebuilding that wall that that individual gate.
00:05:03
Wonder why that is? And it mentions him as a ruler too.
Wonder why only one person rebuilding it?
You know, in our own lives.
It's only we are ourselves that can get rid of.
That garbage and waste in their own lives. Our parents can't do it for us.
Our brothers and sisters can't do it for us.
People in the meeting can't do it for us.
Got to do it ourselves. People can help us build other aspects of our life.
But if you and I want to clean up our life.
We need to do it ourselves.
You know, if you go around these gates in the city of Jerusalem, it starts with the sheep gate.
I'm not going to go through them all.
But just before the dunk gate we just read is the Valley gates.
And the Valley Gate would remind us.
Of loneliness, difficult times, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Hard times.
Things that that so we get into that low times, perhaps the Lord puts us in, in times of our life where things are tough.
Or things are going not the way we want it to.
You know, in order to get through that valley after the valley gate, they had to go to the dung gate.
You know, there are times in all of our lives and to be very honest with you, with one another, that we need to use the Dome gate in our life.
We need to get rid of the excrement, the disgusting, smelly, stinky sin that is in our life and get it out of the city.
If you and your house.
Don't have a toilet?
Or you don't have a place to take your garbage out, or your septic system is broken down, or your sewer system isn't working. What's going to happen to your house?
It's going to stink and it's going to smell.
How many of your friends I want to go over to your house? Not very many.
We want to live there very long.
You won't want to live there very long.
And nobody want to come over, nobody want to be with you.
Because of rotten.
It's bad. It's no good.
And it breeds problems to disease and becomes contagious.
Relieve sin in our life and don't judge it. That's what happens to.
Becomes contagious. It stinks. It defiles others. It smells.
The Dome gate is not something that we like to think about.
Like to talk about? Perhaps?
But we all need to use it in our life. We all need to get rid of things.
That we know shouldn't be there. Things we think about.
Things we say.
Things that are there that nobody knows about.
We need to flush it out of our life.
You can flush it out of our life. You know what I'm talking about, you guys all know.
There's stuff that shouldn't, shouldn't be there.
And we need to use the done gig to get it out.
You know there's a verse that I'm going to read in Philippians chapter 3.
What game is 3?
I got the placement before I turn this up. Philippians 3.
And.
Verse 8.
It says I count Paul saying this. I count all things, all things. All things.
But loss.
What he likes to lose, do you?
Especially in sports, Paul says. I count all things but loss.
For the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
00:10:03
For whom I have suffered the loss of.
All things there's a word loss.
Of all things.
And you count them but dung.
That I may win Christ.
Eat Ye that Which is Good
Children—Ted Allan
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.
Welcome to the Sunday School, boys and girls. We're so glad that you're here.
There's still seats up front if any of the children would still like to come up front and be happy to have you up here. On the other hand, I know some of my own children are very shy and to sit in the front room can be intimidating, certainly for some.
OK, so who has a song that they would like to sing over here?
#33.
And I'm going to ask help for somebody to start that for me.
I have simple.
And understand.
Well, I don't know about you, but I got a little confused in that song because.
The audience sang a second verse that wasn't in my hymn sheet, so unless I have a very strange one, I'm guessing there's two different versions of that song out there. OK, who has another one? Caroline.
47.
Ah, this is a favorite. I used to sing this song to my children when they were very young.
00:05:01
When they went to bed. So precious to me 47.
When he come in.
Right, the size of the morning is right around the corner.
Right.
Yes, little children who love the Redeemer, it says here are those jewels you are of great value to God himself that he would send his Son the Lord Jesus to die for you. So you are the jewels for those who love their Redeemer who has another one. OK down here Josh.
39.
What a friendly.
One makes you feel everything.
To God in prayer.
Oh my God.
00:10:17
Yes, I think I've thought about the words of this song on my own life about oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And prayer is something boys and girls, whether you're three or five or 10 or 90 years old is something you can avail yourself to so.
Why don't we do that right now?
Before we sing the next song.
Our Father, we do come before thee this morning, and we do ask for help in this time together for the children.
We just think of these dear little ones growing up in this world that is so dark.
We just pray that each and every one of them might put their faith and trust in Thee alone, that they might avail themselves to prayer to the reading of Thy word, and that they might glorify Thee in their lives. We ask the same for those of us Lord who are middle-aged and older to hear this morning. We ask for Thy help now for this rest of the time together in Jesus name.
Amen.
OK, so we have time. Let's see for two more songs, let's say maybe down this end. Does anybody have one down here?
OK, what about here 40? OK hymn #40.
So maybe we'll sing the first, second, and last verse of #40.
Jesus loves me.
So let's go.
Blessings.
So.
Me so.
OK, we have time for one more. OK, down here on the right. I'm sorry, what #29 will be the last one.
OK, a ruler once came to Jesus.
Me.
It was before the end of the year. I am.
OK, well thank you everyone for singing.
You know, being up in the center here, I don't know if people in the back realize this, but it's a wonderful thing to hear music flowing from both sides to the middle. And it warms my heart as I'm sure it warms the heart of the Lord Jesus to hear voices of not only children, but those who are older here singing.
So the message I have this morning is very simple.
And it applies to the children.
It also applies to teenagers, it applies to the young married couples here, for the parents, for those who are older, for those who are single. That applies to everyone. It's a very simple message, but one.
But I felt like the Lord put on my heart and I need it just as much as each and everyone of you boys and girls here.
So let's turn to Isaiah 55, and we're just going to read part of one verse there to introduce the message.
Isaiah 55.
And in the second-half of verse 2.
And I'm going to read it.
Hearken diligently unto me.
And eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
The key phrase that I really have before me this morning, children, is eat ye that which is good.
I want that phrase to stick in your mind this morning when you leave this conference. Eat ye that which is good. Let's say it all together.
Ye ye that which is good.
OK, so I brought a few things.
I want to start with a story.
I'm just going to put them out here on the table.
Not to make you hungry.
I'm sure these will pique your interest, right?
Eat ye that which is good.
Now there's some things on this table here.
At least I know the parents would agree that there's that which is good and I think there's that which is not good.
And as I said, I wanted to start with a story.
It was two years ago, my son and I had the opportunity to go to Japan and visit my sister Mary and her husband Andrew. They were living just outside Tokyo.
Towards the end of the trip, they took us to a restaurant that was very popular with the Japanese and I had never been to a restaurant like this in my entire life.
It was a place where they serve sushi, and I love sushi and for the children, if you don't know what that is, but it's raw fish and the Japanese love it. In fact, we were there for a fellowship meal at the local assembly and that's what they.
00:20:07
Apparently, order in every fellowship. Me. Also, if you don't like sushi, you better plan for something else if you're there in Tokyo for their fellowship meal. Anyway, this particular restaurant, they had a very unique setup. We were sitting in booths and there was a little screen where you could look at the different things that were on the menu and look at that which looked good and pick something out that was of interest.
And they had a conveyor belt system.
Where they had little plates of food that came all through the restaurant continuously on little dishes, little slab of rice with a slab of fish on top. And they were going by continuously. And if you saw something that you thought looked good, you just pulled that plate off and put it on your table and and you ate it.
On the other hand, if you didn't see anything you liked and Tommy would know this.
You could punch in the number of the sushi that you liked and somebody would prepare it in the back. They put it on the conveyor belt and when I was about to come by your table, it would play a little song. So you knew that your sushi was coming up and you would look for it and you pick it off and put it on your table. I thought I was fascinated by it. I had never seen anything like this in the United States or Canada.
So I thought the whole experience was.
Really great. So thank you, Mary for bringing us there. We had a great time.
Unfortunately, and I don't know that Mary knew this, but after we left that restaurant, my stomach began to not feel so good.
And I'm sure I ate something there that did not agree with my stomach and I did get sick, but I got over it pretty quickly. But.
Why do I mention this story, boys and girls? Because.
You know, there were things that just frankly looked good. In fact, there's a show out there called Bizarre Foods where that is the motto of the person who hosts that show where they say if it looks good, just eat it. And that was really the premise of this restaurant too. If it looked good, then just eat it. Just take it off, put it on your table. And you know, they would tally up how many plates you took off. I think it was like a dollar or two per plate. So they would just add up how many plates you had.
And then you would pay your bill. But this verse does it say eat that which looks good.
Does it say that?
Any of the boys? What do you think? Does it say that? No, it says eat ye that which is good. It doesn't say it looks good, it just says that which is good.
So there is that which may look good but is not good for you.
So OK, some point would be this. Does anybody know what these are?
Bubble gum. Yes, I've had many a bubble gum in my life.
What do we know about the characteristics of bubble gum? Anyone, Josh?
You blow bubbles. Yes, that is true. OK, what else do we know about bubble gum?
Yes, it tastes good.
Now let's carry that thought. There's something else I want to that I know the adults are thinking.
It tastes good, but what?
The flavor runs out how quickly?
Very quickly, Josh knows by experience, yes, I would hazard to say the flavor of this bubble gum probably runs out in less than 5 minutes, probably less than two minutes. So there's a quick brief shot of flavor and then you just want to get it out of your mouth. At least that's how it is for me. So bubble gum, it may look good. In fact, the people who make this.
They're very clever.
They're very clever in that, you know, they designed this for boys like Josh and my daughter, like Caroline. They make them small. They make them very bright colors. When you go to the grocery store, they're going to be right about at the height where Josh is looking when he goes by with his dad, you know? So they know that this looks good and very tempting.
But what's the nutritional value of bubble gum? What do you think? Audrey Zero. It's pretty close to 0. In fact, I'd say it probably is 0. So bubble gum.
00:25:10
Now, these are very similar. These are just like sour candy. They're not gum, but the same thought, right? They look good. They taste good very briefly, but isn't that how it is in life, boys and girls, where there is that which may look good, but it's not good for you. It's a very important lesson. There may be that which looks good.
But is not good for you.
And here it says Ichi that, which is good, you know.
This is how sin comes into our life.
I want to recount a story of a personal failure of mine. I was about, I don't know, 8-10 years old.
And I still remember this.
At the conference where I grew up, I grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. When I grew up, about when I was, I don't, I don't know, this would have been in the 80s. There was something that was very popular at that time. They were stickers and they were wrestling stickers. I still remember walking the halls of the Halifax conference and they were on lockers, WWF stickers, all these different people who would wrestle.
And I wanted those and I wanted to have maybe what we call the whole set of it.
But you know, I was very young. I didn't have money, I didn't have a job.
But you know, those stickers were enticing to me and I wanted them. My friends had them. You go to school and everybody had them. And it leads to, OK, who is the whole set and what stickers do you have and which ones do you have? And to be trading going on.
But you know, I didn't have money and so one day I went to the local store.
And I wanted the sticker, but they were at that time contained in chip bags.
And I didn't care about the chips, I just wanted the sticker.
And so I stole a bag of chips.
And a lady stopped me before I left the store and she said you didn't pay for those.
And my heart sank and my parents were notified.
And later that day.
My parents found out. They made me go back to that store and apologize and pay for that bag of chips and it was very embarrassing. But that is how sin works, boys and girls. It is enticing. It looks good.
I mean, in the grand scheme of things, how long do you think those stickers would have interest to me? Do you think? A very long time. Do you think I still have them in my house today?
No, in fact, I don't remember who the wrestlers were were now.
But that is the way how sin works. It looks good, but it was not good for me and it led to sin.
You know.
We need that which is good.
I'm going to tell another story. Does anybody know what this is?
Sugar. White sugar.
How many of these do you think the average, I'll say Canadian or American, consumes an entire year?
Josh, you're very eager. I'll see you again. What do you think? How many do you think of these the average person would eat in a year?
Wow, you know Josh got the right answer. You're a smart young man. 100 of these in a year.
The average American or Canadian would consume so about two of these a week roughly.
That's a lot of sugar.
I want to tell a story. It's about a year ago.
I.
Being in middle age, I was starting to gain weight and I remember.
Hearing.
I remember talking to Jim Highland before he passed away and he said one of the things he did to lose weight was stop drinking sugary drinks. And so I thought, you know what, it'll work for him. I'm just going to go cold Turkey and I'm going to stop eating sugar and see what it does.
00:30:08
I lasted about 6 days.
And I was at my children's school.
And a very strange thing happened.
My body started to shake uncontrollably. I remember we got in the van, my old my own children were looking at me. My hands were literally shaking about like that. I couldn't even hold the steering wheel.
My body was so used to taking in sugar.
I was literally going through detox. We might use the term where my body was not used to not having sugar in its body.
And they kind of scared my kids when they saw what was going on because I wasn't sick. But my body was so used to having this in its system. That's what it was doing.
You know.
I'm talking about physical food. I know we only have about 15 minutes left. My point is not here to talk about physical food though, as interesting as it may be.
Because life is more than physical food, boys and girls.
But the fact is that boys and girls, teenager, people in middle age, that which they're taking into their system every day, it has an effect on your life.
These things that we talked about are not good in terms of physical food.
Some have likened white sugar added sugar to a drug more powerful than cocaine.
People are that addicted to it, but there are many boys and girls, teenagers, older ones too, who are addicted to taking in things that are not good for your soul.
And they consume you. Let's turn to another verse in John chapter 6.
Our time is quickly moving by here, so I move to John 6.
And we're going to read verse 26.
Jesus answered them, and said, Verily, verily, a sin to you, You seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves, and were filled labor, not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Verse 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger.
And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
You know, there is that bread which perisheth. You know, this food that we take in comes into our bodies and is expelled. Jesus talks about that in the Gospels, but he said that is not the thing that we should be pursuing. And Jesus likened himself to the bread of life. That's why I have this loaf of bread up here.
Verse 35, he said I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He wasn't talking about physical food, boys and girls, but there are many people walking around this world who have spiritual hunger because all they are taking in as it were spiritually is bubble gum.
This is a major, major problem in our society.
Cheap, quick thrills.
Instant gratification.
You know, it's interesting. A couple years ago, I work in the power industry, electric utility, we had a very large storm. A couple 100,000 people were out of power. And I remember there was an unsafe person there and they were dealing with a lot of the backlash that we get as a utility when many people are out of power. And they said, you know, the problem with this society is instant gratification. They were not a saved person, but they recognized.
Instant gratification.
The things that we take in, right? It could be books, it could be media, it could be a whole host of things, electronics, you name it, video games.
00:35:09
Do those things nourish the soul?
What do you guys think?
Well.
Much of it does not.
That doesn't mean you can never read a book. You know there's and we'll talk about it towards the end, but much of what this society, boys and girls consume has no nourishment in terms of what they take in. Eat ye that which is good.
Jesus wants to be boys and girls, the source of your every desire. He wants to fill the cravings and longings of your heart.
And he said if you would come to him, you will not hunger. He can fulfill every hunger that you have.
Let's turn to First Peter chapter 2.
Important verse.
Verse two as newborn, I'll say, babies desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be that ye have tasted the Lord is gracious.
I have here a cup of milk.
There are those who have taken of the bread of life.
But have gone on really many respects to consume.
That which does not provide nourishment.
Jesus said that you need to be like little babies who desire milk. I remember my own children, I think.
Well, I won't name which one, but they came out of the womb and immediately they wanted to be on the mother's breast to take that milk colostrum. Babies immediately want that.
And that is what you need, boys and girls. You know, last night or yesterday we were reminded about not going beyond what the word of God says.
But my fear and what I'm seeing happen in society.
Is people don't even know what the word of God says, let alone go beyond it.
Desire the milk of the Word of God.
Read it, be familiar with it.
Because of time, we won't have time to turn to it. But Paul was writing the Timothy and he said from a child, you have known the Scriptures.
In First John it talks about how the young men have the word of God abiding in them, those more mature in the faith.
But the time that you take it in is all through your life. But it begins now, boys and girls.
The other day I was a little distressing. To me, it's just symptomatic of the culture we're in. My wife and I went to a Christian bookstore. It just opened the first day of opening, about half an hour from her house and.
I wanted to go get some Christian texts for our house.
I could not believe.
There was probably less than 10 verses in that store on Waltex. The the the store was full of things that were nice, gathered together and family and blessed and you know, key phrases. I had a hard time finding any scripture in that store.
But this is the exact problem in our culture where this is getting closed, put under the table and gone and people don't know what the word of God says.
Learn it. Study it.
I'm very blessed to have grown up in a home where my parents morning and evening had the word of God read.
And I know this is a children's meeting, but I'll say to the young parents and families here, if you do not have a regular Bible reading with your children, start now.
My observation is much of what people learn is learned around the table at home that the family Bible reading.
00:40:00
Christians don't know the word of God.
They're getting less and less of it and other denominations, let alone in their own homes.
And we need to know it because we're growing in a society, boys and girls, where people are walking away from their faith. I've seen people known first hand knowing well, walk away.
There are those who may even know what the word of God says, and it says they resist it too. They don't want to believe what it says.
So just as Janice and Jamberries resisted Moses, they resisted the truth.
And so that's why I say that this message is for children, for teenagers, for those who are older.
You know, David could say.
Thy word have I hidden my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Thy word hid means stored up.
Stored up in his heart.
And so as you have the word of God in you.
The Spirit of God can take that and use it in your life when you need it most.
You may not be actively thinking, oh, I need to think of a verse about this particular topic, but just out of the blue, out of the random, the Spirit of God draws from that which you've heard and use it.
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Let's just turn second, Timothy. We just have a few minutes left. There's really so much more that could be said.
But not time here this morning to do it. Second Timothy 3.
Because I think this is important, I referenced this verse verse 15, Second Timothy 3:15, but I want to talk a little bit more about the why.
OK.
And these verses say it, and that from a child.
Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.
Through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
Note all scripture.
Is given by inspiration of God.
And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God.
May be perfect or complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I don't have time to go through these in detail, children.
But these give the reasons why the word of God is important to have it in you.
It's instruction for right living.
For correction when you're doing things wrong so you can know how to get back on the right path.
The word of God is referred as A2 edged sword.
It's just it discerns the thoughts and intents of your heart.
These are good things.
And so when I opened about that statement, each ye that which is good, the word of God is good for your soul. These are God's words written in a book.
It was encouraging to me, Mr. Boulard was that Cago falls recently talking about Brazil, how people are hungry for the word of God. He was sharing the story about a Catholic who was instructed not to read the Bible. He had grown up the Catholic Church much of his life and that 88 years old, he was just starting to read the Bible for the first time and know what it says. There's profit in it, children.
And I need this just as much as you as you.
But the fact is that so much of us are taking in not the word of God, but that which has no nourishment for the soul.
It may have a very short.
Burst, if you will, of pleasure, but it's temporary and so our time is up.
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Let's say the statement together one more time.
Eat ye that which is good, children. If you don't read your Bibles now, make it your habit to do so. Just a few minutes. I was thinking, I've been at a few conferences now where Bob Tony was there and he's been making a concerted effort to make this point, to make it a part of your life. And if you don't understand what you're reading, ask your parents.
And I'm going to make it uncomfortable for the parents and I'll say to the children.
If you don't have a Bible reading in your house, ask your parents to start one. And parents take the responsibility to do it. It's a good thing. It will profit you.
Let's leave it at that, and we'll close in prayer.
Friendship John 15
Address—Shawn Allan
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I'd like to begin the meeting this afternoon by turning to the back of the hymn book and singing #16.
#16.
Oh, Jesus.
Friend unfailing, how dear art thou to me?
Oh, Jesus, friend.
I find flowers grinding.
What I should migrate? Roger?
Like my son.
My friend. River Flow.
By heaven together again.
Oh.
00:05:51
Just ask the Lord's help.
So as I was thinking about what to speak on.
And I have to tell you right now that I sought the some tips from my family as to this presentation. I was told not to use the term young people because it puts too great a distance between my 46 years and whatever age you may be. But I will probably not be able to refrain from using that term occasionally. I was told to be relatable.
And I'm not sure how well I'll doing these things.
But very simply, what I would like to speak on this afternoon is the subject of friends.
And I wanted to speak on this topic because.
It's something that I feel the younger generation is especially good at. It certainly is very important to you.
You know, as you get a little older in your life, meaning transitioning from childhood, adulthood.
The ties in the family, perhaps?
Become a little less important for you as you gain independence and your friends become very important to you. And that's very normal and natural. And I have to say as a dad that I, I failed to perhaps appreciate this with my own children as I ought to have.
And in that time period before you get married, you're really very good at.
At a lot of things in connection with friendship.
And that's really what brought me to this topic this afternoon.
You know, I look at this audience and I ask myself.
How many of you?
Would say you have close friends in your local assembly. You don't need to answer that question.
Or perhaps you're younger. How many friends would you count yourself as having? Real friends?
And I can't answer that.
Part of the burden for this talk this afternoon is.
Really multi generational?
I I feel increasingly that there is a desperate need for work on friendships.
And I'd like to just quote to you what the definition from Webster's dictionary on what a friend is defined as. It says this one who is attached to another by affection.
Which leads him to desire his company and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity.
And if you were to look up the meaning of friendship, because I may call you a friend, but do I enjoy friendship with you?
Now this is kind of old fashioned English, but this is what it says, an attachment to a person proceeding from intimate acquaintance.
And reciprocal reciprocation of kind offices, or from a favorable opinion of the amiable and respectable qualities of his mind. That's kind of old fashioned, I recognize. But then it goes on and says this true friendship is noble, virtuous attachment springing from a pure source.
Our respect for worth or amiable qualities. False friendship.
Is a temporary attachment springing from interest and may change in a moment to enmity.
And then the dictionary goes on to say there is little friendship.
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In the world.
And so I would just like to start by sharing maybe just some personal things, you know, as a young person when there I use the term, I'll try not to refer to that again. I'm I'm, I'm here in Montreal and you know how many happy memories of being in this assembly from 20 odd years ago.
I was here during the Great Ice Storm in 1998.
And I vividly remember going with some of the young people out to the West Islands and there was so much ice on the snowpack that we went up to the top of the hill. We didn't sled. We actually were able to go down the hill on our shoes without breaking through. It was a real job to get back up.
And shared with some this weekend of how I remember driven out of the Perry's house, I went to another young man's house in the assembly and had olives and pita bread for breakfast, which was a new experience for me.
It's very kind of him. I have the memories too of enjoying my first.
Apple cider with cinnamon sticks at second cup and I know that.
Young people really enjoy going out to restaurants when we often went to the Saint John Conference growing up. One of the great memories I have of doing young people activities is going to the Pizza Hut often in Ross say after the after the him sings at the Saint John Conference.
But you know, too, just another memory I have. My brother Teddy put together video of Furlin before she left the young people in Stellarton to marry me. There's a there's a scene in that video of a bunch of young people with a carved up watermelon on their head gorging face down in the middle of the watermelon and spitting seeds and just having a grand old time. So many memories, so much fun, so many.
Good things that you can enjoy and appreciate. This is what friendship.
Is in part it's those happy memories of time together.
And I covet that for you young people. I covered it for all of us. And I would just like to start by reading a familiar verse in 3rd John.
The very last verse of that hymn of that book. That is the name of a little pamphlet that gets distributed amongst us.
And this is my first.
A little thought I'd like to share. It says there in the eighth in the the last verse of third John, that's verse 14.
But I trust the verse 14 I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee, our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
Little expression. What would be the importance of this little verse? Greet the friends by name.
Names are personal. The Lord Jesus knows our name.
And you know, I speak as one who is very poor at memorizing names, but I think back to the many times in Scripture when the Lord Jesus very pointedly said the name of a person.
Think of Mary after he rose from the dead. Mary.
Think of Peter Simon.
Martha. Martha.
He used their name.
And then what's so beautiful but a name is that's that personal touch. We live in a society where we aren't personal anymore.
And you know, this is just an old fashioned thing, but for myself personally, when I'm text messaging or emailing, I like to put a person's name in there sometimes because it just does something for for me when someone uses my name when they are communicating with me.
Have you called people by their name at this conference? I really appreciated the fact that there were name tags.
It gives you an opportunity to say to a person their name. And often when I go into a grocery store, I notice that people have name tags on and it's nice to say to the person, you know, whatever their name might be, Beth, John, Charlie, doesn't matter. And it startles them that you use their name because they wouldn't imagine that you would know it. It's personal.
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Greet the friends by name. But there's something else here, it says. But I trust I shall shortly see you, and we shall speak.
Face to face, isn't that beautiful?
This is real friendship, speaking face to face.
As a person who lives in more isolated circumstances than some, I can tell you how much it means when someone comes and visits you and you can speak face to face. Oh, it's just warms the soul.
And I would ask you.
Is there somebody in your life who you haven't seen for a long time, who maybe you used to call a friend and maybe don't anymore? Have you perhaps taken the time and this is just a challenge to go visit them, knock on their door, say I was thinking of you and I would like to have a visit today. Do you know?
What that would mean to a person?
It's such a beautiful thing to speak face to face with somebody.
I'd like to turn now to John chapter 15, very important verses and understanding what friendship is really all about.
And I'd like to read from verse 10.
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this.
That a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if he do whatsoever I command you henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does. But I have called you friends.
For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made no one unto you.
I'm going to come back to this, but I really want to make the Lord the first object in my remarks this afternoon. Three things in this little section on friendship.
That the Lord Jesus says are important as friends, and He was the sublime example of a friend. What are they? We all know one very well. Greater love hath no man than this. That a man lay down his life for his friends. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for you and for me.
What greater measure of friendship can you show to a person than to give your life for them? You can't.
You can't.
And we weren't friends in that sense to the Lord Jesus at all. We were at enmity with Him, sinners lost, and he gave his life for us. But there's something else here.
It says, I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father. I have made no one unto you. This is beautiful.
The Lord Jesus says because you're my friends, the things that I have heard of my Father, I'm going to share with you.
This book is living proof of that, Sharon. All those things that the Lord Jesus enjoyed in the bosom of His Father, He delighted to share with you and me.
And you know, the last thing I would just mention is in verse 10. If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Sharing, giving, communion. This is what this is.
You sense the love of the Lord Jesus.
As you are obedient to Him in your life.
The Lord Jesus was perfectly obedient to His Father, and so he could.
00:20:04
Abide in His love, beautiful. Why is it that there is a lack of joy in your Christian life and I'm speaking to all of us now in my life? Why is it that we don't feel as it were the love of the Lord Jesus in our lives? Could it be that we have not obeyed the commandments to love one another?
And so I'd like to turn now to some examples of friendship in the scriptures that are.
Are very familiar to us. There's nothing new here. And the first I would like to turn to is Daniel. So let's just turn over to Daniel chapter one and these will be very brief remarks.
And I'd like to read verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the King's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the Princess of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
And then we'll go down to verse 12. So Daniel says, prove thy servants, I beseech thee, 10 days, and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink, and then we're just going to stop there.
What I would like to bring before you in connection with Daniel and his friends is influence.
Influence. I lookout at many of you here this afternoon.
I wonder how many of you are leaders amongst the young people?
Some of you are.
And what that might mean could be something very good, or maybe something not so good. But do not forget.
That you have influence amongst your friends.
And it can be for blessing, or it could be for something.
That harms your friends ultimately and is very instructive to notice that with Daniel and his friends, he took the initiative here. He purposed in his heart. He would not defile himself. I understand that you heard a little bit about the dungate last night.
And I won't go over what you heard. I only got a synopsis from Craig on that. But are there things in your life that defile you if there are those things?
Will harm your positive influence on your friends. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself at the King's meat. What happened?
His three friends here, they all went along with what he did.
And there was tremendous blessing as a result. But the key thing here is Daniel acted alone.
And there may be some here who haven't purposed in their heart, and that's okay. My message is not to you at this time. It's to those of you who especially are influencers.
What is your influence on your friends if you go over to chapter 2?
This is the next time we see Daniel and his friends.
And we know this story, we won't go over it, but the king has a dream and he doesn't understand what it means.
And that imperils the lives of Daniel and his friends and the soothsayers and astrologers, etc.
And so it says in verse 17. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah his companions, that they would desire mercies of the Lord of the God of heaven. Concerning the secret that Daniel and his fellows would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon, then was a secret.
Revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.
You know, here's something very nice.
Daniel had shown, shall we say, a very good influence to his three friends here. Now what do we see him doing? He's wanting to pray with his friends. It's a very serious matter, but they gather in prayer as friends.
And they make that request no one to the God of heaven, and there is an answer to prayer.
So I ask you this evening, do you pray with your friends?
00:25:02
I have been touched often in my life by men older than me who have.
Sat down with me and said I'd like to pray with you, Sean.
And I've often thought.
That when friends come to see us or visit us, how nice a thing it is to suggest that there be a moment of prayer before you say goodbye to one another.
Do we know someone in the Bible who did that? The Apostle Paul, he knelt down with the Ephesian elders and he prayed.
And I'm sure it was a very touching scene.
Do we pray with one another? I believe this was a very important thing in the lives of the Free Friend, Three friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Which was there changed names of course.
It deepens.
Their understanding of spiritual things. And how do we know that? Because when we go over to chapter 3.
There's no Daniel on the scene at all. Daniel does not enter into that story at all.
There's a decree that goes out. Will you bow down to the golden image?
And what do his three friends, Daniel's three friends reply. Just look at it briefly. Chapter 3.
Verse 17.
Verse 16 Sorry, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Here is obedience. They will not bow down.
Because they learned that lesson, as it were, from their friend Daniel.
And what a victory was gained that day. They learned that God is sufficient for all trials.
There wasn't even the smell of smoke on them.
And I'd like to suggest in passing you take a stand in this world, you will learn the sufficiency of God.
He is able for the impossible.
He really is.
And Daniel was the one who first helped them learn that lesson. So I just like to point that out. It's so important. It's important not just for those of you young people, but for me. We are all of us in our own way. Examples to our brethren for good or for I'll.
And the important thing is it can be such a blessing, such a help.
When we.
Purpose, as Daniel did, to take a stand for the Lord.
There would be, I think, a great deal more blessing in our assemblies. We felt that. Well, let's just turn now to Jonathan and David. And I'm sure you knew that we would go over to this story. It's found in First Samuel.
Very brief remarks, I believe. Chapter 18.
First Samuel, chapter 18.
And verse one.
Came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit, but the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
And Saul took him that day and would let him go, no more home to his father's house than Jonathan. And David made a covenant, because he loved them as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his bowl.
Into his girdle. Just two brief comments in connection with this little passage.
Jonathan became attracted to David.
00:30:01
After hearing him speak.
And you know, that reminds me of how.
The attraction that we will have towards the Lord Jesus in our life.
Will grow as we learn to hear him speak in our lives.
Just a little point on that, some of us here are older, some of us are younger, some 70 years walking with the Lord Jesus, in my case 38.
38 years of hearing him speak in my life.
And all what a friend unfailing he's been to me.
Watch for him in your life and listen to him.
He doesn't give up on you when you fall.
He is absolutely a God who answers prayer.
Most especially, does he reveal himself to you as a friend when you are alone?
And for those of you who are struggling with loneliness tonight and this afternoon, and I have no doubt there's lonely people in this room.
There is a silver lining to loneliness, because in that you can find.
That one who knew loneliness like no other person.
A watch, and it was alone as a Sparrow upon the housetop. His friends all forsook him and fled.
I just would say look for him in your life, listen to his words.
They're they are speaking to you all the time and he never leaves you or forsakes you. Your friends may fail, he never will.
The next thing I'd like to say in connection with this is what did Jonathan do? He stripped himself. He took his robe off, his sword, even down to his girdle. And this is the real measure of friendship. It's giving. It's giving. It's not what will you give me? It's because that person.
Is someone you have affection for, you will give to that person.
Oh, how we need.
To learn to give.
And you know, I would submit to you.
That all of you here today have given in ways that perhaps many don't appreciate. Learn to look for the giving in your brethren. You'll be surprised how much you find it.
And I say that because I think sometimes we dwell far too often on the negatives in our brethren. We don't realize that they do have real affection for us. But my challenge and burden, especially this afternoon, is give, Give.
Your friend needs your support because they're having a difficult day. Give them your time.
I'm not talking in material things.
If they're sorrowing because they've lost somebody.
Just go sit with them.
Don't try and lecture to them, just be with them.
I really feel we do not understand this very well at all. It is the essence of friendship.
And it's beautiful to see that Jonathan stripped himself.
In David's presence.
Now we'll go over to the next chapter.
Chapter 19 and it says here in verse 4.
Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against a servant against David, because he has not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to the word very good. This one is an arrow to my soul, something that I have failed in greatly.
Do we speak well of our brethren and well of our friends?
Have you ever criticized your friend? Someone you call a friend to your friend?
00:35:02
Go read James and see what it has to say about the devastation.
And hurt. That is done.
By a tongue.
That spews poison.
Jonathan here, in demonstrating his care and friendship for David, his friend, he spoke well to his father, Saul. Was that a dangerous thing to do? It was, but that's what he did. And it's an exercise again to my soul, something that has been a topic of discussion in our marriage recently.
Because I feel we fall into this so easily.
Love thinks no evil.
Speak well of your friends, and then you go over to Chapter 20, the last thing I would like to say in connection with this friendship.
Verse 42 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, for as much as you have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my soul and thy seed forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
This one really touches me.
Friends separate and go their different ways and I have to tell you that as I watch just not that long ago and wept that video that was put together many friends in that Stellarton assembly.
The things that came, that came into their lives after those happy days.
Shattered marriages.
The loss.
It's a memory.
And David never saw Jonathan again.
But something that came before me in this.
In in reading, it was for me. We have so many people in our lives who were friends in years gone by, people we counted as those we cared about. What links us to those people?
When we may never see them again. It's the Lord Jesus himself. The Lord wants between me and thee.
That's what Jacob said when he left Laban.
It's the link point, and you know what that means. Practically. You can pray for them. You may never see them again.
But look back on the people you counted as friends in your life.
And bear them up in prayer to the Lord.
How we need prayer.
You know.
I don't say this to boast, I've only been struck by the importance of it.
As an example that was shown to me in my life growing up, we pray for each of our cousins, nephews, nieces.
Brothers and sisters, every Saturday. It's a tradition in our household with family.
And when you go through the names, greet the friends by name, 1 by 1, and you pray for them.
You think about them, you start to think about what's going on in their life.
And you bless them, ultimately, because you're bringing them before the throne of grace.
People you haven't seen in 10 years, five years, two years, When is the last time?
But you prayed for them.
What a blessing.
Let's just turn over now to Job.
And because time is short, I'm going to skip most of what I wanted to say in connection with job.
I'd like to just turn to chapter 32.
And verse one, these three men ceased to answer Jehovah because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Then was kindled the wrath of Allah, who the son of Barakal, the buzzite of the kindred of Ram, against Joel, Was his wrath kindled because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer.
00:40:03
And yet had condemned Joel.
We're familiar with the story of Job.
Job was going through.
Very difficult.
Situation in his life.
And his three friends come to support him.
And.
There follows 29 pages.
Of strength.
As Job and his three friends go back and forth.
You're going through this because?
You're proud you're going through this because there must be some sin in your life.
Job Why are you such terrible friends?
Why is God doing this to me? I'd rather die.
And on and on it goes for 29 pages.
And allow you here, who sat there and listened to it all, He puts his finger right on the heart of the matter and he says.
For he realized that the issue with Job was he justified himself rather than God. And he puts his finger on the heart of the matter for the three friends. And the heart of the matter with them is they had no answer, but they condemned Job. They had a spirit of condemnation with no knowledge of what God was actually doing with Job through all of this.
And you know, it's very touching.
That he goes on and he says just one verse in verse seven of chapter 33, Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon you. So as he begins to speak and lay bare the heart of the matter with Job and his three friends, he says, I won't be hard on you. I won't be heavy with you. He points them.
To God.
And, you know, we see so much strife amongst friends. Oh, I, I know for a fact in this room tonight, there's bickering going on.
And it's not just young people, it's older people too, and it's in homes.
And often, what is it? It starts with me. I don't realize.
That I am proud.
I don't realize that in me there is something that is exalting itself and putting itself ahead of who the Lord is. And I am judgmental towards my friends and my brethren because I fail to understand and have grace about the fact that there is a loving God who is working in their life.
I don't mind saying that I have really failed to see this in connection with my own family.
And oh, how important it is to see that he's working with you and me. There's that little song that we sing. He's still working on me to make me what he wants me to be.
And what do we do when we see the Lord working on a person? Take out the hammer.
And hit them over the head.
Instead of understanding that there is a God of grace working in their life.
It's so nice to see the end of the story of Job.
What happens? We know this very well.
Verse 8 The Lord is speaking now, he says to Job.
Therefore take sorry speaking to the three friends, take unto you now 7 bullocks and seven Rams, and go to my servant Job and OfferUp for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly, and that you have not spoken of me, the thing which is right like my servant Joel. So a life as the temnet and bill, Dad, the shoe height and so far the Neath went and did according as the Lord commanded them.
The Lord also accepted Job and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. So what happened here? Where was restoration in this situation? Found Jobs. Three friends offered a burnt offering to the Lord. Job he had to pray for his friends.
00:45:02
And then the strife was over. God's dealings could then be turned into a blessing poured out.
How often there's this strife?
And what we need to do is recognize that we need to turn our eyes to God and get right with Him.
And that's the heart of the matter, always. And that's how reconciliation was found.
You know.
I phrase my. I've been reminded I use it too much so.
I hesitate to say this.
But I trust I have the Lord's mind in saying it.
The 1991 division.
Had an indelible effect on my life.
And it wiped out.
Perhaps 80% of my generation.
And I've been much exercised in the last year and a half.
In worrying, and that's not a good thing to do.
That there are.
Seeds that I see in the assembly today.
That were present in the run up to that horrific situation.
It's part of the reason.
I have this burden to speak on friends.
If you read the story of Jeroboam and Rehoboam where there was a division in the Kingdom of Israel.
You see there?
A generational divide?
And the Lord allowed what happened there. Maria Bone was told that.
You know, in this particular situation with Job and his friends.
You have.
A younger brother exhorting some older people.
In the story of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, you have younger people.
Ignoring the advice the older ones.
And all I want to say about this this afternoon.
As an expressed burden.
Is that we need to take more time.
Not just to cultivate friendships amongst our peers.
And I would like to sell to you young people. You're good at that, and that's a good thing.
How much do we invest those of us who are older in understanding those of us who are younger?
How much?
Those of you who are younger, do you invest in understanding?
Those who are older.
Do you know how much you can learn from each other?
You know, the younger, the older generation.
So often.
Is lonely.
They've seen a lot, been through a lot, they've lost loved ones, they've lost friends and would love nothing more than a visit to have somebody take the time to show a little bit of interest in that.
And you would find.
That you can learn so much that is very beautiful from those who are older, their stories, what they went through when they were young.
And I would like to suggest that it's such a good thing to invest in friendships across.
Generations.
Is it going to prevent us from going through?
Something.
00:50:00
That may be ordered of the Lord, it may not.
But I think Scripture would suggest to us the importance of investing.
In those kinds of things.
We need one another. We need fellowship.
I'd like to suggest to you that if you are investing your time.
And your energy.
In relationships and friendships.
And I have to be careful on how I say this.
To the exclusion of the local assembly. That's not a good thing.
The Lord puts you where you are. He has a purpose for you.
And we all have so much to give to each other.
What are you giving in your local assembly?
How many people have you purposed that you'd like to be a friend to? It has nothing to do with whether you like them or not, because that's not the definition of friendship. Greater love hath no man in this than a man lay down his life for his friend. I was going to speak, and time does not permit me of Mephibosheth.
You know, Mephibosheth was just a, as he says to David, a dead dog. He didn't deserve kindness.
But David reached out to him and showed that mankindness, and he came into the fellowship of David's table.
Oh, how he gained from that act of kindness. You know, I don't know who did it yesterday, but I was quite struck. Someone left me a bag of grapes on my chair. I don't know who did it. Maybe it was an accident.
People at my work know that I like Jelly beans. A very good friend in the assembly actually last year made me a Jelly Bean dispenser. I was thinking of Teddy, and unfortunately those bright colors and quick shots of sugar have been a bit of a delight for me in my office over the last year. But he invested a lot of time in making me a Jelly Bean dispenser, and I appreciated it was a random act of kindness.
How many random acts of kindness do you show to other people?
Such an important thing to do.
And so I would just like to close by going back to John 15, because we must use the Lord Jesus as the reference point in all of these things.
I want to read.
Again.
And let's consider these verses carefully. John chapter 15 and verse.
10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. Use them even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
That's Communion.
It flows from obedience.
To be obedient, to want. Verse 12. This is my commandment that you love.
One another as I have loved you. Verse 13 The proof that he loved them. Greater love hath no man than this.
Then a man lay down his life for his friends.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father. I have made no one unto you.
Just again to reemphasize that the Lord Jesus he shares of what His Father.
Was in this blessed book that I'm holding here. He delights to share it with you and me.
Communion is broken when we do not love one another, when we do not display friendship as giving our lives to other people.
And I've been struck. I won't go into it this afternoon in reading the book of Philippians.
If you read that book carefully where joy is the theme, you will find.
Many cracks in that assembly that the Apostle Paul was addressing.
The concision, the emphasis on works.
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Let each esteem other better than themselves. There are people who are puffed up in that assembly. Worry. Be careful for nothing.
Concern about the Lord not being the one who meets the need. Strife between Yodius and Sintiki.
I have no man. Naturally you will care for your state. Philippians Chapter 2.
Brethren who were.
Giving the gospel out of unpure motives in chapter one.
You know, why is there a lack of joy in my life and in our assemblies?
Could it be in part, first and foremost, that we have not turned our eyes to the one?
Who is our friend who laid down his life for you and me?
And then not turned around and obeyed the commandments that we did lay down our lives for the brethren.
And so this is a young people's meeting. I would just like to close by.
Saying to you that.
I really do appreciate your friendships and the fun times that you have. These thoughts that I've shared this afternoon are because it's a unique time in your life and these principles of friendship in a lot of ways have repercussions throughout your entire life.
And I really hope that you will be giving friends. I really hope that you will not be friends who hurt each other through words.
I really hope that you will first and foremost learn what a friend is through watching the Lord Jesus work in your life, that there won't be contentions among you and strife.
Because you fail to see the beam in your own eye.
And I just, I'm so thankful for so many in my own life who have given been a great source of blessing.
I'd like to close this meeting by singing to him that we know so very, very well 23.
How good is the God we adore?
Our faithful, unchangeable friend.
How good?
Shame.
1 Peter 1
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.
Your your sick and come here now.
Here.
Your Montreal brethren have are suggesting that yesterday afternoon we covered the topics in second chapter of John and the Third very thoroughly, and the suggestion is that we go on to another chapter or topic for this afternoon's meeting.
Yesterday I read the first year and I have the second step in my mind, my heart, after waiting with your Lord and listening to many.
Today I've used a couple months.
Anymore we're considering Joe and those who work in the fire first feed the chapter seven with the trial of your faith be much more practice and so the parachute knowing the economy fire would not be.
And I'm going to work around. We'll have seen the people who don't know. It's not. It's deleted in New York. Joyce.
1.
Second Peter chapter one in the first three verses of chapter 2.
So is it first Peter or second Peter? First Peter chapter one and the 1St 3 verses of chapter 2?
00:05:16
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ of the Stranger, scattered throughout Pontus, Galicia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bolivia.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the Beginning God …
Gospel—Richard Mackewich
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let's start tonight by singing #25.
25.
Life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf, like the mining of a sheaf being time.
First time I was in Montreal, I was about 1718 years old. I'm 73. Time is certainly struck by. Time is gliding swiftly by.
Fleeting days are telling fast that the dye will soon be cast. The fatal line be past, be in time. We're just going to sing the second verse of 25.
There is flowers.
Baby.
And you're crying just through my head and cry.
Brother has a announcement that makes just before the meeting. He turns it on in here and you can hear it out in the hallway.
Be in time inviting you to come into the meeting. The Spirit of God has brought you here tonight. You may think you came on your own.
But God, in his infinite grace and mercy, loves you. He wants you to hear. But there's an enemy out there who doesn't want you to hear. So we're going to pray and ask the Lord to send, as it were.
Bunch of guardian angels so that the board can go forth and the devil will be hindered from his attacks on you because he doesn't really care about you that God does. Let's pray.
There are a number of gospel verses on this invitation. I wonder if anybody in this room ever read it? Does anybody in this room ever read this?
I read it.
That this is a faithful saying. And that's what we want to hear tonight, don't we? You're sitting in that chair. You want to hear a faithful message, something that's true, something that you can grasp, something you can lay hold on.
Lord dwelling, we're going to look at one letter word, 2 letter word, 3 letter word, four letter words, and five letter words. The gospel is simple, it's not complicated, but these 5 words all have to do with the Lord Jesus. The first one we're going to turn to after we turn to the Luke 16.
Verse 15.
Is a three letter word. How many in this room you kids, can you count to 3?
123.
Or it's Uno, dos tres, but I don't know French. So whatever it is in French, but we're going to look at a three letter word that is one of the most important, most powerful words.
In any language in the world, but first of all in Luke 16 and verse 15.
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your heart. And that's where we need to start tonight. God knows your heart.
Another verse in scripture says God tries the heart and then he says the secrets of the heart are going to be revealed. But what a marvelous thing to know that God knows your heart.
It's been often said you can fool me, you can fool your grandma and grandpa, but you can't fool God.
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Let me throw this question out. Who thinks they know what the first word 3 letter word that I'm going to mention tonight is?
Anybody think they know?
That's a good, good one, but no found in the book of Genesis.
Chapter One.
Genesis 1 and verse one. Here's our first three letter word in the beginning.
God.
The most powerful, awesome word.
And human language God.
And the interesting thing is that every person in this world has a God of some sort.
A God of some sort.
There is one God, one mediator between God and men.
The man.
Christ Jesus.
In the beginning, God.
Turn to Revelation 21, Revelation 21, verse 4.
And God.
Shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Think of it my friend. This book starts with God and it ends with God. And in the middle of this entire book.
There's tears, heartache, sorrow, misery. Yes, there's blessing, but it's a history of man and a history of broken hearts, broken dreams. So from Jonah says we start with God in Revelation, we end up with God, God.
Turn back to Luke 16.
Sometimes they get a little complicated and they try to fit too many things in, but that's what we're going to try to do tonight.
Luke 16 well known story verse 19 starting with.
Certain rich man clothing purple and so forth.
But he died verse 23 then in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments that Abraham afar off, Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.
Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his tongue in water. Cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this lame.
Revelation 21 again says.
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There should be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall they be any more pain.
This man finds himself.
In the.
Hell, there's no one there, my friend.
To wipe his tears away.
There's no Tylenol there, there's no Vicodin, no Oxycontin, there's nothing to relieve his pain. But in the coming day, God is going to remove all these things. And yet this poor man, that in hell, all these years since the Lord Jesus was on earth and in pain, been in terrible pain and anguish, Jesus said there's weeping.
Wailing. Gnashing of teeth.
We're in a hotel down the street and next to our room there was a baby. Apparently for about two hours that's all she did was wail. And it's interesting how it just goes right through the wall and.
Do yourself but.
But think of this poor man in eternity, and others have gone into eternity. There's nobody that's going to wipe their tears away.
And if you find yourself there, you too will not find anybody to comfort you, to help you, to ease the pain. Take it away. Constant, eternal suffering. Anguish.
First three letter word is God.
What's the 1St letter word? Who can tell me that might be first letter in the English alphabet? Anybody know what that is? A long long time ago there was a big giant and he defied the armies of Israel and said give me a man.
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Years down the road, there's a blind man, John Nine, and his eyes are open.
How does your eyes get open? A man. A man named Jesus.
Amen. Wow, isn't that fantastic? God answered that prayer, David.
Slew the giant and now God has come down. Open this man's eyes. And tonight, if you're still spiritually blind, we pray earnestly. We pray that your eyes will be open.
He didn't understand much of anything. All he could say is all I know is that once I was blind.
Now I see.
Woman at the Well John 4 Come see a man.
Oh, tonight my friend, they want to present to you the man.
The man who loves you. The man who came to die.
Bore your sins in his own body on the tree, if you accept it. It's been said there's two aspects for appreciation and substitution. And he died for the sins of all world. That's true. He did the old, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
You have to believe it for yourself. You believe that Jesus died. That's an important thing we'll see later.
We might even quote it.
Paul says to the Romans, if you believe that Jesus died and rose again.
For what?
Justification. Oh, fantastic.
Give me a man, a man named Jesus.
How about a two letter word starts with an N and it?
Think of the two letter words starts with an N as an O somewhere in there.
No.
It was brought out in the meetings.
Is there no man that condemns you, lady?
She says no, man, Lord Jesus didn't come down here, my friends, to condemn you to hell.
That's where you're going, anyhow.
Wrath of God abides over your head because you refuse the love of the truth that you might be saved. But the Lord Jesus came down here to save you, to deliver you from that wrath.
Later on we read we've been delivered from the wrath to come.
So we have our one letter word, we have a 2 letter word, a three letter word. What was their four letter word again?
Love Marvelous word.
LOVE.
He is indeed God's love man.
And yet the Ethiopian eunuch, he's reading the Bible, the Old Testament, and he doesn't get a thing out of it. Do you read the Bible and don't get anything out of it? Well, you need to go to the source. The Spirit of God will open it up to you.
And so, Phillips says, understand what you read. How can I accept some man?
See, all these lighter words have to do with man. Amen. The man, some man.
Yes, we can point you to some man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you looking for him?
Year they which justify yourselves before men. We like to justify ourselves. We like to justify ourselves even as we're Christians.
Wasn't my fault, wasn't my idea.
God knows your heart this evening. I can't look into your heart.
All I can do is simply try to present a gift. God's gift. Does anybody here 10 years old?
00:15:00
Anybody here 10?
Nobody here 10.
I'll have a gift for you if you are, but if you're not ten, I guess I get to keep it.
Huh.
Well, that's good, because that's how you get saved. You become as a little child. You become as a little child. Yeah. And if if nobody wants to come up and get the gift, I'll give it to you as a 10 year old. How's that?
Third word.
The.
THE was read this morning. Brother quoted it.
Behold the man.
The Lord Jesus came.
You ever stopped to realize it was also mentioned too my brother?
When he was taken at night, brought into the Sanhedrin mock trial after it was all over, who remembers the very first thing they did to the Lord Jesus?
Thank you, but it was quoted in Hebrews. One who will be in the brightness of glory. The brightness of glory express image of God's person upholding all things by the word of his power.
And he spit in his face.
That was the first thing they did. They spit in the space.
Either if I spit in your face, you wouldn't like me very well, would you?
But this is what we did. This is our heart. We spit in the very image of God. God manifest in flesh. And that was the first thing they do. They sent him, the Herod. Herod mocks them. Aaron sends them to Pilate.
Pilot soldiers put a crown of thorns on his head, and what's the next thing they did?
Spit in his face.
Tonight, as there were. My friend, are you spitting in the face of Jesus?
The very one who stands with arms outstretched and you spit in his face.
He loves you.
He died to redeem you. Sing then enrichments sometimes. He loves you, He wants you. He died to redeem you. Only believe his word. There's nothing to do, nothing to buy. He left his mansion, his glory on high, and now he's willing.
Waiting to save you.
Are you saved tonight?
No man. Amen, the man.
The next one is AT word to a four letter word this man.
They sent the soldiers to the Lord Jesus. They come back. Why didn't you bring them back?
He said no mess make like this man. Isn't that marvelous. No man spake like this man.
These are 1234 letter words that man.
Has attacked the person of Christ.
But you know God and his great love.
He says.
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through listen that listen, man thief on the cross, said, This man has done nothing amiss. Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and you can have your sins forgiven tonight.
Only believe, only believe He is willing. He is able come to Jesus.
Come to Jesus now. God hath appointed a day in which he is going to judge this world by that man.
That man.
One God and one mediator between God and men. The man, the very one that Pilate said Behold the man. God is going to use that man as the only mediator between you and God.
Marvelous grace of God.
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I don't have a watch, so let me tell me what time it is. I don't want to.
Time is gliding swiftly by death and judgment both draw an eye.
Next few minutes I would like to look at a couple of miracles that took place during the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Sometimes you hear brothers speak about the last 7 words of the Lord on the cross.
We're going to look at some of the miracles that took place while he was on the cross.
And I hope I can break it down to a level where you kind of understand it.
Matthew.
27.
Matthew 27.
Verse 45.
Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.
That's the first one.
Why is this significant?
I don't say this in any irreverent, reverent way. God didn't need three hours of darkness to do what he had to do. But he used these three hours of darkness to try to open up the eyes of his people there at Calvary.
Here they were so occupied with the Passover.
And they wanted to get him down off the cross before the Passover. They were so occupied with it. And yet for three hours there was darkness, Luke says. Over the whole earth.
What is God trying to tell them?
Says my people go back, go back to the 10th of Exodus.
In the 9th plague, what is the 9th plague? There was darkness for three days.
The land of Egypt and it was darkness that could be felt.
Wow. He's trying to awaken him to the realization that this is the Passover. This is the Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
This is the Passover that's been promised.
They didn't get it.
Maybe there's somebody in this room tonight here. Still doesn't get it. Heard the gospel message many times.
Heard it many times.
Three hours versus 3 days compressed into three hours. Horrendous judgment of God.
What was the 10th plague?
Death of the first born.
And after three hours of darkness, Jesus Christ with a loud voice.
He dies.
The death of the first born right in their very presence, the Passover Lamb. God will provide Himself a lamb near the death of the first born.
Verse 50.
Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice.
Yielded up the ghost in verse 51.
The old the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom.
It's the second miracle that took place.
The veil of the temple was rent and twain. This is a feeble little picture of it. Got this from Missus Blair. She was so kind to let me ruin it. But think of this as this mighty, fantastic, beautiful.
Kirkin separating the Holy Place and the Most Holy, the Ark of the Covenant hiding behind it, and these priests who perhaps were there inside doing whatever they were doing, and then they hear the sound.
00:25:05
Ripped from the top to the bottom.
What is God telling them? The way into God's presence has been opened.
It is the Day of Atonement for them. It was the Yan Kapur that was not only the Passover, it was not only the death of the first born, the first fruits, but it was redemption. It was bringing into this relationship that you can come into His presence.
And that's why it says, Come, come, ye sinners, poor and needy, come unto me, all ye that labor. Why? Because the veil has been rent, we find in Hebrews. It was his flash, His body was given in depth. So the Passover.
Atonement has been made, eternal redemption for you, for me. There's nothing for you to do. There's nothing for you to buy.
Oh, come to Jesus.
He will save you. What a marvelous thing. God is speaking to His people, and God speaks to you and I tonight.
For God's soul of the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That there's teen in John's epistle, he says.
The Father.
Sent the son.
The savior of the world.
John's Gospel says God gave his son.
God gave his Son. There's an obedient servant. He came. He was doing the will of God.
But God gave him as a gift to you.
Gift to you. He came to die. How many in this room want to die?
Nobody.
One of the things I used to do when I was working, we did a lot of research for the government and other agencies and one of them was a lung health study.
And trying to get people to stop smoking cigarettes. And they had an interview with the doctor, one of the things the doctor had to tell them.
Very sternly, very solemnly, simply this If you continue to smoke, you will die.
And that was a choice. We heard about choices today. Decide for Christ tonight. You have a choice. Are you going to receive God's gift? Are you going to accept it?
Sometimes if you tell your neighbor, don't stop smoking or something, they just laugh. When a doctor tells you something like that, it carries a little bit more weight, doesn't it? But how about God? God rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us.
Sent his Son to die on Calvary's cross. The veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom. You and I now have access to come into the very presence of God.
Lost sinners, we don't literally come into his presence because we have to come through Jesus.
We have to come through him. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, but the access, the way open is there. And if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, you come right into the very presence of God. And not only that, you find as you grow, you're you're in the family of God.
You know if you die in your sins, you're going to be like that poor rich man. Nobody there going to draw your tears. Nobody there is going to comfort you, ease your pain.
Anybody in this room know what real pain is?
I had both knee replacements done at the same time and they had me on Oxycontin. They had me on some kind of drip now, just pushing that button, I felt so good. It took away all the pain.
When they got me out of bed.
Let's talk about pain coming back.
Think of the pain for you. The Lord Jesus went for you. He had known unto you. This night this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
00:30:09
Jesus in the eighth of John was telling.
People simply this.
If you die in your sins.
Where I am.
You cannot come.
You want to go to heaven?
If you die in your sins.
It's not going to happen. You need to put your faith and trust in a risen, glorified man in the glory, A man who has nail prints in his hands to show how much he loves you, how much he cares for you.
How many gospel messages have you heard over your lifetime?
His life at best is very brief. Time is gliding swiftly by death and judgment both draw nigh. To the arms of Jesus fly the end time. So from the beginning of this book we have God. At the end of the book we have God. That all through the book we have God trying to win the people's heart. God commendeth his love toward us while we were yet sinners.
Christ died for us. Marvelous grace of God when we are enemies.
Touching to me and doesn't say Christ died for me when I was his enemy.
Says God gave his Son.
Gave his son.
Would you give your son for your neighbor?
God gave his Son for you, for me.
The darkness that is creeping in this world.
Go back to Genesis chapter one that says the Earth.
Covered with darkness.
What did God say?
Let there be light LIGHT. That's my 5 letter word light.
Lest the light of the glorious gospel which shines in the face of Jesus Christ shines.
What a marvelous thing God is. Now burst open the doors and he wants you to come home.
To accept Christ as your Savior. As I said, I had a gift for somebody who's 10 years old. Let's cut it down to nine years old. Anybody here nine years old? I only have one, so hopefully I don't get in a bind. God has only one gift, the Son. Are you 9 years old? Would you like a free gift?
What do you have to do to get a free gift?
You get a free gift by standing there.
You get a free gift because you believe that I'll give it to you.
Haven't even told you what it is yet.
But you come by faith, simply believing that I have a gift for you. How old are you? 9 What's your name? Oh, Levi. Privilege. Oh, God. This guy works in the Tabernacle. He's a Levi.
Let's see, I put it in one of my pockets here.
Don't trip over your shoelaces. There you go.
You're welcome. Thank you for accepting the gift. Thank you for saying thank you.
He believed that I had a free gift.
And yet he hesitated.
Takes a lot of courage to come up publicly as it were, and confess. Christ. Take a stand. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ their Lord.
Anybody here? You kids, You collect pictures of dead presidents?
Used to be a Bible work in Bermuda. And I asked the kids one time, anybody here want any pictures of dead presidents? And everybody shook their head no, no, no, no. So I took out a picture of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson. Yeah, Yeah.
Everybody wanted a picture of a dead prison.
00:35:01
Well, this young man didn't know it was a dead president, and he didn't know what it is, but he did.
He is a gift.
And it's his to do whatever he wants. But that's not God's way. God doesn't just give you gift of eternal life so you can do whatever you want to do.
God gives you eternal life so you can live to please him. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ when he said do you have life eternal?
Terrific message. The gospel, the grace of God, the ages that come is going to show those who put their faith and trust in Him the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward me, toward you.
Ever stop and think about the kindness of the love of God?
Tell me what it's on 9.
You know, there are many people in this world who are hurting.
Children who are hurting. Children who don't even know who their fathers are. Children who are raised by their grandparents.
Thank God they're being raised.
What God wants you and I to go on together as brethren has been mentioned to take an interest in one another, and I really appreciate the message of friendship.
I didn't have any friends growing up when I was young.
I was an outsider looking in.
And yet God, in His marvelous grace, has provided a beautiful life.
And yet we tend to see people, young people, sitting here. Some of you may be indeed hurting, some of you may be crying. I'm here, I'm here, Somebody take an interest in me. There's a friend that sticketh closer to the brother. The world says, as you can count the real true friends you have in one hand.
Think of it on your one hand, you can count really how many true friends you really have.
Rent You come to these conferences and you see all these brethren were friends. What a marvelous thing. Oh, but be careful. Be careful.
The Lord Jesus there in the garden. Judas came with the band. What did the Lord Jesus say to Judas?
Friend or for?
Oh, don't just be a friend in Word. Be a part know of the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. He's died for you. He's done everything possibly for you.
Do you know Him as your savior tonight?
What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? The other man asked the Lord one time. What? What? What good things should I do?
And the larks that this is the work of God, that you believe on him.
Of his son.
I found it very difficult taking the meeting tonight.
Because the solemnity of it.
The last gospel that ever go forth.
The last gospel meaning that will ever go forth in this room.
Must the Lord overrules?
And you're sitting under the sound of the last gospel meaning.
First Gospel meaning, Apostle Peter preached.
This might be the very last time you ever hear the good news.
Jesus is coming. Those are the other two things I was going to look at tonight, but I don't have time. The Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with a shout voice of the Archangel, the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise 1St and so you have on this side. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels taking vengeance of them, the noon at God.
And I've been at the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you have a choice tonight, my friend. You want to be on this side. The Lord Jesus comes and takes his people home, or you want to be on this side. And the Lord comes in judgment. And it's a very solemn judgment because the 19th of Revelation, it says he treadeth out the winepressness of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.
00:40:17
And there's no need for you to be under that wrath.
He bore it on the cross for you.
He suffered there on Calvary's cross that you might have life, you might have it abundantly. And if you find yourself like this poor rich man, and yes, that's what oxymorons, poor rich man in hell, it's your choice.
You refuse the love of the truth that you might be saved.
Well, I guess I should give one more gift, just to be fair. Is there anybody here one year old?
A babe in Christ. Wow, what a what a thrill that would be. There's someone tonight.
Would step by faith but Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I believe you died in the cross and it's important because in first Thessalonians 4 it says.
If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God is going to bring them with him.
Are are you saved tonight, my friend? Are you saved? You've heard the term many times, but do you know Jesus as Savior? Do you know Him as your Lord?
Come to Jesus gently calling. One of my favorite songs is not in our little hymn book, but it's simply, softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.
Calling for you.
Pardon me tenderly, patiently. Jesus is waiting.
Oh Sinner, come home.
So with a heavy heart knowing that this is the last gospel meaning ever to be preached in this building unless the Lord tarries.
Montreal has a special place in my heart. I met my wife here. 196075 make sure I get the year right. 1975 was a Montreal conference.
Ask her to sit with me at the gospel meeting. Back then, you wait until the hymn thing that I didn't want to wait that long. I thought, well, let's, let's, let's get on with it. Eric Pilkington took the gospel message. What a thrill to realize.
Over the years God blesses his people and God is going to bless and open doors for you brethren to have another Ave. for the gospel to go forth. Thy people fed and encouraged. But tonight if there's somebody in this room tonight, still lost, still lonely, still without a friend.
Brother pointed out there's a friend.
Closer than a brother, Let's sing a little song for the children.
#43.
So I'll don't have anybody here one year old. So after we sing, I'll see if there's anybody here 2 years old #43.
One door in all.
Great side you, why don't you hungry up and get inside?
That's a marvelous question. We're going to sing 1 little one more hymn. We're going to try it and not say it's going to work #20 #32.
Anybody here two years old?
You're two years old.
Would you like a gift?
Come on up #32 what we're going to do, this side of the room is going to ask the question. This side of the room is going to give the answer as we sing it. So this side of the room will sing the question. This side of the room will sing the answer.
00:45:03
You just get a George Washington because you're only two.
There you go. Careful going down.
But again, she wanted it. She had to come up for it. A free gift. Let's give it a try. OK? This side's asked the question as we sing it. This side sings the answer. OK, this side what?
Dreams of subtle and cut 1 squad bring hands.
Everybody on the court.
Makes me like a snow. No mother outside, no nothing like the water chilling.
Let's pray it.
Mais Avec Moi Dites Autour de Vous
French Gospel—Paul Payette
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00:05:01
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00:10:03
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00:15:03
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00:20:10
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00:25:23
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00:30:00
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00:35:00
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00:40:13
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00:45:01
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Operates over.
Messiah.
John 2:23 - 3:16
Singing