Talk—Bob Thonney
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Right, right Father, we are thankful for these happy times and we can be singing these beautiful Emmys.
Help us this evening as we speak some further from thy word. In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
At first him we sang How great thou art.
Never forget the first time I heard that song.
In Walla Walla.
In Pioneer Junior High, does anybody of folks from Walla Walla go to that? You went there, OK.
They had it all school assembly and they had this guy that was a singer and he sang popular songs. I don't remember what they were.
But at the end of his program, he says, I've asked your principal if I could sing my favorite song and he said I could.
So he sang how great they are. He's one of these guys that have a great big belly.
A little bit bigger, mine even, and he could pump it out. Let me tell you, I never forgot it. But that song, if you notice it, the first two stands this speak about creation.
And the last two speak about redemption.
Two fears in which God has shown his glory.
And I sometimes think that we need to focus a little bit more on creation because it is incredibly immense. I love to study the stars. My kids have gotten me several books on the stars at home. I find it fascinating, totally incredible, the immensity of the universe.
Just this last month I was up on the high out the planet like I was mentioning today.
Of Bolivia at a conference in the South of Bolivia at 12,000 feet. It's the High Plains at 12,000 feet altitude. And when you get a night that the sun has or the moon hasn't come up yet and the sky is clear, you're out there in a town that doesn't have very many city lights. Let me tell you, you can see the stars like nobody, nowhere else I've been in the world.
In fact, besides the tremendous display of the Milky Way.
Galaxy across the sky. You can actually see other galaxies with the naked eye.
Is that clear up there? And I must say, I, I'm fascinated the, I'm sure some of you have studied astronomy somewhat, but the Milky Way Galaxy that we live in is in the form of a, of a plate, a big, huge plate in the universe. It's composed of approximately 200.
Billion stars. There's only 6 or 7 billion people in this world.
But this Galaxy has 200 billion stars in it, and the distance across this Galaxy is 100,000 light years.
Those numbers just don't have too much meaning to us. But let me put it this way, the light that started to cross our Galaxy when Adam was placed on this work on this Earth isn't even a tenth of the way across.
And its light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second.
You start getting some idea of the grandeur of the universe.
And one of the books I have at home, it says they the.
They now think that there is about 250 billion more galaxies in the universe. The other day I was looking at a Time magazine and it had a little clip in there and it said scientists or astronomers now think that they're approximately 10 times more galaxies than they thought previously. They just can't get to the end of it all. And we're talking about a person.
I I don't know if we grasp this, that spoke it all into existence by the word of His power.
00:05:01
Far, far greater than we can grasp. This is the one that came into the world. This is the one that went to the cross. The diapers just amazingly incredible. This is the one they went up to him and spit in his face.
And he didn't do anything. This is the one that went to the cross. This is the one that bore my sins in his own body and the tree.
The verse I'd like to read tonight is or The verse is in Second Corinthians chapter 5. That last song we sang when I survey the wonder cross. When we survey the wonders cross.
It was a favorite song of the brother that took me the first time to Bolivia, Eric Smith.
Anybody remember Eric Smith? I'm sure some do. Please raise your hand. Those that remember Eric Smith. Nobody on this side, but quite a few on this side.
He was a man that created a real impression of my life for eternity and I thank God for it that this is one of his favorite songs. And here in Second Corinthians chapter 5, I want to read a couple verses here that really I want to challenge you young people.
And older ones to you with Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they which lived should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them.
And rose again.
You follow his reasoning here. He is saying if one dies for all, that means that we were all under sins, domination and death as the result of sin.
And that he died for all. Now, how does that translate to our lives here? That they which live here? We are. We're alive. You get it?
Should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again?
So the focus of the life we have in the Lord Jesus is not this way.
It's that way. It's him. And you know what? I see young people.
In this country, United States of America, who have so much going for it and they're totally unhappy.
It's because they're focused this way. Young people, that's not life, let me tell you. It's not living if your focus this way. You're thinking about yourself and your own desires and your own wants. That's not little.
Living is that direction.
Him, Christ is our life now. It's totally different, you know, in life down here in this world.
We live and at the end of life is death. That's the way we're all geared to think.
But the life we have in Christ is a totally different life.
It's after death. In fact, it really begins with death, and you don't really know what real life is until you have accepted the death of Christ for you.
And what he has then, when Jesus rose from the dead, he rose in the power of a life that cannot die.
That's the life you and I possess.
But you know, what comes the challenge to me is that we tend to think that the life we have here in the United States is pretty nice, have pretty much everything we need, not like in other parts of the world, and we can enjoy everything. I'm not saying it's wrong to enjoy it, but I say if your focus is this direction, young person, your older person too, you are going to be completely dissatisfied. It's not what?
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Life is about real. Life is on the other side of that in resurrection.
So I want to read a couple more verses in John's Gospel chapter 12.
Verse 23.
Jesus answered them, saying the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abide us alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He's that loveth his life.
Shall lose it. Do you hear that?
He that loveth his life shall lose it.
And he that hated his life in this world shall keep it.
And a life eternal.
Wow, that's completely reversed to the way we're naturally geared to think.
What does it mean? Going back to verse 24, the Lord Jesus is speaking about this corn of wheat.
It's a little kernel of wheat.
And we're gonna keep it up here on this table, we're gonna keep it dry, we're gonna keep it safe that nothing ever happens to that, because we want to keep it.
What's gonna happen is they're gonna be any fruit from that kernel of wheat, No.
So they're gonna be through. What do we have to do? Take that kernel of wheat and we put it into the ground, and there the moisture and the microorganisms in the soil start to work on that kernel of weakness swells up and it starts rotten and it dies.
And in its death it gives place to a new life, and there is much fruit. So the Lord is applying that now for us in verse 25. He that loves his life shall lose it.
Anybody here want to die? Please raise your hand If you like to die, if you want to die.
Come on, nobody want to die.
You want to die? Yeah.
Yeah, we're not talking about physical death merely. Never mind.
We're talking about applying the principle that Jesus died for us, and when we accept him as our Savior, then we are counted dead to sin and live to God. And that's the death we're talking about, although it may come to that and many of our brethren in those Muslim countries that we were hearing about Egypt.
And other Muslim countries.
You know what? I read an article, a book the other day where the Muslims were accusing the Christians. You people love life. We love death.
And of course it's heaven by what they do in those countries. But really, brethren, it is in only in the measure that we apply the death of Christ in our lives that there will be fruit for God.
It's been over 50 years ago now, but there was a missionary down in Ecuador. His name was Jim Elliott. He was from the Portland area. And I one time when I was working at Bible Truth Publishers, his father came into the book room and I got to know him. That was after Jim had been killed by the Alki Indians.
He was killed at 28 years old and but his death, along with four other missionaries, was something that challenged the whole Christian world as to how we live.
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He said this and this is really the essence of what we have in verse 25.
He said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. You can't keep that life you have. You can't keep it, only God, Jesus that he said you can't. He's no fool who gives it to gain what he cannot lose. And the result of the deaths of those five missionaries?
Was a challenge to the whole Christian world as to how we look at life. And I must say, dear young people, when I see the blessing that there is in the Latin American world and I see the way things are in decline in the Christian world up here, I don't say it all over because there are places of encouragement.
You know what I say.
It comes down to it's the principle in the US culture of self pleasing.
Do it your way, Have it the way you want it. You owe it to yourself.
Burger King says have it your way. Don't get me wrong, I like Burger King, but it's have it your way. That's the philosophy of life in the United States of America that's killing us. It's absolutely killing the Christian testimony. Christianity is not self pleasing. Even Christ, please not himself. Christianity is self sacrifice.
So you wanna have, you wanna have a life that's meaningful, ask the Lord how you can sacrifice for him and don't put any limits on it, even if it means death, physically death. So I just want to leave that with you, dear young people. I, I really, uh, am challenged in my own soul. I'm a little bit older now.
But I'm challenged my own soul to lay that at your feet.
Don't live your life for things down here. It's too fleeting and it's too vain. You know, sometimes I go to a nursing home back there where we are, and you see an old person who has lived their life very successfully and they're wealthy, big bank accounts, beautiful houses, lots of land.
What are they doing sitting in that wheelchair? What they doing there waiting to die?
And they have absolutely nothing in front of them. They don't have Jesus.
That is the worst robbery platform. It's taking place in the United States of America.
Don't fall for that philosophy, young people, there's.
Something better. Use your life for what? Let what will last for all eternity.
I mentioned brother Eric Smith. He was a challenge to me. He came from New Zealand, he was the one that took me to Bolivia. He was a short man and he was.
A from a family that was quite wealthy and he.
Decided that.
When he came of age that he wanted to go to Bolivia to preach the gospel, he had gotten saved.
And his father, who was a man of the world.
Totally disagreed with him. He gave him a lot of opportunity to get wealthy down here. And when Eric Smith said I'm going to Bolivia to preach the gospel, he says, son, if that's your decision, get out of my house. You're no longer welcome here. So he had to make his own way. And he went to Bolivia and he arrived there in 1921.
And he spent his years, almost 50 years there preaching the gospel. And there are many, many assemblies there. Yet I got to meet him. I got to see him the last time in Montreal before he went to be with the Lord, lacking 2 days of being 103 years old, lived quite a while.
And he could no longer talk. He just looked at me with his little two beady eyes.
And I greeted him in Quechua. You might not hear Keshun here, man. And he nodded. His hair had he? He knew the Quechua Indian language.
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But shortly after that, he went home to go ahead.
It was such a challenge to me.
On the other side.
Baby dolls, they're gonna be in the glory because of him. He didn't have a lot of wealth. He had a house, yes, but he had very little in respect to what he might have had if he had tried to make it good. He didn't live for that. He lived for what was beyond. I tell him it came as such a challenge to my own life. Do I want to have it nice and deluxe down here and have everything?
I like to have.
Is that my life? Let me tell you, young people, if you live life that way, you're going to lose it. And I don't want to see that happen to you. Live your life denying yourself, sacrificing yourself for others. You're going to find that that is going to be fulfilling. You will find your life if you're that way.
Let's just pray, Father, we're thankful for our Lord Jesus.
Our glorious age, that one who?
It's so amazingly great and powerful and wonderful and yet came into this world and gave up his life for us and our Lord. Here we are, those that profess to believe in me. Help us to live in that same way that God has lived. Lord Jesus, we pray for Thy blessing on these dear young people and each one has been at these meetings. Those that are on the road, bless and keep them too, and ourselves for the rest.