Address—N. Berry
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Well, I'm sure we have all been greatly enjoying these.
Three days together the Lord has has richly blessed us.
And I just trust that each one of you young ones here, this is an address, the young one. I trust that these words that have been faithfully spoken.
Direct words from the Word of God may be used now in in blessing to our souls.
I'd like you to turn for three words that are before me right toward the end of the Bible, in the last words of the of the book of Jude.
Last three words of the Book of Jude.
Now.
And ever, now and ever.
Now I'd like to just try to bring together all, not all, but that which has been before us in these meetings.
And to to see the wonders of the word of God.
That in the Old Testament.
God, in his wisdom, has given us.
In stories that which would illustrate the truth that has been before us. How wonderful is the word of God in this in this respect.
Now there have been so far in our reading meetings, profitable meetings, that they have been.
A1 Particular verse, Ephesians four and three, that has been before us, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Beautiful verse, and those two verses that have gone before it.
Also there has been mentioned, I believe first Peter two and five. He also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.
To offer up to God to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices.
Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The building side of the truth has been before us, the building of God's house as we had in the second chapter of Ephesians and the last few verses, so the building side, and with it the responsibility of you and me.
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the building.
Of God's house here on this earth. Now, as I look into your faces, I trust and pray that each one of us has individually put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. This of course, is necessary for each one of us to be in this building that God is building.
Now we also have in First Corinthians 1546 this remarkable verse.
How be it? This was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. We have had the spiritual side of our life. Now it's a spiritual life that you and I have. But as I said, it's remarkable that God in His Word has given us this, the Old Testament, to give these.
Illustrations of these of this truth of the New Testament.
But He gave the physical side, the natural side 1St, and then as time went on, and through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the full development of the revelation of God. Why you and I find in the New Testament that wonderful truth, the teachings that have been before us.
But by God's grace and through His wonderful wisdom, now we're going to be able to look back and see, for you young ones here and all the like, these illustrations of this truth as found in the Old Testament. Now let's turn back to two books which we will be looking at for a little while.
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Haggai, which is the third to last book in the Old Testament.
And Ezra, which is the book after two Chronicles.
The Book of Haggai.
The Book of Ezra. These are the two books that bring before us the building of the house in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah and Zechariah bring before us the building of the wall, but these two books that we will look at now.
Illustrate for us the building of that remarkable edifice in the city of Jerusalem, and I might just say to give a quick review, that in the 25th chapter of Exodus and the eighth verse it tells us the words of the Lord when He said.
Let them build me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Or this is a wonderful revelation, dear young people of the heart of God, that he would desire to have a place.
Where he could dwell Now sin came in and in the Garden of Eden, and that walking in communion with God was interrupted. But God, as it were, would give illustrations of that which was was in the heart of God, and that is the giving of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the purpose of it all was that God would have a Tabernacle, as we read in the last chapter of Revelation.
God is going to Tabernacle. He's going to dwell with man eternally. Oh, how wonderful then to realize that God had a purpose in saying that.
In reference to the Tabernacle, so that God gave instruction for the building of that first building, It was a temporary one. It traveled through the wilderness for 40 years with the children of Israel, but when they got into that land or there was.
A building that surpassed, I believe, any other building that has ever been put up on the face of this earth. Solomon's Temple in all its glory.
Their God lived in that building, dwelt in that holiest of all.
In there, in that place, in that cube where there was that ark, the ark, that which was the highest picture.
Of the presence of the Lord here with his people. The Ark. Now it wasn't very long after that building was built that the decline set in. And down it went, as it does happen with each one.
Of us when responsibility is committed to us downhill, but we go so often. But we want to remember now that there is God's side and there is man's side. As we learned in the meetings. God is building a building of materials. You and me, as I quoted from first Peter 2:00 and 5:00.
He's building a building that never will be destroyed. It is composed of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But to you and to me has been committed now the building here on this earth in another way which we will see illustrated.
Well, as I said, Solomon Temple wasn't very long in going downhill. Neglect of the priesthood. And the time came when God allowed attacks from the outside, from Nebuchadnezzar, and it was destroyed and the people were carried away. First the 10 tribes, then the two tribes who had been divided, and they were carried off to Babylon. There they were for 70 years and then.
In God's restoring grace.
He brought a little remnant. Oh, it was just a little number, I believe around.
42,000 or so people back to God's appointed place, to Israel, to the land of Israel and to Jerusalem. And here now in our story, we're going to pick up where these people that the tribe of Judah particularly has come back or has been brought back to the spot and they are.
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Building now this building which God had instructed them to do.
Sad to say, there was neglect again, just as we have sung in our hymn or how quick we are to neglect. And here they were in a state of neglect. So let's read now Haggai chapter one.
In the second year of Darius the king. Now that was the king of Persia.
Nebuchadnezzar had gone. Cyrus had gone. Artaxerxes had gone.
And Darius is now on the throne in Persian. He had given instructions that and permission and authority and money to provided to build this House of God. But as I said, it was neglected. They started but they didn't go on with it so often as you and I are or we have the best of intentions, don't we to go on but.
So often we, as we will discover, we have three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. We're going to see these three enemies in a moment or two. They had opponents. You and I have opponents. And here now we, we see that in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord.
By Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel.
Of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Joseph the high priest, saying thus.
Speaketh the Lord of Hosts saying this, people say.
The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, oh ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste. Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts.
Consider your ways, ye have sown much and bring in little.
Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus Seth well will stop there for a minute. Now here we see.
First of all, that God is using a very insignificant.
Man, this little book of Haggai. I'm sure not very many of us.
Read it.
To our neglect, of course. It's one of the smallest. I think there's only one other smaller book of prophets.
Of the prophets and it's just liable to be passed over but oh, I would hardly recommend you reading this now because it is full of instruction. Haggai, a prophet, he didn't have much of A of a.
Grandiose declaration like we find in the fiery speeches that we read of in Isaiah. Wonderful words we don't find that. We find just very little homey expressions.
But all that's what I want to emphasize to you now, dear the young ones, this afternoon, this is the day. This is why I say this word. Now we're living now we're living in dark days.
This was a dark day, Now is a dark day. There was decline in in those days. There is surely decline to day you and I have to admit it in our hearts. It's so easy to be occupied with other things, to be discouraged. Oh, what a day of discouragement this is. And I just trust that this message this afternoon is from the Lord to encourage.
You to go on now to get this message that this is the message for now.
For now and so here, and we'll see it later on South here, this man.
This prophet Haggai is there. He's a prophet. We also have read that there is Zerubbabel. Now if you traced Zerubbabel, you would find that he was a descendant of King Solomon. If you turn to Matthew chapter one, you would find that he is one of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the king.
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The King.
Remarkable, isn't it? He was the king. And then we've also read about Joshua.
He was the high priest, so we have a prophet, a priest and a king.
Oh, isn't that beautiful? Why? This is the Lord Jesus Christ illustrated in these three persons. They had them there and you and I, beloved ones, we have that same person with us to day. There are three enemies and we have been having before us also that there are three. I don't like to use the word things. We might say 3 powers.
One that has been brought before us, the presence of the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful thing.
Secondly, the indwelling Holy Spirit in the heart of everyone of us here this afternoon. And thirdly, the Word of God, that unchanging Word of God. We have those three now. Now.
And so here we find that this man has a haggy eye. He speaks from the word of of the Lord and he says in the second verse, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying he was quoting just what the Lord was saying or how important this is. This is what we are enjoying in these meetings.
The word of the Lord. It's not what some brother thinks or his opinions, it's the word of the Lord.
And Haggai was speaking the pure word of the Lord and what he said. And he says the Lord said that, that the people say the time is not come, the time that the Lords house should be built. Well, isn't that like the now of today?
Let me put it this way, if we are the Lords, why we're we're saved, we're one of his individually belonged to him. But the truth as we have been having brought before us of the unity of the spirit of the oneness of the body of the House, character of the collective testimony here on this earth to the Lord's name.
Or how this is sometimes attacked and you young people, you hear these things as I do. As such as well, there's no more testimony left.
We're all just going on our own now and it's all broken up. There are 1500 groups of Christians. I don't know which way to turn. People say, Oh dear young people, this is one of the voices of the enemy that would distract you, that would turn you away, or the house character of the truth that the Lord.
Desires a corporate testimony to go on and will go on till the end. Don't forget the word now and ever.
We have this glorious truth now, and we have it forever. The blessings that you and I have, we have them now and forever. We're not going to get anymore blessings in the glory than we have now. It's now and ever.
But here we find these people neglecting this. They were listening to an enemy. As I said, there were three enemies. I'd like to explain what I mean. Back in the land of Persia, there was a king there. They were more or less under the control of of this king. They could go ahead and build or they couldn't, at the discretion of that king.
Darius.
Secondly, there were enemies surrounding them. Let's get.
That from Ezra chapter 4 Keep your finger in both these books. These will be going back and forth.
To see different verses.
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Ezra 4:00 and 4:00.
Then the people of the land here is the second enemy, the first enemy powerful king that had the predecessor had taken them captive, the enemy of their souls, the enemy of the land of Israel here is enemy #2 verse four then the people of the land weakened the hands of.
The people of Judah weaken the hands. Oh, that's what Satan, that's what the world is doing. That's what the flesh is doing to each one of us, weakening our hands. And here was a concerted and organized.
Effort to weaken the hands of these people. I'll read the rest of it. The hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in the building. Troubled them. They didn't mind their being back in the land. We'll also see that they didn't mind something else. But the building of this temple they were against. And all dear young people, let me tell you that there is.
Truth that is so attacked today than that truth that there is one gathering center on this earth, and that gathering center is Christ. And I believe that that is the truth that is being attacked everywhere these days. And you and I need to realize where those attacks are coming from. And here's what it says.
They troubled as the people of Judah and troubled them in the building.
And what more and hired counselors, wise men, smart people. Or there are hired counselors around these days too. And they may be the Lords own people. And yet they are troubling God's people. They would be well educated, well indoctrinated in what they believe. They're around us everywhere. And they are well organized as it says there and hired counselors.
Them to what? To frustrate their purpose. All we heard about the purpose and having.
Motives. What was the motive here? The motive was to build this house and there the were the enemies that were frustrating that purpose. Oh, you get the message. Dear young people, this is now that I'm Speaking of. You are being corrupted. You are being frustrated.
In the work that the Lord would call you and me to do to build this house, to go on now faithfully for the Lord in the truth that we have learned and has been bought for us and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose for a little while. No indeed.
All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, the king of Persia, didn't stop.
And we're never free from attacks.
As we get on, on older, we might say, well, I know this truth and I am well established in it. We never are free from attacks. And so those attacks went on all the time to frustrate them and they were organized, as I said, to keep them from that purpose. Or the enemy is at work today and he would discourage you. He would bring in great intelligence.
There are many, many books that are coming out. I often tell people, I suppose in Bibles and publications, we have to reject about 99% of the books that are submitted to us, Christian books.
To at least to pass out to carry in the bookstore. I would say 99% of the books Christian books have to be rejected why they are organized in many ways to.
Public at least to pass out to carry in the bookstore. I would say 99% of the books, Christian books have to be rejected. Why? They are organized in many ways to frustrate this truth to which you and I by God's grace have been gathered to that there is one center, Christ, the gathering center. The Spirit of God would gather every believer to that.
Person. So there we see the enemy now. Let's go back to Haggai to see the third enemy now.
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Haggai, chapter one, verse 4.
Is it time for you or ye to dwell in your sealed houses?
And this house lie waste. Let's pause there now.
What does this message for? Now? I'm sure we all know it. Prosperity, Prosperity, how it is weakening the hands of the Saints. Long, long ago, in Mr. Mcintosh's days, he said, show me a prosperous assembly and I'll show you a feeble assembly that was written.
75 years ago, how true it is today. Oh beloved ones, you young ones here that are growing up.
And the tendency is to build bigger houses and nicer homes and to be occupied with all the material things of this life. Oh, don't fall into the trap of the enemy. I'm not against a nice home. And I'm not suggesting that we live in in like they're living in in Bolivia. But I am saying this, that this is one of the means that Satan is using today.
Prosperity Education.
Advancement, all these things.
God lays his finger on the point and says.
This is the enemy. Where was this enemy? Right inside them wasn't the far off king of King Darius. It wasn't all those organized enemies around them. It was right in their own hearts. Their hearts were growing cold. They were taken up with their own material things in their own advancement, their sealed houses and the neglecting to build the House of God.
What was the result God was allowing as we see here?
He was allowing things to come in to frustrate this. He was blowing on it. Oh dear young ones, we live in days of weakness. Weakness. We have to admit it's weakness.
Why?
People say, why can't there be the outflowing of the Holy Spirit in the Speaking of tongues and so on and healings and so on. Oh, dear young people, this is a day of absolute weakness when the Lord can't, can't act in the way I shouldn't say can't, but he doesn't act in the way that the Holy Spirit acted in the early days of the book of the Acts. It's a day of weakness.
But we're going to see that God has a message.
For that day too. So he said to them there in that fifth verse, consider.
Your ways that is spoken twice, the first time as a word of warning. I have to say this to my own soul and to each one of us. Consider our ways. Not the doctrine that is slipping, but all it is the carelessness that easily creeps in. And the Lord would say to each one of us here today, consider your way.
That was a warning because he was saying to them.
Oh, he was the one, the Lord was the one that was frustrating them. The Lord it said, there ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but you have not enough. Ye drink, but are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And then they were putting their wages into bags with holes. There is nothing in this life, dear young people, that will ever satisfy but Christ.
No.
No matter what it is profession, professions of any kind. I was just hearing the other day that there has been in the United States a great investment in a in a by one of the great foundations to explore where America is going and they divided it up into different sections of the society. They spent millions of dollars on this study as to what's wrong.
With America Today and I was told that in everyone of those five or six reports that has come out so far, every one of them says we don't have an answer.
Oh dear young ones, we are living now in such a day. Why God is blowing on our this world. He is blowing and it is too for you and for me to realize that He may be hindering. Not hindering to discourage us, but to get the message across to us. Consider our way.
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That's the first one.
Seventh verse thus saith the Lord of hosts. Consider your ways. Here's the second one now, and this time it is to encourage God would always do those two things. He speaks in warning and he then speaks in constructive way of blessing, giving you and me. The key doesn't just leave us.
Without knowing what to do, what is the next message?
Eighth verse, go up to the mountain. I think that's beautiful, the mountain.
Go up to the mountain.
And bring wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified. Seth, the Lord. Oh, that's what we need, don't we? We need to get up on the mountain, beloved ones, away from all the things that we hear from this world. We have to pass through this world, I realize. But oh, it's to get up and to learn those heavenly, that heavenly truth, the mountain of God.
Well, that's where you and I find sweet communion with the Lord. That's where you and I get our materials from. It was up on the top of the mountain. They were to go up there and to cut down the wood and bring it back and to use that material to build the house. There's nothing like our enjoyment of Christ as He now is up in the glory in that mountain. There He is a man in glory.
The Exalted One, and it is to feed on that Blessed One.
That is where we get our material. That is where we get our encouragement. Let's read the next verse.
Or at least that verse. And I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Oh dear young people, do you want to be blessed in your Christian life? Get up onto the mountain.
Take the materials from there, build the house. Go on, go on. Now, don't be discouraged. That's the word for today. For now, get up to the mountain, get the materials and build. Keep on and the Lord will bless you.
Now let's go down a little bit farther.
13th verse.
Then speak Haggy I, the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message. Isn't that nice? One of the I think it's the only time in the Scriptures that we have that little word, the Lord's message from the Lord's messenger.
In the Lord's message under the people saying.
Or isn't this grant? Here's the first promise now.
I am with you.
This is what we've been learning, haven't we? In these meetings, the Lord is with us. The Lord.
That's a word that needs to burn down into our hearts. The Lord is with us. The world is crumbling. Our society is just teetering. And if the Lord doesn't come soon, oh, there are days ahead that are going to be real. Days of testing for every one of us, no matter what place you live in today.
It's crumbling. It's crumbling.
But the Lord is.
Or may we go away from these meetings with the consciousness of this fact that we have the Lord, with how much does his presence mean to us these days? May it burn into our heart. I am with you doesn't say that the man that the Haggai said the Lord is with us. But oh how beautiful it's, it's so personal.
I am with you, Seth, the Lord. That's the first one.
And then the 14th verse. And the Lord stood up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Chialta, the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Joseph the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnants of the people. And they came and did the work in the House of the Lord of hosts.
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Their God, they did it. They did the work in spite of the king Darius, in spite of the enemies around, and they started back on the work. Now, I'd like to say this to be a Christian these days.
Doesn't carry the reproach of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can remember back when, 30-40 years ago, it was quite a different story to be a Christian, a Christian. Then there was more reproach. But now with the great campaigns that have gone through our Western world, the the fact of being a Christian doesn't carry the reproach that it did in other days.
But.
To be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we have been learning in these meetings.
To the truth of the separating power.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ to be walking from in separation from other Christians gathered alone to the Lorde name. Here's reproach. Well, you might say you wouldn't find that in the Old Testament.
But it is amazing to find that there too. Let's go back to Ezra now.
3rd chapter of Ezra.
And when the 7th month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man in Jerusalem. Then stood up Joshua the son of Joseph and his brethren, the priests and the rubble the son of Chiatiel and his brethren, and builded the house. No.
Builded the altar.
Of the God of Israel to burn, to offer burnt offerings thereon.
As it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God, and they set the altar upon his basis, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries.
End of the sixth verse, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord.
Was not late. Now just let me take a moment or two to explain this that those of us who have seen models of the Tabernacle remember that there was an outside gate.
And to go through that gate, the sacrificer or the person who brought their sacrifice.
They went in and the first object they met inside there was the brazen altar.
A beautiful picture of the cross of Christ. This is where they offered their sacrifice to the priest, and the priest stood there. The man killed the sacrifice, and in some cases it was cut up and put into that fire and burned, and it went up to God as a sacrifice. Now that is a picture of our salvation.
Of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the priests didn't stop there. Oh, the priests were the privileged ones, the two sons of Aaron who were able to go in to the Tabernacle in the worship of God. Aaron able to go right into the very presence of God to the ark once a year.
Now I'm sure we can see this picture developing, and that is that so long as those people just had that altar, there was no objection.
Nobody was objecting the the enemy back in the land and and Darius wasn't objecting to building a little altar. And the people around there, these organized ones that we have read up, they didn't mind having the altar there, but they were objecting to the building of the house. Or isn't that an amazing illustration from the Old Testament?
And so it is with you and with need. Beloved One. It is one thing to be a believer, or how glorious that is to know the Lord is our Savior.
But all the reproaches connected with going on with the truth, the building of the house, the corporate testimony to Christ.
There was the objection, and so there they didn't lay the foundation of the temple. Now we go back to Hagia.
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2nd chapter.
Now we come to these three occasions where we have the word now.
3rd 2nd chapter.
And the second verse speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Chiatio the governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Joseph the high priest, and to the residue of the people saying, I will just pause there. Here was now a message, and it was a message that was started off by saying now.
Now, why would that be in there? Oh, because of the general condition. It was a message for that moment. And all beloved ones, we have a message from the Lord we trust for you now. Now in the day in which we live, difficult days that they may be, they are difficult days. We wouldn't minimize the power of the enemy. He's coming in like a flood.
And now we get that word now.
The Lord had a message for them now. He said it right there.
Now.
And the third verse, who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?
And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing that caused there? Now He says to those ones that are around there. There the Lord says this, you see the house that is built now.
And you compare it, some of you who are older, with the days of that previous house. And what is it now in in your eyes? Oh, it's as if it were nothing. But notice the word now. What do you think of it now? Oh dear young people, I say again that we are living in days when if we look.
Now and say all the testimony is getting weaker and weaker.
It is. I don't recall but I have read that in the City of London.
There was at one time 50 meetings there in the one City of London alone. Hundreds I suppose. I have a letter at home that my father received from Germany and back in 1910, where there was a little village of 1200 people and 400 of them were gathered to the Lord's name.
Now there's just in the City of London, just a little handful.
Just a little handful.
And what's in Germany? Two or three tiny little assemblies there, and there's so much trial and difficulty. Now is the day of such weakness, dear ones. But now is the day when we don't look back, we look forward. But now the Lord said to them, What is it in your eyes now?
So what's the message going to be? Let's read the next verse.
4th 1St.
Yet now be strong.
Are the circumstances deciding whether you and I are to be strong? No, dear Young, we have these three things that we're going to see in a few moments. We have the presence of the Lord. That was the first promise. The Lord said, I'm with you now. You and I have the power of the Lord. He lives in our hearts.
Now, yet now be strong ozer rubble, saith the Lord.
And be strong, O Joshua, the son of Josadech the high priest. And be strong, all ye people of the land. It was just a handful, just a handful.
And work. And here again the emphasis the second time.
For I am with you, that was the motive, For I am with you, that was the presence of the Lord, 1/2.
5th verse According to the word that I covenant with you when you came out of the land, came out of Egypt, or isn't that beautiful? It wasn't a new word. It was going taking them right back to the word that they had when they came out of the land of Egypt. How many people came out of the land in that day?
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There were 604,000 men, and if each family there were maybe five people. There were 3 million or so people, millions of people, but it was the same word that went to them that they were to use. Now let's read it again. According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of the land of Egypt, came out of Egypt. No change the unchange.
Word of God, we have it now. Dear friends, that is the second one.
And then the third.
So my spirit remaineth with you. Fear you not. There's the third. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. There is the power now of God to keep you and me in these dark days.
Oh, how wonderful to realize that we have those three things now. I just want to say this.
In the early days there was the ark. It was present in the days of Solomon. It was in, or at least before that, it was in the Tabernacle. Then that ark was in the holiest of all, in the glorious building that was built by Solomon.
But when the enemy attacked, we believe that that ark was lost.
And never found again. So that this building now that was being built, there wasn't any arc.
The visible appearance presence of the Lord was missing.
Did the Lord say, well, of course, the ark is lost now and the my presence will not be felt there? No, dear ones, there isn't a mention of that. And you know, we were gathered here this morning around the blessed person of the Lord Jesus. Not one of us saw him with these natural eyes. He's gone. He's gone to glory.
Gone and rejected from this world. We're following a savior that has been rejected.
That Blessed One suffered and died here on this cross, on the cross. And he has been, like Jonah, cast out of this world. He is a rejected one. We're following one that is up in the glory today. No visible evidence do we have?
But we have these great three principles. We have the presence of the Lord with us, unseen to the natural eyes, but seen to our spiritual eyes. We have the same unchanging word of God, and we have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Do we need any more?
That's the message for now. For now.
Now let's go on just a little bit farther. Sixth verse. Now it looks on into the future for this, For thus saith the Lord of hosts. Yet once it is a little while. We heard that yesterday too, a little while. Oh, that's what the Lord is saying to you and to me. Now a little while, He may be coming this afternoon.
It may be he's coming soon, Dear friend. Beloved ones, he wants you and me to look on to the future, not to the past. Dismal as it might be, the law, it's a little while.
And I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, And I will shake all nations. In the desire of all nations shall come. Who is the desire of all nations? Christ. He's coming back. He's coming back.
Don't be discouraged now. Oh, we're just at the end. Beloved young people in each one of us. Don't now just say, well, it's getting so dark. Oh, it is just before the dawn. The blessed Savior, the desire of the nations of the world are going to be gathered to that blessed One. He is going to reign over this earth. He is going to set everything straight.
Hold on now, hold on.
Ninth verse.
I'll read it as I believe is the proper translation. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts. The latter glory. Why, there were three buildings so far. There are three temple buildings so far, but God always sees them as one. It's just this house, no matter what it was.
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Or isn't that beautiful to realize that though we might be living in these dark days, boy, it's the Lord sees the house as one, as one. And So what does he say then and in the end of that ninth verse and in this.
Place will I give peace?
This place, God has a place of peace for every believer here on the face of this earth.
God is the one who is the source, the Lord Jesus Christ is the channel of all blessing, and the Holy Spirit is the power. We have them all speaking reverently. Oh how wonderful it is to know and to be encouraged. Dear young man, this is where you and I are going to find peace.
We heard that too, didn't we? Peace and joy. One of our brethren closed with the fact that there was joy. Here's closing now with peace. What more could we ask? Now and ever, Now and ever.
And in this place will I give peace, Seth, the Lord of hosts. We had that too, didn't we? The Lord of hosts that he's mighty to save. He's mighty to keep us. Oh, it's the Lord keeps us. He has saved us. Able to save us. He's able to keep us.
Now let's get back just in closing to our verse in Jude.
Let me also remind you of that verse in Matthew 16.
Upon this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God is building His assembly here on this earth, and there is no power on earth or in heaven that can shake those foundations. It is as sure as a throne of God in heaven.
And we have that blessed one with us. And then now let us see our responsibilities in this last verse in Jude.
20th verse of Jude.
But.
Ye beloved, that's you, dear young people, beloved of the Lord, beloved of the Lord, he loves you. He wants to encourage you to go on, be loved, building up yourselves. That's our responsibility now.
The Lord is doing his work and now he says to you and to me, building up. It's the imperfect tense. It's going on now. It's not just one act and then it's finished with. We have to keep on now. Continue on, Peter Paul said to Timothy in his last words. Continue on.
And so we have this message, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. There is that the power of the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves and the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 25th 1St to the only wise God, our Savior.
Be glory and majesty, dominion and power.
Both now now.
Days are dark now.
And.
All beloved ones, the day is coming when we're going to see the blessed face of us saving our eyes. Has never seen Him. We wait to hear His heavenly voice. Keep on now, keep on. Don't give up now. The power of God is with you.
Dear young people, keep on now, keep on building up yourself. He is the one who gives us the power, and to Him the all the glory, lest thou in prayer.