Open—Michel Payette
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 sing, 202. What will it be to dwell above and with the Lord of glory reign, since the blessed knowledge of his love so bright with all his furry plains? 202.
Walkway.
I understand.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's all over the world.
It's a different umm.
Today. Absolutely. Oh, great, time to cry in the sunlight.
Would I have to create any calculation?
Uh-huh.
Please pray.
Father.
And all my heart.
And I've never fly to the end of the day. And you're going to be in the beginning and the end of the day and everything else of life.
Scratching tyranny River and scratching.
Can we ask the Lord's blessing?
Our living God and our Father, we thank Thee for this little hymn that reminds us of the nearness of Thy coming and how we are very shortly going to see the Lord Jesus face to face and all of Thy glory and will finally be at harassed and will enjoy our eternal rest with Thee blessed Savior. And so we look to Thee for Thy blessing upon our time together for this brief.
Meeting this open meeting, we actually provide blessing upon Thy precious words that thou hast give courage to.
Those that both raised up to give a word from thy heart of love, perhaps a word of exhortation or edification or comfort for the Saints of God, a message from thine own heart. Blessed God, provide people in the day that we live in. So we look to thee for thy blessing and uh, that we might have open ears, and that thou it's indeed pour out a blessing from heaven for us. So we ask thee for thy health blessing and give thanks for the occasion together.
Pray for our beloved brother who are traveling homeward, and that we ask you for Thy tender mercies, safety along the road, and that they may be able to drive without the incident, if it be Thy will. So we cast ourselves upon thee in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
00:05:29
A Diversity, Second Corinthians, chapter 5.
For Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For the love of Christ constrained us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. That they which lived should not live henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them.
And rose again.
So brother Bill was saying.
We did look at verses in Romans 6.
Connected with the position taken on earth associated with the name of the Lord Jesus, we might walk.
And newness of life.
And I've enjoyed this portion here in the constraining.
Of the love of Christ and that the motive, the energy behind the behavior that we have is a response to the enjoyment of His love and response to who He is and what He's done. And so when in our lives there's that which is pleasing before the Lord, there's no pride connected with that when it is the outflow of the appreciation of His person and who He is and His glory.
And I do have a little portion of what I consider.
In connection with birds.
Yeah, Loop 12, you had the spirals in there and you had the, uh, Raven and the Scriptures. We have clean birds and unclean birds.
A little while ago I had the the portion of my heart with the ostrich and the UMM Hummingbird, you know, the largest bird and the smallest bird, you know, And the large bird commands respect because of its size, but it can't fly, you know, And that's a sad thing. When something, somebody's a bird, he can't fly. But the Hummingbird is so small you hardly notice. It's like a big bee, you know?
But that little creature, man, it can fly forwards, backwards, it can hover it up, down.
Remarkable. That's what faith does, you know, we see sometimes young believers and they do things, they say, boy, I don't have that kind of faith, you know, but God does that. He does that on the basis of simple trust in the person of the Lord Jesus.
But the words I like to consider today are, uh, found in Psalm 102.
Brother took it up this morning in the Sunday school. You had a picture of a bird there and I was nice little connection there and little prop maybe I had those things in my heart. And brother Bill spoke of that little bird in the rock there and said well, maybe birds are appropriate for the open meeting, you know, and so.
Some of them too, we have birds there too and uh, beautiful Psalm, you know, some of these messianic psalms and psalms that speak to us of the Lord Jesus.
As we read this wonderful book full of instruction can fill our minds with many things, but I believe it also needs to fill our hearts and when the Spirit of God opens the scriptures to us to reveal to us the person of the Lord Jesus.
Has us appreciate who he is.
And what he's done and that he did that for you, that his love would constrain us. So I just like to read a few verses here in 102nd Psalm.
Spirit of Christ in there verse one, hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee. I not thy face from me In a day when I'm in trouble inclined 9 year unto me. In a day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an heart heart. My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread.
00:10:10
By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleaved to my skin.
And now we're gonna run into these birds.
I'm like a Pelican of the wilderness.
I'm like a gnaw of the desert. I watch and I'm a Sparrow alone.
Upon the housetop.
My enemy has approached me all the day and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
But I've eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.
Because of thine indignation in Iraq, although it has lifted me up and cast me down, my days are like a shadow that decline it and I'm withered like grass. But our Lord shall endure forever, and I remembrance unto all generation. That refers to the blessing of Zion and then we go down to.
Verse 23 He weakened my strength in the way he shortened my days. I said, Oh my God, take me another way in the midst of my days. Thy years are throughout all generations of old hostile laid. The foundation of the earth and the heaven are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. All of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shall thou change them, and they shall be changed.
Without the same.
And our years shall have no end.
Well, just rapidly on these, uh, three birds there, like a Pelican of the wilderness.
You know, Pelicans are fairly large birds and, uh, they wouldn't go unnoticed. You know, you spirals, they can, there's a lot of them. The Pelicans are maybe rarer. And if you saw a Pelican, you might tell you, hey, tell your kids, hey, look at that Pelican over there. That's that large bird, you know, Pelican in the wilderness.
But a Pelican was an unclean bird, and you know.
When they saw the Lord Jesus, remarkable He was remarkable. He didn't go unnoticed. He.
He healed the the blind man, the lame and the sick and the death and the he raised the dead. He he, he didn't go unnoticed.
But they said of him.
That he was a Samaritan.
V8 with centers and they said he had a demon.
He was casting out demons by the Prince of Demons.
They considered him.
Unfleep.
How could that be the Lord of glory in the midst of failing sinners like you and I? They looked at him, and they considered Him a Sinner and themselves righteous.
He was alone.
In the wilderness. And then it says verse six, the end of the verse, unlike an awl.
Of the desert, you know, you hear birds in the morning. My wife says you hear the birds. I'm getting to be a bit deaf and says you don't hear those birds. No, I sorry, I don't hear those birds but.
But when the night comes and most of the birds get silent.
And this bird, you all, he's, he's awake all night, got big eyes and he watches all night. Like to connect the beginning of that next verse with the all you know, I watch.
But my son-in-law in Walla Walla, he, we heard, we heard one outside there, he had a flashlight. We sure didn't move. He was right there on the limb and you saw the light on him and he wouldn't move. He was just there watching.
Does the.
Of the desert, the real meaning there, that word desert, is a desolate place. What it suggests is that there were people there before.
Uh, but now they're gone.
And so the Lord Jesus, he had, he had disciples around him for a while.
And then they all left them.
And he was alone.
Could you not watch with me an hour?
No, you couldn't watch with him.
I couldn't watch with him. You couldn't watch with him.
But he watched.
And the father heard his cry in the garden.
You can hear that.
00:15:00
All in a night.
He's not singing.
With strong cries to him, they could deliver him.
Out of death.
Alone.
And Amazon.
Upon the host up. I was here on Friday. But you certainly ran into that verse.
Five sparrows were two farting. I wouldn't work much, you know.
In Matthew's gospel it says you get 2 for fighting, you get 2 for a penny, 2 Pennies give you an extra 1, you get 5. They won't work much.
And one Sparrow was worth anything.
They esteemed them not.
They had no esteem.
On the housetop, you know.
The Lord Jesus was born under the law.
There was only one man that satisfied ever all the requirements of the godly Old Testament. Did we see him?
But he's alone.
We assume them not.
Now they'll word their housetop is one word in the Hebrew, and it's the same word that's used in the.
Ultra burnt offerings. We had the burnt offering this morning. The top of the burnt offering, that's where the.
Animals were placed and so.
That one we esteemed not.
He was gonna offer himself.
Disciples for Sockem as people didn't want him.
Called the Samaritan. Had a demon ate with sinners.
Nothing could deter him.
I'm going to that cross and glorifying his Father. But there were some around him. That's what we get in the eighth verse.
My enemies reproach me all the day, and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. There were those around him to insult him, to buffet him, to strike him, to crown him with thorns, to mock him and salt them. Crucify him was a crowd around him.
No comforters as we read in other songs.
Verse 9.
I've eaten ashes like bread.
Makes a mind that version Hebrews it tasted death.
For every oh.
And mingled my drink.
With weeping.
They give vinegar to drink.
The cup which my father giveth me, Shall I not drink it?
He could not drink it with pleasure, certainly a delight of doing his father's will.
But with weeping.
Because.
Of thine indignation.
And Vira.
God had indignation and wrath, but not against Him.
Was against you, was against me.
Because of thine indignation in Iraq.
For Thou has lifted me up.
And cast me down.
Here he is presented to Israel and they say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, and he's having a reception.
And then he's having a deception. He knew about it, didn't He? And he was cast down, and he was lifted up on that cross, rejected by his people, forsaken by his disciples. And as we've read in Psalm 22 This morning, even the heavens were close to Him. Nobody ever experienced such solitude.
Pelican of the Wilderness, the Alps of the desert. Sparrow alone.
00:20:08
On house top.
My days are like a shadow that decline it. I'm with it like grass.
You know, The thing is that shadows that decline it and, uh.
Sometimes you're driving down the highway at certain time of day and you can see in the road you're driving the shadows of the other cars on the other side of the driveway. The the shadows are getting so long and if you're really careful, you could probably stop somewhere at that time of the day when the sun is going down and you would see the shadows literally moving on the ground as they are extending and extending and extending.
It's a time when the sun is going down.
Going down into debt?
You know the Lord Jesus didn't die of exhaustion on the cross.
He died voluntarily. He laid down his life. We read that this morning.
Said it is finished, I'm consumed and he gave up the ghost.
Well, we go down to uh.
Verse 2324 Now I said, Oh my God, Take Me Out of the way in the midst of my days.
Was a young man, wasn't he? Somebody here in the 30s? Thirty three was just.
It's really a man, you know?
Not just a man.
But his real man was in midst of his days. And I believe the last part of that verse is an answer to that first part from God. Die years are throughout all generations, you know.
That the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, he, he didn't have any age.
God doesn't have any age, you know, Not so many years old.
But the Lord Jesus, he partook of flesh and blood and it tells us he was 12 years old in the temple. He had years public ministry. This was about 30 years old. He had 30 years of of human life, you know, and.
But the answer is thy years are throughout all generations. He's gonna have years forever because he's going to be a man. He's gonna be a man forever. He's still God, never stop to be God, the Son of God. He's gonna be man forever. And we're going to see a man face to face. He has holes in his hand and his feet on his side, the one who's alone. And those around him were to insult them.
And buffet him and despise him and hate him without a cause.
You're gonna have millions around him.
The benefit of what he did for them.
Of old I was laid the foundation of the earth. Verse 25 And the heavens are the work of thy hands.
Who's that one that we split in his face? The creator of the universe?
The one who sustains all things by the word of his power. That's him.
They shall perish.
Thou shall endure.
You know, we read in the New Testament, there in second Peter, heavens and the earth that we now see are gonna disappear.
He's gonna be there still, There's gonna be a new creation. He's gonna be there still forever and ever. But thou art the same in thy years shall have no end. Verse 27.
Not the same. We have that in the Old Testament, the same expression. I believe it was Deuteronomy 30. I had to check it in my French Bible. That's the name of God, the one who is.
Thou art the one who is. He is the Lord, he is God. Dark the same. Thy years have no end.
As being the same is God eternal?
But his years will have no end. That's because he's a man, you know, Huh.
Let's go to Hebrews chapter 13 for a moment.
00:25:04
Hebrews, chapter 13.
Receipt.
Hebrews 13 and eight. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today.
And forever. And we can understand this verse in considering the person of the Lord Jesus as a man now resurrected man.
From that day he rose from the dead.
There's no change ever. Is the same.
Is the same as today. He rose from the dead when I sent it up to heaven. Comes back from heaven. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
But you can also read this verse a bit differently. We can just read the first part of the verse.
Jesus Christ.
The same.
He's that one. He's the I am from the Old Testament. He is the same, exactly the same expression that we have in Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews chapter one.
Verse 12 Quotation number Psalm one and two. And as investors shall thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same in our years shall not fail.
For your dear ones, from my own heart.
I consider these verses that verse in Second Corinthians chapter 5, that we no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him.
Who died and rose again for us, The one who is the creator of the universe, the one who was despised, the one who was alone and had infinite solitude so that you and I would never be alone. He's the one who's looking for a response in your life and mine to his love, that his love would constrain us.
You know we are religious creatures and if we do, good.
Behave properly.
Don't do wrong.
Obey.
These are all good things.
But I believe they're not done under the constraining love of the Lord Jesus.
You can see them in the mirror.
And when you see them in the mirror?
Doing pretty good.
I'm not that bad.
I could compare myself perhaps to others.
Would you compare yourself to the Lord Jesus?
How could we ever compare ourselves to Him? He's brought us to perfection forever by His sacrifice. Oh, may the Lord help us. May the Spirit of God entertain our hearts in this beautiful book with the glories, the beauties, the perfection of that One who for you died and rose again, and in the measure that you appreciated, and I appreciate it, that His love would constrain us to live.
For Him. And in that measure, we're never gonna stand before the Lord. Ever.
To say, Lord, look at what I've been doing for you.
It's all of what He's done for us. May the Lord bless His word to our souls.