Open—Ken Harman
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You might notice that sometimes I wear my glasses and sometimes I don't.
Having a little bit of eye problem. Sometimes it's good when I have them on, sometimes good when I have a mop. So.
We'll try and make do here.
My thought is that.
I I don't know whether it would take far more than a few minutes to express the.
The burden, shall we say, and we should all have a burden at this time.
We are in the very last.
Days of the Church's history.
We were reading, someone read the portion.
About the Lord Jesus that was spoke of the Lord Jesus saying.
Well, let's, let's read that. It's in Matthew 13. Those thoughts in Matthew 13 about the treasure hit in the field. And I was just thinking about this in connection with the Lord's treasure and our treasure.
So in Matthew 13 and or yes, Matthew 13 and verse.
44 Again the Kingdom of heaven is like under the treasure. 8 Treasure hid in a field, that which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth himself all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
And again the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly jewels, pearls rather, who when he had found a Pearl, 1 Pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now I don't have to mention everyone is familiar with these are what these represent. The Pearl represents the church.
And it's it's peculiar value to the Lord Jesus.
As a Pearl that might be found, a great Pearl, a precious Pearl found by one who is seeking goodly pearls. And he buys he, he would pay any amount for this. And the Lord Jesus did this, He sold all that he had.
We read that though he was rich for yet for our sakes he became poor.
That we through as poverty might be made rich.
Are we rich here tonight? This afternoon?
Any, any soul here, even the children, the young people, you know the Lord.
I can look at each one of you and I said, do you know the Lord Jesus? And you say, yes, I do. Then you're rich.
And we're all rich who know the Lord, that we through his poverty might be made rich.
So we have a treasure.
The Lord had saw this treasure in the field. Field speaks of the world, the world and the treasure. Is that what she saw? And He was it was so valuable to him that He said, I am going to purchase that. And we just had a little word about purchasing that which has been purchased with His own blood.
And so there was a treasure in the eyes of the Lord that he valued, and he was going to come down and purchase that, and he did. And he's going to. And all that have trusted in him belong to Him and.
Are redeemed by His precious blood. And as has been mentioned before, I just reiterated, He has set us free.
And if we know our sins are gone, we are free.
There are many souls that that know the Lord Jesus as they accept him as the Savior, but they don't really feel free in their hearts. I had a helper once that he was he was a churchgoer but and he knew the Lord but he wasn't set free. He could not accept the fact that if he sinned.
Also, for some reason the Lord is going to let him go.
We said, but the Lord will not let you go. But what if I let go of him? And he could not get this through his mind, and he was.
And, and and yet there was another man in the office, and he was you. You went to the same, the same congregation as this young man did, but he saw it differently.
He said what is your name? And he told him what his name was. Now you were born into that family.
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What if you were did such bad things that your father kicked you out of the house? Would you lose your name?
No. Well then, neither will you lose your lose your salvation.
You're and he could understand this and so I dare say that that there are many in this in the the systems of men that are are not set free.
They're they're, they've been purchased there and they know the Lord Jesus as Savior. So they they redeem, but they haven't been set free yet.
Well, you and I have a treasure and we are a treasure to the Lord Jesus. Just think of that, that the Lord Jesus came down because he saw me and he wanted to purchase me and he had to to leave his heavenly glory to come down.
Into this world and lay down his life in order that he might get me, Take Me Home to himself. Do you think he's going to let you go? No. He's bought a price. He's paid a price for you and me. And he's never going to let us go. So that should make us happy. That should set us free. But there was the treasure that was that you and I.
Were to the Lord Jesus now.
Over in Luke's Gospel.
If we turn to Luke's gospel.
And verse.
Chapter 12 and verse 31 will do.
It says, But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your good Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
And then it says sell that you have and give alms. Provide yourself bags which wax not old.
Pardon me, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approaches, neither bath corrupted for where your treasure is.
There will your heart be also.
Now let's just turn over to second Peter.
I'm sorry, first Peter.
First, Peter.
Chapter 5.
The elders which are among you? I exhort.
Who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker.
Of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. Not a for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being Lords over God's heritage by being in samples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory.
That fadeth not away. Likewise you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yeah, all of you, be Subject 1 to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant.
Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lions, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, After that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish strength, and settle you. To him be glory.
And dominion, forever and ever. Amen. Now you might say, why did I read those?
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In connection with the treasure.
Because you see.
We are still.
The Lord's treasure, he has paid the price but and he has set us free, but we are we're always dear to him and.
He is living for us on high now and he is caring for us.
But in the mean time, there is his treasure is here on Earth, and we're going through times through through this world and through tribulation trials and so forth that are that the enemy can use for to cause us to stumble and to fall aside.
I wonder just how much we we value the treasure that belongs to the Lord.
Here the apostle Peter is saying, and you know what Peter did? He did. He denied the Lord Jesus, but the Lord restored him. And what did he say to him afterwards? He said, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Are Simon? Lovest thou me more than these? Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Well, he tried. He tried him three times, didn't he? And finally, each time he said, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.
Peter felt that here when he's writing, as I'm sure he did, that's why he could say that he was, he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory. He had seen the Lord Jesus on that mount of Transfiguration. So in that sense he was a particular of the glory that was was to follow.
And, and so now he's saying to, he's telling these ones later on the second epistle, I'm not going to be here all the time. I'm not going to be here. I'm going away. The Lord has told me how I'm going to die. So I'm I'm but in the meantime.
I want to remind you of all these things that are yours, these treasures that are yours, and the fact that you are a treasure, that you belong to the Lord, that he means something to you. It's a flock. It's it says.
You're about The Who feed the flock of God. That's what what it is. And that flock of God is his treasure. Now does it mean anything to you?
Does it mean anything to me?
The fact that.
While we're waiting for the Lord to come, He wants his his flock fed. And if we don't feed them, who's going to feed them?
No, I guess I'm talking to all everyone in this room.
Especially the brothers.
I look here and I see a whole bunch of young men coming up.
And you know what? It could be the women too. The ladies, they have their part in feeding the flock of God. But he's talking primarily to the young men here. And he said he's saying feed the flock of God, which is among you.
Now.
There's no money involved in this. You see there's some people that that get paid to do this.
But that's not what he's asking, he says. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.
And why? Because it's a flock of God.
So are we interested in feeding the flock of God? You say, how do I do that? You be an example.
It says neither as being Lords over God's heritage. We don't go in there with a big hammer.
And we don't go in there with the Word of God and demand and legislate and so forth. But it says you're being an example for the flock. When do you start being an example? You wait until you're a certain age, or do you wait until you're older or you have grandkids and so forth? No, you can start right now.
And what is the incentive? The fact that it's a flock of God? The fact that it is.
The treasure that was hid in a field and he purchased.
And now that can become our treasure.
What is our treasure? Do we value the Saints of God?
Perhaps not enough.
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But I would challenge my own heart as well as my brother's heart, each one here to think about these things that we can't. No man liveth to himself.
And no man dieth to himself. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords.
And what is?
A value down here, is it a big bank account? Is it our job? Is it our family? What is our main object down here? It should be that which is the Lord's object, right?
What is dear to the heart of God, His people?
What is the greatest? What is? Where is the eye of God upon in this world more than anyplace else?
It's on the assembly.
When I speak of assembly, I'm talking about the whole, the whole scope of the of the Church of God. That's what is dear to him. That's what he paid the price for. That's what he saw that Pearl for great price.
So do we, and I say this to myself, do we go around along then as so we're just a sole entity in this whole thing and we just look after ourselves, our own needs, or are we conscious of the needs of the Saints of God? Are we conscious of the needs, I should say, of what is dear to Christ?
Feed the flock of God, which is among you? Where among you?
And so who is that?
It's our brethren one another wherever we run into them, and primarily that which is going on for Christ.
Let us try and support it in this, try and encourage it. And even the young people can do this. You know, you're a young man, a young lady, you're coming up in the assembly and if the Lord leaves us here, you're going to be one of the responsible ones that are going to be.
Perhaps supporting putting on a conference like this? Are you going to be there?
Will you be there? Will you still be there?
I've been.
Around 60 years at this conference.
By the grace of God.
There's many faces I don't see here anymore.
I know some of them are at home with the Lord, that's true.
But some of them aren't.
Nor are they here. Why?
Well, I suppose there's many reasons.
But they're not here, for the presence of the Lord is.
And if we value that, we would like to encourage them to go on, wouldn't we? The ones that are here, you know, in the days Hezekiah kept the Passover and it was who was there that kept the Passover, those that were present.
There's they weren't all there, but those that were present kept the Passover. And in this day and age at the end of the church's history, there are very few that are carrying on, shall we say.
The the Lord's desire to have to be remembered in the way that he's asked us to do on the ground of the one body. Now there's many people that that remember the Lord.
But they're on different grounds.
There is a ground where the Lord.
Values.
And he appreciates and.
That is.
Where the Saints are gathered on the ground of the one body to his name.
So that's that's what he's looking for.
I'm not saying that.
He doesn't have Saints elsewhere. All the Saints of God are precious to him, and we value them. And you know what? They're part of the Church of God.
Not just the gathered Saints.
But I appreciate in my soul, and I'm sure many do here, the fact that there is a place.
And that we can, we can be identified with that, with that testimony that he has placed in this world in these last days, the present truth.
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But I say, I guess what I'm trying to say is that how valuable is this to you and me?
Does it mean anything? Is there a price that can be paid?
We're told by the truth and sell it not.
So there is a price to be paid.
Into to be.
Where the Lord Jesus is himself and what is valuable to him, what means a lot to him, and I guess to what I should, what I'd like to say is that don't forget those that are not there, those who are not on that ground, are still dear to Him, and we should appreciate them too. And it should be our desire to feed that part of the flock of God as well.
Do we ever see Saints that are that are are enjoying the Lord and their soul? But you know.
They're not gathered with us.
What does that mean? Do we don't that we don't like them? No. We long for them. And we can feed their souls too. We can give them a little bit of Christ here and there wherever we meet with them. That's part of feeding the flock of God.
And we should appreciate that. It should be our treasure, it should be that which will be value in these last days.
It's tough. It's not. It's not easy.
Because the enemy, as I was reading there, he's walking about, seeking whom he may devour.
And there's only one way that we can prevent that from falling in that way, and that is to stay close to the Lord. Humble yourself, therefore, it says, under the mighty hand of God.
That He makes all true in due time, casting all your care upon employee care for you. He cares for us. Maybe we can care for His flock. Maybe we can make that our treasure.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We've just read, so is our heart with the Saints of God, because they're dear to Christ.
And that's why it should be. It's not because we all get along and that's the main thing. No, we're all different, but the Lord puts us all together and he gives us grace and we should walk in that way to please the Lord. I just.
Trust that these few words might be an encouragement to young and old. Not just the young, the older ones, but the young ones too. That as you grow up.
Remember this?
You're not always going to be the same as you always are, as you are right now.
Because you grow in your in your growth, you grow in your abilities, you grow, but are you directing them in a way that God can use you later on for the help of his people, where you can help the Saints of God? That is the object.
I think of ones in the Old Testament, you know, that where the people of God were in such a condition that every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and there was nobody to deliver them from the enemy. But God raised up. One here and one there. He raised up, I believe it was one from various tribes, not always the same tribe, to deliver the Saints of God.
In the book of Judges, we've been going through that in our family reading at home, and I've enjoyed the thought there that that.
There are those that are that can that God can pick out of the group of the whole, shall we say the whole failure of the people of God. He can pick one up here and pick one up there to deliver the Saints of God deliver them a lot way from the enemy.
And to bring them back, shall we say, and encourage them in the in their walk with the Lord.
So the elders which are among you, I exhort. Who's an elder will take the place of an elder, it says.
We're told here, it says.
Umm, feed the plaque of God, which is among you taking the oversight taking it.
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How do you do that? You just yank it out from somebody else. You just say I'm going to be the elder here or I'm going to be the one that's going to deliver. You know, you just start walking with the Lord.
An older brother once said to me when I was younger, he says you want to help the Saints of God walk with the Lord. You didn't. You don't have to go to a school. You don't have to do to do anything particular. Just walk with the Lord and your walk will be a testimony and it will help deliver the Saints of God. It might not be very many, but it might be one or two. You young people, you can help your peer, your peers.
You can start now.
There was a brother, I guess I could mention his name, but maybe I won't.
But when he was younger. He's 12 years old.
Maybe some in this room will know who I'm talking about. But his brother, this man was was a one who fed our souls. Each one will know us know who I'm talking. I I'd be talking about if I didn't mention the name, but I want. But when he was 12 years old, his his brother used to go come into the house sometime and he'd look into the living room. There was his brother sitting there reading his Bible.
12 years old.
Meanwhile, this young brother would go out and he'd play ball with the kids, the rest of them.
But his older brother?
Was feeding his own soul.
He started reading the word of God when he was young, and you know, that's one thing that I.
Regret in my life that I wasted a lot of those years and I'm sure there would be many in this room. You could say Amen. They've done the same thing. And that's why there's many that were here at one time are no longer here because they've wasted those years.
But we're going to have to give a count for our time, and the judgment seat of Christ is before us. So let us desire to feed the flock of God in some measure just to help one another.
But the testimony might go on, and that treasure that the Lord Jesus paid that mighty price for will go on and and we can be an encouragement to them because they are a treasure to us too. Does this mean anything to us? Well, it should. And I trust that just these simple words would encourage someone to take hold of these things and make them.
Give purpose to them in this.
Little time that we have left before the Lord comes.
And we will either hear that well done now, good and faithful servant, or we will lose that reward.
So what we do here is training time for raining time.
Letters, remember that.