Open—B. Prost, R. Thonney, J. Hyland
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God's Word, what we were enjoying this morning, the blessings that we have been given, All those things do not change.
But are there some things that do change and some things that should change?
I suggest that there are.
Let's turn first of all, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 3.
And verse 18, but we'll read verse 17 to get the connection. 2nd Corinthians 3 and verse 17.
Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all with open or unveiled face beholding.
And leave out the words as in a glass. They really shouldn't be there and they don't help the sense of it.
With open face, beholding the glory of the Lord.
Are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
There's the first thing that ought to change, and that is I ought to change.
Why, as we were saying this morning, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and what a precious thing that is. But as was brought out in the meeting, the Lord wants to make us more and more like Christ. And of course there's a day coming in the glory when we will be perfectly like Him, with Him, and like him. We know that.
But he's beginning the process down here.
And he uses everything in your life and mine in order to conform us as we get in another place to the image of his son. That's in Romans chapter 8, that we might be conformed to the image of his son.
Remember well, quite a few years ago now, there was a difficulty in an assembly.
And there was a brother who was perhaps not behaving the way that he should not, I don't mean in any really gross way that required assembly discipline, but in a way that made life difficult for his brethren. And he was spoken to. He was spoken to about it.
And his reaction was But that's the way I made, that's the way I am, that's the way I'm made.
I thought that one brother's answer to him was very, very good, he said. Brother, I know that's the way you are made, and there are some things in all of us.
That we are made if we use this expression in our natural state, there are there are not very good.
Well, the brother said, the Lord loves me in spite of all that.
Oh yes, the other brother said. That is true, but that's a half truth. He loves you too much to let you stay that way.
Yes, the Lord wants to see growth. He wants to see change in his children. To what end? To becoming more like Christ?
Speaking of myself, there are some things in my life I find it very difficult to overcome.
And they just keep coming up again and again and again. And I remember reading it years ago in our written ministry, and I found it over the years to be true.
A brother said, Every new truth that the Lord by his Spirit seeks to teach you will find its corresponding antagonist in some aspect of your old nature.
Very very true. So that the more you want to follow the Lord, the harder the old nature works to try and gain the ascendancy.
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But greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. What a precious truth that is.
Change. Let's remember that. Let's remember that. The Lord wants to see that in you and me. Let's not be satisfied.
With the way we are naturally.
God wants to make you and me more and more like Christ down here.
Of course, I may say, well, why bother, when in a coming day, as soon as the Lord comes, I'll get a glorified body? I won't have an old sinful nature anymore. I'll be perfectly like Christ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
Blessedly true.
But the Lord has left you and me here as a testimony for Him. And it's not that we should go out seeking to be a testimony, but if we follow Christ, we will be a testimony. And what a precious thing it is that He has left you and me here in his absence to.
Bear His nature, if I could use that term reverently, because we do have His very life, the life of Christ, and to show forth in this world His character. Do we do it perfectly? I surely don't, but that's why He has left us here.
Something else that changes? Let's turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 22.
Luke, chapter 22.
And we have heard this so often that perhaps we don't need to say it.
But it's getting to be a bigger problem today and this scripture will illustrate it.
Verse 35, Luke 22 and verse 35.
And he that is the Lord Jesus said unto them, that is, to his disciples.
When I sent you without purse and script and shoes lackey anything and they said nothing.
Then said he unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script.
And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
Why did the Lord Jesus give them different instructions before?
And now gives them instructions to the opposite.
What was the difference between the time they went out prior to this to the lost sheep of the House of Israel?
And subsequently when they would go out more to a lost world, which would include not only Israel but all of the world. Why the difference?
All God deals in different ways with man at different times.
There is a lot of talk today in the Christian world about, quote, dispensationalism. Are you a dispensationalist? People have asked me, do you believe in dispensations? And sometimes there's a happy agreement when I say yes, and sometimes there ensues a discussion.
The Word of God uses the word dispensation. It literally means a house law, that is a rule or a set of principles that govern something within a certain framework. And God reserves the privilege to deal with man in different ways in this world at different times in order to accomplish His purposes.
And His purposes are revealed to us in that very chapter in which we were this morning, Ephesians one. Because in verse 10 you have in a few words the key to the whole Bible, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him.
God had that before him from a past eternity and all the things that are going on in this world.
All the things that have gone on are working toward that point when God will exalt His beloved Son, his head over all things.
And part of God's ways in doing that.
Were to create this world, to create you and me and the rest of the creation and use it in His own way, to bring out first of all His purposes concerning His son, but also the love that was in His heart.
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And so there are different ways in which God works at different times.
And you and I will never understand the word of God unless we can see that.
And so we need to keep Scripture in its place and understand how it fits together. And the Spirit of God is here to do that for you and me.
The other day I read an interesting.
Little point.
And it made me draw in my breath a little bit.
Because it said something to the effect that.
Those dispensationalists.
Who use a language that is so peculiar to them that unless you're initiated, you don't understand what they're talking about.
I mulled that one over for a little bit.
I thought to myself, is that true?
On the one hand, I hope not. I hope that we use the language of the Word of God.
But on the other hand, I can remember being in a private home, in a home in which I was very welcome and where people felt free to say whatever they wanted to me. And I appreciated that, and I still do.
And as I was talking, they were not gathered to the Lord's name, although they had once been. And as I was talking, the wife spoke up and said, Bill, you're using a lot of cliches.
I said, well, tell me what? Some of those cliches I'm not aware of that tell me what I am saying. That is a cliche. So the wife proceeded to rattle off at least three or four and maybe half a dozen expressions that I had used.
I must say I was very thankful.
No credit to me, but everyone of the expressions was straight from the word of God.
I said to her, addressing her by name, because I had known her for many years. I said, you know, you may call those cliches, but I am quoting directly from the Word of God. I hope that we don't call what the word of God says a cliche.
Well, she didn't say too much more because I think she realized that the road down which she had gone had taken her into a line of things where the truth of God did not have its same meaning and same bearing on her anymore. And what I quoted to her from the Word of God sounded simply like meaningless cliches. So there is a danger on both sides.
But let us remember that God reserves the right to deal in his own ways.
Whether before the cross or after the cross or during the Millennium or ultimately in the eternal state, and God's word gives a scripture to show us how to put everything together in the right way. What a precious thing that is. God reserves the right on his part to make change. But just a little added comment there. You know God is gracious because by.
Man is a paradoxical creature. On the one hand, his fallen nature wants change because he's never satisfied. On the other hand, if my comfort zone, as we call it today, is invaded, I don't want change. Isn't that right? Don't change something that I feel comfortable with.
I hate having to buy a new computer. I hate having to use the latest upgrade in Word or whatever Windows decides to do or something like that because I have to get, I know what's easy for you young people, you just jump right into it. But some of us that had to learn computers on the fly, we find those things a little annoying and we don't like that kind of change.
But.
God is gracious to his people, and for example, when God brought in the precious truth of Christianity, he gave the Jewish nation 40 years during which to leave off all the trappings of a religion that was only a shadow of the good things to come and to embrace that which was the very image of the thing. So God is very, very gracious and he is in your life and.
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Two.
One more thing that changes.
And to see that, let's turn back to the Old Testament.
And this is.
A scripture that.
I won't say condemns me, but it hits me.
In one way which you'll see Second Samuel 21.
Second Samuel 21.
Verse 15.
Second Samuel 21 and verse 15.
Getting toward the end of David's life, now later in his life.
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel, and David went down and his servants with him and noticed the order. There David goes and his servants with him. He takes the leading role for what happens here and fought against the Philistines, and David waxed faint.
And if you look in the Darby translation, if I remember rightly it says and David was exhausted.
And Ishbibinob, which was of the sons of the giant, all another generation of giants now.
The weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass in weight.
He being girded with a new sword, or again quoting the Darby new armor thought to have slain David.
But Avishai the son of Xeroy, suckered him and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of Israel or the men of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
And now turn over to the New Testament to a verse that corresponds with this in Acts chapter 13, Book of the Acts, chapter 13.
And verse 36, Acts 13 and verse 36.
For David.
And notice the wording here, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid under his father's, and saw corruption.
The expression served his own generation by the will of God takes into account that all of us have our generation.
We have a generation in which we grew up, in which we live and move, in which perhaps we can relate to the various things around us. And the time comes when, as the saying goes, times change. They do change.
There's an old proverb that says the old order change of giving place to new.
And some person who wanted to add to that put something on the end of it and said the old order changes and happy is he who changes with it.
There's a grain of truth in that statement.
But sometimes when we get older, and I'm pointing the finger right here, we find that it is difficult to change because our minds, our bodies, our outlooks, everything does not change the way it used to. And adjusting to things that are new is not that easy.
Young people, we need you. We need you.
Here was David.
And he was going out at the head of his servants, and it mentions his name.
But where was the man who had gone out single handed against Goliath and killed him? Where was the man whose entire lifetime was distinguished by the fact that he never lost a battle, and who inspired a whole group of men to follow him and emulate what he did?
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He was exhausted, he was getting older, and the son of the giant was there, and David wasn't a match for him. The son of the giant Giant had new armor, new sword, something David wasn't familiar with. Oh, come on, David. Can't you use your sling? Stand off at a distance? No. Times change. You're not able to do what you used to be able to do.
And I like the way Abishai answered here. A Bishai had his faults, and if you read his history, there were times when David had, we might say, to rein him in a bit because he was impetuous and wanted to do things that weren't in keeping with the mind of God. But here I believe he did the right thing. He did two things. First of all, he came to David's help.
Sometimes we older ones need younger ones to come to our help, and it's good if we can recognize when we need the help. Yes, it is.
I don't like to have to be helped, but sometimes it's good to recognize when we need it.
And it's good to recognize those who are able to help.
But young people and especially young brothers, you won't be able to be of help unless your life is characterized by following the Lord with a full heart. Now I hesitate to say those words because which one of us wants to stand up and say I follow him with a full heart?
No, but if the heart is right, the Lord will teach you and lead you along.
Because the time will come and we don't. Excuse me.
We hope the Lord comes before that happens, but.
The Lord leaves us here.
Some of us are getting older and it's going to be your place to step forward.
And do what Abishai did.
So he helps David and he kills the giant. That's the first thing he did.
But then what does he do? He gives David some good advice, he says David.
It would be a good thing if you didn't go out to war anymore. He didn't belittle David. He didn't put him down. If I could use these words reverently, he didn't say, old man, you need to stay at home, you're not fit to be a warrior anymore. Or some kind of talk like that. Did he? No, he didn't. What does he say?
Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle that thou quench not the light of Israel. Oh, he recognized that here was a man whose faithful life and whose example and whose position as king were valuable, and he didn't want to see David get himself mixed up in something with which he was not equal.
And the late of Israel be quenched. He recognized him for who he was and what he could do.
But he said, when it comes to battle, David, you better leave it to some of us younger ones.
Those here who are older, let's recognize that change. For those who are younger, we need you in the character of an abishai.
One final thing that is going to change, and change wonderfully. First Corinthians 15.
We've already spoken about it, but it would be nice to turn to it. First Corinthians 15.
And.
We'll read a couple of verses, but.
Verse 22.
For as an animal die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive, and then going on down in the chapter.
Verse 51.
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Behold, I show you a mystery, or perhaps more recognizable to our language, a secret.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
How precious that is.
Do you and I not only look forward to, but long for that change?
We do, don't we? But do we long for it from his standpoint?
We can long for it, perhaps for selfish reasons, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I couldn't help but think as we sung that hymn this morning, the brother gave it out. I'm waiting for thee, Lord, thy beauty to see. Lord, I'm waiting for thee for thy coming again.
Many years ago there was an old brother that used to minister the word and he liked that him.
I never knew him. I wished I had for those who knew him well told me.
That sometimes he would give out that hymn in an address and then he would request a verse that isn't in our hymn book. There are more verses to that hymn than are in our hymn book and.
He had lost his wife.
And I say this for the benefit of those here that have lost loved ones, and there are some and some that are not here, but whom we know.
And the verse goes like this, our loved ones gone or Lord.
They've gone on before, Lord. We'll see them once more at thy coming again.
The blood was the sign Lord that marked them as Thine Lord.
And brightly they'll shine at thy coming again.
How wonderful to look forward to that change.
I remember well when a cousin of mine was laid to rest in a cemetery and I was there in the funeral parlor.
I spoke to his son.
His father had died, his father, who was my first cousin, only by marriage, not a blood relationship. He married my cousin, so in that sense he wasn't really my full cousin. But anyway, he had died from cancer, and the disease had taken such a toll on his body that they didn't even consider it fit to have an open casket.
But I knew him well, and I said to his son, who was only marginally younger than I, I said, well, Rob, I said, when you see your father next, he won't even have Gray hair.
He looked a little shocked. He was a true believer. Oh, he said, Bill, I don't mind if he has Gray hair. His father had gone Gray prematurely, and he said I I don't remember him with anything but Gray hair, which probably was true.
I said, well Rob, I know you wouldn't mind, but when you and I see your Father again in glory.
He won't have one mark on him of the effect of the fall, the effect of sin.
Won't that be wonderful? Well, I don't think he'd ever thought of that before that when he saw his father next, it wouldn't be the man.
Who went to be with the Lord? I believe he was.
About 60 years of age, which is not old by modern standards. He would not see a man even of 60 years of age. He would see one who was in the full bloom of everything that God intended. What will the glorified body look like? I don't know, Paul says earlier in this chapter.
When you ask that question in so many words, he says no fool.
And then he proceeds to talk about the fact that when you sow a seed.
You don't sew what you're going to see when it grows, but it's characteristic of it. If I showed a kernel of corn to someone who'd never seen a corn stock, could they figure out from looking at the kernel of Cornwall a corn stock would look like No, they couldn't. But anybody who knows corn would look at a kernel of corn and say, I know what that's going to look like if you plant it. Of course they would.
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It's characteristic, so it would be with you and me.
There will be individual characteristics that will be, I believe, instantly recognizable.
Glorified body, we shall be changed.
Well, may the Lord encourage our hearts with these changes. Thank God, I say again, there are many things that do not change. Praise God for those things that you and I can hold on to in a changing world and have the assurance that they do not and will not change. But there are some things that God changes and some things that He expects to change in US, and we need to be aware of them.
Like to go back to Ephesians 1, just to take a little expression we have.
Verse 18 at the end of the chapter where we have.
The prayer of the Apostle Paul for the Ephesians.
In verse 18 it says the eyes of your understanding. Being enlightened. I notice the new translation says the eyes of your heart.
It's interesting.
We see things physically.
But we see things otherwise as well.
We're trained in the world we live to appreciate the value of things materially, and it's necessary in a business context to do so. I don't say it's wrong.
But when we come to a portion like we've been meditating in the reading.
Of spiritual realities.
It's a different way of seeing.
And it's a challenge to me to.
This prayer of the apostle, that the eyes of your understanding, or the eyes of your heart being enlightened.
You know, light gives you to see things clearly. Without light you can't see things clearly and so.
It's, I suppose, through meditation of the precious Word of God.
Timothy was told to meditate these things.
What is meditation?
It's not merely the effort of the mind to comprehend them.
But meditation is comparing scripture with scripture.
And allowing the light to come through.
By the power of the Holy Spirit that's in US, and I find that very interesting to.
Think about it.
Yet if it was a matter of mere human.
Your mind understanding somebody something why a person that is not a true believer should be able to understand it as well. That's not the point.
The point of letting the Spirit of God bringing the truth of God to us.
Through meditating one scripture with another. And I'd just like to.
Speak about that. Let's go first of all to.
Second Kings chapter 6 to a story in the life of Elijah or Elijah I should say.
In verse eight we will read from there.
Second Kings 6 verse 8 then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel against his servants, saying.
In such and such a place shall my shall be my camp. The man of God sent unto the King of Israel, saying.
Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down. The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore trouble for this thing, and he called his servants, and said unto them.
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Will ye not show unto me which of us is for the King of Israel?
And one of the his servants said, None, my Lord, O King, but Elijah.
The prophet that is in Israel telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
And he said, Go and spy out where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore he sent. Therefore sent he thither horses and Chariots, and a great host, and they came by night, and compassed the city about.
When the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold.
And host compass the city, both with horses and Chariots. And his servants said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord.
I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man whom he saw, and behold the mountain.
Was full of horses and Chariots of fire round about Elisha. When they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Interesting story of this.
King of Syria sending and his troops to Wales, the king of Israel and every time he did why Elisha would say to the king of Israel, don't go that way because they're waiting for you there until the king of of Syria thought there's somebody in my troops that is.
Is spying and telling the King of Israel.
We're not to go. And finally he was told, no, it's not that. It's just that Elijah the prophet, he knows. And he tells the king of Israel where not to go. And so the king of Syria said, well, go, look where he is. And they said he's in Dothan. He says, go surround that city with a great host. And they surrounded it.
And the next morning the young man who was the servant to Elisha comes out and says.
Alas, we're surrounded by the enemy host. No way.
We could be saved now.
And it's interesting that Elisha doesn't seem to be worried at all.
And he asked the Lord. Lord opened the young man's eyes that he may see. And when he opened his eyes, he saw that the holes there was a whole host of horses and Chariots of fire.
The spiritual realms of the hosts of angels, I suppose that were round about. And notice it doesn't say roundabout, Dothan, it says roundabout.
Elisha.
Oh, brethren, there is so much that we do not see. We're tended to be geared by what we do see. And Christianity is based on what we were mentioning this morning, spiritual realities. Spiritual realities are not things that you can see with your physical eyes.
Like to go back to the New Testament just for a brief moment, because I'd like to give place to someone else as well.
But go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
For a couple verses.
2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17.
For our light affliction.
The apostle Paul, who was called specially to be a vessel for suffering, says our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
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Works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
While we look.
Not at the things which are seen, but at the things.
Which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal that the things which are not seen.
Are eternal. Interesting. Very interesting. How do you look at what is not seen?
And I suppose it's very simple. The answer is by faith.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. It's the substantiating. Are these things real?
Yes, they are, but everything you can see with your eyes, we're in a.
Nice building here with chairs and well dressed. Everything you can see is not going to last very long.
What is going to be the state of this building, this room, in 50 years? We don't really know. But what is here is temporal. And if it does continue, we have to be renovated constantly because we're part of a creation that is temporal, but everything that is not seen as eternal. And that's what we have in our chapter, brother.
And we need this prayer of the apostle that evening. The eyes of our heart should be opened to see them.
Still remember a place in my travels where we came to a family and we stayed the night with them, but they were a family that was occupied with quite a bit of business transactions and quite successful in them. And we that evening I didn't know exactly what to read and we did read Ephesians 1.
I can still remember.
The faces of those people as we read that chapter and spoke a little bit about the spiritual reality of it.
Blank. Complete blank.
And it was evident to me that they were not used to thinking on the level of spiritual realities. Really came home as a challenge to me. Brethren, what is real are those things that cannot be seen with the human eye. And we need to have our minds and our thoughts and our hearts.
Challenged What is my life about?
Is it about mere temporal things that are just for a moment, as this scripture says, or is it about spiritual realities that are for all eternity? Well, the Lord help us, brethren, I just wanted to lay those brief thoughts before us, and I'd like to leave it for others.
Just a couple of verses or portions in the book of Malachi.
Just a very brief thought or two in connection with what has been before us earlier in this meeting.
Malachi, chapter one.
And verse one.
The Burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, saith the Lord, and then turn over to the third chapter.
Chapter 3 and verse six. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Earlier in this meeting we had some very helpful thoughts in connection with those things that change. But as was mentioned too, there are many things that are brought before us in the Word of God that do not change. One of those things, of course, is the Scripture.
Itself the grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth away, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
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But I was thinking in connection with these portions that we have read in the book of Malachi, how wonderful it is that in connection with the person of Christ, first of all, his love never changes. You know, if we were to back up in the history of the children of Israel, we would find that between the banks of the Red Sea and what we have here at the close of their history in the Old Testament, there was a great deal of change that had taken.
Place, but not change on the part of the Lord, change on the part of the people of God. When we go back to the 15th of Exodus, we find them a singing people rejoicing in the joy of redemption and deliverance, and they're giving glory to the Lord. They are Speaking of what He has done for them. What a scene it must have been when they sang there on the banks of the Red Sea.
But then there's a lot of history that follows, a lot of sad history that comes in, a lot of failure, a lot of murmuring and fault finding. But as we read the pages of Israel's history, whether it's in the wilderness or after they entered the land of Canaan, isn't it wonderful to realize that his love and his purposes had not changed?
It's been often pointed out and it's certainly not an original thought with me.
But it's often been pointed out that so often in the Word of God there's a confirmation of the Lord's love at times of real weakness and failure. In fact, it's very significant. I believe that when we come over to the 33rd chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, there he confirms his love to them. It says there, yeah, he loved all the people.
I find that a remarkable statement because that wasn't on the banks of the Red Sea when they were in the freshness and joy of redemption and deliverance.
That was after their wilderness history. That was after all that murmuring and fault finding, all that complaining, blaming Moses and God's servants and God himself for their their circumstances.
It was after the governmental hand of God had been upon them time and time and time again, and at the end of their history. Did He love them any less than He loved them when He looked down and delivered them by the blood of the Passover, redeemed them by the blood of the Passover lamb, and delivered them by a mighty hand through the Red Sea? All His love hadn't changed. They had changed. And in the book of Malachi we find that much had.
Inspired since then and again much failure in the government of God upon them in one way or another. And here they are at their lowest point morally and spiritually at the end of their history in the Old Testament.
Had his love changed? Did he love them any less than he loved them on the banks of the Red Sea or the banks of the Jordan? Oh no, Malachi confirms by the word of the Lord, I have loved you, Seth, the Lord. Oh, it's true. He had no pleasure in what they were doing. That's confirmed later on in the the 10th verse. He had no pleasure in them, that is, their actions only brought him grief, but his love was the same.
You know when we come over to the New Testament, we find at the end of the time when the disciples had walked with the Lord Jesus during their public ministry.
And they were gathered together in the upper room. There is again a confirmation of the Lorde love for them, having loved his own, which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. When we come over to the Book of Revelation and John writes to the seven churches in Asia Minor 7 literal assemblies that existed at that time in this world, you realize there's only two assemblies where he confirms his love to them. One is.
Adelphia And you say, oh, I understand that. I know why he confirmed his love to Philadelphia. They were going on in freshness and and there was a real fervency there, why they were seeking to keep his word and not deny his name. He said, I understand why it says he loved them there. But then in the next assembly, Laodicea, where there was indifference to the claims of Christ.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Did he love them any less in Laodicea than he loved them in Philadelphia? Not for one moment. All he had to rebuke them. He wasn't happy with what they were doing and the things that were that characterized them, but he loved them just the same. And I say that, brethren, because maybe sometimes we feel, you know, we're right At the end, we have to all hang our heads and admit that we're part of the failure and ruin that has come in into the public testimony into Christendom.
00:50:18
Last days perhaps we have to admit at least I do. There's been much failure in my life, but all I'm thankful that there's one thing that doesn't change and that is his love. And then later on we read where it's he says I am the Lord, I change not he himself doesn't change. And then it's very significant what he says. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Why doesn't it say?
Israel, because Israel is what we are. By grace, Israel means a Prince with God.
And He has indeed brought us as Princess from the beggars, from the dunghill, and set us among Princess Jacobs. What we are by nature. Often we find in the Old Testament those two names are brought together. Why sayest thou, O Israel, and speakest, O Jacob, my way is hid from the Lord. Why does He bring those two names together, showing that He sees us?
It by grace in all the perfection of what we have been brought into.
In Christianity by grace brought into the two we're seen in Christ and so on. But he says you don't always act that way. And sometimes he has to deal with us as Jacob. But isn't it wonderful that even when we act as men and and women in the flesh, He still takes us up? He doesn't forsake us. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. How can we claim?
To go on for the Lord, how can there be restoration? How can we go on in spite of failure? Oh, it's because He doesn't change and His purposes don't change. If we had time, we could go back in Malachi and find that, as He says, I will be magnified from the borders of Israel. Nothing, no failure in His people was going to change His purposes. They were and will be all accomplished for the glory of God.
And the glory of the Lord Jesus and the blessing of his people. And so I say how wonderful. Thank God. There are some things that do change and will change as we've had before us. But thank God, there are some things that never change. And our God, he never changes. We sing, we change, he changes not our God can never die. And let's learn, brethren, then not to be so occupied with our failure and all the.
Things that are wanting. Judge those things. But then bask in the sunshine of the fact that His love never changes. Bask in the sunshine of the fact that in spite of our response, it may be feeble at best, but in spite of our response, He loves us just the same. Maybe there's someone here and you've been saved for many years. He loves you just as much as when you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
He loves you just as much as when there was that work of grace in your soul that turned you to Himself, opened your eyes to see beauty in Himself, and brought you to the Savior. He loves you just as much today. And the day is coming, brethren, and it's not far off when we're going to sit down in the sunshine of that love in the Father's house. Oh, what love? We're going to enjoy divine, unchangeable love for all eternity. But I say He wants us.
To enjoy that love. Now don't get discouraged. I say judge those things, but go on. Don't get discouraged because though we change, though there's ups and downs in our lives, in our hearts and in our responses, yet his love doesn't change. He himself is the is the same and we can claim that no matter where we are in our Christian pathway.
Rejoices.
Rejoice, I pray.
For last spring glory.
I stayed hard for life.
All things crazy.
Strange turn.
Off.