Open—S. Stewart, R. Boulard
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We open to.
First Corinthians, chapter 14.
First Corinthians chapter 14, verse 29.
Let the prophets stay two or three.
Let the other judge.
First Peter, chapter 4.
00:05:04
Verse 11.
Fannie Vance speak. Let him speak.
As the oracles of God.
Minister, let him do it as of the ability of God-given.
That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
Whom be praised and dominion forever and ever. And John Chapter 7.
Stop.
He thus speaketh from. He thus speaketh from himself.
Speaketh his own worries.
So we asked what's wrong?
Just hesitate a little to uh.
To take up this subject to touch on it.
Once before recently and it some ways maybe doesn't seem in my mind exactly to go along with what we've we've, uh, had before us.
Earlier today, but perhaps there are those here who, who are, uh.
Seeking from the Word of God to understand better the truth of God and the principles upon which God acts.
And which he orders things and to walk in them and embrace them and understand them from his word. And there is a a principle of things perhaps too, that I'd like to touch on that I feel is needed in the day that we live in and I'd like to.
First, go to Genesis.
And look at a verse there. The subject that I'd really like to look at is, uh, unity.
And the principle upon which God.
Produces unity and.
The power and energy in which he.
Brings that unity about.
And I'd like to look at Genesis chapter one for perhaps the first expression that, uh, that I'm aware of in the Word of God, where we might see unity.
And.
In verse 26.
Of Genesis one we read and God said let us make man in our image.
After our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fall of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.
Every.
Verse previous to this I believe we get the plain, uh simple fiats of God, let there be light and let the earth spring forth. But when it comes to man, he says let us because man was the.
Object of the divine Council and the Godhead. And so when it comes to making man, he said, let us.
There's the Godhead, and they are at one in their purpose in creating man.
That one in their purpose to put this man at the center of what he had just created.
And he was to be there at that center in God's image and God's likeness. He was God's representative at the center of all that he created. And God was uniting everything that he created.
As it were in a cohesive unit, by putting Himself, God at the center, represented there by that man, and it was the object of eternal counsels. The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost were one and their counsel to put man there.
And God has purposed if we could just turn over to Ephesians chapter one.
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For he was looking beyond.
The earthly.
Creation.
Yeah, we get in Genesis we could turn to Ephesians chapter one and see what he was looking beyond to.
Ephesians one, and verse 10, That in the dispensation of the administration 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 in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. And so God has purposed in a man to to unify everything that he has created, both in heaven and earth. And everything that he is doing is centered in one man, the man Christ Jesus. And he's going to manifest that in the coming day, in that day of the administration of the fullness of times, He's going to bring forth the man Christ Jesus.
And everything is going to be headed up in one man. God is going to unify everything under one man, the man Christ Jesus. And Adam was just a little or a certain sense of foretaste of that, a sample of that. And he was the first man. And we know that this book that we have in our hands, the Word of God, is the history of those two men, the 1St man Adam, whom God placed in that garden in the center of everything that he created, and the 2nd man, the Lord from heaven.
Whom he will eventually take up everything in heaven and earth and put under his feet.
Now if we look over a little bit further in Genesis, we see another unity.
Genesis Chapter 11.
In verse three and they said one to another, go to let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime they had for mortar. And they said go to let us build us a city.
And a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name.
Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And so there was a unity there as well, a unity of man's will and rebellion against God to set up his own name, to glorify himself on this earth, to accomplish his own purposes and his own objects contrary to God's will. And God had to come down and scatter that. He had to divide it. He had to take that unity and break it.
And scatter it, lest man accomplish that purpose that he had before him.
And I'd like to take that subject up of unity, for God has purposed the unity in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the coming day, He's going to manifest him in this world. And every unity that God forms or creates, He puts himself at the center. And it must be that way. And so in that early creation, he put man there in his image and likeness as his representative. But God, really.
In that way, it was at the center of that creation.
And God is going to take up everything in a coming day, and he is going to be at the center in the person of the man Christ Jesus.
But God is holy.
God is light. We started our little hymn that way. God is light.
And God cannot have anything that is contrary to the light in union with Himself.
He cannot be associated in any way with evil. He is holy.
And he abhors that which is evil. He delights in that which is good, and evil comes in and it spoils the delight and good, it interrupts it. It's contrary to it, and he cannot have any association with it.
And so when he takes up Christ to place him as head over all things in heaven and earth.
In the coming day, and God is going to be the center of all things and everything will be unified around him in that center. He's first going to take some steps.
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We turn over to the Gospel of Matthew we can look at.
Some of what he is going to do.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
Verse 36 But of that day an hour knoweth no man.
Know not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming.
Of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered in the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall to be in the field. One shall be taken, the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill. One shall be taken and the other.
Left.
And so he's going to take and send his mighty angels, and he is going to remove from this world all things that offend. And these ones that are taken away, they're taken away like the flood took away those in Noah's day. They were taken away in judgment. This isn't taken away to be with Christ and glory. It's taken away in judgment. And he's going to clear his Kingdom of everything that is contrary to himself.
And judicial power in that day, because when God forms that unity of which Christ, he and Christ is the center, it's going to be holy.
Because God's principle of unity.
His separation from evil.
And that principle carries on today. And it's been a burden on my heart that perhaps.
We're letting that slip in our thoughts.
I'd like to look at.
The Gospel of John.
In the 17th chapter.
And we see there a unity.
Which God has formed?
And which we are brought into.
John, Chapter 17.
And let's read from uh.
Verse.
Nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine and all thine. All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom thou hast given me.
That they may be one as we are.
They may be one as we are.
We looked at that verse in Genesis where perhaps we get the very first.
Expression of what the Lord is Speaking of here. They may be one as we are. Well, we as believers cannot be one as they are in the Godhead, in their divinity.
Three persons in the Godhead, and yet one God.
Blasphemous thought to even think that we could be one in such a way.
So what is this oneness?
What is this unity that the scripture is Speaking of here?
It's the same thought we get in Genesis. They were one in their counsel and in their purpose and in their aim in creating man and putting him at the center of that creation as representing God.
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And so the Lord is praying for a unity here, a oneness here, in that same way, in thought and in counsel and in purpose, that they may be one as we are one. The Father and the Son walk through the scene. There was never a divergent thought on the part of the sun from the Father. They were one in all their thoughts and in their counsel perfectly won and the Spirit of God.
With him. And now he's praying that the apostles really specifically would be one in the same way.
One in their thought and aim and purpose in the counsels of God.
And so he speaks.
Of them and praise for them in this way, that they may be one as we are. And this is really the unity of the apostles.
And then down a little further.
He says neither. Verse 20 Pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, So the apostles would go out.
And that, oneness and this, and the purpose and fellowship and aim in carrying the gospel out.
And declaring what they had seen and heard, as the apostle says in the first Epistle of John.
And there would be those who would believe.
Those who would believe on Christ through their word.
And the Lord prays now for them, that they all may be one.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in US.
And that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
That they also may be one in US, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father. Again, this is not a unity of in divinity.
But of interest in.
The father's interests were in the son. The son's interests were in the father.
There was a mutual enjoyment of fellowship between the father and the son.
In their interest in one another, so to speak. And now he's praying that they also may be one in US.
That we too might be brought into fellowship with them, and common interests and enjoyment of the father.
And the sun, that they may be one in US, that the world may believe. And so as the believers would go out, and there would be that common fellowship and enjoyment and interest in the Father and the Son, there would be a testimony rendered to this world that the world would believe in the display of that unity of which the Father and the Son were the center.
A unity that first we see the apostles brought into, and thought and aim and purpose, and now one in fellowship that the world may believe. And then he goes on to say.
First, well, let's just keep reading from verse 22 and the glory which thou gavest me. I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one.
I and them and thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved me. This is future. This is oneness and display and glory and coming glory with the Lord Jesus. And now it's not a exactly a question of may believe.
But it may know the world is going to see imperfection.
That unity that the Lord Jesus is praying that His own would be displayed in here in this world in his absence. It will be displayed in perfect, uh, glory and unity in the coming day when the Lord Jesus appears.
Now the Apostle John takes this up in the first epistle.
Let's turn over the first Epistle of John, chapter one.
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Verse one. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it.
And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full.
What they had seen and heard in Christ, now in the oneness of Apostolic unity they went out, and they declared to us.
What they had seen and heard. Why, that we might be brought into the unity of that fellowship of common interests in the Father and the Son, and the enjoyment of them, and to know.
Thus, Father, and to know Jesus Christ, whom he has sent his eternal life.
And to be brought into that circle of divine fellowship and common interest is our portion of those as those who have believed and receive Christ as Savior.
And there's a fullness of joy.
In that.
Interest and occupation with Christ and with God the Father.
Verse five. This then is the message which we have heard of him. And declare unto you that God is light.
And in him is no darkness at all.
The Father and the Son are the center of that unity that you and I have been brought into. But He can have no fellowship with darkness. In Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie.
And do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, what measure is that as he is in the light? We can't put a measure to it.
We have fellowship one with another.
In the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth cleanseth us from all sin.
The fellowship that we have been called to.
That we have been brought into whether with the Father and the Son, or whether with one another.
And common interest in the father and the son has to be separate from.
Sin separate from darkness. The principle upon which God forms that unity is in separation from evil. And it must be, for He is at the center of that unity.
And he can have no fellowship with evil.
And so God has purposed a unity for blessing, and that our joy may be full, but it is on the principle of separation.
From evil separation from this world and all its wickedness and all its ways that are contrary to God. And if we're going to walk in and enjoy that fellowship, it must be in a personal way in our lives.
And separation from all that would dishonor him. And collectively, in separation from all that would dishonor him, it must be so. It must be so, for God is light.
Now there is another unity that he has formed.
And it's connected with what we've read in John. And I'd like to turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
The unity that we read in John.
Is a unity of those who are one in life and nature with His Son, those who are possessors of eternal life. It's one in common interest in the Father and the Son. It's one in fellowship with one another.
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In those interests, but it's not the unity of the body of Christ. It's a different thought in John, but now in Ephesians we come to chapter 4.
Verse One. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit.
In the bond of peace there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. 1 Lord, 1 Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all.
And in you all.
There is one body, the Spirit of God's descent on the day of Pentecost.
United those believers into one body, and dwelling each one of them, and uniting them to a risen Christ and glory. And he formed that one body. And there was to be a display of oneness in this scene where Christ had been bodily cast out. But now there in the day of Pentecost, He who had been cast out of the scene bodily, so to speak, His bodies there again.
But now in his members.
And as the head in heaven, and giving directions to that body, Christ was to be displayed in this world in that unity that He had formed of all those members, uniting them together by 1 Spirit to Christ in heaven. And the apostle Paul comes to this point in Ephesians, and he tells us where to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the uniting bond of peace.
And dear ones, we may wonder why. And this is perhaps the burden coming to what was on my heart. Why?
Foretold to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace at such a small company.
That we find ourselves gathered with in unity.
Why it isn't that we should? Why we should not be embracing, so to speak, and welcoming in every member of the body of Christ to come in and break bread? You know the principal.
That we see in the loaf on the Lord's Table is that every member of the bodies represented there, and every member of the body has a place at that table.
Why isn't every member there?
Because there's another principle.
God's principle of unity is separation from evil, and if we're going to go on in that unity, it has to be.
And separation from all that would defile or would dishonor him.
It must be What if evil came in?
And the entire thing became corrupted. Then what?
Recur to the first principle.
Separation from evil is God's principle of unity, even if it's just one.
Going on there in the unity which the Spirit of God has formed.
And so for us to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit is to seek.
To realize that unity which he has formed of all the members of the Body of Christ, united to Christ in heaven. To seek to realize that in a practical way here below.
But it must be in separation from all that would dishonor him.
Our hearts could get wrapped up with that.
In such a way that it might not be profitable. We could get anxious, we could get, uh, restless about it.
Because those separation from evil is God's principle of unity. It's not the center of that unity.
Crisis.
It's not the power, the attractive power of that unity. It's himself, God and Christ in the midst that is the attractive power.
And so to lay hold of by faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of two or three gathered to His name.
In an expression of that unity that the Spirit of God has formed, the members united to Christ in glory. To lay hold of that by faith is what keeps my soul.
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It may be I need to be separate, and it is requisite that I'd be separate from evil to walk in that path and fellowship with him and with fellow believers.
And keeping that unity it must be. But that in itself won't keep my soul. It has to be laying hold of the fact that he's there by faith. It's not a warm fuzzy feeling or anything like that. That he's there in the midst of slaying hold of it by faith. That he said he is there. And that's what will keep your soul and my soul when troubles and difficulties come in and when we may have to act on that principle of separation from evil.
Rather than it wearying us and wearing us out and maybe bringing us to the point where we give up and say I'm just tired of fighting that battle, of being in a separate place.
The occupation with himself and seeing him in the midst will keep us.
Because, you know, God is light and he's holy, but God was holy before sin ever came in the scene.
Before there ever was sin, God was holy, and holiness is a delighting in that which is good.
And when what is not good, evil comes in, then it disrupts holiness. Delight in what's good, and it spoils it. And so holiness abhors what's evil because it ruins what's good.
And so the very first principle of holiness is really occupation with what's good, and that's really what it's going to take to keep you and I going on together and fellowship one with another at the Lord's table. Yes, it must be in separation from evil, necessary principle. It must be in that sense the first principle. But it's not what keeps us. It's the attractive power of Christ. Let's turn back to John 12.
John 12.
In verse 31, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. It's Christ lifted up on Calvary's cross, Christ and death, giving himself for God's glory and for our eternal blessing. That is the attractive thing to our heart. To see that One who gave Himself in the midst is what will keep us through all difficulties that we might pass through in the assembly, and that alone.
That's what will keep our souls.
Is to see him there It's a.
It's been a challenge thing of late.
For those who would take up the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the gathering center and He is in one place.
But it is that very truth in laying hold of it by faith, that will keep us there.
He is the attractive center.
He's the one that God has placed in, in the midst. And as we break bread and as we partake of that loaf, we do show forth the Lord's death till He come, and we give expression to that unity that we are part of. But the very center of it is Christ lifted up. Lifted up above this earth, not in heaven yet, but above this earth without contact with this earth, the one who gave himself for us, and now made higher than the heavens.
The object of the believer's heart, that one in whom the father is interested in common interests with the father and his son.
I'd like to just turn to 1St Kings chapter 3. Read a few verses there.
First Kings chapter 3 and verse one and Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt.
And took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had made an end of building his own house.
And the House of the Lord.
And the wall of Jerusalem round about, only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built under the name of the Lord until those days.
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And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place.
1000 bird offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar?
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee?
And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee, and thou hast kept him for this great kindness.
And thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a little child. I know not how to go out.
Where to come in? And Thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered or nor counted for multitude. Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.
For who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast riches for thyself.
Nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee.
Neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
And I have also given the that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes, and to keep my and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
And offered up burnt offerings and offered peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants. And then just a little bit further on in the first Kings, I think it's Chapter 11.
Chapter 10 and verse 28.
And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt.
And linen yarn. The King's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. And so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria did they bring them out of by their means.
But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh women of the Moabites.
Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonian, and Hittites of the nations, concerning which the Lord had said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in unto them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their God. Solomon clave to these.
In love.
Well, we don't have time to look at other passages, but you know, this, uh, little portion of scripture that I have on my heart this Mor, this, uh, evening, this afternoon really brings before us Solomon in all of his glory. And how at the beginning of his reign, it says in the second chapter that the Kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. And so it was established by judgment. And God is going to.
Establish.
The Kingdom, the Lord Jesus is going to have his Kingdom in this world and it will be established and the world will be cleansed by judgment. But here I just want to take this up in connection with Solomon as a man. He was David's son or umm, David's son. And here he was, uh, the great, great grandson, I believe, of Ruth.
A grandson and Ruth knew what it was to come out of the land of Moab. She knew what it was to leave idolatry. She knew what it was to leave her father and her mother, her kindred.
The nation that she had grown up in, and she knew what it was to leave what she had been comfortable with, and to go out unto the Lord into the Lord's land. And we find here that Solomon perhaps.
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Forgot where he came from, forgot his heritage, forgot the price that was paid.
If we read a little bit earlier in the book of Joshua, we would find that.
Boaz.
Had a relation. His mother, grandmother I believe was Rahab.
Rehab, the harlot. And she'd been one of the Gentiles and had come out of that city that was judged by God, the city of the curse, Jericho. And she paid a price to come out of that city. She'd been spared of the judgment and had come among the people of God. And there was a godly man, I think his name was Salman, and he married that woman, Boaz, That Boaz's mother, I believe it was his mother.
Rahab and now we find here that Solomon very one of the very first things that it says in chapter 3 here is that Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made an agreement. He made a pact. The king of God's country made a pact with a foreign nation, the king of Egypt, Pharaoh and that's what you know, sometimes we wonder at the beginning of our lives how the life will turn out. How are are as young people, perhaps we make these decisions in life and.
We form friendships and we enter into arrangements that are not easily broken. And the very first thing that Solomon's recorded in Solomon's reign here is that he made an agreement with king of Pharaoh of Egypt, something that had attracted his heart in umm, Egypt. Now, I know prophetically that, uh, Egypt shall be one of those countries that is blessed along with Israel. That's not really the prophetic part that we want to take a look at here.
This evening. But Farrell had a little part of that Kingdom, as it were. He had a little entrance. And the world is so, uh, deceitful. Your heart and mind, just a little corner of the world just to make a little agreement and to have something that the world has attachment to in our lives. And that's really what took Solomon down because it says he took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David.
And so you know.
This unity that our brother has been bringing before us, the Lord, in His desire for our blessing, has purchased us with His own precious blood, and He's desired to have us for himself entirely without any strings attached.
With any, without any defilement, without anything to do with Egypt. And as we talk about separation from evil, it's something in us that, umm, it sounds like something that is very exclusive, but it is exclusive. We are separated by the blood of Christ and by the cross of Christ from this world.
And no agreement can be made with this world, No agreement, no compromise, because we are heavenly citizens and we belong to Christ.
And we need to be careful as to what we espouse in our lives. And so Pharaoh here has a daughter. She comes to live in the city of David. And it says that Solomon did many things. He built his own house.
And he built the House of the Lord, and he built the wall of Jerusalem round about. That speaks of separation. The wall and Scripture always speaks of separation.
Only the people sacrificed in high places because there was no house built under the name of the Lord until those days.
And Solomon loved the Lord. Isn't that nice? God gives a commendation where he can give a commendation.
And he speaks of how Solomon built his house. He built the House of the Lord, He built the wall of Jerusalem. And he speaks of how Solomon loved the Lord. And it's a wonderful beginning at the beginning of the Kingdom of Solomon of glory. And the Lord spoke of the glory of that Solomon's Kingdom. And yet here.
We find that there was a little root, just a little thing.
Solomon might have thought it was just a little thing.
But he married Pharaoh's daughter.
And it was the ruin of his Kingdom.
You know, the Lord here brings before us that in verse five that he had communication with Solomon and the Lord appeared to Solomon. I believe it's three times and this is the first time that he appears to Solomon in Gibeon. And if you we looked at some other scriptures, we would find that in Gibeon it says in verse four that that was the great high place and that's where they had pitched the Tabernacle. The ark wasn't there, but the Tabernacle was there.
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In Gibeon.
And that's where the children of Israel.
Says they felt that that was the great high place. They had a lot of high places.
They had a lot of places where they could worship.
But the ark wasn't there. The presence of the Lord wasn't there. Remember, David had brought the ark to Jerusalem. We don't have time to look at it, but in First Chronicles chapter 21, there's a little picture there of how David had purchased that threshing floor from Oren and the Jebusite. He paid a price for it, and God had desired that his people would come into his presence to.
Offer the sacrifices that they would offer him.
And umm, there was a distraction here and it looked like the real place. It looked like there would be something that God would accept here. And it says that Solomon burnt 1000 burnt offerings upon that altar. And God saw that Solomon's heart was right in that way. God wanted. Solomon loved the Lord and made these offerings. And God delights to bless where he can bless and to honor and to.
Just respond.
To us, where we're at.
We're all in a different place as far as our spiritual growth and God looks to bless us each one. And so here it says that Solomon, he asked Solomon in this dream by night verse five, ask what I shall give thee.
And Solomon took a low place, and he spoke.
Today to Solomon he gave him instruction, and Solomon asked in verse 9, Give thy servant. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.
For who is able to judge this so great that I so great a people in the speech pleased the Lord Solomon had asked this thing. And so it's possible for us to have some little attachment to Egypt.
And still ask the right thing. Still have a little discernment and ask the right thing.
But you know Solomon.
During his lifetime.
History doesn't tell us or the scriptures don't tell us exactly how old he was when he began to reign, but approximately 18 years old and he reigned for 40 years and God said here in umm.
Verse 14 that if he would walk according to the ways of God, keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen my days. Well if we did the math, he died really a relatively young man. He was 58 years old.
But why? Was it because he didn't keep those statutes, the commandments, as David thy father did? Walk. Then I will lengthen the days, thy days.
Solomon awoke.
Then he came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. So you know, after Solomon had offered these offerings, had this dream.
He came back to where the ark of the Lord was in that place in Jerusalem, and in the presence of the Lord he offered burnt offerings.
And he offered sacrifices of peace offerings and that speaks to us of communion.
With the Lord, he had common thoughts with God.
He made a feast to all his servants.
Well, you know that little attachment to Egypt, the little attachment, little defilement.
Something had come in to divide his heart with the Lord, and in disobedience, direct disobedience to the word of God, he married one that he should never have married.
He disobeyed God, and perhaps he thought as sometimes you and I think.
If we sin against God, God is going to make an exception just for me.
God does not make exceptions to His Word.
And Solomon had married someone that he should never have married. And so he conducted himself in Chapter 11 or chapter 10 and verse 28. He conducted himself as the course went on in his Kingdom. He conducted himself as the other kings of the earth conducted themselves. And he had horses brought out of Egypt.
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And he bought linen yarn at a price. He did exactly what they did as far as buying Chariots for 600 shekels of silver and a horse.
For 150.
So the kings of the Hittites, the kings of Syria.
King Solomon loved many strange women together with the daughter of Pharaoh.
Well, I just bring these portions of Scripture before us, you know, because it's possible for us to have a divided heart.
Something.
That would be left unjudged.
Something that would rob us of communion with Christ. Communion can be broken so easily.
But how much more serious in our youth as we lay the foundations in youth and in any way make an alliance with Egypt?
It was a ruin of Solomon.
There could have been some fruit.
In the Kingdom. But what we find is that because of that little link with Egypt.
The Kingdom was divided.
And that's what divides the Saints, that's what divides in the home, that's what divides in this world. Sin. Just a little sin, just a little bit of Egypt. May God give us the grace to recognize any part of Egypt that we've assimilated unto ourselves, to judge it for what it is, a sin in the sight of God.
And that we might not bring it into the assembly, that we might not tolerate it in our homes.
That we might recognize it is a part of Egypt.
Some things cannot be broken easily, and perhaps this relationship that Solomon had with Pharaoh's daughter was one that he wasn't able to easily break even if he had wanted to. We know that the Lord spoke to him.
And I'm just referring to one other verse here in chapter First Kings chapter 12.
Let's read in first uh First Kings Chapter 11 First First Kings Chapter 11 verse 6. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon built in high place for Ki Mosh.
The abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem.
And for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
What a wicked thing this was for Solomon to build a high place for this idle who is great great grandmother had left and forsaken in the land of.
Moab and he come to live among the people of God.
You value the heritage that God has given you to be gathered to the Lord's name.
You know, every one of us comes and we'll find ourselves in the assembly here in Palmyra.
And we've come in a different way, each one of us. Some of us are gathered to the Lord's name. Some of us haven't taken our place at the Lord's table. Perhaps in this company it's a mixed company. Some may not be saved.
But I was brought up in a division among the Lord's people called the McDonald Division.
And everyone here has a different story, but by grace, we can tell a story, every one of us, in a different way.
My daddy was saved as out of Roman Catholicism.
And, umm.
Saved by grace.
And then he came among the McDowell brethren, and that.
Approximately.
When I was 13 years old.
There was a work of the Spirit of God.
And that's at McDowell division. The Spirit of God sought to gather out those that were gathered into that division. Mr. McDowell done a wicked thing, set up a table that looked just like the Lord's table, set up a fellowship of Christians that was an imitation of the truth.
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And by grace, God was working behind the scenes, and after Mr. McDowell was gone, He was the glue that kept that thing together.
And when he was gone?
Then the Spirit of God gathered out those that were in that system.
That imitation that they might be brought back.
I remember the day that I first came into the assembly meeting.
The first time in Ottawa that we walked up the steps to that place.
Where the Saints gathered on the fine ground and opened up the big doors to that place and saw a couple 100 people sitting there.
And terror in my heart because I'd only been used to a handful of people in a small farm house. I came into that place and I saw some of the older men weeping with tears in their eyes as they saw a young family come in and walk into that room. They knew why we're where we were coming from. We're coming out of division.
We are coming, and my father and mother were soon gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
But they came back. The place was moved.
And I value what it is to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. But I say, dear brethren, here there are many imitations, many high places. We might say that there are many, even great high places, but God is desiring to gather His people.
Into the presence of his Son, to magnify his Son, that we might be found in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Might be a good thing to ask your parents, young people, if you've never asked your parents where you came from, what's the route?
Where do we come from?
How come we're here? How come we're found in this little company of those that are gathered to the Lord's name and seek to go on in separation from that which is evil ecclesiastically?
Be a good thing to ask and to know what your Christian heritage is and to thank God for it, to value it.
Mr. John Brayton is a young man. I remember him quoting this verse of Scripture in Galatians oftentimes. I thought it was his favorite verse, he said.
If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Solomon made himself a transgressor. He built again those things that his great grandmother had torn down and broken up.
Never build those things again.
It's a wonderful thing to come out of all that which is confusion and Christianity and to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus and to thank Him not only for your salvation, but thank Him for what it is to be gathered to His precious name. May God give us the grace to judge those things that would come in and divide our hearts, divide our homes, or divide the assembly. Let's not allow any portion of Egypt within our homes or within our hearts.