Open—W. Dear, M. Roach, R. House
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But we started by saying it once already through.
172.
Oh, teach us more.
Of God.
I've been worried.
I was raining.
By our heart and God.
And right that day I can't get to my e-mail.
When I'm in the world.
Now.
We try to get the blindfolded.
Rain time I love.
It's all good price.
My God in our Father.
We commit this meeting into thy hands.
We commit the brothers, whom, through whom whom thou wilt speak to each one of us this afternoon.
We commit our hearts, our minds, our ears to Thee, so they would be open to receive that which Thou desirest to instruct us with, to encourage us with, to comfort us with, to exhort us with. Father, thank Thee for Thy desire to equip us.
To represent thee well.
And faithfully, as we wait for Thy soon return, we thank Thee, Father, for Thy grace to us, Thy unsearchable paths in love and grace to each one of us. We thank you for being here in peace and comfort in freedom.
We think of our brothers and sisters who have not this freedom and may we treasure this privilege all the more and remember them in our prayers. We thank the Father in Jesus name, Amen.
I would like this afternoon.
To encourage.
Each one here today who has come to Christ to take a stand for him, even though it may be having to stand alone.
It's worth it.
And if it has God's approval, that's all that really counts.
I recall I saw a poster one time that Cecil Russell's bookstore some years back and it showed a multitude of people.
And they were all.
Outlined in black and they were all moving in One Direction.
However, if you look carefully at the poster, there was one outline in red and that was.
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A person that was going in the opposite direction.
Have you ever felt like that, perhaps at school or at work?
That the tide is against you.
I'd like to turn this afternoon to an individual.
Found in John's Gospel.
Chapter 12.
Who I believe took a stand.
For the Lord Jesus.
Because he was precious to her heart.
And it was a bold stand.
And when I say a stand, the fact is that she was at the feet of Jesus.
Her name is Mary.
And I believe that most, if not every reference to Mary of Bethany, we find her at the feet of Jesus.
That's a good place to be.
Somebody, I believe it was J&T.
He wrote low at thy feet, Lord Jesus, this is the place for me. Here have I learned deep lessons, truths that have set me free. Free from myself, Lord Jesus, free from the ways of men, chains of thought.
That once found me never shall find me again. Not but thyself. Lord Jesus conquered this wayward will, but for thy love constraining I had been wayward still.
I believe the love of Christ had conquered Mary's will.
And constrained her to do that.
Which?
From all outward appearances.
Would be a very.
Shall I say hazardous move on her part? Well, let's read about it, John, Chapter 12.
And verse one.
Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany.
Where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Here we find.
A house betting it was a place where the Lord Jesus knew that he would be welcome.
With the Lord Jesus, be welcome at your house.
Would he know that coming to your house he would receive?
A warm welcome and hospitality. That's how it was at Destiny.
And if we back up into Chapter 11, we find that the Lord Jesus.
Had performed a wonderful miracle on one of those residents at that household. His name was Lazarus.
Lazarus had died.
And.
Martha, she said to Jesus. If you'd been here, my brother would not have died.
But you know, the Lord Jesus had a purpose in allowing that grief in that household.
In allowing Lazarus to die because he was going to display the fact that even more wonderful than healing a diseased body is to raise a dead body.
From the grave.
And the Son of God was glorified through that miracle. You know, sometimes we think.
The Lord doesn't know what he's doing because we've got problems. We've got trials and difficulties and griefs.
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But the fact is that I do believe whatever is taking place.
In your life as a believer.
God has your best interest at heart, and He's going to make it work together for good.
Not only for your good, but for His own glory and praise. And that's how it was here.
And there were those.
That witnessed what had taken place at Bethany.
And it tells us here.
In verse 45.
Chapter 11. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
And so we find that there were those that believed on him.
But as we read on in the chapter in verse 47, then gathered the chief priests, the Pharisees, the council, and said, What do we This man doeth many miracles.
As we read on, we see that their council is in verse 53. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
So we find that.
An environment.
Had developed that was hostile to the Son of God.
You know we live in a hostile world today.
And the world's attitude toward the Son of God has not changed since John Chapter 11.
It hasn't changed since the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed.
To the cross of Calvary.
This world is going on.
A course in opposition to God and to his Son Jesus. But the wonderful thing is, God has not abandoned the human race, But we find that he offers a full and free pardon to those who are willing to bow at the feet of Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord, who put their faith in confidence in Him.
And what a wonderful God we have. Who?
Reaches out to the vilest. He's full of compassion.
He's plenteous in mercy. He's ready to forgive, ready to pardon.
He's gracious.
You know I believe Mary.
Saw this in Jesus.
And he had captivated her heart.
And as we read here in chapter 12.
When Jesus came to the house, he was welcome.
No matter what the attitude of the religious.
Leaders were Jesus.
Was.
Her Lord. Her Savior.
Jesus was on her heart. It was Himself who captivated Mary. And so we see as we read on in this portion, that in verse 3, Mary, it says, took a pound of ointment.
A spike in our very costly and anointed defeat of Jesus.
And wiped his feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
This was an act of devotion on the part of Mary.
That was exemplary.
And as we read on, we find that this hound of ointment spikenard that was very costly was perhaps worth at least 300 pence. And a pence is one day's wages in those days, one day's wages, so 300 pence.
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If you translate it to today's.
Currency. 300 days wages. That's a lot of money.
And I suppose that Mary had.
This ointment for some time.
I don't know how long she was thinking about.
This that she wanted to do.
But it did come to fruition and that which was very costly.
Mary was willing to expend it.
On Jesus.
It was the sacrifice for her.
Did she regret what she had done?
She got right down to the feet of Jesus.
And wiped her feet, his feet with her hair. You know, it speaks about the hair being the glory of the woman. But I do believe that.
Mary wanted to give Jesus all the glory and all the praise. She was in the presence of the Lord of glory. And you know, when we get to glory, we understand we're going to have crowns, but we're going to be casting our crowns at the feet of Jesus that he might be exalted, that his name alone would be magnified.
As we have here on this poster in all things he might have.
The preeminence.
Well, you can imagine if Mary wiped his feet with her hair.
What did her hair smell like? This was a very fragrant.
Spikenard.
And I'm sure that as Mary went forth.
The fragrance of this spikenard.
Would be dispersed abroad. Well, it tells us here that the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
And it was a very wonderful.
Atmosphere to be in this House with the order of the ointment.
Well, you know what this is I believe worship.
And worship is what God desires.
And I'm not sure just and I speak to myself how much worship there is in my heart.
For the Lord Jesus. But this is what He values. You know, it's one thing to get something from the Lord, and it's very wonderful that when we receive something from Him, yet our hearts are filled with Thanksgiving and praise.
And there were those that fell at the feet of Jesus in order to get something. I think of Jarius, he fell at the feet of Jesus on behalf of his daughter that was sick, 12 year old daughter.
There was the Cyrus Phoenician woman came to Jesus and fell his feet on behalf of her daughter. They were looking to get something from the Lord Jesus.
And they weren't disappointed.
And I trust that they did give thanks to him for what he did for them.
But I believe there's something even more wonderful.
Than to.
Get something from the Lord Jesus and that is to ensure.
Him for who he is. That's worship, you see.
We praise the Lord for what He has done for us, but we worship Him for who He is.
His beauty.
His glory.
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We sang this morning about.
All the peace forever flowing from God's thoughts of his own Son. All the peace of simply knowing that on the cross.
The work was done, but as we sing along and at him.
Jesus Savior.
We adore this.
Christ is God, ascended high.
We're thinking about what he's done for us, but now we're worshiping him.
For who he is, we adore him.
Federation. Well, we find that.
Mary here I believe, was filled.
With adoration for her Lord.
And.
She displayed this in a remarkable way.
Now in verse four, then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, what should betray him? Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
Judas Iscariot takes exception to what Jesus has done.
He claims that he has a care for the poor. Is that true? He had no care for the poor any more than he had a respect for the Lord.
Find it. He was a thief.
And, uh, he took that which was put into the bag. I suppose he thought about that. 300 pence, he thought, you know.
I could have got something out of that.
He had no love.
Love. No regard.
No worship in his heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see a contrast here between Mary and Judas Iscariot. But the sad thing is, if you turn over to another gospel, you find out that not only was Judas.
Having a problem with what Mary did, But it tells us the other disciples as well were filled with indignation.
They too.
Were critical of Mary's sacrifice.
So now what are we gonna say? Here's Mary, Here's Judas and the other disciples.
Marries one individual who got the disciples 12 disciples.
Who is right?
Jesus will settle the score.
Verse 7 Then said, Jesus, let her alone against the day of my bearing, as she kept this for the poor. Always you have with you, but me you have not always.
Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there. They came after Jesus sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
You know what?
Mary had Jesus on her side and she was only one. But you know, it's been said that one plus.
The Lord Jesus or one plus God makes the majority.
And I believe the Lord Jesus exonerated.
Mary for what she had done.
And we read in another gospel that.
What Mary had done was going to be proclaimed throughout the whole world in the Gospel and would be a memorial for time and for eternity.
And Mary was willing to stand alone.
You know, sometimes even other Christians we would expect to be.
Shall I say.
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Promoting that which is of God, but doesn't always work that way.
The important thing is to look to the Lord and do what He tells you to do.
And.
Seek his perspective.
On what is before you.
And.
Let me just read this here.
We had this the other night over in Fredericton.
At the meeting there First Corinthians.
It's just two words that really stood out to me. First Corinthians Chapter 7.
And verse 24.
1St Corinthians 724 Now brethren, let every man wherein he is called, now this is the calling of God, therein abide. But notice 2 words with God, with God.
That's critical.
If you can do what you are doing with God, you're on the right track.
And you won't regret.
What you are doing?
You have God's approval. Don't look around to the world for its approval. You'll be misdirected.
It's possible that even professing Christians might be a source of misdirection.
But look to God and that's what Mary did, and she did the right thing and she will not regret it. You know, Mary had spiritual discernment. She knew that Jesus was going to the cross. I think she had more discernment than the disciples as to what was to take place. She was a woman, but there was devotion to Christ.
A love in her soul for Christ.
And it came out in what she did.
And she knew this was her opportunity.
Because the storm clouds were gathering over her Savior and this was her opportunity to show her devotion to Christ and she took advantage of it. There was this afternoon. Time is short. The Lord Jesus is coming and you and I, we have an opportunity.
To make a sacrifice for the Lord Jesus, the one who has loved us and washed us from our sins.
In his own blood.
But the opportunity.
Is here today. It could be gone tomorrow. The Lord is coming.
So may we and I speak to myself as well.
Keep our focus.
On the Lord Jesus Christ, looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith, and take advantage of the opportunity.
To live for him.
Even if.
From outward appearances, it seems as though you're a loser.
The eyes of the world, you'll appear to be a loser, but really you're a winner because.
You're doing what the Lord Jesus would have you to do, and it'll make you happy, the Lord Jesus could say.
If you know these things, happy are you if you do that.
I'm sure when we get to glory.
And we're gonna enter in more fully to what he's done for us. We're gonna see the nail prints in his hands. We'll see that spear mark, that wound in his side. We're gonna think about what Jesus has done.
For you and for me.
And, you know, anything that we do for him is gonna appear miniscule.
In view of his.
Sacrifice on our behalf, so may we just.
Take heart and.
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Trust the Lord.
And go forward.
And live for him.
Whether we eat, drink, whatever we do, may we do it all for the glory of God.
May the Lord bless His word.
I don't wanna take too much time this afternoon because there's others here that I would prefer to hear that have more depth of understanding. But I looked around the room today and especially on the side I'm sitting and there are a large crowd of young people here.
And I really had this on my heart to.
Present it's It's a topic that may make people cringe, but it's a topic that is very relevant today. But before I get into that topic, I'd like to read some scripture. If you could turn with me to First Peter chapter 5.
First Peter, chapter 5.
And starting in verse one.
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 for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being Lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear?
You shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves onto the elder. May all of you be Subject 1 to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.
Heavy for me, this idea of an elder and the younger people in our assemblies.
I'm sure as we all grew up in our different generations, I referred to myself today as a young person and I was corrected that I'm not so young anymore.
But we, we all faced evil in our generations and maybe different types of evil. But today, when you look at what our young people face, it's there in an instant. And I meant to bring it up with me, but I, I forgot it. I was gonna hold up an iPhone. How many people here have a smartphone?
Pretty much everybody.
When a young person today has a question.
Of the the world, about what the world teaches, and they want to know what the answer is. Do they have an elder in their assembly to go to that they feel comfortable approaching? Sometimes they can turn to and look for the scriptural basis. Perhaps they do, and that's great.
But I know when I have a question on things, sometimes I Google it.
And the topic I want to talk about today, Alex, before I get to the topic, I want to stay on the topic of elders.
I believe there's a real need for people.
Within our within our assemblies to identify themselves.
As those that are willing and able to have young people approach them with questions, young people sometimes are hesitant to approach a older person and ask a question and yet.
They need to get answers that are grounded in scripture. And when I read this passage I I look at verse two and speaking to an elder it says feed the flock.
Take oversight thereof.
Those are active things. Those are expectations to elders to go forward and and and and help and approach.
And the young people submit yourselves on to the elder. Don't be afraid to approach an older brother to ask them a question because you're not going to find the question in the world. And you may, you may struggle to find that question answered in scripture. So go to someone that may be able to answer it.
I would not consider myself an elder, far from it, but I do have the privilege in my home assembly to teach the teenager class, Sunday school class.
And I try to stay teach them doctor and I, I try to do a faithful job at that, relying on a lot of good old brother and commentaries and, and, uh, trying to be faithful and preaching it and speaking to them. But I also try to give them practical instruction on some of the things they're facing in the world today.
And the thing I want to talk about today, and again I said people may cringe, but I wanna talk about homosexuality and what our young people are facing in everyday life. Before I came up here, just for sake of example, I took my iPhone and I typed, went to Google and I typed in Christianity and homosexuality. The first hit I got was Wikipedia, and it said that there are a variety of views among Christians.
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On the topic of homosexuality.
The next hit was a site called gaychristian.com. I know if I clicked on the link for thatgaychristian.com.
It would have led to a page full of twisting of Scripture trying to justify what the Bible condemns as sin. And to the young people today, I want to go through the Scripture. I want to make it clear that it is a sin and that when you bring it up or when you speak about it, people may call you a bigot. They may call you a hater. Those are words that are meant to shut down conversations, not to have conversations they're not.
Umm, not. They're not trying to defend what they're doing.
They want you to accept it wholeheartedly, and we'll try to twist it to their favor. Now, if you're speaking to someone that's unsafe, you don't argue these points. They need to be saved first before they'll accept Scripture as truth. But if you're speaking to someone who's a Christian and they believe it's OK to be in this type of lifestyle, and they've accepted these twisted arguments that people put into the take Scripture and twist into a positive.
Umm, on homosexuality, I'm hoping today to provide you with a bit of a.
Called an apologetic, a bit of a defense against those twists of scripture. So I'd like to turn first to Leviticus.
Leviticus 18.
So we'll start in verse 6 just to get the context.
It says none of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness. I am the Lord. The nakedness of thy father nor the nakedness of thy mother shalt thou not uncover. She is thy mother, Thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shall though not uncover, for it is thy father's nakedness, nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home or born abroad. Even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
The nakedness of thy sons daughter, nor thy daughters daughter.
Even their nakedness that shall not uncover for theirs is not thine own nakedness and it goes on Speaking of sexual sin, incest and so on. If you and if we move down through to.
Verse 22.
Says Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith, neither shall any woman stand before beasts to lie down onto it. It is confusion.
There's another passage in in chapter 20 verse 13 that repeats the same thing. I don't need to read it, the language is very similar.
So well that it goes 20 and verse 13. If a man lie also with mankind, as he lieth with women, both of them have committed an abomination. They will surely be put to death. Their bloods will be upon them.
The argument today from those who claim that Christianity and this lifestyle can coexist, that the Levitical law is no longer apply, so therefore these scriptures don't apply. But what I find amazing about scripture is it's preciseness. Within Leviticus you find two types of laws. There's ceremonial law and there's moral law.
The ceremonial law which was given to the Jewish people to separate them from the other nations. They're not laws that I would say you would come to through natural thinking. You wouldn't think that you had to wear a garment of one type of cloth. You wouldn't think that you couldn't trim your beard a certain way. You, you may have heard, and so the younger may have heard this umm, it's a mockery of scripture. They say that if.
You deny that homosexuality is allowed, then you can't eat lobster. They may ever heard that or seen that as a headline.
Why is that? Well, one of the laws in Leviticus says you can't eat shellfish, so they try to minimize what it says for homosexuality, like kind of mixing it in with ceremonial law.
And when you read through Leviticus, you'll notice that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to bookmark when he's talking about ceremonial law that applied to Israel as a holy nation. And when he was talking about moral law that applied to all people, you'll notice, and I, I won't turn to it because I don't have all the references ready to go there. I wasn't sure getting up today. You'll notice that when he's talking about ceremonial law, not mixing seed in your field, not breeding different types of cattle, those things.
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He starts out by saying the Lord your God is holy.
And you are to be holy as well. Holy is a separation. So he starts out with.
A statement to Israel being to be separate from the nations, and he goes through the ceremonial law.
But when it comes to the moral law, you'll notice that.
If both stay in Leviticus 18.
So we've read in verse 22 That shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it's an abomination.
And in 1St 24 says Defile not yourselves and any of these things for all the nations. For in all these the nations are defiled, which I cast out before you.
Whenever the moral law is brought up in Leviticus, you find that it repeats that all the nations had done these things and were guilty, and it wasn't a law that was carved out just for Israel. These moral laws that an application to all the nations and all the nations had profaned themselves in this way in the Lord cast them out when God brings forward the instructions. Don't eat shellfish. Don't cut your beard a certain way.
He bookmarks those with you are a holy nation, a separate nation, special laws to distinguish them from the nations around, but these moral laws.
Law against homosexuality, for an example.
Was for all nations. It still applies today.
But it's not just in the Old Testament we read of these things. Let's turn to Romans chapter one.
In Romans chapter one, Paul starts out with.
The Gospel of Christ talks about the wonderful Gospel of grace when he gets down to verse.
Verse 18 he starts speaking about man who reject God despite the witness that God has given them. And when they give up God, they start dropping into more and more evil layers of sin to start worshipping creation, start worshiping idols.
When you get to verse 24, it says, Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator. He was blessed forever. Amen For this 'cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women, to change the natural use into that which is against nature.
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust, went toward another men, with men working that which is unpleasing, unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat.
All states are very clearly here that this.
Lifestyle is a sin, and you know the world throws this at us very craftily.
When I was in high school, uh, you know the.
You might hear of, you may have heard something that was involved in this lifestyle, but today you know that laws have been passed that, umm, same sex marriage laws and so on. And it's in advertising. Today, in the blink of an eye, you could see an advertisement with two men clearly as a couple or two women clearly as a couple and it just flashes before your eyes. I was watching the Olympics this past summer.
And a commercial came on television. It was a commercial for Kijiji where people buy and sell used items.
At the end of that commercial, as it faded off went back to the Olympics, it has a scene of two men snuggling together on a couch while a boy played on the floor. Just like that, kids watching. It's it's so natural now, not natural, but it it's so in the face of our young people that sometimes becomes easy to start becoming complacent to these things. And someone brings forward someone who says they're a Christian and and believes that we should be gay affirming.
They look to scriptures and try to twist them to make it look like it's OK.
I want you young people to know that Scripture is very, very clear in these things.
The one thing that I've I've read where how you know, I'll call them, they call themselves gay Christians, how they try to twist this particular passage.
Is it talks about the women leaving their natural use and the men leaving their natural use. They say I was Born This Way. That is my nature and what this scripture is saying that if I go against my nature I'd be sinning. So if I'm born with the same sex attraction.
That's my nature and if I flip it, I'm sending. That's how they twist this scripture. They say that the nature, if they're born that way, that's their nature and twisting their nature is sin. So they they should remain in the orientation they were born in. But again, God's word is precise. You'll notice it says verse 26. Women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
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That word use is a word in the Greek.
Cross in I think is how you pronounce it. Cross in it means use function. It's not a natural desire, it's Speaking of natural function and use without being.
Too descriptive.
In a sexual union.
The function is defined by your biology, your your, your body, defined with the natural uses of it sexually within a marriage relationship.
So when the arguments used that, well, it says here that if I'm born, umm, with the nature to like, uh, be attracted to the same sex and I, I, you know, I can't change that nature. Scripture tells you it's not your desire, it's the function. It's going against what God naturally created men and women to be.
You know not to take too much more time, but I'd like to turn now to First Corinthians.
First Corinthians. I believe it's chapter 6.
And verse 9.
1St Corinthians 6 verse nine Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of man, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God.
Timothy, First Timothy. Paul writes a similar verse. Clearly homosexuality is condemned here.
And those again, I put quotes around at gay Christian movement. The way they try to undermine this verse is that they take the Greek words underneath them and and try to shape them into gobbledygook. They don't shake them into a word that means anything. They say they're ambiguous. They're not clear. It's temple prostitution. It's it's, it's about older men with younger men and they and they try to make it seem like it's not a loving same sex relationship.
So what's very interesting and.
It's believed that Paul coined the phrase. He made a compound word in Greek here where it says abusers of mankind. The word is arsenicoitis. So you may have heard the word anthropos anthropology in Greek. Anthropos means in general. It can mean man, but can also mean mankind.
Arson, which is the the first part of the arson of which is the abusers of themselves of mankind, is distinctly a male word. It means male. Anthropos can mean everybody, all people.
Arson means male, and the last part of the word coitus is, is, I think, clear to a lot of us. Paul made a word that clearly says it's men in sexual union.
Very clear and yet people try to talk themselves through this, they try to talk their way out of it and.
I wanna stress I'm not giving you these arguments, young people.
To go to an unsafe person to try to convince them they need the gospel. We don't need to go to an unsaved person and say you're doing this and that they need to understand their sinners, they need to repent and they need the gospel. If you're talking to a professing Christian who is trying to justify this type of lifestyle.
You can depend on this book.
It's crystal clear on the subject and it's a book you can look at and you can open it to open it to these passages and sit down with that professing Christian and show them what the word of God says and the pressure may be to conform to this world.
Because again, you'll be called bigots, you'll be called haters. But remember that we're told we'll be persecuted for living for Christ, and we'll receive a reward in the end for it. So don't be discouraged if you're accused of being.
A hater or a bigot?
Stand behind the word of God. Stand on it. It's clear. It's unambiguous. And back to my starting point.
And I I don't know how to frame it or how this may work.
But the older brothers, the older sisters in assemblies, make yourself approachable to the young people. Young people go to the older brothers and sisters for instruction in these things. Don't turn to the world. The world has an answer. They twist things, but the word of God doesn't change. So go to an elder, go to an older person in an assembly, ask your question. And I feel the older people, the older ones, make yourself available, make yourself approachable.
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Umm, if that means walking up to a young person today and saying I'm here for you, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to to sit with you or talk to you. I'm open. I just encourage that. And I used this as one example of many things our young people face in the world today. And I just want to be sure that they know there's a place to turn. First of all, scripture and then look to your elders.
To provide you with further instruction and guidance.
That our brothers brought before us in a needful 1.
By way of.
Continuation on to what's on my heart, I'd like to turn to Acts 15.
This is the subject of this chapter is the question of do the Gentile nations.
Those are the Gentiles that believe in Jesus Christ. Are they required to keep the law?
Brother Matthew was talking about a little bit.
And that part of the conclusion is in verse 20.
We write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols.
And from fornication.
And from things strangled.
And from blood, I'd like to pick up on the thought, the moral aspect that the brother was talking about.
Idols is one.
The last words of First John are little children. Keep yourselves from idols.
Things strangled in blood. Life of the flesh is in the blood.
That God's due is God's.
We're not to take it in all the offerings that belong to God, the blood.
You think about it.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. He shed His blood to wash our sins away.
It's God's.
But the part that I wanna really pick up on is in the middle. Fornication. It's a big word.
Covers everything having to do with use of our body in a sexual way that's not according to God's plan.
That's one of the things with the subject we're just considering that we need to remember with the Word of God and with these subjects.
The Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth, said in the beginning it was not so.
And God created.
Adam and Eve, male and female, he created them. It's a thing of beauty.
It's an incredible picture that God put in the very beginning.
Of Christ in his church. We were talking earlier this morning.
About the unity of the testimony that Christ wanted here on earth, His Church, the testimony to the world.
And we talked a little bit about how the forces of.
Satan, the demons, Prince, and power of the air is arrayed against the church to destroy that testimony because of the honor.
And the glory that the Christian testimony brings to Jesus Christ.
And the other part of that that Satan worked so hard to destroy is the family and the husband and the wife.
Relationship because in Ephesians chapter 5 we know.
That the Spirit of God uses that as an illustration of Christ in his church, a husband and his wife. And it's a beautiful thing. No wonder the devil works so hard in our society, in every society to destroy that picture, to follow that image, to take it away, because it brings honor and glory to God.
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A proper relationship between a man and a woman illustrates the proper relationship between Christ.
And his church.
And it's a thing of beauty.
When it's right.
And I'd like to turn back to, uh, Romans chapter, sorry, First Corinthians chapter 6.
In verse 18.
Flea fornication.
That listed there Brother Matthew Red in Leviticus.
All of it.
To leave from it.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. He that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
You can steal, it's not a sin against your body.
You can swear it's not a sin against your body.
But when you do something that's on that list.
Whether it's incest.
Cheating on your wife? Cheating on your husband.
Cheating in your mind on your future wife by looking at ***********.
Cheating on your future husband.
By imagining yourself in all kinds of relationships that aren't your real relationship.
All that.
Comes under that all of it defiles and degrades.
Verse 19 What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?
Would she have of God? Ye are not your own.
It's a beautiful thing to think about.
I speak this afternoon to each one of you as if you know Jesus Christ as your own personal.
Lord and Savior.
And I trust that that's true of you.
If that's true, then God has sent His Holy Spirit to live inside you.
Right inside you. Your body.
Are you going to commit a sin? Am I gonna commit a sin?
That is against that body, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
I'm not interested and I'm very thankful for our brother Max talked about this afternoon that we have a merciful God, we have a gracious God, we have a loving God.
We have a merciful and faithful high priest in our Lord Jesus Christ. In the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin, and that is an absolutely wonderful thing.
But let's not take advantage of it.
Let's let the love of Christ constrain us, because we must judge.
That if Christ died for us, we ought to live for Him.
Therefore, you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are gods.
Now, concerning the things whereof.
You rode on to me.
Good for a man not to touch a woman. This isn't talking about shaking hands.
This isn't talking about tapping somebody on this shoulder, it's talking about sexual touching in a way to lead to more.
What does he say? It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
Fathers to daughters.
There's appropriate touching between a father and his daughter.
Don't go at inappropriate touching.
So that that your daughter might perceive.
As being sexual.
You may not mean nothing, but be careful. Guard against it.
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Boyfriend. Girlfriend.
We just read that your body is not your own.
Let's go on here, verse two. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own life. Let every woman have her own husband.
Let the husband render onto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife under the husband.
The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
Interesting expression. Power similar to the one in First Corinthians 11. The subject of head coverings and recognition of authority.
I believe Darby translates the word as authority.
Verse four. The wife hath not authority of her own body, but the husband.
The husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but the wife.
Part of this came to my attention and came to my mind because some of you live in the city of Toronto, and in the city of Toronto they hired a chaplain for the Muslim police officers.
And he expressed his views on the man, woman relationship. And I understand them, I read them, their traditional Muslim views on how man and woman go together, Interestingly enough, very similar to the views of 100 or 60 years ago or 150 years ago, really, what the woman's movement, the feminist movement of today has fought against.
For many years.
That a woman is property and a woman is a sex object.
That same mentality is what he expressed, and what I want to cover in the next few minutes is the truth of Christianity.
Because part of our heritage is not that.
What we have here in front of us, this concept in verse 4.
For a husband and a wife.
Is totally different.
Take a moment. If you're married, just turn and look at your wife. Look in her eyes. Wife look in your husband's eyes. Just do it.
The person you're looking at that you looked at?
If you're the husband, she's the one that has the authority over your body.
She's the one that gets to say yes or no.
And the Wi-Fi?
When you are looking at your husband, he's the one that has authority over your body to say yes or to say no. And there's a verse in the 5th chapter of Ephesians, I'm sure you'd probably know it, that no man yet ever hated his own body, but loves it and cherishes it.
Only 6.
Mentally disabled, mentally challenged people. People with mental problems hurt their own bodies.
Don't hurt the body, your body, whose eyes you are looking into.
Treat it with benevolence. Treat it with respect. Treat it with love.
That covers a lot of you in this room, husbands and wives.
Some of you are younger. You're single. The remarkable thing about the 7th chapter of First Corinthians is that he points out that being a eunuch and single for Christ is more honorable, if I can put it that way, than being married.
Because you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ Himself, you're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit.
Which are gods. That's the relationship you have with when you're single.
But if you're single today and you're in a relationship or you're considering and entering into a relationship with a young woman or a young man.
Then what I put forward to you in the first verse of Chapter 7 is keep your hands off.
Keep them to yourself, no sexual touching.
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Think about it.
If it didn't work out.
Do you want the woman that you're seeing to have to tell a future husband what you did to her?
What will that future husband think about you?
And if you're the young woman?
Would you really wanna tell what's happening right now in that vehicle that you're in or that room that you're in alone? You really wanna tell somebody else in the future what you did if this relationship doesn't work out?
Now that's from a human point of view.
Our brother was mentioning, Brother Wally was mentioning with God, He is always with you. His Holy Spirit is inside you.
If you remember that that he is with you.
Do you still wanna do it?
Yes, your old nature does.
They'll make provision for the flesh to fulfill a lust thereof.
Put the guards in place to protect your relationship and keep it pure.
Because there's incredible rewards for going God's way and staying pure.
Pure in your mind, pure in your heart, pure in your body. That's what you are, spirit, soul and body for Christ.
You know in this 7th chapter of First Corinthians as well, it talks about what happens when a husband dies.
The Three Romans Chapter 7 talks about it, that the wife is no longer under the power of her husband once the husband dies. You know what that means? That means that if you're a widow or a widow widower in the room today, you go back to that relationship between you and Christ, the One who loves you and gave himself for you.
Your full attention and your full heart of love.
Can go out to him and you can feel his coming back to you. So they're absolutely beautiful things in the word of God.
The whole law is fulfilled.
In the commandment, practically love thy neighbor as thyself. Let's keep that in mind. Our brother Matthew reminded us that those who do not know Christ as their Savior need to know Him.
And that's the 1St place to start. And we need to have compassion and love for one another because you know your own heart and I know mine. Philippians chapter 2 tells me I know my own heart and I ought to esteem every single one of you in this room as better than me.
So don't look at somebody who's fallen into adultery and think that person is no good. Look at yourself and know that isn't water. Faith answers to faith. So the heart of man to man, that my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
Don't look at the person who has.
Same sex attraction.
Tennessee and think they're terrible.
Same thing that I just said applies in their case For you. Let him that thinks he stand take heed, lest I fall, lest they fall.
But I remember what Max was talking about. We serve a loving, caring, compassionate God.
He gave his life, paid a price.
To buy me and to buy you. And he wants us.
He wants all of us.
To be committed to him. He doesn't want our computer games interrupting our fellowship. He doesn't want our reading material interrupting our fellowship. He doesn't want what we watch on television or on the Internet to destroy our fellowship either. He wants to have the fullest.
Possible relationship that he can.
With you and with me.
And that's the ultimate thing that you and I each individually need to be connected to our Lord and to our Savior. If we're married, then it becomes a threefold court.
Me 100% for my wife Esther.
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Astro 100% for me.
And both of us, 100% for the Lord. That's a threefold court. But if it's a twofold court, it works too. You and the Lord together. I am weak, He's strong.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Nsnoise.
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Blessed God, our Father, we.
Trust. This is the true expression of our hearts. Keep us. We're passing through our world full of contamination.
But we're so thankful for the clarity of Thy precious word. Help us.
To walk in its light. Give thanks, Father, commanding ourselves to Thee for the rest of the afternoon. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Yeah, ma'am.