Open—B. Prost, B. Imbeau
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Our blessed God and our Father, we thank thee that at the beginning of this meeting that we.
That we can acknowledge the path that we have been thinking about in this little hymn. And we know there is a path that's always marked out for thine own down here. And thou has tried this path, blessed Savior, and thou knowest all about the difficulties of the way. But always thank thee that we can look forward.
Joy to the end of the way and all that. There is a home above in the glory to which we are going, and while we're left down here, we need grades, we need strength, we need help, we need encouragement, and we thank Thee that we can count upon Thee for this. We pray that I will open up Thy word to our hearts and give us a suited portion that might be and meet for each one, from the youngest to the oldest alike.
Without me, he can do nothing, we often read in my precious words.
And we read to if we need wisdom and that we can turn to Thee for that. So we just count upon Thy health this afternoon as we wait in Thy presence. We make these requests known unto Thee with Thanksgiving in our hearts. Most of all that place that we have been brought into that relationship that we can enjoy the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
And knowing Him, the one who in His infinite love and grace not only saved us, but we believe has gathered us, and we do earnestly pray that we might each one be kept in that path. So we missed meeting into thy hands. We ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Amen.
We sang together in our hymn those words tis the treasure we found in his love.
I've often enjoyed those words.
Could we turn to some verses in Luke's gospel that have been very precious to my own soul lately?
Luke's Gospel.
Chapter 9. Luke Chapter 9.
The.
And we're just going to read a little here just to get the connection. Begin from verse 18.
Luke's Gospel Chapter 9 and verse 18. And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said John the Baptist. But some say Elias, and others say that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering, said the Christ of God. And he straightly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing saying.
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The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day.
And he said to the mall, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself.
And take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
For what is a man advantage, if he gained the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words of him, shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his fathers, and of the holy angels.
But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God.
We know that in Luke's Gospel things are often grouped together in a moral order rather than simply in a chronological order. And here it seems to me that the Lord Jesus brings before his own, on the one hand the cross and on the other hand the glory. But then something we might say sandwiched in between.
I believe it's always that way in Scripture. God draws out our hearts.
First of all, by bringing us to the cross and then by pointing us to coming glory. During the lunch hour a brother and older brother made a remark to me. He said, why is it that we hear so little about the coming glory that's ahead? Said we used to hear it ministered more, why don't we hear more of it now? Well, the Lord Jesus brought before his followers here two things, the cross and the glory, and we had that before us this morning.
The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
But what I particularly had in my heart was what we get here from verses 23 to the end.
Of 26.
You know, so often we find that the current of things in the world around us is the exact opposite to what it should be for the believer. And I suppose no one would argue with the fact that we live in a selfish world. We live in a world where self is brought to the fore. We see it more and more. You read it in magazines, you hear it spoken about, it's taught in our schools. You have to look after yourself. And I am sure that each one of us here would say that's wrong.
That's dead wrong.
But you know, I have been struck by the fact of how that thinking, perhaps very subtly.
Can creep into your life and mine. I've asked myself why is it that there isn't more of what we have in this 23rd verse?
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.
And take up his cross daily and follow me.
May I suggest to my own soul more than to any other, that perhaps we have the motive reversed.
We all want to be happy, and there's nothing wrong in one sense with that, and we know that the pathway of happiness is to follow that blessed One, our Lord Jesus Christ. But why is it, if I may say it this way, that so often that truth is ministered to my soul, and maybe to others too, and yet there doesn't seem to be the power to carry it out?
Why is it that we know that that is a happy pathway and yet we don't seem to have the power to walk in it?
Oh, I suggest to your soul and mind that that blessed One, our Lord Jesus Christ, presents to us a motive higher than even your happiness and mine.
When that Blessed One came into this world, what was before him?
It tells us in Hebrews 12, doesn't it? Who for the joy that was set before him Joy. What joy? I used to think it was the joy of having us with Him, and I believe that's included. But oh, I believe there was a higher joy than that. The joy of doing the Father's will, the joy of pleasing His Father. And may I suggest to your heart and mind that the highest privilege that God has given you and me as believers.
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Is to do something not because it will make me happy, although it will, not simply because it's in the Word of God, although it is, but because it gladdens the heart of my precious Savior.
I have sometimes spoken to dear believers and we have talked of these things and we have said, you know, to follow Christ is the only happy pathway. And I have heard dear believers in the Lord Jesus Christ say, I don't want to hear that, I don't want that. I don't. I don't understand how someone could talk like that, but I have heard it.
But oh, may I suggest to your soul and mine that what we need to get before us is that Blessed One, and when we see all that He has suffered for us, when it is brought before us all that He has done.
Oh, then I'll want to walk through this world to carry this out, not to make me happy particularly, but to bring him joy. And I ask each one of us here, when we think of how much that Blessed One suffered for us, if you think even of the physical sufferings, our brother remarked on them last night in the gospel, that at least in some measure we can enter into.
We can't really enter into his sufferings at the hands of God, but we can't enter into those physical sufferings.
His brother Harry Hayhoe often used to remind us. He said many of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus were not to put your sins away and mine, but to show us how much he loved us. And that Blessed One wore the crown of thorns, That Blessed One was struck in the face, That Blessed One was scourged, that Blessed One was mocked, that Blessed One was ill treated by your hand and mine. For what reason? To put your sins away?
No, no, but to show us how much he loved us, and to draw out your heart and mind, and suppose that Blessed One were to stand here this afternoon with those pierced hands and say.
The pathway is going to be a rough one.
And you're not going to be very happy. Now, this is not true, but I'm going to say it this way, You're not going to be very happy.
You're not going to have an easy time of it at all. You're going to have a very rough time going through this world.
But I died for you. I gave up everything that you might share eternal glory with me. Will you do it? I don't think there's any believer here today that would stand up and say, no, I won't do it. You know that your heart would be drawn out to that. Why? Because it's for him. But that's not the way it is. That's not the way it is. All the Christian pathway is a happy path. But oh, if I set before myself my own happiness.
I'll never be satisfied. I'll never be satisfied. And may I suggest to your soul and mind that that is perhaps much of the reason why these things are not more of a present living reality in our souls.
If you read this 23rd verse and think about it.
Let him deny himself.
We don't like to do that. The world says do well to yourself, but here it says to deny yourself.
Take up his cross daily. You know, when we think of carrying a cross, we often think of the various burdens and difficulties of life. And I believe that they are included. But, you know, in the context of the time in which this was written, those words would have only one connotation, one picture to those who lived in that day. Because death by crucifixion was a common thing. And unlike executions today, they weren't done privately.
They were out in public for everyone to see.
And if you spoke about a man who took up his cross, that would conjure up only one image.
And that is of a man who had been condemned, and who, walking out there, was compelled to bear on his shoulders the very piece of wood on which he would shortly be nailed and hung up to die. Why does the Lord use that expression? Oh, I believe because he wants to remind us that the motive is not your happiness and mine, but bringing joy to his heart. That's why it says follow me.
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You and I can never share in his suffering for sin, but we can share in the shame that he suffered.
And the early disciples would say that it was a joy to suffer shame for his name.
I hesitate to speak about myself, but just very recently my wife and I had the privilege of visiting in England.
And we took a few days to go up into Scotland because I had a real interest to see some of the areas where dear ones had lived and died for Christ.
And I can tell you it was a moving experience to stand there, for example, in Saint Andrews, in the ruins of an old castle, and looked down into a wretched prison, A prison cut into the solid rock, shaped like a wine bottle.
Where George Wishart was imprisoned for his faith in Christ.
To look there on the street and stand in the very spot where he was burned at the stake for preaching.
The very thing that brings salvation to your soul and mind 450 years ago.
Was a moving experience to stand there and look at the grave of Alexander Peden.
Who was buried at the foot of Gallows Hill therein? Come knock, because that was the only place deemed good enough for a man like that who spent his life running through the woods trying to escape from those who were after him in order that he might preach Christ. It was a moving experience to visit Donatre Castle and see a room there where perhaps 150 men and women had been put in a tiny room so that they couldn't even sit down.
And where they stood firm for their faith in Christ.
Oh, this is what our dear brethren suffered.
And what was it that did it? What was it that kept them going? Oh, it was that Blessed One and all that he suffered for them. Did they do it to make themselves happy? Oh, I have no doubt there was joy in their souls. I have no doubt at all there was. But I don't think they did it for that. They did it because they loved that Blessed One. It was a moving experience to stand on Giles St. there in Oxford and see the place where Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley.
And Thomas Cranmer were burned at the stake for standing firm for their faith in Christ.
You and I may not suffer that today, but the challenge is the same.
Notice verse 25. For what does a man advantage if he gained the whole world? And notice the expression here, and lose himself, or be castaway.
Mr. Darby translates that or destroy himself, or come under the penalty of the loss of himself. I suggest the thought, and I'll be happy to be corrected, that on the one hand.
A lost soul is in view here.
A castaway. One who destroys himself.
But on the other hand, may I suggest that there's an application to you and me, who are the Lord's? Thank God we can never lose our salvation.
But there can be a saved soul and a lost life. A lost life. What does that mean?
Oh, it means that if self is the object, and even in divine things, itself is the object.
It won't last. It won't stand up.
No, God says. I want your sights, your motives to be directed higher than that.
It's a very high motive, isn't it?
Luke's gospel, as we have sometimes said before, is the introduction to Paul's ministry.
And I begin. I believe we get a little introduction here to the heavenly calling of the Church.
You and I don't belong to this world anymore, and so here it talks about.
Losing our life in verse 24. For His sake, the world would say you have to make the best of life. I can well remember a girl who worked at the local hospital where I worked for many years.
She made the remark to me once, she said. We're not here for a long time, but just to have a good time.
Well, that was a worldly point of view, and I know that those here who know Christ as their Savior would never talk like that. But oh, I believe that Blessed One would draw your heart and mine out in these last days to say, I want the motive to be for me, for me. We've often heard that expression, Jesus first, others next, yourself last. Well, we may think of that in terms of what we do, and I believe it's a good way of putting it.
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But oh God would have you and me to carry that out practically.
By doing things to please him. And so when I pick up this precious book and I find instruction in it, may I say to my own heart.
Not I'm going to do this because it'll make me happy. If I don't do it, I'll fall under the government of God. If I don't do this, I will be unhappy. I say this to each one of our hearts. That won't last. That won't last. No. And I believe that is the reason, perhaps at least I speak for myself, why there isn't more power to carry this out. But oh, may this get a grip on our souls that that Blessed One wants to draw out our affections to Himself so that we might follow Him.
So that we might do things for his sake, So that we might walk in the good of this precious book.
Not simply because it will make me happy. Not simply because it will keep the gathering together.
Not simply because it will result in the good of lost souls in the gospel or anything like that. Those are all worthy motives. But oh, I suggest to your heart and mind that they fall short of what God sets before us, and that is His beloved Son.
And you know, the wonderful thing when we see that is that that Blessed One has walked that pathway before us. When He went through this world, as we said a few moments ago, did He do it for His own enjoyment? I don't believe that is presented to us in the Word of God. No, I believe He did it because of the joy that He had in doing the Father's will.
But oh, did he have a joy. Oh indeed He did. I don't believe there was ever a happier man walked through this world than the Lord Jesus. Why? Oh, because if you and I are doing the Lord's will, when He did the Father's will, there was that overflowing joy in His heart. And now He says that He wants you and me to have His joy fulfilled in ourselves. I believe that refers to His joy in doing the Father's will.
Notice verse 26. Whosoever shall be ashamed of Maine, and of my words.
Of Him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory and in his Father's. And of the holy angels. I believe we have to take this verse in the context in which it comes. We know that each one here who knows Christ as his Savior is seen in Christ, and we had it brought before us in our meetings yesterday, that every believer is seen before God, and all the perfection of Christ Himself.
And when you and I get there to glory, there will, I suggest, be no thought of God ever being ashamed of you and me. As far as our title to be there, no, you and I are just as ready, just as prepared for that place today as we will be then. All we need, if I could say it reverently, is our glorified bodies.
But there is a sense in which you and I can be ashamed before him at his coming. There is a sense in which you and I can be ashamed if we have to look back on our lives and say, oh, if only, if only, if only. If only I had used those opportunities. If only I had used the time that God gave me. Because we're building in time for eternity. And that is a stupendous fact to think that God has given us.
How long, I don't know. Well, whatever time, the rest of our time down here He has given us, but we are using that time to build for eternity.
There is glory ahead we've had that brought before us, and we're going to share that glory. We're going to share all the acquired glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and me.
But may we not be ashamed when we get there for not having put Him first and had that motive of doing things to please Him. And as we said at the beginning, there are two things that He gives us to draw out our hearts. Because I can't do this simply in my own strength. I can't do this simply by making up my mind that I'm going to do it. No, it takes more than that.
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No, I need His strength, but I need my heart set in motion. And that's why on the one hand the Lord brings before us His cross that He had to suffer, and on the other hand, the coming glory.
Peter could say concerning the transfiguration, he could say, and we also have a more sure word of prophecy.
Oh, he wanted. He saw that glory, he heard the voice from that excellent glory, and he had the word of prophecy made more sure.
Purged when we look on to the glory. And in the meanwhile, what do we have set before us? The object of that blessed One who gave up everything, absolutely everything, in order that he might make us his. And now he says, I want you to walk that pathway, not simply because you will be happy, but because it will make my soul happy. Turn with me, please, to a verse in Mark.
Mark chapter 3.
And verse 14.
Mark 3/14 and he ordained 12 That they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.
And back to chapter one.
Mark one verse 16. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew's brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. Jesus said unto them, Come after me, come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsake their Nets, and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, thence he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their Nets.
And straightway, he called them.
And they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.
Just some thoughts I've been gathering over the last couple weeks and things in our own meeting that have been brought up.
About personal time or what's personal?
And perhaps two aspects of what's.
Would consist of personal time would and one be in that first verse we read.
Time with the Lord and was the Lord's desire that those 12 would be with Him.
And then they had a public service after that. But my interest is in that little phrase that you ordained at 12 That they should be with him.
We might say that's the Lord working with us personally, just in quiet time apart. And yet there's the part in in the first chapter also that.
Maybe a part of our own responsibility and quiet and personal time. Not that it doesn't also involve the Lord, but maybe a little more emphasis on a personal responsibility.
There were those that were casting Nets into the sea.
Something that was outward of public service, and yet there were those that were also just sitting in their ships.
They were mending their Nets.
And it was needed. It was necessary. It was time apart.
The Lord himself even drew his disciples apart. He says, come to a desert place and rest a while.
And those that have been with Jesus.
And whatever working that the Lord might have with them, we get a little result of that brought out. I believe it's an axe where some took note of the disciples, that they had been with Jesus.
It became an obvious thing, an evident thing. It was just a fact. Took note that they'd been with Jesus.
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So the Lord works with us privately.
Behind the scenes.
Didn't he spend 40 years with Moses?
In the wilderness.
Then he spent three years with Paul on the backside of the desert. And perhaps there's others that we could bring up. I think there's a lot of examples in Scripture.
Just wanted to maybe bring out just a couple.
Other verses.
Psalm 139.
Again, the Lord working with us behind the scenes.
Psalm 139, verse 13.
For thou hast possessed my reins.
Thou has covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret and careless and curiously wrought in the lowest parts.
Of the Earth.
Lowest parts of the Earth.
The Lord works with us personally.
What those things might be, well, only our own hearts, our own souls would know, and each of us are aware of it personally.
There's perhaps 300 people in this room.
The Lord has worked personally. We've each been with Him. It's been His desire to have us just alone, quietly, that they might be with Him and He works with us. It's as if it's this, it's this forming, this putting together, this arranging things in our lives, our thoughts, our attitudes.
Whatever else it would be, even our.
Just our whole manner of concepts and the way we look at things.
Formed in the presence of God Himself.
Behind the scenes, it's his work and it's his delight to work with us and he purchased us and he enjoys us and he wants and he does have that time with us.
There's a verse about the temple.
In First Kings.
First Kings 6.
And verse seven in the house when it was in building, it was built of stone made.
Made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.
So there was a quarry and all the work was done in that quarry. It's perhaps the same sort of thought that we have in Psalm 139, Lower parts of the earth. And there was framed, it was roughed, it was smooth, the whole thing. And then it was just transported up into the light, placed right into the temple, right in place.
That was the Lord working. That's the Lord working with us being with with us and us being with him.
Privately. Just personally.
Now there's perhaps we might say a responsible side as well, and there's many examples I'm sure we could could bring out.
But there were two things that.
Were brought before me and one is in again. It's in connection with the temple. It's in Chronicles.
It's in First Chronicles 23.
The first Chronicles 23 and verse 5. This is David giving some instruction to Solomon, his son.
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And he says, moreover, 4000 reporters and 4000 praise the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David to praise therewith.
His first Chronicles 23, verse five, the instruments which I made, and there are, I think, a couple other verses that talk about the instruments that David made. You know, he was a busy man.
He was too busy to.
Get occupied with making some instruments, don't you think?
No.
Wasn't it good enough that that the Lord had given him all these inspired words?
And many of them are written there in the book of Psalms.
David is perhaps responsible for half of the Psalm 75 of them.
There's those inspired words.
Why, That's a very honorable thing, to be given inspired words from God himself.
But David took the time personally, just apart.
And he built these instruments.
The instruments that I made, said David.
And so not only did he have those inspired words, and he had come before the Lord, but he had those instruments that he had made too. And so he had picked up his own responsibility on his own time. And there he had it, something that he had formed himself.
And so I think with each of us, we have that that time, whatever it might be.
Whatever the Lord is given to you is your own responsibility to be formed in His presence.
And it was useful.
He used it for the Lord.
He didn't come empty handed, shall we say. He truly did have his hands full. Something of actual physical substance. And perhaps we don't come with things of physical substance, but there should be those things that are formed quietly, just built over time in their own hearts for Christ.
Another example that.
It doesn't seem quite as sublime, perhaps, but in Judges.
Judges, There's a man named E Hood.
And we know the story. If you don't know the story, read it. You won't forget it after you've read it.
Judges, Chapter 3.
And verse 16.
But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length, and he did girded under his raiment upon his right thigh.
There was going to be a public work. That's not really my thought this afternoon about the public aspect of it. But he took off responsibly. That part that he was supposed to do ahead of time, at home in his own backyard. There he forged a dagger.
He made him a dagger. It fit him. The handle was his size.
The blade was his size.
It's what he needed.
And there he formed it. And even after it was made, it didn't become a public thing.
He hid it under his raiment.
And there it stayed until the Lord had a use for it, and it only had one use, and it was only used once, and then it was gone.
But he had taken the time, he had taken the effort.
And he formed that.
We had a meeting this morning.
Meetings yesterday.
Where we came into the presence of the Lord.
And yet, what was in that meeting? What was in the meeting this morning? We might say there were five prayers. I don't know, maybe there were six. Whatever.
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And maybe there was 10 hymns given out.
You could give a certain.
Character to the meeting. It was about praise, singing joy our hearts to the Lord.
And yet, was that the full extent of the meeting?
I have a little expression that I like that often in spiritual things, the inside is far larger than the outside. We had a meeting this morning that was bounded by a particular set of walls. It was also bounded by time.
About 75 minutes or so.
And yet, how big was that meeting?
Was it just those 75 minutes?
Each heart.
In praise to the Lord.
Could we really make a tally of that meeting this morning? How long would it take us to really figure out how big the meeting was this morning?
All the different thoughts that went through your minds.
The Thanksgiving that went up from your heart.
The verses that you turn to, you know, occasionally during the meeting, you hear the pages turning in a Bible, someone that just a verse came to them you wanted to find, you know, read it.
People are looking at different hymns just to enjoy it, not to give it out, just to read it.
All of that is formed just personally.
Just you and the Lord.
And there it is.
Gathered up, observed. Appreciated.
Not by what is human, but by the very Son of God himself.
Have you ever had a thought?
They've enjoyed.
And the next day you say, oh, I should have written it down.
I forgot what it was.
And you grasped for it, and it's gone.
Is that pleasure to the Lord? Yes, it is. Imagine the eternal God passing through a human mind.
A thought of appreciation of himself and of his son.
What does it mean to his heart?
A lot, I'm sure.
We can speak of the meeting here this morning or the meetings that we had yesterday or any other time.
But take yourself.
Down to some tribe somewhere northern Brazil.
Where the gospel of God's grace has come.
And here's a child, a young girl.
And she has her thoughts too. One who's believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's Rhode Island, and certainly to the eye of the world, her thoughts are irrelevant. Insignificant at least.
And yet, as she walks out of her home.
Some evening.
And looks up into the stars and says my father made that.
There's the working here.
The Lord wants her to be with him and He's worked with her and she has picked up her responsibility and thought about him.
The quiet.
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This morning, 15 minutes of quiet time.
I trust there were many more minutes.
In each of our mornings this morning.
Than just those 15 minutes.
But couldn't it be asked?
Like I believe it was Judas who asked.
To what purpose is this waste?
It is a purpose.
To the eternal God.
And it's not a waste.
Cross to bear and count all else. What ere it be unworthy of our care? Oh, teach us so the power to know a risen life.
With thee not, we may live while here below, but Christ.
Our life may be 278.
Save your way long to follow.
The Daily.
My brother.
And young Lord.
Forever.
All the way.
We are not.
Now.
1 I pray my grace.
We pray that it might be your reality to our souls.
We confess, Father, that we.
Live in a land where we don't know much about denying ourselves.
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Help us to know what that means in greater reality.
That we may value in a deeper way.
The coming glory that we are destined to be part of.
To help to Lord, as we have been exhorted to. Think of thy side, Lord, not what we get out of it, but what that is get from it. Thank Thee, Father, and ask for continued direction this afternoon.
And for those on the road, to a portion for them, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.