Open—G. Covell, M. Allan, T. Stewart
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#166 Lord, Thou hast grown us after thee. Now let us run and never tire. Unchangeable by gracious love, our earthly path has ceaseless views, 166.
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00:05:16
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Hello.
So so.
Loving God and Father, we thank Thee for the reminder that He's hymns of who Thy Son is, what He is to us, how we ought to live while we're waiting for Him. We think these Lord Jesus, Thou hast the plan for each one of us, that we can be useful and active in that place here toward others. Thank You for that Word that tells us how to go about it. We thank You for time to be together over the Word. Now Thou knowest where we are.
As gathered Saints and individually, and we thank you for this opportunity. Now that our needs might be addressed, we ask you to guide how to thy Spirit. We thank Thee for thy love, Lord Jesus, for giving thyself for us. We pray thy precious name, Amen. Amen.
Good afternoon. Could you turn with me please to the 18th chapter of Genesis, Genesis chapter 18, and we'll start reading at verse 17.
And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know him that he will commend his children and his households after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham.
That which he has spoken of him.
And we can also turn to the First Epistle of John.
The first epistle, chapter 3.
Verses two and three is what I have in my heart, but let's start at the first verse first. John chapter 3, verse one.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that hath his hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Each one of us this afternoon.
Are part of one of the greatest plans that was ever put together.
And the plan is for you and I.
To be united with a man who's already in glory. We read that verse this morning in John chapter 3, verse 13, that there is a man, the Son of man, who is ascended already in heaven. He's gone before.
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And some of the dates that you and I would do well to remember, that that man the same Jesus which has gone into heaven, and shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
This man, Christ Jesus is coming back, and he's going to come himself.
And there's another day that he wants us to put a note.
And it's about a day when he's going to also come back, but he's going to come back.
With his bride, with the church, with the ones that he gave his life for. And so if we take a look at this verse 2.
It says.
A few things about the plan that he has ahead of us.
It says that we're going to be.
Like him?
And so he's given us a few scriptures about what this place and what this plan is going to be like.
You know, I had the privilege from time to time to try to build a house on a country lot.
Some people have a difficulty perceiving what the house is going to look like. They even had one particular client unfortunately couldn't make it. But his wife was able to send them pictures because he in an automobile accident. He was paralyzed and he told me he says, George, that looks like a beautiful lot.
And when she took a picture of with all the trees, well, today when we were finished building that house, there wasn't one tree left on the property of where we built the house. There was on the back of the property, but nothing at the front. And I thought you and I, you know, we're very short sighted. We don't understand God's plan. Things can look very nice around us and we get our.
Agendas filled up and we get our purposes, what we think are important, filled up in life.
But the Lord has a purpose for us, one of the greatest man in the Old Testament that God decided to share his heart with with Abraham. We read it. And what did our God say to Abraham? Shall I hide from Abraham that which we shall do?
You know, God had a heart for Abraham. He wanted to bring Abraham into his heart. And God has a heart for you and for me today. Yes. We started off the conference singing a couple of those hymns. How this world is.
As much to distract us, and it does have sin.
But we sang those last verses of 225 at the start of the conference, and it's all about him. And beloved, God thinks much of His Son.
His son is all his delight, and it's the same one that he could find all his delight. And so he says, he that spare not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not also freely give us all things?
And then we've been taken up. Ephesians 5.
You know, to walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.
This is the relationship that our father wants for you and I, and he doesn't wanna hide his plan from you and I. That might take place tonight. Today. It might take place today before Mr. Trump has another opportunity in this country to have a voice of opinion. We might hear the Trump and we'll be gone.
And the rest of the scene will be left until we come back again with the Lord.
But what is it in this verse two that we have? We shall be like him. Romans 8 verse 29 says we will be conformed to his image. How about?
Philippians chapter 3 and verse 21. Who shall change our vile bodies, that it might be fashioned like unto His body of glory?
You know when we come back with the Lord Jesus.
We're going to be united with ones that have gone before.
Ones who enjoyed Christ.
And had the faith and also pointed us to him. We're thankful for those that have gone before, but we're going to be back and we're going to be with that same Jesus. We're going to be like him.
And we're gonna speed, it says. We shall see him as he is.
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The father has a plan for you and I this afternoon. It's a wonderful plan. He didn't keep it to himself. He gave it to us in his word. And you know we're on the threshold of moving in. Are you excited about being called home? United with him? He's coming himself. He won't leave it for anyone else. We're too precious. We were at great cost. He's coming for us.
Well, why?
To God decide to share that plan with Abraham. What was it that Abraham deserved to share that plan to be shared that plan with?
It's the grace of God.
And for you and I to have the word of God. For some of us, we've had an A heritage. We've had parents that have known the word of God and have thought to bring it before us. You know, we have much. It's like the Lord has put so much hedge around us to bring us to himself. It's a living book. It worked in Abraham's day.
And the very day that Abraham was told that God wanted to show him the plan.
Perhaps he was 99 years old.
And he hadn't had a son yet.
But God promised him that he would have a son.
Perhaps for a couple of minutes we could just take a look at Abraham and Sarah.
You know, we have told that Abraham was a man of faith.
And if you were a Pharisee?
If we were part of the Pharisees when the Lord was here and answers, they would speak very highly of Abraham.
Young people.
God wants you to know.
That he knows your heart. He knows your heart.
And it's not because he looks at it with judgment, but he looks at your heart with affection.
You know he knows if you're alone today.
Because when Hagar left Abraham's house.
He followed her.
And when she got down to despair, it said.
You're a man, you're God that ever liveth. Let's just look at the passage, the 16th chapter and verse 13.
And she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, Thou God seest me, and the margin it says, the well of him that liveth and seeth me.
And so there isn't a heart that God doesn't care about.
And I'm not quite sure the full intent of what God said to Abraham about his children and about his household.
But I know a few things.
And one of the things is that Sarah and Abraham believe God.
Sarah is mentioned in the Book of Peter.
As a wife that looked and was able to walk with her husband and God gave Abraham a wife to walk with. Yes they had some failure and we have failure. Young people, you have parents that have failed and will continue to.
Don't forget your parents give accounts to themselves, to God. Don't look at your parents, but look at the faith that they have. Look at what they hold that liveth the word of God.
Which liveth and abideth forever.
You know Abraham and Sarah, although they failed in their dependence on the Lord, to bring a past His promises.
Yeah, we see the Lord's grace in their lives. The Lord never gave up on Abraham and Sarah.
And today you and I, by the grace of God, have a Bible on our lap. If it wasn't for the grace of God, we probably would have failed and not have come back. And so the reason that we're here today is by the grace of God about the man that has a plan from a path before the foundations of the world, before the foundations of the world.
You know, we think about a plan and building. We had that this morning. The Rock.
But when the Lord Jesus saved us, he took us from a horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a rock, and that rock is Christ. And it says in Matthew chapter 16 when it comes to His church, when it comes to His people that He purchased with His own blood, it says the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Our God has the strength.
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And the ability.
And He's going to bring us home. The Father is going to hold us, it says in John chapter 17, until He can present us. And now we're going to have it in the next reading meeting. Lord willing, He's going to present us as a glorious church without having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's what we're going to appear when the Lord comes back on this earth together with us and all our loved ones that have known him gone before. What a.
And that was to bring a wife for their son.
Abraham and Sarah left the choosing of a spouse with the Lord.
What a great decision they did, one of the greatest decisions they ever did. They left the choosing of a spouse for their children with the Lord.
You know God's purposes will never fail us.
They're great, they're strong. One of the greatest things that we can have this side of heaven is a wedding. It's just a little bit tight of Christ coming for us, for himself. And so in this passage, the apostle John.
I don't know.
A lot of details about John.
But it's quite possible that this man had been carrying the word of God alone.
For some time he didn't have fellowship of believers. Perhaps he did. We know in the Book of Revelation he didn't.
But the Lord was with him.
And I want to say to the young people and to older ones here, there's many of you.
That have been an inspiration to me.
The character that Christ has formed in you through some of the circumstances and trials He's brought you through, has brought forth blossoms that can't be hidden, that we see this time of year. You know Christ is coming. Christ holds us their names in the palms of his hands. It's a wonderful plan He's got, and He has it crystal clear. Perhaps we don't see it, but He does ask us to have faith.
Abraham and Sarah didn't see the whole plan.
But we see that Abraham looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker with God. That is the plan. Are we content enough to leave the plan with God?
We can never hold it if we do try to hold something together.
Will be like as a with the arc.
The Lord, let's just turn to it in Hebrews chapter 3, is in charge in Hebrews chapter 3. I'd like to read verse six, but we're also start at verse 3.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory.
Inasmuch as he who buildeth the house hath more honor than the house, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? And here's the two things I want us to lay hold of this afternoon. God has given us his plan. He has told us where we're heading, where we're going to spend eternity, a life where there's no death nor immortality.
A life with Christ.
That's where we're heading. And he says if you hold faster confidence and rejoicing of hope, and if we look at the Darby translation, it says with boldness and boast of the hope. Romans chapter 5, verse two, you read the same thing, both of the hope. What was it that gave Peter and John something to talk about in Acts chapter 4?
When Christ had just gone to heaven and they sought to tell the multitude about.
Jesus obnoxious when they sought to tell their people, God's people, about a man, they gave us life and had a plan for them. It says the people perceived the boldness. Beloved, do you really trust God? Do we really trust him that he's given us a promise that he's coming forth, that he's going to give us the instruction for the circumstances that he and trials that he will allow in our lives until he takes us home?
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Do we really have our confidence? Do we others see that we have boldness, these trials? I speak for myself.
I sometimes wonder.
When he knew how difficult I would be to grab a hold of things that are eternal and things that are absolute, and yet it allows something in my day and it seems like my whole day.
Is all of a sudden up in the air.
I can read with my family in the morning.
And within an hour I could be almost questioning.
Him, you know, my face is small, but beloved, the one who saved us is now our faithful high priest who will keep us. He's the one has brought us to himself. And you know, he doesn't want to let us go. He wants to walk with us. And he's a faithful high priest. And so it says that we can have boldness.
And boast of the hope. What a what a privilege to be able to talk to our neighbors, to talk to our family, to talk to family members.
About our Lord.
You know, Abraham, the Lord said by his grace that he was going to be able to give knowledge and bring up his children and his household after him.
You know God put us in families.
He put our children and our families.
God never made a mistake.
And some of us in my age group since afternoon.
We have siblings.
We have maybe a sister-in-law, her brother-in-law, her nieces or nephews.
We have family that God has allowed in our lives.
And in this 18th chapter that we read in Genesis.
We read very clearly.
That when a man of God is given a work by God.
He will have a heart to intercede for family members.
And so the last half of Genesis 18.
In light of God's promises that he gave to Abraham early in the chapter, Abraham could have said, wow, I'm finally going to have my son and it's going to be happy hereafter. But no, Abraham had a heart like God, and God wants you and I each have a heart like him. And So what did he do? He interceded for his nephew Lot.
Beloved, it does as well to find out where our family members are at because they're all precious to the Lord.
And when the Lord calls us home and we all come back, we're going to come back redeemed, asked in his image. And there isn't one redeemed, one that's not coming back with him. Each one of us are going to be back with him. And so if we have a relative or a family member.
Let's not forget in this life to have a heart like Abraham and plead with them for the Lord. You may not be able to have full fellowship with them. You may not be able to have full communion and activities with them. They may be too far away.
But you know.
Thank goodness.
But many of us have had the privilege of having many fathers and mothers in our lives.
And I think Abraham was like a father to his nephew Lot. He had a heart like Christ. So I just leave with these few thoughts that we might realize that God's plan, it's a wonderful plan. It's going to finish in perfection. And let's take a look when we make our plan tomorrow or this afternoon in light of God's plan, it's a plan and His purposes.
Is it going to be building on his foundation?
Is it going to be letting him be the designer and architect of our decisions?
He did it all for us and he's going to bring it all home. Nothing's going to be missed.
It's going to be a perfect plan.
Can we have boldness to trust him for it as we wait for his show?
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I'd just like to add a few thoughts to what George.
Has shared with us along the very same lines something that I just just a little detail that I enjoyed on the way down here in the van. George talked about Abraham and how God made a promise to him and brought blessing and what I was thinking about was David and how God made a promise to him and his family and brought blessing. I'd just like to turn.
For a couple of minutes to second Samuel Chapter 7. This chapter is where David wants to build a house for the Lord. And the Lord said no, because he had been a bloody man. And the Lord promises David that he would build him a house. I just would like to read that in verse 12. It says, And when thy days be fulfilled, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom.
And he shall build a house for my name.
And I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he committed iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee and thine house. And thy Kingdom shall be established forever before thee, and thy throne shall be established forever, according to all these words, and according to all this.
Vision did Nathan speak unto David. So here David is given a promise of his household, a blessing that would last forever, unlike what had happened to Saul when Saul had failed, he, George, brought out grace. And that's really what I wanted to bring out in this little detail that was I appreciated so much this week, he says. But my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul. So what happened? I just would like to turn over a couple of chapters.
And there's complete failure with David.
Chapter 11.
This was referred to yesterday by Stephen Stewart and I appreciated the little detail there that it was a lack of thankfulness that the Lord pointed his finger on Chapter 11 verse one, it says it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when kings go forth. The battle that David sento ABB and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbit and David Terry still at Jerusalem, and it came to pass in an eventide.
That David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the King's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself.
And the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman, And ones that is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. And David sent messengers and took her. She came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness. She returned unto her house. And the woman conceived and sent and told David.
I am the child.
Here David fails.
He falls into the things that we talked about in Ephesians, adultery. It ends up causing murder.
So what of God's promise to David?
This set, in course, a horrible path in David's Kingdom. You know the story. I'm not going to read all the details of it, but Nathan comes and speaks to David.
And uh, actually why don't we just read that? Because it was mentioned yesterday in chapter 12, verse one.
In the Lord sends Nathan unto David, and he came to him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save 1 Little you land which he had brought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children, and indeed of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom.
And was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler under the rich man.
And he spared the take of his own flock and of his own herd, and to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come into him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that has done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had.
No pity. And Nathan said to David.
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Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I anointed thee over Israel. I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee all the House of Israel and Judah.
And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and has taken his wife to be thy wife, and has slaying him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
Very sad story, isn't it? Here we have David, a man after God's own heart, and he falls into sin. So does that mean that God's promises?
No longer of effect.
You know if we read through this story, we read the story that Dave Burns referred to yesterday of Amnon and Tamar. That story ended up with his death. Absalom who jockeys to take the throne, it ends up with his death. Later on we re divided Nigel who also is trying to take the throne and it ends up with his death and this little child.
Four lives taken. The very judgment that David had had said should come to this man the Lord brought on him so to that end.
God's promise to David, No, it didn't. You know, it's beautiful even in this story. And it's nice to see this and I hope this is what the attitude of our hearts, what my heart should be, is that when we fail.
That we would turn to the Lord and confess and cast ourselves on Him. He loves us. He wants to bring blessing in our lives. His promises Never, ever.
Fail. You know it's beautiful even in this story, the little child that was conceived.
Die But in verse 24 of chapter 12 it says, And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her. She bare a sign, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him.
And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedediah, because of the Lord. So here the Lord you see a little bit of grace that comes in, and this son Solomon is born.
And it says the Lord loved him.
This was the product.
Or a result of our follow on of that sin.
And you know, Solomon grew up. I don't know exactly.
Umm, what it would have been like to have lived in the situation where people would have known what have happened. But what I wanted to speak about briefly was the House of Bathsheba. I'm not planning to get into the details of it. I've heard this spoken on before. But I've been impressed with the details of of Shiba. You know the results of this was sin. Her husband, Uriah Hiday was a mighty man. He's listed in David's Mighty Men in chapter UMM 23 of of.
Samuel Umm at the end of the chapter.
You know, Toshiba's grandfather.
A. Hitherto he saw this happen.
And we're not given the exact details of what happened with Ahithophel, but we know that when all of this craziness was happening in David's Kingdom as a result of this sin, Hithophil used it to plot against David knowing.
What David had done to his family and he tries, he gives counsel to try and have David killed.
And David?
Umm, the Lord, of course, had promised David that he would keep him in the Lord's fares. David and Hithaful ends up dying. Why don't we just turn to that? Umm, quickly you flip over a few chapters.
I'm not planning to go into the details of this, but in Second Samuel 17 verse 23.
So hit the full excited with Absalom when Absalom took the throat or took the throne and David was chased out of Jerusalem.
And uh, he gives council the Absalom and David sends a man back who shei to defeat Ahithopol's counsel Counsel ah hippophole was.
His, his counsel was so good that it was like the word of God, who actually, why don't we just back up umm and read that because it's helpful to see it in in second Samuel 16.
Verse 23, it says, the council of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days was as if a man inquired at the Oracle of God. So was all his counsel, all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom. Then over in chapter 17 and verse 23, it says, And when I hit the full saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his *** and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, put his household.
00:40:26
Order and hang themselves and died and was buried in the sepulchre.
Of his father.
Well here we have this man who is affected by sin and it caused bitterness I believe. Doesn't directly say that, but it would seem like that's what happened and it ended up with his life.
Ending And you know, there's a tendency in our lives when there's sin, maybe in our families.
And you know, as I get older, I realize how sensitive I become.
To the impact of things that happen in my family.
Ahead of full.
Saw what had happened and he became bitter. He didn't look to the Lord in the way that he should. He turned away from David, who was God's chosen king.
Despite the fact that David had sinned and it ended up with his life being ended.
I mentioned that because, you know, with the sin around us, the wickedness, all of what had happened, what what we had in Ephesians is happening around us. It's happening in the assembly, it's happening in our families. It's happening and we can become bitter.
If we're not careful and it can destroy our usefulness to the Lord.
But I'd like to go on from that just briefly. And this was spoken on by Bill Prost a few years ago, I believe Thashiba's father, of which we have very little detail.
It would seem that he didn't become bitter, but he remained as one of David's mighty men. I just would like to turn that to that you mentioned in Second Samuel 23.
Verse 34.
There's a list of David's mighty men.
Halfway through the verse.
Helium, the son of a hippophole.
Mcgillite and actually just go down to verse 39, Uriah the Hittite 37 you know, here were two members of a family that had been destroyed by sin.
Yet they remain faithful.
To God's anointed King in a time of failure.
I can't imagine what it would have been like for Ilium to see what had happened to his daughter and her husband, particularly when Uriah. I don't know the timing of the mighty man, but he probably knew him, probably knew the details of what had happened in the battle, how he was killed, and yet he there's no mention of him being bitter over those situations in his family.
I say that because there's a tendency in all of our hearts when we see things that seem unjust to get angry enough.
And yet behind all this, God was working to bring that promise to fruition that He had made to David.
Ultimately in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately in the blessing of everyone here who knows the Lord Jesus Christ.
As their savior.
So we can look at this story and Solomon was born.
And he was going to be set up as king. And we see Bathsheba acting in faith in the beginning of umm, King Solomon is set up as king. And you know, the enemy would have looked on at that situation and he would have said.
He would have known that promise to David and he would have done everything in his power to destroy.
What God was doing, and he did. What happened to Solomon?
He fell into the same lust.
As his father and married.
The wives and concubines and his heart was stolen from the Lord and he ended up defiling.
Or setting up false alters that carried right through to Josiah that before they were destroyed, the enemy just attacked that promise to that family to the point where later on, and this was mentioned last year with a lie, Kim and Joy Kim. Joy Kim and how they were so wicked that promise said no one would sit on the throne. You know, it would almost seem like.
00:45:03
There was no way God's promise to this family could ever come true. But the Lord has a plan, as George mentioned, that goes beyond anything that we can imagine to always bring about what He sets out to do. This morning Teddy spoke about the Lord working on us. He will complete that which He started.
The detail of this story that I hadn't noticed and I would welcome.
Umm, feedback on this if, if I'm off in any way, but there were actually four children born to Bathsheba by David. Umm, actually if you flip back umm, in Samuel.
Chapter 5. Second Samuel 5.
It just mentions their four names.
Here Second Samuel 5 says, These are the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem, Shamua.
And Shobab and Nathan and Solomon doesn't say who their mother is there. Umm, if we turn over to umm Chronicles, First Chronicles in verse 5.
And these were born unto him in Jerusalem. Shimia and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon four of Bashua, the daughter of Amiel doesn't give us hardly any details of this at all, other than that these four were born in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem specifically mentioned is where they were born in. In multiple cases where this is mentioned. I'd be interested in people's thoughts on that. But.
They're born to Bathsheba and you know, I was there were four who died because of.
Davidson And yet there was four. We were born to Bathsheba here.
The Lord, of course, brought tremendous blessing through Solomon, but what particularly struck me was just this one little detail.
Of God's grace, and that is, if we go to the New Testament in the genealogy of the Lord in Matthew, it follows it through David, through Solomon, and through the kings which the enemy attacked. And you know that Joseph himself was just the legal father of the Lord.
And yet the Lord still brought blessing. But if we turn to Luke, which traces his genealogy through Mary, let's just do that. Luke chapter 3. Actually, I'd like to start a verse.
22 just because this morning we had.
The Lord before us, that's where this starts the Holy Ghost descended in the bodily shape of a dove like a dove upon him in a voice came from heaven which said thou art my beloved son in thee I am well pleased and Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age, as was supposed the son of Joseph, which is the son of Eli that if you go through this down inverse.
31 it says which was the son of.
Malia, which was the son of Minan, which was the son of Matthew, which was the son of Nathan.
Which was the son of David.
David had his son, Nathan of Bathsheba, and that was the other genealogy of the Lord. You know, I don't, we don't know any details about this at all. None. I'd be interested in any, if anybody had any, umm, other mention of this. But just to see how at a time of complete failure in Israel's history and in this family, and while things just seem to be falling apart at the seams, the Lord was working in the background.
To bring about his purposes of blossom.
Beautiful to see that to me, you know, God's grace is beyond anything that we can begin to comprehend. You know, as I go about my daily life and their struggles at work and their struggles in the family and their struggles perhaps in the assembly or whatever they may be, you know, the Lord is behind it all. He's in control. Absolutely everything to bring.
About His purpose of blessing those blessings that we see in Ephesians that we have already.
Nothing can change them. You know, it's beautiful to me as we look at the story of David to see how God worked in blessing in that family to keep those promises that he had given in a time when there was all of the things that we see in the world around us today.
00:50:03
And as George has said, his coming is before us. His coming is just around the corner. We're about to hear the sound of that Trump and be caught up to be with him for all eternity. And his desire is to bust. You know, it is so easy to look at our.
Personal situation that maybe most people don't understand.
But the Lord can bring blessing not not only can. He will if we trust him. Oh, I hope that I can be.
Have such a state of soul that even if I fail miserably, I can turn to the Lord in repentance and cast myself on Him and realize His desire for blessing in my life. It's beautiful to me to see the details of this story and to see how God worked in blessing in Abraham's life despite his failure, How the Lord worked in David's life despite his failure, how he worked in the the household of Bathsheba. It was completely messed up.
Because of what had happened here. Well, I just share those things because I appreciated a little bit.
Just by picking up those couple of details about that family of how the Lord works in such tremendous grace.
What I have before me is along the same line. I thought that the other two fits in mall with our chapter.
So we've been going through in the reading meeting.
I much appreciated uh comment our brother made about what we've been going through in our chapter, especially the early part of the chapter, in dealing with the these different sins.
And he said these things.
Their symptoms. Their symptoms of a problem.
Their symptoms of a state.
And we can address the symptoms and we can try to fix the symptoms.
And he brought out how he had taken some medicine for some symptoms that he had, and they came back.
And they kept coming back and eventually the medicines didn't work anymore and he had to go into something deeper and they found what the real problem was and they had to remove the real problem. And I'd like to look at a chapter here.
That is very much parallel to the things we've had in the early part of the chapter, uh, in Ephesians 5, very parallel. If you look at them, they line up very closely. So.
Umm, if we could please turn to the uh, Galatians chapter 5 and has a little bit of a background. Uh, Galatians chapter 5 is very similar to the 7th chapter of Romans and the 7th chapter of Romans. You have someone who's been born again.
And has come to a realization that.
There is a God, and that God has standards and.
That is, this one in Romans Chapter 7 is trying to live up to the standards and finds that it can't be done.
And he comes to the point where he wants to do one thing and he does another and he realizes that it's not himself that do it that's doing it, but there's a power behind it. And so if we could turn to Galatians chapter 5, this is a very similar situation, except this is something that I found myself in and many believers in this room have found themselves in and that they are a born again Christian. They not only have.
The light, but they also have been sealed with the Spirit. And yet we find ourselves back in that position of someone in Romans Chapter 7 where they're in a struggle. And I want to present this as it was presented very capably last week and Dorothy, that this is not normal Christianity. This is not what God has for us. He has for us that we can walk to please him here today.
And not have this struggle in our life so if we could.
In Galatians chapter 5 and.
I'll start in verse 16.
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16. This I say then walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
But if he be LED of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these?
Please, uh, put your finger there and just as I read them, kind of compare them to the things that we have in Ephesians, uh, chapter 5.
00:55:04
The works of the flesh are manifested. Which are these Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness?
Revelings and suchlike we could say, etcetera.
We know the list.
In Ephesians 5.
I said ye were sometimes darkness.
Before we were given new life, these were the only things that we could do.
And this one in Galatians 5.
Is seeing these works of the flesh, and they are being manifest in the light.
And the difficulty is we can.
Sit there and not realize what God has done for us, not be thankful for His work on the cross that has been brought out. And we can sit there and struggle in the situation and try in our own strength to walk a life pleasing to God. And in effect, we've put ourselves back under the law.
The second, sorry, the uh, third verse that I read in the 5th chapter of Galatians says.
If he be LED of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. The Spirit is not confined by the law, because a life and the Spirit does that which pleases God.
We had a verse in our chapter in Ephesians I'd like to read and I think it's a similar situation.
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14 Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, or as we had, as from among the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Someone who's sleeping.
If there was someone sleeping on that table across the room, someone was sleeping on that table. I've been looking here and not one of the others of you looking here, looking at that person could tell if that one has life or not. There's no distinction from this distance. If there's life or if that person is dead, you can't tell. They're motionless. There's no reaction.
And we can find ourselves in this situation.
The sad thing is in Romans Chapter 7, there's someone who has life and they realize the fault that they're in, but they have no power to do it. But in Galatians 5 there's someone here.
And if you read down further on it says in verse 24 and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
One with life realizes.
That one without life.
Pardon me, one with life.
Realizes that sin is wrong.
And if you were in Christ and says you have crucified the flesh, this is something that has been done. You have realized that the flesh is wrong, it does the wrong things and it says.
And have crucified and the affections and the lust thereof. And we realize that these things are wrong. And not only do we realize that we're wrong, we've condemned them and we've sentenced them to death. And they're hanging on a cross. And we're saying that's wrong, that's evil.
When we get to that state, which I have and is not normal to Christianity, where we are walking after the flesh.
We've come to the place we are walking down a path of death.
It says when send one of the finish brings forth that.
That's not what God has for we see a conflict here in Galatians 5, what appears to be a conflict, and many struggle that it appears to be a conflict in the Christian life, but it isn't.
In verse.
17 The flush lust US against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other to the that you cannot do the things that you would.
It's presented as a contrast, but it's also the solution.
If we're stuck in these things with the flesh, the solution is to walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
01:00:03
I had it explained to me quite clearly yesterday that, uh.
Walking after or walking in means a whole lot more than just.
Following someone.
But for an example, for now, if someone was walking down this aisle in that direction and someone was walking in the same aisle down that direction, you couldn't follow both people. And if you try, you're stuck in the middle and it seems hopeless.
Perhaps we seem like we're in a hopeless situation in our life.
God doesn't want that. I've enjoyed from the 103rd Psalm if we would turn there briefly.
This is a list of things that.
Uh, it's a sum of that goes over our benefits.
What God has done to us.
I've enjoyed this song many times in my life, especially.
After times where I found myself back in Galatians 5 or similar state to Romans 7.
And we have to come back.
To what I might say is 103rd Psalm.
Occupation with Christ and what He has done for us on the cross.
And beyond that, as we had before, what He is doing for us, what He has planned for us, what is eternal councils are occupation with Him and His things. And so Psalm 103 is directly looking at what the Lord has done for us.
And so we look at these things here. Psalm 103. I'll read the 1St 5 verses. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.
Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies? Who satisfyeth thy mouth with good things.
So that's our youth is renewed like the Eagles.
I I'd like to think a little bit about this youth being renewed like the Eagles. A a brother mentioned to me some years ago about this many kinds of birds, all birds will molt their feathers. Their feathers get old, they fall out and new ones grow in. And there's some kinds of birds like ducks that when they're going through their molt.
They lose their attractiveness, they aren't so pretty, they don't look good.
And they also, they can't fly because their wings aren't the feathers on their wings aren't developed, they have no heavenly character.
The Lord is providing things that will satisfy our mouth so that our youth is renewed like the Eagles. The Eagles.
It is dependent on its flight to survive. It doesn't just eat things from the bottom of the of the river or the pond, It has to fly around in order to be able to capture food.
And the eagle, in God's provision for it, has provided a system where when they mold the wings, the the feathers on their wings that they're used for flying, they fall out one at a time and regrow in one at a time so that they always have a heavenly character.
God has provided His word for us, may we be occupied with it and realize its goodness so that we can continue in our heavenly character and not appear as though we are sleeping.
I'd like to like to look at two other, uh, situations, and.
Comparison to this.
It has to do with, uh, a door and, uh, state of sleeping or not knowing what condition we're in. One is in Revelation chapter 3, which we're going through.
In our uh, reading meetings and Dorothy.
In Revelation chapter 3.
And the last of these seven epistles to the angels of the churches, Umm, and to everyone that has an ear. I see a lot of people in this room that have ears, so let's hear.
These ones in Lotus here, I won't for the sake of time go into it and look at all the different situations.
But.
I'll, I'll read verse 17 because this kind of, uh, shows the characteristic that they had of.
01:05:07
Umm, their own short sightedness and not realizing the situation that they were in. Sort of like one that is sleeping, Uh.
Verse 17. Because thou saith, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not with our wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
Well, Lord, give him some counsel here, but I'd like to look at the 20th verse.
And when we've got to these situations where we have left the Lord out of our life.
And we've sought to do our own thing, what the flesh desires to do.
The Spirit attempts to present the Word of God to us, and the flesh attempts to take everything it can get, and they're opposed to each other.
And so the 21St it says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and Sup with him, and will Sup with him, and he with me. The Lord desires communion with everyone.
And it says, Behold, if any man hear my voice.
Do you know that one installation 5 is so similar in?
In so many ways to the one in Revelation 7, even though, uh, sorry, in Romans 7, even though they have the spirit, they're not walking in it.
There's no outward testimony that that's the condition that they're really in. And the answer is the same thing. We have to open the door to the Lord's knocking and allow him into our life that we can have communion with him and be occupied with Him.
And the Lord desires to bring us into tremendous blessing.
I'd also turn to Song of Solomon.
Chapter 3.
Sorry, chapter 5 and here is one that is in the.
Condition of sleeping. She's laid down in her bed.
And verse two I sleep, but my heart waketh.
Perhaps your heart is awakening right now. Perhaps you realize, wow, I've gone a long way off.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh.
Do we realize that the Lord is desiring communion in our life now?
That he wants an intimate relationship.
And he says open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.
Have we?
Listened to him when he was asking for his proper position in our life. Are we willing to grant the Lord the place in our life of priority preeminence in our life that everything that we do is I like very well. The question was presented yesterday. If we're asking is this something that is good or not? Is this something that.
I can do or assist him.
If we're asking that question.
We're asking the wrong question.
We need to be answering the question, is this what the Lord has for me? Is this what the Lord would have me to do?
If we have something to say, is it for edification?
And, uh, it's interesting here.
In this place that the man would say my undefiled.
We've been given a new position in Christ. We are not seen by God as being in the flesh, it says. We know no man after the flesh. We're seeing in a new position.
And her response was so sad. And that's been the response of my heart so many times, she says. I've put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I've washed my feet, how shall I defile them? And sometimes what we have in the world, we value too much to give up for Christ.
I hope this isn't our case.
I hope that we can realize.
There's the things that we have that are temporal, like our brother brought out the trees in that front yard of that property and the man said, oh, those look like some nice trees and didn't realize that the trees were not at all what his blessing was. His blessing was going to be a house that the trees were in the way of.
01:10:05
Are we allowing the things of this life? Maybe it's.
So many different things. Maybe we maybe we like to watch movies or.
Be caught up with comedians or whatever. Maybe. There's so many different things.
That would just seek to distract our life from Christ.
Do we value them too much that when the Lord says I want the 1St place that we say well I have these other things?
I'd like to make a little room for them.
I'd like I'd have to give up this. I'd have to give up that. It isn't worth it.
And finally the response is.
This man has to put his hand by the hole in the door.
I don't know how doors were designed back then. Perhaps you had to put your hand in to flip up a latch or something.
But if we look at the hands of the Lord Jesus.
See what he's done for us on the cross.
We see what he's like, what he's laid down for us. Is there a response?
Is the response.
May there be a response?
If there's life, there should be a response.
And when we're occupied, when this one goes out of this room, she goes around and she's seeking that one. And they ask her, what is your beloved above another beloved? And she's just entirely occupied with him.
Each one of us feel like that. And when we're occupied with Christ.
We are not in a position where we think that the flesh and the spirit are fighting against each other.
In our life and they're having an effect and they're getting us lost because we're occupied with him.
And just looking, uh.
I'm sorry, Second Corinthians, chapter 5.
And verse 14.
For the love of Christ.
Constrainitha.
May we be drawn to Him by the chords of love and seeing that He died for us so that we can walk an acceptable life before Him and not go back and put ourselves in the situation where we are trying to meet a certain set of standards or trying not to do certain things because that is not the position we've been brought into. We've been given all things that pertain to life and godliness.
And may we have Christ always before US1 More Verse.
In.
I believe it's first Peter.
Sorry, second Peter.
Chapter 10. I'm sorry, Chapter one and verse 10.
The computer one and verse 10 Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
For if you do these things, ye shall never fall.
Sometimes we just have to believe what we believe.
And we will be kept.
Nsnoise.
01:15:19
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Nsnoise.
Commend ourselves.
Our God and our Father we thank.
Before our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus.
We thank you for this time that we've had before us.
The prophets have spoken.
Two or three.
And our judgment is we have heard by voice.
We asked by blessing.
On that which we have heard.
That we would be like Abraham.
We look for a city with builder in Maker, Wisconsin.
We would be like David.
But despite great failure.
His hope our God was in thee.
And our God give us.
To walk in the Spirit.
To not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Father, be on our weakness.
And we just will pray for Thy blessing on these portions to our hearts.
We give thanks to the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.