Open—P. Hadley, J. Kemp
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Number 166.
I know.
I'll try my best to take your whole life toward the end.
Northern Ireland.
What?
Between now.
And God, thy nigh night, ah.
By head.
I'm afraid of life went hard when love.
Oh my goodness, yeah, I want to breathe with the damage.
Our strength on the shield, our day of our own.
Before.
God from God.
I can change up all my prayers.
Today.
I'm sleeping. Glad you know.
That you know, How are you eating? How are you?
I can learn murderers living in the hell because I can't disturb them.
Malachi, chapter one.
Verse one.
The Burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved youth.
Then chapter 3 verse verse 10.
Bring me all the ties into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough.
To receive.
OK, loving God and our Father, we thank you for this time we've been able to have together this weekend to enjoy the the truth that was given to us and.
Thank you for, uh, others of light precious faith that we can go over these things with and to think on these things and.
You think of the meeting ahead of us, Just pray for liberty.
That are.
Our spirits will be restrained, and that by spirit would have liberty and.
We thank thee, our God and our Father that are the kind God and a loving God and we we have confidence that there will be a blessing this afternoon. So we look to be for help. Independence on me. We ask this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hey.
00:05:06
Let's look.
At the last verse in the Book of Judges.
It's a verse, that is.
Repeated many times.
I believe this is. I think this is the last time it's found in the Bible.
It says.
Chapter 21. Verse 25. In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which is right in his own eye.
Hi.
I'd like to suggest that this is a condemnation.
And yet it doesn't say people did what was wrong. They might have done things that were right.
But the condemnation was they did what was right in their own eyes.
And the sad thing remarked here that there was number king in Israel. That is, there is nobody to keep control of things. There's nobody in charge.
You know.
You and I gather.
In such a way.
We don't have a Pope.
There's no king amongst those gathered to the Lord's name. We could be guilty of the same thing that these people and the judges were guilty of if we're not careful because we don't have somebody in charge to get things straightened out.
When we goof up.
There's a verse that we just had, I think last week in our Mount Tabor reading.
Says all unrighteousness is sent. That's in first John 5. All unrighteousness is sent.
I think we understand that. That is, if you do bad things, that's sin.
That we understand.
Well, there's a verse earlier in First John that says or should be translated. I understand sin is lawlessness, that is.
Sin is acting without reference to the law or to God.
In other words.
Maybe I'm driving down the highway and I'm driving 60 miles an hour.
In a 65 mile zone. And I'm not doing it because the law says that I'm doing it just because I think it's safe.
That's lawlessness.
It doesn't. I'm not breaking the law, but I'm doing what I think is right without reference to the law.
Now it's even worse. We find when.
When you do it, when you send against the law.
But the point I'm bringing out is.
Right or wrong?
People were wrong because they were doing it without reference to God and without reference to authority.
Now we're back in the book of judges.
In chapter 17 we have this.
This same.
Statement. It's in verse 6.
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
That is in connection with idolatry.
Everybody knows. I think everybody here knows idolatry is wrong.
But you know what?
The people that did this send didn't know it's wrong.
In fact, it's not like they're worshipping Baal or somebody else. The worship of idols like that didn't come in to Israel until Ahab introduced it.
They're worshipping Jehovah with idols.
They had them as they were making a mistake as to how God would judge things, but they had no king to tell him what to do.
00:10:04
And so they did it the way they thought they ought to do it.
And then in the next chapter we find something a little bit different. Chapter 18 and verse one, there is no king in Israel. Now it doesn't say that every man did that was right in his own eyes, because in chapter 18 they're doing something they knew was wrong.
They we find out that the idolatry spread, and we find out that.
They're gonna go and kill a bunch of people and take their land. They're gonna set up the idols and they're gonna steal these idols that they did steal the idols and they can set them up after they wipe out a a tribe. They knew they shouldn't be stealing those idols.
But yet they're still worshipping those idols, let's say as I understand it here.
Thinking of Jehovah.
The God.
But they it doesn't say they did. That was right in their own eyes because they knew it was wrong to steal those idols.
Then in chapter 19 the same thing happens or similar thing happens.
It says in chapter 19 verse one, and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of money from and so on. And then we have a story of the concubine that was.
Rate.
Killed.
There's no king in Israel. There's no control over the immorality that was spreading there.
Doesn't say that they did. That was right in their own eyes. They knew what they did was wrong.
But the conclusion of the whole book of judges is that which we had before, that they were doing that which is right now on us.
And as I say.
What could be wrong with doing what's right?
What you think is right, That's what all mankind asked of his fellow man. Do what you think is right.
But there is something wrong with that and there's.
Something wrong with that?
That you and I need to be very much aware of.
It's interesting to me that the first reference to that.
A statement is not in the book of.
Judges, but in the book of Deuteronomy.
It's in the chapter that was referred to yesterday.
Chapter 12.
And in Deuteronomy chapter 12.
We often refer to the verse that was referred to, verse 13. Take heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place where thou seest, but in the place where the Lord shall choose, in one of thy tribes. There thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings.
That we understand.
There's a place that God would have us to worship.
But earlier in that chapter it says.
And verse 8.
Umm, ye shall not do. After all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
For you not come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God liveth you, but when you go over to Jordan and dwell the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit.
When they give you rest from all your enemies and so on, and and that goes on to say when you offer your sacrifices, then you'll do that in that one place that God has set up.
So it seems to me.
That here in this first instance of this statement.
And we find it, and judges also.
That doing that which was right in your own eyes was connected.
Especially with spiritual things.
We're not to do that which is right in our own eyes.
We find often that we disagree with our brethren.
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Is that not true?
You might find that you disagree with your parents.
I did from time to time.
Wife might find that she disagrees with her husband. I don't think there's many wives here that would disagree with that.
I have often seen.
Myself and others disagree with what our government does.
I've had occasions in my life when I have disagreed with assembly actions.
Actions that I heard about had that had gone elsewhere.
What becomes us if we do that which is right in our own eyes? And why is it that God, we might say, emphasizes this so much? Not to do what's right in your own eyes? It's really very simple, I think.
Because you and I can't get on together if we all do what we think is right.
Because you and I are going to come at some point to something that we should we do that which we disagree on and we're going to have to separate. And I'm going to say the word of God says this. And you're going to say the word of God says that and.
We're gonna have to separate from each other.
Which we already know is not according to the Word of God.
And I think I could say that almost all divisions start out with a failure in love for our brethren, failure to obey the one and only new commandment that God has given that the Lord Jesus gave us to love one another.
But even then you wouldn't have a division.
The vision, the division. The division proceeds because.
We do that which is right in our own eyes.
So what is it that's better than doing what's right?
What we think is right.
I know you hear you hear about a a dispute someplace and you want to get all the evidence.
What happened?
Who did wrong first?
What does the Word of God say about?
This or that stage of the wrong that's been done.
And we began to analyze it and the whole thing is wrong.
The whole thing is wrong because we're setting about.
To do that was right in our own eyes, to make our decision as to which side to choose on any given subject, whether it be.
A division or whether it be a decision to make on some other matter, you know, there's all kinds of things that come up all the time.
Discipline.
Uh, whether they have a conference, uh, you, you could make a long list of things that we could think about and, uh, maybe disagree on in our, as we talk about things together.
So what's the better way? How many times when we hear about something?
That we want to know the details about.
How many times do you and I condemn myself?
Failed to ask what can I be submissive to here?
What am I to submit myself to?
Yes, Christians are to be watching and waiting.
There to be working for the Lord where to be worshipping.
And we should be submitting. We are. Christians are meant to be submitting people.
You know, if I was a kid and my dad says I think we should go this way on this subject and.
Uh, I thought I I don't think that's right.
I can be right even if my dad is wrong.
When I go along with them.
Because I'm doing it because I'm submitting to them.
I've sometimes heard of.
Divisions and families were.
Say the husband leaves the assembly.
00:20:02
And the wife, it said, stands firm.
I don't think I admire that.
She could be right, but then wrong.
Because she hasn't submitted. Now sometimes it's not a matter of submission. Many times they agree that's fine and the wife has permission to to continue or the child has Conti permission to continue. But where there is rebellion in the family, you can be wrong when you're right, or you could be double wrong. It could be wrong in the decision.
And you could be wrong and your failure to submit.
So I asked myself when a.
When a matter comes up.
What is it that I can submit to?
Is there something that I can submit to?
Maybe there's a question as to?
Uh, where the authority is in the assembly, there's two factions that say.
We have the authority and the other folks don't.
I don't know what to do. What am I meant to do? Start gathering the evidence? See who did the wrong thing first?
Have I looked for what I should submit to?
I said I submit to the word of God, yes.
I submit. But then both sides claim that they've got the word of God behind them.
I submit to assembly authority, yes.
But then both sides, they say they have it.
And as one person saying to another, that the testimony of two different sides.
What happens if I make my decision? Somebody else comes to another conclusion?
We have a division.
We have a division because.
Maybe hundreds of miles away.
Uh, one assembly makes 1 Chooses one side, another assembly chooses the other.
Because they did that which is right in their own eyes, and who wants to do what's wrong?
Do we have any scriptural authority to do anything other than that?
What about in the Book of Numbers where there's a man who dies in the field?
They measure to find the nearest city.
And that that city has the responsibility. Do we not learn any lesson from that?
I remember.
About 25 years ago, there was schism in New Jersey.
And I got a call. I got I think 4 calls.
From Norman Berry.
And he said to me, Brother Paul.
What do the local brethren think?
Brother Paul, what do they think? What does a local brethren think about this?
And he'd say, Paul, pray, pray.
I got 4 calls and they all had that message in them. Pray, pray what do they? What are the local brethren think? He said.
You know, I didn't know for, I think 10, maybe 20 years afterwards that he did not agree with what was coming down in New Jersey.
He felt the other side was right.
But he wouldn't tell me that.
He was.
He knew that there was authority in nearness.
The the authority of nearness that overrode overrode his opinion on subjects.
I say that this fundamental principle.
Doing something that's right in your own eyes.
That is where we have failed.
00:25:03
Often.
And uh.
At every point it is for a Christian to ask what he can be submissive to.
And there's times when it's simply the word of God. I agree.
Well, let me leave it at that, but.
It says sin is lawlessness.
And I think.
That we can say that just about the definition of sin is lawlessness.
In first John.
Is that last verse that we have in the book of Judges doing that which is right in your own eyes, not wrong?
And that was just right in your own eyes and his lawlessness.
I know we only have a few minutes here and.
I don't propose to, uh, give any long lecture, but just a few verses that.
Might be, uh, helpful to our souls. Umm.
I'm thinking of uh.
The subject of reward, which is.
Too large and extensive to, uh, developing, uh, short time.
But it is a distinctive, uh, truth of Scripture. Uh, there's various, uh, verses that bring before us the subject of reward.
Paul said that he wanted to finish his course with joy and to fulfill the ministry which the Lord had given him to to accomplish. And we know that the apostle Paul did that. He said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the court, my course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day.
Now, reward is not, uh, uh, a motive for our service. I think we, uh, are clear about that. It's often been, uh, pointed out, it's not a motive for service, but it truly is an incentive, an encouragement because God has given us various talents.
He has entrusted us with, uh, abilities, with a work to do, a burden to bear. Every man has his work, his place to fulfill in the body of Christ.
A work that is different than anyone else's, but you can be happy in that work the Lord has given to you, not a question of.
Coveting someone else's position or work. God has put you in the body and He's given that member and office to fulfill. It may not be in the public sphere prominent we tend to have our umm judgment formed by the platform that is those who are able to.
Deliver an address publicly, uh, are looked up to, uh, more so than others. But Scripture doesn't, umm, quali doesn't support that thought. Every one of us is a servant of the Lord. Every one of us has a work to do. And we read in First Corinthians 3, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day she'll declare it.
Verse 13. Because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
That is the judgment seat of Christ.
Which takes place after the rapture, after we are present with the Lord, our lives will be reviewed. I've often said our sins will never be brought up to condemn us. They're buried in the sea of God's forgetfulness, in the depths of the ocean. But our works will be brought up. They will be resurrected to be manifest, not for condemnation, but for reward or for loss.
How a child of God will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ I do not know, but the Scriptures.
Say clearly, If any man's work abide which he have built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. Lot is the prime example. There he was a Christ, a believer. He was a righteous man that vexed his soul every day by the filthy conversation of Sodom.
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Trying to change, uh, the the character of that wicked city where he should never have been.
But he wanted to improve the world, and he sunk down to the level of the world, and he lost his testimony and lost his family, and he was just saved by the skin of his teeth.
A saved soul, a lost life. None of us, I am sure, want to end our Christian pathway in that way. But it's possible.
We want to have a life that will TE that will tell for eternity, that will glorify our Lord Jesus here in this world and abide into that coming scene, regardless of how small the service may appear in the eyes of men. God has recorded in the book of Remembrance everything you have done for Him, as we said.
The debit side has been canceled, but he's added adding to the credit side there in that in the records, the annals of eternity, he is umm, recording every.
Act of devotedness to the Lord. This morning we had the remembrance. Beautiful meeting.
And the sisters did not publicly participate. That would be disobedience to the Word of God.
But they are an integral part of the meeting, and every thought on the Lord this morning was recorded, whether it be by sister or brother, every thought. Malachiah, chapter 3.
And so let us remember that.
We are living lives in view of eternity. I've been studying the book of Ezra and Nehemiah lately, and you'll see some long, tedious lists of names that sometimes don't mean very much to us. We pass over them rather quickly and find it kind of laborious to read them. But you know, there's a lesson in those names, those people who left Babylon, that city of idolatry, and made the long journey.
Because they value the name of the Lord Jesus. And they took that journey to Jerusalem and found it in a state of ruin. But they obeyed the word of the Lord, and they desired to be where He had placed His name. Not everyone from Babylon returned. Their names are recorded there, the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. God took notice of that sacrifice, of that desire to be.
Where he was.
To act in accordance with His word.
To be restored to the ground of the truth, we might say. And so it is today. We are a feeble remnant at best, but God values every.
Uh, every act of devotedness, your presence at the meetings.
Is a joy to the heart of God will be rewarded while at a conference like this, as our brother Wally mentioned, our hearts are uplifted. It seems that, uh, we're drawn more to the Lord and to one another in the bonds of Christian fellowship. And it seems easy to go on for the Lord when we're sitting in a conference like this. But we're going back, brethren, to our home meetings. It may be very small.
Week after week, the same, uh, little company, probably not much gift that's not so important anyway. But uh, there's not the, uh, the numbers, uh, to encourage us and support us, but the Lord is the same young people, your meeting may be very small, maybe only a handful, and you might not have the fellowship that many have in the systems around us with all their activities.
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The Lord values your faithfulness in remaining there week after week. That's when the test comes. The Lord is the same when you get back home to your home meeting as He is right here in the conference.
Will be encouraged to press on and to be there present.
As often as possible. You know, I can remember in my earlier years of being gathered in Ottawa, certain brethren that, uh, they weren't, uh, gifted, they, uh, didn't take a lot of parts, uh, publicly in the meeting. They didn't seem to have that ability.
But, uh, their presence there, their warm handshake, their faithfulness.
In being, uh, attending the meetings.
Through thick and thin was a great encouragement to me. I won't mention names, but uh, what do we contribute to the meeting where we are And we, we come looking for something, but uh, let us be exercised to contribute something in your presence at the meeting is a contribution in itself. I was just thinking to close because time has gone that in Revelation 19.
We won't take time to dwell upon it in any at any length, but you remember that, uh, the marriage supper of the lamb is mentioned here and, uh, details given of that, uh, appearance of the bride in all her beauty.
There, umm, after the judgment seat of Christ, when our lives will be manifested, the rewards will be given. The crowns will be apportioned only to be thrown at the feet of our blessed Lord, but the rewards will then have been, uh, provided. But notice.
Verse seven. Let us be glad and rejoice. Give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteous. This should read the righteousnesses of Saints.
There she is in all her bridal beauty, and that fine linen, clean and white, is the righteousness of Saints here. It is not divine righteousness which we possess through the work of Christ.
Our righteousness that we stand in before God, perfect and accepted. This is not the righteousness mentioned here. This is our conduct in this world, our our works, our good works that we may have forgotten about.
Doesn't matter if you forget about it. God will not forget your work and labor of love. He does forget our sins, but He won't forget our work and labor of love. And so here the bride is displayed in all her beauty. But what is that beauty? It's what she has done in this world. It's her conduct, her life. Shall I our lives, shall we say?
We are preparing our wedding dress.
A young lady is going to be married in a few months and night after night she works in the home on her wedding dress. No one sees what she is doing.
Uh, she stitch after stitch, laboriously works on that dress, and the day comes.
The wedding day when she is displayed, when everything is seen publicly. Our lives are going to be seen publicly. And that day, brethren and God will reward faithfulness. We are now preparing our dress and may there be in our lives that umm.
That separation from this present evil world.
May we have our hearts attracted to Christ not only at these meetings, but day by day. The test comes when we go back to our home assemblies.
Uh, and uh, we encounter the same difficulties that we left behind, whether it be in the assembly or at work or at school, they'll still be there. But the Lord is our captain. He's the captain of our salvation and he is leading us through the wilderness. And if there is any little sacrifice in your life or mine.
00:40:25
Uh.
There will be a reward for that, and we all desire that abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.