Open—M. Richerzhagen, D. Newby, J. Ruga
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Lord, thy love sunbound and so sweet, so far, so free.
I would love trembles and wherever I AM.
Verse 13.
And he said two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus that was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs.
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And they talk together of all those things, that which had happened. And it came to pass that while they commune together.
And reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
Their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that you have one to another as you walk, and are sad?
And the one of them, whose name was Cleophis answer answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God and all.
The people and now the chief priests and the rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him.
And we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
We'll go down to verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools, slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken, but not Christ, who have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the Scriptures the things.
Concerning him.
We'll just go to verse 32.
And they said one to another.
Did not our heart turn within us while He talked with us, by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures we pray?
Our God and our Father we.
Come before thee umm regarding this meeting, an open meeting.
Thou knowest the hearts of each one in this room.
Now notice those that.
Perhaps have burdens, concerns, waiting matters in their life.
Thou knowest exactly what we need from the scriptures.
To encourage our hearts.
To build us up.
To make the Lord Jesus more precious to us.
We would ask our Father, the Dao would stir two or three that seemeth good to thee, to give us a word in season, to cause our hearts to burn within us, to give us to rejoice when we consider just what manner of people we are.
That God our Father is occupied and cares about our needs. So we plead with thee that those that are stirred up.
Might have a word from thyself in season. Moved by the Spirit of God, we oust this in our Lord Jesus Christ. Precious name, Amen.
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Bear with me, I trust I have the mind of the Lord. We read a verse.
Ezekiel.
Ezekiel, 3310.
Her brother shared And it says this, it has this question and this goes out to all of us.
How should we then live?
Turn to Hebrews 11.
Verse six it says, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he exists, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
You see, dear ones, today God is for us.
He wants to bless us.
He wants to use our lives for His glory.
And when we have that perspective, it changes how we live our lives.
There's a verse, umm, if we turn to Deuteronomy.
33.
Deuteronomy 3325.
And it says this, the last part of the verse says, As thy days, so shall thy strength be.
And I think sometimes we have expectations of what God is going to do for us. We place him in our we place ourselves in his hand, and then we expect something.
And he doesn't work like that. He's God. He made the world. Everything works.
The sun rises, the sunsets, the moon responds it, it moves the tides. Everything works beautifully, perfectly.
We asked him Lord this is what we want and then we need to just leave it with him.
As thy day, so shall thy strength be as we go through life and we face challenges.
He's going to give us his strength to accomplish what we need to do to be his people, to be his servants in this scene. And sometimes, you know, people say, well, you need to have faith and, and we act in a certain way and we look for a deliverance. And sometimes people aren't delivered and that doesn't mean that God failed them. I was thinking the other day as our brethren were talking about Jim Elliott.
He said he is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
And how did the Lord spread that message? He took his life.
Was Jim Elliott sad that that happened? No possible way. He's with the Lord. He's been with the Lord for years. And the Lord used his life and his death to spread his message. If we could talk to Jim today, we would ask him, was it worth it? Yeah, absolutely. And I'm not saying that God doesn't answer prayer, because he does. But we need to realize as we go to him that he is does not have to do what we want him to do.
He's God. He has his own program.
His own way that He's working. So as we look at this question, how then shall we live? Number one, we have to have the right perspective. We have to realize that God is for us. When we have challenges and trials in our lives, we have to realize we're not. He's not trying to break us down.
He's preparing us for our next greatest victory. He's refining us. He's making us more holy. He's making us more like unto His Son. And none of us want trials. Nobody wants trials. But when they come, don't fight them. Let the Lord work what He's trying to work in our hearts.
OK, let's turn to Romans 12.
There's a couple verses here.
And maybe I'll say this while you're turning, there are those of us who have been here. We were here at 8:00 on Friday and we were here until 10:30, which is 14 1/2 hours. And yesterday we were here from whatever it was 13 hours.
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And the purpose of that?
Was to express love.
It was to express love when someone gives you a homemade gift, when someone thinks of you and they make you something.
They're expressing their love to you.
And I was thinking about how so many people have thanked us. It is our pleasure. It was a joy to serve you to make this venue possible. Thank the Lord, we trust he gives all the blessing we got. We get all the blessing, He gets all the glory. But I was thinking about as, as people were thanking us, you know what? Think of what the Lord Jesus did. Think of God the Father sending his Son. Why did he do that? For God so loved the world. Why did he do that?
Because He loved, He loved us, He loved you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you that much. He loves you so much. And the Lord Jesus, he tells us in his word through the apostle Paul, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Dear one, if you were the only one here on this earth, the Lord Jesus would have come and He would have given his life for you.
He loves you that much, our brother shared the other day, and he talked about the affection. You know, as we live our lives, how shall we live? It's not duty. Duty is not going to work.
It's not a bunch of rules. It's not gonna work. You're not strong enough.
None of these things are gonna work. It's our affection. It's the affection of Christ in our hearts that draws out our affection for Him.
Are we going to follow him? Do we want to follow him? Here in Romans 12 it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
I beseech you, it's not a commandment, it's an it's a begging. I beseech you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Why is it our reasonable service? Because he bought us. We're not our own, we're His.
Do we live like we belong to somebody else?
The Lord help us to not try. And it's not that we don't plan, we need to make plans.
But we need to do them in the fear of the Lord, to walk in the fear of the Lord, to present your bodies.
A living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, because He owns us. And then it says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
I went to, uh, I went to the Community College, I've shared this before. I went to the Community College and there was a, a young man who's a believer and we were in my dad's office and we were talking about this verse that you might prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. And he said God has three wills, his perfect will, his goodwill and his acceptable will.
And I said, where do you get that? And so we looked at this verse and I asked him this question. I said, do you really want less than God's very best for your life?
And I told him, if you say yes, don't even say yes because I don't even wanna hear it.
I don't wanna know. And I ask you tonight, today, is there anyone in here that would honestly say I want less than God's very best? He wants to bless you. And I'm not talking about a new car, a new house. I'm talking about blessings from God, love and joy and peace. And yeah, he wants to take care of us. And yeah, he wants us to have transportation, but it's not about stuff.
Do we want God's very best?
Steve Hall quoted a verse. I don't see him Uh, uh, a little stands and it goes like this. He knows, he loves, he cares no truth, some other shall dim. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him.
Dear ones, do you want the very best? Let me say it this way. If we knew what He knows, we'd choose what He chooses for. As for God, His way is perfect.
We can't see around the bend. We say, oh Lord, if I just had this. Oh, if I just had that. We don't know what's coming.
We need to leave it with him. Lord, if it's your will, maybe this would be this looks good. Is that your will? Is that your very best? And then you'll see if it is, he'll say yes, go for it. But we need to have that in our hearts.
Do we want God's very best Speaking of that, and I'm going to be very, very careful. It turned to 1St Corinthians 7.
Burgers.
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1St Corinthians 7 verse one. Now concerning things whereof you wrote unto me, It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
And our brother shared last night, we're not, I'm not gonna reiterate what he shared, but God has given us boundaries, OK? And he says the reason he made boundaries is because we're safe inside them.
They're not to keep us out of something else, They're to make us safe. There was a study that was done about boundaries, and there were all these little kids at a grade school and they had built the school, but they didn't have a fence yet. And all the kids hung around the building until the day came. They finished the fence and all the kids were free to play on the whole playground. That's what what God wants for you and for me. He wants us to be at liberty. And I'm not talking about liberty for sin, liberty to live our lives to the boundaries.
Cornell told me. He asked me what the number one success principle was, and I said I have no idea.
I said will you help me? He said no, you gotta figure it out yourself. I said please help me. So he helped me. It's to stay within your boundaries.
God is not cheating you.
He wants your very best Him that cometh to God must believe that He is, that He exists.
And he rewards those who diligently seek him. And I will say this to the dear young people, This verse right here is God's edge for your physical relationship. You're safe clear up to that edge. And some people would say that's goofy. Do you believe God or do you believe what it seems like? And I will say this, when you stand at the altar, how holy do you want to be? How pure? Let me use the word pure.
Do you wanna be 100% pure on that day? Do you wanna be 99% pure? Maybe it'll be OK if you were 95% pure. Maybe it was 93. What if it was 88?
No, dear one, we wanna be 100% pure.
We want to be all in.
For the Lord 100%. Let's turn to Galatians chapter 5.
It was mentioned earlier about habits.
And I will say this, that habits will make or break you. A habit will be your very best friend or your very worst enemy.
And one of the habits that I encourage you to make and I try and uphold every single day is to spend time with the Lord and spend time in His Word. It says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. How do you get more faith? You spend more time in the book.
You spend more time in his presence. Lord, what do you want me to do? Wake up in the morning and say, Lord, you're the boss, you're the boss, what do you want me to do? Apart from him, we can do nothing.
We can work and work and work and work and work, and we're building the sandcastle right before the tide unless we're doing exactly what he wants us to do and then he will bless it. So let's turn here in Galatians 5. So we have to have the right perspective that God is for us.
We want to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. We wanna realize when God puts a boundary and he says that's not for you, it's because it's for our good, because he has something better for us.
When we sin, we say no God, I know better than you. You don't know how good that is for me. And I will say this every time we sin, we believe a lie.
Every single time we're gonna take something that's not ours and we say, oh man, it'll be really nice to have that. The moment you have it, you wish you didn't.
How am I going to get it back? How? How am I going to say where I was? How? Just don't do that. It feels so good to be free.
It feels so good to be free, just to be honest with the Lord, to be free before him. OK, umm, Galatians 5 verse 16. So we have the habits. Verse 16. This I say then walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh. Lust sit against the spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary, the one to the other. So inside of me, inside of every one of us in this room is the flesh.
OK, my flesh is capable of doing anything that anybody else's.
At all. Any sin that anybody's ever committed. I never understood that when I was younger. How could this person, this godly person, commit adultery or murder somebody? Let me tell you, our flesh is exactly the same as anybody else's.
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Exactly. It can do anything what we need to do in a practical way, how then shall we live is we need to starve the flesh and feed the spirit and it's in acknowledging our life. Like our brother shared the other night, we can't grow.
In ourselves, there's nothing in US.
We need to acknowledge the Lord is is our life. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall he also appear with him in glory. But we in a practical way, every day we can be starving the flesh. My dad used this analogy. He used to visit the penitentiary and there was a brother that was up there and they had a a prayer meeting and they asked him one day to share and he said I have two dogs inside of me, a black dog and a white dog.
One dog is always stronger. They're never the same. The one that's stronger is the one that I feed.
That's a practical choice.
Whatever we feed, do you feed your flesh? Do I feed my flesh? If we do, we lose. When we sin, we lose God's blessing. He wants to give it to us. He will give it to us unless we say no, I'm not going to take it. I'm going to do it my way. And He says, OK, there you go. But He wants to bless us. So we need to have that. The last thing I want to share and then I'm going to wrap this up is in First Timothy chapter 6.
And I want you to know, dear young people.
It warms my heart. It warms our hearts to see you here. You're the future.
In a very real way, In a practical way.
The Lord's testimony testimony is going to go on, it will, he promised.
But it only works for you if you take it up, if you say this is mine, this is worth living for. I'm telling you guys, there's nothing in this world that's worth your time and attention. It's not. I'm not saying you don't have to go to work. I'm not saying you don't have to live in this world. That's all. You gotta have a house, you gotta have a car, you gotta have a job, whatever. But what is your heart attached to? Where your treasure is there where your heart be also. May our treasure be Him, the Lord Jesus and glory, the one who loved me and gave himself.
For me, the one, each one of us can say that the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
So let me just say this, OK, It's nine. I actually don't know the year. Probably Uncle Ernie does. Germany is taking over France. And in World War One, they just bombed the goodness out of everything. Just the ground was just absolutely pulverized. And they're pretty. The Germans were pretty smart. They said we don't wanna do that. It's a waste of manpower, and we tear up the ground. What we're gonna do is we're gonna surround and take it and use it for us in the war. So sure enough, they go through and they take over France.
Just like that, they call it blitzkrieg, the lightning war. And they were. I mean, it was just like that. France was out of the war.
Well, there is a famous museum in France and it was full of millions and millions and millions of dollars of art.
They didn't want the Germans to get it.
And they said, what are we gonna do? We, we, I mean, the Germans are all over here. What are we gonna do? And they said, you know what we're gonna have to do?
We're gonna have to split this museum up and hide it until the war is over.
Here you take this picture.
And I'm sure somebody, a high C, was writing down who got what so they could get it back. Here you take this picture, Here you take this picture. And the Germans rolled into town and all the art was gone. It was entrusted. It was given to someone to take care of. And it says in First Timothy 620 right here, this is the apostle Paul speaking to Timothy, his son in the faith.
And when we encourage you, dear, dear young people.
It's because we've been on this path. It's worth it. You're going the right way. I understand. In this world, there's so many distractions. Turn them off. Listen to him. If you can't hear his voice, shut off your phone, shut off Facebook, shut all that stuff off. There's so many distractions in this world. Don't listen to them. You get to choose. The other day we updated a computer and there's all this garbage and just like, why are they doing this? And I look for.
Song on my phone and it's wait, my song's right here. Why do I have to go through all this stuff? Do you know why? Because they wanna distract you. They want you to go look at this and then this and then this and then this. Because they can sell ads and all this stuff. Because you're looking through all this. Don't do that. That's your choice. It's your time.
So they had all these pictures and they were entrusted to this one. And here is the apostle Paul speaking to Timothy, and he says this is his son. This is his son, the one he's poured his life into. And I know what it's like. It's like on the other side, because my dear beloved Uncle Jack, my dear beloved brother, he poured his life into me. And you older ones, find a younger brother, find a younger sister and pour your life into him. That's the best investment you'll ever make.
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With your time, it'll change this world, It'll change eternity.
Paul says right here in first Timothy 620 Oh Timothy, his beloved son. He says keep that which is committed to thy trust. I don't know. I don't know exactly what year that was 194142.
194142 The war was over in 45 S for at least two years, maybe three years. All those paintings.
Were hidden away all over France. I don't know that the Germans found any of them. They may not have found found some of them, but they're those. Those paintings were kept. I was thinking about it. What would that be like at my house? Where would I put that painting? I can't have it in my living room because they might come in and see it. So I got to hide it. But it's got to be safe.
Right. This truth is being committed to us, to you. Will you take that? Will you take that trust? And will you preserve it? Will you take care of it? Will you let it be yours? At my company the other day, we spent I don't know how much time trying to redo this bonus thing because I don't want to just tell my staff, wonderful as they are, this is the way we're gonna do it because I want them to want to do it because they wanna do it.
And as parents, we need to train our children that way. But this, this thing that's been entrusted to us, keep that which has been committed to that trust, it's been given to us. We need to take that and value it for what it is. This is the word of God. It has every answer for every question, any question in our lives.
Do we read it? Does it mean something to us?
If it does, it will change our lives. We'll be different people.
I pray the Lord would work and stir in our hearts that we might have as we see him. It's not in us. It's not even about us. It's when we see him, as we see him, the Lord Jesus that we would have a desire man. I want to know him. I want to please him. I want to live for him. So let me just re I I'm done. Just let me go back over for clarity of thought. How shall we live? We got to have the right perspective that God.
For us that he wants to bless us, OK.
Do we want the very best? That's a question every single one of us has to answer. When I'm looking for a new vehicle, do I ask the Lord? When I'm looking to buy a house, how about a wife? How about a husband? Do I ask the Lord? Do I want His very best? We need to starve the flesh and feed the spirit, and we need to keep that which has been entrusted to us.
Stop.
Second Peter chapter one and verse 15.
We've been having some readings and discussing some passages in Hebrews.
And in Hebrews we have something that was written.
That had been spoken by the Lord.
And was confirmed unto us by those who.
In second Peter chapter one and verse 15, the apostle Peter says, Speaking of the time when he would shortly put off the body that he was in. He says, Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be after may be able.
After my deceased to have these things always.
In remembrance.
There came a day when the apostles passed off the scene.
Where do we find ourselves today?
2000 years down the road, almost.
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Brethren, those of us who are Christians today.
We are the inheritors of something that is good.
We are the inheritors of the only thing.
That has ever given man liberty and freedom.
The only thing that has ever given men a clear conscience before God.
We celebrated his death this morning.
And there was a day when Peter knew that he was going to pass off the scene.
I believe that, uh, we can be somewhat assured that, uh, the Apostle John was the last one that passed off the scene.
Maybe about 100 AD or so.
His writings are generally considered to be among the last that were written in the New Testament.
There came a day when all of those who had heard the Lord Jesus.
And that would include the Apostle Paul himself. We know he passed away at a certain point in history.
Probably before some of the other apostles did.
And he was no longer here.
And another generation arose.
And many of us have been encouraged by the words of a brother of a past generation. I never met him. He was with the Lord before I came around.
As well as many others, and I think I hear the sentiment here in these meetings this time that we've been enjoying in the Word. There is a desire to take what we have from the Word of God in the purest form that we can have it and hand it to the next generation. It's the passing of a baton to the next generation.
The Apostle Paul speaks of running a race.
He uses a number of different images that show that there is one generation that laborers.
And then the next generation has to take up the baton in that race, running in a race course. And the Apostle Peter was one of those. He was going to pass off the scene.
And he wanted the believers to be reminded to have in their remembrance these things that we are the inheritors of now in our late day, in the last hour, you know, the last hour, the last days that began at the time of the Lord and the apostles. Even the apostle John, he says, children, it is the last hour.
And there are things that are characteristic of the last hour.
In which we are now, if we go on in this passage, and I'm thinking of some of the things that we've taken up in Hebrews and an exhortation that the writer to Hebrews would give us and something that we can see in the Scriptures. But we might be reminded now the brother, brother Ed, he read those verses in the 24th of Luke where the Lord Jesus in resurrection, He met with those two on the road to Emmaus.
And it came to a point where he had to upgrade them for their unbelief.
But what did he do on the road to Emmaus? He took the written word of God.
And he used it to show them something of the personal word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He showed them in the scriptures He began at Moses right at the beginning of the Bible.
And he opened to them in the Scriptures all of the things concerning himself. Now that expression concerning himself is the occupation of the Christian. The Christian is the one who is taken up with the things concerning himself, because as we celebrated with the emblems on the table.
This morning.
We are here.
Because a work of redemption, the only work of redemption that ever could have been accomplished that would satisfy the holiness of God, has been done.
But he did not end with the work of redemption.
He now is there in the rightful place that is His, at the right hand of the Father.
And he is waiting.
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Until his enemies be made the footstool of his feet, according to prophecy.
What is he doing while he is waiting?
Well, he is our high priest.
He is our advocate before the Father.
He is gathering a people out of Jews and Gentiles to form His bride.
And as far as we are aware, that work has not yet been finished. There may be much that remains to be done.
He is also giving the opportunity for us to have fellowship with him in that work.
He wants us to be partakers with himself of what he is doing. And as we go on a few verses in this chapter in second Peter chapter one.
Think of that expression in Luke chapter 24.
Where he talked about, he says, ought not Christ to have suffered aught that is an expression of divine necessity. That's like saying the Son of Man must be lifted up.
If we were to be here today with the Word of God before us, then it is a divine necessity that we must be redeemed because we could not be in His presence.
Without the issue of sin having been resolved, and he has now resolved that issue to perfection, so that there need be no distance between the believer and himself.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? No.
You can take those two things. Peter also refers to that, the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these.
And you can basically you can take those two things, his sufferings and his glory, and you can write that as the theme right over the entire Word of God. This book, from Genesis to Revelation, is the divinely inspired story of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.
There's no greater occupation for a Christian today than to be taken up with the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. Now let's look at that in an aspect here in which Peter extrapolates at verse 16. This is a very important statement and young people especially as you are getting started on the Christian pathway.
Please keep in mind and our brother just touched on on something along this line and there have been a few things that have been mentioned.
That have brought this to my mind. We have not followed cunningly devised fables, the new translation says. Cleverly imagined fables. You know, there's a lot of stuff out there that's really clever.
But scratch beneath the surface and it's trash.
It's absolute trash.
We don't want to be deceived by something that presents itself to us with all kind of cleverness.
Sounds very plausible, but I will guarantee you that in many things you get beneath the surface a little bit and you will find that it's all an effort.
To undermine the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.
When you are young.
Pursue.
A study of the Word of God.
Learn objective and rational principles of biblical interpretation.
I am reminded.
In the passage in Hebrews that we took up in the 10th chapter, we didn't go all the way down through there, but.
As you go down in that chapter and there were there were a few comments made about it, the expression for if we sin willfully.
And some of the brothers brought out things about how the will can become involved with something.
The book of the book of Proverbs, I think, is very helpful. It's been spoken of as a young man's book.
Keep thy heart with all diligence.
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Keep thy heart above all that is kept.
Watch your affections, watch the movements of your mind. Be aware of what attracts you and what you are drawn toward.
You know, there are a lot of people who will say, you know, I stay away from this or I stay away from this. But I've read some very interesting things. A man's character is much more.
Manifested in what he likes than what he dislikes. If you want to see what a person is really like, look at what they like. What are their preferences? What are they drawn towards? Learn when you are young to be drawn towards the thing that establish you in the faith.
That will help you to lay hold of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.
Avoid cunningly devised fables.
You know, it's been, it's been said before. I'm sure most of us have heard it. If it's true, it's not new.
And if it's new, it's not true.
One of the issues that's addressed, especially for a younger person as you're beginning the road.
Is to take up with the things that will help you to have discernment, Peter says. We have not followed cunningly devised fables, cleverly imagined fables.
When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But were eyewitnesses of his glory. Now that takes us back to the Apostolic inheritance. You know, most of the men that were that wrote the New Testament, some of them were among the apostles. The apostles we know from some Scriptures. That's a broader term than just the 12 That were with him. There were those who were of note among the apostles.
But all of these different ones were either eyewitnesses or.
We read the writings of those who were there with him.
On the Holy Mount he talks about that here.
Those who accompanied with the Lord Jesus and heard His ministry, as it says in one Timothy chapter 6, wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. They heard those words and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they were given to write those words down. You know, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters five to seven. That's pretty long.
And we might wonder, how did they get that down? Well, the Spirit of God, as the Lord Jesus says in the 14th of John, he will bring to your remembrance the things which I have spoken to you, and we have every reason to believe.
Along with men of God who have studied these things, that we have reliable documents here that present to us our Lord Jesus Christ and His sufferings and His glory, we have every reason to have confidence in the written Word of God and how the written Word of God brings before us.
The living Word of God. So as we go on down here.
These eyewitnesses tell us that he, our Lord Jesus, received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard.
When we were with him on the holy mountain, now those men, those apostles that the Lord took with him up onto the Mount of Transfiguration, we call it, they saw him Transfigured before them. They saw him there in company with Moses and Elijah, and they were told not to reveal that.
Until the Son of Man was risen from the dead.
Here we see the glory of the personal Word of God, the One.
Who was the Word made flesh? The one whom these apostles, they had the privilege of being, if you'll notice the new translation of Luke chapter one, attendance on the Word. They were there with him, so they saw in his glory, and then later saw the sufferings.
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Of the one who was the Word made flesh. What a wonderful thing that is.
And here today we are in 2017 talking about these things. That in itself is a mark of the grace of God.
But Peter goes a little bit further here.
He speaks of the ones who were there with him in the Holy Mount.
And then in verse 19 he says we have also a more sure word of prophecy.
Here we have the written word.
Where unto ye do well, that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.
Until the day dawn and the day arro Daystar, Rise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
And these are the ones who wrote those books down. You know, when we look at expressions like this, I think of the last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah where we see the spiritual or the moral restoration of of of Israel to their God. And we see in such a beautiful way the sufferings of their Messiah.
And His glory as he restores them to himself.
Spend your time in these things.
You know, we talk about things that we that it's good to to give up and to stay away from. But another side of that is that if we develop the habits. The brother spoke of habits. It's been mentioned a number of times.
If we develop the habit of taking up with certain things, then what you find is those other things that might come in and captivate us. We don't have room for them. It's like the illustration that Brother used of the two dogs.
We wanna learn to spend our time with the things that, uh, that make for edification first of ourselves and then what might be found for blessing for others as well.
You know in the passage of Hebrews to go back to that for justice a moment.
Think of that expression again if we sin willfully.
After having received the knowledge of the truth.
I mentioned the verse in Proverbs.
About keeping your heart.
Above all that is kept for out of it are the issues of life.
You might take a look at Hebrews chapter 3.
There are three hearts that are mentioned there and there's a progression.
And that's in one of those parentheses that Brother Eric mentioned in the book of Hebrews. And he wanted to guard these Saints. He wanted to guard them. He wanted them to be able to go on unto perfection on the spiritual maturity. And the first thing in the third chapter that he worked when he when he brings out the thought of Israel in the wilderness, and he quotes from the 95th Psalm.
He says Harden.
Not your heart.
That's the first step.
I think that most of us in the room have probably known someone where there seemed to be some tenderness.
But then a point comes where there's a hardening of the heart.
And after the heart is hardened, he says, an erring heart, that's the heart that strays.
What do we often stray towards? We often stray towards a cunningly devised fable.
And the last that he mentions, there is an evil heart of unbelief.
Just to finish up.
Think of a time back in the Old Testament, in the days of Josiah.
When the book of the law of God was discovered.
It had been lost for some period of time and it was discovered.
And it was brought out, and it was read before the king.
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What did he do?
He bowed before the word of God that was brought out to him, and they sent to hold of the prophetess.
And you know if you take those words of hold of the prophetess in Second Kings chapter 22.
And you look at them, they give us some nice little expressions that I think help us to understand the thrust of Hebrews.
And I want to emphasize at the end this last point about the heart.
What does she say about the king? She says tell the man.
That sent you to me.
Because thy heart was tender.
And you humbled yourself before me.
That's the thing that she says about him. She goes on to say other things. And dear people of God and dear young people, as you're here today, think about as you take up the word of God.
That you develop a heart that is tender towards what God has revealed.
And would bring you to the point where you would humble yourself before God.
And I can tell you that that will be the way to go on in a life.
For the glory of the Lord, where the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow will become meaningful. First of all, for you and for your family and for your brethren.
Quick thought, brethren, in regards to.
What has been said by our two brothers, I can't help but think with our brethren here in Walla Walla after so many years.
Having the desire to put on the conference again.
But you know, brethren, we have to go to Chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke, and I'm sure this is what has happened here in Walla Walla.
Luke Chapter 11 and verse one.
And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Am I correct, brethren, in saying that there's been much prayer that has gone up to have a conference like this by our brethren here in Walla Walla?
Prayer it's the it's the gas pedal of the Christian life. If you get on your knees, dear young person like our brother just exhorted us, you want to have power in your life. It's prayer. Get on your knees, lift up your voice to your Savior, to your Lord. And may I just stop there and say I pray that each one of the young people here.
Know the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your Savior, because these words will be absolutely meaningless to you if you're still lost in your sins. May you look at your heart and if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior, get down on your knees and accept Christ as your Savior. Because everything that you've heard, the last two brothers that have stood up here, it doesn't work with the unbeliever.
Now let's take a look very quickly here in this chapter, verse 3.
Give us day by day Our Daily Bread.
And forgive us our sins.
Just a thought on this first.
The day by day bread, there's dependence. Do you have a need, dear young person, older person, you have sorrow in your life. Is there a, a, some disaster you're going through dependence on the Lord and the other one is obedience. There has to be obedience to the word of God as our brother just exhorted us.
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Obedience. How do you expect to have power in your life?
How do you expect to be a testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ if you're not praying?
Did we not sit around the table this morning? And we started with the hymn 150 that every knee will bow.
Dear young person, you have two knees.
Bow them before the Lord Jesus, and may I recommend that you bow them by the side of your bed in the evening hours and in the morning hours. Get up and have prayer in your life morning and night, and if you have the chance to pray during the day like Daniel did three times a day.
Pray in the middle of the day, Obedience and dependence We also have in this same chapter. For the sake of time, we'll go down to verse 8. Because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, our brother was talking about all the distractions with the Internet and cell phones and everything else. What's importunity?
Do you think if you raise your voice to the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to get an answering machine?
Absolutely not. The Lord is going to hear you because of your importunity, the fact that you come to him with a need. He's got his ears open 24/7 and he knows your needs before you even ask.
Dear young person, how can we make shipwreck if we have a savior that knows what we need and we haven't even lifted up our voice to him importunity. We have in our assembly down South a family and they have a a young girl.
And she?
Will use importunity to go and talk to her mother. You'll be talking to her mother and she comes up and she says mom, I wanna do this, you know I, I, I want this you know she uses importunity, she comes in and she knows that her mother will.
Give her what she wants and what's good for her.
Importunity the Lord will answer and in verse nine we're exhorted in this same chapter it says ask and it will be given you. How many of us ask we do we go sometimes we ask for things but you notice something else in this verse it says seek what's it mean to seek? The Lord wants us to be in earnest. You ask for direction in in your education you ask for direction and.
Me. He wants you to be in earnest. He wants you to not only ask, he wants you to be in earnest. He wants you to seek.
And ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened. It's a little more intense, isn't it?
One snocking.
Not have you ever asked, knocked on the and asked the Lord for something? I mean, are you in earnest?
You know, a lot of times, and as you grow up you have a tendency to think of things. And I'll be quite honest with you, when I was about 8 years old, I came to the Lord and I was raised in Dorothy, NJ and I heard Brother beg, I heard Brother Christensen, I heard Albert, Hey ho, Gordon Hayhoe. And they would present the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and I would sit there in that assembly and I said to myself.
I don't ever have to worry about getting out of grade school. The Lord's going to come.
Don't ever have to go worry about going to high school. The Lord's going to come. I don't have to worry about college. The Lord's going to come. And I don't have to worry about getting married or getting a job because the Lord's going to come.
Last year I had to do something in my life that I never thought I'd do. Had to apply for Medicare. 65 years. You've got to apply for Medicare in the US.
And yet I can stand up here and tell you I feel like the Lord is going to come, perhaps this afternoon. He's going to come almost, I'm sure of it in my soul, because I can read His precious word and be assured of it, His coming again.
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And you know, dear young person, if you want to have power in your life.
Pray, lift your voice up to the Lord Jesus. We have had the last couple of days here, should we say a mountain top experience. But you know as well as I, at the end of this day, some of us are gonna head on the highway. We're gonna head home. And how much will we retain our enjoyment of what we have had here at the conference? How much, how long will it last?
You know, I have to confess. You know, sometimes I've come to conferences.
And I think it lasts until I get out that door because you get bombarded with all the cares of this life, packing the luggage, getting going. But I'll tell you where I really find the enjoyment is when it's quiet and I'm back on my knees before the Lord and the Lord as our brother.
Let's see, what was his name? Dan Anderson. We used to listen to Dan Anderson's.
Uh, stories in Dorothy and he made this comment and I never have forgotten it, he said.
How do you young people expect to know the mind of God if you've never read His word?
Have you ever thought about that? How do you?
You expect to know the mind of God if you've never read His word.
Dear young person, take this book. Read it from cover to cover. You got two knees. Get on your knees and lift your voice up to your blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He hears you 24/7. He'll never deny you.
Great. Our God and Father, we thank you for the words that's been before our hearts. Thank you indeed for the expectations that we've heard.
To let them search our hearts and bring us into Thy presence, Lord Jesus and conscious way.
Help us to walk in the past without having to walk in. We thank thee indeed for the happy town of Fellowship. We've had these.
Last couple of days and we just asked you to reward our local brethren for all their efforts and bringing us together like this. Thank you most of all our God for thy Son, for the word that Thou hast given to us in our hands may be treated as a real treasure. Maybe be found pouring over thy precious words, learning the truth. May it be our God that the Lord Jesus himself will be.
Yeah, affecting our life immediately. So we ask these few things. We give you our thanks to the name of my son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.