Open—B. Warr, J. Currie, W. Dear
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Florida has drawn.
And I said you're gonna have to go through some Hollywood. There's not any presence.
On the cross of everything.
I smell our glory.
My friends and say to her, I love your dear.
No, Everything can grow.
It's all our computer.
I'm all day for all of our hearts.
Dangerous.
I'm glad you're getting it from.
Ahmedabad.
I spare you.
And we might look at Philippians chapter 3.
Brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you. To me is not grievous, for you it is safe.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of this concision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath, whereof he might trust in the flesh I more.
Circumcised the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews.
As such in the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church.
Stretching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
For what things were gained to me, those I counted lost, for Christ a doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge.
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
And be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him.
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The power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
If by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect, but I follow after.
If that I may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do.
Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.
Mind the same thing.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.
From any walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, who's in the destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly thinks.
Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like under His glorious body.
According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Being drawn after Christ and the pathway.
That said, before us.
I was thinking of this chapter.
In chapter 2 we get the Lord's pathway in this epistle.
And in chapter 3 we get Paul's pathway.
As we have been considering Ephesians.
And I believe that Philippians gives us the picture of a.
Of a man who has enjoyed Ephesian truth, but his feet are on earth and he himself is in jail.
But his heart is captured, His heart is left up in heaven of where Christ is.
And he's seen something like the spies that we had mentioned this morning.
Caleb and Joshua they.
They were two spies. They were granted the privilege to spy out the land, and then they saw that which changed their whole life.
And they were spies, and then they became pilgrims and they became soldiers.
To get what they wanted.
And that's what will change my life. And your life is.
Buying out the land.
And how good of our God to let us look in on that land which is awaiting us.
Certain scriptures give us to see into that land. I think often of John chapter 17 where he allows us to spy.
There are some things that we can't spy into it's.
That work that belongs only to God.
Three hours of darkness on the cross of Calvary. There were no spying there.
Some things he does allow us to spy into.
And as we see it, it will change our lives.
There's not so much how well we do with that which we've spied out, but it's the one who sees us and who knows us and the one who is everything to us.
The Philippians are on their way or they present a state of soul which is.
One step down from Ephesians, if I can use that illustration of that thought.
To where they are not, their hearts are not attached to the members of the body. In Ephesians we get the body.
In Philippians, they have lost their sense of attachment to the members of the body.
There's no one who was like minded to go and see how the Saints were doing.
In Colossians, they are in danger of letting go the head of the body.
That is, they represent their epistles written to states of soul that are downward from the wondrous truths which we've been considering.
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But I enjoyed contemplating this chapter.
Thinking of it as Paul's pathway.
And if I say anything that might sound contrary to any respect for the apostle Paul I, I only say it. That would be this. He wrote this epistle. He wrote the epistle to the Ephesians for that man who was given to write the highest.
Reveal truth, the highest truth on the face of the earth. The book of Ephesians, probably chapter three I would think.
There's no way you can go in the whole world.
Get anything like the thoughts we've had before us?
And this man was given to write that.
But this man was prepared for that.
Beloved Apostle Paul, and we see here a path that he would present to us in this.
Chapter I believe that just eliminates everything before his view.
Everything but Christ.
And he had a sense of the fact that Christ had laid hold of him.
And he was pursuing to lay hold of Christ.
And with his failures, with his successes.
Neither failures nor successes took anything away from that one single thought. This one thing I do.
I just want Christ.
And if we have anything before our souls, if our past or the present or whatever it is, that.
Is going to occupy us other than himself?
Lord, thou hast drawn us.
Then we will be wrong in so doing.
The Apostle Paul of Saul of Tarsus one day.
Following out his conscience.
Doing that which his conscience said he should do.
Ended up with a letter in his hand or letters in his hand on the road to Damascus to gather up Christians and bring them backward to be disciplined and judged.
He ran into and the road to Damascus. He ran head on into a safe who loved his enemies.
Later on, the apostle Paul, in writing to the Romans, he said, being enemies, we were reconciled. Being enemies. Oh, what tears must have flowed when that man who had been an enemy, an open enemy.
Passed along those truths to you and me being enemies.
And he passed through a time there in three days of blindness in Damascus that.
Time when he sat under the glaring light of the presence of God.
The revelation of a savior who was there. He had seen a man who had saved him.
He had seen the Lord Jesus in glory. He had seen his own enemy who was now a Savior.
And he was permitted to judge all the systems in which he was attached to Judaism, his own path.
In the light of having done all this in the good conscience, and he saw what the flesh really is.
He says in the book of Acts. I thought that I ought to do much against the name of Jesus.
And now this man, later on, he even caught up to the 3rd heaven. He saw the Lord in glory. He was caught up to the 3rd heaven later on.
He has all this to look back on in his life.
And I kind of look at this as kind of a summation.
Of his life as he's setting it out before them. It's the pathway here in Philippians. It's the very practical book.
The path of a man who has seen Christ and realized that Christ has seen him.
And nothing, nothing he's going to allow to come in to take the place of that man who loved him and whom he loved.
Well, he looks back on his path and he gets down to verse. Verse.
7.
What things were gained to me?
You know, I've mentioned that several times and I really think that love it. That's a thermometer for our souls to measure our path.
Measure where we stand in our thoughts if there's anything that I am.
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Holding or doing that I think is gained to me.
That's not right.
I have to call that what it is.
Sin and I don't mean gain to me in the sense of not gain to my bank account.
But gain to me if I have a gain in my bank account.
That's blessing from God, but if it's gained to me, if I get the credit for it.
That's sin. I have to call that what it is.
The apostle says whatsoever. But what things were gained to me? These I counted not gained at all, but lost.
For Christ. Now I put this these words as the apostle Paul.
Is dictating them there, I would assume, and I put them as he's rehearsing in his own thoughts by the Spirit of God, his own pathway, and I put them as he thinks backward.
To three days of blindness in Damascus.
I counted.
Lost anything that was gained to me.
For Christ.
He had seen that man.
There in glory.
That man who looked on him and loved him saved him.
The man who was he had made himself an enemy to that man, Jesus Christ.
What a sight it is, beloved to weigh everything.
As it appears in the presence of Christ.
Verse eight he says yeah, doubtless, and I count.
All things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Now here's the wider thought. Not only those things that were gained to me.
Everything because he has things that would not be considered gain to him too.
But none of that deterred his single eyed devotion to Christ.
I count this and I look at this verse.
Not only, not for three days.
Blindness in Damascus, but four years in jail.
Sits, as it were, four years in jail and says I count all things.
But loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Do count them, but dung that I may win Christ.
One thing was beforehand.
One thing that he kept in mind always before him.
You know, in the Old Testament we have a warrior had a requirement to carry a shovel with him.
And intimately directly connected with warfare was.
The situation, the question of dumb.
The Apostle Paul.
Had not become to any state of progress by which the flesh became anything else but that.
And here he's willing to bury it all.
Judge it all, call it what it is.
So as not to be offensive to God.
What he says here I do count it all.
But dung that I may win Christ.
And be found in him. Now I believe I look at this as the end of his path. He as I look at three points in his pathway.
One is 3 days of blindness in four years in jail and here before the Lord Jesus. One of these moments he's going to stand before the Lord Jesus and he says and be found in him.
Not having mine own righteousness.
This is the end of the path where the Lord is, where he will stand before the Lord Jesus.
And all he wanted was what God would give him, according to what God thought of Christ.
Be found in him at that time not having anything I could say.
About what I had done or my path.
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But just to have what God wanted to give me in his own righteousness.
For the glory of Christ.
Not having mine own righteousness, which is or would be of the law or of law.
But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith.
Now we get to this point where he's looked at.
His path and he's got it before him, so to speak, in his mind and his thoughts, and he's laying it out in these steps and he comes to this point that I may know him.
And you know, that's the thing that the father has.
For you and me, the righteousness of God.
I look at the righteousness of God as God rewarding the Lord Jesus.
For his work on Calvary's cross, God.
Owes.
The Lord Jesus, all the glory.
And him paying the Lord Jesus, if we can say that, paying that obligation, paying what he owes to the Lord Jesus.
Part of that is to give us to know him.
That I may know him.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't we know him? We believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That I may know him.
You know the path of faith brings me to share.
The same path that the Lord Jesus walked.
The fellowship of his sufferings, but to know him.
And to walk in the same kind of obedience, certainly not the same amount or same degree, but to walk in that obedience the same path he walked.
And to know what he did, to do what he did.
In the path of faith.
To know him.
And the power of his resurrection.
And the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformal unto his death.
Now it's the view of Christ.
That is seen that brings all of this about.
Lord Dallas drawn us. We will follow thee.
And he presents himself as an attractive object before our souls.
By which we measure everything, gain to me, lost to me everything in this whole scene.
Fades out that I may have Christ for my gain. That's what the apostle is saying.
If by any means I might attain and the resurrection of the dead.
The resurrection of Out from among the dead here in this verse, I believe includes the rapture.
It's the first resurrection. It's the resurrection out from among the dead.
And all he had, he was living for that one moment.
He was living for that moment when he would stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said I have not yet attained.
Neither already perfect or mature, but I would follow after.
And I may apprehend that.
Now that's the thing that begins in the heart.
It's the it's the weakening of this desire.
For Christ, that brings about the first step out of Ephesians, downward out of Ephesians.
And connected with that.
Are my things.
My thing gained to me.
And the apostle, in this path he walked.
He is now in a certain place, in jail, in chains.
For a failure in that path.
But nothing has dampened his desire just to have Christ.
Whenever that is evident to me, about me, myself.
I need to talk to the Lord about it because that's the first thing.
That will bring about that downward step and we've talked much about.
Place in Christ.
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And enjoyment of it.
The first step out of it is when that man is not the one soul object and my being with him is not the one thing I'm living for.
It's the first step downward.
Verse 13 he says one thing.
I enjoy the word we find in a New Testament. It's used. It's called the mind.
Having the same mind, the mind of the flesh, etcetera. And I've thought of it in this sense.
To substitute a word, the word priority.
Having the same priority that Christ had, the priority of the flesh, is always against Christ.
Prior to the spirit noise foil is a way to grasp that the apostle he is just says one thing. That was that was his whole path didn't say the first thing, but he said just one thing I do.
I pressed toward the mark, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He knew what that calling was.
Sad to say that in the book of Colossians they had lost sense even what the calling was.
But he knew what that calling was. He knew his privileges in Christ.
He knew where God was going to take him, and not because of his own worth, but because of God designed to honor His beloved Son He was going to bring.
This man, Paul, into the highest of all blessings.
And Paul says, I want that. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.
In Christ Jesus.
Just to bring these thoughts before us.
Connected with those verses we've had in Ephesians which bring God's side of.
His own blessing to us. It's his blessing to us that we get in those early verses of Ephesians 2.
And here is a man who has seen that.
And he's seen the one who made it possible and the one who says that's what I want, that's all I want.
And that's what Spine will do, if I can see the Lord Jesus.
That's what I will want.
And his path, as he sets it out before us in this chapter, brings it down to one thing. This one thing I do.
Press toward the mark of the prize.
For the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And justice to read verse 15 for us as an exhortation and give time for other. But I let us therefore as many as be perfect.
I enjoy this word, perfect in the sense that it's somebody who understands what Romans 8 is saying about him.
When I understand what Romans chapter 8 is saying about me.
Let us therefore, as many to be perfect, be thus minded.
Let us rather be thus minded.
My turn to.
The first Epistle of John.
I, John. Chapter One.
And I'd like to read this chapter in a verse or two in the next chapter.
First John chapter one verse one that which was from the beginning.
Which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon.
And our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare unto you.
But he also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father.
And with his son Jesus Christ.
And these things rightly unto you, that your joy and may be full.
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This then is the message which we have heard of him. And declare unto you that God is light.
And in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
We walk in the light as He is in the light. We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we see that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
And the truth is not enough.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from our unrighteousness, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in US.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ the Righteous.
And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only.
But also for the sins of the whole world.
Now there's an expression, a word used.
And I'd like to look at that a little.
Comes before us more than once in the chapter, and that is the word fellowship.
Fellowship.
We use this expression.
Quite often.
To speak of different things in connection with those of us gathered to the precious name.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We speak of having fellowship.
We know he connected with the Lord's table.
We connected with the Lord's Supper.
And we are brought to enjoy.
Through singing hymns and offering praise.
In the remembrance of the Lord Jesus that we share together in our soul something of what it costs the Lord Jesus to go to the cross of Calvary to put away our sins. Fellowship.
Now we hear a great deal around us about membership.
And it's always connected, perhaps with some organization.
And it's very important in the eyes of many real Christians.
To belong to some organization.
Well, we realize that there is a membership, but it's not something that we join.
It's something we're joined to or someone we're joined to.
And it happened on the Day of Pentecost.
When the 120 people in that upper room.
Were baptized into one body by 1 Spirit.
United to one hand.
And since that time, the members of that body have been added to that body.
Once we look at that and realize that there is one bonding, and so when it comes to the Lord's Table, we look on the one loaf and we realize that there is one body of which every child of God is a member of that one body.
And so these things in connection with fellowship.
But there's something very different perhaps here.
And for those of us.
Perhaps.
That we might be able to enter into something.
From Luke 15.
And I'd like to go there just for a little.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 15.
And I like to read from verse 11.
We know this portion of the Word of God.
And it's used very much.
In the Gospel.
But I like to think of that, perhaps in a little different way.
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So we read from verse 11 of John of Luke 15.
Then he said a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father.
Father, give me the portion of goods.
They had fallen to me, and he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after.
The younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there.
Who wasted his substance with riotous living?
And when he had spent all their arose a mighty famine in that land.
And he began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to his citizens of that country.
And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would soon have filled his belly with the husk of the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many servants of my father's have bred enough and despair, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father.
And we'll say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight.
And have no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father, but when he was a great way off, his father saw him.
Had compassion, ran and fell on his neck.
And kissed him.
And the son said unto him.
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and have no more worthy to be called thy Son.
But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best room and put it on him.
And put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
Bring hit her the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.
For this, my son was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found.
And they began to be married.
Well, we see perhaps in this son in the father's house.
But he wasn't content.
Then perhaps you have been brought up in a Christian home.
And you've been there, enjoying the reading of the Word of God or?
Been there anyway to for the reading of the word and for prayer, and there have been many blessings, though it seemed that this was quite a comfortable home.
But.
This boy wasn't satisfying.
Is it possible for a Christian to have the advantages?
Of a Christian home, and to enjoy all that there is there in that home the care.
And all the things that perhaps others around you haven't.
Enjoyed and yet you're unhappy.
You're anxious to leave.
That's the way it was with this boy. He was in that place.
With his father.
But he wanted to be away.
He wanted to be on his own.
He didn't want perhaps the restrictions.
For undelivered his own life.
And, you know, very often.
When we have a desire like that, we can make a real mess of our lives.
I'm sure you would look at this boy.
And as he leaves.
And goes out from that place where he had perhaps very.
Special care and perhaps real protection.
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From the claims of this world and the attractions of this world and many other things, and he.
Leaves them.
Would there be anyone here this afternoon?
Who is anxious to be on their own?
They're more anxious and so they want to leave, they want to try.
What they think is going to give them happiness.
We know that there's only one can satisfy our hearts.
One person alone, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he was going to leave home and he was going to leave his father's care and perhaps the restrictions.
There, when he was going out, he.
And what a picture this is for us. You know, it's all downward once he leaves. It's down learning. And if we leave God out of our lives, the course is always downward.
Going down, down, down.
And it's not a very pretty picture.
And to see him.
They're wasting his life.
And ending up in a pigpen.
With nothing.
But the muck and mire.
No such a place.
Well, I suppose this was a real pigpen.
But perhaps there are many pig pens for people in this world.
They're worse than a real pig then.
Would bring more sorrow.
Dear young people.
Why did the Lord Jesus give us this?
Story.
Could it happen in my life?
I think it already happened in my life.
Could it happen in your life? Would it be possible?
Do I have a life even as a Christian that would want this?
And would go in this direction.
Have IA nature.
That would take me down this road.
Well, there was an opportunity to turn around.
And if you have these thoughts, maybe you should be touched today.
To buy what it is to have.
What this boy received when he turned around in his life.
I wonder if we're all in this room this afternoon, enjoying something.
It really stands out.
As you look at this story.
Because I believe this is the most beautiful picture.
That we have in the word of God.
To make God's heart known to us.
To make us stop and consider that God is really for us.
You know the scripture said God is for us.
Do I really believe that?
You know faith takes hold.
Of all of these things which we have been enjoying from Ephesians 2.
But faith takes hold of the truth.
That we need for the very situation we are in.
Perhaps we're going through a real trial.
And we have many concerns.
And God brings us to the place.
We were able to accept what is happening in our lives and He gives us peace.
And that's very sweet.
So I think this boy was really concerned, wasn't he? He wasn't really quite sure.
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What was going to happen when he got back home?
Perhaps you're going as this boy was and you don't turn around because you're not quite sure.
What would happen?
When you napped or when you knead?
Your father.
Because this is something that we wouldn't expect.
We would expect that after this boy had spent all his money, wasted it in our land, that he would be punished severely.
And our thoughts of God very often.
Are not as they should be.
For here we come, and here is this boy.
When I say this to the young people, do you know the heart of God?
Do I know God's heart?
Do I really understand?
You this story.
Do I really understand that God is waiting?
Long to rundown the road.
And throw his arms around me and crush me to his bosom.
And cover me with kisses.
Is that the God of the Bible?
Is that the God of Christianity? Is he that real?
Grandster.
Do you know what it is to be in his arms?
Do you know what it is to have those everlasting arms under you?
Holding you up.
This poor boy.
So anxious because he had nothing and God has to bring us there. He has to bring us. He woke this boy up. How neither was there in the pigpen, but now he's in the arms of his father.
I just asked myself, do I have a right thoughts of God? Do I really know the God of the Bible? Well, I really know the one that has been revealed to me.
By the Lord Jesus Christ who came down into this world.
We talked about fellowship.
And I just turned to these scriptures in Luke because to me they seem to present.
Fellowship.
And here I find with this boy in the arms of the father.
Jesus wept.
Over Jerusalem.
I'm not saying that God weeps.
Well, I'm sure there were tears in the eyes of this boy.
Wraps to the fathers too.
They were brought so close to another. The Union was so rear.
Heavy tasted of that.
Or are you going in the direction? Are you still running from God? Are you not too sure that this is what God longs for? I think the Father longed for this, The father of this boy longed for it, or he wouldn't have been going down the road to meet him when he in all his rags.
In all the smell of that pigpenny, the Father longed that the Son might understand his heart. Is that what God wants us to do? To know what's in his heart? To know that God is really for us?
Well, as you stop and think of this, here is a boy.
When is the picture of each of us and he has nothing, Nothing.
He's tried. He's tried to find happiness. He spent on. He's wasted years of his life perhaps.
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And he hasn't found it.
And he has nothing, but the Father has everything.
God is the great provider, isn't he?
From day one it was so in creation it was so. What do you have it's good that hasn't come from God? What do I have this good that hasn't come from God?
I said I know God.
Well, this is really the Lord Jesus showing us that there was nothing this boy needed that the Father didn't have.
Does God have everything for us?
Well, here was the best robe.
Think of those.
Old smelly clothes. So that pigpen. Yes, we can get pretty dirty in this world. We can bring in many strange things into our lives. But here is the best Rob.
Well, do we know it's Christ?
When we dressed in his righteousness and here is this boy in this picture and he has on the very best world.
And as you stand in the presence of his father.
And that's how we stand before God.
We couldn't have on a better dress. We have the righteousness of God, God's own provision, righteousness because of the sacrifice of Calvary. What else does he have?
He has a ring for his hand.
He has shoes for his feet so had it long.
A love that was real.
Oh, God's love is so real.
Because.
It never changes.
And he has to bring me back to the cross.
Have you come to the place where you've said in the presence of the Lord Jesus at the Lord's Supper?
And you have gone by the Spirit of God and through the Word of God, and you have viewed for yourself.
The Lord Jesus who died in the cross for you.
Died for me.
Have you been there?
Say I go to meeting.
I partake of the bread and of the cup. Whether have I discerned the Lord's body?
As those hymns we sing together and that praise that's offered.
Do I really see for myself the love of God and the gift of His beloved sin?
Now the scripture says.
They didn't discern the Lord's body.
And for this cause, many were weak and sickly, and many slapped.
Weak, sickly and many Why?
And I asked myself.
What come week after week? I said, in the very presence of the Lord Jesus. And do I discern?
For myself, what it cost my precious loving Savior to go to the cross and die for me.
To bear the judgment of God from our sins.
And sometimes.
I get a little taste in fellowship with God.
As I see.
The sacrifice, the death of my savior.
What a savior Jesus is. Oh Christ indeed, my soul has found and found in the alone.
The joy of peace I sought so long, the bliss till now and now. Now none but Christ can satisfy another name for me.
Dear child of God.
The ring, his issues, you know, we have to walk in the truth.
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Faith is individual. Someone else can't believe for you.
And no one else can believe for me.
When so faith as we've been learning.
Is connected with.
Walking.
Walking.
You know, looking unto Jesus.
The first look is salvation. The first real look at Jesus Christ who died in the cross for you as his senior saves your soul for eternity. Every after look. He's the power of living and there.
12Th chapter of Hebrews. It's looking.
You don't just take one look.
You keep looking.
Looking where?
At your brethren, at your leader.
Where do you look?
Looking unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus.
Are we looking at Jesus in these meetings?
I were looking daily at this wonderful, precious savior.
Walking. And so this boy, where does he walk?
Down the road now he goes hand in hand with his father into the father's house to enjoy with the father fellowship, and it's delayed.
It's the valid calf.
Let us eat and be merry.
Are we happy? Are we rejoicing? Are we married?
But your joy might be full. That's what you have in fellowship. I just leave these few thoughts with us.
Oh, in need who he needs so much in these days, they have Christ.
Jesus before us. No one.
So wonderful as he.
He's the bread of God.
The bread of God. He is the bread that come down from heaven.
He's the one.
That will satisfy your heart.
And he will satisfy my heart.
It's the Lord Jesus.
Have you enjoyed fellowship? Are you enjoying fellowship now?
Are you up on the Mount of Transfiguration? Are you looking there and you're seeing this one and you're hearing God saying this is my beloved son?
Here John Curry know this is my beloved son.
Hear him.
Listen for his voice.
He'll lead you aright.
Could you turn with me, please to Psalm 139?
A few thoughts that.
Have come before one in this Psalm I'd like to share.
With you this afternoon, we've already had reference to this sound.
Versus.
15 and 16, but I'd like to read the entire Psalm.
Psalm 139.
Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising.
As I understand is my thought of far off. Thou compassed my path and my lying down, and aren't acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word in my tongue. But lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand.
Upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high I cannot attain.
Unto it Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
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If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me.
Ye the darkness hideth not from thee.
But the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God.
How great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked. O God, depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O Lord that hate thee and them not, I grieve with those that.
Rise up against thee. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in a way everlasting.
This appears to be a very searching sound.
The Psalm begins with searching.
O Lord, Thou has searched me and known me.
Does that.
Strike terror into your soul.
Is the thought of God searching you and me that which?
We would.
Considered to be very undesirable.
Well, if we didn't know God, if you don't know him this afternoon.
I believe it is a terrible thought.
But you know.
Here the psalmist says.
Thou hast.
Not me.
And God knows me this afternoon, He knows you.
He knows what.
Wretched beggars of the dunghill we have been.
And we have read about our condition apart from.
God, they're in Ephesians 2 That we are controlled by the power of Satan.
And.
Walking in disobedience according to the course of this world.
And then to your thought of how that we were once dead in trespasses and in sins. What an awful condition.
And God knows all about it.
But I'm here this afternoon.
To tell you.
And I know others can join with me and say he knows me, but I know him.
You know, dear ones, it's.
Wonderful to be acquainted with the God of.
The universe, the God of whom we've been hearing this afternoon.
The one who desires your blessing and mine, and even though he would search us.
And.
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See what we are by nature.
Wonderful to realize that God.
Is a God of grace.
And he has made.
Every provision so that you and I.
Can be cleansed from our sin and be made perfectly fit to sit in His holy presence. How wonderful it is to know God.
To know him is to love him.
To know Him is to enjoy peace.
And to know that all is well for time and for eternity.
Is there somebody here this afternoon who is a stranger?
To this wonderful God of whom we are speaking.
Acquaint now thyself with him.
And be at peace.
And thereby good shall come unto thee.
Here we find David.
Being searched, I was searched.
And known me.
Does he resent the searching? Well, when we come to the end of the chapter.
Notice what he says verse 23. Search me O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me.
And lead me in the way everlasting.
I believe David was a man after God's own heart, because David.
He lived in the enjoyment of God's mercy.
And he could speak of how that God.
He was plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive.
One who is gracious. David knew God.
And I believe you and I, we ought to know him.
In a more fuller way than David, because he has revealed himself to us in Jesus.
Now wonderful to consider that we know God through the person of his dear Son, the Lord Jesus, that blessed One, who perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father, glorified him in life but also in death, demonstrated his love for the Father, but also his love for you and me, the Son of God.
Lay down his life. No greater love as a man than this.
And so we find that David's desire is that he might be searched.
So that if there was anything that would hinder.
His enjoyment of fellowship with God it might be judged.
In order that there might be perfect joy.
Happiness. We've been speaking about that fellowship with the father.
The apostle John could say there's no greater joy than this to enjoy fellowship with the Father.
And with his son Jesus Christ.
This afternoon.
Is it your desire? Is it mine?
That the Lord would search our hearts so that if there is that which is offensive.
It might enable us to judge that in order that we might.
Walk with him in the enjoyment of his company. We know he does walk with us.
But are we in the enjoyment of his companionship? You know, this is a beautiful Psalm.
I believe it.
Simply.
Divides itself into 4 sections.
Of 6 verses each.
I really enjoyed this thought. You know the 1St.
6 verses could we say, present to us God as the one.
Who is omniscient? Big word?
Simply means all knowing.
And so we find here God is omniscient in the next 6 verses.
We have God as the one who is omnipresent.
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Another big word, but it simply means all present or ever present.
The next 6 verses we find God as the one who is omniscient.
All powerful and then the last 6 verses I believe is the psalmist's reaction.
To this wonderful knowledge of God.
Well here David, he says, thou knowest my down sitting in verse two, and mine up rising without understandeth my thought of far off.
Here we have God.
Understanding our thought in verse three, our actions.
He knows all about them and in verse four, our words.
Our thoughts, our actions, our words, nothing is hid from the Lord.
He sees us sitting down here this afternoon.
It tells us in verse 2.
And I believe it delights his heart to see those that are sitting down here in their seats.
Because your desire is to hear the word of God.
Your desire is to with others of like precious faith worship.
The Lord.
And.
To come together to express our dependence on Him in prayer.
He sees this, he values it.
But you know, perhaps, and I speak to myself as much as to anyone else.
There are times when we are sitting in places.
That perhaps God would not find his delight in.
Well, it's a searching thought that God sees where we sit.
And in Psalm 1, the psalmist, he says, there blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you didn't feel comfortable because.
You know the Lord.
Would never leave you nor forsake you. But you knew the Lord wasn't happy where you were sitting. You were sitting in the seat of the scornful.
Among those that were ridiculed, your savior.
Oh dear, once mate, we.
Watch Our Town sitting and here.
God sees our uprising and then too he understands our thoughts.
Far off we've had in this.
Conference how that the mind is that which I believe can become the plaything of the enemy.
The mind.
We had read to us. I believe it was from 2 Corinthians.
Where the apostle he was concerned that the Saints.
Their minds would be corrupted and they would be removed from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Well, this is what the enemy would seek to do to corrupt our minds.
With the thoughts of men. Vain philosophy.
Anything but Christ.
We used to hold meetings in a nursing home.
And.
The activity director.
In that nursing home, I'm sorry to say.
He was a skeptic, perhaps I should say an infidel. He really had.
No appreciation for the gospel, even though for a time we were allowed to hold meetings in that place.
But he told me, he said. You've been speaking about John 316.
And he said that maybe all right for you, but he said that's too simple.
He said. I can't accept that.
And so it is that.
Man today.
He is seeking, I believe, to exalt the intellect.
And.
It's taking him farther away from the truth of God and the simplicity that is in Christ.
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Well, may we desire that our minds would be controlled.
By the Lord that you know, we might cast down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. This is the happy pack and the Lord. This afternoon He looks right down into your brain and he sees your thoughts and he knows them from afar off. Well, He's acquainted with our ways. He sees our actions.
And then there are the words.
And it says there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
You know it only takes one.
Word.
To spoil.
A lovely situation to shatter a beautiful picture. Just the wrong word.
And we need to be careful, don't we, about our words. I believe our words. They can be health to the bones, but then too they can be like the piercing of a sword.
Our words.
May the meditation of our heart and the words of our mouth be acceptable to the Lord. Well, I believe our words really are the index of our heart. It's out of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks. We betray, I believe, what's in our hearts.
By our words, something to consider.
Well then he goes on and speaks of the fact that the Lord is with us wherever.
Verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy presence? And so on.
You can't go anywhere but what he is there, but why would you want to flee from his presence?
Dear ones, in his presence is fullness of joy. Why would we want to flee from fullness of joy? Oh, what a precious savior we have and.
Heaven will be what it is because Jesus is there.
I distinctly remember I was in a 10th grade world history class and.
The instructor.
He was.
Rather, a flippant type of person had really no concern, I believe, for the things of God. But he did ask the question, he said, now what is it that will make heaven so wonderful? Is it going to be ice cream cones?
Passed around up there.
You know, everybody just sat in a class.
Real quiet, nobody made a move and all of a sudden the girl is sitting right next to me. She put up her hand.
And she just said.
It will be.
Because Jesus is there. That's what's going to make it so wonderful.
You know, that was a word to my conscience as well as to my heart. All my heart was warmed up, but my conscience told me I should have put up my hand first.
That was a wonderful confession that she made.
You know there once we can enjoy the days of heaven right here upon earth.
Because here we find that the Lord is with us wherever we might be.
And we can enjoy his companionship. And then it goes on to say.
In verse 11, if I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. You know, we look about and we see the world. It just seems to be getting worse and worse. And you read the newspaper and it's filled with murder and corruption, immorality and all sorts of violence. It's just a terrible.
Description of condition of things about us and we might think, well, we're going to be just overwhelmed by.
The darkness. But notice what we have here. It's beautiful.
Even the night shall be light about me. Isn't it wonderful? Even in the midst of a condition of things in the world, this afternoon we can enjoy a light of heaven, the glory of His presence.
Yeah, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Well may we find comfort in God and His Word. It is that which will support us, illuminate our, illuminate our pathway. I remember seeing a display one time, I think it was set up at the high school.
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And here were these various pieces of equipment that the soldiers used.
In their military military endeavors.
And they had this.
Pair of goggles. I never had seen anything like this, but apparently you could put on these goggles.
And even at night, they would allow you to see quite a distance through the darkness. I thought that'd be interesting to be able to try those goggles. Well, you know, dear ones.
This book I hold in my hands.
Are the goggles for you and for me during the night of this world. The power of the darkness is great, but oh, wonderful to realize we've been translated into the Kingdom of God's dear Son and through this blessed book.
We can enjoy light.
In our souls, the entrance of His word, it gives light, and we can have direction.
Well, then we go on and we find that God is omniscient in connection with creation and the very fact that you and I are here this afternoon. It's the work of God. What a miracle to consider how he could put Adam together out of the dust of the ground and then breathe into his nostrils the breath of life. He becomes a living soul. And here we are, part of Adam's race, God.
Is indeed the Creator.
He is the one that is all powerful and I suppose this has been brought out. We do have perhaps a reference to the Church.
In his thoughts even before the world came into existence, verses 15 and 16.
Well, the psalmist here, you know, he says these thoughts.
In verse 17, they're precious. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God.
How great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they are more in number.
Then the sand when I awake, I am still with thee. And so we find that the psalmist is in the enjoyment of God's goodness. You know David, he could say he would have fainted if he had, unless he had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Well, he saw it, didn't he? Here we are in the land of the dying. We too can enjoy.
The goodness of God May we ever keep ourselves in the love of God.
And if there is something in our lives that would hinder?
Our enjoyment of His love, of His person and fellowship. May our prayer be as that of David of old. Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in a way.
Everlasting, this is the happy path to go.
God's way.
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So it is therefore.
I am not scared.