Open—M.W. Smith, M. Miller, R. Thonney
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Again.
Hebrews 13.
And verse 8.
Jesus Christ.
The same.
Yesterday.
And today?
And forever.
I certainly don't wish to duplicate what our brother is, said We I'm sure that we all have valued and.
The warning, the exhortation of which were given to us.
But I'm thinking of this in connection.
With the person of Christ.
We were here together this morning to remember him in his death.
And.
We know that we are not the sorrows. At least we know in part.
The sorrows which were his.
In that work, which was accomplished at Calvary's cross.
But I'd like to think of this and pass it on.
Concerning.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in the past eternity.
And when he was down here in this world.
And also.
Now that he is in the glory.
Would you turn with me, please, to Psalm 102?
It isn't my purpose to go into the details in any of the scriptures that we might.
Look at.
But only to see in it.
The carrying out of God's purpose.
Which is purpose, and we know that God's purpose concern you and me.
Psalm 102.
And we might read from verse 18.
This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.
Julia this morning.
We had occasion to praise the Lord.
And these things which were written in the Old Testament were written.
That there may be even amongst us in this day.
That which would be for the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 19.
For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold the earth.
To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death.
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the people are gathered together in the kingdoms.
To serve the Lord.
Now we have the words of our Lord Jesus, which follow the.
And is spoken of anticipation of his coming into this world.
He awakened my strength in the way.
Be shortened my day.
We read in Psalm 8 or in Proverbs chapter 8. We won't turn to it.
But we have there the expression of the Lord when he said, my delights.
Were with the children of men.
No. Wonderful to think.
That even in a past eternity, before there was ever any world.
Before there was any human being.
The Lord Jesus could look.
With delight.
Upon the children of men.
Knowing full well what man would be, what man would do.
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And yet on the purposes of God.
And with the Lord Jesus as the Son of God.
To know that his purposes were that he might have pleasure.
In people with men.
He awakened my strength in the way.
The prophetic word as to what the Lord Jesus would have to go through on Calvary's cross.
For the next words we find the answer.
Of God the Father to the Son.
Well, the 24th verse.
I said, Oh God, take me not away in the midst of my days.
The Lord Jesus was comparatively a young man.
When he hung up on the cross.
And when he dismissed his spirit.
We understand from scripture.
That.
A godly Jew.
Looked forward to a long life.
There was a promise in the law.
That if he obeyed the voice of God, that their days would be long upon the earth.
Of course the Lord will give them.
If there was any man who was here in this world and I speak reverently.
The Lord Jesus was the only man here in this world.
Of whom God could say, and say from the glory, This is my beloved Son.
In whom I am well pleased.
On more than one occasion.
We have those words spoken from the glory and heard.
Here in this world.
But he awakened my days.
I said, Oh my God, take me another way.
In the midst of my days.
And God gives the answer to that.
Thy years are throughout all generations.
Of old Hassar laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens of the work of thy hands.
They shall perish.
But thou shalt endure.
Yeah, all of them shall wax the old naked garment that a vesture Shall thou change them, and they shall be changed.
But thou art the same.
Now we understand from some of our writers.
Who know the original languages?
That the same spoken of here should have a capital S on it.
One of the titles of our Lord Jesus Christ, the.
And as we read in Hebrews chapter 13, Jesus Christ the same.
Yesterday.
And today?
And forever.
Oh, marvelous is a word of God which gives us.
The understanding of what was in the mind of a holy.
God.
When he sent his son into this world.
And even before that when the.
Councils of God were recorded.
That he was to come into the world.
To be your savior and mine. To believe on Him. And one would trust that those who are here today.
If they do not already know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
That soon.
That now they may be able to say, I want him as my savior.
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The one who desired my company even though he spoke it in the past eternity.
Thou art the same in thy years shall not fail.
Thy year shall have no end.
The children of thy servants shall continue, and their sins will be established before the.
The time is coming.
When all shall be according to the mind of God.
When all of God's creation shall have served His purpose.
And as it tells us here, the time is coming.
When what God has accomplished as far as the creation is concerned, well if have fulfilled their present purpose and shall be changed.
But the one that we know as our Savior.
Was the same. He had the same feelings toward you and me.
In a past eternity, as he has now and as he will have.
Forever.
How wonderful it is to know that.
That nothing can change the purposes of God.
That God's purposes.
Will all be fulfilled.
One things of past years when it was the duty of some of us.
To layout programs for those for whom we worked.
To make programs for the next five years, for the next 10 years.
Yes, Sir, What would be accomplished?
And as we understood, if we got 10% of those programs accomplished, we were doing pretty good.
God's purposes will be fulfilled in their entirety.
And though we pass through troubles and difficulties down here.
We know that all the purposes of God worked together for good to them that love Him.
That will be carried out.
We get him back to the thoughts of one house in connection with these verses.
We find the carrying out of the purpose of God. Let's turn to Two Corinthians chapter 8.
Which was also read to us today.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 8.
And verse 9.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
That gazed through his poverty might be rich.
Not only did the Lord look down to hear the groaning.
Other creation.
We know we heard the groanings of the children of Israel.
The days passed.
But the Lord looked down upon you and me.
And he understood all the difficulties that we would pass through.
Yeah, he knew it all.
But he was a rich one.
He was in the glory. His person was all glorious.
But he laid all that aside.
Because he heard our groanings.
You knew our needs.
And he came down.
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To do what we could never do.
He came down here into this world, laying aside His glory.
You did all that.
In order that you and I.
Might be rich.
The day is coming when we're going to be in the glory.
But even now, here as we are here in this world.
How rich we are through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You and I, through the work of our Lord Jesus, have been made the children of God.
Through faith in Him.
All this.
Was his purpose for us.
Always think that we're not or what it cost him.
In order that it might be so for us.
The Lord Jesus.
Laid aside as glory came into the world.
He came into this world in poverty.
And as he ministered here in this world.
He saw the poor.
The infirm.
Even though.
Who had died? He saw them.
All the groanings.
And he himself a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
He came into the world.
The world didn't know him.
He came to his own.
And they wouldn't have him.
Nor they rejected him.
They said away with him. We will not have this man crucify him.
What did it mean to the heart?
Of our Lord Jesus.
Then you're the sorrow.
When he came in grace.
And his grace was rejected.
We also had before us.
The Lord Jesus.
Even with his own.
If we were to turn to the 13th chapter of John's Gospel.
We find there the Lord Jesus with his own those who have been with him.
For some 3 1/2 years as we believe.
And as he's talking with them.
We have the record having loved his own Witcher in the world, he loved them to the end.
And yet.
He could say, one of you shall betray me.
Did he feel it?
If we were to turn to the Psalms again.
Just a quote it.
At least in substance.
That there was that one with whom he had been familiar.
They had walked to the House of God together.
His own familiar friend.
He lifted his heel against me.
Yes.
And then on that same night.
He could say that we have already heard about and we know about it.
To Peter.
Tonight.
Before the morning comes. Before the **** grows in the morning.
Three times you're going to deny you know me.
Did the Lord Jesus feel that?
Did it hinder him in his purpose?
Jesus Christ.
The same yesterday.
And today?
And forever.
His feelings toward you and me.
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Never changed one bit.
Begin on that same night.
As he was telling his own about the father's house.
That he was going to have his own with him there.
That is going to come back personally.
To bring his own into the Father's house.
Tell him all about the Father's love.
And yet.
His heart was so heavy.
With all that.
They can say the Prince of this world cometh.
He said, I will not talk much with you anymore. To the Prince of this world cometh Ness, and hath nothing in me.
While Heather cross before him.
And as we read the record.
In the different gospels of what the Lord Jesus went through with the hands of men.
Of how they exposed all the hatred of their heart against him.
Yeah, they can say Father forgive them.
For they know not what they do.
He became poor in this world in order that we might be rich.
Oh yeah.
All that.
At the hands of a holy man.
The Son of God.
And we were considering this morning as we were thinking of our Lord Jesus, remembering him.
Of how?
Not only was it at the hands of men.
That he received all.
But he is the one of whom God could say, This is my beloved Son, and who am I well pleased?
Yeah.
He was alone on the cross.
My God, my God, why yourself for shaken me?
Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted they were delivered.
But I'm a worm and no man.
Do we enter into it?
I don't believe.
That way you're ever going to enter in fully.
Into the thoughts.
Or the feelings, the sorrow.
Of the Lord Jesus.
Not even in the glory will we be able to enter into but all.
It was invincible.
It was bottomless sorrow that he bore.
All this.
From the.
Who had been rich in glory?
And he laid that glory aside for you and me.
All this.
Yeah.
But.
The Lord of Life.
To enter into death.
The Lord Jesus Christ would enter into the domain.
Of Satan in order to gain the victory for you and for me.
I'm sure that we here are aware of the fact that the Lord Jesus should have could have gone back to glory at any moment. He had the perfect right to go back.
As one of the persons of the Godhead.
He never gave up that.
Right to be one of the persons of the God, that he could not.
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He was a creator of all things.
He was the one who could speak.
That all things were done.
And yet.
He would allow himself to be taken.
And not only.
To be on the cross bearing our sins.
But Abel do dismiss his spirit.
Enter into death.
Into Satan's domain.
In order that for the third day that he would rise again.
And gain the mighty victory.
Over the one who had the power.
Death.
With another verse I'd like to speak concerning before I leave and give place to someone else here.
Let's turn to Hebrews again.
The 12Th chapter.
Verse one.
Wherefore seeing we also are confident about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight.
And the sin was just so easily beset us.
Let us run with patience a race that is set before us, looking under Jesus.
The beginner and completer of faith.
Hope for the joy that was set before him.
Endured the cross.
Despising the shame.
And the set down of the right hand.
That the throne of God.
Dear fellow believer.
The Lord Jesus.
Endured it all. Now we know that there were several.
Characters of joy that were before him.
But I believe among others.
And which I wish to speak of now, that is, that he had the joy before him.
Of the fact.
That there would be a company in the coming day who would be with him in the glory.
It is true that there was the delight of knowing he had accomplished the will of God.
He had carried out the purposes of God.
But think of the joy.
To have a company.
Of redeemed souls.
To be in the glory with Him.
We have been marked out.
To be to His glory.
What a glory will be to him in the coming days.
To have around him those who are the very reflection of His glory.
And where God can look around on all sides, speak irreverently.
And to see there.
In your face and mine, in glorified bodies.
The reflection.
Of his own son.
But neither the sorrow the Lord Jesus went through that it might be so.
And the Lord Jesus.
Before he went to the cross.
Could have his own around himself.
And say Remember Me.
Remember Me?
Where we all here this morning remembering the Lord Jesus?
In his death.
Where our hearts here.
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Did we?
Have the Lord's Lord before.
As the one who alone is worthy of our praise.
Of our worship.
Consider him.
That endures this contradiction of sinners against himself.
Or are we worried and faint in our minds?
Are we here just because we can come into a place?
And some of us come here to just to visit with others of the Lord's people.
All think of the Lord Jesus.
The one who is in the midst of his own.
Harry delights to have us occupied.
With what is done for us.
Because as to His glory that it should be so is to His glory that our thoughts.
Should be with him.
We're going to be with him in the glory.
We're going to see a minute in its beauty.
But beloved, we're going to see him too.
As the one who was freshly slain.
What our Lord Jesus went through.
That Calvary.
Is going to be before his own.
Just before the scene in heaven.
His father.
There in the glory can look on the Lord Jesus Christ and see Him.
As a lamb that had been slain.
That is the theme of heaven.
Thou art worthy, for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, not of ever hidden kindred and tongue, people and nation.
And it's all.
To what the Lord Jesus went through in sorrow for you and me.
Maybe not forget it.
He's going to have it with joy, with him in the glory.
To let us not forget that it cost him.
All that he went through down here in this scene.
Forgive me, brethren, for taking this liberty.
Jesus Christ the same.
Yesterday. Today.
And forever.
That just struck me in a new way.
Jesus Christ the same today, yesterday, and forever.
This is my beloved son and who I am well pleased.
Jesus Christ.
The one who deserves.
All praise.
And who won the pleasure of the Father?
2000 years ago.
This beloved one was told by the Father.
That he was his beloved son, and in him he had all his pleasure.
Today, does not the Father deserve that same pleasure?
He does in the sun.
The brother and I am looking at and we are looking at each other.
As representatives of that blessed 1:00 today.
Does not the Father deserve?
To look upon us and say.
I have found pleasure.
I am sure that he does.
Because we have in US Christ.
I was thinking.
How the themes of these meetings have been.
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Pretty much on.
The blessedness of.
In Matthew it says, Blessed are they.
You hunger and thirst after righteousness.
I believe that I can honestly say that in this room.
There may be some that.
Know what this blessing is, this happiness?
But sorrowfully, I would have to say there are many here who doesn't know much about it.
And the reason I can say that is because I know my own soul.
How much do I thirst and how much do I hunger for righteousness?
My person depends upon it.
What righteousness?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the righteousness.
There is no other righteous.
How much do I hunger and thirst for that Blessed One?
What has been brought before me?
And I suppose it's because I'm more familiar with these two examples of Scripture deals with the thirst.
Than with the hunger.
But I'm sure that we could follow it through on the hunger side as well.
What I have on my heart is passages in Exodus, and I believe the first one is found in 16.
I want to say that.
This verse in Matthew.
He that hungers and thirst, blessed is he that hungers and thirst after righteousness.
Is a very, very high thought.
And I'm going to go backwards. I'm going to go down.
And hope that we can get to the root.
Of what brings one to this point?
I feel very inadequate but.
I have this heavily on my heart.
I believe in Exodus 16.
I'm looking for the portion right after the song.
Maybe it's 17.
I've been too far along.
Are you looking at Exodus 17 verse 3?
No, I wanted to place ahead of that where?
For they first begin the 1St.
15, OK, that's right. Yes.
And then they came to Myra. They could not drink of the waters of Myra, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of the.
Name of it was called Myra, and the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, the.
Which when when he had cast into the water, the waters were made sweet.
And there he made for them a statute and an ordinance.
And there he proved them.
My thought was.
Reading this portion.
As preserving it as a halfway point.
The halfway as I am going back to the route.
It is a point where the water of the.
Of the wilderness.
Was bitter.
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I don't have too much to say on it, other than I want to point out that in order to arrive at the place where the water of the wilderness is bitter, we must follow.
God and his directive.
There is.
In the.
Word of God and in the direction of the Holy Spirit, that which will bring us away from the things of this world and make them distasteful to us.
That is where these children of God are found here the water of the.
Of the wilderness was bitter.
But it's very encouraging to see that God does not let them thirst or make them drink the bitter water.
The Christ is presented to him and type here the wood is thrown into the water. The things of the world that are necessary to us is given to us in the light of the death of Christ.
These are things we need to ask ourselves as we walk this this path in the world.
It's what we're protecting of the world.
Does it have behind it, in our minds, in our hearts, the death of Christ?
Have we decided?
To be satisfied with that which is bitter.
Or have we taken account of what?
As our brother have just told us the cost of that blessed One on the tree.
And then become satisfied with what God gives us of this.
World.
I want to go back now to.
Exodus 7 or 8.
What I consider to be the very root.
Of beginning on the trail of becoming happy.
Seeking.
Righteousness.
You will notice I I don't want to spend a lot of time searching scripture.
You will notice if you look through.
This portion of the plagues.
As they are presented.
That there is an instance when God speaks to Moses in relation to the children of Israel and he calls them signs.
But when he speaks to Moses in relation to Egypt, they are plagues or judgments.
So we don't want to Passover these lightly and say that this is all history and it has not to do with us today.
For we are in this position that the children of Israel was there in the eyes of God, His representative, His people.
And we have signs in this portion of Scripture. We cannot discount them because they have been so long ago.
I was.
Thinking of I'll find the verse here.
The waters became blood and I was thinking more of when God was telling Moses.
OK, yeah, 17 that says the Lord.
And this thou shalt know, that I am Lord. Behold, I will smite.
With the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall turn to blood.
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink. And the Egyptians?
Shall loathe to drink the water.
Chapter verse 19 that I felt when I first read this is this could not become be taken lightly.
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Was that there's quite a bit of detail of the vessels which?
In which the water became blood.
It was not too important. I think the Holy Spirit would have said all water became blood.
But it is presented in such a way that we can relate our lives to some of these items.
Our brother Henry, one time either in a gospel meeting, Henry Short in a gospel meeting or an open meeting, made the comment that really struck me, he said.
The water in Egypt.
Was furnished by the rivers, but the water in Kanum Canaan came through. The rain came from heaven.
That was a dear thought to me.
Here we have in the world the children of God in *******.
And God shows his people his judgment on what sustains.
What nourishes?
The new translation says reservoirs what can be piled up for future use.
Basins of wood and basins of stone, that which can be held in our homes.
All over the world.
God has said there is death. I pronounce judgment.
Is dead.
It is God's purpose.
We notice from this section also.
That he wishes his people to go 3 days journey into the wilderness. In the new translation it says that they may serve me. I think in this it says that they may worship me. Why can't they worship me in Egypt?
God wants them to take three day journey.
The conditions of the world.
Whether they be the rivers, the ponds, the reservoirs or what we have in our homes.
Are not suitable for the worship of God or for the service of God.
Can it be any clearer?
We must take the three day journey that brings in again the wood that was thrown into the water.
Death of Christ, Resurrection.
All of this, all that is in this world, God has placed His judgment on. There is nothing but death in it.
Three days journey is necessary.
I know that I'm not very good at expressing what's.
What's on my heart but.
I hope you're following me enough to know.
That, brethren, we should be grieved with the conditions in which we live.
By our choice.
Three day journey is necessary.
We must enter into the good in our lives, our day-to-day lives of the death and resurrection.
Of our beloved Savior.
God deserves today to look upon the representatives in this world 2000 years after the death of Christ and say.
I find some delight.
Not in us, but in what we have in Christ.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
A few minutes left bread, and I'd like to go back to the 12Th chapter of Hebrews. And again, the portion that sure, we've all enjoyed very much and a portion that I feel my own soul is so important to be reminded of again and again as we're going through this world.
Just read a few verses down into the chapter.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience.
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The race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God?
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin.
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receive it. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? And if ye be without chastisement whereof all our partakers, then are ye ******** and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh.
Which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, that He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which be lame be turned out of the way. But let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
In this portion, the Apostle Paul, whom we believe wrote this epistle, is addressing the Hebrew believers.
And the book in its entirety is a beautiful call to come out from that system of things that was an Old Testament times, a foreshadow of that one who is to come, God's beloved Son. And now that he had come, those Jewish believers again were in danger of returning to the forms of that Jewish religion.
When they had the reality.
Dear brethren, we live in a day when there's a lot of form of religion as well, But how wonderful this call, dear brethren, to be occupied not with a form.
No, to be occupied with a person of God's beloved Son, that one who is the same yesterday, today, forever, that one who's going to enrapture our hearts for all eternity.
And so the call is here in the first verse.
Having been compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, those witnesses of faith in the 11Th chapter that we read of there to encourage us as we heard about in the last meeting, we are to follow the faith of those that have gone before, not their failures. And so there are cloud of witnesses to encourage us, but never, never.
To fix our eyes on them, dear brethren.
No seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily be set as, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking.
Unto Jesus.
Is as a sense, dear brethren, looking unto Jesus, is taking the vision away from other things that surround us here in this world. Even taking the vision away from our brethren and placing it on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. How important, dear brethren, to do that in our day and age there seems to be so much of A being occupied with one.
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And with another. And we all have our failures, dear brethren, and sooner or later, for as much as we may appreciate and value a dear brother and appreciate his faith and follow it, we're going to find something that is not perfect. There was only one who was perfect in everything, our Lord Jesus. And our direction, our attention is directed to him, looking unto Jesus.
The author and finisher of our faith. We've already heard a little bit of that verse. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Our attention is to be directed above, dear brethren. It is natural, I suppose, and normal. When a new believer comes to the Lord Jesus, a new person comes to the Lord Jesus receives them as his Savior. That we kind of.
Tend to look to the person who is instrumental in bringing us blessing and perhaps even in our first years in the Christian life that we have that tendency. But really, as we continue to grow on the things of the Lord, there ought to be a looking away unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Oh dear brethren, we're being tested in our days.
And we have in this chapter of the discipline of the Lord. Thank God He disciplines us. Why does He discipline us? What is it that moves his hand to bring down such sore trials at times to His love? He loves us too much to let us go our own ways.
And he's not going to let us go our own ways. He's going to bring his hand down.
To discipline us, whom the Lord loves, he chastens.
He verse.
Six for whom the Lord loves. He chasteneth and scourge every son whom He receive it. It's His love for you and I feeling something of His hand of discipline. Remember, it's His love. Sometimes the Lord uses some human instrument or some circumstance.
To make His discipline felt in our lives. And we make the mistake of directing our attention to that instrument that the Lord has used. How great a mistake it is, dear brethren. It's His hand. Let's direct our attention to Him.
I love that third verse. Now going to that third verse says consider him.
Who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds?
And the Spanish translation it says.
Reduce your thoughts to him.
I love that, you know, sometimes our thoughts go helter skelter One Direction another.
And they're not very well controlled.
We need to have a thought reduction program. There's such a thing as weight reduction programs. We need thought reduction programs, dear brethren.
Reduce your thoughts to Him. Are you going through a particular trial at this time? Reduce your thoughts to Him. He suffered far more than any of us.
Will ever be called to suffer. And he went right on through, and he's sitting at the right hand of the glory of God right now, triumphant.
Oh dear, brethren, that's the objective we're called to think about.
Not so much to look at one another, but to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Seems like, as has been mentioned in these meetings, Satan is trying to weary us. There's so much trouble and problems, Dear brother, what is going to keep us going on?
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What is going to keep us pressing on in that Christian race that's set before us is to consider Him.
Reduce your thoughts to Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be worried and faint in your minds.
And I just like to mention a few thoughts on down in these verses that have been really precious to my own soul.
I know they're not new, but we need to be reminded these things, brethren. I do, I know I do. We get we're forgetful.
There's three ways we can react to the discipline of the Lord.
Two, we have in these first in verse 5.
You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Here we have.
Two ways of reacting under the discipline of the Lord. We're creatures of extremes. Sometimes we act in one way and sometimes we act in another. First reaction is to despise the chastening of the Lord. Oh, how important it is to realize that in every single circumstance of your life and mine, the Lord has His hand. A father who loves his children and sees his child going in a way that's going to end in sorrow is going to speak to that child.
And if he doesn't pay attention, he's going to speak again, probably raising his voice a little bit more. And if he still doesn't pay attention, he's probably going to speak even louder. Why is it that the Lord has to speak so loud to us, dear brethren? Why is it he has to speak so loud to me?
It's because I don't listen to his voice in the little things.
We would be sensitive, have consciences that are tender, and the little things perhaps he wouldn't have to.
Dear brethren, bring His hand down so strong in our lives. This is one purpose of His discipline. It's not the only purpose, and I don't want to suggest that it is the only purpose, but I do feel, dear brother, we need to have our attention directed to Him. I've been mentioning to some.
Here, speaking between meetings, that we live in a society where when there is a problem in a certain company perhaps that we might work in, the problem is studied for cause and effect and how we can avoid the problem the next time and it's all explained out.
You know, it's awful easy to be swept into that kind of thinking.
And not realize that there is one and really only one cause in the Christians life. For everything that happens the Lord allowed it with a specific purpose of blessing for me. For as much as it may have hurt me what a brother may have said, still it was the Lord that allowed me to hear it even.
And he has a purpose for me in having heard it, a purpose that I should be exercised about so that I might receive blessing. So the tendency, one of the tendencies is to despise the chastening of the Lord. We say, Oh well, that happens to anybody.
Have an accident? Yeah, everyone has an accident once in a while.
We'll get it all taken care of. It's not that bad, and it'll all soon be taken care of. We'll get the car fixed up. Not realizing that it is his hand and bowing in His presence. It is despising the chastening of the Lord.
The other reaction is nor faint when ye are rebuked of him.
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That's the other reaction is when the hand of the Lord comes down in our lives.
Say it's just too much. I just can't take it any longer and it's just too much for me. That's fainting, dear brother, and it's really not looking unto him.
If we'd realize how much He paid for us to make us his own, we'd realize at the same time that any trial that He allows in her life is only for ultimate blessing in the end.
I love to think, dear brethren, from other scriptures, that we have the teaching that.
The work of Christ has set us so completely in God's favor that the things that even seem to work against us can only and always work for us for our own blessing in the end.
Am I going to faint when His hand of discipline is on me? No, dear brethren, we need to lift up the hands that hang down the feeble knees. We need to encourage one another to receive it from the Lord, to have our gaze directed to Him. Sometimes, you know, when these things happen, it's pretty hard, and we need to encourage one another.
To take it as from.
But there is one other reaction that we have in the proper reaction.
In verse 11.
Now, no chastening.
For the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless.
Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
The proper reaction under the Lord's chastening hand is exercise.
Brother was speaking a little earlier this afternoon about being asleep. The person who is asleep is not exercising. No, he's asleep. He's really unconscious. As to his present surroundings, he's not alert. We could talk to him. No response. We really believe, dear brethren, that the Lord is speaking to awaken us.
Were just on the eve of going home to the glory land.
And we're asleep. I have to admit it for myself, in many ways, spiritually, we're asleep.
The Lord wants us awake as to what becomes His glory.
What do I mean by asleep so much, dear brethren?
Sometimes.
Had the reaction or the experience of talking to some soul about the Lord Jesus? Some soul I've never known before? Some soul perhaps, that I've met in the street?
And when I speak to them about the person of the Lord Jesus, an immediate and warm response I get evidently a believer.
But then sometimes they speak to those who are professedly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
About that same blessed person.
Blank Nothing. Maybe they were talking about their work, about their activities. Speak about the person of the Lord Jesus.
A blank look and no response. Dear brethren, wouldn't that be an indication that we're asleep? We're going to be raptured into the presence of the Lord Jesus. One of these moments, one of these least expected moments.
Going to be walking down the street? Perhaps take one more step here.
Next step, we lift up and are raptured into glory. Oh dear brethren, it's a reality. It's not something that we just believe. It's not. It's a reality. The Lord is speaking to us because we're going home to the glory land soon. This is not a rest. Her arrest is in heaven. Thank God He's speaking to us. Praise his name.
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Oh dear brethren, may there be then in our hearts, as we all, all of us who are children, experience His hand of discipline. I cannot put my hand that anyone else.
If there's one who does not experience his hand and discipline may show that he's not a real true believer at all.
No. So everyone of us who is a true believer experiences that hand of discipline.
The Lord encourages them, dear brethren, to fix our eyes on Him. The race is still before, the goal is before.
I know there's lots to discourage us, to make us faint.
The fall, by the way. But we have every reason, dear brethren, to press on when we consider the goal, when we consider that blessed man who went through far greater contradictions. Reduce your thoughts to him. Continue on. And when there is that discipline, Oh dear brethren, may the Lord give us grace not to despise it, not to faint under it, but to be exercised thereby.
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