Open Mtg.

By:
Duration: 1hr 8min
Listen from:
Open—P. Johnson, G. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Hebrews 2 and verse 5.
Or under the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak?
But one in a certain place testified, saying what his man with thou art mindful of him.
By the Son of man that thou visited him.
I made it seem a little lower than the angels. I crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands.
I was put all things in subjection under his feet, put in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
Crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things.
In bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For both he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Verse 17.
Wherefore in all things it behooves him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God.
To make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them.
That are tempted.
And in the 4th chapter.
And verse 15.
But we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
But was in all points tempted, like as we are yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace.
That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And in the 6th chapter.
Verse 17.
Wherein God willing more abundantly to show under the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel.
Confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hopes that before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Whether the forerunner is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
You had before us in our readings and I believe.
In a profitable way.
The Pathway of Faith.
And we're reminded of that verse in the 12Th chapter of Hebrews, when we're exhorted that with patience we might run the race that is set before us.
And requiring any epistle to the Hebrews that it is a wilderness epistle.
It views the people of God as being still here in this world.
And in the place of testing and trial.
I'm thinking of it especially in that light.
It's the not so much the the world as to its.
Ungodly character. Of course, that might be one of the sources of trial and testing.
But we're viewed as being here in this world, in a wilderness scene, which is a place of testing and trial.
And we will be in this.
These circumstances, as long as we're here in the wilderness, that's the view in Hebrew, in the wilderness and.
It calls for faith.
And it calls for confidence and hope in God.
But I was thinking of the the way in which the Lord is for us.
As we are here in this wilderness and their trials and their testings.
For we find that everything that is in the world is against us and is contrary to faith and what we know of God. And we find as we were singing in our hymns, the last what weakness within ourselves we find. And I'm who was thought afresh as we sang that hymn, that those words were written by a man, that we would perhaps.
00:05:14
Have never thought that he felt weakness.
But he had to. He wrote it in that hymn of the weakness that he felt. And so this would cause us to look to the Lord Jesus as the one who would be for us and to help us through this wilderness scene.
And I thought we might consider here in the these verses that we read the way the Lord Jesus is presented to us.
As our forerunner and as our leader, and also as our High Priest.
And in this way it would be a help and encouragement, I believe, to us as we pass through this wilderness scene and we want to keep in mind that the pathway of faith.
The path that the Lord has put us on as those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ leads on to the world above the world. It is going to be brought into great display and exhibition in the coming days when the Lord Jesus comes at his appearing. So I read those verses in the second chapter.
To bring before us the thought of the world to come, Verse five of chapter 2.
He speaks of the world to come.
And we want to have our have our eyes set upon the end of the pathway and the gold that world to come.
We are already associated with it. We are already identified with that world above. We already belong to it, but we're not there yet.
And it says here the world to come, whereof we speak. We can speak of that world to come because we're familiar with it in the word of God.
And I would remind you that the elements that make up the world in which we live now are not the elements that make up the world to come.
That world to come is going to be an entirely have entirely different elements.
We have some of those elements, I believe, brought out in the 12Th chapter when we read how that we have already come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God. And and the Spirit of God takes us through those wonderful elements that constitute the world to come.
And over what a contrast with the world in which we live.
And I thought sometimes that perhaps we're too much occupied with the world in which we live, rather than, as the apostle says here, the world to come whereof we speak. Of course, I know that he primarily has in mind what he has to say to the Hebrews, but I think it would be well for us to be those who are so familiar with the world to come, as we are occupied with it in our thoughts and in our affections and our desires and hopes. They would also be the subject of our conversation.
The world above the world of which the Lord Jesus Christ his head.
And he's the center of that world. It's not put into subjection to angels.
Great as they are, they excel in power, but it's put into the hands of man.
And we know it's the man Christ Jesus. And we look up and to see him in that place that he has in the glory, knowing that he is the center of God's world, the world above the world that is to come. You know, we have in Scripture. I believe you can say there are three worlds brought before us. Peter speaks of them in his Second Epistle Chapter 3.
That is, he speaks of two of them. He speaks of the world that then was.
The world that perished, being overthrown with the flood, the world in which Enoch walked with God, that world that was swept away by the waters of judgment, and only eight souls brought through. That was the world that then was. That world has passed away.
And then God began anew. But we have the world that now is, and it's called this present evil world. And that's the world in which you and I live at the present time. And then we have here the world to come.
That steel future, But I would remind you that that world has already, you might say, been inaugurated because the head of it has been installed. We find that in Ephesians chapter one it already.
00:10:10
The Lord Jesus has that place and that name which is above every name, and he's made to be head over all things.
So already, you might say, God has inaugurated that world to come. It's not brought out in display.
But by faith, we see it and we know that it's the world above and that's where we're going.
That's the end of our pilgrimage, our wilderness journey well.
In the 6th chapter that we read, we have the Lord Jesus brought before us there as the forerunner.
We've been speaking a little of mention in the Lord Jesus being in glory.
We know that he is there as the man you might see of God's purposes and counselors.
He's there because God had purposed in eternity past.
That he would be, as a man, the head and center of a universe of bliss.
God purposed that he's there as a man of God's counsels, but I believe He's also there as one who has glorified God here on the earth and particularly in the work of the cross. And now God has straightway glorified him. He has been raised and glorified by the glory of the Father, because he had honored and he had glorified God here on earth but here in this.
6th chapter in verse 20.
His entering into the glory is as our forerunner here. It isn't because of his own, you might say, personal worth.
But here he is entering into the glory, in a sense, for you and me.
As our representative, there is the one who's gone before, the one who is our forerunner, the one who has gone through the pathway of this wilderness and now he's entered there. The the pledge and assurance that you and I are going to be there with him. He's entered there as our forerunner. This is the hope that we have, as is mentioned here, the hope that is set before us at the end of verse 18.
The hope there is not, of course, the hope of eventually being saved or something of the sort.
It is that hope that we have as we look up and see the Lord Jesus.
In the glory as our forerunner, as I say, not only there because of his own merit.
And that of which he is deserving, but he's there as our forerunner.
Looking off unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, the one who walked this scene to the glory of God, is a man in a world of evil.
In a world that was under sin's dominion. A world filled with Satan's power.
You know, sometimes I'm afraid that we do not appreciate the character of this world through which the Lord Jesus himself passed.
We are inclined to look back.
To days that have passed away, as if they were so much better, that we're inclined to forget that sin and sorrow, and all of the grief that sin has brought in, was here in this world. When the Lord Jesus was here. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And he was. He was thoroughly and totally acquainted with grief. We only touch a little bit.
Of the knowledge of the grief and sorrow that exists in this world, even though, as was mentioned by a brother, than the days in which we live now, communications has has increased so much that we're enlarged as to our knowledge of all that is going on in the world, but still we only touch a very little part of it but the Lord Jesus.
Was acquainted with grief in a way that we shall never know.
We couldn't bear it, I'm sure of that, but the Lord Jesus was here as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
So he has gone through this world, and it wasn't a pleasant world when he was here, Remember in Mark's Gospel?
When he was there in the wilderness, being tempted, he says, he was with the wild beasts.
00:15:01
I believe in the spirit of God has given us that little touch to give us to realize that he was in a world that was hostile.
He wasn't in a world that was peaceful. He wasn't in a world like.
Adam and Eve were placed in that garden of delights. He was with the wild beasts, and he's passed through it. And now he's entered into the glory as our forerunner.
And I am. I press that upon our heart. He's there is our forerunner. Can you say that we can rejoice to say he's there as the pledge and assurance that I will be there. I'm going right through this wilderness.
It may be with stumblings, and it may be with failings and sometimes with fearful heart, but I'm going to be in that glory with himself. He's my forerunner, the pledge and assurance that I will be there, and I trust that our hearts will be encouraged as we look up to see the Lord Jesus crowned with glory and honor. It's true, as the man of God's counsels and crowned there because of a work well done, is the one who has overcome and seated upon His Father's throne. But He's there, is our forerunner.
And so we have a hope, and this is what our hope is, is placed upon.
Here we find that the hope is anchored within the veil into the very presence of God.
As to our souls, we already have been brought within the veil.
We have that in the 10th chapter, do we not, that we have boldness to enter in the very holy, holy, holy of holies the holy place through the veil, that is to say, His flesh through the death of the Lord Jesus.
But here is one who has gone into the very presence of God is a man. That is, he's there in the body.
That body in which he lived in this world, and in which he suffered on the cross, was raised from the dead. He's there in the glory in that body. And while as to our souls we're already brought to God, and we are, we have that blessed place within the veil.
We anticipate being there in the glory and conform to his image in every way.
Even these bodies fashioned black unto his own body of glory. So he's there as our forerunner. But I'll turn back to the second chapter.
And here we have him as our leader.
It's one thing to have the gold before us and to know that we're going to be there.
In the glory with him, just like him, and conformed to his image. But it's another thing.
When we think of being in this wilderness, of going through it, but we have one to lead us.
That's what's involved in verse 10.
For it became him referring, I believe, to God.
For whom are all things? And by whom are all things? And bringing many sons unto glory?
To make the captain or leader of their salvation perfect through suffering.
This is not referring here to the work of the cross whereby we're saved. The salvation here, I do not believe, refers to the salvation of our souls. That is in the forgiveness of our sins and cleansing us in the eye of God. I take it that it refers to our deliverance through this wilderness.
Our being preserved, our being saved as we have go through this wilderness scene because it is a scene of testing.
And trial, trials and testing is characteristic of it. And he is the one who saved us.
He preserves us. He's going to take us right through. He's going to lead us through it. We may not know much of the wilderness, that is, we may not really know its true character. But here is one who has passed through it, and I suppose that's what it means in making him perfect. It doesn't imply that there was any imperfection with the Lord Jesus.
But we know that as existing in the form of God is read in Philippians chapter 2. There was no experience of the wilderness as he existed from all eternity. God over all blessed forever. No, no thought of a wilderness experience. There we read that he learned obedience, but the things that he suffered or it was his to command as being in the form of God, He was in the place where.
Everything was at his command. He was the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.
00:20:07
But when he came into this world as a man.
When the Word was made flesh and he had body that was prepared for him.
He entered into those circumstances of life in this scene.
Circumstances of a man in which he was he was to be obedient and submissive to his God, and he was to be here in the world among men, where there was this sin and sorrow and hostility and rebellion toward God. And in the midst of it all he would render perfect obedience, absolute perfect obedience. And that obedience brought him into suffering.
His obedience brought him into suffering.
And I believe that's what it means, that though he were a son, yet learned he obedience.
For the things that he suffered and being made perfect, that is having passed through.
That those circumstances and that condition of things here in this world, as a man obedient, perfectly submissive and suffering and knowing what it is to be in a world hostile to God and departed from God. Having gone through all of that, He's a perfect leader. He's perfectly qualified. Now, I hope you don't misunderstand me. We know, of course, that when we speak of the person of the Lord Jesus, we know that.
He is always God. And yet we have to realize too that he was a perfect man.
And so, as in, as a man, he is perfectly qualified to be the leader. He's gone this way and he went the right way. He didn't wander about, you know, the children of Israel, when they passed through that wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. What wandering.
If you've ever looked at a map, and I'm sure most of us have, of the passage of the children of Israel in that wilderness, you see how they wandered. They didn't go right straight in. But the Lord Jesus, of course we know, was perfect in every way, and as a man he would be perfect. No wanderings. So he went through the wilderness in the right way, and he knows the right way, and he's perfectly qualified to be our leader.
But you'll notice that he was made perfect through suffering.
And if we're going to follow our leader, I'm sure we're going to find the same thing in the pathway that he found, that there's going to be suffering or I'm not thinking altogether of sufferings now from bodily afflictions and things like that. We know, of course, the Lord never knew any of that.
There is no sand working in his body at all, no death, but we have sufferings here in being faithful to the Lord, sufferings in also in being in a scene.
Where the Lord Jesus has been rejected and where God is not wanted, and where there's hostility toward God.
If we are really following close with our leader, we will feel the state of things in this world morally and spiritually.
How that God is not in the thoughts of men. And not only that, but as I've said and and I think it's good to emphasize hostility toward God. And it's true, you know, if you scrape the veneer.
On many who make some profession in regard to God or even the Lord Jesus, you find underneath a real hostility to the truth of God and to the person of the Lord Jesus and to God himself. You seek to walk in the light of God.
And you that hostility comes out as it did with the Lord Jesus, he said. If he had not come, they had not had sin.
But now that he came and perfectly declared God, the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father declared.
God here in this world, and the result was that they hated both him and his Father.
Well, it brought out what was really there and as our leader, that he will lead us through the path that he might say, the way in which he went through this scene. But he's bringing us as many sons unto glory. Oh, we're already those who are associated with him. Notice that next verse in verse 11.
For both he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
00:25:01
Doesn't this rejoice our hearts to think that he is not ashamed to call us brethren?
Is it because he finds such perfection in US?
Because we always do those things pleasing to God he did, but that isn't why he's.
Not ashamed to call us brethren, because we've been made one with him, he who sanctifies.
And they were sanctified. Are all of one, all of one. Sort as before God, we are as His beloved Son. We are one with Him, we are one with Him. And He owns us to be one with himself. He owns us as his brethren, His kindred. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. But we know it's all of grace. We know that it's all the result of His sufferings on the cross.
It's only through that that we have this blessed place and this blessed privilege of being sons of God, not only children of God as those who've been born into God's family, but those who are associated with the Son himself, the Lord Jesus.
And one with him.
We have the Spirit of his Son sent into our hearts so that we can speak.
In that sense of nearness in which he spoke to his father in the garden, ABBA father.
We too can speak in that sense of intimacy and nearness to the Father.
Even as his beloved Son, the many sons that are being brought to glory and he's leading us.
How wonderful to have such a leader, one who is has perfect knowledge and understanding and appreciation of the pathway of faith. Because he was here and passed through it and now he's the leader taking us on to the glory. But then we have him.
We have him in all of his.
Sympathies and all of the support that he can give us in our testings and trials.
I was thinking of the as the forerunner. It brings before us the end of the pathway.
The goal that is before us as the leader, it has to do with the the, the pathway, the character of the pathway through which we pass, but as our High Priest.
It's especially in connection with our.
Testings and our trials.
Because of not only the character of the wilderness in which we're found, but because of our own frailty, because of our infirmities, because of our weakness. Notice at the end of this chapter 2.
I'm thinking of this aspect of priesthood in verse 18, for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted or tested.
He is able to succor them that are tested. I use the word tested rather than tempted here because I don't believe the fault here is so much. It's not the fault of solicitation to evil. For that, the Lord never knew.
But he was tested.
And he was tested in many ways, not only in that the temptation in the wilderness as we speak of it, but it was all along. It was a pathway of of testing.
And we know of course that he was perfect and everyone, every bit of it. And what a test it was as he had the cross before him. We see in the garden what a real trial in testing it was to the Lord Jesus as he had that that hour of suffering and abandonment of his God. But we know how perfect he was in it. But now he said he's able to sucker them that are tempted or tested.
Well.
It says our high priest.
He himself knows what it is to be tested.
And he is able then to support us in our trials.
And our testings now turn to the 4th chapter, where we have this brought out more in detail.
In the 4th chapter, the detail that is brought in, you might say added. It's not only that he's able to that we are tested, we have our trials and testings, but we have our infirmities. Verse 15. For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
00:30:04
But when it was in all points tested like as we.
Apart from sin.
He is.
Put here rather on the from the negative side, perhaps to emphasize that how it is that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities.
Now I would like to say this in.
Clarification of this that he's not talking here about sins that we might commit.
We don't find the priesthood in connection with that. That's his place as the Advocate.
In the first epistle of John, my little children, these things I write unto you that you send not.
But if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Even though we might sin, and even sin willfully.
And you know when you read Hebrews 10.
In connection with the that expression, if we sin willfully.
The apostle there is not talking about 1 sinning in self will.
He's talking about turning from the sacrifice of Christ, turning from the truth of Christianity.
He's really warning those Hebrews that if they turn back to Judaism and give up Christ.
There is a willful turning, there's a willful sin, and so there is no provision of God for them. I mentioned that because sometimes young people read a verse like that and they wonder.
Because they have sinned, and they knew before they did it that it was a sin. And they say I have sinned willfully and perhaps you thought you've lost your salvation.
Well, we know, of course. It's sad that when our wills are at work and we do sin.
But John says we shouldn't sin. He writes that we should not sin, but if any man sin.
He doesn't even say a Christian, he just puts it in that sort of general way, if any man's sin.
We have an advocate with the Father. The relationship is not altered as we had before us, that he changes, not even though we might sin.
The Father is still the same. The Lord Jesus is still the same.
That work still has all of its all of its efficacy. Jesus Christ.
The righteous.
That work on the cross of Calvary is still the same. Nothing can take away from that.
So as an as the advocate, he would seek to reach our conscience and to restore us to communion.
And fellowship, because sin breaks that fellowship in communion with God.
But here it's the priestly activity of supporting us as to our infirmities.
The Lord Jesus knows that we are here in these bodies of humiliation, these bodies of weakness and humiliation, and he is one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and so our testings and trials.
He can enter into because he was here, and he felt it all about him when he was here. You remember when he when Lazarus, he came to the tomb of Lazarus. He groaned within his spirit, and we read there that Jesus wept, He was touched, I believe, with the feelings of their infirmities, seeing the sorrow, feeling with them the sorrow. And he was touched with their feelings.
Of their infirmities wasn't sin, but infirmities. We are in these bodies of weakness and humiliation, and there are limitations. There are limitations, and the Lord knows that well. That's why He encourages us in verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy.
And find grace to help.
Are timely help.
Is the thought here well, we have mercy and grace.
And I would like to put it this way when we come to the Lord Jesus.
A great High Priest, that throne of Grace.
It may indeed be that He would grant mercy to us to deliver us, as it were, from the particular trial.
00:35:05
Testing affliction that in which we might be found, that would be a mercy.
And we find sometimes that the Lord acts in this way. We have prayed for our individuals.
Who were in time, in times of great trial, and perhaps affliction testing, and the Lord has delivered them. And we might say that they received mercy, because the the trial or the testing and the affliction was was removed. But I thought of grace to help.
Might indicate that that The thing is not removed.
The thing is not removed.
You remember the Apostle Paul thought he would be better off without that. Foreign that.
Satan had brought in to afflict him whatever it was. He thought he would be better off without it, and he prayed that he might be removed, but it wasn't removed. But the Lord did say my grace is sufficient for thee. He gave Paul grace to stand up and to go on.
In the face of that trial and that testing or that affliction, Mercy might remove it.
But grace is given to bear it, and to go on with the Lord despite.
What might be a trial or a test or something that might be in the way of an affliction?
But we can be sure that the Lord does respond to our need.
That's the thought. Here is the high priest in this chapter four. He responds to the needs of his people.
He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and he responds to our prayers when we come to the Throne of Grace.
And may not always be that The thing is removed. It may be grace rather than mercy.
But whatever the Lord sees fit to give, we know that if He doesn't give the mercy to remove it, He'll give the grace to bear it. And so as we think of this wilderness through which we pass.
As we're in it, we want to think of the end of the pathway and we want to look up and see the one who is entered there is our forerunner.
The pledge and assurance that we're going to be there, and then to follow him in his precious words, as the leader, as our guide now through this wilderness scene, even though it involves sufferings in obedience to the Lord into His precious word. And then to have that boldness. To approach the throne of grace and seek His face for everything. To bring everything to the Lord, to make our request known under the Lord, and then to find that mercy.
Are that grace to help in time of need?
Could we look Brethren at Ephesians Chapter 5?
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse one.
Be therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love.
As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.
An offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
Could we turn also to 1St Epistle of John?
First Epistle of John and the 4th chapter.
Verse 16.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love for the margin love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. And then one other verse in Acts Chapter 20.
00:40:10
Acts, chapter 20 and the 35th verse.
I have showed you all things how that so laboring. He ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus. How that he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Full Our brother has just spoken to us about how abundant provision has been made, a leader for us, the captain of our salvation, and also how he is there as our great high priest and our advocate. But I was thinking also of how not only is the help supply that we need for our pathway, but here we see, I believe, the outgoing of love that reaches out to others and seeks their blessing.
And I believe that is so important for us. Our brother remarked in the young people's meeting how that it was said by another that Christianity is known by what it brings and not by what it finds. And when the Lord Jesus came into this world, what did he find?
He found everything that was opposed to God, and to that which He had come to display as the perfect man, and as the one who came to tell out the Father's heart here in this world. Everything was opposed to it. But there was that in His blessed heart that rose above every situation, all the wickedness of man, all that they did to him, and all that misunderstanding that he had never changed that heart that He had.
He had come to tell out the heart of God. And as it says, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. That is, he was in this world seeking to show man what was in the heart of God. And so when that woman was brought to him, taken in sin, he said, Neither do I condemn thee. It was not that he didn't condemn the sin, but he had come to bear her condemnation.
So that he could say to her, Neither do I condemn thee. How wondrous to trace that blessed pathway of love here through this world, how it touches our hearts, as I believe it was Mr. Bellitt who said when he read the Gospels here he said, I found a man who never did one thing to please himself. His whole blessed pathway was the outflow of the heart of God.
And when man's evil rose to its height, as it did at the Cross, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. There was that love that rose above all that man was and all that he is. And brother and I believe we need to get this into our souls. We need to realize more of that love so that it would not only be something that we know, something that we know for ourselves.
But you know, our natural hearts are selfish, Haman in the book of Esther, said. To whom would the king delight to do honor? More than to myself. And I'm afraid, secretly in our own hearts, that is a great deal of our thought that everything should be done for us. Everything should be done to make us happy. Everything should be done for our pleasure and for our happiness. And this is.
That everything should be done for us.
Everything should be done to make us happy. Everything should be done for our pleasure and for our happiness. And this is the way the world operates. It operates on the principle of selfishness. But God has brought a new principle into your life and mine, A principle that was displayed in perfection, in the blessed Lord Jesus as he walked through this world. Oh, how beautiful those words in Ephesians chapter 5.
Christ also hath loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. God delighted to have his heart told out, and there was only one person who could do it perfectly. The cost was great, far greater than our hearts will ever know, but the Lord Jesus came to display that, and it tells us He offered himself to God.
00:45:03
A sacrifice for a sweet smelling savor, how God delighted as he looked down and saw one man in this world in whom he could find all his delight. Twice in the pathway of the Lord Jesus we find the heavens open, and the Father's voice saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The whole race of humanity had dishonored him, had turned against him.
Had not appreciated his sending his son-in-law, but there was 1 here.
Who pleased him in everything that he did and offered himself to God.
As a sweet smelling savor, his whole delight and joy was to do his father's will. As I said before, he never did one thing to please himself. You don't find even a miracle, although he had the power that he did for his own comfort. That is rather striking, isn't it? Why, if we had the power, how quickly we would do miracles to help ourselves in problems, how readily we would use it if it was available.
Because we're naturally selfish beings. But the Lord Jesus did everything for the glory of his Father and for the good of others. When he was hungry, he wouldn't turn stones into bread without a word from his Father, but when that multitude were hungry, he could turn a boy's lunch into food for the whole company. He had power, but he didn't use it for himself. And I believe, brethren, that this is something that needs to get hold of our souls.
And that is that we are not just to call upon to be receivers, but we are called upon to be givers.
We are called upon first to give praise and Thanksgiving as we think of all that He has done for us, and then too as it tells us in John 316. It says God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. How we praise God for that wonderful verse, and what God has done for us in giving His Son and giving us everlasting life.
But first John chapter 3 and verse 16 says.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us, in that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. There ought to be that willingness, that we have the privilege, and what an unspeakable privilege it is, and that we can be givers here in this world. And so he says that this work, that the Lord Jesus did a unique work, a work in which we could have no part, it was His and His alone.
But that we can manifest that same spirit. We can walk in love.
We can be imitators of God as dear children we can give ourselves, and that is what God desires that we should do, that we should give ourselves. Paul said in Romans 12 and verse one. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that she presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable, reasonable, or your intelligent service.
And so here it tells us that we are to walk in love and we are to bring love into all the situations.
As the Lord Jesus did in His blessed pathway here and then we find over in that passage that we read.
First epistle of John. How this is possible?
It says here.
In the 17th verse here in his Our love or love with us.
Made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. Isn't that a beautiful expression? Love with us, that is, God had shown His love, but we didn't respond to it. We didn't appreciate it. So what did God do? Well, He has given us a life that responds. He has given to us the very life of Christ.
And so to me, this is the most beautiful expression, love with us. You might love a person and the person doesn't respond, but if the person responds as you would wish, then you can say love with us. It's something you share together because they enter into and enjoy what you were trying to show to them and respond to it. And that is exactly what God has done. He has given to us a life that is capable of loving.
00:50:19
A life that enables us to manifest that love down here in this world, as it tells us in Second Corinthians chapter 4, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, That the life also of Jesus might be seen in our bodies, that is, our natural hearts are selfish. We think of ourselves, we think of our own interests. We think of all the concerns ourselves about.
As we put that all nature into the place of death and then we display in a practical way.
What the Lord Jesus displayed down here because we have his life, and so that we display the life of Jesus and it says as he is, so are we in this world, brethren, We will not be any more fit for heaven when the Lord comes than we are right now. We will not have a different life in heaven than we possess right now. We already possess the life that we will have up there in glory forever.
Possess it now, and he would have us as the IT tells us in the Epistle to Jude, it says, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Oh, you say, Don't we already possess it? Yes, but we possess that life in a world where everything is different from it. If a fish were taken out of the water and laid upon the shore, it still has a fish life, but it's out of its element.
And if the fish could talk, it would say, please put me in my element. Brethren, God has given us a life that's suited to heaven, and as we see the world getting worse and worse, our hearts say, all want to be grand, to be in our element. But, brethren, we're here. And what can we display down here in this world? The new life that we possess? And that is what He's telling us here.
In this in this 19th verse it says.
We love him. I might mention here that in the new translation the word him.
Is omitted. It's just simply we love because he first loved us.
The word him is omitted, you say? Well, that kind of spoils the verse for me. No, brethren, it doesn't. Because we love him. But it's much it's much wider. We love his too. We love, We have the capacity to love. Sometimes we might say, well, I find it so hard to love that brother. God says, oh, you don't need to say that. I've given you a life that is capable of loving, loving, even though there's no response.
The Lord didn't find any response from our hearts, but He still loved us, and He gave himself on Calvary's cross to display that love. And let us never say, oh, I couldn't love that, brother, you can. You already possess the life of Christ we love. Why? Because we're better than other people? Because we're nicer dispositions? No, because he first loved us. He loved us with a love, and that love because of what it is in itself.
Not because of something in the object. If there's a stream flowing down the mountainside, why, If you put a a barrier in the way, what does the stream do? Well, it just rises a little higher, doesn't it? And the bigger the barrier you put in the way, as long as there's plenty of water in the source, the higher the water rises. And all the barriers that men put in the way of the display of that love only caused it to flow out in a wider sphere.
Has the hymn writer said the river of thy grace through righteousness supplied his flowing ore, the barren place where Jesus died? And so here we have we love because he first loved us. And again, that verse that we read in Acts, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Well, we have received so much that it just overflows our hearts when we think of what we have received.
We can only say if I should declare and speak of what he has done for me. It's more than can be numbered. We can't reckon the things up in order that he has done for us. But now it says we have the privilege of giving because He has given us of His spirit. He has given us this new life. Let's turn over to the Epistle of Jude.
00:55:19
I just like to read from the 20th verse, but ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And of some having have compassion, making a difference, and others say with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling or stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
Here we find what sometimes been spoken of as the four anchors.
And I believe we could think of them in this way. That ship that was waiting for the break of day didn't have a wreck until they took up the four anchors. But when they took up the four anchors, then there was a wreck, even though they all got safely to shore. And here we have 4 anchors. Building up your cells on your most holy faith seems to me to answer to reading the word praying in the Holy Ghost. That's prayer.
Keep yourselves in the love of God.
That is keeping the enjoyment of his love, just like I might say to my child.
On a day when it's cold out but the sun is shining, I say, well, stay in the sunshine. It's nice and warm if you stay in the sunshine. It's a cold world, brethren. But the sun is shining and you and I can keep in the sunshine. And then it says, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Why we just long for the time when we're going to be taken out of this scene where everything is so contrary to the life that we possess.
But this little expression in the end of the 24th verse I had particularly before me, that he's able to keep us from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
The Lord Jesus lived his life here to please his father and for the blessing of man.
And now, isn't this very beautiful that you and I can give joy to the heart of God? The Lord is looking forward to the time when He will have his own with him. He doesn't want us brethren to be stumbling along the way, but he is waiting for that time when He is going to present us there. And you and I are living a life for his glory here by showing out in his absence something of his love.
Two others Why we can give joy to his heart. I say again, a natural love is selfish. Our own hearts are naturally selfish. But isn't it a great thing to think that we can actually give joy to the heart of the Lord? When a Sinner gets saved, there's joy in heaven.
When Christians walk to please the Lord, it says, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the truth. And then when the end of the journey comes and the Lord presents us there, it'll be with exceeding joy. He wants us to walk in this world as those who have the privilege of doing something that we can bring joy to His heart. We once brought pain, brethren, untold pain.
That suffering of Calvary and now has a little him puts it that we may in some small degree.
Return thy love again. We can display that love.
And not only to him in seeking to please him, but also.
To others, oh, how many needy souls there are around us, How many of God's people are discouraged, How many that just need a little understanding and love. And you and I have been given the capability of this. You say, oh, I couldn't, I couldn't do it. You never know what a little word of encouragement might mean. I often think of that time that Jonathan went up against the Garrison of the Philistines.
And when he saw that sharp rock on the one side and the sharp rock on the other side.
He apparently turned around, and his armor bearer was there, and he said, turn me. Behold, I am with thee. And at this point Joshua Jonathan turned around, and they too went forward to a great victory. You may think I couldn't do anything, but that little word of encouragement changed the whole course of Israel's history, we might say. And you can't tell if you're just walking near the Lord and asking him.
01:00:28
It says he openeth mine ear morning. By morning he openeth mine ear as the instructed one. And again that I might know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Who can tell what a little word you said? I didn't do anything. Maybe you forgot about it. God hasn't told us the name of Jonathan's armor bearer, but it changed everything for Jonathan and it changed everything for Israel. And it was just a little word. Turn they behold. I am with thee.
You never know what some little word you can do it you say I couldn't do it. Just keep near the Lord. And it's more blessed to give than to receive, to be always looking for something to be said to help you. Let's think of what we can do and the joy that there is. The Lord Jesus gave joy to the heart of his Father, and we can give joy to the heart of the Lord by seeking to go on in this world and be a help. And perhaps pulling somebody out of the fire, perhaps helping someone.
At the point of discouragement and perhaps of turning back, oh how wonderful that we have the privilege, I wonder if I could just add a little word, and perhaps a more personal way, in First Corinthians Chapter 7.
First Corinthians Chapter 7.
And verse 32. But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord.
How he may please the Lord, but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world.
How he may please his wife. There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the Lord. How she may please her husband. May I just say a little practical word in connection with this? You know, once we enter the married relationship, we have a responsibility now to try and make our partner happy. You know, that's what's the trouble with the world. And I'm sad to say that there are so many trials coming in among the Saints.
And, brethren, I believe selfishness is the bottom of it. We want to have something for ourselves. We're not thinking about making other people happy.
We're not thinking about making our partner happy. We say I didn't get what I expected in marriage, but did you give? That's what it tells here. Don't enter into the marriage unless you expect to give. And if you enter into marriage, why then do what you can to make your partner happy? And making your partner happy will make you happy too. It's a privilege that we have and I believe there there would be much happier homes if we were instead of thinking.
About ourselves, we were thinking about making perhaps that partner in the natural way.
Happy. Perhaps some of the others have heard me say that the only true marriage that has happiness is the one where the husband is 100% for his wife and the wife is 100% for her husband and both together 100% for the Lord.
If it drops off that there's going to be problems, there's no such thing as a happy 5050 marriage.
The one that's married cares how to please his wife, and the wife cares how to please her husband. And I hope we can say that together we desire to please the Lord. God has a pattern for us in connection with our Christian pathway, and for our homes too, so that we might have happy homes. God said to his people of old that he laid down the pattern for them, saw that their days would be as the days of heaven upon earth. He wanted them to find that happiness.
Now, of course we know that there are the trials that we've been talking about that come in because we're living in an evil world, but we're speaking about the giving part of it, that giving of ourselves as the Lord gave himself for us. And I just like to turn to one other passage in Proverbs Chapter 15.
01:05:12
Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 20.
Just the first part of this 20th verse, a wise son maketh a glad father. And as it says in another place where the father said that when his son walked in wisdom, he said, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Dear young people, some of you are not married, quite a few of you are not. You can make your parents happy too. You can walk in the wisdom of God's Word, and you can make them very happy.
I know that we've had three children and nothing made us any happier than our children wanting to please us and please the Lord.
And who can tell what you can do? And you're going to find a lot of pleasure in trying to make your parents happy, too. There is a joy in giving. It's more blessed to give than to receive. Well, brethren, I believe these things are practical. But the Bible is a practical book. God's love has been manifested to us when we didn't deserve it at all. And in His wondrous grace, He has met us and given us a life that is able to do these things that He has enjoined us to do.
One has often said God will never ask us to do anything, that He hasn't given us a life that delights in doing it. And He also has given us the Holy Spirit, all the power that we need so that if there's anything He asks us to do, He hasn't left us without power. All the power that we need is available. I think I have a fairly good car, but I know I could stall on a hill very easily just by not stepping on the gas when I start up the hill.
The power is there, but if I don't use it, I'm going to stall. And we stall very often, The longer pathway not because the power's not there. It's all there for us, but we're not using it. Brethren. Oh, how blessed to know is our brother brought before us, this blessed One who's done everything for us, and He's looking now for a response from our hearts. We delight in getting responses for our love. The Lord delights when there's a response from our hearts too, and when He sees us seeking to show. But He has shown.
To us, to others, may the Lord grant it. May I quote that verse again, that we might remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.