Open—R. Klassen, B. Bauman
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Oh.
Inspiration.
Thy waving.
On your life.
Hands down, breaking girls.
Run the bride's graveyard before I'm going to hear her and hurry, hurry, hurry.
Let's open this very precious book to 1St John Chapter 2.
First John chapter 2 dropping down in verse 13.
I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
The next verse, the middle, I have written unto you.
Young men, because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you.
And ye have overcome the wicked one. Love, not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
The stanza, the hymn that we have sung together.
Stanza 2 is the wilderness before thee.
Desert land where drought abides.
Was thinking of the many young brothers and young sisters that are here in this company.
And the desert is before you.
There are testings in the way, as you well know.
And as John writes here, he writes with such sweet confidence to the young men.
And I'd like to particularly notice the three things that he brings out. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong.
And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Perhaps you're like I was when I was a young man and I kind of looked around and I wondered who answers to.
What John is saying here?
But John is directing it.
To each one of us personally, and there's nothing so refreshing to one's heart now being in the older years, to see a young man or a young sister begin to take up the word of God and to be exercised as to what the rest of the stanza says. Heavenly springs shall there restore thee.
Fresh from God's exhaustless tide. That's why many of you are here.
These general meetings is to gain from that tide of God's wonderful grace.
That is going to form in your lives the very image.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I enjoy thinking of John as he lay upon the Lord's bosom.
What were his thoughts?
He was there for a while, and he leaned upon the one.
Who had walked that life of perfection to the glory of God?
And perhaps the very impetus of these three things reigned in his heart at that moment. He felt strong as he rested upon that blessed man, and he felt that the Word of God was abiding in him and that he had overcome the wicked one. You know that's going to be our soul's experience when we lean upon the Lord Jesus.
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That these things are going to come before us, but we realize that they need to be worked out in a practical in our lives practically day by day. And so this is where we go into prayer.
Experience travail of soul. There's so many blendings together. The Spirit of God residing over all that He's going to work out in our lives. And I'd like to view a young man in scripture to see these things carried out, trusting that the comments will be helpful if we turn to 2nd Kings chapter 6.
I'm going to read three parts.
And it may not be the same young men, but I'd like to treat it as though it was because I believe it's a divine pattern as to how God takes up young men and young women in a spiritual way. So begin reading with the first verse.
Second Kings chapter 6 and the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha.
Behold, now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us.
Let us go, we pray Thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell.
And he answered, Go, ye, the one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood, but as one was felling a beam.
The axe head fell into the water, that he cried and said, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, where fell it? And he showed him the place, and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Therefore he said, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand and took it.
Verse 15.
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold and host compassed the city, both with horses and Chariots. And his servants said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes.
That he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man.
And he saw and behold a mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire round about Elijah. And when they came down to him, Elijah prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee with blindness. And he smote them with blindness, according to the word of Elijah.
Now, if we turn over.
To.
Chapter 9.
And Elijah the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins.
And take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, And go in and make him arise from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber. Then take the box of oil and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed the king over Israel. Then opened the door.
And flee and tarry not.
Well, if we turn back to the.
Place where we began Second Kings chapter 6.
There was a remark that was made in the Reading meeting.
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That I'd like to reinforce, and that is that Satan is gaining his best victories over God's people.
In the religious side of things.
Now we might ask the question, why did these young men feel that the place was too straight and they wanted to go down to the Jordan?
Well, I'd like to suggest that when naming, the leper was cleansed there in the Jordan.
That, that was no small thing. That was a marvelous thing that you might say caught everybody's attention.
And perhaps, these young men thought as they spoke among themselves, well, you know.
There's many lepers here in Israel, and we've got the recipe for their blessing. Let's go down to the Jordan and we'll just resurrect a place down there and we'll just go where all the action is. You know, we have hearts like that.
That we just love action and to be able to put the name of the Lord to it whether it belongs there or not.
And we know that there's a great movement afoot called the Promise Keepers.
And there's action.
And to think of putting a million men in the streets of Washington, DC next year.
For the Christian cause.
Sometimes in our assembly life, back in our little assemblies, we feel kind of like we're turning in circles.
There just isn't the action there that we hear about in other places.
But there's a brother here in this room that made a comment.
That I enjoyed so much, he said at the divine center.
And in Judah, there's plenty of work to do.
We don't have to join with forces with what appears to be great things.
Now if we could go to Washington, DC and begin to.
Check out this large force. The first question we would ask is how many of these men are saved?
That are for the Christian cause.
Probably would reduce the ranks quite greatly.
Maybe we would go a little further and say, well, how many of them know the Lord Jesus as their own personal Savior?
How many of them are enjoying the forgiveness of their sins through the work of the Cross of Calvary?
Begin thinning the ranks down and to begin to search.
For reality of heart.
Well, here's Elisha.
A wise man.
And he met that situation with naming the leper. He had received divine instruction from God for the blessing of this man.
And so we might have thought that Elijah would have been enthusiastic about this move to go down to the Jordan.
You know, there's a lesson that everyone of us have to learn personally, and that is let God be sovereign.
And that's a difficult thing to do because we want to jump in behind it and help God be sovereign instead of justice, resting in that wonderful fact of just letting God be sovereign and let me be in sympathy with his sovereign ways, but I don't have to to help him in any way. And so I see this enthusiastic bunch all packed up and ready to go down to the Jordan.
And one young man, as it were. He looks back and he sees Elijah still standing there.
And he looks puzzled at him as much as to say, Well, aren't you going with us?
Well, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is seen here in that Elijah goes with them.
But for what reason does he go?
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Perhaps this very young man.
Maybe he had a little bit of uneasiness about this move.
But it just seemed like the thing to do. It was the popular going thing. But he had an uneasiness.
And Elisha could discern that.
Or we should be thankful for our older brethren.
That have their eye upon the Lord and their stability there.
We may not always understand their ways, but their hearts are reaching out to the young.
To sucker them, to help them into the pathway of richest blessing that they themselves have already proved.
And so can't you just see these young men? They're strong.
See that physical strength and just laying that axe into the end of the trees and dropping them and all of a sudden.
This one man has his axe head slide right off of the handle and into the Jordan, into the place of death.
Well, perhaps we don't enter into the pain of this experience, but here he has his axe and he's making such good progress, but when the axe head slides off.
Breaks into the cry. Alas, master, for it was borrowed.
And so there are those painful experiences when we borrow the truth of God and we haven't proved.
What is right in the presence of the Lord? And so this that was so essential.
We were so sincere in our actions. It all comes to confusion.
And we say, why did the Lord allow that? My heart is so sincere? My whole heart is.
In what we're doing here for the blessing of others.
You know, the Lord Jesus could say that there were many lepers in Israel.
But not one of them was cleansed. Save name in the leper.
So we can see that this whole operation, there was nothing for God in it.
And so he might say, well, we've got to learn a bitter lesson of walking after the council of our own will.
And so the bitter lesson brings us to the value.
Of entering in to the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To instruct us in his ways.
So I can see this face of anguish looking there in the water and saying, is there any remedy to think of Elijah taking this stick?
Casting it in and up comes the axe head.
It's not floating.
It's swimming.
There's life.
And so here we are. We've been using our strength for not.
And hoping to accomplish something and we've missed the whole point of life.
So he sees that axe head swimming and Can you imagine how he reaches out?
And Justice would have pressed that thing to his heart, that axe head.
Now, true spiritual strength. Dear young brothers and sisters.
Is to promote life among God's people.
There are those things that promote death among God's people. There are contentions.
There are schools of thought, there are such diversities of things that we.
Face that they cause a lot of damage.
And so the true strength of the young man and the young sister is to be in that realm.
Of encouraging others in the right pathway. Now the question is.
Do you suppose that young man stayed on there? I don't think so.
I think he realized that they were in a false position.
And so we find that instead of the assembly being a straight place where you say you can't do anything or you get into trouble, or everybody's watching you to to put a case on you. So there are many reasons why we conclude that. But oh, when the spirit of life in Christ Jesus convicts our souls, we find that the assembly is a sphere of liberty and joy.
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Where life is brought forward, that's what we're here this afternoon.
That we might have life and to have it more abundantly and to be able to return to our assemblies.
And we can say the Lord is wrought with us.
Well, perhaps this young man came to Dothan, which is a little picture.
Of the assembly.
It was a refuge for his soul.
He enjoyed being with Elijah now.
Sometimes we contend with the generation gap and we have a situation.
Where? Well, there's just too much age gap here and we just can't seem to see eye to eye or pull together.
Well, it's wonderful. When that begins to melt away, we realize that we are a part of the body of Christ.
And to work together for the cause of Christ.
And so as we're in the assembly, we go on happily and we realize the assembly is a refuge for our souls, and we say everything is just wonderful and safe here.
And then we realize that there is the spiritual warfare that goes on.
Spiritual warfare that's deadly. And as we had brought before us so faithfully this morning about the airwaves.
They take a deadly toll, do they not?
And that sphere that is between US and heaven called air.
To try to suppress our thoughts down here and to try to find out the Daily News and to find out how the scores are going in the athletic world.
Taking up those precious.
Energies that we have in putting them in an unprofitable course. And so the spiritual warfare comes.
And can you not feel with this young man as he saw these gorillas gathering around with just one thing in mind, and that was to charge and to kill?
To get their reward to kill the man of God.
I can stand there with him.
And you're there, defenseless.
And you say, what are we going to do? We can't survive this situation.
But there again is that steadying influence to have Elijah pray for this young man, that his eyes might be opened to see that there are more forests than are against this.
There were two young sisters in Brazil that were going to night school.
And there were some desperate men that jumped them. They were defenseless and.
Ordered them into their own car.
And they ordered one of the sisters in the front seat and the other in the back. They had their guns out loaded and who knows? Who knows what was intended or was going to happen?
But as one of these sisters was rehearsing the story, I just, I just enjoyed it so much.
Because she said I was there in the back seat with that gun ready to go off. As she said, you know, I had the sweetest piece. I came to the conclusion there in the back seat that it doesn't make any difference what happens. What I thought, was she out of her mind?
No, there was that realization at such a time that there were more.
That are forests than are against us, and to think of the heavenly hosts that were there.
Over that car to make sure that these desperate men.
Were cut down from their purpose and they were let go harmless.
Ought to have our eyes open because these things are real as spiritual warfare.
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But as this young man was getting his eyes open, just to think of these hardened men that went in for the kill suddenly stopped.
Helpless, Defenseless themselves. What a sight that must have been.
Well, that's the God that we have as we go on in our spiritual warfare. Many of stories could be told in this room that just as desperate as that. And the story is that we were delivered because there were more that were forced than ever against us.
And we didn't read it, but we're taking up the book of Ephesians.
And these men that were smitten blind were taken into Samaria.
And the king, he said, shall we kill them? And Elijah says, Oh no.
You put on bread and water for them. You know what it says.
He gave them great provision, like to suggest that's the book of Ephesians where there we have great provision given to us that we might have the word of God abide in us. Oh, to have the word of God abide in us. That's our defense, that's our offense. And going on in the past of His choosing, that is marked by His wonderful grace.
Well then, we.
To this other young man. But I want to hold the pattern.
The last is that ye have overcome the wicked one.
Yes, there are those.
Should I say conflicts?
That we have with Satan when we become exercised as to how the Lord is going to use us.
In the Christian pathway, how is he going to use us among God's people?
And sometimes we develop ideas of what we would like to do.
Of how we would like to be known.
And we find that it doesn't workout. It doesn't work that way because we must submit our wills to the will of God, which isn't an overnight work.
Perhaps we see brethren that we so admire.
We see how they've given their lives to the Lord. We have seen with their own eyes how he has blessed them. We said like the pattern my life after that. And that's where we get into difficulty. And that's where we have to learn how to overcome the wicked one because he's right there to interfere with everything that comes before you, to interfere with being useful and fruitful among God's people.
But now, as I think of this young man, it's on a certain day.
At a certain time.
And there's an appointment that's given to him.
I don't believe that there's a young man.
That has been used of God in a public way.
That when they realize the responsibility that that is coming upon them, your first reaction is, oh, I can't do that. I've never done this before. And so can you not feel with this young man to hear Elijah say to him, gird up thy loins. That's very important. Take this box of oil in thine hand and go to Ramoth Gilead.
This young man.
Had witnessed terrible declension among God's people in his day.
He had just seen the enemy. Just.
Taken a hold here and a hold there, and justice see the light of testimony waning.
Maybe you have too?
And you want to do something about it. You'd like to be a help, instead of seeing this downward course to lift the spiritual tone of the assembly in which you're in. How are you going to do it? Maybe you don't want to do it. You say it's not my place. Well, you know, we have the exhortation not to despise the youth.
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Because God is pleased to use a David when he's maybe in his late teens.
For a very real situation now, to me, this was a desperate situation.
To rise up and go to a company of military men.
Say this isn't normal. I'm not used to this kind of an atmosphere.
But you know, this young man goes.
That's nice too, if that comes to you to submit yourself to the will of God.
And so he goes to these seasoned men to anoint a man there that God had.
Ready to turn this terrible tide of evil and declension in those days to put away the kings that were promoting it in their Kingdom.
Well, I didn't read it, but we'll read it now in verse 11.
Then she who came forth to the servants of his Lord, and once said unto him as all well.
Wherefore came this mad fella to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man?
And his communication.
Sometimes.
That which the Lord would give a young man or a young woman to do.
This reproach connected with it.
It isn't very nice to think of being called a mad fellow.
No, but that was just their thoughts. It wasn't God's thoughts.
And so he went and he carried out. That responsibility was given to him, and then it tells us that he ran.
He fled. He opened the door and fled.
And I'd like again to say to the young as you take begin to take up responsibilities.
This is a good spirit to have possess your souls. Sometimes you may give a wonderful word to God's people.
You're kind of expecting perhaps some comments afterward to see just where you came in at.
But let that go by. Learn to flee into the presence of the Lord.
That the soul might be emptied of pride, and you're going to experience perhaps giving.
A message and nobody says a thing about it doesn't make any difference.
The important part is is to be willing to act when the Lord calls us to act in wisdom, act in carefulness, act in love, and so may these three things come before all of us in a real way. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome.
The wicked one. And so if you're going to take out, take up any responsibility that God gives, there's going to be the opposition of the wicked one. But you go on independence upon the Lord, and by and by you perhaps will be able to see that instead of there being declension downward and losing ground, that there's a turning and an answering.
To the light.
Of God's Word, and that's a wonderful reward for any heart who has been engaged in that work.
We've been occupied with the loving kindness.
Of God this morning came out in Ephesians and came out in Titus. It came out in our hymn.
The loving kindness. And you know Jonah knew all about it. Jonah said Thou art.
Forgiving and loving and thy great kindness.
And Joel knew about it and Job knew about it, and we know about it. And so I was thinking it demonstrates it very nicely in the Book of Beginnings, which I love. Everything's there that we need. And I'm going to just read a few verses part of them, and then that'll give me the basis of what's on my heart.
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Genesis 1 verse one in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Three God said let there be light, there was light.
And God said, let there be firm in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. At the end of verse seven, it was so.
11 God said, Let the earth bring forth.
It was so.
And verse 21, well no, we'll go over to the girth. 24 God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, etcetera.
And it was so verse 26 and God said, let us make man in our image and likeness.
Verse 27 So God created man in his own image, and in the image of God created him. Male and female created he them and God blessed them.
31 God saw that everything he had made, and behold, it was very good.
And the evening in the morning were the 6th day. Now you know, this is beautiful and it's very simple. It's creation. I love creation, you know.
For through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
So that things that are seen were not made from things that do appear. That's creation.
Only God creates. Man invents, He designs, He devises from what God has made, but God creates, and so this is a simple statement of creation in his marvelous simplicity. I like that. It's direct and it's positive and it doesn't leave any room for a thought from man at all, or any reason or objection. That's the way God does it.
Very simple, very forthright, very positive.
And.
Thank you. All must simply be believed by faith.
That's the only way, by faith.
All of his thoughts and his purposes that we read about this far were in the distance, past eternity.
Were included in those thoughts and purposes. That's the marvelous thing, isn't it? In.
Proverbs 8 just turned quickly for one place. Proverbs 8 and I won't read many, but we could read many there. It's very beautiful. I'll read just verse.
27.
And maybe one more Proverbs 8/27.
When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth. When he established the clouds above. When he strengthened the fountains of the deep. When He gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, When he appointed the foundation of the earth.
Then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth. My delight with the sons of men. That's before anything was made. That's lovely, isn't it? His delight was in you and I really, individually and collectively, because the Church was in the purposes of God before anything was.
And that's very beautiful.
Now all we enjoy by this Marvelous Universe.
And the planet Earth and its variety of grasses and shrubs.
And flowers and trees and streams and rivers and lakes, oceans and seas.
And all the living creatures in the land, in the air, we enjoy those things, don't we? All by the word of his mouth, Psalm 33, he spake. And it was he commanded, it stood forth. Now that shuts man's mouth, that if he wants to argue with that, there's no basis because it's absolute truth. This is it. And it's very beautiful, all he had to do.
Was to speak, that's all.
Now we turn to chapter 2, Chapter 2 of Genesis. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.
And all the hosts of them. Verse 4.
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There are these are the generations of the heaven and the earth, which they, when they were created in the day of Jehovah, the Lord God really made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God had caused it to rain upon the earth. The Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground, but there went up amiss from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. Eden meaning delight.
And there he put the man whom he formed.
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the river went out of Eden.
To water the garden.
I'll just in verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of delights.
It's really paradise to dress it and to keep it. Verse 18 and the Lord God said it's not good.
That man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet for him. Verse 21. And the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon Adam. Then he slept, and he took one of his reflection stead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
You know, this is just all loving kindness. It's just coming pouring out. Now there's one thing different in the second chapter really than the 1St. The 1St is God said. That's all God said. But now we get to the second and man.
You know what it said? God planted a garden.
You know that's different. God planted a garden. You know all gardens are planted. There's a lot of gardens in this world, aren't there? I've enjoyed many of them.
Bouchard, which you probably have seen in Victoria, the island, beautiful garden. I think it's 50 acres, I'm not sure, in a cavern or a Canyon or something. And it's magnificent. You know, I remember the garden in Singapore. It's all orchids.
All orchids, all the different kinds, not just an orchid and another different orchid.
Fields of the same type of orchid and then another field of the same type of orchid.
They're beautiful, but that was planned, purposed and planted.
That's what we have. God planted a garden for man. You know, I saw a garden in Ottawa.
And impella Tulips. Tulips. Beautiful one, but they were planned and purposed and planted by man. They just didn't happen. You know that way purposely well.
There was a man in Lake Park, was it? No, Oak Park, IL? He had a garden, He had a garden. He was a banker, and he had this little garden in the backyard, fenced in all wildflowers.
He planted them, He got them, He planned it, He planted those wildflowers. The neighbors said he has a garden of weeds made fun of him. They were beautiful, though when they came into blue, they were weeds, but they were flowers on those weeds. So this is it. Now the Lord had all this made and it was good, very good. But He wanted something special for man. Loving kindness. That's all it is. You know, I look around today.
As I travel.
And after 6000 years of sin ravaging God's creation and man polluting it the best he can.
I can still see many places I would have been satisfied.
If God put me there.
Because they can't ruin it all. You know man can't ruin all the creation he's done good.
In polluting, he's done good in defiling it, and sin has touched everything.
I remember when I used to collect leaves, the teacher would say bring the leaves in and so on, and different trees. I couldn't find one that didn't have a spot on it, didn't have a sign of sin on it wasn't eaten by an insect someplace. That's that's what sin did to God's creation. But I found many places I felt God could have put man. Think about 6000 years ago before sin came in. That didn't satisfy God, that didn't satisfy the Lord. He wanted something very special.
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For man.
You know he planted a garden in Eden place of delights.
And then he provided a river out of Eden to water that garden. In other words, God provided everything that was needed, everything an ample provision and supply for that garden he planted for man. This is marvelous when you think about it, isn't it? It's marvelous to me, all right.
Now we read Genesis 2 where he said it's not good that man enjoy all this alone.
I'll give him a help me and he provided him a help me and he gave her to him.
You know, as loving kindness. You've got to help me, brothers.
She loved the Lord and she's one of Christ. That's loving kindness well.
This is what we're talking about when we're talking about loving kindness. God wasn't satisfied with just paradise.
Down here he wanted something very special.
How long did this last?
We're not told, are we? We're not told. Well, it didn't last past Genesis three. We know that it didn't last past Genesis 3.
Now in Genesis 3 verse 22 to 24, we see.
What happened?
Therefore the Lord God sent Adam forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of life, the way of the tree of life. I don't know, I sort of think the Garden is gone now.
That place of delight.
He prepared purposely for Adam and gave him a helpmeet in it.
Tree of life isn't the tree of life isn't. Well, I was thinking how beautiful this is. The loving kindness of God to provide something like that.
Now.
When the Lord his Son came here.
This wasn't paradise, you know?
Wasn't a place of delight when he came here.
It was a valley of the shadow of death.
It was a groaning creation.
It was sin rampant. It was hatred from his creatures. This is what he found.
This is what the Son of God found.
It was defilement, disease, corruption, deformity of his creation. All this was there.
Strife and violence, that's what he found.
You know, there's a bright note. I like these bright notes. So we'll turn to John, John's gospel, for a little bright note here. And I like it. John, chapter 18. John chapter 18. Yeah.
Let's see here.
John 18 verse one.
Well, first of all, 26 and 17 And I have declared unto them thy name, and well declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. And when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the Brooke Kedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew of the place, For Jesus OFT times resorted thither with his disciples.
I love those words.
Where was a garden into which the Son of God could enter? How wonderful. That is beautiful. You know, it's not a garden like he planted for man in paradise. Not like that, no, no. But it was a garden where Jesus could resort and could be apart from the din of this world and the sin of this world.
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And could pray in that nice, you know, God makes sure that the Father makes sure that there was a garden. I liked that language where was a garden, you know, turn to Luke 21, Luke 21 and.
Verse 37. I think it's the last verses. Verse 37.
In the daytime Jesus was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and abode abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives.
Where was the garden? That's it, That's where the garden and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him.
That's where he lived that night, that's where he abode, that's where he dwelt.
Why You didn't have any home? You didn't have any home here.
But there was a garden.
That nice there was a garden turn to a Luke 9. Luke 9 just mentioned this. It's good to get it in focus in Luke 9.
1St.
58 Loop 95857 And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Jesus, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. So he abode in the Mount of Olives at night, but there was a garden.
So nice, isn't it? There was a garden. Now back to our portion in John 18.
You know, in Matthew 26 verse 36, it's called Gethsemane.
Gethsemane that means the oil press place the oil press place spirit function there where Jesus abode at night. Isn't that beautiful contact directly with the Father That's that's Gethsemane. I think it's very beautiful to see that and and not only that it was at the Brooke Kidron right there Kidron children means.
A dark and gloomy place.
You know, at that place was where the Lord could.
Receive his direction and the Father's will.
That place turned into a dark and gloomy place for him.
That's right. And it's very simple to see that say, you know, but it was there right there.
In that garden place that the Lord prayed in agony.
Prayed in agony and he said, Father, if it be possible.
Let this cup pass for me nevertheless. Not my will, but I will be done. That's the oil press place. Isn't that lovely? That's the spirit, I think it's so beautiful to see that.
Well.
Our Lord during his lifetime, and I think it's wonderful, did have a garden.
Not like Adams, not like that beautiful place and delights, but.
It was a garden, I think, made available by his father. I don't see any other reason for it. He could find peace and quietness and rest apart from this world.
You know but our Father.
Had ready a garden for his son in his death too.
And I think that's very beautiful. Turn to chapter 19 of John, Chapter 19.
And let's see 38.
And after this, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly.
For fear of the Jews besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
And Pilate gave him leave, and he came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of Vern elos about 100 LB weight. Then took day the body of Jesus, and wounded in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury now in the place.
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Where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden.
A new sepulchre where was never man yet laid.
There laid they Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jew, preparation day for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
Here's 2 disciples.
Joseph Nicodemus, Two of them.
You know there's three kinds of disciples.
In John 666, notice the number. Those are disciples in Word only.
Professing believers, they follow Jesus till a time.
And then they leave him and follow him no more.
You know, there's a lot of those. There's a lot of those in Chrysanthemum.
But the next would be disciples indeed, and that's John 831.
I'd better read it. I could say it maybe John 831. These are real and and 8:31.
See if I find it, click here. I know that's about where it is.
Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him.
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So there's there's professing disciples word only. There's those disciples indeed. And then there's a third group. That's Joseph of Aravathi and many others.
Secret disciples. They're real, but they're secret disciples. Sort of sad though, isn't it? But the Lord honors everything and He brings these two secret disciples out in the open after the death of Jesus. They didn't have the privilege of walking with the Jesus down here. You and I have it. They didn't have the privilege of suffering for Christ down here. You and I have that.
I hope you're taking advantage of it. Come out. Don't be so secret about this thing. This is wonderful. But the Lord allowed them to do his mission for Jesus after his death. And you know many of the secret disciples will be able to do that up there after his death. But their secret disciples here, that's not so nice. Well, the Lord is faith both. So he used Joseph and he used.
Dear Nicodemus, isn't that wonderful? You know Joseph means add thou Jehovah.
He did after his death. He added him after his death. He had him before, but it wasn't known. That's sad. You know the Jews said anybody that that I should quote this right will be.
Excommunicated, kicked out of the synagogue like the blind man. And so they didn't. They fear the Jews. They didn't come out now for Jesus. Well, Nicodemus means he has risen.
Victorious. There's these two men coming out now. Isn't it beautiful? I think it's lovely what the Lord allows.
I won't get into it. They had frankincense and they had aloes and they had I'm myrrh and aloes, I think. But you know, at the beginning the worship for Jesus was myrrh, was frankincense, gold frankincense and myrrh. Now it's myrrh and Alice here.
Gold was Jesus Disney Gold now it was Jesus. Isn't that nice? Same thing. Well.
Joseph had a garden in Calvary. Turn to Luke 23. Luke 23. It's beautiful to see this. God had it already, you know, for his Son. No problem with that. Luke 23.
And verse 52.
All right.
No verse. I think that'll do it 52.
This man went on to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus and he took it down.
And wrapped it in litter and laid it in a sepulchre that was eun and stone.
Where never man before was laid.
As our Father's work, that's our Father's work. Isn't that beautiful? And you know, you can see in Mark 15, we won't turn to it. It takes too long. It says Joseph of Arimathea came and went in boldly of the pilot, craving the body of Jesus, and he laid him in a sepulchre which was yoon out of rock.
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In Matthew 27, maybe we better look at that 57. I didn't quote the last one all the way. Matthew 27 and verse 57.
When the even was come there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph who also himself was Jesus disciple. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus and then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which he had used out in the rock. That's beautiful. Well, I'm just showing you how God had everything already.
For his son at this time now.
There was a garden, Joseph had a garden right near Calvary. Isn't that lovely, in which he had a new tomb. You not a stone and this God had ready for his Son in the fulfillment really of Isaiah 53, listened to it. Isaiah 53 verse nine, I think Isaiah 53 verse nine. This had to be fulfilled and that's how it was Isaiah 53 verse 9.
I'm going to read it from another translation I believe. And men appointed his grave with the wicked.
But he was with the rich in his death. There it is. Man appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death. Joseph of Arimathea, that rich counselor. Isn't it lovely? And so God had this all planned. I want to do one more thing. Don't take it all here.
Chapter 20. Chapter 20. There's something else that we should bring out here.
Verse 10 Then the disciples went away again in their own home, But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping. As she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. And she seeth, 2 angels in White City. The one on the head, and the other at the feet, were the body of Jesus had Lane. And they say unto her, Woman, Why weep us now? She says unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, I know not where they played Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back.
And saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
And Jesus said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seeketh thou? And she is supposing him to be the gardener, says unto him, Sir.
If thou have borne him hands, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said unto her, Mary. And she turned herself, and said unto him, Rabbi, and I, which is to say, Master. And Jesus says under her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend under my father, and your father unto my God, and your God. And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples.
She had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her.
Now we read that Joseph had this sepulchre.
And there was a garden, and in the garden was this new sepulchre where never man was laid.
God our Father had it already for his Son in his death, and included in all his plans was this garden by a rich man and a simple curse so he could have he could have his.
So, so he was with the rich in his death. That's the way I think it was. You know, all prophecy has to be fulfilled. All of it is in Jesus. To think in his death there was this garden.
And a garden, a new sepulchre, and a rich man's tomb where never man had laid. We're not beautiful to think about that.
Will we rejoice and we praise God for this. I want to mention something. This was not a garden like the Lord prepared for Adam.
In in Paradise wasn't like that. There. There was no weeds, no thistles, no thorns. It was watered.
Just purposely and beautifully from the ground, by a river coming out of the place of delights. Everything was perfect in that garden.
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Nonetheless, there was a garden for the Lord, but it wasn't like that. And I want to just mention, do you notice in verse 15 she's supposing Him to be the gardener?
Well, I'll tell you something. This is the only time in the Word of God Gardner is found. Now, I know you're going to get your computers going and all these other things on coordinates, and if you find Gardner, let me know. Other than here. Why is it here? Because God wanted us to know He couldn't give a garden to His son like his son did to mayor.
He couldn't. It's a cursed earth. The gardener is a caretaker.
Of that garden.
This is the only time you'll find it. God wanted us to realize that it wasn't the garden.
Like his loving kindness provided for man. But I want to say something else.
The Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God on high.
And he has gardens now. He has gardens and that, lovely to think about it, He has gardens right here.
And you know.
In those gardens he finds all his delights, all of his delights in those gardens.
I better go return to Song of solemn. I better just mention it here. Song of song.
Which is Solomon's Song of Songs and chapter 4. I'm not going to take too much on this.
A garden enclosed a spring. Shut up.
A fountain sealed separation for himself.
Exclusiveness for himself. That's all that verse tells us.
And the next two verses tell us about how each Lily has a different fragrance for him.
And now 15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, streams from Lebanon. He doesn't just have a garden, he has many gardens around the world. A fountain of gardens of continuous flow.
For his delight from these gardens it's the Assembly's brethren, those gathered to his precious name. You know, Sister Chris used to sit alone in San Antonio with a loaf and cup, as many others do, and she broke bread when a brother came.
But she said, I sat here last Lord's Day, now that was here two years ago, last Lord's Day, and I thought how wonderful. There's a continuous flow of fruit for the Lord and our Father all the time on Lord's Day because of the change of time and all she was thinking about that, it never stops. There's breaking bread.
Continuously I never thought of that either. That's from his gardens here he has gardens now and they're perfect and you know it says here awake north wind and come thou S blow upon my garden. Why that the spices thereof may flow out five one I am come into my garden. I'm come and he doesn't neglect any of us. If you read the rest of that verse one of five you'll see it. He takes something from all of us. That's what he wants to do.
Now let's see at the end of the song.
13 The last chapter 8 thou that dwell us, isn't that beautiful?
You know, at night he abode, He dwelt in the mana valleys. Where was the garden? But now that thou that dwellest in the gardens thy companions hearken to Thy voice caused me to hear it. Caused me to hear it. Oh, you know, it's beautiful to see this. The gardens are filled with lilies.
That's your new name. When you're saved, you're a Lily.
But each one gives off a little different fragrance, different fruit. Isn't that nice? Because he said Solomon in all his glory.
Was wasn't wasn't closed like one of these lilies?
You're much more. I don't know how it says it now valued in Solomon. I don't know. I'd have to go back. I'm not going to take time. But we're lilies. That's what he calls the bride in the Song of Solomon. You're a Lily. You're a Lily among Fords. That's right among Fords. But that's the nice thing. And then the Lord is intimately concerned about each Lily.
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In his garden, and you know he finds his delight there.
They're exclusively for him and now I would say sometimes he just gathers a Lily for himself.
I like that. Don't you just take the Lily home? I don't mind. We miss them.
Wants to take a Lily home just for himself. That's all right, too. He comes down and he gathers lilies.
I think that's beautiful too. Now everything committed to man.
There's failure.
And these beautiful gardens, and by the way, they're planted.
They are planted by his father for him. That is true.
I think I'd have to use a verse for that. Matthew 1515. No, Matthew 1513. I think I can quote it. Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted out.
And that's something rooted up. But then which thou hast given me, I'll have. I think it's lovely. Every plant which my father has not planted. Just as the Lord God planted this garden for Adam and man, God plants this garden for his Son. I think it's so beautiful. Don't you? You were planted. You were set in it as it pleased the Lord. Well, OK, I say everything committed to man.
Goes to failure. So I'm going to read Isaiah Isaiah show you and it's sad to see this but we've got to read truth and it's not all beautiful. You know we we are not much I have to say that Isaiah.
65 Isaiah 65 and MEC.
Verse 3. Verse 2.
I have spread out my hands all day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts, a people that provokes me to anger continually to my face, and that sacrifices in gardens.
And burneth incense upon altars of brick.
That's man's design. That's man's way. They should be stolen.
Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the mountains, which each swine's flesh.
And broth of abominable things in their vessels. Now turn to 66 Isaiah 66 and verse.
Three at the end. Yay. They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them. Because when I called.
None did answer when I spake they did not hear, but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not. Verse 17 that they that they that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouth.
Shall be consumed together, says the Lord, for I know their works.
And their thoughts.
I said that's sad, but it's true, brethren. But he will have his gardens. Doesn't matter about the number. He'll have his gardens where he finds his delights.
I have to remind you, it isn't like the Garden of Eden.
That the Lord had when he was here. But the one we are is much better. I just want to read at Revelation.
Revelation.
20.
Two verse one, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear and crystal breeding, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and in the midst of the street of it on either side of the river, the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits.
And yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God, and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. There shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. I could have read in 21 as well.
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But their brethren, there's no mention of a garden. There's no garden. Why? It's all paradise. It's all delight. You can't improve upon where we're going by a garden. I think that's so beautiful. Garden here. That's right. But not where we're going. You can't improve that Where sin will never come. I see the times out, so I'll call a hymn.
Who knows where that hymn is? Oh bright, oh oh, bright and blessed. Seen 64. It's a bright and blessed scene. I think we're sin can never come.
That's why you don't need a garden up there.
It's very beautiful. 64, I think, if I ever get to it here, I think.
Yeah.
O'Brien and the same where?
You fall.
As far as?
You can do.
It all the way to the home.
Let's do it all, I hope.
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Appreciate you.
And.
Let me.
Why I can't Grace will bring you.
I think the end of it is more time for anything.