Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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There's three scriptures that I'd like to read. First of all in Deuteronomy chapter 26. I'd like to start with Deuteronomy 25 and verse 17, and then read Deuteronomy chapter 26. Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt, how he met thee, by the way, and smote the hinder most of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he.
Fear not God, therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it.
And it shall be when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessed it, and dwellest therein.
That thou shalt take the first of all the fruit of the earth at which thou shalt bring of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there, and thou shalt have gone to the priest.
That shall be in those days. And say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God. Assyrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and.
There with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty and populous. And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard *******. And when we cried unto the Lord our God, the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty ham, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terrible.
And with signs and with wonders. And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house.
Thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you, when thou hast made an end of.
Tithing, all the ties of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing. And hast given it unto the Levites, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And that they may eat within thy gates and be filled, Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God. I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all.
Commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. They have not eaten thereof in my morning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead. But I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
Look down from my holy habitation from heaven, and bless thy people, Israel, and the land which thou hast given us as thou swearest unto our fathers. A lamb that floweth with milk and honey. This day. The Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine hearts and with all thy soul. Thou hast devoted the Lord this day to be thy God.
And to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations, which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor. And that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God.
As he has spoken that in First Timothy and the 3rd chapter. First Timothy chapter 3.
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And the 15th verse.
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself.
In the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached under the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
And then one other passage in Zephaniah. It's the fourth last book in the Old Testament, Zephaniah and the last chapter and the 14th verse.
Saying, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart. O daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst of thee, that thou shalt not see evil anymore. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands be slack, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee.
Mighty He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Well, it's very blessed in this 26th chapter of Deuteronomy to see how God delighted the in the blessing of His people and how He desired their response.
Of their hearts. And when we think of all that He has done for us, surely we can say He has done everything that love could do to win the response of our hearts. Now we know as regards the children of Israel, when they entered the land, they possessed it on a conditional basis.
If they were obedient, God would bless them in their land. If they were disobedient, they would forfeit that good land that God had given to them. And we know that they were disobedient, and they were.
The land. But there is a day coming for Israel when they will possess the land, and it won't be conditional upon anything in themselves. It will all be because of those unconditional promises that God made long ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all founded upon the work of Christ, the only ground by which any blessing could come to man.
But I believe when we look at this in the 26th of Deuteronomy, while we can be assured that our blessings have all been made certain through the work that Christ has done, it is absolutely impossible for us to forfeit any blessing that God has purposed through Christ, because all the promises of God in him are. Yeah. And in him Amen to the glory of God by us. We can never, I say.
4 foot anything that God has secured to us, because it's all in Christ that it's been made good.
But we can, brethren, lose the enjoyment of it. It's very possible. And what is sometimes made the remark that a Christian can be the happiest person on earth, or he can be the most miserable. He can be the happiest if he is enjoying his portion about If he is not enjoying his portion, he can surely be the most miserable because he has realized that the world doesn't satisfy.
And so when he turns away from the Lord.
There's really nothing for him because he has learned the emptiness of the world. I remember a remark that was made to my father he used to repeat to us as boys. He said when he was first saved, someone said to him, Harry, you've been brought to know the Lord is your Savior. You might as well make the best of what you have in Christ because you're spoiled for the world. Well, I think there's a lot of truth in that, brethren, and isn't it true that many of us are not the.
Of happy Christians we should be. And the Lord Jesus when he spoke to His own, desired that their joy would be full. Not half full, but full. He wanted them to enjoy all that was in his heart for them. All that was 1 for them at Calvary. Now the reason I read those verses in the end of the 25th chapter of Deuteronomy is to show that just before we have this introduction.
God speaks about.
How Amalek came out and he smote the children of Israel and who were the ones that he smote? Well, it says he smote the hinder most of them, the ones that were not following close, the ones who were discouraged by the way. And we know that Amalek is a picture to us of Satan's power over us through that fallen nature that we have within us.
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He when he ever, when he attacks us, he always makes an attack on us through that fallen nature. God has shown us what he has done with it. He has told us that our old man was crucified with him. But we don't always reckon that old man dead. We sometimes allow it in our lives. And Satan knows the weak point and he attacks us on that weak point. He seeks to, he seeks to hinder us just as he did here.
He smote the hinder malls to notice what it says when they were faint and weary. And you know the devil likes to get us discouraged. In fact, one has commented that I believe Satan is pictured to us as a roaring lion in connection with discouragement. The only time that I can recall where he has spoken of in that character is in First Peter chapter 5 and there it tells us.
Casting all your care upon him.
For he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith. In other words, when we don't cast our cares on the Lord, Satan is right there. Just like when Amalek attacked Israel. And if there are any of us here this afternoon?
And there's some care that's bowing you down. Satan is, certainly.
Looking to attack you because when we our eyes are off the Lord and when we have allowed some care to get us down, then he knows just how we're weak and he makes that attack. And so it tells us here that they were to cut off the remembrance of Amalek. In other words, the scripture says the flesh profiteth nothing.
The flesh profiteth nothing. There's absolutely no.
No fruit for God at all from the first man. All it is fruit for God comes through that new life that God has given to us. And the Holy Spirit is the power of that new life that he has given to us. And so if there should be anyone here who is discouraged and cast down, well, how needful. We realize three things. I'd like to just give you 3 verses. And why is this As for God?
His way.
Is perfect, and the next one is all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And then humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. And if I can apply that to myself, when I don't humble myself under God's mighty hand, when I don't accept my circumstances from Him.
Them I'm questioning.
His power, because there isn't a trouble in your life or mine that God couldn't remove if He saw fit. There is no difficulty too great for him. You remember in that 28th of Matthew when the Lord Jesus spoke to His own in resurrection? There it says that they went out to that place where the Lord had appointed, and there they met him, and they worshiped him. And it says, But some doubted. But some doubted, and it tells.
That the Lord Jesus spoke these words to them, the ones I just mentioned. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And let me say to you that if there's a doubt in your mind, isn't that the answer? That He has all power and he could remove it and His ways are perfect. Would we think of questioning it? So I just suggest those 3 verses and I don't suggest that anyone here needs them any more than I do because it's very easy for.
Of us, when we look at circumstances when we find it hard to submit to them, it's very hard for us then to rise above them and all. How busy Amalek is, how the enemy comes in like a roaring lion to discourage us.
And so God would have us not to have any confidence in the flesh, but every confidence in our blessed, living, precious Savior. He is worthy of our confidence, as the little hymn says, Worthy art thou our love to win, worthy of all our trust. So let us turn to Him then with that confidence. Well, now we come to this chapter here.
And we're reminded of how the children of Israel.
Or to come before the Lord with their basket of first fruits. And that is, they were to come in gratitude for what the Lord had done for them. Because the Lord delights to have His own around himself, recognizing His love toward them in the enjoyment of His love. Many of us this afternoon are parents. We know how much we love to have our children around us.
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How much we want them to realize our love to them.
And all that we would like to do for them and the Lord delights to have his own around himself. In the Old Testament he said, gather my people that gather together my people unto me are those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Before he went away, he gave that beautiful verse in Matthew 18 for where two or three.
Are gathered together in my name. They are. Am I?
In the midst of them, the energy of His Spirit gathers his own around himself. And so here we find in this 26th chapter of Deuteronomy that they had come now into the land which the Lord giveth thee for an inheritance. Let's just notice that little word, Give the Lord giveth thee. Let us remember that every spiritual blessing is a gift.
We don't have to earn it, we receive.
But as a gift, salvation is a gift, and we're told in Ephesians one that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The youngest believer, if there was a boy or girl saved in the Sunday school this afternoon, he's blessed just as much as anyone who has been saved for 50 years. There is no limit because when God blesses, he blesses according to his heart.
Blessed with all spiritual blessings, so the.
Lord gave them the land. Now true, they didn't actually possess all the land, but it was all given to them. Do we know and enjoy all of his hours in Christ? Oh, we know too well that we don't. Is it ours? Oh yes. And that's why we like to have these meetings because it's just like a person learning a little bit more of what truly belongs to Him. And so it's given. Let's remember this, there are many people who are trying to attain to something in their spiritual.
Life, but I love that verse in Exodus chapter 14 where it's 1514 rather where it says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. In other words, God says to his people, don't you just stand still because the Lord's going to do it all for you. And sometimes we're just in a rush to try and swim across the Red Sea. But when they stood still and waited, they didn't have to swim across. They went on dry land, the Lord.
Opened the way and so here he's given us for an inheritance and then it says a little further and possess a step and not only to know that it was given. I don't suppose there are many of us here that would doubt that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies about some of us have to acknowledge that we haven't possessed these things it's true we're very interested in material possessions in this land of.
Clarity. Why it's very easy to get taken up in my own heart, too, with those things that we call earthly possessions. Joseph called them stuff. Those things that they had that he told them to forsake when they came down to him. Their stuff. He said, Don't regard your stuff, He said. The good of all the land of Egypt is before you.
So possessive step and they not only possessed it, but here we find something of the thought of continuance and dwell asterium. Sometimes we have perhaps laid hold of this fact that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. We may have gone a little step further and we have sat in the meetings and we've got hold of some of these wonderful, wonderful truths about what God has done for us in Christ.
But we can ask.
Our hearts, where are we dwelling? Where are we dwelling? After these three days are over, where are we dwelling? The little hymn says Dwell, dwell with your exalted head and let your life be there. And it speaks to my own heart. I know perhaps some of these blessings, and I hope in some measure I possess them. But what is my daily life like?
Am I actually dwelling them?
Dwelling in the good of these things is our day by day Christian experience that we're actually dwelling in the good of all these things. Then I say we must be happy Christians. I don't believe it would be possible for us to be truly enjoying what we have in Christ without bubbling over. No wonder Paul said, if we though we be beside ourselves, it is to God.
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His heart positively bubbled over at times, with all the blessings that were his.
In Christ, although He had to face life in a sober way, as we all do. Well, then, they were to take of the fruit of all the earth, and they were to put it in a basket, and they were to go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there. God had appointed a certain place for His people where they were to go and bring this basket of first fruits, where they were to offer their sacrifices.
Now we know it isn't a geographical place today, but it is a person to whom we're gathered and we have the truth of God to instruct us how he would have us to gather. And I believe it is very important that we should go to the word of God because you know, there are very many opinions of man, but how can we know that we are gathered according to his word? Why it's?
Only as we make this precious book our guide and he has given us directions, and perhaps we could say that there are three things that ought to characterize how that which is spoken of in Scripture as the Lord's table. It is first, the expression of the truth of the one body, because just as Jerusalem was the Center for the whole 12 tribes.
So the truth that we are the only time in the scripture, we.
Read the expression. The Lord's Table is in 1St Corinthians 10, and that is the chapter that tells us that the Lord's Table is the place where the truth of the one body is expressed. And so we have a very precious truth there, gathered on the ground of the one body of Christ. People talk about choosing for themselves, but I beg of every Christian here.
You didn't choose for yourself the way of salvation.
You found it out in God's Word. And should we then choose for ourselves how God would have us to gather? Well, we have this precious book to tell us. And just as an Israelite could discover by listening to the voice of God where He had put His name in Israel, so I believe if we seek to follow this precious book, He will show us that there is a scriptural way in which we can gather according to His mind and.
To His truth. And so they were to have that energy that would seek to be where the Lord would have them.
And then it says, Thou shalt go unto the priest, and that shall be in those days. Well, I was going to mention the three things in connection with the Lord's Table. First of all, I believe that it's the expression of the truth of the one body. And then to that it would be in separation from evil, because God's name is holy.
And then too, it is a testimony to the whole truth of God.
Not part of it. It's to be the pillar and ground of the truth. And so we need to bear this in mind if we are seeking to be gathered according to truth, the one body separation from moral and doctrinal evil, and a testimony to the whole truth of God. Not just part of it, but the whole truth. It says the pillar and ground of the truth.
Then it tells us here in the third verse, And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country, which the Lord swear unto our fathers to give us.
Here we find this individual. Now he goes with this basket of first fruits of that which he has gathered from the land. And perhaps I could say it is that which we have made our own. And they were given a possession in the land they planted, and it grew, and now they could take the fruit of that land and present it. And you know what we bring when we come into the Lord's presence as worshippers.
Ought to be that which.
We have enjoyed in our souls of Christ. It isn't just going through the hymn book and selecting some hymn that we like, but it's something that the Spirit of God is made good. Something like the thought of what the Lord Jesus meant when he said he that believeth on me. As the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
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Something like Mary, she had that alabaster box.
Of ointment she had made it her own, and now she pours it out upon the Lord Jesus. And nothing is sweeter when we come into His presence than when the heart overflows that with that by which we have made our own concerning Himself. Oh truly. Just like with Mary, it says the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. It wasn't just that she was trying to look around and see whether others were.
Pleased actually they found fault, but her heart was taken up with the Lord Jesus, and she just poured forth out of her own treasure. Now that which was she had made her own, now poured forth for the Lord Himself to anoint Him. And so they were to bring this, and then it tells they were to go unto the priest. Well, now we know that in Christianity.
Every believer is a priest. It says that we are holy priests.
To OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
In Israel they had to go, and there was a certain family in Israel that came between themselves and God. But not so in Christianity. Isn't it blessed when we come and we sit down at the Lord's Table, that we are there around Him as holy priests, and that we can, in the liberty of the Spirit of God, OfferUp spiritual sacrifices?
Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
And we read in another place, and none shall appear before me empty. Everyone ought to have something that he has enjoyed of himself, something that we have made good, so that we can come into his presence with grateful and praising hearts.
It's true that everyone may not.
Take part audibly, except perhaps in the singing, but each one can have that portion, and the Lord values that. And here this person as an individual, he said, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of his hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.
God now He comes with His offering and He presents it there. He sets it down. And so isn't it a blessed privilege? Oh, brethren, do we really value the privilege of coming into the Lord's presence as worshippers? We look forward to that blessed day when we're going to be up there with Him. We're going to praise Him as we ought, but all He delights to have that from our hearts down here.
Down here yes that return just like those.
Man who went out and sought David's company in his rejection. And the Lord delights to have us around him, as David did of old. And then it goes on to say in this fifth verse, And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God. Assyrian ready to perish was my father.
Well, I wonder, have each one of us realized how far off we really were? Ephesians chapter 2 Says. And you that were sometimes far off have been brought nigh by the precious blood of Christ. When we think of how far off we are we were and how near we have been brought, doesn't it thrill our hearts? We were once ready to perish. We were once in the position of having judgment hanging over us.
We were once on our way to a lost eternity, but in wondrous grace He sought us and He found us. And just as the children of Israel were redeemed out of Egypt by the blood of that Passover lamb, so in wondrous grace that's what He has done to us. He has seen us in our lost condition, ready to perish, and He was ready to save, and He has saved us.
And as we come together.
How we love, as we sang this morning, to look back to Calvary and to think of what the Lord Jesus suffered for us there, all that he endured there to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
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I've enjoyed, and perhaps I have mentioned before, but it's been precious to my heart how that there's such a similarity between the worship as we gather around the Lord Jesus and the gospel meeting. Oh, you say I thought there was a great difference. Well, I see a great similarity in this way, that when we come to remember the Lord Jesus, we're there to tell God what we think of his beloved Son and of that work that.
Accomplished, we dwell upon the glory of His Person and the excellence of His work. And as the burnt offering went up as a fragrance to God, so as we gathered there, we bring that blessed One as the ground of our acceptance, all that He was to the heart of God, and we have been accepted in the Beloved. 1 And so in the worship meeting we dwell upon the glory of His Person and the excellence of His work, and where it has brought us.
And what do we do in the gospel meeting? Well, we do the same thing to the Sinner. We go to the Sinner and we say to him, Oh, we want you to know something of the excellence of that wonderful person who has accomplished redemption for you. And he has settled the question of sin once for all at Calvary. And we present him now to the Sinner in all the excellence of his person and all the glory of the work that he has accomplished.
Oh, how precious it is.
That's going to be our theme, brethren, forever. We're going to be occupied with Him in that glory above the song is Thou art worthy. That's his person, and thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. That's His work, and that's the eternal song. And so that's what they were to do. They were to bring His remembrance.
Assyrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down.
Egypt and sojourn there, and became with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty and populous. And then the Egyptians, evil entreated them. When God blessed them down in Egypt, there in that lamb God's eye was upon them, and He blessed them. And So what did that bring forth? It brought forth the enmity and the rejection that they faced there, and they were made slaves under.
Cruel taskmasters until they cried unto the Lord. You know, God didn't intend this world to be our home. He didn't intend when they went down into Egypt. Why, things went quite smoothly for a while, but God didn't allow them to be comfortable there because He wanted to bring them out from that land and to bring them unto a good land.
One is sometimes commented that in. I believe it's the 100 and.
Psalm. We learn that the very attitude that people have toward us is allowed of the Lord.
In that Psalm we read about Abraham and it says that he suffered no man to touch his people.
And he said, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. And although there were only such a few of them, he wouldn't allow those nations that were in the land of Canaan at that time to hurt his people. He made their attitude favorable, even though they did some things that weren't altogether what they should be. God protected them. But when they became a great nation and a populous nation in the land of Egypt and it says he turns.
Their hearts to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants. You say God did that. God allowed the people to turn against them. Yes. What did he do it for? Oh, I say again, He didn't want his people to be comfortable there. He wanted them to get out. He wanted them to leave it. Are we trying to make ourselves comfortable here? This is not our home, brethren. We don't belong here. Heaven is our Father land. Heaven.
Is our home. And so they cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard them and he brought them out from that land. We know how they were sheltered from the judgment by the blood of the Passover lamb. They were actually no better than the Israelites. We read that they had actually fallen into idolatry in the land of Egypt, but nevertheless, God had his eye upon them for blessing and he was going to bring.
And He did bring them out and He brought them out on the only ground that he could bring them out. And that is sheltered under the blood. Now. That's the only way there could be any blessing for us is only through that precious blood that was shed there for us.
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And so they spoke of this, the eighth verse, where God had brought them out, the ninth verse. And he hath brought us into this place, and have given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Now I notice here it was what they were brought out from and what they were brought into.
There may be some here and you know that you have been saved. You know you've been delivered from the ******* of Satan. You know that your sins are forgiven, you're justified from all things. But are you and I in the enjoyment of the good land? I say again, the Lord wants us to be happy. He wants us our joy to be full. So they were not only brought out from the land, but they were brought in, brought in to enjoy this land.
A land flowing with milk and honey. Everything there provided for their good and for their blessing.
And so now he speaks in the 10th verse. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God.
You notice here how intensely personal it is. Now, of course, we know that we worship collectively.
About each one of us is an individual. There is an individual enjoyment of the Lord. And just as we remarked before about Mary, it tells us that she was just individually occupied with the Lord. She wasn't occupied with the company. If she had, there would have been much to disappoint her, but she was occupied with the Lord.
And so her heart is poured out in gratitude and Thanksgiving to Him. And so I say this to myself, We can come to the meeting. We can get occupied with the state of things, but isn't it much sweeter to be occupied with the Lord and what He has done for us? I'm sure that if we are sitting in His presence, occupied with Him, brethren, our hearts will overflow. In His presence we will be like Mary.
Just totally occupied with the Lord Jesus so that no sacrifice was too great. They tell us that this.
Box of ointment, 300 pants. A penny was a wages for a day, so it would represent just about a year's wages. And this was how much she had that she was pouring out at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Oh, it costs something to be a worshiper, but oh, there's a joy in his heart, and there's a joy in our hearts too, brethren, in being worshippers in his presence.
And then the 11TH verse. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.
Well, there's all that we have in Christ, but aren't there so many things that he has been so good to us? Do we count our blessings? I'm afraid we often do. Otherwise we count our troubles. I'm afraid we're very much like Jacob. He started to count his troubles and he said.
Joseph is not. And Benjamin have you taken away? And he spoke about all his trials. And then he said, and all these things are again.
Against me. But he had to learn that God's hand was behind those circumstances and actually those things were working for His good. May we know, brethren, how to count our blessings. It's so easy to count our sorrows. It's so easy to dwell upon them. And some do have, it seems, a very special portion of sorrows. God allows some to go through more than others.
I've mentioned before, and perhaps it bears repeating, that when you come to the faith chapter, the 11TH chapter of Hebrews, God speaks of the faith of those different ones. And then in the end of the chapter, he divides into two groups. And I won't take time to turn to it, but you can read it for yourself. And there you read about people. And it says, who? Through faith, said Jude, kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stop the mouths of.
And then you turn to the second group and it says others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Notice the two groups 1 turned to the Lord, and they just got marvelous answers to prayer and remarkable deliverances. And here's another group.
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And it just seemed that nothing went right for them. They prayed and just things got worse and.
Instead of better and they were tortured and they wandered about and God didn't seem to come in at all. And you say, oh, I'd like to be in the first group, but listen what God says about them. It's lovely his comment. He says these all having obtained a good report through faith.
God was glorified in the faith that looked to him and received deliverance, but he was also glorified in the faith that trusted Him. As the little hymn says, trust Him. When to simply trust Him seems the hardest thing of all. That's the time that God is glorified. Some of us are parents and when we have to ask our child to do something and say now I can't tell you now, but I'll explain afterwards, and the child has the confidence to trust us.
Doesn't that please our hearts and all brethren? The Lord is making no mistakes and we all like to be in the group where things work out and when we can tell about these remarkable answers to prayer and how God came in. But what if he decides to put us in the second group? Are we going to rebel? Are we going to say, I can't take that? But God says.
The trial of your faith is much more precious than of.
All that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
And so they were to rejoice in all the good things which the Lord had given them. And then in the latter part of the chapter it says here thine house, the Levite, and the stranger.
Then the 12TH verse, When thou hast made an end of tithing, all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled.
I think this is lovely here too. You know there were two things about the law. The Lord Jesus said on 2 Commandments. The whole law and the prophets were hanging. The first one was to love the Lord with all thy heart, and the second one was to love thy neighbor as thyself. And here we find those two things brought together here. There was first that which was due to the Lord.
He had blessed them. He had brought them out from Egypt's slaves.
They were a redeemed people. He had brought them into that good land. He had given them so many good things and surely he was worthy of all their praise. But now there was also the thought that they had thought about the Levite and the fatherless and the stranger. Oh brethren, don't we break down in this? We're so self-centered we forget about the needs of others.
The trials of others that they're passing through they.
They don't seem to touch us or make us think, but are we more ready to seek their help and their good to be a blessing to them? Here was this one. And I like to think of it as the testimony of his own conscience.
When we come into the presence of the Lord that we think of what He has done for us, and it can't help but make us think about others. Just read that chapter that our brother mentioned to us, the 12TH chapter of Romans about presenting our bodies a living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable unto God. And what do you find in the rest of the chapter? Why, the whole of the rest of the chapter is thinking about the good of others, thinking about the members of the body of Christ, thinking about the world, about us, thinking about showing the Spirit of Christ. And that's why I read as I did in First Timothy chapter 3, because there we have the assembly as the Church of the living God.
The pillar and ground of the truth. But then the next verse is the secret of godliness. And there it says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Notice it doesn't say the mystery of God, the mystery of godliness. And what is the mystery of godliness? What's the secret of a godly life? Well, the pathway of the Lord Jesus.
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He walked through this world. What characterized his pathway all at every step.
I must say I marvel as I read it, Mr. Ballard said. When he first read the Gospels. What impressed him was, here's a man that never did one thing to please himself. Even Christ pleased not himself. He went about doing good. Did people appreciate it? No. At the end of the day, after his kindness and love, why not? One person invited them to their home and he went and slept in the Mount of Olives. Did he give?
Did he continue? Yes, he went on. His whole pathway was characterized.
By telling out the heart of God, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We see him stand still at the cry of a blind man. We see him weeping over the grave of Lazarus. We see him in Jerusalem, who well deserved that punishment that was about to fall. And he wept over Jerusalem, and said, If thou even thou only.
Had nost known the things that.
Belong to thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes. And then too on the cross, when those cruel nails were driven into his hands, and he spit in his face, what did he do? He said, Father, forgive them. Is that the Spirit that we shall? Is that the Spirit? Brethren, our meetings would be a lot happier if we gave the Lord His place, and there was more concern about the blessing of others.
More concern as the scripture says, bury ye one another S.
Burdens and soft fulfill the law of Christ. Oh, how easy it is to forget those things that are so practically brought before us here in this chapter. If the If the if it had closed at the end of the 11TH verse, we wouldn't have had this little passage that comes in afterwards to show us the importance of that consideration.
For one another and then as we go on.
In the end of the chapter it says.
In the 13th verse Then thou shalt say, before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also out of.
And also have given them unto the Levite, and under the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
Well, we might wonder, does this mean that one who was boasting? Well, I just suggest this, brethren, it's no thought of a bolster. It's just the testimony that Paul sought to maintain. He said the testimony of a good conscience. And you know, it isn't that any of us should boast, but in the Lord's presence it's very important that we sit there with a good conscience.
That's why it says about coming. It says let a man examine himself.
And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Do we sit down in the Lord's presence with a good conscience? Or there are some things that we haven't made right, things that we haven't confessed to the Lord, things that we haven't made right with some of our brethren. Is that the way it is? And we won't enjoy the privilege. The Lord has done everything to make us happy, but we won't enjoy it. So there needs to be that searching of heart.
Because the Lord is coming soon, do we want to have?
Something that has been unsettled, something allowed in our lives, something between our brethren that we haven't sought by God's grace to clear. It's lovely to see this. And then to the 14th verse. I have not eaten thereof in my morning, Neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead.
But I have hearkened unto the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
I was struck the other day and noticing about what it says about the redemption money. It says in half shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. You know, I wondered why it said that because the Bible calls money filthy lucre and why did it say after the shekel of the sanctuary? But I believe, brethren, it's this thought that we'll only learn the true value of money and possession in His presence.
Out of His presence, it's all out of proportion. We put a high value on things that are just going to pass away. But in his presence, material things take their right value. They're necessary. The Lord cares. It says your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. He cares about everything in your life. He cares about your clothes. He cares about your home. He cares about your friends.
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All is a concern to him. May we learn.
To value things though, in the light of the sanctuary, even material things.
And so there is all this that shows the testimony of the conscience. And then the 15th verse looked down from thy holy habitation from heaven, and blessed thy people, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. Now you notice up to this point he's been saying.
I because, as I say, we have to be before.
The Lord as individuals. We come to the meeting as individuals.
It's true we're part of a collective testimony, but we must individually before the Lord for our pathway. But I think this 15th verse is so lovely. Now the heart goes out in enlargement for the blessing of all thy of all God's people. I think this is so beautiful. Just as we said at the beginning, we're gathered on the ground of the one body and so the heart goes out and we desire the.
Sing of all the people of God. Is this our real desire? Do we look over the Saints and earnestly desire their good and their blessing? Is this the burden of our hearts? Well, what blessing there would be, You know it tells us in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. We all know how to provoke one another the wrong way.
But this is the right way.
You know, a dear old brother in Ottawa many years ago, he said to a sister, Sister, do you provoke the Saints? And she said, well, I hope not, brother. Well, he said you ought to. And he was kind of surprised. She was kind of surprised. And he said, well, if you ought to provoke them to love and to good works, what does it mean, brethren, to provoke our brethren to love and to good works, to stir one another up, to be more occupied with the.
More devoted to him. Are we doing this? Are we thinking of one another in this way for their good, for their blessing? Isn't this lovely? Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people. Doesn't it remind you of another verse in the Psalms that says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem? They shall prosper that love.
They now do we truly seek the good of the people of God.
God, how are we praying for the peace and blessing? God loves His people. He loves them so much that no failure ever will change that love of His. He loves to the end. It's an unchanging love.
And so in the end of the chapter we see how that it was his desire to bless the people and to make them a praise to him. And so in a coming day, it tells us that when He does bless them as he will, it says, this people have I taken for myself. They shall show forth my praise. And I love that verse when the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven.
One with his own. It's precious to my heart. It says this when He shall come to be glorified in His Saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed. The world is going to look up and they're going to see Christ in every one of the redeemed. And it's going to be His joy to introduce us to a wondering world as those who are the subjects of His grace. Could we just look at that?
We looked at in Zephaniah before we close Zephaniah the last chapter. Here we find how the Spirit of God delights to look on to the future day of Israel's blessing. We just quoted the verse that tells about how the Lord Jesus is coming to be glorified in His Saints and to be admired in all them that believe.
Here we find the joy that He will have when Israel are brought into blessing, when all that He has had to do in dealing with them in judgment has then come to its end. And it says in the end of the 15th verse, Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Oh, how many trials there are among the Saints, how many difficulties? But isn't it lovely to look on to the time when they will not see evil anymore?
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There will not be a trial among the people of God. There will not be a tear in the eye.
There must be a thing among us that will dishonor Him. Everything will be for His glory in the 16th verse. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion. Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing.
Isn't this precious to think of, that time when the Lord will find His eternal joy and satisfaction in His people? Doesn't it thrill your heart to read a verse like this? He's mighty. He's going to rejoice with joy. And it says He's going to rest in His love. The margin says he's going to be silent in love. Now, sometimes love flows deepest when you just don't say anything.
You just feel it as the world has the same gods it's.
Felt them tilt and you noticed that thought, I think is so lovely. It says he shall be silent in love so that his love will be so tremendous, so great, that it just can't be expressed. So he's just silent, but his whole heart flowing out in love as he sees how the fruit of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And then isn't this eighteenth verse something for us to consider?
I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of Thee to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Oh, brethren, is it a reproach to us? Do we realize that this isn't always the way it is with us? We're not always occupied with the Lord. We're not always a testimony for Him. There is that which is certainly sufficient to cause every one of us to bow down in His presence and acknowledge.
How little we have.
Responded to his claims. I say do we feel it? Do we feel it? Is there a remedy? Yes there is. If we get occupied with Christ, it's going to affect our hearts and if our hearts as individuals get affected, it's going to affect the assembly. It's going to be a blessing to the people of God. It's going to give glory to his name and we'll experience something a little foretaste of that which awaits us above when the Lord Jesus.
Has His own around himself, and joys over us with singing. Is silent in His love all what a future is before us. May He give us more foretastes of it here. May we be exercised, brethren, about anything and everything that hinders the enjoyment of that which is brought before us in a typical way when we come into His presence, to present to Him now that which He is worthy of everything that we have.
All that we are is by His grace. How may our hearts respond more to His love, so that while He leaves us here, there may be more of the joy of heaven upon earth as gathered to His precious name?
Wonder if we could sing that little hymn #15.
All that we were, our sins, our guilt, our death was all our own. All that we are.
We owe to thee, thou God of grace alone.