Address—A. Maurer
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Brother Ron Reeves this morning in his prayer reminded us that when we started these meetings, we asked the Lord through the Spirit to guide us into that which would be our portion. And a brother, Chuck Hendricks this afternoon gave us some very lovely and very precious things about the Holy Spirit, things which are helpful and good to take home with us.
It seems to me that as we come to near the close of the meetings that we can reflect back.
And see how indeed the Holy Spirit has been good to us. And it seems to me as if he has woven a very lovely thread through these meetings. A thread perhaps which has.
Two parts to it, but which seemed to have gone parallel through the meetings from start to finish.
And that is the theme of our walk.
And our object.
Reflect with me on the number of times in these meetings you have heard the term Our walk.
And our object.
Our walk and our object. I'd like to go then to the chapter that we had in our reading meetings.
John, Chapter 13.
It seems as if so many times we had the reference in our scriptures and in our thoughts about.
Our walk and our object.
If we go to John 13.
We find in the sixth verse it says then he that is the Lord cometh to Simon Peter.
And if we go on to the 25th verse we find he then lying on Jesus breast.
Now, there are three people mentioned in particular in this chapter. I believe two of those are real.
Judas Iscariot, as we have said, is had a devil, but there are two in this chapter.
Two in this chapter which are real, and that is Dear Peter.
And dear John.
We had some lovely readings about the feet washing.
And the conversation that the Lord had with his, with his own really was especially to Peter. And I believe that we said that our that the feet washing had to do with our walk, with our walk.
And it was to Peter that he had this conversation so much with regard to the feet washing.
And if we go over to.
John isn't specifically mentioned, but I believe that we are very sure that.
That in the 25th verse this is the apostle John.
We find here that.
It says that he then lying on Jesus breast, saith unto him.
Who is it I believe, that John would bring before him with the closeness he had?
To the Lord Jesus as the one who had the Lord Jesus as his.
Object and so in these two real ones of God.
Here in this chapter, we are brought early on to recognize that one would tell us.
Of our walk and the other of our object.
Now I think it's instructive, at least it's been instructive to me, to meditate when we find things in the the Gospels.
That apply to a person or a disciple. I believe that it's very.
Spiritually profitable to look later on in the epistles.
And see how God develops the things that he brings up in the in the Gospels and brings them out in the ministry of those who wrote the books later on and those that come later on in the in the scriptural order. And so I would like to do that this afternoon, to take this chapter as perhaps the starting point and to look at some scriptures which apply to the apostle Peter and the Apostle John.
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Which speak to us of the walk and the object.
And then to go again into the 12Th chapter of Hebrews.
We had that before us before, but I'd like to look at it again with a perhaps a little different emphasis.
We have introduced to us, then, in the 13th chapter, the fact that.
Here we have Peter being introduced to the feet, washing the walk, and John being here given to us as the one who had the Lord Jesus as his object. Now let's go over to the 20.
Chapter 21St Chapter.
Notice in the 21St chapter that there is a paragraph at the 15th verse, and after that paragraph, after that division, we find again the Lord speaking to these two same disciples, Peter and John.
And he speaks to Peter 1St and there's something that he has to speak to Peter about. And we know that this is Peter's restoration publicly.
And as we read this, we find that Peter is told to feed my sheep. I believe here this would tell us, among other things, that.
Peter here is being made.
A vessel for his ministry down here.
His walk.
And if we go over to a little further, we find in the 20.
Second verse.
We find there that it says, Jesus saith unto him, if I will, that he that is John Terry.
Till I come, What is that to thee? Follow or walk behind me, follow me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him He shall not die, but if I will, that he tarry till.
I come Peter here in the last part of John's Gospel.
Being prepared for the ministry, whereas the Spirit occupies us here.
With the truth of the return of Christ.
Till I come.
Again, we find that it is the object to John, the path of ministry to Peter.
The object to John.
Now it's also interesting to note that in the scriptural order we find that the the epistles by John come immediately after the epistles by Peter.
And as we Passover the book of Acts, we see Peter and John there in the third of Acts.
And we find Peter and John that was mentioned by our brother Chuck this afternoon. There in later on in the book of Acts working together and in the especially in connection with the giving of the Holy Spirit, we find Peter and John again. And then if we go to the writings of Peter and John, we find something that I think carries out the groundwork that has been laid.
Again, I say that I think it's instructive if we if we read the Gospels and then we go to the Epistles to see how God worked, how God through the Spirit worked in the hearts of those whom he, the Lord Jesus, spoke to in the Gospels, to see what kind of writings he gives to us through the Holy Spirit.
Let's look, then, at the very last writings of the Apostle Peter.
The very last writings of the Apostle Peter.
Second Peter, chapter 3.
Verse 17.
Peter closes his writings with a warning, A warning as to our walk. He says, Ye therefore, beloved.
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Seeing that ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being LED away from the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
And we had before us yesterday, did we not? The growing in grace.
The growing and grace.
In the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory.
Both now and forever.
So here we have, I believe, again, the Apostle Peter telling us now.
As he learned from the from the mouth of the Lord Jesus about our walk.
That we should be beware lest we be turned and LED away.
With the error of the wicked. And so Peter ends his epistles.
With ends his writings with an exhortation as to the walk.
Now let's go to the end of John's writings, which is Revelation.
Chapter 22.
Verse 17.
And the Spirit and the Bride say come.
The 20th verse he which testifieth.
These things.
Say, surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so, come.
Lord Jesus, we find here that as John closes his writings.
We find him looking up and he's looking for the time.
When his object is going to return.
John looking for the Lord Jesus. What a lovely thing it is.
And we find, I believe in the Scriptures, how that that early, that early thing that we find in John's Gospel now is carries through.
Through even through the epistles and through the Revelation.
Let's go back to Peter's epistle and see some more exhortations there that he gives us with regard to our our walk.
First Peter chapter one.
First Peter chapter one and verse 13.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
What lesson did the Apostle Peter learn with the foot washing? I believe he learned learned the lesson, and perhaps as he grew older, the lesson of the importance of holiness.
In the Christian pathway that as the Lord Jesus is holy.
So must we be holy?
He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy. We get some more with regard to the path in the second chapter of first Peter.
Verse 21 which was also read to us.
For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us.
Leaving us an example that we should.
Follow in his steps.
That we should follow in his steps.
So Peter gives to us. I'm sure that if we look in the epistles of Peter, there are things which speak to us of the ascended Christ. We know that.
But there is instruction for the holiness of the path and that as it says here in first Peter two that we should follow in his that is Christ steps. What an example. So Peters instructions here as to the pathway are very clear.
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What about John? Well, we find that John's writings bring before us the revelation.
And they bring to us, they give to us the vision of an ascended Christ.
Of an ascended Christ who someday is going to come back as king.
But I don't believe that that's what the apostle John was looking for, because he says the Spirit and the Bride.
Say come the Spirit and the Bride. Say come, and we know that the Lord Jesus is going to come back for his bride.
Before he comes back as King. So I believe the apostle John brings before us.
The vision of an ascended Christ, the vision of the Lamb is there in the 5th chapter of Revelation, an occupation with Christ the slain Lamb.
Yet with the hope of the Lord's return.
And also we read how in in Revelation how that the Lord is going to come back as King of Kings.
Yes, he is the object John looking up in the vision.
And seeing these things and presenting to us these lovely truths about his object.
Well, with that in mind, I'd like to look then at the 12Th chapter of Hebrews that we looked at yesterday.
I won't read the whole chapter because I don't want to take the chapter in the order that it's written.
I do believe the chapter brings before us two things.
In the first part of the chapter it brings before us the looking unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus, that's our object, isn't it?
If we go down then to the 13th verse, we find the making straight paths for your feet.
Making straight paths for your feet.
Well, these are nice things, aren't they? But a lovely thing it is, to be able to look unto the Lord, unto Jesus.
And what a lovely thing it is to contemplate a straight path for our feet.
But I believe that in connection with each one of these things.
Our object in looking unto Jesus, and our path in making straight paths for our feet.
We have something in the Hebrews 12 which is searching.
That comes before that, which I believe perhaps everyone in this room would want to do.
To have Christ as our object and to walk in a pathway.
As the 14th verse says.
A pathway of holiness of holiness, but there are some things that come before.
The chapter just does not just tell us that we should look unto Jesus.
And that we should walk make straight paths for our feet. I'm going to look at the second example first purposely and that is the making the straight paths for your feet.
What is it?
What is it that comes before that readies one for making the straight paths for his feet, the pathway and the holiness that should characterize that pathway?
Well, I believe that it's clear that we have the chastening brought before us.
The Chastening.
Perhaps starting at the sixth verse. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If he endured chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he of whom the Father chasteneth not? But if he be without chastisement were of all our partakers, then are ye ******** and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live, For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure?
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But he for our prophet, that we might be partakers of His Holiness.
Now no chastening, for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. I read this whole thing.
Because I believe that it's important to recognize that.
The wherefore in the 12Th verse is based on the chastening and the verses that go before.
And I believe that it reminds us.
Very clearly that the flesh has to be put in the place of death.
There must be the chastening. There are those things of the flesh which come in and which hinder.
The pathway they make the pathway not straight and God has to through the Spirit brings before us.
The fact that those things of the flesh, the chastening, must come in.
I believe this brings before us the idea of discipline.
Discipline. And there must be that discipline. How we don't like that discipline. How many? We would much rather that discipline not come into our lives.
But I believe that according to Hebrews 12, it's necessary because the flesh must be dealt with.
Dealt with according to God's principles. Dealt with in obedience to God's Word.
And then it is after that that we find the wherefore, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down. Oh, you see, now we're finding, we're finding the result.
Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. The feeble knees would speak to us of our walk, wouldn't it?
And the hands would speak to us of our works, but it doesn't speak about about lifting up our hands and the feeble knees in the first verse of this chapter.
It speaks of it only after there has been through the chastening of the Lord.
And so that pathway.
That pathway is characterized.
Has in the 14th verse with.
Holiness.
Lifting up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.
Sometimes afterward chastened of the Lord.
It seems like our hands.
Hang way down.
And our knees become very feeble.
Isn't that wonderful?
Because it's then that.
We have the privilege of doing something, perhaps for Christ.
The hands were chained down, and the feeble knees. Now what does it say? It says make straight paths for your feet.
Make straight paths for your feet.
The 14th verse follow peace with all men and holiness.
Holiness. The path characterized by holiness. Isn't that what Peter exhorted us to do? Be holy? For I am holy. The pathway must be holy.
There's no compromise in this chapter.
I feel how far short sometimes I come from walking in the holiness that you characterize my life.
There's no compromise in this chapter.
The standard is God's holiness.
And so it is that we have have the encouragement to.
Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees after there has been the dealing.
With the flesh. Now let's go to the first part of the chapter and see what comes before we get the lovely truth of looking unto Jesus.
We find there that we are to lay aside the weights.
Not the chastening here, but it's the laying aside of the weights.
And if we go to Matthew's Gospel, perhaps we can get.
Perhaps we can get a little idea of what some of those weights are and what they do.
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Matthew's Gospel.
The 13th chapter.
And the 22nd verse.
Matthew's Gospel, the 20, the 13th chapter and the 22nd verse.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that careth heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches.
Choke the word.
Choke the word.
And then if we go holding this place, or at least remembering these things and turning over.
To Proverbs.
The 29th chapter I believe it is.
Proverbs 29.
Verse 25.
Verse 25.
The fear of man bringeth a snare.
I believe these things speak to us of the weights.
How many times my occupation with Christ is hindered by.
The fear of man, How many times my occupation with Christ is hindered.
By the care of this world.
How many times is my vision of Christ, my occupation with Christ, hindered by the deceitfulness of riches? How many times do these things choke?
My vision of Christ.
They choke.
We need to lay aside every weight, it says.
We need to lay aside every weight. How many times in my life? How many times in our lives? There are things that perhaps we want to do because we see Christ and we see a vision of Him and we look for Him and we have Him as our object. But these weights come along and they weigh us down and they choke.
And they cloud the vision of our object.
We need to lay aside those weights. We need to get rid of those weights.
Because they choke our vision, our object, they they cloud our sight.
Of the one whom we really want to see.
And the sin which doth so easily beset us.
Now I.
Submit this thought here with regard to the sin that death so easily beset us.
I'm not sure that it says we commit the sin here. Perhaps there's that meaning and perhaps some would see that in there. But I think what it's what we might get from this is sometimes in our lives there are things that we are afraid that we might do if we go according to a certain course.
We may not commit a sin, but there may be something that we would like to do that we say no. If I do that, I might be tempted to do something else. And in so doing, it may beset us, it may take us off, it may alter our course.
It may alter our vision.
So I think these two things are very clearly expressed here, that we must lay aside every weight.
And the sin which does so easily beset us so.
That it doesn't.
Hinder our object doesn't hinder.
The vision or object.
So we have, I believe, those two things. We have the object.
We have the pathway.
We're told that we need to lay aside the weights so that we can see clearly. And we're told to. And we're we're told that we may pass through chastisement and discipline, that we may walk a path pleasing to the Lord Jesus. What happens if we fail?
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With regard to our object in the third verse.
Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest she be wearied and faint in your minds.
We spoke another time of the race of the race and we've spoken so many times of the race and indeed we are in a race.
And the end of the race is the goal, and the goal, of course, is Christ the end of the race.
But you know.
We can become wearied and faint in our minds.
We have a girl in our town who is a fairly good runner.
And last year, she was a freshman in high school.
And she ran against a girl who was a senior in high school.
And both of them were excellent runners, and the senior in high school I think came in perhaps second or third in the state in her competition.
And the second girl was asked, how can you as a freshman? How can you as a freshman?
Be so good and run so close.
And be so fast. And she said. Well, she said.
Tara gave me competition, I had something to run for.
She gave me something to run for. She gave me something to keep going.
And I believe that Sheila came in perhaps 10th, even though she was a freshman.
But this year she is a sophomore.
And Sheila didn't do so well this year.
He went to the state meet, but she didn't place at all.
She didn't place at all.
And I said to her, Sheila, what happened?
And she said well.
She said Tara wasn't there for me to run after this year and I just didn't have the strength.
It just didn't give me the impetus to reach the goal as fast as I did last year.
Please don't mistake me. I'm not saying that terror was her object. I'm simply saying that we can become worried and faint and not put out the effort.
That's the result.
If we do not consider him, that's the result of not laying aside the weights.
The result is that we become wearied and faint in our minds.
And we don't pursue, we don't strive for the object, we don't strive for the goal.
So if we lose track if we let those weights come in.
And choke our vision. We can become wearied and faint in our minds.
Well, we've noted already.
That in connection with the pathway.
If the flesh comes in.
If the flesh comes in.
It can hinder the pathway.
And what happens in the pathway if we fail the 13th verse?
And make straight paths for your feet. Bless that which is lame be turned out of the way.
It's been a solemn thing to me to realize that everything I do that fails.
Before God.
Is potentially something that someone else by it can be turned out of the way.
Every failure in my life potentially could be that which turns somebody.
Out of the way.
It's a sound fact.
It's not a matter simply here of being wearied and faint in our minds.
As with looking at the object, it's the fact that when we fail in our pathway.
It's that those that are lame can be turned out of the way.
Well, these were solemn truths, I think.
But I believe that for the full grown Christian, the mature Christian.
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One of the things that we desire.
As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus is that we have that unclouded object.
And that we walk in holiness that pathway.
The straight paths.
The object.
And the wall.
And perhaps we might say that we might think that with those things satisfied.
That.
A happy Christian life.
Is ours, and I believe in a measure that's true.
But I believe that there's something else in this chapter.
Something else in this chapter that is also very sum and that is the 15th verse.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.
Lest any root of bitterness.
Any roof of bitterness?
Have we seen, have we read of faithful men of God?
Where the roots have sprung up.
And have caused difficulty in their lives.
So that the end of their life.
Is not characterized by a clear vision of Christ.
And straight paths for their feet.
I believe.
Very clearly for myself.
And I trust that you'll pray with me.
That till the Lord come.
That I may diligently seek that there may not be some root.
Of my past spring up.
That would trouble.
That would probably.
Bitterness. Yes.
But I believe there are other things, and we find those I believe in first, John, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
Roots which we have to deal with and which can spring up at any time.
And mar the Christian testimony, mar the vision of our object.
And mar the Christian pathway.
What a lovely thing it is. What a lovely thing through these meetings that the Spirit has brought before us, I fully believe.
Our object.
And our walk.
And what a lovely thing it is to strive that we do those things with the help.
Of the Spirit.
And in the knowledge of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are warnings.
There are warnings, we need to be aware.
Lest roots spring up.
And in the 25th verse of the same chapter, we'll close.
See that ye refuse not.
Him. That speaker.
See that you refuse not.
Him. That speaker.
Sometimes we hear, Oh well, it's just a phrase in Scripture, it's not that important.
If God speaks it, it is vitally important.
It is vitally important. There is no part of Scripture that we can ignore. There is no part of Scripture that we can ignore.
And so as we go through this pathway, as we have our object before us and seek to walk in the path, the straight paths for our feet.
I think we need to read to watch for the roots.
And to see that we that we indeed refuse not.
Hymn that speaketh the word of God, that we may make it good.
To our souls to recommend ourselves.