Address—Bill Prost
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Good afternoon.
Could we sing together hymn #300 and 12312?
Lead on Almighty Lord, lead on to victory.
Encouraged by thy blessed word, with joy we follow thee, 312.
Let's look to the Lord our loving God and our Father. We have sung encouraging words this afternoon and we do trust that they come from the depths of our hearts. When we sing Lead on Almighty Lord, lead on to victory.
We know, our God and Father, that the pathway of the believer ends in certain victory.
But we do trust that it is. It is the desire of our hearts, Lord Jesus.
Allowed to lead each one of us.
Not merely in order to reach the end of the pathway, but all the way along. So we commend our time together to Thee this afternoon and look to Thee for Thy guidance as we open Thy word together.
We do remember those two who have had to leave and who will be traveling. We pray for.
Thy mercies for them, by whatever means they are going, commending them to Thee. And we would also pray for our brethren gathered together in Saint Louis, who doubtless are enjoying similar meetings. We commend them to Thee, 2 and we ask Thy help as we do so. Lord Jesus, in thy precious and worthy name, Amen.
What is on my heart this afternoon is to take up something.
If I could use the term fairly simple and straightforward and down to earth, I couldn't help but be impressed with the number of children that sat up front here at the gospel meeting last night. And I really enjoyed seeing that. And I see a fair number of them, thankfully, that are still here and a fair number of young people.
Too, But I think we all need.
What I expect to talk about.
And here's what I have before me in the Reading meetings yesterday, and also to some extent in the open meeting we have had before us, The Walking in the power of the Spirit of God and in the enjoyment of Christ for our lives down here.
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Yes, it's wonderful to look forward to coming glory and I trust nothing will ever dim that hope of the ever present expectation of the Lord's coming at any moment. But while we are down here, and I don't know whether others feel this way or not, but are there times in your life when you say.
It's all very good, it's all very wonderful.
But how do I get it practically?
How do I live?
Every day of my life in the enjoyment of Christ, how do I live with a sense of His presence? How do I live with that ever present fountain of joy in my heart that I hear others talk about so freely and I hear it ministered in the meetings?
Do you ever wonder that I have? I have.
Vignette in going to the Lord about it.
It came before me.
That it's not all that difficult.
It's not that God makes the pathway of faith a difficult one. In one sense, yes, God doesn't promise us an easy pathway through this world. The Lord Jesus could say to his disciples, it's at the end of John 16 in the world ye might have tribulation. No shall have tribulation.
So it's a fact.
But equally true, there is no need for you and for me to live our lives.
Constantly under the oppression.
Of this world constantly under the oppression of the old sinful self getting in the way.
Yes, the flesh never stops resisting.
It never gives up, and if you don't believe that, ask a few older brothers and sisters if the flesh ever gives up. It does not.
But there is a way to live the Christian life in real victory and in the enjoyment of the Lord, even in these last days.
I'm going to say something even further. There is no reason why you and I individually cannot enjoy the Lord in our own hearts and lives just as much as the Apostle Paul did at the beginning of the Christian dispensation. Now I hasten to say that I don't believe I do.
I don't know whether I've yet gotten to the point where Paul says and 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11.
He says I glory in tribulations also.
I don't know whether I can say that all the time.
But there is no reason, I repeat, why you and I can't have the enjoyment of Christ just as much as anyone did right in the beginning of Christianity.
We cannot expect to have the outward power of Pentecost. We can't expect to see, and it would be unintelligent to expect it to see, every Christian gathered back together in one before the Lord comes.
Scripture tells us that is not going to happen.
We're in the last days. We have failed. We are part of a ruined dispensation.
And we can't turn the clock back in that sense.
But again, I repeat individually, the enjoyment of Christ can be just as great as it ever was.
And we have been talking in our readings in First Corinthians 2.
About the dangers of the wisdom of this world and a vote On the contrary, the wisdom of God, which is always the exact opposite of this world.
And then how to live in the good of it?
But I'd like to turn to a few practical scriptures on that and then after that if there's time.
I'd like to speak a little about knowing and understanding the Lord's mind for your life and mine.
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Let's turn first of all to Galatians Chapter 5.
Galatians, chapter 5.
Now the Galatians were an unusual bunch of people, a group of assemblies, and someone had persuaded them that while they definitely needed to be saved by grace, yet they needed the rule of law as a means of living the Christian life. And Paul is so straight with them about that that he doesn't commend them for anything at the.
Beginning of the Epistle, not even like the Corinthians.
Excuse me? Paul at least found something in Corinth he could command, but in Galatia he starts right in because they had really taken themselves off the ground of Christianity. And notice what he says here in chapter 5 and verse 16.
But we'll read verse 13 to get a connection there.
Galatians 5 and 13 Four Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty wonderful. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Verse 16 This I say, then walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot, or perhaps more accurately ye should not do the things that she would.
And then notice what it says, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are these or are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, Roth, stripes, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings in such light.
Of the which?
I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
The first point I want to make is, and it was made in the readings yesterday, the Spirit of God does not need to be, if I could say it, reverently prodded or otherwise encouraged to do what He is there to do, to fill our hearts with Christ, to lead and guide us in the Christian life.
Rather, you and I in responsibility have to get things out of the way that are causing the problem.
Sounds simple, doesn't it?
And we have every means at our disposal to do that.
Turn to Romans 6 for a verse. Romans chapter 6.
Verse One. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Then going down in verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.
That the body of sin might be destroyed, That henceforth we should not serve sin.
Verse 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The first thing that you and I need to do, and it is the worst thing we have to contend with.
Is to reckon that old sinful self within us to be dead?
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And it's a constant daily, hourly thing because, as another has put it, self judgment is the.
Absolute necessity for a walk in communion with God.
Self judgment is the absolute necessity, the inseparable condition from a walk in for a walk in communion with God.
Sometimes it's not easy to do, is it?
Sometimes I speak for myself. I allow thoughts in my mind that should not be there.
And they may not be overtly sinful, but they are representative of an attitude of self will.
The mercy of the Lord when He speaks to us about those things sometimes.
I don't know whether I should tell you this or not, but I will.
If you were close enough to look at that finger on my hand, you would see some scars on the end of it.
Came from getting into too close contact with the business. End of a chainsaw out at Morningstar camp.
Pretty well healed up now you can't see it unless you get close to it.
But it was one mess when it happened.
Wasn't in one sense carelessness, because although it was my fault, both of us, the other brother and I, had used chainsaws for many years and we were, I'd like to think, pretty familiar with them.
But it happened.
And I went to the Lord about it, and I said, Lord, why so? Is there something in this?
And I don't mind telling you. The answer came loud and clear. Yes, Bill, there's something you need to deal with.
And you better deal with it.
The Lord has ways of getting through to you and me.
With those things that are hindering us. But don't wait to have your finger messed up with the end of a chainsaw to judge the flesh. I needed to learn that lesson and I don't mind admitting it.
And if we walk in the spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, because.
When the Spirit of God is filling my heart with Christ, the flesh is kept in the place of death.
But it's kind of a circle, isn't it? Because the flesh keeps trying to rear its ugly head.
And as some brother put it, and I never forgot the comment, he said, we all want to be more like Christ, but most of us like ourselves too much to give up what we are naturally in order to be made over into another man.
Does that sometimes happen? Yes, it does.
And the works of the flesh. It mentions rather gross sins here.
At least most of them.
But I believe Paul mentions these gross sins because he wants to show us.
Where the allowance of the flesh and little things leads us to.
It starts with evil thoughts, then goes on to evil actions, and then goes on to worse actions.
In the next chapter in chapter one of chapter 6 and verse one, it says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
We can be overtaken in false.
But I want to say something right here, and I'm passing on what an old brother said to us many, many years ago. He said if a dear believer falls into a sin along the character of that named in First Corinthians 5.
Don't call it being overtaken in a fault, he said. That individual has had to run a lot of red lights.
In order to get to that point. And it's true.
Being overtaken in a fault is meaning we catch something in the beginning and maybe a brother confesses it to others which is sometimes good, and there's a help to nip the thing in the bud before it takes over and causes full blown sin that has to be dealt with by the assembly. I just passed that on. It meant much to my own soul.
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Don't run the red lights in your Christian life. Judge that sin right away.
Now let's go on.
First John, chapter one.
And here we're going to read the part that's addressed to young men or young people.
Not trying to center you out because we all need it.
But notice in first John, Sorry, did I say chapter one? I meant chapter 2. Beg your pardon? First John chapter 2.
Middle of verse 14.
I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong.
And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Oh, that's good, isn't it?
Isn't that good to hear that there are young men in that character?
And I may say, it does my heart good to meet up with young people who are reading the Word of God.
Who take notes at conferences? Who listen to good ministry? Who read good ministry?
Wonderful.
And the Word of God abides in you, and you're strong. Good.
But I appreciated what ET said this morning when he had a child pull that Bible out of the suitcase and hold it up.
And he made the point that merely reading the Bible and merely having it and knowing it.
Wouldn't save your soul.
And it will not keep you and me either.
Y.
Because that knowledge that gets into my head has to get down here, into my heart and into my walk.
We won't turn to the verse, but it's mentioned five times over in the Gospels. The one I'm going to quote is from Luke chapter 8 and verse 18.
Take heed therefore, how ye here. Well, we better read it, because I may misquote it. Luke 8 and verse 18.
And I think I just did start to misquote it.
No, I didn't take heed therefore how ye here. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he.
What she must to have?
So I may be so bold to speak from the vantage point of being a little older than many here.
I have seen young people who were strong, who had the word of God abiding in them.
And yet, who went off the rails in their Christian lives? Why?
Oh, there's more. Look at verse 15. First John 2 and 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
Loved the world. The love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father.
But is of the world.
That has a special attraction when we're young.
And I well remember being there.
I don't like to speak about myself, but I was always a car buff. Loved cars, loved them. Oh boy, couldn't get enough of them.
Used to go to the showrooms when I was a kid back in the 50s and take a look at those beautiful brand new cars. And every year when the new models came out, we couldn't wait to see, you know, what's what's the Chevy gonna look like this year and what's Ford gonna do to try and keep up with them. And then I remember when Ford outsold Chevrolet. Yep B we got.
We built a car that was more attractive than theirs and so on. We love that sort of thing. And I wasn't the only one.
The things that are in the world.
But I had to learn that if I was occupied with those things, the love of the Father was an enemy.
That all those things came to an end.
Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and it will attack you even if you know your Bible well and even if you go to meeting and even if you love the Lord.
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I need to deal with those things and then what happens? Ah, I enjoy the love of the father.
There's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. Consciously being able to go to your bed at the end of the day and have the conscious sense that you have sought to please the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful feeling that is.
Have you ever gotten up in the morning?
Read your Bible, and I hope you do because that's a good time to read it. Get up a bit early if you have to.
Head prayer, and I'll say what I keep on repeating. I hope it doesn't sound like a broken record, but to the young people and children here, you may grow up in a Christian home where there's a family reading. That's a great, great mercy. But if you're old enough to read and to have your own Bible, let me encourage you to read it for yourself. Find some time to read it for yourself.
I don't know whether it's a good idea to do this or not, but.
When I was young.
Young people and boys would be sent to bed on the early side, and girls too. And sometimes we'd sneak a book upstairs and we'd.
Little flashlight and we'd read it under the covers. I don't know whether anyone else here ever did that. Maybe kids don't do that anymore. But we sometimes used to do it not too long, because if you did it too long, then sometimes somebody come to check on you and then there'd be trouble. But you know, if you read your Bible like that, I think you'll get into a lot less trouble if someone comes in the room.
If someone comes in the room and you're reading some cheap comic book or something like that.
You'll probably get into a lot more trouble than if your mom or dad catches you're eating your Bible a bit.
Read it for yourself.
Even if you don't understand everything.
Because it gets to be a habit. And what does it say here in the end of verse 17? First John 2?
He that doeth the will of God abideth.
Forever.
And that brings us to our next point. First of all, we need to deal with the flesh. Secondly, we need to deal with.
The world around us.
And Satan is in both of those. We hardly need to bring Satan up before us, because we all know who he is, and he uses the world and uses that old sinful flesh in US to rob us of the enjoyment of Christ.
But now let's turn back to Galatians 5 for a moment.
Because this brings us to our next point and I want to read this first. Galatians 5.
We read about the works of the flesh, but what is the opposite of the works of the flesh?
In verse 22 does it say but the works of the Spirit?
Doesn't say that, does it? It uses a different word, the fruit of the Spirit.
Why the fruit? Oh, because, and we had it in the reading yesterday. The fruit is what is naturally the product of a particular tree that bears that fruit. I grew up on a fruit farm, so I was very familiar with all that, and it was just such a joy in the spring to see all those beautiful blossoms come out.
Love to walk through the orchard just filled with a beautiful fragrance.
And then later on they develop in most cases to beautiful fruit. Hopefully you didn't get a hail storm late or something like that or something that damaged the crop and there would be those beautiful cherries or Peaches or whatever it was.
You didn't call it the work of the tree to produce that, did you? It was the fruit.
And that's what the Spirit of God wants to do with you and me, produce this beautiful fruit.
Then we come, it says, he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Where is your will and mine.
Because most of the difficulty in my lifetime, and if I may say it, most of the difficulty I see in other believers, ultimately comes from what is the root of sin.
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What is the real root of sin? What does that word iniquity that occurs so often in the word of God mean?
It simply means the exercise of an independent will.
I have plans. I want to do this. I want to do that.
And I know this may sound a bit harsh, but it's true.
And I apply it to myself. I trust as much and more than an to any other.
The moment I say I want to do this.
If that plan, that desire, has not been made in the Lord's presence and with Him in mind, I am exercising an independent will, and that is sin.
That's why Scripture says, and we won't turn to the verse, it says the plowing of the wicked is sin.
Nothing wrong intrinsically with the act of plowing, but if I were to plow in a man's field without acknowledging his ownership of it.
I'd be doing the wrong thing.
We didn't plow much on a fruit farm, but I used to like to plow. There was something nice about seeing that soil turn over so beautifully. And I had a dairy farmer up the road from me who was a believer, and for some reason he was always behind in his work, and so I used to do some of the fall plowing for him.
But I always went where he wanted me to go, and I plowed where he told me to plow.
And there was a reason for that which you'll get a laugh at. He didn't want me to plow anywhere near the main road. He did that himself because he wanted it to look really good for the neighbors and I wasn't all that experienced. And so he he let me plow in the backfield where no one could see them. But if it was near the road, he wanted to plow.
I had to acknowledge his ownership and plow where he told me.
And so in your life and mine, I say, where is your will and mine? We have a lot of opportunities in North America here, don't we? Yes, I know it's not the same as it used to be. Things have been a little more difficult. The economy isn't as good as it used to be. Can't go out and get a job as easily as you used to. But let me tell you.
You want to get your eyes opened and many here have done it. Visit a so-called third world country and you will realize that we still have it very, very good here in North America.
And you, dear young people, doubtless some of you have ability and you have perhaps career choices ahead of you.
There's nothing wrong with a good education.
But where is my will in the whole thing? Have I made those plans in the Lord's presence, with a view to using that education, that career, using my life for the Lord? Or is it all just to gratify self?
You know, when I was young, the whole thought was even in worldly circles where I went.
Get whatever education you needed, get a job, get married, have a home and raise a family.
And I can still remember with a bit of a smile, one young man in my class when I was perhaps in my senior year, eyeing one of the good looking young teachers that came to our high school fresh out of university. And he was married. And he had a pretty fancy car. That was back in the 50s when cars had big fins on them. And he had one of these big cars with fins on it.
And he looked at that young teacher and he said, boy, he said he's, he's got it together, that guy, he's got a good job and a car and a woman.
Now, I don't mean to be crude about it, I'm simply quoting what he said, and he meant it in a positive way.
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But life has changed today. Now a lot of young people say I'd rather have a passport full of stamps from foreign countries rather than a house full of things.
Times have changed.
But is the will inside really any different? No, the will is the same. And the wisdom of this world that we've been talking about says if there's something ahead of you, go for it.
And it can be very subtle.
I read a book a number of years ago written by a man whom I'm sure was a believer, and it was literally entitled How to Know the Will of God for Your Life.
And when I read that book, I read it all the way through and I put it down, I said I have never seen such a subtle act of Satan to destroy the wisdom of God and the believer's life. That poor man, I am sure he was a believer, but he was so wide of the mark because.
His final conclusion was.
God gave you a good head on your shoulders.
He gave you a brain. Use it.
Make your plans. Use the good head that God gave you and make your plans.
Then go and check it against the Word of God to see if there's anything contrary to scripture.
And if there isn't, then go for it.
Is that what Scripture teaches us? No. But he had scripture pulled out of context from here and there, and I have never seen scripture, or seldom seen scripture woven together in such an intricate and impressive and convincing way to make his point.
But he was dead wrong.
Because it didn't take into consideration the wisdom of God. And what is the wisdom of God?
Some of us that live in the Rio Ferry area know where the Scotch Line Cemetery is.
And I've been there recently within the last few years at a burial.
In that cemetery, there's a tombstone of a man by the name of James Buchanan Dunlop.
Went to be with the Lord in 1928, long before most of us here were born.
And he gave an address way back on a New Year's Day, way back many years before that, 19108.
And basically he said. And it's a very good word, he said. You and I are not left here.
Merely to live good, morally upright lives and then to go to heaven at the end, he said. We are left here for all that, but for much more than that.
It's true we are left here not to do our own will, but the will of God.
And if I want to do the will of God?
First of all, I'm going to have to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts.
I may have to give up some of those things.
That the world would dangle before me and it can be very difficult.
Can I tell you another personal story?
When I was interning, everybody wanted to get a good residency.
And I worked with another intern. He wasn't a believer, but he was a very God fearing man.
And we were working on the surgical service.
And we came under the eye of the chief of surgery. He liked both of us for some reason. I don't know why, but he did. I guess we both tried to do our work well.
And one day he invited us to come to a very exclusive club that he belonged to called the Granite Club in Toronto.
And everybody knew that if Bruce Tovey invited you to come to the Granite Club, boy, you were on the way.
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But it was reading meeting night.
The night he invited us.
What to do now?
I don't deserve any credit for it.
But I declined the invitation and went to reading meeting.
My fellow intern said you're nuts. You blew it.
But it didn't blow it as bad as I thought it would have.
Because a few months later, just as we were going off the surgical service.
Bruce Tovey came to me and said, Bill, if you ought to come into the surgical residency, the weighs wide open.
Now what to do?
I hope this isn't telling too many personal details, but just to show some of your younger ones that we've been there, done that.
I went home and got on my my knees and I said, Lord, what to do now?
Is this the path I should take?
And within 24 hours, the answer came back so strongly that I trembled.
The verse is in AI think it's in Isaiah no Jeremiah 45.
Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.
And I declined that invitation too.
Now, I'm not telling you that to say anything about myself in a way that bolsters me. I hope not. But there are going to be difficult decisions that you have to make. And Satan is right there saying go for it, and so is this world.
Remember, he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
So now we want to talk about knowing the will of God.
Sometimes people come and say, but how can I know what is the Lord's will for sure?
I want to know what the will of the Lord really is.
And how I can be sure of having it?
It's not an easy question to answer.
Because there is no human parameter by which you can measure.
The knowledge of the will of God. Why not? Because you cannot talk about knowing the will of God without bringing your state of soul into the picture.
Remember that you cannot talk about knowing the will of God without bringing your state of soul.
Into the picture.
We live in a world of instant answers to every question, and since the advent of the Internet we can go to the computer and get an answer to just about anything. Click of a mouse and you can have instant information about just any subject you want.
Except knowing the will of God.
Can't do that.
Suppose, for example, you feel that you'd like to go, and you feel the mind of the Lord in going to a university to study a certain thing.
And you make maybe several applications and you get accepted by more than one.
How do you know which one to go to? Is there a verse that covers that?
No, not really. Is there no verse that'll tell you to go this way rather than that way? Or maybe you have a job and then another job opportunity opens up and it looks good. Maybe it's a better salary.
Is there a verse that'll tell you whether to take it or not, or stay where you are? No.
How do I know the will of God for my life?
First of all, does the Lord want us to know his will? Let's turn over to John's Gospel.
Chapter 7.
John, Chapter 7.
And verse 17. Well known verse, but it bears rereading.
If any man now notice this will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine or the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
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It's the first part of that verse we want to focus on. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Now notice it does not say if any man will know his will. Why not?
Let me illustrate that.
And we've all had this experience. I have some very, very good friends. And if I went to one of those friends.
And said to him or to her, Will you do something for me?
I know very well the immediate answer would be, by all means, Bill, just tell me what it is.
But I have others that are not quite so close friends, although they're friends and if I were to go to them and ask them, will you do something for me?
There would be a rather cautious What is it?
And you know why? Because it would depend on what it is as to what the answer would be. Heaven. We all had that experience. Of course we have.
And maybe we have been guilty of it too.
The Lord doesn't want people to come to Him to know His will for that reason.
We can't go to the Lord and say Lord, show me your will. But with the thought in my heart when I know what the will of the Lord is, I'll decide whether I want to do it or not. Oh no.
We won't turn to the verse, but it's in Psalm 25. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.
Oh yes.
If we are going to go to the Lord and ask for His will, there must be an open heart that says Lord.
I will do it.
And whatever that will is, we can rest assured that if the Lord gives us something to do, He'll give us the wherewithal to do it. He doesn't give you and me something too hard for us. It may be something that we can't do in our own strength. It may be something that is difficult. But God never lays something before us without giving the needed strength and the needed grace for it.
But what does that teach us?
It teaches us dependence.
It teaches us dependence.
And the apostle Paul had to learn that turn over to Second Corinthians where we spoke of, which we referred to a little earlier. Second Corinthians.
Chapter 11.
And here's the Apostle Paul, and what does he have to say?
Sorry, chapter 12. Beg your pardon? Did I say 11?
Chapter 12 And if I said 11 previously in the address, I meant 12.
2nd Corinthians 12 What does he say here? Verse 10?
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions in distresses for Christ sake.
For when I am weak then am I strong?
When we're young, we think we don't need that.
But the Lord is ways of showing us.
That we do need it, and as I get older and others here can testify to the same thing, we find ourselves needing to be more and more dependent on the Lord.
Because we realize we don't have strength in ourselves.
We never did, but we realize that more as we go on in the Christian pathway.
But does the Lord delight to show us His will? Yes, indeed He does.
And then natural wisdom doesn't have to be applied. Turn to John's Gospel Chapter 11 to see that.
John, Chapter 11.
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Now these verses may seem to be a little going all over the place, but it's the only way to address this subject. John Chapter 11, we know the story well, how the Lazarus was sick, very sick, and of course his home was in Bethany, which is very close to Jerusalem, and the Lord was up in the north of Israel in Galilee.
And what happens here in verse three of the chapter?
John 11 and verse three. Therefore his sisters send unto him, saying, Lord.
Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Verse 5.
No, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Verse 7.
Excuse me?
Then after that, said he to his disciples, let us go into Judea again.
His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone the engulfs, Thou thither again.
Here's a dilemma.
We speak reverently in the life of our blessed Lord and Master.
On the one hand, he whom thou lovest is sick, and Scripture gives testimony that that was a true statement. Jesus loved that family. It was a haven of rest for him, apart from all of the things that were going on among those in positions of authority and power in Israel.
But on the other hand, his disciples remind him, Lord, they sought to stone you down in that area of Jerusalem, and that are you going back there again?
How to resolve that dilemma?
First of all, it says in verse six when he had heard therefore that he, that is Lazarus was sick, he abode 2 days still.
In the same place where he was.
Might have seemed a bit hard harder, don't you think? Instead of going right away.
But then his disciples come back, and when the Lord finally says, let's go.
They remind him about the persecution and risking his life that was going to be down there. And what does he say?
Beautiful verse 9, Jesus answered. Are there not 12 hours in the day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world.
But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no light in him.
What did he mean? Oh, the Lord was saying in so many words, I have guided.
From the Father he lived the life of the perfect dependent man, and he did everything by the power of the Spirit of God, so that when he delayed it was because it was the will of God, even though it looked on the surface as if he were ignoring one of his humanly speaking best friends who was sick.
When he goes there again, he goes down in the face of persecution and the risk of his life. But he says, I'm walking in the light. Oh, I say to each one here today, you can walk in that same light. We don't need to go through our lives stumbling and bumbling and so on. Now, don't get me wrong, I have stumbled and missed the way.
Yes, I have, but it was I that made the problem.
Not the Spirit of God.
The Lord is willing to lead and guide, and He does so.
Right here. So the Lord Jesus goes, but he goes in the power of the Spirit of God and with the mind of God.
And no one stoned them to death.
It wasn't time for him to be crucified yet, and he knew that he would go in the protection of God. And you and I can do the same thing in our Christian lives.
But a word of warning.
And to see the Word of Warning, let's go back to Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
Loop 10.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
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Verse one and no. After these things the Lord appointed other 70 also.
And sent them two and two before his face into every city and place.
Whether he himself would come?
Now go down to verse 17. What's the result of that mission that.
He sends these 70 out to do.
Verse 17.
And the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils or the demons are subject unto us through thy name.
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan is lightning fall from heaven.
Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
So here's the verse. Notwithstanding in this Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.
The last thought I want to leave with us is this.
These 70 went out clearly with the mind of the Lord.
And they went out clearly with his power behind them, they come home. Shall we use the term flushed with success?
Lord, even the demons are subject unto us through Thy name.
And the Lord shared in that joy. The Lord looked on to a coming day that hasn't happened yet. And he says.
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, no doubt referring to that day, a future day when Satan will be utterly cast out of heaven.
The Lord shared in that joy.
And he gives them more power. He says you can tread on serpents and scorpions.
Nothing shall by any means hurt you.
But even if we are in the mind of the Lord about where we're going, whether it's a choice we make when we are young.
A career choice. A choice about whom we might marry. Most important choice, Most important.
We need the wisdom of God for that. Don't take that step in in any way, shape or form based on human wisdom. Ask the Lord for His mind. But we can have the confidence in our own selves that we have the mind of the Lord.
And we can actually be used of the Lord, but the Lord gives us a little warning here.
It's possible, even in that for that old fleshly thing called pride to rear its head.
Francis Ridley made the remark. She said it's the last thing in us to die.
And even in the Lord's things, we can take a certain amount of pride. There can be what you might call grandstanding, telling everyone what the Lord is doing through you. Oh well, I want people to rejoice in what the Lord is doing and they can pray for me and so on. But there can be pride in that.
So the Lord gives a warning here. He says in simple terms, don't rejoice so much in what you have done.
Rejoice in what I have done.
He must have all the glory.
He must have the glory and so he says, don't rejoice in what you have done, even though they did it with his mind and his power and it was definitely the right thing to do.
Rejoice in what I have done.
That's why we needed the remembrance we had this morning, so that we wouldn't be so taken up with what we are doing, but rather with what He has done that keeps us in the right place. It keeps us humble before Him. Yes, we don't hesitate to go to the Lord and seek His mind.
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And we can have the confidence in our own souls that we have the mind of the Lord. Because let me tell you from experience.
If you seek the Lord's mind, and he brings it by his Spirit powerfully to bear on your soul.
I can't explain it in human terms, but there's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it.
But don't go around talking about it.
Have it to yourself. Go on for the Lord, because to boast about it is really to say.
I know I was walking so close to the Lord that I couldn't possibly have missed his mind.
No, just quietly go on in the path that the Lord is marked out. And remember, it is far better to be occupied with what He has done than what we have done.
What did we have to do with our names being written in heaven?
Oh, it chokes us up, doesn't it? What do we have to do with our names being written in heaven? Nothing but our sins. No pride in that, is there? Can't take any pride in that. What part did I have in being saved? Oh, I find out after I'm saved that it was God that even gave me the faith to believe.
No room for pride.
Well, our time is up. Let's sing just part of another hymn.
Number 77 in the appendix.
77 in the appendix.
And we'll sing just the last two verses, verses 4:00 and 5:00.
Oh, I am my beloved, and my beloved's mine. 77 in the appendix, the last two verses.
Just look to the Lord.