Address—B. Prost
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Special significance to it.
I can well remember.
Our late brother Eric Smith, well remembered by many of us here, giving this hymn out at a Wheaton conference over 45 years ago.
And somehow the way he was able to lay an emphasis on the sentiments expressed in it made it very special to my soul, and I hope to others too. 173 the 1St 3 verses.
A little will the Lord shall come, and we shall.
His father's home, where we love, is gonna be more.
We'll save that last verse for the end of the meeting if that's OK.
Let's pray together.
I know this is detailed on our hymn sheet simply as an address.
But when the local brother here in Saint Thomas who spoke to me about having this responsibility mentioned the meeting, he mentioned particularly an exercise about the young people. I hope it's all right if we direct our comments a bit in that direction, because on looking around yesterday and today, it seems that they outnumber us who are older quite a bit, and there are a lot of children here too.
I'd like to turn first of all to two verses, one in Romans chapter 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
I.
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And verse 31.
Romans 831.
What shall we then say to these things?
God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
How shall he not with him also freely give us?
All things.
And then connect that please with a verse in First Corinthians.
1St Corinthians 3.
And verse 21. First Corinthians 3, verse 21.
Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. And year Christs, and Christ is God's.
First of all, we want to emphasize the wonderful content of these verses.
It tells us there in Romans chapter 8, if God be for us.
Who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him all so freely give us all things? And then here in first Corinthians we are told all things are yours.
And I want to say to my own heart, as I say to each one here this afternoon.
Do I really believe the truth of those statements that all things are mine as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
In Romans, the emphasis is on what Christ has done for us.
And the fact that God looked down on you and me.
And shall we say it this way? His love put such a value on us, not because of what we were, but because of His love that He sent his son to die for us. Is it possible that He won't freely give us all things?
And then Paul tells us in Corinthians, from perhaps a little different vantage point, that all things are ours, whether in this life or in the life to come.
We had it mentioned to us in the reading meeting yesterday afternoon that these things that are brought before us in Scripture are not meant merely for future blessing and enjoyment, but are meant for our enjoyment now.
But many times.
Even though, as we have remarked, we are living right on the eve of the Lord's return.
Even though you and I ought to be, shall we say, the happiest people in this world.
Can we face it? There are times when the pathway not only seems difficult.
But sometimes it seems hard to find the way. I want to talk this afternoon on the pathway of the believer.
And do we sometimes find it difficult to find that path? You know, we do. And it is not only young people, it is we who are older as well who sometimes find it difficult to find that path. And how important it is to have a path.
It's so easy to lose the path today.
I can remember when I was younger and I used to hear about people getting lost in the woods.
And I would look around at patches of woods with which I was familiar, and for the most part it was woods. And the children can understand this woods where most of the underbrush had been cleared away, where there were no fallen logs and much and things like that. And I found I could see a long way through those trees. And I used to think my somebody would have to be in a very large patch of woods before they could get lost in the forest like that.
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Well, the time came when some of us started to go wilderness camping and I began to sing a different tune. I can well remember being on an island on in Algonquin Park here in Ontario and there are those here in this room who will remember that trip.
It was a difficult time of camping because we had about 72 hours pretty much of straight rain. And I went out looking for some dry firewood and we were camped on an island. It wasn't that large. I suppose it might have been 20-30 acres, 40 acres at the very most that island. And I said I'm not going to worry about getting lost because I can always find a shoreline and walk around the shore and get back to where we're camped.
But I'm going to keep my bearings. Do you think I could? There was number way.
There was number way I could keep my bearings. I didn't carry a compass or anything. I just tried to keep my bearings. But there were trees over my head, there was underbrush underneath, there were rocks. There were all kinds of things.
And I did have to go and find the shoreline finally to find my way back. And I was so far away from where I thought I was. I said my Oh my, and you know.
That is the way it is in the Christian life.
If we don't have our bearings, if we don't have the compass, if we don't have the Lord before us.
But let's start out with these verses first of all, and realize all things are yours. And I say it particularly perhaps to the young people here and to the children. Remember, in the day and age in which you are living, God is for you. And if God be for us, who can be against us?
As we've heard from some of the stories from foreign lands, those who live under the fires of persecution are having to prove that in a very real way. And when God is for us, it does not mean that we may not suffer. It does not mean that the pathway will be easy. It does not mean that magically all the difficulties will disappear. No, it does not.
Yes, there are times when God gives us a marvelous deliverance and you get those, for example at the end of Hebrews Chapter 11.
And you can read the account there of those who, as it tells us, were able to overcome the incredible difficulties through which the Lord put them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the violence of fire. Daniel stopped the mouths of lions. Others, out of weakness, were made strong, like some of David's mighty men who lifted up their swords against hundreds of adversaries.
Single handed and won the battle.
But then the end of that chapter says and others.
And others.
Were tortured, not accepting deliverance. Were they men without faith? No, the chapter ends. These all died in faith.
And so I say to each one of us here, God is for you.
But if God is for you.
What is the intent of God's being for you?
It's earlier in chapter 8 of Romans. It says that we might be conformed.
To the image of his son.
Oh, isn't it beautiful to think that everything that God is doing in your life and mine ultimately is going to result in our being more conformed to the image of His Son?
But there's something else that I want to bring out. Before we go on, turn to the Book of Philippians.
Chapter One.
Philippians chapter one and I want to bring this before us at the beginning of the meeting before we get into.
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A verse that I really want to dwell on. Philippians chapter one.
And verse 20.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always.
So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body.
Whether it be by life or by death.
I say to each one here, this was what the apostle Paul had before his soul, when it was a question of whether he would stay in the body or whether he would be taken home to be with the Lord. And notice he doesn't say here that with all boldness. So now he says with all boldness as always, it was his manner of life.
That Christ might be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death.
And I say to each one of us here, and perhaps it bears particularly on you and me who live in North America, we have had many comments in the meeting concerning the privileges that we have. We have had many comments here in the meetings about the things that are available to us, and they are available. We have wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most of this world's population. We eat food.
That many people in this world.
Would only dream about we live in homes that by the standards of most of the world.
Our mansions, we drive cars, we take holidays and all the rest of it, and I am not speaking against those things in themselves.
But the whole point is.
To what use do I put what God has committed unto me?
God is for us.
But for us, in a way that is not merely for.
My pleasure, my ambitions, my thoughts, my plans.
But that Christ might be magnified in our bodies, whether by life or by death.
I've sometimes read some stories about various wars that have taken place in the world's history.
And the story comes to mind about the Second World War.
And there was a very beautiful girl who lived in England during the Second World War.
Who came to the government?
She was perfectly fluent in the French language as well as in English. She may also have been fluent in German, I can't remember.
And she offered her services to the government and said I would like to do something.
For the war effort.
And so the government said we can use Someone Like You.
You're a woman, you have a measure of beauty, and in your youth you can go places and do things.
That men could not get away with. We're going to send you to a special on a special mission over to France, which at that time, of course, was occupied by the Germans.
And we have something for you to do there. It's a dangerous mission.
But if you can undertake it, it would be a big help, she said. I'm willing, I'll go.
So she went over there to France.
And the situation did not turn out as they had expected. Sometimes in war, those things happen and instead of her being able to come back to England safely as had been planned. Yes, there were dangers involved, but they had hoped that she would be able to overcome them.
But the situation changed and circumstances did not workout.
And it ended up that she was caught in a situation where rescue was impossible.
And some in the government were up in arms about it.
And they said, what are we going to do? They said we can't let this girl just perish like this.
What are we going to do?
Rightly or wrongly, Winston Churchill, it went all the way to him as Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time, and his comment was rather terse, but it was accurate, he said. I'm very sorry.
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But he said if we're going to win this war.
There are those.
That are going to have to give up their lives.
Even if they're beautiful young women.
And she lost her life.
I'm not sure exactly of all the circumstances, but they couldn't rescue her. She accomplished what they wanted her to do. She rendered her service.
The government got the intelligence that it was looking for.
But she lost her life.
I say that to each one of us here because normally in these favored lands we aren't asked to give up our lives for Christ, but there is a way that you and I can can give up our lives.
Even if we don't necessarily lose, shall we say, our physical lives in death.
But what the Lord wants is those who are willing.
Shall we say?
To come to the Lord and say, whether by life or by death, here I am, I'm willing.
But you know, if we're going to do that, we must be able to find the path.
And you know, and I know that there are many today who are finding it difficult.
To find the path.
And they aren't all young people either. And some of us know what it is like to miss the past. So don't think that I'm preaching at anyone here.
Some of us know what it feels like.
And I'd like to turn back particularly to a verse in the Old Testament that I have often enjoyed. And I'd like to make an application of it to the path of a believer, simple and down to earth, so that I think even the children here can understand it because, you know, a path is most important.
When you go into some areas when you want to go wilderness camping.
There's no path. There's no path anywhere. Oh, there may be hiking trails at various points, but normally there's no path. You get around by canoes on lakes and rivers.
And about the only path you will ever find is the one from the campsite out to the little washroom they provide for you.
If indeed there is any trail out to it.
But you know, when we're walking somewhere where we don't know the way, the path is most important, and we need to be able to find it. Let's turn back, please, to the book of Job in the Old Testament, Job 28.
Now job was one who was having trouble in one sense.
With the path.
He was having trouble understanding God's ways.
Way back, thousands of years ago, God had allowed a set of circumstances in his life.
That he could not understand. He said in so many words, I can't understand this and if only I could get the Lord face to face and have a a heart to heart interview with Him, I'm sure we could straighten this out.
I wish there were somebody that could come between us, he says. A days man.
But Job was having trouble with a set of circumstances that were so overwhelming, so inexplicable, so difficult that he said. I don't know which way to turn and what to do.
You know, sometimes we're faced with that.
And I want to read what Job had to say here because unwittingly in Job seeking for wisdom.
He made a comment that I believe the Spirit of God can apply to us to Jay today. Job 28, verse 7.
There is a path which no foul know, and which the vultures I have not seen. The lions whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion pass by it.
Job here is talking about silver and gold.
And that silver and gold is mined underground.
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Where the birds don't see it and where the lions don't walk by it. And I say to you, each one, dear fellow believer, as I say to my own soul, the gold, the silver that God has for you and for me is available.
There is a path. Oh brethren, let no one ever take this away from us. There is a path.
God will never, never give you and me.
Precious truth in His word and yet make it impossible for us to walk in it.
I say that again, God will never reveal precious truth to you and to me from His Word.
And yet make me.
Have to say, because of the circumstances in which I am, because of the day in which I am living.
It is impossible to walk in it.
Now I make allowances for the fact that sometimes there are testings in our lives.
And there are times sometimes when God governmentally may blind us for the moment to the path.
Let me use an illustration that the children here will understand.
Quite a few years ago, when our son was about four years old, we visited a place in the United States that's got plenty of history. Williamsburg, VA.
And it was crowded. A lot of people there interested in going here and there. So I said to my son, please stick close to us. Don't dart off in this direction or that direction to look at something because you may get lost.
Well, as you may well imagine, he saw something that caught his eye, and pretty soon, oh, where's Eric? Looked around. Nowhere within my vicinity. Took a cursory look in the crowd, couldn't find him. Every parent that's had that experience knows how your heart jumps into your mouth and so on.
The remedy wasn't that difficult because excuse me?
I looked off to one side.
And there was an elevated platform at least 2-3 feet high, which I quickly hopped up on top of and I could see very well over the whole crowd and I spotted them in less than two seconds.
But you know, I thought to myself, Eric, you got yourself into this situation through disobedience. I'm going to let you Stew in your juice for a few minutes. Was kind of cruel. It probably hurt me more than it hurt him because he was frantic. He was darting this way and that way and trying to wend his way through the crowds. Of course, everybody was twice as height and so on. And he knew he was lost. He knew he was in trouble.
And I let him go through it for a few minutes, just stood there and watched.
After a while I simply called out and weighed my arm.
And you can imagine how quickly he came back.
You know the Lord does that to us sometimes. He's watching us. He knows where we are.
He's right there, but we're so intent on darting here and there that we don't see him. And sometimes he may let us feel the effect of being lost in order that we might not disobey and walk in a path of self will again. So allowing for that, allowing for that.
I say with all confidence.
God will never, never reveal truth to you and me and yet not enable us to walk in it. It may be difficult, it may be a narrow path. There may be a cost involved.
But I believe he'll show us that path.
Sometimes there are dear Saints of God, and my heart aches when I hear it.
They say I don't know where the Lord is in the midst anymore, or I don't know where the Lord's table is anymore.
Or I don't know.
Where to go or what to do? The situation is so difficult and so confusing.
Here in Job 28, it says there is a path and we emphasize that there is a path. That path is there. It is not like going through Algonquin Park or going through the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota or something where there is no path.
There is a path but it says which no foul know.
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You know, when I stood up on that platform, I could see out over the crowd some of those birds of prey that fly so high up in the sky.
Those who study them tell us that they have incredible eyes and that they can focus from that great height, sometimes hundreds of feet in the air, to see something as small as a mouse running across a field or a tiny squirrel situated somewhere. And we have no doubt all seen a bird like a hawk or something like that suddenly swoop down because it sees what it is about to catch.
Tremendous eyesight, and I suggest that the eye of the fowl here speaks.
Of human wisdom. Human wisdom. Oh, there is a path which no foul knoweth. Human wisdom will never find that path.
And may I carry that a step further? And I trust.
This won't offend anyone because I speak from personal experience and I believe it to be the truth of God.
In divine things, the principles of God's Word are most important. Most important.
And I would not for a moment in any way take away from the importance of knowing and understanding them.
But even a knowledge of right principles is not enough to show me the path.
I cannot have a knowledge of principles in one hand and perhaps a knowledge of the circumstances in the other hand, and expect to put the two together and the answer to be obvious.
Yes, principles are a guide. They help me. If my imagination is running away from me or my own thoughts are taking me in a wrong direction, a principle from God's Word may quietly pull me back.
But there's no substitute. Her brother Chuck mentioned it this morning for meditation and communion with the Lord.
There is no substitute for communion with the Lord. Turn to John Chapter 7 for a verse that is well known to us.
John, Chapter 7.
Verse 17.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
If you want to know the will of the Lord and do it.
The Lord will show you. But notice how this verse is written. It does not say. If any man will know his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Sometimes people come to me and they say, Bill, will you do me a favor?
And I have to say that my response sometimes depends on who asks.
Maybe we all have that problem if certain people were to ask me and say, Bill, do me a favor.
My immediate response would be yes, whatever you ask. What is it?
I can honestly say that there are a number of people to whom that response would be without reservation.
But I have to confess that there are others whom, if they came to me and said, Bill, do me a favor, I would probably say, what is it?
What is it?
Because I know them well enough to know that sometimes they might ask that, which I find I could not do.
Or perhaps would not be able to do.
When it's a matter of coming to the Lord, I cannot come to the Lord.
As a believer and say Lord, I want to know thy will, but deep down in my heart have the thought when he tells me what it is, then I'll consider it and decide whether I'm willing to pay the price or not.
I shouldn't be surprised if I come with that attitude if I don't get the guidance I'm looking for.
But if I come saying, Lord, I want to do thy will.
I come with an open heart, an open soul, an open mind, and say, Lord, show me and I'll do it. Whatever it is, with thy help and thy grace I'll do it. That individual is going to know the Lord's will, and it is possible to have a sense of the Lord's will in our lives. No, I am not pretending that any one of us would want to stand up and say, yes, I know I have the Lord's will, unless I have positive scripture for it, of course. But to say that in something that has to do with our personal life.
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Is to say that I am living so close to the Lord that I couldn't miss his mind, and I don't think any of us would say that.
But I believe we can have a sense in our souls of the Lord's leading and guidance in our lives.
If we come to him in this way. But again, I want to emphasize, I can't get it with human wisdom.
No, I'm not suggesting that an aptitude test in school is not valuable at times. I'm not suggesting that advice and counsel from others who know us well is not good and helpful. Yes, it can be. But ultimately, when it comes right down to it, there is a path which no foul north. And yet, in the Lord's presence, I can find that path.
Let's go back to Job 28.
And which verse 7 the last half and which the vultures I have not seen.
Everyone here knows what a vulture is I guess.
Those animals, those birds that prey on that which is dead.
That which is dead.
And, you know, sometimes we as believers, sad to say.
Can appear dead if we're out of the path.
I don't tell this story to be funny, but it makes the point.
Many years ago, my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe, was visiting in southern Mexico.
And he liked to walk, He liked to exercise.
And so he volunteered to walk with some of those beloved Mexican brethren from the Oaxaca area.
And the track involved going up and down over some low mountains and so on.
And he was rather forcibly reminded that he was not as young as he used to be.
And on one occasion he got up to the top of a hill totally winded.
And laid down, just flopped down on the grass there and was breathing in very deeply, catching his breath.
After a while a couple of Mexican brethren came up and 1/2 of them looked down on them and they didn't think he understood Spanish. So one of them said do you think he's going to die?
And the other one said, no, the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And they walked on.
There were others coming. They knew he could well afford to stay there and relax, so he laid there.
And in telling about it afterward, he said after a while, he opened his eyes just to slit because it was bright sunlight. And to his horror, he saw this huge Turkey vulture swirling up over a head, coming lower and lower and lower and lower. And he thought, uh.
That vulture thinks I'm dead, and if I don't make some sign of life in a minute or two, he's going to land on me. So he quickly sat up, and as you may well imagine, the Vulture went away because he wasn't interested in something that was alive. He wanted something that was dead.
But I thought about that story many times.
The vultures eye has not seen that path. the Vulture is pretty good. Anything dies, you can be sure the vultures will find it. They'll find it and feed on it. Up in this area we don't have so many things like Turkey vultures, but we've got crows and they'll find it and feed on it and it doesn't take them long if something dies to feed on it.
But the Vulture can't see you and can't attack you in the path of obedience and faithfulness to the Lord. If we're off the path, we may appear dead. We may appear like good material. Because the Vulture attacks those who are dead. He attacks the man of the world. He attacks those who are walking after the course of this world. the Vulture, I believe, would speak in one sense of Satan's hosts that are right there to prey on those.
Who are off the path and look dead, but the Vulture hasn't seen the path in faithfulness to the Lord.
Let's go on.
Verse 8. The lions whelps have not trodden it.
The lion's whelps have not trodden it. You know, in scripture you often get the lion spoken of, and sometimes you get Young Lions or you lions whelps or Young Lions. And I suppose if we could put it this way, the lion speaks of strength. But when it's the young lion, it's super strength, exceptional strength, because it's the lion in his youth.
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I'm getting older now, but I haven't forgotten what it was like to be young. I haven't forgotten what it was like to have boundless energy, to be able to work half the night and still be able to get up and go the next day. I haven't forgotten what it was like to have the mind so keen, as brothers were mentioning in the reading this morning, that you could read written ministry, read the word of God and remember it and hang on to it. Or when you could read textbooks at school, for that matter, and hang on to what you were being taught. And so on.
I hope some of us haven't totally lost that faculty, but it's not as easy as it used to be.
But here it speaks of the lion's whelps, and it says they have not trodden that path.
All you and I cannot walk the pathway of faith in our own strength. We can't walk it in our own strength.
There are two things necessary to walk the pathway of faith.
And we want to lay a bit of emphasis on them. One is dependence.
And the other is obedience, dependence and obedience. We need both turn back or turn on a little bit to Psalm 16. And I believe we see that Psalm 16.
Now this Psalm gives us.
The pathway primarily of the Lord Jesus, but as an example for us.
Of the perfect dependent man.
Isn't it wonderful that the Lord Jesus walked through this world as the perfect dependent man as an example for us? Isn't it wonderful that when John came to baptize him and said I have need to be baptized of thee, that the Lord said no, suffer it to be so now he identified with his own faithful ones.
When the devil tempted the Lord Jesus instead of answering him in his Godhead power.
He answered him as a perfect dependent man.
Excuse me?
As you and I can.
He answered him from Scripture.
He answered in the way that we can answer the devil.
So the Lord Jesus has taken that place and that's why He is a perfect example for us.
The brother was mentioning to me in the noon hour concerning our chapter in Luke 12 That we have been considering.
That when the Lord says, Who is that faithful and wise servant, that there is only one?
Who is really?
The faithful and wise servant There was only one who was always faithful and only one who was always wise.
The Lord Jesus Christ and so here in Psalm 16 in verse one it says, preserve me, oh God, for in thee do I put my trust.
Could I suggest that you say that verse over every day of your life?
Would that be too much? I just suggested.
When you get up in the morning, say that verse over to yourself. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. If you say it and really mean it, then you can walk in dependence on the Lord. Because if I try to walk the Christian pathway in my own strength, what happens? Why doesn't the Lord allow that?
Because if we walked it in our own strength, we would take the credit for it. We would get the glory. Pride comes in, and we all know that pride besets every one of us. We like to think that we're capable. And as young people, we are capable. And I want to say as I look out at you young people, that you are a big encouragement to us. I enjoy the energy of young people. I enjoy their.
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Heart for Christ, their willingness to get involved in things.
Their sense of, shall I say, the regions beyond in many cases. And I know that there are many of you who have desires like that and we encourage you in that. We encourage you in it. In fact, it was rather interesting I was reading.
Some of our written ministry, this is many years ago, so the reference may be inaccurate, but I think it was in Edward Dennett's ministry and he made a rather interesting comment. This was just in a reading meeting. I thought it was rather rather, shall I say, well, I just enjoyed it. He said, you know, if I ever want the Lord to do something in a hurry, he said, I asked some young people to pray for it because he said they don't see any of the difficulties or any of the problems.
They just go straight to the Lord with a straightforward request, and he said the Lord usually answers well. I thought that was interesting coming from an older brother. He said if I ever want the Lord to do something right away in in a hurry, I get some young people to pray for it. In my experience with young people, I can say something the same. And we're so thankful for that. Thankful because God can use that energy of youth that some of us don't have any more that ability to go places and do things.
With perhaps bodily energy and so on that some of us who are older don't have.
But let's remember that ultimately the lion's whelps have not trodden that path. It must be in the Lords strength.
Now back to Job 28.
At the end it says nor the fierce lion passed by it.
The fierce lion is a little different, thought.
The fierce lion is more the thought.
Of what we get in Peter, where the devil is a roaring lion, it says, Go with the boat, seeking whom he may devour.
The fierce lion.
And the fierce lion is here today as he ever was. He is attacking our brethren in some countries with the fires of persecution. But, you know, sometimes, while we would in no way wish persecution on anyone, yet sometimes it is somewhat easier because, shall we say, the battle lines are drawn and they're clear.
I remember a brother telling me in Romania that back in the Ceausescu years, when the communist government was firmly in place, he said there were very few nominal Christians. There were very few nominal Christians. And he said if there were nominal Christians, generally they cooperated with the Communists and everyone knew who they were. He said the real Christians were easily discernible for the most part.
Because the demarcation line was very, very clear. But in lands like North America, Western Europe and so on, where we have liberty and freedom and a measure of prosperity, all the fierce lion attacks. In another way, the fierce lion attacks.
Well, I'm going to use the words of a Christian from a foreign land.
These are not my words. These are the words of a believer from a foreign land who lived under the fires of persecution.
And when he had an opportunity to visit North America, he said the devil attacks us in our land by persecution from the world. He said the devil attacks believers in North America by difficulties among believers themselves.
His comment now not mine his comment.
You and I know, sad to say, how true that is.
If the devil cannot attack from without, he will attack from within. And that is not to say that the world is any different over here. It is not to say that the world does not attack.
That we do not feel reproach. We do, but the devil has made more havoc and more difficulty in countries with so-called freedom, Christian countries, by attacking believers from within.
Nor the fierce line pass by.
There is a path where the devil cannot attack you.
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Oh, you say Bill, show me where it is, please. I want to walk in that path. I don't want that devil to attack me.
And it is not for me to tell you what your path ought to be. I can say definitely from the Word of God what the Word of God teaches. But the path of the believer as well as being collective has to start with individual devotedness to the Lord, with individual faithfulness, with individual exercise, with individual obedience, with individual dependence.
You will remember if you've read the Pilgrims Progress how that when Christian was walking along there at one point he saw 2 lions on either side of the road.
And he wondered how he would get by.
You remember the story how he got by? He thought for a moment. He said there's no way, because no matter if I go this way, the one lion will get me, and if I go a little more on this side, the other lion will get me. There's no way to get by. But then as he got closer, he saw that each lion was chained, and the chains were measured very carefully, so that as long as he stayed right on the path, the one lion from the right could come only so far, and the lion from the left could come only so far.
And there was enough room to walk in between without either one being able to reach him. You remember that? I'm sure you do.
It was a narrow path. If he stepped a little bit this way, one lion would get him, and if he stepped a little bit this way, the other lion would get him. You know, John Bunyan, I believe the Lord gave him wisdom. Not that he was inspired. I don't imply that, but I believe the Lord gave him wisdom in writing because when he put that illustration in, he showed how that very often decisions in the Christian life are a matter of keeping the truth in proper balance.
We find in the Old Testament that it speaks of some of the kings that they declined neither to the right hand nor to the left.
And even in our society, we measure politicians and other people by where they stand. Well, he's a little bit left of center, or he's from the far right or something like that. The far right course being ultra conservative and the left being liberal and so on. And in certain aspects of studying the human mind, people speak of left brain and right brain with various differences and so on. So we recognize that there is a need for balance in natural things.
And in spiritual things there is often a need for balance in the things of God, and the devil will attack on either side. Sometimes there is a going to an extreme in one line of truth.
And if there another line of truth that would balance it is not considered, then I can find myself attacked by the fierce lion. Or perhaps I go to the other extreme in another direction.
And in one sense, I may even be able to quote scripture to support me. But I'm not keeping scripture in its place. I'm not rightly dividing the word of truth.
I'm not handling the Word of God, as I think Mr. Wigram says.
As a spirit filled individual would handle it all, the Spirit of God is here indwelling each one of us individually, indwelling believers collectively as the House of God to enable us to apply the Word of God in a balanced way. And the the the fierce lion cannot attack you in that path. Oh, you say, but he is attacking. Yes he is. And if the lion attacks you or attacks me?
Let me not look at the circumstances, Let me not look at other brethren, let me not look at various things that have happened either to me or to others.
Let me say, Lord, have I missed the path? Have I missed the pack? Because I say again with all conviction, the devil cannot attack us in that path.
We mentioned dependence.
We want to talk for a moment before we close about obedience. Turn back to Psalm 16.
Psalm 16.
Verse 4.
Their sorrow shall be multiplied, that hasten after another God. There's drink offerings of blood. Will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips?
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And then here.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot.
I suppose there is no one here that would in that sense hasten after another God.
But sometimes.
In another sense, we can hasten after different gods. We can have a God of pleasure, we can have a God of money, we can have a God to do with material things or with something in this world.
And if I could really cut it, fine, I can make a God even of the Lord's things in the wrong way.
A brother many years ago, I think it was George Heaney, made the remark. He said when I was an unbeliever, I wanted to be a great man in the world and when I became a Christian I wanted to be a great man in the Church of God.
And I had to learn that both were wrong.
I can make a God of preaching the gospel. I can make a God of applying the truth.
Now, I don't want to be misunderstood. Both of those are good things.
But ultimately.
I want to have what we have in verse 5 here. It's Jehovah, but we'll apply it to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord is the portion of what? First of all, my inheritance. That's at the end of the journey.