Pella Conference: 2004

Table of Contents

2. Learning Here a Little There a Little

3. Christ in Us

Gospel

Gospel—H. Brinkmann

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Let's turn to 264.
The perfect.
Rise.
Of God.
Is when thou sailed the Lord, may your life.
Yeah.
Fallujah. Where they?
It's my.
01 grand.
Plan.

00:05:09

Many promises.
But.
A question was raised.
In the book of Job.
And the question we have in chapter nine with one.
And it's the second part of verse 2.
How should man?
Be just with God.
Why is that a question?
Because what is man?
What is the truth of the condition of every human heart?
In this world.
We're all sinners by nature and by practice.
You know, even children.
Are born sinners.
You know you can see it even in a baby.
You know.
Mother keeps the baby, pleads the baby, takes care of the baby, but the baby cars and wants to be held when it wants to be held.
Taken care of.
But it has a will and it wants to enforce the will by crying.
The mother would pick it up.
And hold the baby.
So it shows that even a child, a little child, proves that it has a sinful nature.
Yes.
But you see as we get older.
We manifested more and more.
When we learn how to talk.
You know, sometimes we talk in a way that we ought to talk, ought not to talk, right?
Maybe the way we argue with our brothers and sisters.
Or the way we talk back to the parents.
Or the way we older ones.
Talk to each other.
That just proves that we're all sinners.
You know, it manifests itself in many ways.
Where is the most difficult to detect is and others cannot necessarily tell it.
What our desires are.
You know, we might never express it.
But there are evil desires in our hearts.
You know, maybe a girl sees some girl have a beautiful doll, you know, And the girl might say, why don't I have that doll?
What is behind it? Covetousness, right?
Jealousy.
The same with a boy, you know. Boys might like a toy that some other boy has, you know?
That's what sometimes happens, you know, I used to be a little boy myself. I know what boys are like.
I was one of four.
You know but.
The amazing thing is.
That in spite of us being what we are and the way we have manifested ourselves, that God loves us.
You know your dad and mom loves you in spite of the fact that sometimes you behave out of place, don't they? And even when they punish you, when they discipline you, they do that not because they like to punish you.
They do it because they love you.
You know, when I was a little boy, I didn't always understand that.
When I got us fainted.
And but the Bible says he that spares the wrath hates his son. Remember that fellows. He that spares the rod hates his son. He'll be all at one time or another, need to be disciplined. You know, Parents don't like to do that. They would much rather put their arms around you, hug you, kiss you.

00:10:14

You know, but when you're naughty, they have to discipline you.
But that's the way it is with God. You know, God loves us in spite of what we are, but then he sometimes has to lead us in ways that we become aware of what we are, not that He leads us into sin.
But he allows us.
To conduct ourselves in such a way.
That we come to realize.
Who we are.
And that we are guilty before God.
Now the question How can men be just with God Is really answered in the book of Romans.
You know, the book of Romans is a tremendous book.
And I would encourage the children and the young people to get well familiar with the book of Romans.
I'm told by somebody who knew what he was talking about that the early Brethren spent much time in the book of Romans.
At one time, a brother got to a meeting late.
And they had already started.
And so? He asked.
The one next to him. Where are we?
Where we always are. The answer was he opened to the book of Romans. The Brethren spent a lot of time in the Book of Romans.
You know, it's a important book to become familiar with.
See what the book of Romans shows.
In the first three chapters.
That takes up different groups of human beings.
You know after the introduction.
To the book.
Paul points out.
And especially to those who don't have the word of God.
The heathens.
But they have a testimony from God.
Testimony about God. Where do you find that?
It's in creation.
You know, any honest person that looks at the mysteries and secrets of creation must come to the conclusion that that didn't come by itself.
I even go so far and say it's outright stupid to say that everything came all by itself. All forms of life evolved from 1 little cell nonsense.
Take only your hand.
You know.
I had to study a little bit about the human body in connection with my work.
And I tell you, if you look at the hand.
That's a masterpiece.
It didn't come all by itself.
And then you just think the tongue can touch every finger.
You know, and not only that.
That can contract, you know, you can fold your hand down and hold things with it. And not only that, you have feelings in that hand if you wouldn't have a feeling in your hand.
How would you know you have something happy? You would burn your hand quite often, wouldn't you? The same ice or anything like that.
Anything that is sharp.
The fact that we have a nervous system that helps us to feel things.
Tremendous.
That all developed from nothing.
No, God created it.
And there's this statement in Romans 1.
In verse 20.

00:15:06

Or we should read verse 19 already because that which?
May be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shorted unto them.
4th The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power in broadhead, so that they are without excuse if man has nothing else but the testimony of God in creation.
He can get to know God as the creator. Man is not responsible for what he doesn't know.
You know.
But the Lord Jesus?
After he was risen, he sent out his disciples. He says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. And there are still many people in the world that have never heard the gospel.
It's a wonderful thing that there are those that are exercised to reach people with the gospel who have never heard about it. There is an organization. They call it the New Tribe Mission.
You know, the exercise is to go to places to try that never hurt the gospel. I'm thankful for that kind of an exercise. And if the gospel preaching would only be done by the gathered Saints, there wouldn't be a lot of gospel preaching, would it? We can be thankful that there are those who haven't exercised to preach the gospel and have a clear gospel to present.
Of course there are other things in Scripture besides the gospel, but tonight there's a gospel meeting, so how wonderful that we can point towards the creation.
As a testimony of God.
You know, just just think, there's the sun there in the sky.
And there's the moon.
You know the moon is getting smaller right now again. You know, we have full moon just a couple days ago. Now it is getting smaller again.
And there was a philosopher.
That made this statement, he said.
The scary sky and the conscience within him.
Proves that there is a God.
I don't think the man ever, ever got to know the Lord Jesus as savior.
But he admitted that the conscience within him.
And the creation, the scary sky above him, proved him to him that there was a Creator.
You know, now that they have more powerful telescopes, that they know that there are billions of galaxies out there that they never knew about. How did it come into existence?
Developed by a big boom.
Nonsense.
The Lord spoke it into existence.
He spoke it into existence. He created out of himself this vast universe.
If that is the truth, and I believe it is because the Bible tells us this.
That shows us how great the Lord Jesus is.
That he can create this vast universe and then in this vast universe he creates a spectrum.
The Earth is a speck when you think of the whole universe and picks that speck to put man on it.
And that's the place that he decided that his son would be born in Bethlehem's Manger and appear and reveal the true and full knowledge of God.
Tremendous. And that this great God that can create all this.
Vast universe would be interested in me. Would be interested in you. Isn't that amazing?

00:20:05

But he is interested in everyone of us.
Not only is he interested in us, his interest is that he wants us to become his sons, his children.
And we do become the sons of God through faith in the Lord Jesus. We read that in Galatians.
You know, Adam and Eve were created by God, and they came into existence sinless.
Innocent.
But it didn't continue very long and.
They fell into sin.
See, there was a Satan.
And he wanted to spoil.
What God had created?
I don't believe.
That.
The Young Earth theory is scriptural.
When it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
That is the original creation.
But then.
The earth was void and empty. Got in the process of creating and didn't create anything. Void and empty. That's an insult to God, as if he creates anything. Void and empty. It's a condition into which the earth fell.
Howard got into that condition. Bible doesn't tell us.
But in the New Testament, in Two Corinthians, it says that God that let light shine out of darkness is the one that has shown in our hearts.
Like kitten, our condition and our need to be made over to what has happened to the earth.
The first thing when he made the earth over in six days was let there be light.
And for us the entrance of Thy word giveth light.
Or life. Both can be said well, how wonderful that we can accept the statements of scripture in the beginning God created. How far back that was, we don't know. And how many forms of life there were on the earth before the 6th day creation, we don't know either.
But Mr. Kelly has written on the subject and you can read it. You know, he was not only a gifted teacher, he also studied and was well familiar with the sciences, and he believed there were various forms of life existing on the earth prior to the six day creation.
And you find in the crust of the earth.
Fossils.
That indicate of forms of life totally unknown to us today, not any form of life that presently exists.
How many periods?
Came into.
For different forms of life at different periods came into existence in the past. We don't know, and it isn't that important. What is important is that everything came into existence through God.
And it didn't take him a vast period of time to do it.
He spoke and it stood firm. It says that in Isaiah.
45.
I think it's Isaiah 35.
45.
Yeah, in verse 18.
Says the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it. He has established it. He created it not in vain or waste, is another word for that He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none else. Verse 2 does not describe part of God creating the world.

00:25:10

Describes a condition into which the world fell after he had perfectly created it.
And he had to make it over. And he did it in six days, not in vast periods of time.
Theistic evolution tries to make us believe that every day speaks of a vast period of time. That's outright stupid. Why?
On the third day he created plant life. On the 4th day the sun got the place in connection with the present creation. How can plant life exist without the sun?
Well, you might say, and some people say there was light on the first day. But you need more than light in order to have plant life. You need the warmth of the sun. There is no plant life on the North and South pole, is it?
Because you need more than light, you know there is a sometimes 24 hour day.
But there is no plant life because you need the warmth of the sun.
So.
But if it was a 24 hour day, you can see that under the third day he created the plant a plant life and then he gave the sun the place.
To warm things up.
Give the possibility for plant life to flourish.
Another reason why these days were not vast periods of time is Adam and Eve.
They were created on the 7th day, 1/6 day. I'm sorry.
And then God told them that they should be fruitful and multiplied.
They had no children before they fell into sin.
If the other days were vast periods of time, so was the 6th day a vast period of time. How come they were disobedient? They didn't have any children, but you can see if it were indeed, as I believed to be the truth, 24 hour days.
At all explains it.
That makes sense, doesn't it?
But.
So how wonderful to have scriptural truth and creation.
I cannot understand.
That.
But I can accept the truth of Scripture.
What does it say in Hebrews?
Hebrews.
11.
Verse 3.
To faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
That is very plain. You don't have to be highly educated to understand it. It didn't come from anything that existed. God spoke it into existence.
That's the truth of Scripture.
So what I cannot intellectually grasp.
I can by faith except.
At here in Hebrews that even says I understand it by faith, not the way a scientist wants to understand it.
I don't need to understand it the way a scientist understands it or wants to understand it. I can accept God's word for it.
But the sad thing is.
In Romans.
One that those and everybody has that revelation of God in creation. They didn't honor him as such. And what did they do? They worship the creature rather than the creator.
You know, how sad.
These superstitious beliefs of people in the world.
But you know, if somebody has never heard about the Lord Jesus, never heard about the true and living God.
If he vows to the testimony of God in creation, God will accept him.

00:30:01

Well, I hope everybody will hear the gospel and we will know that even after we are gone from this world, when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us all, there is still a gospel going to be preached, the gospel of the Kingdom.
And many, many millions will hear and believe.
You know when the Lord Jesus says go you into all the world and preach the gospel, that command still stands and is obeyed by those who live on earth after we are gone.
You know they will not present the gospel of the grace of God.
That tells us if you accept the Lord Jesus, you will become part of the Church. You will become part of the body of Christ, part of the Bride of Christ. Only the Church is going to be the Bride of Christ. But there is still going to be a good news. The Lord Jesus is presented as the King. That was what was proclaimed when he was here on earth.
And that will be preached again after we are gone.
And many real faithfully bring the gospel and build, perhaps even bring it, I'm quite convinced, bring it into areas where the gospel of the grace of God has never reached what we do know from Scripture that those who have heard the gospel of the grace of God and have rejected it or neglected it, will not get a second chance. That is a theology that is being circulated in the profession.
Even fundamentalist Christians sometimes preach that which is unscriptural. According to two Thessalonians 2, they will not have a second chance.
A spirit of delusion will be sent to them, and they will believe a lie.
But there are many who have never heard the gospel of the grace of God.
They will have another chance or they will have a chance to hear and believe. Well, I'm so glad that that is the truth, that they will hear the gospel of the grace, not the grace of God, of the gospel of the Kingdom, and can accept the Lord Jesus as the King.
Lord Jesus is not our king.
He's our Lord Individually, he's our Lord.
He is our Savior. He is our bridegroom. He's our head. All of these things are true in Christianity, but how wonderful there's going to be a gospel preached to all the nations.
Presenting Blood Jesus as the King.
And they will hear it now. It is possible, I believe, that people who have grown up in America have never heard the gospel.
You know my daughter.
Was able to lead a fellow nurse, a lady, to know the Lord. She was a church member.
In a Protestant church, she had never heard the gospel preached in that church.
But.
She came to Nodal Artilla, the savior.
So there are people even in these lands.
Where so much of the gospel has been proclaimed who have never heard it.
And but those who have heard it and have refused to accept it, perhaps even flatly rejected it. That's not for me. Why don't people want to know the gospel? Why don't they want to accept it? Because the gospel, first of all, tells man that they are sinners, that they are on the road to hell, and that they deserve to go to hell.
They might say, well, sure, I have things, I've done things wrong, but nothing that bad that God would throw me into hell.
How many sins you have to commit to get to hell?
One, right?

00:35:00

We all have committed more since then. One.
I'm sure we will be honest enough to admit that we have done more since than once in.
Well, but once it is enough.
Because no sin can be in the presence of God.
He cannot tolerate sin in His presence and that's why he sent his son to die for sinners to.
He made sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
So it's very important to see that this is covered in chapter one.
Those who only have.
The testimony of God in creation.
But then we find that the Greeks.
Are taken up.
You know.
Those who have stressed.
Morality.
As a guide for life.
And yet.
That which they preach to others they themselves didn't do.
And.
The Greek.
You know, they were knowing a lot of things and they discovered a lot of things. And anything that is true science, all true science can discover is.
How things work.
The secrets of how things are functioning.
But they can never, by science, find out where things came from the purpose for which.
We are here, for instance, and where we are going, let me repeat that.
Where things come from, the purpose for which we are here and where we are going, Divine revelation is needed for that.
And we have it in the Word of God.
I'm so thankful that I grew up in a home where the Bible was read.
You know, even my grandparents were godly people.
And after I had assurance of salvation, I would visit my grandpa who knew the scriptures very well. It was a gift to the evangelist and teacher, and he was overjoyed to have a grandson come to him and wanted to discuss the scriptures with him.
You know, it's good to have questions and go to somebody in the family, then Ma or grandpa and grandma and bring up these questions.
And if they don't know how to answer you, they will find out and might even ask somebody else for you to get the answer.
You know, we are all still learning.
And need more knowledge and understanding of scriptural truth.
So how important it is. But philosophy, human wisdom is vain when it comes.
To search out the things of God.
By knowledge.
Man cannot find out God.
God has to reveal himself.
And he wants to reveal himself.
And when we read the Bible.
And you should read the Bible, everyone of you young people.
As God to help you understand it and then have an open ear because he's talking to you when you read that book.
And approach it with reverence and godly fear, and ask him to give you understanding and intelligence.
He wants to make himself known.
And that's why he has given us this book.
But then we have besides the ignorant hidden and the cultured philosopher, we have the religious Jews.

00:40:06

To them were entrusted the oracles of God.
You know, I'm so glad.
That we have the whole word of God.
Not only the New Testament.
Even the Old Testament is the word of God.
Read in Corinthians.
See, what we find is that in the word of God.
I'm sorry. It's really romance I believe that I'm looking for.
Yes.
For Romans 15 verse 4.
Whatsoever for whatsoever things were written a fourth time, were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope that refers to the Old Testament.
You know.
The Old Testament is like a picture book.
I'm quoting Mr. McIntosh, he said the Old Testament is like a picture book that illustrates a lot of New Testament too. Think about it. It's very true. But about the offering up of Isaac?
You know, beautiful picture of God offering up his only begotten son and so many other things.
Pictures of Christ and the Church.
Given in the Old Testament, Isaac and Rebecca, Adam and Eve, the most beautiful type of Christ in the Church.
Have you girls and boys ever thought that?
Your dad and Ma.
The fact that they are married is a picture of Christ and the Church.
Yeah, when God instituted marriage, he wanted to give us a picture of Christ and the church. That's what we read in Ephesians Husband, love your wives as Christ loved to church and the wife is to be subject to her husband as the church is to Christ.
We do well his husbands and wives to remember that.
That in our marriage relationship we can, in our own feeble way, give a picture of what is perfectly true of Christ in the church. Now I have to admit that I haven't lost my wife always, like Christ loved the Church.
I'm sure there's no man in the audience here that will be so bold and say I have always loved my wife as Christ loved the church, but that is nevertheless given to us as an example and we have a perfect example.
As Christ loved the Church.
You know the woman doesn't have a perfect example, you know.
Have women always been subject to their husbands?
It's very nice to have a subject wife.
You know, but even the best of women make mistakes in this area sometimes. But how wonderful.
That he gives us pictures of Christ and the Church in marriage.
And you have it in other pictures in the Old Testament, Isaac and Rebecca.
You know.
Isaac was offered up.
In chapter 22.
And then in chapter 23 you have the death of the mother.
That speaks of the setting aside of Israel.
And after she died, then the servant is sent to fetch a bride, Isaac.
Israel is set aside.
And now the Spirit of God, of which the servant is a picture, is sent to win a bride for Christ.
Every time somebody gets saved and comes to know the Lord Jesus as Savior, he's added to be part of the bride of Christ. You know, that speaks of a very intimate relationship into which we have been brought.

00:45:02

You know there is no closer relationship than that of husband and wife.
I hope the parents are not offended when I say that and.
There is no closer relationship, even the children and their parents. That is not as close a relationship as husband and wife, although it's a wonderful relationship to have a father and to have a mother, but the most wonderful relationship of Christ and the church, his husband and wife relationship.
And then what do you find?
With Joseph.
You have another picture of Christ in the church He's rejected by his brethren.
And when they come to be reconciled to him.
What do they find? A gentile bride joins or.
Is part of the glory.
That.
Joseph has been brought into Joseph and his gentile bride. Beautiful to see these pictures but.
In chapter 3.
We have.
Not only.
The complete failure of the Jews presented. Let's read from verse 10.
You know, he had looked at the ignorant Eden, had looked at the cultured Greeks and at the guilty Jews. And then what does he sum up from verse 10 on, as it is written, there is none Righteous. No, not one. There is none righteous. No, not one.
There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone. Out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open, supple car with their tongue. They have used deceit. The poison of ASPs is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways.
And the way of peace? Have they not known there is No Fear of God before their eyes. That's a very bleak picture, isn't it? But that is God's judgment about man in general.
And we do wires to bow to that. Naturally, that is a picture of us.
If there is a difference now, that is that the grace of God has made that difference.
You know, out of a Sinner, Saints are made by God's grace. You know, out of a hater of God, a lover of God.
And when it says in first John, we love him because he first loved us. The best rendering is we love because he first loved us. We have the capacity of loving.
Because we first were loved by God. You know, it's wonderful to see that.
How God can change a heart?
And make out of a Sinner a St.
Positionally, that's perfectly true of everyone, that by faith has accepted the Lord Jesus. But there is such a thing as practical holiness. To perfect holiness in the fear of God is a statement. I believe in Hebrews 10. You know, we ought to be exercised to be practically what we are positionally.
And walk in holiness, Absence of sin. That's what holiness means.
And.
It's not impossible to walk that way because God has given us a new nature that loves to do the will of God, and then He has given us the Spirit to give us the power to do what the divine nature delights to do. You mentioned that earlier.

00:50:11

The other day, and so we can live for God.
Once we live for cell.
Pursued our own pleasures.
Now, I'm not saying that there is nothing pleasurable in the life of a Christian.
But the greatest pleasure that we can have as Christians is to do the will of God.
Here is great pleasure in loving a wife, loving a husband.
You know, it's very enjoyable relationship.
And we ought to limit it to that relationship. But anyway but to be pleasing to God. Don't you think when God looks down upon the earth, and he sees people that have an exercise to live pleasing to God and to do his will, that it brings joy to the heart of God? Most certainly.
Most certainly.
You know when any of our kids did something that we could be thankful about and brought joy to our hearts? You know that's not any different with our Heavenly Father when He sees us being exercised to do His will to live pleasing to Him, and we are able to do that.
Now then, he brings in the law in verse nine of the third chapter.
But.
By the deeds of the law.
There shall no flesh be justified in his side. You know, whether you say righteous or just a just, it's the same word or it covets the same thing. You can say God is just and a justifier of him that believes in Jesus. Or you can say God is righteous and declares righteous the one that believes in Jesus. But here now.
By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his side.
It's not the law that helps us.
To do God's will, what the law is given for is to show us our sinful condition.
That's what it says by the law is the knowledge of sin.
You know, if anybody says I haven't sinned, all you have to do is ask him. Have you ever lied?
Have you ever been disobedient to your parents?
Any honest person will have to say I have not always spoken the truth.
Even a half truth is a lie, you know.
But have we always obeyed?
No, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets was foretold already in the Old Testament even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.
It is not the faith that the Lord himself had. It is the faith in him that makes the difference. The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe The righteousness of God is available for all if they believe on the Lord Jesus.
You know God cannot but declare righteous the Sinner that by faith comes to the Lord Jesus. If God would not accept the Sinner that comes to him by the Lord Jesus, he won't be righteous. That's unthinkable, isn't it? Because he has said that he would declare righteous the one who would come to him by the Lord Jesus. So God is righteous.
And it is offered to all, upon all them that believe unto all, and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. You see, it doesn't make any difference what kind of background we have or where we come from.

00:55:04

Ignorant, hidden cultured Greek or religious Jews. There is no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Being justified freely by His grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You see, you don't have to pay for it. All you have to have is have faith.
God is just in the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus.
And this one God has set forth to be a propitiation.
Atonement to faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that appears. The remission of sins that are past refers to those who have sinned before the Lord Jesus died.
And now, through the work of the Lord Jesus, their sins are atoned for.
Not by the blood of the animals that they sacrificed and God accepted them in view of the sacrifice that his son would bring.
And if there was repentance, true repentance and the sacrifice of an animal brought, God accepted it, but he was accepting it in connection with that which his son would do. Because of what his son would do, he could accept even that. And he to the declare, I say at this time his righteousness, God's righteousness is demonstrated in that he might be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.
Well, this is.
How God can justify the Sinner? How can man be just with God?
Through faith in the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus paid for all the same that I committed. And by accepting him by faith, my sins are forgiven and I am not only forgiven, I'm justified.
And when I was a young man, I thought.
That means that I stand before God as if I never sinned.
But I learned later on.
It gives me a new position before God, and I stand before him as if I had never could have sinned, because I'm totally separated from the old sinful self. I'm a new creature in Christ.
That's the truth of Scripture. Well, how wonderful.
That there is the righteousness of God revealed in dealing righteously with the Sinner, That by faith comes the Lord Jesus. It's a demonstration of his righteousness, his handling things righteously. But he also declares righteous the one who by faith comes to the Lord Jesus well.
I hope there's nobody in this room that has not come to the Lord Jesus, because there's no hope if you stand before God.
In your sinful state.
Without having come to the Lord Jesus and have his blood wash your sins away. You know how wonderful it's still being offered today? Come to the Lord Jesus before it is forever too late. Because if you don't come to him, you end up in hell. And hell is real. It's a lake of fire.
You know what it's going to be like. If you want to find out what it is like to be in hell, put your finger for a short while into a flame. You won't leave it in very long because it's very painful.
But it's a lake of fire.
And those who are cast into that lake of fire, that fire will never burn up the Sinner.
The warm dye is not, and the fire is not quenched, is the statement of Scripture. You know, if you throw anything today in the fire, even if a human being is throwing the fire, he's burned up. But in hell. He's not going to be burned up. He's in hell for all eternity in the lake of fire. That's the reality of hell.

01:00:02

But God doesn't want anybody to go there.
Hell was not prepared for man, the Bible tells us. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels. But if you listen to the deceiver, to Satan, that's where you're going to end up.
In the lake of fire that was made for the devil and his angels, O God.
In his life has given the Lord Jesus because he doesn't want anybody to end up there. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and to faith in the Lord Jesus. Well, I hope.
The gospel has been presented that even some of the children could get a hold of some of the things that we have said, because you don't have to be.
20 years old before you come to the Lord Jesus, you know a little child of seven, or even 3 or 4 May enter into heaven through Christ the open door. For when the heart believers in Christ, the Son of God, is, then the soul receiveth salvation through his blood, even a child of three or four, when it knows that it is a Sinner.
And which child doesn't know that they have done things wrong? Then come to the Lord Jesus and he will wipe away your sins. He forgive your sins and make you his own and assure heaven to you.

Learning Here a Little There a Little

Address—R. Klassen

DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.

Let's begin tonight by saying hymn #296.
Bob Devine, all praise excelling. The joy of Heaven to Earth. Come down 296.
Joy.
Comes down.
Where?
Alight.
Meeting this evening, I was just thinking of how.
Wonderful it is to be able to meditate in the Word of God.
As it is suggested in the book of Isaiah.
How that it's line upon line, precept upon precept?
And here a little and there a little. That's how we learn. We can't just have a crash course in the word of God because the word of God is not taken into the soul that way. And so consequently because of this order of things that we have in Isaiah that.
We're learners for life.
Every day, regardless of our age, we're learners learning the wonderful ways of God, learning of His grace, His goodness, His mercy, and the truth that sustains our hearts in a world that is marked by lies. Satan is the God of this world and he's the father of lies and how he throws that counterfeit out and dispenses it.
And sometimes we're very unsuspecting.
That it's not the truth of God. And so we have to come to this book.
To give it the task and the test is does it glorify God?
Does it honor the Lord Jesus Christ, or does it honor man whose breath is in his nostrils?

00:05:04

It was perhaps early this spring.
Meditating on the Word of God.
And just being struck with a verse that had the word unfeigned in it. Unfeigned.
And it's something and you've experienced how you will read in the Word of God, and something will cause you to stop and think about it. And then you say to yourself, I wonder how many more times this comes in the Word of God.
Well, that's what happened that morning.
Because I sat there thinking about it.
I just my impression was off a little bit as to how many times the word unfeigned comes.
And so the good old concordance, Young's analytical pull it down and to look at it and find that it comes this many times, four times in the New Testament.
And so I thought we would read the four times that it comes and meditate on it a little bit.
And we might think tonight that, well, you know, it's we need exhortation from the word of God. And sometimes the feeling is that, well, the speaker is kind of become cognizant of the shortcomings of the Lord's people and this, that and the other thing. But when it comes to exhortation, our brother Harry Hale gave such a beautiful setting to what exhortation really is.
He says exhortation is not trying to attain to something, but the true thought of exhortation is.
Possession.
Possession what we possess. And he says God uses exhortation to show us what we possess.
And so maybe it's not an exercise, but it's there. The power is there.
To respond to the exhortations of Scripture. And so the language of the New Testament is not thou shalt, but rather let us, let us, we're going on together as the Lord's people. We've been brought into the oneness of the body of Christ, and we're a joint of supply.
And we don't dare try to get on without one another. It doesn't work.
And oh, when we lose some of our company, it brings grief to us because we're losing joints of supply for the nourishment and building up of the body are very bodies are expressive naturally that we need those nutrients and vitamins and things to give us energy to go on to fulfill our responsibilities.
And I wondered, has God created our bodies in a natural way to help us to understand what it means spiritually?
So we'll read these scriptures and consider them, and 1St we'll turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 for the first one. Yeah, six Second Corinthians 6.
And verse 6.
If you have a new translation, you would be and reading this verse you would be using the word in.
In pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering.
In kindness, in the Holy Ghost, in love.
Unfeigned.
Now what we want to notice as we read these portions to find out what unfeigned is connected with.
Very instructive as all the word of God is very instructive to us will notice.
What it's connected with the second reference is found in First Timothy chapter one.
First Timothy, Chapter One.
And verse 5.
Now the end of the commandment is charity or love out of a pure heart and have a good conscience.

00:10:08

And of faith unfeigned.
Second Timothy. Chapter One.
Again, verse 5.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith.
That is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois.
And thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Now the third reference is found in First Peter chapter one, First Peter One.
And verse 22.
Seen ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
Unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
As I had the Young's Concordance.
And looking at it.
My eye went.
To the word just above unseigned.
And it shocked me.
Because I was focusing on this word unfeigned. What does it mean unfeigned?
What it means is without any pretension.
Is without any alloy added to it. It's just that pure.
Trustworthy.
Transparent.
In this world, there's this kind of thing.
It's a word that we don't use very much, hardly ever. In conversation, we would hardly ever use that word.
And so the word before this made me really appreciate what unsane means, and perhaps some of the young here have an idea of what it was, but it was simply that word unfaithful.
Unfaithful.
Tonight, we live in an unfaithful world.
A heartbreaking world when the morals are going, and some are, it's gone.
To go to town, to look at the mall, in the mall, the sea, what is taking place?
The fear of God is gone. I had to try to speak of something spiritual.
Is ridiculous.
There's no heart for it.
The impact of unfaithfulness.
You know, I have to say tonight.
We are sometimes conscious of the golden wedding anniversaries that are taking place among the Lord's people.
I say what a beautiful landmark of 50 years together, of fidelity to one another and that love that is bound that union together. And you've gone through deep valleys and had some pretty hard blows that have come that Satan meant for it to shatter that union.
But fate and love were there.
What a landmark. What a beautiful landmark of faithfulness to God.
And so as I speak of it, I feel it's more for me than anyone else's.
Wonderful word, unseigned and you notice connected with two things.
Faith and love.

00:15:03

And whenever you have faith, you'll find that love isn't very far away from it.
And on that particular morning as I was.
Pouring over this.
And knocking at the door.
Someone had come to see me.
Someone that I love has a love and respect for the Word of God.
I posed the question to him, How many times do you think the word unfeigned comes and the word of God?
Missed it by 1.
I said, why is this word connected with faith and love? And then we went on with the subject that was on his heart. I could see the wheels turning.
And after that side of the conversation was over with, I said, do you have an answer for my question?
He said I don't know if I'm right or not, but he said this is what comes before me.
He said that faith and love.
Are two things that we can fake probably more than anything else.
You know, that was just like a stab to my heart.
Why doesn't it have faith with unfeigned with peace? Or why doesn't it have it with humility or other of those adjective words? And it just seemed like it hit it right on the head.
And so here we have faith and love.
And perhaps you wouldn't have noticed it in the reading.
But in both situations, those two words are turned.
Either way.
It's an expression that you can use either way and you don't lose any strength of meaning.
Faith unfeigned or unfeigned faith.
Unseigned love or love unfeigned makes me think of the 19th chapter of Revelation where it says that the Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. You can turn that around and say the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.
It's wonderful to have those expressions that you can turn and they hold the strength of their meaning, and so it is here.
And so is the apostle, Peter writes.
He touches.
On.
Obeying the truth.
Through this Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
Unfeigned love of the Brethren.
By God's grace, many of us in this room.
Have been born in a rich Christian heritage.
And we've been brought to God's divine center.
By grace alone, we had no made no decision in this matter.
And I remember as a boy coming a meeting that, you know, I just kind of wished we could get out of it. We're going to have a special meeting. Why do we have to go?
You know, I'm ashamed to think of that kind of behavior tonight when I think.
What God and His grace has done.
And to find the father's family at that center.
Chosen for us and I have to say tonight, what a family.
My father has.
To be able to look at one another and say that we were in the world, we wouldn't be friends with one another. You could bank on it.
A sovereign word for the Spirit of God has come. The testimony has been marked by the love of Christ.
I have heard it said.

00:20:00

And it grieves my heart to say there isn't much love among the brethren.
I say, where have they been?
Where have they been?
Just let a trial arise in your life and mind and find how quickly.
Our brethren of our sign.
And if they can't get there, they'll be by telephone.
By e-mail.
By letter.
If I have a feeling toward my brethren that there's a lack of love.
Perhaps I haven't put anything into the bank that's the problem.
You know, you put put it in the bank and here comes the interest.
You've experienced it in showing of hospitality.
All here comes a return 10 times.
What you've shown, oh, the interest of God is rich, isn't it? An interest this world does not know anything about?
To love one another with a pure heart, fervently, you know.
I think of Judas after he had sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver, led the mob out there.
That he goes up to him and he throws his arms around him and he covered him with kisses.
And the Lord said, if you notice in the new translation, he said, my friend.
Hath lifted up his heel against me.
Oh, it's awful to be betrayed by love and to think that we have hearts that can do this.
How beautiful, then is the exhortation of Scripture? It shows that we have the power to do this. It's a matter of whether there's the engagement of it. You know, it doesn't take much water to prime a pump, does it? Run the handle up and down and nothing happens. You pour a little water from a vessel and up comes the the water.
Let's kind of retrace our steps back to Second Timothy, chapter one.
All to think of the day.
That the apostle Paul entered this home. Grandmother there mother.
And Timothy?
And then to write back.
And to think of them, of Timothy receiving this letter, talking about the domestic circle that we all have, the Christian home, no home like it.
I remember my dear father and mother would take us children up to Spokane.
You know there was 160 miles and an old car and figure on a flat tire or two before we got there to have fellowship with the brethren at an all day meeting.
And there was an old brother there that had led many to Christ, faithful evangelists.
And there was hardly ever a time that we visited up there that somewhere in the day we would hear him say, isn't it wonderful to be a Christian?
His face shining and you know we got so that when we're going to Spokane, we wanted to go just to hear him say that with his face beaming and those in the room that were saved by his testimony of Christ.
How much more tonight in my soul to say, isn't it wonderful to be a Christian?
To know you're on your way to heaven. Your sins have been removed.
Not just covered, but removed and put away to never be brought up again.

00:25:02

All if we could have some of our ancestors here tonight.
We could have great grandfather here tonight and say to him.
What was the blessing of your generation? Can you tell us?
Or to see them.
Say, with a happy countenance.
The blessing of our generation was the Lord Jesus Christ.
To bring grandfather in and say what was the blessing of your generation.
Was the Lord Jesus Christ.
What about our generation? Is it different?
Still the same one.
What about the next generation that's in this room tonight? What is the blessing? Who is the blessing of your generation? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will ever be until the end of the generation of this most favored dispensation that we live in, the dispensation of the grace of God.
Well, you know the domestic circle.
The home circle.
And the assembly are connected together.
Wonderfully connected together.
What you bring out of your home to the assembly.
To be dispensed.
Like bees that come to a hive, they bring their nectar to the hive and it's processed into honey.
All his words are sweeter than honey. Are they not the words of our Lord Jesus Christ? And so we have that remarkable exchange that we take from the assembly what has been brought, and we take it home.
It's a marvelous.
Operation of the Spirit of God.
The Christian home.
And Satan hates this. He does everything.
Throws everything he can in there to break it up, to ruin the wonderful exchange of fellowship that our poor hearts are crying out for.
Unseen love.
Uncain love is behind this.
My dear wife and I have so enjoyed being here with our dear brethren to see this wonderful exchange, to get in on it.
To be blessed by it, to have God write the record.
There in glory of all this exchange.
It's not unrighteous that he forgets.
No, he dare not. He's the author of it. There's been obedient, willing hearts to carry it out.
Won't heaven be wonderful as we see the record?
And the tapestry of heaven.
Bearing us all out in the open.
Showing the riches of his grace and his kindness toward us.
In verse 13 of this same chapter. I just want to read it.
It says, Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me.
In faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Or if I could put it this way, that faith and love are like two mighty pillars in our lives.
Two of the mightiest pillars.
Faith and love.
Let's turn to the first Timothy.
Chapter One.
Verse 5. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, and of faith on fame.

00:30:12

Well, I believe that that has to do with our lives in the world.
You know this world is dying for lack of love. Very obvious.
Here are these poor dear souls deluded.
And marking up their bodies, trying to decorate their poor bodies to get a little attention, to get something that is real.
They're living on this unreality, on this unfaithfulness. Trust. What is it? You can't trust anybody.
They may act like they're your friend, but just let somebody else show up on the horizon and out you're out.
What a privilege we have of being a light in this world. You know a light doesn't make any noise. Lights are quiet in this room. Let me tell you, the Christian is a light of this world that gives a soul that may be an observing to come and ask you of the hope that lie within you.
You know it's wonderful when a person gets saved by a manner of life.
Wonderful to be ready to tell them how to be saved and that will follow. But how wonderful if they say you have something that I don't have and I know it and I don't know what it is for sure. Oh, what a wide door swings open. Just say come and let's sit down and visit a little bit together. Be able to reach that little Bible that we may have or part of the New Testament and just to read a little bit out of that book.
Oh, that's what the soul that they have in their bosom is crying out for.
One dimension is that unfeigned love of the brethren.
Mentioned last night that this dear sister and I and I learned that Brother Leo were safe to the preaching of Brother Harry Hale. And it's so interesting that, you know, we sat under many a gospel meeting.
And.
The Spirit of God was doing a quickening work.
But I don't know how others felt about it. But when I knew that I was saved, it was a matter of having peace with God. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you would have asked me, well, if the Lord had come before you came to that point, you'd think you would have gone to heaven and I would have answered, yes, I think that I would have.
But what I didn't have was peace that I was.
And so this dear evangelist he was able to convey.
The effect of that word is to speak peace to our souls, that if I died or if the Lord came, all was well.
Wonderful piece.
You know, it tells us about the peace that passes all understanding. I was thinking about that the other day. And it brings us to the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty.
Oh, you say. I don't know. I'm not sure I know what that means.
Well, let me tell you something. We can't know what it means because sovereignty is beyond us. We do not have the mental faculties to understand it.
But if it's beyond us?
It's because it's sovereign.
Spoke a little bit last night about paradox and scripture and one of the sweetest paradoxes of scripture is this to my heart.
To know the love of Christ.
Which passeth knowledge?
Why does it pass knowledge? Because it's sovereign, but I can grasp it. A sweet sense that I'm loved tonight by heaven.

00:35:04

By my father.
And so these paradoxes are unique, are they not? The peace that passes all understanding?
I have peace tonight, but the beyond understanding is takes us to His sovereignty.
That peace is connected to sovereignty. And so even though I don't understand.
Sovereignty.
Sometimes there's a confusion that comes in.
About well, yes, there's God's sovereignty, but we have our responsibility. And so here we are trying to balance on a scale and it's just about that tippy until we come to realize just what our responsibility is.
Our responsibility is to be in sympathy with God's sovereignty.
Well, it's easy to make the statement.
My reaction may be well, is that all there is to it?
You know, to be in sympathy with God's sovereignty is where the warfare begins in our lives.
Because we have the sovereign will of God and I have my will and they don't mesh.
They don't match.
And so how wonderful it is to have it brought to that point.
That my responsibility is to be in sympathy with that sovereignty, whether I know it or not.
There's one thing we know, and that is that God is sovereign and we are subjects.
What a span of difference.
And God can break that. Bring that stand to nothing.
That we can know the love of Christ.
Which passed knowledge.
Well.
When I got saved through the preaching of our dear brother Harry Hale, I wanted to tell him.
Didn't have the courage.
Became the next year to Walla. Walla, the conference, I gotta tell him.
Couldn't do it.
In the sand for quite a number of years.
And I was anticipating go walking into his present. I said I'm going to tell him this time in quite a few years on me. Then I kind of wondered what his reaction was going to be.
And I walked up till when I said, dear brother, I want to tell you that the Lord used you.
To bring peace to my soul.
He was shorter than I was and his arms came up around my neck and he pulled me to me, to himself, and kissed me.
He held my hands and he looked into my face. He said, Dear brother, I want to just leave something with you.
This is what he said.
Love all of your brethren.
Serve them faithfully.
Overlook all the fault you can.
But don't make any of them the model of your life. Make it Christ.
All you can imagine how that how those words were just branded right into my heart.
Coming from unfeigned love for me.
Oh, I passed that message on to you. Those words were spoken to me that are good for all of us. I'll say it again, love all of your brethren.
Serve them faithfully.
Overlook all the faults you can.
But make none of them the model of your life. Make it Christ.
We'll have testimony in the world if we carry that out.
Let's go to the last one in Second Corinthians chapter 6.
I'm sure.
That there are those that have read, enjoy reading their bibles. I know they're young here in this room that read their Bibles at home and their bedrooms alone.

00:40:05

And you read what?
Verse beginning with verse four and reading down through verse 12.
There is a lot to meditate on and the value of this meditation is to realize that.
That Paul is describing the path.
Of the servant.
Of which were all servants.
Describing the path of the Saints of God.
And if I could just give you a little picture of.
How real this is?
Our real estate path is.
There was a boy going to school, I had to ride a bus to school and when the bus loaded, kids got to school. He had to stay outside even in the winter time and to the till the bell rang and then we had to line up and go to the class.
So it wasn't too good just to stand out there and do nothing, so.
You're full of energy and and wanted to do something that would keep us warm. And so we had a game that we called the Gauntlet. You run the Gauntlet.
Or two rows of boys lined up and one poor fellow was to run through and they took their belts off and their coats and their hats and they get a chance to hit you. You went running through there as fast as you could and try to get to the other end without.
Catastrophe.
And I remember.
The guy that was to run through there and I kind of sized up those two lines and find out where my friends were in that line so that I could brush over close against them that miss what was coming from the left side and swing over and so on. Well, you get through, get through and you're not interested in a second run.
And so it is in the pathway of the servant is like the gauntlet.
For an example.
It says as unknown, well known.
Think that Mister Darby has that on his tombstone. Unknown, well known.
Honor dishonor.
Talking about the same person, but some are willing to honor others.
Dishonor.
Evil Report.
Good report.
The contrast.
And that's the kind of path we run.
And we come to those intersections where we say.
All right, is this really worth it?
Is this really worth it to take this abuse because we're so sensitive to abuse that it was all OK? Why? Sure, we would be glad to run that, run the path, but it's not that night for any of us.
And what is it that tells us tonight to keep going?
In Love Unsane.
Oh, that makes love such a powerful thing.
What we won't do for the sake of love.
To run that second mile.
To accept inconveniences.
To accept this honor without retaliation.
I'm sure you've gone to your home, perhaps heated over a situation.
Figuring out how you can take care of this situation.
And we find it a waste of time, don't we?
I remember speaking to an old sister about.
Pretty deep grievance that I had in my heart.
And I kind of hide her as probably would be a little sympathetic with me.
Trying to try to put a Band-Aid or something on.
And this is what she said to me.

00:45:02

She said call me by name, she said Ron.
You know.
It's a happy path to walk with an unoffended spirit.
I looked at her.
Wow, I didn't expect her to say something like that.
But again, those words just branded their way into my soul.
Walk with an unoffended spirit.
How can we do that?
My love unfeigned.
Well, I see our time is gone.
What I was thinking of love and faith and respect. If we were to ask the question what is the love chapter in our Bibles?
Probably all say in unison. It's the 13th to 1St Corinthians, the love chapter.
And in that chapter of love, we find just this point. I'll leave with you tonight. Maybe you've noticed it before, but there are eight things that love does in that chapter, and there are exactly 8 things that love does not do.
If we were to ask the question, well, if we.
Wanted to turn to the faith chapter.
Where do we turn in this precious book? Probably all say Hebrews 11.
There in that chapter, we have faith 25 times the word faith 25 times.
I'd like to ask you this question tonight. What is the opposite of faith?
What is the opposite of faith?
I know there's more than.
One way to say this.
But I'd like to just say the opposite of faith is pride.
Pretty weighty, isn't it?
Only by pride cometh contention. What a check to my soul. Here's a thing about to rise up and make trouble. And I say.
Is pride behind this?
You know it checks my soul.
And if pride is judged, it's the end of contention.
But a little acrostic of pride is this.
5 letters, middle letters, I both words.
Pursuing riches.
I decide everything.
I don't think that needs any explanation.
The beautiful contrast is.
Forsaking all.
I take him.
Well.
May the Lord give us to be more than conquerors as we have a few more moments in our Christian pathway and then it'll end in glory.
To be strengthened through the Word of God.
We sang of love at the beginning of this meeting. Love divine, all praise excelling.
About faith in the 161St kin.
161.
Forever with the Lord on them. So let it be.
Life from the dead is, in that word, is immortality.
And then in verse three, our Father's home on high.
Home to our souls out there.
In Now to face transpiercing eye, Thy golden gates appear, Let's sing from stanza 3 to the end of the hymn.
Our father's home.
Alone.
Oh dear Lord.
Now will they crystal?
Our closing.
Prostate.
Heart of all my life.
How big?
Are you?
Lord, keep her no peace.

Christ in Us

Address—H. Brinkmann

DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.

115.
Head off the church I.
Oh my God. Great.
Love, sweetheart.
I like to read from Colossians chapter one.
We read from verse 9 on.
And I will.
Not exactly. Read it word for word as it is in the King James.
But give you some.
Changes that are in Mr. Darby's translation, which are helpful.
To understand, in some cases the meaning conveyed more correctly for this course we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the full knowledge of His will.

00:05:13

In all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the true knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, and to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.
Giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet.
To be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins? Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him we are all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions.
Or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him.
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from among the dead, that in all things she might have, he might have the preeminence.
For in him the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.
And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now as he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you wholly and unblameable and unreprovable in his side.
If we continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, Whereof I, Paul, and made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the Church.
Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to complete the word of God, even the mystery which has been hit from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his Saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of?
This mystery among the Gentiles.
Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, who we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, We are unto also our labor, thriving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
It's good to make some comparisons sometimes.
Between for instance.
Ephesians and Colossians.
In Ephesians, the subject is that we are in Christ.
That's how we stand before God. When He looks at us, He sees his son. That's why we are acceptable in Him.
But in Colossians, that is Christ in.
Our body.
Is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord said that he would come and make His abode with us in John 14.

00:10:03

And.
So we are in Christ, but also Christ is in US.
Tremendous to lay hold of these things.
And.
This epistle here the epistle to the Colossians.
In Ephesians, it is what the Church is to Christ. Here it is what Christ is to the Church.
You know, get ahold of that.
The glories of the person of the Lord Jesus are presented here.
In such a way as you find difficulties to find it in any other part of the scriptures. Hebrews one comes close, but.
It's tremendous to see the glorious person who is our head.
Christ in you, the hope of glory, the fact that he is in US, assures the future glory to us. That's the simple meaning of it. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's not a maybe, you know, when hope is used in the New Testament, it is deferred certainty. I think I mentioned that.
Earlier yesterday, the Christian hope is deferred certainty. It's not a maybe.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Well, but then.
The prayers.
And the requests that Paul made on behalf of the Saints, You know in Ephesians you have Paul's prayers for the Saints, and here too.
You have what Paul was praying for.
That they might be filled with the full knowledge of his will. The danger among Christians is that they get occupied and concerned about a certain part of the will of God and neglect other aspects of the will of God. But Paul says he was praying that they might be filled with the full knowledge of his will.
But that was not possible to just intellectually enter into it.
In all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
And how can we walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, if we don't know His will in every aspect?
You know unto all pleasing it doesn't mean unto all people.
That means as to all of the will of God.
And how can we walk and have an exercise to be walking as to?
All that the Lord expects of us pleasing him in everything.
Being fruitful in every good work, increasing or growing.
In or by the true knowledge of God.
We know God different than any St. in the Old Testament ever knew him.
We have partial revelations of God in the Old Testament.
All you have to do is read Exodus chapter 6. When God revealed himself to Moses, He says I was known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known, and he revealed himself as the Jehovah to Moses entering or making him and God's people entering into a relationship consistent with the revelation that God gave of himself to Moses.
That's a very important point. The relationship into which we enter as Christians is based upon the revelation that we have of God in Christianity. We have the full revelation of God.
There's nothing further to be looked forward to.
And how important it is to have the desire to have the true knowledge and the full knowledge of God and the full knowledge of Israel and the true knowledge of God, and that that will lead to our spiritual growth.

00:15:06

If I were, for instance, or any of us here want to know God as Jehovah, it will stand us in our spiritual growth.
He is not our Jehovah. That doesn't mean that he isn't Jehovah the Lord Jesus. But he has revealed himself and has revealed God in a much fuller way than the Old Testament Saints ever knew him. And we have to come to know him the way he has revealed himself in the person of his Son. And he has made the Father known. Nobody ever knew God is Father.
In the Old Testament, that's a New Testament Revelation.
That's a simple, wonderful truth to lay hold of that we can say ever Father by the Spirit of God.
You know what does ABBA mean?
You know, if you would be able to visit in Israel and here a boy or girl in Hebrew address the father, they would say ABBA father.
It would be like in our case here, children, saying Daddy.
I'm not suggesting that we should address God as Daddy, but what I am suggesting is that ABBA is the intimate, most intimate term that anyone can use addressing the Father, and we have the true knowledge of God.
You know by the Spirit we can enter into these things we will never know the Lord Jesus the way God knows him.
Only the Father. No one knows the Son but the Father, the Lord Jesus says.
But nobody knows the Father but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal him.
But there are things as to the person of Christ that are beyond our comprehension.
But that doesn't mean that we don't know him. You know, we can know him as our Savior. We can know him as our Lord individually. He's not the Lord of the Church. He's the Lord of the individual believer, and we can know him as our head.
We can know that he is our bridegroom.
That we are in that intimate relationship. That's how we know Him. No Old Testament saying ever knew him in that way. So the true knowledge of God is very important. If we want to grow, if we want to address God and know him the way the Old Testament Saints to him, that stands us in our growth. You know I don't listen to so-called Christian radio programs.
Very often. But when I used to travel a lot in business and I sometimes would turn on the radio and who wants to listen to that garbage that is normally on the radio station. So I would normally if I do turn on a Christian station and then when they address God.
Almighty God, how often you hear.
Him being addressed that way.
That is not the way we as Christians address him. That doesn't mean that God is not any longer the Almighty God you know. But that's how he was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He made himself even full, unknown to Moses, and we had the full revelation of God in the person of his Son.
And then?
We also have to realize that as Christians.
We need to have patience. We have to be willing to suffer long and do it with joyfulness.
And by knowing God the way he has made himself known, that will result in us being strengthened.
According to his glorious power or the power of his glory?
And it will lead us to be willing to patiently wait till he comes back and comes back in power and glory brings us with him, and then we will reign with him. But at the present time we have to suffer and be willing to be patient and wait for that day and suffer. That's our portion now.

00:20:10

Anyone that desires to live godly will suffer persecution. Remember that.
Thankfully, we are not and don't have to worry about being physically attacked, as many of our brethren in Christ are in Arab lands, in Muslim lands.
Have you ever heard there are more Christians killed in the last century than in all the centuries previously?
And primarily in Muslim lands or in communist lands, the people in China, the people in North Korea got people, they suffer very much.
But we will be persecuted. We might be ridiculed. Children might be made fun of.
You know.
The story is told that a girl was playing on the street.
And.
It was school time, She wasn't in school. So why you're not in school?
Well, she grew up in a Christian home. She know the Lord as savior. And when she was in school at lunchtime, she was used to pray loud, giving thanks for her food. And she did that, and she was given trouble, you know, and she did it again.
Probably increased.
And then she stayed home.
And well.
It takes courage sometimes children to even as children, take a stand for the Lord.
You know, other children might be pretty cool. You make fun of you. Never mind, that's not the worst thing that can happen. And as you get older.
If you learn in these little things that you as children have to endure to patiently take it, it will strengthen you as you get older and face more difficult things, that you will be able to suffer there for the Lord as well.
And then?
We give thanks to the father.
Who has made us fit?
To be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
It's wonderful to realize as we have it also in First John that we walk in the light as he is in the light.
It's not how we walk, Mr. Kelly says. It's where we walk.
We have been brought into the light of the divine revelation.
And how wonderful we have been made partakers fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
You see what we have as Christians.
That it's not just for us individually, although we have to individually come to enjoy it. We have it in fellowship with others who also love the same Lord.
But in order to be able to be.
Partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life, we had to be delivered.
From the power of darkness.
Once we were not only in the darkness, Ephesians says. Once we were darkness.
Now we're light in the Lord, but we're also walking in the light delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love. Mr. Darby's rendering. I think it's beautiful to get a hold of what is conveyed here.
It is not the Millennium.
That is not even the Kingdom of heaven. That's the present aspect of the Kingdom. In mystical form, we have been introduced into a realm that at one time could only be enjoyed by the Lord Jesus.
The love that God has for his Son, He has for us. Now I'm giving death to help us, trying to help us understand what is conveyed. The Kingdom of the Son of His love. You see, we have been introduced into the very family of God, into very realm that at one time could only be enjoyed by the Lord Jesus. Now we can enjoy it.

00:25:17

And then in whom we have redemption?
That is.
All that is, I believe, in Mr. Darby's rendering and people have found fault that he leaves out through his blood.
And in Ephesians that is correct. There we have it in whom we have redemption. Through His blood there is the means by which we have redemption. In Colossians, it is not the means, it is the person in whom we have redemption. That's why that is not to be there.
And it is not that way in the original.
And I suppose the translators might have thought that it was a mistake in not having the blood mentioned here. But here is the question. In whom do we have redemption? And then this person, in whom we have redemption, and the forgiveness of our sins is presented in His glories as we have it in no other New Testament scripture?
He is the image of the invisible God. If you want to know what God is like.
Look at him.
We never need to see anything other than the person of the sun to know what God is like.
We have the full revelation of God in the sun, and he is the image of the invisible God and then the first born of all creation. The Jehovah Witnesses used this rendering in the King James. You see, he's the first creature, first born of every creature. He is not a creature, he is a creator. But when he enters his own creation of necessity, he has to have the place of the first born.
Adam was brought into existence long before the Lord Jesus took humanity into union with his person.
But when the Lord Jesus comes.
He has to have the place of the first born.
You know, we find that in other cases in the Bible, Solomon wasn't the first son of David, but he took the position of the first born. He was the heir.
And when the Lord Jesus comes into his own creation, He's the first born of every creation of the whole creation.
He's given the place of preeminence, of hedging, That's what that speaks of.
If you don't have the habit of reading Mr. Darby's translation, I would recommend very strongly that you do it because.
That is the best translation available. I don't know if I mentioned that the other day we were having Bible study with a Catholic couple that used to be our neighbors, and I'm happy to tell you they eventually got saved.
But to make it more acceptable to them, since there were devout Catholics, we were looking for good Catholic translation.
And there are several good Catholic translations.
Confraternity and to do it.
So we found.
A Bible that we used for the reading meetings with that couple. But when we were looking, they had in that Christian bookstore a short explanation about all the available translations at that time. So I was interested, what do they have to say about the J&D translation? You know what they said, at least the most accurate critical rendering available.
That was not written by somebody who sympathized with Mr. Darby's church position. That was written and the judgment of scholars who knew the language from which the Bible is translated.
It's the most accurate critical rendering available. It's still so today.
My wife and I read the translation every morning and every night at home.
I'm not suggesting that we should get rid of the Kate James Version in the assembly, but I'm suggesting that you familiarize yourself with G&D's rendering because some scriptures will become more clear to you if you do the first born of all creation.

00:30:19

And the reason why he has to have the position of the first born is given in verse 16 for by him.
We're all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him.
You know, the question was raised once at a conference out East.
Why is creation attributed to the Lord Jesus? In Genesis? One verse one it says in the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Those who know the original tell us that does not speak of just one person. It speaks of the Triune God as the creator. But in the New Testament several times we find that creation is attributed to the sun, to the Lord Jesus.
Why is that?
The explanation was given. God wants us.
To never look at the sun as in any way inferior. As a mere man. He is God, the Creator that created the universe.
Isn't that remarkable? We know more about the universe now than we ever did.
Past centuries or even last century? A century ago.
You know they can look so much further now into the universe and then to realize that came into existence through the Lord Jesus. He spoke it into existence. Hebrews 11 verse three. It was not created from anything that was there already. There is no such a thing as eternal matter. That's nonsense. He spoke it into existence.
He created it. He is the Creator, and not only the visible things. Even the spiritual powers, the angels, are created by Him. And when the earth was created and the universe, they rejoiced seeing what was taking place.
Scripture very plainly teaches so and.
All things were created by him and for him.
And I like to think of the word Jesus looking down. In spite of the ruin that sin has brought in into the creation, there are still things that he can enjoy.
You know, we can enjoy looking at what we can see in creation and then never forget that it's the result of the work of the Lord Jesus.
You know, we know more about the mysteries of how things work now through science.
Than what's ever known before. All science can do is.
Tell us how things work, but can never tell us where they came from, the purpose for which they are here, and the destiny even of ourselves, the future that we need divine revelation for that. And how wonderful to know the Lord Jesus as the Creator, and not only as the Creator, as the Redeemer.
This wonderful, great person came into the world in order to save our souls. He became a man.
Born in a Manger. Born in a stable lady in a Manger.
What grace?
What infinite grace to stoop that law. He that was rich for our sake became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich, and then he is before all things.
He never had to come into existence. He existed as an eternal being, part of the Triune God.

00:35:05

And he existed. He was there before all things, and by him all things consist.
By him everything keeps on functioning together. He holds things together.
I sometimes have said if he were to remove the law of gravity, make it to stop, what would happen to us? We would fly into outer space, you know, the law of gravity keeps us on this planet, you know?
And I understand that there isn't the same amount of gravity on the moon for instance, as it is on the earth where they found that out. When they shot rockets up there, God allowed them to do that. I never thought God would allow them to do it because the earth has he given to the children of men. The scripture says in Psalm. So I thought God wouldn't allow them to get to the moon, but he did allow them.
But only to discover some more of the secrets of creation.
And but now?
There is an additional information given. He is the head of the body, the church.
Who is the beginning?
You know there is a beginning.
When did he become the head of the body? In incarnation, No.
Unless the kernel of weed fall into the ground and die and abide as alone. John, chapter 10. He was a human being, but he was alone, and there was a different kind of human being when he came than even Adam. When he was made, there was an innocent.
Human being, when Adam was created and then he fell into sin and you have sinned full humanity, but when the Lord Jesus comes, you have holy humanity.
And he had to fall into the ground and die while he would remain alone. But he did die. And Henry's resurrection. He is the head of the body. When the Spirit comes down on the day of Pentecost, then the believers were joined together in one body. It didn't exist before. The work of Calvis Cross was necessary, and the Spirit had to become down, had to come down.
In order to bring this about.
And that is a great comfort that this truth still exists today.
Whenever somebody is saved, even if he is saved in the Catholic Church, and thank God there are people saved in the Catholic Church, I know some personally.
Somebody told me on the phone one time, a Catholic, he knew we were Christians. He said hi. What more than anything accomplished atonement from a Catholic, a question like that.
I haven't stabbed you, though I did answer right away and he gave me the answer, he said. The blood of the Lord Jesus.
Do you have any doubt that that man is going to be in heaven?
He rests his salvation on the blood of the Lord Jesus.
Well, I'll see Francis there in heaven.
But he's the head of the body, the church.
And in Colossians we are told to hold the head. How important there is that we do not let any man presumptuously take the place as if he is the head. Yes, there is leadership in the Assembly.
There are those who take the lead. In the King James, the word rule is used repeatedly, but Mr. Darby consistently renders that lead, because rules suggest the rulers are here and those who are ruled over are down there, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseer. You see, they were all on the same level. There are those that lead and those who are left, but those who lead.
According to Scripture, we lead people to be attached to the Lord Jesus and recognize him as head. He is the head of the body, the church, and then he is the beginning.

00:40:01

You see, when he became that head, there was something new formed.
And the first born from among the dead.
You know.
The resurrection from among the dead. There were resurrections before people were resurrected through the natural life and they died again.
But when the Lord Jesus arose.
He is the head of.
That resurrection from among the dead, the first born from among the dead, and then those who will be raised or changed at the rapture, we will also be brought into the same glorious position that the Lord Jesus is in in resurrection.
You know, my mother, my son and dad, and loved ones that have gone before. What a wonderful fact it is to remember when they passed away, that wasn't the end. That was the beginning of something most wonderful. They were with the Lord Jesus from that day on, you know, and they will be raised and we who our life will be changed and we will all go together to be with the Lord Jesus.
And he's the first one from among the dead. Also those who will die after thereafter for the word of God and the testimony they bear, they also will be raised. And it says literally in connection with those people that we don't make their mistake and thinking that only we Christians will be raised. Blessed is He that has part in the first resurrection, the first resurrection. Christ is the first fruit, then those.
Who will be raised at the time of the rapture and those who will die for the word of God and the testimony they bear they will also be raised and they have specifically says blessed is he that has part in the first resurrection. So the first resurrection is more than one part and but the Lord Jesus is the first fruits he has to have in everything the first place.
And then in him the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. See, he had to say, as it is in the King James Fort, please, the father that really limits.
The truth conveyed the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to reveal itself in the person of the Lord Jesus bodily.
We find in Chapter 2.
Verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Read that verse in connection with verse 19.
For him the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.
And then he made peace through the blood of his cross.
And.
Peace is reconciliation.
Is going to be accomplished based on the blood of the cross.
You know when you have problems between people in the world, very seldom is it's A1 sided thing. But when it comes to God and man, it's A1 sided thing, you know. But he has made peace and he has reconciled. And here at first it speaks of what will happen when all things are going to be reconciled that is brought into proper order and relationship to God.
You know, because even.
The confusion in creation that we witness is the result of the fall of man. But the Lord Jesus by His work has provided a basis that things will be brought into proper order, all things to be reconciled to Himself, brought into proper order with Himself.
Whether the things be in earth or the things in heaven, you see, the devil is going to be cast out of heaven and his angels. He has access in heaven now and is the accuser of the brethren. But the Lord Jesus, because he died on the cross, has authority to cleanse the heaven and the earth. You know, deal with things and bring proper order about.

00:45:08

But now, verse 21, we don't have to wait until all things be reconciled.
At you, that is the Christians he is addressing, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now has he reconciled?
We Christians are reconciled. Peace has been made through the blood of the cross. And he came and preached peace to those who were near and those who were far. Ephesians 2 When did he preach that peace?
To those who were far. He didn't preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but he was preaching it through his disciples after he was in glory. That is still going on today, and the effort is to bring them into a proper relationship to Him and to bring them into a peaceful relationship.
To the Lord Jesus and to God.
And then what a tremendous statement we have in verse 22.
To present you wholly.
And unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.
That's positionally true of every St. of God.
That's how you stand before him, based not on what your conduct is, but what the work of the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
Now there are scriptures that admonish us to walk in holiness, practical holiness.
We might say to walk and demonstrate practically what we are positionally, you know, and wonderful to see that.
And we stand before him. He has presented us to himself, wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Nobody can bring any accusation against us.
And then he gets a warning, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven whereof I Paul, and made a minister.
You know some people who deny eternal security? Say you see here you can.
Move away from.
From the hope of the gospel and you cannot continue in the faith.
This does not speak of a Christian.
Who might fall into sin?
This speaks of an apostate.
Who turns away from the faith?
A Christian can never become an apostate.
Because only one who by profession only is a Christian.
He can fall into a state of apostasy.
And there's no hope for certain. One they can never be brought back.
It's a very solemn thing.
That it is possible that somebody who grew up amongst Christians in a Christian family and has made a false profession.
He's in danger that he might become an apostate.
But a true St. can never become a prostate. They can never perish. The Lord Jesus says in John chapter 10. We headed the other night. The other day they shall never perish but one who is 1 only by profession. A Christian he might become an apostate.
And then?
Paul speaks of two ministries.
And there was suffering connected with his ministry.
And.
Paul was the minister of the church.
And he presented that truth. Look how much trouble it caused him from his brethren, according to the flesh. The Jews, you know, but.

00:50:09

He accepted that.
And to whatever extent we have to suffer as Christians, accept it, You know, one of the things that we've been gathered to the name of the Lord might have to learn to bear is that that people say you're a proud bunch of people.
Well, I've sometimes used this example.
When the remnant returned from the Babylonian captivity.
And they were again at the divine center in Jerusalem.
Would have been wrong for them to say we know we are in the divine center.
Of course, the possibility existed that they would be proud.
And attributed to their own faithfulness.
We better don't do that when it comes to being gathered to the name of the Lord.
If there's anything less than I believe there is, that is his faithfulness that had preserved the testimony to the name of the Lord.
We have to humbly identify ourselves with the failure in the Christian profession, not only with the failure in the Christian profession, with the failure that has come in among those so-called brethren.
We cannot divorce ourselves someday. We have even contributed to it, you know?
That's the proper position to take, but at the same time.
It's possible still today, by God's grace, to be truly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And to be on that ground of the one body.
You know, how can you be on that ground if you take a different position than an assembly out in?
Canada.
You're no longer on the ground of the one body.
You know, anyway.
How wonderful.
That the truth of the Church can still be enjoyed.
And in our own feeble way we can give expression to us as the Lord enables us to do. And so Paul had the ministry in connection with the gospel and had.
The ministry in connection with the truth of the Church. This is what you find in these last two.
Verses here in chapter one.
He was made a minister of it, of the gospel according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me to you, to fulfill or to feel full or complete the word of God.
You know the writings of the Apostle Paul. You know how many epistles he wrote?
Where do you find the truth of the Church?
If you want to know about the truth of the church, you turn to Paul S writings.
Assured is mentioned in Matthew 16 Upon this rock I will build my Church, and that the Lord would build it upon the profession that Peter made. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's the foundation, the rock upon which the Church is built. Not Peter, as the Catholics tell us. That would be a very weak foundation, wouldn't it? But it's based upon.
The truth connected with the person of the Lord Jesus and.
To be gathered to his name, with him in the midst.
You know, this is what is so important.
Him being in the midst gives authority to the actions that are taken in the assembly of those gathered through the name of the Lord. And if I rebel against that, I'm really rebelling against the Lords authority in the assembly. That's a very solemn thing.
And people say, but that was not an assembly action. What do they mean by that? Do they mean that everybody at the Lord's table has to be involved in the decision making? Nonsense.
Acts 15 tells us that the apostles and elders came together to consider the matter that had come to them from among the Gentiles. It wasn't the whole church coming together, entering into the discussion.

00:55:09

And when they came to a conclusion.
James proposed a position to be taken. Then they brought in the whole church. Then it seemed good to the Parsons and elders and the whole church.
But the whole church was not involved in the discussion about the matter and so how wonderful that we have assembly truth and Paul was the minister of that. And if you want to learn about.
Paul, about the truth of the church, you go to Paul's ministry.
And but he also was a minister of the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God.
You know, I'm always very much thrilled when I hear a brother give the gospel that really has the gift of an evangelist.
You know, people might ask somebody to preach the gospel, and the brother might clearly set forth the truth of the gospel, but that's not the same then when an evangelist reaches the gospel, You know what I mean? You have witnessed that, haven't you? One can be thankful when the gospel is clearly presented, but there's nothing like hearing a real evangelist preaching the gospel. And I'm glad that there are evangelists.
Outside that are not gathered to the name of the Lord. You know, if the gospel preaching would be limited to the God at Saints only, there wouldn't be a lot of gospel preaching going on. You know, and I'm happy whenever somebody presents a clear gospel, no matter what his church affiliation is, the Lord uses it and has used it and is still using it. And so how wonderful. But we ought to not just.
Be concerned about the gospel. What we have experienced in our short Christian life is when people fail to claim to church truth.
What becomes characteristic of them all? The emphasis is on the gospel. All the emphasis is on the gospel. You might have witnessed the same thing.
But don't neglect any aspect of the truth of God. It's wonderful that the gospel can still be proclaimed and the many tracks that are printed and circulated. We always pray that the Lord may use these messengers to fall into the hands of searching souls. How many have been saved through a gospel tract?
But the Lord doesn't need God to attract necessarily. We know of people that have been saved by just reading the Bible, you know.
But not many people.
Grow up like us, who grow up amongst the Saints, where the Bible is read regularly and I hope it is regularly in every home.
You know, in Africa that's one of the things we have felt was very much needed to stress to the brethren, Read the scriptures with the family, pray with the family. It first of all your responsibility. Don't depend on the Sunday school and on the meetings.
If you would only feed those children twice a week natural food, how long would they live?
You know, they need to be fed spiritually more than twice a week, you know, And it's mainly first of all our responsibility to bring the scriptures before them the gospel.
Of course, pray for them, you know. Whenever you know that there is another child on the way, start praying for that child.
Say Lord, if you're going to give us another child, give us also joy of finding that child in heaven. It would be better not to have another child than to praise it for hell.
You know, have a child and raise it for health. Well, anyway.
The Epistle to the Colossians is a wonderful book.
It not that.
Other epistles are not wonderful, but what is especially so wonderful here?
Is to see what Christ is to the church. You know what a glorious head we have. And why would we, in view of that truth? What to allow a puny, failing mortal to take the place of headship? Well, may the Lord preserve us.

01:00:21

Help us individually to cleave to the Lord Jesus as families to cleave to him, and in the assembly you know we have to make much of him.
And very little of man, you know.
Paul says pre imitators of me as I am of Christ.
You know, we can find help by the example that older Christians give us in the way they live for the Lord.
But the important point is that we learn to become attached to him and that we personally follow the Good Shepherd, follow in his footsteps.
That's the secret of Christianity and how we can be preserved in the path of faith.