Pella Conference: 2022
Table of Contents
Hebrews 2:1-8
Our Wilderness Journey
Address—Robert Boulard
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.
Good afternoon. I thought maybe we would.
Sing #76.
#76.
Rise my soul, I can't die, right the stranger.
And the glory of me.
I saw on his hand progress thee Stringer of how to breathe.
It's a real third and 3rd and speed ****.
Everlasting portion.
Easy with the my tears me.
Right, I'll be just hard and extortion.
Each as we're no more to me.
Are thou wing provision?
Pleasures.
God in secret.
We shall.
Be.
Forever.
On treasures.
Laying as long as it's exhaust. Words speak.
Always grace shall.
There are ground.
Right still around me in my own shall bring surgeon grace from.
High concern.
Frustrating.
Of mercy.
There are no stranger.
00:05:02
All sound deeply strangers.
Shall breathe crazy.
With a wild knowing love.
Well, I have it on my heart just to look at 7 things in connection with our wilderness journey and mostly spending our time in Exodus and perhaps flipping. You'll forgive me for flipping to one passage and another in the New Testament, which gives us the equivalent perhaps, but teaches us the doctor. We have the Old Testament to give us the picture book and the illustrations that help us to identify.
What is particularly the need in their wilderness scene?
And in all aspects of life. And then we have the doctrine. The shadows are spoken of in the Old Testament. But then we have the doctrine, the meat of it told us in the Epistles largely. But anyway, so let's look at just to open up in Deuteronomy chapter 8. And let's just read verse 2 just to open up here.
I just like to look, as you're turning to that verse, the basis of our ability to walk in the wilderness scene is redemption. So we'll look at that first and then we'll look at how he led them.
The way, the manner, the tenderness of the leading of the Lord and how He fed them in that wilderness scene. It's incredible how the Spirit of God gives us these little illustrations, how we can walk through a place that's barren.
Has no refreshment for the believer, but we can be fed in our souls and then how he protected them, how he.
Preserved them in spite of what the enemy was doing. How we refresh them. You and I are refreshed in the wilderness scene and we're encouraged as we walk through this scene that rejected the Lord Jesus. We can be refreshed. We don't need to be downcast. Then he he did preserve them. Preserve them as they walk through the path the whole of the 40 years.
And then they finally brought them into a Canaan's land, and he himself did it. We'll look at that. So Deuteronomy chapter 8, it says in verse 2, thou shalt remember.
All the way which Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humbly.
To prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. I'm just going to read that for right now. We'll look at the other verses perhaps a little later. But you know, these five things that we read of speaks of the tenderness of the Lord.
The Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness. There's a period of time that you and I come into this theme. We didn't ask to become to come here, but He sent us. He caused that we would be born into this world at this time, and that for his own glory He would quicken us by his Spirit. He would give us divine life. He would bring us into relationship with himself and that we would walk through this scene in 40 years as a picture, a test, a picture of a testing time. And so some of us may have.
More than 40 years. Some of us may have less, but we're being tested. He gives us reasons why He leads us. He does it himself. You notice this. Isn't it nice to be LED of the Lord? He leads us himself. He's very interested in your life, doesn't matter how old you are.
How long you've been a Christian? He wants to lead you personally.
He's not going to.
Absorb the responsibility, you might say, and give it to somebody else. He may use under shepherds to help us and to encourage us, but the Lord Himself is interested in leading you.
And then he says to humbly, well, we think very highly of ourselves at times and we need to have humbling experiences to pass through. The Lord is capable of passing us through those humbling experiences. He knows what it is to be humbled. There was never a man more humble than the blessed Savior.
But you and I don't know how to be humble. We don't. We're not naturally humbled. The 1St man.
Exalted himself. He'd rather exalt himself to become as God and die rather than humble himself and take direction from his God and live. And so the Lord is showing us. He uses these wilderness experiences to humble us and then to prove us, to prove thee. Does he need to prove us to know what's in us? No, He knew what was already. He already knew it was men. He didn't need man to tell him anything about that, but he needs to.
00:10:18
We need to go through the wilderness exercises to be able to for the Lord to show us what we are, how weak we are, how helpless we are, how we created us to be independence upon himself and how he personally can provide for us and the wilderness scene. So He's going to prove us and to know what was in thine heart. You and I don't know our hearts.
And so He uses these wilderness journey experiences as we pass through this world to show us what's really in our hearts. And it's a continual thing. And He's molding us if we listen, and then we are exercise about those things that He proves us about and that He teaches us what's in our hearts. We can become more and more like His beloved Son. That's why we're walking through the wilderness.
We're not just here to have a good time. That's what the world thinks.
What they can do for the weekend and all those things. No, he's, he's testing us. He's proving us. He's making us more conformed unto the image of his son. But what a work, that blessed man. And then whether thou wast keep his commandments or no, you know, he's given us his word and he's going to show us how we value that word or how we don't value that word. He's going to prove it to us.
And our lives are one exhibition after another of what we really think.
Of the value of that precious word that he's given us. Well, let's turn to the first one in connection with redemption. I don't have a lot of time here this afternoon, so we're not going to go into a lot of detail. Hopefully we don't run into any rabbit trails, but let's look at.
Exodus chapter 6. Just a little statement that the Lord makes there.
Maybe you can meditate on these a little on your own. We'll just make a few comments. So Exodus chapter 6, verse three, I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But now.
But by my name, Jehovah.
Was I not known to them?
And then in verse 6, Wherefore I say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rid you out of their ******* and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments.
You know the Lord revealed himself to Israel as Jehovah and in our English Bibles.
Mr. Darby, even in his translation and other translations, the name Jehovah. But you know, I'll find it very precious to my own heart. It's instructive. In the French translation, Mr. Darby uses the word the eternal. 1 little man. And so he knew, they knew God Almighty, Abraham did. But the Lord was going to reveal himself in a more clearer way, in a progressive way you might say, to the children of Israel. And his name was Jehovah.
The Eternal 1.
Spoke of the Son of God this morning, the Son of man. He had no beginning, no ending. He was the eternal Son. He was with the Father from eternity past. He always was God. He is God the Son. It wasn't revealed to the children of Israel at this time, but isn't it nice to know?
That the one that is leading you and choosing the particular trials in your life.
The particular situations, the testings of your heart.
Improving of your heart is the eternal 1.
Because He loves you, the motive is love, and that there might be some fruit in your life for His glory and for His honor.
And so he has particularly set forth a course for you in this in this world, a wilderness in which you can find all of your resources in himself. And so he told the children of Israel that he would redeem them. And so let's look at Exodus chapter 12. We'll comment a little bit on that. They couldn't become.
Pilgrims, you might say. They couldn't begin the journey.
Through the wilderness without redemption.
Oh, what a blessed thing it is to know of the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. To know the price that was paid to make you a Pilgrim suitable to walk through the wilderness, being led by the Eternal One who loves you and wanted you there in that scene above, to be a companion of His Son.
00:15:16
And the way to walk in communion with the Lord as a companion of the Lord, is to walk in holiness and to recognize that you are one who is being redeemed. We don't have time to read a lot in chapter 12 here, but let's read.
Just.
Verse eight. They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, unleavened bread with bitter herbs. Shall they eat it? Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that would remain a solvent until the morning. You shall burn with fire, and thus shall you eat it with your loins girded.
Your shoes on your feet.
Your staff in your hand, you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.
Well, we know that there was to be that lamb slain and it's they were to take the blood in verse 13. The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
Well, God didn't want his people to be in Israel, in Egypt, as those were in Egypt, worshipping the Lord in Egypt. Egypt is a little picture, you know, of this world and its independence of God. And some of you who have perhaps an engineering background or scientific delight, whatever you know about Archimedes screw. And Archimedes apparently went to Egypt.
Approximately 200 and 250 years, maybe before.
The Lord was born.
And he saw in Egypt that they had screws, mechanical screws, and they were irrigating their fields by lifting water out of the canals into another canal.
And from the river of the Nile, River Nile, and into their fields. And they weren't praying for rain. They were independent of God. And they did everything without God. And so God didn't want you and I to be in the world. It's a little picture in the world independent of the Lord. But he created us to be dependent upon himself and the cry to him for all that we need, but, you know, to remove us from Egypt.
To remove us from the claims.
That Pharaoh had.
It was going to cost the Son of God his life, his life's blood. That's the price to make you a Pilgrim. That's a price to make you suitable to walk through this wilderness as a companion in communion with the Lord. That's what it cost the blood of his own Son. You know, we could just read in first Peter chapter one. I think it is.
And it speaks there of Christ as of a lamb.
Without spot.
He was offered.
There for as much chapter one, verse 18 for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's.
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.
Without spot.
Oh, that's the price that was paid to make you a Pilgrim.
To make you a companion of the Christ to make you one that was suitable to follow the Lord. Well, you can meditate upon some of those other aspects of redemption. You know redemption spoken of in several different ways in the New Testament in the word of God really redemption speaks of there's has two aspects. One is the purchase and one is the being brought into liberty so.
Being purchased with the precious blood of Christ, there was a transaction made at the cross, and the blood was shed to purchase you for Himself.
And so the Lord bought at the cross. He bought everything. All have created things.
It's all his by that act of purchase. And so there was a transaction made. But you know, you and I need to own that transaction, that we belong to the Lord. And His delight is that when we do, did he just buy it to own it? No, He bought it to set it at liberty. I'll just give you a little illustration. I don't want to tell too many stories here, but there was a missionary.
00:20:09
It actually in.
South Carolina. His name was Mr. Wilson, and he went to the slave market in the 1700s to buy a slave. And he went there in the missionary and he went to the slave auction and he saw there a young girl and nice looking young girl.
They began to bid on her at the auction and she screamed at him and she said don't, don't buy me, I won't serve you. I don't want, I don't want to have anything to do with you, she screamed at him.
He kept bidding, he kept bidding, She spit at him. She didn't want to have any acknowledgement that he would be any good master. Well, he bought the the young girl. The gavel went down. It was the girl belonged to him and she came. He went to get his.
That girl and she spit at him, she had no use for him, he said. She said to him, why did you buy me?
He said. Young lady, I bought you to set you at liberty, to set you free.
She fell down at his feet. She said. Master, I'll serve you forever.
The Lord Jesus has redeemed you with His own precious blood to set you at liberty from the power of Satan and your own sinful desires, and to live for His glory in this scene. And now we have the liberty, the responsibility to redeem our time.
You can look that up in Ephesians chapter 5 is also in Colossians chapter 4, a couple of different aspects. So you were redeemed. You know there's going to be a time coming.
Chapter Brown used to say, you know you're only partly redeemed, your spirits and souls are redeemed, but he used to say your body isn't redeemed yet, it's going to be redeemed. Let's look at Romans chapter 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
And.
Let's just read from verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the ******* of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation grown us and travaileth and pain together, until now, not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit.
We, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to whit the redemption of our body.
You know there's going to be a redemption of the body. We don't have time to look at it, but in.
First Thessalonians chapter 4, you know that there's going to be a change. It says in Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21, it speaks of the change. The body that you have is going to be changed. It's going to be glorified. You're going to stand on the earth.
Those that have gone before are going to stand on the earth with a glorified body.
And their rise through Satan's realm in full.
Victory to be received by Christ in that glorious scene above. That's what it means to be redeemed, to be fully redeemed. And so there's going to be that completion of the redemption let's look at.
Again, at Deuteronomy chapter 8, we'll just get a synopsis and look at why we are being LED and how.
Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3.
He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that He might make thee to know. Make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God the Lord. Doth man live Thy raiment Wax not old upon me, neither did thy foot swell these 40 years Thou shalt also consider.
That as a man chasing his son, so the Lord thy God chasten thee, or trains thee. What we find in this little passage that.
He trained them and he during this wilderness journey, as he led them through this wilderness, He showed them that every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. We need all the word of God. And so he led us. He's leading us today. You know, I was thinking of how the Lord Jesus as he led his people.
00:25:10
He didn't bring them through a difficult path at the beginning.
That are young in the faith. Let's turn to chapter. I think it's chapter 13. Maybe it's chapter 12 here 13 verse 18.
So I have to thank the Lord for redemption. Have you thank them that He's made you suitable to be a Pilgrim through this scene?
Have you thanked Him that He's leading leading you, desiring to lead you personally? Chapter 13 of Exodus, verse 18, it says God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea and the children of Israel went up harnessed or by rank of five out of the land of Egypt.
And so they went in an orderly way. He led them in an orderly fashion through this scene of the wilderness across. And we know the story of how they crossed the Red Sea. But how is he leading you and I today?
You know, it speaks of John's Gospel, I believe John's Gospel, chapter 10, how the Lord delights to individually lead us, it says.
In John's Gospel chapter 10.
Verse 26 But you believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.
And they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Well, you know, there's three things that mark a believer. 1 is that they have a mark on the ear or on the heart they believe. One is that they have a mark on the ear. They hear the word.
And they also have a mark on the foot. They follow the Lord. And you and I need to not only have that faith to believe to the faith that He's leading us in the right course in love and kindness, but that we have the desire to hear His voice. We have the desire to sit in His presence and to hear His voice and that we follow Him.
All his desires that we would follow him.
You know the last words that the Lord Jesus spoke in the Gospels, You know what they are. We're not going to turn to it. But in John's Gospel, the last chapter, he says.
Follow thou me. You want a little meditation that's very helpful and spiritually profitable in your soul? Look at those little 33 word expressions used in the Gospel of John.
Come and die. Oh, there's weight in those letters, in those words.
Follow thou me. Oh, you're not fulfilling the role that God intended for you if you're not following the Lord. Not wanting to be LED. I want to just ask you. I ask myself the same question. Am I willing to be LED? Am I leadable? Do I have all kinds of ideas and then I try to make the Lord fit those ideas or?
Am I content to allow the Lord to lead, to do His work of leading? You couldn't follow.
A better leader. You couldn't follow one.
Who would lead like the blessed Savior, whose love for you is such that he gave himself for you, Would he ever lead you into a course of disobedience to his Father? Would he ever lead you into a course that didn't lead the blessing he always leaves into a course of blessing? Well, we find a little bit further on here in this chapter 15 that.
They sang because of redemption, the redeemed sing. But let's look at.
In verse 23.
It says in chapter 15 verse 23, when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Mara, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Mara.
And the people murmured against Moses, What shall we drink? You know what that means to murmur. What shall we drink?
It's just a mutter under your breath. What shall we drink? You're walking around muttering, complaining really, in a low voice, and maybe, but you know the Lord heard the muttering.
00:30:05
What shall we drink? He cried unto the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree, a picture of the cross, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet there. He made for them a statute and an ordinance.
And there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord, but thy God, and will do.
That which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes. I will put none of these diseases on upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where were 12 wells of water, and three score, and 10 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
You know, there were testsings. There were.
They didn't have the law given to them at this time. You know, there were five, there were 10.
Temptations. They tempted the Lord 10 times, it says in the Psalms, and five times, the first five times that they tempted him. They didn't have the law. It hadn't been delivered to them yet. But I believe this is the last time perhaps that they were tested. Maybe it's the no, this is the second temptation. So they didn't have the word of God yet and they were not as responsible. But you and I have the whole of the truth of God.
We're responsible. We're walking through the wilderness and we say, well, there's a little bit of a famine. There's a I'm thirsty. I don't feel like I'm getting fed. In the assembly meetings where I come from, there's one brother, there's two brothers, there's how would you like to be an assembly with ten sisters?
In Cuba, ten sisters.
They get together on the Lord's Day morning and they set the table.
And they hope and they pray that they'll be a brother that comes from the nearest town so that they can break bread.
There's no grumbling there.
The happy group.
Brother Manuel Adamus and his wife, Lord willing, will visit with them.
This next trip.
Why is there a famine? It's because there isn't a feeding upon the Word of God. There isn't a value for it. There is. There's other things to do. There's other priorities. Can I just say this? I don't want to say it unkindly, but perhaps to exercise our souls.
One has noticed that in many places there's no longer an evening meeting on a Lords day.
The Saints come together for one meeting, sometimes two meetings, sometimes thankfully 3 meetings on Lord's Day morning or the Lord's Day morning and part of the afternoon, which is commendable, but in some places there's just.
Perhaps a Sunday school, perhaps a breaking of bread, and then there's no evening meeting. The Saints aren't together. Now, you may not have a gospel work going on in the assembly where you are, but isn't it nice to be over the word? Do you know what happens when you have the word of God before you? You're going to be refreshed, all the bitterness of what this world brings in, the replacement of entertainment. Or you might find yourself doing something else, doing what the world does, taking.
Things, doing laundry, whatever it might be, but it's not refreshing to the soul. Oh how the Lord delights to lead us through the wilderness scene, but to refresh our souls.
And we need to feed ourselves before we can refresh anyone else. And there needs to be diligence in the searching of the Word of God. Read the Word of God.
Can I make a suggestion? I'm not a very good example, but often try to read to.
Pray and ask the Lord for help before I pick up my Bible in order to read the little passage of Scripture, meditate on it a little while, and then read some ministry because sometimes my thoughts are wrong. I don't have things quite straight. And so we need our brethren, we need the teaching of the Scriptures, and we need the teaching of the gifts that God has given. Well, we find refreshment in the wilderness.
And then we find in chapter 17 of Exodus that there was a battle came with Amalek.
In verse 8, there's another temptation there in that chapter, but.
Verse eight of chapter 17 of Exodus. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel and it refined him.
Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill, came to pass. When Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a.
00:35:23
And put it under him. He sat there, on and on, and Aaron and her stayed up, his hands, the one on the right on the one side, the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek, his people with the edge of the sword.
You know the enemy was defeated. You have three enemies. You have the flesh inside of you, an internal enemy, you might say. And then you have the world, the world system all around us, the financial world, the manufacturing world.
The business world, the entertainment world, you name it, Satan has something covered for all aspects of what you might have, a light, what the flesh has a desire for. But there's to be war between Amalek and the believer. All of our lives, that one enemy is the flesh within us. So we have the world, and then we also have Satan, three enemies.
But isn't nice in the wilderness.
We have the intersection of Christ. Why? Why do we need the intercession of Christ?
It's because of our weakness. You know, we have the intercession of Christ and we had the advocacy of Christ. We have the intercession of the Lord Jesus spoken of in Hebrews chapter 4 and the belief chapter 5. We had a little bit in chapter 2 This morning.
The intercession of the Lord Jesus. Will he ever get tired?
No, He's interceding for you. In your weakness. You find yourself weak. You can cry to the Lord for grace and help in time of need.
But then he's an advocate as well. He manages our affairs when there's sin, and it says if we sin, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And so he's advocating for us too. He's advocating, He prays to the Father. We have an example of it in Luke chapter 22 when we sin.
So that we will repent, So that we will return. So that we can be restored. Otherwise, none of us would ever be restored if the Lord didn't pray for us and His advocacy.
But in our weakness, brethren, the day of weakness that we find ourselves in is not a day of power, it's day of weakness.
He's interceding for us and we can pray for one another.
Give pray for those that are in the assembly.
I have a little habit. I'm not a good example, but I'm a little example, a little habit. And I pray for the ones in the assembly from where they sit. And I remember in my mind where they sit in the assembly meeting room so that I don't miss any of them. I'll pray for them in that way. But we need to pray for our brethren, pray for them as they're going on, as we get weaker and weaker.
Pray for your brother.
The Lord is praying for you, the Lord the eternal one. Yes, He's interested in your welfare. He's interested in you walking through this wilderness scene in your weakness.
He's been interested in you before you were born.
And he's going to be interested in you for all eternity because He's redeemed you for this precious blood. Well, he preserved them. You know, let's just read and we run out of time, more or less. But in Deuteronomy chapter 8, again, let's just.
Read there.
In.
1St 4 By Raymond Wax Not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these 40 years.
Oh, isn't it nice to walk through this scene and to enjoy the truth of God and to know that it doesn't get old, it doesn't wear out, it doesn't change, and the principles of God do not change the principles.
Are the same.
What God has given in his word is the same as what he gave to the apostle Paul to deliver the to the church, what he gave to Peter, what he gave to John. It hasn't changed. But you know, there's a lot of drift that happens in our lives. I want to tell you I, I told this little story about going to 5th grade, you know, 1968 public school in Ottawa, ON.
00:40:06
There was a young teacher.
She probably just graduated from.
Teachers College. There she was.
We came into the school was busting at the seams so we had portable classrooms. So I was in one of the portable classrooms. So walk into the door and.
Just teach your young girl. Handing out children's hymn books to the boys and girls as they come into the classroom. 1St 10 minutes of the classroom morning exercises. We sang little hymns out of those.
Sunny school books.
That dear godly young sister.
Maybe 20 years or older, more just young.
Read a PowerPoint of the Word of God.
Spoke of the truth of the Lord Jesus, risen, glorified, desiring the salvation of all that might come to him.
Then she prayed, begged the Lord for the life of those children.
For their precious souls, that they might come to Christ, that they might have lives that were lived for the glory of God.
Then you know we had to sing God Save the Queen in oh, Canada. Then we began our lessons for the day. After half an hour, half an hour of this.
I was 1968, that's over 50 years ago, and that was in the public school system.
There's been drift in the school system, but brethren, there's been drift in the Assembly, too. Let's be exercised about getting back to first principles. And really, he's preserved us. He's been able to preserve us through this wilderness scene, and we're just about to be called home. That's the seventh thing I just like to look at. You'll forgive me for going maybe 2 minutes over Joshua.
I think it's chapter 5.
Don't you like to know what the end of the story is?
Chapter 5, Verse 13. Joshua.
It came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him, or opposite him, with a sword drawn in his hand.
Joshua went unto him, said unto him, Art thou for us?
Or for our adversaries.
And he said, Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord, I might now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord and his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place where on thy standards is holy. Joshua did so. Wasn't it nice, you know?
The world, and perhaps christened him at large, just says you know the end of the pathway is to be LED right into the Canaan's land.
You know, and crossing the river Jordan has given us a little picture of passing through death and so on. Well, those types are, we don't have time to elaborate, but.
You know we're already seated in the heavenlies in Christ, but you know there is going to be an end to the wilderness pathway.
There's going to be a last time that you and I sit in these chairs and have the word of God before us. There's going to be a last time that we come to a gospel meeting. There's going to be a very last time that we remember the Lord in his death. The wilderness journey will end.
And who is it that's going to bring us into the courts of glory?
Who is it? The same one that led us through the wilderness? The same one who protected us. The same one who refreshed us with the waters.
In the wilderness, the same one He'll bring us himself. You know, you and I have the very best here in this scene, and we have the best in the future. The glory of the Lord is going to be displayed before our very eyes. We're going to be. We read of it in Revelation chapter 4 this morning.
We're going to be with the Lord.
But we'll remember how He redeemed us with his own precious blood, how he led us, how he fed us through the scene. We're going to remember.
The occasions when he preserved us, protected us, when we needed his advocacy, when we needed his.
00:45:03
Intercession in this scene, we're going to remember those things. But beloved brethren, isn't precious to be able to thank the Lord now as we go through the wilderness scene, let's express our appreciation to Him now.
And tell them how we appreciate Him leading and offering times of refreshment like this one, and to offer our Thanksgiving and praise as we await His coming.
Hebrews 2:9-10
Reading
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.
166 Lord, thou hast drawn us after thee.
Now let us run and never tire.
Numbers 166 Some brother would start it.
For thou past.
Birthday.
Now let us from and never thought.
Thy present shall learn.
Ye thyself are all our soul, dear.
Nor string and cold.
Deliver.
Our presence in your own world here.
Nor the same can come in love.
Would it be the mind of the brethren to?
Continue in Hebrews 2.
I think that would be good third job.
Hebrews 2 and verse 9.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified.
00:05:08
Are all of one, for which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them.
Brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee, and again I will put my trust in him. And again, behold I and the children which God hath given me.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. For verily He took not on him the nature of angels, but He took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.
To make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
For in that He himself hath him suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Clarify something that came up at the end of the last meeting, and that is the state for the condition of glorification of the body. And if we turn to Luke chapter 24, we can see there that the Lord was speaking to His disciples.
Verse Let's read verse 38, verse 37 just to get the connection.
Luke 24.
Verse 37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your heart? Behold My hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me, and see, For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken, he showed them his hands, and his his feet, while they yet believe not for joy.
And wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here and meet? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of a honeycomb, And he took it, and did eat before them.
And then we can turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 15.
That chapter gives us the change that's going to take place, teaches us the change, the mystery that will is revealed by the apostle, was given to the apostle by the Lord Jesus in verse 51. He says, behold, I show you a mystery, a secret that was in God's heart. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound.
And the debt shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption that someone that's.
In the grave he's corrupted, and so he puts on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality those that are alive at the coming of the Lord.
And then if we just looked a little further, a little further back, verse 42.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in incorruption, is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory or in a glorified condition. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
Well, the point is that we sometimes speak of glory as being a place, and it's not a place, it's a condition.
And so we say so and so has died, and he's gone to glory. Well, that's not really very accurate. He's gone to be with Christ. The language of Scripture is that he's absent from the body and present with the Lord.
He's not in a glorified state. And so to say he's glory, he's in glory is really not quite as accurate as should be. So when the Lord Jesus rose from among the dead, he wrote, he raised, he was raised in a glorified condition.
And then when it says He was received up in glory, it means that he was received up in that glorified condition, and he entered heaven as a glorified man.
And so it's a marvelous thing, but the head of the church?
00:10:03
Lay in the grave and on the third day, the Lord's day, he rose from among the dead glorified man. And 40 days later he ascended up into heaven a glorified man. There's one man seated there with a body, glorified body at the right hand of the majesty on high. And so that's what we're reading about a little earlier here, that he was.
Raised, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man and for everything. And so he purchased the whole of creation. He purchased of all things created. Everything belongs to Him.
And so those of us that know the Lord Jesus as Savior, we've acknowledged his ownership, We acknowledge that there's a transaction that took place at the cross. We say, yes, we don't belong to the this world anymore. We're heavenly citizens. We belong to him. We acknowledge his Lordship. We call him Lord.
Those that belong, those that are in this world that do not know the Lord Jesus as Savior, they still belong to Him. They're still responsible to Him, but they haven't acknowledged His Lordship. They will in a future day. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. I'll just clarify that statement. I think it's first Peter, maybe a second Peter.
Second Peter, chapter 2. Second Peter chapter 2. There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.
And bring upon themselves swift destruction. So it's not that they lost their salvation.
But that the Lord bought all people everything. He bought the field and everything in it. And so they're his. They have. They ought to acknowledge His authority.
And so they deny him by their works, they deny his right of purchase, they deny that there was a transaction made at the cross of Calvary and they refused to bow the knee. And so we're going to see the day when the Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, is going to see every knee bow before him.
Yeah, I think we have to be careful, as you have mentioned, Robert, that we don't speak about a new body.
Often that term is used, but it's not.
Accurate.
Scripturally.
The resurrection is only in connection with the body, but.
These it will be the same body, even if it has gone down into corruption, it will be raised in by the power of the Lord. Ephesians chapter one. That power will be put forth to raise all the believers from able downward and we who are here on the earth at the time of the shout, we will be changed in a moment.
Twinkling of an eye and have a body of glory. Yes, I think that's clear. What Robert has said is is is correct that.
We don't want to make a manual offender for a word, but really, there's no one in the glorified condition yet except the Lord Himself.
What was God's desire? That when Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, that he was made the owner or Lord of all the lower creation?
He was a representative of God and.
Man is still in the image of God, but it's been marred by sin terribly. So he cannot, he's not in the position to rule, but he's still in the image of God and.
Of course.
Adam failed to keep that place where God had put him and.
And therefore he, he lost the privilege of being Lord of the creation. And the Lord is the one who has taken that position, the second Adam, and everything will be put in subjection under him. It doesn't mean that.
00:15:19
Everyone will acknowledge his Lordship.
That everyone will acknowledge His Lordship, but it doesn't mean that they will be saved and part of the heavenly company.
It might be good just to make the point of the our responsibility before God and before this world as men. In Genesis chapter one, it's very clear and God states two distinct things that you and I why were we put here? Why was the original the original purpose of God in connection with man. He never changed his idea. It's still going to be a man that reigns over all but in Genesis one and verse.
26 God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle and over the all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created in him, male and female, creating them.
The image of God were created to represent God in this world. That's why you're here. You are here to represent God. Man is going to say, well, who is God and how does God think? How does he act? Well, the image of God, you are to represent God and his purposes here. And in his likeness is the moral likeness of God. The moral features of God should be seen in your life.
So when a man looks at a believer, he should see something.
Of the character of God in his ways, in his moral ways, and in his conduct. So you and I should treat the creation, and should treat one another in the character that God treats one another.
We act according to the moral principles that God has established, not the principles morally that man seems to substitute or wants to substitute. And so the Lord Jesus perfectly represented his Father. I and my Father are one. While you and I, the Lord, is working with us in this wilderness scene so that we will represent him more perfectly, and that morally we will represent him more perfectly.
In this world.
There's something hardwired in human beings even though who are lost.
You cannot eliminate that image completely. The most wicked people.
They cannot do it. They don't represent that representation you're talking about.
In any correct way at all. But when wicked men show courage where they die for someone, that's a reflection of the fact that they're made in the image of God, the highest ideals that any human beings ever thought of.
That men admire even in the world when they do those things. That's part of that hardwired part, that man is created in the image of God.
You cannot eliminate that.
Man who's gotten famous in recent times by the name of Doctor Jordan Peterson, a Canadian.
Has been doing a series on the Internet about the Bible and he started doing it as an atheist.
Saying that these things are important, these stories at least at the very least teach truth. That if you get rid of them, what fills in is what happened in Stalin's Russia, what happened in Hitler's Germany, what happened in China. And it's true.
Well, he does progress to where he's no longer an atheist.
But he's teaching some of these things. And you can glean just even a unsaved person can glean some surface wisdom from what's going on in the Bible, but observations of things like the idea that man is created in the image of God. And you can't deny that when CS Lewis is an atheist who is searching things out, there were certain things that he looked at that he said evolution cannot explain.
00:20:05
And one of them was this idea that no matter where you go on this planet.
That there's this hard wired thing within man.
For instance, they gave us an example. If you go to a prison and you talk to a thief, he will tell you all kinds of excuses why he stole, why he did what he did. Because I was abused or I was mistreated, or I'm an ethnic minority and I've been mistreated, whatever it is.
But notice this, you try to steal from him, he thinks it's wrong. You try to steal from his friends, he says it's wrong. And CS Lewis went down the line with basically the 10 commandments and said everywhere you go on Earth, how come this is that inside of human beings is this sense, even if you excuse your own sins, that there are certain things?
That are right and wrong, and that's pointing to a moral absolute. And if you admit that, then you have a moral absolute lawgiver that points to God. So man all that he does and all his wickedness and all his straying away, he cannot obscure that fact that he was made and created in the image of God.
I suppose we have in this ninth verse we have the broadest aspect of the of the work of Christ.
We all know the verse, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now we have the forgiveness of our sins, we have justification, We are reconciled to God. And by the way.
Every being will be subject to God and will acknowledge the lordship of Christ, but not every unsaved. No unsaved person will be reconciled to God.
So.
What I mean in the ninth verse?
The work of Christ was so complete.
The propitiation, the the results, the consequence of the work of the Lord Jesus.
Was so marvelous that every trace of sin in this creation will be removed and we look on to the Millennium and the eternal state that work was the foundation of the removal.
To remove every taint of sin in this creation and.
And usher us in finally to the eternal state where there will be no, no sin of any kind.
Thanks.
Anyone had any questions? We've come along through the chapter ways, don't be afraid to ask.
What's the glory and honor spoken of here?
I take it that that is what the Lord refers to in the Gospel of John.
And.
Chapter 17.
We look forward to.
Being reinstated, so to speak.
And John 17 and verse five. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was there.
There's one tremendous difference. He was going back as a man and so.
He has been left that scene above, and now he's gone back. And if we also turn to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John.
Verse 31 and 32. Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now as the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him, if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
00:25:21
When the Lord Jesus went back as risen Son of man, back into heaven, and all the fullness of His own finished work on Calvary's cross wherein God had been glorified, God's not going to wait until the millennial reign to glorify His Son. He bestowed honor and glory upon Him. As soon as we can put it in human language, He put His foot back down.
In heaven above. And so he straightway glorified him. He wasn't going to wait, and so he's back.
And reinstated, so to speak, but now as a man in heaven with the glory that he had before. But they're wonderful new honors that have been added because he won a victory at Calvary's cross. As Son of Man. He won glories that he had not had before, His eternal Son of God.
But he won them at Calvary's cross, and Hebrews really wonderfully presents that to us. And when he stepped back into the glory, he was saluted of God, high priest, forever after the order of Melchizedek. We get that a little later. And so there was a honor and a title bestowed upon him at that moment, a glory that he had not had before. And so I think all of those things are encompassed, perhaps.
And crowned with glory and honor. Because it's right now. Isn't it wonderful?
You know, at the close of Acts 7, when the offer had been made to Israel.
That if they would receive their Messiah who they had crucified.
God would send him from heaven in the times of the restitution of all things would come times of refreshing, I think is how it's put in the King James. And he would establish the Kingdom in this earth. But they reject that offer. And Steven is stoned and what does he see? He looks up into the open heavens, and this is the book of the open heavens. And he sees, behold, I see the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Now, beautiful, he sees them standing there at the right hand, that place of power and that place of acceptance at the right hand of God, and they could not bear that testimony. But now we look up into an open heavens by faith, and we see Jesus the same way Steven did, crown with glory and honor.
But we can say that the glory that he had before the world was was intrinsic glory. And the glory that he has now has acquired glory. I think it's it's helpful for the younger ones because they're probably going to hear those terms. And the intrinsic glory still has that. That is glory that never will fade because of who he is in all of his glory as God. But the but the acquired glory is that which he.
He acquired because of his obedience to His Father and his desire to glorify the Father. And now God is highly exalted him and given Him a name which is above every name, and the the Father is glorified in His Son.
So I just bring those two definitions and and you're going to hear them. Those of you that are young, you're going to hear them. And I think that's the difference between those two terms.
I don't know all of those. You might refresh us, but one is His creatorial glory. He wasn't a Creator in the past eternity, but now He has the glory of a Creator. He's a Redeemer, and He has the glories of the Redeemer, and He's a glorified man on high. He has glories as a man who has accomplished God's purposes.
It's so those are required glories.
Added glories, you might say.
Speak of the glory he had as a man walking in this scene. I think we sometimes speak of it as the moral glory.
00:30:10
The acquired glory is He is going to share with us because we're going to reign with Him. We of course, cannot have any part in the intrinsic glory of the Lord.
But in relation to.
The Lord's position in the book of Hebrews. You probably have noticed He sits. It's spoken, He's spoken of as sitting down four times. In the first chapter, he sits down in his own right.
Having by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, he had every right to enter into the glory that he had to before the foundation of the world that, as Steve mentioned, he enters it now.
Having accomplished the work of redemption, then you go on to chapter 8 and you have the Lord sitting down again as our great High Priest, and that is taken up later on in our chapter. He is there now a glorified man interceding for us as our great High Priest. That is taken up largely in this epistle. And then in chapter 10 He sits down because of the perfection of His.
Finished work, nothing can be added to it. As to the question of sin, He will never rise up to address that matter again. He set. He has sat down, having accomplished the work of redemption. As we know, in the Tabernacle there was no seat for the High Priest. The Lord accomplished the work by one offering. We have perfected forever them that are sanctified. Then we come to the 12Th chapter.
Where we have the Lord as our example, who began the path of faith and finished it in perfection and.
Who for the joy that was set before him?
Endured the cross and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, so the sufferings there.
In Hebrews 12 are not in atoning character because he's there as our example and his pathway ended in the glory, but it was a pathway of of trial and and sorrel and we're in the same pathway and we have the Lord as the example before us who began the pathway of faith and finished it.
To the glory of God his Father. Is that right, brethren?
Referring to that statement in verse 10, it says the captains of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Those are his manhood sufferings as he walked through this world and he knows what it is to suffer in this scene. But here it's it says it became him or it was consistent with God's character, for whom all things and by whom all things are all things.
In bringing many sons unto glory, so many sons, those that are a part of a new creation race, and you are a part of a new creation race right now, you're going to be glorified. Your body is going to be glorified. And so that's what he says, bringing many sons unto the glorified condition, unto glory. Make the captain of their salvation or the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
I'd like to just make a comment in verse 9. Two is as we as it says, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the Angel for the suffering of death, crown with glory and honor that he by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.
You know, we use our eyes to help us to understand what reality is and those are our natural eyes. And if, if we're blind, we don't really know.
What?
00:35:00
Reality is, and these are the eyes of faith, we see Jesus, these are the eyes of faith. God has given us the ability and it's a gift. It's because He wanted us to enter into the glories of the Lord Jesus and he gave us the eyes of faith to take the word of God and this truth that has been unfolded us to us regarding the person.
And the work of the Lord Jesus and faith gives us the ability.
To know what reality is in relationship with God.
And his desire for the glory of the Lord Jesus and for us to be able to see him in this position of exaltation, but first realize the benefit of his humiliation. And it's all because we have the ability. God has given us faith to enter into these things. And he's faith is always based on the instruction of the Word of God.
And so it's a wonderful thing, isn't it, for us to be able to see.
The these beautiful realities of eternal.
These are eternal realities.
Probably shouldn't correct that answer a little bit. I do think the focus in this chapter is his glories is Son of Man which is more as acquired glories as you were saying. We do look up and see him.
They're reinstated in the glories we have in John 17 by 8.
Shouldn't correct that this chapter has more his emphasis, his glory as a son of man, which would more be his acquired glories?
Choir glories.
If there was.
A son of a king, he would have certain glories, wouldn't he, as being the Prince if he were to go out to battle?
On behalf of defense of the Kingdom and he were to win battles he would come back with glories that he acquired in battle. I think that was the best explanation that helped me as to what's acquired glory. He would still have his glories as being the Prince and coming future king but now he's won victories in battle and he has glories that he acquired that weren't just his intrinsically because.
He was born with it.
Good. Maybe looking at this thing subject from a little different angle, the relationship between the father and the son, we see it was always there.
In What is that Psalm? No Proverbs 8, where I was with him as one, I was by him as one brought up with him.
I was daily His delight. But in John 10 there's a verse, Verse 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again? Could the Father love the Son anymore?
I don't believe so, but he had another purpose in loving him.
And.
Just to mention another portion on the subject, well, two portions connected. Ephesians chapter one talks about the working of God's mighty power that he brought in Christ to raise him from the dead, the sediment, his own right hand. And Romans 6 there's a verse and it's not the subject of the chapter at all, but.
One morning I was reading this and it just stuck out. How clearly this says Romans 6 and verse four. Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, whose glories that the Father has intrinsic glories as well.
As the Almighty and he used those glories to raise the sun fully satisfied and.
As we read in Ephesians one, he gave him the highest place, and that's the position that we see in Hebrews. He has been given the highest place. He's not just been brought to heaven, but he's been given the highest place there.
00:40:08
It worked perfectly. 10th verse here.
To make the captain of their salvation perfect.
Through sufferings. Now that doesn't refer to any personal perfection in the Lord. He was perfect from the time He entered the world in His earthly pathway. But I believe it refers here to to resurrection. The Lord went through this wilderness. He endured every trial that a righteous man could be subject to.
Apart from sin.
But he he understood the.
The afflictions, the the reproach and the rejection that he endured so he can sympathize with us in in what we have, we are called to pass through because although he's crowned with glory and honor, he certainly doesn't have his rightful place in the world today. And we are associated with, not with a glorified Christ now in the world. We're we're we're.
We are in Christ as to our position, but we are sharing His rejection in the world.
We.
Are following in the path that the Lord marks out for us, but it's a path of rejection. The Lord doesn't have his rightful place in the world now. And we we share that that reproach. Is that right?
We follow the same pattern that we get in Peter, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, and it's the same for us.
Might be helpful to notice too that there are different reasons why the Lord Jesus was.
Made low in his humiliation and they are brought out in this chapter and the first one is we're in verse nine that he by the grace of God.
Should taste death for everything. So death needed to come in. He needed to humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that there might be everything. Might the world and all the persons in it might be brought into blessing, might be made savable, and that he would acquire those as a possession. And then the next one is in verse 14, that through death.
He might destroy or annul him that had the power of death, that is the devil. So when he went into death.
They he suffered the sentence of death because of sin and he rose again from among the dead. And so God has accepted that sacrifice for sin that was offered and the power of death has been annulled. It doesn't have it's not the king of terror says it says in for the believer in Job and then it says in verse 17 that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make reconciliation should say propitiation.
For the sins of the people. So he went into death. He was brought into humiliation, and his humiliation he was.
Brought into death, and it was that there might be propitiation made, and propitiation speaks of the God being satisfied as to the question of sin and God being honored and God being.
Justified as to the question of sin.
Because sin had dishonored him, sin had been an insult to God, and so the Lord Jesus went into humiliation, into death, that God would be.
Propitiated and then in the verse 18 it says in him that for him that he himself has suffered being tempted or tested, He is able to succor them that are tempted or tested.
And so in his humiliation he suffered, and he suffered in this scene. And so he knows how to comfort the Saints of God.
00:45:03
So there are many reasons why the Lord Jesus was humbled and became obedient unto death, and so the Spirit of God records these things for our instruction and that we might just recognize the vastness of the work of God in this connection.
The word perfect here is an old English word that has the idea of complete if you were talking to a.
A researcher in a laboratory and he was developing a method to do something. You might say to him, have you perfected your formula? You're saying, have you completed it?
Well, there's something here about completeness. Maybe somebody could remark on that.
We're not, we're not these sufferings in connection with the.
The place that he now occupies as our great High Priest, or as we have here, the captain of our salvation. Salvation looked, is looked upon in different ways. We have the salvation of our souls.
We're experiencing salvation in our pathway down here day by day as we look to the Lord. But.
The perfection of salvation.
Will be when we have the glorified bodies. But I always connected this with the sufferings the Lord went through in order to qualify him to be our great High Priest. And He took that position in manhood when He entered, when He entered the glory.
He became the intercessor, or the high priest and advocate.
That's the way I looked upon that verse.
Maybe someone has something to add there. I think that we can just make.
Illustration in that let's say the Lord is called you as maybe a young person to go through a very, very difficult circumstance. You don't feel that you have the strength or the wisdom. You don't feel that you're capable of going through it but to be able to go to the Lord Jesus and realize he is going to help you through it because.
He has been through circumstances that have been a whole lot more difficult than you are being called to go through. You're actually going to someone who is experienced and who has walked the path of faith perfectly through those those difficulties. The Lord Jesus, he is the author and finisher of our faith. He has.
Act.
To the glory of God, independent on God. So he is perfectly capable of directing us, you know, through a circumstance that we consider to be over our head more than we can handle. It's wonderful. This is what faith does. Faith takes these these truths and it makes them practical. So the Lord Jesus is seated at God's right hand right now as.
Our high priest.
And he is there ready is is could we just?
Turn to Romans five. I think that there might be a verse and I'm willing to be corrected if this verse is not being applied properly. But Romans 5 and verse 10 says, For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the dust of his Son, much more being reconciled.
We shall be saved by his life.
And I believe that this is an indication here of his high priestly service. The Lord Jesus didn't just go to glory and and he didn't he, he set himself apart for this purpose to help us the rest of the way home. And so the perfection that is this verse speaks of is the process in which he suffered.
So that he would know what we suffer and he would know how to sucker them that are suffering. And so it's a beautiful thing to know that we have a high priest that is absolutely capable of taking us through the pathway of faith in obedience to God with all the help we need.
00:50:19
Nice point, Brother Phil. And connecting it with obedience, that obedience for the believer is going to entail suffering. It's going to. But we follow a captain.
Who has been through it all? I can't remember which of the world wars they had the shortage of officers and as they crank them through officer school, they called him, I don't know, as a 14 day wonder. You know they would push these young men out into the field having just the briefest training as an officer, having no military experience and put them in the lead of experienced.
Men.
And to lead them into battle and their men had no confidence in them. And I can't remember how many days the training was. 14 days, 14 day wonders, they called them. That's not our Lord.
He is a qualified leader in that way. He is the captain of our salvation, and he's learned the cost of obedience and fully proved it to God's glory. You could say that those young men were complete when they'd experienced battle and had learned to lead. Then they'd get the respect from the followers. They became complete through going through those things.
That's our savior. He completely, our captain was complete because he went through those things.
And we have a perfected Savior who in everything I was once said a Bible study where we were talking about how he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And this young lady said, well, he's never gone through pregnancy.
I said, well, has he suffered the pain? She had had children. I said, do you think he suffered pain that had to do with anything like what you went through in your pregnancy? Oh, yeah.
Well, it's not that every single event that human beings go through that the Lord went through. Certainly he didn't go through pregnancy.
But every suffering that men go through, the pain, all of those kind of things, He suffered loneliness. Look at all the times around him when he is grieved by how the disciples don't get it. He feels that loneliness. He always had the father in the relationship with that, but as a man.
He felt loneliness, he was hungry, he was tired. He experienced all of those kinds of things, the pain of betrayal, all of that kind of thing. And even we know because Scripture tells us that all along He knew that the man in his midst was stealing from the purse and was betraying him all that time, not just when he betrayed him in the garden. All of those things the Lord Jesus felt, and those have nothing to do with our redemption.
But he felt them. So when we go through something and we read that, that he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities, Yeah, He has experienced all those pains and sufferings. And we know that he has. He's complete in every way. And then he understands. So there's nothing we need to have any question mark over our heads about.
The verse in Hebrews 5 would bear that out to though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Verse 8.
What we want to be careful here.
The Lord did not have infirmities. That's a common mistake made by.
Some theologians.
The Lord is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but.
We have infirmities because we're connected with a groaning creation. It's really a result of sin. Now, an affirmative is not sin in itself. However, it can lead to sin.
If I begin to complain about the infirmity and I become.
Disgruntled and and rebellious, that becomes sin. Now the Lord can enter into the infirmity. Though he did not have infirmities, His body was perfect. He never had sickness because those things are result of sin.
00:55:07
But he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He didn't learn obedience and apost eternity. It was his. It was his place to command and to to create by the word of his mouth. But when he became a man, he, he took the the the liabilities of of a creature, though he was not a creature, but he never used his.
Godhead power to.
Avoid.
Any of the the the the trials of the of the body.
Tiredness and hunger and so on. He never used his divine power to shield himself from those human sufferings that that we have.
To say the comment in closing that was helpful to me in connection with the Lord's sufferings usually, and I haven't searched it out in every case, but usually when it's plural, his sufferings, it refers to his sufferings as we've been speaking in manhood. And Paul had a desire to know him and the power of his resurrection and to fellowship in his sufferings. And Peter could speak to to the Saints and say thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice.
And as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy. So it's a privilege, isn't it? Although we may not look at it that way, to be able to have fellowship with him and his sufferings as a man. But when it comes to his atoning suffering, it's it's in the singular. And I think we have an example in our portion in verse nine. It speaks of the suffering of death. The Lord Jesus was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
We can't have fellowship in that, we can only stand in awe of what he has done. But when it comes to his manhood and his sufferings as a man, we can perhaps in some small way partake of that and we should count it a a privilege.
John, would you say an example would be if you suffer betrayal and you feel that, you could say, my Lord, he felt that?
100 and 74174.
Rabboni
Address—Rick Shower
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.
The the card of schedule says that this is a 30 minute address, so it I'm going to have to speak fast and not keep you from dinner. He'll turn to me with me to Gospel of John.
Gospel of John, chapter 20.
I'm going to speak on one word.
One word that's used twice only.
In the New Testament, but I think it's a word that we can.
Glean a lot of a lot of things from so going to go to John chapter 20, Gospel of John chapter 20 and I'm going to be begin reading on verse 10, John 20 and verse 10.
Then the disciples went away again into their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. And as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. And seeth 2 angels in white, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they said unto her, Woman, Why we bestow? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou?
Whom seeketh thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou hast have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him.
And I will take him away.
Jesus.
Saith unto her Mary. She turned herself, and said unto him, Rabonae, that is to say, Master.
I'm going to speak on that word, Raboni.
Occurs here and one other place that we'll look at.
But it's impossible really to speak about the word rabonae without Speaking of Mary Magdalene, with whom it's connected.
Now if you'll turn over to the book of Luke, hold, keep your finger in John because we'll come back to John. But the Gospel of Luke, I'm going to read a couple of verses.
In Luke chapter 8.
Beginning with first one of Luke chapter 8. And it came to pass afterwards that he went through every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him. And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils.
And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod, Stuart, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their sustenance.
Well, we know and these is a familiar portion that but Mary Magdalene had the seven devils cast out of her. But I want to suggest something else about Mary Magdalene. She must have been a wealthy woman.
She travelled with the blessed Lord all over Galilee, going to all these different villages with some other sisters, and she ministered to Him and the disciples of her substance.
So she, along with those others, must have been a wealthy woman.
And if we'll look at Mark Chapter 15, another, I can't go into all the details here, but another fact that we need to remember in connection with her Mark Chapter 15.
Mark chapter 15 and verse 40. Now we know the the context here. This is the Lord when he was on the cross.
Mark 15 and verse 40. There were also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James. The lesson of Jose and of Salome or Salome.
00:05:07
Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him, and many other women, which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
Well, we have here the fact that on that Passover day.
Mary Magdalene watched as her blessed Lord Jesus was crucified. She stood there with those other women, and she heard the words that he said on the cross.
She realized a little bit.
That.
What had happened? She saw all that occurred there.
And we read that she and some of the other women went and got things, spices and so forth to anoint the body after it was taken down from the cross. I were to spring out these two details to give us a little background.
Of what was going on in her life.
Seven devils cast out.
The Lord Jesus enthroned in her heart.
Following him throughout all of his ministry there in Galilee. Then followed him up to Jerusalem and was there at the cross when he was crucified.
And watched the lover of her soul.
Crucified.
And then we come to the scene we're looking at now. It's after the cross. She goes to where the tomb was because she had those spices and she wanted to take care of the body.
And so we find her here. But I started reading in verse 10 of John 20 because it says that the disciples, and if we just back up a little bit of we know as John and Simon Peter had gone to the sepulchre and it says they went to their own home.
They looked in and saw an empty sepulchre and then turned around and went back to their homes.
And then there's that word but.
But Mary.
May I suggest that Mary didn't have a home to go to?
We have an expression in the world that says home is where your heart is.
Where was Mary's heart?
Her heart.
Wasn't in the tomb.
They could go back to their homes. They could go back to those things that they had established. I'm sure Mary had a house.
A building she could have gone back to, but that wasn't a home. Because home is where the heart is.
And the sepulchre was empty. That's where her heart was. What the blessed Lord?
But he was gone.
And so she looks in and she sees an empty sepulchre.
And he was gone.
That sepulchre was only exceeded in emptiness by her heart.
Her heart was just as empty.
As that sepulchre, in fact more empty, because that which had captured her heart, that which she had enthroned in her heart, was gone.
Everything about her that we reached her was a focus.
On the Lord. And So what do we read here She stood weeping, without the sepulchre. Now she looks in, and what does she see? It's empty.
And so she has to turn.
And she sees the two angels and the empty sepulchre, and they ask her, Why, woman, why weepest thou? And what does she say? Because they have taken away, not the Lord, Oh no.
00:10:13
My Lord.
So she could think about.
This one that she administered to, this one that had cast out the devils, this one that she had grown to love was gone, and she wanted to know where.
Was she ignorant? Did she not know he was to rise from the dead?
I don't think she was thinking about resurrection.
She was thinking about her affections and where her affections were were in Christ.
And so.
She doesn't think about resurrection.
Her affections were greater.
You know, she says here to the gardener in verse 15.
Well, it's the Lord, but she thinks it's the gardener. And she says to the gardener, Sir, if thou's born him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away three times. We have the word him there.
She didn't say the Lord.
She didn't say Jesus, she just said Him. Why? Because she thought everybody would be would know who she's talking about.
There was a would be understood that anybody that would be there would know who she was talking about if I go to some friend's home.
And.
He, he or she is sick and I go to the door and they answer and I say, well, well, how is she? How is he?
Do I have to say the name of the person? No, it's understood. We're all thinking the same thoughts. We're thinking about the person. That's not well.
Mary Magdalene was thinking the same. She was thinking that anybody that would be there would know who she was talking about.
Because anybody that would be there would have the same affection and want to know about.
That one.
But then what do we have, verse 16? Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
One word.
He calleth his sheep by name, as we're told. Well, he called the sheep, and it only took one word.
And she knew by that voice who it was. Mary.
And she turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabona.
Now rabona is a special word. It has an appellative on the end of it. It really means not just master, it means the master of my affections.
Not even just the heart, it's the master of my affections.
And we see that here with Mary, everything that she does, everything that she says.
Is out of the affections of her heart.
And so she doesn't say Lord.
She says Ramona.
The master of my affections.
The one who had captured, the one that she had enthroned in her heart, that had taken away those seven devils, that one that she had traveled with and gotten to know was all summed up in Rabona. A master of my heart and my affections.
We know from John or from Mark 15 that the Lord appeared to.
Mary Magdalene first.
Kind of all the ones that he could have appeared to. It was Mary Magdalene and it wasn't Peter. Peter denied him. Peter was broken by what he had done, but that's not who the Lord went to 1St.
Went to Mary Magdalene. Why?
00:15:00
Why was it that he was going to entrust her?
With the most magnificent message that we get in verse 17 to go to the brethren.
You better read it.
Crime not ascended to my father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my father, and your father, and to my God and your God. Why was it?
That.
He went to her.
Well, first of all, it was clearly devotedness. She had travelled with him.
And it was also her heart's affection.
It wasn't knowledge that characterized Mary Magdalene. If I can pick out a sister in Scripture there who had knowledge, I would have said Mary of Bethany, because she didn't even go to the cross. She knew she had laid hold of the fact that he was going to be crucified, but that he was going to raise too.
But Mary Magdalene.
No, it was total affection.
Maybe some ignorance, but she wasn't willing to take care of that.
I think he appeared to her because she enthroned him in their heart.
Because she had such affection for him that nothing she did was apart from those affections.
Isn't that a challenge to us today?
How much in my life and the things that I do come solely from my affection for the blessed Lord Jesus?
Or is it natural affection?
Or is it my thoughts about what my life should be like?
That is what generates what I do and what I say.
With Mary, it was simply.
To Lord Jesus.
All nothing more and everything was Jennifer generated from it and so she says Rabona I master of my hearts affections. Okay, we've got to get to the other one Mark.
Part chapter.
10.
Mark, Chapter 10.
This is another familiar portion to us. Mark chapter 10 verse 46. I'll read quickly. And they came to Jericho. And as he went out Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus sat by the way highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And many charged him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, Rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him.
Not Lord. The word is Roboni.
Same word as we have in John 20.
Now some of you may have a marginal reading that says Rabona.
Term of Reverend love, master of my affections. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made the whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Verse 46 We learned that Bartimaeus had a need.
It was an external need.
He needed eyesight. He needed to be able to see.
Then in verse 47 we find that the Spirit had been working with him in details that were not given. We don't have the details like we do with Mary Magdalene. And the reason why I say that the Spirit of God had been working already with him is it says in verse 47. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth.
00:20:22
A term of reproach.
Almost a slur.
Is that what he calls him? No, no, no, no. Look what it says. And he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David.
He recognizes he was a lot more than just Jesus of Nazareth passing through the town.
And So what do we find when he calls out verse 49? Jesus stood still.
I always find that remarkable. Others have commented on it. Jesus stood still.
You realize that He was the creator of all things. We had that before us today. He was the creator of all things. And he who created Bartimaeus, created all those ones who were there, created the world, the beings, everything stood still.
Stopped.
You know that was even greater than the day in Joshua's day.
Joshua had the sun stop.
Blind Bartimaeus stopped the creator of that sun. That's even greater.
And then in verse 50, we find something too. We don't have all the details like we do maybe for with Mary, but the Lord was working with him. And what's the first thing that He does? He casts off his garment. Now what is the garment? The garment is our character.
Did you ever think about that?
Our garments, what we wear is representative of our character.
And in scripture it's used as a symbol reflecting the character of the person.
So a king wore something different than a beggar. But what is the point is what does blind Bartimaeus do? He took that garment, that which had characterized him, and it was gone.
That's like a soul saved and everything is gone. That was of the old way, the old life, the old path, everything was gone.
Why? Because there had been a work going on there. And so he casts off his garment. And so we find in verse 51.
The blind man said unto him, Rabona, master of my heart.
Same thing that Mary said. How was it that he could say rabona? Why he had just met him, He had just stopped him.
On the pathway, how could he say rabona?
Because there had been a work going on. The Spirit of God had been working in blind Bartimaeus's heart. And I don't think I'm stretching scriptures here to say this.
He could say Riboni, master of my heart's affection, because it was first love.
What was the accusation to to Ephesus? Thou hast left thigh.
You can fill in the blank, ask lest thy first love. That's what the Lord had against that assembly. What about individuals? Have we left our first love? You remember the moment the Lord came into your heart.
Lifted you out of the throes of of sin that was burdening you, the need that you had, and that need was completely gone.
Have you left that?
Or is your heart like it was with blind Bartimaeus here?
It was.
Masters of my heart's affections and what is blind Bartimaeus do?
Verse 52 He followed Jesus in the way.
00:25:03
Two people both using the same word, Raboni. So there's some similarities here. One was rich.
The other was poor.
Mary Magdalene Rich, Bartimaeus Poor. That covers everybody.
Covers the whole world. Every single soul in it is somewhere between poor and rich.
Or one of those.
And that affection that is found in that single word rabona is available to every soul.
Every soul in this room, every soul in this world.
Circumstances are not important. It doesn't matter if you're rich, doesn't matter if you're poor.
You can have that same affection.
For the blessed Lord Jesus.
One was male, one was female. It's not limited to the sexes.
It's not just for the women, who seem to have more of an affectionate nature, it's just as much for the men.
Blind Bartimaeus knew first love at the beginning of the pathway. It says right here that he followed the Lord in the way it was right from the beginning. He had that lifting in his heart, in his affections for this one who had met his need.
At the beginning, what about Mary? Mary had been on the pathway a long time, and yet what does she say? She says Robo and I too, because time had not destroyed her affection. Circumstances had not destroyed that affection. It was just as great.
In her heart, down the pathway as it was for Bartimaeus at the beginning of the past.
Both of them accompanied the Lord.
And both of them learned more.
And the Spirit of God was able to develop those affections even more.
As time went on.
Both of them I'm sure.
I know Mary, I think we know we're not reading in the Scripture that both of them remembered the moment that their need was met.
Her need?
Mary's was an internal need. She had seven demons inside of her. That's an internal need. Blind Bart Emmaus had an external need outside. He needed eyesight. Lord meant both, and he meets both today.
Your external needs. Your internal needs.
Both knew him on this earth.
But Mary got to know Him in resurrection.
And so you and I, we don't know him on this earth, but we do know him in resurrection, and we've had much of that in our readings, especially our last one on it.
And the other thing we learned from both of these two pictures in John 20 and here is that the Lord Jesus is not far from any heart that has an affection for Him. Intelligence has nothing to do with it. We could say that Mary basically wasn't real intelligent.
Mary Magdalene.
But she had such an affection.
What does the Lord want? What does He want from you and me? Does He want intelligence? Does he want us to know all the doctrines? Do we want to know the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic glories? The difference with a moral glory? Is that what He wants? Well, I'm sure he doesn't mind if we understand that, but He wants our affections.
Out of the abundance of the heart.
The mouth speaks.
And if in my heart he is.
The master.
The controller of all my heart's affections.
All of them.
Is #1.
Then it will not be a problem.
00:30:03
I think, brethren.
We need to cultivate more the simple affection for the blessed Lord Jesus.
Because as time goes on.
You and I are going to know more about this because it's about him and if he's captured our hearts, we can't get enough of him.
If you were, I were going to a far country.
To visit for the first time, we're going to want to know about that place and we're going to do some research. We're going to learn about it. Well, we're going to the glory. We can learn about that, but the glory is nothing. Heaven is nothing without the Lord.
All those streets of gold and everything, they're nothing.
Because he's there, that's why it's heaven. And so we have the opportunity to learn here for him. Now, just in closing, I'm going to read the brother gave out the last him.
When we close the meeting.
Was #174.
And I really appreciated it. And I was thinking of verse two. 174 verse 2 Jesus, thou art enough the mind and heart to fill.
By patient life, to calm the soul, by love, it's fear dispel.
That's Mary. The heart was filled.
Verse 3.
Oh, fix our earnest gaze so holy Lord, on thee, that with thy beauty occupied, we elsewhere none may see. That's why in Bartimaeus he got the sight, He got to see him on the earth. You and I all get to see him in the glory, whom not having seen we, you can finish the verse.
So may we, and I'm sorry I'm over, may we?
Have a heart.
That we can say to the blessed Lord Rabona.
Gospel 1
Gospel—John Kemp
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.
We are.
Going to have a gospel meeting tonight and we welcome everyone to it, young or old, whoever you might be.
God has a message for you tonight and all we are.
Are instruments or channels some of us not very good but.
We trust that the gospel message will be clear and plain and that souls will be saved. We're going to open by singing number.
Just a minute here, there's life and a look at the Crucified 1.
Yeah, it's #26.
There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, Sinner, look unto him, and be saved unto him who is nailed to the tree #26 Some brotherhood started.
Here is my.
Christmas, if I was there, is life at this moment for being.
And understand her love. Understand.
Unto him who was there until the dream.
There is light in the world and the currency by one. There is life that is small and for thee.
We are being right in stripes whatsoever to the world.
And.
He is our right jumps and snakes.
00:05:46
If I won, there is life that there's no land for me.
I have a little tract here.
That I use many times in my gospel work.
I've had.
So many opportunities to speak to young people through this tract. I don't know if you know the background of it or not. I happen to be very familiar with that. The title of the tract, The rest of his time, that's a scriptural expression from the Book of Peter.
And the track takes up the subject of how long.
Is the rest of your time.
No one here can give an answer to that question.
For the young man in the track that I am holding his name, Jeff Highland, the rest of his time was very short, just one day.
And his father and mother.
Berwick, Highland and Helen as they looked at their sun, gasping for breaths in the Ottawa Hospital.
They knew that the time was short for Jeff and before the sunset he had passed from time into eternity. Thank God he went to be with the Lord where he has been since 1980.
I knew Berwick very well. He was, he was a gifted gospel preacher and he sat down and he wrote this tract.
In the context of the loss of his son, as I say, it's opened up many doors.
Opportunities to speak to young people as I've given them this tract and said to them, remember.
You have no lease on your life you may have on your house.
But your life is in the hand of the Lord, and you don't know how long you have in this world to prepare for eternity.
And I also say, remember that Berwick didn't send his son out to die. He said goodbye Jeff in the morning.
He got on his motorcycle in Smith Falls and he made his way to work, but he never arrived.
Hit hit broadside a car and the handlebars went into his body and he was rushed to the hospital but.
He never rallied. He never recovered.
And I say to the young people, remember that Berwick didn't send his son out to die.
He expected to see him that night for supper.
He saw him in the hospital struggling for his life.
But I want to tell you, young people and everyone here, that God purposely sent out his Son to die for you, the dearest object of heaven, Heaven's beloved 1.
Your Creator, the Sustainer of the universe, the God in whose hand your breath is, is interested in your salvation.
00:10:04
Jeff is gone. We know where he's gone. We have the assurance that he was absent from the body present with the Lord. But I say to them, remember.
You have no promise of tomorrow.
I come from Ottawa, the capital of Canada.
And.
We've had the opportunity to spread the gospel in that city time and again.
I can remember having a hobby class in the western part of Ottawa.
Many years ago now.
And it started with about three or four children, but it grew to nearly 100, I guess 75 to 100. And they were from a pretty rough background, French Canadians, not that I have any objection to that, but they were from.
Tough backgrounds and it was it was difficult to get them to listen to the gospel.
But we, by the grace of God, we conducted the classes week after week. And I can remember a little girl, she might have been 10 years of age, She was very severely handicapped. She had crutches. I don't know what the problem was, but she couldn't walk normally. But that little girl every.
Monday night that we had the class.
She hobbled into the meeting room. There she did her painting and she listened to the gospel. I can still see her, her face lighting up as she heard the message of God's love and grace. She was very poor. You might you might say rather an ignorant person, what you know. She listened all her family came to the.
Hobby class, but I can remember her in particular.
One December night.
Called below 0 and I know the house where the family lived. I used to visit around the community and go door to door with invitations and I know where they live.
But.
In the one December night, dark night, I think it was late in the evening.
A part of oil.
Spilled over the oven and the hot plate and in a short time the house was an inferno.
The fire department did everything they could to save people. It was a large family. Everyone in that family, including this little girl that I mentioned, was ushered into eternity that night. I think one boy got out.
But she, that little girl, and all those in the family, they had heard the gospel of the grace of God. I don't know how many were saved. I'm hoping.
That I'll meet that little girl in the glory.
I'd rather think that she had put her faith in the Lord Jesus and all this simplicity of her understanding.
But tonight, dear friends, we want to give you a warning, but also we want to show you the way of escape from a lost eternity. God gives a warning, He warned in the days of Noah, 120 years.
And God gives a way of escape from that judgment.
That is hanging over your head if you are unsaved here tonight.
Judgment is hanging over your head.
The storm of judgment is going to break upon this world.
Very soon we feel the Lord is going to give the shout and ransom into the glory. All those who are saved. Will you be among the number?
The rest of your time it may be very short.
00:15:03
Last weekend.
In Ottawa.
About a week ago.
Yeah, about a week ago today.
A great storm passed through the capital.
Trees were uprooted, branches were everywhere. Bees on the roads, they were blocked. Live wires were dangling around.
Thankfully.
And I live, we didn't have any damage, but four or five people went into eternity as a result of that storm.
Trees falling upon them and so on.
They thought that they were safe. They were confident that all would be well. But they're gone and.
God gives warnings of judgment because.
He's a savior God. The heart of God longs to bless you tonight.
The water of life is flowing out from the heart of God to you. You know God didn't need to be reconciled to you. We needed to be reconciled to God. The idea that God was against the Sinner is is a false is a misconception from a past eternity, the heart of God.
Yearned for the blessing of man.
The reconciliation is on our part is not being reconciled with God as if there was some sort of compromise, reconciled to God through the work of the Lord Jesus. All that enmity, that hatred that was in the heart has been overcome by the love of God reaching out.
To sinners.
And we have believed that love, and we've closed in with the offer of mercy South. God gives the message tonight to you, to whosoever.
Be reconciled to God, not by your good works, not by turning over a new leaf, it'll get just as dirty as the other one, but by repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
How simple. I want to point you tonight to that man of Calvary.
The One who gave everything that love could give, He gave his life. There on the cross. He suffered the awful judgment of God. Stroke upon stroke from a holy sin, hating God came down upon the head of his beloved Son.
There was that awful cry that we remember.
And we speak of on Lord's Day morning. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
There was no answer to that question because Christ was the sacrifice. He must bear the judgment for your sins, my friend, and tonight He is offering you a full and a free salvation.
He is not asking you to do something to make yourself better so that God will have mercy upon you. Reverently speaking, the Lord Jesus is not praying to God that He will be merciful to you, that the heart of God is reaching out to you tonight, the water of life.
Is offered the last invitation.
In the word of God, in the Book of Revelation, whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely. How wonderful that God is offering salvation at such a cost.
His own beloved son.
And now He invites you to come. An invitation from the heart of God to whosoever, regardless of your background or how you have lived. God knows all about your life's history. You don't need to tell Him that He is. Your life is an open book before God tonight.
00:20:17
Every thought and every word and every deed is recorded in the books up there, and if you die unsaved, those books will be opened and you'll be judged according to your works. Revelation, chapter 20.
How terrible that that that a size will be when an unsaved man or woman or boy or girl stands naked before the Great White Throne. No blood to cleanse your sins then, my friend.
No mercy offered, no second chance.
The knocking will go on for eternity, but tonight is the night that the Lord wants you to be saved and to become a companion of the Lord Jesus for all eternity. How wonderful. What have you? What do you lose by accepting Christ as your Savior?
People talk about I'm going to lose my friends and I may lose my job and so on, but the only thing you lose is your sins and you're glad to be rid of them. What do you gain? Eternal life, forgiveness, a home in heaven, the companionship of the Lord Jesus in the wilderness scene, how wonderful salvation is.
I've been thinking.
In my meditation.
About a passage that I just want to speak on briefly. Shall we turn to Acts chapter 16?
I'm not going to.
Speak on the whole chapter, but I'm going to make a few remarks. The Lord's help.
You know if I put a title to chapter 16 of Acts?
You know what I would the word that I would use.
It's a big word, and maybe the boys and girls might have a problem understanding it, but I'll try to explain it. The word that I would use to describe Acts 16 is emancipation. That's a big word. What does it mean?
Well, it means simply to be delivered from someone who has you in *******.
You're emancipated.
Brother Robert spoke of the slave, and if you're unsaved, you're a slave to your lusts. You're in the service of the enemy. He's a strong man and he's armed with all the entertainments of this century.
To keep you.
Asleep, unawakened to your need of a savior. And he has all sorts of attractions for the natural man. Not not all are immoral. There's lots of that out there, but there's.
Other other.
Attractions, we might say. Education, Music.
Sports.
If we can get your heart occupied with those things, he's a strongman armed with all the pleasures of this world to keep his goods in peace. If you're unsaved, you're part of those goods.
But the Lord Jesus is stronger, and he defeated the enemy.
You know Satan thought that he got his greatest victory when he put Christ on the cross.
Behind the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was every power of hell and Satan arrayed against the Lord at that time. Think of the Garden of Gethsemane when, in anticipation of the hours of darkness when he would be forsaken of God, He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood.
That was not the atoning sufferings of the Lord.
But it was the anticipation of being forsaken of the one of His of God.
00:25:09
With whom he had had uninterrupted communion from a past eternity. There wasn't a moment when there was any breach of fellowship between God and His Son.
The baptism of John, Baptism by John. The heavens were opened, and we hear the voice of God. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And the mode of transfiguration. We have the same word. There he was in all his effulgence, His glory.
With shining garments. A millennial picture, really there the Lord Jesus was.
And the Father opened the heavens, and they gave his.
Approval expressed His delight in His beloved Son. Every step of the Lord's pathway emitted a fragrance to the heart of God. But at the cross there was no voice from heaven. There was no shining garments.
There was.
No answer to his cry. Why?
Because God.
Was dealing with sin.
In those hours of darkness.
Our sins in all their terror there God's wrath and Satans power.
Christ was becoming the sacrifice for you, bearing the judgment for those filthy sins that you and I have done, which were ashamed to admit, but God knows all about them. But in love, some people say, confess your sins and come to God. I can't do that. I'm sorry.
My sins were so many, like the hairs of my head.
Many I've forgotten, so I can't do that. But I know this, brethren and friends, that when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, God took that heavy load of my sins.
There I was in that awful, horrible pit, going down to a lost eternity with my sins indifferent to my need. And the Lord Jesus went down into that pit, and he bore the judgment for those sins that I had committed. Every one of them was placed upon his blessed head.
And then God from heaven he brought down the.
The sword of judgment upon his son, he stroke upon stroke.
As God's wrath awoke, there we have the the redemption that was purchased by the precious blood of Christ. The Lord endured those three hours of darkness.
Communion broken, not relationship. Communion broken in those hours.
We often say he wasn't forsaken of the Father.
That is true, but you want to be careful there. He did not. The Lord Jesus, reverently speaking, really did not have the enjoyment of that relationship in the hours of darkness, because He was the sacrifice. He was the sin offering. He was the Lamb of God. He was pouring out His.
Life blood for the salvation of sinners like you and me.
We who would spit in his face, We who turned our back upon the Son of God. He prayed for his murderers. And tonight he is a man in the glory, as we've been reminded. But he's still the same. He's still reaching out. His arms are wide open to receive.
A Sinner like you and me.
Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely.
00:30:01
Years ago in the City of London.
There was a an outbreak of cholera. That's a dreadful disease. It's common in India and it carries away hundreds of people. If it gets into a slum area of Calcutta, for instance, where they don't, they don't even have wood to boil water and cholera can just sweep through.
An area and take hundreds into eternity. Well, anyway, in 1854 there was an outbreak of cholera in the Soho district of London.
I used to live in London for several years. London, England.
When I was teaching school and.
Soho is a very famous entertainment area of the city, rich people who have lots of money to waste. And this cholera epidemic broke out and I suppose hundreds were being ushered into eternity. There was a doctor, his name was John Snow. He said there must be some reason that this is happening.
The doctors didn't have any solution to the problem. They they had some ideas.
That perhaps it was.
Fumes coming from polluted water or something, but they really didn't have an answer to the problem.
But John Stoll, he said, I'm going, I'm going to get to the bottom of this. And he interviewed the families where there had been deaths and he did a lot of research on the whole, the whole subject of cholera, and he found out.
In every case that where there was death, they had been using water from a well in that area. Long handle on the well but.
Everyone, every family that had a fatality, a lost, a dead son or daughter, whatever, they all had used that water from that well and so he solved the problem.
He said, you see, in those days the slaughterhouses were all there on the Bank of the Thames, Thames and animals were being killed and the Thames was like an open sewer and they were throwing dead carcasses and everything. This is where the water came from. So it was polluted undoubtedly. And those.
That was the only source they had of of water which they thought was clean.
But it was polluted, contaminated, so he said, he said now you cap that well.
Stop it.
Put a lock on it that it will not be used again.
Immediately.
The number of cases of cholera dropped.
He had found the cause of the terrible malady. Well, I want you to know, dear friends, that the heart of God is reaching out the water of life that the Lord Jesus is offering. Like the woman of Samaria. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into life everlasting. In Acts Chapter 16 we have three classes, but we're not going to have time to speak very much on each section of the chapter.
At the beginning, here we have the story of Paul meeting Lydia. Let us read a few verses here there came.
Then came me to Derby and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple. Oh, just a minute.
Or going down the chapter a little more here.
I'm going down to verse.
Eight and they passing by Messia came down to troll as and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
00:35:04
You know, this is the first entrance of the gospel into Europe. Lydia was not really a European. She was from Thyatira. She was from Asia. But you know, Lydia was a hungry soul. She wanted to have emancipation. She was earnest, an earnest seeker.
She was a seller of purple and I'm sure she kept her business in good order.
But she wanted to be at the prayer meeting. There was number synagogue in Philippi. So a few women gathered by the Riverside as we read here. From thence, verse 12, they went to Philippi, chief city of that part of Macedonia. On the Sabbath. We went out of the city by a Riverside where prayer was won't to be made. And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Well, that seemed.
Be a very.
Inauspicious way of the Gospel entering the continent of Europe.
There was no great campaign.
Paul had the vision that someone was in need over there. He took the journey.
By ship and it it went over the Aegean Sea in about two days. God gave him a a good wind and he arrived there. But where's the man?
He and Silas didn't see the man at all. So what did they do? They went where they knew. There was some women where that would be at a prayer meeting, wasn't it? That's the way the gospel entered Europe and Paul the Apostle, the greatest evangelist since the Lord, lived.
Sat down in a very informal way.
And he spoke to the women, and as we read here, a certain woman, verse 14, named Lydia, seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. My, what a wonderful revelation to Lydia. She was an earnest soul.
She was looking for light. Walking up to the light she had.
But she really didn't have peace in her heart and soul about her eternal salvation. But she was a quickened soul, like Cornelius in chapter 10, like the Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8. She was a prepared heart and the Lord had a prepared message for her, just as He has for you tonight. So they sat down and spoke to Lydia and the women.
And the Lord opened her heart, and that day was the most wonderful day in the life of Lydia, because she found peace with God. She opened her heart and she opened her house to the servants of the Lord, and she was brought into the enjoyment of the full salvation that the Lord Jesus had provided.
And she, I guess, was the first convert in Europe. But the work spread, and the second class was this poor demoniac woman here who came to pass for 16. When we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with the spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying, of course.
Satan always tries to spoil the work of the Lord. Wherever the Spirit of God is working, be assured Satan is working too. And so here imitation. What she said was the truth. She didn't speak about Christ. But you know, Paul had a lot of patience. This went on for many days, but.
He he knew that the source of this.
This statement was from the enemy, and he wasn't going to allow the devil, Satan to mix himself up with the work. And so he commanded that that evil spirit come out of that girl. And it came out that same hour and of course there was an upheaval. Her masters who made a lot of money.
00:40:07
Using her her demoniac powers. They were incensed.
They were hostile to the gospel and you know the story. They dragged Paul and Silas.
Through the marketplace, beat them with with rods and then deliver them to that brutal jailer, a hardened Sinner if ever there was one, that took delight in taking Paul and Silas and putting them into that dungeon and those dungeons there, they were awful places under the Roman, Roman cruelty.
Damp and dark, and there Paul and Silas with their backs bleeding. There they were, in stocks, that awful, uncomfortable position in the dungeon, in the darkness.
Paul might have said, Lord, you told me to come over here, but here I am. What good am I here with my back bleeding and my feet in the stalks?
Here what? What good are we doing? But God's purposes will ripen fast and God had a purpose There time is going. God had a purpose. He wanted to reach that hardened Sinner with the gospel and at midnight.
Paul and Silas prayed first of all, prayed, and then they sang praises. The prisoners heard them.
Never before had those walls heard the notes of praise and Thanksgiving and prayer. They had heard curses and blasphemies. But here were two men.
Praying and praising God. Then God sent the earthquake. In fact, I think there was two earthquakes that night. That earthquake shook that prison to its very foundation.
The doors flew open, the chains fell from the prisoners hands and legs and the and the jailer, that brutal man.
He realized what had happened, and I don't think it was the earthquake that really touched his conscience. But in the middle of the night, in the darkness, he heard these words.
We read here.
Orchestrated by Paul and Silas.
Let's read it.
Down in the chapter here, read verse 25 at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, signing praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. This is their their position as holy priests. They were offering up spiritual sacrifices to the Lord, but now we're going to see their work as royal priests. What do they say here?
Verse 27 and the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep.
And seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Well, that was the that was well known in the Roman military system. If a jailer let go of the prisoners, his life was forfeited. So he didn't have the courage to meet the authorities. So he said, I'm going to put an end to it. And he raised his sword. He was on the very brink of eternal judgment and woe. He was just on the precipice and Satan was.
Behind them, ready to push them over into a lost eternity. And he heard those tender, loving words. He didn't know where they came from.
Sounded out in the prison. Do thyself no harm.
Brought them out and said Sir is what read verse.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling.
And fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Well, there was an earthquake, moral earthquake, in the soul of that jailer. And he heard those tender words, even though he had been.
00:45:08
So brutal, unkind, cruel to Paul and Silas. There he was hearing a message of grace, the grace of God.
Was reaching that poor darkened soul, that healing man. The grace of God is like a golden chain from the bosom of God down to the depths of man's degradation and ruin, and back to the glory. And he heard the voice and.
He was convicted trembling. How little we see of people trembling today like Felix trembled as.
The apostle, as the apostle Paul, spoke of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. He trembled, but he said, go thy way for this time when I have convenient season I will call thee. This man was trembling under conviction, but he heard a message of pardon and forgiveness. What must I do to be saved? That's the first reaction in a person when they're convicted.
What must I do to be saved? But my friends, God is not asking you to do anything.
He's done all the work for you. I'm going to tell a little story in closing.
I often think of it. William Tweedy was a good living man, as we would say. He lived in the Perth area, not 60 miles from where I live. This is many years ago and he was a religious man, attending church and a moral man and so on. He had good works to his credit, but he didn't have peace with God.
He felt there was something missing. All his works, his sacraments, his ceremonies and so on. It didn't give peace to his troubled heart.
And he was earnest. He was plowing out in the field, in the.
In the hot sun, in the summertime, and still that burden was there. I don't have peace with God. I'm a religious person, yes, but I don't know that my sins are forgiven.
The sweat was pouring off his forehead. He said I've got to have a rest. So he hitched the horses up there, and he sat down by the fence for a little rest in the afternoon. Beside him was a sack of grain.
Well, that's common in in that area, but there was a hole in that sack and someone had taken a little piece of paper.
And folded it up and put it in the hole so that the grain would not flow out. So he had nothing to do. He pulled out the paper and he opened it up. And here it was a verse from the word of God. Romans chapter 4. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 4, he was ready to jump with joy. He said this is just what I needed. I was trying to make myself acceptable to God and it was a complete failure. But I see to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. You know that verse. I want to just turn to it in closing because I want to get the exact words.
Chapter 4 of the Romans, I guess we're familiar with it.
Yes, verse five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So as we draw our meeting to a close, dear friend, I want you to know that the heart of God is yearning for your blessing tonight. And remember if you go out of this room unsaved.
You.
Do not go out the same way that you came in. You've heard the gospel, though it may be feebly presented. You've heard the way of salvation from sin and judgment and hell, the realities of a lost eternity. You've heard the message. Therefore, you are responsible, you are accountable to God, and the gospel is for you. God so loved the world.
00:50:05
His heart reaches out to every poor Sinner in this in this globe. I've had the privilege of preaching the gospel in India many times and I've seen.
Souls that were in the pit of corruption brought to Christ and delivered from the ******* of sin and Satan. So tonight we we just entreat you.
As it may be your last opportunity, we entreat you to bow the knee.
To that Blessed One who gave his life for you to acknowledge that you are a Sinner.
Guilty, lost, ruined in misery.
And look to the Lamb of God.
We sang that hymn. There's life in the look at the crucified one. There's life at this moment for thee by a time. I tell you the story behind that hymn, but the time is gone.
That was written by a lady.
Amelia Hall, but I don't have time to describe the whole story. She was from a very wealthy family. Her father was the captain.
Of the military.
Highly respected soldier, but he was without Christ. He said to Amelia, don't you go to that gospel hall again. She had gone there and she had been convicted. She had a hunger in her heart for the gospel and she went again. He said, remember, if you go to that place again and bring back.
This nonsense into my house.
You see that horse whip there? I'm going to use it on you. And he meant what he said.
Well, this didn't. This didn't stop Amelia from going and hearing the glad tidings and she went and she heard the message and her heart was opened like Lydia and she was saved and she came home and told her father. Of course he flew into a rage and he said.
Amelia, you're my daughter. I'm not going to have this in my home. You go up to your room.
And you think seriously during the night about this matter and you come down in the morning and you tell me what your decision is. Remember, there's the horse whip in the library and I'm going to use it on you so.
Amelia understood very well it wasn't, it wasn't a threat, so she went up to her room.
And she didn't have a very good night's rest. She was in prayer, much in prayer for her dear Father, and burdened and weeping. But she wrote to him that we sang tonight.
There is life in a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. Next morning she came down. Her father met her at the foot of the stairs and he said, what is your decision?
And she passed him that him that we have just sung. She passed him to him. He read it. He sank down in his chair. This, this mighty military commander.
He sank down in his chair and he repented of his sins, and he accepted Christ. Captain Hall was for many years gathered with us among the brethren and preached the gospel all over s s England was much used in the Lord. That's how he was saved. May the Lord bless His word. Do forgive me for prolonging the the.
Meeting longer than I should have. Shall we have? We'll sing a just A1 stanza and then we'll have a word of prayer.
Well, maybe we could sing.
The first stanza of #36 or do not let the word depart. Some brother would start it, please.
And the chorus.
Maybe you don't know the tune for it.
00:55:04
I know what to import but.
Depart and close, and I again the light.
Horse Sinner.
Hard enough.
I would be saved. Why not denying?
Goodnight.
My heart, goodnight.
You're what? She said. Why not?
Tonight.
All Things Work Together for Good
Children—Joseph Hayhoe
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.
You know who's the Sunday school meeting for?
Is it?
This row of big guys here.
Yeah, maybe a little. The Sunday school meeting is a special meeting because it's for the children. Sometimes we call it a children's meeting. I think that's what it's called on the schedule card. So it's special.
OK, here's another question.
Who's the children's meeting about?
It's for the children. Who is it about?
Yes, thanks. And then who do you think it's about? Who do we talk about in Sunday School? Miracle Titus takes a lot of Sunday school here in Pella, Right. Who's Uncle Titus always talking about when he gets up and talks in Sunday School? You know, That's right. Good answer, Landon. Thank you. So the Sunday school children's meeting is for the children.
We talk about the Lord Jesus. It's about the Lord Jesus. We can talk about the Lord Jesus.
And tell the little children about the Lord Jesus. OK, well, we're going to sing some songs here this morning.
And this is a little bit different than me back home. This is where a final conference and we have these little hint sheets, OK? And a lot of the Sunday school songs are on the back.
I was talking to the number, but right, he said, OK, you got it right. OK. So a lot of the Sunday school songs that we have on the sheet here on the back. But if you have a favorite that you know that you would like to give out, that you like to sing, my guess is because there's not so many, you might be able to pick one or two. You can pick that one too, OK? It doesn't have to be one from the back of the sheet. It can be any number that you you would give up normally when you go to Sunday school back home, OK.
All right, so who has a song that they would like to sing?
OK, you can go ahead. And what was that? Daniel, Daniel. Daniel was a man of prayer. All right, let's start with that one. OK? I think we all know that one fairly well.
Daniel was a man of prayer. He'll be praying great heart till one day breakdowns and down and down on the blood.
Harm him. David was a brave young lad. The lie of could not stare him.
Even though the giant.
Sword and shield to save them from abroad.
When this slain me, then did it bring?
The giant down before him.
OK, good singing. Thank you, Easton, for giving out that one. Now, if you're a child and you'd like to come up to the front and you just came in a little while ago, please feel free to come on up. We have some more seats here.
And we have some questions that we're going to be asking and maybe a little Sunday school illustration that will be easier to see and take part if you want to sit up at the front. But you don't, you don't have to. So who else here are the children would like to give out a song? Elaine, I saw your hand out last time. What number would you like? Do you have a favorite picture?
Number two, OK #2 is a little child.
Of seven or even 3 or 4? Is that the one you meant? OK, we'll sing that one. Thank you.
A little child of seven.
Or even 3 or 4.
May enter into heaven through Christ, the open door Lord, when the heartbeat leave.
00:05:09
On Christ's Son of God.
Salvation through his love.
OK. Thank you, Elena.
Who else would that result like? I saw a couple of hands before.
Ethan, what one would you like to sing? What's your favorite?
OK. Do you have a favorite, Another favorite? Maybe this morning because I don't know how many people know that one.
What's another one you like to sing?
Jesus loves me. OK, thank you. All right, let's see. Is that one in the back here? I think it is. It's the first one in the back. So it's #40 OK, let's think Jesus loves me.
And.
Let's see.
For the, let's do the for the 1St.
And the last verse, let's see if we can do the actions on the chorus. OK, Do you guys know the actions?
Yes. No, you don't know Easton. OK, I'll do it for you. OK. It's nice to learn to do the action sometimes with some Sunday school songs, Right it goes. Yes.
Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me, and then you do it again. Yes, Jesus, point to your palms, your hands loves me, and you go like this, the Bible tells.
Me so OK, so we'll sing the whole song and we'll do those actions after the chorus for the 1St and the last verse, OK.
Jesus.
I know for the Bible tells me so let's go on to him become they are we are beginning strong.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me, he who died.
And landscape 2:00 and 1:00.
He will wash away my sin.
Let a little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me, yes.
Jesus loves me. He has. Jesus loves me.
Who tells me so?
Jesus loves me.
Oh I'm mad and he was to make me fun way soon for me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, he comes from sleep. The Bible tells me so. Last person.
Jesus loves me and He will stay close beside me.
All the way.
If I trust him, should I die?
He will Take Me Home online.
Yes, you just love me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yeah.
00:10:01
The Bible tells me so.
OK, good singing, good job with the actions too. That's a wonderful Sunday school song that many of us have learned from when we're your age or even younger. Jesus loves me. OK, we have some time for a few more songs. Landon, did you have a song that you'd like to give out? Maybe?
It can be a favorite that you know by heart, or it can be one in the back. Which one?
We'll do #1 All right, Number one on the sheet that's almost persuaded.
Almost persuaded.
Now to believe.
Believe.
Almost.
Some souls will say.
Go thy way.
Some more can be done.
Persuaded.
Come on.
Almost persuaded.
Turn on the way.
Jesus.
Invite you here.
Let's hear his voice so clear.
Now all the hard I hear.
You know Lynn, and that's an interesting song. Is is almost enough.
What do you think if you go and enter into a race and you really want to win that race and if you win you get a big prize?
And you run really hard, and you run really hard, and you come in 2nd and you almost win it. It was really close. Maybe you're just behind the first winner. Is that enough? Almost. Do you still get the prize? Easton's shaking his head. No, you're right, almost is not enough. We're at work. We sell a gospel tract and it says almost, but lost.
So that song is about a man. He was a king.
King Agrippa and he got told the gospel, the story of the Lord Jesus, and it almost convinced him.
But he said, oh, maybe some other day it wasn't enough. That's not the way the Lord Jesus is towards us. Thankfully, when we sing about how the Lord Jesus loves us, we don't sing. He almost loves me. No, no, he definitely completely loves me all the way and he's more than enough.
OK. All right. Thank you for giving out some songs. Would any other children, maybe not in the front row, have a song that they'd like to sing this morning to give out?
About you, Lucas. Do you have a favorite? No, not this morning. That's OK.
Does Isaac have a favorite? No. You're not sure that's OK.
Lillian's looking at her songbook, but maybe we'll come back to her. How about you guys up here in the front? Or maybe Jacqueline? Does Jacqueline have a favorite?
OK. Thank you, Jacqueline. That's a good one. In the house and out of doors. I'm going to turn to it here.
So I can remember.
The verses.
OK, we can sing the whole whole song here in the house and out of doors, in the house and out of doors. Scrubbing pots and sweeping floors, washing, ironing, mending to These are things that I can do. I'll do it all.
I'll do it all for Jesus.
00:15:19
Chores.
These are things that I can do. I'll do it all.
Jesus.
I'll do it all for Jesus.
I'll do it all for Jesus.
Lord is coming very soon.
In the school room through the week. Keep me, Lord, both your and me.
Doing less things need lead to.
Our daughter even see help me through. I'll do it all for Jesus.
I'll do it all for Jesus.
I'll do it all for Jesus.
Lord is coming very soon.
OK, good singing. I could hear some of you kids up here in the front row singing. That's good.
Would anyone else have a song that they like to sing? We have time for maybe one more.
Yes, Clay.
All right. Thank you, Clay. Let's sing running over. OK, I'm going to put my songbooks down for that one.
You guys know running over you can put your song books down too, so we can do the actions. OK running.
Over. Since the Lord saved me, I'm as happy as can be.
My principle and grinding over.
OK.
You know when we sing songs, whether it's in our room before we go to bed or in the front row at Sunday school, or after we eat supper with the family and we're having a reading together. It's not only happy for us, it's happy for the Lord Jesus, too. He loves it when little children sing songs about Him and about how much He loves them.
OK.
So it's time to say our verse, if we have one memorized for the for the week.
We would like to go ahead and say their verse. You can raise your hand if you like. Ethan, you want to say your verse?
All right, go ahead. All things, all things work together, work together.
For good, forget.
To them, to them that love God, that love God.
882828 OK, thank you. All right, you seen you want to see your verse, go ahead.
All things, all things work together for.
Them don't love God, Remember it's found.
Thanked for Romans, Romans 828. Good job, Easton. Very good job seeing your verse. Thank you. All right, anyone else like to see the verse landing you want? Go ahead. Alright, go ahead.
All things work together for good then.
To them love to them that love God.
Did you do the whole thing?
To them.
That are that are the call the card according according to his purpose to his purpose.
Romans. Romans 8/28/28 Thank you, Landon. Good job. All right, Elena, go ahead. Put your hand, all things.
Work together.
Nice and loud 4 good OK to them that love God.
Romans 820-8828. OK, thank you. All right, that's the first for this week. Good job.
00:20:03
Anyone else like to stand up and say the verse or or in your seat? Don't be shy.
Anyone else? That's OK All right, good job saying the verse. So the verse is found in the book of Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. All right, so let's.
Turn there real quick and I'm going to read the verse of the entirety, and then we're going to have a little object lesson about the verse that we remember that the children memorized for the week. OK, Romans chapter 8, verse 28. I'm going to read it.
Starts and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
OK. And that was a good job trying to remember the verse. It's good to memorize the verse for each week or one or two or whatever, maybe a few more when we get older. It's good to have God's Word in our hearts. So we're going to talk a little bit about some of the words in that verse. But first we're going to have a little object lesson, OK? And if you like, I certainly hope if you like, you can help me, OK?
So I brought something with me here today.
I'm going to turn it around. It doesn't look very nice on that side, but it gets better.
All right.
I wrote the top of the verse reference there. Can any of you children tell me what you think that looks like?
A bit wobbly of an easel, but we're good here. OK, what does that look like? Any ideas? You can raise your hand if you think you know. Easton, What does it look like to you?
Look funny.
What's that?
An animal? Well, maybe it could be.
One of my children thought it looked a little bit like the neck of a giraffe because it might be have some spots on it. When I was a kid, I still liked them. Actually. I really enjoyed doing puzzles. Do you think that you guys could help me do a puzzle here this morning as an object lesson for the verse? OK, All right. Well, good. I have some treats for those that those that help and for the kids here. We'll, we'll get to those at the end maybe.
For those that are helpers with me here this morning, but I brought in here a box. OK, now that up there is a puzzle and we're going to take a look and see if we can figure out the puzzle and see what it can teach us about the verse that we memorized for the week. All things work together for good. It's especially that first part of the verse that the puzzles going to help us out with understanding.
And we'll talk a little bit about some of the words in the verse after that, OK?
So Eastern you look ready and eager to go. You can help me I have here.
Let's see if we can get going on this puzzle here.
Let's just mix them up here.
All right.
That's good. That'll do it.
OK, So what I need you to do, Easton, if you'd like to help, is you can pick out one of those. Anyone you'd like. All right, just pick out one for now, Ethan. OK, all right, now pick one out landed.
Pick one out, Elena. All right. Good job now.
There's a couple of different ones. They're a little bit further down in the box here. We'll put that down for now.
Each of these puzzle pieces has either one of two colors on it, OK, either has blue or it has red. And the ones that have red have a little bit of blue on them too. And that's OK. But the way we're going to do this puzzle and the way we're going to learn about the verse is that the verse says all things work together for good to them that love God. OK, remember that. So if your puzzle piece has blue on it.
Before I'm going to let you go up, we're going to actually take this down here. I'll do it now.
We'll put it back up so everyone can see but what we're going to do now is we're going to we're going to lay it on the floor so you can do the puzzle OK children, we're going to put it right here They don't step on it too much here. We'll turn it this way so you can see there we go there's your puzzle okay so before.
You can go and figure out where your puzzle piece that you picked out goes on the puzzle.
We're going to do something if your puzzle piece has blue on it.
00:25:03
All blue or mostly blue, You're going to try to think. You can close your eyes if you need to, think hard, and you're going to tell me something.
That is happy or good that has happened in your life. The verse says all things work together for good. All things. And if it has red, you guys all have blue pieces there. So we'll start out with that. There's just a few of you here this morning. And if you're shy and you realize that you do want to do a puzzle, you can come up too if you're sitting in the back row. And you can help us out too and pick out a puzzle piece if you would like.
So if it's blue, I'll put, I'll give you the microphone and you can, you can think hard and you can think what's something.
Happy.
That has happened to you in your life. OK. And I think because of the lack of children, we will get to some adults too, because I think there's about 15 or so pieces. And if it's red, I want you to close your eyes and think about something that's been hard in your life that you found difficult. Not something that you did that was naughty necessarily. Something that happened in your life that was that was hard. It was hard. It could be something as simple as I stubbed my toe.
In the morning when I got out of bed and it hurt.
Or it could be something like my daddy got really sick last month and he couldn't play with me as much or something like that. OK, so that's how it's going to work. So let's get started. We'll do a few pieces here. We have we have some time here. OK, so let's start. Let's start with Elena here and go that way. Elena, you have a blue piece. OK, so in a minute here, you can get down and you can try to go in the puzzle and you can see see where the lines are. You have a you have.
Puzzle piece is very unique, so you should be able to figure out where it goes and I'll help you tape it on. OK once you figure it out. All right, Elena, what's something that has happened in your life? The verse says all things work together for good. What's something that's happy?
That's happened to you?
Can you think of something?
Did you get to visit your grandma?
A couple days ago. Was that a happy thing? OK, All right. We'll use that one. OK. And you say visited Grandma?
Grandma. Yeah. OK. All right, so you can get down and you can go to the puzzle and you can put your piece on. OK. And I'll. I'll help you there. All right, Landon, you're next. You can go ahead. Elena. Once you once you once you think you know where it goes, you let me know and I'll tape it on. OK. You can put it down and see where you think it goes. OK. Maybe we can get your older brother to help you in a minute here.
All right, Landon, what's something happy that's happened to you recently that you thought was happy?
You know, do you need a minute? All right, we'll come back to you. That's OK. Easton, what's something that's happy that you've enjoyed that happened to you recently, you know?
Sitting with Andy. That's a good one. OK, Good job. All right, You were in that one. That's a really good thing. All right, you can go ahead, Easton, and you can go and figure. Try to figure out. You can even get your dad to help you if you want. You can try to see where that piece, puzzle piece goes on the puzzle. OK, Look at the shapes.
All right, Ethan, what's something that's happy that's happened to you?
Ah, paper, Paper. OK. Did you get to go with Daddy to a park recently? Was that fun? Yes. Was it happy? OK, All right. Good job. That can be your puzzle piece. Park with Daddy. So why don't you go and you can show your sister Lana. Go and see if you can figure out where it goes. OK. All right, Landon, do you think of something happy? All right, go for it.
Daddy and me went to the fish. They went to. Oh, you saw some fish. Oh, that's so fun. OK, All right. It's fun to do things with our daddies, OK.
All right, you can go ahead and try to figure out where your puzzle piece goes, Landon. Okay, Etho's found where his goes. Good job. All right, Ethan, you want to help your sister Elena, too. Would anyone else like to come and pick a pick a puzzle piece? We have just a few children here, so if you're a little bit older.
Come on up. Good job, guys. OK. All right. You've you've got you've got some. Where does it belong? OK, All right. So shaped like this. Have you ever heard of in puzzles? There's corner pieces. Where do you think it goes, Landon? Is that a corner piece?
Good job. OK, They found it good. What do you think, Easton? How's your puzzle piece going?
There's a big box here for anyone who would like to come up. OK. You think it goes there, Easton? No. How about if we flip it over? Flip it over?
00:30:00
See where it goes there. Try there. What goes there? Hey there. That fits perfectly. Good job. All right, that's something good that you got to go sit with Andy. That's the puzzle piece. Good job. All right, guys. Now, if you'd like, you can pick out another piece. OK.
We'll pick out another one.
Good. All right, Easton, you want to pick out another one?
All right, good. So Ethan, the one that you picked has red on it. OK. Can you think of something in your life that was hard? That's happened? What did you find hard?
Not sure. I'll come back to you. You, Landon picked out a blue one, and so did Easton, and you and Elena picked out red ones. So, OK, I'm going to go ahead and change it up. So we're going to do one for John. John picks. Oh, John has red. OK, All right.
We're going to do one for you and then Tim's, let's not forget the Tim's, all right? They got one. OK, All right, we'll get to you guys in a minute there.
Good job.
Now, the offer still stands. There's still a few pieces for any other children. If not, I'm just going to pass them out to some of the adults here in a minute. All right, Easton, so before you put your piece on, can you think of another thing? You got another blue one so you can. Can you think of another thing that was happy that you really enjoyed?
No, not right now. That's OK. Why don't you, We'll we'll come back to that. Why don't, why don't you try to figure out where that piece goes to?
All right. Good try. I think it goes close to where.
Your other piece went there. You keep looking. OK, I'll get someone to come along and help you in a minute here. All right, who do we got over here, John? All right, John has. Okay, John has one. I'm going to hold it up, John. John has one that's half blue and half red.
I did that a little bit on purpose. This one might be a little bit trickier to answer because sometimes in our life we have things that happen that they're happy and sad.
There's something that might be good, but it might be hard to go through too, or it can be confusing. All right, so that's a little bit more challenging. 1 So, John, can you think of a time in your life that was maybe a little bit happy and sad and give us an example. Moving to a different school. That's a good one. OK. So there can be some good things that would come out of moving to a different school.
But it also might be hard too, because you lose some friendships or it gets a little bit different. All right, thanks, John. John can go ahead and see if he can figure out where his puzzle piece goes. All right. And what's your name? I thought I knew that. Sorry, Isaiah. All right, Isaiah, you have one that's the similar red and blue. So can you think? Same question for you. Can you think of something?
Bittersweet memories. Bittersweet memories. OK, all right, up you go. All right, Tim, something blue. You all happy? I got to have breakfast with my friend Phil Jennings. That's okay. Wow, man, I wish I had gone to have breakfast. My friend Phil Jennings. All right, good job, Tim. Breakfast with Phil Jennings. Puzzle piece. Good job, Tim. I got to, I got to go to a Bible conference. Bible conference teleconference. That's a good one. OK, Tim's going to go figure out where his puzzle piece is. We're making progress.
He says they help you out. OK, wow, the puzzle's looking really good here.
So a verse says all things work together for good.
Job Easton. Do you want to try to do one more Easton?
Here, that one has blue and red. OK, I'll do an example for Ethan. You want to do one more? Landon? You want to do one more? OK, You guys can see if you can finish the puzzle. But it gets easier. The thing about puzzles is it gets easier as it goes along. Not all things in life work that way. Good job. See if you can figure it out. Elena, where do you think your piece goes?
So Landon put in another one that was red and blue and.
You know, when we what do you think, Houston? That's good. I think it goes there. You got it right. You get it there. Good job.
Perfect.
Good job. OK, Elena, do you think you know where your piece goes?
Right there you want to try to put it on.
Daddy help you, Easton can help you.
Put it on Perlina. We were leaving to come to this conference. All right, good job. You guys can go sit down. Thanks for your help. Good. We finished the puzzle. Wow. All right, Ethan. Thanks. OK, and go sit down.
All right, for Landon's piece there that was half red and half blue.
We're leaving for conference and my wife had done a very excellent job the morning before of packing everything all right, ready to go because we were going to go visit her grandma, who was in a nursing home and recovering from a fall she was excited about.
00:35:08
And.
We got up early in the morning and got the kids in the car and we were all feeling ahead of schedule. And it was a good feeling. I'm sure some are familiar with where you feel like you're ahead of schedule. And we got about 2025 minutes down the road and my wife was driving and I looked over to her and I said we need to go back. We need to turn around and go all the way back. I'm thankful that it wasn't two hours down the road. I had forgotten my wallet right by the door on the inside of the door there. I'd forgotten it.
Now.
Why do I say that? We had to go all the way back and we immediately lost the feeling of being ahead because we lost a significant chunk of time, but it was OK. We still made it in good time. But why do I say that one in particular? I was going to tape it here, but I think that would have taken too long for our time. But let's see if I can.
The puzzle says a word.
Can any of your children read Landon? Can you read? You can read, right? Do you know what that puzzle says? If I hold it up too high, it's going to.
God could try. God would be 10. This one has two. I'll give you a hint. A There you go. You got it on the second track. Good job. All right. It says good. All right, I can't put it back up on the easel because it'll slide all over the place. But the children did a good job. We'll put it. We'll put it over here.
For now.
In that example that I gave where we had to go all the way back, it doesn't seem good, does it? That doesn't seem like a good thing. We had to turn around. We had to drive back. Especially with the price of gas these days, there's not much good that that seemed like happening. But you know, there's things that we don't know, OK.
Our verse said.
All things work together for good to them that love God. So I'm going to ask you a question, children. Who really knows what's good?
Do we? What was that? Ethan here, Can you say that again?
Oh, that's a good answer.
You know, sometimes we think we know what's good and what's bad, and we might to a certain extent.
But the verse says all things work together for good. We don't know the whole picture. Something about a puzzle is you don't really know what it's going to be like until you put it all together at the end. Our lives work a little bit like that, children. It looks nice, doesn't it? Now at the end you can read the word and it looks like it goes all together.
Maybe.
If I hadn't forgotten my keys, maybe we had gotten into a car accident and God had me forget my keys so that we could go back. We don't know.
But what we do know is what the verse says this morning. It's a promise that God has given to us. There are things that are hard in our lives.
Things that seem difficult.
Right. John had a good example where going to a new school, you know, it might seem hard or difficult at the time, but we don't know exactly what the full picture looks like in the end. But the Bible tells us another promise about how.
Our latter end or our final end? God is working for, blessing for good. So the answer to the question who knows what's really good?
Truly good. Ethan was right, he said. The Lord Jesus does, and the Lord Jesus does know what's truly good for us.
And the puzzle can be a helpful illustration because, let's say boys and girls, things are things that are hard aren't fun, right? At least not in the moment they're not. So if we decide what's good for us and we did our own thing.
Do you think that you take that red out? Let's just skip to all the blue stuff. Let's just have a whole blue thing there. Would the puzzle be complete? Would it look right? Would it say good anymore? No, it wouldn't. If it were up to us, we would choose things that maybe God wouldn't, and we need to trust Him because all things work together for good.
Now.
We have a few minutes left.
The verse doesn't end there.
It says all things work together for good and we can trust God that he's working, whether it's a hard thing or a fun thing, a happy thing like sitting with Andy or getting to have a breakfast with our friend Phil Jennings.
00:40:05
He knows what's really good for us. But the verse goes on to say to them that love God.
Who's that?
Have you ever asked yourself, Landon, I love God? Do you think you love God? That's good. That's a good answer. How can we know that we love God? You know, a good answer that I found helpful is thinking about how much the Lord Jesus loves me. If you know in your heart that God loves you.
You're going to want to please him if you know that you've asked the Lord Jesus to come into your heart.
To wash away your sin, the naughty things that we do and that he's taking care of your sin and you've asked him into your heart, you're going to want to please Him and do right things. And in John chapter 14 verse 15, it says if we love God, we will keep His commandments.
So when we read our verse this morning that says to them that love God and you're thinking, do I love God? You know, if you have the Lord Jesus in your heart and you know that God loves you and you want to please him, you love God. That's the answer.
We love God when we keep His commandments, when we want to do the things that please Him, because we have the Lord Jesus in his heart and we can. All right, a couple other things.
The end of the verse says to them who are the called according to his purpose. So there's a couple of phrases in their children that you might not be used to the called.
Who are the called? You know, there's a Sunday school song. We didn't sing it this morning, but the Sunday school song says hear Christ calling, come unto me. It's a bit of a different calling, but he's calling each one of us to come to him.
And.
And if we hear the Lord Jesus calling us and we ask him to come into our heart, we become part of the called. We always were. He's the we're the called. And then there's according to His purpose. Do you guys know what that means?
To them that love God, all things work together for good for us according to his purpose. God's purpose. How many of you, however, heard someone say, or maybe you've said it yourself, you did that on purpose.
Have you ever said that, Easton? Have you ever said that you did that on purpose? No, you haven't. Have you ever heard your dad say it?
Maybe. I know I've I've said it. That's an expression we use sometimes. You did that on purpose. If someone did something on purpose, does that mean that they meant to do it?
Yeah, right, Landon, If you do something on purpose, if you go and you help your mom out with the garden.
Even when she didn't ask you to do it and you do it on purpose, does that mean you meant to do it? Yeah, you meant to do it. That was good. We're called according to his purpose.
God wants our good. He wants to bless us. Why? Because it's according to His purpose. He means to do it because He loves us.
According to his purpose.
So when we think about this first, children, we had a small lesson this morning from a puzzle, and you could describe it as a puzzle of our life in Romans 828 in the verse that you learned. Sometimes we don't always see it, but we have things that come along in our life that maybe they don't make much sense, They're confusing. Does God mean it for us to go through that for our good?
Yes, he does.
Sometimes something happens in our life where we go to a Bible conference, like what Tim said, and it's really nice. It's a happy time, it's for our good. And maybe the harder one, those red pieces, Sometimes God has us go through things, go through things that are hard. Maybe we hurt our arm, or maybe we can't go to conference because we're not feeling well.
God means it all for our good, so we can learn.
Just as when we put the puzzle together, it says good. So when you think of things that God has you go through in your life, always remember that He wants to bless you and it's for your good. And that applies to those of us that love Him because we know how much He loves us.
History of the Recovery of the Truth
Address—Steve Stewart
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.
We start our meeting this afternoon with him. 100 and 65165.
And all the church.
Will be on the door deep.
'S relationship, what I'm saying why it goes and glory.
My baby we shall breakthrough.
Them all and join our heavenly.
Program.
We see by the world.
And may we have the word?
From.
The last two hours.
I love the Lord.
Trust, with the Lord's help, maybe something that's kind of.
Little bit.
Under the normal I'd like to take up, but trust with the Lords help take it up in a way that beatifying. I'd like to trace a little history of the recovery of the truth and the early 1800s which truth we enjoy. I asked a question one time years ago and similar meeting.
00:05:11
Why are you here? Why are you here?
A lot of answers might come up and maybe with some of the youngest. Well, mom and dad brought me.
Maybe somebody else while my girlfriend was going to be here and maybe others. Well, I really wanted to be here under the sound of the word and enjoy the fellowship of the Saints. And might be many reasons, but that's not the question. The question is why are you here? How did it come about that there was a meeting in Pella that would host the conference?
How did all of that come about?
That's the question, why are you here?
Why is this even exist? Why are you here?
You're here because of a work of the Spirit of God many years ago, and I would like to go back and look a little at that. But two things are a little necessary. A brief outline of the history of the church, and we're going to also have some of the history of the instruments that God used.
And the recovery of the truth that we know and enjoy.
Revelation chapter 2.
We have beautifully presented to us.
Yesterday.
First love, Mary Magdalene and Revelation 2 The first Church of the seven churches that are addressed is Ephesus, and the Lord has to say that they had left their first love. And verse 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because I was left thy first love. And so that was the beginning of the downward.
Spiral of the Church's history in this.
Earth, that they had departed from a place where Christ was the complete object of their hearts, eclipsing every other object.
They had works, they had those things that could be commanded, but they had left their first love. And the Lord speaks to them and tells them that they had fallen. It's a fallen church. And he tells them to repent.
He tells them to repent or that he would come and remove that Candlestick of testimony out of its place. Take the word quickly out of that verse doesn't belong there. He's not quick to those things, but he will remove that Candlestick if there isn't repentance. And so that church Ephesus would picture to us the early days of the church's history, perhaps just at the end of the apostles lives on it to those that follow them.
Those that say well we should go back to the early church fathers that were just after the apostles read their writings, get a good understanding of church order and how things should be done and what they understood. Well I read Clement Epistle to the Corinthians and who sat at the feet of the Apostle Paul and then seeking to bring before them the truth of the resurrection. He speaks of the phoenix.
And how when the phoenix bird dies.
There's a worm that comes out of its body and it's carried to the Temple of the Sun in Egypt, and there it's laid in the Temple of the Sun and it hatches out a new beautiful bird picture of resurrection. It's a mythological, fantastical creature. You're not going to get the truth of God from the early church fathers, Not at all, Mr. Darby said someone asked him if he read them. He said I quit.
You won't get it.
And that's a period of time.
That emphasis takes up and left their first love and there is decline. The Lord allowed persecution for around 200, two, 150 years to come in in the next church in that Smyrna and there's no call to repent there, but just to endure just to be faithful unto death and so they suffered persecution. It says here 10 days. There were ten really great persecutions outlined in history.
That take us up to the time.
Of an emperor of Rome named Constantine.
Constantine turned the tides on those series of horrible persecutions, and he made Christianity the religion of the empire.
00:10:06
He.
Went and he gathered in those who had been outcasts and persecuted and rejected in the days of the idolatry of the Empire, and he honored them. He gathered them in. He kissed their severed limbs that they had lost.
And those persecution their empty eye sockets.
He embraced them, he welcomed them, he gave them the idolatrous temples, and all of those things he emptied.
Sent the idolatrous pre scurrying, and so on, and he elevated those poor persecuted sufferers to places of prominence and eminence.
And that's Pergamus. But there was a danger. There was a marriage there between Christianity and the world that took place in those days. There were tremendous church councils that took place discussing the doctrines as to the person of Christ in his work. And we get that as we come down to verse 13. I know thy works.
Where thou dwelleth, Stephen, where Satan's seed is. Because the higher you get in the authorities of this world, the closer you're going to get to Satan's seat.
He's the Prince in power of the air. The higher you get and every authority in this world, the closer you come to Satan's seat where he dwells.
But they had held fast His name, had not denied his faith, and there were still those who suffered for the truths of the Person of Christ and His work from professing Christians.
Not that he's in the world. And so he speaks of Antipas, his faithful Marty, who was slain among you. Who was slain among you.
Well, because of the consequence of them being put into places of prominence and the teaching of the early Church Fathers that said obey your Bishop, obey your Bishop, obey your Bishop.
The whole hierarchy of what became Catholicism developed.
And as.
Confusion as to the doctrines of salvation came in, things begin to spiral downward, and the gospel of salvation by works became prominent.
Salvation that required baptism.
And so on. And the next church we come to as Thyatira. And that's really the full blown.
Result of the papal system, Catholicism. The Church took the place of being the teacher instead of being taught, but it was really the hierarchy that was called the Church.
And pictured in this woman in verse 20, Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess to speak for God.
All dangerous to have. A Bible will teach you what you need to know. And what did she teach? She taught the servants of God to commit fornication, worldly interactions, and to bow down to idols because the idolatry that had been overthrown in the Pergamus days came sweeping back in.
And blended with Christianity and it became a thoroughly idolatrous system with all its images and icons and on and on. Brother was telling me recently of taking a picture of a bronze statue of Saint Peter over in the Vatican in Italy. And the toes are missing from so many people kissing the feet of that image over the year the toes have been worn off.
The Lord.
Speaks to each of the churches to repent, but he comes here and says I gave her space to repent and she would not repent.
And Judgment is threatened. He's going to destroy her and kill her children with death. And then he marks out for the first time a Remnant.
Verse 24 But unto you I say unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
00:15:09
His coming is held out as the remedy rather than repentance and up to this point.
As you look at each church, you find that there is.
A. After the address to the church there is.
This expression, look at it in verse seven. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And then he says and gives in a word of encouragement to those who would overcome that condition of things in that particular church. But in Thyatira he changes it instead of having an ear to hear. And then a word to the overcomer.
Having an ear to hear with the expectation that in the church there would be an ear to hear.
And steady changes it. And he has a word to the overcomer. And then he says.
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. In other words, there is no expectation that there's going to be an ear to hear in the Church, but it will only be among the overcomers, among the remnant.
That church continues on, the 1St 3 have ended, but Thyatira continues on to the end.
And the Lord speaks of the judgment that is going to come upon it. Well, we know what happened. Because of the oppressions and horrors of Catholicism and the wicked doctrines, the Spirit of God began to work.
And that wonderful dawning of the Reformation took place. There were bright lights in those days. Almost. Really, we might save Martin Luther's work. It was practically an Apostolic work, as it was just an incredible upheaval.
In the Christian world and the wonderful truth that salvation is by grace alone and by faith was recovered, among other things.
But much of what they had had in Catholicism they carried with them out of it and held on to it. And after those bright lights were gone and with the Lord, things began to wind down again, and soon it was practically a gospel of salvation by works once again, and just dead outward deadness with a few.
Faithful ones amongst them. And that's what we have with Sardis. It's not the Reformation.
It's Protestantism. It's when the political entities of Europe.
Use the Reformation to throw off the yoke of Rome that had dominated them so long, and it became very convenient to be Protestant, to get rid of the chains of Rome. And they protested against the Catholic Church, became Protestant.
But the Lord has to say to them, Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain and are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before Gone. They were letting go the great truths that had been recovered in the Reformation. They were slipping away.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If thou therefore shall not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy and word to the overcomer.
And then the appeal for hearing EAR.
Among the overcomers.
There were those who sought to get back to the doctrines that had been taught by the great reformers that were burdened with the condition of the Church at that time. But those two great features remain before the world to this day. Christianity divided into those two great camps, Catholicism and Protestantism, and that's what the world sees to this day.
They continue to the end, when God will bring the professing church into judgment in the great tribulation.
00:20:03
But there were those who sought to try and get back and to as they looked at all the empty profession, they wanted to get back to what they would call true religion, reality.
Not just a profession.
Of those were a company called Puritans.
Puritans. You know those from history books, right? I want to read you something. Pardon me.
I'll just make this comment.
For those who hold reformed theology. Covenant theology today.
Now that dispensational truth has been recovered, rejecting that truth might well go back and listen to these words of one of their own great leaders, a man named John Robinson, who is chief in gathering the Puritans together who would board the Mayflower and cross to the New World to escape the persecution they were receiving.
From the Church of England and the established national Churches, and as he addressed them in a farewell address that, by the way, lasted all day.
Better part of the day, I'm going to give you a few little sentences from it.
But they might well listen to these words of His farewell speech to those pilgrims, if God reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His.
Be as ready to receive it as ever you were ready to receive any truth by my ministry, for I am barely persuaded the Lord has yet more truth to break forth out of His Holy Word.
For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the Reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of the Reformation. The Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things.
This is a misery much to be lamented, for though they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole council of God, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received. I beseech you, remember, it is an article of your Church covenant that you be ready to receive.
Whatever truth shall be made known to you.
From the written word of God.
207 years later.
God gave relief to His people.
And the wonderful outpouring of that truth that John Robinson felt had not yet been.
Recovered to the Church of God.
And applause. At this point, I want to read the verse.
I just don't want to go overtime.
I've got to 1/4 after right trying to remember James.
Chapter 5.
Verse 7.
James 57. Be patient therefore, brethren.
Unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and half long patience for it, until he received the early and the latter rain.
In Deuteronomy we find that God promised Israel if they would obey, he would give them not only the early reigns, but the latter rains. And if you've ever had a garden, and we used to be drought prone in our area of New York, Southern Tier, and we would get nice rains up through into June. And then after that you watered your garden in July and August because you didn't get any more.
And old brother Bill Malardi used to work for the Farm Bureau in Northern Tier, Pennsylvania.
And he was responsible for administering loans to farmers. And he said there are so many miserable failures because of the droughts over the years.
You need the latter rain if you're going to have a garden. You need the latter rain if you're going to get fruit.
00:25:00
And if we could draw an analogy from this might say those early days of Pentecost, those wonderful days, were like that early rain.
Firm gone.
And just as in Israel's history.
Those wonderful bright days when they entered into the land.
Jehovah remembered them as he looked back when they were first espoused to him, as it were.
Was like the early rain, but as time went on and they declined, they ended up being cast out of that promised land.
Where God gave relief and then the days as a rubble, He recovered a little remnant back to Jerusalem. Why? Why?
The king was coming.
He would have those there.
Ready to receive Messiah when he came. The simians, the ****.
Zacharias Elizabeth. He would have them there, ready to receive the king.
You know, as the truth of God was lost to the Church of God, the truth of what the church really was, it's hope, it's calling, the truth of the Lord's coming was lost to the Saints of God, as there any moment hope.
Why did God give a recovery of the truth in the 1800s? Because he wanted a people here, He wanted that here which would represent his bride, his body when he came back for his Saints, Mr. Darby said. I, when he saw the truth of the unity of the body of Christ and what it was, I looked around at the the established churches, the national churches, the dissenting churches, those who dissented.
From what the national churches were going on, he said. I didn't see that unity anywhere, nothing that represented.
The bride of Christ and this earth.
And then Isaiah and I-1 in verse nine we read, except the Lord had given to us a small room that we've been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And so he gave. In the days of Ezra, Nehemiah, Latter Rain, he recovered a little remnant to Jerusalem. And in the days of the church's history in the 1800s, that truth of which John Robinson spoke was recovered to the Church of God, that he might have a people waiting.
For him.
That represented his bride, his body here in this earth.
You are part of that today.
It is an immense privilege.
I don't know how.
To adequately convey it to you.
And I know you have to be taught by God.
For it to become the reality that God would want it to be in your soul.
Let's turn back to Ezra.
A third chapter.
We're going to come back to Revelation in a moment.
Ezra, Chapter one.
Verse one Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his Kingdom, but it also in writing sang.
Down to verse three. Who is there among you of all his people? As God be with him, let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the House of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God which is in.
Jerusalem, verse 5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, and all them.
Whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the House of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem.
00:30:02
I'm back to Revelation chapter 3.
We come to Philadelphia and Laodicea, so he said before the world are those two great features of Christianity, Catholicism, Protestantism, but the next two churches are things that God sees, that the Lord sees, characters of things that come out of Sardis.
What is really remarkable about that little remnant going back to Jerusalem is they came out of the Kingdom of Persia. They had gone into captivity under Babylon.
And you remember when Nebuchadnezzar made that great image?
And he brought everybody in and he said you're going to bow to that image or you're going to die.
And they bowed. Except for three. That's another story.
They were compelled.
To worship. That's Catholicism.
But when we get to the book of Esther under the Kingdom of Persia and we see King Ahazi, whereas he makes a great feast.
Invites them all in.
And it says of the vessels that they drank out, they're all diverse from one another. And none did compel. That's Protestantism. You don't like this flavor, Go get another flavor. You don't like this church, you're unhappy, it thinks you go start another church. None did compel. All the vessels were different. That little remnant came out of really what had been Babylon. And.
Persia.
5 Tyra and Sardis.
There are characters of things that God sees.
And.
When we look at, let's just look at a few things, the Church of Philadelphia, and to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, these things saith He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openness.
I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. But thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and has not denied my name.
Key of David.
The Kingdom is going to rest upon his shoulder coming day.
And he is the one alone, able to change and make governmental authorities favorable to what he wanted to do. And he did.
And Zerubbabel's day, he made Cyrus favorable, favorable to the return of that little company.
And the Lord worked in the days of the recovery of the truth of God, and generally, wherever it spread, He allowed the governmental authorities to be favorable.
To allow its spread. And he did far more than that. He really moved whole nations. Whole nations.
You know, as as time went on and from the 1600s where we read about John Robinson and his farewell address to the Pilgrims, there was something that took place in Christianity called the First Great Awakening in the early 1700s. Great preachers, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield.
Remarkable to read accounts of those men thoroughly reformed in their doctrine.
Wesley's they preached. Many others preached.
Many were saved.
There were wealthy widows in England who used their estates that they had gotten from their husbands who had passed away, and they just funded the servants of the Lord in a wonderful way. And that gospel spread, and that empire of which it is set upon, which the sun never sat, because it was so spread around the globe, the preachers of the gospel went out from England.
Around this world God was feathering the nest for the recovery of the truth, and at the same time, in those places in Europe where they had not embraced the Gospel, France being one of them, they descended into deeper and darker turmoil and as men felt the oppression.
00:35:23
Of the royal houses of Europe, and especially in France, they longed to throw it off.
And the poor became poorer and the misery was horrible, but because.
Of the gospel being received in England and its territories, there was a reduction among the population.
Of drunkenness and other vices. The people became more productive, they had money to spend, and the economy flourished. And in France it went right down.
And the oppression became so horrible, they finally murdered their own king and his family. And those who were called the Enlightenment teachers of France preached that there was no such thing as God ordained authority in this world, it needed to be all overthrown. And they incited the people. And they said the only thing that's going to rectify these oppressions is to let terror.
Reign in France. And it did.
And the guillotine devoured its victims until there was none left to devour.
And after the royal family was gone, the ruling authorities that were left in shambles in France trying to repel those oppressions got a young military officer from Italy. And they told him they're expecting a rebellion in France. And they said, you go put that down. He says, I won't unless I have the free reign to do whatever I want to do. I said, you got it. He lined the cannon up at the top of the streets and Paris, where he thought they were coming. And.
They did, and he fired grape shot and mowed them down. His name was Napoleon.
And within less than 20 years, he was putting the crown of the Empire of Europe on his own head.
And the world wandered after the beast, if I can borrow the term from Revelation.
And men's minds begin to work as to prophetic things and what was coming on this earth.
And there was a great stir as to prophetic truth in the end of the 1700s. The American colonies had descended.
Because of embracing the Enlightenment thinkers in France and their godlessness into a period of moral darkness and spiritual darkness that wouldn't be revived until the Second Great Awakening.
In New York City.
A man came there named John Darby.
He married a young girl.
Named Ann Vaughn.
Her father.
Was wealthy sugar plantation owner in Philadelphia.
He was friends of George Washington. He helped Benjamin Franklin negotiate the peace treaty between the new colonies, newly formed United States and England. They got married in New York City.
1784.
16 years later John Nelson Darby was born. His uncle, Henry Destaire Darby fought under Lord Admiral Nelson in the Battle of the Nile, and they were quite pleased to have Lord Admiral Nelson be there at the christening of their child stood in as his godfather, and so they gave him the middle name Nelson.
His mother because of health, Perhaps she died, we don't know for sure.
He was early bereft of his mother.
He went to a young age to Dublin, Roland Trinity College and Dublin graduated by the time he was 18 with high honors.
Was heading to be a probably would have been extremely prominent lawyer, but he was a believer and he was convicted in his heart that he could not use his talents.
Sell his talents to overthrow justice.
And he saw, as he said himself, that the church as a whole was largely ungrateful to Christ for all he had done for it. And he longed to devote himself to the service of the Lord. And he took up to become an Anglican minister and he was assigned to a County Wicklow in Ireland, where he served the Lord, I think around from age 18.
00:40:19
Around 7-8 years.
In 1826.
John Ballot, who was his dear friend.
Said Mr. John Darby received a shock to his mind which he never recovered from.
Where he was laboring among the poor Irish, there were conversions of the Irish Catholics to Protestantism at a rate of about 800 a week.
And the consequence was as there was a rising persecution against the Anglican ministers.
In that area.
And the Archbishop of Dublin appealed to the King of England for protection for the ministers of the Anglican Church. And at the same time he sent out letters insisting that all of the new converts, the Irish Catholics that had converted, pledge allegiance to the King of England. He appealed to the King of England as head of the Church.
And insisted while he couldn't insist an Irishman.
Pledges his allegiance to the King of England. It doesn't work and immediately the work stopped.
The conversion stopped.
And that was the shock that John Bellett says he received to his mind and never recovered and were thankfully never recovered from it. At age 26, he wrote a letter to Archbishop McGee in Dublin. And it's a long letter you can look at. It's the first article in the collected writings. What were you doing at 26, I asked myself.
I read that letter.
26.
He writes a letter to the Archbishop of Dublin. He says, ought not the ministers of Christ to suffer for Christ? Why would we appeal to an earthly sovereign and not Christ himself and who is the head of the Church?
Is it really an earthly sovereign? Is it not Christ? And what is His Church? Is it not those who are His?
He writes in the footnote that article. He says This is the first germing of the truth in my soul.
But you know, he was a man who did not have peace in his soul. He did not know the deliverance.
Of the end of Romans 7 and chapter 8. And he struggled in seeking to be accepted by God. He looked back in those days that I preached the gospel, I had no business preaching the gospel.
And he had labored under that long. He said it was good to fast for a day. Well, if it's good to fast for a day, then why not too? If it's good for two, why not three, maybe five? To the point where he would go and ask his his Bishop or the one that was over him, is it OK to partake of the sacraments on Sunday because I'm fasting? And he began to just waste away. It was feared that he might die.
Continued his labours incessantly.
Still among the poor Irish Catholics, but God intervened.
And as we had this morning, all things work together for good.
And he was on a horse passing through an entranceway and a horse threw him against the side of that doorway and he was severely injured and he had to stop his labours. It probably saved his life.
And he was laid up.
And in that time alone with the Lord and the Word, he began to read, he said, I saw that my place in Scripture was the forgiven place. Not just that I could go for forgiveness, It was the forgiven place that my place before God was Christ's place before God.
That I was accepted in Christ before God, and then I was seated there in heavenly places.
In Christ and the purposes of God and that I have nothing more to do, and consequently nothing more to wait for, than the coming of the Lord.
And he began to see that that's what all the Saints were. They were all there in that place and all united to Christ in that place and united to one another by the Holy Spirit. He saw the truth of what the Church of God was. He saw the truth of deliverance, and he other things begin to unfold to him. He was reading in Isaiah 32A, King shall reign.
00:45:26
Righteousness and the effect of righteousness as we get at the end of that chapter, quietness and assurance forever. And he said, I saw there was an economy of God that had not yet unfolded in this world. And he saw the future earthly Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ established in power and glory in this earth. He saw then the distinction between the hopes of Israel.
And the hopes of the church.
He saw the distinction between the Church being a heavenly people and a heavenly company, and Israel being God's earthly people, fulfilling His earthly purpose. But he saw one grand, wonderful truth in Ephesians 110, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together and learn all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Him. And he saw that as the great key.
To unlocking the Word of God.
That Christ was the center of all that God was doing, and God intended to glorify Himself in His beloved Son.
In heaven and earth.
And John Robinson's expectation?
Was beginning to unfold.
All in the year 1827 while he was laid up first in bed and finally on crutches till the end of the year.
And as a consequence of those truths and many other that I'm not naming, there's almost nothing we hold that he didn't have, at least in its kernel in that year. It's remarkable, just so remarkable. It was the work of the Spirit of God. It couldn't have been anything else.
And there were others that were exercised about things in those days.
That he was acquainted with John Bellitt, young man who was going to be a doctor, Edward Cronin, a brother named Hutchinson and Mr. Darby suggested.
Let's meet together to remember the Lord in his death, just as members of His body.
Next Lord's Day, just depending on the Lord and the Spirit of God to undertake for us. In late 1827, those four met.
And for the first time.
And many.
In so many years.
There was that on this earth.
In collective assembly, though, on a remnant character that represented his body and his bride in this world, do you get discouraged when there's not many numbers? There's just 4. You think that was a bunch of old men got together? They were all in their 20s, maybe Hutchinson in his 30s. They were young men.
We get certain things that we conceive in our minds. Sometimes I think in actual historical facts. Dispel them.
Soon that work spread. They needed more room. There were more that were gathered. The Spirit of God was working incredibly.
They just found souls prepared everywhere to receive that truth, and that little company moved from Hutchinson's house to auction house they rented in Andrew St. in Dublin.
I found it very precious. They would go on Saturday night and clean up after the auction houses business was done and they would set the table up in the middle of the room, arrange the chairs, they put a loaf on the table and the and they'd go home for the night because they wanted to come into the Lord's presence in the morning. We had that verse before us and when the hour was come, he sat down.
And the 12 apostles with him, they had a sense that they were coming into the Lord's presence.
They laid claim on that verse, where two or three are gathered together unto my name. There am I in the midst of them. It wasn't.
00:50:08
A dissatisfaction with the existing systems or rebellion work. It was just seeking to act on the truths that the Spirit of God was unfolding to their souls.
And trust and dependence on the Lord.
Soon Mr. Darby moved England. The work began to grow more and more. But you know, Satan has his counterfeits.
And in those expectations and stirrings as to prophetic things.
And as to looking around and seeing the low condition of the church in this world, there were groups of people.
Track societies and so on.
Professing Christian, Some believe or some not.
That we're meeting together. Kelly gives a very interesting account of this in the Bible treasury. And they were convinced that the Spirit of God was long gone from this earth. Spirit of God was no longer here.
And they were praying for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God.
Earnest prayers that the Spirit of God would be sent once again, like the Day of Pentecost, and there would be a wonderful Pentecostal revival. And they prayed. They prayed for power.
Is one thing you don't want to ask for over and over again, and that's power. There's two sources in this world. One's from God and the others from Satan. And in those meetings, suddenly people began to stand up here and there.
And give prophetic utterances. Yes, the Spirit of God is going to be poured out again. It's going to be a wonderful time. There's going to be a revival of all the gifts and on and on. And there was a Scottish clergyman named Edward Irving and he latched onto that. And there were those in his congregation that claimed to have.
Apostolic gifts, gifts of tongues, on and on.
He himself didn't claim it. He was quite taken with those that did, and he started a church called the Catholic Apostolic Church and he began to teach that Christ had a sinful fallen nature. And so coupled with those claims came evil doctrines as to the person of Christ. Satan was busy with his counterfeits. The truth had been recovered of the what the Church was.
The fact that the church is the habitation of God by the Spirit, the fact that he had fully fitted and furnished his church with gifts to meet the needs of his members and how those gifts would function and in their order and so on. And Satan was busy and said, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we got gifts, boy, we got them.
And came in with what became the forerunner of the modern Pentecostal movement.
Around that time, there were some who laid hold of parts of the teaching that had been recovered, and especially millennial hopes, you might say the truth of the Rapture. One was named William Miller Baptist Preacher, United States.
Fixed a date 1844 that the Lord would come. His followers all sold everything they had, went out to particular place to meet him. Interesting how many of these things came out of New York.
And they met him and waited for the Lord, and the Lord didn't come.
And they've given up their businesses, sold their belongings.
Some of them took the verse, except he'd become as little children. You shall not enter into the Kingdom of God. And they started rolling around on the ground and jumping up and down, acting like children. It was called the great disappointment.
It was Satan's counterfeit. Out of the great disappointment of prophetess arose named Ellen White, and we have the 7th Day Adventism. Out of 7th Day Adventism in its millennial aspirations came Jehovah's Witness. The Mormons came on the scene. All counterfeits to the work of God.
Let's just hope I'm not wandering. Let's turn over to Matthew, chapter 25. I just want to.
Look at the parable.
00:55:01
In Matthew 25 of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins.
Matthew 25 One then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. And they that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, while the bridegroom carried, they all slumbered and slept. And so that pictures to us that decline that we've outlined of the Church of God.
Downward, downward, downward, having lost the hope.
Of the coming of the Lord.
Asleep as to it.
And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold the bridegroom, behold the bridegroom, go ye out to meet him. And that midnight cry went out in 1827, and it reverberated through all the professing Christianity. There isn't one truth of all the recovered truth that is more affected professing Christianity and world today than the truth of the any moment expect.
Of the Lord's return. And I think that's remarkable because, you know, that was why he gave that letter in He wanted to wake up the Saints, to be ready to receive him. That's one of the reasons.
Well, those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil.
For our lamps are gone out with, the wise answered, saying not so, lest there be not enough for us and you.
But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us.
But he answered and said, Verily I say to you, I know you not.
What is this flurry of activity picture to us? What are they doing? What is all the activity around? It's around getting oil. What is oil? A picture to us, You know, it's a picture to us of the Spirit of God, the power of the Spirit of God. This tremendous flurry of activity that took place around the time of that midnight cry and connection with gifts of the Spirit of God and their manifestation. And it was.
Absolute confusion.
It was Satan's counterfeit.
Scurrying around.
To get it. Have you received the gift of the Spirit? Comes the question. I did when I was saved. I don't need it again from you. Thank you.
Well, we have just a few minutes left. Let's go back to Ezra again. I'm just going to point out a few little things.
And this chapter, I guess, could really be a meeting in itself.
Verse chapter 3. When the 7th month was come, the children of Israel and the cities and the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then stood up Joshua the son of Jose back and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shaltiel and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings. Aaron, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
And they set the altar upon his basis, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles and on down.
To verse seven they gave money also unto the Masons, and to the carpenters, and meat, and drink, and oil to them aside, and into them of tire, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon.
From the sea of Joppa, according to the grant they had of Cyrus, king of Persia. There's a beautiful little picture in here in connection with the recovered truth the the burnt offering. The offer was to bring his burnt offering lay his hand on the head of that offering would be accepted before for him. The very first thing that came home to Mr. Darby was soul was this place in Christ and that full acceptance and the deliverance that he had in Christ.
The burnt offering I'm accepted in the beloved and then we finally gathered at the 7th month the 7th month began with the feast of trumpets reminds us of the truth of the rapture. If I can draw an application minds us of the truth of the rapture. That midnight cry went out the feast of trumpets. They set the altar on its basis so contrary to Edward Irving and his evil doctrine and others have followed in his steps they.
01:00:03
As to the truth of the doctrine of the person of Christ, they weren't going to allow that altar to touch the earth. They didn't allow that the truth of the person of Christ and his work to be dragged through the mud. They upheld those truths.
And there was really a return to scriptural worship as to what it truly was.
They.
Have Joshua the son of Josiak priests, Zerubbabel, the governor. They saw the truth that all believers were in the priesthood. They saw the truth that there needed to be order in the assembly and that God had provided like the governor, the governor and the priest. There's those things that are supplied to the Masons and those who are building. That speaks to us, speaks to us of the thought of understanding the gifts.
And their place and building up and forwarding on the the assembly to meet the needs of each member, each gift in its place, each gift with its service. And in the end we find they come to this place where they their praises go up together, all bringing to the point of worship worship. They that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth, in hearts illuminated by the.
Truth of God.
And in the very end we find there were those that wept and those that shouted for joy.
You know, to see these things for the first time, it was just a shout of joy for me in my heart. Time went on and I realized more and more with the ruin of the church really was.
And so there's a place for both the shouting and the weeping.
With you know, God looks on to another day when the church will be with him in his glory.
No spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing, but how precious though so few in them to be here gathered on the ground, that there is one body, that which represents His bride and this world.
Be it ever so few, and to hold fast that which has been committed to our trust, he says to Philadelphia. You've kept my word, have not denied.
My name.
Well, may the Lord help us.
Hebrews 2:11-18
Reading
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.
288.
O thou who?
Great day, Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
My brother Robert and I had a little talk and.
We just submit this to our brethren, but I hadn't thought we really had completed chapter 2 and.
Both of us were of the mind of going on into chapter 3, but of course we submit that suggestion to our brethren as Hebrews we're talking about.
It deals so much with the high priestly work of Christ in this book of Hebrews, and I didn't think we got very far along that line, but.
What is the mind of the brethren?
Pick up around verse 11, maybe of chapter 2.
Yes.
How far would you say to read down into chapter 3?
What was that verse 6?
Yeah.
Chapter 2. Verse 11.
00:05:00
For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again I will put my trust in him. And again behold I and the children which God hath given me.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. For verily He took not on him the nature of angels, but He took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things that behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.
To make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. Chapter 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and high Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory.
Than Moses.
Inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man. But he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of things which were to be spoken after. But Christ as Son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end?
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today, if you will hear his voice.
Harden not your hearts.
As in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your father's tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. 40 years.
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said they do all way air in their heart and they have not known my ways.
I forgot Alpha, we're going to go. Thanks.
The 11Th verse here. I've always found it a little difficult to understand the oneness that is referred here. It's called oneness in kind. Certainly not the oneness in the body of Christ, nor is it the nor is it the oneness in the family of God, but.
We are sanctified and the word, the use of the word sanctification in Hebrews is always in the positional, absolute sense. So we were sanctified, set apart through the work of Christ, no doubt.
They who are sanctified are all of one, and as mentioned, we are part of that new creation race.
That has been formed because of the death of Christ, the resurrection, and the impartation of a divine life nature when the Lord breathed on them the Holy Spirit.
The the the resurrection of life was imparted and we were joined.
To that man after his ascension, joined to him in the glorious part of the new generation, the new race that has been formed as a result of the Lord's death and resurrection. The 1St man set aside, and all blessing now is in the second man, our Lord Jesus Christ. But.
Maybe someone can elucidate the meaning of?
Or both. He that sanctify us and they who are sanctified are all of one. It's commonly referred to as being one in kind, for which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. But we want to be careful here. We.
00:10:16
The Lord said, I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God. He did not say, I ascend unto our father. He must have the supremacy, the first born among many brethren, which is a an A word indicating his supremacy. We should never be familiar and refer to the Lord as our elder brother that is in that's irreverent and.
Unacceptable. But we are part of that new creation race. It's an individual.
Association. It's not the sense of the a collective unit like the body of Christ is, which was formed at Pentecost, but it is the association with Christ glorified at God's right hand, now having a relationship.
Toward God the same as our blessed Lord has, but he must have the in all things the preeminence. But maybe someone can elaborate on that?
Turn back to Genesis chapter one to really understand what he's saying about being all of one kind. It's a term that the Spirit of God uses right from the beginning. And so in Genesis chapter one we could read from verse 12, the earth brought forth grass and herb, yielding seed after his kind.
And the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind. So there's a group of trees that bear fruit, some bear apples. So there's a line of, there's a group of trees, there's they're all related, you might say they're all apple trees and they all bear fruit, the same kind of fruit.
And then you have orange trees. Well, there are different kinds of oranges, but they're all orange trees. They all bear oranges and they belong to that line of trees. But then when it comes to man, he says in chapter 2 That in verse 18, God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and help meet for him and.
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every piece of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what He would call them. Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave them names to all cattle and followed the air and every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found and helped meat. For him there wasn't a companion. For Adam it wasn't. There wasn't a male or female. There wasn't a similar.
Kind of person a companion that would be suitable to be a companion and so the woman was formed the same kind the same lineage. You might say the same seed. If you look at I think it's Matthew chapter one, isn't it that speaks of the the seed. The Lord Jesus was not born of the same seed as you and I he had his seed was from.
Above.
I'm not finding it here, but maybe someone else knows where it is.
That that word, the seed.
But the point is that in Hebrews chapter 2 here verse 11 is that he's saying that.
In the new creation race, there's a head of that new creation race. There's a man, a glorified man, and you and I are going to be companions. We're of the same kind. We have the same seed, as it were. We're not going to have deity, but we are suited to be companions of Christ. We're going to be glorified.
Our bodies will be glorified and will be with Christ and will be of the same kind. And so we'll be compatible. We'll be. Just think of it.
You and I were deemed with precious blood of Christ. We have divine life, we have a new nature, we have a divine life that can't sin, doesn't want to sin, couldn't sin even if it wanted to it we and were suitable companions for Christ for all eternity. We're of the same kind and it's a work of God. So he's set us apart. The sanctification here. I believe that his brother wants to maybe.
00:15:25
A little definition of sanctification in this sense of being set apart by God for a holy purpose. And so you and I have been set apart by God for the holy purpose of being companions of Christ for all eternity. And we have this. We're of the same kind. We're of the same lineage, you might say.
I like to think of the thought.
We belong together.
To think that we belong.
With him.
We got this on the first born among many brethren.
Yeah, Romans, Romans 8.
1St in rank among many brethren. So he has the headship place, doesn't he?
So he's not ashamed to call them brethren. We, as you say, we don't call the Lord our brother.
But he's not ashamed to call us his brethren because we're of the same kind. We're of the same race of men. Isn't that marvelous? You and I would never, ever thought human mind would never dream this up. Couldn't imagine. But God has conferred upon those that belong to him, that belong to the Lord Jesus, the gift of sonship.
We're not only going to be glorified men, but those that are in relationship with the Lord Jesus. It's Romans chapter eight really you get the the truth of it nicely brought out in connection with children. It says verse 16 Romans.
Well, Romans 8 verse 15, you have not received the spirit of bond and you gain the fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption or sonship.
Whereby we cry ABBA father.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may all be also glorified together.
And so we have been brought into such a position of favor and blessing that we are identified with the Lord Jesus as part of that new creation race.
Was in that 4th hole of Mary Magdalene. I ascend unto my father, and your father, and to my God, and your God. Sanctification, of course, is spoken of in different ways. There is a practical aspect to sanctification which I don't think is the thought in our verses here, but.
The Lord is sanctifying us. We should be more sanctified from the world this year than we were last year.
It's a process that is going on.
A continual process in our lives as we are occupied with the person of Christ and with the word of God and in prayer and in obedience. There is a sanctification taking place. The Lord said, I'm going to set myself apart for their sakes. I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
But that that is not really the the thought in the verse that we are looking at.
In verse 12.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church, while I sing praise unto thee.
We have to be a little careful there because the Church is not looked upon.
In this epistle, nor is it looked upon in the Old Testament. And this is a quotation from the Old Testament. So I I think it refers to the whole assembly of heavenly, the whole heavenly company. When we enter the glory, the Lord will begin the singing.
00:20:02
I will, I will in the midst of the assembly. That's the whole heavenly company. I would say, I will sing praise unto thee.
Of course the church will be included in that. Someone else have a thought?
Yes, Mr.
I believe.
In the midst of the assembly, will I sing thy praises? He's quoting Old Testament scripture. So you could look at that in the 22nd Psalm. I believe it's in the 22nd Psalm. And remember when they wrote, when the New Testament was being written, the Spirit of God was using those Old Testament scriptures and there were applications made. And this is he's addressing Jews that had.
Professed Christianity. And so he uses these Old Testament passages to reinforce the truth that he was bringing before them. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation.
Will I praise thee? So it's really in the middle of the it's in the midst of the assembly. So that whole assembly of redeemed ones in that heavenly theme.
Avia song that's led by the Lord, the song of the redeemed angels don't sing and they they're not redeemed. There's no forgiveness for an Angel. You wouldn't want to be an Angel as was mentioned the other day, because they're servants forever and they'll stand forever in their service. But you and I will sit upon Thrones and will be in the position in favor and blessing of God is accepted in the well in the his beloved, and will assist the Lord in his reign.
As he administers his Kingdom in from that heavenly scene, we know that he will have those on the earth as well in his in his Kingdom, those that are a part of Israel that will assist him in his reign as the apostles will. They'll have a special place in the Kingdom. But here it's he's really Speaking of that heavenly company and he'll be filled with praise. He'll lead the singing.
On the hospital ladder.
Gives the catalogue of those that of the wonderful position into which grace has brought us. In the 12Th chapter he speaks of the General Assembly, verse 23, and the Church of the First Born ones.
Which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, into the spirits of justice men made perfect. Well the General Assembly refers to the vast company of angels created beings, but to the Church of the first born ones that has mistakenly been.
Applied to to the Lord.
The first born here does not apply to the Lord.
Mr. Kelly makes this clear. It applies to us. We're we're in a special place of privilege. We are part of the bride, part of the body of Christ. And this is a reference here, one of the few in the epistle to to those who are part of that, that Organism, the body of Christ, which did not exist in the Old Testament nor.
During the time of the Lord sojourn in this world. But we have a place of preeminence, first born ones. We have a it. It brings before, as Robert has remarked, a place of of preeminence among others. Not that we are any better.
We're only we're all subjects of the of the grace of God. But as to our position in that.
Heavenly scene in the future. We are the Bride of Christ, and we have a nearer position to the Lord even than the the other, the other friends of the Bridegroom.
00:25:07
Someone might say, why would he be ashamed? Why would he be ashamed to call them brethren? The thought is that we're of the same kind, we're of the same race. We're suitable companions. He's not going to be ashamed to have us there. And to be a part of that heavenly company, a part of those that are members of his body, part of his bride, will be perfectly suitable. There's nothing out of sorts at all.
That's really the thought there.
Been asked to take an animal in as a companion. He would have been ashamed.
What says in verse 13 Again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me. And so for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might, it should say, and null him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And so there are many reasons why the Lord Jesus became a man, and one of them was.
That he might, it says part be a partaker of flesh and blood, that through death he might annul him that had the power of death, that is the devil. So the power of death has been annulled in the sense that it no longer holds the fear and the terror that death once held over the human race. Those that belong to the Lord Jesus, those that have faith, those that have divine life, are no longer afraid to die and the fear of death.
Has been annulled in this time, but in the future death will be totally done away with. And so death and hell were cast into the Lake of fire. So in the eternal state there will not be death.
I don't know how it'll actually happen, but verse 13 is precious to my own soul. I think of how the Lord Jesus, you know what the rapture, he's going to come to receive us personally and we'll meet him in the air.
Private meeting and will enter heaven together with the Lord Jesus.
And that whole heavenly host were not really told of the preparations that will be made or anything like that. But there's a sense here that we will be introduced into that scene. Behold, I and the children which God has given me, You and I are going to be introduced into that heavenly scene with the Lord Jesus. We're not just going to suddenly appear and there we are in heaven and wonder where we are.
No, we're going to be with Christ and he himself will introduce us into that heavenly scene.
When verse 14 Behold before as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, and through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. So the Lord took humanity into union with Himself. In every sense of the word, He was a perfect human being.
Conceived through Mary, but the Holy Ghost Luke chapter one came upon him and the power of the Highest overshadowed Mary and her conception and the Lord partaking of flesh and blood.
He was constitutionally a perfect man, body, soul and spirit.
00:30:02
Apart from sin entirely, He didn't partake of the sinful nature that we have or that Mary had, but he did partake of perfect human body.
And it wasn't a body of humiliation. That's because there is sin in US. That's why we have a body of humiliation.
He didn't have a body of glory when he was down here, but he had a perfect human.
Vessel of testimony, the body and he felt pain, The scourging he felt.
This is the buffeting the and spiritually, he says, Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I look for some to take pity. There was none for comforters, but I found none. He felt the reproach. It's not wrong to feel reproached.
We are faithful to the Lord in our testimony. It is wrong to retaliate or to.
Or to resent it. That was never in the Lord, and we know that He prayed for his enemies there during his agony. But.
It's wonderful to know that he.
Became a perfect man, All the sensibilities of a man tired, hungry, as we mentioned, no infirmity. Yet in his high priestly activity he is able to understand our infirmities and to sympathize with them. But.
It's wonderful to know that the Lord passed into the glory, as David Robert mentioned. It's a condition. He went up in glory and he's a man, a glorified man at God's right hand, and he will keep his manhood for all eternity that he might enjoy our company. You'll never give up his manhood.
But when he rose triumphantly, and they saw him ascend into the glory, then he became.
A High priest. I don't believe the Lord was a high priest during his earthly soldier and down here, but now in his position he is a high priest, remember?
In the Old Testament, in Leviticus, the hype the priest to put on.
White shining garments, pure white. When he went into the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement to expiate the sins of the people for another year and to present the blood by the mercy seat and the the burnt offering, that was in atonement. And only the Lord could do that. We could have no part in it.
But then the.
High Priest changed his garment and he put on those garments of glory and beauty that are all described for us minutely in the book of Exodus 2829. The breastplate with 12 Stones, the Onyx stones on the shoulders, the F on it all speaks to us of the Lord's service.
On our behalf now.
Exalted at the right hand of God, able to sympathize with us in our sorrows and our trials, not with our sins. However, we don't want sympathy for that. We want to judge that unsparingly and put it out of our lives. But.
We've all feel the reproach of presenting the gospel to others. I've, we, I've felt it in the little work that I have done in Ottawa. I've felt the reproach. But the Lord understands who who suffered more reproach than he did. But there he is now exalted at God's right hand. But our high priest and our advocate, you'll never return to have anything to do with sin.
00:35:01
That's brought out later in the Epistle. He's once and for all settled the whole account of our sins by one offering. He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That question will never be raised again.
But there he is, interceding for us every hour of every day. And those two stones, I guess I'm just repeating what the brethren probably already know, But one of them was on the one shoulder and the other on the other shoulder. Onyx stones. The six six tribes were engraved on one Onyx stone and the other 6 tribes on the other Onyx stone, which were on the shoulders of the High priest.
Bringing before us our place of security.
We will never perish. We're on the shoulders of the Great Shepherd, eternal security and safety. But not so for the stones on the breastplate. That was different. You read carefully in Exodus chapter 2829. There were 12 Stones on the breastplate of the high priest.
And you note carefully that each one was different. And I've always enjoyed the thought, often repeated. The Lord has an individual tuition for each one of us, a curriculum you might say were, and He understands perfectly.
Our our nature, our our natural personality and characteristics were all different.
Thank God for that. We're all different. We all have different weaknesses. We all have different.
Personalities and.
Temptations too, and the Lord, he understands each one of us individually and he has a personal love for each of his children. They're on his on his breastplate, near his heart and will be there until we get to the glory. So it's it's lovely to think that none of us are forgotten. As we say to the boys and girls, we're all.
Special.
Students, the Lord has a individual love for each one of us and an understanding of what we are going through. I'm not speaking now of sin that we all have. We have that that needs to be judged. But the the weaknesses, the infirmities, the particular trials that we may encounter that other persons may not have a problem with, but the Lord understands and is able to support.
And strengthen the high priestly work of Christ, of course, is not in connection with.
Sin or restoration, that is the advocacy of Christ. That is all part of his intercession.
Two parts, those two hands were uplifted as we have in Exodus chapter. Is it 18 Moses hands were uplifted. One might speak of his high priestly work and the other of his advocacy. And he became tired and they had to put stones underneath him.
Underneath the arms to hold them up. That will never happen with our great high priest. And so I think it's brethren, brethren, it's so wonderful to know that we have this resource in the Lord Jesus at God's right hand. This doesn't mean that we don't need prayer. Indeed, we need that continual expression of dependence upon the Lord, as Mr. Hale used to tell us young brothers back there in Ottawa.
Time and again, without times, without number, he said, start every day with those words. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. That's Psalm 16, which is really.
The expression of the Lord as a dependent man. It's a beautiful Psalm to meditate on. The whole Psalm is really a an expression of the Lord as the dependent man.
And how much we need that? How much we need that?
00:40:06
Privilege of drawing near, no longer to a throne of judgment, but to a throne of grace. So we might say, as the 4th epistle, 4th chapter brings out the word of God, our authority, our instruction.
Giving us wisdom and direction for our pathway. Do we have the indicted by the Holy Spirit of God and understood because we have the Spirit of God?
And then we have the high priestly work of Christ, and we have the.
We have the advocacy of Christ. We have the divine nature of Christ.
We don't have the Lord Jesus physically dwelling within the body. We only have one divine person within us that is the Holy Spirit of God.
But we do have the divine life of the Lord. Mr. Kelly makes that clear in his writings. We have the divine life of Christ and nature.
But we don't have the Lord physically dwelling within us. Is that right, Steve? I think that's correct. Maybe you can add something there.
Well, it is one in, in life and nature has been brought out one a kind. You know, it's interesting with the, in the context of Hebrews, it's priesthood. And so it's Aaron and his sons. They were one in kind, weren't they? Wherever Aaron was, his sons were, they were all together. They were all one. And how many sons did he have?
He had four, but two died when they.
Dishonored the Lord left two, so it was Aaron and his two sons.
You might say life and nature, one in life and nature represented in those two songs, but I just want to make a comment on oneness because it gets confused. I think at times we speak of the one body we speak of at times when the Lord says in His high priestly prayer that He wanted them to be one as He and the Father were one.
We get.
All of 1 here.
But they're not all the same. They're not all the same thing. So in the truth of the one body, we're all united to Christ and to one body. But is it through a life that we have, or is it some other way? It's the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God indwelling you and indwelling our head in heaven unites us to Him, and so we're one with Him. In that sense, we're one body and of many members. Every single member is different, isn't it? Every single member has a different gift, a different function, a different place in the body.
In John's Gospel in chapter 12, the Lord speaks of himself as a corn of wheat, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And so he pictures himself as that corn of wheat planted into the ground. The stock springs up, and there on the head thinking of wheat there on that head of wheat are 2030 grains, and they all look identical.
To the one that went in the ground.
They each one of those grains has life.
But they have life because they're connected to the stock.
And John presents oneness with the Lord. We might say Paul presents one body with the Lord. John presents one plant with the Lord, if you can think of it that way. And in John's gospel, we're all the same and and or in John's ministry and Paul and the body, we're all different.
And so one plant with the Lord, all those grains are identical to the one that went in the ground. And so we are one plant with the Lord, and we're all identical because we have life in the sun to the one who went into the ground and died. He sprung up in life and we have life and resurrection and we're identical the sun. So someone might come along to 1St Corinthians 12, or it speaks of the gifts differing.
00:45:04
The members of the body and it says someone says well what's my gift? And say, well it says here one of the gifts is a help. Everyone can be a help. No, it's just differing. Not everything the same. That's Speaking of things that differ. Being helpful is certainly something we should all be. That's more like 1 plant with the Lord. We should all be just identical to Lord. Well, all should be helpful.
But the gift of a help is something that not every member has, only some. So when we come to Paul and oneness in the body, it's differing. Every member is different, united by the indwelling Spirit to Christ and John's ministry. It's that we have his life.
Resurrection life, life and resurrection and more identical to him and we should show all the traits in our life.
That you see in the Lord. Everyone of us should show all the same thing. You see the difference?
And so we may talk of oneness in one sense, like what Paul teaches with the body. We may see it in John's ministry. One plant with the Lord here in Hebrews has been brought out as one and kind. It's like that priestly family, all of the same kind. We all have the same life and nature, all the same kind, very similar to the way John brings it out. And so in a certain sense has been brought out when?
In verse 12, declaring his name to his brethren in the midst of the assembly, will I sing praise unto thee. There is something analogous to here on the earth.
And if you go to John's Gospel, chapter 20.
And this has been just touched on in reference to the verses, but.
In John's Gospel chapter 20.
Verse 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brother.
And say unto them, I ascend unto my father, and your father to my God, and your God. As we go over a little bit a little further down in the chapter, verse 19, the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut.
Where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. When He had so said, He showed them unto them, his hands in his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, Even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them.
And said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. And so there he is in the midst of those that he had sent Mary, to, who he calls his brethren. And he declares the Father's name to them. And that corresponds with what we have. I'll declare thy name unto my brethren, the Father's name. As He knew the Father. He has brought us into that same relationship, to know God as Father as He knew him. And he declares His name, the Father's name to his brethren. Now we don't find the Lord singing here.
Again, we're looking on a little further in our verse in our chapter, but.
When the Lord Jesus.
And the expression of the Psalms went down into that horrible pit and the depths of Calvary, and God raised him up. He could say that he had been raised up out of a horrible pit, and a new song was put in his mouth. We often apply it to ourselves in salvation, but its first application is to the Lord. He was raised up out of that horrible pit.
And the song of salvation is in his mouth.
And he's declared the Father's name to us in resurrection, breathed into us his own resurrection life, life that can never be touched by death again.
And in a certain sense, he is the one that leads the praises in the assembly, because our song of salvation.
First began with him.
With him, we follow in his wake, and so there's a little him that's beautiful in the appendix. Just turn to that.
00:50:04
It's, I think it's #35 all the path the Saints are treading. Verse two says now come forth in resurrection, passing onward to the throne, having suffered all the judgment, borne the storm of wrath alone, He is able us to sucker those who tread the desert sand. That's what we have in our chapter in the end, pressing on to resurrection, where He sits at God's right hand. Now He praises in the assembly all the sorrow, all is passed.
His the earnest of our portion. We must reach the goal at last. Yes, He praises grace, recounting all the path already trod. We associated with Him. That's the message that Mary took to his brethren. My God and your God, my Father and your Father. We associated with Him breathed into us His own resurrection life. God, our Father and our God join the singing that He leadeth.
Loud to God, our voices raised.
Every step that we have trodden is a triumph of His grace. Down to verse five. It is finished, it is finished. Who can tell redemption's worth? He who knows it leads us singing full the joyous fierce, the wrath taken up in resurrection. Desert ways rehearsed above, tell the power of God's salvation and His never failing love. This hymn takes us right up into glory, where we'll see the full fulfillment of verse 11.
Him singing in the midst of the assembly, recounting the grace of God, not only in His own pathway, hears the perfect Son of God, but ourselves too, rehearsing that whole pathway with Him and all His Saints. But even now His praises lead in the assembly. I used to love this Him when I was little brother, Little brother, little vessel gave it out quite often, and my parents would let me sit next to Him and come to verse 4.
And.
Verse five, I would try and sing extra loud because it said he who knows it leads the singing. And I thought, I don't know. I don't want anybody to think I don't know whatever it is you're supposed to know. So I'd sing extra loud long time before I realized it's talking about the Lord. He's the one. He's the one who knows it and leads the singing. He knows the depths of the suffering. He knows the heights of joy.
And he leads the saying. It's his song that we sing.
There was no singing, as we often have been reminded, until that redemption was accomplished. The children of Israel didn't sing in Egypt.
And they didn't sing in Babylon either. But.
When redemption was accomplished and they saw all their enemies dead on the seashore, then we get Exodus chapter 15.
The song of redemption based upon.
In in in picture there the marvelous victory that the Lord has accomplished had accomplished for them, but I'm just wondering in our.
15th verse here deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime.
Subject to *******.
We know that the Old Testament Saints.
They really did not know clearly what was coming after resurrection, when Hezekiah was going to lose his life, his teeth chattered, he was afraid of the king of Terrors. There wasn't really any true understanding of of what was coming after death that has been brought to light. We turn to.
Second Timothy, chapter one. It's an important verse. Who has abolished death and has brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel? I'm looking at second Timothy one.
10 but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ to us abolished death and has brought life that's life for the soul and immortality should be incorruptibility here to light through the gospel. The Old Testament St. really had no idea what type of body he was going to have. He had a some understanding that he would be raised and Martha said.
00:55:14
We will be raised, he will be raised at the last day, but when we have Pauls revelation of the the rapture and the incorruptible body that we have. I'm just wondering about the verse we're looking at. Verily he took not on him the nature of angels.
No, he, he took, he passed by angels. He doesn't have an angelic nature, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. But in verse 15.
Is that referring?
To ourselves now.
Because of the knowledge that we have of the of the completed work of Christ, that we're no longer.
Fearful and in ******* about death.
Yes, I believe that's the truth of it. The Old Testament Saints, they were dear Saints of God. They had divine life. They didn't know the Son, they didn't know the Father. They weren't indwelled with the Spirit of God, although the power of the Spirit of came upon different ones and empowered them in their service and so on, but they really had a limited revelation of who God was. And so as you read in first or Second Timothy chapter one.
That the truth of life and immortality has come to light because of the gospel. And so God has given a full revelation to man of His purpose and his counsel. And here in connection with the death, the Old Testament Saints had very little idea of what took place after death. And you and I know, we can say we know what comes after death.
They could never say that. David couldn't say it, Solomon couldn't say it, and they had fear, and they were in ******* to that fear. You have a little example of it in connection with Hezekiah, and I know it has a prophetic sense to it, but Hezekiah was afraid to die. He cried, he wept, he turned his face to the wall, and he didn't want to die. He didn't know what was. All that they had was earthly, and they had an earthly inheritance. So they had been promised, and everything that they looked for was here in this earth.
But you and I have been delivered from that ******* of fear to death, and death is only a servant to the child of God. It brings them and eases them into the presence of the Lord, and so he's no longer afraid.
I don't think perhaps not all of us have gone to a funeral of those. Someone that has died left this scene and did not have Christ as Savior and the sorrow and the weeping and the wailing.
This very very moving to experience there is no hope and but to be able to go to a funeral of one who.
Has known the Lord Jesus as Savior and has walked in the fellowship with God. Why? There's comfort in the Scriptures. That's why the apostle Paul speaks of the rapture and he speaks of it as being a revelation from the Lord Jesus. Let's look at First Thessalonians chapter four. We just point this out in connection with the It's a revelation. Man could never figure it out from the Old Testament passages. He couldn't.
Couldn't find it out it wasn't there in Revelation, so First Thessalonians chapter 4 and.
He says, verse 15 For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, He received it by revelation. So it comes. The knowledge of what comes after death, and the whole of what God had planned in connection with the companionship of those that would be with Christ was never known in the Old Testament. But you know, and I know, and we ought to thank the Lord for it and enjoy it in our souls.
So when I say verse 16 is a very significant expression used by the Spirit of God here that.
01:00:00
Verse 16 He took not on him the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham. And so he's not in any angelic form in the scene above, he is a man, a glorified man. And so he came, and he was born as a man, as a brother drawn was brought out.
Very clearly. And so the fathers after the Apostolic age really messed things up, quite confused things terribly in connection with the person of Christ. And some had different ideas of him being an angelic and his being not having a physical body and all those mystical types of things. But isn't it nice? The Spirit of God records that he was born a man. He came and he was born in the seed of Abraham. So he was a Jew.
And he was born in this scene as a man, and that way it says, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made light unto his brother.
And so not he didn't take part of sinful nature. He doesn't have a sinful nature. He could not sin. And so that's why it says he took part. And so it doesn't say how much of manhood that he took. You might say it doesn't express there's a little you and I are have a sinful nature. We have a we're born in sin and shape and iniquity, but the Lord Jesus never took part of that.
Part of manhood. And so he was made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.
We're used there to take part. Is is having some part in in an object, but not.
Indicating how much. And so the Lord was in the likeness of men.
Certainly he He was in the likeness of men, and He, and as a man He humbled himself unto death.
So he was constitutionally, he was body, soul and spirit, a perfect human being.
Entirely apart from sin.
So he was made like unto his brethren with in having all the sensibilities of a of a man. He could feel hunger, he could feel reproach. We've already mentioned that.
And.
So as a merciful and faithful high priest, he has gone through all the trials that a righteous man could experience apart from sin. And as I mentioned yesterday, he didn't use any of his Godhead power to make the the pathway easier for him. He could have changed the stones into bread. He was he was very hungry after 40 days of fasting.
He could have changed the stones into bread. He never performed a miracle to to make his pathway easier. He took all the the trials that go with the manhood and he did miracles. He lived for others.
He did miracles for them.
Brother Robert Hezekiah should have read Joey. Now we have the comfort of all the full knowledge that we have, and in Job chapter 19 we have Job we have written here. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God.
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
Though my reigns be consumed within me.
Now that's a gentile.
And if you read the scriptures through and through and through, how did the Sadducees not believe in resurrection when they had this in front of them?
You have to ignore some of the revelation of God not to find some comfort in those things. Here's a man who knew this, and anybody who read this should find some comfort in that. How did he know this? God told him utterance in connection with the from the Old Testament perspective. And so he wrote this in Job and prophetically it was written. He didn't understand it himself. You just imagine how David wrote the 22nd Psalm.
01:05:15
How he wrote the 69th Psalm, how he he wrote some of these things and my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He didn't really understand what he had written and he wondered about what he had written. That's really first Peter chapter one, verse 11. It says searching.
What or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand?
The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So the sufferings of Christ were spoken of in the Old Testament, but the light of New Testament, the New Testament revelation wasn't shining upon those Scriptures yet. So they didn't know what they meant. And so the verses that you read in Job, they could read them, but there wasn't the light from the New Testament revelation shining upon that verse of Scripture to give them.
The sense of what it really meant. And so it was hidden to them. It may have comforted some, but there was they just trusted the Lord that what was at the end God would do the right thing and that at the end that it would all turn out the way it should turn out.
Like to read verse that was quoted but not directly referred to in chapter 4 verse 15?
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin has been pointed out. He had no fallen nature to be tempted by sin. And that incarnation, the Holy Spirit, overshadowed it all. And that holy thing which was born of Mary was the Son of God, without any taint of sin.
Those words partake.
That we have.
And par or partakers and partake of are important. I just want to revisit it.
You and I, as part of the human race are all.
Partakers.
Of human nature.
And human life, we can't take part in it because that's what we are.
He took part in it because that's what he was not. You can't take part of something.
That you're already a partaker of. In other words, when we were born, that's all we were right from the beginning. That was our common law, our common portion that we share together, not his. He's the eternal God, Son of God, and so he took part of what was outside of himself.
We cannot take part in humanity as something outside of ourselves because that's what we are. It's impossible.
But he could, as eternal Son of God took part, and that which was outside of himself. But don't let any.
Cold creeping thought come into your soul, that when he took part, and that which was outside of himself, it was not anything but holy humanity, spirit, soul and body in every aspect except one. He did not have a fallen sinful nature.
He was every bit a man, just as you and I are, that partaking in what was outside of himself does not reduce in any way that he was absolutely, thoroughly, completely a man. He was the God man, thoroughly a man, completely, thoroughly God, the eternal Son, apart from sin, and never detected from within. This Stephen, we are tempted from within.
Because we have an old nature, we know that only too well. But all the temptations of the Lord were from without. He had no inclination.
Toward the temptation in fact, this is a it's a serious thing because the.
This misconception is.
01:10:00
Widespread in Christendom. Yes, they will acknowledge the Lord did not sin, but He could have. Otherwise how could it be a temptation?
You'll meet this in evangelical circles.
We have a young man in the auto assembly right now that wants to be in fellowship and he he has a problem with that very that very fact. So the temptations of the Lord were from without. He felt them, but he had no inclination to sin. The only way he could would be to have an old nature which.
Which is blasphemy to say.
It comes from false reason. The idea starts with that it's not a true test unless it can fail. Well, that's foolishness, because we do tests all the time. Scientific tests.
That prove otherwise. If you go to a place to sell gold, someplace that buys gold, they'll do a test on it to see if it's pure or not. Well, when it passes the test, why did it pass? Because it was pure before it was tested. It couldn't have failed because it was already pure. You didn't know that until the test passed. It's that kind of idea that they start reasoning with that well, in order for me a true test you must have.
The possibility of failing. You know that this theory they call Achman's razor, where there's a cat in a box and until you open it up, you don't know if it's dead or alive. So in scientific terms, in an abstract way, they say the cats both dead and alive. Well, no, it's not. You just don't know which it is. It's your observation from your point of view, so that this human idea comes in there and they say, well, it can't be a true test unless he could have failed.
It was a true test and it proved that he was who he claimed to be. And you know, one of the ones responsible for that was a guy that used to work for the the Radio Bible class organization that wrote a pamphlet that worked alongside Dr. Dehan and that got out and went throughout. It affected some of the Young Brothers early on and back in the 70s it came in amongst us. Somebody got a hold of one of those.
And we had to deal with that and we did and sat down and went through the scriptures and and once they understood the possibility of a test being authentic and real.
Even if you don't know the possibility of failure, you may think there's a possibility of failure, that something can be pure before it's ever tested, and the test just reveals the truth that was there already.
And that was the truth. That's the truth of the Scripture about the Lord Jesus Is the testing revealed what was already there.
Good time.
Unto him who?
Love does save us.
Every.
Shadow his blood to save God in his life.
We might live.
Faith
Gospel—John Kaiser
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.
I'm glad you're here. I hope you're glad you're here.
There's somebody else.
That's glad you're here, and that's God.
You look up at this stage.
And you wonder what I might have to say.
But I'm more concerned that you.
Are concerned what God has to say.
You may see sitting in your seat this evening thinking, well, I've heard the gospel, I don't need to hear it again.
But God doesn't waste anything.
God uses everything.
And we can either benefit or lose the benefit.
Let's start with #30.
Weeping will not save me. I'm going to talk this evening. Lord willing. I want to talk about faith. That's pretty obvious from what I have up here. I want to talk about what faith is, what faith is not.
And how faith works.
And why it is important to you tonight.
And so this song says, weeping will not save me. That's some people thinking, getting very emotional.
Will have something to do with their salvation. Weeping will not save me. Working will not save me.
Waiting will not save me procrastination.
We're all natural procrastinators.
God is not a procrastinator. You ever think about that?
God does everything on schedule.
Faith in Christ will save me #30.
Weeping will not say.
My fears could not wash us. Since I'm here, we speak well, not saying.
We're working will not save me your spirit that I have there. Oh yes, thoughts and feelings, Sir. And I'm not for my soul.
Working will not stay in you.
Jesus word and die for me.
Jesus suffered on the tree. You lost weight to make me free.
Alone and save me.
Waiting till my save me.
Out was guilty as I want in my third city crying.
In my ways I can but die waiting thing will not save me.
Jesus let him die for me. Jesus suffered on the tree. She needs the place to make me free.
In a long and say clean.
They think Christ will save me, Christ standing by Prince, and one trust the word that he has done till his heart's I now may run.
They think Christ will save you. Jesus.
Died before me.
00:05:02
Faith is a very common thing. The government has arrangements for what so-called faith-based organizations and you ask the average man if he has faith, He usually has faith in something matter of fact.
Everybody in this room that I can see and confess my visions, not the greatest, but everybody I can see is exhibiting faith right now.
At least, I don't don't recall seeing anybody here inspecting the chair they're sitting in to make sure it would hold them up.
You just walked over to it and sat down. You say, well, I assumed that's a form of faith. We operate on faith. Every day we get in our car and turn the key and we expect it to start. You lift, you pick out, you hear a cell phone ring and you answer it because you have faith. That's indicating somebody else is on the line, so to speak.
We operate on faith all the time.
God built it into this universe.
Is part of your life.
But faith in Christ is something different.
The faith of Scripture is something different. People say, oh, I've got faith. Some people have faith like they have a a rabbits foot in their pocket. Yeah, I've got faith. Very casual about it.
And we tend and, and this is a universal problem when dealing with all my life. When we read the word of God, we tend to read our own definitions into the words. Tonight we want to talk about what God means.
When he talks of faith, turn with me to pardon me. I made notes because I have a bad memory. Luke chapter 18.
Verse 8.
That this subject's been going over through my mind for the past week and more. Actually, this is a subject I've spoken on before. I didn't prepare all these materials just for this meeting, but it's been particularly before me. Afresh Luke. Chapter 18.
And verse.
8.
And we're going to pick up the middle.
Of the.
Conversation here. I'm not going to read the first part because I find that I've got a big subject and only 45 minutes to cover it. So Luke chapter 18, verse eight, I tell you he will avenge them speedily. So we're talking about a judgement situation.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Jesus is coming back.
And the question is when the Lord Jesus comes back. And remember, the Lord Jesus said these words.
When he comes back, he's going to be looking for faith.
Well, you say yes, I expect you'll find faith. Well, if you looked in your heart, would he find the kind of faith that he's looking for?
God deals with individuals. He saves individually. Every one of us here tonight is responsible to him individually.
And we're responsible to have faith. Turn to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11, of course, is the big faith chapter in Scripture.
It's a wonderful chapter begins with verse one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Well, we know what evidence is. We know what it means to not see things. But the substance of things hoped for, well, what does that mean?
I want to tell you a story. Maybe I've told it here before.
00:10:11
I used to work with a fellow named Brian.
A young fella, he came to work for Bible Truth Publishers, I think right out of high school, so he's about 18 years old or so. He worked for us for a year or two and he saved us some money and he bought a motorcycle, a very nice motorcycle. Might sticks in my mind that was yellow.
And he obviously enjoyed riding that motorcycle to work. I don't know where else he wrote it, but he he enjoyed that motorcycle.
And then one day.
I noticed that he didn't bring a motorcycle to work and next day he didn't ride his motorcycle and the next day finally my curiosity got the best of me and I said Brian.
What's happened to your motorcycle?
You guessed it, He said. Well, you know I'm going to get married and he doesn't want a honeymoon, so I sold my motorcycle. Now what does have that have to do with Faith? Well, you see Brian.
Met Laura and Laura promised to marry him.
And Brian believed that was a good idea.
And he believed that Laura meant it when she said she'd marry him, and on the basis of her promise, he sold his motorcycle to pay for his honeymoon. The future became an A presently actionable reality. I'm going to write those words up on the board here because I want you to remember that that's what this verse means.
Faith brings the future into the present.
When we talk about faith, we're talking about your future.
Everybody has a future here tonight.
And if a faith, you don't have faith in Christ, you don't have a future.
That you want to talk about.
You know I have a neighbor.
Back in Addison, he's an old man.
But in his early years, he was an Olympic star.
And he got to know a number of celebrities and he, you go into his office, he still runs a business. You go into his office, it's like a museum. He can show you all these wonderful people. The only thing person I can think of right now that he mentioned that is Charlton Heston. He was a personal friend of Charlton Heston. But he has this on his walls. They're plastered pictures of, of famous people in Hollywood and the sports that he knew at one time.
And he glories in his past. And I said to him, Ed, you live in the past.
I live in the future.
My past is my past. There's a lot of things I can't. I'd like to change and I can't. But the past is the past and my future is greater than my past. All poor Ed has is his to to glory and is his past long past. He's in his 80s.
I said what, Ed, what about your future? Well, he hopes he'll go to heaven. He's heard the gospel many times, but he's all wrapped up in his past. And I'm tell you, ask you a question, which is greater, your past or your future? Well, none of us here have a past is greater than 100 years.
How about your future? That's the big thing, and that is what Faith is involved with. Brian believed Laura's promises and he believed in Laura.
And by by the way, the Bible says that faith works by love. And you, you can while you're sitting here, if you lose track of me, you can start thinking of all the verses that link love and faith together, like for God so loved the world.
That whosoever believes in him, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, believeth should not perish. There's love and faith together in one verse and there's a lot of verses like that in Scripture. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave him himself for me. Faith does not exist by itself, not not the kind of faith we're talking about. It has an object so.
00:15:11
We're talking about your future.
And I said I was going to write those words up there.
Faith takes the future and makes it a.
Well, it's not very dark. Let's see, I can find something darker here.
Now, now, you know. Faith, by the way, doesn't last forever. Faith is only something for time or beyond time. And the future has no meaning because we'll be an eternity and that'll be the eternal future. But faith takes what is promised to us and makes it a presently.
Actionable reality. It brings it in. It brings the future. It brings the hope.
Into the present Faith brings the hope into the present.
So.
Faith is essential. Want to talk about?
A little bit more about faith, turn to John chapter 3 and you'll see this verse, John 3, verse 33.
And by the way, I'm rushing through some things tonight, conscious that the time is going to go fast, and I'm not sure we can cover even all that I have up here. I went through and weeded out a lot of things last night. John, chapter 3, verse 33. Let me read it to you because I don't suppose all can read that.
Little sign on the board.
John chapter 3 verse 33 says.
He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. You know what happened back in the Garden of Eden.
God told Adam, don't eat of this tree.
Of the knowledge of good and evil.
And Satan came along and said to Eve, Hath God said, Just introduce a little doubt.
And then he flatly contradicted God and said, Ye not shall not surely die. But he started with a little doubt.
And people think there's such a thing as honest doubt.
But when you're doubting God.
How honest is that?
How honest is it to doubt God?
No, I'm not. I'm sure Eve was not conscious of her dishonesty, but what she was really in her mind saying, oh God make God said that. But I think this, I think I have better judgment than God. When we doubt God, we're putting ourselves above him. That's pride and that's not honest.
He that hath received his testimony, what's his testimony? It's the word of God.
Most of us here have heard it all our lives.
Doesn't say he that's.
Been under the sound of it says he's received it. Have you received it into your heart or have you closed your ears to it? How have you retreated? How have you treated God? The way we treat God is the way we treat his word. That's you'll find that in Scripture that's a practical in life. You have parents and your parents tell you something you ignore them.
Wait a second, are you ignoring their word or are you ignoring them? It's both.
When you ignore their word, you ignore them. How are you treating God tonight? He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. Now what does that mean set to his seal? Well.
He Here's another translation. He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true.
But actually the Greek says set to a seal because even when the Bible was written, they had public notaries, they had people who could certify the documents were valid, and they would take a seal and they would set the seal to that.
00:20:04
We call them notary public, sometimes public notary. Same thing.
But they certify that something is true. Have you personally certified?
Every statement in this book.
Have you read every statement in this book? Good idea.
You get before God, and I don't say that God is ever going to ask this, but he's going to say I gave you 20-30 years, whatever. Why didn't you read my book?
What are you going to answer? It's the greatest we we insult God, put everything ahead of his word.
And we insult him now.
I want to emphasize one more thing about faith. We we read. Let's go back to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 again.
And you find that this book is this chapter is full of people who acted on faith. Hebrews Chapter 11, it says we'll start again, verse one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We've explained what that means now.
Notice down diverse 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him. Are you concerned with pleasing God?
You should be.
Are you concerned of pleasing God? He loves you, He cares about you, He wants the best for you.
Are you concerned with pleasing God? Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe. There's no other way. Faith is not an option as far as God is concerned. We consider faith an option. God does not.
He that comes to God must believe that he is, that is, that God exists, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. What does that mean? God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God is responsive. People think God is a spectator, an indifferent spectator. They want to think that.
Einstein thought that Einstein. Most of you have heard of Einstein. He believed there was a God.
I read some of his Diaries, some of his notes and letters and Diaries, so on. He believed there was a God, but he believed that God was indifferent.
But why would an indifferent God make a person who has feelings? It doesn't make sense. Einstein didn't want it to make sense. He loved his sins. He admitted it.
Faith sets to its seal that God is true. What God says is what is.
And every one of us has to deal with that. I remember one time my father and I got in an argument.
And I was convinced I was right.
And he said something that changed my life. Very simple statement, he said. John, you can't know what's not true.
You can think what's not true, but you can't know it.
Truth and knowledge go together.
The source of all knowledge is God. The source of all truth is God.
So you've heard this statement.
God said it.
I believe it.
That settles it.
True.
This is also true.
Whether or not you believe it, God said it. That's it for eternity.
I'd like to turn real quickly to a verse in John Chapter 11.
John, Chapter 11.
I.
And we won't go over the story. Most of us here are familiar with it. But Jesus had gone to Bethany, where Lazarus had died.
He got there after Lazarus died. He was. He was asked to come before Lazarus died, but he waited and came after Lazarus died. It looked like God made a mistake. It was not a mistake. We know the story the Lord Jesus went to.
00:25:06
Bethany and stood outside the sepulchre where Lazarus was buried, and he said Lazarus come forth and the dead man came out alive.
Greater than a healing, but it's interesting that what the Lord Jesus said.
Here John Chapter 11, verse 40.
Verse 39 Let's read that, Jesus said, taking away the stone, Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead for days. Jesus said to her, said, I not unto thee, If thou wouldst believe, thou should see the glory of God.
Said I not unto thee, If thou is believed, thou should see the glory of God. There's a lot in that verse.
First thing in that verse, Jesus said it Authority.
Said I not unto thee, If thou shalt believe, that's our responsibility to believe what God says. He says, Said I not unto thee, If thou shouldst believe, you would see the glory of God. It's as simple as.
ABC Authority. Belief Consequences.
That's what faith is for, is for God. God gives it to us so that we can access. We can see things the way He sees them, and then we can see beyond our current circumstances. When we see the things the way God sees them, we don't see them as clearly as he sees them. Faith is limited.
Faith is not an eternal thing. It's it's a limited thing, but it, it, it's, it's like glasses.
It helps us to see faith gives us the ability to see what God sees.
Not as not necessarily as clearly or as abundantly as sees he sees him because he's God, but we can look beyond the current circumstances. Authority. We take the authority from the word of God.
We believe it.
And we benefit from the consequences.
Well, that's a little bit about the nature of faith. I want to talk about what faith is not. Our song gave us a introduction to that, and I'm going to want to go through it very quickly.
Faith is not conscience. The first thing that woman, that man got after he sinned was conscience. And people boast about their conscience. Say I've got a conscience, I must have faith. No, Judas had a conscience and he hung himself.
And you know, I have scriptures I could refer to for all these, but like I say, our time is short. According to the clock, I got 15 minutes and I'm only a third through. Faith is not conscience.
Faith is not an excuse. I'll make excuses. God doesn't make excuses. God does not accept excuses. We have all kinds of excuses and we think we can come up with good excuses and we think maybe that's some evidence of faith. It's not.
God does not accept excuses. Don't blame your parents if they don't either.
God doesn't accept excuses. God never makes excuses. Why should he accept something that he himself wouldn't do?
Faith is not experience. People. I talk to people about faith and they start talking about their experiences, things that have happened to them, and so on. We all have experiences. Faith is not experience. Faith is spelled FAITH. It is not experience. Experience is valuable, but it's not faith. Faith is not fantasy. Some people think, oh, I can just think whatever I want.
Maybe it's a dream, people get very occupied with their dreams and of course you want fantasy wise.
There's all kinds of fantasy in this world. They call it artificial reality or something like that. Virtual reality. It's fantasy. It looks, it looks real, it's amazing, but it's still fantasy. Faith is not fantasy. Faith is not.
Feelings. I want to talk about this for a minute.
That's probably the biggest thing, single thing. Feelings. Oh, I have faith.
Or you feel down, you say I don't have faith. Faith is not feelings. We're in a society that's totally occupied with feelings. As a matter of fact, every one of these other substitutes for faith involves feelings because people will passionately defend their ideas of what faith is. Faith is not feelings. Why?
00:30:16
Feelings mislead you. Faith takes the Longview. It sees beyond the present. I remember I've told this story. I told this story here before too. I remember when I was about 12 years old, I was riding my bike one day, a beautiful day. A bike I'd build myself. I had confidence in it.
And I felt fine until the front wheel fell off.
And I went, I went over the handlebars. Was I safe on that bike? No, I wasn't. But I felt safe.
Feelings deceive God never deceive. God's worthy of being trusted because He's always true. Faith is not foolishness. There are people who scoff at faith, say faith is foolishness, and they have faith in their own opinions. It's kind of foolish, isn't it?
Yeah.
Faith is not formula. These people will tell you you do this and you do this like this. The TV preachers, you do this, you send money to this and this and God will bless you.
Or the formula. We have it all the time. And formulas do work, but not in the things of God. You know why?
Because God never does the same thing twice. Never. God is always original in everything he does. He never does the same thing twice. Look at this. Look in the gospel.
Every time the Lord Jesus cured a person, it was a different way. There was differences.
Snowflakes. We know the snowflakes are there are billions of them come down and not want to like.
That's why formula doesn't work. Faith is not formula. Faith is not legality. What we think. People who have faith, they're hard to get along with their Of course, we have our own opinions and we make laws about other people.
We, we, you know, we shun legal people. That's kind of a legal thing to do.
Faith is not legality. Faith. God gave faith by grace. Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It is a gift of God. There's no legality there, not of works, lest any man should boast. Faith is not legality. Faith is not precedent. Oh, we talked about faith not being experienced.
How about somebody else's experience? No, Faith is not precedent. Precedence is a good thing. We can.
That the Supreme Court works on the basis of precedent because.
To try every case right from this, from the ground up would be overwhelming. So they work on the basis of precedent and the Carpenter works on the basis of president. He's he's pounded 2000 nails and they held. So he pounds another one because he counts on it to hold precedent. But faith is not precedent because faith deals with God.
Not circumstances.
Faith is not principle.
Principles and wonderful things. This universe runs on principles. They're wonderful things, but they're that's not faith. Faith is a unique thing. It involves a relationship with God.
It doesn't exist without it.
Faith is not reason. How many people think, well, I'm you know.
I think this.
And that's their faith. It's not reason. Many people reasoned it would be very safe to go out to on the Titanic's maiden voyage. Built by the best shipbuilders, crewed by the best crew, an established route.
Someone said that God himself couldn't sink that ship. They were wrong. Sank on his maiden voyage, but it was reasonable thing to go on it.
Reason.
Who was, it said, the best laid plans of mice and men?
In other words, men plan things. Reason has a place. God gave us reason. God gave us feelings, but they are not faith. Why do I say all these things Because every one of us has been guilty of.
Putting these things in the place of faith we need to be delivered from, that faith faintly sees what God sees and which he has chosen.
00:35:09
To reveal to faith for faith. Faith is not ritualist. There are so many people go through all kinds of rituals and they think they're pleasing God.
Faith is not ritual. Now we have.
Maybe I can stretch the five to six, I don't know.
I want to talk about.
A little bit more about faith.
We talked about the Reformation earlier and Martin Luther he said he discovered he found this phrase in the Bible amazed him. It amazed him. He found it 4 * 3 times in the Old Testament, the three three times, one time in the Old Testament, three times in the New Testament. The just shall live by faith and it changed his life and it he.
Has been accused of turning the world upside down. The monk that turned the world upside down.
Because he broadcasts his discovery, the justice shall live by faith.
There's two things, three things here that are important to you. The just, the righteous.
Shall live Are you interested in being righteous? Are you interested in living It's by.
Faith.
But the apostle Paul says we walk by faith, not by sight. The just shall live by faith. And then I come to a favorite illustration that I picked up 50 years ago. It's been a it's been a big help to me. We all know what this is, I think, what's this?
Well, it's not an entire train. It's a locomotive. Yeah. What we call a train. Yeah. You saw one of these companies, you say a train because generally speaking, they don't come by themselves. Yes.
I we'll, we'll go ahead and put the rest of the train out here.
Which way is the train heading? To my right or to my left?
You hope so. You don't expect a caboose to pull a train?
But people run their lives that way. Let me explain why I say that.
How, how many people run their lives by faith? We had a prayer meeting someone that was mentioned. How many people run their lives by feelings? We had in the prayer meeting somebody who's into drugs, that's all about feelings. There's no, there's no reason, there's no common sense to drugs. It's all about feeling good. But.
Most people in this world go for what feels good.
They've got the wrong end of the train.
Faith.
Leads fueled by the Word of God.
And you know, this is a very simple concept, but it'll be so helpful in your life if you get this image planted in your mind.
That the Word of God fuels faith and that makes progress. And what about feelings? Well, they'll follow. They come along. Do you ever do you think we're ever going to get to ever be unhappy in heaven? Of course not.
How would he get there?
By faith.
So.
Just one more, my time is almost up. I want to read to you a poem that was written by Martin Luther.
700 years ago.
It's called feelings and trust. Feelings come and feelings go.
And feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God, not elf. Not else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet token, there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging word.
Till soul and body sever, For though all things shall pass away.
00:40:02
His word shall stand forever.
What are you trusting tonight? Are you trusting your feelings, your reason? Or are you trusting God and His Word? You know there's another statement by a more recent author. His name is William Kelly, he wrote. This faith will always appear proud to those who have not got it, but it will be proved in the day of the Lord to be the only humility, and that everything which is not faith.
Is pride.
Keep that in mind. What was it that Eve replaced faith with pride? She looked at the fruit, she said. She said to herself, it looks good. She saw that it was. Of course, she had no basis for judgment, but she trusted her judgment anyway. She saw that it was good for food. That's what the Scripture says. She saw that.
Was their own imagination because God had spoken differently?
But she trusted herself. And you know, that's the bottom line. We either trust ourselves or we trust God.
Who are you trusting tonight? Faith will always appear proud to those who have not got it, but it will be proved in the day of the Lord to be the only humility, and that everything which is not faith is pride or no better. Faith admits that he who has it is nothing, that he has no power nor wisdom of his own, and he looks to God.
He is strong in faith, giving glory to Him.
Remember the verse we read?
There's other verses I want to read and never got to them.
He that comes to God must believe.
Must believe. If you're not believing tonight, you're not coming to God, you're going away from Him.
There's no middle ground. You're either coming to him or going away from him. He that comes to God must believe. Faith is required. When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth? Does he see it in your heart tonight? With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confessions made in salvation. Maybe you've said the earth saved.
But faith is a matter of the heart.
Faith is essential. Faith is not optional.
One more thing.
Faith is not occupied with faith. Faith is occupied with its object, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why I'm here tonight. I'm not here talking about faith for the sake of faith.
It's by faith that we are saved, faith in Christ.
What's the opposite of faith?
It's your choice, faith.
Or pride? Which are you going to present to God?
Tonight.
2 Timothy 2
The World
Address—John Bilisoly
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.
Well, I'd like to sing together part of a hymn 234.
And.
The whole hem is nice but I think forsake of time I'd like to sing the 1St, 3rd and 5th stanzas of 234 if someone would raise the tune for us.
We're not of the world.
Trade and the way.
We're not on.
Our children.
All day.
A change at once found us by Jesus.
Are in.
Where strangers honors.
Our Shepherd is still alive.
And God.
Before us he goes.
To love and grow white.
The springs that we precious from heaven we're given.
Our grandson.
And soon shall we answer our own promise.
When?
A round is right, wrong, and glory shall stand.
Forever.
And ever child being all morning and blessing for Jesus.
Well, I think I can certainly say for my wife Carmen and I, and no doubt I'm echoing the thoughts of others, that it certainly has been good to be here.
And I feel like, for myself at least, it's been one of those mountaintop experiences as we speak of. And how good of the Lord to give them to us. And we also can conjure up the image of.
Basking by the still waters in the pastures I I feel like we've we've had food that have has encouraged us.
I've we're dry in Colorado right now, so it's been nice to drive back and forth from the hotel to the facility here and see the green pastures and the cow here and there grazing. I just, I've enjoyed that they they look lush. So I just think of what we've had and certainly we can say it's been Bush, can't we, brethren?
I just.
Wish we could stay in these conditions, if you will. There's a reticence with us, I'm sure, to to go back and to leave. But we know that we have been called to walk through this wilderness with the Lord, and so He helps us. And yet we're so thankful for these little Oasis along the way.
I I know that.
There's things that we're going to go back to that exercise us, each of us.
Perhaps personal things, perhaps things in our assemblies that cast us on the Lord and and that certainly is good. But it's been nice to, as it were, be able to lay things aside and and just enjoy this time together, fellowship together and with with our Lord and Speaking of him and enjoying him.
I.
Hesitate in some ways to take up this subject because.
In some ways it's a contrast, but I hope I can do it and still encourage us to press on because it is a reality. And that is I would like to speak about the world.
In the sense of it being an enemy to our souls. And so we've often heard that we have three enemies that might have been mentioned in these meetings.
00:05:02
Satan, the world in the flesh and I want to take up the world and what characterizes it and.
Hopefully with looking at some Old Testament examples of how we might see something in type anyway, of how we confront this world that we're in, we can't deny that we are in the world. We have to, we have to live in it and the Lord himself.
And John 17 there speaks to his father and asks that not that he would take us out of the world, that he might preserve us in the world.
And so that's, I think our desire for one another is that we would be preserved.
So maybe with that introduction, we could just turn to 1St John Chapter 2, and I'm going to just read a few passages from a few portions of Scripture to kind of.
Set set the scene before us here concerning this subject of the world. It's again, these subjects are meetings in themselves. And so I'm going to just share some things with you that that I've enjoyed that have been an encouragement to my heart and certainly by no means am I going to give you a a good.
What would we say? Doctrinal lecture on the world? I just want to be practical for myself.
And so and for each of us. And so let's turn to Second John, Chapter 2.
Where we have in verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God.
Abideth forever. So we're given these three characteristics that we've often heard.
That characterized this world that we're in, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And I want to take up those three and apply them, as I said, using.
Old Testament accounts in type and how we confront these aspects or these characteristics of the world that we live in.
Now go to Genesis chapter 3.
And these accounts are so familiar with this, but I'll just read a few verses in the chapter, beginning at the verse one of Genesis 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yeah, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent.
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said.
He shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God it should be, knowing good and evil.
Now I think we have these characteristics that we read of in second John two or first John two in this next verse, verse 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, we might apply that to the lust of the eyes. I'm sorry, the lust of the flesh. She looks at this tree and she sees that it's good for food.
Had she not been provided abundantly with food, she certainly had.
God had so abundantly provided for Adam and Eve. Just think of everything in its pristine condition before sin and the lushness of whatever it was that was edible that God had given them. They had abundance and more.
But she sees something that had been forbidden.
And the lust of the flesh.
Is activated the next thing?
And that it was pleasant to the eyes.
Oh, she takes it in.
00:10:01
And how subtle the enemy is.
He stirs things up.
And often.
He puts a thought in the mind, and then the lust of the eyes.
And then the next thing that we read is and a tree to be desired to make one wise, oh wisdom.
That would be nice to have that.
I could be wise. I could be as God. That's what the enemy had told her.
Isn't it something how he works?
Something that.
Wisdom, something that is so useful, we're thankful for it.
But when it's outside of what God gives, this is what happens as we know the story well.
She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Well, I'm going to stop there in that account.
We know the awful results of heating the voice, the whispers of the enemy, and giving in to these principles, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and they plunge the human race into sin.
And then let's go over to Luke chapter 4.
For a beautiful contrast to this.
We've read about the fall of the 1St man.
That succumbed to these principles of the world.
But then we read of the Lord Jesus, that perfect man, and we see him in this 4th chapter of Luke being tested as a man. Now it says that I'll just read a few verses in verse four of chapter 4, starting with verse one. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Being 40 days tempted of the devil and in those days he did eat nothing.
And when they were ended, he afterward hungered, And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone.
But by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee.
And the glory of them, For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou wilt, therefore, if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, And I'm going to skip here, said unto him, It is written, Thou shalt not. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence.
For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up.
Lest at anytime thou dash thy foot.
Against a stone. And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
I think we're aware and have been told that this count of the Lord's temptation in the wilderness is given to us by Matthew.
Mark and Luke, but not John. I think it's so fitting there.
He's the Son of God. He doesn't need to be tested as a man in this way. So he, we don't have this in in John's Gospel. And if you look at Luke's or in Matthew's account, it's a little different. The first one is the same, but then Matthew switches the order of the other two. And perhaps again, that's more fitting with what Matthew is bringing before us, being more of a dispensational gospel.
And how the Lord has tested there as a man, as He is here in this first temptation.
00:15:04
And then in Matthew's account, he's tested as the Messiah, the one to whom the promises were given, and then he's tested as the Son of Man. So we see that order in Matthew, but here in Luke, it's what we call an moral order, and it follows the order of what John brought before us in the second chapter of his epistle, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes.
And the pride of life. And I think each of these without taking.
Much time to develop them.
Answer to those things.
Certainly the Lord as a man.
He was hunger in in hunger. It says that here afterwards, he afterward hungered at the end of verse two, he felt this. He was 40 days tempted of the devil in the wilderness. Now we're not told anything about those 40 days.
The Spirit of God veils it to us as to what took place. They were temptations that were, perhaps we could say, peculiar to the Lord Himself.
And.
Satan, as it were, tests him for that period of of testing, 40 days. And we can't imagine what that must have been like to be tested day after day relentlessly by this enemy. But the blessed Lord Jesus, he never wavered. He never wavered, did he? Now if we were to look at Mark's account.
All Mark speaks of is the 40 days.
But then he adds something, he says, and he was with the wild beasts in the wilderness. I've pondered on that. I don't feel like I have very much. But I will just say this, that if we were to look, take the time to look at.
What was committed to Adam? He was given dominion over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air. So Adam is given this dominion, you might say, over the lower creation.
But sin comes in through Adam's fall and.
All is spoiled, and so we know no doubt, that.
The beasts became wild after the fall of man and no doubt preyed upon one another. So God comes in with a flood, and he destroys the earth, and then he raises up Noah, and we're told there in the ninth of Genesis that Noah is given dominion.
Over the beasts and the birds and so on. But Noah, we know, fails to.
And so the first man has failed, and now we see a world in the lower creation of violence and praying upon one another, and so on bloodshed.
It's all the result of man's fall but this blessed one, the Lord Jesus.
He can be there among the wild beasts, and they cannot touch him.
He's their creator.
They're powerless to follow their instincts from the fallen man. They're powerless. He's there among the wild beasts. I don't know. I'd like to hear someone's thoughts on that. I just enjoyed that, that this one, this perfect man could be among them. No Fear not subject to their their.
Fallen instincts, you might say.
But he could be there in perfect peace.
Well, I just enjoyed this first one here where he's tempted to.
Provide for himself. And as we've had brought out here, the Lord Jesus never did anything that eased his pathway, did he? He always walked in perfect obedience to the Father. And we have in the second one here the devil taking him up and showing him all the in a high mountain and showing him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Offering them to him, well, they're going to be his in the coming day. He wouldn't take them prematurely.
And certainly not from an adversary like the devil.
No, he's going to have them all. They're going to be given to him. They're his by title and right. And then we have this, taking him to the temple and tempting him to cast himself down, counting upon the angels to bear him up.
00:20:07
I don't know exactly.
What that all signifies, but perhaps doing something spectacular, coming and appearing suddenly in the temple.
To gain the the notice of his creature man, would the Lord do that? No.
No, he, he won't. He won't respond to any of these temptations. Everything that Satan had used against the 1St man, that man had fallen in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This blessed man stands firm.
He could say in John's Gospel chapter 14 that the Prince of this world Speaking of the devil.
Cometh and hath nothing in me. That is, there's nothing that the enemy Satan could point out as a fault, as a failing, as a stumbling with that blessed one. He was maintained perfectly. He was sinless. He was without sin in this world.
What a wonderful one we have for an example, and perhaps that's one of the reasons.
That he quotes in each of these cases from the book of Deuteronomy. He responds to Satan from the book of Deuteronomy. We know that Deuteronomy, by the time we get to Deuteronomy, the children of Israel had failed miserably under the law that was given. They could not keep it. They were guilty and so they have to be taken up.
More on the principle of grace.
And not the righteousness of the law, because the righteousness of the law would have judged them and condemned them. So God takes them up on a different principle, principle of grace, just like he's taken us up on. And so I think, I think I remember being told that the the name Deuteronomy signifies a second law.
So Israel had miserably failed under the law.
The law of Moses. And so God takes them up in a different way, not pure law. It would have condemned them. But the Lord Jesus, He doesn't succumb in any way to these efforts of the enemy. What a wonderful one we have to follow. And so I think it was Mr. Kelly that said something like that. He quotes from the book of Deuteronomy.
So that we might be able to follow him.
We.
We can follow in the steps of the Lord Jesus with His help. We couldn't, certainly can't, do it in our own strength. The natural man could not resist the temptation of Satan.
But with the Lord's help, we can follow in His footsteps. And so how gracious of the Lord to to quote from that book.
In refuting these efforts of enemy, the enemy Satan to tempt him. Well, now I just want to look at these examples in the Old Testament that and just make an application to dealing with each of these principles, we might say of characterize the world.
The first one being the lust of the flesh. So maybe if we could turn over to Numbers chapter 25 to begin.
And I might mention that the judgment in each of these examples that I would like to make application from the judgments are severe.
And death has to come in in each of these cases.
And so the wages of sin is death, isn't it?
The wages of sin is death. So we have in Numbers 25, and I'm not going to read a lot of these. I'm going to skip a little because I think we're familiar with these. But the chapter begins with Israel abode in Shaddam. And the people began to commit ******** with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people under the sacrifices of their God gods. And the people did eat and bow down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto.
00:25:02
PR and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the Son.
That the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel.
Stay everyone slagy, everyone his man, men that were joined unto Baal Peor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came, and brought unto his brethren Amy and knightish woman, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And when Finnehas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation.
Took a javelin in his hand and he went in and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the mount of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel and those that died in the plague.
Or 20 and 4000 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Finna has the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron The priest hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace.
And there should be an exclamation mark there at the end of that sentence.
And he shall have it and his seat after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel. Well, I would like to apply this. I'm going to call it a mighty act. I'm going to call this a mighty act for God's glory.
He.
Acted, didn't he? And as a result it says that the plague was staged. Just think of how many more would have perished had not.
Elliott Finne has perhaps a younger man, I don't know what his age might have been, but he acts for the Lord's glory. This is a godly act of valor for God's glory. And so he it's if, if it wasn't recorded for us in the Word of God, you would shrink from reading such an account.
But it just shows that the seriousness of of before the Lord of what the lust of the flesh is and how it needs to be treated. And Finna has acts for the Lord's glory and saves many of his brother's lives.
It says he's given a covenant of peace. I think that's beautiful.
To think of what he had to do, and yet the result of it was peace.
A covenant of peace.
And so I've just for myself, for each of us.
The lust of the flesh.
Is a mighty tool of the enemy of our souls.
And we need to treat it, you might say, in all of the vengeance that Finna has displays here.
Because if we don't.
We know that it's it's something that continues and the plague spreads, doesn't it? And so how important that this be, as it were, stopped the very source.
So I I just think of this, it mentions a covenant of an everlasting priesthood.
Don't profess to understand all of these things, but I've just enjoyed this this covenant of peace that is given to him.
As a result of his act, that which you would say naturally was anything but.
What you would think would generate peace on his part?
That's what is given to him, this covenant of peace.
And So what a mighty act, a godly act of valor for the Lord's glory on the part of this this man. Now let's go to the next one.
In First Samuel chapter 15.
00:30:18
First Samuel, chapter 15.
Again, we won't read all of the account.
But we're familiar with it enough that I can skip from skip over some verses, so we'll start again at the beginning of the chapter.
Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people.
Over Israel now, therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts. I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ***. And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them.
In to Liam 200,000.
Footman and 10,000 men of Judah and Saul came to a city of Amalek and laid weight in the valley. Now let's skip down to verse seven. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest assure that is over against Egypt. And he took a gag, the king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Basal and the people spared a gag.
And the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuge that they destroyed utterly.
Then the word of the Lord came into Samuel, saying, He repenteth me, that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments, and aggrieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord.
All night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and has gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep, and mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen, which I heard?
And Saul said.
They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Stay on.
And so on. Well, I believe that we have.
That perhaps what would answer to.
That second characteristic of the world, the lust of the eyes. You know, Saul had been given a very specific word from the Lord to utterly destroy Amalek and all that was his, all the sheep and the oxen, and so on. Nothing was to be spared. Verse 9. But what does he do?
He thinks that he's wiser than the word of the Lord from Samuel.
I'm going to spare the best lust of the eyes.
This enemy was a real enemy.
And this was referred to in the conference here, Amalek, we have that account when Israel was first coming into the land or headed towards the land, into the wilderness, I should say. They encounter Amalek in Exodus 17 there.
And I think Amalek is a picture to us of the activity of Satan working through the flesh.
And we have the lust of the eyes here.
Amalek was to be utterly destroyed. That's what Saul was told.
To utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay them both, man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep.
Camel and house Sounds harsh, doesn't it?
Everything was to be destroyed.
00:35:05
But Amalek is such a dangerous enemy.
Just that insidious working, working through our flesh, that which we think is good.
That which we might say is, oh, this looks OK, this is all right. Be careful, Be careful. If Amalek is behind it, it's not good. It will bring us down. It was the result of Saul's downfall.
Because of it.
The Kingdom was going to be rent away from him because of his failure.
And if we don't judge the lust of the eyes, it's going to.
Cause failure in our lives.
We need to treat it.
Severely.
Saul wasn't willing to do that. He thought better. He thought, well, surely I can spare a gig. I don't know what it was about a gig.
That appealed to him. Perhaps it was.
His position. He was a king. Perhaps it was his attire, perhaps it was a number of things, but in Saul's reasoning mind, he would spare him, and he would spare the best of the animals for sacrifices. But that's not what he was told to do.
And so he has to be told that.
In verse 22 hath the Lord his great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fatter Rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
And so it doesn't matter what we think, does it? Along these lines, we're to obey the word of God.
And we're told it's explicitly not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And we'll end with some verses when we get to that, that bring that out.
But I want to go to the end of this chapter and read the end of this concerning a gag because I think it's so instructive to us.
Verse 32 Then said Samuel, he's speaking to Saul and he says, bring me, bring ye hit her to me. A gag, the king of the Amalekites.
An egg came unto him delicately, and a gag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past now. This is what I take from that. I don't know. I'd be happy for someone to share a different thought with me, but I believe that in a sense, a gag is thinking to himself.
Well, Saul spared me, and now he's standing before this man. He's an old man.
Saul was head and shoulders above the people. So here's Saul, this big imposing man that could have taken his life and was supposed to in obedience to the Lord, but he spared him. So if he spared me, then surely this old more feeble looking man, I'm probably OK here. I think I've passed the bitterness of death that that's what I take from this.
Surely the bitterness of death has passed.
But little did he know that this little man.
Perhaps feeble looking man.
Was going to reckon with him in a way that must have been a shock.
And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made children women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed egg in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
I find that.
Very moving in a way to think of this man. I don't know if we ever read of Samuel carrying a sword. I don't know where this sword came from.
But to Samuel, it was going to be the sword of the Lord's deliverance from this enemy. And he doesn't just kill him, he hews him in pieces.
And I don't want to carry the these things too far, but I've just I've just thought of this that.
00:40:05
When Samuel is finished with this enemy, this mighty enemy that was such a plague to Israel, he's unrecognizable. He's hewed in pieces before the Lord and Gilgal I just and then Gilgal is brought in there too. But I just thought of this the.
Godly act of valor on the part of Samuel.
For the Lord's glory he hews Agag in pieces.
Well may it speak to us concerning this aspect of the world, the lust of the eyes.
Want to look at one more?
To finish out this, the pride of life. And for that let's let's go to stay in, let's go back to judges.
Chapter 4.
And this is the story that we're very familiar with of Deborah and Barrick.
And a woman named Jail.
We've had a nice word for our sisters the last reading meeting.
And I think.
This.
Chapter is has much encouragement to take it in a spiritual way for our sisters, but I'll just read a few verses here to to bring the scene before us. Verse one and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.
When Ehood was dead, and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabun, king of Canaan, and that reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose host was Cicero, which dwelt in Hirosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for he had 900 Chariots of iron, and 20 years he mightily oppress the children of Israel.
Well, I'm not going to read all of the rest of it leading up to.
Jails act, but we know that.
In verse 13 it says sister had gathered together all his Chariots, even 900 Chariots of iron, and the people that were were with him from Hirosath of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishan.
And Deborah said unto Barrick, Up For this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Cicero into thy hand. Is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barrack went down from Mount Tabor, and 10,000 men after him. And the Lord discomforted Cicero and all his chariot Chariots and his host with the edge of the sword before Barrick, so that Cicero lighted down from his chariot and fled away on his feet. But Barrick pursued after the Chariots and after the host.
Unto haroseth, and so on.
Verse 17. Now Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of jail, the wife of Hebrew the Kenite.
For there was peace between Jabe and the king of Hazel, and the House of Hebrew. The Kenite and jail went out to meet Cicero, and said unto him, Turn in my Lord, turn in to me, fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him again. He said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be. When any man doth come, inquire thee, and say, Is there any man here? Thou shalt say no a jail. Hebrews wife took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smoked the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary so.
Died. And so we see then that there's a song that is sung. I think it's the only song in a book of judges. And it's kind of a pinnacle in the book, a book that has.
Lots of ups and downs for the children of Israel. And she's spoken of here. She's given a place of honor. And you know, I, I thought of this in connection with that.
Last aspect of this world, the pride of life. Oh, that's a, that's a hard one. It's one that affects all of us, I believe, and continues to affect us. I know our brother John had a little text up here or one of his visual aids there to have the word pride on it with the letter.
I The tallest of the letters, The middle letter of the word pride.
My dad had a little similar text in his study. It was shaped like a diamond and the letters got bigger and bigger and the the I and the word pride was the largest. Then they went back down and he had it right above his door on the inside of his study. And I asked him about it one time and he why he put it there because it was kind of.
00:45:22
A strange place, There wasn't much room between the top of the door and the ceiling that he had made a little study in the basement of it.
Our house in Corner Brook, NL, and maybe some of you have been in that study, but he told me it was to remind him whenever he went out of there that pride was a terrible thing. And it is, isn't it? And I, I think of this here in connection with Jails Act. What does she do? She puts that nail through his temple.
That might which might speak of man's intellect, his head.
She fastens it to the ground. She takes his life with a nail and a hammer, and as it were, destroys that pride, the pride of man well.
Perhaps it's a feeble application, but I've thought of those 3.
Godly acts of valor on the part of these three different individuals.
To deal with these.
These characteristics of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Well may the Lord encourage us as we go on.
To.
See these things for what they are and that we too might have that energy, that godly energy to deal with these things. Let's just turn in closing to a few verses in Galatians chapter 5.
And I want to end on more encouraging note here, so.
In Galatians chapter 5.
It says.
Verse 16 Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And so on. And then we have the fruit of the Spirit brought before us.
At the end of the chapter. But the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
Verse 25 if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. May the Lord encourage us in that I want to just end with.
A Verse of a Hymn, 318.
O Lamb of God, still keep us close to thy pierced side.
Tis only there in safety and peace we can abide With foes and snares around us and lusts and fears within. The grace that sought and found us alone can keep us clean. I think we'll just read sing that first stanza. So again, if someone would raise that that tune.
Up last year. I'll still your eye here. I hear the sense I'm here since I've been, since I've been, since I did. It's only parents lately.
Hebrews 2:1-9
1 Timothy 2:1-