Address—Bob Thonney
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I'd like to start our meeting.
This afternoon with #150.
One of the hymns that.
Is a true worship hymn.
Focuses almost completely on the glories of the Person of Christ.
Our faith rests on the person and work. You can't divorce the work from the person. But this hymn as we sing it.
Uh, let's try to focus on this person that we're singing about.
I don't wanna be the only one standing, so I'd invite you to stand as well.
Thou art the earth.
In life.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Miracle.
Nsnoise.
Waterloo, MI.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, it is our privilege to bow before Thy presence once again this afternoon.
To think of all thy glory, Lord Jesus.
And our desire is that our hearts would be drawn.
After thy glorious person, grant that thy Holy Spirit would have liberty.
And then opening up thy precious word, so that it would have the right effect, that we would be father drawn after thy beloved son.
We cast ourselves upon thee in some measure, conscious of the human weakness.
But we look up and have confidence that thou art overrule. We give thanks, Father, for these moments together in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Like to turn to the only book in the Bible that begins with the word God.
Don't look at me, please.
I think you know what Rick I'm talking about.
Book of Hebrews.
Interesting. We believe that.
Perhaps the Apostle Paul was the writer of this epistle, and yet his name never appears in the epistle.
Perhaps because.
The Hebrew believers had a particular bias against Paul, but there is an apostle mentioned in this epistle.
In the third chapter.
But it is not the Apostle Paul.
But I would like to read particularly to start off with the 1St 3 verses of this chapter.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners.
Spake in time fast into the Fathers by the prophets.
Hath in these last time they spoken unto us by his Son?
Whom he has appointed heir of all things.
By whom also he made the world's.
Who being the brightness of His glory.
And the express image of his person and nothing, and holding all things by the word of his power.
When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
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Like to extract 3 words from the 1St.
2 verses to begin with.
God.
Hath spoken.
Isn't that wonderful? To me, I think it is so tremendously wonderful.
God has spoken.
He has something to say to us.
Are your ears open?
Do you listen when his word is read?
You know, I don't pretend to understand a whole lot of this book.
But my desire is when I read it or hear somebody else read it, to have my ears open because he's speaking.
He spoke in time past to the Fathers by the prophets, and that's what we have in the Old Testament scriptures.
And he spoke on Mount Sinai.
But it was always a partial revelation.
But in these last days He spoken unto us in the person.
Of his Son, and now because Jesus has come.
We have a full a complete revelation of all who God is. I think it is so marvelous to think about it. I've often mentioned.
That the Muslims in their doctrine about God say that God is unknown and unknowable.
How tragic. And you and I say we know God.
Isn't that wonderful?
To be able to say that we know God, How do you know Him?
In the person of his son.
And so in these the rest of verse two and verse three, we have 7.
Phrases that speak of the glory of the sun.
And to me it is extremely touching.
To be able to meditate on the grander, the glory, the power, the wisdom, the love of this person we're talking about every way you want to think about him.
Even his humiliation.
It is without equal.
In human history.
God has entered his own creation in the person of his own Son, and he's spoken. And you and I can learn now who this God is. What's the first phrase say about Him?
Middle of verse two it says he's appointed heir of all things.
We're talking this morning in the reading about the inheritance.
And that the inheritance in the widest view of it includes every created thing, the whole universe.
And you know, I used to stop and say, why does he start with that? I would think he would start with the creation of the world, which is the next phrase.
It was because before the worlds were made.
All there was was God in the fullness of His being.
And his eternal counsels. And in those eternal counsels God had already determined.
My son.
When the worlds are made is going to be air of all things and that incredible God's eternal purposes. You know, we live in the realm of time and we have a hard time thinking about eternity. I'd like to ask people what is eternity and I get all different kinds of answers.
Thousands of millions and billions and trillions of years.
Doesn't even start it. Yes, that's one way of looking at it, but that's because we think in realms of time. But really there are no years, there's no days, there's no hours in eternity. It's all just one day, the day of God.
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And the best explanation of eternity I can come up with is in Isaiah 57 where it says the high.
And lofty one, who inhabits eternity, the where God dwells in the fullness of his being.
But the next phrase is by whom? Also He made the world's the universe.
Rather than I think sometimes it's helpful to study the universe, I find it thrilling to tell you the truth. My children have bought me a couple books on the universe. It never ceases to thrill me, to look up and to realize the grandeur of it all.
The creation of which we are a partner, what he made.
Last year in March.
I was down with my wife in Bolivia and in the course of the visit, couple brothers and I went in a pickup down.
Into the South of the country.
For to see is where Brother Eric Smith arrived in 1921. We were there to break bread with our brethren in that city.
And afterwards we took off across the High Plains toward Uyuni, a city on the Altiplano.
I think, uh, some of you may have studied geography enough to realize that they're in South America. There are two main ranges of the Andes mountains, the inner Andes and the outer Andes is what they call them.
The inner Andes are the ones that are further to the east and the outer Andes are along the coast. In between there is a plateau about 12,000 feet altitude and so we crossed the inner Andes over towards Uyuni, which is on the Alta Plano at 12,000 feet and we came across.
To the place where it drops off to 12,000 feet altitude.
Well, I stopped there a minute just to take in the view.
Tremendously beautiful you can see out there two 300 kilometers to where you can see the outer Andes on the coast sticking up way above the 12,000 feet altitude mark and they're in between those High Plains off to the right was the salt flat civil uni 200 kilometers wide and it happened to be at this time is the time of harvest down there and.
They grow a lot of quinoa, and when quinoa is ripe, it's red and yellow. So it's splattered with red and yellow all across there. I don't know. It does something to me to look at creation sometimes and see the grandeur of it and to realize the one who created it is the one I'm personally acquainted with. Tremendous to think about. But then I still stepped back and said.
Really, this is nothing in comparison with the universe that we live in.
You realize that we are in.
Group of stars called a Galaxy the Milky Way Galaxy.
And our son is one of probably about 200 billion more stars in this particular Galaxy.
Light that travels about 300,000 kilometers a second takes 100,000 years to cross our Galaxy alone. Think of it this way, the light that started across the Galaxy when Adam was placed on this Earth isn't even a tenth of the way across our Galaxy yet.
You get any idea the vastness of it?
One more step.
In the universe.
Scientists now calculate that there are perhaps as many as 400 billion more galaxies like these.
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Just leave this completely behind.
This is the one who created it all and how did he create it? Where did he get such power?
By the word of his mouth were the heavens created, and all that is in them.
He commanded and it was done.
He commanded and it stood fast.
Oh, the power of this person we're talking about.
And this was the person.
That stood before the Council of the Jews.
And the high priest came up and spit.
In his face.
Incred.
Well, there's five more phrases here in verse 3.
Next one is Who being the brightness of His glory.
The full out shining of the glory of God was the Lord Jesus.
When he was here, like was mentioned yesterday in the reading, there was no beauty that they should desire him.
And yet there he was, the brightness of his glory.
You step outside, will you, and try to look at the sun for a minute? No, you better not do that. You'll damage your site.
But that's just the created part of the person we're talking about. And brethren, He is the brightness, the full out shining of the glory of God.
And the next phrase is.
The express image of his person images representation.
So that's the Lord Jesus. Here was the exact representation of all that God is.
Do you want to know what God is like?
Look at Jesus.
You will find out what he's like.
As I mentioned, they stepped up to him when he was on trial and spit in his face. I can't think of a worse insult to somebody.
Had people spit at me but not spit in my face. They went up the chief priests and spit in his face.
I've often asked as we preach in prison. Sometimes.
Prisoners, what would happen if somebody spit in your face?
One man said that guy wouldn't be standing very long.
That's our natural reaction.
What's God like?
What a patient.
Long-suffering God we have in the Lord Jesus.
No reaction.
Simply went straight on toward the cross. What a beautiful thing.
Does God have any interest in children? Sometimes the children, I think, get kind of tired of long meetings. It's got interested in them. He sure is. How do you know?
They brought them to Jesus.
The disciples wanted to shoo them away, Thought the Lord was way too important, way too busy to deal with children.
Is that the way God is? No. He's interested in everyone, whoever you are.
Whatever little thing might be bothering you, he's interested in it.
That's the kind of God we have in the Lord Jesus.
But now the next phrase is upholding all things by the word of His power.
This is tremendous to think about to not only has he created everything that exists in the universe, but he upholds it by his power.
Man makes something and it has to be repaired every once in a while.
How often has the solar system entered into repair mode?
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How long has it been going? Thousands, Maybe hundreds of thousands, maybe more years.
We don't really know for sure.
But it's all maintained in clock like order by the word of His power. The Lord Jesus was just born and laid in that Manger.
Poor mother didn't have any place else to give birth to him except where the animals were eating.
And so she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the Manger. That little baby.
That little seemingly helpless baby, because he wasn't a helpless baby, was the one that was controlling the whole universe by the word of his power.
When they nailed him onto the cross.
The same time he was hanging there and abject agony.
He was giving breath to those that crucified him.
He upholds all things by the word of his power.
That then notice the next one. This is the phrase that deals with his work. Most of the phrases deal with the glory of his person, but here's one that deals with his work.
When he had by himself purged.
Our sins.
Oh, the glory of this person.
He by himself purged our sins when it came to the question of putting sin away.
He could only do it by himself. Nobody was there to help him.
There on that cross he hung. We know the story how he suffered from the hands of man.
For the first three hours he was there and there was light.
He suffered.
For righteousness sake.
His disciples forsook him and fled. Reproach broke his heart is full of heaviness. Look for some to take pity. But there was none. But then God clouded the scene with darkness.
And in three hours.
He made purgation for sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Three hours.
Every sin that wise ever committed was placed on His holy Head, and the storm of judgment broke in all its fury on God's beloved Son. If I was to be forgiven, somebody had to pay, and pay in full, the price of my redemption.
And he paid it in full.
The end of those hours, he cries. It is finished.
All the other sacrifices of the Old Testament.
The flames consumed the sacrifice, but in this case the sacrifice consumed the flames.
There is therefore now no more con, no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Thank God, I'm forgiven, but all the awfulness of the cost. At the end of those three hours he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His God, who had been his strength, his stay in all his life, the one in whose will he delighted.
First took him in the hour of the most abject suffering, and by the sacrifice of himself he paid the price in full. Thank God for it.
The last phrase.
He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
I understand it's reflexive. It could be read. He sat himself down.
Because of the worthiness of his person and because of the completeness of his work, he had the right as a man to walk right into the presence of God and sit himself down.
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At God's right hand.
You Canadians up here in Canada, would you ever dare to go to Ottawa and walk right into the President's personal office and sit yourself down right on the right hand, right his right hand? I don't think anyone dare to do such a thing. He might be invited to do that, but you would not do it on your own. But here is one because of the worthiness of his person.
Because of the completeness of his work, he walks right into the presence of God, walks right into heaven, and sits himself down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Oh brother, this is the man that I worship, that we worship. I trust His glory, His grandeur, His greatness fills our souls. Just feel sometimes we need to stop.
And let it sink in who we're talking about. We're living in what is called Man's Day.
In which man makes himself the reference point in everything.
I do what I want to do because I have the rights to do it. OK, you have the rights. You go ahead and do that. But when you get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus properly.
You're gonna realize you have no rights left. There is only one who has all the rights, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is it that we focus on each other so much? We have divisions and we focus on the brethren on one side and on another side brethren. We're not called to be occupied with ourselves. There are principles in God's Word, but the focus point is Christ.
The only focus point and I find that Satan makes determined attacks.
To try to get your attention off of this glorious person.
And we are called to focus in on him.
There's always the tendency in us to focus on maybe gifted brethren.
It bothers me sometimes, brethren, in our prayer meetings that just seems like the brother in up front are the ones that pray and thankfully in these meetings have been somebody's, some people back further, they're prayed. You young brothers, have you been exercised to pray in the prayer meetings? I mean, at the conference, I find it very helpful when a young brother has that exercise.
Why do we focus on certain ones and think that they're the only ones? I really believe it's because we've lost sight of the glory, the person of our Lord Jesus.
I'd like to use the rest of the time we have to go to some practical reflections.
Uh, based on this, brethren, again I say my desire when I look at you, dear young people, and I thank God for you dear young people, and for the evident desire on the part of many of you to please the Lord.
But I say the only thing that is going to keep you on target is focus on the person of Christ. Sometimes I see people sitting here and they're not singing. I say, well, I guess there's somebody that really hasn't gotten their focus on this person yet. Because you know what? When the Lord Jesus was here and the little children were praising him.
And the the Pharisees complained about it.
The Lord said if they should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
So if you refuse to praise him, God is going to have others praise Him.
I want to encourage you. Praise Him not only when they come together and meetings. Praise him at home.
Praise him in your car, Praise Him at all times. He's worthy.
Let's go over to the 12Th chapter of this epistle.
Verse.
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25 says.
See that you refuse, not him that speaketh.
For if they escape not who refused him that spoke spake on earth much more Shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven? Whose voice then shook the earth? But now he hath promised, saying Yet once more I shake not earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as those things that are made.
That those things which cannot be shaken may remain, wherefore we receive in a Kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
Well, here we have what relates to what we heard in the first chapter. God has spoken. Here is the advert admonition. See that ye refuse, not him that speaketh.
And it speaks that his voice at that time shook the earth.
But he's talking about a time when not only earth, but also the heavens will be shaken. Every created thing that can be shaken will be shaken. And we're starting to see the shaking going on. Things that have stood for years have started to shake, and they're going to shake apart the only thing that will stand firm.
Is what is based on the precious word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away, the Lord Jesus said.
But my words shall not pass away.
So make sure your life is founded on the precious Word of God. It's the only thing that will stand in the days that we are living. And I'm thankful for young people who ask questions, who want solid answers. The Lord stir us to help and to give them answers. And if we don't have the answers to admit I don't understand that part. Don't just give any kind of an answer.
We need answers based on God's word because it's the only thing that will stand. See that you refuse, not him, that Speaker God is speaking. I'd like to go back to the first part of this chapter.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, proud of witnesses is evidently the witnesses of faith mentioned in Chapter 11, and they are therefore our encouragement. But notice what it says. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Lay aside the weights and the sin that does so easily beset us.
You know, there's things in life that are not wrong in themselves.
But their weights they don't help you in running properly.
You know what impresses me when I look at the Lord Jesus?
The Lord of glory when he passed through this world.
How simple a lifestyle he had.
What did he have, materially speaking?
Almost nothing. The only thing I can come up definitely that he had was his clothes.
Which they took away from them when they crucified him.
Is there anything wrong with having a house?
Or at that time, an animal to ride on. Nothing wrong with it, but he didn't have it.
When it comes to the question of feeding 5000 people.
Did he have something that he miraculously took out of his own hands? No.
He waited for what was seemingly a ridiculous solution. A little boy with A5 loaves, we call him Rolls, and two small fishes.
What are they among so many?
A brethren, what has impressed me, sometimes we look at others and say, man, they have a lot of money, and if I had had that much money I could do lots for the Lord. Well, we don't do anything with what we have, and God doesn't wait for you to have a whole bunch of money. You use what you have right now, put it in His hands. You'll be amazed what God can do with the little. They all were fed and they had leftover.
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12 baskets full enough so that each apostle could go away with a basket full of fragrance that remained. Isn't that amazing? The Lord always did that He didn't have. We don't really have any record of him having a piece of money in his own, in his own pocket, but He always supplied the need in one way or another. So they call us to brother and to look to him, not to be looking at each other.
Not to be forming ideas in our minds based on that. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endures such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Consider him.
Did you have contradiction? Maybe. You say I've got real problems. Yeah, he did too. Did he give up because of the problems that encountered him? No. Straight on. Oh, what an example.
Looking unto Jesus, dear young people, I want to encourage you to look to Him. You will be encouraged in your soul in the measure that you look to Him. If at these meetings you only get looking at certain brethren, I guarantee sooner or later you're going to be disappointed. Don't do that brethren, God may use to help you a little bit.
But looking.
Unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He started it. He begun it. He finished it.
And then it says, who for the joy that was set before him, endure the end, endured the cross, despising the shame?
What was the joy that was set before him? I like to think of it as being able to go back into the presence of God and say, Father, I finished the work that gave us me to do. Only He could really say that properly. Lord's given each one of us a work to do, but I don't suppose any of us, not even the apostle Paul, He could say I finished the course, but he didn't say I finished the work that I was given to do.
May the Lord encourage us though, because I really, truly believe that God has given every single one of us, you young brothers, you young sisters too, something to do for him. And one day we're going to stand and he's going to say, I gave you something to use for me.
What you do with it, We're gonna give an account before the judgment seat of Christ. So be exercised. Be encouraged to use what little you have for Him.
I love the verse three and the old version of the Spanish Bible.
Re lucid pues Westero, Pennsylvania miento octel que sufrio Tau contradiction de pecadores Contra SE mismo.
Paraguay, No southeast.
De Sonny Model and Westeros correspondence.
The way it translates out is reduce your thoughts to him.
I love that expression. To reduce our thoughts to him, we think of what people are, what they've done.
Reduce your thoughts to him. But that brother offended me. Reduce your thoughts to him. But you didn't consider what he did to me. Reduce your thoughts to him. Don't be so self-centered. That's where our culture has gone astray, terribly astray.
As we think of ourselves, we make ourselves the reference point and we go astray. Reduce your thoughts to Him.
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Now let's go over to the 13th chapter for a few more practical reflections that I find very helpful. Brethren.
Let brotherly love continue.
You know there's two words for love in the Greek. One is I mean two main words that are used. One is this one which is filet O which is brotherly love. There's another word agape, which is divine love, the love that is used most in the New Testament.
It is the love that loves when there's nothing lovable, but the word that's used here is.
Brotherly love.
Brother Michelle, I've learned to appreciate you as a brother in my years of acquaintance with you. I.
Suppose you might appreciate me a little bit.
You have to.
You know, there's something so wholesome about the interchange of love, and we need to cultivate it. Scripture tells us to let it continue.
But sometimes brother and we have problems.
Maybe I don't quite agree with you, brother Michelle.
And perhaps in a fleshly reaction.
I give you a slap on the face.
Now as their brotherly love.
But that's not brotherly love, is it? That's divine love.
You forgive me because of what God has done for us, that love, that loves when there's nothing lovable in US. And that's why it says in second Peter chapter one.
To brotherly love add love. So if there is a problem between me and you, what are going to do about it?
Let brotherly love continue, but they get some resentment in my heart. Well, we need to get to the divine love and add that and then go back to cultivating brotherly love. I love to see young brothers and young sisters too, cultivating fellowship with one another in the Lord's things. That is very wholesome. I can look back and think of young brothers that were a tremendous help to me.
When I was young.
One young brother that I was going in the wrong direction at that particular moment, and I suggested something that was not proper for a Christian.
You know what he said to me? I don't do that.
You know what? That was all I needed. That was it for me. I didn't go in that direction again. That's the importance of good brotherly love, and Scripture encourages Let it continue.
Verse two. Be not forgetful of two interesting strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
I don't know if this refers to Abraham. He seemed to be aware of who those were that visited him.
I remember a brother I got to know in Bolivia, city of Cochabamba. They told me one day when I was visiting him, he says I always am careful at how I deal with people that come to my door. It might be an Angel the Lord has sent.
There's lots of beggars down there and sometimes, you know, it might be tempted to dispatch and get going. But he said I'm careful because it might be an Angel.
Verse three, we had read this morning in the prayer meeting and I think there's something we need to be exercised. The brethren, brethren, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and then which suffer of adversity as being yourselves in the body. Our brethren, our suffering terribly in other parts of the world. Is there any exercise on our part?
To put ourselves at disposable as disposable to the Lord's use, so that there might be blessing for others.
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In this world who have very difficult.
Circumstances to pass through where persecution is very severe.
May the Lord encourage you, dear young people. I know you say, well, what can I do? I'm just one person and I don't have very many resources.
Do what you can. Important thing is put yourselves up in the Lord's hands. Say Lord, is there something I can do in view of this need? And then let the Lord lead you in whatever way he may in fulfilling.
That how important it is, brethren, we have brethren that are in bonds.
Verse four Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but ************ and adulterers, God will judge.
Here we have the question of marriage, and it's honorable in all.
And the vet undefiled.
Intimate relations between a man and his wife are not prohibited in the Scriptures.
But there are the limits.
The lines are drawn. It is within the marriage bond.
Young brother in any measure you have interest in a young sister, do it as Paul spoke to Timothy treat the young sisters with.
Uh, as sisters with all purity.
Don't let yourself go in that. Let there be restraints. You know, a river is a beautiful thing to see, but if the river gets out of bounds, it does a lot of destruction.
And human sexuality is a powerful river, but keep it within the bounds that God has put it in within marriage.
And you're gonna find it a extremely wonderful blessing in your life, within the limits that God has put it. ************ and adulterers, God will judge. Seems like we're always under attack to let down the bars, let in some of it.
Lord, help us to respect God in what He has set for our own good.
Another problem, verse five. Let your conversation or your manner of life be without covetousness.
And be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. It's a beautiful promise of the Lord, but it comes on the heels of the exhortation to let our lives be without love of money.
Covetousness. Always wanting more and more and more, just a little bit more.
That's what's so characteristic of the American culture.
Brethren, the Lord help us to listen to what Scripture says here.
Be content. I find it such a blessing to see people that are content with what they have. They're not always wanting more. They're not always looking at somebody else that has a little bit more and discontented with what they have. They're content.
I think maybe I mentioned a brother. That was a real blessing to me down in the Dominican Republic.
Juan Vasquez was his name. He's with the Lord now, but he was a brother that was very poor.
And when I was there in his home one time with Brother Clem Buchanan.
He had us there for the noon meal and his wife hadn't gotten an meal quite ready yet, so we had to sit down. And the only place we could sit down in the house, it was at the table. And we had to be careful how we sat down not to break the benches because there weren't that reliable.
His house was just some sticks stuck in the ground for the walls and.
A roof out of palm leaves.
And when it rained, sometimes the rain came inside just as well as outside.
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But I still remember sitting in that brother's house.
Dear brother, the black face, the joy that radiated from his face. He sat down at the head of the table and took out his Bible, and I didn't realize he didn't know how to read. He started quoting scriptures. I thought he was reading. Found out later that he couldn't read. But the joy that being from that face, content with such things as he had.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. The Lord help us, brethren, not to be always desiring more and more. The Lord help us to use what extra we may have for the advancement of His Kingdom.
It just seems like things are going to start going downhill. I'm not a prophet, so I'm not saying what's going to happen with the North American economy.
But it can't help but believe that something is going to happen in the wrong direction sometime the way money is being spent that they don't even have.
Money we have in our hands. What are going to do with it? It's the Lord's Use it in view of that coming Kingdom, when everything of this world is going to be passed into oblivion.
That's its only value is the way we use it now in view of the future.
So let your conversation be without love of money or covetousness. Be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that we may boldly say, isn't this beautiful?
The Lord is my helper. I will not feel fear. What man can do unto me, shall do unto me.
Down a little bit further here and just want to touch on these points, he says in verse 10, we have an altar.
Whereof they have no right to eat. Which serves the Tabernacle? Where is our altar?
What is our altar?
It's Christ. Christ is the sacrifice. Christ is the priest, Christ is the altar. By him we offer the sacrifice to praise, a praise to God continually. He says they have no right to eat, which serves the Tabernacle. In other words, going back to that old Jewish system of things is a denial of where we are now. And so they have no right to eat of it, of this altar, if you're going to go back.
To serving those old Jewish customs.
Now, verse 11.
For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Let us go forth unto Him. There is the reference point again. It is not to a group of brethren, it is to Him. We are called out of the camp. The camp is that Jewish form of religion, and so many factions of it have been incorporated into Christian groups. In this day and age, to have music and worship is Judaism.
Sometimes people say, why don't you have music to praise the Lord?
Because that was connected with Judaism. And what God wants is the expression of the heart. Not what sounds good to our ears, but what sounds good to His ear is what comes from our hearts, even though it may not sound that great to us.
Having a fixed priesthood, certain ones that are qualified to speak and others not, where does that come from? That comes from Judaism as well. Brethren. Are we exercised about these things? We're called to come out of that. And that's why exhort you, younger brethren, be exercised in your local assembly. Do you pray in the prayer meeting? It's a good place to start taking part in assembly meetings.
01:00:16
Do you give the Lord praise given out of him? Those are things that you can do. It's not a matter of age and intelligence. It's a matter of priesthood. And if you are born into God's family, you are a priest. You need to be exercised about that. Come out of the camp, come out of that principle that does those kind of things. We could go on and.
Enumerate. But that's sufficient, for now we're called to come out unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.
Verse 15 and 16 By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise.
How often?
Continually, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. There's another sacrifice of doing good and communicating in verse 16 that we are to listen to as well. May the Lord help us, dear brethren, to keep our eyes in these last days on the Lord Jesus to go on, dear young brother and sister, be encouraged. Do what you can.
It doesn't matter if it seems small and negligible.
But be encouraged to go on keeping your eyes on the Lord. Let's just pray. Father, we're thankful for Thy precious word. Keep us, we pray. Confess how easily we get distracted from looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We pray for blessing the rest of the afternoon now.
All in that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.