Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Toledo, November 1980.
Address.
By Gordon Hayhol.
103 When Israel by divine command, the pathless desert trod, they found throughout the barren land, a sure resource in God 303.
Straight.
We ask the Lord's blessing.
Or just a couple of scriptures I'd like to look at, one connected with what our brother brought before us yesterday. Second Timothy Chapter one.
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And verse 7.
For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear.
But of power and of love, and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Then one other passage in Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
And verse 5.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and 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 the Lord is my helper.
And I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Well, they're young people. It was particularly in connection with those 3 four things that are mentioned in Second Timothy that I'd like to speak to you this afternoon. And that is what God has not given us, That is the spirit of fear, the new translation reads. Cowardice. God has not given us the spirit of cowardice. But here are three things. He has given power and love and a sound mind.
Or the other translation reads, wise discretion. Oh, how wonderful it is that we have been blessed so.
And that's why I also read the passage in Hebrews that tells us there that our conversation can be without covetousness. What is covetousness? Well, it's desiring what the other person has because we don't have it, but we want it. And you know, we may just limit covetousness to wanting somebody's car or wanting somebody's home. But there are a great many other things that we might covet, and that can make us very, very unhappy.
We can feel it because we are not like other people because we don't have their ability or their looks or something like this.
Because we don't come from a meeting where there's plenty of fellowship, a great many things that we may covet that we might desire. Say if I only had that, my life would be complete. But isn't it very lovely what this verse says? Let your conversation be without covetousness. Why can we say this? Why does this verse tell us such a thing? Well, because we have one who is our helper, one who is sufficient for every situation we can possibly meet in life.
One who is able to give us the grace for all these things that constantly arise, and so our conversation can be without covetousness for two reasons. Because the Lord says I won't leave you and that the second thing that he says that he says.
I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Let me read it again. It says. The Lord is my helper.
So he's not going to leave us, and he is going to help us. And it was this particularly in mind that I would like to speak to you this afternoon. Dear young people, I feel that in the meetings we have had much before us about what God has done for us. My father used to often comment, and perhaps some have heard him say, that the will of God and the heart of God are the source of all our blessing. And if we could only realize this.
Then if it were God's will to give us more, Whether if it were God's will that we should be in a different place. If it were God's will, that we should be like someone else who's perhaps personality or something we covet. Why, He could have made us that way, but He didn't. He made each one of us to fill a particular place in the body of Christ, a place that no one else can fulfill as well as we can.
Because just as in our body, there are members of the body that do what seem like very, very important functions. We find it very difficult to get along without a hand or without a foot. But there are a lot of other parts to the body, quite hidden, that have a great deal to do with whether my hand is useful, have a great deal to do with whether my feet function as they should, and so every member of the body is needful.
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And you, if you belong to Christ, are a member of His body, and you have a function to fulfill, a place in the body of Christ, in the assembly where you are and in this world to fulfill. And God can give you the power and the love and the discretion to fulfill that place. Isn't that a very encouraging thought for us? And you know, as we look around, I have heard it said, and I believe it is so that God has given 3 testimonies to man.
3 Testimonies to show that He cares about us and He has given us a testimony in the creation all about us and in our own bodies.
And the way they function, it tells us in Psalm 19 the heavens declare the glory of God.
And the firmament showed his handiwork day under day utter a speech, and night under night show us knowledge as we look about on the vast creation. And we remember that when God made this creation, it tells us that his delights were with the sons of men, and that he was rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth. That verse has been a great encouragement to me, because as I see the wonders of God's creation.
I think of how the Creator made them, thinking of the good and happiness of his creature.
Thinking of your happiness, dear young person, and as you lookout on the creation, and as you attend school and learn something of the marvels of God's creation, instead of looking at it just as something that science is discovering, wouldn't it be nice to think it was my father that planned it all? He made things. He could have made all our food to taste alike. But He has given us a great variety. He could have made us all alike.
And yet, if it were so, there wouldn't be any variety. There wouldn't be the pleasure of meeting new friends, of finding those who with whom we can share fellowship, who feel in a lack in our life and that we perhaps can contribute something for them. What a wonderful creation it is. Can man fathom the wonders of this creation that is all about us? No. It's beyond the mind of man. The more he discovers, the more powerful telescopes, the more powerful microscopes, the more he looks into it, the more he discovers how marvelous is God's creation.
And then to think that when God made this dear young person, he was thinking about you.
And he wanted you to be happy. Now it's true that sin has ruined this world. But in spite of the ruin, God has left us with 10,000 tokens of his goodness and of his interests and His care over us. Little him says 10,000 thousand precious gifts. My daily thanks, employee. Nor is the least a cheerful heart to taste those gifts with joy. And I say to you, instead of thinking, I wish, I wish, I wish.
Start thanking God for all those wonderful things that we are surrounded with day by day.
All those things that we can thank him for in the vast creation.
But if we only had that, we wouldn't know our Creator. We wouldn't know his love. We wouldn't know His heart. So God is not only surrounded us with a testimony of His power and of his might and of his interest in the vast creation, but he has also given to us His beloved Son. God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, and, it says in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. That is, that God was walking through this world in the person of his Son.
And if you want to know what God is like, follow the pathway how that blessed savior.
See his love, his concern was anyone in trouble. Why he entered into all the sickness and sorrow that sin had brought into this world. When a home was deprived of a loved one, he wept and groaned in spirit and he was there in the disciples trials and difficulties. He was able when they had a problem that says they went and told Jesus all that sympathizing heart, that love.
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That he displayed never doing 1 miracle for his own interests, but always for the blessing of others. God come down a heavenly stranger, love to sinners to proclaim. So we have the creation. God has spoken in Son. God's own Son has walked through this world and his life was a display of the heart of God to man. And then we have His precious word.
Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. This world has been spoiled and saw The one who made it all has marked out a pathway for us through this world. He has shown us his mind and his will for every situation that can arise in your life, whether you're one of the younger ones here or whether you're in your teens, whether you were a young married person.
God has a message for everyone in this precious book, and so can you doubt that He cares about you when you're constantly surrounded by all these reminders of all that He has done in the creation, in the love that gave his Son, and in this precious book, with all its wonderful instruction For you, I say, can you doubt that he is concerned about you? And then above all, when we think of that work that Christ did at Calvary's cross, when sin had ruined it all?
The Lord Jesus, in oneness, love and grace came to settle the question of sin, and it tells us who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. What a marvelous thing. What love, as our brother said last night, Love for an enemy. Yes, love for an enemy. Ones that blasphemed his name. It's all of Tarsus who hated his name with an exceeding mad hatred.
Brought to the feet of the Savior, charmed by His love, one by His grace.
He is saved. All I say to you, is there anyone here? Dear young people, is there anyone that doesn't know him? Hasn't he given you abundant testimony that he cares about you? And do you not care about him? Are you going on? And you say, I'm going to find my own way, I'm going to do as I like. That's why in the end of the 8th of Proverbs, when it brings before us God is the Creator there and how his delights were with the sons of man.
It says he that sinneth against me, wrong at his own soul. And I want to tell you, a dear young person, every time you take a step in rebellion against God, you're harming yourself. You're harming yourself. Many who have grown a little bit older and have tried the pathway have said, oh, how foolish I was. I didn't listen, as it says to the voice of my teachers, I didn't voice listen to the voice of the charmer. Charming, never so wisely.
Oh, I say to you, dear young people, it's a blessed thing to remember your Creator in the days of your youth, to give him his rightful place in your life when you have all his testimony to him. How long would you say I'm afraid of this? And I'm afraid of that? Well, isn't this a lovely verse that we opened with God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind or wise discretion?
This world is filled with fear. The great scientists are afraid of what is going to happen. Where is science going to lead? Is it going to lead to the destruction of mankind? Because man being what he is, when he gets power into his hands, there's no telling what he may do and how he might destroy himself and others too. The power of some of these bombs and some of these things that have been introduced into the world today on the show us that man have good reason to fear that God has not given us the spirit of fear and why.
Well, because no matter what happens for the believer, supposing a bomb, an atomic bomb, dropped in this room, would any of us who know the Lord have anything really to fear absent from the body present with the Lord? Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian, to belong to Christ. To know that no matter what happens, the future be ahead of us, is bright and glorious. But if you're not saved, you do have something to fear.
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There is an attempt being made today to try and keep people from being afraid of anything or things that might happen. Well, you know, fear does have a right place. The Lord Jesus said, Fear not them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him who, after ye have killed, hath power to cast into hell. The AI say unto you, fear him.
The thief on the cross turned to the man on the other side and said, dust, not thou fear God. Is there a young person here who dares to say I don't fear meeting God? Oh, I'm sorry for you. If you meet God in your sins, our God is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God if you're not saved. It's a good thing to fear. But does God take away fear? Yes, perfect love casts out fear. Why is it that we who are Christians don't fear?
These things.
All because the Lord Jesus by his work on Calvary.
Has fitted us for the glory. And we don't fear those that kill the body because they have no more that they can do. The ones in Smyrna were comforted that even if they did take away their life, they wouldn't be heard of the second death. And what is the second death? Eternal banishment from God under His judgment. And so I say again, when it says God has not given us the spirit of fear, it's talking to believers.
If you're not saved, I hope you do fear, because it's a terrible thing to meet God in your sins. But if you're saved, if you know the Lord is your savior, then His perfect love has cast out your fear, and you know you're ready. And not only ready, but you can rejoice as the persecutions took place in the days of the Apostles and afterwards when Christians were thrown to the lions, when they were thrown to put into the fire, and so on.
By people that stood by, saw that God hadn't given these people a spirit of fear. They went into death rejoicing and singing because they knew the future. Oh, it's a grand thing. Dear young people, if there's anybody that's not saved, I commend the Lord Jesus to you. What have you got to lose by receiving him? Your sins? What have you got to gain? Everything that's worthwhile. Everything that's worthwhile when you know him.
Then there's another right sense of fear, and that is as we have in first Peter chapter one, it says.
Past the time of your saw journey here in fear, for if you call on the Father who without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your saw journey here in fear. And now I just speak a few words to any young people who are resisting the will of God.
You know, you might say, well, I think I can get away with it, but you don't get away with it. The little song the young people sing. Sometimes you can't do wrong and get by, No matter how hard you may try. Nothing hidden can be everything he does. See, you can't do wrong and get by. You may think that you can, but you don't. You don't get by. Oh, you say, Well, if you belong to a certain family, you can get away with it. Well, perhaps with other people, but not with God.
That's why it says if he called the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, we don't get away with anything with God. And I wish to say to any young person here, you say, I know I'm saved, I know I belong to Christ, but I want to have a little bit of flame first. I expect to go on for the Lord later. Remember perhaps God in his grace may come in and bring you back.
But you may bear the scars the rest of your life. King David had his flame. He saw a beautiful woman. He had his fling, so to speak. But the sword didn't depart from his house forever. Abraham decided that he was going to go contrary to the word of God, and he had a child by Hagar. It's true that God centered all his promises and blessing came through Isaac, the son that God had wanted him to have and gave him.
Through Sarah. But what about this child that he had? By Hagar? All she was a he was a sorrow to her, to them and to their household, through their life. And they're the ones that are some of the leading enemies of Israel to this day.
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Over in the Middle East, yes, we reap what we sow. Dear young people, follow Christ when you're young. Follow Christ when you're young. And so I say there's a right sense of fear, and that is if you're not saved, I hope you will fear judgment to come and flee from the wrath to come flee to Christ. And if you've decided to choose a path of self will, I hope you'll realize.
The Lord is not God as a judge you're going to call upon, but God is your father.
That he doesn't in love, dear. He doesn't let you get away with things. He loves you too much to let you go your own way. He wants your company, but you can't have his company, and he can't enjoy your company except in the path of obedience. But now to go on with the verse, God has not given us the Spirit of fear. That is, if we know the Lord is our Savior and we want to please Him, do we need to fear some of these things that cause so much fear in the world?
And as you pick up papers and things today and all the type of magazines that come out, the whole idea is how to meet the social changes that are taking place in the world, how to be able to get along with other people, and how to make a success of your life and all this kind of thing. And people more and more are living in fear. And there are young people, real Christian, young people, and what they fear is rejection.
They're afraid they're going to be rejected all, not by the world always, but the feeling that they might even be rejected by Christians. Well, is this right that we should live in that kind of fear? Well, you know, Paul, all those in Asia turned away from him, and that's the very chapter where he tells us that, that he said God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Has some friend let you down? And you say I wasn't able to make it?
I am so disappointed. What's the matter with me that I couldn't make it with that young person that they weren't attracted to me. There was something the matter with me. And you're really depressed, you're really down. Well, Paul saw all those in Asia turned away from him and how could he be delivered from fear? Wasn't this a thing that was a very unpleasant and difficult experience? Well, think of the Lord Jesus.
Prophetically, in the 49th chapter of Isaiah, it says, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for not and in vain. What was the answer of Jehovah? He said. Though Israel be not gathered, yet will I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, And my God shall be my strength. And his answer was, it is a light thing, that thou shouldest be my servant, to restore the preserved of Israel.
And all shall be for my salvation unto the ends of the earth. The Lord Jesus felt it when the nation rejected him.
But he took it from his father, and his father answered, oh, there's going to be wider blessings still, because if Israel rejected that testimony, then grace would reach out farther, and even the Gentiles would be blessed. And so with Paul, when he was, when he saw those in Asia turned away from him, he could have become terribly depressed. Depressed. But listen to what he says. I know whom I have believed.
And am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Now let me just take up that verse as though it applied merely to salvation. And it certainly is true that those of us who were saved have committed the whole matter of our soul, salvation, and eternal destiny into the hands of the Lord. But you know what are young people at? Verse goes farther than that. What's going to give you peace when some big frustration comes in your life?
When you feel as I say you didn't make it and you're afraid you can't. What will give you peace just to commit it all to the Lord, just to commit it all to the Lord is not beautiful to hear Paul in that chapter. He knew he whom he had believed and he said I've just committed it all to him. It's all going to be set right in that day. That's what it means when it says let's turn over to it in Philippians chapter 4.
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Standing shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Yes, when we have committed it to the Lord, then there's a peace that comes in and it says it's a peace that passes understanding. The world can understand peace when things are going happily.
All they say, everything is so peaceful. Come out on a day when the wind isn't blowing and there's no rain falling and it isn't a Blizzard. And you say, oh, what a lovely peaceful day. But isn't it a marvelous thing that the Christian, when the storms are blowing, when everything is going wrong, he can have this peace. It passes understanding. Why? Is it because it's the peace of God? We have peace with God through the work of Christ, but the peace of God is the peace in which God himself dwells. Does anything that is happening in Toledo today disturbed the peace of God's throne? Oh, you say No, he's in control of everything.
Well, then, what about ourselves? The Lord is my helper, and I can say, What can man do unto me? Nobody can do anything. Nobody can say anything unless God allows it. And if he allows it, he has a purpose in it, for my good and for my blessing. And so God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. And so, if there's anyone here this afternoon, some young person.
And I guess some of us older ones too. And we've got certain fears. My job is insecure.
The home isn't just like it should be. Perhaps with some older ones, old age is creeping on.
And we say, well, I'm just afraid to think about old age. We don't need to be afraid to think of the future, because we don't know the future, but we know who holds the future and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Where was Paul when he wrote this verse? Was he sitting down to an iced meal table and surrounded by all the luxuries and comforts that we enjoy here today? Oh no, he was a prisoner. He was forgotten by many of his brethren and forsaken by some.
For those who he thought would value the truth, who had learned it from him. For the most precious truth in the Bible is in Ephesians and Ephesus is in Asia. And they turned away from Paul. Oh you say, what a heartbreak. But Paul just committed his whole life to the Lord. Oh dear young people, make it the habit of your life when things go this way and they do with us all at times. And the world would say, well, you can't help being depressed when things go that way.
God hath not given us the Spirit of fear. He has given us instead.
A resource. We can go and tell our father all about it. We can be careful for nothing because we have told him all about it. And then that peace that passes all understanding becomes like a Garrison when it says shall keep, the correct word is shall Garrison. And don't we need a Garrison? I sure do. I'm inclined to be one who worries. And I've got to need to have a Garrison at my heart to keep all these things from flooding in all the time.
Then there is another passage about this too, and that's in First Peter 5I won't turn to it for times sake, but it says.
Casting all your care upon him, for He cares for you. A verse before says, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that she may be exalted in due time. Casting all your care upon him, for He cares for you. And then the verse that follows warns us. Be sober. Be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
No, I have meditated a good deal on this passage because.
Often we've had the experience of having some care and we wanted to leave it with the Lord.
And it seemed we couldn't do it. And we say, what's the matter with me, that I can't seem to leave that care with the Lord?
Well, I have noticed that the verse before is part of the sentence, and the verse before says to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and then to cast our care upon him. And I have never yet been able to cast my care upon the Lord until I have told the Lord. Lord, I submit to Thy hand in what has happened. I've never yet been able to leave it with the Lord until I did that. And so I sometimes said to myself.
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Supposing the Lord walked into the room and said. Now listen, Gordon, I'll change the circumstances. I'll make them just the way you want them. It's not my will for you. But you think your plan would be better, so I'll change them around the way you want them. Will that give you peace? Gordon, what would I say? Would I say, Oh, please do, Lord. My way is the best, I'm sure. Or would I say, Lord, just help me to leave it with the.
Casting all your care upon him so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. All you see, it doesn't happen to other people like me.
That your conversation be without covetousness? Why? Because he's not going to forsake us.
And what he may see fit to pass me through may be something different than what He passes you through. But with his wondrous perfection and love, he is accomplishing something in every one of us for his own glory and praise. He's the Potter and we are the clay. So God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power. Isn't this lovely? Power. And we sure need power. You see, I just can't face up to situations when these things happen. I'm just like water.
Yes, we are in ourselves, the Lord Jesus said. Without me, he can do nothing. He can do nothing.
Do you want to step out of the path of obedience, to get your own will in your own way? You say No, I wouldn't like to say that, but I don't see why God doesn't work it out. Well, He may not show us here. There are some things we may not understand in life. As we have sometimes said, another day we're going to meet Joseph in heaven.
Do you think that he'll understand that he understood here why a lot of those things happened to him and his life like they did? I don't think so. But I've often thought how many believers are going to go up to Joseph? And I think I'm going to be one of them and say, Joseph, your life was such a blessing to me.
Every time I read it, I got such a blessing for my soul. And Joseph will perhaps say, well, I didn't know what it was all about when I went through those things, but I can see now. And so we may not understand. And was Joseph the worst of Jacob's children because all this happened? Well, you say no. I think he was about the best. But all those things happened to him, didn't they? And therefore our learning. And so it says he's given us the power. What kind of power do we have?
A strong personality. No, that's not it. Strong personality is breakdown. Moses was the meekest man on all the earth, but he failed in his meekness. Samson was the strongest, but he lost his strength. No, we can't depend on ourselves. We can't depend on our personality, but we can depend upon the Lord. Paul learned that it wasn't natural to him. He was a strong personality, and he he tried for two years to get justice from the Roman courts, but he didn't get any.
But then at last, he held up his hand with a chain hanging down. He said. I think myself happy.
What, Paul Two years trying to give justice and not getting it and you're happy now? Yes. Why? Because he had submitted to God's will. And those sweet prison epistles that mean so much to us were the result of his submission to the will of God. And he called himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Did he have power? Why, indeed he did the power of the Spirit of God. And in the 4th chapter of Philippians listen to these words.
I can do. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I have instructed both to be full and to be hungry, To abound and to suffer need I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I can do all things because I am a strong personality now. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. I can do all things through Christ.
Are you lying in your power? Are you reading books to try and build up your personality? And so on.
All what we need, dear young people, is to lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
To find in him the strength that we need to meet these situations. And they're not going to get any easier because we've often called attention to the fact it tells us in the life of Joseph that at the end of the life of Joseph, when his brethren came up there and were speaking to him and he made himself known to them, he said you've had two years of famine, but there are five years more.
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In other words, he said it's not going to get better, boys, it's going to get worse. But what did he say? He said just keep close to me and I'll take the responsibility of your families and everything. And he said if you don't, you'll come to poverty.
He'll come to poverty. Oh, isn't that lovely? There is yet five years of famine and things aren't going to get easier. As I look into the face of you children and young people, I'm sure things aren't going to get easier. You're facing things I never knew anything about when I went to school. And it's going to be more so Is there power? Is the devil stronger than God? Greater Is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Older, young people don't yield. We have in him the strength when Paul was talking in Ephesians chapter 4.
And telling them about the whole armor of God, he said. Be strong in the Lord.
And in the power of his might, so there is strength. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power.
And the Christian has the strength to meet every situation that may arise. It says when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And so it's going to get worse, and perhaps to something that's even harder to bear. And I find many dear young people get very depressed is the things that often happen in the assembly as we see the weakness that comes in.
And we say.
Oh, it wouldn't be so bad. I expected in the world. But when you come to the meeting and you get frustrated and disappointed, things are said that hurt you and so on. Oh, can we still go on? Yes, it says be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Order young people, don't turn aside to the world. That was the temptation with Israel constantly when God didn't provide the water for them.
They talked about going back into Egypt when there wasn't bread for them to eat. They talked about going back into Egypt and when something happens in the assembly and things are said and done, you say, well, I just feel like stopping coming. Oh yes, and where will you go? Will you heal out fountains that have no water, as our brother was bringing before us yesterday in the young people's meeting, each one of us have some little part that we can fulfill.
There was a time in Jonathan's life when everything was going wrong. Even his father was unable to cope with the situations that were arising. And at last Joseph said the Lord doesn't need many. He can save by many or by few, he said to his armor bearer. He said, let us go and meet the Garrison of the Philistines. Maybe the Lord will give a victory. And so there were two young people. Jonathan.
And his armor bearer Unknown. Hardly, because it says they didn't even know that they had gone. They had to number to see who was missing. They seemed so unimportant, but they were the ones who brought about a great victory in Israel. And who can tell dear young person that you're desiring to please the Lord may be the beginning of blessing to a lot of others. As I look back in my life, I can say that young people my own age.
Who wanted to follow the Lord made a great impression, sometimes more than the older brethren.
I saw that they had something and it touched my heart. And dear young people, you may say, well, I'm not one of the teachers in the meeting and I don't say that much, but your life has a great deal of power, as if it's lived in the power of the spirit of God. So don't be discouraged. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and then of love. Isn't that beautiful? Turn to John 15.
John, Chapter 15.
Verse 9.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
Continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that she loved one another as I have loved you. Notice here 3 loves that are spoken of, that is the love of the Father to the Son.
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The love of the Son to his own, and the love of his own to one another.
Isn't this a lovely portion for us? Those 3 loves are those things that we enjoy in our souls, dear young people.
The devil's great attempt is to get us to doubt God's love. I believe if he can succeed in that, why he has gained a great victory. It tells us in the day of apostasy and Jude it says keep yourselves in the love of God, never doubt God's love. When Satan brings something to your mind, perhaps some difficult situation has arisen and Satan says how can God love you when he let things happen like this?
Don't allow it to enter your mind. How are we going to know God's love? It was proved at Calvary. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We may not always see his love in the situations of life, but can I doubt a love that would be willing to give the dearest object of his heart to take my place and to bear my judgment? Can I doubt a love like that?
Oh dear young people, I want to bring before you this lovely thing. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love. What is so lacking in the world is love. People are out to make money. People are out to furnish their homes. And sometimes young people have said that my parents gave me everything but love. Everything but love. King Solomon, the wealthiest man, whoever lived in this world, I suppose, he said, if a man give all the substance of his house for love.
That shall be utterly content, he says. I look with contempt on anything. It has nothing if I have to give up this or that or the other thing, as long as I have love and you have love, but you know you can't enjoy it in the path of disobedience. When our children were disobedient, they didn't enjoy our love. The times when you doubt your parents love is when you're in a little bit of rebellion. There's some rebellion in your heart against them. Just check it with yourself and you'll find it so.
Something has happened. They did something you didn't like and there was a little rebellion.
Rose up in your heart, and you immediately thought, they don't love me, they don't love me. But parents do fail in their love. But God doesn't. God doesn't. And what is the measure of that love? Well, it says, as a father hath loved me, so have I loved you. The love that the Father had to his Son, the one whom he gave to die for us, the Son had for us. And how long does that love last? All having loved his own, which were in the world He loved them.
On to the end. Oh, I say again, don't allow the thought.
Of God's love to wane in your soul, live in the sunshine of it.
Live in the enjoyment of it. Get up in the morning and think of how much he loves you.
And then too, as you go through the pathway and difficulties come always cast in the tree. When the waters are bitter, you say, what do you mean cast in the tree? Well, you remember the children of Israel came to the oh, their hopes were getting pretty down. Then they saw some water and they thought, oh, at last we come to some water. And then when they went to drink of the water picture their disappointment. It was bitter, was bitter. And I suppose this has happened with us all. Only you say at last.
At last, there's a turn been made. Things are now beginning to come my way.
And then when you just think it's going to workout, it's bitter. All we've all had this happen and we said I can't take it. And they began the murmur. And the Lord said to Moses, Moses just put a tree in that water and the waters will become sweet. Not just take away the bitterness but become sweet. Why all when we go to Calvary and see how much he loved us and then we can handle these situations that arise.
We can meet them because we know he loves us. We can't doubt it because he's proved it so fully at Calvary. And now the other exhortation, the Lord commands us that we should love one another. Oh, how much we need this too. What a blessing we've got. As we look back, some of us who are a little bit older in our lives, we've known some people who taught us a great deal, but we felt there was a lack of a spark of love somehow.
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We learned a lot from them, but we felt there was a little lack in that spark. But there were other people, and we were conscious that they loved us. We could tell them anything, and they loved us just the same. And when we were in trouble, we knew that we could go to them. Well, if we're enjoying his love, it's going to radiate. Moses didn't know that his face shone, but he had been up on the mount with the Lord, and he came down and his face was shining. Yes, he had been in that enjoyment of that.
And oh, you can be such a blessing to your young people. Mr. Darby once said that our testimony to the world is our joy in the Lord. If we're happy, if the world sees that we meet these situations, and nothing dampens the enjoyment of his love and of that strength that we have to walk in his peace, why, what a testimony it is. Do you want to be a blessing among the people of God? He has given us the spirit of love.
And that's why it says in John's epistle, we love because he first loved us.
In the new translation, the word him is omitted, and the point is that he's given us the capacity to love because he loved us. Oh, you say, I find it hard to love that, brother, But what kind of people did God love? Did God love me because I was likable, far from him, as he continued to love me because I've been such a good Christian? No, he loved me because he is loved and he's given us the capacity. He is loving its source, and he has given us that capacity.
Oh, may the Lord grant that it'll be more true of us. Faithfulness may be required at times, but my Father had to punish me sometimes. But I knew he loved me. I knew He cared, and saw even in our assembly affairs. We may have to, and we do have to be faithful at times, but everything ought to be done as the Scripture says, that all your things be done with charity. May the love of God touch and control our hearts. And then the last one.
A sound mind.
Or, as the new translation is wise discretion. Oh, how foolishly we act sometimes.
What silly things we do sometimes And is it because God hasn't given us any kind of instruction in his word? Turn over to Proverbs chapter one.
Proverbs, Chapter One.
Verse two, to know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment and equity. To give subtlety to the simple, To the young man, knowledge and discretion. Well, here we find that God has given us a great deal of wisdom. In His Word. It's often been exhorted. Read the book of Proverbs, dear young people.
It's been called a young man's book. How many troubles we would spare ourselves. Our brothers spoke rather faithfully yesterday. How many troubles we would spare ourselves if we would act with wise discretion? God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a wise discretion. I say again what foolish things we do just because we don't listen to what God has to say.
Haven't we all done it? And we said, why did I do that silly thing? And we just didn't ask the Lord. We didn't seek his mind. We just did what we thought was the best thing to do. We were afraid of offending somebody. We had the spirit of fear. We were afraid somebody might turn against us or dislike us or something. And so we did a foolish thing. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. I will not fear what man shall do unto me, but instead He has given us.
Wise discretion. He has shown us how to act in a world like this. And I implore you, dear young people, read your Bible. Walk in the wisdom of God's Word. When you have difficulties, turn to the Lord. Ask him and say, Lord, show me what to do. Show me how to act. Don't try to take steps in your own wisdom. When you go out, even on a date with somebody, get down on your knees before you go and ask the Lord.
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To keep you and help you to act as a Christian should. And that your conversation and all that you talk about and the things you do would be pleasing to him. He'll give you wise discretion. You won't have a lot of regrets as you look back if you walk in the wisdom and the light of his precious word. And so he gives to us. This wise discretion is another verse there in Peter's epistle. I won't turn to it for time.
But it says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that she may grow thereby.
I looked up in Mr. Darby's translation and I always have wondered why he says the mantle milk of the word. If you have a new translation, you'll see he says the mental milk of the word and why it was called mental milk. Well, he shows it's in contrast to the physical milk that sustains the body. But God gives us intelligent direction. That's what he talks about. Mr. Darby has a little note that it's really the thought is.
That he gives us intelligent or rational instruction for our pathway isn't that lovely? Have you got some decisions to make? Oh, you say, I've asked a lot of people's advice, but we have in the word, the mantle milk of the word, so that we would grow. We have direction. We don't just have to follow impulses. We don't have to follow the opinions of men. He gives to the young man wisdom.
Knowledge and discretion. When you say I'm only a babe, but even to the babe he gives the mantle milk of the word that we might be preserved. And then, last of all, I won't turn to it, because we looked at it this morning and we present our bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, and that we might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? How are we going to prove it?
Well, you know, I've traveled around quite a bit. People have told me about good roads and good highways and so on, but the only way I ever proved them was to go over them myself.
And when I went over them myself, then I could say, well, I've been over it. And I know that's a good Rd. I know. And so how are you and I going to prove it all? Dear young people, you can listen to things in the meeting. You can read your Bible. If you want to prove it, just walk in it. Just walk in it and you'll prove it. You'll prove that it's a happy path, that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You look back and you'll say.
Oh, I'm so glad that I walked in the light of God's precious word. And so I again want to bring before you. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind or wise discretion. He wants you to be a happy Christian and even to as to your pathway in regard to fellowship, many young people think, oh, you just have to go and find a nice group of active Christians. Dear young people.
Go by this book, go by this book. Follow the light of God's word and you will find the right path. And many of us whom God in His grace has kept for many years are we there because of the people? Now we know lots of nice Christians who are in other positions. Why are we there? Well, I believe that we can say that the Lord in any measure has kept us. It's because we believe it's the path of obedience to His word.
Because it's marked out in the word. And so I just want you to be happy, dear young people. The Lord wants you to be happy.
He wants you to go on for him and I plead with you, don't go on in the course of this world.
Thank God for all he has given us in this precious book. Thank God for the light and the instruction that He's given to us.
He surrounded us, as I say, with a creation that proves to us he cares about us.
He sent his Son to prove to us that He loved us. He's given us His word with all its instruction, so that we might know the way through a tangled world like this. And He has given us His Holy Spirit to indwell us. Surely we can say, as a little hymn said, Lord, tis enough we ask no more. Thy grace around us pours its rich and unexhausted store, and all its joy is ours. Oh, May God grant that as a result of these days together.
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You, dear young people, will have a.