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Lord, we shall see the.
World.
Shall swell.
Where we can share your thoughts of my joy. I have all this and I have to do it well.
He stated that he thought that we could be there for one meeting, and I just wondered if it would be profitable. Our brother Dawn referred to the parallel between the 23rd Psalm and the 13th of Hebrews and then referred to it again in the reading meeting further on. And I just wonder if it would be helpful to turn to the New Testament. I realized we didn't finish the 23rd Psalm, but to look.
At the 13th of Hebrews, I realize there's just two reading meetings and we won't cover it all, but if it would not be profitable to turn to the 13th chapter of Hebrews.
I'll suggest that we read the last two verses of Psalm 23 and the 13th chapter of Hebrews. Then we can sort of complete that and go on without feeling like we were spending a whole reading on it.
Psalm 23.
Thou prepares the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels.
Unawares remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.
And then would suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. But ************ and adulterers, God will judge.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you 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. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today, and forever be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meat which have not profited them which have been occupied therein. We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. 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 have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come by Him. Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
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But to do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.
That great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I've written a letter on to you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints they have. Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen.
We read these last two verses of the 23rd Psalm, and here we have brought before us first of all, the thought of a table. And perhaps a table would bring before us three things. It would bring before us provision for our needs. It would bring before us fellowship, and it would bring before us authority. This morning I sat down in the home of a brother and sister, and there was a table spread with good things to eat. We had fasted all night. We had in our.
Since yesterday. And so we were hungry.
We needed something to eat, something for our bodies, and there was plenty of provision. And later on in the Psalms, you have the children of Israel brought before us as murmuring and tempting God. And one of the ways they tempted God was, they said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? That's in the 78th Psalm. Well, God did provide for them in the wilderness everything that was needed. And brethren, God provides for us everything that's needed to fill and refresh our souls.
As we pass through this wilderness world. And then when I sat down at that table this morning with others, there was fellowship at that table.
Food or eating, I should say, in Scripture is always a sign of fellowship. And not only did we enjoy the food that the sister had provided, but we enjoyed fellowship together of the things of Christ. We read a portion together, we spoke of the precious things of Christ, some of the things we'd enjoyed in the meetings yesterday.
There was fellowship at that table, but there's also the thought of authority, brethren, which I think we sometimes overlook, especially in the day in which we live, when authority is undermined on every level. And that's why I believe in the New Testament, when it's a question of the Lord's Supper, it's to be eaten at the Lords Table, and the Lord's Table is brought before us in First Corinthians even before the Lord's Supper. Let me illustrate it this way if I sat down at the table this morning.
And acted in a way that was not in keeping with the conduct that the brother whose table it was felt was suitable conduct for his table and for his home. That brother had the authority to ask me to leave the table if I came in a way that was not in keeping with how he felt, felt he had authority. I didn't have authority at the table. It wasn't my table. It was his table. He had the the authority. And so, brethren, we need to keep this in mind.
And in every aspect of our lives, recognize the authority of the lordship of Christ in our lives. You know this, this Psalm began with the expression the Lord. I think that's a good expression for us to consider. I say authorities undermined on every level today. But there is one who has authority over our lives. And then when we come to the Lord's table, remember, it's not our table. We don't invite there. I had no authority to invite anybody to our brother's table this morning.
He had the authority to invite, and so it's the Lord's Table and His authority is to be honored and maintained at all times.
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Was glad that Brother Dawn suggested we read these verses and there's an unmistakable connection between them and what we're going to see in Hebrews 13. But as you speak of authority, a man I worked with once said, he said, you know, he said I'm a Catholic. He said fundamentalists go by the Bible. He said, we don't go by the Bible, we go by what the Pope says, he said, But fundamentalists say they go by the Bible and they do whatever they want.
And I was a very searching thing for.
To realize that we are at the Lord's table where the Lord has authority. And so often the word of God has authority. And it is what is characteristic of the Lord's table is it is the word of God that decides matters, not us. It's not a place of if you go to a human society, whether it's the Qantas Club or the Odd Fellows Lodge or whatever it is, it's the consensus of men that decide things. But at the Lord's table it is the word of God.
That decides things. And so that is what we have, and it's a place we see. It's connected with blessing. In this Psalm. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Do we see this, that there's blessing as a result of being in a place where the Lord has authority? But we're reminded too, that that table is spread in the presence of our enemies. And David, as we know, was haunted not just by the Philistines, not just by the Amalekites, but by Saul, one of the House of Israel. He was haunted and chased.
And he was rejected. And we have to remind ourselves that we're at the Lord's table and we're living in a world where the Lord and the Lord's authority is rejected. The assembly is a pillar and ground of the truth. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. We have no quarrel with men in this world, but there's powers of darkness that are work at this world. And we're at a place where the Lord's authority and the word of God is maintained. And the world hates it. It despises it. It despises that one would simply.
Bow to the authority of God's Word.
Said, well, I don't do this because I want my kids to get good grades in school. They'd say, well that's good. But if you said I do this because I belong to the Lord, they'll despise you for it. And we're in this table is spread in the presence of enemies.
Jim, you mentioned that.
This Psalm begins with two words, the Lord. I find it striking that right in the very center of God's word we have those two words, The Lord. I believe that.
Psalm 118 verse eight is the center verse of the Bible where it says it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in.
Man and that verse has 13 words in it and so the middle 2 words of the verse are the Lord.
So I believe that God would have us to recognize that He is the Lord. And I find that often today references made to God leading one to do this or God doing this or that, and I never hear reference to the Lord.
His leading, His guides, Well, you know when we speak of the Lord, that really puts us in relationship with God as one to whom we are to be subject.
And.
It's not popular in the world, of course, to be subject.
To God or to the Lord? But I do believe as Christians, it's joy. It's liberty.
To be subject to him.
It's good, too, to see that it's a very personal thing.
Thou preparest before he was speaking about, as we've already said, and then in the previous verse, it becomes more individual and personal between them. And so for us today as well, it's it's an important thing to recognize the absolute authority of the Lord with us collectively as well as individually. But here thou preparest who invites me.
The Lord. Who do I sit down with? First and foremost, the Lord.
Who do I recognize as having authority? The Lord. And it's important for us not to connect it so much with other people or other souls, even souls with whom we are sitting at the same table with. But the important thing for us in our own souls is Thou preparest. He has prepared it. How could we sit down as we expect to do at the table of the Lord tomorrow?
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If there couldn't be a loaf and a cup on the table, in one sense, who provides that loaf and cup and what it represents? He does. And then he says to us, as it were, I invite you, I desire of you.
And that invitation is a personal and individual one to each one of us. I have prepared this table. I have provided what's on it. And now I ask you with desire in my heart.
Sit down with me and let us partake together.
And I think it's beautiful that he's there himself because I have been invited to tables for a meal. And when it came right down to it, the person who invited me didn't sit down with me to enjoy the meal. There may have been others that I enjoyed fellowship with, but the person who invited me wasn't present. And so I enjoyed what he provided at his table, but I didn't enjoy fellowship with the with my with the one who was who had invited me. And so, brethren, isn't it wonderful?
You find that the disciples said to the Lord Jesus in John 20 or in Luke 22.
They said where wilt thou that we prepare, but when they followed his instruction.
And came to the place and everything was furnished and provided. Then it says he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. It wasn't just the 12 apostles keeping the Passover in the place where he had appointed them to keep it, but it what was, what was it that made the place in the table? It was the fact that the Lord sat down with them. And brethren, we enjoy fellowship one with another at the Lord's table. But I believe what's really going to preserve us at the Lord's table is to realize that he is there. Not only has he invited us, as our brother Don says, but he has promised to be there at his table.
And I believe that often why we drift away from the Lord's Table is because we have lost sight of the one who is there.
We get our eyes on dear brethren. Thank God they are dear brethren. But the psalmist said on another occasion, I've seen an end of all perfection. Brethren, if we're looking around the table at others, we're going to see an end of all perfection. You say, well, that brother let me down, but I don't think that brother or sister, they'll ever let me down. Oh, be careful. You'll see an end of all perfection. But if you're occupied with the one who has not only invited you there, but is there himself, then you'll never see an end of all perfection in him. Maybe you'll allow me to repeat a little story that touched my heart and this connection.
At an assembly many, many miles from here, some time ago, there was a sister who was very discouraged because of some of the things that she saw in her brethren in that assembly. And she had declared on a particular occasion that she was not going to come to the Lord's table to remember the Lord the next Lord's day, because of these difficulties that had come in. And on Saturday evening. And the brother who did this told me this himself.
On the Saturday evening, this brother felt exercised to call this sister. No, she wasn't going to be there the next morning. But he said, sister, I just want to give you one verse. He hath done nothing amiss. And this brother told me himself, he said, the next morning we sat down and 5:00 to 11:00 came and this sister wasn't there. One minute to 11. He thought, well, she's not going to come. 11:00 the door opened. The sister walked in and sat down.
Occupied with the one who had done nothing amiss, she was there till the day of her death, and I had the privilege of taking her funeral. But I just say, brethren, that if we are occupied with him, it's the Lord's Table, it's the Lord's Supper. He's provided, He's invited, and He's there, and that's what's going to preserve us.
Rightly from John's ministry yesterday, in his lawlessness, King James said sin is also the transgression of the law. It's much more than that. It's lawlessness. But John makes another helpful statement. He says he that doeth evil hath not seen God and that really that personal relationship between the soul and the Lord. And I've heard the Lord holding faith in a good conscience, that is believing what God says and then having a good conscience in connection with it is what is going to preserve us in the pathway.
And it is a happy pathway. He anointed my head with oil. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. And so.
Blessed and a happy thing it is to be in the presence of the Lord.
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You know, a man came, I hadn't seen him in 30 years. He called me up from France and he said he'd like to come and visit me. He was maybe about the same difference in age between Chuck and I. And when you're 20 years old, it's much greater than it is now. And he came and he said, well, we're going up to Hammer Bay to a conference. You're welcome to come and see us and come with us to the conference and just be. I received him as a stranger and he came and he stood back and he said, you know, Neil, he said, I've never seen anything so nice in all my life. He said, I see the children together, the older ones together, all everyone together.
Said, I've never seen anything so nice. And a little while later I introduced him to somebody and he had known somebody who left the Lords Table. And the brother of that one who left the Lords Table was there. And I said, you know this man, he knows your brother. And he said, oh, your brother has never been to this place. He told me the awful place he grew up. And it's sad. People leave the Lord's Table in bitterness because of the relationship with the Lord. But it is a happy thing to be at the Lord's Table and to be where the Lord has authority.
But it is required that there is that personal relationship, as our brother pointed out, personal and individual relationship. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat. And so if there are those hindrances in my life or in yours that hinder us from enjoying the Lord's presence, then we need to deal with them before we get to the Lord's Table.
Might be just helpful to make a comment or two in connection with the expression. Thou anointest my head with oil because oil almost invariably in Scripture speaks to us of the Holy Spirit. The 10 parable of the 10 virgins, there were five who had oil in their lamp and five who didn't and so on. And we find if you trace through Scripture, and we won't take time, but you'll find various of parts of the body anointed with oil at various times.
In connection with different things like the consecration of the priest and so on. But here it's the head that's anointed with oil and I'd like to just make a practical comment or two in this connection relevant I think to the day in which we find ourselves because those of us who are raising children and young people realize that there's a there are two great dangers in the education system today First is to cram the mind with all kinds of corruption and things that.
Are contrary to the word of God. And secondly, and equally or even more dangerous, there is this thought of emptying the mind. And I believe that the the reason he says thou anointest my head with oil is because it would correspond with what we have in the New Testament, where it speaks of bringing every thought into subjection unto the obedience of Christ. It's having our minds full of Christ, so that we're governed by the Spirit of God.
In our thought process, not as I say, not only is it bad to have the mind crammed full of all kinds of corruption and things that are contrary to the Word of God and to His authority, but I want to say a word of caution to those of us who are parents. If your children are young people come home from school and tell you that they've had to sit in a circle or at their desks and empty their minds. Parents, I plead with you to.
Take up the matter because it's very dangerous. We're never to empty our minds. If we empty our minds, there's plenty for the enemy to cut, bring in to fill that vacuum. No, we're to fill up our minds with with the word of God, with the person of Christ. And so that's why it's important as parents to have the word of God in the home. Often said, I never went out to school. I never went out into the world as a child or young person without the word of God ringing in my ears. Not that I always appreciated it. Not that I always paid attention or took it in at the time, but I'm thankful that I look back.
To a father who was exercised to give us something of Christ before we left the home. He knew that we were going to be vulnerable and that the enemy was going to attack. And so let's seek to have our heads anointed with oil. Thou anointest my head with oil. Let's have our minds so full of the word of God that then the Spirit of God can take that and use it to guide us and direct us in every step of our pathway during the day.
The verse that you were referring to, Jim, it's in 2nd Corinthians 10.
Verse 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations or reasonings, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.
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And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Tremendous versus that you are referring to. And how important it is that our mind is not cleared so that it's an empty nothing, but filled with Christ and Christ's thoughts by the Spirit of God. It's the Spirit who is our teacher, is he not?
Now anointed our head with oil and then comes what we had in the address yesterday. My cup runneth over. The joy is full, isn't it?
Verse comes Romans chapter 15.
And verse 13.
In connection with the.
Work of the Holy Spirit it says here, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope. How? Through the power of the Holy Ghost. So is it not the Holy Spirit God within us?
That makes good to our hearts the wonderful promises, the exceeding great and precious promises of God's Word, and I do believe that.
The world is looking at you and I to see.
If Christianity is making us happy, and I do believe it shows in our faces.
And if there isn't that joy in our faces?
I believe the world would say.
If you.
Make much of Christ. You preach Christ, but I don't see any happiness in your expression. Well, I think it's very important that we do manifest that joy in our faces.
And I believe in another Psalm. Well, it's over in Psalm.
40.
2IN Psalm 42.
And verse.
5.
Psalm 42 and five. Why art thou cast down all my soul?
Why art thou disquieted in me, hoped out in God? For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Now that's his face that's referred to here. But then when we come to the end of the Psalm, it says, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Verse 11. Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for yet I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance.
And my God.
So where there is that hope in God, it will show in a healthy countenance. That is repeated in Psalm 43 in verse 5.
Again.
But I do believe it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that the loveliness of Christ is made good to our hearts, and we can rejoice in Him and it will show in our countenances. And there's just one more verse.
That comes to mind. Don't need to turn to it, but it's in Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 7. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment.
Let thy head Latin appointment.
Japan is desperately seeking for happiness. I doubt that there's a person in this world who is not looking to be happy and seeking goodness for themselves. They're looking after it. But what a different order there is in this song. It says that these things are going to follow you. You don't have to chase after them. They're going to follow you. And so that is really if you're following the Lord, these things are going to follow right behind. But man is trying to seek these things. He's got things backwards.
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He's looking for happiness, He's looking for peace. He's looking for mercy, good health, That's mercy. He's looking for all of these things and desperately in one way or another. And yet what we find is if we follow the Lord as our shepherd, that these things are going to follow us. I'd like to say just another word.
About the cup, before we pass on, and I might just say in connection with what Wally said, that the entrance of these things is through the mind to keep them. There isn't enough. They need to get down into our hearts and souls. But just as a little addendum to what we've said in Colossians chapter 3, it says set your, it really ought to read your mind on things above the King James says the affections, and certainly our affections need to be there too, But it begins with the mind, what we take in in our mind. And so we need to take these things in if there's going to be joy in our souls and our cup run over.
The entrance of the truth is through the mind. Read your Bible, take in these things. Thank God for a sound mind and the ability.
To take in these things. Well, I just want to say a word about the cup. The cup is there's different cups brought before us in Scripture and justice as a little challenge. I would suggest you go through some time and note these cups. They're a nice meditation. In 116th Psalm, David's or the Psalmist speaks of the cup of salvation and I will take the cup of salvation. God is offering us something. Someone offers me a cup of tea or coffee. It smells so good. It looks so good. I reach out and I take it.
They don't just take it, I drink it. And we trust everyone here has taken the cup of salvation. But what I want to for a moment do is contrast this cup with the cup we have in the New Testament that the Lord Jesus drank. Because here it tells us that our cup runs over. And certainly as we've sat in these meetings and enjoyed the precious things of Christ, if our souls have been opened to take these things in, don't we have to admit, brethren, our cup has run over.
It's a joy to be able to go over these precious things of Christ, but think of the cup of judgment.
In contrast to the cup of joy, the Lord Jesus in anticipation of what he was going to drink at the hand of God.
Said the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? And brethren, the cup of judgment for the Lord Jesus did not run over. It was full and full to the very brim, but there was nothing lost. If you, our children, spill something or we spill something out of the cup, there's something lost. Something of what's in it is lost, and it has to be wiped up with a towel. But as that cup of judgment, the cup of God's wrath, was pressed to the lips.
The holy Lord Jesus there in those hours of darkness, not one drop spilled over. We sometimes sing that precious hymn on Lord's Day morning, but thou hast drained the last dark drop. He drank that cup to its deepest rag. Every drop of it was drunk. And now as a result, brethren, as a result of the Lord Jesus drinking every drop of that judgment, He says, it says here, my cup runneth over. But a contrast. It ought to rejoice our hearts. We ought to thank Him every day.
That he drank the cup of judgment. Nothing spilled over, nothing was lost of it. And now we can drink every day and say my cup runneth over.
Personal.
The ends verse two, it says he leadeth me beside the still waters, and that's the common provision for the flock. But there comes a time when the shepherd may see a special need and he will take his own cup, the cup that he carries, and personally fill it for the sheep he has in mind, bring it to the lips of the sheep, and the sheep has his own.
Special provision of still waters and the Lord does that for us, and it's nice to enjoy what He has not only in common for us all, but what He has for us individually.
Like to add thought by just for a moment, turning back to First Samuel 16.
First Samuel 16.
We have Saul, who has been disobedient to the instructions given by the prophet Samuel, and the Lord has pronounced that the Kingdom is to be taken from Saul. And so the Lord is now going to choose a successor to Saul, and Samuel is instructed to go to the House of Jesse, and the older sons of the house are brought before.
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Samuel and he finally has to ask the question, are there any more sons?
And Jesse says, Well yes, I have the youngest one. So in verse 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, are hear all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hit her. And he sent and brought him in, and he was ready, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look on.
To look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him, Thou anointest my head with oil in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rama. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
Not to develop the thought we want to get on to Hebrews 13, but just for your own enjoyment and meditation. It is well to look at this Psalm as John has just mentioned, it's very personal and I believe some of the things that we read about in the Psalms. You can go this Psalm, you can go back into the life of David and see where perhaps he was referring to when he was making a statement in this Psalm, just as here it says thou anointest my head with oil and.
By just using the illustration from first Samuel 17 and from that day forward for the rest of David's life. It was an important thing personally, as John just said, a very personal thing to David to say, well, I know the path I'm on is the path that Jehovah has chosen. My Lord my Shepherd has chosen for me, and he is going to sustain me in this path. And if you subsequently follow his life.
There were tremendous tests in the life of David when he's in The Cave of Adalam, when Saul seeks to kill him, his enemy. At that point, although David doesn't say a thing against his enemy, he said, is this not the Lords anointed as it were? When David fails in his own life through sin, he's worried that the spirit, the anointing if you will, might be taken from him. He didn't have as we have, and for us the Psalm can go far beyond what David could experience.
Because we recognize that the Spirit of God will go with us, promised all the way through the journey of life. And there were times in David's life when you might have looked at it and said, is there any goodness? Is there any mercy to be seen in this life at this point where David was sitting? And yet David the psalmist says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Can we not, brethren, as we sit here this morning, we don't know how many more hours or minutes or days of our lives are before us.
But can we not, like David, take that same enjoyment in our souls and say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and where is it going to end?
Well, it goes beyond what David was looking for here in the Psalm, but for us we can say it ends in the House of the Lord forever, the presence of God where our Lord Jesus presently is.
That's the end of the journey for us. What a hope, but what an assurance we have and can echo in our own souls the words of David. We know it at the Father's house, don't we? The Lord Jesus revealed that to his own before he returned to the Father in John 14. But it's interesting, this expression, the House of the Lord in connection with the Psalms of David, because it's not the House of the Lord in the Old Testament the way we usually think of the House of the Lord.
Because when we say use the expression the House of the Lord in the Old Testament, we usually think of the temple that was built later on it, but it wasn't built in David's day. The House of the Lord as to the temple was not built until Solomon came to the throne and God used Solomon to build it. David was used to begin the gathering together of the commodities for it. But the House of the Lord when David uses it, I think is a very instructive expression.
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And I would suggest that what it denotes to us is a sense of the Lord's presence. And as you read the life of David, and as you read through the Psalms of David, you find that what David coveted and desired above all else was a sense of the Lord's presence with him. When he sinned in connection with Bathsheba, it was a grievous moral sin. But David, when it was brought before him by the prophet and his conscience was pricked, what did he do?
He immediately got into the presence of the Lord and confessed it. That communion, the joy of God's salvation was broken. The communion was broken, the sense of the Lords presence. And he immediately gets into the presence of the Lord and confesses it. And it's interesting that in the 27th Psalm, in fact just turned back to it because it goes along with our expression in the end of the Psalm we're considering.
Psalm 27 and verse four. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. Now notice this, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Now notice the difference here in the Psalm. We're considering its yet future. I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. But David had an exercise in the meantime.
That he might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of his life. What is he saying?
Well, he's really saying what I want is not to have to wait for a future day to enjoy the Lord's presence. I want to dwell in the House of the Lord every day of my life. I want to walk in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence with me. And brethren, is that our desire? One thing have I desired. This was focused. We might say young people are taught to focus, but this is focused. One thing have I desired.
But he doesn't stop there. That will I seek after because it takes energy of faith. The slugger desireth and hath nothing. Sometimes I hear it say of a young person. That young person has a nice desire. I'm thankful when I hear about a young person who has a nice desire. But desire in itself isn't enough.
We might sit here all day and desire something when the meal is announced at the end of this meeting. We might sit here till 2:00 and desire to have a nice meal. But we've got to get up and do something about it. We've got to go and seek after it. There's directions given to the dining room. And brethren, if we're going to enjoy the presence of the Lord all the days of our lives, it's going to take desire, and it's going to take purpose of heart and energy of faith. And so let's desire to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of our life.
And then rejoice that unhindered, we're going to enjoy his company in the Father's house. David refers to it as the House of the Lord. We know it in a far, far more intimate way than David did. We know it as our Father's house.
That is really what restoration is when there is failure is to be really brought into the conscious sense of communion with God. You often wonder why souls are not restored after they fall into sin. Saul, when he sinned, he said I've sinned, now honor me before the people. And Absalomy was brought back to Jerusalem, but he had not seen the King's face. And really what David, what you're speaking about here is really a relationship between David and the Lord.
And that is what needs to be restored. And as with solar, as with Absalom or as with us, if there's restoration to man before there's really restoration to the Lord, then we'll never enjoy the Lorde presence and as with Absalom, will cause problems.
If there is not that first of all, it is first of all a relationship between the soul and the Lord. And we are in the Father's, we are in the in the House of God now.
We see that in Timothy, how we ought to behave ourselves in the House of God and it's going to go on right on for eternity because it says the Father, we says we sing into him the Father's house. Can we we call the Father's house our home. What a wonderful thing to think of is that God's home on high in my father's house are many mansions. That kind of obscures the idea. You sort of see a street with a lot of mansions on it. And we say, well, this one's gyms and this one's brother Dave Jennings and.
Not that way at all. There are many old bodes in the House of God. There's a place for each one of us, and he has suited us for that place. He's given us a son's place in that house. Not a servant's place, but a son's place. And we're going to dwell there and enjoy the Father's love. But we are in the House of God now, and so we're learning the manners and behaviors of God's house, the Father's house. You know, if you picked any one of us up and took us and put us in Buckingham Palace, I doubt few of us have the manners to fit in there.
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And yet we are now in the House of God, learning the manners and behavior and enjoying what it is to be in the House of God, though yet it is a future thing, as it was with David.
That is beautiful the way this Psalm ends and justice turn over. I could quote it, but let's turn over to 1St Thessalonians and justice develop.
This just for a moment, because it's more than just being in the House of the Lord or the Father's house forever. I want to notice a little expression.
At the in, he's talking in First Thessalonians 4 of course, about the Lord's coming, explaining very carefully how it's going to take place, and so on. Just notice verse 17 of First Thessalonians 4. Then we which are, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And now this is the expression I want you to notice.
And so shall we ever be in the House of the Lord, in the Father's house? No, that's true. We will be, but it's forever with the Lord. Isn't that beautiful, brethren? We're not just going to dwell in the House of the Lord forever, but we're going to dwell with him forever. It's a person to whom we're going. It's a person to whom we're gathered now. It's a person that we have a personal relationship with now, and it's a person that is going to make the Father's house.
As God's children, we're going to be home, perfectly comfortable and suited to that sphere has been brought before us.
And it's the person of the one of Christ, the one in the midst, who is going to make that place. So we're going to be ever with the Lord. When He's there, we're with Him when He comes back to reign over the earth. We're with Him, wherever with the Lord. We will never leave His presence again. We will be physically and consciously in His presence forever and ever and ever. Brethren, if that doesn't gladden our heart and quicken our footsteps down here, I don't know what will.
What that should do with each of us is to cause us to judge everything now.
That is not consistent with his presence now with us.
So perhaps that one of the first of those things is let brotherly love continue.
Hebrews 13 verse one. I just want to point out something about this lovely vert word let, LET. And I noticed something. I used to have a friend at work who worked for me and he would quote the one of the modern translations of the Bible and and it kind of got me puzzled. So I actually went out and bought one and I noticed very frequently, nearly in half the cases, if you use one of these computer concordances, they change the word let to should.
And it really says something because let we understand if we put candy on the table and our brother.
Said, you know, there's candy on the table there. Let the children have some after the meeting. Why they would run and get it because they have a nature that desires to have it. And what if he stood up and he said, you know, there's some things on that table there that the children should take and they should eat them. They might look at them and say, well, what is this, alfalfa pills or something?
What is this? And you know, we have a nature, we have a divine nature and we're going to let that we're to let brotherly love continue. It's not just a legal effort, but it is something that we are to let happen. If I had a helium balloon in my hand and I said, you know, this helium balloon should go to the ceiling, a young child would say we'll let it go. And if you let it go, it would rise. And that's really this lovely expression is we have the mind of Christ. It needs the instruction of God's words that there might be intelligence connection with it.
But I think it's very nice, and especially when we live in stressful times. You see that in John's third epistle where there was difficulty there with geographies, is that I've been at several readings and right away they seem to jump right to that verse, right from the first verse, and get talking about that. But you see how Gaius was going on. He was receiving the brethren. He was, He was.
They were going on their way and strangers so that they would take nothing of the Gentiles and so on. He was going on in a happy way.
Showing love difficulties tend to constrict our hearts.
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And we tend to shy away from things, and we need, especially in difficult dark days, to let brotherly love continue.
Just say this about Hebrews and it's quite remarkable what we're going to have. What we have in this chapter is that as we know in Hebrews there is no apostle mentioned. There's plenty of evidence that the apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, but the reason that no apostle is given at the beginning of Hebrews is because Jesus is the apostle in Hebrews. He's the leader. He's the author originator of faith, and he's the author and finisher of He's the captain of our salvation. He is the leader.
But we see in a practical way in this chapter how he leads us.
And how he guides this along. And so we have something far better than they ever had in Judaism. Man wants to go back to Judaism. We see the Judaizing of Christianity, but we see in a practical way how we can let this go on in in the very end days.
Well, Gaius, though he was in very difficult circumstances, in John's third epistle, he practiced what this second verse said. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. He was going on in the midst of very difficult and trying circumstances. Geographies love the preeminence, and he wanted to push out anybody out of the assembly that was going to stand for the apostles doctrine. He receiveth not us the what the geographies wanted to get rid of was the apostles doctrine.
Because that was a hindrance to him taking a place in the assembly, that it did not belong to him. And so you'll see that I once asked a man, I said, would the Apostle Paul be free to preach in your church? And he kind of looked at me and he, he was, he said, you know, he said, no. He said if the Apostle Paul came and preached in our church, it would bust it up. And so we see here that there's a going on. Our brethren here in Saint Louis have invited us. Kirkwood have invited us here.
In a very kind way they've entertained us and gone to great effort, and it's a wonderful thing to go on in this way in the days of difficulty and justice, to let brotherly love continue. People start to give up and stay home. And as you were saying about this sister and castle conferences and so on, when there's difficulty, when the city was under siege, they were not to cut down the trees that are for me. There may be many things. Maybe you go and play hockey with your friends and you have to cut that out because there's difficulties.
But there's one thing you're not to cut down when the city is under siege, and that's trees that are for me.
And yet the human heart is such that when some difficulty arises, someone offends us, something is set against us. Or even when we're just discouraged because we're away from the Lord, the natural reaction is to separate ourselves from our brethren. Say, well, and I've visited people who haven't been coming to the meetings, and you say, why haven't you been at the meetings? I'm discouraged. That's the very time you need your brethren. It's interesting with Moses.
At a time when they all spoke against him, even the elders of Israel spoke against him, and Moses got into the presence of the Lord and cried to the Lord. What is it? What did the Lord tell him to do? Go on before the people and take with you the elders of Israel, the very ones that spoke against him who had got him discouraged. Moses might have said, well, I'm going to follow the Lord, but I'm not going to go along with these people. No, go on before the people. And so we need our brethren, we need the Lord, of course.
We've been saying in these meetings, but we need one another, brethren and brethren, we need to, in letting brotherly love continue, we need to seek to be encouragers because at this moment our life and our our speech is doing one of two things. It's either discouraging the hearts of our brethren, like those 10 spies, and I think that's a solemn comment made about them. They discourage the hearts of their brethren, or we're encouraging the hearts of our brethren. I don't mean that we ever.
Sweeps in under the carpet. I don't mean that we ever compromise the truth to go on in fellowship together.
That's not what I'm Speaking of. But brethren, there's so much to discourage our hearts today. We don't have to look for things to discourage today. There's plenty to discourage in the world, sometimes in our family life, sometimes, yes, in the local assembly and so on. But brethren, what we need to do is to look for those things that encourage and then to share those things. As an encourager, I love what it says about David. Ziklag was burned with fire. Seemed like they were going to lose their families and all. David encouraged himself in the Lord. That was the first thing.
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But then as a result, what did he do? Well, he went down and encouraged the men that were with him, and there was a great victory in Israel.
That restores our soul.
Where do we go when we're in a bad state, when maybe we've sinned and need to judge that? The mistake we often make is we stay away from the very place that will restore our soul and the very person that will do it because we don't feel we're fit for him. He made us fit and he restores our soul. David Livingston was asked in England.
To tell about the greatest experience that he ever had in Africa, some experience with some great lion or something like that. And he just said he restoreth my soul. That was the greatest experience you can get. And if you're in a bad state of soul, if you've been going on with something that is not pleasing to the Lord, you might say, well I can't, I can't come to meeting. I'm not fit there. I'll defile the place. You just come just as you are.
And there's a settling, calming, restoring atmosphere in that place. That's where you get your soul restored. That's where you'll get your soul fed. That's where you'll be enabled to judge completely that which needs to be judged. When you're in His presence, not out of His presence. He wants you in His presence. He said to the disciples. What was it that you were talking about on the way?
They were talking about we should be the greatest, and then they were. When they were talking that way, they evidently weren't right where the Lord was. But then, then he asked them what they were talking about, because they were often by themselves. And when we get off and away by ourselves, we often times consult with one another, maybe the difficulties that have recently come in and plagued us and get on the phone and we talk about these things where we really ought to go.
Is to the Lord and we ought to be in the place where he has said there am I in the midst of them. And when we do that we'll find a a settling atmosphere and will enable by the Spirit of God, who indwells each one of us and is there in the in in the assembly who has formed it will be able to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, and we'll be in the right state of soul ourselves.
I know young people, I know what you're subjected to in this world. I know the the tendency of the world and and it you just can't get away from its influence, it seems. But when you're in the meeting and sitting there around the Lord with the word as we are right now, this is this is a very refreshing place to be and it's a place where.
Your soul can be restored if it needs to be.
Right now, because he is here. He is here and He's the one that restores our soul, isn't he?
This story accurately, but was a brother who hadn't been out to the meetings for some time and so another brother in the capacity of a shepherd, and we need those shepherds we were Speaking of. He went to see this brother 1 evening and they sat down by the fireplace and there was a fire in the fireplace.
And this brother who went to shepherd and seek to encourage, this one who was discouraged, he said to this brother, we haven't seen you at the meetings for some time. The brother hung his head and he said, well, I'm so discouraged. I'm just so discouraged. I can't come out. Well, the brother, the two brothers, they sat there for some time in silent contemplation. And as they were sitting there, the fire in the fireplace was dying out. And the brother who had come to encourage, he noticed that there was.
Piece of wood in one corner of the fireplace and it was dying out. Was a coal over here and it was dying out as well, and another one over here and over here.
And so after they had sat there for some time watching the dying fire, the brother who had come, he got up and he took the utensil that you used, the poker or whatever, to stir the fire. And he carefully brought those pieces of wood and coals back together, brought them back together in a nice little pile. And as he sat down again, it flamed up and they were warmed by the fire, and there was nothing else had to pass between those brothers.
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Because through that illustration, the brother who was discouraged and who had been absenting himself from the Lord's presence and from his brethren, he realized that he needed to be there, that if he was going to be encouraged and warmed up, he needed his brethren. And so, brethren, we need one another. Like to just, if you'll bear with me, turn to a little incident in the Acts that I think helps to bear out what we're saying in Acts 28. I just want to make a little application here.
Acts chapter 28 and verse one, this is Paul. After they've got got to land, there's the shipwreck in the previous chapter and when verse one and when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
And the barbarian people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled the fire and received us everyone because of the present rain and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a Viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the Barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet this venomous.
This vengeance suffereth not to live.
And he shook the beast off into the fire and felt no harm. But what I want to simply point out in application is that here was Paul and those who had been traveling with him. They'd been in the cold sea. They'd been washed up on the shore. Everyone had been saved. And it says that these people here kindle the fire because of the present rain and the cold. Now I realized this was a physical drizzle, and the thermometer had dropped.
Considerably. But I want to apply this in a spiritual sense because, brethren, don't we have to admit that these are times of present rain and spiritual coldness? We have to admit it, if we're honest. But here was this fire to warm them. And what I want to point out is the apostle Paul here might have said, well, you know, I've been through a lot and I'm just going to let somebody, I'm just going to sit back and let somebody else kindle this, keep this fire going. It's time somebody waited on me a little bit.
Haven't you heard that? Well, there's no love in our assembly. Nobody shows me any love. What's the point of me going to the assembly? Well, Paul might have sat back and waited for somebody to serve him. No, Paul, who no doubt was cold and wet and tired himself, he gets up and he goes out and he gathers a stick. He puts it on the fire, he gathers a stick and he keeps the fire going. And not only was he warmed by the fire, but his, those who were with him for our purposes, his brethren, those that were with him.
And brethren, let brotherly love continue. Let's seek to put a little stick on the fire. There is cold and rain, spiritually speaking, but we can each one put a little stick on the fire. And if nobody shows you love and your home assembly, you show show some love. Love begets love. Don't stay away because you think nobody loves you or shows that love. No, go out and gather a few sticks and keep the fire going yourself.
I'll experience everything in life, but there are those that are in bonds, there are those that suffer for the name of Christ and perhaps not in literal jail, but you see those we all want to be popular. It's nature of man if you want to be accepted and to be popular. But a great antidote for that is to identify yourself with those that aren't.
The great antidote to wanting to get on in the world and to be popular is to identify yourself. You see a young person at a conference that's maybe a little left out, maybe some Christian at school that's a little left out and disregarded, maybe regarded as a little odd, is to remember that.
You know, the great antidote. Our brother was saying this yesterday. We live in great days of prosperity. Those of us. We earn our living a lot easier than our parents did. You know, many of our parents didn't have cars and when they first got married and started out. And now the problem is you have to shuffle the cars in the driveway so they're in the right order to get off to work and school in the morning. And it enfeebles the Saints. We can go places. And so we miss meetings because we're off places and there's great prosperity.
But the antidote to that is to identifying yourself with those that are in adversity and being helpful and using our resources, not simply to take ourselves a better vacation or do something better. If the Lords given you 4 ox carts or 8 ox carts, then the Lord gave you those for a reason because there are those that are passing through adversity.
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And if we just simply use the abundance of what God has given us for ourselves, then it is going to be to our own spiritual peril. And so that while we may not know adversity ourselves, there are those that do, and so God would have us to remember them. We tend to be forgetful and thoughtless about things. And it's a good thing even from a very young age that the children learn to be thoughtful towards those that are older in the meeting and to be helpful.
And to find things that they can do.
And so I just say that because we are members of the same body. I stubbed my toe the other day and you can't believe how it hinders the whole body when you have a little thing like that. And so we, we are members one of another.
But you know, there's a difference between weakness and wickedness and it's interesting. Brother Piropado once said in a meeting, he said it's wickedness, it's wickedness. And a brother said to him, is that weakness or wickedness? There's a difference and he said wickedness. I don't think they ever knew, but the brother went on to explain something in the 69th Psalm. I think it's the 8th or 9th versus quoted two times in the New Testament. One time the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, was used for the Lord. They remembered that part when the Lord went in and overturned the money changers tables.
It caused him to purge the House of God from wickedness. But the other part of the verse is quoted in Romans. Ye then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities or the weaknesses of youth, and that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak, even as Christ pleased, not Himself, even as written. The reproaches of them that reproach thee are falling upon me. The same verse. One called for the purging of the House of God of evil, and the other called for just bearing with weakness.
And there's a difference. And so we see this, we see he's taken up weakness here in the third verse, those that are in bonds and in suffering adversity. And now he goes on to speak about marriage and what a relevant subject is. His marriage is honorable that undefiled. But ************ and adulterers, God will judge. The word of God has already decided what should be done with this sort of thing. The assembly does not decide what to do with ************ and adulterers.
We often hear about, was that an assembly decision? The word of God has already decided what is to be done and it is for the assembly to act. I don't want to draw an assembly actions into this. We need to be clearest to this because we're living in a world where the very thing marriage people say, well, marriage is only a piece of paper. That is exactly what it is. It's a public declaration that you want to take in another to the exclusion of all others. And there's a second part to it and the bed undefiled.
But there's that two components to it. And when one in a public way takes another, it's an honorable thing. And we're living in a world, dear young people, where it is become so commonplace that that ones not bothered to get married. And those of us who are older, it was something that you divorced and living common law was something that movie stars and you heard happen far away. It was not a common thing. And now it's just become the common.
Regular, normal thing. And we need to realize that marriage is an honorable thing and having children. The world despises having children. But Adam, after he had fallen and the curse had been pronounced on Adam, he looked at Missus Adam because God called their name Adam. And it was Adam that looked at his wife and he said this is Eve, the mother of all the living. And it's a wonderful occupation for a young lady to get married and to bear children in this world. The world despises that.
But it is an honorable thing and it is an honorable occupation. A sister in our assembly was a top notch student and graduation came and this one was going to go off here and that one was going to go off there and they had to list what they were doing and she was getting married and they said and Lindsay she's and they wouldn't say, they would not utter the words because to them it was not an honorable thing for young woman to do.
Paul said I would that the young women marry. I realize he's speaking particularly.
Widows there, but it is an honorable thing. And don't ever let this thought of the world creep in that marriage is something that is to be lightly regarded as an honorable thing.
The Lord said it is not good for the man to be alone.
So he's the one that is honored and He's the one that's established it. That's God's order, and anything that deviates from that is wickedness.
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Just as a warning to all of us, but perhaps particularly to those who are younger, because today the line of demarcation and right and wrong has not only been blurred but absolutely removed. We live not just in an immoral society, but we live in an amoral society.
What do I mean by that? Everything goes. It doesn't matter. And I don't think those of us who are a little older realize how much it's ingrained in our young people when they go out into the world to follow their lusts and appetites. And no one's to put restraint on them and tell them they can't do this or that. But I want to read a portion in Proverbs 6IN Connection with moral evil because it's a very, very serious thing. I'll make a comment after I read another comment after I read it, but just let's read in Proverbs 6.
Verse 32 But whoso committeth adultery with the woman locketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Now notice this, A wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. I think this is one of the most solemn verses in connection with moral evil in the Word of God. And that is that moral evil is the one sin that leaves a mark on a person for the rest of their life. When David sinned, as we said earlier, it was a moral sin.
He was happily restored to the Lord in his own soul and used of the Lord after that, but a sword never departed from his house forever. There was a consequence that was not taken away as a result of that sin. And young people, the word of God says keep thyself pure and I can't stress it enough in the day in which we live. If you fall into moral evil, it is something that is going to leave a wound, a wound and dishonor and a wound is something that doesn't heal. A scar is something that the wound is healed over, but a wound and dishonor.
Get, and I don't want to belabor this, but we can't bring this out forcefully enough. Oh, I beseech you, keep yourself pure. God has someone for you or for most of us anyway. I know there are those who are eunuchs for the Kingdom of God's sake and so on, but generally speaking, God has someone for you. Keep yourself. You know, it's interesting of Isaac, who is one of the most beautiful pictures of the Lord in the Old Testament, and Isaac and Rebecca, one of the most beautiful pictures of Christ in the church in the Old Testament.
As far as we know, we never read of Isaac taking another wife. Isn't that beautiful?
There are things that I can do that I cannot undo, a man can do. If you murder somebody once, you're a murderer.
You can't undo that. If somebody steals something off of somebody as serious that is, and I don't want to belittle Lack, they can repay it.
If somebody rails on somebody, and that is a very serious thing to speak abusively to a brother, you can go and apologize for it and take the words back. But if you commit fornication, once you are a fornicator, you have done something that you cannot undo. And just as with murder, you murder somebody, that person is dead and you cannot undo that. Now, it's true that there is no denying that there is the grace of God, but the grace of God causes us to submit to the government of God. It does not take away the government of God.
The grace of God does not take, causes us to submit to the government of God. It does not take it away. The sisters sitting in this room are covering their heads and learning in silence because Eve was first deceived. Was Eve forgiven for her sin? Yes, but there is the governmental sign on the head of every sister that he was first, that Eve did not listen. A man may have taken more than one wife before he got saved, and it's a serious thing, but he barred him from being an elder in the assembly, and that took place before he was saved.
And so there are things that can happen to us and that we can do which governmentally we just have to submit to the government of God and God gives grace and it will. There's no denying that there it there can be greater enjoyment of the Lord, but there is as to this life marks that are left. And I believe that that's important when these things come up and these things are despised. And that's why the world is so full of unhappiness and trouble is because these truths that go right back to the very beginning have been despised by man.
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And once it's done, you've unleashed something that there is sorrow, but there is grace. There is always grace and there is always forgiveness and mercy with the Lord where there is submission to the Lord. We never want to deny that, but it is a serious thing. The man that has had several wives before he he got saved, he's not told to put away his wives. He's not told he can't break bread at the Lord's table if he's gotten saved. But he can't be a Bishop, he can't be an overseer.
Are a Deacon even.
The.
We don't want these comments to take us to make us think that if I've committed that sin in the past, that I'm barred from the Lords table forever. That's not that's not true. You can be restored, but the consequences of the consequences in the government of God, they go on. You know what we read, so we reap and nothing's going to change that.
But that that applies to the saved and the unsaved as well. We reap what we sow but there's forgiveness. There's forgiveness with God and the thing to do if you've committed those sins, I'm in this room have probably committed some of those sins. If you have the thing to do is go to him, go to get into his presence and confess it and he will restore your soul. He he can't remove what you've done. A scar may remain forever. It will, but.
There, there's a forgiveness with him.
That's the grace of God. Stiff first, let your conversation or your manner of life be without covetousness. And we're living in great days of wealth. And you know, they want more. My wife used to babysit some children. And so they'd arrive early in the morning and the mother would drop off the Christmas wish catalog and the child would sit there and look at this catalog. By the time maybe from 7:30 to 8:00 until it was time to go off to school. And the child was just sick with all the things that it wanted by the by the end of the half hour.
It says let your conversation be without covetousness. Mr. Lundeen used to have a helpful saying. He said faith enjoys the simple things. And dear young people and those that are older, and perhaps it's easier when you're young, when you're older, kind of the water meter and the gas meter and the mortgage company decides what's going to be done with your money before you got it. But when you're young, you have a little bit more liberty to spend with your money, but get into a habit of not letting your your life be characterized by wanting more and fancy things.
Learn to have a simple way of life. And so that's we live in days of covetousness and where people want more and the whole advertising world appeals to that. And so we learn to learn to be enjoy simple things and in our activities as young people learn to enjoy simple activities. I think you know what I'm talking about. I was at a wedding once.
A young couple. I just read this one verse. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife.
Let every woman have her own husband as First Corinthians 7.
To touch a woman and involves a very intimate thing.
Anyway, the preacher announced some husband and wife and she looked at the veil and he kissed her. I heard someone say that's the first time he's kissed her. I know that's true. The first time he's kissed her. They agreed between themselves that they would save that.
Save the intimacy that belongs to marriage to marriage. And they did.
I don't think they're sorry for it. We don't know our own hearts. Sometimes we say, well, I know how far to go, but we don't know our own hearts. And I'd like to just develop that in connection with the next expression. Be content with such things as you have in connection with what Neil said. Because I think sometimes not knowing our own hearts, we think, well, if we had more, we could do more for the Lord or use it for the Lord. In fact, there is a system in the business world under the banner of Christianity that actually teaches that.
We'll get out and work hard and follow this system of business, and you'll get more and you'll have more to use for the Lord. I've heard this very thing, but I think that's the work of the enemy. Brethren, our hearts are tricky. And so it's whatever He places in our hand. If the Lord wanted us to do more, He'd give us more. But we're to be content with what He has given us today, what He's placed in His hand. Use that for His glory. If we do, He may entrust more to us, and that's the way.
01:20:04
Uh, what the Lord spoke of, and he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and so on. But it's not to covet more for so that we have more for the Lord's work or to help the Lord's people or a bigger home to entertain the Lord's people. No use what he's given you. Be content with such things as you have. You know, we're not really satisfied with things down here. He's the one that satisfies our heart inwardly satisfies the longing soul and filleth the longing heart and filleth the hungry soul with goodness and so on. But we are to be, maybe we're not satisfied down here.
If we were, we wouldn't be looking for the House of the Lord as we were Speaking of. Sometimes He stirs us up and puts a few thorns in the nest so that we're not satisfied down here. But we are to be content, content with such things as we have and to use what He's placed. If He's placed a dollar in your hand today, use that dollar for His glory. Don't wish you had. Two dollars will never leave Thee, nor forsake Thee. And that is what we need to keep before our hearts and our minds.
Is I may be poor, I may not have all the things I want, but I have the Lord Jesus Christ with me all the days of my life and for all eternity. I sat down in a home in Grenada recently. The brother was struggling to try to get his roof back on and he mopped the floor before we got there because of the rains. And I won't go on to describe, but it was really a rebuke to me. We sat down in his home. The first thing he said.
He looked around. He said let's talk about eternal things. Nothing of this world, But he was content with what he had, and he was satisfied with the heavenly riches. There was no use to talking about how many cars we had or how many rooms in the house or this or that. No, he said, let's talk about eternal things. And we did.
Of material things, the greater hindrance it is to talk about eternal things, right? I remember Ralph Rule. Sorry.
44 in the back of the book.
01:25:47
That was written 225 years ago by William Copper. It's very much applies to date.
Beautiful.
Verse 17.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom.
Neither shall fruit be in the vines.
The labor of the olive shall fail.
And the fields shall yield no meat.
The flock shall be cut off from the pole and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
Yet.
I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength.
And he will make my feet like Hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
To the chief singer.
On my stringed instruments.
Right.