Address—Bill Prost
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Are familiar with.
If you look in the back of the book, you'll see that this hymn was written by a woman by the name of Mrs. Cousins and a Cousins. But the inspiration for the hymn came from a man who lived way back in Scotland in the 1600s, a man by the name of Samuel Rutherford. And although he didn't know much of the truth, that you and I have often enjoyed.
Yet there was a devotedness and a godliness in his soul.
That I have to say I covet, and although he didn't share many of the precious truths in the same way that you and I do.
Yet there was a devotedness to the Lord that you and I may well go after.
What we have here in our Little Flock hymn book is only a small sample of the original hymn. I think there are something like 19 verses in the original hymn. If anybody is interested in them, they're available from Bible Truth Publishers or I would be very glad to send them to you. So we'll sing together the 1St 3 verses, thinking particularly of the third verse.
With mercy and with judgment, my web of time he wove.
And I, the dues of sorrow were lustered with his love. I'll bless the hand that guided. I'll bless the heart that planned.
When throned where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. 77 In the Appendix the 1St 3 verses.
The sands of time are safe.
Before we start, I'm going to mention that there's a bottle of water right down there under my seat by my wife, and if some dear brother wouldn't mind bringing it up, it'll be easier to ask for it now than when the necessity becomes obvious.
Thank you.
Well, this afternoon I'd like to speak on something that has been very much on my heart lately.
And there are one or two people in the room here who will recognize that exercise because we have spoken about it together. But I would like to speak this afternoon on purpose and direction in the believer's life. And this is a meeting especially for young people. And so let's turn to a couple of verses right in the book that we have been going over in our readings, Ephesians chapter one.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Again, I say this verse has already been quoted in the course of our meetings, although we haven't been in this chapter. Ephesians one and verse.
Well, we'll read verse 9, but we'll get the antecedent to the verse in.
Verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now skipping down to verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery or secret of His will.
According to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times.
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the council of his own will.
And now one more verse in Second Timothy, chapter one.
Second Timothy. Chapter One.
Verse 9.
Again the antecedent in the last word of verse 8.
God, who hath called, who hath saved us, and called us within holy calling?
Not according to our own works, to our works rather, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who have abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light.
00:05:23
Through the Gospel.
And one more verse in Jeremiah chapter 10.
Jeremiah, chapter 10.
And verse 23.
Jeremiah 10 and verse 23.
Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.
It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
There was a well known atheist within the lifetime of many of us who are here.
By the name of Bertrand Russell.
His name is well known even in the world today.
And he was one of the most outspoken and severe opposers of the Word of God and even of the existence of God.
But you know, he made a rather perceptive statement at one point which has stuck with me. He said unless you believe that there is a God, any question as to meaning or purpose in life is utterly pointless.
Unless you believe there is a God, any question as to the meaning or purpose of life is utterly pointless.
And you know, you young people today and also to some extent all of us, but you young people particularly.
Are being brought face to face with that kind of mentality.
Because over the last 50 years in North America and in Western Europe.
There has been a general giving up.
Of the idea that we are creatures before God and that we have a responsibility to him. Oh yes. If you ask individuals if they believe in a God, many will say yes. I read a statistic the other day and I can't remember the exact figure figure, but a very high percentage of people in North America said yes, I believe there is a God.
But when the questions went deeper, it became very evident that many did not feel.
That the God that they believed in was relevant to their own life or to their responsibility toward Him.
And so consequently, what we are seeing around us in the world today is what one brother described in the reading meetings yesterday, a frantic amount of activity.
But without any real sense of purpose.
I was talking a few years ago to some of the brethren in Japan when we were visiting there, and I raised the question of whether there was much response to the gospel or I said, are people pretty imbued with their own religions, whether it's Shintoism or Buddhism or something like that? Oh, the brother said, I have to tell you that for the most part.
The religion of the people in Japan is money.
And material possessions and that is their.
Not too long ago.
I was in Europe and I got the same reaction when I spoke to believers there. I said, what is the situation with respect to the gospel here? Oh, a brother said to me, and this is no reflection, mind you, on Europe versus any other part of the world. But a brother there said, oh, he said people in Europe aren't even apostates because in order to apostatize you have to have something.
From which to apostatize? And he said people in Europe basically have turned atheistic.
Why do I bring that up in a Bible conference of Christians gathered to the Lords name? Because you and I, if we're not careful, are influenced by all of that, and the whole effort of this world is to have you find your direction, your purpose in yourself.
00:10:04
To have you look into your own heart, into your own mind and say, what do I want to do? Where do I want to go? What do I have that I can build on? And so the world around would say, take stock of your abilities, take stock of your resources, make the most of the opportunities that are presented to you, know what you can do, and then go for it.
And while I'm not being critical, you and I have all heard the expression.
I know where I want to go and nothing is going to stop me. But equally true, we have seen others who seem to go here and there. Try this, try that.
And pardon me, young people, if I say that it has disturbed me over the last few years sometimes to see young people who have been brought up not only under the sound of the gospel, but under the sound of the precious truth of God, and who yet seemed to lack purpose and direction in their lives.
It's difficult, and I don't deny that the world is far more complex than when I was going to high school and going to college.
And the complexities of the modern world.
Or something else?
A few months ago I stuck a cassette tape in the car and was listening to it. And there are a good many here who will remember the voice of our late brother Ernie Wakefield when he used to preach the gospel. And I can I was at that gospel meeting that was over 40 years ago, and it did my heart good to hear his voice again. But one thing he said.
In his own way that I won't attempt to mimic, he said. The world is crazy tonight.
The world has gone crazy tonight, I thought. Ernie, what would you say today?
The world has gone crazy.
And as Scripture has predicted in the last chapter of Daniel, many are running to and fro. But I say to you, young people, as I say to my own heart, it is possible to have purpose and direction in your life. But if you don't get anything else out of this meeting.
I want all of us to get hold of this.
You will never find the right purpose for your life by looking within yourself.
Oh, you may get some idea of the direction in your life. Brother Eric was telling us yesterday about a very wealthy man there in Spokane who evidently had a certain amount of purpose in his life and had become extremely wealthy through various means, even if it meant trampling on other people in order to do it. And we all are seeing that happen in the world.
But is that real purpose? No, it isn't. No it isn't, Timothy says. And this is from the Darby translation, he says.
Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches and so on.
And he ends up by saying that they may be willing to communicate, ready to distribute.
And in our King James it says that they may lay hold on eternal life, but the Darby reads that they may lay hold on what is really life. And I say to you, as I say to each one of us, and my own heart, to what we have had before us in the readings is what needs to lay hold of our hearts. And that is that in order to have purpose and direction in your life and mine, we need first.
Of all to lay hold of God's purposes.
God's purposes. Oh, when I see God's purposes, then I find that I can work with God and have a purpose and direction that works In Sync if I could use that expression with His purposes.
Some years ago.
There was a woman.
Who had spent most of her life in Canadian politics.
I happen to know who she is quite well because she represents a constituency right in our local area, in the city where I live. Or she did represent it, I should say, and her father was the mayor of the city where we live.
Very well known man and she followed in her father's footsteps as a young woman. Got into politics in her 20s, Rose all the way to become a member of parliament, then to become a cabinet minister.
00:15:02
But then what happened?
Oh, some things started to happen in government, and we're not trying to make a judgment of any right or wrong.
But the point was that the ideas and things that she had in her mind were at cross purposes with the man who happened to be the Prime Minister and with some of the higher ups in the Liberal Party. What happened? Oh, they engineered things when it was coming election time. And they did what is known in political circles as a bit of gerrymandering, switch the boundaries of her riding around and.
Effectively booted her out the door.
She made an awful fuss, but it didn't do any good. And now nobody even remembers hardly who she was, why, oh, what she had. And her agenda was at odds with the people that were in power. And as a result, she didn't get anywhere. And you know, I say to my own heart and to each one of us here, young people especially, you may spend a lot of time and energy with certain purposes in your life.
Or alternately, you may try this, try that, go here, go there, and maybe never arrive at any settled purpose.
The devil doesn't care.
As long as you aren't working with God's purposes.
But God has revealed His purposes to us, and as we've had in our readings, you and I are in a wonderful time of God's grace.
Because we have been brought into a place where we know these things.
Do we realize it and are we willing to work with God?
In his purposes.
I don't want to be misunderstood.
There are many dear believers today in this world, and some have a great deal of understanding of the purposes of God. Others have very little understanding of God's purposes. And there are many dear, devoted Christians in this world who do not really have a full understanding of much that has been the privilege of those in this room to sit under.
But they're living up to the light they have and to the extent that they understand what God is doing.
They are working with God and seeking to go on with His purposes.
But you know, the more we know, the more we're responsible and the more God has given us, the more God expects of us. And I say to you and me, if God has revealed His purposes to us, what are His purposes? All His purposes take us right out of ourselves because God tells us, as we have read here in Ephesians chapter one, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, what is He going to do?
Gather everything in one, things in heaven and things in earth, under His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. But that's not all God says in the following verses, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Oh, He wants you to be part of those purposes.
And if you and I are going to live in this world for God's glory, and if we're going to have a sense of direction in our lives, I say again, I'll never find it by looking within myself.
Or you say. What's wrong with that?
Is there anything wrong with having a sense of what God has given me? Is there anything wrong with having a sense of what abilities God has given me? Not at all. In fact rather we are told to do that and the man for example that was given 5 talents was responsible. More in the excuse me.
The man that was given 5 talents had more responsibility in that sense than the man that was given to. And the man that was given five and the man that was given two both had more responsibility than the man that was given one, because God had given them more. But God required according to what He had given. And so there's nothing wrong with recognizing your natural ability in recognizing your gift and recognizing what God has given you.
Sense of what we are talking about is this, in which direction are you going? And I say to each one here, On the one hand, it is possible to use all your energy and all your talents in a wrong direction and have everything that lives only for this world. Or on the other hand, it is possible to go this way, go that way, try this, try that, go here, go there.
00:20:13
And yet never seem to have a settled purpose.
In your life.
You and I in North America, and particularly you young people, have grown up under unprecedented prosperity.
And don't think that some of us that are a little older haven't sat where you sat and felt the effect of us. I can still remember as if it were yesterday. And it was 45 years ago when a chemistry professor when I was in college ripped into our class. And as we would say in modern language, Taurus, strip up one side and down the other because we were so careless and flippant in his eyes. And why can't you grow up and.
None of you ever had to live through a depression or through a war, and life has just been a bowl of cherries for you. And on and on he went. And we kind of rolled our eyes and thought, oh boy.
But you know, he was right and more and more now I appreciate the truth of his words because he was saying you have privileges that some of us had to work hard for. And I want you to take them seriously. And I believe young people today, God is looking at you and he says, I want you to take life seriously.
I think the first Walla Walla conference I ever went to was in 1972.
And I can still remember the brothers that sat here and took part. And I can tell you that I never thought I'd see the day, wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me then that I would see the day when brothers in my generation were having to take the part in the meetings. I would have said, oh, no, no, no, no, no. The Lord's going to come long before that. That's not going to happen. But it did happen. And how long the Lord will leave us here, we don't know and I don't expect to see.
Young people get to be my age. I hope it doesn't happen, but God wants to give you a sense of purpose and direction in your life.
Turn over to a verse that comes to mind that bears on this. It's in the 144th Psalm, Psalm 144.
And there in verse 11 it says Psalm 144 and verse 11.
Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. Now here's the verse that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.
That our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished or sculptured after the similitude of a palace.
What does that mean? Does that mean that God is wanting young people to be old beyond their years?
Does he mean that he wants 20 year olds to act like 40 year olds and to have old heads on young shoulders? No, that's not what it means. That never does anybody any good. Nobody gets any blessing or help from that kind of thing. What does it mean then? It means I believe that God wants you and me, even when we're young, to have a sense of the seriousness of the times in which we live.
Now everybody that knows me well knows that.
I have as much joy in having good fun as anybody else.
But there is a serious side to the things we're talking about, and there's nothing wrong with having a good time.
But God says that our sons may be as plants growing up in their youth. And I want to speak particularly to the young men this afternoon because young men, if you are prepared to take the lead, I venture to say that the sisters will follow. And despite the fact that sometimes in the world today, and maybe not with God's mind, but at least with some justification, outwardly women are saying, men, you're doing a bad job, get out of the way and let someone else do it right.
The fact remains that God has put you in a position of leadership and responsibility.
And the sisters are looking to you to take that place of leadership. And many times I have been grieved when I have seen young men who ought to have been stepping forward and taking a place of responsibility, but who shrank back from it. Young brothers, I'm not saying to do it in the energy of nature, but in the strength that God gives you. There is a greater need today for young men that are growing up in their youth and any other time and when you are young.
00:25:17
You have the strength and ability to absorb these things, to read our written ministry, to get into the Word of God.
To make it your own to get a grasp of those things. But even more important.
To let it get a grip on you, let it get a grip on you. It's one thing to get a grip on the truth.
But it's another thing to let it have its grip on you, because when it gets its grip on you, it's because Christ is the object and not yourself. And so here we find that our sons may be as plants growing up in their youth, that our daughters may be as cornerstones, or perhaps corner columns polished or sculptured after the similitude of a palace.
Young sisters, the world is trying to take away your birthright today. The world is trying to say go and do everything that men are supposed to do.
You have just as much ability. That may well be true, but I say to you.
If you take the place that God has given you, you will be far more in keeping with the purposes of God.
And do far more good than if you try and take a place that God hasn't put you in.
Does that mean the woman's inferior to the man? Absolutely not. How could a woman be a helpmeet for a man if she didn't have the same kind of brains and everything else?
It's true, but at the same time God has put each of us in the proper position.
To do what he has given us to do. And so we're not going to say anymore on that. Let's turn over to another verse though.
In the book of the Acts.
The Book of the Acts, Chapter 11.
Acts Chapter 11. Now here was a blessing that started out in what we might call the first real Gentile assembly. We've been talking about Jew and Gentile being brought together, and I don't mean to talk about a Gentile versus a Jewish assembly, but in those early days the work had begun in Judea, then branched out to Samaria, and then there had been a man by the name of Philip that went down to Antioch here.
And preach the gospel.
Or not Philip, but those that were scattered on the persecution that arose about Stephen.
And there was blessing at Antioch. And notice what it says here, verse 22 of Acts 11. Then tidings of these things came under the years of the church which was in Jerusalem, And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, when he was, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart.
They would cleave unto the Lord.
Purpose of heart.
That's what we've been talking about. How do I get that purpose?
Maybe you say, but I want a purpose in my life and I don't have it. I can remember a young brother back home quite a few years ago now that I talked to, and he had no sense in his soul of the Lord's purpose in his life, no sense of what the Lord wanted him to do, no sense of which way the Lord wanted him to go. Could I tell him no? God doesn't tell me what he wants you to do.
But I could say to him with confidence, if you look to the Lord.
He will give you, I believe, a purpose of heart if you really want it.
And if you are prepared to give up your own thoughts and your own ideas.
In order to have his thoughts, as someone else has said, in order to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart, I have to look at the whole picture with eyes that are bigger than my own.
Can we understand that expression? Eyes that are bigger than my own. What does that mean? That means that if I look at the situation only through my own eyes.
My thoughts will tend to be focused this way and I will tend to think in terms of what will make the most benefit for me or what will help my family or my loved ones or whatever. But you know, if I can get it, the whole picture from God's side. And that's what God wants us to do. He wants us to come around to his side and look with Him over the whole picture.
00:30:04
Now he can say here's what I'm doing, here are my purposes.
And I want you to be associated with them.
I want to make another remark here, and I hope I can make it in a way that isn't misunderstood.
It was mentioned in our reading meetings that there are a lot of opportunities in the world today, and there are.
Travel is unprecedented. Communication is unprecedented. The ability to reach people, especially with things like the breakup of the communist world and the gradual opening up of boundaries, has given opportunities that have seldom existed before.
And there are many Christian organizations and dear believers out there who are responding to those opportunities.
And doing much for the Lord.
And on the one hand, I can say with all my heart, I'm so thankful. May the Lord bless every opportunity where Christ is preached, where He's held up as the only Savior of sinners, where the Word of God is put into people's hands, and where they are turned, as it says in Scripture, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.
But there sometimes is the sense.
And I'm going to speak very plainly now. There sometimes is the sense among young people that are gathered to the Lord's name and maybe in.
The minds of those that are not so young that if I am gathered to the Lord's name, I am shut out from those opportunities. And that I cannot do some of those things for the Lord that otherwise I could do. Because I am restricted by the fact that I can't go along with some of those things that are not according to the Word of God, and therefore I have to be content with doing little or nothing.
Because unless I'm prepared to give up some of the truth.
I can't be involved with all that kind of work.
Is that true?
Is that fair?
There are two angles to it.
On the one hand, and I've said these words before, but they bear repeating, I can remember.
Boy, 50 years ago I was pretty young.
Maybe more than 50 years ago, a brother made a comment about these things in a reading meeting.
And he particularly mentioned the name of a prominent evangelist who is still alive and gave a warning as to the compromise that was coming in.
And our brother Harry Hayhoe spoke up and anyone that remembers him knows.
That he was a very faithful man who never stood for compromise.
And he said something like this. He said, brother, that warning is needed.
That warning is needed and I support it.
Said let's remember that in the early days before all this came to pass.
He said, My father used to tell me that in the early days all the gospel was in the hands of those gathered to the Lord's name. And when they began to fail and spent more time squabbling among themselves than in preaching the gospel, he said, then God began to raise up preachers out there in the camp to reach the masses.
Now, he said, don't be depressed or discouraged by that, but bear in mind that some of this is going on because of our failure.
That is very true, and we need to hang our heads as we see sometimes how little we have done in living out the precious things that God has given us, whether in the gospel or in the truth.
But what I want equally to emphasize is this, beloved young people, if you have seen from this precious book the purposes of God, the things that we've had before us in our reading meetings, and if by the grace of God they have laid hold of your soul, never, never entertain the thought that if you are working synchronously with the purposes of God, that that is going to restrict you.
Allow me to say, if I may, on the basis of personal experience.
It is the most liberating truth there is, and the widest possible scope for all your energy that there is, so that Timothy can say in Second Timothy chapter 2. If a man therefore purge himself from these meaning vessels to dishonor, what happens? He shall be a vessel that has to sit quietly in the corner and not do very much.
00:35:17
Absolutely not, he shall be a vessel into honor, sanctified, and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every.
Good work and if you speak to those.
Who have by grace sought to follow the Lord and respond to what they felt in their hearts according to God's purposes.
I venture that you will have to. You will get the response from them. Oh, there is more to do than I can possibly reach out to. God has given far more to me. I don't mean God gives us too much to do that. I don't want you to go away with that impression. And I don't mean that God gives us so much to do that we have to go around frantically, as we say in conventional language, like a chicken with his head cut off. No.
But you will find that there will be ample scope for every dimension.
Of your abilities, mental, physical, spiritual.
Because you're working with God's purposes instead of a cross purposes with Him.
But remember this.
And I'm indebted, and I don't mind saying so to Brother Bob Tony there for this remark in Second Timothy chapter 2. It says, remember, and this is from the Darby Jesus Christ raised from the dead according to my gospel. One reason why Paul puts that verse in there is because the vindication and reward of a life lived according to the purposes of God may have to wait for eternity. It may have to wait for resurrection.
The Lord Jesus was never vindicated in this world and outwardly men would say he was a failure.
But he accomplished the purposes of God. Let's turn now for a few moments to the book of Daniel.
Because there, I believe we see a young man.
Who got a grip on the purposes of God? Daniel, chapter one.
Daniel chapter one. Now we're familiar with this, but let's read it again, verse 8.
We all know the story of how Daniel was uprooted from his home country of Israel, taken captive to the land of Babylon.
And what is not often emphasized but must have been very hard to take, deprived of the ability to bear children.
And then here he's faced up with the issue of whether he would eat and drink what was forbidden by the law. Verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the King's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.
Purposed in his heart. Now we want to emphasize that if there is any purpose in your heart and mind to follow Christ, it's all of grace. And Philippians chapter 2 tells us that it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So that if there's any desire in your heart and mind to follow Christ, the purpose to be faithful to him.
We can't take credit for it, but at the same time that does not do away with responsibility.
And Daniel here felt that responsibility.
Young people, you're living in days of upheaval. You're living in days when the world is in a condition of upheaval. And perhaps what is even harder to bear, in many cases, you're living in days when the Church of God is in upheaval. And you and I well know some of the difficulties that have come about, not only in Christendom, but among those gathered to the Lord's name.
And some of us have failed.
At times in our responsibilities and have added to the confusion which makes us hang our heads.
But it's nothing new. Daniel had to respond to a condition of things that must have been a terrible upheaval. Here was a young man, godly young man too, and with a lot of ability. And there he is, seeing himself jerked out of his native land and taken away to Babylon, and eventually the temple destroyed and everything that he held dear laid low, and his nation carried into captivity. What is he going to do?
00:40:04
I've heard brethren gathered to the Lord's name at one time say, well, it's all over.
I had a brother tell me that on the phone. He said it's all over with brethren. I said to him, it may well be, but thank God I hope it's not over with the truth of God. And it's not a question of individuals, but it's a question of what God has given. And our eye and our energy and our hope and everything comes not from ourselves but from Christ. And all of the upheaval cannot destroy.
What God is and what He has given.
And so Daniel purposes in his heart, and there was blessing.
Now I don't want again to be misunderstood, because if you read the 11Th chapter of Hebrews, you will find there that there were men like Daniel.
Who were victorious along with his three friends and many others. And it says they quench the violence of fire, stop the mouths of lions out of weakness were made strong and all the rest of it. And we could say to ourselves, wonderful, I can identify with that. But then it says and others and it talks about those that were tortured not accepting deliverance and those who gave up their lives rather than be unfaithful to the Lord.
And I say to you, as I say to my own heart, that when Daniel purposed in this way.
He had no idea how it would end up which way, either in victory or in well, let me rephrase that, either in life or in death, because it would always end in victory. And when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image, they did not know, and they said so, whether the Lord would deliver them or not. But their attitude was Whatever happens, O king.
We are not going to worship your God.
And I want to say to you, beloved young people today, God is looking for young people that.
Like Daniel will have purpose of heart in changing circumstances.
Think of Daniel's life for a moment and what he went through.
Here he is as a young man brought into this position, and very rapidly he rises to a very high position in Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom, and he's used of the Lord even to give Nebuchadnezzar the very, very bad news of what was going to happen to him because of his pride.
I sometimes wonder, and I don't want to put a construction on it that isn't there, but when Nebuchadnezzar was there for seven years out like an animal.
Who looked after the Kingdom in his absence? How was it that Nebuchadnezzar, after seven years, was able to come back?
And be king again? Would that ever happen in natural terms, where a king would lose his reason and go out and live like an animal, and yet seven years later come back and get back on the throne? That would never happen, would it? Somebody else would fill the vacuum pretty quickly. I sometimes wonder if it was Daniel that administered and looked after the Kingdom in the meanwhile. Now, Scripture doesn't tell us. Maybe it's wise not to speculate, but I've wondered because it seems almost.
Incredible from the human side that that could happen, but he came back. What was that? The end of Daniel's life. This is a young people's meeting, but I want to speak to those of us that are older, and there are those here that are a lot older than I.
How old was Daniel when he was thrown into the lion's den?
Have you ever thought of that?
I often used to think of him as a young man. But think of it for a moment. If, and we'll throw a few dates around here from your ancient history, if Jerusalem was conquered about 605 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel taken captive about that time as a young man, I suppose it's not unreasonable to think that he was in his late teens.
How long did that captivity last?
70 years. And by that time it seems that Daniel was probably in retirement because he would have been in his late 80s. But what happens? Belshazzar's queen pulls him out of retirement, as it were, and says there is a man right here in your Kingdom that could tell you that dream.
And then when that Kingdom was destroyed, within hours we find that the Kingdom that was established afterward.
Darius recognized a man who was going to be useful to him.
And Can you imagine that man in his late 80s brought out and not only placed in a position of responsibility, but pretty much in the highest position in the land? I think if I'd have been Daniel, I would have said, oh, King, you know, I just sooner live out my retirement in peace and quiet. I don't need to be shot at anymore or take that responsibility. But he took it. And what happened?
00:45:16
Faithfulness once again lands him in the lion's den Why?
Because of that age-old human sin that's almost worse than any other. Envy. Envy.
Course, as we well know, the Lord allowed that it turned right around so that the very ones that conspired against Him.
Were put into that lion's den. But Daniel didn't know when he was cast into that lion's den what was going to happen. He didn't know whether the Lord would shut those lion's mouths or not. I don't know what went through his soul, but he prayed the same way as he did before. And I say this to my older brethren as I say it to myself, because I'm getting along that road now. Let's not give up. And if the Lord throws a responsibility in your way.
Let's not shrink from it. Let's not turn back.
As they days, so shall they strength be turn over to one more verse in the time that's left to the New Testament.
Second Timothy 3.
Second Timothy, chapter 3.
And verse 10.
There are many other verses we could turn to, but if we've talked about a young man and the person of Daniel, here's an older man in the New Testament.
Verse ten of two Timothy 3. The apostle Paul speaking to Timothy.
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, and so on.
Paul was encouraging Timothy.
Think of the circumstances under which this was written.
Paul was in prison, a real prison this time, not just a hired house in Rome, but a real prison. And he had been, I believe, shown from the Lord that he wasn't going to be released this time because he says later on, I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand.
And more than that, he was already beginning to see the breakup of all of his labor for whatever number of years it had been.
And I can only think of what must have passed through his soul when he penned those words in the first chapter of this book. All they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
Oh, Paul could have died a broken man. He could have said, Timothy, it's all over.
And the seeds of that are in my heart.
And they were in the hearts of some of our beloved brethren I can still remember.
And you can read them for yourself if you want.
How did dear Mr. Wigram back in the 1800s, in the 1870s, when trouble and difficulty were coming in among the Saints of God?
And great man though he was, he became discouraged and he said in so many words, it's all over, it's all over.
I thank God it wasn't over. I thank God it wasn't over and that you and I can sit here today and enjoy the same precious truth that he enjoyed. And by the grace of God, I don't think it'll ever be over till we get to the glory. And so Paul encourages a young man, and don't think for a moment that Paul was trying to occupy Timothy with himself, but as the standard bearer of this dispensation, he was saying, Timothy, you have seen.
How the Christian life is to be lived.
You have seen me as a heavenly man, but sent back into this world as a witness walked. And you've known those nine things, Doctor, and manner of life, purpose and so on. And Paul had a purpose.
Turn back for one more verse that I didn't intend on referring to, but it comes to mind. Second Corinthians chapter one, Second Corinthians 1.
00:50:01
Now here's Paul talking about what we might say is the very nitty gritty of life.
And he's talking about coming to visit in Corinth.
A decision that had to be made. And what does he say in verse 17, Second Corinthians 117?
When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness or the things that I purpose? Do I purpose according to the flesh?
That with me there should be yay, yay, and nay, nay, But as God is true, our word to you was not. Yeah, and nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Who was preached among you by us, even by me? And Sylvanus and Timotheus was not yay, and nay, but in him was yay, for all the promises of God. In him are yay, and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us.
All beloved brethren, I say this to my own soul.
God wants you and me so to walk before Him. That the very simplest decisions of everyday life are tied to the purposes of God.
Now, does that mean we don't make mistakes? We sometimes do.
I still smile and I'm going to pick on poor Bob again told us the story of a young.
Man in Bolivia who liked to race cars and sometimes they raced on a rough terrain.
And one time he hit a bed of sand and things went haywire, as they would under those circumstances and.
When he got going, what happened? He'd lost his bearings, he'd done what we would call a 180 and he was heading back the same direction he came from.
What did he do? Did he say, well, that's the way the car is pointing now, so let her go? Oh no, he very quickly realized his mistake and he did a turn around. That happens in our lives. We do sometimes make mistakes, but the point is when Paul purposed, he purposed according to God's purposes because before him.
Was a larger picture than just what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go.
But he said, I want to work with God and for his glory. And you know what? The Lord looked after his happiness too. We often say what will make me happy, but the Spirit of God does not occupy you and me directly with our happiness. It occupies me with an object right out of myself, Christ himself. Well, that's all I have.
May the Lord bless His word and may He give us in these last days to have a sense of purpose in our lives.
I tell you without any question, without any shadow of doubt, that it is possible, even in these last days where everything seems to be upside down and backwards and there is confusion everywhere, that God can give you that sense of purpose and direction and In Sync, if we could use that expression with His purposes.
A life of joy and happiness, and with the full use of every ability that God has given you for His glory.
Let's sing the last two verses of this hymn 70.
Independence.
77 in the appendix.
My beloved.