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A long night waiting to see the movie Sterilize. All right, I'll glad to learn this appetite before the sun stands forth. The Majesty 208.
Oh my God.
Leaving you may hold our time in time for different time until I don't see it.
Umm.
1St time uh.
Call.
206.
Uh, unchanged.
All my Grange just as long as.
Completely what I have to do OK, right here we are getting.
Part in the middle.
My hands are in the brothers page instead of.
And close down.
A great song and woes up and now I can't imagine the great news.
Hmm.
The portion that we might take up subject to my brethren's approval.
The address to Philadelphia in Revelation 3.
I know it's a passage we've had before us many times in the past, but it seems more and more that it's appropriate today.
In the first time we had especially the Lord's coming brought before us, and in the second hymn we had the Lord's provision for us, by the way.
And both, I believe, are given to us in that address.
I believe it's one of the most encouraging things that we have in the whole of the Bible as to being faithful to the Lord and being encouraged in these last days.
But would I really think of that?
Well, everyone's happy with that Revelation 3 and.
We might read from verse 7 down to the end, of course, of the.
Passage to do with Philadelphia down to the end of verse 13.
Revelation chapter 3 reading from verse 7 to the end of verse 13.
00:10:07
And to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right these things, that he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man open. I know thy works. Behold, I set before thee an open door, and no man can shut, for thou hast a little strength.
And has kept my word, and has not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee because.
Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.
Which shall come upon all the world, to try them to dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly hold that fastest thou hast that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of thy God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, And I will write upon him my new name.
He either half an year let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Church.
We might mention just a few things as a.
Bit of an introduction to the passage.
Pardon a personal reference, but I can remember when I was a teenager, a brother in the Toronto meeting came up to me after a reading meeting and he said Bill. I sometimes think that we're almost past Laodicea these days.
And I nodded wisely, not having the faintest idea of what he was talking about.
And so.
We know that these seven assemblies all existed at the time that the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation, all reasonably close together in what was then Asia Minor, now part of Turkey.
And.
No doubt they bring before us the fact that if God is going to.
Give John a revelation of the awful judgment that was going to come upon the world, particularly the world that is known in the Gospel, because that is primarily what we get in revelation, the judgment of God on apostate Christendom.
We know from Peter's ministry that judgment must begin at the House of God. And so before the Lord enters into details of judgment on an ungodly world, He gives His judgment as to.
The condition of that which professes the name of Christ.
And no doubt these assemblies existed at that time, each one with its own particular character, and the voice to them was to be listened to. He that hath an ear, and hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches or assemblies.
More than that, at any time in the history of the church, either an individual or an assembly, a group of believers could read these.
Conditions in these various churches and get benefit from them. They could say, well that's something we need to look into or that's something that is an encouragement to me and so on.
But you and I in these last days know that these assemblies have a prophetic character.
And.
It's wonderful in that sense to live in these last days because I believe God did not allow the Church to see the prophetic character of these seven assemblies until right at the end.
00:15:15
And of course, there's a very good reason for that. It would have destroyed the hope of the Lord's coming.
We know, for example, that.
Ephesus having left its first love, the first assembly mentioned, is the condition of things shortly after the Apollo passed off the scene, and then just briefly, Smyrna, the time of savage persecution of believers during the second and third centuries under the Roman Empire.
Pergamos, though the condition of things that began to develop in the time of Constantine, when Christianity.
Was made the official religion of the Roman Empire and where it became relatively popular to be a Christian. Although it's questionable whether Constantine ever was a real believer, but we leave that. And then of course, Thyatira was the full blown effect of all of that, Uh, no doubt representing Roman Catholicism and what took place during the Dark Ages.
And at that point, as we're the Lord says, things have gone too far, there's no hope of full recovery. And so thiatagara goes on to the end, and it's here with us today. But then Sardis brings before us not so much the Reformation, but the result of it, because the Reformation was a work of God, but productivism was not. And Protestantism duplicated many of the errors of Romanism, but without the hierarchy of.
The Pope and Cardinals and all the rest of it. And so, Sardis, is Protestantism. Thou hast been named, Thou liveth spend our dead.
But then we thank the Lord that back about 180.
Years ago or so, God and His wondrous grace began to work in hearts.
To restore to us the precious truth of the Assembly.
And so we find a condition of things that we can call Philadelphia. And then of course, Laodicea is the end result of the church, which is so nauseous to God because it's outward pretension without inward reality, and it will find it full of expression in the false church after the true church is called home. Although we see Laodiceanism today.
And so it's important to recognize that the.
Beautiful character of Philadelphia here.
Is something that each one of us can look to and seek to follow after these last days.
And I'd make one more little remark, and that is.
Let's not try and label any particular group as being Philadelphia. I believe that's important. It's clear that Thyatira is Roman Catholicism, no question about that. It's clear that Sardis is Protestantism. But in Philadelphia, in Laodicea, it's rather a condition than a discrete group of individuals, and it's something that the Lord desires for himself.
And as I said earlier, I believe it's some of the greatest encouragement as well as, of course, some warnings, but some of the greatest encouragement in the whole Bible to read what the Lord is able and willing to do in these last days if you and I are willing to follow Him with a full heart.
In each case in these letters.
The Lord presents himself to the particular assembly He's addressing. He presents himself in accordance with their condition. And, uh, here the 1St.
Aspects of this character that's mentioned is bullies.
00:20:04
Less significant because.
You know, there's, uh.
There is, uh, something that, uh, Mr. Darby said that is often quoted and sometimes, uh.
Uh, either refuted or argued against.
And that is that God's principle of unity is separation from the, you know, holiness means separation. But that is how, uh, I mean, we're just speaking about history here. And whether we say that the brethren in the early 19th century represent Philadelphia or not, what we do know about them is that that was, that was what they practiced separation from easel. They came out and apart from what they.
Saw as ecclesiastical people.
And that's in keeping, you know, if you, if you look at John 17, we know what that is, as the Lord was framed there for the Father as he was about to leave the earth.
When I was a young Christian I read this. I always thought this was a prayer for oneness.
And I, I think it's commonly thought that way, that it was a prayer for oneness, but.
Years ago when I met some brethren in in Palmyra, ME area, I looked at this passage again.
And I realized that this prayer is a prayer for sanctification.
If you read it carefully, that's what it is. It's a fire for sanctification in three ways.
Through his name.
Get that, uh, to keep them in his name.
That's verse 11.
And uh, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.
And his glory.
But if you look at versus 1920 and 21.
I believe that it would be proper to put verse 20 in parentheses.
So that you could connect versus 19 and 20 and 21. And it would say, for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified, separated, you know?
Through the truth that they all may be one.
Sanctified through the truth that they all may be 1 So it's a prayer for for sanctification that would result in oneness. And so this notion that God's principle of unity is separation from evil is not something that the brethren just came up with it. It's what the Scripture teaches. And beginning with the calling of Abraham to call him out, that principle is seen again and again when evil comes in God.
Calls out.
What's wonderful about verse 20?
That's where we got included.
You know, this verse is a really wonderful verse.
Because verse 20 is how we in this late day got included in that prayer.
He says I'm not just praying for these that are here with me, these my disciples here, but I pray for all of them who will believe on me through their work.
Through the word of his disciples. And that's how we believe, isn't it? We have their word, we have their testimony, and it is the means by which we were born so much later.
It's through their word that we believe, and so the Lord included us here in verse 20.
But getting back to the point, it's sanctification that they may be one.
And so you get here. The first character he presents himself is that he's holy.
I think that's very good. It never was it more needed than today, because as we all know, the character of the world around us is becoming very, very unholy. And it's always the general character of the surrounding world that affects the people of God so that we're liable to be drawn into it. And when sin is so rampant in the world, we too can get a rather casual view toward it, can't we?
00:25:09
And so we need to be reminded that there is one that is holy, one that is true.
I suppose in Second Timothy two we have pretty much that same thought.
Described there, I believe, the days in which we live and departing from the truth and so on. Umm, and it speaks of in verse 20, a great house, and I think that would bring before us Christendom in general, where there are those who are real and those that are professors only and so on. Umm but take note of verse 19.
Foundation of God stands short having this seal. The Lord knows them that are his and is our part. You might say our responsibility that everyone that name is the name of Christ for the Lord. I believe it could be depart from iniquity and then in verse 21, it speaks about a man purging himself from those vessels that are through dishonor and uh, verse 22.
They also use for less, but umm, notice that that burst continues, but follow righteousness, faith, charity and peace with them that call on the Lord of the pure heart. So it's a matter of, as you say, when it is, uh, sanctification, but unto the Lord, if we look at Hebrews 1313 and uh, with them that called on the Lord of a pure heart.
So he doesn't want us though, he doesn't want us to get out of the world and go and live in a cave or something like that. He wants us to find those who have a true desire to all of the Lord. And uh, as we had that verse before us this morning there in Malachi, those that fear the Lord spoke often one to another.
And, uh, that's what the world delighted in. He, he wants to see those that are true and those that fear the Lord, uh, to be together and, and, uh, be encouraged and so on in these last difficult days. I do see sometimes a character in some that they.
They're, uh, somehow so disappointed with other Christians that they go off by themselves, you know? And it's a spirit of things. Umm.
Not much, not much different than I think Elijah when he said only I am left, you know, it killed all your prophets and I'm the only one left. And uh, if I'm not mistaken, that's the only sin of an Old Testament St. that's important or spoken of in the New Testament. It's a terrible sin of pride. And I think also, uh, it's pretty sure it's been a long time since I remember looking at stuff, but I think the word Pharisee means separation. Something to that effect has something to do with separation and Pharisees, you know?
Where the holier than thou?
You know, separated but but not separated under the law. And that's what you're getting at. It's not merely separation, it's separation unto him. And there's going to be others. We're guaranteed that there will be others that we can go on with. And that's a wonderful thing. So setting yourself apart, that's that's not the thought at all, is to be separated so that you can be in communion with the Lord and you're guaranteed that you'll be in communion with others as well.
Brothers heads, uh, uh, Bill. Dad was one of the three, uh, friends of Joe.
And uh, his name means most separated, but he, uh, he faced his judgment, umm, or his discernment on tradition that you might mention that.
Oh, hello, Bob. I'm sorry. Go ahead, though.
Go ahead.
Just, uh, a thought as to this concept of holiness. We, umm, it's a character of the Lord that, umm, we have here in our portion, but it's a character that the Lord would have us to have. And so we have in the maybe we could look at first Peter, just for a moment.
First Peter chapter, chapter one.
00:30:11
We go through the 1St chapter, but just to lead up to in verse 13, it says grew up the loins of your mind. And that that's a preface to what we have in the 15th verse where he says but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written be holy for I am holy, which of course is a quotation from Leviticus. But as a as we consider this.
Umm umm.
Uh, an incident comes to mind that umm.
I appreciate it when my children were younger.
We live in a Maple Bush and we tap trees. We've got some help now. The Alan help us with their treats that that produce a bit of stuff too. But back when my children were younger, we would gather the SAP and we would take it over to the Millers and they would boil it. So we we boil stuff the easy way.
We tap the trees, we gather the South, but then we take it over to the Miller's and invariably when I was.
Driving by the barn on our way to dump off the set, our children would say, Dad can we go in the bar?
And, uh, I would reluctantly say that they could go in the barn, but maybe just go in the door. And, uh, it's interesting that, uh, my children could win the barn and they would come out and they would smell just like a cow. And I bring them home and they troops into the house and my wife would say, what have you done? And here's my children. Uh, you know, they didn't have to look at a cow. They didn't have to touch a cow.
But they came out of the barn smelling just like a cow.
And that's the concept.
Of association of evil.
Again, I repeat, they didn't have to look at a cow.
They didn't have to touch it going.
At that, they came out smelling just like a cow. Isn't that interesting? While the Lord's desire is that we would bear that character, that He has a holiness. Holiness and righteousness are different.
Righteousness happen to do with our act.
Whereas holiness has to do with our thoughts.
Righteousness has to do with our path.
But holiness has to do with our thoughts.
Sorry, I got you wrong. No, that's very, very good, Dave. And I think as we said a moment ago, all of this is the most needed. I would just make one further comment on the whole question of separation from evil and whether Ted touched on it. And that is that whenever there is separation from evil, unless there is a real separation, not from something, but unto someone.
The whole matter of price can enter into the picture.
It's very interesting that the brother who wrote an article way back in the 1800s entitled Separation from Evil, God's Principle of Unity, and it's a superb article.
But some years after he had written it, a brother who edited a periodical decided that it was good enough to put in the periodical, and it fell under the eyes of the very man who had originally written it.
Of course, both the man who had written it and the editor of the periodical knew each other, but the original author wrote to the editor pretending he was someone else. And he said, Mr. Editor, you have put a paper into your publication that while it is very, very good, he said, and everything that it says is true, he said, I would judge it to be slightly unbalanced and one sided.
And then he proceeded to add something to it.
Grace, the power of unity and gathering. And I enjoyed that because.
Separation is necessary, but if we're not careful, we can allow what we witness against to assume such proportions that it almost eclipses what we witnessed for. And Christianity is positive. We have to deal with evil. We have to separate from. And I say again today it is most necessary more than it ever was. But separation from evil never attracted a soul to Christ. It might help us soul who was already attracted.
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It might be something that was good for someone who had already known the Lord. But what brought you and me to Christ in the beginning? It was a realization that first of all, we were sinners, but secondly, that here was one whose grace and love reached out to us while we were sinned. And so we need to remember that the very name Philadelphia means brotherly love. And so in all that we read here.
Yes, we find the strongest language as to the need for separation, and that is most necessary. But let us remember that it is separation under Christ, and the whole character of that Blessed One ought to be manifested, as Dave has said, first of all in our thoughts, and then in our walk and our ways down here.
Sometimes the question arises, should I do this? Should I do that? Should I go here? Should I go there with regard to this matter of holiness?
And as there's been, uh.
Conferred separation starts in the heart, and if it's in our hearts we're separated unto the Lord, then that's going to guide what happens right now.
I got a question for for brother Dave. Your children, when they smelled like cows, did they think they smelled like them? I had no concept lesson.
My brother watched that that if you grew up in a room that was full of garlic.
You would not be able to discern the smell of garlic.
So, uh, we're not really the best judges, are we? Of what we smell like, so to speak.
And, uh, it's good not to, uh, get angry with your brethren if they give some indication that maybe you smell like a cow.
Might be good to pay attention and consider where you've been, what you've been up to, right?
I always enjoy in Scripture how the Lord presents himself as the source of all strength for his people. He doesn't give us something else. He doesn't give us doctrines. Sometimes he doesn't even present his word or the Spirit of God. He always presents himself, especially in the in the Old Testament, in the titles of El Shaddai and all these other things. And even here we see that he says these things. Say if he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shut up and shut up and no man open it, He presents himself.
Not something else that we can lean upon and rely upon. They're just taking back the, the Peter, umm, in the sense of this aspect of holiness and righteousness. We have none in ourselves, nothing that we can count on ourselves to even approach that. And it hits at that in Peter where he says in verse verse 14, he says as obedient children in verse, it wasn't read, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. That's all we have to offer is less ignorance.
That's the best that we can do. But yet it says He is He which hath called you is holy. So be holy in all manner of conversation. There's no doubt there. If He's holy, He gives us everything that we need to be the same as Him. He provides it all for us. It's not a matter of us earning it. It's not a matter of us on some level or studying to be holy. We are holy as long as we're in Him. He presents everything that we need, all the strength that we need to be holding. It's a matter of.
Being obedient children to that, realizing that that's what his standard is and that's how we have to work and give us everything to do that. But yet where we fall is in that little line. Obedient children. Same as Dave mentioned, his children were told they can go to the barn but not go in. How many times have we been to the barn? But yet taking that first step in and because of that, we read the, the situation that we find ourselves in, even just that one little step, we end up smelling like cows because.
That's the way it is.
Present, uh, the Lord presents himself and we have a desire to be near him, right? And we have a desire to be a communion with him. And that is the desire that has got to be the motivation for holiness, the desire to be with the Lord, the desire to be in communion with him. If our desire for holiness is motivated otherwise that's Pharisees.
00:40:21
But going on to the next thing, and you've mentioned it, Brian, it mentions here the key of David, he that hath the key of David.
There can be different thoughts on that.
I would suggest something I've enjoyed in my own soul.
As we know, it's a reference to the 22nd of Isaiah.
And there are two men named in that chapter.
One man whose name was Eliakim, and another whose name was Shepna. Both of those men were prominent in Israel. Both of them took a place of honoring the Lord.
They were men who were present when the.
Syrians came against Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah, and Shebna was one of those who listened to the harangue by Sennacherib's emissary, and so on.
But there was a very different character inside with those men. Shevna had his eye on present things.
Eliakim had his eye on the Lord and non eternal things if we could use that expression. I know they were Old Testament people, but at the same time we find that at the end of that chapter in Isaiah.
Eliakin is so closely connected.
With what is prophetically said of Christ, that it actually talks about Eliot Kim in terms of his having the key of David, even though as it goes on, it's very obviously Christ that is in you. It talks about the one who will be fastened as a nail in a sure place. That could be none other than the Lord. But Eliakim was so closely, at least in the mind of the prophet, connected with Christ.
That the Spirit of of God is able to put them together in that way.
Christ has the key of David in the sense that he is the one who is the rightful king. He is the one who has the right in the coming day to take that place of power and authority over all things in this world.
But who will be with them in that day? You and I?
The Lord gives you and me the privilege now of living for Christ in such a way that we can be closely identified with Him.
Remember while reading of a.
Dear brother who lived way back again in the 1800s and someone made a remark about him said every time I see that man, I am reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In more recent years, although before my time, there was a brother in the Toronto meeting by the name of Gosby. I knew one of his daughters, but he was gone long before I was around.
But my father told me that.
When he was lying there in his casket many, many years ago, and of course, neighbors and friends came in as well as believers, and one of his neighbors stood by the casket and as they were chatting together, he pointed to Mr. Gosby's body in the casket. He said, you know, he said that man never sinned. That man never sinned.
I don't think my neighbors would say that about me.
If I were in the casket, I hope they would, but I don't somehow think they would. But here was a man who lived next door to him, and not just for a month or two, but for a number of years. And that was the testimony Mr. Gosby bore. Well, I say that to show that what God looks for in you and me as a character that simplifies the character of Christ, the key of David. And so if he's the one that has the key to that rightful place.
God has given you and me the privilege of being so closely associated with Him and His character, and want in our character and want that we resemble that in Christ.
00:45:09
And what's the result? We will find that there will be doors that will be open to us, wonderful doors, and there will be some that will be closed. And we have to remember that. We've talked about that a little more later perhaps, but the key of David now others may have different thoughts. I'd be glad to hear them. But I just mentioned that is what I have enjoyed in the connection with that expression.
Just to mention opening and shutting.
It says I have set before thee and opened door, and no man can shut it in the next verse. But in verse seven it says the Lord openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth.
You and I are not living in Apostolic days, and if we pretend to be like those in Apostolic days, we will be disappointed.
If we attempt to restore the power and position of Pentecost.
It won't work. We have to realize that we're living at the end of a ruined dispensation where the church outwardly has failed, where it is broken up outwardly into many different groups, where it has become, I think Dara referred to it there in Second Timothy, a great house.
Much that is wrong in practice, much that is wrong in doctrine, and the need for separation is there.
There are doors that are going to be closed to us today. If we want to be faithful to the Lord, we say, why can't that door be open to me? Others are going through that door. It seems to be open to them.
And I have to say, that door is close to me if I want to be faithful to the Lord. But thank God there is.
A door and there are doors that are open and the Lord says no man can shine. Oh, the devil is trying to shut every door that would be opened to the honor and glory of Christ today. God says that I have opened it. Christ says if I have opened it, no man can shut it and I say that to encourage each one of us here because.
In these last days, as Ted referred to it a little, there are some who are throwing up their hands and saying no use, what can you do? I'm just going on alone. There are others who are saying, well, it doesn't matter much where you go or what you do, After all, it's the last days. We know what things ought to be, but you can't do that in practice anymore. There is an open door, and God will never show you and me truth in His Word.
And then make it impossible for us to act on it. He will never make the circumstances of our lives so difficult that I have to say, well, I know what the word of God says. I know what I ought to be doing. But because of the circumstances of the position in which I am placed, I can't do it. I don't believe the Lord will ever put us in that situation. Now don't misunderstand me. I have no doubt that dear John on the Isle of Patrick.
It seems as if he were all alone and he probably could not break bread even though the word of God told him to do it.
Others have been put in prison and we're all alone in a prison cell. And there were things they couldn't do. If you read Hebrews 10 and 25 to someone in prison and said, now what about it, Paul? It says not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. Now, Paul, you're not carrying that out. No, God had allowed a circumstance where he couldn't carry that out, at least for a while. But I'm speaking in general terms that God will not allow the condition of things in this world to become so difficult.
That you and I can't carry out what we read in the word of God.
Go back for a minute to uh, where it says he that is true.
What does that mean? Because it's true.
I asked that question because I'm going to answer it so.
00:50:01
What does that mean though? He that is true? You know in English we have the word true. We have the word truth. TRUTH.
And uh, we also have the words real and the reality.
And I think our concepts of those aren't quite the same, right? The truth and reality, we don't quite think of them as the same truth. We think oftentimes as a body of knowledge or.
Uh, something having to do with?
Whether what you said actually was what happened and what isn't right.
But in Greece, that word.
Greek didn't have those two words.
In Greek, the concept of it is something is true. It means it's real.
That's not a hard stretch for us, but there there weren't two separate words but but there is in English. That is what the Greek word means. It means is real.
And uh, you could. In fact, when the Lord says I am the way, the truth and the life.
You could actually read that in English as I am. The way the reality comes alive.
Or when it says thy word is truth.
Perfectly acceptable in English to translate that as by word is reality.
Because that's exactly what that word means.
Well, that's nice because it says he that is real.
That is real.
And uh.
I.
You might think of this as being in contrast to being hypocritical. You know, Hipp, hypocrisy isn't just saying one thing and doing another. Any kind of show is hypocrisy. Uh, perhaps uh, even showing more affection for the Lord than you really have, so that you try to display that to your brethren. That's hypocrisy.
And uh, when the Lord called the the Pharisees and scribes and hypocrites, as I understand that hypocrites was a word for stage actors in that day.
That's what they were called, hypocrites, and they were made these big masks in order to amplify the effect of their voices.
And they not negatively, but that's they were referred to as hypocrites. That's just what they were called.
And so when the Lord said the hypocrites, it was as if to say, you actors.
Your show offs and uh, I think it's quite interesting. He says he's holy and then he says he's true or he's real.
If you read about the Lord in the gospels, can you think of anything that he showed more Uh.
Shall I say, uh, anger or, uh, he was appalled. What was more odious to him than hypocrisy? You ever noticed that it seemed hypocrisy seemed to be the thing that just he had no tolerance or at all was hypocrisy.
He just, it was so just obviously so distasteful to him.
Because that's his character is he's real. He was genuine. There was no and he would have us to have that character as well.
This is about the first Excuse me, go ahead.
He says about the Pharisees there too.
Do what they do. Don't do what they do what they say. Don't do what they do.
Yeah, I was just going to mention, uh, that thought and truth and reality, and it reminded me of when the Lord stood before Pilate.
In John 19 I'll just read this here the Lord says to this end was I born, and for this cause came my into the world, that I should bear with this unto the truth, let's say reality.
Pilots answered. Pilots said unto him, What is truth? What is reality? Isn't that the world? They don't know what reality is? They don't know that the things that are not seen there in general.
The things that are seen are only temporary.
And that whole idea is being challenged today in many circles, and sad to say, it has invaded the profession of Christianity. At least that is that you can have your truth and I can have my truth. And even though they contradict each other, well, that's all right. For you, it's your truth, and for me it's my truth.
00:55:25
But that which is true by definition excludes that which is not true.
And so.
Uh, we are told today to be tolerant.
But when it comes to divine things, there are absolutes, aren't there? There are absolutes in truth. Man doesn't want to admit today that there are any absolutes. Everything is relative. Well, there are things that are relative in life. There are things that we have to be careful about, trying to be so dogmatic about that we fail to see the broad picture. But when it comes to the Word of God, there is absolute truth which must be recognized.
And we cannot play with it in that way. We can venture, we might say, to think outside the box, as people say, but if we could say it with all reverence, we can't think outside this box. No, all our thoughts must be subjected to the revelation that God gives us in his precious words. And of course, as we had brought before us, that word is in its essence Christ himself.
Christ is the wisdom of God, Christ is the eternal Word. And if we want to have the truth as to everything.
It comes down to his person, doesn't he? That's why the Lord Jesus said to Pilate. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice for Pilate. He was in a position of power and authority. The Lord was before him from the human side as.
A poor prisoner, but who was afraid of pilots who got knocked out of balance? Pilot. And that's the result of the truth being not merely spoken with the mouth, as David mentioned.
Being lived down in practice, that's what counts in your life and the true Philadelphians.
Lift out that Crest. Truth doesn't simply hold it in his head.
A far truth too, should give the believer peace. There's only one way of salvation, we can be sure on it. And there's lots of decisions people make in life they've already made for us. You don't have to decide well, is it right? Exactly. Find it in the Word of God.
We can be sure we're on the right path and we can have peace about it because God says it.
Speaking is a uh, patient is a wildly cold and I believe he's got.
We've got a lot of us Christians looking at each other rather than at the word.
And to the point where we might say, well, what do you think about such and such a thing doing it?
They're not doing it or whether that that type of thing.
And there can be a danger of us looking around.
Uh, looking around.
In with good intentions, trying to find a group of Christians that are that we might.
Umm outwardly think are carrying on umm meeting together in this way that we're reading about in Philadelphia.
But if we're only looking at the people, we're going to get disappointed. And then Austin says that too.
Umm, those who might want to take their place at the Lord's table don't you're going to be disappointed. You're going to look at in the year other people who meet here and, uh, get disappointed. But to look at the work with the word direction and, uh, thinking of the, the apostles when they.
Said to the word, wherewith thou that will be prepared. They asked him about it, they didn't go around and he didn't tell them to go into the city and look for a place that mettled the all the both occasions.
To to go into the city, and there will a man meet you.
And follow him into the house. And they found the place where the Lord was going to meet them. It was a man who met them and brought them into the house.
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Here is that and uh, so we don't need to be looking at each other as believers and seeing.
Me trying to determine whether you're measuring up.
They would standard or not, we need to be asking award and I believe that's what is meant in that verse that I think Carol referred to as Timothy calling in front of the word as a pure heart.
The disciples were really wanted to know where they should go and take care of the Passover, and they asked where to close them, and they found the place not by their own looking around, but by the mass of that.
Uh, they existed.
With the Lord now, umm, he often told it to me, John, uh, seven and uh, Bruce 17 And uh, I'll just read it. If any man will do his will, uh, he shall know of the doctrine or teaching, whether it be of God or whether speak of himself. Now I was just thinking of, uh, you know, like we know, uh, that Greek word is intuitive knowledge is keeping the soul. We know because we have the Spirit of God and dwelling in US. And, uh.
My wife, well, I went through some turmoil as to what decision I should make make, uh, it's.
Such an earth moving decision. And but I had all this turmoil about whether I should do it or not. And so the Lord brought me around to the point where as I was losing anxious and I had anxiety about it and I didn't feel right about it. And the Spirit of God just spoke to my heart. And if you have turmoil above it, then it's not the Lord.
Struggle, you know.
And it's just just to give it to the Lord. And then that goes away. And we read in umm.
I was just thinking umm.
And I'll just leave it as quickly as in first, uh, uh, Corinthians in chapter UH-10, uh, verse 13. There's no temptation or trial taking you.
Man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be content above what you're able, but you'll with the trial also make it a way of escaping that you may be able to bear it. And I was just thinking of all the young people.
They're going to secular schools and I'll tell you, they're made to March, uh, with the, uh, with the, with the world and the like, with the Sodomites, you know?
Blunt and uh, they're, they're breaking. They actually are breaking down the doors. Suzanne and I were talking about this last night. Do you get, they've broken the door down. They're even in the process of breaking it down, but they're just taking over completely where they're, they're going to make Christianity, umm.
Umm, illegal and uh, there's even a, a 24% now, umm, declaring, uh, I don't know if it's past or not, but uh, declaring fundamental Christianity, so-called, umm, a terrorist organization. You know, that's, that's almost hard to believe in Christmas, but umm, our young people that are really most affected by this.
Even more than us older ones.
Bill, we are a terrorist organization. Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
So I guess our time is up.
Perhaps we could sing together. Hymn #24 in the appendix. 24 in the appendix. Nothing but Christ is on. We train the gifts on Christ goes living bread with staff in hand and people's dog. Nothing but praise the Christ before. 24 in the appendix.
Nothing. No problem.
With the Grand Theft Auto, grave is on the ground.
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Oh God.
And I'm crazy.
Long for me.
All where was the beginning from?
Umm.