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191.
Uh, I have a lottery.
In connection with that hymn, could we also sing #288?
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288.
Food we need for each one of us.
We could think that in the middle of a world, the wilderness.
Time of such spiritual drought that we have a full resource indeed, and we have a precious word. We just ask that our hearts would be open to receive what there would be for us, and it might make its way to our hands and our feet.
If we think of those who cannot be here because of distance, bench or other things, or perhaps discouragement, we pray that we think of the verse Draw me and we will run after thee, that we'll have something to take back and share with others.
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Who've not been able to be here?
Give thanks again to the Lord Jesus Christ, my beloved eternal.
We just sang about the mercies of the Lord, and I've had on my heart the 12Th chapter of the book of Romans, where on the basis of the mercies of the Lord, He beseeches us in a very practical way to give ourselves to the living sacrifice and so on. And I wonder if perhaps that would be the portion the Lord has for us.
Romans, chapter 12.
Romans, chapter 12.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, they present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable under God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
They may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
But to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith.
For as we have many members in one body.
And all members have not the same office.
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
Having that gift differing according to the grace that is given to us.
Whether prophecy? Let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith.
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry. Or he that teacheth on teaching. Or he that exhorteth on exhortation, He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
Either rulers with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let love be without dissimulation.
And before that which is evil cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned 1 To another with brotherly love.
And honor preferring one another.
Not slothful in business.
Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.
Continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of Saints.
Given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you, Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend the men of low esteem.
You're not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved.
Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
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Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
It's often been pointed out, but perhaps it bears repeating, that in the epistles we have first of all in the first part of the epistle, especially Paul's epistles, that which lays of doctrinal foundation. It was given to Paul as a wise master builder to lay down the foundation crews in connection with Christianity. There were other New Testament writers, of course, but Paul was given that special revelation.
And special Commission.
And so in the beginning of his epistles, we have certain doctrines set down as foundation, principles, or truths. But then we find there's always that which is practical, because when the truth is laid down, there's always responsibility connected with it. And really the joy and power and fruit and testimony in our Christian life come when we not only know the doctrine, not only know the truth, but we seek by grace to put it into practice.
To act upon it and to walk in the good of it. And Romans, the book of Romans is no exception to this. And so in the 1St 11 Chapters we have laid down by inspiration through the instrumentality of Paul, that which we have been brought into through grace by the mercies of, of God based on the work of Calvary and uh, the, uh, the sacrificial work of Calvary and the blood of Christ.
And so in the book of Romans, we're seeing before God is justified and so on.
But now he's going to take up a very practical side of things in these last few chapters.
Because to have sound practice, you must first of all have sound doctrine. Again, you always get that, especially if you were to go to Timothy's, the Epistles to Timothy. We find that Paul lays out sound doctrine as the basis for sound practice. That's why he said to Timothy, that was fully known my doctrine. That was first and then manner of life and other characteristics of his, of his life that had been a real testimony to Timothy and to others.
And so again I say, we must have sound doctrine if there's going to be sound practice. And so we find here he begins this chapter with a beseeching, an exhortation then based on what has gone before to present our bodies a living sacrifice. And it's based, as I said, as we say, say, see here on the mercies of God, the mercies of God. God in his mercy has provided for us.
Give yourselves as a living sacrifice, and there are many practical things in this chapter and the chapters that that follow, and will only have time, of course, to consider a few. But brethren, may it exercise our souls. Christianity is more than just embracing certain doctrines.
More than just being brought into a certain position, more than just something wonderful ahead in a future day when we leave this world. But it is now to live for His glory and to exhibit in our lives that practical righteousness.
Positionally, we're in a wonderful position right just before God, but there needs to be exhibited in our lives for His glory here that practical righteousness and testimony that He so desires.
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Maybe it helped to go back to the 11Th chapter and just read the resume of the first part of the book like you say Jim, and uh, see that the mercies of God are referred to.
Let's begin reading with verse 30 of Chapter 11.
For as ye in times past have not believed in God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.
Even so, have these also not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy? He's Speaking of the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles, and how God is working to bring them all into blessing. Verse 32. For God hath concluded them all, Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief.
That he might have mercy upon all, and then he breaks out in that doxology.
Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out? For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Who hath first given to him?
And it shall be recompensed unto him again, for of him, and through him and to him.
Are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.
And now he starts in view of that.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
Wonderful brethren, what a what a position to now bring to bear on us in a practical way.
How should this affect us?
And so he beseeches us that we.
Present our bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable to God. Sacrifices of the Old Testament were killed.
But we are to be living sacrifices.
The sacrifice is something that's given up.
And in our culture, there's been so much depicted at Christianity where you can get saved. And I look forward to a home in heaven. But then you can just live your life pretty much like you did before.
That is not what we have here. It is giving your bodies a living sacrifice.
And I like the way it puts it at the end of the verse it says which is your.
Reasonable service.
Or if I could put it this way.
It's the only reasonable response. Give me what God has done.
Is it reasonable to say to God now you gave everything you gave your beloved Son?
Now I'd like to give 90% of my life to the to the Lord. Is that reasonable?
That is not reasonable, brother.
It has to be 100%.
And it just seems to me that in our way of life in North America, we have lost sight of that.
We think we can have it our way.
But that is not Christianity.
That's what's emphasized here. The presenting of our bodies to God is a living sacrifice. Go back to Chapter 7.
Chapter 7 and verse 24.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body?
Of this death.
In the beginning of Romans, if you will, if I could put it this way, man's body was useless to God, because in our bodies dwells that thing called sin.
And when sin is working in the body, man is looked at before God is in flesh.
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And as it tells us in chapter 8, they that are in flesh cannot please God.
And so in us we have we were born in a condition before God that our bodies as a sacrifice were useless.
God couldn't accept them or use them in any sense.
There was only one person who had lived in this world whose body could be presented to God as a living or a sacrifice in death.
And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And consequently, as a living man at the end of his life, he could say that the disciples and we have it so often before us on Lord's Day morning.
Concerning the loaf, this is my body.
Which is given for you. And so he can. And he did.
OfferUp, his holy spotless person.
In that untainted, undefiled body as a sacrifice to God, and all our blessings are dependent upon it.
And we still have the flesh in US. And so the question could be rightly raised well, how can we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God in view of.
That fact. And so in Chapter 8, umm, just to get a little of the connection to where we start, it says in Chapter 8.
Umm, see if I can find the verse. I want not to read too much.
Versailles of chapter 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
That was the condition of man in his body before God. But then he goes on in verse 9. But you're not in flesh.
Ah, this is what gives us the place where our bodies can now be offered to God as a living sacrifice. You're not in flesh, but in spirit. If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If there's a person in this room who has not Christ.
And the Spirit of God dwelling in them, their bodies useless as far as the sacrifice to God. But if you are here this morning and the Spirit of God dwells in you.
And the life of Christ is in you then.
You're you can be exhorted as we have in chapter 12 verse one. So he says in verse 10, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. And so the body as far as the working of sin in it is to be treated as there's more doctrine and I don't wanna spend all reading meeting on that, but nonetheless, it's been addressed and it's been taken care of in such a way that.
We can treat its activity as dead.
And say no to it. And by the power of the Spirit of God in US, God can say, now I can use your body.
As a sacrifice for my purposes. And we too can offer it to Him as we couldn't before. Because as it goes later on in this 8th chapter, it tells us that not only is our soul redeemed by God, not only are we redeemed in spirit.
But in this 8th chapter, our bodies.
Are valuable to God, and they have been redeemed to him as well. I look at you in that body in which you serve God as a living sacrifice, and I say that's the same body I'm gonna see you in in heaven.
The working of sin in it will be removed. You will be changed not to have that in you, but I'm looking at you in the body in which you're going to remain forever.
And it's that body that's redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as we have in this 8th chapter, that is the basis in which he says now, brethren, presented to God as a living sacrifice.
Just not again, not to belabor it, but I think it would be helpful just to read some couple of verses in the 6th chapter.
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Because as Brother Don has said, sin still exists, but it has no power over a dead person. And it's brought out in the sixth chapter and the 12Th verse. He says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye shall should obey it to the in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness under sin, but yield yourselves under God as those that are alive from the dead and your members.
As instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
And so in this new position now there's not only the exhortation, but there's the power. We've been brought into a place where everything has been provided now so that we can effectively present ourselves in that way under the law. There wasn't the power apart from God, of course, and there were those that serve the Lord acceptably in the Old Testament, but now brought into this new position on the basis of grace and by the mercies of God.
There is everything that's needed so that we can present our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord this morning.
Not in our own power, brethren, Not because there's been some spark of divinity found within us, but because God has provided everything that's needed. And as we embark on this chapter 2, remember that giving our bodies as a living sacrifice is total dedication. This is total commitment. This is not half heartedness. This is not some for me and some for the Lord.
This is like Caleb of old, who wholly followed the Lord.
And I know Don alluded it to it too, but let's just be very clear in our souls that in Christianity, our bodies don't belong to us. Our bodies belong to the Lord. We've been purchased. We've been bought with a great price. And as we recognize that we're not our own, as he said to the Corinthians, then we ought to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirit, which are gods. What we have in these mortal bodies, these physical bodies, is not our own.
This body does not belong to me. Your body does not belong to you.
And if you have any appreciation for Christ, then you are exhorted to yield yourself, to give yourself totally, not half heartedly, not partly, but you are to yield yourself totally and to give yourself on the altar of service to Himself.
We reach here by the mercies of God.
That's how it started, because God was mercy to us by receiving us as we were.
By sending somebody talk to us about the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the mercy of God, and if we got saved that way, that is the greatest mercy of God.
But now.
We might may have a healthy body.
You may be able to walk well and do many things. We do a lot of things.
But we should prevent here this body, a living sacrifice. How we do that?
It has to be holy, doesn't it?
Yes. But uh, I would, I'd like to go on to just present something which is a sacrifice.
I was just recently, uh, over in Germany and, uh, I visited certain people as a family there. They have a handicap son.
And he has, uh, a pass on the railroad to go to through the area, a certain area square, 100 square miles. You can go anywhere he wants to.
He is handicapped because he doesn't, he talks too much and he doesn't talk well. So.
The president couldn't re receive him in fellowship they said, because of that now anyway.
He gets on the train and there's hundreds of villagers and he visits, he gets off at a certain village and he he gets out tracks in every house and he does that.
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As many times as he can, then the weather is good all the time.
Now that's a sacrifice.
A sacrifice by a person. That body might not work too well, but it's a body that has a sacrifice to give.
And that gives that all year round, all all the time he never get done. There's hundreds of thousands of villages he can visit and he does that well, that's a living sacrifice.
And and he loves the Lord, he is, He has a holy.
Walk. He cannot be, uh, accused of bad words of bad.
Language of anything bad?
His his behavior is presentable.
So the Lord can use it. It's acceptable unto God.
And there's many reasonable sacrifices because.
When we wanna think about it, we go and visit a a a personal brother or somebody who is in the hospital or not all people home is in the wheelchair and we talked to him about the Lord. Well, that's a sacrifice because we use the times that the Lord has given us.
Instead of doing something.
Going and and enjoying ourselves and some habits that we have or anything we.
We do that kind of a work.
But we have to be holy, otherwise we can't do it. We have to know the Lord, we have to know his words, and we have to be willing to do this kind of work. But there's other sacrifices in the meeting too.
When? Why do we come together by through the breaking of breath?
Where is many times it's mentioned to bring spiritual sacrifices.
By praying to the Lord Jesus Christ and honoring Him about what He has done.
Well, this is also a sacrifice, and everybody who breaks breath can say, can do that. He can give thanks to the Lord. If it's only in a few words and a few sentences, it's a sacrifice. And there's many others, there's hundreds of them that can be mentioned.
I'd like to go back to the Book of Daniel for an example of what we're saying here, and just stress again what Brother Eckert has said in connection with it being holy.
Because if our service is going to be acceptable to the Lord, there must be the maintenance of practical holiness in our lives. And at the end of Daniel chapter 3, there's something remarkable.
A statement we made that's remarkable. It's made by King Nebuchadnezzar.
In connection with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego after they had come through the fiery furnace.
Verse 29 of Daniel chapter three he says no. Verse 28.
And Nebuchadnezzar spake and said blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Who has sent his Angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have char, and have changed the King's word. Now notice this. And yielded their bodies, that they might not serve or worship any God except their own God. You know Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who didn't know how the story was gonna turn out. We know because we read it. We read it from the days of our youth and we know that they were brought through when they said they weren't going to bow down.
Whether it would be for them to be consumed in the fire and be taken out of the away from the power of the king, or whether he would bring them through the fire, but nevertheless they were not going to defile themselves by and be disobedient by bowing down to the image. There was, if we can put it in our language for today, there was practical holiness maintained.
But do we seek by the grace of God, to walk in practical holiness, availing ourselves of the cleansing of the washing of water by the Word and so on? It's a whole different subject. But I believe it's very, very important. We cannot.
Defi walk within defilement. We cannot walk in association with that which defiles and expect to have to to be a living sacrifice and to have a service that is acceptable.
And intelligent for himself.
There's often a concept that God is someone, The Lord Jesus is someone that you might visit one hour a week, 3 hours a week, 5 hours a week. Then someone locks the door and you go home and you have the other 163 or 167 hours to yourself once you've made that visit. Which, and it's not to make someone an offender for the use of the word.
But it is not something we attend. It's to be our life.
And that's so important, isn't it? Because.
If I may speak from personal observation and experience.
The biggest obstacle to carrying this out?
Yes, absolutely. It's important to have practical holiness and we wouldn't in any way take away from that. It's much needed today and it is something that.
Sad to say is.
But that expression by the mercies of God, which occurs first, at least to my own soul, brings in something most necessary, and that is the engagement of our affections.
I may set out to serve. I may set out to make a sacrifice because my conscience tells me I ought to be doing it.
Or I may do it because I see other believers doing it and I have what is conventionally called a jump on the bandwagon.
Mentality that I wanna be part of it. I wanna do something too.
But the ultimate thing that will keep us doing this?
Is and brother Bob referred to it at the end of Chapter 11, and we get it also in chapter 8, because really chapters 910 and 11 are kind of an aside that takes up Israel.
It brings before us all that God has done for us in Christ, doesn't it?
And it's only when we realize in our hearts the depth of love in the divine bosom. It's only when we realize in our hearts the depth of what Christ did on Calvary's cross.
It's only when that really lays hold of us that this will become a present, living reality. And I don't pretend it's so in my own soul, but I say in my own observation and experience, including myself.
The biggest obstacle to this is the fact that there is not the heart for Christ.
There's not the appreciation in my soul of what he did for me and all that he is.
If that really had a grip on my soul.
As Dean was saying, it wouldn't be. Well, now I've, as we might say, done my best and the rest of the time is mine. Or I've given my bet, whether it is money or time and the rest of it's for me.
00:45:02
I can still remember when I was a young man, I guess.
I read as many books as I could get my hands on about.
Married life.
When I was contemplating getting married.
And I well remember reading 1 written by a godly man not gathered to the Lord's name, but he had a lot of real wisdom in it. But one thing I can remember he said that I thought a lot about. And I thought he's wrong.
He said when you get money as a married couple.
Save 10%.
Give 10%.
And spend the rest on yourself with Thanksgiving.
Is that right?
It's not too bad of a thing to think about, but do I really take 80%?
And just say no, this is all mine and I spend it any way I want on myself. I don't believe so.
It all belongs to the Lord, whether it's my time, my energy, my talents, whatever I may have.
But why will I lay it as a sacrifice before the Lord? Only because the mercies of God have really gotten a grip on my soul?
And that is not in the least taking away for the need for holiness, because it's the basis of holiness too, isn't it?
You know, you and I may never be called on in North America to lay down our lives in a physical way, like many of our brethren have been and even are today as physical martyrs for Christ. But we are to lay down our lives in service to Christ and to one another. And it's an intelligent service too, isn't it? Because this word reasonable in the King James, it's a good word and it's reasonable.
But if you notice in Mr. Darby's translation, it's an intelligent service. In Ephesians you get something a little different, but similar. He's abounded unto us in all wisdom. And again, Mr. Darby's translation, intelligence. Because in Christianity, when the heart is engaged and the truth is taken in and enjoyed, then there's an intelligent service to render to Christ and for the blessing of the people of God. I suppose it's a little in contrast to the Old Testament.
There was a service in the Old Testament that the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites carried out from day-to-day.
But it wasn't always an intelligent service if you had stepped up to the altar in the Tabernacle or the temple.
And said to the priests and the Levites who were performing those services, why do you have to do certain things? Why when it's the bird does the crop and the feathers have to be set aside and the head pinched off and other sacrifices have to be filleted in a certain way and some is burnt and some isn't. They tell you, oh, we're not really sure why, but there's stiff penalties if it's not carried out in the right way. We remember what happened to Nadab and a Bayou and so on.
It wasn't necessarily an intelligent service.
But you and I in Christianity have been given divine wisdom and intelligence in the full revelation of God so that we can serve the Lord, give ourselves holy, acceptable, which is your intelligence service. And So what a wonderful thing it is, brethren, we don't serve the Lord blindly. We don't give ourselves blindly. We act on faith, of course.
But faith gives light for whatever service and he's going to go on and talk about different services and functions that are given to each one of us. And it's important to be exercised. I'd like to just before we pass on, give a little out a little.
Minute outline of this chapter. I think as we progress it'll be helpful to see this because in the 1St 5 verses we have practice that is consistent with our relationship with God and to one another, what we've been brought into by the mercies of God. Then there's a practice that is consistent with that.
00:50:07
Then in verses 6 and to 867 and eight, we have brought before us different forms of service because we're not all called to do the same thing. Every one of us are given a little function, a little service, uh, by God. And the blessing comes when we, uh, carry that out. Then from verse 9 to the end of the chapter, we might have, we have what we might say are moral characteristics that are in keeping with those who serve the Lord.
We have the mind and the reason they're presented that way here is found in chapter one. And if you go back to chapter one, you can see the use of the body and the use of the mind in the world and the condition of the body and the condition of the mind and see why it's not intelligent.
Nor according to the will of God.
So in chapter one, which Paul is alluding back to in these first two verses.
He's going back and building on what he said in chapter one, in chapter one, verse 21, because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and they're fully sharp, was darkened professing themselves to be wise. We're talking about being intelligent here in chapter 12. This is chapter one. Here's man professing themselves to be wise. They became fools.
And just get the overall view of it.
Uh, God gave them up.
In that condition and the use of the body.
Became what is described here. So he gave them up in verse 26.
Uh, God gave them up unto vile affections, even given their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And we have the description of what we call homosexuality and that characterizes man and the use of his body today.
And, uh, so that's where and it describes here the use that man is now making and did before.
As it says in verse 24, Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts.
To dishonour their own bodies between themselves. And then he goes on, after he describes man's use in the very opposite of holiness, his use of his body as it is. Then he talks about the mind in verse 28. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
To do that which is not convenient.
And so on, being filled with all unrighteousness and fornication and wickedness and covetousness and verse 30 backfighters, haters of God, verse 31 without understanding, and so on. This is the condition of mind of man in the world.
Is it intelligent before God? No.
Man today lives like a beast.
That's his level of intelligence. He lives like the beast and God condemned it. In chapter three he says all have sinned and come short and then in the chapters which follow, he gets to chapter 10 and he repeats the there is no difference.
That he used in chapter 3, all of sinned. In chapter 10, he, as it were, says there's no difference. I'm going to have mercy on all.
And so in our chapter begins by the mercies of God, because he has developed the thought, and as in the Romans that there's no difference, man has gotten to be like the beast, and in his mind that's the care condition of his mind without God.
In the flesh. But then God says yes, but I have done a work in which I may show my mercies to all men. There's no difference. My mercy goes out to everyone.
00:55:03
And so in our chapter back to our chapter in verse two, we're told don't be conformed to the world. If I could put it this way, don't go back and live in chapter one of Romans.
And they're more in it than just the most gross forms of evil. If you read it, you'll see how the mind works and in the way that man is. So he says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is, until you're saved. Your mind goes in the channel of the world and its thoughts and when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Your mind still has its memory, and it's still full of all those patterns of thought which are not.
Conformed to the mind and will of God. So it has to be changed. The mind has to be renewed. It has to have different thought patterns established in it. It has to have new memory of better things established by feeding upon God's things. And then, as Bill already said in chapter 8, which I think is so important, I want to refer back to it.
And it's connected with the mercy of God and beseeching just one of the things that is done for us.
In chapter 8.
It says.
Verse 15 For ye have not received the spirit of ******* again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry ABBA, father.
That's the keywords ABBA, father, the presenting of our bodies, the renewing of our mind.
Is in the measure in which we enter into the affections of the relationship that we have with our father, and if we enter into that relationship.
And enjoy what has been done in mercy for us. Then it enables the heart to want to have God's thoughts. And so it says, by doing so, you prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That is, the living of an out shows that God's will, God's way, God's intelligence, God's intention for the use of the body is the perfect way.
And it's his way. But if we don't, if we don't live it out, then we don't in practice show the perfect will of God, which is one and only one way, God's will and way.
You talk about quite a bit about.
Jim and Don about measure in the measure that and, uh, I enjoy the thought that, uh, from what we've been saying, young people often get the idea that how can I ever live up to that? This is so far beyond where I'm living that I don't know how I can reach there. And, uh, the idea of, umm, the verse in first Peter that says, uh, but growing grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the growing process.
Can start small and continue and develop. I don't think the young man who gave up tracts in all those villages in Germany, uh, started off with that objective of covering all those villages. He started with one and went on from there. And so it is with the Christian life.
It's, uh, having more of Christ who can always have more. You can start from wherever you are and increase your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Growing. Sometimes you stand. You can stand beside a tree for a long time and not see the growth happen, but it does year by year, cut it down and you see all the rings. And so it is with our Christian life. We grow to know the Lord Jesus as we go along, if we're occupied with Him.
And in Christianity, as has been pointed out.
It is an intelligent service, isn't it? And so as you say brother Lauren, when we start out on our Christian pathway, we may look at others who perhaps have walked with the Lord for 30-40, fifty years and we may say, well.
How can I ever come up to that?
To take it one step further, if I read the word of God, the example set before me is Christ.
01:00:04
And God never has any less an example than His beloved Son.
Do I ever come up to that?
Not till we get to the glory, but God never sets anything less before us. But when we start out, and we're talking here about service.
The world has an expression. Do the next thing.
And I have often felt in my own soul, and I have said so, and I say it again.
If we're not sure what to do for the Lord, do what's right in front of us. Do what the Lord gives us to do, which is right in front of us, right in our own locality, right, as we would say, at our front door.
Sometimes we may get the idea that if I could only go to a foreign land, if I could only be in a certain situation, I could do so much for the Lord. And the Lord needs those who are willing to go to foreign lands. But it doesn't start out that way, does it? It starts out, I believe, with living, as Dean was saying, and using what we have for the Lord right in the situation where we are.
And then as you say, there's growing in grace and in what? In service, No, in the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then we do appreciate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We do have an intelligent service because.
The Lord has something for each one of us to do, and He leads and guides if there's a willing heart and a desire to serve Him. Uh, He is more than willing to show us what He wants us to do, isn't He?
Part of being not conformed to this world, not having that same thought pattern.
Just say this too, that in Christianity we're exhorted to bring every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ. And how are we going to know what our intelligence service is? How are we going to have our thoughts governed in a proper way? It must be through the Word of God. There's no other way. Our occupation with Christ, our understanding of Christ.
Our understanding of our service for Christ, it's all right here. But if we're occupying our minds with the things of this world and those things that feed the mind with all the defilement and the thought patterns of this world, we're not going to, we're going to be conformed to the world. We're not going to have the renewing of our of our minds. And let's just stop and ask ourselves in a very practical way this morning.
What do we occupy our minds with? I know that there are those things we have to take up to get along in school, to get through the, our work a day world and so on. And the enemy certainly has much to fill our mind. But when we have liberty, when those responsibilities are done, what are we filling our minds with in Philippians? Where to, to, uh, think on the things that are true and pure, honest and pure and lovely and so on. There's a list of things given there and they're really.
They're really attributes of Christ. It's again setting our mind on Christ.
It's being occupied with himself. And if we do that, if we're occupied, if our minds are occupied with Christ, what is going to be the unconscious result? Why? Our hearts are going to be engaged. Our feet are going to be put in motion in service. We're going to have His interests at heart, and the service that He has for us is going to so naturally fall into place as a result.
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That perhaps it will almost be subconscious, because if the mind and the heart are affected in the proper way, then everything else in connection with giving ourselves.
As a living sacrifice to himself and one another is going to naturally fall into place without it being any difficulty, without it being some hard thing. Because again, when the heart is engaged, A beseeching has the a request has the power of a command.
In proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7 it says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he and so it's really important to have right thoughts about everything and I think that is so crucial in verse 2.
How are we transformed is by renewing our minds. Like you say, it's the reading of the precious Word of God.
Greeting. I don't know why it is and it seems so hard to get.
To enter the word, but some I remember somebody in my youth encouraging us to read the word of God until our thoughts are not really our own thoughts, but our thoughts that come from the word of God. How important it is we want to have right thoughts to challenge everything in our world. I must say rather than.
I found one of the things that helps to visit another country is that lots of our norms that we have in the United States.
Are not the same in other countries and I have found people that are far happier than Americans are in other countries that are in extreme poverty and that kind of shakes you up. What is going on?
Why do you find Americans so unsatisfied and so self-centered? I say it. It's not right. It's not Christianity.
And we've been duped. Honestly, we have been duped.
In our culture, in the United States, to think like was said that our world centers on us.
That is not Christianity.
Look at verse 3 here, which tells us what worldly thus is. Really. It says, For I say through the grace given to me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
So we hear so often in advertising.
You owe it to yourself. You're worthy of this.
That is totally contrary to Christianity. And if I, I must say, brethren, I have to confess for myself that passing through the culture that we are, we get affected by it and it's not Christianity and it has taken us in a direction that is negative. The Lord help us to at least recognize it, brethren, and to confess it to the Lord and let the Lord deal with it.
Because.
I really believe we have been duped in this country by that kind of thinking, so much so that I find in going around, you know, it used to be that Americans were looked at fairly favorable, favorably as you travel around. It's not that way anymore.
People despise Americans because they are only there for their own interests and their own pleasure.
And it's it's shown itself.
Brethren, the Lord help us that at least we can recognize that this is not of God. To live for ourselves, we need to have our minds renewed in every single way possible.
And puts great stock in knowledge and umm, I'd like to make comment, repeat some comments made at the breakfast table this morning.
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In Proverbs chapter one.
And verse 7.
It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
But fools despise wisdom and instruction, and later on in Proverbs it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Man is ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth we're not talking about.
How many ounces in a pound are natural physical things here? That's not important. Knowledge by comparison to moral knowledge. And God here says the fear of the Lord.
Is the beginning of knowledge.
Man who seeks knowledge apart from God is a fool.
God is the true source of knowing and knowledge. That is important and the only starting point.
For knowledge is to put yourself in the right relationship to God.
The fear of the Lord.
That's the beginning point to give God His place.
Of respect and authority over us is truly the beginning of knowledge.
And any other effort to know without it.
Is not going to come.
To a good outcome.
Is it says elsewhere, the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct himself his steps. Nobody in this room apart from God.
Is capable of walking intelligently through this world.
There's not a single person in this room that can walk intelligently through the path of life without what comes from God. The way of man is not in himself, and the wisest man, the wisest man on earth, are characteristically the most.
In the dark and the most foolish, I say characteristically there are exceptions, and so do I want to have an intelligent mind.
It's found in the mind and will of God, and this by the word of God. And one more thing, the fear of the Lord. It's by submission to the will of God that I become intelligent.
Before God and man. And if I refuse?
To submit to the Lordship of Christ, I will never walk intelligently, and I will not walk according to the will of God. So our intelligent service to Him is to give him His right place and to look to Him as the true source of the knowledge that we need to live our lives.
Could we see Don that in verse 3?
I thoroughly and 100% agree with what Brother Bob brought before us about.
The danger of having ourselves as the center of everything but we notice, at least in my Bible, the.
Words of himself in verse three are in italics, and I believe the Darby simply reads having high thoughts.
More than I ought to think.
So it is really the exaltation of the human mind, isn't it?
I will remember.
Hearing, of course, no one here knew him.
George W Heaney, a brother of, uh, some note among those gathered to the Lord's name 100 years ago or more. And he apparently made the statement When I was not saved, I wanted to be a great man in the world. And after I got saved, I wanted to be a great man in the Church of God. And I had to learn that both were wrong.
And as you said, Dawn, there is a danger of bringing baggage with us when we get saved.
And exalting the human mind and the things of God is one of them, isn't it? And that's what we're warned against here. Absolutely. Man center as an unbeliever is in himself. But there's a danger of the human mind getting going in the things of God too. And I believe that is referred to in verse 3 as well, is it not?
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If it reminds me a lot of my day of 6.
Isaiah, we know, was a major prophet.
And he has this vision of the Lord sitting on a throne then he has.
The awesomeness.
With the seraphim.
And there's three Holy, holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.
The movement.
Caused by the voice of the Seraphim.
And his, his sense of this holiness, this awesome presence of the Lord.
He says woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips.
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. We've had in our verses, you know, wholly acceptable.
And then inverse.
6th of Isaiah 6.
One of the seraphims.
Flew onto him and touched his lips with the live coal from off the altar.
And he says, Thine iniquity is taken away into verse 7, and thy sin purged.
In verse eight I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
Then said I here am I.
Send me our verse says that you present.
Your bodies.
These words here am I.
I was thinking of that many times we sit in meetings, sometimes with long pauses.
And when we're young in the Lord, we might say, well, there's so many older brethren here that they, they can give out to him. So I, I just can't do it.
And maybe we even feel a little intimidated by some that are more forward and.
We know that there is from the word of God that which is gift.
And we want to.
Uh, listen to those instructions that the Lord has given through various gifts He has given.
But I just want to stress this that she present yourself.
The story is told of an army brigade.
A dangerous mission came up.
There would be very high risk factors.
And the company commander asked for a volunteer.
He said I'm gonna turn around. And when.
When I'm turned around, volunteers stand forward.
He turned around.
Paused a bit, turned around again. The whole company looked the same.
He's a bit puzzled.
But then he found out the entire company had stepped forward.
Young brothers, particularly.
But there to him.
Or scripture.
The Lord Jesus has given you that you've enjoyed.
Present.
Your body's.
Yes, there is His Holiness.
If you're shy.
Why are you worth thinking about? Jesus died to put you away as well as your sin.
And he's the one we're thinking about.
He's the one worth exalting, and maybe that him you're led to give out.
Is that which the Spirit of God wants you to give out.
And obedience is necessary, Isaiah finds out in the rest of the chapter.
He's told, he says Here am I. That's presenting, isn't it?
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But the sense of being before the Lord as the Holy One, how important that is, He says go tell these people.
Verse 9 here indeed, but understand not, see indeed, perceive not, and so forth.
Well, you present yourself and nobody's gonna listen.
Is quoted in John 12, isn't it as proof of who Jesus Christ is?
Marvelous.
Well, wonderful, we could present ourselves.
And then have the sense.
I cannot send myself.
Send me.
I'm going to tell a story when I was about 20.
Maybe 21?
It was many years ago I went to the meeting in Los Angeles.
Typically.
Three brothers prayed 15 minute prayers who sang to hymns.
One night I prayed.
After the meeting, an older sister came up and.
Thank me for the prayer.
And then began to dress me down because I was so young.
I just want to say we need more leading of the Spirit.
In our assemblies, not such long prayers.
But freshness before God, brother.
Young brother, if you have something on your heart, pray about it. It doesn't matter if it's.
10 seconds long.
If there weren't the long prayers, maybe we'd have more brethren praying. I remember years ago in San Diego, I don't know. I was still in my 20s, I'm sure.
Chapter Brown came to town.
He made this comment after a prayer meeting, says Brethren. Everybody talks about this weak little meeting.
But I am so encouraged tonight that every brother prayed.
Well, that's not very possible in a large assembly either.
But am I content to pray about one thing that comes on my heart and let somebody else pray about something else that may come up?
Well, I just want to stress this point particularly. Present yourselves here. Am I.
Over thy word, and we ask that it might be made good in each one of our souls for thy glory.
And for thy purposes we give thanks in thy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Give this mic a try here.
I just want to read a couple of verses here. Umm, next thing is lunch. But I these thoughts came to mind and at the end of the meeting it was on the calendar I think yesterday.
Jeremiah 923 and 24 Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.