Scranton Conference: 2021
Table of Contents
2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Reading
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Between #193.
193.
Jesus, my Savior.
Of the run of the Kingdom.
All night, sun and all by the Lord.
I remember.
Really not anything.
Oh, my best friend, is God in heaven.
Lord Savior, give me.
You're not allowed to lie.
What shelter Now I won't let her start.
Me clower green sleeping in.
Praying.
I think.
Play it. Still play.
I'd like to suggest Second Corinthians and chapter 3.
It's the Lord's will.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 3.
Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you, ER our Epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men? For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
And such trust have we through Christ to God, word not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think.
Anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth with the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death written in engraving in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
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For if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more doth administration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth his glorious.
Seeing then, that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face at the children of Israel, could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which Vale is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses has read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is.
There is liberty, but we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians.
Was written on the occasion of his having received word that the Corinthians had received his first epistle, and there had been a response.
In their hearts to what had been written, there are many things that needed to be corrected, and the apostle had to deal very directly, quite sternly in some ways.
With his beloved Corinthian Saints, they were the fruit of his laborers, as we'll find the proof of his apostleship.
And he loved them dearly, but they were going on badly and so he had to reprove them.
Quite directly, and as he waited for the response, we find later in the epistle in Chapter 7 that he had been so concerned as to whether they would receive that epistle or not, and he had had great boldness.
In connection with the way he had spoken to them, he knew he had made them sorry with what he had written.
And could have repented in a certain sense that he even wrote the letter. But then when he saw that they responded, he said I don't repent. He was thankful for that response. And in the meanwhile while he was waiting.
To see if they would respond to those admonitions, He and those that labored with him went through a tremendous.
Time of persecution. It brought them to real lows in chapter one and verse.
Eight For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength, and so much that we despaired even of life, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves.
But in God, which raiseth the dead. And so they went through a time where they had not even a hope that they would live through it.
They trusted in God who was able to raise the dead. They have the sentence of death in themselves that they were already dead to this world and should they die, they knew they would be raised again and that was their confidence. But they had no expectation they were going to live.
And all through that, he's agonizing over whether the Corinthians would receive and respond.
To the first Epistle he had them continually on his heart.
And they were delivered through that time of suffering, comforted by God, and then they received the message that the Corinthians had responded and in a great measure had judged the chief evil that had risen among them. There was much more that still needed to be addressed.
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They have put away the offender.
Cleared the Lord's name for His own glory, connection with the sin that had come in, and themselves.
They had responded in a faithful way to the exhortations to deal with that evil.
And now the apostle says in chapter 2.
Verse 6 Sufficient to such a man as this punishment which was inflicted of many, so the contrary wise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him less. Perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also I did right, that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient.
In all things to whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also.
That man had been broken down. He was repentant, but they were.
Not willing.
To restore him.
To fellowship, there was a bit of hardness coming in on their part and their attitude.
And you know how often with us we can swing one way where we're loose and careless is to sin. And then the Lord convicts us about it and and we get that right and we swing the other way and we get too hard about things. And that's what they have done. And so He has to take up with them.
Though faithfulness was required, separation from this world and sin was necessary if they were to go on as an assembly.
Where the Lord Jesus was in the midst, yet the ministry that they had was a ministry of grace.
And that would certainly reach out to this one who was repentant and seek to restore him.
There are other things that needed to be addressed that couldn't be addressed in the first epistle. But now that he saw there was a beginning of the work of the Spirit of God and response in them, that he can go on in the epistle and open up so much more. And so we come to this chapter and he takes up the subject of the ministry.
That we have.
A ministry that has Christ as its object.
And is in the spirit of grace.
Just going back again for a second with reference to verses 8 and nine of the first chapter, we can't neglect what we have in verse 10, which brings before us a past, present, and future deliverance, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us what confidence said is for us.
And the day in which we are living.
So in this epistle, the apostle is taking up with things that he had taken up with in the first epistle, as you say, and.
Just a little bit more in the way of how this book is laid out.
All those introductory statements that you made, Brother Stephen, we had up to this chapter.
The apostle having very much on his mind the repentance and restoration of this brother.
But the other side of repentance was the assembly itself, and we'll come to that in Chapter 7, won't we? Well, we won't in this meeting, but that if you keep reading, that's what we have in Chapter 7.
The other major One of the other major points that the apostle took up in First Corinthians was those who were false apostles.
And I mentioned that because I think that also has to do with what we have in this Chapter 3.
It's what our brother Stephen was saying, the ministry of grace that the Corinthian Saints had and that we have today, but also the apostle was laying out what the ministry of a true servant of the Lord is.
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And this is going to be taken up then, in contrast, in the last chapters of this epistle with the false apostles.
They did not have this ministry of grace. They did not have what was right and proper. And so the apostle sets this up not to make so much of himself. He says he speaks as a fool later on when he has to do that. But here he sets it up so that it's very clear that that false ministry is not in keeping with what is of God. In this chapter we have true Christian ministry of God.
And we find that this ministry doesn't exalt persons, and it certainly has nothing to do with the law, and yet it's a ministry of righteousness. That's what we have in verse 9.
It's the end of the verse administration of righteousness, and by the time we get to the end of this chapter, we'll find out very definitely how righteousness is produced by true Christian ministry in the life of a believer and in a word, that is occupation with Christ.
So I think that's another important feature of this chapter, what their ministry should be, what their attitude should be as the Saints of God in Corinth, but also to show the contrast with the others that were false apostles. The apostle takes that up in chapters.
12 Through the end, but in the middle of it. Then he gets to another thing. Chapters 8-9 and ten he takes up.
The issue of giving, and I think those are the three major points in this second epistle, the repentance taken up, the true Christian ministry, and then also this subject of giving.
Just to read those verses you alluded to in 2nd Corinthians 12, he says in verse 11 I am become a fool in glorying.
Ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
Now, was this just to exalt himself, to say, look, I'm the apostle Paul, look at me. No, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs, wonders and mighty deeds. The Spirit of God recognized that. It was so critical that the apostle Paul and his apostleship be defended, because if Satan could somehow undermine that, he could undermine the word of God. And if we can get rid of Paul's doctrine, we can get rid of half of the New Testament. And if we can get rid of half of the New Testament, why don't we get rid of all of it?
And so, as you say in our chapter, we have that same thought coming out in these first few verses about commending himself to them again.
We need to make sure that we don't throw out the Apostle Paul, Paul's doctrine. This has been happening since the sphere of God used the Apostle Paul to write the word of God. What we have in the New Testament and to this day these same attacks are being attacked, are being used by our enemy for the same purpose.
Letters of commendation are important.
When Apollos was.
Was.
Going to be used of the Lord in a larger way in Acts 18.
In verse 27, when he was disposed to pass into a cave, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive Him, who, when he was come help them with help them much which had believed through grace. And if you were to look at Romans 16, you'd find the whole Epistle to Rome was written on the occasion of a letter of commendation needed for a sister named Phoebe.
The whole epistle is a letter of commendation. You know, sometimes we get letters of commendation and they've got this nice little exhortation or encouraging word. Well, why not?
That's what Romans was. Paul uses the occasion of needing a letter of commendation for Phoebe to give the Saints in Rome what they needed. So letters of commendation are important to so we know that someone is.
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Acknowledged by another local assembly being in fellowship. Perhaps somebody we don't know hadn't met before, like Apollos.
They give us sometimes the character the labor and service and appreciation brethren have for this particular one that's coming to visit. But did Paul need a letter of commendation?
With the Corinthians, did he need that, or those that labored with him? Epistles of commendation. They were his letter of commendation.
They were his epistle, they themselves. The fact that there was an assembly existing in Corinth was because of the ministry of the Spirit of God through the apostle Paul. And so they were his letter of commendation, ER epistle written in our hearts. He had them on his heart. It was a heart's occupation with them and burden for them.
They were.
Uh, epistle written in our hearts.
Known and read of all men, all who would look on that company of believers in Corinth would see a proof of the apostles ministry. They were his letter of commendation.
Testing that.
The Apostle Paul would speak of an individual.
As being a letter for an epistle.
You know we think of the letter or an epistle is that which is.
Written with a pen on paper.
But we find here apostate Paul is saying that we are being watched.
By those around us.
And what we do and what we say.
Speaks loudly. Don't realize that perhaps.
But somebody wrote one time the gospel is written a chapter a day.
By the things that we do.
By the words that we say, men read what is written, whether false or true.
Oh, say what is the gospel according to you?
I never forgot that. You know, that's searching.
We're being read day by day.
By those around us.
By believers. By unbelievers.
What is the message that they're getting?
What is the message that we're conveying?
By what we say and what we do.
And I might say that our walk speaks louder than our talk. We've heard that so many times. I don't think we can say it too much. It's true.
If I'm trying to be an epistle for Christ and I'm going on in sin.
Do you think that conveys a convicting message to those around? Of course not.
So.
May we be convicted by that which we.
Do does it really back up what we're seeing?
But we as individuals, whether it be man, woman, boy or girl.
Brother, sister in Christ.
People are watching.
The brethren are watching. The world is watching.
And we don't realize how much of an impact.
Our lives have on those around us.
What we are as individuals we bring into the assembly. And so there was had been bad behavior on the part of the Saints at Corinth, not only in their individual lives, but when they were in assembly, there were things that were going on that were dishonouring to the Lord through the name of the Lord Jesus and it was known in the community, not only their individual conduct.
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But things that were wrong collectively and so he says.
That.
Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ.
That ye there would include the whole assembly at Corinth.
They were an epistle of Christ, not try to be an epistle of Christ.
Not you should be an epistle of Christ. You are an epistle of Christ. And so, as our brother said, what is being read in that epistle? Does it commend Christ?
Or doesn't it commend Christ? We are an epistle of Christ. There's no getting around that. What's being read in that epistle? It is being read. It's not a case of you should be or shouldn't be. You are. We are an epistle of Christ. The local assembly is an epistle of Christ as well. What is read? It's either commending Christ or it's not.
I struck some years ago to read a comment made by Mahatma Gandhi.
His comment was this, If it wasn't for Christians, I would be a Christian.
In other words, he observed the behavior of those that profess the name of Christ, and it didn't accord or didn't correspond to the doctrine.
That he had read.
And it discouraged him so much that he turned away from any further.
Pursuit of the Scriptures.
And that's one of the wonders of the word of God, that we have example after example of people who please God and we can gain encouragement from their lives. And I want to just spend a moment looking in Acts chapter 6. We just had this in our reading at home and I so enjoyed the ministry on this chapter that we received at home. In Acts chapter 6, we read about.
Some men that were chosen to be a help in the assembly and one in particular. His name was Steven. And so in chapter 6 of Acts verse five we read.
Verse partway through they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. And then if we drop down a little bit to verse.
Eight and Stephen full of faith and power. And I just really enjoyed meditating on this a little bit and that Steven had those characteristics. He was a man full of faith. And so when we get discouraged, what do we do? We need to get down on our knees. We need to open the word of God. We need to pray to the Lord.
And.
It's such a wonderful thing to have that faith from him. And then it says he was full of the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful thing. And the result was power. And so that gives us the ability to go on through the Lord and to be a testimony. And as we were just talking about, when others look upon us, then they see faith and they see the Spirit of God working in our lives and they see power.
And that was that's what really attracts people to the Lord Jesus is that power.
I was noticing the report that in the next verse or verse 8 Acts Chapter 7 says in Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among people. I believe the people saw that God was working through Stephen by these great wonders.
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Errors. He made an impression upon them.
But you know what today.
We're not doing great wonders and miracles. We're not dazzling people with great displays of power.
Does that mean that people are not going to be impressed by?
The way we live or what we do well.
My brother Joe, he read from Second Corinthians.
Chapter 12.
And verse 12.
And I'd just like you to notice where it is that.
Signs, wonders and mighty deeds come in this verse. It doesn't happen.
At the first of the list, notice what it says Second Corinthians 12 and 12. Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience.
Patience, or could we say that is enduring.
And you know, this is, I believe what really speaks to the world around when they see that you and I, we don't have it easy. We're experiencing trial and difficulty.
Maybe there's a loss of job or a loss of a loved one.
Or their sickness in the family.
But we don't get all unnerved about it because.
There's that confidence in the Lord that recognizes this is.
God's purpose. In other words, God is at work doing something.
In my life.
That's in the end going to be for good.
And you know, the world is impressed when they see that we're not all bent out of shape when there's difficulty, adversity in our life.
I believe this is what speaks to the power of God, that God by his power.
Maintains sustains one in these circumstances. So there were, as it tells us here in this portion.
Signs and wonders and mighty deeds and the life of the Pastor Paul. But notice what comes first. It's patience or endurance.
And I believe that ought to be an encouragement to us because we can all manifest.
That in our lives.
As believers.
That patience, that endurance, you know him, right? Have put it that Jesus, thou art enough the mind and heart to fill thy patient life.
To calm the soul by love, it's fear to spell the patience endurance.
Of Jesus.
Who suffered like none other in his walk in this world he was despised, dejected of men.
He was maligned, misunderstood.
He was spit upon.
And ultimately, we know he was crucified.
But you know, the Lord Jesus, I do believe he was the happiest man on the face of this planet earth because he was enjoying fellowship with his Father. He was in the will of God, his Father, and it enabled him to go through the deepest, darkest trials that humanity could ever imagine.
The patience.
So his patient life, Let's think about that.
And if he did it, you and I, we can do it.
The Lord Jesus said I overcame, you can overcome through.
His patient lives. It calms the soul. It's what we need today. The world is filled with.
Chaos.
There's violence and corruption, just as in the days of Noah, on every hand.
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But we don't have to.
We are nerved by the whole.
Circumstance around us. We need to keep our focus on the Lord Jesus.
Some years ago I had an opportunity to read the biography of a missionary to Burma at An Iram Judson, and he had great difficulties there, but.
It did not let him.
Those difficulties did not discourage him, and he was known by.
The.
Native peoples there as the man with the shining face, and so they could look at him, and they could see reflected in his countenance the joy that he had in the Lord, and that just beholding him was a testimony to others roundabout.
So perhaps connecting that Brother Bruce was what Brother Wally said, what was perhaps the greatest impression that was made by Steven.
Was when he was brought before the council, and they looked steadfastly honest countenance, and his face shone as it had been the face of an Angel.
The constant work of the Spirit of God in your life and mine is to write Christ on the fleshy tables of the heart. And Christian ministry is the result of the impressive Christ upon the heart, and it flows out from there.
Not with ink and paper. Not.
By the finger of God in stone, like the inflexible tables of the law, but in the fleshy tables of the heart he makes an impress. What is that impress? It's Christ, always Christ, that's who God ever has before him. And that is continually the work of the Spirit of God to write Christ on your heart and mind. And when that's been being written there.
The overflow comes out and praise Thanksgiving and service. Christian service flows from that impress.
And that's written in the heart, not the head. Isn't it the important part of what we have here?
Think about what it says here, Written not with ink. The apostle was talking about a letter of commendation.
And in that context, you can write a letter of commendation about me, and it may or may not be true, but that doesn't abide.
The Apostle Paul was ministering and that's what we have here. He says you're declared to be the apostle of Christ, ministered by us. He was writing to them, giving them the word of God.
That's even better than a letter of commendation, but the word of God.
By itself.
Goes further, much further. It's powerful, living and powerful. But here we see the Spirit of God comes in and takes that ministry that the apostle was giving, that which he was writing to them and he was using that.
Right is her brother Stephen was bringing out to write Christ himself in their heart. And that's what it really needs to be, isn't it? We're talking about Christ's likeness. How does Christ's likeness come to be? We can't manufacture that. It has to be this work of the Spirit of God taking the Lord Jesus Christ and writing him right into our affections and when the Lord Jesus is in our affections.
Then Christ's likeness gets produced in what we do in sin. That's really the secret, I believe, of what we have in this verse.
So we need to take time.
With the Lord. We need to spend time with the Lord in order that our service might feel the effect of that fellowship with Him.
You know, I think about.
How the Lord Jesus when he chose his disciples, it tells us that He chose his disciples to be with him.
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And then he sent him forth to preach well, in order to have something to preach about.
And if they're going to preach Christ, you've got to spend time with the Lord. That's what he chose them first of all, to be with Him.
In any sense before?
Preach so if we think that we can be effective without enjoying quiet time with the Lord.
Get it won't work.
It's so encouraging to see the Saints respond to the word of God, isn't it?
It is encouraging and that encouraged the apostle when he saw that the Spirit of God was working there in Corinth and he was right in Christ on the fleshy tables of the heart. And that's what he expresses then in the verse four. We have trust towards God that he's going to work, that he's going to do that, and the evidence is there that he is working.
And it rejoiced his heart. And the apostle says not that we are sufficient to ourselves. It's not us that did it.
It's the Spirit of God that did it. He takes no credit to himself.
Yes, he penned that epistle, but it was penned by divine inspiration. It was the words that God gave, and it was the work of the Spirit of God in their hearts. And he saw the response and he rejoiced. He takes no credit.
No sufficiency in ourselves. This isn't what we produce. No, this is what the Spirit of God produced. And it is a joy when the Saints rise up and respond to the Word of God.
The Spirit of Christ manifest in their lives and their ways as a result, and it encouraged the apostle and those that were with him.
Those are five beautiful words.
We need to.
Engrave these words in our heart. The last five words.
Verse 5.
Our sufficiency is of God.
This speaks volumes.
Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
Is there?
I see some shaking your head like that.
I think we recognize the fact that with God, all things are possible.
But sometimes we question as to whether.
The Lord is willing to help us. We know He's able to. But is he willing? Well, to him puts it. And we sing this hymn over and over again. It's #23 in the little plateau.
How good is the God we adore? And you know that little hymn says his love is as great as his power.
I really appreciate.
You know my brother gave out that hymn. I just want to read this here #241 Now these are hymns that we sing over and over.
And it's kind of a conviction or a word of my own soul.
That some of the hymns.
That I really don't know.
Are hymns that I have sung over and over and over again without paying attention to the words. And I can sing a hymn and in 5-6 years later I'm thinking as I sing it again, why didn't I see that years ago? These are beautiful hymns, but here in this #241 it tells us.
Power in love.
And G combine verse three with the price I love has bought us Savior. What a love is dying.
The other to thy power has brought us.
Power and love.
Indeed, combined.
One does not outweigh the other. OK, now this is the kind of person that we can trust 100%.
Lord of glory, ever unty households shine.
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Our sufficiency is of God.
The Spirit of God would.
Make us feel how little we are in fact with nothing, but it also makes us understand what a great God we have.
To whom nothing is impossible.
It's a tremendous thing to have God for us, isn't it?
The statement has been made recently by certain politicians. I have your back. Well.
That can't always be accomplished, can it? And so we only, we only have one that we can fully put our trust and confidence in. That is the Ward himself.
He has our back all the time.
In connection with our sufficiency is of God.
I want to.
Give a phrase that I come across recently and see if you think you know where it is. It goes like this.
The power of that the power of Christ might rest upon me.
You know where that is.
2nd Corinthians 12 The very passage that you were reading before 2nd Corinthians 12. So how might the apostle Paul is Speaking of a manner in which the power of Christ, Mount Rastipano, the power of Christ, we think of as ability to do something wonderful.
What is it that made him?
A candidate for the power of Christ to rest upon him.
Well.
2nd Corinthians 12 as Raleigh says.
And it's in verse 9.
I'll read. I'll read.
I'll read the whole 1St. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
That the power of Christ might rest upon me. And then it goes on to say.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities.
That the power of Christ might rest upon me.
Now you and I might think, well, I'm not up to.
I'm not up to doing this or that.
I have felt the same thing myself.
Not up to it. Well, the apostle says.
That he was up to it because the power of crisis wrestled on him for the very purpose, for the very fact that he was weak, he had infirmity, he had perhaps a speech impediment of some kind. He was not.
Not some fine handsome guy he was not admired by many for.
Various reasons we might say, but all those things enabled.
Christ to show out from him, not by His.
Strength or power in himself but.
That God was able to use him for those very.
Very weaknesses that he had.
I might add there's another passage that we could connect to that thought and first Peter 4.
Verse 14.
If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you for the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you.
The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Why? Because you just did something wonderful.
Just made a You just performed a miracle in the name of the Lord.
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No, that's not what it says.
The Spirit of glory and God rests upon you.
When you're approached for the name of Christ.
Or not sometimes willing to do that, Are we?
The Lord never asked us to do anything about what He gives us the ability to do it.
I mean, he loves just too much to require something.
That he's not going to give us the ability to do, it has been said. His commandments always come with his enablements.
Ought to be a comfort to our hearts, like you say. Yeah, Brother Paul, sometimes.
We look at something, we know the Lord wants us to do this, but then we look at ourselves and see, I can't do this. Lord, I, I don't have you. I just, I'm.
A week.
But you know what?
You pass a quote.
He said something and it's in Philippians.
I believe it's Philippians chapter 4. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
And so if the Lord Jesus wants you or me to do something.
Don't look at yourself. Look away. Look at him.
Will enable you to do this.
And you know it's going to rejoice his heart. It can be a blessing to others.
And it's a blessing, encouragement to one's own heart as well.
There's an enablement here, isn't there? As you're saying. And I think that we have that also in the last verse of the Gospel of Mark, it says and they went forth and preached everywhere.
The ward working with them.
So they didn't go out to their own strength, did they? The ward was working with them. And that should be an encouragement to us. When we're somewhat timid or fearful for doing something for the Lord, we have the promise that He will enable.
All speaks of being here. Enable Minister.
Of the New Testament or New Covenant, but not.
Of the letter, but of the Spirit, and then Hebrews.
And chapter 8 we find the details of that new.
Covenant.
The Old Covenant was the law. New Covenant is yet to be brought in.
And so.
He says he's going to make a new covenant, verse eight of Hebrews 8. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, the two divided kingdoms that once formed a single Kingdom in Israel. He's going to bring them back together in the coming day too.
But that's who he's going to make the new covenant with, not like the covenant previously of the law. Verse 9 tells us. Verse 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying no, the Lord.
For all shall know me from the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Paul says we're able ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter that is, not of its actual ratification with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, that is in a day to come, but of the Spirit.
Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. He will write his commandments in their heart and in their mind. That is what Paul is a minister of the spirit of it. And so if we were to look back at Romans chapter 8.
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And verse four, Well, let's read verse 3.
Romans 8 and verse 3 For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh. God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
And so we fulfill the righteousness of the law.
Not because the law is written in our hearts, as it will be with Israel and Judah in a coming day when that covenant is ratified, but because Christ is written in the hearts. Because He's written in the hearts, we fulfill the righteousness of the law. Not because the law is before us as an object of commandments, do this and don't do that, but because Christ is before us and we want to please Him.
And we would never want to displease him. All that the law ever contained in far more fulfilled in the believer with Christ written on the heart. So he's a minister of the spirit of it, not of the letter. The letter killeth. And so the letter of the law in the Old Testament was inaugurated with the death of 3000, when it was brought into the camp. They were sinners. Not so with administration of the Spirit of God.
Its administration of life. And so the Spirit giveth.
Life. I just make one remark.
Made to me many years ago.
No letter of the New Testament scriptures ever killed anyone.
No letter of the New Testament scriptures ever killed anyone.
It does not form part of the law of the Old Testament and that old covenant.
But it has many directions for our life and conduct here below, that we might please the Lord as we go on for Him in this scene.
I would just suggest.
There's something that bothered me a lot in this verse.
That the whole verse is speaking about the new covenant and the thing that troubled me was that when I got to the last clause it says the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life. So the question that came in my mind if the new covenant is for Judah and Israel as Brother Steve just read to us from Hebrews 8.
Then how does it kill? Will it not kill them?
And I'd be interested to hear what someone else says about that but a comment a brother made.
I thought was very helpful.
You certainly know how the log hills, but this is speaking about the new covenant here as far as I can see in this verse. And if we take that new covenant that is made with Judah and with Israel, and we apply it in the letter to ourselves as Christians.
It will kill our Christian physician. That was a thought that was expressed, and I think that's right.
I think that is consistent with what we have in this chapter. It's not that the New Testament kills anyone.
They actually receive life, they have new birth as we saw a knowledge of God and forgiveness of sins through it. What the Lord does through that new covenant, the work of this spirit in it, it's not the old covenant. It's different. But if the apostle were to take that and apply it in letter to the Corinthians, it would kill what he brought out as to their true Christian position in Christ. That goes far beyond what Judah and Israel can going to be brought into.
I think that's the sense of it here. Like I said, glad to be corrected if I'm wrong in that.
Thanks brother. Tim, I've had the same question but I've never heard an answer, so I appreciate that very much.
Another brother made a helpful remark about the very fact that Paul's a minister of the new covenant. Why should we have that? And you have it in the Lord's Supper as well. This is the blood of the new covenant, the Lord says, and it is a question. The new covenant was something that was known. And they say, why do we even bring that up here?
01:00:22
Well, the fact of the matter is his brother Stephen was bringing out, these are Christian blessings that we have in common with the Old Testament Saints. And that already was laid out, a covenant that was going to be made and then it was found and the Lord says it when the institute has suffered that this is the blood of that covenant, this is what it is. And so now we know about that. We come into the good of that covenant. You say, well, how, why would we have a covenant that isn't with us that we only come into the good of? Where is that in Scripture?
Well, that's the way it is. Hebrews 8 is very clear about that. It's a covenant with a House of Judah and the House of Israel. And you go to Ezekiel and you go to Jeremiah. You find it the same. It's, it's exactly what the Scripture says. But the another brother pointed out something that I found helpful in this regard as well. It was from Matthew 20. I'll just turn there for a moment because I think this really shows where we are.
Matthew 20 and justice the beginning of that chapter. And there it says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man that is a householder and went early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into the vineyards. He made an agreement. That's what a covenant is. You do this, I do, I give you money.
And I'm just going to skip through this because I see our time is gone.
Verse six is where we are. About the 11Th hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand you here all day idle? And they say unto him, Because no man hath hired us.
And he said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right he shall receive.
We could go on in that these are ones with whom he made no covenant. They came into the good of a covenant that was already made. And that's where we are in Christianity. And we find out not only that, but our blessings go far beyond the new covenant. And that's why that letter of the new covenant would kill our position because of all that were brought into in Christ.
Should we sing him #194?
May the Savior's love and bearing till our hearts, both night and day, and the unction of deceiving.
Oh my God and anxious way.
May we know singles and fighting and the sun won't be adventurous?
She pray.
Hannah's Life and Song
Address—Steve Stewart
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.
We start the meeting this afternoon by saying 35 and the appendix just the 1St 3 verses the 1St 3 stanzas of 35 in the appendix.
All the paths.
One day I feel.
Like the world.
Oh my God.
Restoration where he said that God right now.
He's afraid. He can't doubt some way now, that's all.
It starts.
We must.
Reinstall.
Get out of the rain.
Come on. Soon. All the time. All right.
We pray.
In Hebrews 13 we read of those who.
Where our guides who taught us the word of God?
Whose faith followed, knowing the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same.
Yesterday, today, and forever. The end of their conversation. That is the true object of their lives and their pathway here in the scene was Christ himself. They taught us the Word of God. They were our guides, our examples. And in Colossians 3 we read, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms.
Hymns and spiritual songs singing.
With grace unto the Lord.
Songs teach.
And it's notable that no woman was ever called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.
No woman ever penned a book of the scriptures that we have in our hands.
But what we do have of what they said is chiefly in song, and it teaches us. And they are, although I know the verse in Hebrews is speaking mainly of really New Testament guides, but they have been to us and are to us guides in our pathway through their song. They teach and their song. And I'd like to look at 1 notable 1, and that's Hannah.
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In first Samuel chapter one, Hannah in her life.
And her song?
First Samuel chapter one In other words, a certain man of ramatham xofim of mountain Ephraim, and his name was El cana, the son of.
Jerome, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zaf and Ephrathite, and he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Penina and Penina.
Had children, but Hannah had no children, and this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts.
In Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli, Hopany and Finnehas, the priests of the Lord were there.
And when the time was that El Cana offered, he gave to Penina his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb, and her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.
And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the House of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said El Cana, her husband to her. Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eateth thou not? Why is thy heart grieved? Am I not better to thee, my ten sons? Well, here we have the background.
Of what is to unfold.
In the first two chapters of First Samuel.
The place was Shiloh where they would bring their sacrifices. The persons there noted the sons of Eli, Hoffany and Finnehas. And what a dark backdrop it is, for when we look over in chapter 2, we find of the sons of Eli in verse 12 That they were the sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord.
Belial just means worthless.
They were worthless as to God in their conduct and their ways and their persons.
And we find that many things had come in that were in disorder by this time in Israel's history. And one of them, instead of the prescribed portion that belonged to the priests and the peace offering that was theirs, they would just come and take a flesh hook of three teeth and just put it in the cauldron or kettle and whatever came up.
Out of what the offer had brought, that was the priests.
But these men had taken it much further in their rapacity, and their violence, and their insolence. They came, and they would not have meat, having had the fat removed 1St and offered to God on the altar, burnt offering. But they insisted to have it with the fat that was upon it. They sent their servants.
Insulting in their approach, verse 15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest servant came and said unto the man that sacrificed, give flesh to flesh to roast for the priest.
For he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then to take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord. For men of horde, the offering of the Lord.
All the fat is Jehovah's we read in Leviticus 3.
All that spoke of the inward energies of Christ, the deep motivations of His heart and His pathway that took Him to cross to the cross, were all for God. And that which spoke of that they took for themselves. That which was the food of the offering for God, they took for themselves to satisfy their own lusts.
And men abhorred the offering of the Lord. The pronouncement of the Spirit of God is their sin was great.
And furthermore, Eli speaks to them in.
Chapter 2 Because not only were they sinning against the Lord in that way, in a religious way, so to speak.
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Says in verse 22, Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, how they lay with a woman that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle, the congregation.
And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil doings by all these people. Name my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. Ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him, notwithstanding they hearken not?
Unto the voice of their Father, because the Lord would slay them.
And God sends a man to Eli to speak to him a little later in chapter 2, and he says.
To him in verse 28, did I and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel?
To be my priest, that is Aaron's house, to OfferUp upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me. And did I give the House of thy Father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honours thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the cheapest.
Of all the offerings of my people. And he goes on to tell him his house would be cut off. There would be none of his house to stand before the Lord. That line of the priesthood was going to be cut off. The backdrop is the complete corruption of the priesthood in Israel.
When the people failed in the wilderness and set up those golden calves, and the law came down into the camp, 3000 died and never actually came into the camp, Moses broke the tables beneath the mount. God came in afterwards, and he set up the priesthood to be his point of connection with his people, to be those who would intercede for the week, those who would teach.
The the people for the priests lips should keep the law we read in Malachi.
And to be his connection with his people here in this earth. But now that link with his people was utterly corrupted and he would not go on with that corrupted link that defiled priesthood. And he's going to introduce something new.
And that new thing was going to be a king.
And the king, unlike the priest who stood as the great representative of the people, the king would have authority to rule over them. And as the king was obedient and good, so the nation would prosper. And as he was evil, so they would not. And the king was going to be that great link between God and the people, and it all hinged.
On Hannah.
And God brought it to pass through a trial in her soul.
And he takes that trial that she's passing through and he's going to blend her heart with his own. He's going to make her feel through her own need and difficulty what he is feeling.
Do you ever think that God may pass you through a trial? That you might feel what he's feeling? Do you have wayward children?
Do you ever think that God has passed you through that so you would be sympathetic?
With him and his wayward children.
Yes.
Do you feel like perhaps sometimes there's not the food that we'd like to see in the assembly meetings and you feel a little frustrated? Do you ever think in that he's seeking to bring your heart into fellowship with his and his desire that his people would be fed?
Oh, we tend to be fairly self-centered in our trials and I think often he's seeking to bring us into communion with his own thoughts and desires.
And so Hannah was in bitterness.
Her womb bore no fruit. Nature to her was without any strength or power. It produced nothing. And nature will never produce anything of profit for God, of value and divine things. But she was in bitterness, and not only that, she was persecuted by Penina. Hannah means free gift.
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Or Grace.
Penina means a Pearl all. Cana spoiled the picture of that Pearl of great price by having two wives.
And Hannah, she needed what her name means. She needed a free gift. She needed God's grace to meet her in her need. Nature was never going to produce it.
And she comes with Alcania, and she comes up year by year in this bitterness which she's seeing something.
As she is burdened year after year about her condition and feeling the persecution of Penina who mocked her because of her barrenness.
She saw what was taking place at Shiloh and the Lord.
Begins to work.
To take the thoughts of her own heart and her own trial.
And blend them with his own burdens as to the state of things among God's people.
And those thoughts become one, and she desires.
What he desires, and he desires what she desires.
She could not eat of the offerings because of her grief at first.
But as time went on, I am convinced that she could not eat because the Lord was not getting his portion. The priests were robbing the Lord of his portion. How could she eat and take her portion of the sacrifices when the Lord was not getting his?
She couldn't.
And no doubt Pangina mocked her and said look at all the children I have there, you won't either. The sacrifices. No wonder the Lord is not blessing you like ye bless me.
No, she was feeling what the Lord felt.
As she observed these things. And so now she finally comes, not just in bitterness, but in prayer.
Verse 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh.
And after they had drunk, now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by the post of the temple of the Lord.
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, that thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid.
And Remember Me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child.
Then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.
And there shall no razor come upon his head.
What a prayer. What a prayer.
She didn't ask for a child.
For the satisfaction of her own affections. Oh, no doubt she wanted that.
She didn't ask for a child that she could hold and love and dote on.
She asked for a man child very specifically in full accord with Numbers chapter 3, where the Lord told the people that He had given the Levites to the House of Aaron. Al Cana was a Levite we find in Chronicles, and she asked for a man child to give to the Lord.
For a very special service.
She could not take care of the situation as a woman.
Her husband like a kind of, as I think is Wayne Coleman put it one time, a kind of a spiritual dud.
Though he was a Levite, unable.
She asked for a man child.
And she can give back to the Lord.
No razor shall come upon his head.
A Nazarite from the womb.
A Nazarite means separated. She wanted a separated child.
00:20:01
She wanted a child separate from this world that would be holy for God every day of his life.
No. Thought that he might go off and stray off here or there, no.
Her expectation was that this child would go on for the Lord every day of its life, wholly separated from this world for Him. What kind of a child do you want? What are you praying for?
Do you want a child that's separated from this world wholly for gone?
Do you want a child that prospers in this world, that is able to negotiate well through this world?
To take in the arts and culture of this world.
To be somebody that is capable, able in this world.
Or do you want a separated child for God?
Oh, dear mother.
What an example.
This godly woman's prayer is.
What an example.
No, he would be a Nazarite to God all the days of his life, Amos said to the people. I gave you sons and daughters for Nazarites, but you gave them wine to drink.
You gave them the joys and the pleasures of this world. I gave them to you for separated children. You fed them.
With the pleasures of this world, and now they're not separated from this world for me anymore.
Came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord.
All in that crowd.
There at Shiloh, with all the sacrifices and busyness and commotion, she's alone with the Lord.
She's before the Lord.
Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
Oh, Eli.
No discernment sitting on a seat that was never provided for in the law for the high priest before his work was never done.
Who should intercede for those who are weak, seeing he himself is encompassed with infirmity?
He misses completely.
Lei said unto her along, Wilt thou be drunk, and put away thy wine from thee direct command?
But what about his sons? Oh, I hear these things, my sons, why do you do these things?
He had authority as the priest, he could have commanded for that behavior to stop.
And he had a responsibility to.
He treats Hannah more directly and sternly, and he favors his own sons.
Hannah answered respectfully.
No, my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken Heather to. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace.
And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition, that thou hast asked of him.
All he accepted that humble rebuke. I think Eli in his heart, in spite of all his failures, loved the Lord. He loved the people of God, and he takes that rebuke and he blesses her instead.
She says to him she's not one of the daughters of Belia. I'm not like those women that congregate at the door of the Tabernacle with your sons.
I've not drunk neither wine nor strong drink. Oh, she wanted a Nazarite for a son, and she was making sure she was prepared for that. She was a Nazarite in heart.
She was a separated woman. Do you want a separated child to the Lord?
00:25:04
It won't happen unless you are.
It won't happen unless you are separated to the Lord from this world.
It's a spiritual impossibility outside of the grace of God stepping in in spite of that.
She was preparing herself.
When she hears Eli's blessing, she takes that as from the Lord.
Let thine handmade find grace in thy sight. That's what she was looking for, and answer in grace just like her name, and she goes from there. No more sad in that response. Maybe just kind of sort of a canned answer from Eli. You know, the blessing of the Lord be upon you and so on, although perhaps sincere.
She takes in that that this is the Lord going to answer.
Her prayer.
And so in time, she has that child.
Named Samuel means I have been given given him from the Lord asked of God is what his name means.
Alcana goes up again to offer sacrifice. Verse 21 But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go until the child be weaned, then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide.
Forever and Alcan her husband said, Enter, do what seemeth thee good. Tarry here until thou have weaned him. Only the Lord establishes word. So the woman abode and gave her son suck until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, Juanifa of flour and a bottled wine, and brought him onto the House of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young.
They slew a Bullock and brought the child to Eli.
And she said, O my Lord, as my soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord for this child, I prayed.
And the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him.
Therefore also I have lent him unto the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be Lent unto the Lord, and he worship the Lord. There you have a marginal reading on Lent, it says, Or I've returned him whom I have obtained by petition to the Lord, not Lent returned.
Those children of yours are a gift from God.
You can give them back to the Lord.
And that's what Hannah did.
All three bullocks, the FA flower, the flask of wine, beautiful picture of Christ and his devotedness to God, wholly offered up to God.
Hear that lowly man walking through this world and all the beauties of his moral glories. Ever before the eye of God, that flower and that flask of wine, he was ever the delight and joy of God.
It all spoke of that, but of all the things she brought.
Nothing.
Was of greater value.
Than that child.
She gave her only begotten Son.
True child of Abraham and his faith, who offered up his only begotten. She gave that which would speak so beautifully to the heart of God, who was going to give His only begotten Son.
She weans him.
She feeds him with food that is needful for him at his age. Mother's milk.
But she weans him. Let's look at a verse in Hebrews 5.
She had prayed for Nazareth. He was going to be a judge in Israel.
He was going to need discernment.
Understanding scriptural understanding. Spiritual discernment.
And in verse 12 of Hebrews 5 we read for when the time ye ought to be teachers.
00:30:06
You have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.
And are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat for everyone that useth milk.
Is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for He is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Eli didn't.
The time came when he needed to be weaned.
He needed to go from milk to meat.
Dear Mother and father.
You have the privilege.
To wean your children.
All you start them with milk, the simple things of the word of God.
You point to the moon at their earliest age and say, what's that? And they learn the word moon, and you say who made the moon? You say God did.
And pretty soon you say to them, who made the moon, and they say God did.
You start out with those so simple things.
But all that's all you've ever stayed at with your children who made the moon.
I know I'm Speaking of it in very strong terms. If you only stayed with milk.
Of the word.
And they're not weaned. They're not going to be useful to God.
In the way that you would like them to be, you have the privilege to teach them.
The deeper things of the Word of God.
The word of righteousness, the place that righteousness has put us in before God as sons accepted before Him in His beloved Son, and all that flows from the work of the cross and the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Strong meet true Christian position and privilege.
You have the privilege to teach your children those things.
More than that, it's your responsibility.
Wasn't Eli's responsibility to Wean Samuel?
Dear Mother.
How can you wean your child that way if all you feed on is milk?
If you have not learned to eat meat yourselves.
How can you win your little ones if you are not feeding on?
Those truths and in the enjoyment in your own soul of those truths that are proper to your position as a son and child of God.
A member of the body of Christ.
Part of new creation? If you are not in the enjoyment of those things, how will you wean your children? Do you think those books of ministry on the bookshelf are just the territory of some of the brothers who minister in the Assembly, or perhaps who get up and give thanks at the Lord's Table?
And give expression on behalf of the whole Assembly of Thanksgiving.
And praise to God.
Do you think that's just their territory? No.
Those things belong to you.
They're yours.
Look in your hymn book. Look back at the list of authors. Look how many sisters have written hymns. Read those hymns. The depth of the understanding of the Word of God is astounding. 30 of them written by a woman who was a widow at age 21.
Oh, you say. Well, you know, she had time. I'm a mom. I'm really busy. Life is hectic.
00:35:02
The song we begin with.
Well, I just want to turn to another one quickly 254.
Just to read a little bit.
254.
Death and judgment are behind us. Grace and glory are before.
All the billows rolled over Jesus. There they spent their utmost power.
First fruits of the resurrection. He is risen from the tomb. Now we stand in new creation.
Free because beyond our doom, Jesus died, and we died with him.
Buried in his grave we lay one with him in resurrection now in him.
In Heaven's Bright Day in him, Paul's Doctrine, written by Jeanette Taylor, age 21, on the occasion of her own baptism.
She went on two years later to marry.
John French.
And became Mrs. JA Trench wrote. How blessed a home, the father's house.
Are they a hymn in our hammock, paralleled in its depth without him?
She wrote all the past. The Saints are treading that we begin with trodden by the Son of God. Mother of four children, three girls and a boy. A good friend of Mrs. Bevin, whose name you'll also find in that list of authors. Mother of a happy household of nine.
Six girls and three boys.
Oh, it's for you, sister. It's for you too.
Pulled books off my bookshelf to read.
Out in a lot of libraries from older brethren that have passed on. Thankful for them. I see their initials, the date that they finished them, some sisters, some brothers. There's one set of initials keeps coming up no matter what library got the books from and the date that it was finished. Over and over again I thought, boy, I got to catch up here. Getting ahead of me.
After a while I realize I'm never going to catch up.
Rode far more than I ever have. How are you going to feed? How are you going to wean?
Your children feed them with meat. You're not eating it yourself.
What a gift.
She presented to the Lord.
With Samuel.
She returns him, whom she asked by petition.
For his service.
All nothing will satisfy your heart, dear mother.
Like a child.
That the Lord can pick up and use for his glory, for the building up of His people. So.
Samuel, we read later, was established to be a prophet of the Lord. He begins the first great line of prophets that ends with John the Baptist.
There were prophets before, but just raised up on occasion and not one of them is named.
Samuel is the first named prophet, the 1St with that office of a prophet.
Ends with John the Baptist and he was going to be the one who would anoint that coming king.
Of Israel.
Hannah's heart is full.
Her heart is full. What if she had just?
Been barren for a little while and then.
Lord changed things and she had a child. She'd be so thankful nature was working like it should and she'd have a child to hold and love. But her heart ever has been as full as it was at this moment.
No, no.
You know and.
Job Chapter 26.
After giving a long list.
Of God's ways, or God's creation and his wonders and his creation.
He comes.
To the end. And he says in verse 14, lo, these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion or how little a whisper?
00:40:11
Heard of him with the Thunder of his power? Who can understand? Now let's connect that with Psalm 81.
Psalm 81.
Hear it Speaking of God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and then.
After they came into the wilderness, the difficulty that they encountered with the bitter waters of Meribah, he says, verse six, I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were delivered from the pots. That's the deliverance from Egypt.
Thou call us in trouble, and I deliver thee answered thee in the secret place.
Of Thunder I prove the the waters of Maraba. In Revelation 8 we read of a sensor that is.
Has incense laid upon it, and it goes up before the Lord, and it's the prayers of his suffering Saints.
Here on this earth.
He receives those prayers and the Angel takes the same sensor, fills it with coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and he casts it down into the earth, and it says there were thunders and lightnings in a great earthquake. The prayers of his suffering Saints draw down an answer of Thunder from the secret place of Thunder. All she could have had just an answer of nature, but it would have been just a whisper of His ways.
But she got an answer from this secret place of Thunder. How much better one of his suffering Saints. And he comes in for her in such a wonderful way, and her heart is full. And she sings Sink.
She prayed. But it's a song.
By divine inspiration, for we find it in 113th Psalm as well.
And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. All she had received an answer in grace.
And her heart rejoiced.
Her feebleness and her weakness. As we had earlier in First Second Corinthians 12, his strength was perfected in her weakness.
And so she can say mine horn. That is the thought of strength. The power of an animal is in its horn.
Is exalted in the Lord, not in herself. Strength made perfect, and weakness His strength. My mouth is enlarged over.
My enemies. Oh, Penina was going to be in silence.
In the end, Hannah triumphed.
But there was more.
Than that there was the failure of the priesthood and all the awfulness that was taking place. There were the inroads of the Philistines that were pressing in deeper and deeper into Israel.
And even beyond that.
Coming day of the tribulation, when He will answer his Saints from the secret place of Thunder.
And so her heart goes, not only through her own circumstances, but out to Israel, the faithful remnant in the coming day and the Tribulation, and out beyond.
There is none holy as the Lord, there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock.
Like our rock for the grace of God.
Which bringeth salvation to appear to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly, lest we should live soberly, righteously and godly.
In this present world, looking for the.
Looking for the coming?
Let's I can't quote exactly, I've got to turn to it. Titus 2.
And verse 13, looking for that blessed hope.
And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Grace teaches us how to walk in holiness in this world.
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She got an answer in grace, but His grace is inseparable from His Holiness. You can't take one part of His nature and divide it from another.
They're inseparably bound together in that wonderful grace as we look back to the cross and what it cost our Savior to redeem us, to deliver us. It should motivate us to a walk through this world that is holy, that is becoming to Him.
Talk no more exceedingly proudly, Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. Forgot. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full of hired them out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the Baron had borne. 7 And she that hath many children is waxed.
Feeble.
Oh, no natural advantage, whether it be the bows of the mighty.
Whether it be the womb that is not bearing no natural advantage.
Of man.
Has anything?
Is of anything before God?
He takes the weak things of this world and confounds the wise. He takes the despised things.
And confounds the wise of this world.
They that stumbled are girded with strength by him. Actions are weighed, not natural advantage, education, or whatever it might be.
Not exalted place of a priesthood.
Nothing of that advantageous man before God.
In the end, the end of verse nine, you might say, is one of the grand themes of this song. Prayer. For by strength shall no man prevail.
The Lord verse 7 maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. There's the action of grace. He takes us from the lowest place, as it says the beggar from the dunghill in verse eight, to set them among Princess, to make them inherit the throne of glory.
What brought you into the place of blessing that you have before God? It's His sovereign grace. No natural advantage that you might have in any way. No natural prowess or intelligence or any other advantage that this world might admire. He raised you up.
Dear ones.
I have said some things very plainly.
Connection with children.
And parental responsibilities, and especially to the young mothers. But don't forget.
It's all of his grace.
It's all of his grace.
As they would grow up and go on for the Lord.
No credit to us.
It's all of him.
Never forget that.
Hannah praised this beautiful prayer. She never once mentioned Samuel. Not once. No boast.
No glory in that way.
Not once does she mention Samuel.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces out of heaven. He shall Thunder upon them.
That answer from the secret place of Thunder for his persecuted Saints. He shall give strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his anointed. What King?
There was number king in Israel in those days. Every man did that which was right.
In his own sight. What king is she Speaking of?
Her heart is going beyond, by the Spirit of God, her own circumstances in the present.
Circumstances in Israel, He is bound up her heart with his heart, her desires with His desires, and she is led on by the Spirit of God to things that are beyond her own circumstances, her own knowledge and all that was in Israel looking on to His purpose, how He was going to rectify everything. She prayed for a man child.
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Separated from this world unto God, to be used of God to help.
Rectify the things that were wrong in Israel and he says I'm going to do it.
And she sings it in her song.
This is David.
God's anointed.
But David, is he going to judge the ends of the earth? All this goes beyond David. This goes all the way to Christ.
He is going to set on the throne.
The man of God, said the Eli, I will raise me up a faithful high priest, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
And then Zechariah we read of Christ in chapter six. He will set a priest upon his throne in his person. Both priesthood and kingship will be brought together in one in God's anointed. And he will have what he has desired, a priest to walk before his anointed forever, all in one person.
In Christ.
Turn over to.
The Psalms.
I think it's Psalm 78.
There were some great disorders that had come into Israel, not only what we saw with the priesthood.
And its corruption.
But when God brought the people into the land, the one who was prominent of Aaron's sons as high priest was Eliezer.
Eliezer had a son named Finnehas. Finnehas put away evil from before the Lord in Numbers chapter 25 I think it is. And God gave him an everlasting covenant of the priesthood would be his and his sons.
But somehow Eliezer Brothers line Itamar came to the forefront and Finnehas family seems to fade out of sight.
And God judges the House of Eli. You remember the story of Doeg the Edomite once David fled from Saul and he got the sword of Goliath and the loaves of showbread for him and his men.
And Saul asked who it was that helped David and Doeg rats him out.
And.
That whole family of the Himalayas I believe is his name, was slain 85 men that wore the linen. He fought Abiathar alone, escaped. David took him in. He continued in the office of the priesthood until.
Another one comes into the picture named Zadok. Zadok and Abayathar share that priesthood together. Zadok was of the line of Finnehas.
Biathar eventually exposes himself.
When Adonijah seeks to grab the throng.
And these thrusts from the priesthood?
And God fulfills his word by the prophet that spoke to Eli, and Zadok is becomes in his line those that hold the office of high priest. And we read in Ecclesiastes it's the sons of Zadok that will minister before the Lord in the Millennium.
That had gotten out of place. The other thing that had gotten out of place is in the beginning of judges.
When God told them there was still land to be possessed after the days of Joshua, they say who will go up and he says Judah.
Why? Because the scepter will not depart from Judah. We read in Genesis 49 they were to be in the lead of the tribes of Israel, and they go up. But by the time we come to the edge of Judges, Judah has faded off the stage. And you'll find as you go through, Ephraim rapidly comes to the forefront.
And Ephraim tides with Gideon.
And with Jephthah.
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They're proud, arrogant.
They didn't do so good with Jetta.
And they come to the forefront, and Judas fades to the background. You know what that is?
Judah means praise. Ephraim means fruitfulness. God has an order.
From the place of praise and worship flows fruitfulness and service.
Worship comes before service. When service gets in the front seat, it becomes an object in itself.
And becomes proud because it's out of the presence of God.
And Christianity has developed a whole system of things called the clergy.
And putting service before praise and worship. And that had happened in type in that way. In Israel, praise was in the back seat and service was in the front and idolatry came in.
God is about to reverse the order. He is about to change everything.
And it all hinged on Hannah.
And the deep exercises of her heart.
Psalm 78.
Verse 54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary.
Even to this mountain which his right-handed purchased, he cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them inheritance by lying. He made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yeah, they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not as testimonies. They turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers.
They were turned aside like a deceitful bull. They provoked him to anger with their high places, moved him to jealousy with their grave and images. There's the history of the judges. God raised 1 judge after another to deliver them time and time again. They would fall into idolatry, would deliver them to their enemies. They'd cry out. He'd send a judge deliver them. Down, down, down it went until the last.
Judge we read of in the book of Judges. Samson needs to be delivered himself.
He raises Samuel up, who judged Israel. Samuel's sons, who he put in the places of judges, corrupted that, and that ended the dispensation of judges in Israel.
The History of the Judges, verse 59. When God heard this, he was raw.
And greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh.
The tent which he placed among men and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hands. And we didn't read it, but that's what happened in Samuel's young days. They went to fight against the Philistines. They were not doing so well. They said, Go get the ark. It will save us dear mothers and dear fathers.
If you think that, you've come up with a formula.
To save your children.
It won't.
Any more than the Ark saved them, they said. This is the Ark, it will save us. No, no formula you might develop will save your children.
The Lord will save them. It's His grace.
Their faith was in an object, the ark, not in the God of Israel, And he delivered the ark to the Philistines glory, and to the enemy's hand.
He gave his people all over also unto the sword, and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword.
Hoffany and Finnehas.
And their widows made no lamentation.
Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine, and he smote his enemies in the hinder parts. He did with the Philistines and the emeralds. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover, he refused the Tabernacle of Joseph, chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
But chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved.
And he built a sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth, which he hath established forever.
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He chose David, also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
Stop there.
And God reversed all of those things that were out of order, and David designed the temple. David was the one whom God showed that Jerusalem was a place where he placed His name. David set the priesthood in their 24 courses of service. He penned the psalms that they would sing in the worship of the Lord.
And Judah praised.
Came to the forefront again, and then Ephraim was in his right place.
God reversed it all.
All what thoughts filled Hannah's heart.
Dear sister, my burden especially for you, young sister, don't think.
That the wonderful lines and beautiful things and the deep things of God are the territory of some older brothers that teach they're for you too, and to give to your children.
That they might be here for God.
Sing the last two lines of that hymn.
And by Janetta Trench.
Verse four and five join the same.
Of his great genes, when the soul and art, when the Lord, when we saw the sun.
Where there is one?
Standing again for the joy and spirit sunrise.
Lay down, it is right the 3rd way. It's really needed her son of Allah.
Of the power of God. How many Suns? Now it is never.
Theless.
Our God and our Father, we look forward to that moment when desert waves will be rehearsed. Above all, we must reach the goal at last, and we will surely sing every step that we have. Tron to triumph of thy grace.
We give thee thanks and ask thy blessing on Thy word, in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
2 Corinthians 3:7-18
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We sing #16 in the back of the book.
#16 in the back of the book Jesus, friend Unfailing.
How dear art thou to me our cares or fears of sailing. I find my strength indeed. Why should my feet grow weary of this? My children way rough though the path, and Drury it ends.
Perfect day #16 in the back of the book.
Jesus, friend.
Our carols are here now, today. I find my life is trending today and everything.
Where I refuse to be, in fact, you don't want to go for me.
I love to get all the Lord.
Jesus.
Why thank you so much.
But when I was.
Fresh.
Villains and I think my heart.
What fill my heart in my life?
Sitting inside.
Wherever I am, I love you, and I am.
Why she is so on my way?
No, I never bathed, I figured.
Anything.
No.
Why should I feel?
Like.
My son.
Why strange?
What can I have never been able to come on.
When I cry on the ladder.
Take what it's doing while the body will begin.
There is a storm.
Despise for the day and not just the earth, considering if you're out of getting anything.
Oh well, they fall out of hand flows.
Agreed. In your time I'm stressed out again.
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I.
Like sweetheart.
I found the Lord everything.
Where?
Screaming.
Ground.
There is my God down the road.
And every child I came on to give you a lightweight.
For every Lord.
In your hands I cry out, Lord again.
So I'm stranded in my bedroom.
Our dear heart.
You need.
You pray.
Two Corinthians 3, verse 7.
But if the administration of death written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more doth administration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect.
By reason of the glory that exceleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face at the children of Israel, could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded, for until this day remain at the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which Vail is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Verse 7 to the end of verse 16 is a parenthesis.
And if we take the end of verse six for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life for 17 of the Lord is that spirit.
So behind all the letter of the Old Testament and the law and all its rituals and ceremonies and all that went with it.
The true object of it all in the mind of God. The purpose of God.
Is Christ himself and it all speaks of Christ and so he is the spirit of it, so to speak. It's all about him really in the end and so verse 7 to verse 16 really gives a contrast of.
The Old Testament.
And the law and what we have in the ministry of grace and perceiving the purpose of God and the Spirit of Christ behind all of those Old Testament types. And so we see far more than any Old Testament St. ever did. When we turn to those scriptures. They saw the letter, we see the Spirit and so verse.
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Seven that we began with down to verse 16 is a parenthesis.
We mentioned false apostles in the first meeting, how they were trying to undermine the apostle Paul because apostleship, his word written by the Spirit of God. But it wasn't just that these false apostles were also Judaizing teachers.
And they were trying to bring the Saints under the ******* of the Old Covenant.
And they wanted to have them take up with the principle of law and they looked at Christianity and they said that's fine, Jesus, that's fine, the cross, that's fine. But you also have to be circumcised. You also have to follow the law.
And so the apostle Paul in verse 6 takes up the New Testament, the New Covenant.
And the very fact that there is a new covenant shows the deficiency of the old, and Hebrews takes us up how it would have to be set aside.
And he goes on.
As as Justin mentioned.
How these verses provide a contrast between these two ministries?
What will be a ministry to death as we take up with it? Or what will be a ministry to life if we take up with it?
And when we introduce law or the principle of law into Christianity, it creates death, it stunts our growth. We no longer continue to grow and we need to be on guard to ensure that we do not allow what is a ministry of death to come in to our lives. We can't take up with it and expect there to be blossom.
I think this point is so very important, and there's a great attempt among Christians to get rid of it because there's something in our hearts that loves law.
And so it's been a real trouble all through the long years of Christianity, from the days when these words were written first.
And that the bringing of the law and trying to mix it and mingle it into Christianity has always been there.
And so the attempts tend to run along lines like, well, we're not under the ceremonial law anymore. We don't do the sacrifices because Christ, the true sacrifice, has come, but we still have the 10 commandments because that's God's perfect moral law. That has always been. And so we're still under that part. And there have been many attempts like that to try to separate the law.
So that Christians can be still brought under it. But these verses start right out and I think it's helpful to see.
To completely say that's not the case says if the administration here in verse 7, the administration of death.
Written and graven in stones was glorious and so on. Was that talking about the.
Ceremonial law, he said, speaking about the offering.
Or is he speaking about the law that was written in tables of stone?
I think that's pretty clear, isn't it? It's talking about the 10 commandments, and it's saying that to take up with the 10 commandments that part of the law and indeed all of the law, but specifically it's talking about the 10 commandments. It's calling that.
Administration of death. And it goes on in verse 9 to call it administration of condemnation.
There is nothing in that. For the believer, it is absolutely.
What we've been brought out from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we either were under it to begin with, as Gentiles, we weren't. Jews were, and Jews were brought out from under it by death with Christ and all of us. We've passed out of the whole world that the Law even spoke to it speaks to man in the flesh, and we're not in that world anymore. When Christ died, we died and we were brought out of that world into a new place.
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A new place beyond death, where we have the life of Christ and now we have the administration of the spirits. What it speaks of it here.
As in verse 8, administration of the Spirit and then down at the end of.
Verse 9 The administration of righteousness. That's what we have now, the reality of life in Christ.
A very, very different thing. And to go back and take up with these things, you can't mingle them. They bring us into that which is really death and condemnation. And so we have this over and over again in the New Testament. And so of all importance that we see it otherwise we're going to become compromised in our Christian position.
And lose what is our place in Christ, Not meaning that we lose our salvation, but we'll lose that which He wants us to enjoy as Christians here below, and will lose the power of righteousness as well.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness through everyone's belief.
It's so simple. Christ is our righteousness, you know, it tells us that he was made sin.
Who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God?
In Him that's a perfect righteousness. Now, if we try to set out to establish our own righteousness based on our performance and what we think we can do.
We are sadly mistaken because we all fall short, and so we find out that the law is that which only condemns.
Whereas grace justifies.
But the law condemns.
And the result is.
The law exposes my sin. And what's the result of sin? Like a brother is sick, it's death. So that's a sequence, OK.
Law, Sin, Death.
It's not a good ending.
But in contrast, we got grace.
You know, grace is God's riches at Christ expense. We often speak of that acronym. It's very nice.
God's riches that Christ.
Expects.
So we find that God sets out.
To make you and I righteous.
Through his own dear son, what he accomplished at the Cross of California.
And so God gets active, you know, under the law in the Old Testament, you might say God is inactive and he puts.
Man on the stage, he puts man up there to do a performance, to see how well he can perform before God.
And we find out the performance is a total mess. It's a failure. So we got to pull this.
The curtain.
On that situation.
So when we come to the New Testament now, we find that God takes over.
And he becomes active, we become passive, and he provides everything for us.
Through the person and work of his own dear son.
As wonderful to contemplate the grace of God that shows you and I favor we don't deserve it, but we get.
Very righteousness of God.
To faith in Christ and the work that he has done so.
The result is life.
So where the sequence was law, sin and death, now it becomes grace, righteousness and life.
That's a good ending.
Eternal life.
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It's all of grace.
Administration of.
Death.
Written in engraving in stones was glorious.
And in Exodus, the first time, Moses went up into the mount, and those tables of law were written by the finger of God and stone, and he brought them down. Before he had come down, the people had made the golden calf and were worshipping it, and their sin was great. Before God. Moses comes down, the Lord told him what was happening.
And he comes down off the mount.
And it says in Exodus 32.
Verse 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath the mouth.
Those tables of stone never came into the camp, the law.
Just as purely law could not come into the camp of that sinful people, otherwise it's just penalty must be met and all would die. And so Moses without a command from God, but by divine instinct he dashes those stones to the ground and shatters them.
He then.
Appeals to the Lord.
And intercedes for the people and their sin. And it's a beautiful intercession that he takes up with the Lord and.
In chapter 33 we get that intercession of Moses.
As the mediator.
Just looking down and.
Verse 12 Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people.
And thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name. Thou hast found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight. And consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, The Lord said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. In other words, Moses.
But my presence isn't going to go with its people. It will go with you, Moses.
And he said unto him, If thy presence go and leave out the italics, Carry us not offensive. You don't go with us, not just me. He wouldn't leave himself out of connection with God's earthly people. Carry us not up. Hence. When shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people from all the people?
That are upon the face of the earth. The Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also, that thou has spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
And he said, I will make all my goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.
And I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face.
For there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass all my glory. Pacify that I will put thee in a Cliff of the rock, will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. And so that took place. He used 2 tables.
He goes up to the mount. The Lord descends in a cloud. Chapter 34.
Proclaims the name of the Lord, and the Lord passed by him while he was in the clift of that rock.
And proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third, unto the 4th generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worship. And he said, Now, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us, for it is a stiff.
00:25:34
Necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us.
For thine inheritance.
Moses comes down off the mount after that.
End of the chapter when he speaks to the children of Israel.
They see his face, and his face is shining with glory.
And they beg Moses that they don't want to see his face. They were afraid of it, and they were afraid in verse 30 to come nigh to him.
And so Moses covers his face when he is speaking with them, but when he went into the presence of the Lord.
He took off that covering, that veil.
The second time, when the law is brought down, it's mixed with grace.
The Lord will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and have mercy, to whom he will have mercy. And the second time Moses comes down because he had seen his glory, what glory was that? The glory of His grace? His face shone.
And yours will, and mine will too, in that way.
If we have had a glimpse of the glory of His grace, it is the topmost stone in His glories. And Moses got a little glimpse of that. Yes, it was mixed with law, but that law brought down the second time was introduced with glory. But they couldn't look at His face. They didn't understand it, they didn't perceive it. And so He was alone and that perception and in that sight.
And he covered his face that was shining with a reflection of that glory when he spoke to them. So that's why the apostle says in our chapter.
It was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. The first time his angers face wax hot. The second time it's shown.
But that glory was done away, as wonderful as it was, as beautiful as it was. And it's a it's a worthwhile meditation to go through that wonderful intersection of Moses on the mount of the Lord. But it's done away. What do we have now? The administration of the Spirit. All the Spirit of God has come from where?
Where is the Spirit of God come from?
From heaven itself, the gift of the Father, and what is His.
Purpose.
We had it in the beginning of the chapter, writing Christ in the fleshy tables of the heart. He's come down from heaven itself, not from Sinai.
He's come down from heaven itself to tell us of a man and the glory, a man there, the object of our renewed hearts, a formative object, an object with whom, if we are occupied, we will become more like Him.
And our face will shine with the glory of His grace. How much rather this administration be glorious.
And even that which was introduced with Glory and Exodus 34.
And speaks about this glorious thing done away as you mentioned.
I've often wondered about that too, but it was just that it faded away with Moses. I'm not sure about that part, but it does.
It is a fact that the glory was done away.
With death. And that's how the verse begins.
It's administration of death, whatever glory was there.
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Whatever grace was on God's part, the people were under that law.
And death came in as a result of them trying to keep it. And there was number continuance of that glory. There couldn't be it was just a brief show of it and it was the end of all who were under that covenant. But for us, how entirely different isn't it? There's a permanence to this glory. It's really, I think the the point of this verse, these verses 7 and eight is speaking about the permanence and then.
Verses 9 and 10 speak about the fact that the glory that we have with the Spirit is greater, but the permanence of the glory of this administration of the Spirit of God for the believer goes on forever.
If we look up and we see Christ in glory now.
That will never end for us. There's no end to that. Wonderful Moses only had a brief privilege of enjoying that the people couldn't bear it.
It doesn't speak of that for them, does it? Only they're running away from it and so it must ever be under that old covenant. And someone said either we hide from God like Adam did or.
We try to hide God from us by putting a veil, which is what the children of Israel did, and we get to that later in the chapter 2. There's a veil over their hearts. They can't look to see this wonderful glory that is now. They still want the old, but they can't bear to face God with the law who could. The only way that we can is by the Spirit of God and that work that he does to.
Occupy us with Christ.
Founded on the very work of Christ, this is something that we can see that Gloria changes us, it affects us, and it will go on forever.
If the administration that could only condemn man in the flesh be glorious.
How much more the administration of righteousness?
We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. God's righteousness has been fully established at Calvary's cross.
Ye on a righteous basis has become just and the justifier of him that believe it. On a righteous basis we can enter into His holy presence without conscience of sin. All was dealt with at the cross and we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. We have liberty and freedom to enter into His holy presence at any time. Only Moses could go in and stand before the Lord.
As we look back at that Old Testament account, and as that administration rolled on and the priesthood was developed, only the priest could go in to the holy place. And then through the sin of nadav and abaya only once a year, we have access at all times.
Into His holy presence on a righteous basis, how much more does the administration of righteousness?
Exceed in glory, where is righteousness placed us?
In his very presence. In his very presence.
Administration of righteousness exceeds.
In Glory.
This is not the way we think, is it? Naturally, as people, the administration of righteousness means that I need to have a code, a way that I can know how God wants me to be righteous. That's the way I naturally think. I had a Christian ask me that one time. How can I know what God wants for me if I don't have something like the law? Well, you want to know what God wants from us, He read this chapter.
It's very funny. He wants us to be occupied with his Son and that's administration of righteousness, the Spirit of God occupying us with the Lord Jesus Christ. The other could never do it. And I think it's good to go back and look at that again. No Romans 8 was mentioned, but if we just go back to Romans 7, it's.
So definitely there.
In terms of fruit.
It's just skipping down to verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye are become dead through the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead.
00:35:09
For what purpose?
That we should bring forth fruit unto God.
There is no other way to stay in that position of being alive, this man in the flesh. There is no way to bring forth fruit to God, no way to produce righteousness. One thing that God desires, there's no way to do it.
But this is what we have in the death of Christ, isn't it? That we've been made dead to that all those things of God over us under the law we guide to that. And now we're made alive in a whole new position that we should be married or belong to another, even to him who is raising the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ who belong to him. And that's what produces fruit for God.
So I think it was mentioned in the last meeting, but.
We go over to Romans chapter 8 and justice. See what it says there in those.
First verses it explains that there is therefore now no condemnation.
To them which are in Christ Jesus, period, there just isn't. You're in Christ Jesus. There's no condemnation. The rest of the verse doesn't belong there. It's positional.
Verse 2 For the law of the Spirit of Christ, of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free.
From the law of sin and death, now we find a whole new law.
It was the law of sin and death. That's what we're talking about in this section of our chapter. But now there's a whole new law. So law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
And that is life. As we often talk about a law, the law of gravity, It's it's an actual, this is a spiritual law and something that produces.
That which pleases God in a believer. It goes on to say and explain that verse three, what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned it sin in the flesh. And so wasn't the law week, but we in our sinful flesh could not please God and so he sent his Son and his son condemned sin in the flesh and that was in his death.
Verse four, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And so now this is our new walk. It's after the Spirit, it's this new law, the Spirit of life working in US, and that's what pleases God.
The righteousness of the law, it says, is automatically fulfilled. Do we try to keep the law? No. Specifically, we're told that we're not to. That's not what we're under. We're under something new. It's the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
And it's only as under that law, and only in him under that law, do we then keep that righteousness of the law, and far beyond as well. We actually live out the life of Christ himself, which went far beyond the law.
Somebody might ask if God gave the law, The law was wholly just and good, but it was a ministry of death, condemnation. What's the point of the law?
Why? Why would God ever even give the law? Was it because he needed to see if man could merit favor? Well, he answers that question after asking it first in Galatians chapter 3. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions.
It was to prove to man that he came utterly short of God's standard.
And we have page after page after page in the Old Testament that proves to us that man can't keep the law and that the law is a ministry of death. Not that there's anything wrong with the law, but there's something wrong with us, our flesh.
We come into the New Testament, we come into today.
And what is what is one of the great struggles that we have in Christianity Today?
It's still thinking we can. It's still thinking we can take up with this or take up with part of this and make it good. We can take our Christianity. We can take the Spirit of God that dwells in us. We can take this new life that we have and then we can use that.
00:40:05
To keep the law.
But that's not what Tim just read to us in Chapter 8.
It's not that we use that spirit that has been given to us to keep the law. It's the righteous requirements of the law. It is not putting ourselves under law, which is the ministry, ministry of death, condemnation. That's as far as we'll get when we do that.
It's recognizing that that thing is done away page after page. The Old Testament shows us man cannot do it. And so on the other side of that, what do we see? We see the cross.
We see, as our brothers have been mentioning over and over again, we see grace, which is unmerited favor, and it's that unmerited favor in recognizing that God did all this for me when I could do nothing for Him. It gives us the springboard to want to do anything for Him. If it's on any other reason, me trying to merit or earn or gain favor before God, it's law. It's the principle of law. It's death.
Somebody might say this sounds like semantics, but it's not. It's a heart issue, and each one of us needs to address our heart when we go over this chapter in chapters just like it. Where is it springing from? Is it springing from a thought that I can somehow merit favor before God? I can be a little bit better than my brethren. I can be a little bit better than you?
I can be a little bit better than that guy down the street. Or is it coming from just recognizing God and his unmerited favor that would give His son for me a Wretch like me?
I might be stressing a situation a little bit, but the scene that we had before us with Moses on the mount was glorious, wasn't it? And.
As the Gospels, we also have another glorious scene, that is the configuration of the Lord Jesus. If we look at.
Mark's Gospel, Chapter 9.
And verse two and it says after six days Jesus taketh with them, Peter and James and John.
And leaded them up onto a high mountain apart by themselves.
And was transfigured before them then it says if comments.
In each of the gospels on his raiment, and here it says his raiment became shining, exceeding whitish snow, so as no four on earth can wipe them. Well, we have that expression used in our chapter.
The righteousness exceeded in glory, glory that excelleth.
Well, here we have Raymond that became shining white. There was no poor earth could wipe them. So that was another glorious scene, wasn't it? Maybe there's not a direct parallel to what we've had brought before us, but it was something in God's sight. God.
Was.
Very anxious to preserve that glory because we had.
One that wanted to make 3 Tabernacles, but that would not take place, would it? Because there was only one.
That deserved that attention, that full attention.
In Matthew, it says his face shone as the sun.
And in chapter four of Second Corinthians.
We read.
If our gospel be hid verse three, this hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Bless the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, or the gospel of the glory of Christ.
It is the image of God should shine unto them, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
Ourselves, your servants, for Jesus sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
00:45:04
Oh, that's what he wants us to be occupied with himself in the glory. And there will be the reflection of it in our life and our walk and our ways and our talk and every aspect of our conduct. That Old Testament administration of death and condemnation, though it was glorious, has ended. As we've said, it's been done away.
But that which remaineth, verse 11 is glorious. As our brother Tima said, it's permanent. There is not some new dispensation coming that's going to introduce some other change, some new thing. No, this is the object that God was moving towards all along, the glory of His beloved Son. And that's what He wants to fill our hearts with. So that which was.
Glorious was done away, but that which remaineth is permanent in its glory. And he goes on to say in verse 12, seeing then that we have such.
Fault. We use great plainness of speech. All the gospel is open and plain, the gospel of the glory of Christ. We can't be too plain, we can't be too open, we can't be too clear.
In declaring that there is a man in the glory.
That glorified God here in Calvary's cross. That God is raised from the dead and seated him in heaven's highest place. There he is Savior of sinners.
What a glorious gospel, the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. We use great plainness of speech, not like Moses with a veil over his face. All the gospel preacher that's occupied with Christ and glory in the subject of the gospel.
It just flows out of the heart. It's seen in the face, the reflection of that glory.
I noticed.
Brother Steve, that in my margin of my Bible for plainness.
Verse 12 Says boldness.
Mr. Darby used that word boldness.
And.
You know, it says that the righteous are as bold as a lion, and I believe if we are.
Enjoying the righteousness of God that is ours in Christ.
You can be bold about that. We know it's perfect, doesn't change.
But if we're talking about our own righteousness, I don't think we can be.
Very bold about that because.
We know we really don't measure up as we should. We all fall short.
And yet, how many there are that are trying to establish their own righteousness based on their own effort, their own performance?
And it doesn't yield boldness.
Of speech.
Because.
Our righteousness.
Fails.
In fact, it tells us back in Isaiah that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
But there are those that think they're decent people.
And they take great offense if you suggest that there is Sinner.
But you know, it only takes one sin to make a person a Sinner. Just one sin.
Now, is there anybody on the face of this planet Earth?
That would be willing to say.
That they have never ever sinned, not even one time.
I never met anybody like that. I don't think you would either, although you know the elder son in the story of the prodigal.
He spoke in those terms, you know, he said never once. Let me just read that what he said.
Over there in Luke 15.
And it shows how people can become so disillusioned and inflated with themselves that they're totally off base here in Luke chapter 15.
00:50:06
You read about the elder son.
Verse 29 he answers his father.
Luke 1529 Go these many years do I serve thee.
Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment.
Yet I never gave me a kid that I might make married with my friends.
Now that sounds like boldness of speech, you know, He says.
Neither transgressed I at anytime thy commanders like I never ever seen.
But if you begin to probe this individual, and maybe you begin to ask others about the individual, you find out that this is totally erroneous.
But you know, when we are resting on the finished work of Christ, we know that the righteousness that we enjoy in Christ is perfect.
And we can use boldness.
Speech in your Pastor Paul, he did. When he preached the gospel, he came with great assurance, knowing that the message that he presented.
Was.
A surefire remedy, if I could put it that way, for one's sinful condition. Gospel of the grace of God. I just enjoyed the thought of being bold though connection with the gospel. The Lord gives boldness in certain situations. I remember years ago meeting a brother who was living in New Jersey, but he was originally from Romania and went through a lot of persecution during the communist regime there under Czech crew.
And he and his family.
Had hidden Bibles in their house and on one occasion the authorities came and confiscated those Bibles and brought them before a judge.
And.
The judge that I want to just repeat the charge brought against you and he said I understand that you have hidden a Bible.
In your house, which you know is not permitted. And he said to the judge, you have it all wrong. I hit many Bibles in my house. And so the Lord gave him boldness to testify on that particular occasion. And the Lord does give boldness in these occurrences or situations.
At Mars Hill, I'm sure the apostle Paul used boldness in his beach there, but he took advantage of what he saw, didn't he? He perceived that their worship was superstitious and gave him the opportunity to proclaim that one true God. They had many gods that they had worshipped, and he brought them to the very.
Basics. There was one that gave them breath and light.
And being so, he was able to take advantage of that situation that was presented to him.
Well, the flesh could not bear and still cannot and never will be able to bear. Looking at that administration of condemnation that only condemns man in the flesh, they really couldn't bear to look at Moses face. Ask them to cover it with a veil. But how about us?
We look back now on the grounds and basis of the finished work of the Cross.
Of a glorified man in heaven. And we look back at all of those Old Testament scriptures.
Of the law and all its ordinance and ceremonies, and on and on. And what do we see on every page?
We see Christ on every page. We see that the true end of what was abolished, the true object in the mind of the Spirit of God, in what was abolished in the administration of death and condemnation, was actually Christ.
00:55:11
All those Old Testament sacrifices and ordinances, and the Tabernacle and its furniture, and on and on and on, all looked on to one object in the mind of God, and that was His beloved Son. And now we have the liberty to turn back to those Scriptures and see Christ on every page.
Those who are under the law will see nothing but death and condemnation.
We see Christ, the veil is over their face. And you know, most of Christianity looks at Christianity as a way to improve the flesh through the principle of law. Jesus Christ himself being the crown jewel of what humanity can be under Christianity, and they completely missed the mark. They look at Christianity as law mixed with grace.
But we who know Christ, we who know the man and the glory.
Know that the true object of God and all of that was Christ Himself, and we were on the grounds of the pure sovereign grace of God. And we see those Scriptures in a new light. And what you will find amongst our brethren and amongst those who profess Christianity in a large part the Old Testament is a closed book.
It is a closed book that they see nothing more than antiquated rituals and ceremonies and on and on and a list of commandments to try and keep as best you can. And that's all they see. They don't see Christ on every page. I'll tell you, if you meet a believer and you have opportunity to speak with them, someone that's out in the systems of men, share with them.
Something you've seen of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, some typical teaching of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. And I'll tell you, you'd get a blank stare, but you'll give them something they lost. You'd give them something they've lost. That's Christ in every page of that which was done away for that which is of a greater glory.
Book chapter 24 and verse 27 and beginning at Moses and all the prophets.
Expounded unto them.
In all the scriptures.
The things concerning himself.
There is a coming day.
When that veil will be taken away from the heart of the nation of Israel.
Think of it They too, in a coming day, are going to look back at the pages of the Old Testament.
And they are going to see what they never saw before.
What a thrill is they open those scriptures up and they begin to see what you and I have known from the time we were so young. Christ on every page. Oh, it's going to be like a new book to them. A new book. And that veil is going to be taken away. And they too will see what you and I have the privilege ahead of that day to see.
Scriptures.
You can just see the Apostle Paul traveling around.
Going from city to city, going into the synagogue and reasoning out of the scriptures from those same Old Testament scriptures.
Turning them to Isaiah 53, turning them to those, all of those sacrifices.
And in turn, he was beaten and stoned and whipped because they would not believe some beliefs like the Apostle Paul, someone who was born out of due time. But nationally they still remain in that same unbelief.
And so that's what the liberty is of verse 17. You know, from the time I was little, I often heard this verse applied that.
01:00:05
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. In other words, where the Saints are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit has liberty to use whom He will for the ministry of the Word, and so on. That's not what this Scripture means.
It's not what it means.
It's Christian privilege. You and I have the liberty that those under the old covenant do not have. We have the liberty to see Christ everywhere in the Scripture. Now, the Lord is that spirit. The Spirit of that is behind all the Old Testament scriptures. He is that spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Not only free from the law and its condemnation, but free to see Christ on every page.
And what is the result when we do that?
We're changed into the same image from glory to glory. As we contemplate one glory after another of the Lord Jesus Christ as we trace it through the Scriptures. We're changed into the same image, and that is the way the Spirit of God writes Christ on the heart.
From occupation with him as we find him in the scriptures, they are the ones that reveal.
That is what reveals Christ to the heart. That is what the Spirit of God uses to write Christ on the plushy tables of the heart.
So this is practical sanctification, isn't it?
As the Spirit of God occupies us with the Lord Jesus.
We are changed from glory to glory. It's a progressing, increasing thing. Transform more and more into His image, becoming more like Him. And that's what produces the righteousness. That's why it's the administration of righteousness, isn't it? And this goes on in each one of our lives as long as we allow the Spirit of God.
To occupy us with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it will go on as long as we're here until the Lord Jesus comes and, and then we have that beautiful verse in first John chapter 3. It says when we see him, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Then we'll actually see him in just a moment of time.
We'll transverse all the rest of that distance.
To become exactly like him, wonderful moment could happen today.
Brother Stan Jacobson said the first look.
In the Savior's face will finish the work of God, the Spirit of God, and our souls.
Look, look, you Saints within the bell, and raise your happy song.
Your choice can never ever help the Lord you to Christ being alone.
Oh, I see things forever free from you alternative.
World of those subjects in green.
Why did your horse should never do not go hard to get a smoke and freely.
I trust forever, trust in God for every promise in heaven.
01:05:12
She's a fart where thin a warehouse happened.
The Goodness of God, Luke 15
Gospel—Wally Dear
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.
Come.
Hear the gospel sound.
That's how the hymn starts. I like to sing it.
#66 in the back of the book.
Yet there is room.
It tells to all around, yet there is room. Though guilty now draw near, though vile. You need that fear.
With joy you now may hear, Yet there is room you know the gospel is a joyful message. It's a message of love. It's come down from above.
Is a wonderful message.
But you know, it's a message of mourning as well. You notice what this last verse says.
Verse four God's house is filling fast, yet there is room.
Some guests will be the last.
Yet there is room yes, sell soon salvation stay to you will pass away then grace no more will say yet.
There is room tonight, there is still room for you if you are outside of Christ in your sins.
You have the opportunity tonight to come to Jesus and be saved.
And know it and enjoy it. But as it says here, some guests will be the last.
And I wonder if here tonight we might have the last guest to enter in.
And the door will be shut.
Grace no more will say, yet there is room.
It's a solemn thought.
I'd like to sing this number 66, and perhaps we could stand as we sing.
#66 in the back of the book.
Come here.
And I also do all around the era there is a room. Lord, we come here now from the earth.
Is not here.
Better for everyone.
Yes, there is room.
Right and great things have done.
Yes, there is room.
Oh, we're in town.
Out and so I think that.
There is a little.
Some guests will be alive.
00:05:01
Yes, there is room.
Salvation game till they're doing well. Passed away.
Yeah, there is ruined.
Shall we pray?
Like to also sing #49?
In the back of the book #49 There is life in a look at the crucified One. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, Sinner, looketh unto him, and be saved unto him who is nailed to the tree #49 And we can remain seated as we sing.
There is life in love.
Love, love, love handsome where is my pillow at the cruise required one. There is life that is small and for me.
It is a sandwich of soul on the cross. After I'll see it again and again. Cry of distress. That's our burden.
Then by the time there is a pride he endured.
At this moment, for thee we are healed.
By his stripes.
Wouldst thou add to the word? And He is our righteousness made the best robe of heaven He bids me put on? Or couldst thou be better parade?
Then doubt not thy welcome, since God hath declared there remaineth no more to be done. Christ wants to the end of the world hath appeared.
And completed the work he begun last verse.
Pote with rejoin Saint Francis.
And joy with the shore. And thou never can silence and change us. My righteousness let's love.
The one again in the present there is light. And I thought I was like, really good to see what I want. There is life that is going for thee.
There is light in our love as the gravity find one. There is life that is known in 40.
And what Sinner love once in heaven, and be safe when you know thyself fall asleep.
Love rock at the end, mirroring flies down at the frequency by one. There is my life at this moment.
The.
00:10:02
Tonight.
We sang 24 letter words sang.
COMECMLO, OK.
Look, Salvation.
Is.
Not difficult.
We have opportunity to come to Jesus here tonight.
We have opportunities to look at the crucified One, the one who on the cross gave himself.
In order to.
Make salvation possible.
To you and to me.
And you know, the gospel is good news.
I'd like to begin by reading a verse in Psalm 27.
Psalm 27 and verse.
13.
Psalm 2713.
It says.
The psalmist says I had fainted.
Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
And then if we turn over to Psalm 100.
And seven.
Psalm 107 It says here in verse 10 give thanks.
Unto the Lord.
For he is.
Good for his mercy.
Endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Verse 8.
Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works.
To the children of men.
And this verse is repeated.
In verse 15.
Verse 21 and verse 31.
Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness. We are here tonight.
To proclaim the goodness of the Lord.
The goodness of God.
And.
I find it when I'm speaking with a soul.
Maybe never met before. You wonder sometimes, how can you introduce the Lord? How can you say something for the Lord without feeling like you're preaching to the person?
Have you ever been in that situation?
You know, you feel as though you ought to be saying something, and if you don't say anything, you feel kind of defeated.
But you know there's 4 words.
That you can say to an individual.
And introduce the Lord to that person.
And I find that rather than turning people off.
It's kind of an engaging thing. You know what the four words are? We just read these words.
The Lord.
Is good.
The Lord is good.
And you know, it tells us here in verse two, let the redeemed of the Lord.
Say so. Say so. Say so. You know that kind of rings in my mind and heart those two words. Say so.
What's the last time that you spoke?
To somebody about the Lord.
And.
You said the Lord is good.
It tells us here that we ought to be.
Saying with our lips.
E is good.
And so we're going to turn over to the New Testament a very familiar portion, but I think in this chapter in the New Testament.
We find God at work, we have God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and we have God the Father.
00:15:06
And it's a beautiful chapter. And justice, like John 316 perhaps, is one of the most.
Well known gospel verses.
Here this chapter in Luke 15.
It has the story of the prodigal, which is perhaps one of the best known short gospel stories in the Bible, and I would like to talk about that. But there's two other stories ahead of that. And in every story we find that something is lost. In the first story, it's a lost sheep.
The second story.
It's a lost coin, and in the last story is a lost son.
And you know God is speaking these stories through His Son.
The Lord Jesus here tells us in chapter 15 Book A Luke.
Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners.
For to hear him.
You know it was the.
The outcasts of society and those that were degraded, we find that they're attracted to Jesus.
There was something about his ministry.
That was engaging. You know what they said about the Lord Jesus that.
They marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. He spoke with grace.
He spoke with assurance because he spoke the truth.
He spoke with boldness.
He spoke with authority.
And you know, there were those that.
Were attracted, I believe, to the message that he had to present.
Publicans and sinners.
They come. What for? To hear Him. And we pray tonight that you might indeed be here, not to hear me, but to hear Jesus.
Speaking to you through His Word, the Bible, this book.
Is what gives us stability in the world in which we live.
Thank God for the Bible this rock solid.
Somebody's likened it to a rock.
Around the coast and the big waves.
Are slamming up against the rock and what happens to the wave?
It's just dissipated in foam and spray. What happens to the rock? Nothing. It remains is still there. Well, you know, men have sought.
Down through time to attack the word of God.
And they build doctrines.
Out of their own imagination to try to bring down the word of God.
Are they successful? Absolutely not. The word of God, like a rock, it stands.
And their ideas.
Are dissipated in spray and in foam. I thank God tonight that I can stand here with this book in my hand because this is God's word. It doesn't change. It's open here tonight in our hands, on our laps, and this book is going to be open in eternity.
It's eternal, the word of God. It lives and it abides forever.
We have here.
The written word, but it's about the living word. His name is Jesus.
And he's speaking.
Well, it says here in verse 2 The Pharisees and describes they murmured. You know, murmuring is something.
That it's not nice, It's not good. What were they murmuring? They were complaining under their breath about what Jesus was saying. Why?
00:20:09
Because they had their own religion and their religion.
Was centered around themselves.
Deifying Self.
At the expense.
Of worshipping the true God, Jesus.
And you know that's how it is today. Man has his religion. It's all about self.
But the gospel.
Of the grace of God that we preach here tonight. It's all about Jesus.
Jesus.
You know I got this book here.
Is called a hymn book.
But I always enjoyed the thought that.
It's all about him.
HIM. It's a hymn book in Austin. Songs that we sang tonight, they were about Jesus.
And that's who God would have us to exalt, His own dear Son.
God finds the light in His beloved Son.
And Jesus.
Was here in this world to manifest God while he was God and you know there were those that were attracted to him but there was those that found fault because.
They were self-centered, but I'm going to tell you here tonight.
The Lord Jesus.
He reached out.
To those that were in need, who felt their need, these Pharisees.
These scribes, he felt no need. They were self-righteous people.
And to suggest that they needed salvation, especially through Jesus.
That was.
Odious.
And so we find that they would not come to.
Jesus, let alone follow Him.
So.
They murmured what they murmured. This man received sinners.
And eats with them.
That's how they find fault with Jesus, because he said.
He received sinners.
And even eats with them. Well, dear ones, here tonight I want to say something.
The reason that Jesus came into this world was to reach out to sinners.
And it tells us about what he said. He said I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
And so.
He ate with them.
Now you know there is this.
And holds canover.
Proverb or little at age that you're known by the company that you keep.
So I think maybe these Pharisees and scribes, they were trying to malign, depreciate the Lord by saying, you know, he says he's.
The Son of God, He's holy, but here he is in association with sinners.
And so this reflects on his character. But they were totally off base. You know, the Lord Jesus tells us that he was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate.
Sinners.
He did associate with them.
But never condoned their ways. You know the Lord Jesus, He loves the Sinner, but he hates the sin.
And the reason that he come close to sinners was that he might be able to meet their need.
As sinners, save their souls, cleanse our hearts, and make them whole.
As the little children's hymn puts it.
And the fact is.
00:25:02
If the Lord Jesus.
Did not eat with sinners.
He would have to eat all by himself.
Isn't that true? I mean.
If he was going to.
He was somebody he had to eat with, a Sinner.
Well, we find the Lord Jesus speaks these stories.
These parables and the first story is about a sheep that got lost.
In verse three it says, And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having an 100 sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until they find it. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calls together his friends.
And neighbors.
Saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one Sinner that repented.
Or one repenting Sinner more than over 90 and nine just persons which need no repentance.
So here we have a sheep.
And his sheep, rather than going in to the shelter, he goes off on his own. And you know, that's how we are. He tells us that all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way.
And you know that little hymn for the children? It goes something like this. Thou wouldst like to have thy way.
On the lonely hills to stray, where the hungry lion hides, and the fiery serpent glides.
Is that a good place to be?
Where the hungry lion?
Is hiding out ready to pounce.
It's a dangerous place.
I don't know if I should mention this, but I saw one time it was in a video.
And these folks were on a safari. And this woman, she opens the door.
Of the vehicle because she wanted to get a good picture.
Of the Lion, And in an instant the lion pounced on her.
Trajan.
Our vehicle.
And I don't want to see again what I saw that Lion devoured.
That, well, there was nothing that could be done. Nothing.
And there those in the car, they were observing this taking place. Well, you know Satan, it tells us he's like a roaring lion.
Seeking whom he may devour.
You think you're going to make friends with Satan?
Well, I want to tell you something.
He wants your destruction. He wants to devour you.
But Jesus wants to save you. He loves you. He wants you.
To be delivered from the jaws of the destroyer.
What about the serpent? The fiery serpent?
You know, we perhaps walked out in the desert.
I remember one time we were out there and.
Mr. Sweener.
He takes us on a tour, you know, and he said, you know, we got rattlesnakes out here.
But he said generally they don't hurt you if you don't hurt them.
And that was somewhat of a consolation. But still, rattlesnakes, they're poisonous.
And the little hymn says, Out there on the mountain, this fiery serpent is gliding.
And you know Satan is referred to as a serpent as well.
Well, we find this sheep.
Went missing.
00:30:02
And the sheep.
In his own way and perhaps thought that it's going to have a good time.
Out there exploring, gets lost, can't find his way back. He needs help.
That's characteristic of sheep.
You know, a sheep that gets lost.
Needs somebody to go after it to find it can't find its way back. Like a dog or a cat.
They might disappear for a day or two, maybe longer.
But they show up again often.
At your house.
But a sheep, if it gets lost, is lost. It needs help. Well, here we find that the shepherd.
He goes out into the wilderness.
In order to find the lost sheep.
He doesn't say, well, you know, I got 99 sheep here.
I don't think 1 sheep is really going to matter that much. I mean, I still got 99. It's a lot of sheep. No, it says here he's thinking about the one sheep.
He has a concern for the one sheep. He wants to go after it. He wants to find it because he loves the sheep. He wants to save it. And so it tells us here.
That.
He goes after the sheep until he finds it.
While the hymn writers said, you know, none of the ransom will ever know how deep were the waters crossed or how dark was the night that the Lord passed through when he found his sheep that was lost the shepherd. Here is a picture of the Lord Jesus. I don't think it's hard.
To understand and appreciate.
The figure here of the Shepherd.
And at the Lord, Jesus was speaking about himself.
And over in John chapter 10, he said, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. He's willing to risk his life in order to find the sheep.
It makes us think about David, doesn't it? David, He was a Good Shepherd. Why He was willing to risk his life to save the sheep from the lion, and also another sheep from the bear.
He risked his life. He didn't have to give his life though.
But the Lord Jesus.
He gave his life.
For the sheep.
For you and for me. And it tells us here, when he had found the sheep, he laid it.
On his shoulders.
Rejoicing.
I just think the figure here is so beautiful. The shepherd finds his sheep, and perhaps the sheep is weak. It's gone a long ways, perhaps 100 miles away.
And.
It's helpless.
But when the shepherd sees the sheep.
He Stoops down. He picks up the sheep.
He puts it on his shoulders, and you know, shoulders in Scripture would speak of strength.
And he takes the sheep and clasps. He holds onto that sheep. I think of him holding it close to his chest, you know?
Is a place of affection. He really cared about that sheep and when he found it.
He didn't leave it there.
It doesn't even say he scolded the sheep.
I think he was so.
Happy that he had found the sheep. That's what it says here. It says he lay it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
It's not the end of this story. When he cometh home, he calleth together his friends.
And neighbors saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep.
Which was lost, I say unto you, that is likewise joy shall be in heaven over one Sinner that repents more than over 90 and nine just persons which need no repentance.
00:35:17
I think what we need to see in this story.
Is that?
The shepherd rejoices that he's found his sheep.
Did you ever rejoice that you found something that was lost?
I remember years ago.
I had a bicycle. It was a nice bicycle.
And.
So I wrote it to the store.
Found two blocks away or so and I parked the bike outside the store.
And I went in.
I don't know what it was I bought, but I bought something.
And it came out of the store.
And I.
Went back home.
And.
It was just a short while later.
I went to ride my bike.
It wasn't there. I'm thinking what happened to my bike? My bike?
And then I remember I wrote it down to the store and I forgot when I came out of the store to ride my bike home.
So you know what I did next?
It didn't take me long to get down to that store.
I ran down there.
No bike, nothing.
I went into the store, I talked to the man in the store. You see a bike around here anywhere? No.
No. So I thought, Oh dear, my bike. It was a good bike. I really like that bike. It's gone.
I have no clue where it is.
Well, you know, it was a while later that somebody suggested.
You know, maybe.
You might call the police because sometimes they go around, they collect bikes and they put them in a pound over at the police station. Well, I didn't have a lock on the bike and I thought, well, that's interesting, maybe I should call the police. So I did. He said, well, come on over, take a look. I went over there.
And I'm looking and there's lots of bikes.
Where's my bike? Is it here?
There it is.
It was right there at the police station. I was so happy.
I was rejoicing.
I found my bike.
But I know I wasn't rejoicing as much as the Shepherd in our story here tonight.
Who found his sheep?
And the Shepherd.
I believe is the Lord himself God.
Finds the light.
In.
Recovering.
What really belongs to him?
We need to think about the joy of the Lord now. I think the sheep was happy too.
I don't know what goes through a sheep's mind, but I suppose that sheep was laying out there perhaps?
Maybe it was cold. Maybe it was dark, damp.
He was tired, perhaps. I don't know the condition of the sheep, but I would imagine that sheep was happy to be found.
And.
The Shepherd.
Didn't put a leash on the sheep and said OK here, come with me and walk him home now. Puts him on his shoulders, shoulders of strength and brings him home all the way home.
And that's what our shepherd is. He's an all the way home shepherd.
You can take us all the way home to glory.
It doesn't tell us that he ever put the sheep down. And I might ask you a question here tonight.
Was the sheep holding on to the shepherd?
There was this shepherd holding on to the sheep.
00:40:04
I think we know the answer.
The shepherd had a tight grip on that sheep, and he brings the sheep home.
And he calls together, as it tells us here.
His friends and his neighbors.
You know God.
He delights to spread His joy around, and He wants you and me to enter into His joy. There's so much of the time we're just thinking about what makes us happy, what makes us joyful, and we can be so thankful to be delivered from Satan's power.
And to be in a place of security.
And we think of it from our perspective, and we're so thankful for salvation. But let's think about it from Christ's perspective, from God's perspective and the joy that he derives from the salvation of a Sinner.
Now it tells us here there's joy in the presence of the angels.
Well, that's the next story. Verse seven, it says.
Likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one Sinner that repenteth.
And I said a repenting Sinner.
I think that's how Mr. Darby puts it. You know, repentance isn't something that we do.
One time in the past and then that's all over.
Repentance is a process.
And repentance is a change of mind.
Or we could say attitude, God, word.
That leads us.
To.
Make a change in our conduct.
In our manner of life, somebody said repentance is really taking sides with God.
Against ourselves. I think that's a good definition.
And to be willing to acknowledge that yes, God is right and I am wrong. And to submit to the Lord.
And go his way.
And you know, that's something.
That, I believe, is a process, and it goes on and on and on. We need that repenting.
Now the apostle Paul.
In Acts chapter 20, it tells us that he preached repentance towards God.
And faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith. They go together.
Faith is what saves by grace. Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God. What is faith? Faith is taking God at His word.
It's believing God, but it's also believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, we know the story. He was in prison.
There was an earthquake in the prison.
Nurse Paul and Silas, they're sitting in the inner prison. Their backs are bleeding during the stops, an earthquake that doors fly open. The foundations of the prison are shaken. And the jailer, he.
Goes in.
To that inner prison trembling falls at the feet of the impossible.
Since.
Serves. What must I do to be saved without hesitation?
You say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
That's all they said.
Now later they go into the house, it tells us that the jailer, he believed and he rejoiced. But I think believing is accepting.
What God has done through his Son at the cross of Calvary in order to save your soul in my He gave his life.
00:45:00
He suffered, bled, and died on that cruel cross. He bore the punishment for my sin and for yours as well if you trust him. And his precious blood was **** that cleans us from all sin. Now is that what you rely on for salvation?
If you do, you're saved. It's just that simple.
Now it's just about Abraham that he believed God.
And it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now I think he believed on God, but it says he believed God.
What does that mean? He believed what God spoke.
And if you turn over to the faith chapter, you see how it affected Abraham.
He left his country in order to go.
Where God led to direct, God directed him where to go. It was evidence of his faith in the Word of God that he went from his country.
So.
Believing God, taking him into his word. That's faith.
We need that for salvation.
We need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what he accomplished, do you believe in his finished work?
That there's nothing more to do like the hymn writer put it. You know, cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus feet. Stand in him and him alone. Gloriously complete.
I see you all sitting down on these chairs here.
If I was to.
Asked Mr. Kansit here.
Mr. Tanzitz, could you tell me exactly what time it is that you sat down in your chair?
That's OK, just.
You really did. OK, one minute to seven. All right, I'll ask Aaron over here what time you sit down in your chair.
OK, so he says he knows exactly, but you don't know.
Now, oh, that was a guess, OK.
Well, the point here is.
You're sitting on the chair. Does it really matter that you know when you've sat down in the chair?
Doesn't really matter, but you just know that.
You took the weight.
Off your legs and put it on the chair.
You know that.
You know.
Some had the idea you have to know when you get saved.
I can't tell you the exact date, and if a person can that's good, that's great. But if you can't, it doesn't mean you're not saved.
You know what I mean. And salvation comes through simple faith in the Lord Jesus. And to know exactly when it was that I put faith in the Lord is difficult. In fact, I was raised in a Christian home.
And I know one brother, he told me, he said I don't know when I got saved because I always believed, you know, I believe what my father, mother, they said.
But here we find that everybody's sitting down on a chair. You, you put faith in your chair when you sat down, if you thought that chair was going to collapse, you wouldn't have sat down on it. And if you thought the chair was going to collapse in the next.
5 minutes.
You're probably going to get off your chair, or if you thought it was going to collapse in the next minute, you're going to get off your chair. But you're not thinking that way. Why? Because you put confidence in the chair.
And you know, when we put confidence in the Lord, we.
Put.
Shall I say our confidence in him?
And we rest.
On his finished work and if you are doing that here tonight.
You are saved.
Saved by the grace of God.
Now I know in my own life I recall being concerned about my sins and.
00:50:03
One night I asked the Lord to save me.
But, you know, salvation isn't necessarily saying a certain kind of prayer.
I mean.
We can call out to the Lord. That's important. You know this sheep. I'm thinking that.
There was nothing that he could do, perhaps other than to bleed.
Wanting help, he felt his knee.
But as far as being able to do anything about it, couldn't do it. And you know, we can't save ourselves, but we can call upon the Lord. It does say whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.
But salvation, you know it rests on the finished work of Christ. He was delivered for our fences and raised again for our justification. It's important to believe both aspects. Is death and His resurrection salvation?
That's how we get salvation. It's by simple faith in Him. Well, there's two more stories here and we didn't get too far, but the next story is about a coin that was lost.
And this coin, it rolled away.
But you know, it tells us about a woman. She lit a candle.
And.
That coin could not find its way back. In fact, the coin is inanimate. The coin is.
You might say there's no life in it.
But we find the woman is in earnest to find that.
Coin and she lights a candle now I think it's been thought it's been.
The woman here would speak of the activity of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit and lighting a candle, the word of God and you know.
We find the church.
Often referred to as a woman, the Spirit of God works in the church today.
And we read in our chapter there in 2 Corinthians.
Chapter 3.
That the Spirit gives life.
And so, you know, it tells us that we are dead in trespasses and in sins. But.
God by His Spirit works to impart life.
And it's through His Word. The Spirit of God applies the word of God.
To the soul and.
Life is imparted.
And again, there's joy in the presence now of the angels of God over 1 repenting Sinner.
And then we have the story of the two sons.
And the one son, he looks to his father to give to him the portion of goods that falls to him. Give me, give me. He takes what his father gives into a fire country.
A long ways from his father thinking to enjoy.
Time on his own.
Independent.
Of his father.
But it doesn't turn out well.
That's what sin is, you know, it's acting independence of God, and that's what happened in the Garden of Eden.
Eve, she took up that fruit and gave to Adam. It was disobedience to God, acting independently of God. That's what man is today, seeking on his own to find satisfaction apart from God. But it doesn't work.
And so we find that this son, he spends all that he has, ends up feeding.
Pigs.
And the next thing is.
Verse 17 he comes to himself, how many hired servants of my father's have bred enough and despair in I perish with hunger.
Now he's thinking about his father.
00:55:00
And the goodness of his father. And he goes back and he acknowledges to his father, I have sinned, but he's going to tell his father.
I'm not worthy to be your son, but make me a hired servant. He wants to work a deal with his father so he can get back into the household.
I want to tell you something, dear ones, you can't work any deals with God.
God.
He.
Is pictured in this father.
God the Father.
And it tells us that the father sees the son of Pharaoh, and the son acknowledges his sin.
He says, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight no more worthy to be called my son.
But I didn't say anything about the higher servant.
You know, that would have been a slight to the grace.
Of the Father grace is unmerited favor, and when we come to God.
It's all of grace, and if we can think, we can perform some duty in order to enjoy God's acceptance.
We're off the rails.
You know the father here, he says.
Bring forth the best rope and put it on him.
Here the boy is covered in rags. Filthy rags.
But we find that Father had compassion fell on his neck. He kissed him.
Covered him with kisses.
He was so delighted his son had returned.
And it says here he calls for the best robe.
Off with the rags, on with the best rope. The best robe is Christ. Christ, you know, it tells us in Isaiah that.
We are covered with the robe of righteousness, clothed with the garments of salvation.
Put on him.
A ring on his hand, shoes on his feet. Bring hit her the fatted calf and kill it. Let us eat and be married for this. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began.
To be merry again. It's the joy of the Father having his Son in the house, you know. And when we come to God, we find that.
He not only gives us forgiveness.
But he makes us one of his sons. We enjoy sonship.
And he brings us into the house.
And we are there to enjoy His presence, He enjoys ours.
And it says.
They began to be married.
And it doesn't say they ever.
Ended the celebration.
Well, tonight.
Might ask where are you?
Are you like the sheep that's lost?
The coin.
The Son God's desire is that you might enjoy.
Salvation.
And if you want to make God happy.
You accept.
His way of salvation and repentance.
Taking sides with God.
Against oneself in putting trust in the Lord Jesus.
Let's pray.
Marriage
Talk—Joe Countouris
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.
OK, so the subject I have on my heart to speak about tonight is marriage.
And this is.
A mixed group of older ones and or married people, young people who aren't married yet. And so there's going to be expectations to those who are already married and myself, expectations that I need every single day. And there's going to be some things here for those who are single, contemplating marriage to consider and think about.
I'm not up here talking about this subject because I've arrived at Concord. I know it all.
Exactly the opposite. Things like fail and every single day are things are going to pick up here this evening, things that we all need.
I hope, too, that if there's somebody here who is not contemplating marriage, that just the subject that we're taking up from the Word of God in regards to Christ in the church will be a benefit to each one of us.
OK, so let's start with Ephesians chapter 5.
In verse 22.
We're reading through this and Dorothy, just a couple weeks ago, this is what prompted me to speak about Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22. Dead wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives.
Be to their own husbands and everything.
So the first thing we're going to take up is submission.
Submission is something that is very difficult.
In every sphere of life that we find ourselves in, whether we're wise or men.
We find that we're always under submission. Always.
Whether it is in a household, parents, husbands, wives, before the authorities were ultimately before God, we always find ourselves under submission.
This verse talks about a wife's role in being submissive to her husband because the husband is ahead in that relationship.
That doesn't mean that a wife is less intelligent.
It doesn't mean that a wife is less spiritual.
It just simply means that this is the order that God has created.
And it's the order that wiser quality.
Submission doesn't mean that you're to submit to your husband's when it suits you.
When you feel like it, when you're having a good day, when you feel like he's treated you right.
These two things that we're going to take up in this chapter of Submission and Love are mutually exclusive.
There's commands to the wives and there's commands to the husbands. 1 does not depend on the other.
This is God's order. It's God's order for blessing.
This also doesn't mean that you can't have a mind, you can't have an exercise, you can't have thoughts. In the word of God, you should. You're a sister in the Lord.
And you should have personal exercises and thoughts before the Lord Jesus Christ. What this does mean, though, is that in the course of your relationship with your husband.
When a decision has to be made.
On how to move forward, the husband is to make that decision.
And the wife is to cement.
Doesn't mean that she can't offer advice. She should offer advice. It doesn't mean that her advice won't be right many times. It will be right many times. The husband should listen to her like Abraham was told to listen to Sarah.
But what is critical is that if you're a wife and your husband says this is the direction that we need to move in.
Even if you disagree with that direction, you have to submit.
That's God's order. That's his way of blessing.
Submission when you think something is wrong.
Or it is wrong is so difficult?
So difficult.
Girls.
Consideration for you those who are contemplating marriage.
Consider who you are marrying or considering. Consider who you might marry.
What is his character like?
00:05:01
When the word of God comes to bear upon his conscience.
In regards to anything, how does he respond? How does he act? How does he move?
More than likely that's going to be the same way he acts and moves after you're married as well. And if in presenting the word of God to him he says I don't care, probably that's going to happen after you're married as well and consider having to submit.
In God's order to someone who is careless with the word of God.
Consider it, be careful.
Marriage is forever. It's for the entire tier of your life.
The world wants to portray marriage in fairy tale a movie.
Where Darcy ends up OK.
But marriage?
Always a very fair marriage is hard work, disturbing, and if you're marrying somebody who is careless with the Word of God, you're adding a tremendous amount of stress to your marriage. Be careful about who you married.
Voice.
In thinking about a wife, how does she react to her parents?
When her parents give her instruction.
What is her character?
See ya. What does she act like? Probably that character that she acts towards her parents. Maybe not the first week, maybe not the first month, maybe not the first.
Two months, it's going to come out.
It's going to because that's the reaction to submission.
What about authorities? Maybe she missed submits to her parents, but she could care less about the authorities. Just considering think about it. Don't rush in to marriage.
Consider what these scriptures are saying.
Are in regards to God's order.
And what this possible future husband, wife of yours is going to act like.
OK, let's look at Titus chapter two. Another one for the ladies.
Titus chapter 2 and verse 4.
Speaking Titus, speaking to the older women, what they were supposed to instruct the younger women to do that they admonished the young women to love their husbands, to love their children. Now that word love, I used to struggle with this verse because I always was told that when you read Ephesians, the reason love is presented to the husband is because that's what guys struggle with. And I came to Titus and I said, well, they're given expectations to love.
But it actually means to be attached. It's talking about attachments.
And a wife is instructed here to be attached to their husbands and to be attached to their children. And why would that be? Because being a husband sometimes is difficult work.
You can just ask my wife.
And being a mother sometimes.
Oftentimes, there's a lot of work.
And this world has a whole agenda and a whole program for women to excuse and detach from their husbands and to detach from their children.
That's what this world would actually prefer you to do.
And yet scripture says for you to be attached to your husbands, to be attached to your children.
That's the path of blessing, following what God has. And so I would encourage you.
Wives out there who are already wise, be attached to your husbands.
Be attached to your children.
Alright, let's go back to Ephesians chapter 5. Take up the husbands, Ephesians chapter 5.
Verse 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for her, that he might sanctify and fund her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
But that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives at their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourish it and cherish it, just as the Lord does the Church.
OK, so this love, I'm sure everybody here knows there's different types of love and the word of God. I believe there's four. I'm only familiar with two. One is phileo love, Philadelphia brotherly love. It's a love of affection. That's not this love. This love is agape love. It's a divine love. It's a love that loves when there's nothing in the source that is lovable. It's the love that God loved us with when we were yet sinners.
00:10:24
It doesn't look at the object and say, OK, I'm waiting for something to love and then I'm going to love it. No, it says you're married, you love her.
There there is no other option.
You love her. Time goes on, you get into an argument, things change, characters change and you say I don't love her anymore.
There's no room for that here. You love her because you're safe. You have a new life, and that's all that new life does. It simply loves.
This is not agape love. It's not based on emotion, it's not based on anything physical, anything mental. It is you love because of the divine love.
This love is a self sacrificing love. It's a love that looks at the good of the other person and says.
I'm going to do what's best for them.
We're so selfish, all of us. But a lot of times us guys, we're so self-centered and selfish. We live our lives to our own end. We have children and sometimes I remember when my children were young and I would.
Come up with some reason why my wife needed to take the baby because she made the change.
Why? That wasn't divine love, that was self-centered love.
This is a love as we read in the first Epistle of John.
That loves indeed. Not in Word. It's easy to say I love you, love you, love you baby, hey love you, blah blah blah.
But saying love doesn't mean that you love.
The Lord Jesus Christ didn't say, didn't just say I love you. He came down and proved it. He gave his life for us. He died on the cross for you and me. That's the divine love that we're talking about. It loves indeed, not just in work.
This doesn't mean you love her when she submitted.
It doesn't mean that you love her when she makes you a sandwich.
This is a love that loves her regardless of how she's acting, because that's what love does.
That's what divine love does. This also doesn't mean that you love her when you can get something out of it, like sex.
It means that you love her regardless of anything that you can get out of it. Because if you're loving her just for that, that's not love. That's self love. I'll do the dishes for you, baby, because I'm hoping later we can have sex. That's love of myself.
That's not divine love.
To the guys, marriages. Marriage is for life. You must, you must love.
Prayerfully consider marriage. Consider who you are marrying. Recognize that this is for the entirety of your life. It is not a game. It's not a Disney movie.
This is serious. This is going to affect your day-to-day walk with the Lord.
Love pursues its object. It pursues things like communication. Communication is something that I I struggle with. Something happens in our relationship and I have a tendency to shut down. That's not love. Communication is the basis for every relationship. Consider a relationship without communication. Do you actually have a relationship If you never talk to the Lord, do you actually have a relationship with Him? If he never talks to you through His word because you never open it up, do you really have a.
And if you don't, talk to your wife.
Do you really have a relationship with her?
Are you willing guys to pursue communication?
Pursue the good and happiness of the, of the, of your wife, of your future wife.
What is your?
What is your motor? Is it yourself? Are you self motivated to to help yourself, to love yourself?
So many times that has been met.
And it is at the expense of my wife, is at the expense of my children, it's at the expense of the relationship. It's not divine love.
00:15:05
Love pursues forgiveness.
Doesn't hold on to grudges. You're going to be entering into a bond with another person who has the flesh and there's going to be difficulties and difficulties and difficulties. It's part of the marriage relationship. And if you struggle with forgiveness?
Have a very difficult marriage?
You need to be a great and incredible forgiver for that marriage relationship to drive.
Because there's going to be constant things that happen on both sides.
Girls, how does he pursue you? If you are in a relationship right now, or considering it, or one is possibly boarding, think about these things. What's his pursuits as his pursuits himself? Or are they truly love? Agape divine love indeed not in Word.
Let's look back over at the first year.
First Peter, chapter 3.
In verse 7, husbands likewise dwell with them.
As your wives with understanding.
Giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Two things here. One is dwell with them, with understanding.
As guys, we need to pursue.
Understanding our wives and wives oftentimes are like enigmas wrapped in mysteries. They're very difficult to understand and thankfully they change every day.
But that's how God made them and on our part we can't say, well I tried yesterday and today is crazy so I'm done. No love excuse, dwelling with understanding. Where is my wife? Hit up, Where is she this year?
Where is she going to be next year? Where is she at? We as husbands have been placed into the the the relationship at heads in this family and it says you need to dwell with your wife with understanding.
Take time to understand your wife and your wife is going to change and that's OK, But you're going to have to put out the effort and the love that is needed to understand her day by day, week by week. And it's going to change sometimes during the month. It happens. And you're going to have to dwell with her with understanding.
Never an excuse to say I'm done here. I'll see you in a week.
Scripture doesn't present that.
OK, so there's one other thing here. The weaker vessel. This doesn't mean that she's physically weaker. I know some ladies who are stronger than their husbands. Doesn't mean that she's spiritually weaker.
I know many wives that are more have more spiritual understanding our husbands. It simply means that they have been placed into the position in the relationship in regards to God's order that is happening to submit.
Remember that guys, don't abuse that authority. God has given you authority as a husband.
Don't abuse it.
It will not pay you dividends in your relationship with your children, with the assembly. It will just so hardly.
One other thing, First Corinthians 95, I'll just read it. Do we not? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles?
The brothers of the Lord in secret.
And the thought here is that your wife is first a sister in the Lord.
With personal exercises and thoughts before the Lord. And then she's your wife.
She's a sister wife.
And we need to make sure that we understand that and we don't abuse that authority and we don't trot her under foot and drag her along with everything that we think there may come a time in our relationship where decisions have to be made.
But be careful not to allow your wife to have a relationship with the Lord. As a sister, it is critical to her relationship with the Lord. OK, that's all I have.
Speaking to and Listening to the Lord
Children—Paul House
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.
Does somebody have a song for us to start with?
#16.
Tim, maybe you could start these for me #16 please.
Salvation, salvation, salvation from gift of God is praying for Jesus, I, for sinners, even you and me.
The Bible clearly tells us that all are Washington, that not by any goodness and with salvation.
If I could have left one, there's some 316 would you? I love the world and gave his son to die for me and you.
Salvation salvation, salvation against the God is free. Lord Jesus life for seven season you and me.
Our mission is forever, the Word of God is playing. But she found by the Shepherd cannot be lost again, for they shall never perish them for them from his hands, though they are only happy when they follow.
His command.
Salvation. Salvation against how God is created.
See, he has died for security venue and being. Well, let's begin.
Little prayer to the Lord and ask for help, and then we'll sing another one. OK, All right here.
#10 OK #10.
Yeah, she didn't. That's not anything. Yeah.
So.
Street rice loves me in new time having taken off and why he will washed away my sins like a little child coming.
Yeah, she's not swamped. Yes, it's not Love me.
Yeah.
Don't tell me so. Jesus loves me, loves me still wearing my battery. We can tell from it shining on my heart. He will watch me where I lie.
Yes, she's tough. Love me.
00:05:02
If I trust him to rely God, he will Take Me Home, my life. Yes, Jesus must start feeling.
Yeah, Jesus wants me.
Yeah, she's not one thing. The Bible tells me so.
OK, now you children that are here today, do you think that the older people like to come to Sunday school too?
I think so because I like to come to Sunday School. So should we ask maybe if there's somebody that's older that wants to give out to him for Sunday school, what do you think? Or would you like to give one up? OK, what would you like?
#18 OK, that's great.
He has father's and he he has problems here with his black history.
He has followers here. He has fallen to him. It is where it is, beside all the fleeting historic muscles.
You don't see that he's calling.
To set up his hands to tell the story of his life.
Jacob, Thank you, Jacob. That's really a good hymn because one of the things I want to talk about today is that somebody that got called by their name.
OK, before we go on, I want to tell you a couple of stories.
And.
I remember when I was young like you guys, I used to love it when people would tell stories.
So I'm going to tell you a story that I can remember when I was a little boy, and that was a few years ago, quite a few years ago.
And we were my family. We were up at a cottage in Muskoka, which is in Ontario, which is further north than where we live, and we were staying with my Uncle Ralph and Aunt Ruth and their family.
And we were going to meeting on Sunday morning, and I was just a little boy, but I remember this very clearly. And the cottage was right beside this big highway.
And it was a very busy highway. And because it was in the middle of Muskoka, there's lots of lakes and boats and stuff like that. And so there was a lot of cars that had boats on them. And it was very hard to get from the cottage lane onto the highway. And you had to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait. And I was a little kid. It was like forever seemed like we'd never get.
Our way to to meeting in Sunday school and so.
I remember my uncle Ralph, I was in his car with one of my cousins and my uncle Ralph was driving and we were waiting and waiting and finding there was a break in the traffic. And I was like, oh boy, that's so good, we get to go. So my uncle Ralph stepped on the gas and the car stalled.
But we were on a little hill and so we had come down the hill a little bit and we were right in the middle of the highway and the car stalled.
What do you think my Uncle Ralph did?
Before he tried to start the car again, he said Lord save us.
And I remember as a little boy being so impressed with that.
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That my uncle, he was a grown man and he would say Lord.
Save us.
And you know, that made an impression on me.
And many times in my life when I've been in a hard situation.
I've said Lord.
And you know what? He's helped me.
And I pray and trust that each person here this morning has said, Lord.
Save me.
That's not the rest of the story. I looked down the road and there was a car coming right at our car. It was going to hit us. I knew it.
I didn't know.
What was going to happen? My uncle tried the car again and it started and we went ahead and the car didn't hit us. I don't know how it didn't hit us.
Because it was a there were cars that's coming and they were going so fast. And somehow the Lord spared us. He saved us.
And you know, I learned a lesson that day that the Lord can save.
Even when we think it's impossible, the Lord saved us and I was just a little boy.
And that story has stuck with me my whole life, that the Lord took care of us that day.
Now I want to tell you another story So.
In order for me to come, because I'm a Canadian, I can't come across in a car across the border into the United States. That's the law. So if I want to come, I have to fly down to an airport and.
Then I have to get a ride to come to the conference. So we were praying about what to do and.
There weren't very many flights from Canada, but they're slowly bringing them back and so now there was a flight.
From Ottawa to Montreal to Philadelphia, which is the way I came here. So I phoned my daughter Christie, and I said, Christie, I would really like to go to the conference. Can you pick me up in the airport in Philadelphia?
Well, I'm kind of used to traveling with my wife, who's well organized, and I kind of follow along and get there because she helps me. But she drove here with Tom and Ernie, my two boys.
And so I was going to have to go through the airport by myself, I was going to have to go through customs, I was going to have to get all these things done.
So what do you think I did? I prayed and I said, Lord help me.
Please because I need help.
I was all by myself and I didn't really know exactly what I had to do and I had to have a test to show the US government right.
And then when I go home, I have to have another test to show the Canadian government. It's a little bit complicated. So anyway, to make a Long story short, I asked the Lord to help me.
When I got to Philadelphia.
How was I ever going to meet Christy? This big airport? And I was going through places I'd never been before in my life. So I came walking out the door, and right ahead of me was a blue car SUV with a yellow license plate from New Jersey. And there was my daughter Christie, going like this.
Did the Lord help me? Yes, he did. And the Lord?
Can help us and I want to talk today about prayer.
And you know what I'm not very good at praying, because something inside of me says I can do it myself. I don't need help.
I don't like to be dependent.
And it's hard for me to say, you know what, I really need help. But we really need help every day, don't we? All the time. There's lots of things that have to go, right in order for us to get to the conference. Our vehicle had to drive, the wheels all had to keep air in them. The Lord took care of so many things for us even to get it here today.
What about cooking the breakfast?
There had to be electricity up there. What if the electricity had gone out? We wouldn't had breakfast. We take so many things for granted and it's so important for us to ask the Lord for His help in prayer.
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Now I'm going to just go and cheat a little bit because I I need help remembering stuff. There was a time where I could remember things and you know what? I'm getting older and I fell off a roof last year and I hit my head really bad and so I don't remember as well. So I helped myself with some notes.
So let's turn to Psalm 65. If you guys have a Bible, turn to Psalm 65.
And we're going to read a verse there, and then I'm going to tell you about another way the Lord answered prayer since I got here to the conference.
OK, Psalm 65 and it says in verse two it says, O thou that heareth prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Wow.
O thou, that hearest prayer.
So when we pray, God hears our prayers, the Lord hears our prayers. It's not a waste of time. It's a good thing for us to pray because God hears them.
So I wasn't sure what to talk about today, but I've been enjoying that verse very much about prayer. And when we went into our room where we were staying at the conference, there was a Bible that was there sitting on the little dresser with the mirror.
And guess where it was open to?
Psalm 65 And I'm like, Lord, thank you for answering another one of my prayers.
Now I know what to talk about today. And the Lord answers prayer after prayer after prayer after prayer. And it's wonderful, isn't it? And you know, sometimes, like I said, I don't pray enough. And there's sometimes where the Lord just makes things work just perfect for me. And I say, Lord, thank you. Thank you for taking care of me even when I didn't pray as much as I should have.
But the Lord answered my prayer to know what to talk about today.
Now let's turn to the next chapter.
And one of the guys who works for me.
This summer.
He gave me a verse, verse 16, He wrote me a little note at the end of his time with us this summer, and he said I will. Verse 16 says at the end, I will declare what he hath done for my soul. You know, there's a lot of young people that are looking for work right now and can't find decent jobs. And he was so thankful that he could work with a Christian crew.
And he said I will declare what he had done for my soul.
But when I was reading this verse, I kept reading and we go down to the next.
First I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. Verse 19. But verily, God hath heard me. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer. You know. Isn't it wonderful that we could pray?
And ask the Lord to help us and I'm sure that.
Each one of us has prayed and asked the Lord's help on things.
And I hope each one of us has prayed and asked the Lord to wash our sins away too.
Now I want to ask a question of each person that's here this morning and you kids.
You don't have to put your hands up or anything, but I want you to think about this. I want to find out if you prayed this morning.
Did you pray? Now you don't have to answer that to me, but in your heart you need to answer it to God. Did you pray this morning? Did you ask the Lord to help you this morning? Did you ask the Lord to help you?
Have a happy day. Did you ask the Lord to help you to listen good at the conference at Sunday school? Did you thank the Lord for what He's done for you? Did you praise Him? You know it's a nice sunny day today. Did you tell him how great the weather is and thank Him for that? You know, those are all things that we can do when we pray to thank the Lord. Now, let's just look over at another verse in Psalm 50.
00:20:02
55.
I.
Verse 17 says evening and morning, and at noon will I pray.
And cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. You know the reason we pray.
Is because not only does he answer and listen, but he hears us.
And it's so encouraging to be able to turn to the Lord in prayer.
We can speak to him. Let's turn to Psalm 119. I like this Psalm.
Because when I was a kid, I used to like how long it was in my Bible. Psalm 119.
And verse 164 says.
Says this, says seven times a day. Do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments?
Seven times a day do I praise thee. You know, I've been thinking a little bit about in our reading meetings about David.
And the praise that was in his heart in the Psalms.
And.
What a joy to the heart of God.
When we have praise in our hearts to Him, and we can turn to the Lord and just thank Him and praise Him and honor Him.
Now I want to ask another question and boys and girls, you can answer this and I have a little mic here, so I'm going to let you talk to everybody too, so we can talk to God by praying right when we want to ask for help, like when my uncle Ralph said Lord save us.
He was dead serious because we were going to get run over by a truck or a car and I was sure we were going to get killed, but we didn't.
So we can speak to God, but how does he speak to us? How does God speak to us?
Does anybody have an idea? This girl down here, I'll get this mic over here.
How does God speak to us?
Through the Bible. Through the Bible. So does that mean we need to read it if we want to know how he's going to speak to us? That's right. That's one way. There's other ways. Does anybody think of other ways that God speaks to us, Jack?
They're praying through praying. That's how we speak to him.
But maybe when we're on our knees, he tells us things, right? That's good. OK Anybody else have ideas?
You have ideas, I know you do.
Through signs, through signs, so when we're going along the road right, there's an exit sign and then there's a road sign, so we know what road to get off on.
Oh, I want to tell you another story. Let's I ought to tell you another story. So when Christy picked me up, we were driving up Hwy. 81 and something happened that has never happened to me before. We were driving along the highway and all of a sudden there was a pair of lights coming toward us down the highway.
On Hwy. 81 it's a four lane highway but there was a car coming down the other lane like this. I'd like Christie slow down stop.
Now it asks the Lord Jesus to help us on our trip, right? But here's this car coming down right at us. It's like I'd never seen that before. So Christie slowed way down and slowly we went right by the guy, and we didn't have a head on collision.
The Lord helped us, we cried to him, we asked him for his help. So we can ask the Lord and talk to him by prayer. He talks to us in his word through signs. And you know, there's another, I'm going to help out a little bit and say, you know, we have Rd. signs to help us to know which way to go. But the Lord allows circumstances in our life.
Sometimes to help us, to guide us too, doesn't he?
What about our friends? Can they help us, help us to know the mind of God?
So I have some friends at home that I grew up with that have been a help to me to know what I ought to do at the right time. And so it's very important for us to have good friends, good Christian friends that can help us with a good verse at the right time. And you know, I'm going to tell the story on on one of the fellows that I grew up with. He goes to the same meeting as I do now, and he has seven kids.
00:25:12
Like I do and our kids are friends and I'm friends with George still, but when I was a boy, George gave me a verse to encourage me when I needed it at that time. And that's what good friends are for. And so, you know, I would just encourage you as you're at meeting like this to make good friends and not just to talk about things that.
Are here and now, but to talk about important things.
About our souls and to be an encouragement to one another.
Now I want to talk a little bit about an example in the Bible of somebody who prayed. And you know, we kind of had the story yesterday.
So what story did we have yesterday about a lady that prayed and asked God for some help and God answered her prayer and then we had great blessings for many people because.
Of her prayer and her faith.
Does anybody remember who we talked about yesterday?
Mr. Stewart and the meeting talked about a lady.
Ernie Hannah That's right. So let's turn in our Bibles, if we have Bibles.
To First Samuel, chapter one.
We have to turn back to First Samuel, chapter one.
And if you don't have a Bible, I want you to do something else. I want you to listen.
Those who have Bibles will read endless and I want if you don't have a Bible, I want you just to listen, but I want you to listen really well. So first Samuel, chapter one.
And verse two at the end it says Hannah.
Had no children.
And you know this lady Hannah, she wanted to have.
Children. Specifically, she wanted to have a little boy.
And we're going to read some more about this, it says.
Well, let's just talk a little bit about the story for time. So this.
Lady Hannah she didn't have.
Any children?
But she was married to a man who had another wife and the other wife.
Had lots of children and the other wife made her feel bad because she didn't have any children.
She said I got all the kids.
And made Hannah feel really bad and Hannah was really sad. In verse seven, it says.
As so they went up to offer to the Lord once a year, and as he did so year by year, when she went up to the House of the Lord, she provoked her. So the other wife, her name was Vanaya, she provoked her.
Therefore she wept and did not eat.
Then said Elkanah, her husband to her henna, Why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Poor Hannah, she was so sad.
So there are circumstances, things that happen in our lives that make us sad sometimes.
What do we do?
We can just be sad or we can pray. And I found that when I pray, it helps me a lot. I can overcome a lot of things with prayer. The Lord helps me. And so Hannah prayed.
And we're going to read in verse 11. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and Remember Me, and not forget thy handmaid, but will give unto thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come.
Upon his head.
So Hannah, it says in verse nine rows up.
So here she was, so sad and so disappointed and so discouraged. And she'd been.
00:30:02
Provoked by this other lady and was feeling so bad, she rose up and prayed.
That's nice.
I thought about that because in our one of our rooms in our house, we have this.
Picture that my wife painted and it says rise up and pray.
Rise up and pray.
What does that mean? Does that mean you would get up and pray or do we kneel down and pray it? I don't think it means that we stand up and pray. I think it means that we get praying.
We need to do that and so if there's a lesson today from the Sunday school.
We need to pray more. We need to pray and first of all, we have to ask the Lord to be our Savior. But then as our friend, we can turn to him in our need and have direction in our life and encouragement. And so here Hannah, she turns to God and she asks for a man child, a little boy that she was then going to give back to the Lord.
And you know, the Lord heard her prayer, and the Lord answered her prayer.
So let's turn over and see what how he answered it. Verse 20 Wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bare a son and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.
So what does Samuel mean? Samuel means asked of God.
Ask of God, does it matter what your name is?
Yeah, it does. Because through your whole life then?
That's your name. So you're Levi, right? That's a nice name.
That's a very special name. Your dad and mom chose that name for a purpose.
For your blessing, right? And everyone of us can look and say I wonder why our dad and mom chose our name.
Well, there's a reason for it, and Hannah chose this name Samuel, because.
She'd asked God for this little boy, and God gave her that little boy.
And it was a wonderful thing.
Now let's just turn down to verse 24.
And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks and one he flower and a bottle of wine, and brought him onto the House of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young.
And then she presented him to Eli. Verse 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him, or returned him to unto the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
I've often wondered who worshiped the Lord, but I've wondered if it wasn't Eli.
Worshipping the Lord.
For this little boy that this lady had prayed for, that God had given to help in the temple.
But the result was worship to the Lord for so verse 27 for this child, I prayed. Now I want to ask you boys and girls a question. Who brought you to the conference?
Was it your dad or your mom?
Or your uncle or your aunt or your grandma or your grandpa or somebody that really cared for your soul. That's who brought you. And this little boy, Samuel, he was brought by the to the temple by his mom and dad because they, they appreciated the God of Israel. And the reason why you're here, boys and girls today is because of your parents or those who loved you that brought you here because they wanted you.
To hear the word of God, they wanted you to hear about prayer and how important it is.
They wanted you to hear about the Lord Jesus and his love. And last night we heard about.
Luke chapter 15 didn't we? We heard about the shepherd who put the little sheep on his shoulders. We heard about the lady who swept the floor looking for the lost coin. And then we heard about the boy that was then feeding the pigs and how he was he returned to his father and came into such blessing. We heard these wonderful stories from the Word of God, stories for.
00:35:19
Us even today. OK, so let's go a little farther in this story and talk about Samuel before we're done.
Let's go over to Chapter 2.
And verse 18 for a minute, but Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod. Moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. You know, I can just picture this little this.
Mom, Hannah and.
I'll tell you another story, So.
Before we came to the conference.
I was looking at in the kitchen and there was a whole bunch of jars.
Like this on the counter.
And in the jars was some stuff I really like to eat.
It was Jelly sauce, but my wife had to get ready the cans.
She had to get ready with the tomatoes, the onions, the celery, the green Peppers and all the things that go into chili sauce in order to make chili sauce for me to enjoy on my roast beef and chicken and all kinds of other things that I like it on. But.
This made me think about this story because Hannah wanted to make a coat for her little boy every year.
And in those days, clothing was expensive.
And usually you only had one change of clothing. That's all you had because it was expensive.
And so it was hard to get material and it was hard to put it together in those days, but they could do it. And so she made a new coat for her little son every year and I've enjoyed.
Thought that a brother shared with me that this little coat got bigger every year. And the thought was that our spiritual coat should get bigger every year as we learn more and more about the Lord, right? But I thought a little bit about how this mom prepared for her little boy. It cost her something. It took time and thought and preparation. And so may that be an exercise for us, OK?
Now that we're going to turn over to Chapter 3 and we're going to talk a little bit about Samuel.
And then we're done.
So this boy, Samuel.
He was a little boy.
And his mom had brought him to the temple.
The one that took care of him the most was an old man and he was the high priest and his name was Eli.
So you can think about that. Would you enjoy all of a sudden living?
In the temple and serving an old, old man and helping him. This is what Samuel did. And God had purposed this and God had blessed.
Eli with this special gift that God had given.
So let's read in chapter 3.
First Samuel verse one. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. You know, if I can say it this way, it's kind of like it is today around us. You know, there's not a lot of people who are really interested in the word of God.
There's a lot of people that enjoy all the things that God has made.
But they leave God out of their life and thankfully there are a few people.
Who loved the Lord and desire His things.
But it says the word of the Lord was precious in those days. I've kind of thought about it this way.
It wasn't very, it was kind of rare. And you know, there's a lot more Christians in the United States than where we live. And when I read something a while ago that said that there was four times as many Christians in the United States as there is in Canada.
And we may think where we live in the United States, there's not a lot of Christians. Well, divide that by four. That's where I live. Thankfully, there are Christians where I live, and we're thankful for that. OK, so First Samuel chapter 3, verse 7 now.
00:40:16
It says in Samuel, did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
So remember I asked a question at the beginning, if you prayed this morning, remember, OK.
Now I'm going to ask another question.
It says here that Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
So I'm going to ask another question. You don't have to answer me, but you have to answer the Lord. And this question is this. Do you know the Lord yet?
Do you know the Lord yet? You say. What do you mean?
Well, do you know him? Do you talk to him?
Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he died for you? Have you asked Him to wash your sins away? Because that's how we get to know the Lord. You know now, Samuel, he didn't know the Lord yet. And maybe there's somebody here today and you don't know the Lord yet. But you know what? You can get to know him right now.
Right now you can get to know him. Maybe you've never talked to the Lord Jesus.
Yourself before? Maybe not, but you can.
You can talk to him right now. You can say to the Lord, Lord.
Can you please forgive me for all the things that I've done wrong? Can you please wash my sins away?
And you can believe that when he died on the cross, he died for you. You can get to know him right now.
Now we're going to go a little further in the story because I like this story.
It says in verse 8 the Lord called Samuel the third time.
And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel.
Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place, And the Lord came and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel. Samuel.
Then Samuel answered, Speak for thy servant, heareth now.
This is one of the seven times in the Bible.
Where a person is called twice by God by their name. And that's why when I was talking about Levi's name, that's why that name that your parents gave you is so important, because that's the name that God uses to call you.
Because each one of us is an individual.
Us each by name, and that's a wonderful thing and I don't know how.
God called Samuel exactly, but he did say his name twice.
He got his attention because he wanted Samuel for himself.
And boys and girls, if you haven't come yet, you can come today. And the Lord is calling your name, but you got to listen.
You say, well, I don't hear him calling my name. Well, he is right now. I'm telling you he is.
And Samuel heard his name get called twice, And by faith, you can hear your name get called this morning. If you haven't come to the Lord, you need to come this morning.
He wants you, He loves you, He died on the cross to wash away your sins, if you'll have it.
I don't know exactly how he said it. I don't know whether he said Samuel, Samuel or he said Samuel, Samuel. I don't know. But think of the other times where people got called by name. So Abraham, he was up on with the sword and he was going to kill Isaac.
And God called out of heaven, do you think he said Abraham?
Abraham. Or do you say Abraham?
00:45:03
Abraham.
Don't kill your son. Don't you think it was like that? He caught his attention and the Lord Jesus wants our attention today. He's calling our names. He loves us.
Your name is Amos, right?
I forgot.
ASA, ASA and the Lord is calling our names, each one of us.
It's a wonderful personal thing and may each one of us have responded to the Lord. And let's see what Samuel said.
And the Lord came. Then Samuel answered in verse 10, Speak.
For thy servant heareth. It's not a wonderful thing. So Samuel listened to the Lord, He listened to what the Lord said. And let's see the result of this down further in the chapter. We'll end on these verses, verse 19. And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and to let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba.
Knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
Wonderful.
So this little boy that the mom had prayed for became a great prophet of the Lord to help many people. Now I want to put this out to you boys and girls.
I used to sit up here with you guys where you guys are sitting today.
But that was 50 some years ago.
You say, well that's a long time, but I want to tell you this.
I used to sit here and there was old brothers that are gone to heaven already and they stood where I'm standing. They told me things from the word of God and the result was blessing to me.
Now you boys and girls are sitting there, and if you listen to the word of God.
Like Samuel did, then you can be a blessing to other people later on.
And who knows what's going to happen, right? We know the Lord is going to come, but if he doesn't come for a while, then you're going to get bigger and it's going to be your turn to help other people, encourage other people to be a mom, to have another little boy that's going to be a help.
To be a man that's going to be able to take a Sunday school like this and be an encouragement to other people.
And tell them about the Lord Jesus. So Sunday school is finished now. So we're just going to ask the Lord to help us. And we're going to pray and ask that if there's somebody here today that doesn't know the Lord yet, that they'll listen with their ear of faith to their name getting called by the Lord, and that they'll say, Lord save me.
OK, so let's pray.
The Mystery
Address—Tim Ruga
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.
Could we begin the meeting by singing #327?
327.
Lord Jesus, are we one with thee, O height, O depth of love, and crucified and dead with thee now one in heaven above.
Lord Jesus.
Are we?
I understand. Shall come thy glory downstairs.
Let's see if the heart.
God shall deliver the water.
So we asked the Lord's help.
So I'd like to start by turning to well known verse in Acts chapter 17.
Acts 17.
And verse 11.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
And that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and search the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
Now what was it that they were receiving and searching the scriptures for?
You go back a little bit and you see what the apostle Paul was preaching right back at the beginning of the chapter here, and you see that he had been in Thessalonica. And there in verse two it says Paul as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reason with them out of the Scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead.
00:05:00
And that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
And so when he got to Berea, he did the same thing. And as Paul was speaking and he was alleging that the Bereans said, OK, we're going to see if what Paul is saying is true. And they opened their own scriptures, which they knew and they looked and they traced there and they saw, yes, this is So what he's saying that Isaiah 53 does indeed speak about the Servant's suffering and that he was.
The sin of those who are guilty, He does indeed speak of that in Chapter 7. He talks about the sign, the virgin conceiving and bringing forth. And there's scripture after Scripture that they could turn to and see that what the apostle was saying was true. It was all there in the Old Testament Scriptures. And of course, for ourselves, we can get a sample of.
The kinds of scriptures they turn to not just the Apostle Paul, but Peter, John, the others.
It's all recorded for us in the book of Acts. They went right back to the Old Testament and proved that this was the one who was promised to come, the Messiah, but more than the Messiah, the one who himself would be God. And so the brains could do that.
And that's not what I want to talk about this afternoon. I want to talk about something that's different from that. There was something that the Bereans, if they received the gospel, could not go back to their scriptures and verify.
And neither can anyone else today for this reason, that it simply isn't in those Old Testament Scriptures. Major truth for us today that is not found there. And that of course, you probably guess. I intend to speak something of the mystery, the truth of the church. This was something new. They didn't know anything about that.
Because it hadn't been revealed, it was a mystery.
And so if you're young here and you know, maybe something about what a mystery is, and we talk about a mystery as being.
Mysterious, you know, you don't know where the plot is going to go. You know, it's kind of fun to read to the end and see what happens, and it doesn't tend to go the way that you would expect. Well, there's some similarity in the Bible, but really the mystery in the Bible, whenever it refers to this word, mystery is talking about something that was previously unknown but now was revealed by God through His Spirit.
And so when we talk about the mystery, there are different mysteries in Scripture, but one of those mysteries is called a great mystery.
In Ephesians chapter 5, the apostle Paul says I speak concerning a great mystery, Christ and the church, and that's really what I have in mind to speak a little bit about that and really just one part of that. That's a huge subject.
And I want to come to why this is important, but first I just wanted to find the terms. The mystery really is what I just referred to Christ.
And the church, and there's two parts to that. The 1St is Christ. And it was entirely unknown in the Old Testament, what you have in Ephesians 110, that there was going to be a whole new order of things where that one who was the Messiah, who was promised he was going to be brought into something far greater than they knew. And that was God was going to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ instead of above all things.
Both things which are in heaven and things which are in earth.
The setting of the Messiah over things on earth was known in the Old Testament, but this place?
That was to be given to him by God was not known there.
Over all things in heaven in which are on earth.
Let alone the fact that there would be people in both of those spheres? Or what's the point of setting him over them?
And so that is the first part of the mystery. The second part is the church. And the church is just, in a word, and that God is saving people from Jews and Gentiles, bringing them together into one body, the body of Christ, which is destined to be and is not just his body, but his bride.
And he is going to share all that glory in a coming day.
With this vessel, the church, His body and his bride, we're going to be put on display with him and we're going to share in that. You say I've heard that in the meetings before, and good, I'm sure you have, and you should because it's an important truth.
00:10:11
But the problem is that we sometimes hear other things, and I just wanted to go over this a little bit so that we would get a sense of why this is important and really what it is, and tend to take up one part of it today. I'll get to that in a minute. But first of all, I want to stress this point because it's absolutely denied among many Christians today.
That the mystery of the church.
Is something that you cannot find in the Old Testament.
And so let's just look over at some verses in Colossians chapter one.
Colossians 1.
We'll start in the middle of verse 23.
Says the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard the.
Incidentally, that's not the mystery. The gospel is never the mystery in Scripture. Some say it is, but you'll see it distinguished here, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul, and made a minister, who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his.
Bodies, it should be just body, but his body's sake for his body which is.
The church. And he says whereof I am made a minister like he was made a minister of the gospel in verse 23. He's made a minister to the body of Christ, which we are told here is the church.
We are of, he says. I have made a minister according to the dispensation or administration of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill or fill up the word of God.
Now this verse is saying that Paul was given something special to fill up of the word of God.
And in fact, when you go and you look at the truth of the Church of God.
This mystery, you find that however many other apostles and prophets, and we're going to come to that in a minute, in the New Testament, knew about it and spoke of it. Only Paul wrote about it.
He's the only one except for what is recorded, that the Lord Jesus said.
And so Paul says right here very plainly, it's given to me to fill up the word of God.
And he says even the mystery. So I'm going to go back and justice read that again because I want us to see it. The end of verse 24, we're going to skip verse 25 says.
There his body, which is the church.
Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His Saints. And so this is the mystery, at least that part of it that I wish to talk about today, the part of the bride, the body of Christ, the Church. And this verse tells us very clearly.
At the end here it says that it was.
Hid from ages and generations, but now?
It's made manifest to his Saints.
Now it is it was hid before and I'm stressing this because.
A great many, perhaps most, Christians deny what this first plainly says, and I want you to see where it says. Now there's some that might say, well, maybe it was head, but still they spoke about it, even if they didn't know what it was.
But that's not true either. Let's turn to Romans chapter 16.
It's as if the Spirit of God took this up from different viewpoints to cut out all of the arguments that are being used today.
Romans 16.
And verse 25.
Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel.
And notice the word and there. If you look in some modern translations, you won't find it, but it belongs there.
And because the gospel is not the same.
00:15:01
According to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.
And I want you to notice what it says now, which was kept secret since the world began. If you read that in the J&D translation, it says as to which silence has been kept since the world began.
Not a thing was said there. There was number hint of the mystery.
In the Old Testament, it was something that was completely hidden as we started with, they didn't know it, They didn't speak about it like the gospel and they didn't know exactly what it all meant. They were searching to figure out what that was. Tells us that and Peter, right? And it was revealed to them that they it wasn't for them. But that isn't the case with the mystery. It just wasn't there at all.
Silence was kept. Well, you might say, even if silence was kept, it was hidden in in the scriptures.
It's still there. You can still find it. Now that we know about it, you can go back to the Old Testament and you can find it. I'm not saying you can't find some types. Certainly we can. We see right from Genesis with the Adam and Eve, we see a type. But anything about the mystery, what was going to happen is just not found there. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.
And verse 9.
Of course they maybe will start there unto me, who I'm less than the least of All Saints. Is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.
You see, it's not hidden in the Old Testament.
It's not buried there, to be found by us who know, As if somehow.
It was there all along, and now we're a continuation in some way of something that was there. No, it was hidden. God, it just simply wasn't known before.
And so these three scriptures really help us to see what that is. And there's more as well, even just before these ones that we'll look at in a minute. But before we do, we're talking about a mystery. We're talking about Christ in the church. And like we said.
This has often been taught in the assembly.
Why do we spend the time to do it today?
How can it be that important to take up a whole address on at a conference?
Well, if for no other reason, just to go over it again would be enough. In my view, these are important truths and those who love the Word of God, who would love to hear what God has to say about something that's important to himself. But I actually have a burden about some of the errors that come in because these things are not well understood or well known, or sometimes we just hear them and it bounces off you. Everybody knows that, and then you go.
In your life and suddenly you run into other Christians and they're speaking a different way and because you never got this rooted and grounded in your own heart.
That you're getting shaken and it happens. It happens a lot.
I have listened to podcasts, and I know there's a lot of podcasts that are readily available to every single one of us who's got access to the Internet. And when you go on to these podcasts and you listen to some of these men, you find out.
A They're very gifted.
B. Many of them are very godly.
When you say those two things, first because can't hide it, and we're one with them in the body of Christ. Dear, dear believers.
That a lot of them do not understand these things. They have a whole different view of it. And because of that view of it, they go on and they speak things and they give practical ministry. And of that practical ministry, 90 to 98% of it is excellent.
And it's that 10 to 2% of it, whatever that small percent that depends on the understanding of things that is not according to Scripture. And you listen to that and it goes in and gradually you start saying, well, where is that really? And hopefully you'll come back and ask the question and get it right. And you can see it from Scripture.
But it's my exercise just to try to present a little bit of this.
This afternoon so that we can get grounded ahead of time so that when that comes, you say, Oh yes, I know something of what that is. I know that this is not found in the Old Testament. I know that this is something about Christ in the church and it's different from Israel, very different, as different as night and day. Even though Israel is going to have those who are ultimately saved, those who by faith are going to come into all the blessing.
00:20:27
On earth one day, and many of them in heaven.
And those in the church, they're going to come into a different sphere of blessing. That's what we want to understand and know and not just hear that some brethren teach this, but this is what the Word of God says. Another point.
If you understand this truth about the Church of God and what the mystery is, it has to do then with how you view the world around you.
And that comes down to whether you get involved in politics. Are we people that are part of this world or are we simply ambassadors for Christ here? What is our role here? Are we to come in and change this world? And that has to do with the gospel itself. There's many Christians that I have known.
That love the Lord Jesus Christ. But when they go out, they don't preach the gospel. In fact, I have known some of them. When they hear those who go out and preach that man is lost and condemned under the condemnation of God for his sin and they need a Savior, they think that's too harsh because that's not the right way you need to go and you've got to affect the culture and you've got to Christianize people and bring them to faith. And after a while maybe they will come to that understanding.
A very different idea.
And many, many hold those views.
We go out and we preach Christ crucified and that man needs a savior and we do that because we understand where we are and this is a big part of that. What the church is another thing that we.
Need to look at is what our citizenship is definitely. We just mentioned that a minute ago. Are we people of earth, are people of heaven? And I want to just look and see in a few minutes again what the scripture says about that. I'm just part of it, but another one is the ground of gathering itself.
You know, if you don't really understand what the church is, it won't be long before something will come along and challenge you as to why it is you're even meeting with a few Christians that you're meeting with. Why not just join in with other Christians and.
The ground of gathering is very important. It's why we meet as we do, and that's based on this truth and an understanding of it. And if we don't have that, if we give it up or it's just not there to begin with, it won't be long before perhaps some wind will come along that shakes us a little bit and we're going to end up going away. And so the ground of gathering has to do with the fact that there is one body and there's a practical carrying out of what?
You don't see that or you think that the church is just a continuation of Israel, and the next thing you do, you know that that's not just important enough to stay with those few Christians you're with.
Another one is the Rapture.
The rapture depends on the fact that there is a heavenly people and our heavenly Bridegroom is about to come and take us home. If there's only one people of God for all time, and that one people of God has one gospel, and that gospel is simply received by faith, that's true enough, by the way. No one ever.
Came into blessing before God. Without faith, by faith, without faith, it's impossible to please him. That's common.
But the idea that there's only one people of God and there's no such thing as the earthly people and the heavenly people.
That will lead us into the whole idea that there's two comings or two parts of the second coming of Christ. What's the point? He's just going to come once and judge the wicked, and he's going to bring everyone into common blessing. And so the rapture itself and future events are lost.
Another point is, well that's five points I listed. I think that's probably good enough. We could go on with these points. Maybe later on we'll come back to a few more of them that would be good to take up that aren't well seen if you lose this.
00:25:02
But I want to go back now and justice continue with this thought of what the mystery was and how it was revealed. Here. We've seen that Paul was Speaking of it. It was revealed to him and he was the one given to record it in the scriptures. But if you remember back in.
Well, let's just go up actually and read there. We didn't read those verses yet.
If we read from verse three it says how by revelation.
He made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in a few words. This is Paul just mentioning how that he was given to record that. Wherefore when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. There it is again. That's the fourth time we read that, isn't it?
As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles.
And prophets by the Spirit. Now who are they? I hope we understand who the apostles are and the apostles of the Church. The 12 That we have in Acts chapter one. And then continued on after that.
They were the ones who are witnesses of the Lord in his resurrection. They were the necessary beginning. But then here it speaks also of prophets. And who are these prophets? Are they Old Testament prophets? No, they're not.
These are New Testament prophets, so if we understood those verses that we began with, we understand.
That these are not Old Testament prophets. It couldn't be. The mystery was completely hidden. God there. Those prophets of the Old Testament, when they prophesied, they spoke about Christ and Israel and coming blessing. That would be Christ primarily through Israel, but also to the nations. They spoke about an earthly sphere of things. That was the scope of their ministry. It did not go on to what we have here.
As with these verses plainly told us four times over.
Stressing that because it's denied.
But understand that we've just had it four times. Look at the verses again.
Let's look again and see who these prophets are. Just back to Ephesians 2.
It says.
Verse 19 Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints of the household of God. And so this is speaking about the Gentiles who had been brought in. They weren't any longer strangers to the Jews who were near. Now they were together. They were fellow citizens and part of that household of God. That's what they were now one.
That was brought out in the verses immediately preceding this. We're not going to take the time to go through them.
Which is referring to it. But look what it says in verse 20. It says and are built upon the foundation.
Of the apostles and prophets Jesus.
Himself, Jesus Christ himself being the chief coroner Stone.
And so we have here apostles and prophets that are part of that foundation. That foundation is something that the Lord Jesus is the chief cornerstone. You lay that first. All the rest form that foundation with him. These are New Testament apostles and prophets. And that's important because.
When this truth, so we don't know if an assembly was formed at Berea, let's assume it was, I think probably so from what the spirit of fog says there. And so when this truth of the mystery eventually was preached at Berea.
And they open up their Bibles and said it's not here.
These apostles and prophets could say, yes, it isn't there, but we know that it's true. We know that it's true because the same truth has been revealed to us. We've learned it. Paul was given to write it, but we had this same revelation, and we can verify that this is the word of God.
That this is the truth of God. But it's even more than that, that they could say. And that's really what I want to take up in the rest of this meeting.
00:30:00
And says here, Jesus Christ himself being the chief.
Cornerstone, if you realize from the grammar of this verse, it's including him with the apostles and prophets.
And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus was. He was an apostle. You go to Hebrews chapter 3 and you find out that he's the apostle and the high priest of our profession. And so the Lord Jesus apostle means sent one, right? And these twelve were sent and then and the Lord Jesus.
When he sent them, he said, As my father hath sent me, Even so send I you. John. Chapter 20.
And so the Lord Jesus was that first sent one as an apostle, and he's included here. He's the apostle and great high priest of our profession. And as to the prophet, he certainly was a prophet as well. You read back in Deuteronomy, you find that Moses spoke and said that another prophet like unto me. So the Lord your God send unto you, and him you will hear.
And then this is referred to in Acts chapter 5, plainly stating that this is the Lord Jesus Christ. If that wouldn't be clear to anyone, the Spirit of God connects that up to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the great prophet of our God, the one who spoke out the mind of God like no one else did except those who came after Him and spoke His words when He was now speaking from heaven as we have in Hebrews.
And the Lord Jesus on earth was a great.
Apostle and Prophet.
And what I want to suggest here this afternoon is that what was given to Paul about the church and the mystery was previously stated at least in kernel form by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is in its root form, the Lord Jesus presented it. And I think it's helpful to see that we could go on a long time to to look at all the New Testament truth that there is on this subject.
Of course, the apostle Paul's pen, but I wanted just to go back and see where the Lord Jesus presented these things and so.
When this was in our hypothetical example presented in the assembly of Berea, and they and the apostles and the prophets who may have been there could say, well, yes, this was revealed to us too. They could also point back in the Lord Jesus also said it.
It wasn't in the Old Testament scriptures, but it is in those scriptures that we have now.
It's clearly established and by the Lord Himself. So let's just go back. I want to look at the 1St place.
The church is mentioned Matthew chapter.
16.
And you'll see these verses all verify what we have presented in Ephesians and the truth that you've no doubt hurt before.
Matthew 16.
And verse 15 Jesus came, and when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM?
Some say that thou art John the Baptist, and some Elias and others Jeremias were one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am in? Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven, and so the Lord Jesus.
When he asked this question, I think it's helpful to understand that he had been rejected already by this point.
And Simon Peter then confesses who he is, and he says how art the Christ.
That is, that he was the Messiah. He was the one.
Who was promised? Peter didn't deny that, he didn't even doubt it. Israel had denied it. And he further says Thou art the Son of a living God. This is tremendous and not just that the Lord Jesus was a man come to fulfill the prophecies regarding the Messiah, the Messiah himself, but also that he was the Son of God, He was divine.
Peter understood that, and then the Lord says his Father in heaven had revealed it to him. Tremendous revelation.
And it was upon this confession that the Lord Jesus then.
Gives Peter the revelation of something that Peter knew nothing about. It had never been spoken about before. He says, verse 18. I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
00:35:20
So there's going to be a church the Lord says I will build didn't exist yet. He says I'll build it. And he says I'm going to build it on this rock. That rock, of course, is the foundation for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to build. And we already saw what that was.
It was the Lord Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone and.
He built that on the confession of himself, who he was.
And the.
Messiah or the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Anointed.
And that's what the church is built on. That is the rock. Of course, we emphasize that because there's a major.
System of men that denies that and says the church was built on Peter and therefore we know that they're built on the wrong foundation.
The true Church of God was built on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That was the rock.
And so it's a future thing, and the Lord Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
And that made it very different as well, because if you turn to the book of Hosea and you started looking at what it says here about Israel.
And what Jehovah says to Israel, he says, Lo, am I? It was a time when.
And the gates of hell prevailed against God's earthly people. Thank God later on it says am I so low? Am I means not my people? God disowned them.
But then it says he's going to take them up again. Am I my people? And.
This is different.
This is, of course, the rock. The gates of hell will not prevail against the rock. Neither would those gates of hell, Satan and death prevail against that which the Lord Jesus Christ is going to build on that rock. The church is going to go on tremendous thing, a new thing, new revelation for Peter and all the disciples who heard it. Now let's go to the second one.
Matthew 18.
So what we had in Matthew 16.
Again answers the question as to whether you find the church in the Old Testament or whether the church is Israel. It could not be because it didn't exist yet and Israel had existed for a long time by the time the Lord Jesus said those words.
Matthew 18 is the second time the church is mentioned.
And beginning with verse 15, he says, and it's so interesting here he's taking off a case of of.
Forgiveness or not forgiveness, you get to that, but of discipline and dealing with someone trespass, he says, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother, and if he will not hear thee.
Then take with the one or two more in the mouth of two or three witnesses.
Every word may be established, and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. Now that's a different body, isn't it? There's such a thing as a church. And here it's speaking about the fact that there's going to be a local expression of of this church. There's going to be a church that the Lord Jesus is going to build, but there's going to be somehow a local expression of it that if there was such a case as we have described here.
At these ones that this person could go and tell it to the church.
Which is the assembly, that local expression of the church.
And it says.
These shall neglect to hear.
Them telleth unto the Church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
Fairly I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree, on earth is touching anything, that they shall ask.
It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together unto or in My name, there am I in the midst of them. And So what we have here is the Lord Jesus speaking about an action being taken by this local expression of the assembly, which is defined as two or three.
00:40:05
Gathered together in his name.
And that's what the assembly is in its local expression, two or three that are gathered together. We won't take the time to establish this, but the Scriptures are clear. They are gathered by the Spirit of God to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as such, they are the local expression of that assembly. That's what the Lord Jesus is teaching here. And they have His authority because they are gathered unto His name. And that is why in verse 18.
Then that whatsoever they would bind on earth would be bound in heaven. Now think about that for a minute.
That verse implies unity of action by all those who own the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of a thing is bound on earth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then he says here is found in heaven. And if something is found in heaven, then all those who own his authority, wherever they may be.
Will act together with respect to that thing. They won't just go and say, well, we're just a local group of Christians over here and we're going to do our own things. That's what they decided over there. Not at all.
And say, well, that was found in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. It was bound in heaven.
And because we recognize the Lord Jesus and his authority, if it's bound in heaven, we're going to submit to it and we act together with them.
This verse these verses necessarily require.
Unity of action in the assembly. But they show that that assembly is not separate from the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's gathered together unto his name, and he says, I am there in the midst of them. He's in the midst of it. He's gone away to heaven. But this is a tremendous thing we find, and a precious privilege as well. We often take this part of it, and rightly so. Even if the example given is of discipline, the blessed fact is where two or three are gathered together unto the name of the Lord Jesus.
He himself is present there in the midst.
Wonderful truth and we recognize that we see Him as being in the midst by faith and we act according to it. If we believe that, then it has an effect on what we do now. I want to just continue on here. We just have a few minutes left. But I said this implies unity of action. The Lord went much further than that and spoke of.
Actual practical unity.
And I'd like to go look at that right now in John chapter 10.
John 10 is a chapter about the Good Shepherd.
And justice to summarize the beginning of this chapter. The Lord Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd he was, as you have right through the Old Testament, this shepherd of Israel beginning in Genesis chapter 49. Her brother read another one of those verses this morning from Zechariah. The Lord Jesus was the shepherd who was smitten.
But he was a shepherd of Israel. And right through this he presents that the Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. That's when he was smitten and he explains how that he was that one. There's a fold and he's the true door to that sheepfold, and he's the Good Shepherd, the true shepherd. The other ones are not. They're hirelings, they're imposters. They're those who come in another way. And after going through and explaining how the Lord Jesus himself was that true shepherd.
Of Israel. At the very end of that, he talks about something different.
And it's wonderful to see it.
Verse 20, Verse 16 he says other sheep I have which are not of this fold, I fold with Israel. He says there's other sheep that are not of that fold, of this fold them also I must bring. See, He hadn't brought the Gentiles in yet. They weren't there. He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel when he came.
In order for the Gentiles to be brought in, in order for the mystery to happen, for the church to be formed, he must first die, and then he must go to heaven, and the Spirit of God must be given. We'll see that in a minute, too.
00:45:09
Says here he says them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one.
Should be flock our Bibles say one fold. That's not true. It's not going to be.
A new improved version of Israel. Just the people of God the way it had been. Not at all. That should be one flock. There shall be one flock and one shepherd. And so the Lord is talking about others who weren't of Israel. And who could that be? It's very clear. It's the Gentiles and they were going to be brought together and there was going to be 1 flock now. It wasn't going to be this fold anymore. It was going to be a single flock.
Made-up of those who are of that full Jews and the others who weren't Gentiles.
And they're going to be one and there's going to be 1 shepherd. Now that stops a little bit short of the full mystery, doesn't it? But it gets awfully close. They could go back and say, Oh yes, the Lord Jesus spoke about this, maybe not in exactly the same terms that he verified what this is. And so the Lord Jesus identified it here. Whether they understood any of it at that time, I doubt it.
But the Lord laid it out, and they could go back to it.
Now I'm going to just see another point, and that's back in John Chapter 7.
John 7 and verse 37 And the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And now we get the commentary. But the Lord Jesus still said what it was here.
Spirit of God explains in verse 39 this He speaks.
Of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost is not yet given.
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
So admittedly, the Lord only said this.
You know that there was going to be rivers of living water flowing out of his belly. But he goes on to explain it further.
And let's just turn on to John 14.
Because here's where the Lord really opens that up.
And he opened it up to the disciples and the upper room ministry here He says verse 16, I will pray the Father. OK, so let me stop there for a second. This is all just after the Lord had introduced to them what he was about to do, right? The first verses of the chapter. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And so he spoke very definitely about going away and when he was going to go away, then what was going to happen. And that's what he gets to hear, the provision that he was going to make for them. So let's go back and start again at verse 16. He says, I will pray the Father.
So when he goes away, this is what he would do. I will pray the Father and He will.
Shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth them not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. The two parts of the Spirit of God with us today, collectively and individually. And so the Lord Jesus spoke about that very definitely, that He was going to pray in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of truth is going to be sent down.
And that's a new thing. They did not have that before, He says he's going to indwell.
As said in John Chapter 7 that they would receive the spirit always in the past it had been the Spirit of God coming on one for a time, even unbelievers. But here it was a different thing entirely. It was indwelling. Chapter 16 speaks about it more and we're just only going to touch on on this part.
But chapter 16 verse 13, the Lord Jesus says, howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all.
Truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall.
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And he will show you things to come. And if we had?
Just read in chapter 14, verse 26, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, that your Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. And so that's what the Holy Spirit did. The Lord laid out many things, but what we're interested here this afternoon is what the Lord said.
About lease and kernel form. About the church itself.
And the kernel truth of what that would be. And the Spirit of God then took that and brought it to their remembrance as well as giving the fullness of revelation through the apostle Paul. And that's how it could be verified that which Subarians could not go back and see in the Old Testament. That's how we know it in the New Testament. And what that means to us, of course, is don't try to get it from the Old Testament. Don't try to get church truth from the Old Testament.
Another very important point that we need to understand. Can we get Christian instruction there? Can we learn about God there? Absolutely.
Can we get many details of prophecy there? Absolutely. Are we going to learn what the Church is there?
If anyone tells you that you can or turns you to the book of Isaiah or any other portion.
To give you something as to what the Church is in its order and its operation, its destiny, its place before God.
Then you know that they're wrong. It isn't there. It was revealed first by the Lord Jesus Christ, then through the apostles and prophets, and brought out in all of its fullness to the writings of the apostle Paul.
I just want to look at one more thing. This one is not said by the Lord from earth, but.
He gave one more very important thing directly from heaven, and that's found in Acts Chapter 9.
Acts 9 and verse one says Saul.
Yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and desired him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, if that, if he found any of this way, that is Christians.
And that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
And that's eternity became near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.
And he fell to the earth, and he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
That's a tremendous revelation right there.
Verse five he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
That's what the Lord said to Paul at the moment of his conversion. He gave him this tremendous truth of the mystery. What is the church? It's a body of Christ. When Paul lashed out and touched one of those Christians, he was touching the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that's what the Lord told Paul. You have nothing of that in the church in Israel.
There's nothing of that in the Old Testament, that connection between.
Jehovah and a child of God, Abraham, or any of the others, Not one hint of it. This was a whole new thing. It had to wait until the Lord Jesus died, and then he rose again, and he ascended up into heaven. And there having been in heaven, he received that promise of the Spirit and poured out the spirit of God, baptizing those believers into one body that was his own body on earth.
Himself, the risen head in heaven.
New Organism formed that was entirely different and unique. And just as he himself was in heaven, so that body was a people who was composed of people that were heavenly people. Their destiny was heavenly, their origin was heavenly, everything about them was heavenly. You read in the book of Ephesians, you find that they're already, and we ourselves were already seated with Christ in heavenly places.
That is a very, very different thing.
Than anything else that we have of the people of God in the Bible. It's a unique position that we are found in in the body of Christ. And Paul learned that at the moment of his conversion, maybe not all those details or how it worked. He had to go on, have the rest revealed to him, no doubt, but he learned that when he was touching a believer, he was touching the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
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And he was a chosen vessel from one who spoke from heaven.
To a man who was connected to that man in heaven. Now the apostle Paul and he spoke of a whole different order of things that were from heaven. And so it wasn't given to the other apostles. It was given to him to reveal all the details of that heavenly truth of Christ and his body and his bride. Well, our time is gone. We could look at more of.
Of those unique things, one of the ones that we had before us and Dorothy recently at the.
In our assembly meeting from Ephesians chapter five was just the very institution of marriage that was being spoken of last night and what a high thing it is. Brother Steven spoke in the meeting the other day about Al Canaan and having two wives, right? And how what is spoiling that is, But you think about that, what did I know about?
The church? Nothing he couldn't.
But it's very different for us, isn't it? We now know that in our marriage relationships we are fulfilling this type of Christ and the church in our respective roles and that elevates it almost infinitely, if not infinitely so much higher than what Solomon with 1000 women was responsible for. Now we have this physician to represent Christ in this very God and Christ exalting way in our marriages and we.
And that we don't get caught up with the idea of marriage being just a covenant like you do have it presented in the Old Testament or the thought of this divorce accepted. I mean, it was in the Old Testament.
What thought could there be of any of that? We have an entirely different order of things, and we could go on with example after example. But if you don't understand this difference of Christ between the church and Israel and what that is and how we are united with Christ in heaven and the practical meaning of all that.
Than all the rest of the truth is going to slip this. Well, that's why brethren teach it and it's why it's a burden. That's why we want to keep coming back to it and make sure that we all understand these things and we're grounded in them so that we can walk in a way that suits Our Calling. It's the way it's put in Ephesians 4 verse one walk worthy of the vocation to which we've been called. Well, let's just close in prayer.
Devotion to the Lord, Luke 24
Open—Manuel Adames
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.
19 in the back of the book.
And handling.
No change my heart.
I am scared.
When it starts going to fall asleep.
Oh no.
I understand your help, that's why you're trying to understand.
And I should be able to get the hell.
Where community.
I can.
'T believe for my God.
Together.
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The Lord again stop begins in the beginning. Stop.
No consideration.
No problem under pressure on the run.
No problem, everything.
I love for all.
All right, sweetie came to our dream. Ever.
For a thunderstorm, and it's often.
A couple of verses Chapter 5, second part of.
Verse 25 Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify.
And cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be fully and without lunch.
Right.
I have a few verses in my heart.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24.
Brother reading in Ephesians 5 about the cleansing, the washing of water by the word.
I was just thinking how the Lord does that.
What I have is mainly towards the middle of the chapter, but I read from the beginning.
Says in Luke 24.
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and found knocked the body of the Lord Jesus, and He came to pass. As they were much perplexed there about. Behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. I was just thinking about this part here.
That these women, that these women that went there, they did not have a lot of knowledge.
But they had devotion.
Many times we have a lot of knowledge, and that's a good thing. I'm not speaking against knowledge. We need knowledge.
But many times we lack devotion.
The Lord looks at the heart. It is a heart filled with Christ that will lead us to serve Him.
And these women, even though they didn't have a lot of knowledge, we see that Mary before had anointed the Lord, the body of the Lord Jesus. That was the only chance that they had, and they missed it because Mary understood. And why did she understand?
Because she was the smartest of them all. Because she was at the feet of the Lord Jesus, listening.
And while Peter and the others were wondering who of them would be the greatest?
She was.
Thinking of what she could do before the Lord Jesus died. And that was the only chance. But these women also have some credit here in that they have devotion even though they lacked knowledge and they went and.
Is commendable to them that they went because their disciples, the men, where were they. And there is something that I would like to encourage each one of us.
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I'd like to encourage the sisters and I like to encourage the brothers.
When we visit Cuba, you'd see something that's sometimes unusual to see.
In that there, in many places, there are many sisters, but very few brothers. There's one assembly.
That is all sisters.
But there is one boy in that assembly, and that boy is growing up, and that boys are the Lord's Table.
And he is faithful to the Lord, so it's not right to say that there is only sisters.
But umm, he we trust in the Lord that He will take responsibility in time.
And.
We trust that there will be more there that will take responsibility in time, but we see here there was something similar.
The men were probably hiding they were someplace else, but the women were devoted to the Lord even.
With a limited understanding of the things that were taking place.
And they were perplexed, they did not understand. And verse five is as soon as they were afraid, and bowed down their heads, their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living?
Among the dead is not here, but is recent. Remember how he is speak unto you when he was yet in Galilee. So this thinks the Lord has told them, the Lord has told them that he was going to die, that he was going to be crucified, he was going to be raised again, and he even told them when three days he said.
And they did not understand.
Saying, The Son of Man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men, and be crucified on the third day. Rise again.
And they remembered his words.
And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the 11, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and all their women that were with them, which sold these things unto the apostles.
So the women were devoted, and the Lord revealed first unto them what had happened.
So sometimes we may not have a lot of knowledge, sometimes we may not have a lot of understanding.
But if we have devotion for the Lord, the Lord will.
We wore that and it says in verse 11.
And their words seem to them as idle tales, and they believe them not. So even even though they they came with a message from the Lord, the message was not well received.
And sometimes it is so with us.
I forgot which prophet of the Old Testament, I think it was Ezekiel. The Lord told them they will not listen to you.
Sometimes that's a hard message. The Lord tells you, Deliver this message and they will not listen to you.
That is a hard thing. We like to see the results of our work. We like to see that the Lord works through us. And there is blessing. That happened with Elijah too. He said, well, the Lord will bring this famine. At the end of the famine, the children of Israel will be back in fellowship with the Lord, and the people of the Lord will be restored and everything will be fine.
And when that doesn't happen, he gets.
He goes down and he gets.
He wants to basically die in that case.
He says they I'm the only one left and they look for.
They look to take my life.
But we are like that too, and the Lord is. The important thing is to be doing what the Lord wants us to be doing, even if we don't see the results right now. And.
What I have in in my heart is mainly in verse 13 and on.
And it says. And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus.
Which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs and they talked together of all these things which had happened.
So these two were going in opposite direction as to where the Lord wanted them to be.
That we're going to emails from Jerusalem and we may, we may criticize them. We may say, well, you know, that we're going the opposite way.
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Let them just be. But the Lord doesn't think that way. He walks with them and He turns not them first. He turns their heart 1St. And that's what the Lord wants us.
I believe in this dark days too, that we're living in dark days. All their hopes had gone down. They had a wrong understanding.
And as her brother was saying before, if we don't have the right understanding, we may not.
Have a practical application in our lives, so understanding and doctrine is very important.
So when I say that talk about devotion, I'm not saying that we should not have the right understanding.
But it starts with the heart. The Lord says, give me thy heart. And the Lord walks with them and says in verse 15 And he came to pass that while they commune together in reason, and they were talking about the thanks of the Lord, even though they were going in the wrong direction, they still were talking about the things of the Lord, the things that had happened, and the Lord.
Walks with them drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that you have?
One to another as he walked and are sad. And the one of them whose name was Cleophus, answering and said unto him, although only a stranger in Jerusalem has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days. So he has answers harshly to the Lord, saying, you know, isn't it obvious?
Are we not in their right to be sad and to be?
Sort of frustrated by the things that have happened. We hoped that he was going to be the one and now all our hopes are down.
And then he says, And he says unto them, What things?
And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty, mighty indeed, and worked before God and all the people.
And how the chief Freeze and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death. I have crucified him.
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yet certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. So they had the knowledge, they had the information.
They knew.
They trusted that the Lord Jesus was going to be was going to be the Messiah.
They have information from the women that he had been resurrected, that he had been rose from the dead. So they had this knowledge, but they lacked something.
And that's what I have in my heart today.
We need knowledge and understanding, but we also need devotion.
And we need to have our hearts in the right place.
It says.
Verse 23 And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also sent a vision of angels which said that he was alive. So they had the information here and how many times we have the information here, but we have to be willing to listen and to obey.
This the religious world, is full of information. This world is full of information.
But are we willing to bow our hearts to what the Lord wants?
Or is it just that information in verse 24? And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it Even so, as the women had said, but him they saw not.
They even knew more than that. Not only did they hear the women say it, they said certain of us, certain of the.
We know that it was Peter and John. They went to the sepulchre and they saw as the Lord that the Lord wasn't there.
And yet they do not believe. And the Lord.
Speaks to their conscience. Sometimes the Lord speaks, and to our.
Because we have lack of knowledge, the Lord gives us understanding, but sometimes he speaks to our conscience, and the Lord's first spoke to his conscience, to their consciences.
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And says Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart.
Fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. It doesn't say you don't know what the prophets have spoken. They didn't lack knowledge they lacked.
A quicker heart, a heart that would be prompt to believe of the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And he expands to them, of course. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures of the things concerning himself.
And they needed the knowledge, but they needed a prepared heart. And verse 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. We know that he was going to pass.
To continue and they compelled him to stay and just one comment there. The Lord will not force himself upon us. He will not enter if we do not allow him to enter, he will he will not come in if he is not welcome. He says verse 29. They constrained him saying abide with us.
And in verse 31 it says on their eyes were open and they knew Him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another. Did not our heart burn within us when he talked with us by the way? And while he opened to us the Scriptures. So those two things when he talked to us by the way.
And when he opened to us the scriptures.
So the Lord Jesus goes with them to Emmaus. We know that he was at a distance. We know that they invited him to stay because it was late. But at that same hour when their heart burned, they went back to Jerusalem. And that is necessary in our lives too. But our hearts may burn not only with.
Knowing the things of the Lord, but having a relationship with Him.
May the Lord help us.
A Relationship With the Lord Through His Word
Open—Bill Mazerolle
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Could we turn to Isaiah 53?
For a verse.
Isaiah 53.
Verse 2.
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
And.
Luke chapter 4.
I'm just going to pick out a few phrases in this chapter.
Luke chapter 4.
Verse 22.
And all bear him witness. And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
And verse 32.
And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power.
Verse 36.
And they were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, what a word is this?
And verse 42.
The middle of the verse.
And the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
And chapter 5.
Verse one.
Just the middle of the verse, the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God.
Isn't there a contrast here between that verse in Isaiah 53?
And what we read here in Luke.
But I think the differences.
That one is Speaking of the physical.
In Isaiah it says, When ye shall, we shall see him. There is no beauty that we should desire him.
The vessel.
Wasn't the object of God's purpose?
And we see how it was in Luke the word.
The word that was going forth in power.
The people were astonished.
They were amazed.
And as it says, they sought him.
And came unto him, they sought him, and came unto him.
That he should not depart from them.
There was number attraction as in Isaiah 53 and yet here.
The Lord.
Is the object of attraction.
Because of the word that he is speaking.
They pressed upon him to hear the word of God.
You know when.
The elders, the priests sent a group of officers to take the Lord.
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They returned empty handed.
And they said never a man spake like this man.
There is a brother in our assembly's home now with the Lord for some time now.
I don't believe I ever heard him minister in the Assembly.
And yet.
After meetings.
He would engage different ones.
And bring to them what he called a morsel.
I wish I could.
Convey in the way he spoke, his mannerisms, his gravelly voice, there was a sweetness.
About what he was sharing.
A morsel was.
A phrase or a verse, maybe even a passage, a brief passage, something that the Lord had given him in his reading.
A morsel the best that I could understand it as a young brother was.
Some place in the word of God.
Where there had been an engagement.
Of that man's soul.
Have you ever experienced that? Come to a verse or a phrase that you've read over for years and suddenly it explodes.
It explodes in a good sense.
Other verses start streaming into it.
And as one brother said to me as he began to read in the book of Deuteronomy 1 evening.
He was telling me at meeting, he said, you know, I had to get up and pace. It was just too much.
And he said there was a certain sadness.
Because.
He couldn't maintain.
That glorious moment, he could enjoy it, and he could go on enjoying it for the rest of his life, but the moment itself was precious.
It was a moment with the Lord.
It was a moment of nearness.
So if you can't maintain that moment, what do you do?
The same old brother said, you know I'm a leaky sieve.
He says I can't hold water.
So he says, what do you do if you're a leaky sieve? And I think we all are to some extent.
He says you've got to put that sieve underwater.
And you keep it there.
Do we spend enough time, you and I?
In the word of God.
And.
Not just tracking knowledge.
But seeking that engagement?
The people sought him and came unto him and stayed him. In other words, they didn't want him to leave once they got hold of him. They just wanted to have them with him, with them to hear.
The word of God.
In John chapter 3.
John Chapter 3 and.
Verse 33.
He that hath received his testimony.
Hath set to his seal that God is true, for he whom God hath sent.
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That be the Lord Jesus speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Certainly there was no flaw, there was no corruption in the Lord Jesus and the Word of God could pursuit, could proceed without distraction.
Not even his appearance.
He wasn't handsome. He wasn't. There was nothing in him that you would desire him. And yet when He spoke, the attraction was there with these wands. The Spirit of God wasn't given by measure unto him.
It went forth in power.
And it just strikes me.
That it's the Spirit of God that indwells you and I.
The Holy Spirit, a person, not an influence.
Not an imaginary notion. A person of the Godhead indwells us.
A sister, an older sister years ago, was sitting at our breakfast table and she told us of a letter that she had received.
From a young man.
And.
The young man was telling her that he had gotten saved.
She didn't know the young man.
But he had gone to school with one of her sons.
And he wasn't even an acquaintance or a friend of the son, But he said to her, I'm saved in large part because of your son.
And she, as a mother, said.
My son, really, in other words.
She had a different view of her son.
The Son hadn't given him the gospel.
But he had observed him from afar.
What was it that he saw?
The young man, her son, was saved. What was it that he observed?
I can't tell you.
But.
I trust that it was the Spirit of God.
When we're the Lords.
It affects in us through the spirit changes and sometimes we're not even aware of them, but changes take place.
And it's so important.
To company with the Lord.
Prayer.
But especially in the reading of the Word prayerfully.
So that the Spirit of God can freed us, feed us.
The.
The importance of the word cannot be overestimated.
There are many young younger ones here and you know us older ones, We need to hear it too because our lives sometimes get busy.
The promotions of life flood in promotions of school.
And we lose sight of what truly has value. We become enamored of physical things and visible things.
And we lose sight of spiritual things.
Let's just turn to John 4 briefly.
The woman at the well.
So the Lord here.
Had an engagement, an appointment, He stayed back while the others went and purchased the food that they needed.
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And the woman in verse 11 Saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with.
And the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our Father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him. A well of water springing up into.
Lasting. And the woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water.
That I may, that I thirst not, neither come hit her to draw.
And further on.
Verse 23 But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father and Spirit, and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. And the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh. Interesting. She comes up with this, which is called Christ.
When he has come, he will tell us all things.
Well, Jesus just told her all things about her life.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, and he.
What must that have been to hear those words? And upon this came his disciples.
And then in verse 28, the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the man, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city, and came unto him, in the meanwhile his disciples.
We're speaking with him and they were, I'm sure, surprised this he was speaking to a Samaritan woman.
But she had left the.
Water. She had left her water pot and as some often say, she left the water pot and went away with the well.
Because then she went to the.
Those of the city and and told them come see a man.
That told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
Already.
She has been.
Struck with the words of the Lord Jesus.
Already there is an attraction.
And already.
That word which was spoken to her is not only an attraction for her, but she wants it to be an attraction for others.
She's been motivated. Now the church hasn't been formed and she's not indwelt by the Spirit of God, but she has heard the word of God and that's where.
That's where the power lies.
It's so important to read the word define those morsels that will speak to your life in ways.
That nothing else could or no one else could. Let's just go for a last verse in Mark Luke. I'm sorry, chapter 8.
The Lord engages us with His word.
For a reason.
And the woman at the well is an example.
Mark chapter 8, verse 20. And it was told him by certain, which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
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Which here the word of God and do it earlier in chapter four we saw what was happening when people heard the word of God.
And we see what happened to the woman at the well.
Already. And he says to his disciples.
Behold the weak. The fields are white with the harvest. What was he pointing to? I believe it was that group that she was bringing back with her. The fields were white with the harvest.
She heard the word.
And marvelously, already she was conveying it to others or bringing them where they could find it.
That's the Lord's desire, that we hear the Word. If we don't read it, we won't hear it. Meetings like this are helpful as well, But you need to feed yourself. I need to feed myself daily.
Daily and then we can do it.
The Lord will give us a work, you know, as younger ones, sometimes we wonder.
We think I want to be a teacher, I want to be a preacher, you know, and, and we, we start imbibing knowledge and.
But we need first of all a relationship with the Lord Jesus. That's what they had in in Luke chapter 4 and the woman at the well.
She had a relationship with someone special, but Christ. Is not this the Christ?
We need to bring ourselves to the place.
Where we will develop that relationship as well. It's so important. Don't look to do His service if you haven't accompanied with Him. You'll go astray in that service. Spend time with the Lord through the Word and prayer.
Jehu
Gospel—Fred Gorgas
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Just ask for the Lord's help.
Just ask for Thy blessing on this time together Lord, and ask for help and strength.
We.
Just think of what has just been brought before us.
And we ask that it would be real to each of our souls.
We pray for any that are here.
That are lost.
That this is not making so much sense to maybe.
We just ask that thou wilt turn any hearts to thee, that.
Are still unrepentant.
Ask for Thy blessing on Thy people. Ask for Thy blessing for each one here.
And just pray that what is spoken would be from thee and thy worthy name. Amen.
So I was looking around a little bit.
Before coming up here.
There's many of you. I think I know pretty well there's others of you.
That I don't know at all.
There's others of you I know a little bit.
My brother just asked about or mentioned about people that.
Want to grow up to be a teacher and.
I was thinking about what I used to hear a lot when I was a kid. I want to be an astronaut. A lot of people wanted to be astronauts. I don't know why, but.
I guess it would be pretty cool.
But then there's there's, there's younger ones here, there's older ones here and.
Probably many of you.
If I ask you for your resume.
You probably have a pretty impressive resume, some of you.
So.
Umm.
There's a king of Israel that I felt the Lord put on my heart.
And I could give you his resume a little bit.
Somebody mentioned before being forgetful.
I don't remember hitting my head, but I'm forgetful.
But I'm going to try to give you a few details from this King's life.
He was anointed king of Israel.
He was really commissioned by the Lord to.
And a wicked family in Israel, which he did successfully.
The.
King was Ahab.
Jezebel was involved in that family.
She had taken many lives of godly people.
She had threatened.
Elijah's life.
He wiped the mall out.
The Lord anointed him to do that.
He knew the word of the Lord. Our brother was just speaking about that.
Knowing the word of the Lord.
There's much written about him.
Probably more than most kings I'm going to say that I can think of.
There's pages and pages. You might read a few verses about some kings.
But this one you read a few chapters.
Mentioned in a few different books.
And I would say if you put it all together, the things I've mentioned.
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Add to it that.
He pretty much wiped out bail worship in Israel.
Umm.
He's quoted more than once of saying this is the word of the Lord.
The word of the Lord will not fail.
But.
He was not a good driver.
That wouldn't be on his resume. He drove furiously, it says.
Of them his name was Jihu.
The Lord commended him.
And the Lord blessed him.
But I just want to read one verse in his story.
And that's going to be in Second Kings.
Chapter 10.
And verse 31.
But jihu.
Took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.
That's all I'm going to read.
So two brothers spoke.
In this past meeting.
About the heart.
And.
I guess I felt like it was no accident the Lord put this king on my heart.
Because I thought that.
This is the kind of towards the end of these meetings.
And there are many of you here that are older.
Many of you that are.
Younger.
And you're all going to have a resume.
It may end today for all of us.
But what a shame if your resume says I was at this conference and I took notes. I have a whole notebook.
I memorized scripture. I preached the gospel.
I helped a lot of people in my life. I gave money to the poor.
But I went into a lost eternity because my heart.
I never had a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
When you read the story of Jihu, to me it's very perplexing because.
Why does the Lord give us all this detail about this man and all this stuff he did?
He gives us far more detail than I mentioned.
And I mentioned his driving. He drove furiously, it says.
You've probably been in a car with somebody that you would describe afterwards that you saw your life flashed before your eyes at the wheel. That's kind of how I envisioned his driving. But I also think that it had a lot more to do with his drive than just his driving. I think that's the way he drove through life.
And you can drive through life the same way. Maybe you are driving through life the same way.
In other words, if you really study.
Jihu, and I'm not claiming to have done that, but the more you look at it, the more you see things.
That make you think that his driving was just how he lived.
He had no care. He didn't care for the Lord. He did the work of the Lord.
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Commanded by the Lord. He didn't care. He cared about himself.
He had no love for the Lord. He had no heart for the Lord.
So you can really live a life that to others.
They could you might be able to have quite the resume and we look at history and.
We see things about people, maybe other things are hidden. Nothing's hidden to the Lord.
So everyone of us.
What we do matters, we sang this morning.
He's called us to. He's got work for us. That's true.
It's a blessing. The Lord doesn't need us to work for him, but He allows us to work for him. It's a blessing.
But what he doesn't want is for us to work for him and have no relationship with him.
So I'm just going to beg you all.
I was thinking a brother read the verse before but I was thinking.
As the meetings come to a close here, I was thinking of that scripture that was read earlier in John 7 where the Lord cried out.
And said, are you thirsty? Come to me.
The Lord loves you and wants a relationship with you.
It isn't that he wants us to score points.
Or have a good resume. He loves us, he died for us.
And he wants a relationship with everyone of us. And it's kind of heartbreaking to think that maybe there's someone in this room.
That has sat through this whole conference, listened to a gospel meeting last night.
And will walk out of this room and go into a lost eternity.
And you might be looking around at your friends and think, Nah, Nah, not these people. I know who my friends are.
You might be surprised if you started asking some older folks about those they sat with in a meeting like this and where they are today.
You would be surprised.
So I'm going to end it on that and Justice plead with you if you're lost.
Don't walk out of here.
Without giving your heart to the Lord Jesus.
There's a verse in Proverbs that says give me your heart, my son, give me your heart.
A life full of works, even though you've lived your whole life.
And did all the things outwardly that a Christian might do without Christ in your heart.
Is an empty life.
Let's just pray.
Our God and loving Father, we just give thanks for the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we would just.
Ask for the work of Thy Spirit in each heart. Pray that each one of us would think on these things that have been mentioned in this meeting before.
That have a lot to do with.
Our relationship with the Lord Jesus just thank the Lord for.
Laying down thy life.
And that invitation, if anyone's thirsty, come.
We just ask for blessing on thy word.
Worthy name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Acts 2 The Birthday of the Church
Reading
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.
Could we sing 330?
What raised the wondrous thought, or who did it suggest that we, the Church, the glory brought, should with the sun be blessed? Oh God, the thought design only it could be fruit of the wisdom of Divine, peculiar unto thee.
330.
What is the wondrous thought organization?
That we must turn to the glory of God. To my grandfather.
Like what is crying?
And I'm only in the rescue.
Also bring greatness or strengthen ever and find God only.
Disturb, I know.
Love and accounts. So I made pour thyroid thy son go now. It is born in glory, right?
Christ shall be.
Stealing the Holy Ghost, who will try of him, and as long as he will rise God love.
So yes, the Lord God and Father, we thank you society.
Wondrous thoughts revealed in thy word concerning Thy well beloved Son and thy Father. He should have a bride redeemed with his own precious blood, bone of his own. Thank you as the lions. Let him speak of glory with Christ above, so pathways were still. Thank you for refreshing us this past weekend and now we look for a little space more.
Of the things.
Concerning himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.
94.
All of Thy thoughts of Thy beloved Son are fully formed in Thy word. So we counted a privilege to have that word open again yet this evening to refresh us. We pray for our brethren that are traveling for journey Mercy as we thank you for our local brethren here that invited us. Posted The Saints been tireless in their energy and serving them Lord's people.
Great, bless them. Thank you for meeting their financial needs as well. Now we pray about the spiritual needs for any of that are here.
I'll just provide the ministry of Thy word, guide us into a portion that would be of profit for all. We ask this with confidence and with Thanksgiving confesses our dependence upon the Lord Jesus, giving thanks and Thy worthy and precious name.
Wonder if?
And very notable birthday of the church and then.
2 with.
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Be a profitable reading. I know we certainly can't cover the whole chapter, but.
Takes us back to the.
Beginning of things.
Yeah, I guess we could read it's a lot of chapter, but I don't, I don't know they'd be profitable to go exactly verse by verse, but whatever different ones might have enjoyed that would be profitable to bring out and share.
Sound OK or?
Acts Chapter 2.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, And they appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem. Jews, devout men of every nation, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noise abroad, the multitude came together were confounded, because that every man.
Heard them speak in his own language, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how here we every man in our own tongue, where he wherein we were born? Parthians and Needs, and Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene.
And the strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, priests and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were endowed, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, He, men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. For these are not drunkenness, you suppose, seeing it as what, the third hour of the day? But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy.
And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophecy. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned Into Darkness, in the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as He yourselves also know Him. Being delivered by the determinant, council, and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding other.
David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before my face.
For He is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was blend. Moreover also my flesh, flesh shall rest and hope, because that will not leave my soul of hell. Neither wilt thou suffer, my Holy One, to see corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He's seeing this before speak of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither has flushed did see corruption.
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This Jesus had gone. Have God raised up where we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise, the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which he now see and hear, where David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit down on my right hand, until I make thy foes on footstool.
Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom he had crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said it unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles. Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, And repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort to saying, Save yourself from this untoured generation.
Then and they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly. And the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and the breaking of bread, and in prayers and fear came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, And all that beliefs were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men.
As every man had need, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness, and sailed us apart, praising God and having favor with all people.
And the Lord added to the Church daily, such as should be saved.
I've always, I think, kind of a thrilling chapter to read.
Takes this rate back to the beginning the birthday of the church was always in the mind of God and his purpose in Christ, but his brother Tim brought out it was a secret and the Lord spoke a little of it, his brother Tim pointed out but now the actual.
Thing comes into being, the church comes into existence on this day of Pentecost. And what a wonderful day it was. What a new.
And bright beginning, and the ways of God, a tremendous change, and the ways of God here in this earth, and the change that will reverberate for all eternity because the Church is going to remain what it is.
From the heart of God.
From heaven, it's to its origin for all eternity. So if we were to look all the way over to Revelation, we would see the church pictured as a city coming down from God out of heaven. God is her or her origin. Heaven is her proper place. She belongs to and always will be. And so the Spirit of God comes down from heaven to on this very wonderful day.
To form the Church of the living God here in this world and we get the details of what took place in this chapter and.
It's been often referred to in the past. I don't think it hurts to again, they were all of these individual believers.
And tells us in.
Chapter one, They were in enough room, they were praying, they were waiting there, as the Lord had told them in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. And I don't think they fully knew or expected at all exactly what would take place.
And hear the Old Testament prophets had spoken of the Spirit of God being poured out and and Peter refers to it a little later, but not what was going to take place.
This day.
Was what was prophesied of by Joel. It was in a certain sense in accord with it was the pouring out of the Spirit of God, but to a tremendously different end.
On the coming day, the Spirit of God is going to be poured out on the earthly Saints of Israel to prophecy for the Lord and His name. But here He was poured out to unite all of these individual believers into one. And so it's been pictured like pearls in a bowl.
00:15:19
And they're all individual. But if you take a string and run through those pearls.
And join it together. Now you have a necklace, all individuals, but now all united by that string that runs through them. And that's exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God came down and then dwelt these believers and let's look at a verse and.
And Corinthians, First Corinthians and.
Chapter 12.
That would show us we get the events.
In chapter 2 of Acts, but we get the doctrine of what took place in the Epistles First Corinthians.
Chapter 12.
And.
Verse 12 or verse 13 for by 1 spirit.
Are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit? And so that's what took place. I don't think the believers knew it on this day what took place, but they acted in the reality of it, even though they didn't know that the Spirit of God had united them together.
And to Christ in heaven. Yet they still had to learn the doctrine themselves. But the reality was there. And so they acted that way. Why? Because it was true of them. So we see that play out later in the chapter. They had all things in common. They they, there was a, a unity expressed in their testimony, in their ways that was true to what had happened. They were now all united together by the Spirit of God in one body.
To the Lord Jesus in heaven.
What a complete opposite. This is what happened at the Tower of Babel.
It was doesn't give any details how the war did it, but it confused the language.
And spread the people out and get rid of them. Here is going to move and.
That says.
Or six. Now on this one noise, the brazen O2 came together or compounded. They didn't know what was going on, but they came together. They weren't scattered like they were a family.
This is something that.
Of a good nature as opposed to fat and irreparable and.
See the results here.
Very good.
Spirit coming into the into the believer, you know God has a habitation and and a person they didn't have the spirit before.
Wonderful feeling that must have been. That's why it's so exciting here.
As a result.
But it's so interesting in Mr. Darby's translation.
And verse 2.
I'll just read it. There came suddenly a sound out of heaven.
00:20:00
As of a violent and petous glowing.
And filled all the house where they were sitting. And he has a little note. He says it's not wind.
But they heard blowing as a hard breathing for which the Greek is used blast is too sudden and passing and just a not a blast. But this like a like you think of a ball snorting, you know, and heavy breathing just a loud sound. Why is that?
And sounds strange, doesn't it?
Well, think of Adam, and God formed his body out of the dust of the ground. But then what did he do? He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living storm.
And now the body of Christ is going to be formed, and the Spirit comes down, and they hear this sound like a blowing, and it just reminds you of the breath of God breathing into Adam. And he became a living soul. He just not only united these believers together, but as as the Spirit of God entered them and united them together to Christ, it just brought the body of Christ into being a living thing.
The living things in this world.
Tower of Babel was mentioned and.
After that, please correct me if I'm wrong, but at that time there was no one calling upon the name of the Lord, and out of that he called Abraham and makes a nation for himself. And now?
He's he's calling back all the nations.
I believe this list here is really all the known.
Languages encompasses every no language at that time and so I think it is a.
God is here, they all the nations again.
You see Psalm 82 and in other places.
This action to form the body of Christ was something that the Lord Himself did.
Because later in the chapter we read.
Verse 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed for this which he now see in here, that He there is, is the Lord Jesus.
So the Lord Jesus now at this point was exalted in God's right hand and.
We have been John in the Upper Room ministry. The Lord said I would, I would. I will beg the Father. He will send the comforter.
But in another place that I will send the comforter, and that's I think both are true. But here we have it as something that the Lord Jesus himself did as the glorified man.
And just to connect what was said earlier about that, we're all baptized into one body. The Lord himself is the Baptizer.
In John chapter one when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
'S.
John says I knew him not verse 33 but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw in bare record that this is the Son of God, that I think that's a helpful verse in linking what we have here in Acts two and 1St Corinthians chapter 12.
That it's the Lord Jesus.
00:25:00
He gets to, he gets exalted at God's right hand. He's there for probably about 10 days, right? And then in our time, I don't know how that works in heaven, but.
Anyways, 10 days on earth, and then He receives from the Father this promise of the Holy Spirit, and then He sheds forth what we have at the beginning of this chapter. And He, he is a baptizer and he.
Brings this this whole Christian company under this unifying influence of the Spirit of God.
And it's wonderful to consider that the Lord Jesus himself is the one who does this.
So you could say that he received the Spirit twice. He received the Spirit there in in John chapter one, at the baptism of Jordan, you received the Spirit.
Dwelling and him personally when he was baptized, and then he received the Spirit again when he was glorified at God's right hand. He received the Spirit only then to send him down to this earth to baptize all the believers at this time in this location.
Into one body.
I was thinking part of the unity that we've been brought into is the fact that we've been all made to drink into one spirit.
You have a different personality than I do, but we have the same spirit, so we have the ability to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond and peace.
It's nice to know that we, through this Spirit, have access to the Father.
Think of how it says build all the house where they were sitting. In the Old Testament we read of the glory of the Lord filling the house and all so forth. We'll picture of it here. And I was thinking what he was saying, Steve, about breathing, thought breathing to man's nostrils, breath of life. In John 20, the Lord Jesus and resurrection breathed on his disciples accepted and received the Holy Ghost. He grieved on into their nostrils the breath of His resurrection.
Life, but it's not the start of the church until we come to this chapter. And also the fact that they were all with one accord in one place did not make them one body. So becoming of the Holy Spirit to do that. And when one is added, one believes you don't reform the necklace. It's just another Pearl added to the necklace. Yeah, that's right.
I was thinking yesterday.
Out in Genesis 24.
When the servant is returning to bring Isaac's bride.
The servant had given her tokens for this master and.
Bracelets and earrings.
And then he brings her back.
It says. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field, that even tide, and he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold the camels were coming.
And Rebecca lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master. Therefore she took a veil and covered herself.
00:30:07
And it's just sweet to see this.
I can't think of the right word, but.
What takes place? The Lord is looking for us.
As it says in Hebrews, the joy that was set before him, He endured the cross and despised the shame.
That moment, I believe, was the moment when we come into His presence. That's the joy that he was looking for. Certainly it was joy for Adam when the Lord presented the Eve to him.
And but it's so sweet here to see. He lifted up his eyes. Ah, and she lifted up her eyes, and she had asked the servant, Who is this?
And you know, there's amazement on both parts.
He sees the fullness, the wonders of the work that he has performed.
Standing for coming towards him and she sees the one that she's been longing for during that long trip.
Back to the servants mask.
So the Spirit of God is.
Working with us.
Giving us.
Those tokens of his.
Master, He's giving us the things for our affections to begin to awaken and.
To grow and.
Hopefully.
The yearning grows in such a way that once we finally see him, it'll just be.
The crescendo of all that we've been prepared.
The apostles here, the apostles the.
Saints here didn't.
Really realize what all this meant and they didn't realize.
What would be taking place?
The sign gifts and all of these things, I mean even in our chapter here, it says every man heard them speak in his own language. We're not talking about some some speaking in tongues. That is gibberish.
They were hearing them speak in a language, their own language.
That's a miracle.
And.
But the impossible is possible with God, and so the Spirit of God is swelling in US.
There is incredible potential in the power of God is with us.
The Corinthian Saints were told that they glory before their time because of.
How they were using the gifts and.
I think exalting themselves in it.
There will be a time to glory, but always.
Whether it be in God's undertaking for us by a spirit, the Word being ministered to our hearts to preserve us through affliction, through trials, through whatever the case might be.
As well as the miraculous things that take place.
It's it's.
It's a wonderful thing to.
Realize that those things are.
Are an expression of his love and his desire for us to.
To partake of himself.
I was thinking of that same chapter, Genesis 24 earlier today, brother. And it's, it is amazing to think that by the Spirit of God, we're coming to know the one that we're going to spend all eternity with.
And so as as you mentioned brother earlier today, you know, spending time in the word is so important.
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Because that's really where this is all going for us.
And I was thinking about that expression, the earnest.
Earnest of the Spirit, you know, it's, it's a down payment, it's a sample of the blessing that is coming that we're going to enjoy for all eternity, but we have it now.
Ahead of time in a down payment and it's it's a little sample of what's coming. So we can enjoy it ahead of time, but it's also the guarantee that we're going to get the whole thing. And so yeah, we don't appreciate.
The reality of the indwelling, the Spirit of God, the way we should, at least I should speak for myself. The fact that God himself dwells within us. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. And more than that, the Spirit of God indwells the church. The church is the habitation of God by the Spirit. Amazing potential. And in order to unlock that potential, we need to walk.
In the Spirit, walk in step with the Spirit of God.
So we just had a meeting, I think, where we heard something to the effect that the church is not in the Old Testament.
We're reading Acts Chapter 2, the formation of the church, and here we have Peter quoting from Joel.
Anyone comment on that?
I think.
All they have were the Old Testament scriptures and so.
When those who and and of course, Satan immediately raises an opposition, doesn't he? That's one of the patterns you see through the book of Acts. As soon as the Spirit of God begins to work, Satan opposes and he has certain tactics. He tries persecution, he tries blackening the character of those who bring the truth. And I can't remember, there's a couple others and he just repeats them over and over. As soon as the Spirit of God works, does the same thing again, you know, So there's opposition.
What New Testament scriptures could Peter turn to?
To show this was of God.
Thanks. Not one of them was penned yet and so by the Spirit of God, and that's another wonderful thing is it says the Lord opened their understanding.
After he was raised from the dead, but now that they were indwelled by the Spirit of God.
The scriptures that they had known for years all of a sudden have a whole new meaning and life and purpose and they understand it. And we don't understand anything of the Scriptures except by the Spirit of God, because he's the author. And so just like men say, if you want to know the meaning of a book, you have to ask the author. If you want to get the true meaning. Well, we have the author indwelling us and he tells us what this book means.
And so Peter could turn to those Old Testament scriptures and.
He says that this is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel.
He's not saying this is the fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet Joel, but this is perfectly consistent with the Old Testament scriptures because Joel speaks of a day when the Spirit will be poured out and what the results of that are. Now the fulfillment of that is in the coming day. And as he goes on, when he quotes it, he says this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and so on.
It shall come to pass in the last day, saith God. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy. Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. On my servants and on my hand means I will pour out in those days of my spirit they shall prophecy. I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath. Blood and fire and vapor, smoke and the sun should be turned Into Darkness, and the moon into blood.
Before the great and notable day of the Lord come.
Did the sun get dark that day moon turned to nothing. None of that. That's all judgments in the coming day that is yet to be fulfilled. That didn't happen here but what he's saying is what is going to happen in that coming day before the day of the Lord unfolds in his judgment on this scene is.
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Nothing.
Different than what the Scripture is Speaking of in Joel, in the sense that you're seeing the power of the Spirit of God poured out on these ones who are speaking. You're not seeing an exhibition of drunkenness.
What you're saying is perfectly an accord to what the Scripture tells us happens when the Spirit of God is poured out in this way. He's not saying the Scripture is being fulfilled, and so it's important to see when when the Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled.
The scripture says it's fulfilled. It's it comes right out and states it. He's saying this is.
This is no different than what Joel speaks of. And what other scriptures would he have to refer to that Old Testament scriptures to show that?
Satan is having to.
Deal with something new as well.
As you say, he rises up and in chapter 8 was.
Something interesting and the first verse it says and it says.
This is after Stevens dead. Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the Church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostas.
And then in verse four it says, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the word.
It was as though.
A seed head had been blown upon and the seeds still flying, and Satan would think, well there, take taking care of that, but then the seeds are planted.
So there's no way that Satan can countervail.
The work of God.
I think that brings a kind of a beautiful and important.
Thought before us too.
The Saints on the day of Pentecost that were involved by the Spirit of God, I don't think.
Has already been brought out. They really understood what had happened to them. There was one person who knew exactly what happened at that point, and that was Satan. He was aware before even the Saints were aware what had taken place.
He had thought he got rid of Christ.
He thought he had triumphed when they put the Lord Jesus on the cross. What a shock when he was raised from the dead.
Shouldn't have been. The Lord said he was going to, but then he went back to heaven. Good riddance. At least he's gone.
Surprise, surprise, on the day of Pentecost, there he is again in his body. And if the Saints weren't aware of it too quickly, Satan was aware of it quickly and immediately he sets about to oppose. And that's one of the important things about the Church of God.
This world got rid of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's formed the church, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth we are.
As other people have said, a vessel like a ship.
And a ship contains things and carries them, you know, across the water. We're the vessel of God's testimony to Christ in this world.
As his body.
And so Christ is here in his body and the members of his body, and working in unity, in the practical expression of the unity of the Spirit, this world sees Christ.
And Satan knew it immediately and he set about to oppose it. And what is still his cheek object of attack in this world?
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The same thing he wants, as much as he wanted to get rid of the Lord Jesus Christ, he'd like to get rid of that entity called the Church, which is his body, that vessel of testimony to Christ in this world. He wants to obliterate it. When we are gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus, we are gathered on the ground that there is one body, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, composed of many members.
And when we meet and we break bread together, we are giving expression to, we're showing.
To the world that there is one body of Christ. Satan hates that. He would love to obliterate the little testimony left in this world of things who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus on the ground of the one body. Even if it's a little remnant, it's still what he hates and what he doesn't want to see in this world and what he would love to get rid of. It's the object of his attack. He wants to obliterate it if he can. We need to be aware of that until He will try every way he can.
To get you and I away from that truth, to give it up, to walk away from it, to be discouraged. Whatever he can introduce to turn us aside from that.
That, that's the imagery we get. With the clothing comes a fire. The cloven comes with fire.
Coming usually something that was used for testing.
And all over the 4th part of the Jewish Gentiles. But the power of the witness, the privilege we have of being involved by the Spirit of God. What's interesting is.
If you can see how God has his witness in the earth. Started off with the jewels who were early failed. So then I went on to where Jesus himself became a little surprise in your.
And what happened here is they rejected them and inclusive players and cast them out. And so now he's going to have his witness in the church.
Itself and what's interesting is insurance is going to fail. This is.
I think you see that in Revelation where you walking along with candlesticks.
And it has to do with the church. So when it fails.
Taking committed to man hopefully.
What it feels in the church.
Be a witness.
Follow the spirits. That's in the true God in this world.
I think that sounds reasonable.
I think it's true. Everything that's been put into man's hands and responsibility, man has failed in.
But we're thankful for the grace of God.
That in spite of the failure and ruin outwardly of the testimony of the Church, he has preserved that which.
Is still, though in a remnant form, representative of what he formed on the day of Pentecost and still meets on those principles. Cannot claim to be the Church in its entirety because it's just a remnant, but still is on those principles.
And.
Maintained in sovereign grace by Him, and I think that will be here until He comes.
And so, yes, there is that outward ruin of the testimony of the Church, but in grace He preserves a remnant to go on, to give expression to that truth until the day He comes.
I think you see an amazing proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the sermon of Peter.
Because.
You know he was.
The guy who?
Well, he was always quick to speak, but often he he was very confused about things and really didn't have a good understanding of what was going on.
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But here we find Peter, who had denied the Lord shortly before this, but was restored, now standing up boldly and preaching to the very ones he was afraid of.
And for that reason he denied the Lord. Now he's preaching to them.
He addresses them. He met of Israel, he met of Judea, and he speaks directly to them, and he preaches the gospel to them without fear.
And in this we see the Holy Ghost that the comforter recalling the words of Christ to him. You know, it's it's amazing.
And we find he's laying hold of truths like verse 23, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He's laying hold of the truth of God's sovereignty.
And.
And the truth of man's responsibility he had taken and that wicked hands crucified and slain. He's just laying hold of these things. This is a different Peter than the one we saw, you know, 50 days ago in the Gospels. But it's, it's a restored Peter under the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is what the Spirit of God can do.
And there's of course many other examples here, but his grasp of the Old Testament scriptures, I have no doubt he was familiar with these, with these scriptures, but he didn't know what they meant. And now he's able to unfold them and apply them and.
Say you know what what you see here is consistent with what you see in the prophet Joel. And then turning to the Psalms and reading and quoting from the songs and making applications in a powerful way to the consciences of these ones. This is.
This is a mark of the activity of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God still works in this way today. It brings things to our minds. He allows us to speak with power and conviction. He uses His word for the conversion of other of souls, and it's really remarkable.
You kind of remind me of that person first. John 2.
But you have an option from the Holy One and you know all things. Could you really say I know all things? Because we don't. But we have the resource that does. We have the Spirit of God indwelling. And so Peter becomes.
A Newman, you know, a different Peter.
It says that we partake of this nature.
In Peter in first field and.
So, you know, we're out of character. We're not ourselves and.
It's the manifesting of Christ.
Even in his absence.
OK.
He's directing everyone's attention one way. There's a man in the glory.
The right hand of God, exalted.
And he points them that way.
I just think it's so beautiful. The Spirit of God comes down and where does He direct the attention of men?
The man, it goes right hand.
And still today, and I think we had that local forest and the readings, you know.
For us, not only for salvation, but now is our occupation. It's Christ and glory occupying our hearts that changes us into the same image.
We sing 174.
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Jesus, thou art enough.
To the bed by your cover of me.
How we may rest.
On taking.
Hello everybody, thank you now for thy word such things before us and we praise you that we have opportunity to read it collectively. It's as follows individually and.
Should always want more and we thank you that it's available you can have as much as you want. So we think of this account is.
The church coming and just like crucifixion, it was open to the public.
That the nation was represented there and you got to hear the word of God.
Their own language.
So indeed, the whole world is going remote to start and.
Everything man bears responsibility towards God.
Because of that, and we thank you, tonight has drawn us, warmed our hearts, and we are dying. We're on our way to glory. Holy praise before our position here. While we're still here, we've taken care of, we have all things that pertain on the life regardless, and we do. So look for at that time, we face to face as we ought. For now, we're still here and we're desirous.
Times such as we had this weekend, it was crazy for her.
Especially thinking of time of remembrance.
And so we just thank you out for this time well spent and thank you for the time redeemed. And we praise you for come away with the moment.
Nuggets and buy them for needs and walk and thank you that.
Or it is unlimited in that way and we can't exhaust it We.
We always be desirous.
Give me the honor of glory and the wording and precious name, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.