Scranton Conference: 2023
Table of Contents
3 John 1-8
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How strong?
And I have a serious.
And a friend where I love you. Thank you for having me on my way.
Read from Deuteronomy 33.
And verse 3.
Yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in thy hand, and they said down at thy feet, everyone shall receive of thy words. Our God and our Father, we look to thee.
Desire of our hearts this morning would be to set at the feet of our blessed Savior receive of his words that good part that Mary had. May it be ours this morning. And so we do pray that thou come in and in blessing this morning. Let us know our needs and that Needham encouragement refreshment for our souls as well as.
Those things that perhaps may need correction in our lives as well. And so we pray that thou guide by the Spirit of God to a portion this morning that would meet the needs of thy people, Lord Jesus, that we might receive of Thy words. We think of thy love for us, and it is in the confidence.
That love, we would come to thee and make this request.
And our God and our Father, we would ask it in the precious and worthy name for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
00:05:01
I wonder, brethren, if we can take up the third Epistle of John.
I'm not pushing this, but if there's someone else who has something else, that's fine. But I just have been enjoying third John and the need for encouragement for each one of us to go on in the truth, but also to the exercise as to.
The type of believer that we are.
There's three brothers that are mentioned in this chapter and each one of them has different characteristics and I was just exercised myself about this, but I wondered if this epistle would be.
A help to us each one, an encouragement to each one of us. So I just put that fourth, third John, third half of John.
I think that'll be a nice chapter to take up.
The third Epistle of John.
The elder unto the well, beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers.
Which have borne witness of thy charity before the Church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well, because that for His name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.
I wrote unto the Church, But diotrophies, who love to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will I will remember his deeds which he doeth, praying against us with malicious words, and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would and casteth them out of the Church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil.
Hath not seen God Demetrius? Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself. Yeah, and we also bear record. And you know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will not. With inked pen right unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be peace be peace be to thee. Our friends salutely greet the friends by name.
Melissa Peso was.
Written perhaps after some of the other epistles that we so enjoy in the scriptures, but.
John's writings were really, I think you came after maybe some of the other epistles because he addressed specific things that were going on in the early church. And as an apostle he had special.
God-given work to do among the early church. He was a gift given by the Holy Spirit, by God and by the Lord. And So what a privilege it is for us to take this up. And may it be an encouragement as we consider the joy that we can bring to the Lord Himself by going on in a way that would be crazy.
It's interesting to see the way this annotation begins. This book is from the elder. We often don't look at the beginning of a chapter. So Paul, John, look at as if it was the elder. So we can look at this too. The elder one who perhaps older, but more so elder perhaps is one who care for the assembly of the flock and he's addressing to perhaps a younger person, Gaius. And I think it's so appropriate for us here that some of us perhaps.
Take on the role as an elder and looking at this as an encouragement to some of you who are younger or a little younger. And we see the phrase there too. That is a joy to see our children walking in. Truth is, you know, sometimes you look at an older one and say, well, you just want to talk. You just want to say this and that and perhaps glorify yourself. Not so. It is a joy, isn't it? And as we look around sometimes I see.
00:10:22
And some of you know that you, we, we're involved when with young people and some we see some of the young people.
Go on very well with the desire to serve the Lord and then there are times that we see some as it see in this chapter wander off into the world, but then this chapter tell us don't dwell on that, but look on for those who want to continue to serve the Lord.
We see in the second verse is an interesting comment on that too. We often do that in our prayer that you think is selfish because we pray to the Lord that our brother and maybe well perhaps some is not in good health. So we see that here, even though the elders presenting it that he could use those phrase above all things. Doctor Mayers prosper and be in health. So it's not wrong to have that kind of natural feeling. Yes, we do know that when we pray.
Really, deep down it should be thy will be done is the Lord's will and understanding that when a brother is put into a certain circumstances, it is still the Lord's will, whatever that may be, and we have to learn from that.
Prospering in the first chapter of Judges is connected with.
Doing according.
To all the law which Moses commanded, and we just read a verse, verse seven of Joshua one.
I would read also verse six, Be strong and of good courage. For unto this people shalt thou, and vied for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong.
And very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law. It's Moses thy servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand, or to the vast, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. That may be one of the first times the word prosper is used in the word saw.
I'm thinking of the verse in.
Hebrews chapter 10, where we are exhorted to.
Consider one another.
They're in chapter 10 of Hebrews.
Verse 23 to let us hold fast the perfection of or confession of our faith without wavering for the He is faithful that promised and then we have verse 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
So by our example, as we have in gas here, he was promoting.
Love and good works. He was walking in the truth. One thing to have the truth and there's another thing to walk in the truth. During the Second Timothy chapter 3, the exhortation of the apostle Paul to Timothy.
Second Timothy 3 and verse 7.
14 Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned. That's one aspect, to learn the things.
Of Christianity and the.
And the Paul's doctrine that we have presented to us as.
The heavenly people. But then it says, And then assured of knowing that, and be assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned that. So being assured of the truth is walking in it practically.
Our day-to-day Christian experience in the beginning of the Church's history and acts.
00:15:02
Read The Beautiful.
Situation of how they were of one heart, one soul had all things in common.
And the the bounds and limits of fellowship included every single believer.
But as time goes on and the dispensation really comes into a ruined state in the hands of responsible man, we find that the limits of fellowship have changed. And we come to Second Timothy and we find there is a fagellis and a homogeneous It turned away from Paul, really turned away from the truth that Paul brought. We find that.
There are others as well, Alexander, the coppersmith, who did a much evil. You know, Paul doesn't name by names Gentiles, unbelieving Gentiles have persecuted him, or Jews. He named him because this was a known man had been at least once in practical fellowship with Paul. Demons have forsaken me, having loved this present world and on and on, and the limits of fellowship have changed. They are not at the extent that they were.
In the beginning of the Church's history.
And the third Epistle of John takes up the truth of fellowship, being guarded by the truth.
In the first epistle we have that wonderful circle of fellowship that we have been brought into. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. But as to its practical expression, when we come to this epistle, it's constricted in our ability to express it in its.
Fullest extent with everyone, and so the truth has to come in to guard the expression of practical fellowship.
See, the apostle told us that in the second epistle. Just trying to play the.
You find that they are not to walk with just anyone. In fact, let's look at the 2nd epistle.
Verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ? He had both the Father and the Son, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine.
Receive them not into your houses, neither bid them Godspeed, for he that bideth him Godspeed is particular of his evil deeds. So we are reminded in that chapter that there are many that come, but they don't have the they're not bringing the gospel or the doctrine of Christ. And what are the position where to take? I remember years ago at the Gospel tent, these couple of men came up, really friendly people.
They were the Archie hover witnesses and we as young people got intrigued by what they have to say and brother Norman Barry came up to us right away and told us to stay away and chase those people out. And he said Godspeed, you don't even say goodbye to them. And we thought at that time it was so harsh of an action, but now we see from the word of God. In fact, in the Derby translation, they give it even clear sweet from that. Is that greed him not that makes it even simpler, isn't it? He's not even agreed them for he who greet him.
Partakes in his wicked works. So we have to not only we have to stay away from things that are not the doctrine of Christ. And as Steve used the phrase, now we've got to safeguard what we have.
That's good, Brother Dave. I think it's really helpful to see that these two epistles, second John and 3rd John, go together and they're complementary to each other.
In second John.
It's also about those who walk in the truth, and it says that as you go through there. But the emphasis is received. Not third John, the emphasis is received.
It's the positive side of it, and the difference is the ones that aren't to be received.
Are those who don't bring the dot the doctrine of Christ? There is evil that would exclude from receiving some. There are others as we go down here, who are the brethren and at the end of verse 5 and so on. Strangers. They are to be received. They're not bringing that doctrine and they are to be received and brought in. And I think that's so important because we tend to maybe go wrong one way or the other on these points.
00:20:23
It's often been mentioned that it's significant even as to the detail as to who these two letters were written to.
As sisters, perhaps?
It might be easy to be very gentle.
And not too careful and just receive and show love. And so 2 John's written to a sister.
Showing that.
A sister in that state doesn't matter with the love, the nurturing attitude still needs to be careful and not receive those who should not be received.
As brothers, we tend to be harder. Maybe we don't want to receive so readily as the sisters. And so third John is written to a brother, isn't it? And he's told you need to receive. So I think it's important you put these two together and recognize that.
Some years ago when we still had the store.
One of our customers came in.
And I think.
I grew up in Florida and I came under the influence of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And.
He said thankfully I was delivered. A friend of mine sat down and talked to me and presented the gospel to me.
So there is this balance, isn't there?
You can see some that are dyed in that doctrine. You can see perhaps some that are wavering.
And in a measure I think we could try to be a hospital, but we have to be much before the Lord before we do so.
I think one of the keys to the distinction is they become bringing.
You've said died in the Doctor.
When I was a young person, I found the line of things that Steven brought out a few minutes ago very perplexing.
Because neighbors of mine really led me to the Lord.
And yet I could quickly see that the collective Christianity that they were involved with was real confusion.
And I said to myself, well, I don't know what the truth is.
But I know that can't be.
So I waited on the Lord, and the Lord sent somebody to come and put their arm around me and guide me into the wonderful.
Truth of the Word of God.
And yet still it was, it was, it was a challenge because.
By being unwilling to go where my neighbors who led me to the Lord went, they said you're like, you're like a child that's born with a birth defect.
We don't doubt that you're born again, but you don't love us.
And and there's something wrong with you. Well, I didn't know but that they might not be right.
I was just waiting on the Lord.
That especially that first year I came down to visit relatives in this area. Bruce, your uncle stood up in an open meeting. I think it was him, Guilford, and what he said in his first sentence or two was immeasurable help to me we ought to have.
A broad heart, but walk in a narrow path.
And it's just like it clicked.
And so we have a nature, as the first epistle of John develops, that loves. We love because he first loved us and we love our brethren. It's that's what that's the way we tick as believers. But this epistle, the 2nd and the 3rd, it's love in truth.
And there's a channel, if I could put it that way, that God has carved.
And we don't just stand back and admire the channel.
00:25:02
You can do that, but the channel that things flow through it and more truth flows through that that do.
Channel and love flows through it. So it's beautiful to see this love and truth and how much we appreciate rather and our brothers and sisters when we see that divine balance.
Of faithfulness.
And if I could put it that way, belovedness.
The end of Colossians.
Paul's writing to the Colossians and he commends onissimus.
Think there's a brother in this room? That's his name, Onissimo, I learned last night. Onissimus.
And it says of him, faithful and beloved.
So let's not excuse ourselves, especially the men brothers.
Harshness because we feel we're defending the truth.
Let's hold to the truth. That's what Gaius was doing, but there's no excuse for harshness of doing it. And love does need to be constrained. Divine love will always flow in proper channel and in a seemingly way. But it's beautiful to see this epistle. I'm very glad it was suggested.
The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth I.
I take it that Gaius that John at this time, obviously he's an older, older man. He's a seasoned St. as well as an apostle. And I take it that Gaius was not only younger, but his child in the faith because he says there in verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walking through.
He was so delighted when he heard news of how Gaius was getting on because it was one that he had brought to the Lord Jesus. Yes, I know we apply this to our own children and our own families and that is a joy.
But it's it's wider than that.
And John had that joy, no greater joy. What a statement than to hear that my children walk in truth.
I believe this is a very practical example for the young people. We, we often as young person, we use the phrase say they are Christians. Why can't we do the same thing with them? Why can't we walk with them? They are Christians too. And these three chapters, as it already explained, yes, they are Christian. What does it mean to be a Christian or one who believe that they have been washed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Sure they're Christian, they are saved. In fact, the nice thing is if they truly are safe, we will see them in glory. But then as we develop into this, some doesn't do not follow all the doctrines of Christ, some more than others, but regardless of how much of A truth they follow is not the path you want to walk with them. I use this example of please bear with me or this story before I'm hoping you'll illustrate something here.
There was a brother that used to be in fellowship with us and he left because of problems. And I think we all know what that means. When people are discontent in the assembly, they leave and they say, well, they're just going to go to another Christian group. And he gone to a church. I don't know what type it was, but he went there. And this brother normally not take much part in the assembly, but when he got to the church that he went to, they realized that his knowledge.
About the word of God was much greater than the rest of the people there.
I don't know how you want to pick that. Does that mean it was very knowledgeable or the rest of them didn't know much? They made him an elder right away that he didn't see that he knew from the word of God that we have no appointed elders. He was fine. In fact, the the glorious side of having so-called higher precision. It was very proud of that. And as an elder they have to take care of matters. Of course, inside churches they got problems too and they made a decision one day.
On something what it is is not important. And then after they decided on that certain action, he said, hey, I don't think that's right. I can see from the word of God is said this is not right. So they agree with him, but on the way out they said to him, next time we have a meeting, don't bring your Bible with you. You spoil everything. Are they walking in truth if they deny the authority from the word of God?
Do you need to depart from them? Maybe they're good people, maybe they're kind and friendly and however you want to see it, but they deny the power from the word of God. Are they Christians? I believe they are. So here we need to be careful. And parents, your children often, I hear that too. Oh, they're playing with other Christian children. Be careful because what do the other so-called Christian family believe? Are they walking in the same truth that you perceive and you walk as from the word of God?
00:30:33
You can't really crossover spiritually unless we have a firm foundation of scriptural doctrine, the doctrine of Christ that has been mentioned several times. Those fundamental truths of the person and work of Christ are foundational, and at this time of John's history there the Gnostics were propounding.
Teachings that were subversive to the.
Essential doctrines of of the Lord's deity and perfect manhood. So really doctrine and and walking rightly go together and this is what the the apostle was was pleased about here that.
Gas was holding.
Tenacious Lizzie the doctrines of of the of the official given by the apostle John, that in earlier chapters.
You ought to hear about the importance of walking the talk and I believe.
This is what really makes impact on those powers, because if we say one thing and do another.
We lose the effectiveness and the truth is not accepted as it otherwise might be.
And so, you know, we live.
In a time where the truth of God is not popular, and the truth of being gathered simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not popular and we might be tempted, because of the funess of numbers, to want to join up.
And compromise the principles in the Word of God in order to be more acceptable to others.
But.
We don't do anybody a favor by associating with error and so I believe the important thing is with the Lords help that we might go on in the truth and walk the talk even though we might find ourselves few in number. This is how we're going to be a help to other believers.
That are in the systems of men.
And a verse that comes to mind. Silver in first John.
Chapter 5 and verse two, first John five and two it says here by this we know that we love.
The children of God.
When we love God and keep his commandments. So to walk in subjection to the Lord Jesus and to his Word, is a demonstration of our love for the brethren, even though it might appear as they were rather awful, and we might be considered to be exclusive.
And proud.
Really.
To walk in submission that a word of God is humility. It's not pride.
And it's going to have the greatest impact on other believers.
That are influenced by the thinking and the ways of men.
So may the Lord just help us to go on.
And submit to his word. It's a happy path.
00:35:02
The Lord Jesus said, if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
Obedience brings happiness into our souls.
And I believe that's one reason that.
Find.
Elder here, he says. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth, because if they're walking in truth, they're happy. That's what the Apostle Paul desired for the Saints.
God decides to keep happy praising Christians.
With respect to prospering, another verse comes to mind. It's in Proverbs 28. It says there he that covers his sins shall not prosper.
But whoso confesses and forsakes them will find mercy.
So if I think I can be effective in my testimony for Christ by trying to cover up sin.
And deceive.
But if that's the case, the best thing we can do?
Confess to sin.
We know that you don't have to ask forgiveness.
Because he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin. Don't ask for forgiveness. We just confess to sin. And we're going to find, we get forgiveness and we're going to find mercy and we're going to find that we're going to begin to prosper in our souls and in our testimony and service.
To the Lord.
We've talked a lot generically about the truth.
I'm wondering.
How much of the truth do you have to agree on in order to have fellowship with somebody and.
How do you define fellowship?
We've used the term truth. There's a lot of truth in the Word of God.
How much of that is included when we say that somebody's walking in the truth?
Well, there's an expression that David alluded to a little earlier that might help in Second Timothy chapter 3.
I'm not going to read all of this, but if you glance down.
1St 4 verses you get the character of those that we can't really company with even though they may be real Christians but.
On the other hand.
Fruits like this would lead you to wonder, but I'm thinking especially about the fifth verse having a form of godliness.
They may know the right word.
But when it says denying the power of it.
I would suggest I could also be translating denying the authority of the Bible and it says from such to turn away. Well, how would you recognize them if they're not, as Wally was saying, walking the talk?
We cannot judge motives as.
And others said we are called to be prudent.
I hope that helps a little.
We might want to see the table in response to the question. Excuse me.
We'll have Bruce.
We might say in response to the question that we walk with another until we can't.
And so we meet believers.
I'm in an airport, large airport.
I don't know, 5:45 AM driving a cup of coffee.
And a person grabs their breakfast and bows their head and gives thanks.
And your heart wells up because there's your brother and your sister.
So.
We need believers all the time, don't we? And.
Even in Philippians 3.
Which to me is one of the most exalted chapters in the Word of God from the point of view of Christian experience.
So much so that Paul says I not we, I. And yet after.
He takes you up on that high place that he delights to walk and to run in. He comes back down and he says, but.
00:40:10
Nevertheless, whereunto, I'm sorry, the verse before Philippians 315.
As many as be perfect, as many as be mature.
Be thus minded, and if anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
He had confidence that the Spirit of God that was in him would be in them, leading them along in the same path.
Notice the next verse. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, Let us walk by this same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
So we're all at different stages of growth, but the babe in Christ who's LED of the Spirit walking along.
As John could say to the babes, you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things you need not any man teach you. And then he kept teaching them.
It's kind of interesting, but we're in the same path and we're all at different levels and some of us are left-handed and some are right-handed and all of that, but.
I believe we should walk until we can't, until there's a.
A path that takes us out of that Channel of truth and.
And we'll know it, but love remains. But two can't walk together unless they be agreed.
I hope that's a little helpful. I was thinking that the testimony that.
That Gaius had here.
Was from his own assembly he he had walked in the truth among the brethren that were closest to him, and it was evident.
To his brethren they gave a report of His activity, and His faithfulness, and His value of the truth.
It really is beautiful to see a commendation here, not by himself, but by his brethren who knew him, and our brethren in the Assemblies, who know us probably better than any others. And.
The testimony that we bear in the home assembly is important.
I might point out that the enemy of our souls would desire to divide brethren, wouldn't he?
And basically there are certain matters that come up, for example.
Baptism has divided some. I can recall a story that was told it was a sister that knew that Brother Darby had a certain view of baptism and Mr. Bellitt had a different view.
And she wanted to get a discussion going that would cause them.
To debate one another.
And.
She said to Brother Bella first Brother Bella, what do you hold on baptism?
And he said I hold my tongue.
Then he turned to Brother Darby.
And he said, she said, Brother Darby, what do you hold on baptism?
I love my brother Bella too much that I will not answer that question. And it was.
Just left there and it wasn't a matter of division.
It's an interesting observation, Brother Bruce, that in your example.
That truth is not just knowledge.
It's a beautiful thing when we look in Ephesians chapter 4 and we read in.
In that 4th chapter of Ephesians.
It says in verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ.
Truth is not just about getting fox in your head about what is right and what is wrong. And the example that you just gave that it wasn't Mr. Ballot had to be right. It wasn't Mr. Darby had to be right. Both of them were willing, as is brought out in this chapter, to walk in love. And what did our Savior say?
00:45:04
About his commandments, this is my commandment that you love one another.
And I think those two brothers understood the spirit of the vision that was trying to make a fight between them and to trying to cause division by making people two sides. And that's important. And there is a path that allows us to walk in grace having differences of opinion on subjects like baptism. And so when we come here a little further down in Ephesians chapter 4.
You find the expression the truth is in Jesus and that's how we need to learn truth is in connection with our Lord and Savior as Brother Bruce is bringing out in the other Bruce in Philippians. That chapter is about having one mind in Christ and knowing and understanding his humility and holding the truth in that form the way the Lord Jesus did to be faithful and loving.
At exactly the same time.
And so it's, it's interesting to observe. Probably if we go on with this chapter, we'll be coming down to diotrophes. And I believe in diotrophies. You see a man who holds the truth for the sake of the truth. And it's probably not even the right truth. It might be the right truth, I don't know. But his behavior became evil. And that's part of the reason why the Apostle Paul in the last times, as we've been describing, brings this forward.
And is giving encouragement to his younger brother Gaius to walk in the truth in spite of what people are doing around. And that truth is in Jesus. And it has to do with the love of Jesus, understanding who his person is, His Holiness and His grace.
Think of what it says in contrast to Moses.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth.
Came by Jesus Christ. And so when we're considering truth, we need to consider it in the context of the one who loves us and gave himself for us.
We often think of truth as in how much of my knowledge, how much do I know so I can show you that I know more than you. Pride often comes in. We think of what's in it for me as the typical way of looking at knowledge.
Eternal with each other verse in Proverbs Chapter 9 and for children, you learned this as Sunday school. I think that was one of the Sunday school verse two weeks ago. See if we could remember that Proverbs Chapter 9 verse 10 when it was read out, I think last or the week before last. It really struck me. It's not it's not a new verses. If it were is we know these verses, but let me just read that first. Proverbs 9 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
You know when that was said, I got, I knew that we say that all the time, but I.
Find for myself anyway, I stopped short right there thinking that that's the verse. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And then we forget. Do we omit the little semi colon there? That means there's more to what you said. And I think the second part is important and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Well, how much do we look at the whole list? What is the holy? Is it a holy place? Is it a holy one? I'm going to let you.
Meditate on that, but we need to dwell on the knowledge of the Holy and once we start to think and talk like as if the language of Scripture, then we will look at things differently. And then I want to share one more portion. Some of you who are Kentucky with us would have this before you last week, John chapter 17 and there were just three times the word Father is used.
Here is the precious chapter that the Lord Jesus is praying for you. He's praying for us, but I'm just taking it out perhaps.
To suit our subject here in verse five he prayed and he said, oh father, have you noticed the word father under the reader from three different sections. So it start off by saying all father in verse 10.
No longer old father, he was able to address him.
Holy Father.
00:50:02
Then can I find the verse further down verse 25?
Oh, righteous father, Christian know God is their father. The Jews of all Israel didn't know him as a father. They knew him as Jehovah God. Christian have that privilege, Father. And the question is for us as Christian, how do you know him as father, whole father? I think that's precious for someone. So when it comes to doctrine.
To the work, the blood, the shed blood of Christ. You're going to find most. I wouldn't say all would agree with you.
But then do they know him as the Holy Father as more doctrine as they were being introduced, you're going to start seeing the difference. John presented this. We find John and Peter have little bit different doctrine. They preach, they teach more of a godly living in this world.
When you stop presenting Paul's doctrine to other Christian, I'm going to find difficulties because they may say how can you not let the woman speak in churches? You are so prejudice against women. Why do you have to have them head to head cover and so on. And we know the answer is simple. Scripture tells us that and that's separate. So that's just the beginning. Pause doctrine and when we go through Paul has many doctrines and it's not a thought here to go on to it.
And then as we grow more in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we recognize Him as the righteous Father.
I think it's important to see here, too, that none of us are at a standstill.
We are either progressing in a.
Our knowledge of the truth and the enjoyment of the of the truth and of the person of Christ or we are retrograding, we are not standing still and so the apostles really was encouraged by the progress there was in in gas.
Look back at First John chapter 2.
Verse 6 John chapter 2 and verse 2728. And now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Well, the those that labor for the Lord amongst the.
Brethren, and they see growth and and desire to.
To walk in obedience to the word of God. It's an encouragement to them and.
That there'll be a reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
John's first epistle he makes the statement that he that loveth him, that begot loveth him that has begotten of him.
So John reasons there that they might have a firm grasp on the characteristics of the new life that we've now received. It's a life that loves, and it loves the one who begat. It loves those begotten of Him. All of us that are older have had the experience where we know brethren, that we've known 203040 almost 50 years. And then we see some. We need some Saints.
Somewhere and we find out their names and we find out they're the children of someone that we've known and love for so many years. And it, there's a certain feeling with that. So it is even with strangers that we might meet, whether it's in the workplace or school or there there's the love, the response of love from our, from our life, from our nature. And so we see this in Gaius as we go on a little in the chapter.
That Paul could, John could commend him that what he did in bringing the brethren forward in their journey, that we're seeking to serve and be amongst the Lord's people was something that was good. And these brethren were brethren apparently, that that they didn't know. They were not brethren and strangers, as I take it. They were brethren who were strangers to them in the sense that they had not known them, but the bond of fellowship.
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In Christ, a person that loves the truth, loves others that love the truth, and they're happy. And it's natural to the Newman to just want to do what we can to help them along. And in the face of what we'll read, if the Lord leads us that way into the end of this little epistle, He commands that which is good and normal and wholesome in the Christian life. Bring the dear brethren along after a godly sword.
Perhaps it's a practical.
Exaltation. Sometimes we see perhaps one is not walking.
And the truth that you mentioned, and we have to be careful because are they just growing? Are they new? Because we all learn. And I see one of my problem is I learned something new. And I look at you and say, how come you don't understand that? And then when I look deep down in my unto myself, I say, oh, I just learned that a few months ago. So we have to have the patience too for our brethren, especially the younger one, that it takes time. It took us sometimes fifty, 60-70 years to learn something.
And it's the same. I'll tell you a story just to reinforce that. One of our grandson came to me, he's about 8, and he said to me, grandpa and I won't name the other grandson. The other grandson is 4. He said I explained to him the chess game three times already and he won't listen to me.
Well, in his mind that the younger one should have listened, but he didn't have the capacity a four year old to understand the rule of the chest. By the way, this one sort of learned the chess game, but I don't think you know what that well. So that's an example for us to be patient too with our younger brethren. What is your younger younger perhaps in faith. And there are many truths that we learn. I'm we're still learning, aren't we?
It's a question perhaps of.
Seeing somebody part way into the ditch.
And the question is, is the person going down into the ditch or are they coming up out of the ditch? You know, it takes discernment to know where souls are. And if somebody is walking contrary to the word of God, they know it. They've got a bad conscience, you might say they're going down into the ditch. We're going to treat them different. And somebody that's learning the truth.
And you're making progress and they're coming up out of the ditch.
So we have to look at each situation and.
See. Where's this person coming from?
Where this person going?
And I would say we're not going to help somebody by going down into the ditch with the purse. I know years ago.
You're walking down the road. And my daughter, she stepped off the road.
And the next thing is she's actually sinking down.
I don't know if it was quicksand or not.
But she was sinking.
And our first impulse is, well, let's jump in and get her out of here.
But then we thought that would not be a smart move.
So what did we do? We stayed on a solid ground and we reached out as far as we could reach. We actually were able to get.
A grip on her and he pulled her out.
But you can imagine if we thought, well, we're going in there to help her.
People that in fake trouble, they're going to help somebody by staying out the ditch, I believe.
Even that depends on the situation though, doesn't it, Brother Wally?
The Good Samaritan got down in the ditch.
It really depends on what the situation is. And galatians 61 you are spiritual.
Restore such a one considering thyself there is a way to get right down where our brethren are when that's needed, and be a help to them. And it's in the spirit of meekness too, isn't it?
Thank you. That's a good point.
Most faithfulness is so important, isn't it? Rather than that you look at?
First Timothy chapter.
01:00:01
The Second Timothy, chapter 2.
Where the obstacle?
Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of many of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. So it's not a question of giftedness.
Having a great knowledge of the word, but faithful men, you see that in the book of Nehemiah through certain ones are spoken of as being faithful above many. So this is something that God values faithfulness equals.
Ask that the Lord has marked out in the Word for us.
Is something that is is is an example to others like we have here? Verse 5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. God values faithfulness in the day of ruin. Is that right?
Now that we've considered the context of these verses 3-4 and five, I'd just like to go back to two just for a minute and point out something with regard to prayer. We often pray for people that they would do well in their jobs and be recovered in their health and all of these things, and we forget sometimes to pray for that which is most important. I think you get a right emphasis in these verses. The whole emphasis really is no greater joy than that. My children walk in the truth.
And that's exactly what it says in verse. True too. I wish above all things, or that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health. That's that's something that we can wish for for one another and pray for. That's really the point.
But he doesn't end there, even as I soul prospered.
That is the most important thing, and you go through the New Testament prayers, Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter 3, you see the emphasis there is that for one another. Paul's praying that we would be.
Increasing our knowledge and our understanding of the love and that we would come into that which is spiritual. And I just, I don't want to belabor this, but just make that point that we need to remember to pray for one another spiritually. That's actually more important than the health and the welfare.
Is that we do well in our souls.
And if someone prayed for me, that my soul would prosper.
Or my health would prosper as well as my soul. Would my health go downhill?
Just wonder one verse in regard to your comment, Tim, in Colossians chapter four we see a prayer of that professor Colossians 4 verse 12. He said a profess who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salute you.
Always laboring fervent for you in prayers. Again, I find for myself that I stopped there. That ends with a comma. There's more to it. What was his prayer? He said He sets here that that he may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Let me just read it from the new translation to save some confusion that that he may stand.
Perfect and complete in the full will of God.
Just like to make one comment.
We could turn to Hebrews Chapter 11, verse five. So we've enjoyed about Gaius the first part of this meeting and how he had a tremendous testimony. I've just been enjoying this little phrase at the end of verse 5, Hebrews 11, the end of verse five, Speaking of Enoch who lived.
Thousands of years ago.
But God in his word has reminded us this little expression he had, this testimony that he pleased God. And so I just want to make a comment for the children that are here and young people.
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Each one of you has a testimony, whether you both you know it or not.
Those of us who are a little older, we've watched you as you were a little kid, and we've watched you grow up. And we are delighted to see the Spirit of Christ in each one of these, and may it grow. May you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ like we've had this morning. But Enoch, in his whole life, he had this testimony.
That he please God and that's really what's important for each one of us to be to go on to please God in this world to live for him to give our lives for him on a daily basis and we're all we all have a testimony and.
May it be that we all have this testimony that Enoch had that he pleased God. And if there's somebody here today and you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. That's one of the purposes of these conferences is to have the gospel and then if we are believers that we might live in a way that we're a testimony leaves the.
Hey, Cortana.
What I want to say?
I.
Understand revolution.
Let's turn to one verse before we pray in Second Timothy chapter 2.
Verse 22.
We also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Prayer.
Christ Our Object: Apprehending Our Hebron
Address—Bruce Conrad
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Good afternoon. Let's begin our meeting this afternoon by singing hymn #46 in the Appendix 46 in the back of the book.
I have on my heart today to speak about Christ as our object.
And this him, I think, at least partially expresses that very beautifully. 46 in the back of a brother could start that, please.
Video downloading download.
You haven't failed.
I won't really.
Play.
A picture of the heart.
Well, when people.
He asked for prayer about going someplace to have a meeting and say, well, I hope you have a good meeting.
I don't really care today.
About having.
A good meeting.
In that sense, because of course there's self and all that.
But it really is my prayer.
That this meeting is good for you.
I hope to traverse over a series of passages, all of which are well known to you to most of you.
To touch on things that I find hard to talk about.
Not because they're awkward or necessarily difficult.
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But there are spiritual things that describe a state of soul.
That we I are not always in.
But we aspire to be in it.
And I remind myself of Indiana, my work life. Many times we have get a bunch of guys together, maybe 8 or a dozen.
That would be charged with.
Planning and soon carrying out a very difficult.
Construction operation.
And there'll be senior guys there, experts, world class experts. And then there would be some, no offense, young guys, but there would be some guys fresh out of school and.
Young engineers and and they'd speak up with what they felt was a really good idea. And we don't want to discourage ideas.
But the older ones would just kind of smile because they've been through this so many times. And we would if I was running the meeting. We just appreciate the input and thank you. And we may or may not explain why that might not work or would be a little too risky. And then we would go on. I feel like that young guy now, tonight, this afternoon, speaking about things that are really, in a certain sense, above me. So I hope you'll bear with that. But the truth itself.
These are necessary.
Precious and needful things for your life and mine.
And the Lord is very engaged that we might lay hold of these things.
That's hopefully we'll we'll walk through. So let's look to the Lord in prayer before we start.
Our gracious God, our Father.
We thank thee.
For that eternal purpose, that love in thy heart that would.
Desire that the children of men.
Would be brought into fellowship with thee and with thy son.
We thank Thee, our God, our Father, for sending the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Lord Jesus, precious saved when we thank Thee.
For laying aside all that was rightly dying.
Selling all that thou just have in a sense to purchase us as thine own.
We now desire to lay hold of that for which we have been extracted from this world, that we might spend our time here in a way that is for Thy glory and for our prophet and blessing. So we ask Thy blessing. Guide us, we pray in that which we take up. We commit the time to Thee. We ask for a blessing for each one, our God, our Father, in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let's start in Genesis chapter 13.
You will recall that in Genesis 12 is the first we read about God calling Abram out of his country.
And Abraham eventually gets into the land.
A little bit of a hiccup along the way and then he goes all the way down through the land into Egypt.
And he's.
Encouraged by an unbeliever really, to.
Get out of here.
Too, God had told him get out, and then the leader of Egypt says get out of here too, so he's back in the land.
In Genesis 13, though, we read that.
He paid a little. He paid a price for going to Egypt.
And so it was that his nephew Lot, who had accompanied him all the way from across the river, his his original country.
He got a real taste for prosperous things in this life.
And there's a bit of conflict in the two groups. And Abraham very graciously says, you take your choice, I'll take the other.
And as you know, Lot made the choice, sad choice, to go down into the well watered plains of Sodom.
But it's after this that the Lord speaks to Abram.
In Genesis 13 and he says this in verse 14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him.
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Lift up now thine eyes Lot had lifted his up.
Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it into thy seed forever.
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise and walk through the breath, through the land, in the length of it, and in the breath of it, and I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent.
And came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is Hebron or Hebron, and.
Built there an altar unto the Lord.
Most all of us as Bible students know that Hebrew Hebron speaks of communion, mammary, of fatness. This isn't the first altar that Abraham had built to worship the Lord. It might have been the 4th, if I remember right. But he's in Hebron now, a place that we read about in the Scriptures for the first time in this chapter, which we'll see in literally and in picture form later on, We trust.
And so it is when we think about Abram and this gracious provision of the Lord.
He did it another time, too.
He took him outside and he said, look now towards heaven, look up, look around. And this is what you and I have been led to do in our Christian lives, many of you, many of us. I was pretty young when I came amongst the Saints.
Have been instructed in divine things. We have been shown things we have seen with our eyes.
Precious things.
Many righteous men and many kings have desired to see the things which we see, and have not seen them.
And the Lord could say, blessed are your eyes, for they see.
You young people have learned many incredible things. You've learned differential equations.
You've learned fluid mechanics. You've learned financial stuff.
Some of you maybe are in the health occupation and you learn all kinds of highly technical things about the body and about all of that you're capable of learning many, many impressive things.
But your mind was made by God as Creator.
In the way that no other creatures mind was made to be able to understand the things that are the most important to him.
And those are the things that he wants you to understand and he's fitted you to understand them.
But as.
I was alert during the reading meeting this morning to different brothers making comments that to see or to know or knowledge in itself, I think it came from over here somewhere, is not enough.
It is not enough. It is not enough to see it. It's not enough to know it objectively. It must be walked in, held personally and enjoyed.
We tend to think that joy is an option.
When I was young and my father went to buy a car, he was pretty frugal, said, well, do you want? Do you want, Mr. Conrad? Do you want?
What do they used to call the window? Everybody has it now the roll up, push a button and the window goes up, right? We said roll up the window because that's in the old days. That's the way it was, right? No, no, I don't want that. I don't need that. I don't need to pay for that. Just a regular. I didn't remember how you call them. Crank up window Joy is not that way.
It's in your soul, practically, because I'm speaking about practical things. The foundation of joy is peace, and joy is built on top of that.
And the Christian life, as I've seen it more and more as I've gotten older, cannot be properly walked.
Without joy.
So it's not an option, you say, let me be, let me be, let me just schlep along in the Yiddish expression of things. Let me just schlep along. I go to meeting. I'm not in anything untoward or immoral. Let me just slip along, show up at meeting. You know we'll dot the I cross the T and the normal expected Christian life. No, it won't work.
You'll give up.
You'll give up. Most likely you'll give up.
Say most likely because God is sovereign and he can come in, and so often does in grace.
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But I believe what I say is the truth of Scripture, that the Christian life is meant to be negotiated with joy.
And even the Man of Sorrows rejoiced in spirit.
When Paul wrote to in Second Corinthians.
To the Corinthians.
In chapter six and seven and eight, he showed that they could have joy at the same time they were having sorrow.
Because their sorrows all through this room, in every heart.
Maybe not the smallest, maybe not him, but there's sorrow in every heart, there's disappointments, and some really deal with a heavy dose of things. Physiologically, emotionally, whatever. We don't hardly even know how to talk about it.
But in the midst of that, and even if you have that particular challenge, you could be happy in the Lord. Joy and sorrow can be mixed together.
In one of the chapters, it's joy and tribulation. Another chapter is joy and poverty, and there's a joy that God intends for you to have.
That is independent of circumstances that will enable you to be here.
For His glory and to walk through this world in a way that is fruitful and a blessing to others.
And so his word to Abram Arise walked through the land, and the length of it, and the breath of it, and I will give it to you.
It's like the prayers and this is for those that are older. At the end of Ephesians chapter one, Paul prays to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, that they may see the standing and the and the the riches of the glory that God had wrought for them through Christ, through Christ coming, Christ dying.
Christ being raised and now Christ descended. He wanted them to understand that.
At the end of Ephesians 1.
But at the end of Ephesians 3, it's not about the standing anymore, it's about their state of soul being such that they enjoy and and have Christ in them and experience the joy of the relationship which is which, which determines our state of soul.
As someone said in the reading meeting this morning.
If you prayed for me that my health would be would prosper as my state of soul, would my health go backwards or would it be, would it be a good prayer? That's what we're speaking about here. Your state of soul. You know, the older brothers used to talk about that all the time, communion and the state of soul and if somebody was a little bit.
Wobbly. Oh well, he's not in a good state of soul. When's the last time you ever heard anybody talk about somebody's state of soul?
Kind of like we don't talk about that anymore.
It's very important.
And so to me, in the end of Genesis 14.
The beginning of it is his. The communication of the Lord to him was at the end of Ephesians one, and I know we don't have time to go into this, but then he says walk through the land, the breath of it. I'm going to give it to you and the present enjoyment of heavenly things is what the prayer at the end of Ephesians 3 is about, and you can read it that you at your leisure.
Well, let's turn the clock does not stop. Let's go to the Book of Numbers.
Numbers, Chapter 13.
And we have a man named Caleb.
Who was often spoken about?
And many have taken up Caleb.
For their entire.
50 minutes or 60 minutes and I don't intend to do that.
But just to point out.
The state of soul in a Caleb.
Which not only sustained him for 40 years as he went through the wilderness.
With the other.
Israelites, but the state of soul which made him make a good judgment in the first place.
In numbers 13 we see that.
The Lord says to Moses, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel, of every tribe of their father. Shall ye send a man?
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Everyone a ruler among them.
Verse six of the tribe of Judah. Caleb, the son of Jefuna.
Of the tribe of Ephraim Oshiya, or Joshua the son of Nun.
And the other ten are listed there.
You know the story.
It wasn't the Lord's idea.
It did not originate with him, if I could put it that way, that they send 12 spies out into the land. If you read, if you were to flip ahead in Deuteronomy one, you'll see that it was good to the Lord because all the children of Israel came to the Lord and they said to Moses and said, we really need to, you know, we really need to plan this out.
They were what?
Weeks, months away out of Egypt. We really need to plan this out. I know you want us to go. I know you're leading us up in there, but we need to know which what's the right route and what this what kind of people are there and that we need the whole understand all this and.
Is it says? I think it's in the Darby translation. It was good to the Lord, OK.
Because he knew the character of the state of the people.
He knows the end from the beginning and he allowed this unhappy venture to pro ceed and for 40 days the best and brightest of Israel traversed that land.
I know they're just names to us, they're just names to me, but there are 600,000 armed men, armed Hebrews men. Men are able to fight war. So 60 / 12 is 5 S 50,000. I've never been in charge of 50,000 men.
I don't know anybody, maybe some of you have.
That's a quite a responsibility of leadership and there's 50,000 people to to sort through to see who's the one that's going to. These are these these men were not nobody's.
And yet you know the story and I don't want to take time to read it all.
And they all go to the same place as far as we know, and they all saw the same thing.
But two of them came back and said, wow, what a great land, let's go.
And ten of them said.
It's got giants, it's got high walls. It eats the people up. I don't know how that would be, but it's it's it's.
This isn't going to work.
And so in verse towards the end of Numbers 13.
They see the sons of the Giants, the sons of Attic. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, as you know.
And verse 14, chapter 14, verse one. The people wept that night.
And then in verse four of chapter 14, let us make us a captive, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jefuna, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes.
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land.
If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, and so on.
The tipping point, as it seems to me.
With Joshua and Caleb was that they said this will work.
Despite the.
Height of the walls and the size of the people and any other problem. If the Lord delighted us, that's the whole thing.
They speak of tipping. That's the tipping point.
Does it sound familiar to you?
Does it sound familiar to what we read in the first couple chapters of Genesis?
If if the Lord delighted us.
And in the heart of the first man, in the heart of the first woman, was unbelief.
That the Lord had for them what was the very best.
And so they're thinking and then their actions followed that train of thought. But here with Caleb and Joshua, you have a difference. You have it's all up to him. If he wants it to happen, it's going to happen. And they felt like we have a word from the Lord. He brought us out of Egypt. How does that make any sense?
00:25:19
How does it make any sense for a whole nation of people to let these people go when they're you're, when they're your servants? It makes no sense.
And then they spoiled the Egyptians on the way out here. Here have our precious things, have our jewels, and go out with your children and your her and your flocks and it what a entourage went out.
Does that make any sense? How does it make any sense to come across a Red Sea? How does it many? Have you ever looked and seen what it's like in Sinai, in the desert? How did that make any sense to sustain the people there?
Made no sense and it makes no sense for them to say let's make us a captain and let's go back.
This is too hard. This is too hard. This can't be done.
This can't be done.
And if I or any other older Christian tells you young people that you can't live the Christian life, that it's too hard and it can't be done, ignore us. Please ignore us.
Because God is not asking you to do something that can't be done. He's asking you to do something that you can't do in yourself with your own strength. But He's not asking you to do something that can't be done. As a matter of fact, He's asking you to do something that He just is waiting to give you the strength and every resource needed to do it, and He wants you to do it.
Old times sake.
Sitting in the Woodbridge Fellowship meeting on the second floor of that building that they used to have, Was that the Christensen store or something?
And so you could get there in the afternoon, you could break bread in Glenside, maybe in Dorothy, I don't remember in Chatham, in Brooklyn.
Hardy came down from Boston, Connecticut, all brethren came for an afternoon meeting and I remember where I was sitting and I remember Ezra Eustace in his well tailored suit and his shaved head before that was popular standing up at the at the end of the meeting room in an open meeting. And all I remember is him saying, quoting that verse in John chapter 2 where the Lords where Mary spoke to the Lord.
Because she didn't understand, I don't think what the Lord said.
And so she says, whatever he says to you, do it.
And I can remember Ezra, it's been 50 years maybe. I can remember seeing him stand there and saying that whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
That was a real word to my heart from the Lord.
Well, we know the story. And the sad thing is, those ten men, those 10 noble, competent men, they all lost their lives.
The wages of sin is death.
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You say, well, that's a gospel verse, is it? Is it?
Look again. Is it?
Brother Wally was speaking in the reading meeting.
About being halfway down in the ditch, or halfway out. Scripture, our old teachers used to tell us, defines an action by its tendency. Is the tendency down, or is the tendency?
And the tendency to say it can't be done is down.
In Caleb and Joshua said let's go. The Lord does delight in us. He'll bring us into this land, and after all, what else are they going to do?
Go back into Egypt. Really think about that for a minute.
Is the Lord going to open the Red Sea again the other direction?
Is Egypt, Egypt just going to open their arms to you? How are you going to get back?
It's totally untenable.
And it's the same for you as a believer.
You've accepted Christ as your Savior, and when you did so, hopefully you got good teaching. That said, you know what the Lord said to you. You felt like you chose me two weeks ago, and you did.
But I chose you long before you had a thought towards me.
And what a thought that is when it comes to our mind.
Because the Lord could say and found of them that sought me not.
And we realize He chose us and we're on our way and there's no turning back.
00:30:05
Even if you decide in your heart.
That you want to turn back.
You can't go back. It's impossible. You can't be unborn. You're born from above. You're born again.
You're committed. He's committed you. You're going with him. The question is, how's it going to be along the way?
There are happy and humbled Christians.
There are dependent Christians.
And there are miserable Christians. There are miserably unhappy believers.
An older brother who I won't name, that's from this area.
He said to me, it's better to meet an unbeliever.
Sometimes in business or in a dark alley than a Christian in a bad state of soul.
Christian in a bad state of soul.
Is in a place God never intended to be.
And that's not where any of us want to be.
We want to not only know the truth, we want to be in the enjoyment of it. So it is the power and joy of our life.
And that is the that is the that is the way that God intends us to go through this wilderness world.
I won't take time to read all of anymore of numbers, but let's turn to Joshua 14.
And we pick up again with our.
Friend Caleb and Joshua.
Caleb, as most of you know.
The name Caleb means dog.
In the western world of those of us that are older, we we marvel at how people deal with.
The place that dogs have now. I mean, they got like doctors for dogs and psychiatrists, psychologists for dogs and everything for dogs.
Play dates for dogs. Dogs have been elevated in the Western world. People say, well, we're not sure we want to have children, but we're going to go get a dog.
In other parts of the world, not like that, the dog is really a dog, and I won't say any more about that.
But Caleb's name means dog, and I like to think it's because he was so dogged.
Because he was 40 years old when he went on that, on that search, search trip, that spy trip, it's really a search trip.
None of them had been through there before. It was the first time for everyone of them.
Says, well, his experience was different. No, Was it?
His experience was the same as theirs. He came out of Egypt.
He had never been there before either, but he came to different conclusions because of his state of soul.
And it is said of him, even early on, he's wholly followed the Lord.
I appreciate what my brother said at the end of our reading to the to the younger people especially that you can be like Enoch.
Enoch had this testimony. It doesn't say who rendered it.
Or who formed it. We know that God did that. He pleased God. And so Caleb pleased God as a 40 year old. So the question was, how's it going to be over the 40? Is he going to grumble? I'm not sure that we read anything about Caleb in those 40 to 45 years because in in Joshua 14.
We'll read it here.
Joshua 14 and verse.
7.
40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnier.
To spy out the land. And I brought him word again, as it was in mine heart.
Nevertheless, my brethren, then I went up with me, made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swear on that day, saying, Surely the land were on thy feet of trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses.
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While the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now, lo, I am this day four score and five years old. That's 85 years old. There are very few people in this room that are 85 years old. Very few.
As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, Even so is my strength now. For war both to go out and to come in now, therefore give me this mountain.
Whereof the Lord spake in that day. For thou heardest in that day how the Anakins were there, and that the cities were great and fenced. If so be, the Lord will be with me. Then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jefuna Hebron, for an inheritance.
Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jefuna the Keenazite unto this day.
Because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel, and the name of Hebron before was Kirjak Arba, which Arba was a great man among the Anakins, and the land had rest for more.
Naturally speaking, it would be impossible.
Improbable for any of us to be at 85 like we are at 40.
God sustained Caleb and Joshua in a remarkable way. I believe as a picture for you and me that our spiritual energy can be unabated as we get older.
I heard a brother speak recently at a car. I was listening when I take my walks, I listen to ministry and I felt like wow, he's he's like ready to like write us all off like we're old tottering.
A humans like he wanted to pat us on the head and say it's it's OK, it's OK. No, that's not it at all.
In Second Corinthians chapter 4.
There's a verse that says.
I can picture it, let me see if I could start it.
Let me cut her into it.
2nd Corinthians 4.
And the brother's word was not.
Was fine, I just being older I took a little exception.
2nd Corinthians 416 for which 'cause we faint not.
But though our outward men perish, and indeed it does.
Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
The inward man in the believer is renewed day by day.
And you think you're doing a kindness to an old person by visiting the 90 year old in the in the nursing home. And you are. It's nice to do that, but you're going to get a blessing when you realize that the inward man and that believe that brother or that sister has been renewed that day and will be renewed the next day if they're still alive.
Because that's the way spiritual things work.
And with Caleb, it's beautiful to see He had the same exercise. He almost, I would say, had it more.
It's remarkable and I didn't point it out on our way through.
There are many mountains in Israel I would assume. I've never been there.
But it keeps saying go up and take that mountain or the mountain, and it keeps using the singular for it, the mountain. I think that's very interesting. And 45 years later in this account we read in Joshua 14.
Caleb says now, therefore, give me this mountain.
He'd been waiting for it for 45 years.
Beautiful, beautiful.
For 40 / 40 years they wandered in the wilderness.
40 years.
And Caleb with them.
And finally, they're in the land.
And he says, you know, 45 years ago, I knew I could go up and take that mountain, give it to me.
And they did. They took the mountain.
Why do you want that old city anyway? It's an old city. It's they're all one of the oldest, if not the oldest city in the world, as it says in the account seven years before Zoar. And besides, there's a lot of dead people there.
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I read you how Abram built an altar there, but we could have read how Abram.
His wife Sarah dies in that place and he doesn't have a place to bury her.
And he goes to the men, the sons of half interest. Give me, she says I am a he rose up from his dead. He says I'm a stranger in the earth. Give me a bearing place.
That I might bury my dead out of my sight.
They said to him, Thou art a mighty Prince among us.
Thou art a mighty Prince among us.
What a testimony. But in his own heart, he said. I'm just a stranger in the earth.
I have an inheritance ahead of me.
I'll have it someday.
In meantime, I'm a stranger, I'm a Pilgrim.
Sarah died there.
Abram was buried there. Isaac, Rebecca.
Jacob.
Leah, maybe I'm skipping some.
What do you want that place for?
Just where they bury people. A place of death.
But it's one of the mysteries of faith.
It's one of the mysteries of faith that God reveals to man, that blessing for man comes on the other side of death, and death is the door to something that I appreciate more and more as I get older. The wonderful truth, the great mystery of the gospel of resurrection. Resurrection on the other side of death. Death in the rearview mirrors, we would say.
It's gone for me.
It becomes the place of communion and fatness.
It's the place where Joseph left from to go out and see how his brethren fared.
It's the brave place where David.
First was glorified to be made king in Hebrew.
Sometimes we might think that Canaan is heaven.
We cross Jordan, we go through death, and now we're in heaven.
And there's many beautiful spiritual songs from early America amongst African slaves that were brought over and enslaved. Beautiful hymnology in American culture.
That speak of Canaan in that way, but that's not the truth of God is to Canaan for you and me.
Canaan is enjoying heaven before we get there, and that's why there's conflict.
When we get home to heaven, there's no conflict. You say, Well, yeah, we're going to ride with the Lord out of heaven.
The armies of God are going to ride out of heaven, yes.
But the Lord is the one who's going to do all the battle.
And you're going to be dressed in your, what are the military people called? Your, your, your dress uniform. You're going to be in white garments. White. You don't go to a battle in white garments. I know that I've never been a soldier, but you don't go to a battle where you're going to have to do anything it clothes like that.
So the battle really is for you and me.
To use spiritual energy.
To be able to enjoy heavenly blessings now before we get there.
The Jewish blessing was typically ahead of him.
The promises to the patriarchs were all ahead of them.
They had them out in front of them.
And yes, had they had up, they had had opportunity to have gone back. But their blessings were ahead, and their faith is rewarded for that, pressing on and enduring, as we read in Hebrews 11. But your blessings, except for one, are not that way.
The whole array of blessing that you have, because he's blessed you with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. You have them now, I have them now.
We were chosen.
We were predestinated to be in a certain place before God.
We were called. We were justified.
And the final thing? And God looks upon it as if it were already done. Glorified. You're not glorified yet.
00:45:09
You're not like Christ's spirit, soul and body yet.
That's the last thing that's not. That's not a present possession, but all the rest. You have eternal life now.
You have a divine person in dwelling you. You have a relationship with divine persons.
Remarkable. And so Canaan is the struggle, the spiritual warfare, to be able to enjoy these precious heavenly things before we get there.
Let's turn to.
To John.
Let's turn to Mark Chapter 10.
As pleasant as it would be to linger on Caleb's.
Spiritual success.
Because he did get the land.
You did get it.
In Mark 10.
Verse 15 for context, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child.
He shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running.
That's good. And kneeled to him. That's good.
And asked him. And that's good.
Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
He must have heard some things.
He thought it was something worth having.
He thought he wanted it.
In verses 18 and 19, the Lord puts him back upon the law.
In verse 20 he answered and said unto him, Master, all these things have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him.
That's beautiful.
I think that's a detail you only get in Mark. If I remember right, he looked upon him and he loved him.
I often think of this passage.
And he said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that same, and went away grieved.
For he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God? And the disciples were astonished at his words.
This, if I could say it, godly young man, upright young man, sincere young man, enthusiastic young man, comes to the very door of eternity.
He comes to the very door.
But when it's a matter of let me take my stuff, let me take my me.
And I'm not saying that we all need to get rid of all our resources. The Lord.
Gives different ones of us resources, and we're expected to use them properly in a way that is for God's glory.
I'm not saying that every believer is supposed to take a vow of poverty.
But for him, it was what he was all about. It was that one thing he couldn't let go.
The Lord said get rid of it.
Take up your cross step across the other side and follow me.
And he was sad at that, saying it went away, grieved.
Think he would have been delighted he's found the true door?
In the early chapters of John, when the disciples realized who Jesus was, what is it? Andrew ran and told his brother We found him, we found him who was the Messiah.
00:50:00
Come.
Like the woman at the will come see a man.
He goes away grieved.
John, Chapter 12.
The Lord Jesus here explains.
Very clearly.
What would have been for eternal blessing for that rich man?
That rich young man in John chapter 12.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. Verse 24. John 12.
Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone.
He was referring to himself as a man here.
He was alone.
That eternal life which existed throughout all eternity in heavenly glory, the Father with the Son.
He came down and took manhood to himself.
But as such, he was alone.
But if it die, there's that door again. If it die.
It bringeth forth much fruit. You say death. Death came in. It was God's sentence against sin and rebellion.
Thou shalt surely die. How could something like that be a door to anything good?
But as we know, He's made the wrath of man even to praise him.
And God has taken every weapon of the enemy.
And grabbed it and brought it to himself. And so he could say to the Corinthians, like he says to you and me, all things are yours. Life, death, all these things are yours. They're mine. So they're yours. And now death is his way to separate us from these bodies of humiliation if he chooses to do so. And you know, less than a twinkling of an eye, we're absent from the body present with the Lord.
He that loveth his life shall lose it.
He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If a man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be him.
If any man serve me, him will my father honor.
This is the divine instruction.
That that rich young ruler, we don't know his eternal destiny.
But these words spoken by the Lord Jesus would have brought him into eternal blessing.
Let's turn in closing to Philippians Chapter 3.
We have had a man in type 2, men in type Abram.
And.
Caleb.
A man who missed his opportunity, as far as we know.
On a man who didn't miss it in the Apostle Paul.
Caleb got a glimpse.
Of Hebron.
No doubt while he was on that mission for those 40 days.
And it burned in them for 45 years.
Saul of Tarsus was on the way to Damascus.
And he got a vision.
Of the man Christ Jesus.
In somewhat of his glory.
And it changed him for the rest of his life, however long that was.
It formed his whole life.
The Epistle to the Philippians is a prison epistle.
I happen to think in later years now in in my own later years, that perhaps the apostle Paul was let out of prison for a few years and was able to resume service for the Lord. And we can talk some other time about why I think that or why you think that.
But at this point in his life, he feels that he's about to be offered in his life is about over. And he felt that as a brother was saying this this morning in Acts 20, when he's on the way back to Jerusalem, he feels like it's over. My ministry is done, I'm going back to Jerusalem. It may not go well, but I feel that's what I have to do. And back he went.
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With all due respect to one who's who's.
Shoelaces I don't come up to. It was a mistake.
Believe the Spirit of God in the Scriptures shows us it was a mistake, but God ordered it for Paul's blessing and he ends up a couple years later in prison and he writes to the Philippians. And the epistle to the Philippians in our Bibles is wedged between Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, is wedged between these two epistles that came from the apostle Paul in prison. The highest truths, the truth. I should never speak of the truth in plural.
Not just like the mountain.
The highest truth ever communicated, I believe, from God to man in that respect.
Came out of that man's pen in that prison.
And in between Ephesians and Colossians, those two mountain peaks you have. And I realized that people put the Bible together, could have put it in all different ways, but in our Bible, it's in between.
And it's been said that the Philippian experience, it's not the experience of an apostle, it's the experience of a believer. It's Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, just like you are. This is Christian experience that he's writing. It's the experience of somebody that's taken in Ephesians and Colossians, and you've done that to greater or lesser extent.
And now this is your experience.
This is the state of soul that is consistent with the.
Divine revelation of truth we have in Ephesians, in Colossians. You say I don't live up to that. I say I don't live up to that.
That's why I prefaced my comments with the comments that I made about the workplace, because I don't live up to that and Paul didn't live up to it.
And he knew it. But what characterized him in the third chapter of Philippians is that he was pressing for it. He was. He had seen Christ.
In heavenly glory. And he wanted his entire life and being to be consistent and identified with that man in that condition, that character.
And Paul knew it had been revealed to him.
Well, you're seated in heavenly places in Christ. Paul, he's the one who wrote that by the Spirit of God, you're seated in heavenly places in Christ. You have all things. You have this wonderful standing. Yes, Paul knew all that. He wrote it as the as the instrument of the Spirit of God, but it wasn't enough for him. He wanted his state of soul to be consistent with the place.
That God's.
Anointed man had been rewarded with in resurrection glory.
Philippians 3.
In verse eight, we have little time to do anything but read it.
I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
You may have learned a lot of things in your life.
I guarantee you there's been nothing you've learned or that you know that is more excellent than this. The Excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord.
I lived in a small gathering once and every I think it was Thursday night or Tuesday night. We would get down on our knees in prayer and almost every week one of the brothers in his initial prayer would make would make reference to the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I often think of him when I read this passage.
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things. But do count them. But really should be filth. Dung has a commercial value, as any farmer knows.
Filth, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings.
01:00:00
Being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain.
Unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, Neither were already perfect. But I follow after I pursue.
I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark. Same word is in verse 12. Follow after I press.
Toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.
And so on.
Are you perfect?
In the way we use the in the way we use the word.
No, nobody's perfect. We say that nobody's perfect when we make a mistake. Nobody's perfect. We know what that the way. We use the English word that way.
There's another sense in which Scripture uses it to be perfected is when we're home, we're glorified, we're with, we're like Christ in every possible way. But perfection in the sense of being a mature Christian for being like a journeyman no longer an apprentice, is to realize that just as God has rewarded Christ with a new place as man, a risen man on the other side of death.
That's my place, that's the way I walk through this world.
That's my Hebron.
And I don't have to wait 40-5 years and neither do you.
That's what Paul wanted. I want to apprehend that for which I am apprehended.
You say, Paul, you got all this, You got this wonderful standing. Yeah, but I want my state to be as close to it as it could possibly be. And when the Lord raises me up out of the dead, whoosh, I'm going to be fully in it, and that forever.
To apprehend that for which we have apprehended. May the Lord give all of us, young and old, to be perfect in this way. To be mature Christians, to walk through this world realizing that we have a new character of life that man never had before. The Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. It's the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the one who has been raised from the dead.
Well, our time is gone. Let's just commend ourselves to the Lord.
3 John 9-14
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Happy.
Hey, Cortana.
Why is this friend?
The describe a sense give some shame by life that you can have the night.
Joey Break.
We have a suggestion where to start.
3rd John, verse 9.
I wrote unto the Church, but diotrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, praying against us with malicious words, and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would and cast them out of the Church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil.
Hath not seen God Demetrius hath good report of all men.
And of the truth itself. Yeah. And we also bear record. And ye know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee. And we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee, our friends. Salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
We read here the name Diatrophies.
We talk about what he did or the evil things that he have done, but I'm thinking more.
But the time being, just the meaning of his name, and perhaps it can serve as an encouragement or discouragement, depending on how we look at it. I believe that.
00:05:13
I believe that his name means nourish nourishment from the Lord.
And I'm thinking that his name being nourishment from the Lord, do we find similarities with a lot of us here, that we have been nourished by the Lord and from the Lord? Many of us here are raised in the assembly under the sound of the ministry since we were a little child.
That's not a guarantee that will go on faithfully, is it? So here's one.
That was nourished as if he was given the best possible, but yet the result is different than what it ought to be. So I thought that perhaps could be a warning, but also a lesson for us here.
That he that receiveth you.
Receiver.
Receive it.
And it says, He that receiveth the prophets in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.
Either receiveth the righteous man in the name of righteousness shall receive a righteous man's reward.
Whosoever shall give.
To drink until one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple. Verily I say unto you, we shall know Wise lose his reward.
And we missed the blessing, didn't it, by refusing to receive some of God's own.
On contrast to this character here, the entropies I was thinking of, verse seven and eight didn't comment on.
And the latter part of verse 6.
Whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Does that for his namesake. They went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. He chose us. The value that God puts upon Christian hospitality.
In uh uh.
Taking the Lord's servants on their journey, providing for them in a temporal way and perhaps a financial way, It says we are felt.
And that's a privilege that some of us have benefited from for many years. The prayers and the the help of our brethren and the little service that the Lord has commended to us. You know, there are very few homes where the Lord Jesus was welcomed.
He was a stranger here and a homeless in a world that had no room for God. But there was one place that he found consolation and and encouragement, as we well know, the House of Bethany.
There was the Lord with that family he loved so well, Mary and Martha, and perhaps he spent some hours there and.
And they ministered to him. We know that Mary poured out that alabaster box upon his feet. But there was a home that was open to the Son of God. Who the stranger in this world.
And so he's not here now, but when we minister to the Lord's people, remember it is as if we were doing it to the Lord, and He has recorded it in the annals of eternity. As our brother read, even a cup of cold water will not lose its reward. So we think of the many sisters who labor faithfully and.
Persistently for the Lord's people in the assembly, all is reported there in the record that someday will be opened and.
Rewarded.
By our temporal help and.
00:10:02
And by encouraging those that step out in the service of the Lord, that right, dear brother.
There's somewhat of a parallel scripture in Acts chapter 15.
We see that whole and part of us and others were to go to Jerusalem.
And you have an encouraging word in verse three. And being brought on their way by the church.
So they were encouraged by those that brought them on their way.
As they passed through Venus and Samaria.
Querying the conversion of the Gentiles, they could cause great joy unto all the brethren. So there was mutual encouragement, wasn't there? And then it's nice to see what it says in contrast to what we have in our chapter in verse four. And when they were come to Jerusalem.
They were received of the church.
Not thrust out as we read in our chapter.
We can we can go on and look at the problem with a diatrophy, but The thing is more profitable as we look further down because we see that the focus is not on the back bat doctrines that atrophy brought in, but the encouragement comes in verse 11. It reminds us that we have to overlook some of that. It tells us in verse 11 is that beloved follow, not that which is evil.
You know, it's so easy to look at problems and dwell on the problems.
But there are so much other things we have to do when we have to follow the Lord. So here we are encouraged to follow. And we find in the end of Romans, it tells us too, that in regard to things that are evil, what does it say is just to keep simple to the things that are evil. We don't need to know all the problems and difficulties. I'll share with you a little story.
A few years ago in the city of Toronto.
There was a man that murder 5 people and he buried them in a flower pot. It happened to be in one of my clients backyard. She they were very kind to him. They loaned him some space and that's how he repaid the kindness by showing them great beautiful flower pots with bodies in it. So I get to know my client and one day I said, yeah, maybe I should, you should share the story with me and this man. Look at me. He said, David, you are simple.
He said, before I tell you the real story, he said you have to understand that you cannot undo what you heard. Do you still want to know the story? And I knew immediately that no, I don't want to know the details. Knowing that little bit was bad enough. Don't dwell on things that are evil, follow that which is good. So it tells us that here. But that which is good, he that doeth good is of God.
But that we do what evil hath not seen God.
There's a little bit of value in considering the character of diotrephes.
The first thing that is of note about him is that he was characterized by pride. Wouldn't necessarily have been an obvious pride, but it was something that the apostle John is an apostle detected and knew was there. He loved to have the preeminence.
And you and I both know who it is that should have the preeminence. So our Lord Jesus Christ, that in all things He might have the preeminence. And yet it's in each one of our hearts to try and seek attention. And this had become the character of Diotrephes that he wanted to have the 1St place. He wanted to say what was going to happen. He wanted to be the decider. He wanted to have control.
And those are things that we need to judge in ourselves and let the Lord Jesus have control, first of my life, then of the assembly that I'm in, and then of the whole fellowship. He's the head of the church.
Not my job to take over control from him.
You see in Acts chapter 20.
00:15:00
When the Lord, when Paul wrote to the OR spoke to the Ephesian elders, he spoke of the Church of God, amongst whom God has set you. I didn't quote that exactly. In the King James it says over you, but in in the Darby translation it's amongst you.
And so oversight is local and only local. And if you are part of a large assembly or grew up in one, it's helpful that there are local brothers who who know you and know your family and know your situation, know the context of the place where you live and all the rest. And so it's God's wisdom that it be that way. There is no such thing in Scripture of oversight that is beyond the local assembly.
And in the denominational world of Christianity, they've gotten that mixed up and backwards. And there are men that are placed over a churches and regions of churches and all the rest. But there is the striking absence of that in Scripture.
The other thing that sad to say is dominant in in evangelical Christianity is a person they call a pastor and depending on the situation, he is supposed to be the gospel preacher, the teacher, the visitor, the pastor, and all those other gifts. The 1St is a function of an oversight, but in Ephesians 4, and I thought someone had read that already today.
We see that the ascended Christ has given gifts and pastors and teachers, evangelists and so on, and that those are never given to a local assembly. Those are given to the church at large. And so the sphere of their ministry is not necessarily to be local. And so it's normal Christianity. If, if Wally is a teacher in in Vanceboro, he goes to cross the border to Palmyra, he's a teacher there. If he's an evangelist in in Vanceboro, he's what he is one.
Where where he is, that's normal Christianity. So the love of first place that the atrophies expressed as you say, brother God in the way of the Spirit of God's normal working in the Church of God that these brothers who visited the apostle John who wrote to them by way of ministering to them. He got in the way of all that and stopped it. And this is an aberration and not the way the Spirit of God.
Purposes to work in the Church of God.
God's appointed leader in all the affairs of the assembly and in worship and ministry in.
Assembly, the leader is the Holy Spirit, and so the Lord Jesus Christ we know is the center, but he works through his Spirit. And what is the activity of the Spirit of God? It's to exalt Christ, to glorify Christ, not man. But here we find diatrophies, as you say, you search the place that belongs to the Spirit of God.
You know what's been said too? That anybody.
That's wrapped up with themselves. Makes a very small package.
That was diatribe, but what encourages my heart?
As I look at this portion, in spite of the dead atrophies in the assembly.
We find that the apostle John speaks about Gaius and how his soul was prospering. So how does this happen?
You know, in an environment like this, he says.
Thy soul is prosperous, and you're walking in the truth.
So on. And then you have later on Demetrius, he has good report of all men.
Of the truth itself, so.
We see that in spite of this.
This negative situation.
It does not mean that there cannot be growth.
Individual in the assembly now. Am I right about that?
And you see what this diatrophies was doing. I'm just noticing the.
Mr. Darby's translation.
00:20:00
He says here.
That.
Against us with malicious words. Mr. Darby has it badly against us with wicked words.
What a terrible occupation.
And I'm content with these those that we're receiving.
True servants of Christ, neither does he himself receive the brethren. Those who would receive the brethren he prevents and cast them out of the assembly. So doesn't seem like getting much worse than attitude.
But the atrophies display.
But it's not all negative because we see how God is working even in this situation, that which is positive.
They didn't seem to be the power to deal with this man in the assembly.
Would wonder why the apostle does not.
Shall we say Commander?
The excommunication of this man, but.
You did not do so, but.
The assembly didn't seem to have the spiritual power to deal with them. Is that right?
The next chapter 5 we have several men spoken up there that.
Sort of following and one of the preeminence and.
We look at verse 36, it says before these days rose up 30th boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about 400 joined themselves with slaying, and all as many as obeyed him or scattered and brought the knot, and we see that there was another.
That rose up as well, and we see the Council of Familial verse 39. But if it be of God, he cannot overthrow. It must happily be found, even to fight against God. So here was another case where there were two that wanted the following people to follow him, which was probably the same spirit found in diotropy.
But God came in.
In all these cases.
I take it that we still had something special here in terms of.
Power.
You were saying, Brother Bruce, that we don't have someone today.
Over assemblies in any way other than the Lord, He is certainly the one revelation.
Chapters 1-2 and three show that, don't they? That has that place and authority in the assembly, but the apostles initially had authority to deal with matters like this.
The word of God wasn't completed yet and so they didn't have everything perhaps that was needed such as we have today to be able to maybe deal with these matters with the complete word of God. So we have in our our hands. So the apostles had this authority where they could go beyond. Paul even speaks of that in first Corinthians 5, you know, with.
They were to take that action with His spirit.
And he had judged and so on. But.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is what the Lord spoke to them about in John chapter 20 when he rose from the dead. They said there in verse 23 who sins? Whosoever sins, you remit.
They are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
And that was said to the apostles. So they seem to have that Apostolic authority to do it at that time. And Paul is speaking about that here, if I understand it correctly, in verse 10, that he was going to remember what he did. And perhaps they didn't have the strength or power or authority to do it. But this was actually in some ways a higher matter because if you look at verse 9.
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John says I wrote something unto the assembly, but the atrophies who loves to have the preeminence among them?
Receives us not, and then it goes on. He doesn't receive the brethren either.
It was a very serious thing that he had refused John and said those things and I connect that with.
First on four.
In this state of things that existed before the word of God was complete.
Apostle John says there in verse 6.
We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not a God here, if it's not hereby know, we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And so they always knew what was the word of God because it had come from the apostles. This wasn't a matter of a council coming together and deciding what the Bible was. The Christians always knew. And if they were going to refuse what the apostles had said, then they were refusing the authority that the Lord had given at that time. And that's what the atrophies did. That was his first error.
To translate that into to today.
The apostles are gone and we are in the state of things that Bruce is speaking about. And what we do have is the complete word of God. And if someone's going to refuse the word of God, then it goes on to every other error such as we see the atrophy's doing. And that's what we have rampant among Christians today, whether those who take this place and refuse others who the Lord is giving gifts to, that they are not permitted to come unless they're specifically invited or maybe not at all.
And we're in that state of things.
To me, the first error here was that the apostle himself was refused. In other words, the word of God was refused.
It's interesting to think a little bit about how the Word of God does get refused. How does a man like Diotrephes get an edge? Well, there's a verse in Proverbs that tells us how that works. Warns us not to add to the word of God.
Warns that warns us not to take away from the word of God and those two things are the primary methods whereby people do that. And you can see how the Pharisees, for example, did it. They had their traditions and by their traditions they made the word of God of none effect. And that's exactly what a man like the atrophies would have worked towards bringing something up out of their culture or whatever it might have been, introducing it in and in addition to the word of God.
And then making an issue of it, he would have presented it as a holy thing such that it was something important to be grasped on to and how, and he would have built a following behind himself. So you have the power to resist the apostle in our day, what it looks like is switching something around and making something deviate and pushing something forward. That is a extension by human reasoning or otherwise, of the Word of God or it.
May make it look like.
You're following the word of God, but then that result is you don't actually follow the word of God.
And so you change the meaning of words in order to have an an.
Common behavior that is not what God intended.
And as you go through and you look at at these things and how a man like geographies works, that's the first thing that he works is to undermine the effect of the word of God, either by adding or taking away. And then the next thing that comes after it is how does he treat the people of God and based on his doctrines?
Whether it's how somebody dresses, maybe it's they came from the wrong country, maybe they talked in the wrong way, maybe their clothes were a little bit too dirty. They weren't showing him the right kind of respect. All of these things he would use as a reason in a holy way to say we don't allow that person in our assembly. And it's very challenging to think about that because when I we were talking this morning.
About somebody down in the ditch.
You know, it's a really humbling thing when you try and help somebody out of the ditch by reaching out and taking their hand. You find out that they're not the person in the ditch. You're the person in the ditch. And even though you had the knowledge, even though you had what you learned from other people and you thought you bought the truth that you needed to step out from what you thought you bought that was true and recognized it back on the road.
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You had to take the hand of somebody else and humble yourself in order to be able to walk with the Lord in truth. And so the time was coming. The Apostle John said it that he would remember Diotrephes deeds and remember no matter how somebody takes over control whatever means and methods that they use.
The Lord is still ahead of the Church.
And that's exactly how the blessing happens that Brother Wally was talking about. The Lord Jesus by His Holy Spirit can still bring blessing in spite of the impediment that man brings in the way. Praise God for His mercy and His grace.
There's a sense in which people, persons, are very complicated.
We've I've often said in my.
Work life amongst other people.
It would be helpful if people came with with a crane chart. In other words, if.
If you have a crane, you can look on a chart and you can see pretty much exactly what it's capable of doing, how much load and at what radius and etcetera. And it can handle this much over this side, this much over the front, this much over the back, etcetera. And we sometimes joke you get people and you wish they came with a crane chart because you you gain confidence in a person and and then a situation comes up and you and, and they.
They fall apart and you say, wow, I didn't expect that it wasn't on the chart. And we we kind of say that a little tongue in cheek because, you know, we're raising up young people in, in in the work world. And so it's interesting to me in this chapter that.
The Apostle John assessed Diatrophy's deeds. Wherefore verse 10? Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds.
And he let he.
Lists out, you know, praying against us with wicked words. He doesn't receive the brethren. He forbids them that would and cast them out of the church. These are actions and it doesn't require us often times, and we're wrong to get too complicated about people.
Because people are complex in a certain sense and each, each human is unique, but the word of God is the word of God, as you were saying, and even a child is known by his doings. And so without getting all complicated about it, a person that the apostle John essentially says, correct me if I'm wrong. He's doing evil deeds. It's clear and he lists what they are and then he says in simplicity, beloved, verse 11.
Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God. He that doeth evil have not seen God. This is a very serious indictment of daughter fees. But it's not like sometimes brothers not to tell tales out of school, but sometimes brothers can be in brothers meetings, AKA care meetings and get into people's personalities and what you think about their whole situation, you know?
It's better to be simpler about it and to assess the deeds because God manifests what people are sooner or later, and when he manifests something that is egregious, that is very serious, then the Word of God makes the decision for us and we just have to follow the Word.
It's not for us to decide whether fornication is evil and should be put away. Our only responsibility is, is it fornication? The word of God decides what to do about it. And so here I, I in a certain sense admire, I very much admire the simplicity of the apostle John's reasoning here. And he assesses the deeds, calls the spade a spade, if we could put it that way. It's this is the fruit that comes from that kind of tree.
When I come, it will be dealt with. There's no panic here.
We not not to his panic in the assembly.
When we're young, maybe I'm the only one who thought this, we think the assembly is made, the local assembly is made out of China and we don't.
Fix it by next Lord's Day, or at least by the next brothers meeting. What's going to happen here? Everything's going to go upside. And as the years go on, we learn to not to be slack. We need to be diligent in the Lord's business. But on the other hand, be patient. Wait on the Lord so that we're clear if it's a decision that the assembly has to make. And we need to wait on our brethren so that the consciences of the brethren in the assembly.
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Are clear in it as well, because that's where the power of the authority is.
That is the practical expression to acknowledge that the Lords in our midst, because it is dependent on you and I to come up with a with the right decision, then that will be our decision. We need to acknowledge that the Lord's in the midst, and I think we've already mentioned the Spirit is in the midst of the assembly guiding with this decision.
A servant of the Lord is responsible to the Lord for the exercise of that gift, not responsible to the assembly. The Lord has given a gift to a brother. He is to minister as of the ability that the Lord gives him. However, if he steps out of line and we have in Diotrephes, he is a source of.
Of discord and trouble in the assembly. Then he would have to be dealt with because every one of us are either a hindrance or a help in the assembly and.
We we are responsible to the Lord for the exercise of our gift and.
And that our brethren will recognize that. But this, this man here was, was really a troublemaker. And he was.
He was spoiling, devastating the unity and the assembly wherever it was here.
It could not be tolerated, is that right?
Did the apostle mentions that he was going to deal with it?
Find a very interesting just following up with what brother Tim said. Add to it first John 2.
Little Children Verse 18 Little children, it is the last time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.
Of the last I think it might read our They went out from us, but they were not of us. That's the apostles. They went out from us. They were not of us, or if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out.
That they might be made manifest. That they were not all of us. By the time we come to the third epistle, there's a further decline. Dr. Please didn't go out. He's still there.
And having refused to receive what John had wrote, I would class him in with those who confess not that Jesus Christ was coming flesh.
Or confessed that he was the Son of God.
Or confess that he was the Christ.
And he refuses what the apostle wrote and what he taught. And so the apostle doesn't speak just of himself, but he had written personally. But.
Doctor, please receive with not us the apostles, because they were the witnesses we find in first John 11. They had seen him which was from the beginning that which we have seen, that which we have heard that which we have seen and so on. They bore witness to that. Doctor Fees refuses that but in the exhortations and the the parentheses that takes up growth in the family of God, the apostle says in verse 20 of chapter 2.
But you have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things. And then he says in verse 27, Or let me read verse 26. But these things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, And ye need not that any man teach you, but there's the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and His truth, and there's no lie, even as as it hath taught you, you shall abide in Him.
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I believe doctor fees and refusing the apostles and seeking the preeminence, very likely one of those teachers of Gnostic doctrine that set himself up as to be a guru. And if you want to know the truth, you have to come to me.
And he rejects what the apostle had written, He rejects what the witness of the apostles had brought. And he said, you need to come to me and I will show you the way to our elevated spiritual state. I will show you the way to true light. But he refuses.
The apostles, the other thing that is manifest in his life, he doesn't love his brethren. It's a manifestation of eternal life.
Is love for your brethren?
And so the epistles of John, the Gospel of John, takes up the manifestation of eternal life and the person of the Son of God.
But the epistles in the Saints.
Geographies did not manifest eternal life. He didn't have a love for his brother. And so I think he would be classed among those that the apostle addresses in the first epistle. But there's a decline. He hasn't gone out, he's still there.
Well, the Third Epistle of John doesn't take up church truth. This isn't 1St Corinthians 5.
With instructions to deal with a wicked person and so on. That's not the subject. Subject is eternal life manifested in the Saints. Well, Gaius, you go on in the manifestation of eternal life yourself. I'll take care of the atrophies when I come. We're in a day of breakdown and weakness.
What is our responsibility? And again, if we wanted to turn to Paul's doctrine, we take up another line of things, right? But that's not Paul's doctrine. What is our responsibility in this day of ruin where it's gotten so bad they haven't even gone out?
You go on in the manifestation of eternal life.
You go on and be a fellow helper to the truth of God.
You'll find companions that also manifest that same life, that have that life in the sun, and you go on with them.
And you leave the rest to me, really in our day, leaving the rest of the Lord. Does that mean we go on in fellowship with evil? Well, we can go to Paul's doctrine and take up that line of things, but that's not right here. Here is the positive encouragement. You go on. There's another brother over here. He has a good report. He is the manifestation of eternal life. You go on with him. And so it's that positive exhortation.
So they have to sort of keep Paul's doctrine separate from John's in that way. It's really not taking up assembly truth, though he speaks of the assembly.
But it's John's doctor.
That's very nice, Steve. There's a problem I see though, is with us.
We looked at this and we sometimes use this phrase. Everybody is doing it. Everyone seems to be a diatrophy and I'm alone. We have a few of that now. First of all, when we use the phrase everybody, I don't believe every single individual that you're referring to.
There are always some that are not the everybody that we think so in this chapter is tells us right away. There's a guy named Demetrius. So we keep dwelling on the bad, forgetting that the Lord throughout Scripture tells us that he always reserved for himself a testimony. We have to remember that now how many there are that are like Demetrius. It doesn't matter. It's not we're not told from what I understand.
Demetrius, as you like the mysterious, would you like to walk with him? Verse 12, the mysterious path. Good report of all men. What a commendation. And of the truth itself, What is truth? You know, early on we said, well, what doctrines? Well, it's like, what is truth? Well, simple answers, thy word is true. So we need to know the word of God and of the truth. Yeah, we also bear record, and ye know that our record is true.
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So here's the testimony, not just saying his name. So the Lord said, some testimonies aside for us, are you willing to be, perhaps you may be the Demetrius in that assembly?
That is 4 witnesses there isn't it Brother David?
It's all men in the beginning. Then the truth itself is really interesting because it seems to personify the truth there.
Might wonder what does that mean. Well, if you take the truth of God and compare it to Demetrius, they grieve. So the truth is a witnessing to what he was doing and then it says and we also bear record. That's the third one. The apostle John says so and you know our record is true. They knew it was true. He had a witness in four ways here as to his testimony that it was right. He was walking in the truth.
And I think that's really important because.
It's easy sometimes to start thinking, well, I don't care.
What other people think of how I'm living my life. It only matters what the Lord thinks. But Scripture doesn't speak that way, does it? Our testimony matters. And how?
How we represent the truth of God before man and the world itself matters and you always see that. And just one verse going to mention Second Corinthians.
Paul speaks of it there in chapter 8.
He says in verse 21, providing for honest things.
Not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of man.
It is really important that we look at this wonderful example of Demetrius and realize that that's set out for us too, that we have a testimony and it isn't trying to make ourselves appear a certain way, but it's living our lives for the Lord in such a way that that testimony is evident in every sphere around us.
That goes back to first John I will walk is light to this world with to bear witness this just read a verse quick briefly in first John chapter one.
Five, Then this is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son plantseth us from our sin.
Of course, John's A ministry has often been noted is he speaks absolutely.
He speaks of what a believer is characteristically.
He doesn't take in the.
The thought of failure.
As we read in the first epistle, he would commit a sin is of the devil. So you have to see in John's writing he is speaking characteristically. He got.
In first John chapter 3 there he refers to the the two natures but.
We have to see the the the way in which he presents the truth and.
And and the the error that if a person is not manifesting the character of Christ, righteousness, love, light and the other characteristics, we have no assurance that he is truly a believer.
And this was this, we're not sure whether biotrophies.
Was a believer or not? To what? What do you think? Do you think he he probably was a believer, but he certainly wasn't manifesting the the character of Christ.
I've wondered the same question John, but I just think verse 11 is so plain. He that doeth good is of God. There's Demetrius.
He that doeth evil hath not seen gone. And so really we're not entitled, I don't think, to look at doctor fees and say he was a believer. The Lord knoweth them that are his. But I don't think we're entitled to look at him and say he was a believer because of what we see manifested there. There's not the manifestation of eternal life.
00:50:23
Just of darkness.
Very strange. Some time ago I was reading an article in the National Geographic about Ethiopia.
And they were talking about the Coptic Christians there, and I was surprised to learn that they have.
Elevated Pontius Pilate as one of their Saints.
I'm really surprised me when I read that.
And I don't know whether they take it on the basis of have nothing to do with this righteous man, but it was in his power to release the Lord Jesus and he failed in that, didn't He?
I was thinking too in John's writing he have this theme in common that he's not telling us what to do or or in this case, was I atrophy a Christian or not? I was thinking. At the end of John's Gospel, a similar question was raised. Let's turn to John, chapter 21. Peter raised the question when he saw.
John or the disciple laying the Lord's bosom. I'm just going to read that verse 20. Then Peter turning about see at the disciple whom Jesus.
Love and I'm going to skip to verse 21 Peter seeing him said to Jesus Lord, and what shall this man do referring to Judas Iscariot and the answer that he rode as he has seen from the Lord. He said and Jesus said unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee then the answer follow thou me. What an example for us when we look at problems or when we look at problem with certain brother or sisters.
Sometimes we have to learn to leave it in the Lord's hand. And the answer is right here. What is it to thee? And don't just stop there. He encourage us. Follow thou, me. And you. See him say that again, or the further down with a slightly different example.
You made reference.
Here too.
What John delighted to say about himself, that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. I believe five times he spoke in those terms. So.
Don't in the enjoyment of.
The love of God, the love of the Father, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, we're faced with trials and difficulties and our families at work, at school, in the assembly, we need to keep ourselves in enjoyment of God's love.
Because sometimes the troubles are so tremendous.
We succumb to Satans.
While he tries to show in our hearts suspicion.
As to the love of God, what I see in this epistle of John three times. At least that's what stands out to me here.
He refers to Gaius as beloved.
Hello, hello. And so in spite of the very distressing circumstance, the apostle, he is still thinking about.
Believe the love of God. Now you know that KS is full of of.
The apostle John, when he says beloved, I'm sure he had in mind to the fact that Jesus is beloved of the Lord.
And that's the case with each one of us.
We're beloved of God and you know, perfect love casts out fear. And even in a circumstance like this I'm reading about, you can have peace. You know, somebody said that peace.
00:55:03
It's not the absence of trouble, but it is the absence of fear.
And it brings to mind what the apostle John says. Perfect love casts out fear.
So I believe.
You know, it gives relief, you know.
You know that, even though the troubles are assailing.
God loves you and me.
Don't have to fear.
The exercise and concern about what's happening. And we pray.
You know that the Lord would have His way.
And if he wants us to do something about it, we trust it's going to show what we should do in the circumstance.
Because we really want to be part.
Of the solution.
And not part of the problem.
A true wrote. I hold the truth to be definite unchangeable.
Perfectly revealed in the scriptures which is regarding man.
Are the only depository and fountain of truth. It's living embodiment is found alone in him. Who said I am the truth?
And the way in the life also. Thankfully for us, if others do not hold this, it is their loss. Let's look at John's gospel.
And chapter 18.
Verse 35.
Well, let's read verse 33. Pilot entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilot answered, Am IA Jew thine own nation, and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What has thou done? Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom are of this world, then would my servants fight?
That I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my Kingdom, not from hence.
Really, that would have satisfied any anxieties that Pilot might have had as to any challenge that the Lord Jesus would have presented to Caesar, who he stood there as Caesar's representative and responsible to guard Caesar's interests.
That's settled, but now there's something else that's bothering him about this man that's standing in front of him.
Pilate said unto him, Art thou a king then?
Is this really what you are?
That's this Jesus answered that says that I am King. To this end was I born. That's his humanity, his incarnation. To this end was I born. He was born king of the Jews.
And for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
It's as if Pilot comes very close.
It's all settled. There's any concerns about Caesar, But he says, what is it about you?
You almost you seem like a king to me.
But when the Lord tells him that he came to bear witness of the truth.
And everyone that heard his voice was of the truth, Young Pilot says. What is truth? And he turns his back on that.
If others do not hold this, it is their loss, and it was his eternal loss if he never came to Christ. Think of that mission of the Lord that he came to bear witness of the truth. This was what Paul calls the good confession. And he had enjoined Timothy in the first epistle of Timothy, and he gave him a commandment and he spoke of it. Verse three of chapter one.
As I besought thee to abide still at emphasis when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.
Then he speaks of that mandate in verse 5. Now the end of the commandment or that mandate to Timothy is love out of a pure heart. So on.
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When you come to the end of First Timothy, he speaks of that commandment again.
And he says verse 12 fight the good fight of faith. Chapter 6 they hold on eternal life, looking at eternal life as a future thing. Bruno, thou art also called and has professed a good or the good profession or confession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession.
That thou keep this commandment, that mandate he had given to Timothy to stand for the truth, That thou keep this commandment without spot on rebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To support.
To seek to maintain the truth is to really stand with the Lord in that good confession that He witnessed before Pilate. He came to bear witness to the truth, and all that hear His voice are of the truth. And here, in a certain sense, Gaius comes into that place along with Demetrius, fellow helpers of the truth.
Part of that good confession and you and I, if we want to be stand with the Lord and have part in that good confession that He witnessed before Pilate, then we need to be fellow helpers to the truth too. We need to be here to seek to in our practical walk and ways and in our interaction with our brethren, to go on in the truth of God and manifest it in our lives and in our ways.
Be fellow helpers to the truth and will be part of that good confession that he witnessed before Pilate.
I was just thinking by way of contrast the verse that we have in John chapter 8IN connection with.
The devil or Satan in the middle of verse 44 says he was a murderer from the beginning and a vote not in the truth because there is no truth.
So that's completely opposite to what we've been speaking about, isn't it? And let me just say a little word concerning what is being taught in the schools today. We have something that has been introduced that is referred to as relativism.
In other words, truth is not absolute, it's relative. It changes. But this is a lie of the devil, the one who has no truth abiding in him.
These epistles are maybe at first glance, the second official and 3rd epistle of John may seem very. I mean, they're very short and almost.
And limited in their content.
So you would ask yourself, well, to both the lady and to Gaius, he said, I'm on, I'm going to see you soon. So on that basis you would say, well, then why did he bother even to write? If he was going to see them soon, he would have just said, it's serious what's going on here. It's serious what's going on there. But I'll be there soon and we'll fix it, We'll address it. But.
He felt it important enough to write, even though he was going to be there soon.
So that lends a whole, it is, of course, the word of God, but it lends a, a, a special value to these, to the content of these epistles. Because of that, it seems to me, and one of the things that that is so that stands out at me in the third epistle is that he's reinforcing to the Saints. What do you think is bad? It's bad.
What you see and know is good.
It's good. So just be assured of that. I'll be there soon. Now you say, well, why do you have to say something like that? It's because of religion.
It's because of religion.
You've probably spoken to souls in your travels as I have in mind, and oftentimes you'll get I'm not into religion, buddy. Look at what religion is done in the world and you have to. And you we all say, yeah, I'm not speaking about a religion, I'm speaking about a person.
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But yes, you have to be honest and say, yes, a religion has sprung up around a person, but religion is one of the few things in in, in life on earth amongst men that can enable people to do horribly wicked things and feel that they're good in doing them.
Look at just what's happened in the last 20 years. People cut off people's heads and things. People make half of the society walk around with the black sheep in hot weather with a little slit and all kinds of other things more horrible than that, and they do it because they think it's good. This is the power of religion in man's minds, and it can happen amongst the Saints of God. It happened historically in professing Christianity.
Where the true Saints of God were put on the stake and persecuted not by secular people necessarily always, but by the religious people who had adopted the name of Christ. And so whether it's severely wicked things or just plain bad things, we are capable us here gather to the Lord's name in North America of of conducting ourselves in a bad way under the guise of being quote.
Faithful, we need to watch out for this.
Because the apostle just just reduces it down to brass tacks, as we say. No, you think you're being, you think you're being faithful.
Doctor Fees has got all this sophisticated doctrine, as you were saying, no if you're doing bad.
Towards your brethren, towards the truth, guys, it's bad. And if it's good, it's good and it's, it's amazing. But we, we need that confirmation sometimes.
Because we have it in the Word of God, and that's why we know we need it. And so I just say that because otherwise you would wonder why, right, when he was going to be there so soon, but he felt it was important to reinforce goodness and to reinforce the fact that, yes, you think it looks evil, it is evil.
Don't be, don't be deceived by that. Just want to reiterate a remark that I made at the Kentucky conference is a very challenging remark.
It was made by Mahatma Gandhi.
And his statement was.
Was not for Christians. I would be a Christian.
In other words.
He was looking at people who professed to know the Lord Jesus Christ and it didn't go along with their with their practice.
He understood the doctrine, but here were all these people professing that doctrine, ignoring it or just going in the opposite direction. And so that should be a challenge to us in our everyday life.
Greet the friends by name.
Kind of comes back to the maybe what we had at the beginning, the the extent of fellowship in this day of ruin is not what it was in the beginning of the church's history. Not all who professed to be Christians are friends.
Friends to other Christians or friends to the truth. And so we need to walk circumspectly and connection with who we have fellowship with. But he's positive here. Greet the friends and you know who they are. Greet the friends by name.
In 330.
330.
What race? The one response?
Over here.
We are.
Most the Lord in the name of the red crying sunlight.
Blind Bartimaeus
Gospel—Wally Dear
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Well, the time has arrived.
We are here tonight to present the gospel of the grace of God.
And we like to begin by singing a hymn that has a question, starts with a question. Have you been to Jesus?
For the cleansing power #14 Could we stand as we sing #14.
Have you been to Jesus?
When the bridegroom comes when you're crossing like your and why in the blood of the land.
Will your soul be ready for the mansion? Right. I did watch in my father's land.
Seated.
And.
We'll sing another hymn about being washed. Oh happy days when Jesus washed my sins away #5.
Oh Happy Day, fix my destiny.
And my God.
We'll make this flow in our three chores.
I shall be strong, you're falling wrong. And I'd be dead. And I'd be dead when Jesus was my sins away. To keep on me. Hard to watch and pray and let me go.
And sing every day.
Remind me to transaction from I am my Lord and He is one.
He threw me out like following. All right, You can't pass the one you like. Happy day. Happy day.
00:05:03
When Jesus falls, my sinks are ready.
He must be my love. He's watching bread and live results.
I'll be ready when she's like tomorrow, my sister.
No rest, my Lord, to see if I get my heart and it's only this man it's entered. Breath, Lord, and the crown thy glory.
Wake me up at 3:30.
5:00 PM.
And I can change my support. My sins are away.
And pray. And they breathe Joycely angry, praying.
Let's look to the Lord for His help tonight in prayer.
Well, when you approach the gospel, of course, you wonder what portion of God's word would be appropriate.
There's 31,000 verses in the Bible.
And everyone of those verses are important.
But what came before me tonight?
Was a man we read about.
In the three gospels, Matthew.
Mark and Luke.
And this particular man is one of my favorite individuals, and I think it's because I see in this man.
One who is?
Shall I put it this way? Enthused about Jesus?
And it's evident in his actions. And perhaps you know who I'm speaking about here tonight. His name is Bartimaeus. And I know we've many times turned to this wonderful account of Bartimaeus, but I trust this is what the Lord is laid on my heart.
And you know, these Bible stories, they're so wonderful, I don't think we can ever wear them out. So I'd like to turn to this story. It's found in, as I say, the three Gospels, but I want to turn to it in the Gospel according to Luke.
Gospel according to Luke.
Chapter.
18 and verse.
35.
Luke.
1835.
And we'll read down to the end of the chapter.
And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging and hearing the multitude passed by. He asked what it meant, and they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passes by.
And he cried, saying, Jesus, the Son of David, have mercy on me.
And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried so much the more. Thou, son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight, thy faith has saved thee. And immediately he received his sight.
And followed him, glorifying God in all the people, when they saw it, gave praise.
00:10:02
Unto God.
So this little account, it begins with five words.
And it came to pass. Simple words. What does it mean? It means that this actually happened. And we find as we read through the Gospels many times, these 5 words. And it came to pass. And this thrills my soul because I know that when I'm reading the Bible.
I'm reading the Gospels. I'm reading about Jesus. I'm not reading.
About fables or fairy tales or some.
Imagination of man. But I'm reading the word of God and he tells it the way it happened, and I feel so confident when I pick up this book and I read the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, but you know, it's impossible for God to lie.
It tells us that more than once, that's.
Something.
That thrills my soul.
Because if God cannot lie, and this is the word of God, what I'm reading here tonight is the truth. And you know, some of these stories are so remarkable and they're so intriguing and captivating.
The best stories that have ever been written are the stories about Jesus.
Well, it tells us here that Jesus came nigh unto Jericho. Now Jericho, we know in the Old Testament was the city of the curse.
And Jericho was destroyed, that it wasn't to be rebuilt, but we find out that man.
He ignores the word of God.
And he does his own thing.
And so this city was rebuilt.
What is remarkable that in spite of man's self will and rebellion, God still comes close to mankind and He.
Came, it tells us here, nigh unto Jericho, in a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. It doesn't tell us his name here, but if you go to the other accounts you find out his name was Bartimaeus, and he had a big problem.
Because he was blind.
And so as a result, he couldn't work. And so he sat by the wayside on the side of the road, begging.
Well.
What happens next?
Hearing the multitude passed by, he asked what it meant now.
It's interesting to me.
That even though this man.
Could not see.
He had the ability to hear.
And hearing is so important.
You know it tells us that.
Hearing.
It comes.
By the word of God, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So this man, he had his ears open, but he was blind. And you know, I think blindness.
Is really characteristic of.
Somebody who is outside of Christ, you know, the Lord Jesus said I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.
But by nature and by practice, we are sinners. The Bible tells us clearly that I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. We're all part of Adam's fallen race, and if we go back to Genesis, we find.
There how that?
00:15:01
Satan acquired rights over.
Mankind.
Eve was deceived.
And she listened to the devil.
And we had before us in these meetings how that the devil is a liar from the beginning, and you know the devil.
He has his way of presenting to us that which.
It appears very.
Attractive.
But.
We find out he really has nothing good to offer.
Nothing.
It's been said.
That sin in prospect.
It's very attractive, but sin in retrospect.
It's hideous.
And so Eve.
She took of that fruit.
And God had presented every tree in that garden.
You can eat of any tree in this garden with beautiful garden there was flowers.
Blooming all over the place and all of these trees with the.
Fruit dripping off the trees. I don't think it would be hard to pick off a nice juicy fruit.
But you know, God wanted to see if his creature would obey him.
And you might say, the very first commandment in the word of God was, Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a commandment because God said, when you eat thereof.
You're going to die.
Will die.
Period.
Satan.
Replace the period with a question mark.
Yeah, he has, God said.
That you're not to eat of this tree? Has he said that you're going to die?
Satan puts a question into our minds as to the truth of God.
And we?
Eve, she listened.
To Satan.
Tempter.
She took the fruit and she ate it, and then she gave it to Adam.
Her husband.
And he ate of it. He was not deceived.
By that one man's disobedience, it tells us that sin come into the world, and death by sin.
And so death is passed upon all men. What a dreadful consequence to disobedience, acting independent of God.
And so we call it the fall. And what a great fall it was.
And so we find the wages of sin is death. But.
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Satan acquired.
Rights over.
The fallen race.
But you know God.
He and we're going to read more about this.
Provided the means whereby poor fallen man could be redeemed and.
Could be born again and become part of a brand new race of which Christ himself was the head of the race.
Through his death and resurrection.
And so as I look around here tonight, I look into the faces of many that are part of that new race, your new creation in Christ, and it just is so wonderful to think of what God does in spite of man's willfulness. Well, we find that there was.
Sin and death.
00:20:03
And Satan.
And you know, if we turn over, I believe it's in.
2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 4.
It speaks there about.
The apostle says if our gospel it's hid, it's hid to them who are lost in whom the God of this world, and that Satan has blinded the minds of them that believe not.
It's a terrible thing to be blinded by Satan.
I believe here tonight as I look around.
Everyone has the ability to see you have physical eyesight.
And how wonderful that is.
But the question is, is there anybody here tonight who is spiritually blind, spiritually dead?
Because you have never ever come to the light. You have never come to the one who can impart life, and that's the Lord Jesus. It tells us that in Him was life and the life was the light.
Of men, this is what he wants to apart to us, life and light.
Here we find.
Bartimaeus is blind and he is begging.
You know.
By nature and practice, as I say, as sinners.
We have really nothing to give to God. In fact, we're bankrupt.
But.
We're beggars.
Beggars.
But we find in this wonderful story what God can do for a beggar.
And if we turn back, I believe it's in First Samuel we read there about.
The beggar in the dunghill he's made.
To sit among Princess.
These elevated to the throne of Glory, made to sit amongst Princess even though he was a beggar.
What happens here?
Bartimaeus hears the multitude.
There was quite a commotion and so he wonders what it's all about.
And so they told him, Jesus of Nazareth passes by.
Notice the response.
He cried saying.
Jesus now, son of David, have mercy on me.
Without hesitation, he cries.
And he recognizes need.
He recognizes helplessness. I take it he had heard about Jesus.
And he recognized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Because what does he say here? Jesus, thou son of David, the Messiah, was to be the son of David.
And he says have mercy on me.
You know God really appreciates when we cry out for mercy.
If we backed up in this chapter to.
Verse 10 It says here about two men. It says two men went up into the temple to pray. This is verse 10.
Of our chapter.
The one affair to see the other Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not his other men are extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give ties of all that I possess.
So here's a man. He's all wrapped up with himself.
And.
He's full of pride. And what's the middle letter in the word pride?
Anybody know what the middle letter is? Yeah.
You got it, big fat eye.
Do you know what the middle letter in the word faith is?
Yeah, I.
That's another.
But in the first case.
The eyes trusting in himself.
00:25:05
That he's better than others, as it tells us here. That was the Pharisee. But let's read about the one that has faith.
And in faith the eye is trusting in God, trusting in the Lord, So it tells us here. And the publican in verse 13, standing afar off were not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a Sinner. I understand that in the original.
Instead of indefinite article a Sinner.
He puts a definite article the Sinner.
And so here this man.
He acknowledges his sin.
He doesn't consider himself better than anybody else. In fact, he's saying that if everybody else is OK, I'm still the Sinner.
So yes, low thoughts of himself.
And he cries out to God. It's been referred to as the sinner's prayer.
What is the result? 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So the Lord is rich in mercy. He delights to impart it. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. And we all deserve judgment. We all deserve.
To suffer under the wrath of God.
We all deserve hell, but you know God's desire is that not any should perish.
The other day I noticed.
Big sign on the back of a vehicle is parked at the gas pump and you could read it from quite a distance and it said this in big bold letters please.
Do not go to hell.
That reflects the mind of God.
We got it in John 316.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish.
But should have everlasting.
Life.
God doesn't want you to perish.
He wants you to be happy.
He wants to take you to his beautiful home. He wants you to enjoy his companionship.
But we can't enjoy it if we're still in our sins.
Now this publican, he goes to his house. Justified.
Justification for the believer in the Lord Jesus is to be declared righteous.
It's a wonderful truth that if we can get a grip on, it ought to cause us to rejoice.
Because it tells us, you know, that the Lord Jesus, he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.
In him.
And so we can enjoy perfect standing before God as a result of the finished work of our Savior at the cross of Calvary.
Here it tells us that they tried to shut Bartimaeus up.
It says here in verse 39. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace.
They rebuked.
Bartimaeus and that said.
They thought that Bartimaeus was acting most inappropriately, calling out. But you know, Bartimaeus was one who had pertinacity. I looked up that word and it means to be.
Persistently.
Persevering.
And Bartimaeus.
00:30:00
He had no regard for what the crowd thought. In another Gospel, I think it's Matthew, it says the multitude told him to be quiet.
But Bartimaeus had one person on his mind, and that was Jesus. Now what? How? Tonight I asked you a question.
I know it's our brother when he gives thanks for the.
The meal tonight.
In his prayer, he spoke about one individual in this hall.
One who might.
Be in their sins in need of salvation.
And I haven't forgot what he said in his prayer. And my question to you is this Are you possibly that one person?
That needs salvation.
And if you are, I want to talk to you here tonight.
Because.
You are.
In a very, very precarious position. You know, time is short. We sing a hymn, don't we? Time is gliding swiftly by death and judgment both draw nigh.
None of us have any lease on life. It tells us in the Proverbs both not thyself of tomorrow, for don't know it's not what they may bring forth.
I'm sure many of us.
Have been very startled to hear about the death of.
Maybe a friend, maybe a work associate, maybe somebody at school. I know this summer we were way out in a little trip and.
We came back and.
I asked about man in town.
Oh, he died. He died.
Is that so? Yes, yes, he had. Well, it was actually pancreatic cancer.
Diagnosed.
And one month later, he's in eternity.
Another young man.
Name is David.
And you know David?
He got in the vehicle with another friend.
He had a headache.
And he hid it out.
Toward his home in the next community.
He died.
In the car.
David.
None of us know.
What a day will bring forth.
There's something else to consider.
Besides the fact that we might die.
And.
While we're on that subject, I.
I just wrote down.
A little statistic here.
During this one hour gospel meeting.
Would anybody know how many people will die?
I'm talking about the whole wide world.
There's people dying every second.
And in one hour.
6392 People.
Will enter eternity.
Saw 6400 people.
In the course of this gospel meeting.
You say, well, that won't be me because I.
I got good health, everything is good. I want to tell you something else that might happen.
The Lord is coming.
You had this in Kentucky last week.
And none of us know when that's going to take place.
But you know, we believe it's going to be soon.
We sing a song with the boys and girls. Jesus will come again.
Soon, soon, soon. And if he were to come tonight?
Where would you be?
Where would you be?
00:35:02
Would you be with the Lord Jesus?
Would you be caught up together with the other believers in this hall?
To be with the Lord.
Or would you still be sitting here on your seat?
There's a very solemn and very sobering thought.
And we're not trying to scare.
The boys and girls.
Or the older ones.
But you know, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
And.
Procrastination is one of Satan's.
Masterpieces. It's a tool that Satan uses.
You say, well, you know, I don't really.
Reject.
The gospel per SE, but I'm not quite ready to accept it. I'll accept it at some later date.
It's called procrastination.
And you know, many souls are caught in his trap, and they procrastinate until it's too late.
And so.
We would earnestly.
Desire that if there is someone here tonight still in your sins, without God, without Christ on the broad Rd. that leads to destruction, that you might be like.
Bartimaeus, and without hesitation cry out to the Lord.
Barton Bayus. He was prompt and he was persistent.
Somebody said when is the best time?
To come to Christ.
Somebody said, well NOW, now.
Somebody else said the first time that you hear about him.
This was, I believe, the first opportunity that Bartimaeus had to come to Christ, and he seized the opportunity because.
He knew this might be the last chance he had to connect with the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus was passing by.
And so he was not going to miss out on the blessing.
So when he was told to be quiet, it tells us here he cried so much. No more.
Thou, Son of David, have mercy on me.
You don't want to miss out on the blessing.
And we don't want you to miss out on the blessing.
But seek ye the Lord.
While he may be found.
Call you upon him.
While he is near.
He may be found tonight. He is near tonight. Be like Bartimaeus, reach out, call upon him. He'll save your soul and cleanse your heart. He'll make you whole. He'll make you happy. You can go out of this hall singing from the bottom of your heart. Oh Happy Day when Jesus washed my sins away. Do you feel the burden of your sin here tonight?
Your sin is separating you.
From God.
And this is serious.
You cannot be happy here tonight.
If you are in your sins.
Separated from God.
And if you don't close in with the offer of salvation, you could be separated from God for eternity.
I saw this little.
Poem and we know part of it. Perhaps the clock of life is wound but once.
And no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop at late or early hour.
Now is the only time we own to do His precious will.
Do not wait until tomorrow.
For the clock may then be still.
To lose ones health is sad indeed.
00:40:00
To lose ones I should say, to lose ones wealth is sad indeed, to lose ones health is more, but to lose ones soul is such a loss that no one.
Can restore.
And you know, there's no second chance.
And that used to strike fear into my soul. You know, I used to sit on seats like this where the boys and girls are sitting. And we're so happy to see you here. Here you are singing the hymns, listening to stories about Jesus. And your parents are so delighted to have you here.
But my question to you tonight.
Is how you saved.
Are you truly SAVED? Do you know your sins forgiven like the little hymn says? Are you on your way to heaven?
Now maybe there's somebody here tonight and you question.
Whether you're truly saved, in fact.
Maybe you've put your faith in the Lord, but you don't really feel saved.
Well, we can't rest on feelings. What we need to do is look at the Word of God and see what it says.
And rest on the word of God. And we find out that faith is what saves by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is by faith.
God looks for repentance. It's a willingness to acknowledge my sin, take sides with God against myself, and put my trust in the Lord Jesus and the work that he accomplished there at the cross of Calvary. Because you know the Lord Jesus, he was hung up to die.
I remember we used to visit a man.
Mr. Faulkner But he had a little plaque on the wall and.
The question on the plaque.
Was put to Jesus.
How much do you love me?
And then the next words were and he stretched out his.
Hands.
And died.
That's how much he loves you.
They took nails.
And they pounded those nails.
With hammers, just pounded them right into the wood.
Through his hands, through his feet.
And the cross was erected. I think it was dropped into a hole.
And that's what they used to do. They dropped that cross into a hole that was dug into the ground. Can you imagine the pain that would be associated with that jerk when the.
Cross hit.
The ground.
The Lord Jesus, he said.
All my bones are out of joint.
Why did he do this?
It was in love.
This is why in love for you and for me.
The Son of God love me.
And gave himself.
Me.
And God sent him, and this was manifested the love of God.
To us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
As we often sing in that hymn, you know, by the one chief Treasurer, his bosom freely gave his own pure love. We measure his Willy mind to save.
Yes, this is the love of God.
He meets us in our need.
He plans salvation.
He does it all.
There's nothing left for you or for me to do.
But to simply accept?
His offer of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus.
00:45:01
But how many there are? They don't understand grace. They think they got to do something.
And they're not clear about the fact that once we become a sheep of Christ.
We're always his. He's never going to let us down, you know?
Picture the shepherd. He's found the sheep.
The sheep is on his shoulders. Is the sheep holding on to the shepherd?
No, the shepherd is holding on to the sheep.
And.
Will the Good Shepherd ever let?
One of his sheep.
Go, Willie. It's an insult to the shepherd. You know, the Lord Jesus has been charged to bring homes in safety, every one of his sheep by his Father, and so to suggest that we can lose our salvation.
It's really an insult to the power and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's never do that. And yet how many there are. They just seem to fight against grace and they just cannot accept the fact that there's nothing left for you or me to do but to believe. I was speaking that I guess maybe it was last weekend.
To.
A man and he professed to know the Lord, and we had a conversation, but I I could see that.
He wasn't 100% sure about his salvation.
But it seemed to me that, you know, he had a respect for the Lord and.
Anyway, I spoke about Noah. I said you know when.
Noah went into that ark.
It tells us that the Lord shut him in.
Noah is in a secure place.
Noah can't open the door because the Lord shut him in.
I said, you know, Noah, he might fall down in the ark and he might be kind of messed up.
But he's not going to fall out of the Ark.
Well, Christopher, he said. Well, that's true, but wasn't there a window?
In the Ark.
So he was thinking that Noah could lose.
You might say bye.
Going out the window.
That wouldn't happen.
But I just bring that up because there are so many.
They look for some loophole whereby you know they can do something in order, if not to obtain salvation, at least to maintain it. But I want to tell you here tonight, salvation is of the Lord, and just as we have here with Bartimaeus.
The Lord showed mercy and the Lord he did it all. It says Jesus stood.
The multitude, they thought that.
Pardon meus, he wasn't a.
Very important person. He was a blind man. He was a beggar. And of course, if you go over to John Nine, you find there one that was born blind from his birth. And then he begin to wonder, well, now who is it that's a Sinner here? The parents or the command that he's born blind?
So they cast aspersion on the.
Parents.
Or the man. And I think they were casting aspersions on Artemis too.
But you know Jesus.
Had his sights.
On Emmaus, Bartimaeus was in his sights. He was the important one in the story. He was the important one in the multitude. And so the Lord.
Calls for Bartimaeus.
And in another place it says the multitude, they say Bartimaeus.
He's calling for you.
You know, the the multitude is so fickle they they can change their tune at first they're saying.
00:50:00
Be quiet, Bartimaeus. The next thing is, he said. Come on, Bartimaeus. Come on, He's calling for you. You can't trust the multitude.
To crowd.
Are misleading.
But part of Maus, he was led to Jesus.
And it says here.
When he was come near.
The Lord asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?
The Lord already knew what He wanted.
But you know, I think the Lord, he likes when we express our need to him. It's a wonderful privilege to go to the Lord in prayer.
And.
We sing at him. What a friend we have in Jesus while our sins increase to bear. What a privilege to carry everything.
To God in prayer He wants us to express what's on our heart. He wants us to unburden our souls. You know it says in I believe it's Psalm. Is it? 55 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, or roll thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.
Sometimes the burden is so great, you know, it's kind of like a big.
Bayla hay and these bales of hay, they can weigh hundreds of pounds, but there they are on the wagon and they need to be unloaded. Well, you can't just, you know, physically pick up that bail and just throw it off, but you can roll it off the wagon. And so I believe in one place it speaks about rolling off the burden.
On to the Lord, and He'll sustain us.
And the Lord Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor in our heavy laden eye will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn of Me. I'm meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest for your souls.
My yoke is easy. My burden is light. It's wonderful to come to Jesus.
And we earnestly pray for any here tonight who have not come, come.
Well, you have opportunity.
Don't procrastinate. Don't wait.
This might be your last gospel meeting.
We see a text on the highway up in Maine and it says.
This may be your last text.
And it's beamed out over a screen as you drive down the road.
Because we know texting and driving are.
Very risky and have contributed to many many accidents and some fatal. But this might be your last gospel meeting. And if this is your last gospel meeting.
You need to take opportunity to come to Jesus and come now without delay. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And if you reject or neglect.
You are in serious trouble.
Hebrews 2-3 How shall we escape if we neglect?
So great salvation.
I read about a man. He found it.
Paper as he was walking down the road in Johannesburg, South Africa and he saw in the paper it said £5000 reward.
You looked at that 5000 lbs. I could really use that.
Kind of money. I wonder how do you go about getting this?
Picked up the paper and here was a gospel tract and he opened it up.
And that question was there, How shall we escape if we neglect?
So great salvation.
5000 lbs British pounds were being offered.
To the one who could answer that question.
That question is still going unanswered.
We cannot escape if we neglect God's salvation. God's salvation is Jesus.
And God would have all men to honor the Son.
The Sun.
00:55:01
Is the supreme delight of the Father's heart because Jesus, the Son of God in this world, He always did what pleased the Father. His thought life was in perfect harmony with God, His words.
And God so much appreciated his Son. He could say, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And so the Father, he loves his Son. He's given all things into his hand.
And is sobering to think of that next verse. He that believeth on the Son has life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And that's in John 336. John 316 we have the love of God, but even in 316 we have a perishing. But you know, God resents.
Those who reject his son, I think it's the worst crime.
That man could ever commit.
To reject or to neglect His Son. And God resents that so much that that's why it speaks about the wrath of God abiding on one.
Well, the end of this story is beautiful. It says Jesus said unto Bartimaeus, Receive thy sight, Bartimaeus. He told what he was on his heart. He wasn't trying to be.
Tricky or ask a.
You might say question with ulterior motive or anything of that nature or give an answer, but immediately it says.
He received his sight, followed Jesus, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
But I'm going to just.
Leave 5 words with you. 5 words.
Thy faith.
Hath saved thee only believe salvation.
Is by faith.
As we pray, if you would like to know for sure that you're on your way to heaven, you just tell the Lord, Jesus said.
You want to be saved and you believe that He indeed is the one who can save you, and you just put your trust in the Lord Jesus.
And rest on his finished work and his precious blood that we opened it meeting with that can cleanse us from all sin and believe that God has raised him from the dead.
It's all part of salvation.
There was a girl by name of Rose.
And she began to question her salvation.
But she went to that wonderful verse, Romans 10:00 and 9:00.
And there it says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus says Lord, Rose said, That's me. I've confessed Jesus as Lord.
And believe in thine heart.
That God has raised him from the dead.
She said that's Rose. That's me. I believe that God raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved.
Big smile. That's me. I am saved.
So we just have to.
Stay with the Word of God.
Don't rely on feelings, go by God in His Word.
Let's pray. Father, we just thank Thee for the opportunity to tell out the wonderful message of the Gospel.
A Jealous Love
Talk—Josh 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.
I would like to share a few meditations that I've enjoyed.
On how God's love is a jealous love. This is something that the Lord is increasingly and repeatedly speaking to me about, so I just want to share it with you.
We'll start with a verse in the Song of Solomon.
Chapter 8.
Song of Solomon, chapter 8.
And verse 6.
Set Mia as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm.
For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which have the most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contempt.
We read these verses a lot of times on Lord's Day morning.
When we are thinking about the Lord's death for us and the love that he had in going to the cross.
We speak about a love as strong as death.
Tonight in the Gospel meeting, it touched my heart as our brother was describing the cross.
And how the Lord Jesus was nailed to that cross.
And how that cross would have been stood up and fallen down into the hole.
And that verse, all my bones are out of joint.
Think of what the Lord Jesus suffered and His love for you and me. Was anything too strong for His love? Nothing.
And that was just what he suffered at man's hand. Think of what he suffered.
In bearing our sins, His love is so strong. But you know, there's this part of the verse that.
Maybe we don't think about it says jealousy is cruel as the grave. Maybe there's an aspect of God's love or something about it that we don't consider very often, and that's that God's love is a jealous love.
The word jealous is kind of interesting because as time goes on we use words differently and jealousy is one of those words that when we use it, it doesn't mean exactly the same thing as it means in the Bible.
So I'll ask one of these children, maybe here on the front row, if you.
Are at a birthday party and you see somebody get something that you want.
Yourself and you see them open their present, and you think to yourself, I wish I had that. What do you call that?
Jealousy. That's what I would call it too. But you know what? The Bible actually has another word for that. The Bible calls that envy when you want something that somebody else has.
And the Bible uses the word jealousy for when you want to guard something.
That you have so that nobody else can have it. So jealousy would be like if you had a toy.
Or something that you got for your birthday and you wanted it for yourself and so you wouldn't share it with others. That's jealousy. You see how they're they're similar, but a little bit different.
Oftentimes jealousy is a terrible thing. A lot of times it comes from our flesh. It is comes from selfishness, it comes from greed, and it's a bad thing. But sometimes jealousy is a good thing.
In fact, we read in the Bible that God is a jealous God.
So there's a kind of jealousy that the Bible calls godly jealousy, and it's a good jealousy.
Jealousy means a burning passion to guard or defend what's ours.
You know the word jealous, The root word for it means to kindle a fire.
And when we're jealous, when we feel like something that's ours is going to be taken by somebody else, don't you feel that little fire, that little flame heating up inside you? That's jealousy.
And often it's a bad thing, as I already said. But you know what? It can be a right thing. And in the case of God.
God is perfect and it's completely proper.
00:05:01
God is a jealous God.
So let's look in the Old Testament at a verse in Exodus.
Just to see that.
Exodus chapter 20.
In verse 4, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above.
Or that is in the earth beneath. Or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down.
Thyself to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Now let's look over in chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34, just for one more verse.
Verse 13 speaking about the Canaanites when Israel came into the land.
But ye shall destroy their altars, breakdown their images, cut down their Groves. For thou shalt worship no other God. For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. His name is jealous.
That's something to really think about.
You know, God is jealous of a number of things, but I think first and foremost he is jealous of his own deity. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
It offends the heart of God when His people worship anyone or anything but Him.
And when our hearts go out after something other than Him.
It Kindles a flame of jealousy in the heart of God. It's a holy jealousy.
And that's what I wanted to talk about tonight.
You know, the gods of the Canaanites were not jealous Gods. Dagon. Was he jealous? Was he jealous of Chimash? Was Chimash jealous of Bail? No. Those were false gods. They were. They were nothing.
But Jehovah, the one true God, he was a jealous God. Do you remember what happened when the ark, the presence of the Lord, was brought into the House of Dagon?
What happened? What did they see in the morning?
Dagon fallen over and parts of him were cut off. God is a jealous God. He will not give his glory to another, says in Isaiah. He will not share his glory with any other.
And he will not share.
The hearts of his people with another God.
You know it says in first John chapter 5 the very last verse. Does anybody know what it says without looking at it the last verse of first John?
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Just as an application of that, there are so many things in my life.
That I can allow to be an idol, something that I can worship, something that I can glory in.
That takes the place of God.
And you know, God is a jealous God and His love is a jealous love. He doesn't want my heart shared with another object, a brother that this afternoon spoke about Christ as our object. Have I an object, Lord below that would divide my heart with Thee? He doesn't want to share that with anybody else. It belongs to Him. Why does it belong to Him?
Why does he have a claim on our whole heart?
Because he died for us, He gave his life for us. There's a hymn that we sometimes sing. It goes like this. Love that transcends our highest powers, demands, I don't know if I can, Our soul, our life, our all.
He has to have it all because he gave everything for it.
And it's right that he have it.
Sometimes we can share our hearts with hobbies.
Maybe we can even put somebody else above God.
Maybe we worship ourselves.
All of this provokes the Lord to jealousy.
00:10:03
Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Is this just an Old Testament thing? No, the apostle Paul said those.
Very words in First Corinthians do we provoke the Lord to jealousy.
Well, let's go now to Second Corinthians for a verse.
2nd Corinthians.
11 I'm just going to read verse 2.
I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Here we find that Paul himself was jealous over the Corinthians with the godly jealousy he wanted to present them.
As the bride of Christ to Christ.
In a way, that was what's called chaste, or completely reserved for the bridegroom for a woman to be chased.
Is for her to remain completely reserved for her husband.
And that's how Paul wanted the Corinthians to be. And you know what? That is how God wants us to be, to be reserved completely for Christ.
You know, the picture of of the church as the bride of Christ we know to be marriage, but sometimes we think about marriage exclusively from our Western viewpoint. Oftentimes it's helpful to understand a little bit about when the Bible talks about marriage, that's very often looked at from the perspective of an Eastern marriage.
And in an Eastern wedding, there's there's kind of two parts.
The first is like our what we would call an engagement or an espousal, only it's a lot more serious than an engagement Over here, over here in the Western Hemisphere, we tend to.
Engagements are serious, but they can be broken off. But in Eastern cultures it's a very serious thing, so much so that they're actually, in a sense, considered married.
Not fully, but it says in Matthew chapter one that Joseph was espoused to Mary.
That means the first part had taken place and she was designated to be his, so much so that the the the Angel says, fear not to Joseph, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife. They were espoused, but she's called his wife. It's a very serious thing. And then a period of time elapses and then the actual wedding procession and ceremony takes place. And that's the second part.
We are called the Bride of Christ.
We're between those two. The espousal has already taken place, what we might call the engagement. We are the bride of Christ. We belong to Him. He has paid the dowry and we're just waiting for Him to come and take us to be with Him, to have that marriage supper of the Lamb, but in this period of time where we are His.
But we're waiting for that moment He wants us to be as a chaste virgin to Christ.
He wants our affections for him to be undivided. And you know what it says in Romans chapter 5?
That God has given us the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit is spreading the love of God abroad in our hearts.
While we're waiting for that wedding day.
The Holy Spirit is reminding us of how much the Lord Jesus loved us such that our hearts could be fully for Him.
And I speak to you as one who struggles with this, but I know it's what God wants for each one of us.
Christ will not share His bride with the world. He will not share His bride with anyone. What would you think of a husband who didn't care where the heart of his wife was? What would you think of a wife who didn't care about where her husband's heart wandered?
You would say she doesn't love him?
God cares about our hearts because he loves us. This is the great point.
Love that is strong as death comes with jealousy that is cruel as the grave. I'm just going to say that again because it's Song of Solomon 8 Love that is strong as death.
Comes with jealousy that as cruel as the grave.
00:15:01
That has a most vehement flame.
The reason why God is jealous of us and our our lives and of our hearts.
Is because he is serious in his love.
If he wasn't serious in his love, then he wouldn't care about our hearts. He wouldn't care how we spend our lives or how much of our affections are divided for other things. But He's serious and He has proven that by what he did on the cross and all we need to do to be reminded of how serious he is and his love for us.
Is to go back to the cross to see the Prince in his hands.
And the wound in his side.
To realize that he is serious.
And so it's a wonderful thing to satisfy God's heart.
By giving him ours.
There's one thing I just had on my heart that I did want to.
Just bring out, you know, I've been thinking perhaps there are some in this room that have been.
Thinking about.
Their desire to remember the Lord. And you haven't done it, and you haven't.
Asked to partake.
You know, in First Corinthians 11.
Paul says, I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus.
The same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
And gave thanks.
And you know the rest. The very night in which he was betrayed.
He instituted his supper. The way that's worded is calculated to touch our hearts the very night in which everyone.
Turned against him, He thought about you and me, and he asked as his last request.
For us to remember him.
So that and so many other things we owe him because.
Of his love for us.
Somebody kindly wrote up a poem and I believe it's actually can be sung, but I asked for permission to just read it.
He loves me with a jealous love.
There is no love like this. He bought me with his precious blood and he has called me His.
Because he gave so much for me, He seeks to have my heart with such a love. How can it be I'm only giving part?
It should be this and nothing else.
Should occupy me more to be divided in myself as not to seek my Lord.
But then I see Him reaching out and speaking soft and sweet. Why are you troubled? Why those doubts? Behold my hands and feet, and seeing what it meant to Him to save my sinning soul. Just what excuse is left to me? Then I have to give the whole.
Reticular Activator
Children—David So
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.
Who hath a hymn they would like to give out?
Oh, that was a quick hand. What number? Did you know the number from this hymn sheet?
#5 Did you know that song well? Or you just like #5?
Huh. Is that around the throne of God? Is that the one?
Good, how many would like to sing that with us? Adults do. Wow nice, let's sing him #5.
Around the throne of God in heaven will.
I'll tell you since I'm going to have a good day and I'm going to scream sinking glory, glory, glory, glory to God.
Let's look to the Lord for helpers.
Blessed God in our loving Father, we give thanks this morning for thy love toward us. We thank Thee that the Lord Jesus Christ did come into this world to save sinners. We thank Thee that his blood was shed on the cross. And how precious for us to be able to say the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. And this morning we thank Thee for this little time together as Sunday school before us, knowing that.
This particular meeting we can use to address our children. We think of many of the little ones here. We ask for help, ask for blessings for them, ask that if they have not yet received the Lord Jesus as the Savior, that that would work in the young hearts and draw them to thyself, that they may be saved. So we commit this meeting into thy hand, looking for help and for blessings for us too, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
You know, it's funny we're saying that around the throne of God.
Children.
Well, I suppose many of us are children. I know my wife sometimes tell me to act my age. She thinks I'm still acting like a kid. So some of us don't grow up very well. But it's just the children. You know what's funny is a look across in the front row. Some of you, I look at you and go, you look like your mom and dad.
Don't you? There were images, the resemblance, and I remember standing up here talking to your mom and dad when they were little, and then I remember them but the young people. And now I see you and I think of how Scripture would say there is yet another generation. I won't quote the rest of the verse, but the thought was yet there is another generation and you know your mom and dad.
Took the Lord Jesus as the Savior.
They put you here this morning because they want you.
You to understand what God's offer is that not just to save verses, not just to say things that you know some of us older one would like to hear, but that you truly believe that Jesus died for you and that he is your savior. Let's sing another hymn. Who has another hymn? I'm going to pick this side this time.
00:05:06
What number would you like?
Number six.
That's a nice one. You must have heard what I was saying here. This hymn writer tells us this. Come to the Savior. Make no delay. You know what he means by no delay.
Don't wait, do it right away. It's not like you know if you were like me when I was little when my mom go come.
You know what I do?
Wait, I know she'll yell louder.
And then we do that with our children and then we yell them by their name. We call them by the first name and they still sort of I got time and sometimes I don't know if your parents do this, then they call, we call them by the full name, then they know they're in trouble. But here the word of God are the hymn writers that come to the Savior. Make no delay here in his word He's shown us.
Away. So let's sing this together. Come to the Savior.
Why do you think we should come to the Lord with no delay? What's the urgency?
Why do you think that?
Because He wants us. He wants us. That's a good answer. He can have us anytime He call for us. Is there another reason that someone else can thank God?
With no delay.
I see a big kid here on the answer. Lord Jesus could come for us at anytime. Oh, the Lord Jesus can come for us anytime. I'm thinking of a third another reason.
Can anyone think of another reason why we should not delay?
Is that a handout or just OK?
Because she never.
Know if something could happen.
Oh, that sounds very serious and that's what I was thinking of. You know, I'll, I'll share with you a little story now some of you and I know the older ones you can listening into this is not just for the children, right? We have big children. You know, couple weeks ago I was with our brother Leslie Denson and some of you heard that he's home with the Lord John Kim and I was in his home.
The day after we were at the conference at Regina, I visited with him.
In fact, I still remember the last conversation I had. He pointed at a brother and he said to meet David. Who is he and I?
I told him who he is and shortly after we thought he fell asleep.
His wheelchair was a special chair that can stretch out. We thought he was resting. That was the last we talked to him. The Lord took him home a few days after.
You know, when we, when I was younger, I didn't think about death.
We think we are invincible, we can do this and that nothing will happen.
The worst is we call Ouch and mommy will come with a Band-Aid and everything will be better. You ever think that?
00:10:08
But then the word of God says it is appointed unto man once to die.
Men, women to die.
It doesn't say how old you have to be. Do you need to be 35 before you die?
Can the baby die?
Yeah.
Older person, perhaps we think of that, but we are God appointed is it is appointed unto man once to die. Now sometimes we misquote that verse, we'll say, but after death.
Did I say that correctly?
No, but after this.
Judgment so we don't know when the Lord could take us home. And that's why we should accept the Lord, hear his voice, accept him without delay. Who has? Let's sing one more before we go to our verses. I went that side. Maybe did I pick this side? I came. OK, you go ahead.
Number 70, I like that one because we just said how serious life is.
And how serious the way of salvation is to you. But then there is always that glad side, the joyful side. So let's sing about this #7.
Now it's interesting we talked about how perhaps a young person, a little one could die. And I was just thinking the Sunday Sunday school verse. Now I I know some of you learn different one, but if I remember correctly, the verse is Proverbs.
Chapter 27, verse one. Am I right in saying that?
How many learned that one?
Oh good, at least there's one person that can say that verse for me. Let me just turn to that verse. Proverbs 27 verse one. I'm going to read this just for those who may not have been familiar with it. Proverbs 27 verse one. By the way, It's giving you a chance to rehearse that first too, isn't it?
Bose not thyself off tomorrow.
For thou knowest nod what a day may bring forth. Boast we brag is don't brag about tomorrow. You know, in the book of James, he said Tomorrow we're going to go to such and such a city. We're going to do business there. We're going to buy, we're going to sell, we're going to make money.
And then he said that's not good.
What you really should say is if the Lord will, we would do this and that. Now you know what's nice for children here is I know you remember things better than the older one and you are actually better at reminding your parents versus.
So when you see older ones, your parents are someone like us, you may look at us and say why are you bragging about tomorrow? All you have to do is quote that verse. Bo's not thyself of tomorrow.
Because you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. You know, back a few months ago there was a conference at St. Thomas ON, I think half the room probably were there. We were so set to go to that conference, conference start on the Friday and on the Wednesday because there was a family emergency. Even though we were so sad, our hearts were looking forward to meet our brethren.
00:15:00
And to be able to attend the conference.
Life is interesting isn't it? The Lord may have something for you than what you planned for. Okay, enough said. Who would like to say that verse for me?
OK.
Do you have a mic?
And we both OK, it's OK.
Proverbs 27 one both not.
For the nose, not for the day.
Very I think. Oh there it is. I was looking for now but it doesn't exist. Very good. Now would you be my helper?
You set the little blue bag over there.
Can you go get that for me? First thing I want you to do is reach in and take one little candy for yourself. And would you be able to help me give it to the next person who say the verse? Would you do that? No. Or are you shy? You would. OK, go see missus. So take that bag.
It's funny, it was a box of these Halloween candies and last night, halfway through the night ago, we have lots of children here. I hope I have enough.
So let's. Yeah. So wait till the next person say the verse. And would you go up to them and let them choose one? OK, Thank you. Who's next? Who would like to say that first or another verse? You're going to make me walk around the room. Go ahead.
Thyself of tomorrow.
No, it's not.
They may bring.
Crabbers.
27 first one very good. Thank you.
Oh see, my helper is also very good. Anyone else on this sidewalk here? I'm going to work my way down.
John 316 For God's love of the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 316. Thank you.
I saw hands here.
Was 27/1.
Both men brought thyself of tomorrow without. No, it's not what a day bring forth.
Papa's 27/1.
Both not thyself up tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27 one.
Where's my Shepherd and.
I saw that. What?
I'm 23 one. Thank you.
Anyone else?
You can say it to your parents afterwards.
No hands here.
No, OK, I'm sorry.
Both not thyselves of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27 one.
John 316 forgot to love the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish by have everlasting life. John 316 Thank you.
And did I miss anyone else?
OK.
5/24.
Both proverbs 27 one both note thyself of tomorrow, for velma is not what a day may bring forth progress 27/1.
Thank you.
John 316 forgot you love the word that it gave His only begotten, so that whosoever 45th in him shall not perish, but everlasting life. Doctor 16. Thank you. Did I miss anyone? Anyone else? Oh.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs.
27/4.
Thank you.
Both snap thyself about tomorrow, for though thou knowest not what a day may bring forth proverbs.
00:20:10
27.
1.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for they know not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27 one.
Did I miss anyone else?
Oh.
And was.
Life and the life.
Knife was the knife of the man. Very good, thank you.
You know, don't feel bad that you didn't say the verse in public because I know what that's like. It is difficult with lots of people in watching and listening. You know, I remember I used to sit in the chair and shake and I would go.
Two more. That is my turn and.
One more I am next. And I used to tremble. I still do. I just don't let people know I'm trembling. But it is good to learn verses, you know, I, when I was younger, your age, yeah, you're going to laugh. That was a long time ago. And I remember, brethren used to say, remember the verses when you're young because when you get older, you're going to have trouble remembering them.
Yeah, now I see they're right. So learn scriptures.
While you're young. OK, let's sing a hymn before we go into our story. Oh, which side have I missed? I think I miss. No, I started on this side. Right. OK.
Did you give one out? No, you didn't. OK.
We sank #6 already. Can you pick another one?
Like #2.
#4.
Four I can receive. Oh, OK. Number four, we didn't sing that one. OK, Ruler once came to Jesus.
Hey, Cortana.
Leave a sleepover. I'd rather be better than you say. Come to think they must be overnight here.
I saw a lot of hands before. Let's sing one more. I know I said that already. Did you guys give one now before? No. OK, go ahead.
Hymn #16.
Oh, this is an old favorite.
Salvation is.
Man if I could have went one nurse from 3:16 would do but I love the world and gave him something like for me and you.
00:25:11
Someday.
God is free for Jesus Christ, for sin. Let me see when you grant me.
The third verse in the second, we're just saying that if I could have only one verse.
Do we need a lot of verses to tell the story of God's love?
We sang this if I could only have one verse. If someone say to you all you have time for is hold one verse, what verse would you have?
Maybe you have to look at him. Stands on #2 It gave us a little hint. If I could have only one verse, you know, I'll share with you. This is kind of funny, people. Some of you may not know me. I get scared when I stand up, You know, before I would go, oh boy, if I could only stand up and present the gospel. I can talk about this, this and that.
And then when I get asked.
The nerves comes in and I don't know what to say.
So here perhaps it would help us for some of us who are nervous or doesn't know what to say, Even children you don't know, but you want to tell them the love of God. If you could have only one verse. I saw some hand here earlier on.
What's that verse? John 316? I know someone ordered that earlier. Tell us what that list is for God to love the world that he gave him.
Should not be.
16.
Isn't that a wonderful verse? John 316. If that's the only verse I can have to let the world know that God so loved the world, meaning everybody in the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.
Do you know what it means by perish?
Die, die. But even worse than that, you know, have you ever heard of a phrase? Maybe your mommy will use that to go shopping and they bring things home. They go. These are perishables.
What a perishable stuff.
Is that a cornflake? Is that perishable? No. They put enough chemicals in there that will last 5000 years.
Right. They put preservatives in it to preserve you.
What's perish? What would perish?
Have you ever left an apple half eaten and let it sit on the countertop?
Plants, eggplants, Yeah, a lot of fruits and vegetables. They don't just die, they die slowly. And it perished. You know, I sold a car one time to a man who was doing car detailing, and they called me up a few weeks later, laughing. He said, I didn't know you were growing apple trees in the back seat.
That apple perish in the back seat.
OK, so we said we'll finish this. Him blessing hit stands on #3 Salvation is for me.
And she comes by.
Stand from his hand, though they thou lonely at the friendly father of his command.
If the Lord will we need his help. We're going to talk a few things. Just so you know, I won't be very long.
My wife often reminds me and say don't talk too much. That's when our tendency and with children.
We want to keep it simple and be honest with you. Even with adults I find it need to be simple for me to retain.
00:30:09
I'm going to give a big word.
I don't even heard of this word before.
And you may have to ask your parents afterward to see if I'm right.
Have you heard of a word or phrase I should say reticular activator?
Have you?
What's a reticular activator?
I'm even looking at the adults behind you. They're going.
I guess not very many go in the medical side by the way, neither am I is some little thing in the back of your brain down the spinal cord. There's a little, I was going to say gadgets. I like gadgets, but there's no gadgets in your body called reticular activator. Now I know some of you have cell phone and you're probably Googling that right now. Reticular activator. You can save that for later to confirm that, OK.
A reticular activator is something in our brain that have two functions. One is to make sure we sleep properly and what the other is while we're awake that we do things properly.
Simple, isn't it?
Now the problem with that is most of us don't get the truth. We get the two mix up right. How many times that when you should be listening, you're sleeping?
When you're sleeping, you're not that, you're listening.
But there is another function that's interesting because it also prompts you into things, right? You know how many times someone talk about something, you go, oh, but it has nothing to do with our conversation, but it prompted you.
So there are many things. The reason I want to tell you that, and I'll tell you more in a minute, is that there are many things that should prompt you about the love of God, about the gospel of His grace, but we don't see it.
Right, let me give you an example.
You may just laugh.
I wish with a conversation with someone one day. And then the radio came on and they said, oh, tomorrow will be Pearl Harbor Day. I go, oh, no. And.
This man said to me, you are not old enough to remember Pearl Harbor. I said no, it's not that. That's my wife's birthday.
Has nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, but it prompted me and I still forgot to get her a gift.
So we see that now. How many times have you maybe?
Your mom and dad said.
We like a green Honda passenger van.
There's no green Honda passenger van, but then the moment they said that, you drive down the street, what do you see?
You see a whole bunch of green Honda passenger vent. That's your your reticular activator working because it prompts you into things. It's interesting, isn't it? When someone prompt you, you remember things. So now I'm going to tell a different story.
Some of you know that we've been traveling a bit the last few months and in the Western.
Be careful the word state. I was going to say provinces in the western United States. They have a lot of gas stations. What a dinosaur picture on it. How many have you seen that?
Yeah, we don't see too many out here, even though what has it was more common, but we don't see that anymore. But when you go out West, you see this gas station where the dinosaur.
And then underneath there's a word or name. It's a Sinclair.
Remember that sign? Yeah, you know that.
Well, I remember story and I think it was. It was. I won't name the brother.
Remember, he said at a gospel, he said, someone walk up to the gas station, There's a young man, gas station attendant. You walk up to this young man, he said. Young man who put this in in Sinclair?
What a reminder. You see the name Sinclair, but who put this in in Sinclair?
Isn't that a nice Gospel message to remind him that Mister Sinclair have sinned? Even his name indicated that.
Well, it's not a true statement. Now I'm going to need your help.
Because I know if I tell you things, you're not going to remember things. Plus they see me looking at verses. So there's two reasons. One is selfish. One is to help you. Do you know of any scripture that could prove to that would tell us that there's sin and Mr. Sinclair?
00:35:16
Anyone can think of a verse to help me?
What verse could we justify that statement?
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Does Mr. Sinclair fall into the category of all?
He does, doesn't he, Mr. Sinclair? Because Scripture says all have sinned. Wait a minute.
In our lives. I'll share with you something too. As you grow older. Maybe you're already doing it. It's much easier to point finger at someone else. Look at Mr. Sinclair. He's a Sinner.
We have to remember that we often have to come back. What about me?
The old saying, you just go. When you point out one finger, someone, three fingers come back pointing this way, Mr. Sinclair. But what about you?
So when you see that dinosaur sign, what should it prompt you to?
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now, it's not just names. There are many things out there that should prompt us, and I'll come back to name.
In a minute I see the water bottles here. So when you see water, does it prompt you into thinking of anything in regard to the word of God?
What is God's Word said about water?
Nothing.
Oh, someone have a hand up. The soldier pierced his side. Blood and water came out. Oh, that is so nice, I didn't even think of that part. That's right. When they pierced his size, forthwith came two things.
Blood and water. What a nice thought to be reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins. Now I'm going to let you. You can even write it down when you go home. Anything. When you see water, it should prompt you as I turn around walking.
I see there's a door.
The scripture talk about the door.
What does Scripture say about your?
Had to put blood on the top of their doors.
Yeah, that was good. Yeah, that reminds you. That's good. I didn't think of that neither. He speaks of Passover. The Lord said when I see the blood, I will Passover you. Is there another thought someone had?
I can't tell what the fan action of you're waving your hand to say yes.
What about the door? Did someone say he's a door?
So first that says something like I am the door.
Yeah, you know that verse by me?
He said I am the door by me, if any man.
I'm trying to think I told you I don't have a good memory so I need a lot of help.
I am the door by me if any man enter in.
Something happens.
Do we need to ask someone older than 10?
Older than 15.
By me if any man enter in.
He shall be saved. So do we think of that every time we look at a house there's a door there. What a gospel message that we can't just God has provided so much prompt for us to be remembered. But remember that reticular activator it do two things. One, it helps us sleep. One, it helps us to be aware of things.
And if we don't practice to be conscious?
Then we become asleep. I see a door every day. So what?
You see, Brad, have you seen a loaf of bread before? Anyone seen a loaf of bread before? No, you have.
00:40:01
What do you think of it when you see a loaf of bread?
What?
So I think that's a good thought, but I wasn't thinking of that. I was thinking of yummy.
But that's close, right? What other thoughts do you have when you see a loaf of bread?
Should I pick on some of the older ones if they?
Huh. So I'm going to let's order one if someone wanted. Oh, you have a handout?
Jesus body. Jesus is body.
Bodies. Yeah, that's good. That's good. He's the bread of life too, isn't it? So we need to be conscious of what the gospel, what the word of God reminds us constantly. Let's go back to Mr. Sinclair for a minute. You know, sometimes what name is interesting too, right? So, Mrs. Sinclair, you remind, we will remind it. Who put this in in Mr. Sinclair?
Now I'm just thinking of another name.
We shouldn't pick on anyone. I fact I don't think there's this name in this room unless I missed it or how come we have names like Newman?
Isn't it nice to see someone, rather than sin, put into a man? He's a Newman or new man.
Do we get reminded of that? How can someone be a Newman? Oh, when they put on Christ, When they put on Christ? Now, can I share with you something personal?
OK, now to understand this you need to know how to write Chinese. How many here can write Chinese?
Your mom and dad hasn't taught you that yet.
Oh, do you?
You know, a lot of people wonder about my last name. They go so.
What really is not my name? It's the closest English Annunciation to what the Chinese name is. In fact, even a lot of Chinese don't look at a name for the meaning. It's just like we don't look at a name for the true meaning even in English, unless we look at it carefully. The name soul means resurrection.
OK, some people said just wake up, so depend on how you look at awakening, but I like to look at it is resurrect. I'll share with you another Chinese phrase, the name Jesus. We don't use the phrase Jesus in Chinese is called Yesu.
And the Sioux of the soul is the same word as in my last name, soul. And the phrase yeah, means the Lord. So it's nice to think that when the Chinese translated the name Jesus, they really mean he said, they say that he is the Lord of resurrection. Isn't it nice to know?
That their sin came into the world and death by sin and someone quota.
For the way this other verse you say you all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And then in other words, that came to my mind is for the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How did God give us that gift? By the death of his Son. Death.
This morning if the Lord leave us here for a few for a little while, we have the privilege to remember Him and His death for us. I know some would say we go worship the Lord. I don't believe that's the right phrase. Although worship and Thanksgiving should come out because of the remembrance. We are called to remember Him in His death.
But death with the Lord Jesus is always associated with resurrection.
He was in the grave for three days. After that he came. He arose from the dead. We found through our scripture that resurrection is what God has in mind. How many of you ever heard of the story of Noah and his Arkansas?
How many of you have you read scripture carefully and see when did the ark rest it on joy ground?
And we'll look at that.
When?
The 44th day, I'm glad you're thinking. Not quite. It was over a year, but it was very specific. Is that on the 7th month, the 17th day? Why is it so specific? You found through all scripture the 17th day, The 7th month, or depending on how you look at the first month is resurrection day. So you go through Scripture and you'll find resurrection.
00:45:21
As a big scene for the Lord, So what we what do we talk about?
Talked about. You should be prompted when you see things, when you see the gas station, or perhaps when you play with dinosaur. How many of you got dinosaur toys?
Oh, just two hands. I thought every kid played with dinosaur. Maybe he can look at it every time you go.
Who put the sand? And Mr. Sinclair. Oh, and me.
Do you want to be a Newman?
Or a Newman.
Is resurrection.
Important to you?
And I trust children that if you go home and mommy said, what did you learn? I think it would be precious to learn even the three things.
What were the three things again I forgot now.
And then when we remember the three things.
What was the first one?
For all.
Have.
Yeah.
Should be reminded by Mr. Sinclair. What was the second one?
That we should be put on it as a Newman.
And we should the third one remember resurrection. OK, let's we have time for couple more hints.
Who have him for us? You gave one hour ready, right? No. OK. What would you like?
90 That's nice hymn #9.
Into our tent.
You'll ride me after where I spoke with the people of the Lord. We have to stop there. I.
Sorry, I thought meeting ends at 10:30, so I'm already over. I apologize. Blessed God and our loving Father, we give thanks again this morning for the privilege of telling forth the gospel of Thy grace. We look to thee. We commit our children here into thine hand. We ask for help. We ask for blessings for them. We ask that that would help them to realize the lost conditions and that they would repent while there's still time. So we give thanks again for.
We give thanks to that. We're reminded that there are many things around us should remind us of the story of Thy grace. So we give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Eternal Security
Address—Tim Ruga
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We start our meeting this afternoon by singing hymn #326.
As debtors to mercy alone.
326.
As that her two.
I'm sorry, now that will be great.
More happy, but one more secure.
The Spirit seek heartbreak to heaven.
Let's pray and God and our Father, we thank thee for this time again that we can be together over thy word and to consider what thou will say to us. We pray for blessing on the word this afternoon and let us know we recognize the need of each one of us here and we just pray that whatever.
Needs there are that thou would meet them, and that we would each be encouraged as well as we consider.
Thy goodness to us and how that each and everyone of us is nothing more than a vessel of mercy. We thank Thee so much for Thy mercy, our God, and just commit this meeting to Thee, asking Thy help in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So what we sang in the last two verses of this hymn is what I have in my heart this afternoon to speak a little bit on the eternal security of the believer, and says in the last four verses, we to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given.
More happy, but not more secure, the spirits departed to heaven. And that is true.
Before I take up this subject from the word of God, I just want to explain a few things.
And we're talking about the fact that when someone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have eternal life and that life is forever, a wonderful, wonderful gift from God.
And we want to look and see that in the Scripture there are those who speak pejoratively of this truth, and they say that it's the one saved, always saved doctrine. And it teaches that once you believe in Jesus Christ, then you can go on and do whatever you want, and after that it doesn't matter and you'll go to heaven anyway. And so it leads to unholy living. That's the charge against it. And that has troubled many.
And there are many Christians, I believe, who actually are troubled by.
00:05:01
Wrong teaching on this. So I don't intend to take this off in a very detailed or deep way, but basically I just want to go over some of the simple truths connected with it. And maybe right at the beginning, just to emphasize a point, I want to tell something about our experience in Malawi.
Not to just tell a story, but there's a real point I want to get out here that I want you to remember.
And when I first went to Malawi, I was going around with brother Tim Roach and we were speaking to those who profess to be Christians. For the most part. There were some who didn't among them, but they said we are Christians and we would talk to them and then we'd ask them questions. And we kept finding out that many of them weren't sure if they were saved or not. And this is quite a puzzle.
And so in in asking the questions a little difficult because of the language barrier and we.
Weren't getting a good understanding of why that was and at first we thought, well, maybe they don't have Bibles.
And it's true, they didn't, most of them. So we got them Bibles and then we went back and they had Bibles then, but they were still answering the questions just as poorly as before. So we thought, well, maybe there's other things that are in the way we have been teaching this subject that I'm taking up today on eternal security. And I'm bringing this up because.
Going through the teaching of the subject won't help if there's a more fundamental problem, and in most cases there is. I'm coming to that. So we went on to other things, like one of the big things was that many of them were.
Having relationship with their ancestors that had gone and died, of course, and they were having speaking with them and so on, not knowing they were demons. So we took that up from the word of God and it seemed to be some help, but it didn't really answer the problem and we.
Kept on there. We moved there about at that time and kept learning the language and asking questions.
And to my embarrassment, I found out what the real problem was in almost every case. And it might be a problem here today. That's why I wanted to mention at the beginning of this meeting.
Those who could not understand the things that we're talking about.
And we're struggling so much with this thought that you.
Can know that you have eternal life and have it forever.
We're actually not even believers. Almost everyone of them weren't even believers. They were trusting to good works of some sort, many of them just to the law, others to trying to do good, others to coming to the Lord's Supper and taking it so they could get life. That teaching was widespread.
And so in one way, there were.
Other others which was trying to confess all their sins. Another common thing.
But in one way or another, they were working so that they could merit salvation, be good enough so that they could meet God one day.
And when we understood that, then of course everything went out the window except for the gospel. And thank the Lord, many of them were saved, others had been already. And.
It really helped to get clear on that, and then they started to learn all these other truths.
I want to make that point because if you're not clear on the gospel itself.
You're always going to struggle with this. I mean, if there's nothing else works, you need to.
Actually come to faith in Jesus Christ. And it became something that they actually started repeating a lot there, chikulu pili la boss, which means faith alone. And they understood it. And then the ones who were saved started preaching that very clearly and definitely. And it was a help to others. But I just wanted to start there. And that said, I do recognize there are many who struggle.
With this.
Truth of eternal security, and I think there's quite a few.
Who are actually saved to struggle with it and so I want to take it up from that standpoint today and.
I'm going to start with just some of the verses for and then some of the verses that are used against this teaching.
And then I want to go on to something more important at the end of the meeting that I really want to emphasize for especially the young who are here. So let's just start with a verse that already has been mentioned at this conference, and for good reason. John, chapter 10.
00:10:02
John 10.
Verse 27. We'll start there.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
I think his brother Wally Dear mentioned this last night in the Gospel and I enjoyed how he put it. He was speaking about other passages that relate to this, like in Luke chapter 15, the beginning of that chapter, the Lord is seen. There is the shepherd who goes out and finds the lost sheep, and he put him on his shoulder, right? And you said the sheep wasn't keeping himself there, but he was being held there by the shepherd, and he brought him home rejoicing.
Beautiful, terrible that the Lord used, and that relates to what we have here.
And I think if I remember what else you said, that to say that that shepherd would let go of that sheep is actually an insult to the shepherd. I appreciate you saying that. I believe that's true, and I don't want to offend somebody who's struggling with this.
But.
If this is the work of God to keep a believer, which I believe the scriptures are going to clearly show as we look at them.
Then you need to be very careful what you're doing as to your beliefs in the subject.
Believe our brother while he was right in what he said, So what it says here is my sheep, hear my voice.
And I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. That word never perish is, I understand, a very, very strong word. Never. It's never, never perish. It means it's not going to happen. And he shows that those sheep are in his hand, and then they're also in the Father's hand.
Now the question is.
What happens to those sheep?
Like, can they get out of the hand? And we're going to come back to that. But first of all, I just want to say it's my sheep hear my voice. And there are those who say, yeah, that's true. But you can stop listening to the shepherd's voice. And, you know, this has nothing to do with whether you go on trying to continue hearing the shepherd's voice. It really is what our brother Wally was saying last night. This is the shepherd's work. He's the one who keeps that sheet.
That's the teaching here and I really want to, I want to go on and look at.
The next verse, we're just going to have to pass through these fairly quickly.
And it's probably my favorite verse on this subject and very related to this one. So this goes back a few chapters in John chapter 5.
And verse.
24.
Says, verily, verily I say unto you.
He that heareth my word, remember my sheep, hear my voice. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but His past, from or out of death into life.
Very definite thing. How does one get life? They hear the shepherd's voice. They hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to make that very clear in the next verse. He says in verse 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
And so you see, here are ones who are dead and they can't even hear. We're coming to that as well.
And what I want to get to before we're done today is that this truth is actually tied, woven together with many other brothers said there's only one truth, so we shouldn't say truth. Sorry, please let me say truth. It helps a little bit. Many other doctrines, teachings, truths in the word of God.
And they all go together. That's why the brother made that point, right? It's the truth. And if you take one of them out, it spoils the rest.
And so you can't. And that's why it is one truth, but.
00:15:01
Please for bear with me.
And so we'll look at that a little bit more. But you see these ones even came to be sheep by the fact that they heard the shepherd's voice when they were dead. And that's when the shepherd's voice is heard. It doesn't mean that we don't go on hearing it. We do. But that's what brings in that condition that makes that one a sheep. And it says here the hour is coming. And now is he's not talking about resurrection here.
This is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. He's talking about those who are spiritually dead.
Hearing his voice and getting life, you go on just a little bit further, you find resurrection and it's very similar words.
And let's look at that now in verse 28, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Now this is certainly not teaching good works. And you need to take every scripture in context. You go over no further than the next chapter and you find that they were asking.
Jesus OK, well then what are the works of God that we should do them? He says this is the work, one work of God that you believe on him whom we ascent. Scripture is very clear about this point that those who do good, it means one thing they had faith no other way to do good before God and the others are going to be raised to.
The resurrection of damnation, All the others. There's not a third class here, but my point in reading this is.
He's talking about a final state. He's not talking about something where you can go in and out of. They're going to be raised up and it's not like they're going to go back into dead and be raised and go back and dead and be raised again. He's talking about a final state of condition and things in verse 28 and 29. And so is he in verse 25. When the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and they live, that is a final condition. And I submit to you, you'll always find it that way in Scripture.
There is no thought that people go back into a state of being dead again spiritually and coming alive again. You have to look for that in verses that actually don't say it. And we'll look at a few of them in just a few minutes.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting light. What is it if you lose it again after a short time? Is it everlasting?
Absolutely not that. Wouldn't that be conditional life? But the Lord said everlasting life.
And he means it.
And then he underscores it twice here. And shall not come into condemnation. It won't happen. They will not come into condemnation. But is passed out of death into life. That condition of death is over. They've passed now into life and they're alive. Wonderful truth. You get a hold of it.
It is the most wonderful thing to enjoy before God.
Let's go on to another verse, Romans chapter 6.
Brother Bruce is questioning whether this is a gospel verse.
I think you are questioning whether it's only a gospel verse. I hope it is. I love it that way. Romans 623.
And justice, the end of it. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All well known verses and that's why we teach them to the children when they're young. So helpful, so important to know these verses and get established in them and what they actually mean. But here is speaking about eternal life as a gift from God.
I used to ask them in Malawi, I said.
If I would give you a gift.
Is it yours? They said yes.
And I said, OK, So what if I came and took it and took it back from you? And then they all kind of look funny. OK, so they didn't want to say what they were thinking, but when they admitted what they were thinking, they say, well, you'd be a thief.
And.
Not only that, you'd be a liar because you said it was a gift and it wasn't a gift.
And so then I'd ask the next obvious question, and a good one for us to think about here today. Is God a thief or a liar?
00:20:00
No, he's not. Of course not.
And God cannot lie tells us in Titus chapter one, God who cannot lie.
Promised the eternal life before the world began. This very thing we're talking about is a promise that God who cannot lie made.
And He makes it as a gift and He does not go back on that. If you turn over just a little bit to Romans 11, because in verse 19 says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, it means He doesn't change his mind.
And this when God gives a gift, it is a gift, and you have it, it's yours. It belongs to you.
Very important. Let's go on. Look at another verse, Romans chapter 8.
And.
Verse. Well, we'll start with the verse that we had yesterday, verse 30.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified.
Whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Verse 31.
What shall we then say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God to justify it. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He rather that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress?
Or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for this slaughter, and they are in all these things. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
Now this verse.
For high and persuaded.
That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He covered everything there.
There's nothing that can separate us in the love of God, not even ourselves, and he put us so strongly that we might know it.
Somebody once said, So I was reading that, well, there's one thing that isn't mentioned here that would separate you from the love of God.
The person asked what is that? He said, well, sin.
You can go and sin and separate yourself in the love of God.
And the person pointed out, no, that's not true.
It says here nor things present. You go back just a little bit here in Romans Chapter 7 and.
He says here.
Find the place here, verse 20.
One, I mean, we'll just refer to this one verse. I find then a law that when I would do good, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
And so he's talking about something that's present, something present there that's in them. And when he gets to chapter 8, he says, no, there's nothing present that can suffer. Separate me from the love of God, not sin, not evil. Nothing can separate you and me who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God. That love goes on forever. And so important that we simply take what God has written and what God has said.
And we enjoy it. Let's go on to another one, Philippians.
Philippians chapter one.
And verse 6.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work, and you will perform it.
Day of Jesus Christ, who is the one who's done a good work in the believer?
Remember the verse in John chapter 3. Except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
But those who are born of water and the spirit, those are the ones who do enter in.
00:25:04
The Lord is teaching about being born there, being born again.
And it's that water of the Word of God. I won't take the time to prove that, but the Spirit is the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and begins life in a person. And that person then trust in Christ. And that work that the Spirit of God began in them, it says here that he completes it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That is the day when the Lord Jesus Christ has his own around him, and that's the of the future when there's no longer any trials or temptations that are down here with us.
All the way until we get home. That work of the Spirit of God will go on in our lives and He will complete it until we get home there.
These are powerful things.
And I hope you're seeing how many different ways that the Word of God brings them out. We're just going to go through a very few of them here.
I'm sure other brothers could get up and bring this out from so many other standpoints, but let's just go on to just a few more, maybe just one more. And then I want to get on to some of the verses against this first Peter chapter one.
First Peter one and verse.
Ah.
Let me see where I should just start. We're at verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance.
Incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
In John chapter 10 we read that the Lord Jesus has us in his hand. Every believer is there, and then the Father's hand is around that. And here we see we're kept by the power of God. This is written by one who failed the Lord so terribly.
And that is hard to even imagine for many people to deny the Lord Jesus Christ himself with cursing and swearing.
That's what Peter did.
And he learned this lesson. He was safe all along there. And he says, no, you're simply kept by the power of God. Peter thought he could keep himself. And those who take up the wrong side of this doctrine think if they get home to heaven, it's only because they're going to have kept themselves. And Peter says, no, that's not true. Your cat, by the power of God.
Now I just want to stop and go over some of the other verses.
And we'll look at just a few of them, many of the verses on both sides, but let's go to Matthew chapter.
7.
And verse 21 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work inequity. And so the thought is that here were ones who were going out and seeming to do the will of the Father in heaven, but somehow they weren't, and and they had done many things in the name of the Lord.
Clearly they had been believers at one time of their life and were even serving the Lord as believers. And here in the end the Lord says, depart from me. And so it shows that one can be saved and then lost again.
But when you read this carefully, you see that that's not what it's saying at all. In fact, it can't mean that. First of all he says the one that will enter in will be the one that does is the will of his Father in heaven. And the Lord said, I think it's in John five that this is the will of the Father that you believe on him and he ascend that.
Is the will of His Father in heaven? It isn't a matter of just trying to do everything right.
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And doing enough things that would be suitable to the Christian life so that you'll end up in heaven. And that's nothing more than works and absolutely condemned by the Scriptures. Romans chapter 4 verse five says not to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness. That's the only thing that God looks for.
Not anything that we can do, even as believers. He's not looking for that. He wants to see good works in our lives, there's no question. But when it comes to salvation, that can have nothing to do with it.
Where vessels of mercy. I'm not going to turn to that, but we sang it.
Vessels of mercy alone, that's found in Romans Chapter 9, and that chapter takes it up very strongly. But that's all that he has, those who are recipients of his mercy, and that comes by faith in Jesus Christ and by faith in him alone.
It says here.
Verse 23 I'll profess unto them.
I never.
Knew you remember that.
Remember what it said in John chapter 10?
He said My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.
Is it possible that the shepherd knows a sheep and that would turn around later and say I never knew you?
Now God doesn't lie.
The Lord knows a sheep. He can't say I never knew you. These were those who were never sheep at all. It's all they were. They were professors. They made a profession and they went on and they did things. Judas is one of these. He did these things that are written here, and yet he was lost. And there's others too.
Important that we read the whole context of these verses and understand what they're saying. Let's go on to Matthew 24.
See another verse that's often used.
Matthew 24 and verse 13.
And that he that challenge your unto the end, the same shall be saved. We actually sang that one too, didn't we?
We shall endure to the end.
And I think the hymn writer put in that in there because that's so often used as a challenge to this truth of eternal security. He says, no, no, no believers are going to endure to the end. But in fact, when you look at this verse, is it even talking about salvation?
Of the soul, whether one goes to heaven or not. No, it's not.
Like I said, it's so important that we look at the context and know what it's talking about. If you go down just a little bit in the chapter, it says verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
That makes it clear.
It's talking about a time of tribulation and the need to be saved through it. And it says those who endure all the way to the end of it, they're going to be saved to go into a state of blessing that comes after that tribulation here on the earth. It doesn't say about the ones who don't make it through. They will be martyrs who are going to go into a different state of blessing in heaven. But the Lord is taking up the earthly side of things here, and I'm not going to say more about that.
We spend more than one meeting on just that subject.
My point is we need to go and look and see what the verse is actually talking about. This is a very common verse used against this subject of eternal security and it says nothing about that subject. Let's go on 2nd Corinthians 13.
2nd Corinthians 13.
And verse five, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Now, why would he say, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith if you could possibly not be in the faith?
At least that's what people would use this verse for.
To try to say well look you could be lost again you need to check and see am I currently saved or not.
What is my current state?
But that's not what it's talking about. And again, it's just ripping one phrase right out of context to take it that way. So we're going to go back just a little bit and see what is actually being said here. If we go to the beginning of verse three, we get the beginning of the actual sentence that this is founded says, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, now we get a parenthesis that goes all the way.
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Down to the verse that we.
We're reading verse five. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. So now I'm going to just read it that way and I think you're going to hear what it's saying. Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. Examine yourselves whether you be in in the faith.
They were saying, is Paul? Is Christ really speaking in Paul?
Anything. Just think about it. Corinthians, Are you believers? Did you actually trust in Jesus Christ?
And the answer? Yes, they were. They had trusted in him. Well, how did you come to trust in him? They had heard it through Paul.
That's the point he's making. And so how can you question that? Christ is speaking, Inmate, I brought the gospel to you. You believe that gospel and now you're saved because of it. Just think a little bit of what you are, that you're an actual Christian, and you must know then that I'm bringing the truth of God to you. That's the force of the argument here. And to rip one phrase out of it and try to make it into something else is what is classically done.
In turn, in terms of changing the truth into error.
So important that we take this up in context. Let's go on just to a few more Hebrews chapter 6. We just had this in Dorothy in our reading.
Hebrew 6 and verse.
Verse 4.
And we're going to start on this.
On the 4th word, fifth word of that verse. For those who are once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away.
Now obviously I just ripped that out of the middle of this sentence, but that is actually how these verses are often used.
You have to rip it out that badly to use them that way.
And the statement is that here were those who look at them, they they had tasted of the heavenly gift, who made partakers of the Holy Ghost and.
They fell away.
Doesn't that indicate that someone can be an actual believer and and then?
No longer. But if you look at the whole thing, in fact, let's read only the part that we skip.
Verse 4.
The 1St 4 words and then we'll go to verse 6.
It is impossible, if they shall follow away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
If you read it that way, you get the actual sense of what's being said here. These are those who made profession and they were partakers of all these things. The taste is not the same as drinking. Even on the cross. The Lord Jesus, when he tasted that vinegar mingled with gall, he would not drink. It says there's a difference in these things, and these one spoken up here had gone very far. Like Judas again.
This one who had gone very far.
And he had taken in very much of that which was right and good and outward was part of it. And yet what did he do? He turned his back on it. And he said as these ones here, it's, it's as if the Son of God didn't even have to come. There was no need for him to die on the cross. And these ones in context again, were Jews who would go back to the synagogue. This is the epistle of the Hebrews.
And say this is what I need here.
The law and those other things and they say under the law.
He was nothing more than an impostor. He deserved to be crucified, and they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh.
Terrible thing to do and it really speaks of an apostate, one who is never saved.
And turned their back on the things that they once knew and said.
I won't accept that.
But I want you to notice something else. For those who hold to these verses and say they teach that somebody can be lost. Again, if that's really what you believe, then you must also recognize that they also teach that they you only have one chance then to be saved.
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Because it says it's impossible to renew them again to repentance. Only one chance if you're safe according to these verses, and then you fall away.
Don't even think about coming back as the Word of God says is impossible. If on the other hand.
It's speaking about what Hebrew speaks about all the way through. At least five times an apostate, one who once professed and turned their back on Christianity but was never a true believer.
Then we understand it consistent with Scripture, and that indeed is what it's talking about here. The true believer can never do what is described here.
Now we could go on and talk about other verses, but at this point I just want to stop.
And So what are we doing here?
If I don't do go and talk about other verses, what am I doing?
Explaining right what it is that the verse is actually saying. And basically what I'm doing is what brethren do over and over again in our reading meetings. So we take up the Word of God and we come to all these truths found in context, found in order, and we take them up and we explain them. And so I want to say young people.
You're not in the habit of going to your assembly reading meeting. Go.
You need to hear the whole truth of God in context, in this order.
And I want to say something else about that.
We don't often maybe hear somebody stand up and speak about eternal security.
And there's actually a really good reason for that too.
Actually, a lot of brothers are. Bruce was yesterday while he was last night.
They maybe don't take it up as a subject very often, but how many times, even right here have brothers gotten up and spoken to us about our place in Christ?
And some other truth that this truth that I'm talking about today.
It's just simply a part of and it's a higher truth, something that once we get ahold of it and enjoy it, it actually almost renders this entire subject irrelevant.
So important that we go on, and if we don't ever progress before this, we don't even know if we're saved. We're never going to start understanding those other things that God really wants us to know. And so our brethren time and time again, standing right here in other places, have rightly brought before us those other things. And when believers get established in them, they don't even think about this. That's why most of us don't even think to come back to this subject.
To your confronted with it as we were in Africa.
But I do recognize it's important and I hope someone can be helped.
So let's talk a little bit about some of those other things.
One of them is the sovereignty of God.
How do you reconcile this issue of eternal or conditional security of a believer with the sovereignty of God? And the Scriptures clearly teach the sovereignty of God. Ephesians one chapter 4 says that He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless beforehand.
And love, that's a sovereign choice of God that He made before this world ever was.
That you and I should be his own.
Acts 13, verse 38. It says as many as were chosen.
For eternal life believed God had chosen them.
They heard the gospel they believed others heard, and they refused it.
Let's turn over to John, chapter one, this is.
Very related to what we're talking about here.
John, Chapter one.
And verse 11 Says, He came unto his own, and his own received them not, but as many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
00:45:01
Which were born.
Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
But of God.
What a tremendous truth to get hold of.
Are you a Christian?
It's because you are born of God.
Does anybody here remember when they were born?
Anybody have anything to do with them? The fact that they were born into this world?
Of course not. You didn't. And you had nothing to do with the second time you were born either. If you're a Christian, If you're born again.
It was of God, it was not of you, it was solely of Him.
And it says here they were not born of blood. It wasn't because their parents were Christians. There's no line that can make one that it was so in Israel and made them a Jew. But it can't be when it comes to being in the family of God. It's not a blood. It's God's choice, it says, nor of the will of the flesh. That means not of your own will.
And that is a crucial statement when it comes to this subject.
It wasn't your will when you became a Christian.
And therefore it can't be your will to get saved again that.
That's what you believe.
It's only of God.
This is nor the will of man. Somebody else can't decide for you either.
I just bring that up. There's many more things on this subject as well. Take up the sovereignty of God. And when you understand the sovereignty of God, that they thought that you could be lost again is utterly incompatible with that entire subject.
When we take up these other truths and we understand them and enjoy them, and we go on even beyond this subject that we're talking about here today.
Let's go on to positional truth, which is so often spoken about here.
So many places we could lock off in Ephesians one is used, but let's just go for sake of time here. Only have 10 minutes left. We'll go to Colossians chapter 3.
Colossians 3 and verse one.
Says, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not in things of the earth.
Now get this.
For ye are dead and your life.
His hid with Christ and God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Think about what that's saying. Talk about positional truth. And you believed in Jesus Christ. God took you, and he hid your life right in himself, and you're there.
Risen already with Christ, where he is at the right hand of God.
That's the position that God has put the believer in, and it's wonderful.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory. When it comes to physical truth, there is simply no uncertainty, and no doubt it's never expressed that way. Simple facts of what God has done, stated and laid out so that you and I as believers can enjoy them.
Mr. Ironside tells the story of a man. I believe it was on this very passage.
He was struggling with the issue we're talking about today, not certain if he was even himself safe, but he knew that he had trusted in Christ. And when he saw what was written here, he said, well, glory to God, whoever heard of a man drowning with his head that far above water.
Now it might be a little quaint to state it that way, but it's true. And that's why it's put here for us to read it and understand it and enjoy it. That God has put us in a place that nothing can touch. That's what we had in Romans 8. We're completely outside of anything that can separate us from the love of Christ.
And when you understand that, it really brings you to where I want to get to at the very end. But I'm I'm going to skip through a few things as their time is almost gone.
We'll come to that at the very end. I want to go on to the charge that is made against this truth.
00:50:01
If it is like that.
And all you do is believe in Jesus Christ.
And then you can do whatever you want and you're going to go to heaven in the end.
Then why won't people just go out and live an unholy life? Because they're guaranteed It's just fire insurance, that's all it is.
And the answer is no.
First of all.
That's not what a true believer does, OK? And there's so many other truths we could have talked about the natures of the believer, and I'm actually going to stop for a minute and just say something about that.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not the same person anymore. 2nd Corinthians 521 Says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold all things are come become new.
You're fundamentally changed as fundamentally as is possible. You were dead like we had in John 5. Now you're alive and you have a whole new life, a new creation that says here.
2nd Corinthians 5.
Galatians 2 speaks of the same thing. Paul says I am crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live since I died. When he died, I was crucified with him, but I live. And yet it's not me, but Christ lives in me. And there's the key to it. When you trust in Jesus Christ, you get this whole new life and it's his life. And because you have that life and because you have that spirit of God.
Whole other subject, isn't it the indwelling spirit? And we touched on that in Philippians 1/6.
And he's the earnest and he's the seal to make sure we get home to heaven. You take up that whole line of things and you cannot question whether you have eternal security.
But we have the holiest spirit and we have that new life, and that makes us fundamentally changed.
So that we don't have a desire to go out and do whatever sin we want to. Does that mean a Christian won't sin? No, it doesn't mean that we can't fall.
Not fall is to lose our salvation, but a Christian can fall and we know that.
To our sorrow, we know that.
And that brings us to a whole other line of truth that we have touched on here as well. What were we born into? The family of God?
When you're born into the family of God, who's your father?
Is it not God the Father?
And does he kick his children out just because?
Then if you fathers do that, shame on you.
That's not what God does and justice in the few minutes we have left. Before I get to my last point, I just want to look very quickly at Hebrews chapter 12.
Just two passages on this to give them to you. Hebrews 12 and this really begins verse five. You have forgotten.
I like that because we often forget.
In our family we have a father who loves us and cares for us and will not let us go whatever way we want to.
And he speaks then about the chasing of the Lord. He just says, don't faint when you're a rebuke of Him. The end of verse five. Whom the Lord loveth, He's chasing it, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endorse chastening, God dealing with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth? Not as a Christian. You can't just go off and do whatever you want. The Father will not allow it.
But if you be without chastisement, we're of all that all means all.
The children of God are partakers then are you ******** and not sons? That's what the scripture teaches.
Plead a little more time to go over to 1St Corinthians 11. We would find there that says if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world, And that chastening even went so far as to some of them were taken away in death.
The teaching is that we have a Father who deals with us as children and his family, and if we don't live the way He wants, He's trying to correct us and bring us back. And if we don't listen, it could even mean that we're not fit to stay here on the earth any longer. But then he takes us home to heaven. Why? Because we're good enough? No, because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way anyone ever gets there simply is a vessel of mercy now in our last.
00:55:00
Two or three minutes here.
I want to say why I think this is so important.
Satan has held many people in doubt and uncertainty as to this subject, and the reason why is because if you're a believer, he knows he's already lost you.
But he wants to make you doubt and fear.
Because he does not want you to enjoy the love of God.
And the Word of God says perfect love casts out fear. When you come to understand the love of God and what He has done to bring you into all these things, and you start to take up with His love and all these truths we've been talking about, then you come into an enjoyment of relationship and communion with Him, which is what God desires, is something else He desires that Satan wants perhaps more than anything else to rob him of right now while Christians are still here in this world.
And that is the Lord said in John 4, the Father seeketh.
Worshippers seek as such to worship Him.
If you're in doubt and fear, maybe you can worship, but your worship is not going to be the kind of worship that God is looking for. He wants those before him, as he says, holy and blameless before him, in love, without that uncertainty, without that fear that perhaps they're not his at all. How can you worship God if you don't even know He's your God?
And say, well, those times when I'm saved, I do it, yes. And Satan would like to rob you and give you doubts. And really, I believe that's a big part of what that helmet of salvation is all about in Ephesians chapter 6.
It's important to have it on to know.
What our salvation is and to have it there from the Word of God itself as a helmet so that when Satan tries to disturb our thoughts and rob us of the love of God and rob God of our worship, that that helmet is in place and he can't do it. It's mentioned specifically there in connection with that spiritual warfare that goes on.
Against Satan in those heavenly places. So again, I want to encourage.
To take up the word of God in context, take up with all these truths, learn to see in them what they're saying when you hear the challenges against it. There's a great many other verses used against this truth as well as many verses showing that is so you can identify what they are and you can simply understand what God is saying and enjoy that relationship with him and be a worshiper before him till the Lord Jesus comes. Well, let's just.
Prayer, our God and our Father.
We thank thee so much for the Lord Jesus Christ and that work that He did on Calvary's cross. So perfect, so completely accepted.
But they we thank Thee that we have been found righteous in Him, that now we are there not only as vessels of mercy, but now as sons before they to enjoy that relationship. We pray that we all would take up with this.
More and more in our lives, until that day when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us home, we thank thee.
That then we won't only know these things in part, but we'll enjoy them even yet in a fuller way. We pray for any who struggle with this subject. We pray that that would open their eyes and hearts and bring them into that glorious liberty that we have known so many of us the enjoyment of it. And so we pray and thank Thee once more for this time to have Thy word before us. We commit this.
Time to thee giving thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Partners
Open—Bill Weiss
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My chosen.
God bless every.
Heard remark.
Within last week that.
A wise man has something to say, and a fool has to say something, so I hope this isn't the latter.
I want to turn back to something that.
Tim had for us here in.
Hebrews, chapter 12.
I really appreciate what he had to say, bringing out the doctrine connected with eternal security. And so I'm not going to do that again here. I wouldn't.
Be able to do it anyway as well as we've had. I just want to make a short illustration.
So I told everybody to turn there and still turning it.
In Hebrews chapter 6.
And this is one of those verses that Brother Tim talked about that's often trotted out.
By folks that can say that you can be saved and lost again and one particular expression within that verse.
00:05:02
Were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and one might say, well OK, that means they must have been saved.
But notice it doesn't say indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
OK.
Suffer with me a little bit on this that we're going to dive a little bit into the language here, but.
Go ahead and turn now to Luke Chapter 5. But just kind of.
I don't say hold your finger in this place, but remember the phrase Partakers of the Holy Ghost. We're going to come back to it.
What I say Luke chapter 5.
I'm going to read just a little bit to get the sense of it here.
Chapter 5. Verse One. And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Knessett, and saw two ships standing by the lake, But the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their Nets. And he entered into one of the ships which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon.
Launch out into the deep and let your Nets down for a draft.
And Simon answering, said unto Master, We have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they have this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break, and they beckoned unto their partners during the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships. So they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man of the Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draft of fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners.
Simon and Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch.
Men.
Partners.
Partakers. OK, this is the word I want to look at here because this is the word that's sometimes used by folks and it's confused with salvation in the portion we had in Hebrews 6.
The word used.
For partners, and I'm looking for the men in the other boat. There it is OK, They're partners which were in the other ship.
Now hold your finger there on verse 7 and then go down to verse 10.
And there's another word translated partners here.
They're the same word in English.
They are not the same word in Greek.
The word here partners in the with Simon and others in the boat that the Lord was in, is a word that may be familiar to some of you. It's quinonos, from where we get the word for fellowship.
OK, they were.
Partners with a connection.
OK, the other one, seven and verse 7, the guys in that boat without Jesus, we're doing the same work. They were both catching fish. We don't know who caught more than another. It was all part of the same work. But as Tim pointed out earlier.
Judas himself was doing the work with the others, but it turned out that he wasn't real.
The other word here is metokos. These were the partners in the work that they were doing, but they were not partners of.
The word connected with fellowship is partners of they were associates of Jesus.
Otherwise they look the same, look like they were doing the same work.
OK, but the Holy Spirit used a different word for the men in the boat with the Lord.
And so remember I told you to mentally keep your finger back in Hebrew. 6 the partakers.
Of the Holy Spirit back there is the same word to use for the partners in the other boat.
And I'm going to close right here, but just simply ask you. You may be doing the work of the Lord.
00:10:06
You may be hearing, meeting, listening attentively, or not, but which boat are you in?
Family Religion or the Call of God?
Open—Steve Stewart
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Some of what I'm going to touch on has already been taken up, but in I think a little different light and purpose. I like to look a little at some things in connection with the life of Abraham.
Call of God. Let's start with Genesis 11.
And we get the lineage that takes us down to.
Abram.
Verse 23 we'll start with and Sarah lived after he begat Nahor 200 years, and he begat sons and daughters, and they were lived 9 and 20 years and begat Terra. And they are lived after he begat Terra 119 years and begat sons and daughters. And Tara lived 70 years and begat Abram Nahor and Heron.
Now these are the generations of Terra Tera begat Abram, Nahorn, Heron, and Heron begot Lot.
And Heron died before his father Tear in the land of his nativity and Ur of the counties.
And Abram and Nahor took them wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife Milka the daughter of Heron the father of Milka the father of Isca. But Sarah has barren, she had no child. And Tara took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Heron his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, and his son Abraham's wife. And they went forth with them from ur the Chaldees to go into the land of.
And they came unto her, and dwelt there in the days of terror were 205 years. And Tara died in Heron. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house into land, that I will show thee.
And we find in Stephen's address.
In Acts Chapter 7.
That the God of glory had called Abram, had appeared to him and called him and.
What I would like to take up is the effect of that call.
Not just upon Abram, but upon his family. His family lineage is given here.
That call came to him when he was with his father and his brothers, one having died, his nephew Lot, his brother's wife, his wife and his brother's children. And you know, as often the Spirit of God works, he begins to work in one individual.
And we find in Romans that in time we're called by the gospel, and though chosen in a past eternity, in time we're called effectually by the gospel, by his word. And the call of God came to Abram, and it affected Abram. And no doubt there were conversations in that family.
God had called him to leave and perhaps he should have just got up and left, but it seems to me he must have discussed this with his father and his brother.
Lot their wives.
And Tara takes the lead. He's the patriarch. And I know I'm assuming a little, but I think probably the simpleness of the account here would bear it out. And Tara says, good idea. You know, it's time we kind of uproot out of her, and maybe we can.
Head South and make some better money and prosper and do well, etcetera.
I say head South, you know, most of us think of her. The counties is way down in southern Mesopotamia where there was a city ur that was associated with Sumerian society and so on.
But her of the Chaldeans was the northern part of the Tigris and Euphrates. There were no Chaldeans at the time. The city of Err was built in Mesopotamia. In that area. The Chaldeans lived up north and there was another city up there called Earth, and you head down from that cross the rivers.
Across the river and you come S down into the land of Canaan, but there's a city on the way called Heron, and that's where he stopped. It's a crossroads of the Middle East and a lot of good trade and good opportunities. And perhaps Tara said, you know what, Don't need to go any further than this. Let's just settle down right here and we'll do quite well.
00:05:04
But he died there. He was really a hindrance to the call of God being effectual in Abraham's life.
There's someone who didn't go.
And that was Nahor.
Now he had no doubt was fully aware of the call of God to his brother. His father was affected. He no doubt was somewhat affected.
But he said, you know what, we're doing fine right here. Doing just fine right here.
But he was affected, you know, they descended. We didn't read it from Shem.
And God has spoken of as the God of Shem, and that godly line down through the years had become corrupted. And we find in the book of Joshua that by time you come to tears generation, they were just idolaters.
Now, no doubt there were the vestiges, you might say, of what they inherited from Shem, who certainly was a believer and had a relationship with God. But by the time you come there, they're just idolaters. And Nahor says I'm fine right here.
And he's content to just coast through life and have a nice prosperous life and.
No response in connection with a real effect with the call of God, at least that we can see at this time.
But Lord, he picks up, and he goes.
With Abram, and he comes with him into the land, and as we was noted before.
The time comes when love is going to be tested. The call of God was real and effectual with Abram. There was energy. He did pick up after his father Tara died and that hindrance was gone and he went down.
Into the land that God had said he would show him, and there was energy.
The energy of faith at work in his life in response to that call. And he walks the path of faith. And we know Abrams life. He fights battles.
In his victorious he walks in the councils of God.
And what God is unfolding really in his seed, looking on to the seed.
He enjoys communion and fellowship with Gone.
He walks by faith through a land that is not his, a Pilgrim and a stranger. He looks for a city.
Which hath foundations is Builder, and Maker is gone.
He enjoys all those things that come with the life of faith being called by God. But what about law?
He's kind of under Abraham's umbrella, you might say under his protection. Any goes along fine, but you know.
He's got to be tested. Is the call of God as real with Him?
As it is with Abram.
And you know, many of us are in that kind of a situation where there is someone in our family, maybe it was our parents, maybe it was our grandparents or great grandparents, where the Spirit of God really worked and there was a call of God and it was effectual.
And we've grown up in that sphere, and that's a wonderful sphere to grow up in. Fathers, raise your children. What does it say? Not provoking them to wrath, but in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What a wonderful thing that is in provision of God as the days of heaven upon earth, Moses said.
To raise a family for the Lord.
Paul could speak of Timothy and of the faith that dwelled in his grandmother and in his mother, and now he was convinced in Timothy, and it was proved by the tears, the exercise of heart, the expression of the energy of faith in Timothy's life.
And you may have gone along in a family.
Where the call of God has been effectual, but the time comes.
Where you you have to walk by faith.
And it's going to be proved if the call of God is effectual in your life.
Or not.
And the test comes.
And as we had before us, Abram says. And you know the story, the conflict between.
The herdsmen of their sizable flocks, the land couldn't contain it. And Abram says you choose. And verse eight of chapter 13, Abram said unto lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between thy herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren. And you know that's beautifully true more than just in the family sense, because we read of law that he was a righteous.
00:10:29
Man, and yet our righteous soul.
James tells us. And so we be brethren, it's not the whole land before thee. Separate thyself, I pray thee for me.
And if thou will take the left hand, then I will go to the right, and if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as Alhameston to Zoar, that which he had seen before in his heart had gotten set upon. He says, I see it there, that's what I want.
The well watered plains of Jordan. Beautiful.
And one might say, isn't it the Providence of God to provide such a thing as that?
And he's laid it all out before me. Why shouldn't I take it? But I tell you what the problem was, Satan had planted a Sodom there.
And the men of that city were exceedingly wicked.
And this world spreads out before you.
And you might say, all is in the Providence of God.
To just take advantage of what lays before me. But remember, Satan has planted a Sodom there.
Do we find fault with Lot because he made that choice? Well, we say it was not a good choice, but we find fault with him because he made a choice at all.
Abram was the one who had been called by God, under whose shadow he had come down to that land. Abram was the senior one. Abram was the one who had manifested the energy of faith. He should have said no, you choose.
And he would have gotten the victory.
And he would have responded in that sense to the call of God in his own soul.
But the test came, and he chose for himself.
He chose for himself.
Well, what happened? We know he went down into that plane and soon that wonderful lush plane was a scene in Chapter 14 of Conflict and War.
And he's carried away, Captain.
Does he learn the lesson? No. He comes back and settles in that city again.
And what was his end?
God had to drag him out and he lost.
Everything.
His daughters completely devoid of any evidence.
Of faith whatsoever.
Abram Lot, his daughters. By the 3rd generation, there was nothing.
You too are going to be called by God. You are probably already called. And I felt that.
And you need to respond in faith and it can't be on your parents or grandparents faith. It's got to be your relationship with God personally. It's so easy to go on in just a family religion.
It's so easy to go on and somebody says where'd he go to meeting or where'd he go to church? Ohio. My church is over here. Our church does this. Our church says that. You know, it's where my church, where my family always went. And that's how it is in your mind.
It's just a religion. It's just a family religion.
And you haven't heard the call gone personally. It's so easy to go on in that family religion where the energy of faith was seen in a previous generation.
00:15:00
How about with you? How about with me?
All poor law.
He lost it all.
He married a woman who her only thought was here, and he lost her.
Lost his daughters.
Everyone of us needs to individually respond to the call of God. It's wonderful to be raised in a Christian home.
But the call of God is individual.
To you and me.
Turn over a little.
The family of Nahor comes back into view.
After Isaac was offered up.
And received from the dead, and a figure as we read in Hebrews.
There is someone that now comes into view and her name is Rebecca. Beautiful picture we know of. The church doesn't come into view until after that which is a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ.
News comes to Abram and that far away land.
And he hears of his brother, verse 20 of chapter 22.
And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abram, saying, Behold milk as she hath born children unto thy brother Nehor Hussein's first born.
Buzz's brother Camuel, the father of Aram chested, and Hazel and Pill, Dash and Jit laugh, and Bethuel and Bethuel begat Rebecca. These eight did milk a bear to Nehor Abraham's brother and his concubine, whose name was Ryuma Shiber, also Tiba Gaham.
Fahash and Miyaka.
Two names stand out.
In the children of Nehor.
I don't know if you picked them out.
There's two names that stand out.
This man who lived.
In this idolatrous country.
From the family of Shem that had descended into idolatry, but he had been affected in a certain sense.
By the call of his brother Abram, he names one Bethie Well.
That El is the name of God.
And came UL.
He associates the name of the Lord with two of his children anyway.
And he is been, you know, sort of stirred up in the past and maybe a little of the remnants of coming from the family of Shem. And there's this sort of a sort of a profession of Christianity, but as her brother said, just slapping his way through the world and nice comfortable life down here. And, you know, he attaches the name of Lord to a couple of his kids and.
That's it.
Affected. Do you have a family like that?
They've infected.
By the real effectual call of God and someone else, and there's sort of a stirring up in a.
Outward profession and so on.
And that's where Abram sends his servant to get a bride for his son Isaac. At least out of this family, not out of those who are just rank heathens.
But the call of God isn't effectual in their lives.
And so God is going to have to start again.
He's going to have to start again. He's going to have to start fresh in that family with a call.
To one named Rebecca.
And dear ones, the call of God to your mother and your father, your grandfather, your grandmother, great grandmother, great grandfather is not effectual for you. You need fresh call of God in your life to follow him in faith and to enjoy the path of faith fellowship with him. All we know is Abram sends his servant he encounters.
Rebecca, according to the prayer that he had requested.
Of the Lord, and she introduces him to her family.
In verse 29, Genesis 24 And Rebecca had a brother, his name was Laban. And Laban ran out unto the man unto the well. And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets in his sister's hands, when he heard the words of Rebecca, his sister saying, Thus spake the man unto me, that he came unto man unto the man. And behold, he stood by his camels at the well. And he said, Come in.
00:20:25
Thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house and room for the camels. And the gold opened his mouth up, and he gives something that sounds very religious and nice, fits the family religion. He knows how to talk.
The talk.
That the call of God has not been effectual in Laban, but gold is.
And that opens his mouth.
And so this is the family that the servant of.
Abram, Abraham comes to looking for bride.
For Isaac.
And the Lord has showed him the one. But it comes down to.
Just drop down in the chapter.
Verse 56 and he said, well, let's just read.
Verse 55 and her brother and her mother said, let the damned soul abide with us. A few days at the least 10 or a year or at least ten months is really what it is.
And after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me, not seeing the Lord hath prospered my way, Send me away, that I may go to my Master. And they said, We will call the damsel.
And inquire at her mouth.
And they called Rebecca, and they said unto her, Wilt thou go?
With this man.
And she said.
I will go.
And then a beautiful response.
To the call of God.
She was young, I think probably maybe like 141516 somewhere in there she had a nurse who went with her.
And this lovely young girl.
Response to the call of God by faith to go.
To join herself, be associated with the man she had never seen.
The call of God is to you. Will you go with this man? And I'm not Speaking of salvation.
I'm Speaking of walking the path of faith, you and the Lord through this world.
Outside of that, what you have is nothing but a family religion.
And you won't last any longer than Lot.
And by the next generation of your children, there will be no professional Christ at all.
The call is to you.
And to me.
Here's the response.
All there are many other things we could take up.
Baggage she took with her because she had been raised in that family of just kind of an outward profession.
But that's for another time.
For now, the question is will you go with this map?
Luke 4:16-20
Gospel—John Kemp
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I was to speak at 4:30 but.
Perhaps.
I can be excused for starting a little early because apparently we're not having a third speaker here.
But we enjoyed the word that our brother Steve gave us.
So this is supposed to be a gospel meeting?
And.
We certainly have some good news for you. It's not going to be a long gospel. Meaning it was supposed to be at 4:30.
But it's an important message and.
The gospel is the revelation of the heart of God.
It has its origin there in heaven.
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, soul is good news.
From a far country.
Dear friends, that news is coming from a far country today.
And it may not continue because we are on the threshold of the Lord's return.
At any moment.
We may hear the shout.
So, as our brother Wally brought before us solemnly last night.
It may be your last opportunity.
But God has a deep interest in your salvation.
God did not spare his own Son.
Heaven's Beloved 1.
The heavens were illuminated.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Not in Nazareth where they lived. Nazareth was a long distance from Bethlehem, but Micah the prophet said that the Lord Jesus must be born in Bethlehem.
And so the wheels began to move and Cyrinus, the governor of Syria.
He made a proclamation everyone must go to the town where they were born to register on pain of.
Severe penalty.
So here we have Mary and Joseph.
Taking the journey, you know, by car it's only about 8 hours.
Maybe 8 hours?
But in those days, if you were on a camel or an *** it might take several days.
To get from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but they had to go.
Because.
The records had to be completed and Joseph was of the lineage of the House of David.
And his birth. And his genealogy.
Went back to Bethlehem, so they arrived.
No room in the end.
You know.
My experience.
In Malawi.
If a white man comes to an inn or a hotel.
It doesn't matter how full it is, they'll find room for you.
But.
Joseph was not a rich man.
He was from a poor family.
When they presented the Lord Jesus in the temple at Jerusalem, usually they would have an animal.
As the sacrifice to commemorate.
The presentation of that baby to the Lord. But Joseph could not afford an animal.
He didn't have the money, so the provision was made for a couple of turtle doves. Well, yes, they could get a couple of turtle doves and and kill them at the inauguration there.
Dear friends, the Lord had to be born in Bethlehem.
No room in the end, why is there no room in the hearts of men and women today?
00:05:07
Room for pleasure, room for business. Look at the building that is going on around us in the city of Ottawa, where I live. They're building all around us, gigantic structures, huge apartments. I often say, how are they going to ever fill them?
But no room for the Son of God.
There she gave birth in the.
History tells us that it was a cave. Really, it was like a cave, but it was where the animals were kept. And she gave birth to the Lord Jesus and wrapped him in swaddling clothes there in a Manger. That's a place where there's hay. Where?
Animals eat, you know. That's where the Lord, the Lord of glory, was born in the Manger, and the heavens were illuminated. There were the shepherds watching over their flocks. By night they looked up and they heard the voice of an Angel. They had never seen an Angel before.
They were afraid, but they said, But this Angel said, Fear not unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Do you know the angels? They fill the heavens.
It was illuminated at night.
And they looked down, and there they saw.
Their creator. For the first time, they saw the one who created them.
That Babe of Bethlehem was the eternal Son of God, who took manhood into union with Himself, emptied himself of all the glory that he had in a past eternity, the majesty and the power, the Creator of the universe.
Emptied himself.
Not of his deity, Oh no, but of all that outward glory.
Here's a little example.
We have the commander of the United States Army.
He has a beautiful uniform, metals shining, and when he walks down the street everyone admires him. There is the General of the United States Army.
Magnificent. But when he goes home?
He takes off that uniform.
And he puts on just maybe.
Casual clothes and if you looked at him, you would say this this wouldn't couldn't be the.
General of the Army. Yes it is, but it doesn't look like it.
Dressing so the Lord.
Was a perfect man, the woman of Samaria, when she came down with the water.
A tired looking man sitting on the well.
Looking back and.
He asked her for a drink of water.
But he was the Son of God, and he must needs go through Samaria.
An Orthodox Jew wouldn't go near Samaria. They were going up to Galilee. They would bypass that place. It was defiled.
We won't have anything to do with Americans.
You know their history. You can understand why they were.
Well, they had some some respect for the Old Testament, but.
They were affected by idolatry and Jeroboam and his golden calves and so on. We won't speak of that.
Dear friends, that was the Lord of glory and.
He was born in Bethlehem, but.
He grew up in Nazareth. Nazareth was not. It didn't have a good reputation.
In fact, Nathaniel said, can anything good come out of master?
It was a dirty city. When I passed through it, I had the impression it was a rough place, and it was. But the Son of God was raised in the city of Nazareth.
00:10:03
Boys and girls.
He never missed a meeting.
He was in the synagogue when the scriptures were read as a boy, I'm sure the blessed Lord, as he grew up in that defile city, pure, holy, spotless, not one evil thought in his, in his mind, and he went to the synagogue of Nazareth.
No doubt every year.
Perhaps every few weeks, I don't know, but he was there.
When there was a meeting in the synagogue and he used to take the big long scroll.
Have Bibles like this, but the the scriptures were written on big long scrolls that were all wrapped up and they a man would take it out and they would he would say, where do you want to read today? Well, this day the Lord now was a young man, I don't know how old, but he said I want to read from.
The prophet Isaiah. And so the man took the school out and opened it up and he gave it to the Lord. Now let us look at Luke chapter 4. Take your Bibles and we'll just make a few remarks on Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. I'll wait till you get it.
Luke 4. Maybe one of those boys would like to read verse 16 for me.
OK, have we got it?
Who's going to read it? Yes, you stand up lad, please.
Read out loud.
Right. So he took the scroll, he found chapter 61 of Isaiah, and he began to read.
You can look it up in the Old Testament if you want, but we have it right here. Look at verse 17. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. Now here's the Lord speaking in the synagogue. He was given that privilege to read the Scriptures and I suppose to comment on them. And he read.
A scripture that.
Was prophesied of his coming.
By Isaiah, 700 years before the Lord was born.
Isaiah spoke of the coming of the Messiah, and here was the Messiah in their midst. And we read in verse 618, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted.
The Gospel to the poor.
Thank God for that as I've traveled around the world with the message. Or how many poor have been opened to the gospel message? Perhaps in India the majority of those that are saved are from the poor and the needy that are struggling for life.
And they are ready to listen to the gospel. They have nothing in this world enough food to keep body and soul together. But they have an opened ear for the gospel. May we never forget the poor and the needy. The common people heard him gladly, but those self-righteous Pharisees and those.
Elders and scribes, they had no sense.
Whatever of their sinfulness.
We are the people of God, We have the scriptures, the Lord said. They that are whole don't need a physician, but they that are sick.
I lived in London for three years, taught school in the City of London, not Ontario, London, England. Well, London is one of the largest cities in the world.
It compares with Sao Paulo, where my wife comes from.
A gigantic city. I had the privilege of visiting many poor places in London. Some of those, they call them flats. Those tenements are just filled with poor people and the streets are overflowing with people.
00:15:17
I'm going to. I'm going to give you a poem.
Some of those poor ladies, they only have a gloomy.
Perhaps up at the 5th or 6th story of the building.
What do they have?
Here's the poem.
In the heart of London City, midst the dwelling of the poor.
Those brought those bright golden words were uttered. I have Christ, what want I more? He who heard them ran to fetch her something from the world's great store. It was needless died.
She's saying I have Christ, what want I more? That poor woman in London, she had nothing. Perhaps she didn't have any.
Anything in her purse, She was dying going into the next World.
She couldn't speak about.
About any riches. She was poor and just surviving, but she was dying.
And she had Christ. She didn't need anything else. He was enough for her as she passed into eternity. There's no substitute for the Lord Jesus and that woman. She had him as her Savior, the Redeemer. So she left that gloomy.
Apartment or flats as they call them. And she entered into the the presence of the Lord.
Well, we have the privilege of presenting the gospel to the poor, but also it says here the broke he has sent me to heal the broken hearted.
Oh, how many?
Hearts are bleeding and broken in the world today.
Let me tell you, there's nobody in Montrose or any place else that can heal a broken heart. It's impossible. Only one person can heal a broken heart. Who's that?
Lord Jesus.
There's a famous preacher in London, he said to his young men.
Always preach to broken hearts and you'll never lack an audience.
Yes, there's many broken hearts in this world today, and what they need, they need a Savior.
The one that can heal the broken hearted. Only the Lord Jesus can do that.
Another poem. I'll leave you here.
I'll quote it there a little later. I want to go on with our with our verse here to heal the broken hearted. Preach deliverance to the captives. What does that mean? Deliverance to the captives. You know, Satan is a master deceiver.
He's a strong man, armed with all the pleasures of this world.
Men and women are captives to unclean living.
They're in prison cells, captive to sin and evil habits and vile dispositions.
And evil tempers, men and women drug addicts.
Given to drink and carousing. They are captives of the enemy. Only the Lord can deliver them. Doesn't mean he's going to open the prison doors and let everyone else know, but he can deliver men and women who are bound.
With the light chains, you know a person that's bound with a chain, they can't get away.
They're boundless to change. Someone has to come and take the chain off them. That's what the Lord does to these people who are captives to sin and to Satan. Recovering of sight, to the blind. We had a good message about that last night.
00:20:10
Men's hearts are darkened and.
They don't have understanding of of eternal spiritual realities. They don't understand anything, the natural man.
And receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
But the Lord's glory can shine through those darkened eyelids.
And the understanding can be illuminated and.
Man is able to understand spiritual realities. And so, dear friends.
The Lord is the one who can set you free from those cords the the wickets will be holding by the cords of his own sins, how many there are that are bound with the unseen.
Chains of sin and evil, but the Lord is able to deliver them whatever the the need might be.
He is able to set at liberty those that are bruised.
You know, humanity, humanity has been bruised by sin. We're part of the ruin.
In the fall of Adam, the whole human race has been bruised by sin, and you are part of it.
The Lord is able to bring deliverance, salvation.
Forgiveness of sins through faith in that precious blood that He shed. The blood of Jesus Christ has affected the memory of God.
And he says their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
How wonderful that for all eternity when we are with the Lord.
Not one word will ever pass his lips that he remembers my sins. I know them, you know them. You have a you have a memory. And sometimes we'd like to efface those memories in our lives. But we cannot turn the clock back. That's not possible.
But the Lord forgives.
All those sins I wouldn't exactly say forgets because when we're in the glory, he's going to review our whole lives. And there, oh, I, I didn't know that I was such that I had committed so many sins. I knew much of what I had done, but I never thought that.
My sins were so great and so many, and the Lord had to.
He did had to die on the cross.
And suffer that terrible judgment when he made those filthy sins of mine his own, there, there on Calvary.
Suffering the judgment exhausting the wrath of God. So to set up liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now I'm going to ask a question. Listen the acceptable year of the Lord. If you look back in Isaiah, you'll see that there's more to that sentence.
But it's not here in Luke chapter 4. If you take the time to look at Isaiah 61, it says.
And the day of vengeance of our God, it's theirs. Isaiah 61 verses one and two. The Lord stopped the sentence right there. Isn't that wonderful grace? The Lord could have brought judgment. That's not why he came he didn't come to judge the world. He came to save the world and it's not the day of vengeance of our God yet but dear friends, the.
Coming when the books will be opened and when the.
The trumpet will be sounded and the vials of God's wrath will be poured out on this world.
00:25:04
Not now. It's the acceptable year of the Lord today.
How long? I think it's going to be short, but today.
Is the acceptable year of the Lord. Today is the day of God's grace if you're not saved.
Today you have the opportunity. I can't promise tomorrow the Lord may wait a little longer. Today is the acceptable year of the Lord for you.
So the Lord Jesus is offering you a full.
And a free salvation.
Without money, without price.
And remember, God did not need to be reconciled to you.
Some people have the idea.
We have to make ourselves fit for God's presence. Maybe if some of the Saints or Mary would.
Immersible to us or if I do some good works and present them to God then.
Then I can be reconciled. That's a falsehood. God does not need to be reconciled to you and me.
We are the ones who are the enemies. God's heart from a past eternity was full of love for man in the Old Testament. Of course, he was revealed in the law as a holy God, but still the heart. And he hates sin just as much as when he gave the law. But he does not need to be reconciled. His heart was never against man at this moment. His heart is.
Filled with love and grace for guilty man and soul, he has extended the day of Grace a little longer for you if you are still unsaved.
With without the Lord Jesus.
Today is the acceptable year for you and the Lord. close the book there and then.
After his baptism he went out, and he bound the strongman in the wilderness.
Satan was overcome there and then. He went out and spoiled his goods, healing all that work oppressed by Satan, the blind, the dumb, the deaf, the Lord. Everyone was healed, No one.
Was disappointed they all received healing and forgiveness.
And pardon, May the Lord bless His word. That time is up now, and we're going to close with a word of prayer. Thank you for your attention. Our goal.
Luke 12:31-48
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.
Oh, my greatest word.
Hungry.
All by my children.
To pray.
So.
Response.
00:05:37
I wonder if it'd be done mining the bread, somebody else said.
Go ahead, brother, go ahead.
I was thinking of.
Begin that the sun Luke chapter 12 from verse.
31.
Maybe to?
38 Some young brother to freedom.
If that is suitable for the with the president.
Luke, chapter 12.
Verse 31.
But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. You're not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that you have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old. A treasure in the heavens, that faileth not where no thief approacheth either moth corrupted. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Let your loins be gird about, and your lights burning, and you yourselves like unto men.
And waiting for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately. Blessed are those servants who in the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them, so, blessed are those servants. And this know that if the Goodman of the house.
Had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not suffered his house be broken through. But be therefore ready also, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when you think not. And Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom is Lord, when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But And if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and it had an hour when he is not aware.
And we'll cut him in sunder, and we'll appoint him this portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much of him, will they ask for more.
There are some very in.
Significant moral principles in the teaching that the Lord is giving here.
It's living in view of eternity.
And it really brings before us.
The responsibility.
We have a servants of the Lord, and we are all servants of the Lord.
In view.
00:10:01
Of the time when we will give an account of our lives before Him. Now Christian truth is not developed in its fullness here, and the Lord's coming may be in a general sense, but the principles that the Lord is expounding here are very important for each one of us.
It is living our lives down here.
In view of eternity.
What are we building for? What are we using? Our energies, our time, our money. We are stewards of of everything that the Lord has given us. We have any gift or any ability that comes from the Lord.
But there is a responsibility, and I think the moral principles here that the Lord is is presenting.
Are so important and it brings before us.
What is our hope? What is the the motivation of our lives while the Lord is speaking here of of his return, he's he's coming again and.
Let us.
Let us remember that.
We should, we should be expecting the Lord.
To return at any moment.
And he would have this hope in him, purified himself even as he was pure. So the moral principles here that the Lord is is unfolding.
Are really very important for our daily lives.
For our.
For our activities or you say I'm not in the ward service, but you are. Everyone here tonight who is a believer is one of the Lord's servants. You may not be on the platform.
Not many are, but that's not the important thing.
Are we living in view of that day when the Lord will come?
When our lives will be reviewed.
What will there be in my life?
That will have the Lord's approval in that day. I'm sure that others have thoughts in this passage.
What is the thought of the?
Of the expression.
The Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
What is the?
The cost there?
Do you have a father, John?
Well, I think that.
As I say, the passage is speaking in general terms.
We have that verse in second in the Peter chapter one.
Where's the lemon?
Well, the apostle is referring to the previous part of that chapter, but.
Verse 10.
Work with a rather second Peter chapter one.
10 Wherefore the rather.
Brethren, give diligence.
Make their calling and I'd like to ensure.
Where if you do these things, you shall never.
Fall.
Or soul and entrance shall be ministered unto you.
Abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now, that's not an abundant entrance into heaven.
Every believer will have an abundant entrance into heaven. There'll be no difference there.
But there will be.
A difference in the position that we will have when the Lord reigns.
00:15:02
He says, Here An entrance shall be minister unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom.
Of our war.
Well, we know that we're going to bring with Rice in his Kingdom.
We are.
Are the queen of his throne he's going to share?
The inheritance with his bride, that is the Church of God.
You are part of that bride of Christ, so.
We all will have a joyful entrance into the glory but our position in the coming Kingdom.
Will be according to our walk down here.
I think that's the thought that the apostle has there in second Peter one. Maybe someone else can enlarge the Bunny.
I take it in future.
And.
It's going to be noticed is that.
Exhortation is to seek the Kingdom of God.
In this part, it's good pleasure to give it to us.
This is open the way Christian exhortation works and I know you're not you know full Christian Brown in this gospel. If you take back to Ephesians chapter 4 where the man Christ Jesus has been raised up. He's head of the church and from him comes down all the nourishment we join some bands, the gifts he's provided. Why that to perfectly the Saints so that we grow up unto him and all things.
And then what's the desire in the individual believer? What do you have in Philippians 3?
Regions for us that that.
You might know him.
Believers like I want to know and so.
A harmony of God's work for us and in US. And so here.
He gives it to us, but I take it it's futures.
I think the Kingdom of God is now in a moral aspect.
I would take it to seek me first, but rather seek You, the Kingdom of God.
We are part of the Kingdom of God in its moral aspect. The Lord is every soul that is saved.
Is part of that Kingdom at the ward that has in the glory?
The Kingdom is not yet manifest.
On the earth. But it has a moral, immoral aspect, that right? I think so.
So if I were to put it in my own words, would it be correct to say that we are to live? And so the King, we are in the Kingdom of God, but the Lord is not here on earth. He's in the Lord, so we're to live.
Under the domination of that king here in the character in which we display as Christians, as brethren, is as though he reigned here now Is that correct?
Very good, Brian. Yes.
Owning the Lordship of Christ.
So that's kind of characteristic with the way that it's expressed in Romans 14.
Verse 17 For the Kingdom of God is not eaten drink, in other words, the tangible things when it is manifested.
00:20:06
The righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
So we look forward to the Kingdom and really that's when he will reign.
We.
Now walk through the scene as servants of the Lord, not in relationship to him as subjects of a king.
But as servants of the Lord.
We seek the Kingdom, in other words, we seek his interests now, while we're here. That's not the same thing that's put out.
In Reformed theology of furthering the Kingdom of God, in the sense that through our efforts we will bring the Kingdom in and all its glory and power in this world, He's going to give the Kingdom. It's not us bringing it in, but meanwhile we seek.
His interests while we're here and we are in that moral Kingdom of God. And so there are those things that character should characterize us morally, but as we seek his interest rather than our own interest, which is in the versus previous to this.
He'll take care of all those things that the world seeks after in our lives. But more than that, what is presented in the previous verses in connection with meat and drink and food and, and, and you increase your height and stature and anxiety of soul in connection with those things. So He will add to us the peace that comes with a walk of dependence upon Him and seeking His interest instead of our own interests.
In this scene and that's.
How I take it an abundant entrance ministered into the Kingdom. Very interesting scripture and I I sought to try and get some help from our older writers on that subject and.
There there are, and it's not. I have not found it so easy, but Mr. Kelly and Mr. Darby present that as a present, laying hold on in our souls, in the enjoyment.
Of the Kingdom.
And it's kind of like.
Stepping from this scene into another scene and it's no abrupt change because I am in the present enjoyment already of everything that's coming. And so I step into a fully furnished, abundantly furnished unto you. Everything there is in full accord with what I'm in the enjoyment of now and going on with now. And so it's it's a present laying hold.
Of what is ours.
In connection with how Peter presents things the Kingdom.
And there won't be any abrupt change when that day comes when the Kingdom is set up in power and glory in comparison to my present state of soul and enjoyment now. So I know it's probably not a very clear way to put that across, but.
Worth digging into what our early brethren wrote on it.
I think that's very good, Steve, although it might.
Primarily refer to the.
Lord's reigning.
The Millennium.
Remember that the church.
Is going to.
Be reigning with the Lord, we look at Hebrews chapter 12.
12.
Where there's a list of the.
The privileges that we have and.
Given to us from verse.
22.
It speaks up to the General Assembly let's the the myriads of angels and Church of the first born which are written in heaven.
00:25:01
Judge of all the spirits of just men made perfect well the Church of the first born.
That is sometimes taken to refer to the Lord Jesus. That is, that is not correct. The Church of the first born is Mr. Kelly.
Translates it and says it's the Church of the first born ones.
That is the church.
Is in that place of preeminence. That's the the thought in the the word first born. It doesn't refer to a.
Generation.
The eminence in, in, in.
Order of the birth, but it refers to a place of.
Prominence and so Church of the first born once is the is the bride of Christ and.
We will be.
Will be reigning with the Lord.
And.
We will have the.
A nearer place.
In the Kingdom to the Lord, then the Old Testament Saints the Old Testament Saints are the spirits of just men made perfect are the Old Testament Saints who are going to receive.
Their glorified bodies when the Lord comes.
But they are not part.
Of the Church of the first born ones they will.
Be friends of the bridegroom. Is that right? I think that's right.
Steve.
Everything that we might seek as to our own interest down here.
In in the end, is going to be left behind, comes to corruption even while we're here.
And so on, but seeking his interests, having that coming Kingdom in view.
It's treasure that's laid up in heaven. It's not going to.
As Peter presents it, reserved in heaven for us, there's no chance of that being lost as all the things that we have down here.
But really it has to be a result of where our hearts occupation is. It won't just happen. The things we do in our lives that the things that were occupied with the things we spend our energy and time on and money on is where our heart is. And so it has to be a heart occupation with Christ for those things really to.
Come out in our lives and really being those who lay up treasure and haven't having those.
Bags that wax not old and.
As he includes that a little bit, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So if that's our.
Whole occupation.
Work with our affections, then that's where we'll be laying up our treasure. And then it works the other way around. Where our treasure is, there our heart is. I enjoy the old, it's just an old story I read as a kid, the old Sherlock Holmes story, you know, and the Sherlock was going to go in and try and find out where this lady had kept her treasure, and he was trying to figure out. So he stays that there would be.
A emergency called and a fire alarm rung and and so on and he placed himself in the living room and and when that alarm went off and she looked right towards a particular spot when she heard that fire alarm go and he knew right there was where she hit her treasure. You know we can't disguise our hearts occupation.
We look great towards where, you know, everything in our life points towards what our hearts occupied. We can't really disguise it and.
It's really the Christ is that formative object of our hearts. That day of His glory, when he'll set up His Kingdom, we'll share reign with Him in that coming day. Those things form our hearts and form our walk and our ways down here.
The assessment of the present days.
It's meant to be striking different in light of the future.
00:30:04
Believer on the unbeliever.
So as you mentioned in the previous verses, it's it's the natural concern of having enough, having enough food, having grayness.
What am I going to have for next year? What am I going to live on when I'm old? All of those things are what is natural to them.
But it's like in the terrible and a couple chapters later we get the parable of the unjust steward, which is a really unique parable because people get a little bit confused. Why would the Lord recommend or commend someone that's unjust? But the point of the parable is that he had a temporary chance to use a temporary position for future blessing or benefits. And that's the way we do it. It sums up by saying.
Make to your friends.
The mammal of unrighteousness, that when you fail, when they receive you with everlasting meditation.
So we use present resources, advantages and so on, not to just insulate ourselves against future challenges or trouble, but in a certain sense, we plow it under, we invest it in the future.
Friends and righteousness and so I believe that helps with the context of verse 33 in our chapter cell that you have provide yourselves bags and tracks, not only the treasure in the heaven and so forth.
I think the it's it's important to see that the Lord has a treasure down here.
His people are His treasure. Don't try to love the Lord anymore than you do.
But sit down and contemplate his love if you if we have the.
The enjoyment of the Lord's love that that his treasure is his people. We're going to make our treasure up above that right there.
Our treasurers in heaven, His is down here.
So it's the, it's holding the, the things of this world. I mean the temporal things, we, we, we need to have them in order to get through the world.
We have God encourages industriousness in our day-to-day work. We are responsible to provide.
Honestly, for our families, well, Paul says clearly there in Thessalonians.
Or Timothy if any man provide not for result.
And he is. We better turn to that verse first. You can find the first Timothy.
Chapter 5.
Founded restricted. Verse 8. Thank you. Yes, verse 8. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house. We have denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
So.
A person who is in.
Has the responsibility of a secular position.
Can still walk by faith.
And but we are.
Live in view of the Lord's return so the loins are to be girt about or not to allow our.
Minds and souls to be.
To go wherever they're whatever appeals to us. We should be as if we're waiting for the Lord to come. Would he? Would the Lord be happy if he saw me involved in some?
00:35:04
Some activity that.
Although it may not be sinful, it is. It is not the glory of the Lord. So there's something here for the conscience. Loins girt about is referred to in Ephesians chapter 62 and lights burning.
It's a really beautiful.
Picture it's you know, whenever we think of a wedding and bridegroom, we immediately get the thought of the church and the marriage supper of the lamb in our minds. And but that's not what this is taking up.
It's really taking the figure of a man who has servants, and I think of it like livery men and a coach and so on. And there's going to come a point where he comes out from the wedding and he says it's time to go.
Time to go and and there they are. And the lights are burning. The the carriage is ready, the horses are ready.
Their loins are girded, they're prepared and they're they're ready to take him where he needs to go. They're really in the secret of what he is intending to do and they're ready and prepared to to when he comes to.
Carry them on to whatever is the next place. And he says I'm going to come out and serve them. It's it's a, it's a beautifully close relationship of service in, in the way I get the picture.
That that they're in tune with with the program, so to speak, and they're not off distracted. And you know, that happens with guys on a job and things get delayed and something doesn't come that's needed to build something.
Soon they're off. Somebody's up here doing this. Somebody's out here. And then, Yep, the product comes in that you need and you're, you're pulling people in from everywhere, all distracted all over the place to, to get this job done. Not these guys. They're ready. Their loins are girded. The lights are burning. They're keeping them going. And he comes out that door. He says, guys, it's time to go. And they go, let's go, you know, and they're ready. Watching, Yes. It's better than even better than waiting, yes.
I think the whole horrible speed that you are referring to is in the context of an Eastern wedding. Yeah. And the bridegroom, I don't know too much about it, but I think the bridegroom.
His friends are waiting for him.
To come out so they can accompany him to meet his bride and bring her home. Yes, I think that's right.
First, you're going to say something.
I was going to say I when I used to on occasion travel with the top execs in the company I work for, they had private planes at their back and called and when they went back to the.
FBO, you know, Louisville Airport.
You know, those pilots were in the pilots room just.
Drinking Coke, Pepsi and eating and playing crossword puzzles and.
When we arrived and we had to go knock on the door since that was not good, I think there were supposed to be knowing that we were back on the way to the FB O and flight plans already in place. Engines are warmed out. The usually they have two pilots. They're standing there waiting for your luggage and everything. And that's exactly what happens. You go right in, say hello, walk right out the other door and I'll be going on pretty much on your way.
So, you know, if you went in and the backroom said, oh, we've been waiting for you, they were waiting for hours for us to have a meeting or whatever.
But, and we're watching and it's.
And remember your children when they're these guys is age and waiting for dad to come home or something. And one thing to be preoccupied with, they say we're waiting, we're waiting for you because we know we're going to go somewhere. But I remember.
Coming down our road and see these little eyes where we talk about, you know, looking over a window and they're, they're really in tune that.
That combines a different quality of thing, and that's what the Lord looks for. So that's just waiting, but watching.
00:40:05
Watching for the Lord to come really gives us a heavenly character to our life because we're not focused down here. We're we're just watching for him to come and but the longer he carries, or maybe that's not even a scriptural word, but.
The longer the more time goes by, the harder it is to keep our focus on him.
And the easier it is to start looking around and get distracted and to say, well, while I'm waiting, maybe I'll go do this or go do that and things that maybe aren't wrong, but it's not watching. And that's why I think he says if he shall come in the second watch.
We're coming the third watch and find himself. Blessed are those servants. It's like the longer he waits, the more precious it is to his heart that were found watching. And sometimes you say, well, it's been a long time, but if he comes and he finds us watching, it means a lot to him.
Yeah, it's not dynamic on his part that he wants us watching when he comes, is he? If as you put it?
Perfectly, it's the effect it has on us to be watching in the new time.
With the guys that I traveled with, it was it was fantasy.
It was really bad, but it's not that way with the Lord He. He's looking for the effect upon us, as you say.
You know there's an expression. Move it. Off topic, but.
Spreadsheet in the little ******* book waiting to see the Morning Star arise.
I'm not sure that gives the right thought.
If I sense that in Peters ministry, Peter one that.
In the Morning Star is the present hope and expectation we have.
It's not him finally coming over. And now I have the Morning Star and some of the hymns of Little Clock. I mean, they're very beautiful, but a little bit off. It's.
More precious thought to realize we have now we ought to have now being the good journey of the expectation of the Lords coming for us before the Son of Righteousness comes forth. One of the things I miss the most about not working.
It's not being up in the dark.
And walking a job or traveling.
You know the planets, but to you and me in the morning stop and and the specialness of being.
Alive and awake.
Thinking about the Lord states before the sun is even and when the sun comes up and here in the full day it's kind of anti.
The Morning Star.
Appears before the dawn. Yeah, it's really it's planet Venus, of course.
I can remember reading biographies of the African missionaries and they plodding through the dense African forests with the native people. All of a sudden they saw a shining light.
In the distance.
Illuminated the whole sky.
And the missionary had never seen this before. They had a word for it in the in their native language. It really was the Morning Star.
Which heralds.
The dawn they knew when the warnings, when they saw that morning star shining there brightly, they knew that the dawn wasn't very far, wasn't very far ahead.
As you said earlier on, John.
The Lord's coming here is. It's not.
It's not the precision we have before.
Rapture distinguished from your hearing. It's the Lord's coming. I believe that in a general way and the force and focus it's meant to have on our hearts. And so I hope I think this helps explain verse 39.
Our chapter.
00:45:00
Many parable years the Goodman of the house had known what hours the people come. He would have lost him and not have suffered his house.
We're not listening to the Lord to promise his feet.
Whenever the word of God speaks of the Lord's coming with the teeth in the night.
It's not the rapture, It's not us. It's not coming. Nobody wants a speech to come.
Especially tonight.
So that's not a figure, it's a figure of suddenness, of accountability.
Those that are dwellers in the earth.
Judgment.
For us in this chapter, the figure is.
Be ready, son of man, come up in an hour. You think?
But for us, it's not.
And also I think we have the.
Thought here of verse 42 we ventures that faithful and wise Stewart.
And his wards will make his household, and give them their portion of meat to do season. Bless. It is that servant who is Lord when you come it.
So I'm so doing.
So that brings before us.
Ministry activity.
In view of.
Of the manifestation of our lives, the Lord says that there will be a reward for faithfulness.
Serving the Lords people.
Preaching the Gospel.
The Lord is going to take that into account in that day. So the the the idea of the the truth of.
Recompense is brought before us here. Is that right to speak?
Yes.
Well, in our day in life, verse 45.
It's not just people saying it in their heart, they're saying it out loud.
Christianity.
Has been taken over by.
Those who espouse the doctrine that it's not the believers hope to be expecting the Lord to come for us at any moment. And so it's not just believer with sound doctrine that's that.
Gets sleepy and careless in his heart and says my Lord delayed his coming.
Nowadays it has become solidified into a doctrine.
See that in Revelation chapter two and three. What was that? First, the deeds of the Nicolaitans became the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
Mr. Kelly, who I rarely ever read.
The foxes, his parents of the wish, I think is the way he put it, but the wish is parent to the thought.
So our it can be a treacherous thing when the heart is regarded how many of the issues of life.
And end up backing into doctrine and takes our practice even lower and summers the world.
Others.
We know that the formal attire got through treating that the Lord has a book of remembrance.
Our sisters here.
Do not publicly.
Participate towards the morning.
Because the word of God.
Prohibits this.
However, they are as much holy priests as the brothers and every thought sisters, that you have on Lord's Day morning about the person of the Lord Jesus and his death and his sacrifice is recorded in the Book of Remembrance every thought.
00:50:03
And someday that book will be open.
And the Lord will reward.
Maybe things that we have forgotten entirely.
The Lord hasn't forgotten me. He will not forget the work and labor of love. It may be behind the scenes.
Not seen by your fellow believers, but the Lord. He has the record straight.
Like he said that about Mary's.
Mary's.
Sacrificed there, went to Ford the alabaster box upon repeat of the Lord. Wheresoever this gospel should be preached, this act this woman hath done shall be spoken.
About her, you know, maybe secure to that person John has.
12.
112.
Sausage and.
But disappear in another gospel.
Matthew 26.
Verse 13. Thank you.
26.
Yes, very, I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, and the whole world.
There's also this that this woman hath done he.
Poll for a memorial of her.
Notice the servant here is a single servant.
And.
Very interesting in the way it's expressed.
And.
Verse 45 but and if that servant say in his heart, same servant.
So we apply these things individually, but in a certain sense it's the servant dispensation.
Started out with the hope of the Lord's coming, but it's going to end having.
Really lost that.
The same servant.
Whether it's that servant?
He knew his Lords will.
Made no preparation.
What she's given.
Much will be required.
Fears that the judgments that fall upon.
The Western world.
Most severe.
The western world that has had the advantage of.
Christian Testimony.
The Spirit of God active for so many centuries up until the present time.
Got a sobering with the for the Jew, for the Israelite, even a faithful one.
There came a time when God governmentally wrote on the nation.
You are not my people.
00:55:04
You will not.
Mercy.
That will be reversed in the coming day.
But there were faithful ones who had to subsist under that governmental sanctions.
I don't believe that sentence would ever be written across the Church of God while we do.
As somebody was saying, was praying earlier.
His treasures in his feet.
And as much as our failure is in a way even greater than injuries because we have more committee to us.
Still, with his patients, there's another side of it.
That he's building a holy temple, stone by stone, with perfect workmanship.
It's not yet complete, and it will be.
So he's.
He has purchased the treasure.
The whole field of the treasure and the.
Not long sighted that.
Ruin of.
The testimony hourly, which is our responsibility.
Is another thing.
Believe after we're gone, after the Lord comes for us and takes us out.
Then the judgment followed.
We will publicly manifest that that great Christian, Christianized system.
Left behind in your dog.
It's not.
It's an abomination to it.
Unleash the East to destroy the false church.
So meanwhile.
She's precious to that, which is really precious to it.
And it's really a mercy.
We don't lose any personal privileges.
Right up until the end.
Collectively, we feel it. We see it even in our short lifetimes. Our short lifetimes.
But we see it and feel it.
It's just an amazing thing that we still have all these present.
My privileges I call you.
I think it's Mr. McIntosh that says that. I guess their time is up. I think Mr. McIntosh says he sums up this chapter.
Time in view of eternity.
48.
Shall come.
In.
Forever.