Address—J.N. Hyland
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Hey, Amen.
Turn with me first of all this afternoon to Second Timothy, Chapter 3.
Two Timothy, Chapter 3.
And verse 15.
And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. And then a portion we quoted this morning in First Peter, First Peter, Chapter One.
First Peter, chapter one and verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grasp, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel.
Is preached unto you, and just one more portion for now in the book of Job.
Job, Chapter 23.
Job chapter 23 and verse 12.
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth.
More than my necessary food. Well, I have it on my heart this afternoon in speaking to all of us, but particularly to the young people. Since this meeting is scheduled as a young people's meeting, I have it on my heart to speak a little bit concerning the importance of God's word in our lives. Before a meeting like this. I asked the brother one time. I said what do young people need? He said they need to read their Bibles. I thought that was a good answer and I want to encourage our hearts.
To read this blessed book that we have in our hands and Christianity is a very practical thing. And I want to show how these things apply to every aspect of our Christian lives. But you know, when we take up the subject from the word of God, it's always good to go back to the beginning. And what is the beginning for us? Well, the beginning for us in our Christian lives is that time when we came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
And there's some here who look back over many, many years. Some of us look back over a few years, but doesn't it rejoice our hearts to think of that time when there was a work of grace in our souls that opened our eyes to see beauty in Christ and we were drawn to the Savior? It was a new beginning for us. Like Israel in the wilderness, we were singing of Israel and how God provided for them in the wilderness. But if we were to back up, we would find that previous to that in scripture.
Israel had been under the ******* of Pharaoh and Egypt. A very graphic picture to us in the Old Testament.
Of Satan and this world, a picture to us of what we are by nature. When we're born into this world, we're sinners. We're under the ******* of Satan. But you know, God heard the groanings of the children of Israel, and he delivered them. And it's interesting what he told Moses to tell them. He said, say unto the children of Israel, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It was to be a new beginning in the history of Israel.
They were no longer going to be under the ******* of Pharaoh and Egypt. No, they were going to be a redeemed and a delivered people.
Moses was the one raised up to lead them through the wilderness, and later Joshua to lead them through the Jordan and into the good of their inheritance. And so it was a new beginning. And that's why I read here in Second Timothy chapter 3, because here the Apostle Paul writing to this young man reminds him that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures. Now as we said this morning, there are perhaps some here who were not brought up in a Christian home.
Maybe there's somebody here and your parents aren't even glad you're at these meetings. And you didn't know the Holy Scriptures when you were a child. And it's wonderful, isn't it? The way God works and he brought the scriptures before you, allowed you to be somewhere where you heard the word of God and you were saved and brought into blessing, perhaps gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, there are many of us here who were brought up in Christian homes. I'm thankful for such a heritage. I didn't always appreciate it when I was a boy, but as I looked back, I'm thankful that I can say, like Paul said to Timothy.
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Child, I've known the Holy Scriptures. I had parents that were exercised to bring the word of God before us. And Timothy had had such a privilege. And Paul points out to Timothy that it's the Word of God that makes us wise unto salvation. Or to put it very simply, it's the Scriptures that show us how to be saved because we would have no idea of God's plan of salvation apart from the word of God. God has spelled it out in his precious words, and it tells us that the way of righteousness.
Is so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err therein. God has made the plan of salvation very simple.
And he's taught it to us not only by doctrine, but by type and shadow, and by example.
Because as we said this morning, God doesn't just teach by precept, He teaches by example. And I want to say, if there's someone here, and as we said this morning, you don't know the Lord Jesus as your savior, yet all the way of blessing is open for you. And the things we're going to speak of in connection with the relevancy and the importance of God's word in our lives, they have no bearing on the person here who has not come to the point where they know the Lord Jesus as their savior. And it's interesting what Paul says to Timothy here. He says that the scriptures of the word of God are able to make thee wise unto salvation, but he doesn't stop there.
He says through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Because I'm afraid there's a lot of people who know the word of God, maybe even heard it, have heard it read in the their home when they were growing up, but they haven't put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not enough just to know the Holy Scriptures.
No doubt there are people here who can quote verses from God's Word, but the question is, have you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Christianity is a reality. It's a very practical thing. And so it begins in this way. And then, as we said this morning in quoting the verses we read in Peter, it's not only the word of God that shows us how to be saved, but the word of God is living and powerful, and it's the Word of God applied in the power of the Spirit.
That God uses to impart divine life to us, and so we're born again, not of corruptible seed.
But incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
We said this morning that's why it's important to open our ears to the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And then he goes on to say all flesh is as grass. That is, it puts on a display, but there's really nothing abiding. It only lasts for a little time. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And isn't it a tremendous thing to realize that we have a book in our hands this afternoon that has stood the test of time? Books come and go on the bookshelves. Why the books that were on the bookshelves last year, They're not on the bookshelves today.
Some of us just went over 2 Chapters, large bookstore a little while ago and the books that are displayed there are not the books that were perhaps displayed a year ago or two years ago. The books that I had to read when I went to school are very different from the books that you young people have to read today. Men's opinions change and of the making of books, there is no end. Books come and go. But there's one book that has stood the test of time. It endures forever. Think of it, this book written over centuries.
And yet not one contradiction in this blessed book, And not only that, but it is the only book in the world that's living. It lives and abides forever. That's why you'll never exhaust it. You know every other book, as profound and as deep as it may be. After several readings, you have to say we've exhausted this book. We've got everything we can out of this book, but there's one book that will never exhaust, even for all eternity.
Oh, it's true. In a coming day we'll no longer know In part and prophecy in part, We'll have a full understanding and comprehension of the word of God. But I believe, too, that there will be a fresh enjoyment as the ages roll on. In a sense, we'll never really get to the end of it, because you can't exhaust the book that's living. And so it lives and abides forever. And it's the word of the IT is this word by which the gospel is preached unto you. And so this is the beginning, but it's only the beginning.
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And that's why I read in the book of Job. Because as we said this morning, God imparts divine life to us. It's the very life of Christ. It's a perfect life. But don't forget young people. It's a dependent life as well, and it needs to be fed. Just as in natural things, if we're going to grow and develop and be healthy, naturally speaking, we must eat good, wholesome food on a regular basis.
We need proper nutrition and is it any different in spiritual things? Is it any different with the divine life? No. I say it's a dependent life and it needs to be fed. And so Job says I have esteemed the words of my mouth more than the my necessary food. You know, we take such good care to eat three good meals a day and sometimes something in between. And especially today people are health conscious and people want to have a solid bar and things that are health conscious and you buy something and the nutritional content is printed on the label.
But what about in spiritual things? If we were as conscious of taking in good, wholesome spiritual food as we are in connection with natural things, wouldn't it make a difference in our lives? And so he esteemed the words of his mouth more than his necessary food? Food is necessary. We couldn't sit here and be at least somewhat alert this afternoon if we hadn't partaken of a good meal. We need natural food, but there's something that is even more important. So Jeremiah said, Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing.
Of my heart, and that's why I suggested at the beginning of the meeting we sing that hymn concerning the children of Israel in the wilderness. Because the thought of a wilderness in Scripture is that it's a place where there's nothing to sustain life. Now for Israel, they were in a physical wilderness, and there was nothing to sustain the physical man. And God provided everything that was needed for those years that they wandered in the wilderness.
And one of the blessed provisions of God for them was the manna. They needed food for their wilderness journey and God gave them that manna. And I want to just suggest that sometime when you get opportunity, go back and read the scriptures concerning the manna and the gathering of the manna. It's very instructive. In fact, you'll find if you compare various scriptures that there are at least probably more but at least 8 characteristics that I've enjoyed.
In connection with the manna that bring before us the thought of the manna Speaking of Christ here as a man.
And what he's teaching us in type is that we need to feed on Christ. You say, how can we feed on Christ? Well, you know the Lord Jesus in John Six, I believe it is. He spoke of feeding on the bread that came down from heaven. And we know that he was referring to himself, the one who came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. And you say, how can we feed on Christ? You got to read this book. Open your Bible every day.
Because what you'll find is that when you read the Bible, wherever you read, be it the Old Testament or the New Testament, the subject is always Christ. Now it's various things in connection with his person and work, but the subject is always Christ. And I want to encourage you to read Christ in every line, to see Christ in every verse. This is how your soul is going to be fed and refreshed. This is how you're going to be strengthened for the journey.
But without turning to it, I want to just mention a few practical things in connection.
With the gathering of the manna. Because first of all we find if we were to go back to the 16th of Exodus that the manna had to be gathered every day. As has often been pointed out, the food they needed today was not the food they needed tomorrow. Any of us who have raised children know that we don't feed our children a big meal on Monday and expect it to do them the rest of the week. No, they need good healthy food on a regular basis, day by day. And I believe what we learn from this is that we need to feed on God's word every day.
More than once a day, really. But we need to read God's Word every day. When we were young people, we used to sing a little chorus. Feed on God's Word in the morning, feed on God's Word at noon, feed on God's Word in the evening to keep your heart in tune. But you notice too, if you read the instructions carefully, that I don't believe the manna fell at their tent door. It fell round about the camp, and they had to get up early and they had to go out and they had to gather it. You know, God doesn't encourage laziness in any aspect of our lives.
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And these children of Israel, they had to put forth some energy, and they had to get up early too, because the man who fell on the dew, and when the dew melted, then the manna was gone, teaching us the need of getting up a little earlier in the morning and reading God's word.
Because you know young people, as you go out the door to school and to work, you'll find that you go out into a place where there's plenty to feed the flesh.
20 To feed our lusts as we had this morning. There's nothing to feed the new man in this world. Plenty to feed our lust. You just drive down the road and you see billboard. You stand at the checkout counter. There's lots to feed our lusts. But I believe what is necessary is to go out the door in the morning with our spiritual hunger satisfied. Because as I've often said, if I make sure my girls eat a good healthy breakfast.
Before they go out in the morning, they're not going to be so apartment to want something at recess that isn't good for them. And why is it we become so vulnerable to the things that we see and hear out there in the world? I suggest that one reason is because we haven't satisfied our appetite with the bread of heaven. We.
Haven't satisfied our hunger with the word of God. And so they had to gather it every morning. And then it says and some gathered more and some less. And I want to point out that it wasn't the amount of manna they gathered that was important. It was what they did with it. Because maybe there's somebody here and you say I'm just not a morning person. And I find it very difficult to get up in the morning and to study the word of God and to really take in what I read.
But it says some gathered more and some less and then when they put it into their Omer a certain measure, and took it with them, it says he that gathered much had nothing over. In other words if you have time to read a whole lot, thank God for it. You'll never have anything over. You need all of this precious book you can get. But then it says, And he that gathered little had no lack. Now I'd like to just apply it this way because as I said, I'd like to show how these things apply to every aspect of our Christian lives. And I believe I suggest that.
Putting it into their Omer and taking it with them.
And dipping into it during the day speaks to us of meditation.
Because, you know, young people, it's not just enough to get up in the morning and read a chapter or read a few verses and close your Bible and never consider what you've read. Now I realize that maybe years ago, people could go out and work with their hands at the bench or in the shop, go out behind the plow, and they could meditate on Scripture. I realize you can't drive down the freeway like that. I realize you can't run a computer like that. I realize it takes everything you've got.
Your mental faculties have to be focused all day to survive in the work, a day world in which we find ourselves. But what I want to encourage you to do is to discipline yourself to stop during the day and consider what you've read. Dip into your Omar and you'll be surprised. Even if you only had time for a few verses, you'll be surprised that God knew just what you were going to need for that day. He that gathered little had no lack.
Now maybe it would be helpful if we just pause for a moment and connect some scriptures in the Psalms that bring before us the need for meditation. Might help us to stay alert if we have a little exercise here. And so let's go to Psalm chapter to the first Psalm Psalm 1.
And verse one blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.
Nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he doth meditate. Day and night He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring us forth his fruit and his season. His leaf shall not wither.
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Well, here we find that the result of meditation is fruit and spiritual prosperity. Do you want to bear fruit for God's glory? Do you want to prosper spiritually? Oh, we talk about success in the world and prospering in our business and so on. But if we want to to prosper spiritually, we're going to need to discipline ourselves to meditate on God's word. And now let's go on to the.
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19 Psalm.
Well, just notice these very quickly.
Psalm 19 and verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Well, here he connects the words of his mouth with meditation and notice it's the meditation of his heart. You know, I suppose we could say that study of the word of God particularly has to do with the mind, and certainly that's important. We're to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There must be a knowledge and.
We're thankful for sound minds that God has given us to take these things in. But meditation has to do with a work in the heart. When we meditate on these things, then it gets into our souls, it gets into our hearts, and not only that, but it comes out in our mouth. What we say then is going to be in keeping with what has been in our hearts, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now notice the 104th Psalm.
Psalm 104 and verse 34.
My meditation of Him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord. Notice it's my meditation of Him, because again, when we take up the word of God and meditate on it, oh it brings Christ before us, and it's going to be sweet. How sweet are thy words to my taste? Sweeter than honey to my mouth. And now let's notice another one in the 119th Psalm.
Just one more here. Psalm 119.
And the.
100th Verse or verse 97 Oh how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments, has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. What we find here that there's going to be understanding as a result of meditation. You know in this world today there are wise people by this world standards.
But, you know, they're trying to figure things out on the world stage, apart from God's purposes, apart from the word of God. They don't understand where things are headed. But, you know, a Christian who's reading his Bible and meditating on it can have more understanding, can be wiser than all the people in power today. And the wise men of this world, They understand God's purposes. They see where it's going to be, where it's all heading. And so I want to encourage you to not only read the word of God.
But to meditate on it, and as he says, here it is my meditation all the day.
We had read to us in the prayer meeting, I think, this morning in connection with Isaac. And at the end of the day, what did he do? He went out into the field to meditate. And when you come home and you have a little free time, what are you filling your mind with? Are you filling it with the things of this world, or are you spending a little time in the evening meditating on the word of God? Oh, it'll be a tremendous blessing to your soul. I know it takes discipline, but I want to encourage you to discipline yourself, to read and to meditate on God's word.
So he says. I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. I would like to make one other comment in connection with the gathering of the manna before we move on. And before I make that comment, I'll just say that we want to impress upon each of our hearts the responsibility individually to gather the manna. Every one of us need it, brothers and sisters alike, young and old. We need to have our souls fed on the bread of heaven every day.
But there is another interesting comment made about the gathering of the manna that I want to direct to those of us here this afternoon who are the heads of our homes. You know, when you see an artist's depiction of the gathering of the manna, usually they depict the women gathering the manna. But I don't believe the women gathered the manna, because if you notice carefully in that chapter, every man was to gather for himself and for those in his tent. And I believe what it brings before us is responsibility.
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Of the head of the home. You've often heard me say this, but I'll repeat it. When I was growing up and I look back, I'm thankful for the memory of a man who gathered for himself and for his family. The memory of a father who sat at the breakfast table every morning with an open Bible. He didn't read us a lot of scripture. Usually it was just probably 3 or 4 verses. Sometimes it might have seemed like more, but looking back, it wasn't a lot. He often didn't even make a comment on it.
But he gathered for himself and for his children. He made sure that his family did not go out into the world in the morning without something of the word of God ringing in their ears. I look back and I'm thankful for that, and I just want to encourage those of us who are heads of our homes. Now I realize some of us leave for work very, very early in the morning. I realized that schedules are a lot different today than they were even a half a generation ago, but do the exercise.
Do open the word of God fathers in the home and read it to your children and to your young people. You'll find that it will be a great blessing. We need the word of God in the home and so we need to gather the manna. We need that food for our souls and we need it every day. The world has an expression. You are what you eat and we are what we eat. We are what we feed on. You know, it's the the type of eating is used because.
When you eat something, you take it in and it becomes part of you. What are we feeding on? Are we feeding on the husks of this world, or are we feeding on the word of God? And let's be careful too, fathers, to keep out of our homes, those things that would not be for the edification of our families, that would feed our children and young people things that we don't want to feed them. I'm just going to repeat a little story I've sometimes told, but I feel burdened in this connection.
Brother Albert Hey Ho lived in Smith's Falls for many years and I grew up there under his ministry and I remember him telling us how that in the days when a certain commodity was becoming very popular in the in the home and it was becoming economically feasible for most people to have one. A man, a salesman came to his door and he was trying to sell Brother Hayhoe this certain commodity and Brother Hayhoe wasn't interested in buying this commodity.
Because he knew it would feed his children things that he didn't want them to feed on. And finally, in desperation, the salesman said to Mr. Hayhoe, He said, if you buy this commodity, you can bring the world right into your home, he said. That's the very thing I'm trying to keep out. That's the very thing I'm trying to keep out. And so let's be careful. You know what I'm talking about, but let's be careful and let's feed on God's word. Now let's go back to the 119th Psalm.
Psalm 119 and verse 9.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed. Thereto, according to thy word with my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Well, we've spoken of the word of God as food for our souls. Now I'd like to speak of it in connection with refreshment and cleansing. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
You know, we go out into a world where there is much to defile and much to chill the soul and dull our affections.
And we need the cleansing effect of God's Word. It's the washing of water by the Word that we speak so often about. That's why the Lord Jesus in John 13, in preparation for his departure out of the world and leaving the disciples in a world of defilement, He brings before them the truth of feet washing. And feet washing is the refreshment and cleansing that comes from the practical application of God's Word in our lives.
There was an old brother. He's with the Lord now. There was an old brother in my home assembly in Smiths Falls for many years, and he used to tell us that when he came home from the office in his working days, came home from the office at night, he needed a good wash and he wasn't talking about soap and water either. He was talking about the washing of water by the word, because he felt from having rubbed shoulders with the world and seen and heard many things that were defiling. He felt that he needed to have that cleansing.
And so I want to encourage you. Again, this applies to every aspect of our lives. We need to feed on God's Word in the morning.
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We need to meditate on it during the day. And when we come home at night, we need to let it have its cleansing effect. And so in the evening, maybe your mind is tired. Maybe your mind is already saturated with information. I know it just takes everything you have to survive today. But I want to encourage you. Open God's Word and let it have its effect. And he says, thy Word Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? And again, I want to stress the importance of having God's word not just in our minds. That's important, but it needs to sink down into our hearts.
You know the entrance of the word is the of the truth is the mind. And as we said, there must be a knowledge. But you know that's not the dwelling place. And if the entrance of the truth is the mind, then the channel is the conscience, because the conscience must always be reached. But the dwelling place is the heart. And I believe when the truth enters in that way, then it's going to have a practical, purifying effect on our lives. I've been impressed in going through the Psalms to realize how many times the Psalmist speaks about the heart and wholeheartedness.
Lord, But there's certain things they want to keep for themselves. Sometimes. We're half hearted Christians. Why is that? Because the word of God hasn't got down into our souls. In the measure in which the Word of God gets down into our souls, dwells in our hearts, then we're not going to be half hearted Christians. We're going to be wholehearted Christians. And so we've often heard that truth itself doesn't preserve us. But when the truth gets down into our souls, and Christ is the object.
Then we're going to be preserved in the path of faith and the path of service. Just go now to first John.
I John Chapter 2.
And verse 13.
I just want to start about the middle of the verse. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him. That is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. But what I want to notice in these verses is particularly the exhortation to the young men. Again, this is a young people's meeting, and these exhortations are not just to the young men, but to the young women too, not just to the young brothers, but the young sisters.
And here he speaks of the young men being strong. And I suggest that often in Scripture, when we have the thought of young men brought before us, it speaks of natural energy, natural strength. I watch you young men, you have a lot of energy. You have energy that I don't have any more. And I appreciate that energy. But you know, we find here that when John writes to these young men, he writes of them being strong. But they weren't strong because they went to the gym and worked out twice or three times a week.
They weren't strong because they lifted weights or ran laps or got up early in the morning to jog a couple of miles. And I'm not saying that that's wrong. Bodily exercise proffered us for a little time and so on. But what made them strong here was the word of God abiding in them. They were reading, taking in the word of God, seeking to walk in the strength of it because there's a power in the word of God, as we said earlier, and I just want to encourage you while you're young, equip yourself for the Christian path with the word of God.
Read it. Memorize it. You know, Don't just meditate on it. I want to suggest you take time to memorize portions of the word of God. I'm thankful as I look back for the exercise to memorize portions of the word of God. The verses I quote to you today are verses I learned when I was a young man. As we get a little older, it becomes a little more difficult to retain and to memorize. And, you know, I'm appalled as I've had children coming through the school system at how little memorization there is in the school system today.
It's the computer age, and we're not taught to memorize. But I want to encourage you. It'll be a blessing to your soul to memorize the word of God, discipline yourself to take a chapter or take some portions and set a goal for yourself. Say in this week I'm going to learn so many verses or so much of A chapter because the Spirit of God will bring it back to you at a time when you need it, and you'll find that there's a power there. It's the sword of the spirit, and when it's used in communion by the spirit, then it's strong. Why is it sometimes when we meet the onslaught of the enemy, we fail?
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Why is it we become discouraged? It's because we try to meet it in our own strength. Young people, you can't do it. You're not going to be able to meet the situations of life and your own strength. I was once a young people sitting in meetings like this. The older brethren ministered the truth and I used to wonder, how am I ever going to get along if the Lord leaves us here? How am I going to face the situations of life? And I know what you're facing today is perhaps more difficult than what we faced in our day, but I want to tell you.
I have learned, at least in some measure, that the Lord is sufficient and that His word is powerful. We find the perfect example, of course, with the Lord Jesus when he met the temptation of the enemy in the wilderness. He simply answered it is written, and there was a power there. In quoting the written word of God, you argue with somebody about something and you know they're not any further convinced. But you quote a verse of Scripture. You bring a portion before them.
And there's where the power is. And so I want to encourage you. Like the young men in John's day, be strong in the Lord and be strong because the word of God abides in you. Take it in. Drink it in while you're young. Because you'll find as you get older, that the things that you enjoyed while you're young and took in are the things that God is going to use in blessing. He'll bring them back to you. Someone has said the Spirit of God is the remembrancer.
But I would just say this too. The Spirit of God can't bring something back to your memory that you have never read. If you don't read the word of God, he can't bring back something to your memory that you haven't read. But read it. And maybe when you read it as a young person, it doesn't always seem that relevant. You say I don't understand this story. I don't understand this portion. I don't know understand why the Lord allowed such and such in a certain individual's life. But familiarize yourself with those stories and later on the Spirit of God can bring them back to you.
At certain certain situations, and they'll become real and precious to you.
Now I'd like to go back to the 119th Psalm again.
Psalm 119 and verse 105.
Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Well, I'd like to for a few moments, speak of the word of God as light and instruction for our pathway. I know that if you really belong to the Lord Jesus here today, you desire to know the Lord's will for your life. And I've talked to many young people who say, well, I'd really like to know what the Lord has for me in my Christian pathway. But then you talk to them for a while and you realize they're not reading their Bibles.
They're not reading the word of God, young people. You'll never have light an instruction for your pathway.
If you don't read the word of God, and it's so vital when you're young, you come to crossroads at this point in your life where that if you make the wrong turn, it may affect you for the rest of your life. You're making critical decisions. At this point in your Christian experience, I want to encourage you to orderly and consistently read the word of God. I want to stress that orderly and consistently, because it's not enough when we're faced with some crisis.
Or decision in our Christian life to set the Bible on the table and let it fall open and hope that our eyes are going to light on some scripture that's going to direct us. Now, I've heard stories, and you have no doubt heard stories too, of how the Lord has directed in that way in special circumstances. And you know, in our weakness, the Lord comes in. He knows our frame. He remembers that we're but dust. But I don't believe that generally speaking, that's the way the Lord directs us.
Step by step in our Christian pathway, I believe that the Lord directs us when there's orderly and consistent reading of the word of God. You've experienced this. You're reading in a certain portion and you're following along each day and some decision has come up and you just don't know what to do, What you say if I do the wrong thing, it's going to affect me one way or another, and you're just reading in your normal portion and all of a sudden there's the answer right on the page. The Spirit of God takes that verse or that portion.
And applies it to the situation. Maybe it never meant that to you before. Maybe it will never mean that to anybody else. But it was the Spirit of God directing your footsteps because you were orderly and consistently reading the word of God. And I believe that that's what the psalmist is bringing before us here. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. And if we're going to have direction for our pathway, it's going to be step by step in the light of God's word. We talk about faith, but faith is not a leap in the dark.
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Faith acts on the light that God gives step by step. Now, without turning to it, I'd like to connect 3 verses in the Psalms here, including this one, three verses that I think are helpful in this regard. Because in the 27th Psalm, David said teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path. And I trust that that's the prayer and desire of every heart here, to have guidance and direction for our pathway. Because do we think that we can go through life and we don't need instruction from our maker.
Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his footsteps. How do we think that we can choose our own path and that we know better than God? And so let's learn to express this, teach me thy way and lead me in a plain path. And then we find here the psalmist recognizes that if he is going to have light and a plain path, it must come from the word of God. But then we go over to the 143rd Psalm. I think it's the tenth verse. It says something else.
Teach me to do thy will. In other words, he says, When you do, show me the step, then give me the grace to take it. First of all, there must be the desire. If any man desire to do his will, he shall know, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. But, you know, the Lord might show us something, and we hold back and say, now wait a minute. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't something quite that big. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't, if it was something a little different. But I'm not sure I have the grace or the faith to take that step.
All the Psalmist said, don't just teach me your will, but teach me to do by will. Seek grace to take that step because you'll never have light for the next step if you don't take the step that he's directing you today. Why is it so often we flounder and we say we don't have light for our pathway? Perhaps it's because we haven't acted on the light that he has already given us. And so it's a lamp unto my feet that's step by step and a light unto my path. Because young people, it's provision for the whole way.
You know, the things that we've had in these meetings already before us are the very same things that I heard when I was growing up in the assembly and the very same things that our fathers and grandfathers ministered because the word of God is sufficient light for the whole pathway. It's relevant. It fits what's happening today, and it'll do the same tomorrow. It's more up to date than the daily newspaper. And again, if we you were to pull out, if I were to pull out the books that I studied when I went to school.
Well, you'd laugh. You'd say, Jim, we've left those things behind long ago. And if we were to go to my parents home when they were still living in their home, it was a shelf up near the ceiling in the hall and it had books that they studied when they went to school. You definitely laugh and say you ought to trash those books. They're just good for the dumpster. So things change. But again, this book fits what's happening today. It's relevant to the situations of life right here.
In 2005 S Learn to read it orderly and consistently.
And let it be light and instruction for your pathway. Now let's go to Acts Chapter 2.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Well, we've spoken of the importance of the word of God in our lives. Personally, we've mentioned how important it is in the home, in the family circle. But now I'd like to apply this in connection with the assembly. There's always a collective side of things when we take up the truth of God.
And we find here that these early brethren, they continued. Or if you notice, Mr. Darby's translation, they persevered in these things because these things are what we might say are the assembly meetings, meetings for ministry, for prayer, for the remembrance of the Lord. And I was particularly thinking of it in connection with ministry. But, you know, it does take energy. It does take perseverance to be at the assembly meetings. It's not easy. I know life is pressured. I know we're tired when we get home at night.
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But I've often said that I'm very thankful for a father and a mother who were exercised not only to bring the word of God before us in the home, but they were exercised to bring us to the assembly meetings. And so there are assembly meetings set aside for the ministry of God's word. And I want to encourage you to avail yourself of them. You know, it's interesting that with Israel in the wilderness, one of the great sins of Israel was that they got to a point where they despised the simple manner that God gave them. And maybe there's the young person here and you say, oh, it's nice to be at the meetings here and at a conference and at a young people's camp, but, oh, I go home. And it's just a handful of us, and nobody seems to have much to say. We read a chapter, and we don't get much out of it all. Be careful.
Let's not despise the simple manner that God gives in the local assembly. It might be in ever so feeble a way, but the Lord is there, the Spirit of God is there. The word of God hasn't changed. And I believe there can be a real blessing if we all go with exercise both to bring and to get. And so let's I want to encourage you to be at the assembly meetings for ministry because I believe that God has instituted ministry in the assembly.
In a way that you don't get anywhere else, in a way that gives us a proper balance. Now don't misunderstand me. It's not the word of God that needs balance. The word of God is probably the only balanced book that there really is. But as someone said to me earlier today, there's one thing we can't have too much of, and that's balance. We go too much one way or the other in some things, but we can't have too much balance. And I believe God has instituted ministry in the assembly to guard against this.
Because, you know, there are many who will put a man up at the front of the room from week to week, and they'll get part of the truth. They'll get certain aspects of the truth. But, you know, if he says something wrong, nobody corrects it. If he only brings out one side of things, there's nobody to balance it. But you know, when we come, the assembly and the spirit of God is given liberty. We're thankful for those who can lay out the doctrinal principles for us. Others can make practical applications. Someone else can take the same portion and bring out a gospel.
Aspect of it, and it's not that every meeting for ministry is necessarily going to be balanced, but in the overall scheme of things, if we avail ourselves of meetings for ministry, we're going to get that proper balance. If I say something in the reading meeting that's not right, another by the spirit of God can correct it. Certain ones can bring out certain aspects of things. And so I believe it's very, very important. Man is a creature of extremes by nature.
That's why it says be not as the horse or the mule. The horse is impulsive, needs to be held back, the mule is stubborn, needs to be pushed forward. And I think 2 of that verse that says Ephraim, is a cake not turned. You know if you put a cake on the griddle and you don't turn it, it's going to get too well done on one side and not enough on the other. And I have noticed that those who do not avail themselves of ministry in the assembly are often like that. They get off on one side of things, they get off on a certain line, they get off on a tangent, but there isn't the balance that is needed.
All I want to encourage you be at the assembly meetings for ministry, not just in a setting like this, but back home next week. In your little assembly, you be there and be there in exercise, be there to get something, maybe to ask a question or contribute some little thought. You'll find that it'll be a great blessing not just to your own soul, but to others. Now in closing, I want to read one further scripture in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Chapter 13.
Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 15. Hear ye and give ear.
Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he caused darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, And while you look for light, he turned it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eyes shall weep and soar and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.
But we've spoken of the word of God.
In every aspect of our lives. But I read this as a warning at the end, a warning that if we have light and instruction and we refuse it, the day is going to come when we're stumbling on the dark mountains. You know, I know, I know a lot of my own generation like that. They grew up in the assembly. They had godly parents and they turned their back on the word of God. And Jeremiah says you had light for your pathway and you turned your back on it and now you're stumbling on the dark mountains. He says all I can do is weep for you young people. There's a lot of young people I weep for. There's a lot of my own generation I weep for because they've come to situations in their life.
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They're just insurmountable. And they want instruction. They want to know, but they turn their back and now they're groping. They're stumbling. Oh, I want to encourage you. At the end of the meeting. Don't do it. Don't turn your back On the light of God's word. Sometimes it might seem easier to choose our own path. But you're going to reap to your sorrow. You're going to come to this point where you're going to be stumbling. Oh, God has given us His word. Let's learn to value it. Let's learn to read it. We used to sing that little chorus. Oh, cling to the Bible, my boy. Cling to it. Read it. Walk in the good of it and you'll find.
That you'll have a happy, fruitful life. It may not be the easy path, but it will be the blessed path and Ohio. To look back in that day and see all the way that he led us, and to see how His word preserved us from so many things, and then to have an enjoyment of this blessed book for all eternity. I say the day is coming when we will no longer know in part, and prophecy in part. Let's pray.