Address—Robert Boulard
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.
Good afternoon.
Well, I guess we'll go by this clock.
And then we'll continue, Lord willing.
I just like to read to introduce my subject here in Proverbs chapter 29.
It says there in verse 18, Proverbs 2918. It says where no, there is no vision, the people perish or the people cast off. Restraint is the new translation. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
And so there's a vision that's necessary. There's forward vision, there's some prospect before our souls in faith that needs to be maintained, that we might walk in a course that's pleasing to the Lord and that the Spirit of God records that it's a course of happiness. Everyone here, I believe, wants to be happy. And one of the ways is to keep ourselves immersed in the Word of God and in the.
God and so we need to have a vision. Where there is no vision, the people perish or they cast off or strengthen. Then let's look at Romans 15 verse 4.
A well known verse to us, and I know this is a meeting for young people and maybe we'll repeat ourselves a little bit, but let's read verse 4.
Romans 15, verse four. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.
00:05:11
And so we have the Old Testament passages of Scripture that give us it's God's picture book, we might say. And they it gives us principles outlined and little illustrations of how the Saints in the old days, how they lived and how they what God saw in their lives that he approved of and how they made an impact in the generation that they lived in. I just like to look this afternoon at a couple of.
Individuals who saw the glory of the Lord and what kind of an influence it had upon them. Let's look first at Exodus chapter 33 and we'll read a little bit about Moses.
I might read a little more about.
Moses, we don't have a lot of time, but.
Let's read.
From verse 7.
Exodus 33, verse 7.
And Moses took the Tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, a fall off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation, which and it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp or outside the camp.
It came to pass when Moses went out under the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the Tabernacle.
And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the Tabernacle, and the Lord taught with Moses.
Came to pass as Moses entered into the Tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended, stood.
I'm sorry, Verse 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the Tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned the game into the camp. But his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tabernacle. Moses said unto the Lord, See.
Thou sayest unto me, bring up this people.
And thou hast not let me know.
Whom thou wilt stand with me, yet thou has said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I am found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, and that I may find grace in my sight. And consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me or with us.
Carry us not up hence, For wherein shall it be known here that I and my people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? And so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also, that thou has spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said.
I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious, to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy, on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see my face and see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me.
And thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, when my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a Cliff to the rock.
And will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away mine hand. And thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Well, you know this little story we know well, and we think of it perhaps oftentimes of how Moses was on the mountain very often times Mount Sinai with the Lord, and he received the law, the 10 commandments and.
He had a relationship with the Lord, who is an honoured servant of God.
He wrote the first five books of the Bible.
You and I know about the account of creation because God revealed it to Moses and he told us there's no such thing as a prehistoric man, that man has a history, and God tells the whole history of man, the whole sad history. But here Moses, you know, he had discernment as to what was appropriate for the holiness of God. And we know that the camp of Israel.
00:10:20
You know, the camp was, the Tabernacle was pitched in the midst of the camp, and then all the tribes of Israel in an orderly fashion were camped outside the Tabernacle, and they all faced the Tabernacle in their tents. And so the Lord was in their midst in that Tabernacle. And the presence of the Lord, the glory cloud, was there signifying His presence.
But sin came into the camp and they fell into idolatry. It was a great apostasy.
And there came in judgment in connection with it. But you know, the people of God are the people of God, and the Lord always delights to bless His people, and He makes a way of approach to Himself. And so in verse 7, Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, outside the camp, and then afar off from the camp.
Called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation or the Tent of Meeting.
You know, that's where the Tabernacle is. It's just a tent and it was a temporary thing. You and I are going to dwell in the Father's house. That's a permanent residence. But now, you know, the assembly is only really attempt. Paul was a tent maker and.
He just established little assemblies that was temporary. They were going to be in the presence of the Lord for a very brief time, and they were going to be wandering through the wilderness, you might say, and they would have a tent as well.
The guest chamber.
But Moses had discernment. He took that Tabernacle, he put it outside of the camp, the organized system of things where the children of Israel lived. And it says that those that wanted to go out, to be with the Lord went out there. And it says in verse 11 That the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. I just want to ask you this afternoon, young people.
Do you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know him as your Savior? Have you ever gone out to Him and taken your place alongside the Savior? Acknowledge that you're a Sinner and accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior and then sought to have communication with Him. I think it's so wonderful here that the Lord.
Spake unto Moses face to face, and we know that all of the word with God was not written, so he spoke verbally to Moses.
And revealed his mind and we could read the whole book of Exodus, these first five books of the Bible. Some of the books are almost totally dictated from the Lord to Moses. But he spoke to him. And the way the Lord speaks to you and I today is through His word.
And he wants us. It's mentioned this morning. But it's not just optional for a Christian to read the word of God. It's vital.
It's absolutely vital. And if you do not, read the word of God.
Then you may know that your sins are forgiven, and you may feel like you're safe inside the door, so to speak, but you don't have that constant communion with the Lord. And really what Moses desired was to have communion with his God. And the Lord delighted to speak with Moses. And then there was this servant or this attendant that he had, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man. He departed, not out of the Tabernacle.
And some, you know, the Lord allows for us when we're younger. We're brought into the presence of the Lord, we're brought into the assembly meetings, and we come and sit under the sound of the Word. But then what we really want in our souls, what we really want comes out a little bit later. And so here was Joshua. Moses didn't know it at the time, but Joshua was going to live in the shadow of Moses, he might say, and then be used of God to bring the children of Israel.
Land of Israel to cross the River Jordan and to crossover and to take that possession.
And Moses, you could just see this conversation of a man about 80 years old, maybe a little older now, and he's speaking with the Lord and he wants to have a sense of the presence of the Lord in verse 14. My present shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Oh, do you have a desire for the presence, to have a conscious sense of the presence of the Lord?
00:15:10
Moses had discernment as to what was suitable to the holiness of God.
He knew what sin was, He didn't call it mistake, He called it what it was, and he knew that the Lord was dwelt in holiness. And so he took that Tabernacle and placed it outside the camp. And so that's why you and I, those that are gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus, we go outside of organized religion, you might say.
Unto the Lord Jesus. It's Hebrews chapter 13.
The apostle Paul uses that terminology. Let's just read it in Hebrews 13 and verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go for therefore unto Him, without the camp, marrying his reproach.
You know, there are several things in connection with Christianity that are unique.
That weren't a part of Judaism. One is his blood that's mentioned in verse 12. One is his reproach that's mentioned here in verse 13. And then in verse 15, at the end it says his name, those three things.
His blood, his reproach, and his name.
And.
Dear young people, it's a privilege.
The greatest privilege upon the face of the earth.
You have been cleansed with the precious blood of Christ, and to know the value of that precious blood.
And have a desire to walk in communion with the Lord Jesus, even if it costs us reproach of men.
And to know his name now the name speaks of everything that encompasses an individual. And so you know the name of the Lord Jesus, and you're gathered to that precious name. There is no other name that's going to be exalted in heaven. It's going to be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you have the privilege now to exalt that name.
Well, what's going to help us to be able to exalt the name of Christ? What's going to be able to help us to encourage us to bear the reproach of this world that hates Christ?
It's going to be to see something of the glory of Christ ourselves. And so this is what Moses wanted.
He wanted to see something of the glory it says in verse 18. He said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
When we wanted to see something of the excellence of.
God in display in the brightness of his glory.
That would give them a future vision that would be given the vision of the fact that he was not only going through this wilderness scene with all the saws and trials, but that he was going to finally come into the land of Israel and that he would come into that promised land and be blessed of God.
And so he wanted to see something of the glory of Christ.
Now I'm not a very good example, but other perhaps are a better example.
But oftentimes, before I read the scriptures, I get down on my knees and I ask the Lord to please.
Reveal something to me helping you enjoy the things that I read and helped me to understand them and help me to see something of the glory of the person of Christ as I read these passages of Scripture. And you and I need to have a sense of the glory that belongs to Christ in this world. And you need to have a sense of what is really consistent with the holiness of God when we come into the presence of the Lord.
At the assembly meetings.
We need to be helpful. It is helpful to be able to see that the Lord is in the midst of.
I don't want to belabor it, but maybe I'll just tell a little personal story in connection with this.
Going to the assembly meetings, you know it says that Joshua, he went into the Tabernacle on he departed not he wanted to be where the Lord is.
And you know what, when I was younger, I would say to myself, well, I made a decision. You know, perhaps as a young person, I was going to go to all the meetings, but it was, you know, a little shaky sometimes. Maybe you're like that. And I came home from work one night.
00:20:06
When we lived in Michigan and my wife, as you know, likes to have a lot of older people at the house that are single perhaps, and need to have a good meal and so on. And so we had brother Bob Collard there that evening and she'd made a meal for him and so on, and I'd had a hard day at work.
Particularly difficult and I said, well I'm just so tired, I don't think I can go to meeting tonight, he said. What?
You don't think that you can go into the presence of the Lord tonight?
You think you're too tired to go into in the presence of the Lord today?
I threw well for the Bob I, I guess maybe I'm not too tired to go into the presence of the Lord tonight. So I went to meeting that night, reading and prayer meeting. But I just want to encourage you as young people not to think of it as just going to meeting.
But think about going into the presence of the Lord, and think about seeing something of the glory of Christ.
As you're there, you know it says, Let's read in chapter 34 here.
It's chapter 34 of Exodus verse 29 came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony. Moses hand when he came down from the mount that Moses whisked not that his the skin of his face Sean while he talked with him.
Something's going to happen to you if you spend time in the presence of the Lord. It's going to reflect.
You know, if you think about sports, you think about hockey and you talk about hockey and you go to hockey games and you read hockey magazines, you're pretty soon be known as someone that's pretty taken up with hockey.
Well, you like cars and you just like hopping them up and tooling them up and all kinds of things. Pretty soon you got all the car magazines and everything and it just looks like that's what life is all about.
But what Moses wanted more in his life than anything else, and it showed.
Is he wanted to be able to speak with the Lord face to face. He wanted to be in the presence of the Lord and he wanted to see something, the glory of God, and it had an effect upon him. He didn't know it. Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. Isn't it nice? You know, it's going to show they brethren, you know.
They're those that were around the disciples. They took notice that they had been with Jesus.
They took notice and it's not something that we consciously think of, but.
You know you're going to reflect something of Christ in your face.
If you spend time in this presence.
If you don't spend time in this presence, there won't be that reflection of His glory.
Now God tells us this little story about Moses, I believe, because it was an encouragement to him to be able to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness and.
He desired to do it in communion with the Lord. Now we know he failed. He didn't go into the land when he would have liked to have gone in, and so on.
But you know, God delights to bless, and you're going to make mistakes and I'm going to make mistakes.
But we need to press forward. You know, my father-in-law used to have an old Finlander that worked for him. His name was Ralph Koskin and he used to have a little expression. He never really got his English straight from Finland came to the US or to Canada.
But he was a Carpenter and he was a good one. And he would say, you know, he would make a mistake, cut a board short or something, drill a hole in the wrong place. He said, well, what man who works, he makes a mistake. What man he no work, he no make the mistake.
What many works makes the mistake? What man he no work, he no make the mistake. So some people never open their mouths in the assembly meeting.
Some are just quiet by the side, don't do anything to help their brethren, and oh, they don't make mistakes at all.
But Moses was walking in faith, and God wants you to take a step in faith and to March in faith. Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 34 and then we'll move on. Dean Army 34, verse 1. Moses went up from the plains of Moab.
00:25:06
Unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top Pisgah, Pisgah that is over against Jericho, or opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land.
Of Gillian under Dan, and all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the uttermost sea, and the South the plain. Of the valley Of Jericho, the city of palm trees under Zoar. The Lord said in him, This is the land which I swear unto Abram and Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed. I have cause thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moore. Well, the point is here, dear young people, you know.
You come into the presence of the Lord, you want to see something of the glory of Christ, you're occupied with Him during the day, during the week, and you seek to learn and to live for His glory.
You know who it is that reveals himself to you. You know who it is that reveals the truth to you.
You have to have the brains to figure out the truth. You have to read the Epistle of the Ephesians, and then finally the light comes on and you understand it all, no.
You know young. I see some young men here, see some young sisters.
You know who shows you the truth is the Lord Jesus Himself.
There's not an older brother here that will say I learned it all myself. I read ministry books and so on, and I learned it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't read ministry books. They're very good and helpful. We need the teaching of those books. But the Lord delights to reveal the truth to us. And we do need the help of those that are teachers to be able to rightly understand and rightly divide the word of truth.
But God is interested in your individual.
Growth your individual communion with himself.
He personally wants to reveal His glory to you.
Well, I think it's precious the Lord showed him all the land.
Moses didn't go into the land at that time. We'll read a little bit later, but he did.
Go into the land and he God always gives the best, and He always delights to give better than what we thought we might get. Let's stand up and sing one more hymn.
#61.
Well, let's turn to Luke's Gospel, Chapter 9.
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 9.
And let's read from verse 23.
He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whose letter will save his life shall lose it. And but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall say that what is a man advantage if you gain the whole world?
And lose himself, or destroy himself, or be castaway.
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words of him, shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you the truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they have seen, till they see the Kingdom of God. And.
Came to pass about, and eight days after these sayings he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening.
Behold their talk with him, two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory.
And spake of his deceased, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, but Peter.
And they that were with him were heavy with sleep.
And when they were awake, they saw His glory.
The two men that stood with him.
Came to pass. As they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it's good for us to be here. Let us make the three tabernacles one for thee, or three tents.
One for the.
One for Moses, one for Elias, not knowing what he said.
While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared. As they entered into the cloud, there came a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved son, hear him.
And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.
Well, you notice, you know some of these, these stories about the Lord.
Expressing His glory.
Showing his glory to those that were with him were on mountaintop.
I can't say that I like too much the idea of climbing the mountains, but I know in Newfoundland, when I've been in Newfoundland and different places, I'm sure in BC there's lots of mountains to climb and if you're going to go anywhere, there's going to be some climbing involved.
But it's interesting, you know?
In verse 28 that the Lord Jesus took these three men with him and he went up into a mountain to pray.
Took a lot of effort to get there.
You know, I don't think there's anything in your life and mine, particularly my life, that's more difficult to do than to have any stretch of time in prayer.
I have to shut my computer off. I have to shut my phone off. I don't turn the phone on until in the morning, until I've had a word of prayer and spent some time in the presence of the Lord. And I'm not a good example.
00:35:07
But it takes effort.
To go against the green in this world and decline, and to get into the presence of Lord alone.
And to spend time in prayer.
But dear young people, if you do it.
If you read the word of God.
And you spend some time in prayer. The Lord will reveal something of His glory to you.
And He delights to do it. Now you'll notice that he was Speaking of disciples from verse 23 down to verse 27.
And he speaks of those that would be suitable to be with him, you might say, on that mountaintop experience. And he mentions a couple of things.
One is that we must deny ourselves. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.
Yeah, we all have something that we'd like to do. People call it a bucket list, and there's some things in life I just like to get done.
But you know, it says in Romans 15, it says for even for Christ, please, not himself.
Christ pleased not himself. He never pleased himself, not once.
He never set aside in communion his relationship with his father just to do one thing just for himself.
And you and I, to be able to enjoy the presence of the Lord and to see something and appreciate something of the glories of Christ, we're going to have to deny ourselves what this world thinks are absolute necessities.
Now sitting.
Eating a hamburger I think it was yesterday.
And I was sitting outside because it was too cold inside. They have these air conditioners and everything is like a meat locker in there. So I go sit outside and eat my lunch.
So we're sitting outside watching the traffic go by.
And what impressed me?
Was the prosperity, the affluence of the people that walked by?
And the affluence, the prosperity, outward prosperity of those that drove by him, nobody looked like they were denying themselves anything.
Some of the expressions that are using advertising this world, you deserve it.
Just do it. All those things appeal to the natural man. And you and I have two natures was mentioned this morning. You and I have a fallen nature and we have a new nature. We have a divine life and we also have a life that was we were born with that's corrupted, corrupted by sin. So when the Apostle John speaks of being born again, he's Speaking of getting having a new life.
A divine life and having a new nature.
And so you need both. If you're not saved here this afternoon, you need both. But if you are saved, you have a new nature, the very life of Christ. You have a new life, divine life, and that life delights in Christ and it wants to see the glory of the Lord and it wants to please Lord. So we need to deny ourselves those things that we might have a natural attraction for. We need to take up the cross daily and follow.
The Lord Jesus, you know, the Lord Jesus and John's gospel, he mentions, he says.
I've enjoyed these little expressions. He says, you know, uses little three word expressions all through the Gospel of John. They said to him, and I think it's chapter one master, where dwellest thou? He says, come and see.
In chapter 21.
The apostles. There were seven of them that went out fishing.
The fish caught nothing.
And the Lord they saw on the seashore had cooked some fish, some bread.
What did he say to them? Come and dine.
Very simple. You know the very last thing that the Lord says to his disciples in John's Gospel?
Or are we willing to follow?
00:40:01
The Lord Jesus.
You know, you're not going to see the glories of Christ and you're not going to appreciate the person of the Lord Jesus and to walk in fellowship, communion with him if you don't have that sense of following him, following his direction and living for his glory. Well, we just want to comment on this little story of these ones that were caught up, you know, Peter, James, Peter, John and James went up.
And.
You know, they saw the Lord in this glorified state. They saw him there in his Kingdom, glory displayed.
And the Lord had arranged it in grace and kindness and His love for them, because they were each going to suffer in a different way.
And it would be a real encouragement, a real help to them as they went through the circumstances of life, the trials that were theirs, if they could just remember what they had seen on that mountain. They had seen the Lord Jesus in his glorified condition, all the brightness of his glory, and a promise that that Kingdom would actually be established and that he would be.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, they saw something of his Kingdom glory.
So Peter was brought up there, John and James.
But it's interesting here. Well, I'll, I'll make a comment on this in connection with Peter. Why was Peter there?
Well, he was the spokesman, perhaps you might say, for the apostles, but.
I sometimes think, think of these guys with six gun and they shoot 1St and then they ask questions later. And Peter was always shooting 1St and then asking questions later or getting corrected, whatever. But you know, the Lord uses Peter in this direct in this way. You and I oftentimes don't wait for the direction of the Lord and then we go ahead and we might consider that we thought that we were doing it in faith, but we just go ahead and do something and then we have to back up.
We have to say I made a mistake, or worse, I sinned.
But Peter, you know, was going to be used of God to be the apostle to the circumcision. And so he was going to, in these first couple epistles that he wrote, the first pistol, second epistle of Peter, instruct his countrymen, those that had left Judaism and now have taken Christ as Savior. He was going to instruct them and he was going to suffer.
Persecution. He was going to suffer and it was going to cost him his life.
And so he could look back. Let's read it in first Peter. I think it's first Peter, maybe second Peter.
Oh, where is it?
I think it's second Peter that he saw the.
Glory of the Lord. Maybe somebody can point it out to me here one.
1:15.
There it is.
First Peter one.
Because as it is written.
Be therefore be be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without respective person judges every man's work letter passes. So timing your sojourning here in fear. Now I was thinking of how he saw the glory.
Second, Peter. OK, I'm sorry.
For we have not followed first second Peter chapter one, verse 16 For we have not followed cuddling devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
Eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
And so this gave strength to Peter and it gave some impetus to his ministry. He could speak to his countrymen with a sense of authority, you might say. And he had seen the Lord in his glory and the Kingdom was going to be established in the future and he had seen evidence of it. Well, we know he suffered murder. And then we have James. I think it's Acts chapter 12. And he was.
00:45:04
The first apostle that was murdered.
But he had seen Christ in that Kingdom glory. It might look like all the apostles were going to be martyred and that the whole of the Christian testimony would be obliterated. But no, they had seen evidence of that Kingdom glory, and it gave them strength to to go on. John, you know, was going to be used of God to refute the error of those that would attack the deity of Christ.
And.
Suggests that he was not the Son of God and all those things.
But he had seen the Son of God in all of the glory, and so he received strength. He received something from the Lord that was a help to him. But you know, it says here.
In verse 31, He appeared in glory and glorified condition.
That says in verse 32 Peter and they that were with him were having to sleep. So here they are. Just think of it.
These three men climbed the mountain with the Lord Jesus. They get to the top.
And.
They're pretty tired, they've been following the Lord and who is busy about his father's business.
It must be an exhausting to follow the Lord.
That says he went throughout every city and village teaching and preaching the Kingdom of God.
Know how responsible they were.
I don't know that he missed a city or village. It says he went throughout every city and village teaching and preaching the Kingdom of God. Well, they got to the top of the mountain. They pretty tired and maybe like me, I had a hard day at work and you finally have a good meal at supper time and you say, boy, I'm tired.
And go back and put your feet up in the recliner and say, I think I need a bit of a snooze.
While Peter and those that were with the Lord Jesus went to sleep.
Just like you because you might say they went to sleep and here when they wake up.
Is something.
That the Spirit of God had desired them to see and to experience.
But they didn't experience the whole thing.
They were asleep. And so, you know, sometimes you know what it means to be asleep. It means to be unconscious. When you're asleep, you're unconscious. You don't know about any dangers around. In fact, you can't even smell fire when you're asleep. You can't smell smoke. That's why you have to have smoke detector.
You'll never wake up because you smell smoke. If you're asleep, you're unconscious of the danger. They were asleep. They were unconscious of the glory of Christ and those two men that were with him. And so sometimes we get to, we fall asleep, we get kind of sleepy in these meetings. We're not paying attention and we missed things that we shouldn't miss.
Things that the Spirit of God has for us, you know, Brother Chapter Brown used to say that he felt that if we missed intentionally missed a meeting.
That we missed something that the Spirit of God had for us that we might never ever get again.
We missed something because we were unconscious of what God had for us. Well, you know the Lord over rules. Isn't it wonderful how the Lord overrules? He made sure they woke up.
They woke up, they saw His glory. This wasn't nice to come into the assembly meetings and you sit in the presence of the Lord, hear the word ministered. Perhaps you come into the remembrance of the Lord, and the remembrance of the Lord is not about you. In fact, the assembly is not about you.
And Christianity isn't about you, it's about Christ. It's about His glory, His Majesty, His honour, His dignity. That's what it's about. Let's never forget the glory of the Lord.
And let's never forget that we're in the assembly in the presence of the glory of the Lord. You know, I just got back three weeks ago from Cuba.
And his brother John mentioned in those lands.
It's a little bit different.
In a sense, and Brother Tim, I think was Speaking of it to those souls are hungry.
00:50:00
I could show you a picture of a chair, doesn't It's a wooden chair.
And doesn't even have a center on it, but they'll sit on it. The centers are all gone on them, but they sit on the chair. That's all we got.
But they want to know about Christ.
They want to know what it is about some of the truth of Christianity, and they want to understand and enjoy them. And tell me again.
And tell it simply.
Went to a little place called Chambus. I could show you pictures. I think I have some pictures in the newsletter of Chambers and they asked me.
They had a sense that there was a rebellion going on in North America. I don't know how they got that idea in connection with head coverings. And they said, what is it about head coverings? Why? Why is there rebellion about it? And why do we have to do it anyway? And so we ran in First Corinthians Chapter 11.
And we read to in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 24.
Even as Christ, even as the Church is subject unto Christ.
The Church is subject under Christ.
It's a picture of submission when a sister has her head covered as a picture of submission to the authority of the Lord and to replace in the creation. And we explained, you know, it's a wonderful privilege because the sister represents the church really. And so Christ is the head of the church and he's going to have a bride in that heavenly scene above and she'll be in submission to him.
Eternity and show delight to be in submission to Him and to glorify Him.
They receive these things, they enjoy these things. There's weeping at times as they understand some of the truth.
That they want to know.
And they don't just want the knowledge of it, they want the knowledge of it to be able to do it. And they enjoy.
Those things that are brought out that have to do with the glory of the Lord, well, they saw His glory. The point is that, you know, the natural man has a glory, and the hair of the woman, a beautiful head of hair on a sister, represents the glory of a natural man. And that glory has to be covered in the presence of the Lord, so that the glory of Christ shines forth.
Only the glory of Christ should shine forth in the assembly.
If we're in the presence of the Lord.
Well, what a privilege for us to be able to reflect that kind of order but this world is trying to destroy.
The order that God has placed in creation. We only have a couple of minutes left. Could I just give you a little personal story here?
Just to show that there's been drift in our world.
When I was in fifth grade, I think it was 1968.
Recently we had moved to Ottawa, ON.
And the school that went to Featherston Public School.
In Ottawa.
Was the neighborhood was busting at the seams and so they had portable classrooms and so I was housed in one of the portable classrooms to go into one of the.
School rooms there. I don't remember the name of the future.
But the 1St morning that I went into that classroom, that young girl.
Perhaps just graduated from the teachers college.
Maybe mid 20s she handed every boy and girl a children's hymn book.
As I came in the door of her classroom.
And.
For the first 5-10 minutes, we sang little children's hymns out of that hymn book.
This is over 50 years ago. You know that in Canada at that time, in that area, in Ontario, there was a Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic school system, which was French, and then the English schools were Protestant schools. And so there was part of the mandate that the teachers could.
Used the word of God. It was a part of the curriculum. So we read, we sang those little hymns that dear sister.
00:55:07
Pull the Bible out and read passage of scripture every morning.
And spoke of the truth of God, and presented the gospel of the grace of God to those children.
And then she very solemnly prayed for the salvation of those souls.
That they would have lives that were lived for the glory of God. They would be preserved from the innards of the enemy to destroy.
Then when we said Amen, we're saying God save the Queen in old Canada, and we got on with our.
Curriculum.
I don't know that sisters name.
But she had an influence on that generation.
And you're going to have an influence on the generation that you're living in. You're either going to display something of the glory of Christ in your life.
You are going to seek to have the Lord show you something, this glory in a walk in communion with Him, in companionship with him.
Going to be, otherwise it'll be a loss.
I just want to encourage you, dear young people, today, if you haven't made a decision to live for the Lord Jesus, cry to Him for help. We live in a world that hates Christ.
But you can walk in communion with the Lord and your face will shine. It will show that you have been in the presence of the Lord. It will show that you take the energy and you climb up into the presence of the Lord and walk with him or desire to walk with him. While we didn't finish everything that we wanted to go over, but it's nice to know that in spite of the failure in connection with Peter here and that amount of transfiguration.
The Lord has his way with us.
And you know, there's going to be. Let me read one more passage of Scripture and we'll close in Second Thessalonians.
Chapter 2.
Well, let's.
Let's read in chapter one, Second Thessalonians, chapter one.
Verse 7 To you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints.
And to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you is believed in that day. This world has never seen a display that it's going to see very shortly, about seven years after the rapture, there's going to be a display of the glory of the Son of God in this world that is unimaginable.
This world is going to see Christ in all of his glory, and you and I who know the Lord Jesus, will be with him, reflecting and radiating that glory.
And His delight is that we would be have a full reward and not be ashamed before Him at his coming. That means, you know, that we may have a sense of loss and a sense that we could have shone brighter for Him if we had lived for him. But it were going to be a part of that display of the glory. The Lord Jesus is going to come in glory, and it says in the Old Testament.
Zechariah chapter 14, I think it's verse five. He'll come with all his Saints.
Not one missing.
Oh, don't you want to see him in all that glory? I trust that everyone here is saved. You know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
Let's commend ourselves.
Our loving God.