Address—D. Andersen
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General Meetings, Montreal, October 1975.
Addressed by Dan Anderson.
I apologize for the.
Let's sing #2 in the appendix.
To him you gave out was right in line with the ministry we've been having.
And it's a good hymn to remember, and especially what it says.
In that verse concerning the Holy Ghost.
#2 in the appendix.
This hymn, as many of you know, was written by.
Our late brother Jay and Darby.
It was written when he was 45 years of age.
And.
That's simple, and yet there's depth in it and there's something really.
That fits everyone of us, whether we are young or old.
I'm thinking of verse 2. Yet, Lord, alas, what weakness within myself I find no infants. Changing pleasure is like my wandering mind. You ever have that that experience in the meetings, young people?
You're sitting there in the meeting and we're having something before us concerning Christ.
And his precious word. And the first thing you know what? Your mind is way off somewhere.
Well, we older ones, we have the same experience.
But then it says, Yet thy loves unchanging, and doth recall my heart to join all its brightness to peace its beams in part. How good to know that the Lord still loves us and He cares for us. #2 in the appendix.
Someone started please?
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To try all the brightness.
You have to cry with us.
Among the people.
I'd like to have you turn with me to Luke's Gospel.
Chapter 24.
I believe this is a chapter that's familiar to many here, perhaps most.
And I trust you young people have read this chapter at least once.
But it's a wonderful thing to read the whole word of God.
There may be parts of the word of God that you don't seem to get much out of, and even those chapters where there's so many names. But if you look closely at some of those chapters, you might get something out of them too, because you find little things hidden in the midst of all of those names and those chapters. And if you Passover that chapter, you're going to miss it. God has so much in his word and it's in a way hidden away there. But we thank God, as we've had before, that He's given us His Holy Spirit.
Who's in our hearts? And He does teach us. The Lord isn't here to open up the scriptures to us now personally.
But the Lord does, by His Holy Spirit, open up the word to us. And we have something about that in this very chapter that we're going to read. I'm not going to read from the first of the chapter, and I'm not going to read the chapter before we begin, because.
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There's so much here that our trust will be able to cover some of it. Anyway, we're not going to exhaust this chapter. And don't ever think that you're going to exhaust any part of the word of God, because the Word of God is of such a fullness that we down here in this scene will never exhaust it. And there's so much there that it'll occupy us for all eternity.
Now we start with the 13th verse of Luke's Gospel, chapter 24, and it says and behold.
Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem. About 3 score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
It says here.
2 Two of them.
Behold 2 of them, two of whom? Well, I take it that it's two of the disciples.
And evidently they had been at Jerusalem, and they had been together with the other disciples.
But now they were on their way out into the country, away from Jerusalem.
Away from the little nucleus that was gathered together there.
And I don't know why they were going out into the country, but we find out something of what they were doing as they were going along the way.
And they had heard about some things that had taken place.
Because they were talking about them.
It says they talked together of all these things which have happened now you'll notice in the first part of the chapter.
It speaks of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These women come very early in the morning.
And the first day of the week.
The Sabbath had ended.
And they were coming.
And they were coming with their spices. And of course they were coming expecting to take care of the body of the Blessed Lord. But when they got there, they found the stone rolled away, and the Lord wasn't there.
The Lord wasn't there.
What a mercy that God saw to it, that the stone was rolled back, that the grave was opened up, and they could look in and see that the Lord wasn't there.
What would be our state today? What condition would be we be in?
If the Lord had remained in the grave.
If they had looked in there and he had still been there, have you ever thought about that?
Oh, what miserable things we would have been without hope, No hope of resurrection.
No hope of being with the Lord Jesus Christ. No hope of being in glory with him.
But oh, how wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen.
And in connection with this I just want to remind you of a scripture in the end of the book of Romans chapter four, that the Lord was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Now there are two things brought before us in that verse. The Lord delivered for our offenses. We look at him on Calvary's cross and there Peter can say about him, He bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
He took the judgment for our sins, He paid the penalty for our sins, He took the guilty once place, and he died under the judgment and wrath of a holy God.
His wrath against sin. And He took the judgment for all those sins, and every one of us who knows the Lord Jesus Christ his Savior, can say He bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
And because the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin, God can forgive our sins when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we we do enjoy and appreciate the forgiveness of sins. And everyone who knows Christ as Savior has the forgiveness of His sin.
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But we have more than just forgiveness. We have justification.
We have justification, that is, we are seeing before God.
As righteous in him, God does not see us in our sins, but he sees us in Christ.
And it speaks of us in Ephesians as being accepted in the Beloved.
Were placed before God, righteous.
This is a marvelous thing.
And that's what it tells us about in Romans 5 and verse one, therefore being justified.
By faith we have peace with God. Not only our sins forgiven, but were justified before God seen righteous before God. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's our standing before God, and we'll always have that standing, standing in righteousness before God.
And you, dear young people, sometimes perhaps especially right after you're saved.
You begin to wonder.
About what's taking place, what's happening?
Because after you've had the experience of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you know your sins are forgiven.
And you're really the Lord. You find that you still want to sin.
You still have those motions of sin within you, and they disturb you.
It is. It is disturbing.
And perhaps you've even wondered, Well, I wonder if I'm saved at all. I thought when I got saved, I wouldn't be troubled this way anymore.
Oh dear young people, we still have an old, sinful nature, and I'm afraid that when we get saved, it begins to act up worse than ever.
It's like the time that Isaac was born.
Abraham had another son about 13 years before.
Ishmael. And of course Abraham had been looking for an heir, and even Abraham himself looked upon Ishmael as the heir of his household.
The inheritor of all his substance.
But then God made it plain to Abraham that it wasn't in Ishmael, but it was in Isaac.
That all would head up. And so there was a promise given to him, and they had Isaac 13 years afterward, and the day came when Isaac was to be recognized as the heir of Abraham's household substance and all, and we find Ishmael mocking.
Old enough to realize what was going on. And he didn't like the idea that here was another one, just a a child coming on to take the place that he had perhaps learned by this time was his. He was ruling the roost, as it were.
Well, this is what happens with those who are not saved. The old nature, the old flesh is ruling the roost. But when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
Of whom Isaac is a type, and he comes into your heart.
The flesh begins to act up, and oh how you need the Lord then, and you just must give the Lord Jesus Christ the whole.
Room in your heart. Put him on the throne in your heart and recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ has a right to your life.
A right to your heart. A right to the first place in your life.
And you know, as you give the Lord Jesus Christ that first place.
You'll find that you have grace and strength when temptations come, and that's why it's so important to stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be in his presence and to talk with him and just tell the Lord I want you to have my whole heart. I yield it all to thee. I want you to have your way with me, and the Lord will give you grace and you can go to the Lord.
For grace and mercy to help you in your time of need. Oh no. Just because the flesh begins to act up worse than ever in you, that's not necessarily a sign that you're not the Lords. Perhaps it is a sign that you are the Lords. And oh how you need to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart.
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Well, we're thankful for the open grave and if any of you want to follow.
These things along, I don't know if we'll get through them all, but there are at least seven open things in this chapter, and the first one we meet is the open grave. And we can say thanks, Peter God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. You find that verse in the Resurrection chapter in First Corinthians 15.
Now these two who were leaving Jerusalem, it says they were talking together and it says while they commune together and reason.
They commune together and reason.
Well, they were having a visit about these things and they were reasoning about the things that had happened.
But all the time they were reasoning what was happening.
They were getting further and further away from Jerusalem, farther away.
From the center further out into the country, there were really Wanderers.
Wandering away from the Lord, Wandering away from his own. Wandering away from the company of the disciples there in Jerusalem.
But look at the faithfulness of the Lord. Have you young people?
Ever had the experience of wandering away from the Lord, getting away from him?
Perhaps even getting away from home, or getting away from your brethren, or getting away from those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, his disciples.
Remember, if you're getting away from the Lord, he's not getting away from you.
He draws near to you, He says. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Just think of that. You may not be aware of it. You may not be conscious of it. Just like these. It says their eyes were holding that they should not know Him. And while you've been away from the Lord, you're not aware that the Lord himself is with you and he hasn't forsaken you. But how sad a state to be in not to know that the Lord is present and that He's near us.
And you know, we miss a lot when we're not aware that the Lord is near us. We're not enjoying His presence just like these. We're reasoning and getting further and further away from the Lord. But the Lord went along with them. It tells us here. And he says to them then. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk on our side? If you're away from the Lord, if you're away from His people, you can't be anything but sad.
And perhaps you dear young people are having an experience like this, and you're not really happy. You can't be happy away from the Lord. You can't be happy away from your brethren. You can't be happy away from the assembly. Oh no, It can result only in sadness.
And one of them, whose name was Clippers answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?
And have not known the things which are come to pass in these days.
And he said unto them, What things?
Look at the Lord. He asked them a question. Why? To draw out their hearts?
And that's what the Lord does with us. When we get away from him, he begins to speak to us. He perhaps tries to draw out our hearts.
He said unto them, What things, Well, they continue to tell him.
Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in peace and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this today is 1/3 day since these things were done.
There was a note of disappointment in what they were saying. Have you been disappointed, dear young people?
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Perhaps you've been very disappointed.
And that disappointment that you experience threw you off the track somehow, and you seem to get away from the Lord.
And perhaps you really enjoyed the Lord to begin with after you were saved, But that disappointment upsets you turn your side.
Well, this is sad, isn't it? It doesn't have to turn it aside. It doesn't have to upset us. No, we need to keep our eye on the Lord. We need to stay close to him. We need to believe what he says, because the Lord goes on and tells them and we'll read on about.
Their slowness of heart to believe.
Yeah, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the Sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us, went to the sepulchre and found it, even as the women had said. But him they saw not. Then he said unto them, all fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Fools and slow heart, just think of what the Lord says to them.
Well, these two were his dear children.
They were disciples of his and look at the strong language. He uses fools and slow heart to believe all well it was meant all the word of God, all that the prophets have spoken. Now remember.
When the Lord was speaking to them, they did not have the New Testament.
They had the Old Testament scriptures. They had what the prophecies spoken. That was the word of God. But they should have known about the Lord Jesus Christ. From these scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, did you realize that you can learn something from the Old Testament about the Lord Jesus Christ? Where do we get all of the types and shadows, the types of the Lord Jesus Christ, those things that point forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Where do we find them? We find them in the Old Testament. Do you ever read the Old Testament?
Oh, it's a wonderful book.
I'm thankful that God laid it upon my heart to read the word of God when I was young.
I was reading the word of God even before I was saved. I don't know why I did it, but I believe it was God that was laying it upon my heart to do it.
I read the Bible through 1 1/2 Times before I got saved.
It was the Word of God that was used by the Spirit of God to convict me, make me see I was a Sinner and I needed to be saved.
Oh, don't think likely of reading the word of God. Don't think likely of reading the Old Testament. And you know, I read the Old Testament and I read in Genesis especially where you find the beginnings of most everything that you have in the word of God. It's the book of beginnings.
And read it, meditate upon it and you will find, especially in the story of Joseph, oh, something that can really speak to the heart of a young person. Don't give up reading the word. Don't give up reading the Old Testament. That's what you young people need. You need the word of God. We can't do without it. Those of you who are the Lords, you need food for your soul, and the word of God is food.
Food for the soul.
That makes me think of that chief over in Ghana.
Brother, sister and I went to visit him.
And brother Sister was telling him about how he had been sending the word of God over into Ghana and other places in Africa, I suppose. And so this chief speaking through an interpreter I found later on. He could talk English, but to show his importance he wanted to speak through an interpreter to us. But he said through his interpreter, you see that room back there and that table over there?
We saw that there were books on it.
He says those are Bibles, and he says I spend a little time every day reading the word of God.
Because it's food for my soul. Think of that black man a chief.
And he was just a young chief. He wasn't more than in his 20s. He'd been made chief when he was 14 years of age. But somehow, somewhere along the line, perhaps some missionary had given him the word of God and impressed upon him the importance of reading the word of God. And he found for himself that it was food for his soul. Is it food for your soul?
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Four wonderful day will dawn for you when you find that the word of God is really food for your soul and you just long to have time to open it up. And when you get to that point, you're going to take time to read the word of God. Oh dear, young people, don't get under any kind of compulsion or law and try to do things in the flesh. You're going to give out after a while, but just get the Lord before you and get into His presence and you'll develop a hunger.
For this thing and you want to take time to read the word of God.
Sometimes you see older ones reading the word of God and you think, well, I wish I had a desire to read the word of God like that. I see brother so and so and sister so and so.
Going aside, reading the word and perhaps you can't understand why, why they're doing that. They're getting some food for their soul.
Why did you go down to lunch this noon? Or you felt you needed some food for your body?
Did anybody compel you to go down there? Did they put any pressure on you to go down there? Of course not. There was a hunger in your body for that food and you went after it.
May we ask the Lord to give us a real hunger for Himself and for His word. You know, we so many of us.
Are in a kind of a cyclic condition spiritually and when people get sick. My wife just had that experience in the hospital. She was ill, She didn't feel like eating anything. And we're that way sometimes spiritually. We get sick in our souls, away from the Lord, and we're not going on well, and we have no hunger for the things of God. Our appetite is gone.
Let's get close to the Lord and lets us let us value the Lord's desire to draw near to us.
And we can always depend on it that when we want to be in the presence of the Lord, he's right there. He's never far away. No, He's right there. Get down on your knees before him and talk to him. Commune with him. And the first thing you know, you'll see something that you've been going on with in your life that isn't pleasing to the Lord. And the Lord will give you grace on your knees to judge it. But you've got to get into the presence of the Lord. You've got to get on your knees or sit before the Lord.
And justice? Talk to him, and perhaps let him talk to you too, as we were here yesterday.
But the Lord will show you those things that are hindering you and causing you to be sad. Oh how we need the presence of the Lord. And we thank the Lord for His faithfulness in drawing near.
Jesus himself, Junior. Just himself, just to be in the presence of himself.
Things happen when we're aware, when we're conscious of his presence and we're communing with him as being in his presence.
Ought not Christ have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. There's that word himself again.
As you read this chapter, you cannot get away from himself. In fact, as you read the whole word of God, you can't get away from himself because it's an account about himself.
There are those that approach the Word of God as history. Well, there's history in the Word of God.
But the word of God is really His story. The story about himself, The story about the Lord Jesus Christ from beginning to end, whether it's in the Old Testament, in types, there he is. Whether it's in the prophets, there he is. Whether it's in the Psalms, there he is.
And then you come to the New Testament. You find him in the gospel he's spoken of everywhere. It's about himself.
It's a wonderful thing to get introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. And don't you thank the Lord young people.
For that time when you really came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you confess Jesus as Lord, you came to know him as your Lord as well as your Savior, and you got a little acquainted with himself. And perhaps you've gone on and grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming better acquainted with himself.
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Well, this is what the Lord wants. But here we have the Lord opening up the word to them, opening up the scriptures. Isn't that wonderful to have the Lord open up scriptures to us? He's doing it now by His Spirit who is here. And dear young people, don't forget those of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior know your sins forgiven. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, and it's because of that that you know that you're a child of God.
And that God is your Father.
It's a wonderful thing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart because.
He will take the things of Christ and show them to you.
Don't grieve him.
Don't do anything to grieve him, because if you grieve the Spirit of God, he's hindered in showing you the things of Christ because you'll have to show you your sins first. He'll have to put pressure upon you that you might confess that and be cleansed. Then you'll be free again to minister Christ to you. But if you get in a bad state of soul, heal minister Christ to you who died on the cross and show you his sufferings there.
As we have it illustrated.
Or typified in the 19th chapter of Numbers in the in the Burning of the Red Heifer.
And all that that was put in the burning, reminding us of the terrible suffering that the Lord Jesus Christ went through.
And the Spirit of God will point you to that and show you, look, you have done something that caused the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it'll bow your heart and you'll see all how wretched I am. And you confess to the Lord, and then you'll be forgiven. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, Isn't that lovely? Don't be afraid to go to the Lord with it. Oh, I know when you get away from the Lord and you've done something to dishonor the Lord.
Into a bad state, but ask the Lord to help you to trace that thing right back to the root of it, where it started right down in the old nature.
And sometimes we're so busy judging fruit that we we forgot forget to judge the root of the fruit, but in any kind of restoration, whether it's individual restoration before the Lord or.
Restoration collectively, where someone has gotten out of fellowship with his brother or has been disciplined put away.
All remember.
To trace that thing back to the root and judge the root. It had a beginning somewhere. It had a beginning somewhere. May the Lord give us grace not to judge only fruit, but the root of sin.
And they drew nigh unto the village whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us for this toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to carry with them. They opened their home. I suppose it was their home at least they said, Come and stay with us. And they opened the door to him.
Now some of you young people are married and you've already started your home.
Have you invited the Lord in?
Have you opened the door for him to come in?
Don't hold back on that.
Because if you're not giving the Lord Jesus Christ a place in your home, there are a lot of things that are going to come into your home that don't belong there.
But I believe if you give the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place, not only in your heart but in your home, that's going to keep some of these things out, that dishonor the law and that drag you down, tear down your spirituality.
You know, we got to get out the positive side of this thing. Perhaps you see somebody that doesn't want a TV in this home or something else in his home.
And perhaps you think, well, this must be a good thing. You try to imitate it, but you breakdown after a while. Why? Because you haven't given the Lord Jesus Christ the place that belongs to him in your home.
You give the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place in your home. There will be the power to keep these things out.
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Well, up until this time, the Lord hadn't really revealed himself to these two because their eyes were still holding all the way down to where we've read now. But he went into tarry with them. Now what purpose did the Lord have in that? Oh, the Lord's heart was yearning for these two. He cared for them. He went all the way with them, all that trip and into their home.
What for?
Well, it says, and it came to pass as he sat at meet with them. He took bread, and blessed it, and break and gave to them.
Are they seen this done before? But the Lord was opening their eyes now.
And it says their eyes were opened. They didn't open their own eyes, nor is the Lord that opened that says their eyes were opened. It's in the passive.
It was somebody else acting upon them.
And you know, dear young people, we don't get our eyes open by ourselves, but it's the Lord that works.
In us to will and to do of his good pleasure. He's the one that opens up our eyes. Don't close your eyes again. No. The Lord may give you a little glimpse like He did here. Their eyes were opened and they knew him and ivanished out of their sight. Just a little glimpse they got of him. The Lord opened their eyes. I remember.
While we were still in the Congo, my wife and I.
We began to see some of the truth of gathering being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of the one body.
And we began to see some of the responsibilities that were ours as members of the body of Christ.
And without knowing that there was anybody else in the world gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we felt constrained.
To begin to remember the law.
But after a while we learned that there were others in other places, and then we wanted to find them, that we might be with them because the Lord had shown us that it wouldn't be right for us to go on independently by ourselves. Oh dear young people.
Think about this, there's a lot of independency of spirit these days amongst.
So-called brethren, so-called a lot of independency.
There's no independency in the body of Christ where members one or another. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one head of the body. And just like the members of the human body are interdependent, dependent one upon another, so the members of the body of Christ are dependent one upon another. There is no such thing as independency in the Church, in the assembly, in the body of Christ. No. Let us feel our dependence.
Upon one another. Well, in those days.
The Lord gave us a little glimpse of himself.
And thank the Lord. He kept her eyes open.
And he led us little by little, step by step, until we were finally with those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We found the place where the Lord is in the midst.
And we hadn't experienced something like these, where the Lord stands in the midst and will read on.
And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11 gathered together. Not only the 11, there were others there too, and then that were with them, a company that would represent the assembly.
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to sign.
Now they were finding out that the Lord really was risen.
And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Just visualize this company. Now there the 11 Judas was gone, but there were the 11. They were gathered together, and there were others there with them. A nice little company.
And then it says, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And I remember the day my wife and I.
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Were received.
And remember the Lord.
For the first time with those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was like the Lord saying, Peace be unto you.
It was a wonderful day.
When I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
But what it did was when I came to know him as the center of gathering, and found where he was in the midst. And he said, Peace be unto you, You dear young people, have you had the Lord speak that to your heart?
I know, but a number of you have taken your place at the Lords table and I believe that you you believe that the Lord is there. You've seen him there in the midst, and he's speaking. He has spoken peace to your soul.
But there are some of you here this afternoon.
You're not at the Lord's table.
Wouldn't you like to hear him speak? Peace be unto you the second time you heard him speak peace to your heart, the peace of salvation. Wouldn't you like to hear him speak the peace of gathering to your heart?
He loves to have you there. He wants you around himself. He wants you there, remembering himself.
He wants you there, giving expression to the fact that you're a member of the body of Christ, because that's what we do when we break bread.
Then perhaps there are some of the young people here, and maybe older ones too.
But this is especially for the young people you are at the Lord's table.
But perhaps you do not value very much.
Himself who is in the midst.
Perhaps you have taken your place there because somebody else did it, and you haven't really seen that the Lord is there.
If you haven't get before the Lord above, just ask the Lord to show you. Make this thing clear to you, because he says plainly where two or three are gathered together until my name, there am I in the midst of them.
There am I. Do you believe the word of God?
It's that simple. It's not some complicated experience that you have to have, but you get it from the word of God.
4 Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. The Lord is in the midst.
Just like he was here in all simplicity, the Lord himself stood in the midst of them and said, Peace be unto you.
Isn't that wonderful to have that piece to be settled on this thing?
There are some here this afternoon. We haven't been settled on this thing. The Lord wants you to be settled.
Just as much as he wants you to be settled on salvation and knowing Christ as Savior, he wants you to be settled on the matter of gathering. And knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of gathering.
The Lord is in earnest about this thing, and if you get in earnest about it, the Lord will show you. If any man will to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
But it says they were terrified and afraid. Suppose they'd seen the spirit?
He said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why this ought to rise in your hearts. Perhaps we can enter into this kind of thing too. We've had thoughts rising in our hearts. We've been troubled, and so on. Just like Jacob when he was going off to Peyton Arab.
He lodged one the first night and he had a stone for a pillow and he lay there and had a vision and then he realized God's in this place and he was afraid.
He said. This is a dreadful place.
Is that the way you feel about the assembly? Is that the way you feel about the place where the largest in the midst? It's a dreadful place. Is that why you're afraid to take your place at the Lord's table? It's not a dreadful place. It's a blessed place. It's a place of peace. It's a place of joy and happiness to be where the Lord is in the midst.
May the Lord give you grace to see that it's not a dreadful place or you. It's a place where you have to reverence the Lord. That's true.
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Place where you must respect the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I found out when I took my place at the Lord's table. And this is really what I was expecting that I would feel. Well, now I can't do as I please.
It's not a proper for me to have an independent spirit and to go on independently.
It's my place to go on with my brethren, in subjection to my brethren and in fellowship with them, and to have their fellowship in anything that I would seek to do for the Lord, especially as to the work of the Lord.
Yes, we have to give due respect unto the Lord and His authority in the assembly.
He says Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Just look how often he speaks of himself, myself.
I myself handle me and see for a spirit of not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when He does spoken, He showed to them, He showed them his hands and his feet. What did they see? They saw the wound. They were reminded of Calvary. And when the Lord is in our midst, like it was yesterday morning, we're reminded of Calvary.
We're reminded of how much He suffered for our sake and that he died. And His precious blood was shed there at the cross. Shed for me, shed for everyone that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And while they yet leave not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have you hear any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.
What ministry they were getting from the Blessed Lord Himself.
And the Lord still gives us this ministry by His Spirit who is among us.
And teaches us the things concerning himself.
Says, then open he their understanding that they might understand the scripture.
And open understanding.
And opened understanding.
Have you ever noticed that dear young people and when you come to the reading meeting, your understanding gets opened up to understand the scriptures?
It's been a blessed experience for me. I went to a Bible school before I was gathered. I was one of these that had the title Reverend tacked on to his name and ordained. According to men, men's empty hands put on my empty head.
But after I came.
Into the place where the Lord had placed his name, sitting with my brethren in the assembly, reading meetings.
I learned many, many, many more things, many more truths than I ever learned in the Bible school. The assembly is the place where God by His spirit opens up the word and opens up our understanding To understand the Word, don't look for any other place. Just take advantage of the place where the largest in the midst. Or you say we're only two or three where we are. We're only half a dozen where we are.
Doesn't matter. The Lord is there, and the Lord by his spirit will open up the word to you. Or you say we don't have any gift where we are. It isn't a matter of gift, it's a matter of the Spirit of God being there. It's a matter of the Lord being there and by his Spirit opening up the word and opening up the scriptures. And perhaps you. You don't get a lot of things that you might get in general meetings like these, or in an assembly where there are more brothers and so on, but still.
I have found that the Lord is faithful to the two or three, even in a place where there's only one brother.
And I go back to one of these places now and then, and I'm amazed at the growth of that young brother.
He's growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord is opening up the word to him.
Why? Because these were the largest He's there in the midst.
Well, he goes on and says to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooves Christ to suffer to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of this these things, and the Lord is really telling them. Now you get your mouths open.
00:55:13
But that's way down the line. They found the Lord in the midst and the Scriptures have been opened up to them.
And their understanding has been opened up. Now they're ready to go out. We find that the tendency in Christendom today is that as soon as a person gets saved, he thinks he's got to go out.
And preach the gospel.
How important it is to stay in the assembly?
And have the scriptures opened up and have the understanding open up, and know what it is to have the blessed Lord in the midst. And and know something about the authority of the Lord in the assembly. And learn the ways of the Lord in the assembly. These things are very important. And I would, I would advise council, any young brothers among us who haven't exercised about the gospel, wait on the law, spend time in the assembly.
Be in the presence of the law. Be among your brethren, and if you do go out after a while, keep 1 foot in the assembly. Keep 1 foot in the assembly as you're going out with the other foot with the gospel. Oh, it's so important to have a home base and to have brethren.
With whom you're in fellowship.
I don't know what I would do without my brother.
In Des Moines. I'm thankful for them.
Let us learn, let us learn to value our brethren.
Dear young brothers, let us learn to value our brethren.
Seek their conscience, seek their advice, seek their encouragement. And if you're going on in simplicity, in fellowship with the Lord, independence upon him, and you're going on humbly, you will have the encouragement of your brethren and you'll get a lot of help from them.
Well, he wants us to get our mouths open, first of all, to praise him, speak well of him.
And then go out with the gospel to others. Well, this chapter closes with the open heaven, the Lord going up into the open heaven. And soon, one of these days we'll see him coming back through that open heaven, and he'll catch us up to be with himself, that we might be with himself forever. The one himself we've learned to know a little bit about down here. And all will be with him. Be like him, see him as he is.
Just himself in the glory.