St. Louis Conference: 2012
Table of Contents
What the Queen of Sheba Saw When With Solomon
Address—Jim Hyland
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It starts this afternoon with 132.
The person of the Christ, unfolding every grace once slain but now alive again in heaven, demands our praise. 132 If someone would please start.
So, pretty great union. Well, I'm going to.
Turn with me please, to 1St Kings Chapter 10.
First Kings Chapter 10. We'll begin reading at verse one.
And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices, and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendants of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup bearers, and his assent, by which he went up into the House of the Lord.
There was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy axe and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believe not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it.
And behold, the half was not told me, thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore made he the king to do judgment and justice, And she gave to the king 120 talents of gold.
And of spices, very great store and precious stones.
There came no more such abundance of spice as these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
And then notice verse 13. And King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire.
Whatsoever. She asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. And just hold your finger here, we're going to come right back. But I want to go back to Luke. 11 was read to us earlier.
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Luke's Gospel, Chapter 11.
And verse 31 The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment.
With the men of this generation and condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Well, I have it on my heart this afternoon in taking up this little incident in the Old Testament in connection with the life of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, to draw some very practical applications from the things that the Queen of Sheba observed when she came to the court of Solomon. But before we do that, it might be helpful to set this story in its context dispensationally.
Because we find at this point in Israel's history there were two men that were two kings, 2 successive kings that are beautiful pictures of different aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, when we go back to the Old Testament and read these stories, it's wonderful to draw the practical applications from the lives of men and of these men in the Old Testament.
But I believe it's also very instructive and good for our souls to see that many of them are beautiful types, beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus himself. And when we don't see them in that context, I believe we lose a great deal of the blessing that God intends for us when we read the Old Testament. And so we find that previous to the reign of Solomon, there was Solomon's father, King David.
And King David typifies to us the life of the Lord Jesus.
And his work in connection with his rejection. I realize that there are many things in connection with the life of David that point on to a future Day of Glory.
But generally speaking, David brings before us the Lord Jesus in his rejection.
David is the one who fled as a bird to the mountain. David is the one whose life was haunted by King Saul.
David is the one who slept in The Cave of Adela, and there were a few that followed David in his rejection.
And how he valued it. But then we find after David passes from the scene that King Solomon comes to the throne and King Solomon typifies to us the Lord Jesus.
In his millennial glory, that time when he's going to come and he's going to reign in righteousness, it says a king shall reign in righteousness and Princess shall rule in judgment.
It's a time when Israel is going to have their enemies put down and there's going to be a wonderful time of peace, but not only for the nation of Israel as they're drawn around themselves and there's a shout of a king amongst them. But it's going to be a wonderful time of blessing for all the nations, so different than what we find over in that part of the world today. People in the land of Israel are going to bed and getting up from day-to-day.
With a great deal of fear and trepidation, the whole Middle East, especially in the last few days, is in tremendous turmoil. The world itself is in turmoil, wars and rumors of war and violence and corruption filling the earth. But isn't it a tremendous thing to think, brethren, that there's a day coming when the King of Righteousness is going to rise with healing in his wings? And what a day that will be. And when we read the reign of Solomon we find.
That it's really as far as Israel's history up until this present time, it was a day unparalleled in their history what blessing there was. And they were recognized by the nations around them and the other nations coming up to Jerusalem, bringing their tribute and so on. The reign of Solomon is really something very remarkable in the pages of the Old Testament, and so this is what his reign typifies to us.
As far as dispensationally and no doubt we have it here in this incident where the Queen of Sheba comes up from the uttermost parts of the earth and brings up the bounty in store of her nation at that time.
But you know, Scripture always has a present application for us. And while we don't want to miss the prophetic and dispensational character of things that is brought out throughout the whole word of God, yet equally we don't want to miss the practical aspect of things as well. And so we find that in the Old Testament there were three women that made journeys, all based on different reports that they had heard.
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Of three different men. Three men again who typify to us an aspect of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find back in Genesis Chapter 24 that Rebecca made a journey. She made a journey based on the report that Abraham's servant brought, and he's a picture of the spirit of God. She made a journey based on a report of love.
And she came and was joined to a man by the name of Isaac. And what a beautiful picture.
Isaac and Rebecca are of Christ and the church, but she made that journey based on a report of love and she became his wife and he loved her earlier on too. We find there was a lady named Abigail during the life of David and she came based on a report based on a report of moral glory and grace, and she came to the feet of David and she received blessing as well.
But here we find in our story that the Queen of Sheba comes from.
Abyssinia or what was perhaps modern day Ethiopia, and she came based on a report not of love, not a report of moral glory. She came based on a report of wisdom. And you know when you put those 3 journeys together, they're very beautiful, aren't they? They are those three things that the Spirit of God uses to draw souls to Christ, whether it's Christ drawing to Christ initially for salvation.
Or whether it's drawing out the souls of the people of God closer to Christ.
And I trust that that's what happens this afternoon as we take up this little story and as we're here this weekend to have the word of God before us.
That as we consider His love, his moral glory and grace, and as we consider the wisdom of our Solomon.
That our hearts would be more attracted to himself, and that we would desire, like those 3 ladies, to be more in his presence. And so the Queen of Sheba makes this journey and I don't suppose any of us really can enter into what a long, arduous journey it must have been back in the days of Solomon. You know, in colonial times on that the continent of Africa and in the Middle East, roads were swathed by the British and the other colonizers.
And some of those roads are still used today to get through the jungle and jungles and across the deserts.
And I've had the opportunity to travel on some of those roads, but there wouldn't have been those kinds of roads in those days. No doubt the Queen of Sheba had quite an entourage of men. Perhaps that went before and cleared the jungle, cleared the way, scouts that went ahead and made sure there were no dangers as they were going to pass, and so on. But she makes this journey because she'd heard a report of Solomon.
And his wisdom. And when she came to Solomon, a picture, as I say, of the Lord Jesus Christ, there was first of all something standing in the way. And that was she had a lot of hard questions.
And maybe there's someone here this afternoon. Maybe you're just newly saved. Or maybe you've been saved for a long time and you say, I've got a lot of hard questions, just a lot of things about life I don't understand. You know, this world is full of hard questions. Sad to say. There are many people in this world who are seeking the answers to their questions in something apart from the word of God and someone apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they're not finding the answers to their questions. I try to read people's faces as I travel through this world, and I see the questions, the enigmas, written on people's faces as they hurry to and fro throughout this earth. It's a true that in the last days, knowledge is increased and knowledge has increased and its availability has increased, but it hasn't answered man's questions.
Man is going on seeking to the questions to life and they'll never find them.
Until they turn to the word of God and God's man Christ. But isn't it wonderful that we have in our hands this afternoon the answer book?
I've sometimes said, especially to the young people, we don't have all the answers, but we do have the answer book, and we have the answers found in this book and found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we're willing to search this book, and if we're willing to get into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with our questions in his time and way, he will not only answer those questions, but he'll answer them to our satisfaction.
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Because you find that with the questions that the Queen of Sheba had, not only were her questions answered, but they were answered to her heart's desire. She went away eventually satisfied with the answers that she got. Because maybe you asked someone a question, perhaps even a godly brother or sister. You go to them with a question and you get a little bit of an answer. Maybe it's a good answer from the word of God, and you come away and you say yes. That's part of what I was looking for, but you don't feel quite satisfied.
Then you go to someone else and you get a little more, and so on. But when you really get into the presence of the Lord with this book, you'll get answers that will be to your heart's desire. Those answers will satisfy you. And so she came with these hard questions, and her heart's desire in connection with the answers was satisfied. And so I want to encourage you to do that, because one of the very names of the Lord Jesus in incarnation is Counselor.
Be thankful that we have one. Who is the great counselor. I'm thankful that they have counselors. You young people, when you go to school, you have counselors and maybe sometimes they're helpful in you deciding where the job market is going to swing and what to get into as far as natural up your your natural aptitudes and abilities. I'm not discrediting those guidance counselors. They have, but just remember too.
Sometimes those counselors give just the wisdom of this world and what those counselors tell you you need to take into the presence of the great counselor, the one that knows the end from the beginning. They have consultants, it seems, for everything today in business. And again, those consultants may be very helpful in different aspects of business and dealing with the economy. But remember, again, take their advice into the sanctuary.
Ask the counselor, whose very name is Wisdom.
For his advice, and I say in his own time and in his own way, If you are searching an orderly and consistently reading the Scriptures, you'll find the answers to every question. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Well, we find too that she came with a very great train. I can just picture that entourage and the pomp and ceremony that must have accompanied her as she finally entered Jerusalem in the court of Solomon.
Ethiopia is a base Nation Today, but it was not a base nation in the days in which we were reading. It was a very wealthy nation. It was some another nation that was recognized in the world at that time as having a great deal of wealth and a great deal of culture. But again, I want to make a practical application because I suggest what we learn from what is recorded here is that when she came to Solomon.
She really came initially full of herself. She came with a lot of self esteem and what she could bring and what she could display to Solomon. But you know, you find before she leaves the court of Solomon all that had paled. And you'll find that as you spend more and more time in the presence of the Lord Jesus, anything we think we have that's of worth. Why it's just going to pale.
That's why Paul counted the things that he once had counted worthy and dear. He counted them as nothing when he got into the presence of the Lord Jesus. When he says forgetting those things which are behind, we often apply that in a practical way to forgetting past victories or past failures. And certainly it has its application. But when you read its context there in Philippians, it's in connection with something very different, because Paul before he was saved.
He was pretty proud of what he was naturally speaking, and he lists before in that chapter some of the things he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
And so on. As to the law, he was impeccable, but when he got into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
All that was counted as nothing. And so when we get into the presence of the Lord Jesus, we find that he's everything and we're nothing. John the Baptist said when he saw the Lord Jesus, he must, he must increase. I must decrease. Well, we find them that as I said in verse three, he told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king that he told her not. And we find that in the presence of of Solomon.
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She could commune with him of all that was in her heart. I think that's so beautiful, you know, there's very few people you can do that with, isn't there? You know, there's people we love, family members, there's friends and we can commune with them. And we're thankful. You say, I'm glad I have someone that I can unburden to and they understand me. But I doubt there's very many people that any of us have that we could just tell them everything, you know, even my closest family, if I started to tell them everything pretty soon.
They'd hold up their hand and say, Jim, that's enough. I can't take any more, but I have one. I have a friend that I can go to and I can tell him everything. And if it takes five hours, he's still willing to listen. He sympathizes with me. He empathizes with me. He doesn't keep office hours like some people. I'll never have call waiting. I'll never have call forwarding. I'll never get an answering machine to the throne of Grace.
He's always available. He's a very present help in time of trouble.
And we can go to him anytime of the day or night, and we can commune with him of all that is in our hearts. And I want to encourage you to do that. Just get into the presence of the Lord. And maybe sometimes you don't really have any particular need or request, not any particular supplication, but just get into his presence and talk to him as a man talks to his friend. If you do that, you'll enter more into his heart. And then when the problems arise.
You say I can go to a friend like that. I know that person. That person understands me. And so she communed with him of all that was in her heart. But now I want to notice, and this is perhaps what is particularly on my heart this afternoon in taking up this little story, I want to notice eight things that the Queen of Sheba noted, and as to the court of Solomon.
Eight things that she observed as she sat down in the presence of Solomon from day-to-day. And I suggest that she probably stayed in the court of Solomon a lot longer than we think.
You know, we read of this in just a few short verses, but when she made this journey.
Any of us who know that part of the world knows she didn't make it in just a few days, or perhaps even a few weeks.
It was a long, difficult journey, and I dare say that once she arrived and was made welcome in the court of Solomon, she probably stayed quite a while. And she had lots of time to commune with Solomon and lots of time to observe the things under the hand of Solomon as he administered the Kingdom from day-to-day.
And she mentions here 8 things that she saw. And again, I want to perhaps take these things even a little bit out of their context and make some practical applications in connection with our Solomon, the Lord Jesus. And so the first thing that she notices, she notes, is in verse 4 and when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom.
I want to notice this little word seen she had heard about his wisdom prior to her arrival.
She'd heard about it in her country and justice. The report of it had caused her to rise up from her throne and leave the comforts of her palace to make this long journey to Israel and Jerusalem.
But when she came and sat down in the presence of Solomon, there was more than just hearing his wisdom. No doubt, as she sat there she did hear more of his wisdom, but she also saw his wisdom.
She had never seen his wisdom until she came to his presence. And I want to encourage each one of us to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. It's one thing to hear of the wisdom of Christ.
It's one thing to open the Bible and hear his wisdom brought forth in the pages of the written Word. Wonderful and necessary, that is. But you will never see the wisdom of our Solomon till you spend time in his presence. There's nothing like seeing it unfold in your life. The Queen of Sheba, as she saw what she heard unfold in a practical way. I'm sure it did something to her soul.
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That had never done by just hearing the report in a far country. And I want to encourage you to walk in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence with you, so that you will see that wisdom enacted and unfolded in your life from day-to-day, so that you will experience it as a very real thing. Because Christianity and walking with Christ is more than just theory. It's more than just theology. It's more than just.
Doctrine set out.
In the word of God, it's a very, very practical thing. And so as we go on in our Christian pathway and experience this, we're going to be like the Queen of Sheba, who eventually said, as we read, the half had not been told me, what she heard in her own land was wonderful, but what she saw when she came was far, far more than she had ever anticipated. And so she saw the wisdom of Solomon, and isn't it wonderful that he's been made to us?
Wisdom. We have all the wisdom of Christ at our at our disposal.
And two, have you ever lacked wisdom in your daily walk? You know often we do, don't we?
You say sometimes I just don't know where to turn. I don't know what to say. But it says if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not because again we have the one who's very name is Wisdom. His wisdom itself as we get brought before us so beautifully in the first few chapters of the book of the book of Proverbs. So we have a person who is wisdom and when we get into His presence.
Then we see that wisdom practically expressed and carried out in our lives from day-to-day. And that wisdom, that very wisdom becomes available to us as the wisdom that we can use for our pathway here. And how can we? Do we think we can go through life? And we don't need the wisdom of God, We don't need the wisdom of Christ? Do you think that you can face life on with your own wisdom?
I have seen, sad to say, more shipwrecked Christians because they thought they could do it in their own, at their own discretion. They thought they had certain wisdom and that they were wiser than God and wiser than Scripture. But oh how wonderful. When I meet a Christian and they say, oh, I just want the Lord's mind in this, I just want to know what God has for me. I just want that wisdom that comes from above. Oh, I say, when I hear a young person or an older person talk like that.
I don't worry so much about them anymore because I know the Lord wants to show them.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. But we find here the first thing is.
She saw the Solomon's wisdom. And then in that same fourth verse we find the second thing, and that is the house that he had built. Now I suggest that this was his own house for his own enjoyment and living it wasn't the House of God. We'll speak of that a little later on. I suggest this was the house that Solomon had had built for himself. And again, I'm going to take this a little bit out of context.
And make a practical application for us. Because the Lord Jesus is building a house for his glory and his enjoyment, a house where he can dwell. And it's not a physical house, it's a spiritual house. Sometimes we sing a hymn, view the vast building, see it rise the work, how great the plan, how wise, oh wondrous fabric power unknown that builds it on the living stone and the house that is being built today.
In this world is built not of a bricks and mortar, but it's being built of living stones. And Peter tells us that every believer is a living stone in the in the Church of God, in the House of God. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are part of this house that's being built because it tells us in the book of Hebrews we are the House of God. That's why Timothy was told how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God.
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Which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. You know that exhortation of behavior in the House of God is not just an exhortation as to how we act when we come to meeting or collectively into the presence of the Lord. Now it is true we need to be sensitive when we come together in the assembly as to whose presence we are coming into. And holiness becometh by house, O Lord, forever, and God is greatly to be reverenced.
In the assembly of the Saint greatly feared, in the assembly of the Saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him, and so on.
But when it says how thou Artest to behave thyself in the House of God, we are the House of God wherever we are.
Whether you're at home, whether you're at work, whether you're at school, whether you're at the grocery store, whether you're working out at the fitness club, wherever you are, remember there's a behavior that is in keeping with being a living stone part of the House of God. And so the Queen of Sheba noted Solomon's house and, well, this house is not viewed physically in this world. Isn't it wonderful that you and I, by faith, can view that building as it rises?
And realize that there are still stones today being added to the House of House of God. He's still adding to the church daily, such as should be saved. Well then we find that there's a third thing in verse 5, the meat of his table in another scripture. It enumerates the meat of Solomon's Table and the number of game that it took to furnish.
Solomon's Table and those that sat down at Solomon's Table.
With food every day. And it's tremendous just to think of the amount of food that was required to feed those who were part of Solomon's court and his household. But, you know, isn't it wonderful again that our Solomon has provided meat for us? You know, the thought of eating or meat and Scripture, food in Scripture brings before us the thought of fellowship. We find it earlier on with Mephibosheth.
When he was brought from Lodi Bar by Solomon's father, King David, he was not only brought to the palace and given an apartment to live there with the king, but he was brought to the King's table. It didn't. It wouldn't satisfy David just to have solemn or I'm sorry to have Mephibosheth eat in a private dining room somewhere in in the palace. No, it says he sat and he ate meat at the King's table continually. King David desired the fellowship.
Of this one that he had brought into his presence. When the prodigal son returned, it wouldn't satisfy the father to have the prodigal eat with the servants or up in his room. That no, He sat down at the Father's table and the fatted calf was killed. There was a feast, and in fellowship together they made Mary. And so we find here that there were those who ate in fellowship with King Solomon.
From day-to-day. And I believe that when it speaks of the meat of his table, it typifies to us, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the basis of our fellowship. That's what true fellowship really is. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And what is that fellowship? It's the enjoyment of the person and work of Christ. And then there's fellowship, one with another, as Re as a result. Because if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And I just again, want to encourage each of our hearts in a practical way to.
Sit down every day at the King's table and enjoy the King's meat. Enjoy something of the person and work of Christ. It's what feeds and sustains the soul. There's nothing in this world to sustain the Newman.
There's plenty to feed our lusts, there's plenty to feed the flesh, but nothing to sustain the new man. What's going to sustain the new man is to feed on Christ. When we were young people, we used to sing a little song. 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. Well, then we find something else here in the fifth verse, the sitting of his servants. I want to take this little expression just the way it appears.
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In our Bible here the sitting of his servants. You know, when we read of servants, we don't usually think of them sitting, do we?
When we think of servants, we think of busy activity, a hustle and bustle as they carry out their.
Uh uh, day-to-day tasks. But I just suggest that what the Queen of Sheba noted here was.
That there was a time set aside in the court of Solomon where Solomon's servants could come apart each from their service and sit down with Solomon in their midst, and as they sat down with Solomon in their midst.
What were they? What was their occupation? It was Solomon himself, observing his wisdom, seeing the administration of the Kingdom under his hand, listening to his words. And brethren, do we appreciate those times set aside when collectively you find there, Collectively here it's servants, plural, when we can collectively come into the presence of the Lord Jesus and sit down on various occasions.
Whether it's to remember him in the breaking of bread, whether it's for worship and praise, whether it's for ministry of the word, whether it's for prayer. I suggest that these servants value these times, set aside when they could come and sit down with Solomon in their midst. And that's why I read to us that verse in Luke Chapter 11. Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. We have the privilege.
Unspeakable privilege of sitting down, not in the presence of some earthly king, but in the presence of the king of kings and Lord of Lords. And what what else did the Queen of Sheba note about these servants? Well, in the eighth verse she noted that they were happy servants. You know, again, we don't always think of servants as being happy. We sometimes just picture servants as carrying out their tasks because it's a requirement and but maybe they're just humdrum, mundane tasks that they have to perform.
From day-to-day, because that's their in their job description and there's a paycheck at the end of the of the pay period and so on. But perhaps there's not always joy in their service. Is that the way it was with the, with the servants of Solomon? You notice in the eighth verse they go out and they're not sitting. In the eighth verse they're standing. Standing would speak to us of those who are ready to do the bidding of their of their master, of their employer. They're standing each in their place, ready to do Solomon's bidding.
And everyone of us have a little service to perform for Christ. He has something for each one of us. Even Samuel is a young boy. It said that he he he ministered to the Lord, and so we have a little service to do for him. But as they stood there ready to do their service, they were happy servants. And I suggest that their joy in service sprang from those times when they sat in the presence of Solomon, And your joy and service will spring from those times.
When you sit with your fellow servants, your fellow believers, in the presence of the Lord Jesus for those various opportunities that we have enumerated, oh, I want to encourage you whenever there's an opportunity to be in His presence, not just on an occasion like this, but in the little assembly you come from. You say there's not very many of us, Doesn't seem to be a lot of gift and ability. Sometimes that doesn't matter. The true Solomon is there, the Lord Jesus is there. That's what attracted these servants. That's what brought them together.
Was Solomon in their midst? And if you see him and you're attracted to him, you'll want to be there on every occasion. And then there's something else. We have the fifth thing, and that is the attendance of his ministers. You know, You know, sometimes we hear the expression ministers and it is limited in the minds of many to a certain group of people. And I'm not here to criticize that, but.
You know, every Christian is a minister. Are you a minister today? Brothers, sisters, we're all ministers of Christ. Or we should be. Again, it says twice of Samuel as a boy. He ministered to the Lord, I think that's so beautiful. You know, perhaps there's some children here. And you say, well, what can I do for the Lord? Samuel ministered to the Lord. We don't know everything he did, but it was very practical things, you know, His mother brought him up to the temple.
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Eli was getting old. Eli's sons, who should have been taking responsibility. They weren't. They didn't value what they've been brought up in, and Samuel was there to help in practical ways. One thing we know for sure he did was in the morning he opened the temple doors so that people could come up and worship the Lord and bring their sacrifices. Those temple doors were no doubt heavy. Eli perhaps had a little difficulty in opening the doors. I don't want to read more into scriptures in there, but I've wondered if sometimes he didn't just help bring in the wood for the offerings.
Maybe take the ash pan and the broom around and clean up the ashes after. Whatever it was, it was Ministry to the Lord. And it starts with those little things, You children. If you learn to help out at team eating, maybe pick up the paper plates after the meal. Help sweep the floor. Turn the chairs for the next meeting. Help Mom and Dad at home. Maybe they're having company on Lord's day for dinner. Just help all you can. That's Ministry to the Lord.
And then we find that the sisters too. It says there were of three sisters. There were others. But it names three in the life of the Lord Jesus. Its names Mary, Uh, Mary, Magdalene, Johanna and Susanna. And it says they followed the Lord in his path and ministered to him of their substance. Sisters are ministers of Christ as well. And so we all have that privilege. There were those who took the practical responsibility for the assembly brothers in the New Testament.
And when there was a problem in the assembly, it speaks of them as they prayed and fasted and ministered to the Lord. They took up the practical things of the assembly. And then there's ministry in a public way. And so she noticed his ministers. But then we find the sixth thing is and their apparel, you know, as these ones ministered and moved about the Court of Solomon, there was something that marked them as the ministers of Solomon. You know, I've thought of this sometimes when I'm in the islands.
Especially in the Bahamas, where I've had an open door by the grace of God for many years in the schools.
And I have had opportunity for probably some 20 years of going from school to school and speaking to the student body and leaving literature and material for them to take home. But you know, in the islands, they it's still the old British system where the students wear uniforms to school. And I have had the privilege of being in those those islands for so long and being in the school so many times that when I see those boys and girls and young people on the street.
After school I recognize them by their uniform I recognize that a green Plaid skirt and a white blouse. Oh, that girl belongs to such and such a school. And a young man with a with blue pants and a, uh, a tan shirt and a blue tie. Oh, they come from another school. You get to recognize people by their apparel. Some of us have that opportunity to visit some of the castles and palaces of the nobility of Britain and Europe.
And when you're there, you see the guards and the different ministers of those kings and Queens. They all have very distinct uniforms, and you recognize them and their ministry to their employer by their uniform. And there ought to be something about us, brethren, that marks us as a Christian. I'm not talking now about wearing our skirts a certain length, their white shirts and ties and that kind of thing. That's not what I'm talking about now.
But there should be something about our conduct, something there ought to be an aura about us as we move through this world that marks us as a minister of Christ. Does the world look on and say, oh, there's someone who belongs to the Lord Jesus? There's a young person, and they say they're on their way to to heaven. They belong to to, to the, to the Lord, to the Lord.
There ought to be that which characterizes us as belonging to the Lord Jesus.
And the Kingdom of God, as we pass through this world. Well, so it was in the court of Solomon. Well, then we noticed the seventh thing she notices his cup bearers. Now again I just want to make a practical application. You remember that Nehemiah was the King's cup bearer. And the cup bearers in those days were the men who brought and presented the wine to the king. And they would often be required to taste that wine first of all for themselves.
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Before they presented it to the king. The kings in those days were always suspicious and lived in fear that there was somebody ready to do them in, and some of them had good reason to fear it. And so often they had food tasters and cup bearers that tasted their food and tasted their wine before they partook of it. And Nehemiah was the King's cup bearer, and it was a very, very noble and responsible job.
Back in Bible times, and we find here that Solomon had not just a cup bearer, but he had cup bearers, those that brought the wine and presented it to him. Now wine in Scripture often speaks to us of praise and joy, and you and I, I believe each one, have the privilege of being the King's cup bearer. You and I have the privilege of bringing that joy and praise to the Lord Jesus.
And how true of it is it of our lives? First of all, individually? You know, it's easy to get under the circumstances of life, isn't it? It's easy to grumble and complain. It's easy to just get depressed and under things. And I'm not saying life is easy. And I know some of you have been through and are going thing through things that I've never been called on to pass through in the path of faith and service. But isn't it wonderful that we can find our joy in the Lord?
That we can rejoice in the Lord, not just some of the time, but always.
So we can find our delight in him, that we can cultivate the habit of praise and Thanksgiving in our lives personally and then in the family circle. You know, I appreciate when I have opportunity to visit in a home, a Christian home, and after the family reading or at the meal, there's a couple of hymns sung at the table or around the living room. You know, that's I believe that's cultivating the habit of praise in the family circle. That's being the King's cup bearer.
Bringing that praise and joy to himself. I just say this and not critically, but you know, I find that singing in the family circle is almost a lost art today. When I was growing up, it happened, it seems, a lot more than it does today. Not only did we sing in our home, for which I'm thankful to my parents for, but you know when you used to go out and visit on a Friday night or you were invited to for a meal somewhere, why, you never left someone's home without standing around the piano.
And singing a few hymns before you left, thus being the King's cup there. And I want to say to those of us who are parents and heads of our homes, let's seek to cultivate that habit. I know that some can carry a tune better than others. Maybe some of us don't have somebody in the home that can play an instrument, but we can make a joyful noise under the Lord. I'm always thankful that the Lord made crows as well as nightingales. And so He wants to hear our our voice and then in the assembly as well.
You know, on Lord's Day morning, we don't come to get. We come to give, we come to give the sacrifice of praise.
And I sometimes think of that hymn on Lord's Day Morning, when we sit there in silence so long.
Brightness of the eternal glory shall thy praise unuttered lie? Who would hush the heavens sense story of the Lamb who came to die? I don't mean we trip over one another. That was a problem in Corinth uh long ago. But we need to be exercised, that we come with hearts full of praise and Thanksgiving, hearts full of joy that we can pour out to himself. Well then we find the eighth thing is his ascent by which he went up under the House of the Lord.
Well, again, I'm going to make a little application here. You know, there should be that which is characteristic of those of us who are expecting to ascend to the Father's house at any moment. We need to walk through this world as those who are just on their way through, that we would walk through this world as strangers and pilgrims. And so as the world looks on, do they see us settling down here or would they say?
There's a person. They must have something else in view. They must have a goal. They must have something better.
Here it's the House of the Lord, but as I say, we know it in a far more intimate way.
We know it as the Father's house and that promise he made long ago. I will come again, I suggest, brethren. We're just on the eve of the fulfillment of that promise. Does that really mean something to your heart and mind? Because it says, every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. If we have the sense in our souls that we're on the way to the Father's house and the Lord is coming at any moment, it will have a practical, purifying effect on our lives that will no doubt be a testimony to others.
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Well, when she saw all this, what was the result? There was number more spirit left in her and all the things that she had brought and all the pomp and ceremony that she had come with. Why, that just disappeared. That didn't mean anything anymore. And it's interesting, I think if you notice the same incident in Chronicles, it's perhaps a little clearer, but she gives up the abundance of her land to King Solomon.
But when King Solomon gives to her, he actually, I believe, not only gave up the abundance of Israel, but he actually gave her back what she brought.
You know, the Lord Jesus wants us not for what we can give him. He delights in what we give him, yes, but that is not what he wants us for. He wants us for what He can give us. And so we find there was worship in her heart, and he gives to her, and she went away with a full heart. And again, I just want to suggest for all of us if these things are true in a practical way in our lives, if we seek more and more to be occupied with the person of Christ.
As we walk in his presence, as we sit down in his company.
What is going to be produced in our heart? Why, it's going to be worship, an attraction to himself. It's going to be a deeper sense and appreciation of who he is. We find that in the New Testament with Mary, who sat at his feet as a learner when the sorrow came. She went to his feet on behalf of her brother, but at the end of it all, as she sat at his feet for the last time before he went to the cross.
Her heart was full of worship, and that will be the result in our lives. Not that we try to generate worship. You can't do it. But worship will be generated in the measure in which you and I are occupied with our Solomon, the Lord Jesus, His beauties and His glories, His person. Oh, may we get a fresh glimpse of him this afternoon. When I was younger, we used to sing that beautiful hymn, Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face, in the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
In the light of His glory and grace, you know we sometimes sing that prayer, and I trust it's the earnest and sincere prayer of your heart and mind.
All fix our earnest gaze so holy Lord on thee that with thy beauty, thy beauty occupied we elsewhere none may see. When the Queen of Sheba saw the beauty of Solomon, she said the half had not been told. That's what captivated her heart. It was a person that got a hold of her soul. May the person of Christ get a hold of our souls this afternoon, and may we experience that joy and blessing that he has for us.
As a result.
1 Peter 1:1-3
Reading
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Phone 107.
Verse 23.
They that go down to the sea, and ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. Free commandeth and raises the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul was melted because of trouble. They reeled to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and arrest their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. All that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
I suggest rather that we take up first Peter chapter one.
Three times in First Peter chapter one. It speaks of hope in three different ways.
First Peter chapter one. Well, the whole book, the children of God are seen as on a journey with the starting point and the destination and the difficulties of the way like we just sang about and those things that God provided for the journey and the encouragement of his provisions to take them safely to the end of it.
And I believe it would be profitable to look at it for the benefit of our souls.
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First Peter chapter one.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bathinia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy.
Hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate is not away reserved in heaven. For you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Where any greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be, you're in heaviness.
Through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold, it perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise, and honor and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see Him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.
And full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently.
Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you?
Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they'd administer the things which are now reported.
Unto you, by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which thing is the angels desire to look into? Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children.
Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance, but as he which has called you as holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Because it is written be holy, for I am holy.
And if ye call on the Father, who, without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work.
Pass the time of your soul journey here in fear.
For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.
What was manifest in these last times for you Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God?
Seeing you have purified your souls, and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto one thing, love of the brethren.
See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
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We're all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither us, 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.
Peter Wrights.
That all started their lives with.
Certain hopes.
Certain expectations, He's writing to those who had been born Jews, and as Jewish people, they had a certain hope. They had a certain expectation, certain desires that were put before them.
And they lost them all, in that one sense.
They end their lives with a totally different destination before them, with a totally different hope during their course of their life. And in a general way, that's true of every one of us in this room. We naturally start life with certain expectations and certain ambitions, perhaps as we get old enough to form them. But there should be. Hopefully there has come a point in our life.
When we recognize that God has called us for a different destination, which puts us in a different path, a different journey through the rest of our lives. And as we journey, we have hope. I just encourage us as we go through this chapter three times in the chapter in verse 3A, living hope, verse 13, the hope of the revelation of Jesus Christ, and in verse 21.
Hope in God that we will find the encouragement for our souls of that which is put before us. But I would also say right at the beginning, you don't get the hope if you aren't fixed on the same journey. Sometimes somebody will say, let's go, go here, go there and someone else say no, I don't want to. I'm not really interested in that. Well then you can't share in the common experiences, the hope connected with that destination.
And so it is in the Word of God. There's an assumed, in fact, it's explicitly stated in this chapter what the destination of these people was who had to make this journey to get there and go through the trials and the joys and the conflict and the difficulties of that journey.
Might be helpful too in introducing the of hope to realize that in Scripture hope connected with Christ and the new man is in no way uncertainty. Hope connected with this life is always uncertainty at best. After this conference we may hope to return to our homes and we may hope to do many things, and we discuss one with another our plans and our hopes and our desires.
And we say, where are you going from here? And so on. But often our hopes in connection with this life and our destinations that we had planned, something enters in to frustrate it and it never comes to fruition. But hope and connect in the sense of which we're Speaking of it here is only hope in the sense that we're not in the full reality of it yet. And So what a man hath, why does he yet hope for it says in Romans.
If you have something in your hand, you don't hope for it, you have it. If you've been promised it and you don't have it yet, there's an anticipation and a hope that looks forward to the moment when you will have it. And so our hope is, it says in Hebrews is sure and steadfast. And it's the only hope that we can ever speak of in this life as being sure and steadfast. And that is the hope that we have in Christ. And so again I say it's in no thought. There's no thought of it being uncertainty.
It is only hope in the sense that it hasn't been fully. It's been revealed to us that we're not in the full good of it at the present time. It's something that is yet future, but it is something that is definitely secured.
Also, too, in connection with what Don said, it's interesting that in the first verse, as he begins this epistle to those who had lost everything materially and might have wondered what had happened, because they were.
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Steeped in the tradition and teaching, and rightly so, that if they were faithful to the Lord, they would be established in their land and material possessions and family and so on. But it's interesting, if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he translates the word strangers as sojourners. And a sojourner is one who is not here for very long, one who's on a journey. Those of us who have come to this conference, we're sojourners here for the weekend in Saint Louis.
Some of us have airline tickets and other plans to leave here the first of the week after the conference is over. And so we say to one another, well, how long are you staying? And one is staying a certain length of time and somebody else another length of time. We're just sojourners here. And brother and I believe that we need to recognize that in each of our lives that we are only sojourners here in this world, that the life that we have here is only for a little time.
That the trials and the tests and the circumstances of life are only for a little time. I know it doesn't always seem like it seems like a long time sometimes when we're going through those circumstances. But what the Apostle Peter was encouraging the Saints here is that, yes, you have fiery trials, Yes, you've lost everything to in a temporal way. Yes, there are persecutions and so on. But just remember you're sojourners and your whole lies beyond that which is material.
Your hope lies beyond that which is of the horizons of this sad, sad world that is pleading at best. And if we can get a hold of that, brethren, in these meetings, then I believe there's profit for our souls. That's what's going to encourage us to go on. Peter wasn't trying to discourage the Saints by bringing before them the things that he brings before them in this epistle. Know what he was trying to do or seeking to do, was to encourage them that in spite of what they were experiencing now, they had a hope.
And they had something secure and an inheritance that was far, far greater than anything they that their forefathers or they could have ever enjoyed as far as an earthly inheritance.
They had something that couldn't be taken away. It was eternal, it was heavenly, but that they were on their way there and not to settle down with temporal things in this world.
Speak to some young people, all of which are under 20 years of age, and I frequently ask them this question.
20 years ago, you didn't exist.
Now you exist.
How long are you going to exist?
And occasionally one or more of them gets it.
But most generally the answer is I don't know.
Because man in his natural condition doesn't think beyond this life.
He doesn't recognize that he has any. Now that he does exist, he has an eternal dis existence.
And Peter, and it's taken for granted here, really, but the journey that these children of God were on was to a place beyond this life.
And we don't really live life the way God wants us to live it if we simply have the attitude. Well, yes, and I'm going to speak as a believer could. Well, yes, I'm someday going to heaven.
But then in practice, we make this life, our journey, like the world in which we live. That's the only journey it knows. Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. We have one journey through life. Let's get the most we can out of it. We know it's going to end someday, and that's going to be the end of the journey.
Not the journey that Peter describes to us here in this chapter at all. He says to us as to our hope, we have a living hope of a heavenly inheritance which takes us on into eternity on a journey of which our destiny is to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. So as we go through the encouragements that are given to us and the discouragements or the conflict connected with it.
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We won't get the benefit out of it if our minds stop at the end of this life.
Whether it ends in death or whether it ends in the rapture, we still will not get the benefit that God wants us to get out of it unless we immediately begin with the end of the journey. Similar to the Children of Israel, of which this chapter has its parallels, specially written to Jews, the children of Israel started their journey from Egypt. They had to pass through the wilderness, and the destination for them was Canaan.
And this chapter is part of a book that starts, if you will, with a beginning in the world.
Takes us on a trip through a desert with the destination of heaven, our Canaan.
As a child, I took many trips with my mom and dad.
And for which I had nothing to do with the planning of the trip.
I was generally told what the destination was going to be.
But it was all my father or my mother or both. Decision and plan.
As to it.
And I participated in it quite often. It was it's time to get in the car and my father took care of the rest of it. It's good to see right in the beginning here in verse 2 where it says elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, that the journey that we take begins in the heart of God. The planning for it was originated by God.
We didn't think at all. We didn't say, oh, we're going to go to heaven after we get created. And all the rest of that made no sense, would have made no sense to us. But it's a good thing to recognize that the planner.
The one who carries it out as to the path of it.
The destiny of it, the provision to get us safely through it to the end, and those things that encourage us along the way all originate in the heart of God. When it says foreknowledge of God here, it goes beyond the idea of simply God knows everything ahead of time. The foreknowledge of God very often involves.
Not only that He knows ahead of time, but that He purposes ahead of time an end result and knows that it will be accomplished. And here I believe it has that character that God, before He ever created this world, had in His mind and in His knowledge that He was going to take us on a journey to His own dwelling place to be with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
For eternity. And he starts with it here because.
Hopefully, like little children, we anticipate the journey with joy. Oh, we might say to a father, mother, is that where we're going? That's wonderful.
And that sustains quite often. Sometimes when I was a child and my dad said we were going to a certain place after we've been on the road 5 or 10 or half an hour or something. Are we there yet? Are we about to get there? As children, we didn't always like the journey itself, but when we were reminded why are the end of it was going to be, that helped us to endure it until we got there.
It's nice to see too that.
We speak of God, but if you notice in verse two, it's the whole Godhead.
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The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are all active and all of one mind concerning us.
Sometimes in our earthly relationships and family matters and so on. Sometimes there isn't oneness, there isn't unity, there's conflict as to where we're going or what we're going to do or how we're going to do it once we decide to do it, and so on. Things get very complicated among men, but here we have the foreknowledge of God the Father.
We have the Spirit doing the work of separating us, sanctifying us.
To this calling to this.
Destiny.
And we have the necessary and perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we would be allowed, so that we would be enabled to have such a destination put before us.
It would be nice if we could have a a word on the on the the work of the Spirit of God in sanctifying.
Sometimes in a situation you might have a collection of people.
Together as a group.
And there might be something that needs to be done.
Or some.
Purpose that needs to be fulfilled and someone has the responsibility within of choosing in that group.
Those who out of the group are going to be the ones to do that thing and set apart for it. Sanctification means to set apart. That's what the Word means. And so it's a work of the Spirit of God to set aside, separate, if you will.
For God's purposes.
Individuals to fulfill what that purpose is and in this case we see that there is a destiny of persons on earth to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in his position as a man in heaven in his glory over the come, his coming reign on this earth. And so it is the work of the Spirit of God to set apart.
For God and for God's purposes, those who are going to have that place and that role, and we also know in the Old Testament or we have in Second Timothy, for example, two, sometimes the setting apart is necessary that those set apart might be suited to that which they're going to be used for. And so in Second Timothy, the idea in chapter 2 is sometimes the setting apart or sanctifying a vessels.
So their claim and can be used for some purpose of God. And so we immediately have following the sanctification of the Spirit. In the verse it says unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Without that the separated vessels are separated, people would not be able to properly participate in the purpose of God.
No.
One will end up in the destination described in this chapter who has not been sprinkled with the blood of Christ.
And no one will properly go through the journey unless they're set apart to walk through that journey in obedience.
These believers who had been saved of the Jewish nation could understand this from their history in the Old Testament, because in the Old Testament God chose a particular nation, and he chose that nation and set them apart for a purpose. You see, it's a little different thought perhaps, but you see it on the banks of the Red Sea. They were redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb.
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But they were set apart as a peculiar people when they crossed the Red Sea, and they looked back and they could rejoice that they were no longer part of Egypt, and they were no longer now under the authority of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, A picture of Egypt, a picture of the world, Pharaoh's a picture, and his hosts are a picture of Satan and his hosts. And they could rejoice because now they were set apart, sanctified people.
They had a journey before them, as we've been saying, and it was a long tedious journey and there were going to be many trials and difficulties and God was going to prove their heart over and over again, but they never got back on Egypt ground. Once they were set apart in their hearts, they returned unto Egypt, but they were set apart and they never got back there. And a Christian who knows the Lord Jesus has been sanctified positionally and will never be part of this world again.
Paul said God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I under the world. It is the cross of Christ that has separated us from this world.
And will never be part of this world and its system and the judgment that it's under again. But as you say, Dawn, we can in our hearts return. And that's why there has to be a practical sanctification and cleansing in our lives, perhaps even on a daily basis, because there are those things that come in of the world that tarnish and defi and defile. And so if a vessel was going to be useful and meet for the masters use in the House of God.
And the great house helps a profession, then there had to be a practical setting apart as well, and we need that. But that's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about a positional thing. And if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You have been sanctified, You've been set apart from this world, set apart for a purpose, for His glory.
And as we get enrollments to be conformed to the image of his son, that's why he chose us where newest predestinated us, elected us to be conformed to the image of his son. And nothing can change that position that you have been brought into.
Is there a thought as to why it is Peter mentions sprinkling of blood instead of shedding?
A sprinkling of blood has to do with its application.
And the shedding of blood has to do with the work.
Itself.
And so it's on the basis of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have later on in this chapter that we are saved.
The blood is shed, and the value of the shed blood, it can be shed. In one John, one, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses from all sin. That's the character of the value of that blood. That said in that verse, without respect to whether anybody gets the benefit of it or not, but it's the value of the blood itself before the eye of God. It has the virtue that it cleanses and that it cleanses from all sin.
But in order for the blood to be of value in a specific case or with a specific individual, then it's necessary in the application of the Old Testament picture that it be applied. And so when the children of Israel offered sacrifices to God, sometimes they were sprinkled with that blood.
And that identified them with the sacrifice itself. And I believe in this chapter, it's that aspect of it that it's seen here as those who you might say are going already started out, but they in order to start out on this destiny and journey, it was necessary they be the blood be applied to them each individually.
The whole children of Israel.
00:35:00
Left Egypt under the shelter of the blood of atonement on the Passover night. But later on it was found that some of them did not have personal faith and they didn't make it all the way. And so we can be in one sense, uh, take our position as being part of those who journey.
And we might profess the value of the blood, but if we're not real, if it hasn't really been sprinkled, then we will not reach the destination.
Well, there are two wonderful things too provided for the journey, and you find them in the end of verse 2, and that's grace and peace. Isn't that wonderful that we have those resources? The psalmist said, and I think it's the 84th Psalm, the Lord will give grace and glory. And Peter brings before us the glory in the end of the journey, but he also brings before us that there's grace as provision for the pathway. And so glory is what comes at the end.
But grace is what meets our need along the way. It met our need as far as salvation. We were saved by grace. But we need that preserving grace that enables us to walk through this wilderness world, this wilderness journey.
In spite of the difficulties and the circumstances, and it's interesting that there's these two things are to be multiplied. Do we need more grace? He giveth more grace of all we received of His fullness and grace upon grace. Whatever the circumstance or situation, there is an overabundance of grace to meet that situation. I can't fall in the wilderness. I can't get discouraged and say there wasn't grace to meet the situation.
That I had to face the, the, the problem is I don't always avail myself of the resource that is there. And so we have that grace for the journey. But there's something else. There's peace as well. You know, when when we go on here, we find that outwardly these brethren had experienced anything but peace. They'd been driven from their homes. They were being persecuted for their testimony. It wasn't outward peace that they were experiencing.
And it's not outward peace that Peter is promising them, but it is that inward peace for the journey.
It's the same piece, brethren, that the Lord Jesus walked through this world with.
It's the peace that He left with his disciples. When the Lord Jesus was about to leave the disciples, He didn't promise them that it was all going to be smooth sailing in good circumstances after He left them. In fact, just the opposite. He said in the world ye shall have tribulation. He said you're going to have problems and difficulties. But he said, My peace I leave with you not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The world promises peace when everything goes well, and the man of the world can have a certain sense of peace, at least when he gets good grades and his job's going well and things are happy in the family circle and so on. But just introduce some adverse circumstance that peace depended on his circumstances. And as soon as it's adverse, that peace vanishes. But you and I have a peace or prom. Given a peace, there's a peace at our disposal that can take us through the circumstances of life.
With the same inward joy and confidence that the Lord Jesus had.
As a man, when he walked through this wilderness world, when the Lord Jesus met the enemy in the wilderness in the temptation.
He met that enemy in perfect confidence and peace. When he was persecuted, he had perfect confidence and peace. He went to the cross with perfect confidence and peace.
Not that he didn't feel those things as a man. He never became callous or indifferent to them. And we don't want to either.
But we have grace multiplied and peace multiplied.
No matter how bad the circumstances are multiplied, there's a multiplication that's greater than that, and that's grace and peace to meet the present circumstance.
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To be provided for us in the Christian pathway are based upon who and what God is and what his resources are. They don't have anything to do with, with, uh, what we might find within ourselves. But grace is something that is, is umm, a, a resource that comes based upon what God is.
What God has done and what he will do and it's it's a wonderful thing to know that when we in the when we reach the end of our hoarded resources.
Our Father's full giving has only begun, and that is the grace here that is is to be multiplied to us.
Peace is also based upon what God is, who God is, and what he has done.
Our peace is based upon the finished work of Christ, which has met God's demands to his satisfaction and brought us into a relationship with Him.
That is based upon something that's outside of ourselves.
Turn over how Peter starts his second epistle.
You'll see something added.
To what he says in the first epistle.
Inverse our epistles that we're taking up in the first letter Here he says grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Notice in the second epistle in verse 2, grace and peace be multiplied unto you. How?
Through the knowledge of God.
And of Jesus Christ our Lord.
A significant amount of energy of the Spirit of God.
In the journey that we take to our destiny.
Is taken up with the work of God to make himself practically.
Known to our souls we might we know him.
But we we know, and when we're saved, we can immediately say ABBA Father, as it says in Romans 8. But he wants to develop in us a growth that we have a greater, more complete understanding of himself and of the Son and every one of us as we go day by day through the passage of life. It's the interest and work of God.
To bring us into an increased and multiplied knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just to bring the point a little farther home, go back to the first chapter of Deuteronomy.
And this first chapter of Deuteronomy is the last words of Moses. Moses is going over the history of the children of Israel for their last 40 years plus and, uh, having brought them out of Egypt and so on and taken them on this journey. And so he's going back over it for the generation that's going to enter the land of Canaan and, uh, notice.
Just a little bit here.
Uh, verse 21.
Behold, the Lord thy God has set the land before thee, go up and possess it, as the Lord thy God hath said unto thee, Fear not, neither be discouraged. That was the original purpose, that was the intent. That was 11 days journey after they left Egypt and God said to them, go up, possess it. Don't be afraid and don't be discouraged.
Did they do it?
Verse 22 Says, And they came near unto me, everyone of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they will search us out the land, and will bring us word again, by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying, Please me well. And I took 12 men of you, one of a tribe, and they turned and went up into the mountain, and came into the valley of Eskel, and searched it out.
And they took the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land, which the Lord our God doth give us.
00:45:11
Sounds good.
Sounds good.
But what's verse 26 says notwithstanding, you would not go up.
But rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God sanctified unto obedience.
The children of Israel spent 40 years learning obedience and learning the grace and faithfulness of God to them in spite of disobedience. And many times that's the Natural History of a believer through this world. God starts them out and presents the end of the road, the journey. He gives them a command go possess.
And unbelief in the human hearts as we better check it out.
We better see for ourselves, we better see what difficulties there might be and wholeheartedly going forward in this path that we're started out on. And when they saw the difficulty ahead of them and Peter in this first chapter and the chapters that follow bring a lot of difficulty before the Saints of God that or the children of God there that they're going to have to face. He sparks speaks more in this first epistle of suffering than any other book in the Bible.
And yet that was true. The children of Israel, they what does it say? You would not go up. They rebelled. That is, they were not they were not obedient to the command. And then the Lord says, OK, into the wilderness to learn that lesson. But the human heart is perverse. We won't take the time to read the verses which follow, but then they turn right around and say let's go up.
And they push right into the land and the Lord says you do it and I'm not going to be with you in it. And so again, they, they disobeyed the hand of the Lord in their lives and they lost lives. And then they turned back into the wilderness and they later get the law and a lot of other things that came along with the wilderness experience. But thankfully.
P Moses could say at the end, but God was with you and he faithfully took you to the end. And we see the provisions here in this chapter, the faithfulness of God that everyone of us who is truly sprinkled.
Will make it.
We will make it. There's not one of us that's going to not make it safely to our desired haven as we had in the song.
Before we go on, I'd like to go back to that question that Phil asked about the sanctification of the spirit. Umm back in John chapter 3 we have except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Verse six I which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and so on. My question is.
Is the His new birth part of that sanctification of the Spirit?
The verses in John three are not.
How do I say it? That's not the intent of them.
That's not the purpose of the what's recorded there. What's recorded there is.
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was to know that the natural man, the child of Adam, could not get into the Kingdom of God in truth.
The what was necessary to get into the Kingdom of God was not natural birth, but man had to be.
Born in a new way, and that new way was by the Spirit of God. And so the thought in it here isn't really sanctification, but it is rather qualification, if you will, that which would enable a person to enter into the Kingdom of God. New birth was essential, and new birth meant birth. Actually, some say the words have a sense of born from above.
00:50:04
But it is borne by a new source, not by mother and father.
Which brought us into a natural place in the world, but a birth that takes place through the Word of God, by the Spirit of God taking that word. And when there's faith in us, then there is that birth. And so here in John three, the thought is so much sanctification. Usually sanctification has the sense of being set aside for a purpose.
Not just being set aside, but it has in the thought of it set aside for some purpose. It's not our chapter, but just to get another idea of sanctification in a different sense, but it's still sanctification. Go to Acts chapter 13.
Acts chapter 13, this is of not positional as Jim was differentiating, but it's practical. It's a practical aspect of sanctification in chapter 13, verse one. Now there were in the church that was in Antioch, certain prophets, teachers as Barnabas, Simeon, that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, uh, Manaan, which had been brought up with Herod, the teacher arc and Saul.
And they ministered to the Lord.
Here's some vessels.
There's some vessels and they're ministering to the Lord, they're together and and where we find next it says and fasted and the Holy Ghost said this is sanctification. Separate me, Barnabas and Saul for the work were unto I have called them.
They were separated. There were a number there, but the Spirit of God, according to the purpose of God to do the work, separated two of them.
To a specific work that he called them to do, and they do that work. The others recognize it, lay their hands on them as an expression of fellowship and recognition that they had been called by God by the Spirit to do this work, and they do it.
Again, it just illustrates the setting apart and the thought here of setting apart for a specific purpose. And I believe in our chapter, the setting apart for us or for those were part of those set apart in this way is for the destiny of heaven with the Lord Jesus and our association with Him there. And consequently we're encouraged in verse 4.
As part of it to us have been driven great and exceeding promises.
Sanctified by the blood of Christ. We get that in Hebrews chapter 13.
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
That's positionally we're sanctified practically we're sanctified by the washing of water by the word. That's what cleanses us and keeps us clean as fit vessels sanctified and meet for the masters use as you say, with in connection with new birth. They're being born again. Peter actually sums it up later in this chapter where it says being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. And so as you say, it's the word of God applied in the power of the spirit that God uses.
To impart divine life to us. Every person in this room who is saved or has divine life.
It's the results of having read or heard in some way some portion of the word of God. And that word applied in the power of the Spirit is what used to impart divine life. But the basis of everything we never want to forget is the blood of Christ. It's the work of of Calvary. We're sanctified by by his his blood.
That's that's also.
A beautiful picture and the Old Testament how how God goes about doing this.
Sanctification of being set aside.
00:55:03
Retake the picture of how God goes about.
To get Rebecca.
And how he is doing it.
We we have here the Holy Spirit that got a picture.
Of of the father.
He sent out.
His trusted servant, a picture of the Holy Spirit.
And all he is told to do that he is going to get a wife for his son. It has to be from his kindred.
And then he sent him out.
He gets the provisions, he gets all the camels, he gets the servant, he gets a server and the gold.
And he goes on his journey. He knows where to go.
The general direction.
That is where Abraham's kindred lived, and he goes there.
And there he, there he might, he he has some doubts. Now. What if that woman is not going to go with me?
And he gets the answer. If she's not going to go with me, then you are void of your.
Order that you have, but God already knows that she is going to go with Him, and that's where the obedience come in.
Here they're serving a picture of the Holy Spirit in obedience. He goes there.
And then he watches what's going, what is going on?
And he does, according.
As she sings, present themselves to him.
And then all he has to do then ask that girl, are you going to go?
And she says, yes, I will go. So we have here no conflict in this picture. God is doing it all. Only the obedience is necessary. And then the sprinkling of the blood, of course it has to be of the kindred of Abraham, which is.
It eventually going all the way through the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have that beautiful picture here without a conflict.
And we know that it all came to pass. He brought the Rebecca back, He loved her, and he went into the tent with her and loved her. And then the story goes on.
The people of Israel are going to be set up then.
It it all goes according to God's use. Work with the Holy Spirit.
And if it's carried out properly, it's without conflict.
Fit into the chapter and we see in verse three Peter hasn't gotten very far but he's his own spirit.
Says blessed be God.
It would cheer the heart of God. If that's the response of each one of our hearts this afternoon, we haven't read very far.
We heard a lot more at other times and so on, but the intent, really.
That Peter would desire, I think, in each one of us and God would find joy in as well as if we just recognized so far where God's taking us and what he's done and His purpose is for us, setting us apart for himself, that we would say, blessed be God.
Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, it's connected with Mercy.
It's an abundant mercy.
01:00:00
These were Jews, he says, as begotten us again to a lively really the better is living hope.
Why was it a living hope?
Peter and others had seen their hope die.
They had watched at the cross.
And seeing the two on the way to Emmaus, their hope was dead.
We had trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.
All is lost in that man. He's dead.
But the whole foundation, if you will, of the joy and anticipation of the certainty of our hope is because it's a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We're told in Ephesians the same power that raised him from the dead is the power that works to accomplish our raising.
From the dead if need be, or to the glory, and changing us to take us there at the rapture. And so he says.
He didn't give up on us, He showed abundant mercy to us and we have now a living hope.
Why are we confident? Why are we sure that the whole of our Christian faith is worth it?
Because God is confirmed in our hearts the truth of the resurrection.
Why do we go into a Funeral Home? Someone commented. Christians going into a Funeral Home can not only feel the sorrow of it, but sing.
Because of the reality of the hope.
Based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Like to say a few words about this expression of living hope.
Says we are, he has begotten us again unto a living hope. That means that we are begotten for a certain purpose, not just a distinct purpose, but a a purpose that is certain to be fulfilled. Uh, I think in contrast, think of Alexander the Great. He hoped.
To conquer the world. As a young man, he achieved that hope.
And he died a disappointed man because there was nothing more for him and every hope in this world.
Every hope linked with this world is a dead hope.
We have as believers. We have a living hope.
And then we need to say why am I here?
People often ask that question. People who?
Sense a lack of hope, they say. Why am I here?
Well, we know. As believers, we know why we're here. We're here destined for a living hope, one that will not disappoint.
But one which will continue to unfold for eternity.
In Christ, who was raised a Jew, a Jew by birth was saved by the grace of God. And I asked him one time after I knew he had attended a family funeral, I said, Howard, what hope is there at a Jewish funeral? He looked at me and he said, Jim, it is despair at a Jewish funeral, He said, because there is no hope for a Jew beyond this life. And he said if you were to go to a Jewish funeral, it's one of the saddest experiences that you will ever have.
But here we find those of the Jewish nation who had been saved by the grace of God, and they were given not just a hope, but a living hope. And really this is what sets Christianity apart from all the other, if I can put it this way, so-called great religions of the world. There are many today who have hope, but it's hope in a dead person. Mohammed is in the grave. Buddha, Buddha is dead. The other religious leaders that have risen and fallen in this world.
There in the tomb and millions will make pilgrimages to these tombs and so on.
But it's a very, very sad thing to be amongst those and some of us have had opportunity to be in some of these countries where you're amongst those who have, are praying and worshipping and following someone that is in the tomb. There's no joy, there's no peace. It is simply a very sad and desperate situation. But we have a living hope. We have a tomb in Christianity, but over that tomb are the words He is not here, He is risen.
01:05:20
Come see the place where the Lord lay. I'd like to just take a minute and go back to Hebrews where he talks a little further about this hope.
Henry first in Hebrews chapter 6, because as we alluded to a little earlier in the reading meeting, he speaks of this hope, this living hope based on the resurrection of Christ in a way that you can speak of no other hope connected with this world. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18.
That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.
We might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Well, here as we have read, he speaks of our hope, not simply as a living hope like Peter.
But it's a sure and steadfast hope, and actually, I believe what we have here in the end of Hebrews 6 takes us even a step further than what Peter says.
Peter says that we have a living hope based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The writer here says we have a sure and steadfast hope, not just based on resurrection, but ascension as well. Because what we find here in Hebrews is where the Lord Jesus is now. He's been received back by God the Father to God's right hand. And so he says your hope is sure and steadfast because the forerunner has already entered the heaven. He's already gone within the veil. He's there.
In the presence of the Father, I'm going to use a little illustration that I know has often been used, but I believe that this portion here.
With the Forerunner, it has to do with what was prevalent in connection with sailing in the days when this was written. Because history tells us that the Greek harbors back in Bible times were all many of them were only accessible at high tide. And when ships desired to enter those harbors back in Bible times, they had what they called a Forerunner and it was a little boat attached to the ship.
And so if a ship approached the harbor at low tide and they couldn't enter at the time, they would send somebody in the Forerunner with the anchor in the with the anchor securely attached to the ship. And that little boat would go across the Shoal or the rocks at the mouth of the harbor and drop the anchor safe inside the harbor. And that anchor dropped inside the harbor was the assurance to those on board the ship.
That when the right moment came, they were going to make the harbor. So if you had stepped up on the deck of one of those ships during low tide and said to the captain or one of the crew, now Are you sure you're going to make the harbor that you hope to make at high when the tide gets higher? They would have pointed to a rope attached to the ship. And they would have said on the other end of the rope is the anchor dropped by the forerunner who's already entered the harbor, safe inside the harbor and that.
Forerunner, having dropped the anchor, is our assurance that when the right moment comes, we're going to make it to. And what is the assurance of our hope, brethren? Why can we say it's a sure and steadfast hope? Because our forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ as a man, having accomplished the work of atonement, has already entered there. And if you ever have questions as to your hope and the assurance in your soul that you're going to get to heaven.
Just look up by faith and see where the Lord Jesus is now. And I want to say this ever so carefully.
And reverently, but if God were to refuse me entrance into heaven now.
Having by His grace availed myself of the finished work of Calvary.
He would have to send out his own dear Son, and that is impossible. The my assurance, the basis of my hope, is the fact that God has raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand. It's God's Amen to the work of Calvary, and it is the assurance that we are going to make it when the right moment comes.
01:10:22
But just read it. It's familiar scripture to us, but it's just reinforces what's just been said. Go to Ephesians chapter one, where Paul and his first of his two prayers in Ephesians takes up this very point.
Ephesians, chapter one.
And verse 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
That's part of what Peter wanted for the Saints, so that in the second epistle they might multiply by the knowledge of God. So he prays for them. He says in verse 18 that the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. We've been talking about being called, called to take this journey and so on. And so that's that we might know what it's for. What's the hope of it?
Why we called what are we called to and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the Saints were gonna have in the next verse the inheritance and what is the and here's the point here. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe.
Is He strong enough to make it all happen? Is He strong enough? Does He have the power to fulfill His plans and His purposes with respect to us? Well, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would believe and understand that the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power. How did he demonstrate the power which he wrought in Christ when He raised him from the dead?
That's his resurrection and, as Jim just spoke, his ascension.
And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might and dominion.
But all things in the next verse under his feet and so on. And then in chapter 2, we have our being raised from the dead, the condition in which we're seeing in this book, and that's our destiny. And again here it's just another example of the power of God.
Demonstrated in resurrection, that gives certainty to our souls of that which God has promised to us, our inheritance which has given us our hope.
That's why when we present the gospel, whether it's in a setting like we're going to have this evening where there will be a brother stand up and proclaim the good news, or as any of us have opportunity to present the gospel to others, we want to always stress the resurrection. It is a vital part of Christianity. And as we said, it's what sets Christianity aside from all the other religions of the world. Because if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain and ye are still in your sins.
And when Paul preached the gospel, he preached Christ crucified, but he also said that the gospel was that he died.
He was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And I just want to encourage the young brothers here. If you have opportunity to give a gospel message, maybe in your home assembly, you're asked on the Lord's evening to give a little word in the gospel. Maybe you go down in this little gospel work in your community. Maybe it's at some a nursing home or some other facility. Always stress, yes, it's, it's the death of Christ. We want to stress the blood of Christ.
But we must stress the resurrection. Without the resurrection we have no hope. And that's why those that Don mentioned when the Lord was crucified, that's why they were almost despaired because they really never entered in initially to the fact that the Lord had told them he was going to rise from the dead. But what was it that gave peace to the disciples after the Lord rose from the dead?
They heard about His resurrection from Mary Magdalene. They saw the empty tomb, but it wasn't until they saw the Lord Jesus in resurrection in their midst, with the marks of atonement on His body.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, when they got a hold of the fact that the Lord Jesus had indeed bodily risen from the dead.
01:15:03
Then it gave them peace and joy. And perhaps in that connection we could just say, too, it is important to tenaciously hold on to the truth of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There has been a system down through the ages that has propagated error that the Lord Jesus only rose in spirit. That is blasphemy. It is false teaching. We have no hope if we if that is true.
But again, that's why the Lord Jesus remained on earth long enough before his ascension to give ample and complete testimony to his own that he had not just risen in spirit, but that He had bodily risen from the dead.
So he ate in front of them. He said, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone.
As you see me have, he wanted them to get a hold of the truth that he had bodily risen from the dead.
And then bodily he has ascended back to the right hand of God, and in ascension he has remained a man, a glorified man, it's true. But he has remained a man and he will remain a man for all eternity. And when we get a hold of the this truth in our souls, then we say, OK, I understand why our hope is sure and steadfast. I can enter into a living hope. And that is what gives us confidence as to the future.
#185.
251118.
Of God.
No, no, no, no, no 30 Climbing to work.
Uh uh, last Friday.
And I will have one day.
Where all the glory is my life.
And our happier all the way to the Earth's. Strangely, we're a little Gray and Gray, uh, Gray and Gray. And they're a nice day. A lot of time.
Gospel 1
Gospel—Tim Roach
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I'd like to welcome everyone to the Gospel Meeting this evening. I think we'd like to start with Hymn #16 on our sheets.
Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound, send the blessed tidings, all the world around spread the joyful news wherever man is found, whosoever will may come, #16.
Dallas Cowboys and the last deciding.
Radisson Drive.
Nsnoise.
Let's start in Acts chapter 16.
And my subject tonight is about the heathen. Can the heathen be saved?
And how do we ask the question, how can a heathen be saved if he has never heard the gospel?
We can sometimes think of with our minds what we think God should do, but we cannot control what God and his sovereignty can do.
So I was in Africa one day in Malawi. I was at the refugee camp.
There are 400 men there between the ages of 18 and 30.
And as I went in there, half of them were from Ethiopia, half of them, half of them from Somalia. An Ethiopian man came up and took me by one arm. He tried to lead me over to his side of the camp. The Somalian came over at the same time and took me by the other arm and tried to pull me over to his side of the camp. And I had to negotiate with them. And I told the Ethiopian man.
I would come to him in a little while. And so I went with the Somali first, the heathen Somali, and I went to his group of people in his clan, but they rejected the Gospel. And so I went over to speak with The Ethiopians. Well, the Ethiopian man, he guided me into the depths of a big dark building. And after just speaking with the Somalis, I didn't want to go in that big dark building. And I went in there, I he said, oh, it's OK, no problem. And so I said, OK, I'll go in. And there were over 100 men in there and they were praying and they were singing hims. And after they finished praying and singing.
They asked me to speak to them and while I was speaking to them, the heathen were outside the Somalis. They were throwing stones at the tin roof, making a lot of noise and disturbing the gospel, and as I was ready to leave that room afterwards.
The Ethiopian said you can't go out there. Those people are dangerous.
I've been asked to take this Gospel meeting tonight, and we know that most of you, if not all of you, have heard the gospel before.
But yet some of you are still rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord.
You may be think that you are saved, but yet you have not given up your sin.
Of selfishness, and you continue to walk in a life of sin.
00:05:05
You're like the poet who said I'd listen to the gospel many thousand times, though held in very high regard, meant little more than rhymes. And so I asked What will it take for you to be saved? What will it take for you to be saved?
We're not gonna hold anything back tonight.
We're not going to circumvent your sin with some feel good.
Message. But we will look at your sin and your rebellion and your need of salvation and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
There are only two types of sinners in this room tonight.
We have self-righteous sinners.
And we have repentant sinners. I hope we have some repentance sinners tonight, but my message for you is both is the same in Acts 16 verse 31.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. There is no other message.
You've heard it before. You are a Sinner and God is holy.
And you are separated from God because of your sin.
Son of God came into this world and he became a man so that he could die on the cross just because of your sins, because of your sins that separates you from God.
And the only way for you to be saved is to believe on this man who is the Son of God.
This man is Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
Without the death, without the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you could not be saved.
If you don't repent, Bible says you will perish.
If you don't believe you are condemned already, and condemned means that you are on your way to hell.
A lost eternity in hell and condemned means that the wrath of God abides on you.
I beg with you tonight, Please don't put off your need of salvation tonight. Escape the wrath of God while there's still room in heaven for you.
The door is still open. Come before that door is closed, before it is too late. Behold now God says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Come unto me, all ye who labor, and you'll burden under your sin.
The Lord Jesus has come and I will give you rest. Rest from your sin. Do you want to have rest and peace, or do you want to continue on in life, always worried about eternity? What if God really is true? What if this is true and I am a Sinner and I am going to hell? You can have rest and peace tonight. Let's go to Luke, chapter 18.
Hello, I want to tell the story here about the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee was self-righteous, the publican was repentant. And so here we have a self-righteous Sinner and we have a repentant Sinner.
Luke 18 and verse 9. And Lord Jesus is it's about the Lord Jesus as he spoke this parable unto certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
And despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the 1A Pharisee, and the other Republican, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God I thank thee that I am not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even is this publican. I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess, And the publicans, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, But he smote upon his breast, then saying, God be merciful.
To me, a Sinner, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
00:10:02
Well, the Pharisee, he was self-righteous, he was full of pride, he was full of himself. He did not care about God. He thought he was good enough the way he was before and holy God, and he looked good to himself.
And he did not want anybody else to tell him what to do.
I was at a hobby class we had for some inner city children.
And as a chill afterwards, after the children were standing in line to get some pizza, one boy turned around and he punched his brother in the chest. I grabbed the two boys before their war could escalate. And the first boy? He fell to the ground kicking and screaming and saying, you can't tell me what to do, you're not my father.
That boy, he wanted to make his own choices.
And he did not want to be told.
What to do?
There is a young man.
He was raised in a Christian home.
He professed to be saved.
He was gathered to the Lord's name.
He even preached the gospel.
Took the Sunday school.
One day, the young man apostatized.
The pasta size means he turned away from God. He didn't want to believe in God anymore because if he believed in God, he couldn't follow his own choices and go his own way.
That young man, his choice was to live a gay lifestyle as a homosexual.
And he had a relationship with another man, and for many years they were together.
They adopted two young children.
Now they're probably in their 10/12/14 years old, the children.
A week or two ago, this young man posted a status on his Facebook page.
Four days to go.
The next day, it said three days to go.
People started asking him three days till what?
He said Three days until I marry my beloved.
This young man's sister.
Posted on the Facebook.
She said.
God's standard for marriage is one man and one woman.
He wrote back and he said.
The laws of Canada are not as stringent as God's law.
His mother wrote.
The Post and she said. But it's God's law.
Hey, young man.
Wanted to make his own choices and go his own way as a self-righteous Sinner.
It wasn't long that many other people joined that conversation on Facebook and they started to blasphemy God. They started to blasphemy the sister and they started to blasphemy the mother for what they had said and giving God his place in our lives.
I felt sorry.
For my brother's mother.
And his sister.
Young men doing that which is right in their own eyes. Maybe you're you're a young woman. Maybe you have some other sin in your life that you choose to do on your own. And you may think you are right in your own eyes and life may be going on OK for you, and you think everything is OK and you believe that you do not need to think about God right now. You want to make your own choices in life.
Some of you can't wait.
Till I stop talking so you can get on with life because you have your life planned out with no thought of God.
You attempt to make a good show to deceive your mom or your dad or the assembly.
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But you're a good show. Your good show is going to backfire on you because Satan is using you and he has you right where he wants you. Satan. He will destroy you with self righteousness. You have your own self-righteous concept of what is right, what is wrong, and you want to influence other young people to go your way.
And you overlook the word of God.
And you iniquitize the plain teaching of Scripture by twisting its meaning so that you can legitimize what you do and still try to feel good about yourself.
Let me tell you, it's not about feeling good about yourself.
You need to know God. How good is God?
How good is the Lord Jesus? The Lord Jesus is holy. He is just. He is righteous. He is innocent. He is without sin. He could not sin.
But yes, the Holy Lamb of God was made sin for me. There were three hours of darkness when the Lord Jesus hung upon the cross, when my sin was taken and put on Jesus Christ, the Holy Lamb of God.
And he suffered there.
For three hours he suffered the wrath of an holy God against sin. You need to see yourself as a self-righteous Sinner and you need to become a repentant Sinner.
Let's go to Acts chapter 26.
Stop.
Acts chapter 26 and verse 18. And this is my desire for all sinners here tonight. I've been sent to preach the gospel. I've been I've been asked in verse 18 to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light. That, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith.
That is in me all this verse. It explains what I want for you tonight. I want for you to be rescued from the power of Satan. I want you to. I want you to receive the forgiveness of sins and to be sanctified by faith. I want for you to be saved. We had that verse about sanctification in the reading meeting to be set apart for God. And I want for you to be sanctified by faith tonight. I want for you to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And not only to come to the knowledge of the truth, but to walk in the truth because there is no greater joy.
And when we see somebody, a young person, understanding the truth of God and walking in it and being faithful, even though others around them don't care about following the way of God.
Maybe you are saved?
Or maybe you think?
You are saved and you don't want me to get in your face tonight and challenge you about your life and where it is headed. Where it is headed? Well, that's what I am doing. That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm getting in your face tonight and I want to know where is your life headed?
Maybe you're headed away from the Lord's table.
And you don't want to be pressured to do or to follow the way of Jesus.
Whether you are headed away from the cross of Christ or you are headed away from the Lord's table, my concern for you is the same. I want Jesus Christ to be glorified in your life.
I want to stand in the gap and bridge the way for you to come to Jesus Christ.
And if you were in the process of apostasizing?
I'd love for you to come back.
To the Lord Jesus.
Don't turn away from him.
It's an empty life. Oh, you'll enjoy it while you're here. But that's only enjoyment you're going to get is while you're here on earth. You're not gonna enjoy eternity. You'll suffer forever in the lake of fire.
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You may be thinking about now.
Just get off my back and go preach the gospel to the heathen. You know, I tell people, they ask me what do you do? And I tell them, well, I often go to Africa and I preach the gospel and they say, yeah, they need it.
As if those people in Africa are more heathen than they are here in America. There are heathens here in America too, and you're with them every day at school or at work.
People hate the Lord Jesus.
You say goats preach to the heathen. Well, that's a good point. That's a good point because I have done that. I've been there. I've done that with the heathen. I've preached the gospel to the crowds of heathen as they stand around the Witch Doctor's platform.
I have been attacked by the crowds of heathen as I tried to hand out gospel calendars, and I've had to run into the safety of a shopkeeper that I knew in the market.
They've preached the gospel to the Somalis in Africa.
And I stood there while they tore up joyful news calendars and threw them in my face.
I've had to drive my car off the road and onto the grass.
To get around a big crowd of heathen Somalis standing in the middle of the road.
Not letting me pass, I pulled up next to their leader and he, and with the hatred and disdain in his voice, he poked his finger in through the window of my car into my face and he said to the rest of the crowd.
Christian.
I said yes, I am a Christian. I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
He died for me. He loves me and he loves you too. And he wants to save you.
That man hates Jesus, he said to me. Get out of here.
In the crowd of heathen parted like the Red Sea, and I was able to drive right down through the middle of them.
Another time I was sitting in the ground with a bunch of heathen men and they were threatening me because I dared to come into their space.
To share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you.
Talking to the heathen is exciting.
Do you wanna get a rush? Do you wanna have some excitement? Well, go and preach the gospel to the heathen.
Let's let's talk about the heathen and the gospel. Let's go to Romans chapter one.
Let me ask you a question. Can the heathen be saved without believing on the Lord Jesus?
Because it has been said that a heathen man who looks at creation and he acknowledges the Creator, that he can be saved without ever believing on the Lord Jesus.
I say, does this seem possible?
We're going to look and see what the Scriptures say. Now I'm not discounting the thought that if God uses the voice of creation.
Against the person.
To condemn a person, to make a person, to be without excuse that it cannot also be used towards salvation by faith in the person of God.
But I don't believe that God made dispensable souls that he could just cast into hell.
I believe everyone.
Everyone in this room is somehow responsible for your destiny.
If you have come to the age or a sense of accountability.
But still the question is there. Can a person be saved in this fashion if he is?
Without believing in Jesus if he can. If he can, he is not a part of the church. Because he has not believed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has not put his faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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Is it possible for a person to be saved and to go to heaven without being a part of the church?
I can't answer that question.
I can only show us what the Word of God says.
And I cannot limit God what he does in his sovereign.
But let's go to Romans chapter one.
And I see what God says in verse 20.
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse here this talking about the heathen, and they can see the creation of the world. It's clearly understood by them His eternal power and Godhead. So the heathen are without excuse.
The context of this verse is the wrath of God against sin, and this verse is telling us that the heathen have no excuse.
It is. It is not saying that you can simply be saved by having some understanding of a creator God. The verse is saying that the heathen rejected the creator God.
And so they are without excuse. Verse 20. Let's read verse 21. It explains it a little clearer. It says because that when they, the heathen knew God, the heathen glorified him not as God, neither were the heathen thankful.
But they became vain in their imaginations, and so the foolish heart of the heathen.
Was darkened.
They could see from creation the eternal power and the Godhead, but they rejected it, and when they knew it was God, they glorified him not as God.
And neither were they thankful, and therefore their hearts were darkened. Let's go to Chapter 3.
And in these verses here we understand that God cannot declare his righteousness without the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Sin cannot be propitiated or taken away.
Without faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ, God's Son.
The blood cleanses us from all sin and Romans 3 verse 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The Heathen.
Must be redeemed with the blood of Christ, the precious blood of Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, not faith in the stars, but faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins.
That are passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
You must be justified.
By believing in Jesus.
There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It is only through the name of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said himself in John 14, verse six. He says I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. You cannot come to the Father through creation, You must come through Jesus Christ.
Having lived many years here in America and many years in Africa, it is incredible to me that there are so many ways, false ways, that are purported and proposed and practiced by man in his attempt to justify his way into heaven.
And it seems like everybody's dreaming up their own ways to try and get to God or to their idea of God. And Isaiah 53 tells us that all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
Many people say, well, it doesn't matter what you believe. They say and and we'll all end up at the same place.
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And to a certain extent, that is true.
Because you can believe whatever you want, but if you do not believe in Jesus Christ crucified.
You will end up in the same place.
You can try and you can believe in Islam, or you can try humanism, or you can go your own way through creationism.
Or Hinduism or whatever ISM you want to try.
But you will all end up in the same place.
Hell. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was not prepared for you.
But if you do not believe in Jesus Christ crucified, you will die in your sins.
And you will be sent to a loss, eternity in hell. But tonight, tonight is your opportunity to avoid hell.
It's your opportunity.
You must admit that you are a Sinner, just like the publican who beat upon his chest. And he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
I don't want you to think that you can come to God through creation, because today if you could come to the Father through the observance of creation.
Why did God need to send his only begotten Son into this world?
To die for our sins, so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Let's go to Romans chapter 10.
We have a question.
How can the heathen believe?
If he has never heard the gospel.
If a heathen sees creation and he recognizes the Creator God, and God begins at work.
Towards salvation in his heart, I believe God will send him a messenger.
Just like the Ethiopian eunuch, he's God sent Philip to speak to that Ethiopian man. He was opening his scriptures. He didn't know.
I've read, I've read books about different cultures and they have different things in their culture. That when a person believes the missionary was sent and was able to present to them the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. And so God will send a messenger to him so that God he can hear the gospel, so he can recognize that he is a Sinner and that he needs to be saved and he will believe on Jesus Christ.
As his Lord and savior.
This brings us to another question. Whose responsibility is it to go into the white fields of harvest and to give the gospel to the heathen and tell them about the Savior of sinners?
I look around this room and I see a lot of potential.
A lot of potential.
Is the Lord calling you to give the gospel to the heathen?
If you find yourself convicted.
About the heathen and about them having an opportunity to hear the gospel.
I think the solution is simple.
Pack your bags and come with me.
Let's go to Romans chapter 14 and verse chapter 10 and verse 14.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they the heathen? How shall the heathen believe in him whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
I'm not just making a cute statement when I say pack your bags and come with me.
Or with Jim.
Or with some other local outreach for the gospel.
I'm serious that if anybody who has been praying about spreading the gospel and if you want to preach the gospel to the heathen.
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Come and talk to me afterwards.
Let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
And this next point is important because the heathen in Africa or anyone else are not going to go to hell because they have never heard the gospel.
So he's and are going to go to hell because they have rejected God and they do not believe.
2nd Corinthians 4 verse 3.
If our ghost will be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
I think this verse applies to the heathen and can it can apply to you as well. But here's the point. Some people think that it's it is unfair that the heathen have never had a chance to believe because their eyes were blinded. But it's not like that. It's the other way around. They even have their eyes blinded because they do not believe.
Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.
Stop.
In verse 11 to 13 Ephesians 2, I think these verses prove that today the heathen will be saved through Jesus Christ and in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles or heathens in the flesh, verse 12, you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Look at this verse.
The heathen were without Christ. They were aliens. They were strangers.
There without hope and there without God in this world.
But now God has made a way for them to be saved thru Jesus.
Without Jesus, there is no hope.
This verse tells us that the heathen, who are one time far off from God, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ. They are not reconciled to God through creation, but they are reconciled to God by the death of his son, the heathen of Somalia or Africa or America.
Can only be saved through the precious blood of Christ.
It's been interesting and it's been nice for us to talk about the heathen.
Because when we talk about the heathen.
We we somehow feel.
OK with ourselves, because it doesn't become personal to you.
But your sin and your unbelief must become personal to you, because your sin and your unbelief is dragging you down to a lost eternity in hell. It is not just the heathen that need to be saved. You need to be saved. And tonight is the moment. Tonight is your opportunity to be saved. Don't let it pass. Don't go out these doors tonight without accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
There may be some here tonight and you are tired of your sin.
You're tired of pretending to be saved. You're tired of running away from God.
And you're tired of going your own way and making your own choices to take you further and further from God. And you are ready to come to God the Father.
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Through the death of Jesus Christ.
And you ask the question, what then must I do to be saved?
Let's go back to where we began tonight in Acts Chapter 16.
And in this chapter in this story.
The Apostle Paul and Silas were out preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified and people were getting saved.
And some other people were getting angry. And some of those people arrested Paul and Silas, and they whipped him. They would beat them.
And they gave him over to the jailer, And the jailer thrust them into the inner prison and put them into stocks and bound their hands and their feet. And there they were in prison. And while they were there, in prison.
They were singing hymns and praying to God through the night.
Later that night there was an earthquake.
And the doors of the prison were thrown open and the chains fell off the prisoners.
And the jailer woke up.
And he was afraid. He was afraid because he knew that if any of the prisoners escaped, the Romans were going to come and they were going to kill him. And he didn't want to face that kind of a death. And so he took out his sword, and he was ready to commit suicide and to kill himself.
At that moment Paul and Silas they cried out to the jailer and said Sir, do thyself no harm, we are all here.
The jailer, he had heard, I'm sure he heard them singing praises to God.
And he knew that he was a Sinner.
And he knew that he needed to have a change in his life, and he knew that only Jesus Christ.
Could bring that change to happen.
But he didn't know how to be saved until he comes in, and he's trembling. He's trembling in fear because he didn't want to go to hell. He wanted to have his sins taken away. And he comes in trembling before Paul and Silas. And he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
You must admit that you are a Sinner.
Without hope and without God in this world.
Because you are lost in your sins and you need to pray like the publican prayed.
God be merciful to me. A Sinner? Can you say that? Can you admit that you are a Sinner? Can you admit that you deserve to go to hell, That you're on the road to a lost eternity?
God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
Believe that Jesus took all the punishment that you deserve.
Believe that he died because of your sin, and he shed his blood, and he was buried, and believed that on the third day he rose again.
Today.
Believe that Jesus Christ is now raised up into heaven. He's there tonight. There's a man in heaven.
And he's waiting for you. He's gone there and the place has been prepared for you.
He's waiting for you. What are you waiting for?
Accept the Lord Jesus tonight. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Come to Jesus right now.
Turn away from yourself righteous sin.
And become a repentant Sinner.
When you believe.
God saves you.
And when God saves you.
He takes away your sin.
And when He takes away your sin, He gives you eternal life.
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The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, And that's the gift the Lord Jesus wants to give you tonight.
When God gives you eternal life.
God cannot call you a Sinner anymore.
It's wonderful. You cannot be called a Sinner from now on because you have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ is washed every sin away, whether it's been the past or the present or the future. God who knew them 2000 years ago, God put them on Jesus Christ and Jesus was punished for your sins and so Jesus is washed away.
Every sin, your sin is gone. You will never, your sin will never be held against you forever.
You are holy and without blame before God because your sin is gone. Now you are free to go and worship the Lord. You are free to have fellowship with God. You are free to serve Him, and you are free to honor him in all you do.
This is the blessing.
And the value of being redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ.
Let's see hymn #34.
Precious precious blood of Jesus.
Shed on Calvary.
Let's sing the 1St 3 verses of #34.
Precious. Precious.
You have an opportunity right now to come to the Lord Jesus.
If you recognize that you are a Sinner.
And you need to be saved.
I want you to come tonight.
I'll be around here for a little while. Afterwards you can come and speak to me.
And I can pray with you.
To help you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, as we sing the last verse I want you to.
Read it. Precious Precious Blood of Jesus Ever offered free. Oh, believe it or receive it. Tis for thee. I want you to believe it. I want you to receive it tonight as we stand and sing verse 4.
Precious, precious life.
The Carpenter Makes Outragious Claims
1 Peter 1:4-5
Reading
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Umm.
Start with verse four of first Peter chapter one.
First Peter chapter one.
Four is in the middle of a sentence. I hope don't won't mind if I back up to verse three, but maybe we should try to confine the comments to verse four. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate is not away.
Reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.
Through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found on the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Whom having not seen any love, in whom though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.
And full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
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Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently.
Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow?
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober.
And hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written.
Be holy, for I am holy.
And if ye call on the Father, who, without respect of persons, judge us according to every man's work.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's.
But with the precious blood of Christ.
As of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times. For you, who by him do believe in God.
They raised him up from the dead.
And gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
Senior purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit.
Unto unfeigned love, the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass, 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.
Remember to think a little bit.
Of the people to whom this letter was written, they were Jews. They were Jews who had now put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and become part of the Church of God.
But they had been born to.
And they had, as a Jew, a certain anticipated inheritance.
They were an earthly people and so their inheritance was connected with the earth.
The land of Israel, as we call it today, was the inheritance.
And prosperity and long life were all connected with that land.
Now think of it as the time when the Lord Jesus was here on earth.
And he dies.
It says here an inheritance incorruptible. The inheritance, if you will, that they were anticipating at that point in time was very corruptible.
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It was that which was defiled. It wasn't undefiled inheritance. They were to be in a land separate from the heathen, as we had them last night from the nations that were a corrupted set of people. They were to be in a land in an inheritance that they were to be separated from them so that they could live before God in purity and in holiness. But at the time the Lord Jesus was here.
That land was defiled by the Gentile and by their own idolatry that they had previously been in and still had effects from, and so on. It was a defiled inheritance. And then it says that fadeth not away and.
They'll never get that inheritance on the ground of their first covenant with God, and in fact, God has to and has done through the work of the Lord Jesus.
Set the foundation for a new covenant with them in which they will come into the inheritance and it will be undefiled and it will be an unfading one for them, and so on. But as they saw it at the time this letter was written, they weren't going to get it.
It was a fading away kind of thing. And every person that has a sense of inheritance connected with this world can see these three things in it, and they're always going to be connected with anything that has to do with Adam's race. It's a spoiled race and everything connected with it is defiled and fades. And later in the chapter, the glory of man is seen to be like the flower that comes and.
Has its little day and then it's gone. It fades, it's corruptible. But brethren, Peter is bringing before them and us.
We have a different inheritance. We have an inheritance that connects us with the Lord Jesus Christ and heaven. And the characteristics of it that ought to encourage our hearts is it's incorruptible, it's undefilable, and it will never fade away. And so we are encouraged to put our hearts in the enjoyment.
And of anticipation of that which God says we shall inherit with Christ.
And we can have enjoyment of it now can't wait. The full enjoyment of it will be in a future day. But we have the capacity now all things that pertain unto life and godliness and the capacity now to enjoy our our inheritance. You know, and brother Dawn was mentioning how that the children of Israel in the Old Testament, they had an earthly in an earthly inheritance. And the land of Canaan really typifies to us.
That which is our inheritance in a spiritual sense, it's that vast panorama of spiritual blessings that are brought before us in Ephesians and other places in the New Testament, and often people think of the land of Canaan.
As something that we are going to enjoy after death, after the Jordan, when we get to heaven, and so on. And as I say, we're going to have a far greater enjoyment of it in that day. But Canaan is something that we can enjoy right now because we are linked by the Spirit of God to our risen head where he is now, as we spoke of at some length yesterday, the Lord Jesus.
Is at the right hand of God, He is the forerunner there we are linked to him. We have divine life, we have the Spirit of God and we can have an enjoyment of heaven before we get there. But I believe that this.
Portion here must have answered an enigma that these believers had at this time.
Because they must have wondered with the inheritance in the Old Testament.
It depended. The enjoyment of it depended on their faithfulness and their obedience. God told them if they were obedient, he would establish them in the land. They would enjoy their inheritance, They would, as Dawn said, have long life. He'd increased their lands and their cattle and their families and so on. But here were these believers now, and they were had been seeking to be faithful to the Lord in Christianity, and they must have wondered what had happened.
They'd lost their land. They'd been driven from their homes, They'd lost everything, naturally speaking. And they must have wondered, well, we've tried to be faithful to the Lord. We were taught under the old order of things that faithfulness, when we were faithful, there would be an increase in the blessings we would have. And it really must have puzzled these believers. But Peter writes them to answer this question that they must have had. No, he says, you might have lost everything, naturally speaking.
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As far as what was promised in the Old Testament under the Jewish order of things, that's faded away, that's gone. But he says you have something now that is eternal. You have now the unsearchable riches of Christ.
You have spiritual blessings, you have heaven secured and nothing, no unfaithfulness on your part can ever change that. Just like to say this too and make this as real and practical as we can. There are two things in this 4th and 5th verse that I think go very well together. You know, if if we're given an an earthly inheritance, suppose someone.
Leaves you an inheritance, no matter how vast that inheritance is.
And no matter how careful you are with that inheritance, every time you go down to the bank and draw on that inheritance.
The inheritance becomes less and we've heard stories and read stories of those who through mismanagement and squandering.
Have lost inheritances. But even if you're careful, every time you draw on that inheritance, the inheritance becomes less. But not so with our inheritance. You can draw on your inheritance in Christ time and time again. You can go down, if I can put it this way, to the spiritual bank. And no matter how often or how much you draw on that inheritance, it never will become less. But not only that, suppose someone promises you.
That when they die, they're going to leave you an inheritance, a big a large sum of money.
But you know, maybe 221 of two things may happen. Maybe by the time the person dies, the inheritance is used up. Maybe in the end of their life they needed assisted care living or something like that and the inheritance wasn't reserved for you it it was used up. But something else might happen too. You might predecease the person, you weren't reserved for the inheritance. And so when the time for the inheritance to be passed on comes, perhaps it has to be given to someone else.
Because you died first. But brethren, either way we can't lose. We have this inheritance. It's undefiled. It fades not away. It'll never be used up. It's ours to enjoy now, and it will be ours to enjoy and appreciate for all eternity. But not only that, we're reserved for the in the inheritance. It's ours. It's secure in Christ. And because of the finished work of Calvary and brethren, that ought to rejoice our hearts, that ought to quicken our footsteps through the wilderness journey.
To give us joy amidst the circumstances, as he's going to go on to speak of, because the inheritance is reserved for us and we're preserved for the inheritance.
I'd like to make a comment actually with this inheritance because, uh, there is, there is an aspect where there were those in the Old Testament that had an appreciation, umm, for that which was going to be theirs, which was not down here.
And I say that because we, we read in the, umm, if you look at the subject of the inheritance, you know, it first comes up in the, uh, in the book of Genesis, and we read it many times. And so we have Abraham and the, the Lord hasn't looked through the land and he says, look through it and walk through it and enjoy it. But you know, we read in Hebrews that Abraham, he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. So although he had many things promised down here, obviously his sights were not necessarily.
Down here and I was thinking particularly, uh, and I would, I would just like to make this comment particularly to those who are younger. Uh, could you turn with me to the book of Joshua just for a moment?
The book of Joshua, the 13th chapter.
It just seems that something we can see, something we can feel, something we can touch just seems to have a little bit more pizzazz than something we can't see. And we see that when our children are, are, are born and they're and they're real young, they want some toys and they get a little bit older and they want, not necessarily toys. They want a wagon and then they want something, perhaps they want a bicycle and then it moves on from there and they want their first car.
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And it's always things that they can touch, feel and see.
But I tried to put my myself in the in the, uh, position of the Levites. Now notice what it says in these chapters 13 and on we have the land is divided up amongst the various different tribes. But notice what it says about the Levites.
Umm, uh, we could. We could read earlier in the chapter, but let's just read the last verse of Joshua 13.
For unto the tribe of Levi, Moses gave not any inheritance. The Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them. So you know, I've tried to picture myself as a young Levite.
And, and going to his father and says, you know, dad, I'd kind of like to have a garden. Umm, I kind of like to have a few cows. I kind of like to have, umm, uh, a few goats. I'd kind of like to have a few sheep. And to hear father Levites say, well, you know, son, umm, uh, that's not really our portion. We, we really can't have that. Umm, our, our inheritance is the Lord's. And you can hear the young Levites with this quandary in his mind, saying, you know, the Lords aren't here. He says, well, how does that work?
And you know, the best way for someone who is older to portray to a young Levite that the Lord was his inheritance was to be in the full enjoyment of the Lord himself.
And so he could tell us that all the things that the Lord has done, and they would have been a marvelous encouragement to his own heart if he was enjoying them. Now, if he was not enjoying them, you know, he could portray whatever to his son and his son would still think, you know, that I'd still like to have a few cows.
But you know, it's not different today, and it's been a challenge to my own heart to try to portray to my children the things that I really like, because the enemy of our souls would try to present things down here of real value.
And so the, the, the, the Apostle Peter, he, he, he writes to these believers and, and these, these believers were going through real difficulty.
Their trial was such that as as Jews, they were hated by the Romans.
The Romans hated them because they were Jews, but then the Jews also hated them because they were Christians, so it didn't matter where they looked, they were hated.
But I just so appreciated that in the Old Testament there were those, there was the Levites, and their inheritance was beyond this scene. And they could understand that concept that Peter was seeking to write here.
I know what an encouragement it is to my own heart what I see. I mentioned Brother Judd this morning. He's someone whose sites are not down here and they haven't been for a long time. And it's been such an encouragement to my own soul to see those who are older truly enjoying the inheritance that is ours, or maybe try to enjoy that ourselves so we can portray it to those who are younger that which is really life.
That I'd like to make a comment about Brother Judd.
And it was commented that he was right at the end of this journey.
What came to my own mind was the Lord's anticipation and joy of having patiently waited so long.
To have a desire of his heart fulfilled.
And as the Lord enables Lloyd to anticipate the Lord's joy of his being brought into His presence to be forever together.
It's a triumphant entrance. The apostle Paul had that same anticipation in his own soul of the joy that he, but more important that the Lord would have of their being together. And always in the Scripture when it's the thought of being with the Lord and the Lord's side of it is presented.
It isn't. I've got a mansion just over the hilltop that comes really, really far short of the true sense. But it is the Lord Jesus.
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Having the desire, he says, Father, I will that those also whom thou hast given me be with me. When it talks to the Rapture, it's in Thessalonians. It's that to be forever.
With the Lord and He is the primary.
Anticipation of what we might call the inheritance. It's also good to go on and recognize here and Scripture too. We might say, well yes, I'm going to have the Lord. There's this side of it too, and that is.
Our inheritance is to be coheirs with him.
In other words, he says everything that I inherit.
I want you as my bride, to share with me.
And so the anticipation for us is the bridegroom and his love for his body. The church won't take his inheritance until it can be shared with those that are coheirs with him.
He patiently waits for his inheritance. He doesn't take it. Ask of me, it says in the second Psalm, and I'll give you, but he won't ask. He will not take it until those that are his Co heirs can be with him. And so brethren, let's try to remember this morning as we seek to enjoy these things. Let's satisfy his heart. Let's satisfy his heart. His heart is.
I won't take my inheritance without you.
I wanna wait until you're with me and then we'll share it together.
And I'm waiting, I'm anticipating, I'm looking forward to it. And the desire of his heart, I believe the desire of the Spirit of God for us this morning is that there would be a flow of response within us to have the same desire to say, Lord, it's going to be wonderful to be together. And then when we're together, if I could put it this way, the inheritance will take care of itself.
I'd like to just develop that a little bit because I believe it is the appreciation.
Of the inheritance in our hearts that is going to give us the proper character.
Of strangers and pilgrims here in this world. It's not just to be able to go over these things and enumerate them from Scripture, as good as that is, but these things need to affect our souls. And so we find that later on in this epistle, in the second chapter, he speaks to them as strangers and pilgrims. Again, in Hebrews there were those who didn't receive the promises, but they saw them afar off.
But more than that, they embrace them and they confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. What gave them that character? It was not just that they saw those things. They knew about them, but they really embraced them in their souls. And I'd like to just go back for a moment to Joshua again to the 15th chapter, and see an individual that this is was true of in connection with the inheritance in the Old Testament. Brother Dave brought before us the Levites, but.
We have an individual in the 14th chapter and I think it's very instructive in this regard.
Just two before we I read this, we realize that the children of Israel had been in the wilderness for 40 years. They were strangers and pilgrims. They had been brought now through the Jordan. They had been told to go in and possess their inheritance, the land of Canaan, and with the Lord's help to drive out their enemies. And we know that through the wilderness, before the wilderness journey, there was a man named Caleb.
Who had been very, very faithful. He was one of the spies that went in to spy the land.
And he and Joshua alone had brought up a good report of the land.
Of the inheritance and it's interesting that during the 40 years in the wilderness where they turned back.
Because of their unbelief and because they rejected the testimony of Joshua and Caleb.
For the testimony of the other ten, we find that Caleb from that point to this point I'm going to read of now.
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Is never mentioned in those forty years, but we find that He went on quietly for 40 years in the wilderness. We never read of anything He says or does until we come to this point. Let me just read here from the sixth verse.
Joshua 14 verse six. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jefuna the Kenazite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, The man of God, concerning me and thee in Kadish Barnier.
40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadish Barnea.
To aspire out the land. And I brought him word again, as it was in mine heart.
I believe that last expression is the key, that why, how could Caleb go on for 40 years amidst fault finding and murmuring and the governmental hand of God upon his people because of their moral condition and so on, and all the physical things that he no doubt dealt with from day-to-day in the wilderness. You say how could he do it?
When he knew they could have gone up and possessed the inheritance immediately. I believe it's just what he says here.
The inheritance that got into Caleb's heart. He had seen it. He had seen the pomegranates, he'd seen the the grapes cut down and carried on the shoulders of two men. He had seen the lushness of the inheritance. And it had so affected Caleb's heart that it caused him to quietly go on amidst all the failure that he saw amongst his brethren without a murmur or complaint that we read of all those years.
Because his heart was affected. And was the inheritance any less to Caleb after 40 years than when he had gone up to spy out the land? Not one bit. It was still as real in Caleb's soul. And notice what it says in the 13th verse. And Joshua picture of Christ. He blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jefuna. Hebron for an inheritance. Several connotations to Hebron, but I would just say that was not only the place of death, but it was the place of communion where Abraham.
Had an altar and spent many happy hours of fellowship with his God. And Caleb receives this. And it's interesting that Caleb is the only one that we read of that got a personal inheritance in the land. Every other their inheritance by tribe and family. But Caleb got a personal inheritance. Why? Because he appreciated in his heart the inheritance that he had seen.
And he got what his heart desired, the place of communion. Yes, there were difficulties there, but those difficulties paled and connect in relationship to his desire to have the place of communion and fellowship. And I thought, I just say, if the inheritance gets into our hearts, we read these things and it affects our souls, it's going to give us the proper character as strangers and pilgrims. And what this world offers is like Paul said, it's going to be nothing.
It's gonna, we're gonna count it as done, that we might win Christ.
Our inheritance, uh, we're Speaking of our inheritance, and I know our chapter does this and it's somewhat in a general, in a general sense, but could we have a little description of what God has prepared to give in that inheritance?
Inheritance is brought before us in different aspects in Scripture. I think Don alluded to it, but in Ephesians, the inheritance there is all created things, and the Lord Jesus is going to take it back, not only as creator, but in redemption in a coming day. And we're going to share in that. He's not going to take it back until He has his own by his side, his bride by his side, and then he's going to take it back just like a young man.
He may buy a very nice home and you say to him, well, why don't you move into the home? You've got it nicely decorated and furnished and you're living in a little bachelor apartment. Why don't you move into that home? Oh, he says, I'm waiting till the day I have my bride with me. We've set the wedding date and I don't want to take to share that. I don't want to take possession of that home, live in that home till I have my bride with me. And then we're going to enter that home together and we're going to share it. Well, the Lord Jesus is waiting for that day.
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When he has his bride and then he's going to take the inheritance. But there's another aspect too, as we said earlier.
And that is what we have illustrated to us in the land of Canaan, because, as I said earlier, the land of Canaan.
Typifies to us all that spiritual inheritance that is ours now. It's, as I said earlier, that panorama of spiritual blessings that we have been given. It's all that is secured for us in Christ Jesus that we can have an enjoyment of now. It's that which lies ahead when we're home in the Father's house and then we'll no longer know in part and prophecy in part. It's everything really that has been secured for us in Christ.
And again, this must have been a great comfort to these Jewish believers who had lost everything naturally speaking as far as any earthly inheritance. But in the language of Matthew, they had something where moth and rust don't corrupt, thieves don't breakthrough and steal. They had something that was secured for them for their enjoyment now and for all eternity, and something that will never diminish.
No matter how much we draw on the resource and enjoy it.
In Acts chapter 4.
Acts Chapter 4.
And verse.
32.
The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they all. But they had all things common, and with great power.
Gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all.
Neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet. And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which being interpreted the son of Consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.
And enjoyed thinking here's a Levite that owned land.
But his heart got regained and he sold that.
And he laid that money at the apostles feet. His inheritance was more properly focused on things above.
Verse 5.
So I answered the question, what are we living for?
It says here who are kept by the power of God through faith.
Unto salvation.
Well, we are living for that inheritance that we have in heaven.
Otherwise we would live here in vain. We would just live here to die, just like an animal.
That goes through the cycle of their life and then die and they don't know God.
But we are live in order to receive an inheritance which we have in heaven.
But in order to get that inheritance.
We have to do something the same like the Levites had to do.
They carried that Tabernacle through the wild wilderness for 40 years. Well, what for? Did they do that?
Because they needed it to sacrifice to God for their sins.
And that's why. Why did it take so long?
Because they didn't have faith.
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To go get that inheritance.
And it's the same with us if we don't know the Lord Jesus.
Then we don't know what we're living for.
But how do we get to know him? We have to be taught.
Who He is and that and why He was here on the earth, and that He did come in in the 1St place and then He came for a purpose and then He made a promise.
Place is in heaven, which we were going to inherit. But then young people often said why we don't see anything of that today. We're going to have to have something that something tangible, something that we can get a hold of.
Well, if you want to greatly rejoice, as it says in the sixth word, have to know the Lord Jesus more personally.
Enjoy what he did, enjoy what he said.
Enjoy everything that you can find out about him. You find a lot of it in the Gospels and and the rest of the New Testament. You find everything about the Lord Jesus.
And if you want to go deeper into it and rejoice more, you find why it was all pointing to him in the Old Testament, why they did carry the Tabernacle through the wilderness for 40 years.
Because they were looking forward to getting through that land and to inherit it. Well, so are we. We're looking forward to inherit. And that was the Lord Jesus now has in heaven.
But we have to know about it first. We have to know him.
Call Mama to the second Psalm, Psalm 2.
Verse two. Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. Uh.
And against his anointed.
And then down in, uh, verse.
Seven, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen.
For thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Comment on it in a moment, but turn over to Psalm 8.
Psalm 8, verse three. When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man?
That thou art mindful of him.
And the Son of man, that thou hast thou visitest him.
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
Thou mayest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen. Yeah, and the beasts of the field, and so on. Now over to Colossians, Chapter One.
Colossians, Chapter One.
And verse 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance.
Of the Saints in light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.
16 For by him are all things created that are in heaven and earth, visible and unvisible, invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him.
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And He is above all things, and by him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead. Now finally over in Ephesians chapter one.
Stop.
Ephesians chapter one, verse 18, The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints.
And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power?
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And have put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church.
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth.
All in all.
When God created man and put him on the earth in Genesis chapter one, the very first word spoken to man.
Or be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth. God placed man over the earth to have the dominion over it as the sphere over which He was responsible, and in that sense you might have said it was his inheritance.
But man failed God, and consequently man could not receive from God an inheritance that was permanent because he was not in a condition to receive it or to administer it either. And so the Lord Jesus as a man comes into this world, he becomes a man, he comes into the world, He lives fully, completely, perfectly to the will of God and honors and glorifies God in all that was given him to do.
He was rejected of the first man in all his race, and he dies. God raises him from the dead.
And then he takes him up to the supreme place of honor as a man. A man had never been in heaven before. A man had never been at the right hand of God in peace to sit there. And in the second Psalm, Jehovah says to him, You ask, and I'll give you everything.
This earth rejects the heathen rage. They rebel. They say we don't want God. The earth's ours.
This is man's world.
And they have Centennial celebrations in honor of man and his world.
In true rebellion against the true owner, the one who has the right to give. And yet in the Lord Jesus there's a man and the inheritance. The primary really to me thought in it is what's he get?
What does God want to give him?
In the second Psalm he gives him the earth and all the fullness of it. In the 8th Psalm he says you can have the whole creation, angels, animals, the world, the stars, the moon, everything. The that's created is yours.
To have and inherit.
But also in Genesis, when God created man.
He said it's not good for man to be alone.
You might have a lot, but if you have it alone, it's a loan.
You might inherit a billion dollars, but if you only have it for yourself, it's a loan. It's not fully satisfying in that character. And so God, here's a man, a man in the glory, a man that's been been given everything as his inheritance. And the question is, will he have it alone?
No, no he won't.
It's not good for man to dwell alone, and so God gives him a bride.
And she becomes the fullness of him that felleth All in all, that last verse in Ephesians 1.
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He's incomplete without her, but.
She is brought into a relationship with him that he might not share or have it alone, and she inherits all that is his to share with him. There are certain things of his own, glories that are personally his that can't be shared, but everything of the creation itself that's shareable is shared with her, his bride, And when it comes to us.
The first point of the sanctification that was brought out yesterday and the blood and so on, is if she's to share it with him, she must be in purity. She must be that which is suitable to be an heir.
And so in Colossians one we see how she is brought to be made meat, to be part of the inheritance. But if you start with himself as a man, then the I believe to me, the inheritance, the wonder of it is.
To participate in it, not even what it is in itself, but simply that God in his marvelous purposes of and grace.
It to mankind is I want, I want others to join with my son and to be part of himself, and that's the inheritance.
I wonder if we could just turn to Romans 8A minute because it's nice to know what brought us into a place where we.
Receive this inheritance and this. This chapter tells us how that happened. Romans 8 and verse 15 says.
For ye, ye have not received the spirit of ******* again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption.
Or by we cry, I have a father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs of God, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
We have this inheritance now by right.
Because of the family that we have been brought into, it's not strange for a father to pass along.
The an inheritance to a child, and because we have been brought into relationship with God as children, it is a natural thing, a normal thing for that child to enjoy the inheritance.
And so it's a wonderful thing that because God has brought us into relationship as children, that's 11 aspect of the reason why we have right to inheritance. The other thing is that we have been brought into relationship with Christ.
And that and that makes us fellow heirs because of our distinct connection with him, because as it's been mentioned, God is giving him everything, giving him possession.
Of everything and we have been brought into a unique association with him that if he is going to inherit all things then we also.
Umm are going to because our our relationship and connection to him are going to come into the enjoyment of that inheritance.
Particularly to those here who are young mothers and young wives.
You say, what does that have to do with the inheritance? So let's turn to umm, the book of Judges for a moment. I only raised this because of the remarks that Umm Jim made earlier. Sometimes it's at a conference. It's hard for the young mothers and young wives to get something out of a reading with the care of the children. What we find in Judges chapter one here, UMM Jim has brought us, brought before us how Caleb had an appreciation for that which he had seen. And I've kind of wondered about AXA, you know, going through the wilderness and things or that sometimes.
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Umm, that how come we have to go through this wilderness and this, uh, have to listen to all these people whining and fussing and complaining and for Caleb to say, oh, Acts, uh, you should see the grapes. You should see the pomegranates. But you know, when she got there, that's what she wanted too. And we find that in Judges chapter one in verse UH-12, it says, and Caleb said he that slightest courage us deeper and taketh it to him. Will I give acts of my daughter to wife and off the other son of Kenas, Caleb's younger brother took it and he gave him Akshay, his daughter to wife.
Now here's where I really enjoy how sometimes as young husbands and young fathers, the cares of this life are very real and just in seeking to put bread and butter in the table, we can get so occupied with what's down here that the enemy would seek to eclipse that which really matters. Well, here we find a young wife and she's an encouragement to her husband. So we read here. It came to pass, she came to him and she moved him to ask her father afield.
Well, she had a desire to have part of that inheritance. She moved her husband to ask for that inheritance. But I would just suggest this to those of you who are young mothers.
And young ones, as your husbands are seeking to provide for you, provide for your children and the necessary things of life that are sometimes overwhelming to a young father and a young husband that you can be a real encouragement to your husband to seek to point him to that which is really life, not the things down here. You know, AXA did that. She wanted her husband that part of that inheritance. And in in our chapter that we have before us.
As our brother Don brought before us earlier, there are those things that are not defiled, that are, those things that are not corruptible. Everything we have down here is soon gonna be somebody else's. Doesn't matter what it is we have down here, it's soon gonna be somebody else's. Except for those things that are really like.
It takes faith, doesn't it, to lay hold of that which is really life and those things that are ours in Christ.
That are not going to fade away. It takes faith to lay hold of the inheritance.
Because we've never seen any of our spiritual blessings with the natural eye.
But they're no less real to faith. And so if we're going to be encouraged, as we've said, to go through the wilderness journey that we're on, we must by faith lay hold of that which is ours, which really ours, and that which is ahead. And that you really see illustrated in Moses. You know, Moses was a little different from all the others that crossed the wild, the desert, in that he had been brought up.
Not as a slave or a captive in Egypt. He had been brought up in the palace. He had the best of the best. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and what he gave up to for the wilderness was perhaps more than the rest had given up. What the rest gave up was the whip and the scourge and the slavery and the flesh pots that they sat beside in the evening and hoped to be able to get a little sustenance, the whole body and soul together. Moses didn't have that problem when he was he was growing up.
But it's interesting that in Hebrews 11 it tells us, well, let me just read it because I think it's instructive.
In Hebrews Chapter 11.
And verse 24 by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I'll stop there for a moment. We're going to go on in our chapter and we're going to learn about the afflictions and the trials and the difficulties that those brethren in Peter's day were were feeling in their wilderness journey, and that we feel in our journey down here too. But then notice what it says in verse 26. Esteeming the reproaches of Christ.
Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had he had respect under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured how as seeing him.
Who is invisible? You know, I used to read this portion about the treasures of Egypt and so on, and I thought about it and I considered it. But after having been to Egypt a number of times and gone through places like the Cairo Museum.
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And stood by the pyramids and been in Alexandria, and seeing what the treasures and the glory of Egypt was in the days of Moses. This expression has meant much more to me. I don't think we really understand what Moses gave up, what he forsook. Egypt was not a base nation in the days when Moses was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. It was a glorious nation. The Chariots of the kings and nobility were covered with gold and encrusted with jewels, and so on.
Why did he forsake it? Why did he give it up? He saw something by faith that was greater than the treasures of Egypt.
He esteemed the reproaches of Christ. Interesting expression, isn't it? He had a flash of revelation beyond the normal revelation of his day.
These esteem the reproaches of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt. He saw him who is is invisible and brethren, if we can get a hold of the riches of Christ and the inheritance of by faith in our souls. It's not going to make giving up the things down here difficult. We're not even going to consider them. They're just going to drop off like autumn leaves. They're not going to have an attraction. It's not going to be something that we.
We we say, oh, I wish I could have cling to this. I wish I could cling to that. No, in the measure in which the inheritance and Christ is is in our souls and our hearts. Those things again, I say like Paul.
He didn't find any difficulty in counting them, but loss? He was winning Christ, He wanted more of him.
He had the prize, He was running a race. He had the prize, the goal and view. What is the prize in the Christian life? It's Christ.
It's Him. It's to have Christ before us. And so Peter sets this before.
These brethren, and then and only then does he take them back to the reality of the present situation.
If I had been writing this, I would have talked about their present situation and then put the future before them. That's not what the Spirit of God through Peter does. He puts the future, the inheritance, the hope, the link between the present and the future.
He puts the hope before them, the inheritance before them. Then he goes back and he says, I realize you're going through trials. They're very real.
Their fiery trials, they're difficult circumstances, but you've got the hope, you've got the inheritance before you now you can rejoice in Christ even though you're still in the reality of your present situation. And that's what we have in Romans 8 where Phil left off leading. If we go on and if you, maybe we should just take a moment because Phil left off at a very strategic place in Romans 8 and again.
What we have here in Romans 8 is our present state contrasted with the coming glory.
We have our link between the present and the and the future. And let me just pick up with very little comment, but let me just pick up in the middle of verse 17 where Phil left off.
If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, and so on the whole creation growth we read. Then just drop down to verse 24. For we are saved by hope.
But hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth. Why does he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that, we see not, then do we with patience, wait for it. So he sets here the glory before them. He sets the inheritance before them. Then he says, I'm not going to underestimate, I'm not going to undervalue the the circumstances that you're going going through. And brother and I realized that many of us even in these seats are going through real difficulties and trials. We don't want to minimize that and we don't want to become callous and indifferent.
To the circumstances that God passed us through there just teach us in his schooling.
Some time to chasten us, to direct us, to prepare us. Any number of reasons.
And Paul in Romans 8 and Peter in his epistle, they are not minimizing those things. They are not telling us that we become callous and indifferent to them or we ignore them, but they are saying with the vision of coming glory ahead.
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And faith that links us with the future. Then we can get through the difficulties and circumstances.
And we can get, not just get through them, not just grin and bear them. We often say, well, grin and bear it. No, it's more than that. It's getting through them for the Lord's glory. It's being more conformed to his image down here. It's learning by them. It's it's being prepared by them for to help others and for what is ahead and so on. So it's more than just gritting our teeth and getting through them, but with the future and the glory ahead.
We can get through it according to His purpose for His Son and for our blessing. And remember this verse in Proverbs 29. Where there is no vision, the people perish.
We're gonna be cast down, we're gonna get discouraged. We're not gonna be conformed to His image. There's not gonna be more of Christ seen in your life and mine if we lose sight of what's ahead, or if we just try to grin and bear it for the present moment. But if we see it in light of eternity and His purposes, it will be not just for our blessing, yes, but for His glory as well.
In, in, in that Romans 8 chapter, just as an encouragement to maybe some of us that are younger who, who, umm, hear these truths of our inheritance and, and, and sometimes we feel as though we really can't lay hold or grasp these things. I just wanna bring a, a verse. Uh, it's, it's verse, umm, 16. And I may be taking it just a little bit out of context, but I want to encourage us as to how.
These uh, these truths and blessings become a reality to our soul. It says the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.
God has equipped us with the Spirit of God, indwelling us to communicate to our hearts and our understanding and our and our enjoyment the truths that we've been enjoying today. Without the Spirit of God, we wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to enter into any of it. But we do have the Spirit of God and he does have the ability to make our inheritance a reality to our soul to help us to be able to enjoy the future in light of the present.
And make decisions based upon the future as to how we go on in the present. And so we are totally dependent upon the power of the Spirit of God in our lives to make these things a reality.
And so that just causes us to realize how important it is that the Spirit of God has liberty in our souls, has liberty in our lives as the Spirit of not God is not grieved. And so as as young people, we.
We, we want to, as all of us, we want to be careful that this, the Spirit of God has the ability to bear witness with our spirit. That means help us to understand the reality of these truths. And so I just want to share that as a practical way in which these truths become reality to us and they are enjoyed in the heart.
The thing I.
Like to mention in connection with.
Brother Don brought up in Psalm 2.
Where it says.
Today I have begotten thee.
And that same scripture is mentioned again in Acts 13 and in Hebrews 5 twice.
We have to watch that we know that nothing is perverted in Scripture because we know that everything has been given of God to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus owns everything and yet when we have at.
Like with the young people, young people I mentioned often today when we have many of the young people buying this NIV translation, it says today I have become your father. Now that's a perversion of Scripture, because when did the Lord?
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When did the Lord Jesus or when did God become the Father of the Lord Jesus?
From eternity back, the Lord Jesus who was with God is with God. Now. How can anybody dare to to translate this three times in the script, four times actually in the Scripture, and make it today I have become your Father. That's a perversion. We should never read something like that and we should never keep anything like that in our libraries.
Gotten the is referring to his incarnation.
Simply means when he became a man into this world. That's what's referred to there in the New Testament when it says this day have I begotten thee As Brother Eckert said, he was the Son of God from all eternity.
Going back to our chapter, I'd like to go on to verse 5.
And we've.
Could spend the rest of the weekend I suppose in one verse, but going on to verse five it says who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
What Peter's saying to the Saints there and to us is OK.
You're on a journey.
But it's a very dangerous one.
There are many things that are hindrances to.
Successfully completely getting to the end.
Of it, it's comparable in scriptural sense to the children of Israel. There were millions of them that left Egypt.
But how many of them entered the land of Canaan?
It was a very dangerous journey. It was one of many years and.
There will be many of them that will be in heaven without any question that didn't make it to the end of that particular journey.
In this particular book, the word salvation does not have the common. The word salvation has a very broad meeting in Scripture, and it's very important to understand how it's used in its context. We often say, well, I'm saved. Well, that means something very important to us. It means we're not going to hell. It means that our sins have been paid for and that.
And so on. But with Peter, and in other places as well, the sense of salvation is he looked at the journey and he says you can't say you're completely saved until you're all the way home.
To the other end. And so salvation is that here which is looked at at the end of the pathway of this journey. And in doing so, he's says to them.
1St as Jim already mentioned, the inheritance is put before them to encourage them, if you will, to step out the door and start down the road.
But in the fifth verse, there are two things that are particularly.
Made kept. What's gonna keep them? What's gonna keep you? What's gonna keep me to the end of the path of faith, It says here, kept by the power of God through faith.
You don't wanna leave either one of those two things out of it.
It doesn't say just kept by the power of God. It doesn't just say kept by faith. The two are very important in the way they're linked. Were kept by the power of God. God has every resource at his disposal and will use it.
To see that you successfully.
Yeah, all the way to the inheritance, to heaven and all that goes along with it.
But then Peter immediately links it with faith.
Because there will be those who start out on that journey who never make it.
Because they do not have faith.
And without faith it's impossible to please God. There were many Israelites who left Egypt who never made Canaan because there was not faith in them. And God keeps the soul.
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Where there is faith.
Faith is the very first, and that's why the verses which follow verse seven, your faith being much more precious than gold. Faith is something that is absolutely precious, more precious than gold.
It's the link with God, and without it there's no link with God. And that it's no pride in faith if it's true faith. Because the very nature of faith is trust. Not in self, but trust in someone else. The one that deserves the honor where there's faith is the one that's trusted.
And so God is honored by faith, because true faith isn't in self, it's in God.
It's in the Lord Jesus, and yet it's an essential, precious thing, and by its very nature of honor to God, the original fall of man.
Came because of unbelief, because he did not have faith, and he dishonored God. And everything that God has done since that point in time is that which would encourage man to restore to man his relationship with God.
On that ground of faith. And so he says here you're going on this journey. It's a dangerous one. You can't even see the end of the road, if you will. The salvation at the end is, is yet to be fully seen to your soul. So you go down the road in faith, you know where it is, but you also have to go up and down the mountains, through the valleys and so on. And so the end of the road is not in that sense fully revealed to you.
But you're kept by the power of God through faith.
But I believe that in a certain general sense, this was what John Bunyan was trying to write about.
Uh, Pilgrim's Progress, his doctrine isn't perfect, but his general sense was that sense of taking that journey to the Celestial City and he was brings out all the things that tended to stop Christian from keeping going, turning aside to the this city and to see that and the other thing, and there's a lot of practical things there for our own souls because.
We, like Christian, are so easily distracted and the moment the thoughts connected with this world.
Enter the saw.
It dims in the soul the enjoyment of the inheritance.
Say that again. The moment anything of this world gets an attraction to the heart, it dims in the soul the value placed on the inheritance, and increases to the soul a sense of joy for just this world. And the man of the world has absolutely no thought, no heart, no desire for anything that goes beyond this life and this world. And yet everything for us lies beyond. And so it's a constant daily, not just once.
The character of faith here isn't just that faith which puts its trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Savior, it takes into it the sense of the exercise of faith in daily life, all the way home, every single moment of every single day. It's necessary to exercise. And that's why the faith is so precious, so valuable, because it's something that's so easily to fail in.
169.
God Speaks, Just Listen, Accept and Do
Address—Don Rule
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#35.
#35.
Data starter.
Turn with me, please, to Luke's Gospel Chapter 3.
I'm sorry, Chapter 4.
Luke chapter 4.
Luke's Gospel chapter 4 and verse one. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and being 40 days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, tea afterward hunger.
And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man should not live by bread alone.
But by every word of God.
I often walk down a.
Street in the town where I live.
And somebody wrote in the sidewalk, on that sidewalk that I walked down when, uh, some repair work was being done and the cement was fresh, They wrote these words in the sidewalk.
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God listens.
Just speak.
Well, we know that's prayer.
This afternoon I want to turn that statement around. God speaks.
Just listen.
And add to it.
Just listen.
And accept and do.
Particularly have you who are younger before me.
But I trust of the Lord, it's the desire of my heart that this afternoon there may be an increased or renewed or beginning, whatever it is diligence in you.
To listen to God.
Through his word.
We live in what we call a wired society.
Probably a significant percentage of the pockets and purses in this room.
Have an instrument to listen with.
And to speak to.
It's the age, it's the generation in which we live.
I would almost say I'm a little surprised and I'm getting hard of hearing, so maybe that's why I don't know that I haven't heard the Jingle during one of these meetings.
Of somebody.
Getting a message? Listen, I have something to say to you.
But I'm equally concerned.
That.
We live in a generation.
That is becoming increasingly less.
Ready to hear the Jingle?
Of the Lord.
I want to speak to you.
We have a million and one plus ways that people demand.
Promote, present themselves in one way or another to get our attention so that we listen to them.
Bookshelves are filled with books on the other side of people to teach you how to do it, so you can get somebody's attention, so that they will listen to you and so on.
Here in these verses the Lord Jesus says to Satan it is written.
It is written.
It was absolutely essential to the life of the Lord Jesus.
That he.
Know the Word from God.
And so when he was tempted of Satan, his response, his first words out of his mouth were it is written.
If it was essential to the life of the Lord Jesus, are you going to sit? Am I going to stand here in the presence of the eye of God and say it's not essential for me to know what's written?
Man shall not live by bread alone.
Your very life.
Depends.
On the word of God.
It's not an option. Your very life depends on it.
Man shall not live by bread alone.
But by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
If the Lord Jesus in this circumstance in his life.
Had not hearkened to the Word of God.
He would have sinned.
And if he had sinned, it would have been all over.
Yes, we know who he was. We know that there was nothing in him that.
Would so respond.
But he's presented here as a man.
He's presented here as one that said in response to temptation. It is written.
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Is that how you? Is that how I respond to temptation? It is written.
And so he says, man shall not live by a word, bread alone, but by every word.
That proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This has been true since man was created.
The first words that God spoke to mankind, recorded for us in the Word of God, where be fruitful and multiply and so on.
And have dominion.
That was spoken before. We have the setting of the Garden of Eden, but God puts man in the garden.
And the second words that God speaks recorded about two men. As it says God commanded the man.
Thou of all the trees of the garden thou mayest eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat.
Adam's life, Eve's life depended on obedience to the Word of God.
Your life and my life depends on obedience.
To the Word of God as far as our lives here on earth.
Our trust, our salvation, depends on a word from God concerning something He has done that His Son has done.
And when the gospel is preached, it's preached to us as a word from God to be accepted from God.
That's true, and if we accept it as true, we receive from God the consequent blessings of salvation and life.
An inheritance and many other things.
I would just put it this way.
To make it practical. And what's the burden is that?
I trust I can speak for God in this way. He rang you up this morning.
Did you answer?
Did you answer this morning to his ring?
Did you hear?
The Word of God this morning.
And if you didn't?
Why didn't you listen to the ring?
Why didn't you respond to it?
It's not an optional thing, really.
It's not. I'm too busy, I don't have time. I got up too late.
If you're a little older, I would further say.
Don't take the attitude I had my reading for today.
God rings up frequently.
Let's be ready to answer the phone from God.
Lord Jesus here is quoting some verses that teach us something on this matter. He's quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 8. Let's go back there and look at it.
And seek to learn from it.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse one. All the commandments which I command thee this day shall thou observe and do.
That you may live.
Their life depended on it. You know, I thought the other day, if you really believe this, if you were an Israelite in those days.
I suppose one of the very first things you taught your children when they were old enough to hear.
Were the rules under which they lived the commandments of God?
If you really, truly believe God, that's one of the very first things you teach your children.
Is what God had to say.
And so he says all the commandments.
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Not selective ones, not some of them, not pick and choose, but all of them.
Which I command thee this day shalt thou observe that ye may live.
And multiply, and go in, and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your Father's.
Now these words were actually spoken by Moses at the very end of his life, and they had finished.
He and others, the journey of 40 years through the wilderness and they're just getting ready to enter the land of Canaan. So he's speaking to them to look back over the previous period of their life for those that lived through it, the 40 years, and he's talking to them with respect to that. So he says in verse two, thou shall remember, remember these past 40 years.
The way in which the Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
What it was that experience for?
We're reading in First Peter about a journey, and it hasn't been emphasized particularly, but it is a wilderness if we understand it rightly.
And when we get to the end, when we get to our inheritance, we're gonna have a day like this one.
A review day.
We're gonna go back, or shall I say the Lord is going to go back with us over the journey of life.
And explain it to us if needed.
And we're gonna see something like these people got to see because we're less like them. We're really no different. And so the Lord will perhaps say to us why some of these experiences that are taking place today, tomorrow and last week in our lives, we're going through them because he says, Lord, thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
To humble thee.
To prove thee to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
We're gonna have our day of remembrance on this matter, too.
God weaves the journey of life for everyone of us.
And we look at it, good times, bad times, why this, whatever that, if you want to look ahead a little to look the anticipation of looking back over it all.
We will find that God did it.
First, he says, to humble us.
Because we're just naturally proud. That's just what we are naturally. We're all proud and we like to find things in our lives that give honor to us and make us important in some way.
And draw attention to us and our accomplishments. And our wired society gives everybody, you might say, equal opportunity. Now. It used to be that you had to sort of prove yourself at a point where somebody let you communicate.
Through a public means.
But now everyone can promote if they choose.
But here God's way in this matter is.
Tumbling. No one will be proud in heaven.
And God doesn't want us to arrive proud and then have to have the humbling. He's going to allow the path of life that is going to work in the direction of the necessary for His honor humbling.
To prove thee.
To test us as to what we profess in life, the position that we take in life.
And we all take some kind of position or another in our personal lives, in our family life, in assembly life, in work life and so on. We.
We were put to the test.
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Were proved by God in his testing ground.
It's hard.
I think particularly of and I admire him, Joseph.
It says that he was all the time from the time he was 17 years old till the time he was 30 years old. He was tested by his own statement that his family would bow down.
Before him.
In fact, it was more than that, because he was closer to 40 before they actually saw it. But as to his own personal exaltation, from the time he was seventy, life was a terr, terrific test of faith to Joseph. Would he believe what he said?
Would he live by what he said was God had told him?
And so he was proved.
And he's a wonderful example of a young man that passed the test in that way.
Our lives are proved, we say. We profess that we're on our way to heaven and that that this world doesn't satisfy and that we have something better to enjoy. This is a profession we sang the other night at home. This world is a wilderness wide. We have nothing to seek nor to choose.
I don't know, I probably sung it 1000 times but maybe as I get older I sing it more as a prayer.
Oh Lord, may it be so.
That because it's easy.
To profess certain things, but God chooses to test them in.
Us to know what was in my heart.
God's ways with us get down so that the heart gets exposed.
We all have a certain natural tendency to have an outward exterior that presents ourselves to others in a certain way. And yet God is interested not in that, but he's interested in what's in the heart. And so God's ways are ways that expose. And we'll look at that by the Word in a few minutes.
To know what was in thy heart.
Whether what thou wouldst keep his commandments or no?
Will we?
Be obedient.
Or no.
God created us as dependent upon Him.
And He created us to be obedient to Him.
In coming eternity, we will be a dependent and, thankfully, perfectly obedient.
But Adam and Eve really only had one test of obedience.
God commanded them not to eat of one particular tree.
Not because it was in itself the fruit was bad or unhealthy or this or that. No, it was the test.
Keeping man in his place of obedience, the children of Israel had to live their life because God has never given up on His intent that His creature be obedient and He never will.
And so.
These for this particular set of people.
And so when the Lord Jesus was tested, he said it is written, He responded with what was written and he listened to it, He submitted to it, He was obedient.
So in verse three it says here he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger.
Think about that.
God intentionally put this group of people into a place that caused them to hunger.
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There was God that did it.
He suffered data hunger.
It was a test. God had promised to feed them.
But they found themselves at times in situations where there was number food, and God put them in situations where there was number food.
To prove it.
Would they obey him or not? Would they believe him or not?
Every one of us God puts in situations that will test. Do I believe him or don't I?
Says He fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not. The character of the food that was given to them was of a character that they'd never seen before and didn't know and didn't understand, and it was strange in that way to them.
It perfectly met every need, but they weren't used to it in that character, in that form.
And in a certain way.
The Word of God feeds us like manna.
In ways that we don't personally necessarily understand.
But it does feed the soul.
And it's important that we believe it and accept it.
So in verse three goes on to say, Neither did your father's know that he might make thee to know, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.
Doth man live?
We won't go any farther in this chapter. It's worthwhile for you personally, I think, to go ahead and in your own time, read the rest of this chapter 8 and look at the backward view of it. One of the things that God was doing and the way He did it was so that they wouldn't be able to say at the end.
I did it. It's by my power, it's by my strength, it's by my willingness that I've made this journey successfully and I've gotten to the other side. And he warns them even after they get into the land, that after they God bless them and brought them their blessings, they would start to get proud about it. And secondly, and most seriously, in the end of the chapter, he warns them against going and finding other gods.
And we live in a world full of gods. OK, let's turn now to the New Testament, to Hebrews chapter 3.
Hebrews, chapter 3.
Verse 7 Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today.
If he will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation.
Verse 15.
While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, pardon not your hearts as in the provocation.
Chapter 4 verse seven. And again he limiteth a certain day, saying in David today after so long a time, as it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards?
Have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
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Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Today, if you will hear his voice.
Harden.
Not your heart.
Three times.
Makes it by repetition particularly important, it said in this little passage. Three times today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Let's take it to heart.
Let's take those verses for ourselves.
Today is today.
Today if we will hear his voice.
Harden not our hearts.
When God speaks.
We either accept it.
Were we rejected?
We either accept it because God says it and we trust Him. We accept it in faith.
Or when God speaks, we do not accept it.
And so in us there is an unbelief in what God has said.
And the consequence to us is a hardening of our heart.
Unbelief.
In receiving from God when He has spoken produces hardness.
In the heart.
God has been speaking to us.
The last two days.
And in US there is either a reception of what he has to say to us.
Or, sadly, if there's a rejection of something in it, some piece of it.
It will harden.
That's what happened to we all. Many of us at least, know the story of Pharaoh.
God spoke to Pharaoh through Moses.
And when Pharaoh didn't believe the message?
His heart got a little harder.
God spoke again.
And he refused to accept it. And that unbelief had a working of hardening.
Of his heart.
A tender heart toward God is the heart that.
From which you will find love and joy and peace. So on.
A hardened heart is a heart that has selfishness.
Self centeredness.
And the desires of the flesh unrestrained to be fulfilled.
And enjoy.
And it hardens the heart.
So he said to them.
What, what was the context in in which these words, Some of these words were spoken. It's the occasion when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and they ran out of water and they said to Moses, did God bring us out here to kill us?
Did God bring us out here to kill us?
And so it was called a temptation, but they were tempting God.
Through their unbelief.
The unbelief of man when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, looked up at the Lord Jesus and said, If you're the Son of God, come down and we will believe you.
That was tempting.
God through man's unbelief.
And so God speaks.
And He looks for us for a response of submission and obedience.
So that He might bless us. And if it isn't, then it can work toward a hardening of the heart. And we're warned against it.
I think it's interesting. I'll just comment along the way here.
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God spoke.
And he brought a whole world into existence.
God created a man.
To be over it all for him, at least the earthly part of it.
And it says he blessed him.
You said be fruitful and multiply and so on.
And when he had done that, it said he rested.
He rested.
Sabbath that was later given was the Day of God. To remember God's rest, we usually turn it around to think about it as some rest for us, but in reality the purpose of it was for rest for God. It's the last of the 10 commandments.
And in a certain way, if man had been able to keep the first nine and kept the 10th one as well.
God would be able to rest.
And have his rest, because he can't rest in the presence of disobedience and unbelief.
You can't do it. God hasn't had a day of rest since Adam sinned, and he won't have a day of rest since Adam sinned because he has creatures who are before him in unbelief and in disobedience.
And so there still remains for God into the future arrest.
You won't rest. I won't rest in our natural lives.
As long as there is in US working.
Of unbelief and disobedience.
God speaks.
We are to listen.
And to submit and to do.
I know he can't rust fully, but.
And any measure in which your life.
I was in it submission and obedience in faith.
I'll put it this way, you give God a little rest.
Please him, give him a little rest.
Here it says the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I encourage you.
To go to the word of God.
Because it will expose to you your own heart.
God. The next verse says God. Everything is naked and open to God.
He sees it all.
He understands it all. Nothing is hidden from the eye of God. Everything is naked and open to God, but not to us, not to us. And the Word of God is an instrument that God uses to help us.
To see ourselves.
For our own good and our own blessing.
God's heart is easier to understand than our own.
It's easier to understand the heart of God than it is my heart.
Goddess Heart is holy and loving and pure and consistent.
Truthful. Perfectly so.
The Word of God exposes my heart to be deceitful.
And wicked.
Who can know it?
It says, who can know what's in my heart?
But the word of God is given of God.
To make us to understand and know our own hearts for our own blessing.
Don't hide from it.
Don't. I don't like this scripture and pass by it. I'd like to read something more encouraging and more cheerful and more happy and this and that.
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It's all given for good, and some of it's painful and hard.
But it it penetrates, it exposes.
It illuminates to our minds and our souls and our hearts what we are.
That's why the law was given.
So that the very giving of what was right.
Man would see that he didn't want it.
You might not have thought about stealing or anything like that until God said don't steal and immediately.
It made him realize, or quickly made him realize he did want to steal.
And he felt restrained because God had said he couldn't do it. He did covet.
And the very fact that God said don't covet was that which illuminated for him the desires of his own heart.
Let's learn. Let's benefit from it.
Let's turn over to where we are in First Peter chapter one.
First Peter chapter one.
Verse 23 Being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of God endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
The Word of God is living.
Life giving.
You can't live without it for eternity.
Do we understand how it works? No. Probably none of us could say we did fully understand. We know a little.
We know that God takes that word, which is like a seed, and it plants it. The sower went forth to sow, and the seed was planted in the souls of men.
A perfect seed. An incorruptible seed that couldn't be spoiled.
And the Spirit of God takes that seed and works.
And God works. Let there be faith.
And.
It brings life.
Brings life.
Why is this world working today?
It says tells us.
That is sustained.
It's maintained by the word of the Lord.
That's why it's it's going.
You know man discovers laws, but he has no idea what made the laws the laws that they are. He discovers what they are, but he can't create them himself. He can't duplicate them himself. He can use them, but why do 2 objects attract or have what we call gravity according to their mass?
Because God says so, and because God has chosen to keep it going that way.
There is power.
Let there be light, and there was light.
God puts a word in you, and when that word has living power to bring life.
Everlasting life to the soul, and further than that, it will endure.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent in the last few months.
To promote the words of men.
Will they endure?
No.
The words of one of the men who lost.
He's already told by those some who helped him and funded the words to say please kind of disappear. You're no longer helping.
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Man's words don't endure.
I remember it's a bit amusing, but, and I suppose it's made-up, but a king once told some of his subjects he wanted to build a monument and he wanted it riding on the monument that would last. He wanted some words that would last, and I suppose in his honor. So they came up with these words to put on his monument. This too shall pass.
That's man.
The flower of grass that doesn't endure.
What is going to last?
The word of God.
Every promise of God is a word from God. Every act of God is by His word. Endorse.
Forever.
Don't live without it, embrace it. Turn back to James chapter one.
Verse 21. Verse. Chapter one. Verse 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and super flailty of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted or implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Be not hearers of the Word and start over. Be not doers of the Word and hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
When I was the age of some of you in this room.
And went to conferences. It was a time in my life when I needed I guess, and and God gave me increased understanding of Bible, truth and so on.
As I've gotten older along the path of life.
Very often my prayer to the Lord is O Lord.
Please change me.
We.
We need to be doers.
We can all come to this conference, we can all go home with some nice things that we've enjoyed, as we say.
That we found nice, helpful, happy.
And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, our lives continued just the same.
Will there not be anything that God would say to us this weekend that would be intended to produce a change?
In our lives.
The doers.
The word not here is only to be a doer is produces change.
Otherwise we have to be like we go home and straightway forget.
Straightway forget. Just go on with life as it is.
It's not God's desire, God speaks.
Listen. Receive. Do.
It gets into our I remember a brother who used to say, get the truth. So it gets down into your bootstraps and you walk in it. It was from the Southwest. But it, it's that you have to get it down in the reality of life so that you act on it and you will if there's true faith.
In the receiving it, the fact that we don't act on it is often expression of.
We don't believe.
We don't see the importance of it.
OK, let's turn over to Psalm 119.
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So it's just a convenient Psalm to.
Make a few added remarks about the word and its importance.
I suppose most know this Psalm is the long longest chapter in the Bible.
Umm, very interesting in the Hebrew how it's constructed. And that doesn't matter this afternoon, but almost I think all but two of the verses in the Psalm.
In one way or another, speak of God's word as a statute, as a commandment, as a saying, and so on. So he says, blessed are the undefiled who walk in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord will connect it with verse 9. Wherewithal shall a man cleanse his way by taking heed thereunto, according to thy word in the New Testament, in Ephesians chapter 5.
It speaks of sanctification and washing of the water.
By the word.
The Word of God received into the soul has a purifying and sanctifying effect upon the life.
Do you want that?
You want a purity of life.
Do you want to be set apart for God in this life as well As for eternity?
You need the word.
You need to be clean, made clean practically in daily life by the sanctifying and purifying effect of the Word.
The world is full of filth.
The internet's full of filth.
Yes, it has its place. Yes, it has its good things. Come see bibletruthpublishers.com and all that.
But it is.
Immediate access to fill.
And filth ruins lives.
We sometimes hear the statement and we'd like to think this is how we use such things.
Well, I only use it in a harmless way.
I suggest to you, if the Lord Jesus wouldn't sit beside you while you're using it in a harmless way, whatever that harmless way is.
That you've lost fellowship for that period of time with the Lord Jesus.
Don't judge it. You know, when we say there's no harm in that, we are really saying I am free to exercise my will in that thing. Very root of that thought there's no harm in it is an expression of I would like to do my own will, please and thank you. And there's nothing explicitly forbidden in the exercise of my will in this matter. And I suggest to you that the Lord Jesus never ever did it that way.
I delight to do thy will, O my God. The word from the Lord he lived by, and none other. Absolutely no other word did the Lord Jesus live by, but the word of God. If God didn't direct him, he says, I waken morning by morning to hear.
Every morning he got up to listen and to do according to the Word from God the Father for his life. Don't judge things by as harmless or just a little fun or is this or that?
It revolves the soul very often, as harmless as it seems, if it's not filthy filth, very often, the time, the energy, the thought processes that go into it rob a fellowship.
With the sun and with the Father, to the loss of the soul.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, verse two, and seek him with a whole heart.
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Be wholehearted.
May we all be wholehearted. So easy to be half and half, 3 fourths, 1/4, whatever. Sure, this weekend we're wholehearted. We've come apart from the temptations in large measure, and we get to enjoy much of the Lord Jesus.
But are we wholehearted in the sense that our lives and the manner and character of our life is not going to change when we leave this building and this atmosphere come Lord's Day?
Are we gonna continue consistently with the way we are this weekend? Let's be wholehearted.
Verse 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. It takes effort.
Takes effort to read. Takes effort to think.
Thinking is becoming more and more a lost art in the world in which we live. It's being replaced by entertain me. I don't wanna think, Don't make me think.
We have a VTP relative to the website. I think it is a a book. Very title of the book is Don't Make Me Think. Man doesn't want to have to work at anything. He wants to be entertained. He wants it to be simple. He wants instant answers to anything he wants to ask.
You're not gonna have fellowship with God on those terms. You are not.
If you want to live a life in fellowship with God according to His Word, there will be, there must be, diligence.
He says he's.
I will praise thee, verse 7.
When I have learned thy righteous judgments.
It's good, good desire, isn't it?
Let's listen to God.
And the result when he's responded to is we will praise him.
And I want to take that beyond just the first thing that might have come to your mind when I said those words. We'll praise Him for all His goodness and His blessings and His benefits.
We will also praise him for everything that he has acted in discipline.
In our lives, we will praise Him for every difficulty that we ever pass through in life.
When we see it as he saw it.
We will thank him for every disappointment that we experienced.
And in many of those things, we don't have to wait for heaven to learn to praise Him in them.
Comes to mind. I suppose Lord wants me to say it, but in closing, it's kind of a funny thing to close on to me, but.
Some years ago, not that many years ago, I was sick for a week.
And I threw up so many times I couldn't count them and I couldn't didn't have anything more to throw up and I still tried to throw up and I couldn't sleep in bed anymore and I was sitting in the living room chair and.
Started to dry heave and I went into the bathroom and did it and thankfully God said thank me.
At that point I did. That was the beginning.
Great benefit to my soul.
There was a needed discipline in my life that had to take me through that until I came to the point where I said thank you, Lord.
In the midst of throwing up.
We need it, and if we will listen, there's blessing.
We will praise Him.
1 Peter 1:6-25
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Is not our resting place? Shall we of the way be weary when we see our Masters face?
No, he now anticipating.
In this hope, our souls rejoice.
And his promised Advent, waiting soon shall hear his welcome voice #9.
Star City Hall.
Where is it?
First Peter one perhaps start in verse 6.
First Peter chapter one and verse 6.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, don't out for a season, if need be here in heaviness through man full temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, it would be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
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Whom having not seen ye love, and whom tho now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently.
Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify?
When it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
Under whom it was revealed, and not unto themselves, but unto us, they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Which thing is the angels desire to look into?
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought on to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance, but as He which has called you as holy, so be ye holy and all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without respective persons.
According to every man's work, pass the time of your soul journey here in fear, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's. What was the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot?
Who, verily, was foreordained before the foundation of the world?
But was manifest in these last times for you.
Who by him do believe in God?
They raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
Senior purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit under one fame love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass.
And all the glory of man has the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
Stop.
The setting verse 5.
We had that were kept or guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation at the end of the journey. And so we have the power of God at work to get us safely along to the destination. We also, uh, have faith in activity. So then in versus where we started verse six to verse 9.
He comments on that faith.
That is necessary.
And he's called the trial of your faith. It's put to the test, but.
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It's a precious thing. It's worth more than gold.
And at the end of the journey, it is what is referred to as the salvation of our souls in verse 9, but it's also that for which at the appearing of the Lord Jesus will be found to praise and honor and glory.
When we trust God, we honor Him.
When we don't trust him, we dishonor him.
When we trust the Lord Jesus, we honor Him.
It's an honor to be trusted.
And God is worthy of that trust, and so God is worthy that there be.
Faith in himself to do what he says he will do.
Which is to bring safely home every one of his children and everyone that he has given to his son to be part of his bride.
That that gives substance a reality to the Christian life. And that's really what he brings out at the beginning of Hebrews Chapter 11, before he enumerates those who against all kinds of odds and difficulties, against all kinds of oppositions and trials and so on, they triumphed by faith. And that he but he says their faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
In a sense, that's not really a definition of hope, but what he's really saying is.
That these ones that he lists that live by faith, what gave reality and substance to their life was that they had an eye to the future and they trusted God.
Perhaps just in passing, the best definition of faith is at the end of John chapter 3, where it says He that received his receiveth, his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
That's real faith. That is faith counts on what God says. It takes the word of God unquestioning and it rests upon, it has complete confidence without any question or reason. And that's what he wants from you and from it from me. And as we put our as we put our confidence in God for the circumstances of life, I believe that's what causes our faith to grow.
As we go through the trials that Peter talks about here, our faith is going to grow because we're going to find.
That he'll never let us down or disappoint us. How often have you had faith in someone?
And you've they've, they haven't let you down. And your faith grew. And then all of a sudden something came up.
And they let you down yourself. Never thought that person would let me down. And all of a sudden you don't have the same amount of faith. Your faith in that person has diminished or waned because they let you. They let you down. But our God will never let us down. And when the disciples came to the Lord and said, Lord increase our faith, the Lord didn't say was going to automatically increase their faith. He gave a little story to or a little illustration.
To show that how our faith grows is not to pray for more faith.
But to put the faith he has already given us in operation, Faith in operation.
In spite of the trials and opposition is going to make is going to cause faith to grow. I'd just like to go back for a moment to the book of Daniel because there's no doubt in our portion and illusion back to very familiar story and we won't read it. But I just want to notice a verse or two in Daniel chapter 3 in connection with the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Because in the third chapter of Daniel, they were put to a test.
Unlike anything I've ever been had to experience in the past of faith. I've never had a test like this. This test was that if they didn't bow down to the image that the king had set up, they were going to have to experience be thrown into the fiery furnace. This was a fiery test indeed. God was going to prove through the furnace their their faith.
And they couldn't stand behind Daniel in the third chapter, in the first chapter.
They had kind of, shall I say, run on Daniel's face. I don't mean they didn't have faith themselves, but Daniel was in the forefront. And because of Daniel's faith and exercise, they were able to stand with him. And what had happened? Their faith had grown. When they saw the Lord undertake for them in that situation, their faith had increased. And now when they had to stand alone in the third chapter, their faith was up to the test by the grace of God.
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And so we find here that they are, they will not bow down. And I just want to notice what they say.
In Answer to the king, verse 16 of Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
I want you to notice this particular. They say two things. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. I'm going to stop there for a moment. They didn't say He would deliver them because remember, they didn't know the end of the story. You know, we read the story with confidence because we know the end of it. But think of what a test of faith this was. And they didn't know if God was going to deliver them from the furnace.
But there was one thing they did know, and that's what follows.
And he will not, he may, He will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. In other words, they knew whether they perished in the fire or whether they were brought through the fire. God was going to deliver them from the King either way in if if they were brought through, there was testimony and glory brought to God. If they weren't, they knew where they were going. They had.
Eternity in view. And so this is what gave them the confidence, the faith to stand.
Against the king we know. As I say, the end of the story, but it was a real test.
This was a fiery trial. They were taken. The furnace is heated above what it had been. They're thrown into the fiery furnace and I don't think they would have missed this fiery experience for anything. In the end, if you were to stand by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego at the judgment seat of Christ or in a future day and say would you have missed that experience? Wasn't very nice to think that because you are faithful to God you had to go through that all. They say that was the best experience of our lives.
Because in that God proved himself, their faith increased. And more than that.
They experienced a special sense of God's presence that they had never experienced before. And if trials have the effect of strengthening our faith and drawing us closer to the Lord so we have a special sense of His presence, then they'll be true blessing and fruit following.
It's not the trial that's precious, is it? It's the faith that is proved in the trial, in the furnace of affliction that is precious. Some have pondered this and said, well, how can a trial be precious? No, it's not the trial, it's precious. The pre trial is needful. There's a need to be so that that which is precious, the faith that is tried as gold and comes out.
For his glory, that's what's precious.
Can be grief in it too, as it says in.
The new translation is in verse 6.
For a while at present, if need be put to grief.
By various trials.
There God doesn't say that if we have a sufficient amount of faith that we can just be above every trial and we won't feel it. It's not what Scripture presents to us. In the perfect example of it is the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He was in incredible agony as he anticipated what was going to be to be made sin and to bear sin and says that he was strengthened by angels. There was an incredible amount of stress through which he passed and it was Satan's hour in the power of darkness to turn him away from obedience and submission of faith. So he he isn't Peter isn't saying well just.
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It's a wonderful thing. You have enough faith and everything will sound smooth. No, it isn't that, but it sustains the soul and the confidence in God. And that's what He said if needed. And the proving of it will be when the day of revelation comes, then that will be a time of honor because of that faith that was manifested. It will be.
The person in that sense will be honored, but the greater honor will be to the Lord Jesus and to God as the ones that were honored by that faith.
Sometimes wondered if there's some of that thought in a very familiar verse to all of us in Psalm 5015 in the last third of that verse. That verse says call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me.
We've probably all heard that verse explained that thou shall glorify me has to do with giving thanks.
For the the deliverance that we got as a result of calling upon him in the day of trouble. But maybe that's not the whole story. Maybe just the very act that we call upon him and so he's able to provide that deliverance that in itself.
Glorifies him. Not that I want to take anything away from the fact that we ought to give thanks for what he does, but.
Do you, do you see what I mean? You think that goes along with what you were saying, Brother Don, about, uh, trust in the Lord brings honor to him.
Yes, and I, I believe it does. And I'll add a little twist on what Jim said.
On the Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I sometimes looked at it as the three of them. When they talked to the king, they said he'll deliver us. And I think of it as from going through the fire.
R.
We will go in the fire and he'll deliver us from you by taking us to heaven. Uh, sometimes thought about it as perhaps it, it wasn't exactly the way they thought it would be. The Lord said, no, I'm not going to take you out of the fire, but I'll go through the fire with you. And I believe, brethren, often at least the spirit of that is seen in the Lord Jesus and John and Matthew 11 where he says, come unto me, ye that are heavy.
Laden, weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. There can be while it's a a great grief, there is very often the appreciation of the presence of the Lord Jesus. If we submit to him in a trial of life and having the feeling, the sense in our souls and his presence with us in that trial and to go through it with the sense of the Lord.
With us in it will someday be a shared personal connection between our soul and the Lord that is ours and His forever. And many of the trials of life have for gone through with the Lord.
Well, in the end result, be very personal, eternal, shared things between the one who has passed through it and the Lord who went through it with them.
These things will be points of great Thanksgiving in the coming day, but still in the present they have their grief connected with them.
Faith doesn't always deliver us out of the trial, does it? Sometimes we think of those who've had faith in how they were delivered in miraculous ways, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, like Daniel and others. And again, when you read through the 11Th chapter of Hebrews, you see how God delivered so many. But it is interesting that before the chapter ends, it says and others.
And what about them? They didn't accept deliverance. They had trials of cruel mocking. They were sawn asunder. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins and so on. Did they have less faith than the three Hebrew children? Did they have less faith than Abraham? These all died in faith, but God had another purpose for them in allowing them. Men and women burnt at the stake. They weren't delivered like the three Hebrew children.
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But God had a purpose that would bring glory to himself by them going into the fire and perishing. And we know that many were were saved, many were converted through the martyrdom of those who died triumphantly. Now I know in our verse in Peter, he's looking on to the future day when it will all be manifest and the glory, glory brought to himself at the judgment seat of Christ. But there's glory now.
He's glorified now if we go through the trials and circumstances and exhibit that faith and confidence in himself.
Many who perished in the fire, they brought glory to the Lord. That is going to be fully revealed in the coming day. But it was to some degree revealed in the day in which it took place as well. And if you and I go through the trials of life, we may not be called to experience some of the things that others have been called upon to experience. But if you and I go through the tests and trials of life.
And display our confidence and faith in God and in the Lord Jesus.
There can be glory brought to him that will be of benefit, perhaps to the lost, the unsaved who observe us, and perhaps as an encouragement and benefit to our brothers and sisters in Christ, our family members.
And won't it be wonderful, brethren, when at the appearing of Jesus Christ that is all brought out maybe things we didn't even realize now.
We'll stand there and say, well, I, I didn't realize that there was that benefit, that blessing brought to another soul because of quiet confidence in the Lord. You know, when Mary sat in the house, when her brother died and she sat there quietly, you know what the result was? Many of the Jews that came to Mary believed on him. There was glory brought to the Lord Jesus and blessing not only in the raising of Lazarus.
But the quiet testimony of Mary there was an effect that was tremendous and that would have been missed if that trial hadn't been allowed in that home.
You, you were, uh, referenced the judgment seat of Christ, brother Jim and Darby's translation, it gives the, uh, the, the, the revelation of Jesus Christ and our, our translation gives, gives it the appearing of Jesus Christ. Umm, we have a little, umm, word on, on that.
Thing always has to do with manifestation and reward. It's referred to in a little different way in the book of Philippians. It's called the Day of Christ or the day of Jesus Christ.
And it has to do with the day of manifestation and as I say, reward when the Lord Jesus will not only himself appear back in this world, but he's going to appear with us or we're going to appear with him, I should say. And so let's just go to Thessalonians for a moment for one scripture.
Fir, uh, Second Thessalonians, chapter one.
Speaking again of the appearing when the Lord Jesus is going to come back to this world, verse 10, when he shall come, but let me read verse nine. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction?
From the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come. Now notice this to be glorified in his Saints.
And to be admired in all them that believe, because of our testimony among you was believed in that day. What is that day?
It's the day of his appearing when we come back and at the appearing of Christ, the rewards that were given at the judgment seat are going to be made fully manifest. So there are going to be rewards given for faithfulness that the judgment seat of Christ. Those rewards are referred to again at the the marriage supper of the Lamb, where it's referred to as the righteousness of Saints and.
Uh, the bride has made herself ready and so on. She's arrayed in that fine linen that the righteousness of those Saints, those things that we have done in Rhode Island, righteous things that we have done for his glory here. And then when the heavens open up to reveal him, those things are, those rewards are going to be revealed to this world that rejected Christ and rejected his own. And his desire is, brethren, that we would live in view of that day, not for reward for ourselves so much.
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But for His glory, he's coming to be glorified in His Saints. And when the world looks up in a coming day, what are they going to see?
They're going to see Christ coming in glory and wherever they look, whether it's at you.
Whether it's at me, whether it's at any St. the glories of Christ are going to be fully reflected in that day.
But we need to live in view of the day of reward. That's why Paul said to Timothy in almost the last words he said to him. He spoke of all those that love his appearing. That's not again the rapture.
His appearing is when he appears back in this world and we're going to appear with him Is there that exercise that we would have we be living now in view of that time when we can come forth for his glory so that he can have that full display of glory that he he that he desires. And so I believe that that the trial of the faith.
The test of our faith to prove it is to bring it forth. So there will be that for his glory when he appears, and the world will look on and say, here's the ones that endured while they were here.
They endured, but look at the glory that is the result. And when they see that, what will they do? They will have to recognize that any glory that He has given us, any reward that we have for faithfulness.
Is his glory and we and they are going to give him all the praise in that day.
Verse seven and then verse.
Umm, 13.
The same word, I think the appearing in Seven and Revelation and 13 both have to do with His public day of glory and manifestation in the world where He was rejected, where He had to pass through the same trials of faith in His walk through this world and where He was rejected, and where those who follow Him are not greater than their Master and they can expect similar treatment.
From the world that rejected Him, it will reject them if they identify with Him in it. But when He comes to be honored in the world as God purposes it for Him. So those who have been faithful and obedient and submissive to the path that is laid out for them, they too will share in the public honor and glory. And He won't have to say that He's ashamed of them. That is coming.
And, uh, so it's seen in view of that, the faith that has to go on without these things being seen in the, that, uh, can be a real trial. But it's nice, brethren, to see there's two aspects to it versus six and seven. There's grief and there's difficulty connected with the trial. And perhaps the end result won't be fully seen until the day of the revelation or appearing.
But verse 8.
Is for now.
It's important to see that verse eight is for this afternoon.
And tonight and tomorrow, he's saying to them.
But Jesus Christ, the moment he speaks about him, he says, well, whom? Having not seen? No, you haven't. They hadn't seen him yet. Peter had, of course, but they hadn't. You haven't seen him, and you don't see him now, but you love him.
And because you love him.
Believing you rejoice.
You rejoice with the joy unspeakable.
And so it can be and should be.
We should today and tomorrow and whatever the trial, were never separated by God from being in a position in which the love of God is to be enjoyed and the person of the Lord Jesus is to be enjoyed. There's no trial intended of God. Unbelief may put us where we don't enjoy it, but it's not God's purpose for us to not always have.
00:35:07
The enjoyment of the Lord Jesus in the trial. If there's faith, if there's unbelief, we will not. But if there is faith, we are always in that position. As Paul said in the end of Romans 8. I'm persuaded that, and then he goes on to a whole list of things that might separate us by trial from God, that nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And the Saint Peter is speaking along the same line to us here. The same thought is that.
He always wants us when we think of Himself and his love, to rejoice, so he says, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. The Lord Jesus experienced that in his own life, no matter what he went through.
He always in his daily life.
Went through it with the conscious enjoyment of fellowship with the Father in it. And that's what the if we believe we are to do and have that conscious sense of the love of the Lord Jesus and to go through everything with the sense of his love to us until we receive the end of that faith which includes that trust in himself and believing.
Even the salvation of our souls, which is what's the end of the journey?
Lord Jesus too, there was not only the fellowship of his Father, but there was submission to the Father's will in the trial. And that again is going is another element in having joy in the trial. Because when the the Lord Jesus looked at the cities he had come to bless and he had to pronounce woe on them because they had rejected him, he felt it and he felt it keenly.
But it says that same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit. He said, how could he do such a thing? Because he could say Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Perfect submission to his Father's will gave him a perfect joy even at a difficult time. And that's what will give us joy. Communion and submission to the with and to the Father is going to give us joy in spite of the circumstances.
Turn to Matthew's Gospel for a moment.
Matthews Gospel, chapter 17.
In this chapter.
We have this in the 14th, 1St, we have this man that comes to the Lord and he says have mercy upon my son, breathe a lunatic. So this man has this lunatic son. Sometimes he's hot, sometimes he's cold, sometimes he falls in the fire, sometimes he falls in the water.
And he brings the, the man to his disciples and the disciples can't do anything about it. And so the Lord, uh, responds, uh, in verse 19 it says, then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, oh, why could we not cast them out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief.
For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to Yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. I'll be at this kind cometh thought is by prayer and fasting. I used to wonder, umm, just what the Lord meant when he says have faith as a grain of mustard seed doesn't seem like very big. I wondered why doesn't he say faith is a grain of sand, or faith as a a little bit of dust or or faith as a crumb?
What the Lord chose here was something very small, but it was alive.
It was a lie.
And that's what the Lord's desire is for us, is that our faith would be a lie. So here in our chapter, when it speaks of the trial of faith, I've just enjoyed in that eighth verse, it says, whom not having seen ye love, and whom, though you see Him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
It doesn't matter so much the size of the faith, but a that it's alive and B.
00:40:03
What it's attached to at the other end.
I had the experience of, umm, a couple of years ago as a builder. I was asked to build a dock for somebody and, uh, we built this floating dock. It was probably 20 feet long and, uh, maybe 12 feet wide. Uh, very, uh, a rather, uh, rugged structure. And, uh, we had to take these great big chains to attach the dock, uh, to the land, which we did. And, uh, I got a call a few days later from the customer saying they had no doc.
So we went and we, uh, checked the situation out and certainly there was no dock. We did find the dock down the river sometime. There was nothing wrong with the dock.
There's nothing wrong with the chains, but where it was attached was weak.
And the Lord's desire is that our faith a would be alive and that it would be attached to something at the other end. And so here in this verse, it says ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of glory. You know, that's probably our greatest umm, our greatest testimony in our lives to this world and to those who are lost is our joy in the Lord. There isn't a greater testimony. You speak with, you try to argue someone that's enjoying the Lord. You know, they just, they just dissipate your argument.
When we're just enjoying the Lord because of faith that's alive and a faith that's attached to something at the other end, it just gives us a joy that, uh, it's unspeakable and it's full of glory.
The can go through a trial and they can grit their teeth and grin and bear it, and they can face something bravely, but only the Christian can face it triumphantly and joyfully. There have been many who've died for their own crimes in the history of man, and they've died bravely. But those who died as martyrs for Christ have died triumphantly and joyfully, and that's where the testimony and the glory is brought to God.
And the black thing, and I was thinking, I know it's familiar portion, but I was thinking of how Paul and Silas, their joy in the Lord was a tremendous testimony, probably more than all the preaching they'd been doing on the streets of Philippi.
And I've often wondered what I would have been doing after I was beaten and put in prison.
I think I would have been a little downcast and wondering, well, Lord, I thought I got a vision to come over here and help somebody and now what good am I doing? I'm in the stocks here and I'm in a prison cell and not much help. I can be here. But it's interesting that Scripture tells us the specific time that they prayed and sang praises. You know, they didn't do it right away. I, I think there was a little heaviness and a little tears and maybe a few tears and a little wondering and, but.
I've often wondered if Paul and Silas didn't all of a sudden realize the scripture in the 119th Psalm in the 62nd verse that says at midnight will I arise and give thanks unto thee?
Because of thy righteous judgments, they realize that what God had allowed in their life.
Though it was a great test, what he had allowed was righteous. It was right that he'd allowed this, that he had a purpose for it. And so at midnight they prayed and they sang praises. And what was the testimony? The prisoners heard them. The jailer keeper, the jailkeeper got saved. They're brought out. No doubt it was the beginning of the assembly at Philippi. And later on, when Paul wrote to that very assembly, he wrote with moral weight.
When he said to the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice. That carried real moral weight because they could remember a time when he'd been in a prison in their very city, and he had exhibited that joy in the Lord in a very difficult circumstance. And God often put the writers in various circumstances so that what they wrote was punctuated and had real moral weight to it. But I've often thought they realized they submitted.
They realized what God was doing was right. They prayed. That was communion. And then they gave thanks. And the testimony was far more reaching than perhaps we'll ever realize till the judgment seat of Christ.
Comment on something that I personally find pretty humbling.
00:45:02
Umm in its character, Peter then goes on to say in verse 9, receiving the salvation of your souls.
Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, and so on. Verse 12 about those prophets. And after they searched, it says, whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported.
To you.
In the gospel and in verse 11, what they were searching out was that sufferings the the significance as it says here, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
So that's what he says to them. I want to connect that with the end of Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 is a testimony to us of a whole collection of people who live by faith.
In chapter 10 it says that just shall live by faith. In Chapter 11 is the testimony of a collection of God's people who live by faith.
And so it says of all these.
Verse 39 at the end of the hall. These all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.
God, having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Incredible expressions of the lives of these people. With what I want to say by contrast, it's just a tiny amount.
Of expressions from God as to the end of their journey.
Abraham went beyond his promises his as was mentioned this morning, and he's a wonderful example of a person that looked for something beyond all that might be expected on earth. And God answered to that in his soul so that he looked for a city whose builder and maker foundations were of God, and he will have it. He laid hold of something by faith that went beyond a.
Then revealed revelation. But brethren, we sit here this afternoon and we open up the Word and compare. I want to compare us to them.
They had just a tiny amount and and they live by it.
Abraham never had a home. He just had a tent. He never had a certain dwelling place. He lived his whole life as a stranger and a Pilgrim in a land. He had promises, and the promises he never got in his lifetime. He had to live and die by those promises.
Here we are, we sit here this afternoon and if I could put it this way, what more could God give us?
What more could God give us than He's given us?
He has given us these perfect complete knowledge for faith.
That Jesus Christ, our forerunner, was here. He went through this path of life ahead of us.
As we have in Hebrews 12HE endured.
Yet he looked beyond it with joy to what was on the other end of the life that he lived. And.
He died.
He rose, He's in the glory.
What more could God give us?
To draw out our hearts and our faith. To live it out.
It says where if I I don't know what I'm going to say to Moses.
Or Abraham, or one of the rest of them in glory, if we compare notes about what they had to go by to live by faith, and what was revealed to them and what you and I this afternoon have.
Revealed to us and all these Old Testament stories and all these examples and all these men.
And Daniels die and and so on for the whole record. And now we have not only do we have that, but we have the life of Paul and Peter and and all the rest of them to say, well, here's the whole thing. It's all out there. May God encourage us by it to.
00:50:05
It's humbling at least I find it humbling and yet say, well, we, we had everything and may we live a little bit at least or as much or wholeheartedly by that same character of faith that lays hold of the unseen finds in the Lord Jesus the satisfaction of the heart and said, well, I know it's I know where it's going.
It says, it says in first John, he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure. What's the promise there? God says, the end of your journey is you're going to be just like my son.
You're gonna be just like my son, and I would like you as you go through it, to be a little more like him every day.
So that the finishing work will be less, if you will, at the end, but the end result will be, I like my son, I love my son. I would like everybody here to be just like him. And so that's the way it's going to end up. And so he would have us lay hold of what's really life and go on to the end with it as the consuming joy and object of our lives.
Two, that Christ is the object for faith. You know, those who are listed in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews. They are given to us as a cloud of witnesses. They are given to us as examples and encouragement.
We're thankful for even those in our day that have lived by faith. And it says whose faith follow, but they're never the object for faith. It's Christ that is the object for faith. And Don was saying we have those wonderful examples given to us to encourage us, but we have even more than that. We have the perfect example. And it's interesting or significant that as soon as the 11Th chapter, the list is complete, he turns our eyes from that list. He says yes.
This these are the witnesses to show that it can be done against all kinds of odds and difficulties.
But he immediately then turns our eyes from them to the opened heavens, and he says, looking unto Jesus.
The author and finisher, not so much of our faith, but the author and finisher of faith, because the Lord Jesus is the only one who began and completed the path of faith and perfection.
And having begun and completed the path of faith in perfection, never digressed from it for a moment.
Did always those things that pleased the Father, never sought his own will. God has now seated him at his at his right hand as the object for you and for me. And if we get our eyes off that object, we're going to lose our joy. We're going, we're going to stumble in the path of faith. We're going to digress from the path of faith. There's only one object for faith. Others are encouragement.
Christ is the object, and it in our chapter here we find that the joy to.
Comes from, not from the circumstances, whether they're good or bad, but the appreciation of the object in our souls, in the measure in which you and I have the object before us and it has affected our hearts. In that measure we are encouraged to go on. Will be preserved in the path of faith, and not just preserved in the path of faith, but we will go on in the path of faith with the joy that is unspeakable.
It's a joy that the world can never experience. They'll never understand. It's a joy that perhaps we'll never fully understand this side of glory either. But I say it is not in the in regard to circumstance. It is in regard to the how much the object has captivated our hearts.
More contrast to between ourselves and some of our brethren of past history.
I can referring particularly to verse 12 and it says there the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Imagine talking to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and comparing notes again in a coming day and.
Well, they say, uh, how? How did God confirm to you the reality of.
00:55:05
Of the way.
Oh well, when the Lord Jesus went to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to come down and dwell in me.
I can just hear him say wow.
Unbelievable, but it's true. Brethren, we have everything that the heart could ever imagine or desire to make this.
At all embracing complete.
Rejoicing of the faith to think that it's guarded by the power of God and guarded in that sense that God by the Spirit has come down and said, I'll make sure that the one I gave to my son gets there.
I'm going to put my I myself, God, the Spirit, I'm going to dwell in that that one and mark them out as mine and I'm going to give them to the Spirit of God works in us to bring Christ in reality and enjoyment to our souls and to give affirmation to our hearts of the reality and truth of what God says. And so we have.
Every provision to go through to the end in a way that is incredible contrast to any that went ahead of.
The Lord's coming into this world any Old Testament St. had.
Someone in the in Second Kings chapter 5.
And so here is the story of Naman.
Umm, he's a leper and the little maid finds out he's a leopard. A leper, verse 2.
You and the Syrians had gone up by companies and brought away captive out of the land of Israel. A little made, and she waited on Naaman's wife, and she said to her mistress.
Serve them right that he should have leprosy.
You know that naturally speaking that's what we must say. But oh, beautiful thing to see or hear says she sat on to her mistress. Would God, my Lord, were with the Prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. She had never even heard of anybody being.
Recovered of their leprosy Never once had she ever heard of someone being recovered of her leprosy and that there was no question in her mind whatsoever.
That this one could recover naming of his leprosy. You know we read in our chapter of the sufferings of Christ. Well, she was experienced. I believe the sufferings, but there's the glory that should follow. I've enjoyed this thought that when anyone was leaving.
You know, he had a perhaps the conscience as to going into the House of Raymond and he wanted to have two mule loads of earth. He wanted to be able to worship on divine ground. We might say, but I've enjoyed this. He wanted 2 mule loaves. He wanted one for him and one for the little maid.
In fact, this is our last.
Reading Meeting together this time.
To verse.
13.
He says you, you have all this.
Provision for you and they ministered you can draw in the Old Testament Scripture and two and and what the prophet said to say and so on and then he says wherefore verse 13.
In view of all this provision, and in view of the Lord in the glory and the Spirit of God and so on, He says, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is then that sense of needing to endure.
To go on to the end, it's not a a Sprint, it's a it's a daily strong effort. We don't know how long.
01:00:05
But it's a daily thing. But he mentions one thing that's quite important for them. And in fact is that Mister Darby's translation puts it wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope that is it's something to be done and to be maintained in that state, uh, in that way.
The only wise path in the circumstances of our lives is to have girded up.
Minds not open to the constant harassment of the thoughts of men that promote unbelief.
And again, going back, we are in instant access to everything that works against a girded mind. And so it's very important for us to have a mind that does not open itself up to the constant.
Ideas that a man and the thoughts of men.
That are contrary to faith and to the path of faith and it's a Peter just giving a very practical statement of need. And so we need to have the object before us that's been we need to have the glory before us, but in addition to that.
To to go on it to the end we will need girded up.
Lines. It's it's there's no other if the mind is allowed to run loose.
It's an easy way to make shipwreck of the path of faith.
People talk about having an open mind, but in Ephesians chapter 6IN connection with the Wiles of the devil and the armor of God.
We're to have our loins gird about with truth, and I believe it's ha having the truth of God firmly established in our minds that is going to keep us from that which is false.
I know that the dwelling place of the truth is not the mind, it's the heart. And I realize the conscience has to be reached as well.
But it is interesting that Peter, at the end of his ministry, says growing grace and the knowledge.
Both are important. There has to be the knowledge of the truth. If we're going to stand against the Wiles of the devil, the untruth that is subtly propagated in the world today and often right in professing Christian, Christian Christianity, we're going to have to have the truth firmly established in our minds. And how are we going to gird our minds with the truth of God? It's the Word. We must read the Word.
The more we read the word, the more we have the truth before us in that way, the more we're going to be preserved. When the enemy subtly comes along and presents something that is error, because the enemy, when he presents error, doesn't usually present it in a blatant way that you can recognize it immediately. Sometimes that's true, but again, in Ephesians 6, it's to stand against the Wiles of the devil, those subtle ways that he works, not in open outward.
Blatant ways, but the subtlety of the of the enemy.
And so in Colossians it says that if we're risen with Christ, since we are risen with Christ, we are to set. And if you notice your margin and Mr. Darby's translation were to set our mind on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. And if we don't have our loins gird about with truth, if we don't set our mind on things above, then the enemy is going to come in, and he's got plenty to fill our minds.
But I want to say this too as a warning, and perhaps particularly to parents who have children and young people.
In the public school system, not only is it really wrong to talk about an open mind.
The mind that needs to be governed by the truth of God is bringing every thought into subjection under the obedience of Christ.
But it is very, very dangerous to empty our minds.
You know, as I sent my children to public school, there was a great movement in Canada.
To get the children to empty their minds and they would sit them around in a circle on the floor and they would get them to close their eyes and do various things.
01:05:02
You know, it really is Eastern meditation presented under another guise. And I don't believe there's a precedent in Scripture that would ever encourage us to empty our minds, because as soon as we empty our mind again, Satan is going to have plenty to fill the vacuum. What are we to do? We are to fill our minds and fill it with Christ. And how do we fill our minds with Christ? It's the word of God.
Wherever we read in the Word of God, we don't have to go very far to realize that the subject.
Is always is always Christ. And so I just say that as a warning to.
Any who have children, young people, and to children and young people, if they ever ask you to empty your mind, it's a good thing to get out of there as quickly as as possible. You know, if you fill a cup with water to the brim, there's no room for anything else. If you fill a cup with with wheat to the brim, there's no room for the chaff. And that is what we are to do. We are. That is what is referred to as girding up the loins of your mind.
Himself.
Well, the Lord emptying himself.
As it says, he made himself of no reputation. He wasn't here for his own. I want to say this very carefully. He maybe I'll word it this way. He was here not for his own reputation as a man. He was here for the glory of God. And so he emptied himself so that in going to the cross, God was completely glorified. And we need to empty ourselves of self. If we empty ourselves of self, then we're going to be full of Christ.
And it's going to be Christ that is seen in us for the glory of God. But we're not to empty our minds, we're to empty ourselves of self as the Lord Jesus gave the perfect example as a man, I'll give you a little example from his life to illustrate what we're saying. You know, there was, there was an occasion when they accused the Lord of two things. They said thou art a Samaritan and hast the devil. You know, it's interesting he never answered the charge.
Of being a Samaritan, because that was a slur on his manhood.
And he never answered that he wasn't here for his own reputation in that way.
But he did answer the charge of having a devil, because that brought into question his deity, that brought into question the glory of God. And whenever it was a question of the glory of God, he always answered when he stood before Pilate.
He answered him never a word, but that needs to be qualified. There were times he did answer. When it was a question of his own reputation as a man, he never said a word, but when it was a question of the glory of God, he did answer Pilate.
And so in that way, he emptied himself, he was emptied himself and went down, down, down and went to the went to the cross. And we need to follow that. That's given as an example. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. But maybe you have a thought too, Dave.
Uh, to that.
In verse six of two.
Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
That was his place in heaven before he became a man. He was the Son of God and he was in a place of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
But the expression emptied comes between that.
And verse seven, make himself a whole reputation, or emptied himself, and then it says, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. I believe its primary thought is in connection with what took place.
What he did in becoming a man.
And in becoming a man, he put aside.
From himself, some of the glories that were properly and rightly his own, he could not be less than he was.
He doesn't give up anything that is essential in his person and in his deity when he becomes a man, but he does empty himself of some of those things that were rightly his as equal with God in order to become a lovely man among men. And so he takes the bondsman's place, and in taking the bondsman's place and being found in fashion as a man.
01:10:16
He has done that Which?
Veiled from our eyes some of the things that we will see when He is glorified. And so He says when He's finished the work on earth. And John 17, He said, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the foundation of the world. That was part of what He was putting aside when He came to be a man and be among us. And so we see in His life his moral glories.
But we don't see all the essential glories of his person, umm, in their official character until we see him and we see him take his place. And, uh, and so he will have that again. But as man and as the servant on earth. He humbled her. He put that aside, umm, in order to be among us.
It's a it's a tribute to his.
The greatness of his love.
That he would make that choice and do that, and once he's a man, then he's put himself in man's place and he's a perfect man.
In submission and obedience, even to the death of the cross, there was no holding back from the full cost of manhood under the will of God. He doesn't set any limit to it, as it were. I can go this far, but no farther.
But now he's, he's a man, and as a man, he takes the man's place and, uh.
Even in John's Gospel, where he's presented to us in a divine way, he never acts without the He had the power to act, and did act in divine power, but he never did it apart from a word from the Father to do it.
Which is again part of his, uh, father glorify me because he had put himself in that place by being a man that.
And is intended to give us, let this mind be in you, which we can't do what he did, but we can have the spirit of submission in that way.
Going back to our chapter.
Umm, just comment on the how verse 13 connects itself with the verses that follow it. Girding up the loins through your mind and be sober.
Which we've talked about.
Umm, a brother at conferences like this when I was a teenager. And I don't know, I'll probably misquote it, but I hope I get the sense of it at least. He used to say from the time you wake up in the morning.
You will be constantly presented with all that makes this world.
The sphere of your desire. In other words, everything that the world has to offer is limited to the world and to the present. Satan has nothing to offer, and the world is a system established by Satan to keep man.
In his palace.
Uh, without any thought beyond this life. And we need to have our minds girded that we don't wake up in the morning and spend our days making this world the limitation and sphere of where our thoughts go and constantly live a life that only, practically speaking, makes this world the sphere of its desires and the consequences, as he goes on to say.
Uh, if you don't gird up the loins of your mind in verse 14, you won't be an obedient child at because what will happen to you if this world is the sphere of your thoughts?
Then you'll find yourself going back to the former lusts which govern the world.
And so without a girded mind, then everything that's presented is presented to satisfy the lusts of the human heart. And those lusts are contrary to what it is to be an obedient child of God. And so in contrast to that, that was the way they lived in ignorance. But we're not ignorant anymore. We've been brought into an enlightened state of things to see that this world isn't anything that we want to have our hearts set on.
01:15:25
And live by.
But then he says in the verse 15, The one that called you is holy.
God called us. God made us his children.
What does a parent want to see in their children?
If it's good.
We're human parents. There's lots we wouldn't want to see in our kids. That's in ourselves. But in a in a more pure sense of the word, what could God want in his children?
To manifest his own character.
To be like Heas.
And so he says I'm holy.
You're my children, be holy as I am holy. And so he wants to see him, his own nature, his own character, seen in his children. And he has a right to have it because he gave us the divine nature. We've been born again, and having been born again, we've received that nature that is divine in his character. And so he says, now my children live obediently.
But he introduces all of that by saying to them, gird up the loins of your mind, because if the loins of the mind are not girded up, then we will make this world a place that we will listen to its attractions, we will listen to its call, and will become disobedient children and as a consequence will not display the character of God. Be holy, for I am holy.
Just again in view our times running out. Just a little outline a bit I guess and.
So he then says you call on the Father, verse 17, and he judges without respect to persons. That is, he judges in a holy way and he will judge you in your daily life. We're not talking about judgment for sin at the cross and losing. It's not a matter of salvation here in the sense we usually talk about salvation, but right, your work, your life is going to be judged.
And it's going to be judged according to God's holy standard.
Whether you live it or don't, it's going to be judged according to that holy character of God, and it's going to be measured against what He wants you to be as children of obedience.
And then he says.
Is it where to put it this way? Peter then says, Brethren, remember what it costs to make you his child.
You're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
What more could he show of how much he values you, how much he wants you, how much he paid to make you one of his children, to give you the destiny that he has before you, to make you heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? He says, remember that. Think of the cost of it, the precious blood of Christ, and then.
Uh, he goes on with that and I just want to emphasize verse 21. Just a wonderful thought to me. And it says you by him that's through the Lord Jesus Christ believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory. And he says that your faith and hope.
If you want something, if you're going to have faith in something.
You can't get higher.
I just leave the cat, get higher, people have faith in something.
Some have faith in the bank down the street, but they're not very sure of it. Some have faith that the president that's gonna do a good job, and some aren't sure of it. Some don't have any such faith at all. They see how they can manage on their own and so on. And some have some measure of hope and some don't.
01:20:20
And so if someone says to you, what do you trust in?
That trust in God can't go higher. Someone says what are you hoping? Oh, my hopes in God can't go beyond that. Brethren were given the ultimate that beyond really what we might imagine as to set our hope on our hope is founded through the Lord Jesus Christ and God himself.
And we have the we have it the last, the third of the hopes that are enumerated in this chapter, that your faith and hope might be in God. He takes it right up to its source.
And as it were, says we can't get any higher than that.
Sing number 99.
By Christ's salvation rest secure talk of age and **** indoor. Nor can that faith be overthrown, which rests upon the living stone.
No other hope shall intervene to him. We look on him, we lean number 99.
Gospel 2
Gospel—Don Mackewich
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We'd like to thank everyone for coming to the Gospel meeting tonight.
For those who were here last night, thank you for coming back. For those who are joining us tonight for the first time, we welcome you.
And for any of the hotel staff who might have a chance to hear this message or part of it, we, uh, thank you for listening too. It's a privilege to be here at your nice hotel and to, uh, do what we do and have these meetings. And we appreciate your kindness and your generosity. And, uh, we hope that you, uh, enjoy listening to this gospel message too. For those who will be listening to the recording at home or on the Internet, we hope that.
Tonight, you too will accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. We're going to begin by singing using this hymn sheet. We're going to begin with #2.
It says come to Jesus gently calling ye with care and toil, oppressed with your guilt, however appalling. Come, and I will give you rest for your sin.
Jesus once has suffered on the cross. The work was done.
And the word by God now uttered or spoken to each weary soul is come. And tonight we're so thrilled that you are here. And it would be even more thrilling if tonight you would come home.
And that you would come and know Jesus as your savior #2.
Count is.
In the country.
I will give you the rest.
Or your intent to give a lot of time so I'm curtains on the.
3 Grand St. 10-4, 989-898-9368.
9:10 You know the world's going to take things going on the way I think.
I'm still waiting.
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00:05:23
Nsnoise.
Have a good day.
It's nice to begin with a song that reminds us that every single person in this room is invited. Every single person is invited.
Sometimes in school, when one of my students has a birthday, they give out invitations to their friends. And not everybody gets an invitation. Some people are left out. But when it comes to the good news of the gospel and the way of salvation, every single person is invited. And that includes you and every single person who's listening to this, who's not here in this room right now, You also.
Are invited. Many in this room have accepted that invitation.
And they're going. How about you? Have you accepted? Are you going? If not, I hope by the time tonight we're done. You can say yes. Yes, I am too. I'm coming too.
All right, let's sing one on the Backpage #40 Jesus loves me this. I know where the Bible tells me so little ones to him belong. They are weak.
But he is strong. Let's also stand for number 40.
Jesus.
Dreams of life.
Yeah, I'm seeing like, what's me, ravioli?
Nsnoise.
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Make me my way till for me and his daughter.
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Las Vegas.
Las Vegas, love me.
Without me so she is not blessed me like may sell where am I barely.
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Take me all my time. You have seen a lot of men? Yes. Do you guys love me? Yeah. I must be a lot of great. The Bible tells me so.
You know, it's a privilege to be able to open up the Bible and go over the wonderful story of how the God of this universe is so interested in your life and how he delights to save and set free. So as we have this message before us tonight, our source is God's holy word, the Bible. It's not what I have to say.
It's what this book has to say. So as we open it up tonight, one of my begin begin by letting us know that everything in this book, from the very beginning to the very end, is 100% true.
It's what God says, and He's got a wonderful message in it for us tonight. The title of tonight's message is Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to begin by turning to a book in the New Testament called First Thessalonians.
And I'd like you to open up the chapter 5.
And look for verse 9.
You can also go ahead and put your finger on it. It's nice to be able to touch the word and follow along as we read. I'll try and go slowly.
It says in First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath.
But to obtain salvation.
By our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the message that we're gonna share with you tonight is salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight I'm gonna focus on sin and the burden of sin, going to focus on that emptiness that you're feeling and let you know how it can be.
Eliminated and how you can have peace with God. And I'm also going to talk a little bit about heaven. And yes, I'll mention the other H word hell.
Because it's a real place and we don't want anyone.
To go there. OK, well, we were driving from Columbus, OH here to St. Louis, MO on Interstate 70. We saw some billboards. Some of them were promoting places like McDonald's and restaurants and, uh, car dealerships and, uh, RV places. But there was also some billboards that had some, uh, questions.
On them and questions that were designed to catch the attention of those who were driving or those who were passengers in the vehicle. And one of the billboards asked this question, it said where will you spend eternity?
That's a really good question. Where will you spend eternity?
Another billboard said this.
Hell has no access.
How has no exit? Another billboard that we saw said Jesus is real. Yes he is. There were others and I can't remember them all, but I was thankful for the ones that I saw and they asked some really good questions and they caused us to take a hard look at life.
Because we're not guaranteed.
Another day. We're not guaranteed that you don't have the chance to go back to school on Monday. We're not guaranteed that you'll have the chance to go back to work on Monday. We're not even guaranteed that we'll be here tomorrow. So tonight, let's take a hard look at our life.
And let's ask ourselves that question.
Where am I going and where am I going to spend eternity? Don't worry about the person next to you. Don't worry about the person behind you. Let's focus on ourselves right now.
Where?
Am I going and why? And what is that based on? Is that based on hopes? Is that based on? Well, I think.
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Or I'm really looking forward to that. Or is it something that you can say it is based on what the Bible says, And that is because I know Jesus as my Savior, my brother Luke was telling us that Thursday morning about.
A little after midnight.
He heard sirens going down Main Street past my parents house.
Hear lots of sirens and the fire trucks, the police cars and the ambulances were going very quick. You said they were flying by, which means that they were in a very, very quick hurry to get to wherever they were going. And we weren't sure what and where they were going. But with technology, who was able to pull up on the Internet to get some information and apparently.
Just north of the city of Richmond, a vehicle, a truck with four driver or 4 passengers, 1 driver of course, was driving.
And the police in the next village over had gotten a report that there was a potential drunk driver driving, and the police were on the lookout for this truck they are made of. Police spotted the truck, turned on the lights and went to pull over the driver.
The driver did not pull over. The driver accelerated.
The story has a sad ending. The driver lost control of the truck, went off the road, hit a tree.
One person is dead.
The other three were taken to the hospital. One is in critical condition and I'm not sure of the outcome of the other two.
Again, this happened Thursday morning, just a little after midnight.
I don't know the whole story. I don't know where their plans were, but I assume that all four of these ones in the side this truck were probably anticipating having some type of a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday afternoon, either with their parents or with relatives.
Well, one family.
Is missing or was missing someone at Thanksgiving.
And instead of planning a Thanksgiving dinner.
They have a funeral to plan.
Another family.
Did not have Thanksgiving dinner at the house, I'm assuming because they're at the hospital.
Things happen very quickly and lives have been and families have been, uh, situations have been altered. The one who is gone is either in heaven or in hell. For that person, it is too late.
For the one who's in the hospital, our condolences to the family. We hope that this one recovers quickly. And for the other two, we hope that they also recover. And I hope that all three of them take a hard look at their lives and they they ponder seriously this question, where will I spend eternity?
Where will you spend eternity? It was quick, it was sudden.
Lives have been changed.
I hope no one in this room were to get in a car accident heading back home.
But if that were to be the case, where would you be? Where would you spend eternity? Tonight? There's an invitation that goes out from to every single person in this room, and that is come, come to Jesus. And tonight we started off with this person. First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse nine, it says to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ tonight. Are you wondering where do I start? Yeah, I'm really, I am interested. I want to know more about Jesus, but I just don't know where to start.
I just don't know.
What to do? What my friends tell me at school is different than what my parents tell me. What I found on the Internet is different than what I think should be. Here's a good place to start.
Let's start with what the Scriptures say, because it's true. And if you listen carefully, tonight you can leave rejoicing, knowing Jesus as your Savior. Tonight you can know that salvation is true.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, salvation is not through working. Salvation is not by being a good person and going to church. Salvation is not through the results of your parents or your grandparents. Salvation is through Jesus Christ our Lord. I'd like to turn now to a verse in John chapter 14.
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It's so wonderful that we don't have to guess, we don't have to speculate, we can just open up the Bible to find out the truth.
John, Chapter 14.
And verse 5.
Thomas saith unto him.
Lord, we know not whither thou goest.
Go ahead and put your finger on this part here. We're going to pick it up. John chapter 14 and verse 5.
Here's the question, how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him.
I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. I love that. Let's read it again. It says Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Tonight the message that we bring before you, salvation is through a person.
It's through the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the only way, not a way, but the only way. And tonight would you like to go to heaven? It's through Jesus because He is the way. It's also turned over to John chapter 6 to get a few more verses. These are verses that Tim Kaiser read this morning.
John chapter 6 and starting with verse 63.
Is everybody there? If I'm going too fast, let me know. I wanna make sure that I'm keeping up at a pace where you can follow along. I sometimes tend to go too quick. John chapter 6 and verse 63, it says it is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you.
They are spirits and they are life spoken by Jesus himself. And then verses 68 and 69.
Simon Peter answered him.
Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou are, you hast the words of eternal life, and we believe in our shore that thou art to Christ, the Son of the living God. Tonight as we start answering that question, where will we spend eternity? Where we're going to look for that answer and who we're going to look for? We're going to look to the Bible and we're going to look to Jesus.
And we're going to find it. And by the time we're done tonight, there will be no mistake as to how we get to heaven because it's only through one person, It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not through our good deeds. It is not by going to church. It is not because our parents are Christians. It is not because our grandparents were Christians. It is not because you went to Sunday school. It is not because you were baptized. It is not because you memorized scriptures.
It is because you repented and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are sitting here tonight and you are saying, well, I was thinking I got to heaven by being baptized, or I was thinking I got to heaven because of my things that I've done. I was thinking I get to heaven because I donated money to the church. But I was thinking I got to heaven because I learned some verses in Sunday school. You need to listen really carefully, would you please? Because we want you to know the truth. Jesus saves. Jesus saves, and we want you to make sure that there is no doubt.
That you know where you're going and maybe you're here tonight and you're kind of on the fence, not sure what you're gonna do. Listen carefully. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart. And tonight we want you to accept, accept Jesus as your Savior. There's three things I wanna look at tonight. I wanna answer the question of who can forgive us of our sins because we all have sinned. I also wanna answer the question tonight, who can satisfy the longing heart?
Because maybe you're here tonight and you've been looking to the things of this world to satisfy you. You've been looking to, uh, maybe people or entertainment to satisfy you and you realize that it's just not doing the job. I've got good news for you. I can tell you who can satisfy that. And maybe you're here tonight and you've kind of put it in the back of your mind. But we need to bring up the subject of heaven and hell. Just so we're real clear, because those are the two places.
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Where people go when they die.
Let me rephrase that. When someone dies, they either go to one place heaven or one place hell, but those are the two options. OK, let's start off by taking a look at sin. It's not something that we like to talk about, but we need to address it.
I have send.
And the Bible is really clear as to who is sinned. Could you turn with me in your Bible to Romans chapter 3?
Sin isn't just making a mistake. Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is lawlessness.
And the Bible is very, very clear.
And when we read the Bible, it applies to myself too. I'm not any better than anyone else in this room or anyone listening to this message. And the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. Would you look carefully for that verse and put your finger on it and follow along?
It says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Have you told the lie that makes you a liar? Have you stolen something that makes you a thief? Have you disobeyed your parents?
We could go on and on, couldn't we?
We all have sinned and it doesn't come short of the glory of God. What does it mean to come short? None of us can get to heaven on our own. None of us can get there on our own.
Our sins have separated us from God and we cannot get there on our own and we need to start off by acknowledging that fact that we all have sinned and come short.
Regardless of how many you've done, whether you've done one or millions, and there's nobody in this room who's done just one, there's nobody in this room who's done just 100. OK, we all have sinned and come short. OK, to to use an analogy of coming short.
And I don't mean to bring the world into the gospel meeting, but our Detroit Lions were playing the Houston Texans on Thursday and a Thanksgiving Day. And the game went into overtime and it came down for our kicker for the Detroit Lions to kick a field goal. And he kicked the field goal. And as I understand it, he kicked the field goal and then hit the goal post.
And it went aside. It was so close that it hits a goal post, but it doesn't count.
It came up short.
It hits a post, how much closer can you get? But it came up short. And in the eyes of God, we all come short. We're going to build upon that. Please turn to Isaiah chapter 2.
I'm sorry, Isaiah, chapter 59.
We don't want a single person in this room to come up short.
In other words, I don't want someone in this room to be sitting here saying should I? Should I not understand this? If you leave this room and you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are coming up short. You could be super, super close. Just like that football that hit the goal post and bounced off and was no good. If you leave here tonight and you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior.
Anywhere to pass away tonight you would come up short. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 59 and verse two it says but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear God is holy. God cannot allow sin in his home, not even one that's right. When you go to some people's houses, they ask you to take your shoes off because they don't want you to come into their house with their shoes on because your shoes bring in dirt and stuff and then they have to vacuum the.
Or you have to, uh, get out the broom and sweep it out. They want to keep the dirt out. They have rules to, uh, keep their house clean, right? And God cannot allow even one sin into His home. And it says that our iniquities have separated us from Him.
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The situation isn't looking good, is it? We know that we all have sinned and we know that our iniquities have separated us from God. Is there any hope? Is there any good news tonight in Saint Louis? Is there any way that that the question of sin can be settled? There is good news. I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you. Would you turn to 1St John, chapter one?
I'm sorry, let's back up John chapter 8.
John chapter 8 and verse 21.
So we've all been we. That's a fact. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Our sins have separated us from God. Now look at this John chapter 8 and verse 21. It says, Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whether I go, you cannot come.
Tonight, if you die in your sins, or whenever you were to die in your sins, or if the Lord Jesus were to come back and you're still in your sins, it's very clear.
Look at that again, Whither I go, or where I go, you cannot come. Verse 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am, you shall die.
In your sins.
So let's re establish what we've got going so far. The fact is that we all have sinned. The fact is, is that our iniquities have separated us from God. God is very clear that He cannot allow sin into His home.
And that's where the good news of the gospel message comes in.
Is that men, women, in all their sins, can hear the news that there is one in heaven, the God of this universe who loves you, and who sent his Son the Lord Jesus to die on the cross, so that the question of sin could be settled, so that God's holiness could be maintained.
And that a way of salvation could be made.
So that each and every person have the opportunity of having those sins forgiven. Now we can turn to 1St John chapter one.
It's not really good for me to tell you that there's a good remedy out there if you don't know that you need one. So that's why I've been working so hard to bring before you the Scriptures, to let you know that you have a need that's got to be filled. And now I can bring before you the good news that Jesus can fill that need.
In first John chapter one and verse seven it says towards the end of it.
Let's read it from the beginning, put your finger on it and follow along, please. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
I'm going to read that again. Isn't that marvelous? The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all, every sin. Verse nine, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Tonight would you be free from the burden of sin?
Here's how.
Jesus, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Don't go on another day trying to hide your sins. Don't go on another day trying to suppress your sins. It's kind of like putting a beach ball underneath the water. Real difficult to keep it down there. It's going to pop out real soon. We can try and cover those sins, but the Bible is very clear and here's what it says. He that covers his sins will not prosper. And you know what? You're dealing with a God who you cannot fool.
He knows everything about you. He knows when you were born. He knows where you were born. He knows who your parents are. He knows when you celebrated your first birthday. He knows what you wore on your first birthday. He knows when your first tooth came in. He knows what color your bedroom walls are. He knows when you learned how to he he was watching the day you went to kindergarten.
He was watching you every single day you were in school. He remembers when you entered middle school.
00:35:01
He remembers if your locker was clean. He remembers when you took that first step in high school.
He remembers the first under score verse he learned. He remembers how nervous you were, or how not nervous you were when you did your first driver's Ed test.
He remembers the day you graduated.
He was watching as your parents were. Some of them had tears in their eyes. The point is, he's got it all recorded. He knows it all.
Trying to fool God is the most foolish, one of the most foolish things you could ever do because you can't. So tonight I want to encourage you the sins that you've committed. Don't leave this room saying, well, I'm just going to just going to try and repress them. Just gonna try and ignore them. Just gonna try and forget about them. Don't do that. Don't do that. You can't hide them. They're not gonna go on their on away on their own. And also they're gonna keep you out of heaven.
Would you like to have peace tonight? Would you like to know your sins forgiven? It's through Jesus Christ. Our message tonight is salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
I'm gonna switch an address.
Ones in this room, or ones who are listening to this, who have been trying to satisfy their soul, thinking that what this world has to offer will fill that void in your heart.
If you're here tonight and you're thinking, well, yeah, I learned about Jesus in Sunday school. I memorized some of those verses. But you know what? I want to go out and do my own thing. I want to live my own life. And right now I'm not really interested in someone trying to help me out.
Tonight I need you to listen really carefully because I know the one who can satisfy the longing heart that you have.
OK, and you don't have to spend any more money trying to, uh, entertain yourself trying to do this, that or the other. I know the one who satisfies the longing heart and I want you to know that person too. Would you open up your, or would you turn in your Bible to, uh, Psalms chapter, uh, 107?
Maybe you're sitting here tonight and said, you know what? When I was a young person, I heard about Jesus in Sunday school. But.
You know, now, now that I'm older, I, I'm smarter and, uh, you know, I really want to be able to make my own decisions in life and want to do my own thing. I kind of think that my parents were a little old fashioned and uh, yeah, the Bible was good for them, but, uh.
It's my life, I want to live it.
Listen very carefully that you will not be able to satisfy yourself with what this world has to offer. And there's evidence of it in Scripture, what's called the prodigal son in Luke 15. He, he wanted to go off and do his own thing and he found out that.
When his money ran out.
When, uh, Anita Rose, this world would not satisfy his heart.
And I hope you don't have to learn the hard way. But if you do, and you choose to leave tonight thinking you're gonna do your own thing and continue to go on your own way, I hope that you remember this verse. And I hope that the Holy Spirit planted in your heart Psalm 105 and verse.
I'm sorry, Psalm 107.
In verse nine, sorry, I get nervous when I'm up here and I make mistakes and but the good thing is Scripture, there are no mistakes. Here's the answer. Psalm 107 and verse 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul and Philip the hungry soul with goodness. That's Jesus. He's the one who's going to satisfy and fill that void that you have.
We said, man, I want to just go out and hang out with my friends and go to happy hour and grab a few beers and watch a game or, you know, I'm kind of want to have a smoke some cigarettes. And actually I'm interested in what I just kind of like to look at what I look at on the Internet and the *********** or this, that or the other, you know, I just kind of want to do my own thing. I just really don't want to look at what the Bible says. Listen very carefully if that's the path you're going to go. The Bible is very clear.
That you're going to have a very miserable life and the only one who can satisfy your soul is Jesus. And oh by the way, if you go through life without Jesus, you will end up in hell.
And that's not where we want you to go.
People have been praying for you, people have been praying for the gospel message tonight and we don't want any single person in this room.
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This side of the room, this side of the room, anyone who's listening to this recording to end up going there, we want you to know that Jesus Christ is the way.
Where can I find peace? It's through Jesus. One other portion in connection with that, before we get into heaven and hell, turn to John chapter 14.
You guys are doing such an excellent job listening and I appreciate that and it's just so nice and we can open up the scriptures to find the answers.
Isn't this comforting? Isn't this encouraging? Isn't it nice when we can proclaim hope?
And one who can save.
John, Chapter 14.
And verse 27.
Another verse reminding us that this is the one who can give us peace. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.
Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Are you looking tonight for peace that this world cannot give you? It can be found in Jesus. He is the one who gives peace.
That this world cannot give. And maybe tonight you've noticed that.
When people who are Christians, when they go through trials, when they go through a difficult time, when a loved one gets sick or someone gets hurt in a car accident, or when they're frustrated with things that happen at work, they don't quite respond the same way. They don't step outside of work and smoke a cigarette. They don't go down the street to grab a beer. There's something about them that's different. You know what it is? They have peace.
That this world cannot give. They have peace that Jesus gives.
Peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Do you have a longing heart tonight? You're not going to find it in this world.
The prodigal son had to come to the realization that he had to come to repent and say, Father, I have sinned.
And tonight you need to come to that point where you say I've blown it, I have sinned and not only am IA Sinner, I am a helpless Sinner and I need God's forgiveness. And tonight the good news is that when you are ready to do that, He is ready to forgive right now. Don was talking about getting that Jingle. You don't need a phone to call God. He's been in the wireless business for forever. You just let him know right now.
Lord, I need you. No text messages apply. You just let him know and he will hear that call. He will hear you and he will save your soul. And if you're looking for another example, we don't have time to get into it, but in the Old Testament there was a man named Solomon who had it all.
And he still could say it is all vanity. It is not going to satisfy my soul. Again, we don't have time to get into it, but you could turn to uh.
Ecclesiastes, chapter 2.
The last portion I'd like to look at tonight is we need to bring before it's the reality of heaven and hell.
They are real places.
And I want to begin by looking at a very serious and solemn question. It's found in the book of Isaiah.
Chapter 33.
See, our time is going. We only have 14 minutes to help. You're as excited as I am about the gospel. And I hope that tonight as we've been opening up the Scriptures, you'll say yes, yes, yes, I see that I'm a Sinner. Yes, I see that I have a void. I, I want Jesus tonight. That would be wonderful if you would accept Jesus tonight.
Again, we said if you die in your sins where I can, where I am, you cannot come. There's heaven. That's the bad place. It's called hell.
It's a very, very, very bad place.
We don't want you to go there.
I remember hearing the gospel when I was younger and I didn't want to go there.
And I would ask the Lord Jesus to save me. And I hear someone else take the gospel and.
Then I, I really don't want to go there and I'd ask the Lord Jesus again to save me because I didn't have assurance. And I don't want anyone to misunderstand. I only needed to be saved once and I was only saved once. I wasn't saved, uh, you know, 55 times. But uh.
00:45:11
Boy, when it came to hell, I I wanted to be absolutely sure I was not going there. OK, And let's make sure that we're absolutely sure that we are not going there too. OK, here's the verse Isaiah chapter 33 and verse 14. It's a question.
It says this, the sinners in Zion are afraid.
Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites.
Here we go. Are you ready? This is a loaded question.
Who among us?
Shall dwell.
With a devouring fire.
Who among us?
Shall dwell with everlasting burnings.
It's in the Bible. Let's look at that again.
Two among us shall dwell with the devouring fire. Who among us?
Shall dwell with everlasting burnings.
We need to listen really carefully. If you're on your phone right now and you're on Facebook or checking out the scores on ESPN.com, or you're checking to find out what's going on in the news, you need to log off and you need to listen real carefully. If you're thinking about something else, we need to focus.
Because this is serious.
I believe.
There are ones in this room.
Right now.
And if you don't know Jesus as your savior, I mean you.
Who if you were to die tonight?
You would end up in hell.
I also believe that there are those who are listening to this or who will be listening to this, who are in the same situation.
Is that where you want to go?
We have these meetings to let you know that you don't have to go there.
And that salvation is through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But we have to be real clear when we preach the gospel. It's not a feel good. Oh, you look good. Let me give you something positive so you can leave with a smile on your face and come back tomorrow.
We need to bring the truth and love before you.
There is a heaven and there is a hell. God is holy and he can't allow sin into his home. But God is also love and he has made it possible. Where you?
Do not have to go there.
Guys, we gotta be real. We can't be faking it.
You need to answer this question for yourself tonight.
If you are one in this room who has accepted Jesus as your Savior.
Sure, I'm your brother.
And we're going to heaven.
If you're in here tonight then.
You haven't answered that question.
We're going to different places and I want you to come with me and I want you to go to heaven.
No, I think there might be some in this room whose parents who have parents who are saved. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a grandparents who are saved too.
And they're praying for you.
They know what the Bible says about this place.
Let's continue on with our discussion. Turn to Luke chapter 2. I'm sorry, Luke chapter 16.
Luke chapter 16 and verse 23.
The word torment or torment is used at least three times in this portion.
Not a happy place.
Yeah, people at Halloween may make light of it. They might have tombstones in front of their houses. They might People might dress up as the Grim Reaper. They might make a joke of it.
But it's a very, very bad place and we don't want anyone to go there.
Luke 16 verse 23 it says.
Speaking of one who went there.
And in how he lifted up his eyes.
Being in torment.
And seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his Buddhism, and cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water.
00:50:08
And cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Oh, it's a terrible place. And we don't want a single person in this room or a single person who is listening to this to go there.
And the good news is, you can have salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. You do not have to go there.
You do not have to go there, and here's why. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the good news is, God came into this world as a baby, live the real life, went to Calvary's cross there, was punished for those who would put their faith and trust in Him.
He died. He was buried. Three days later he rose from the dead.
40 days later, he went back to heaven where he is alive today. We serve a God who is alive and a God who wants to save you tonight.
Marvelous, isn't it? Tonight, how can you have your sins forgiven? Jesus is the one who can forgive you of your sins. Tonight how can you have that void in your heart satisfied? How can the longing soul be filled? He satisfied at the longing soul and the question of eternity. How can we?
Avoid going to that very bad place called hell. It's salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we are so excited to be able to share the gospel, because it's a message of hope. It's a message of deliverance. The invitation goes out to every single person in this room, to every single person who's listening to this, to every single person who has a pulse. The messages come.
Come unto me are you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
He is the only one who can save, it says in Acts 40. Let's look at it, Acts chapter 4. Guys, this is so exciting. It puts a smile on my face to know that Jesus is the one who can save you.
We are almost done, but we just need to make sure that everyone leaves with a very, very clear understanding that Jesus did salvation through Christ Jesus. It says in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12.
That there is neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. It is only through Jesus. He's the one who can forgive you of your sins.
He's the one who can satisfy the longing heart. He's the one who can save you from going to hell.
Because he is the one who loved you. He's the one who died for you. He's the one who shed his precious blood.
It's salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the good news is that He paid the price when he gave his life on Calvary's cross. So tonight you don't have to pay a thing.
It's a free gift. It's marvelous. Yes, it's a free gift because he gave his all. He gave his life so that you and I could have our sins forgiven. It's marvelous, isn't it?
Wonderful salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord.
I'm looking at the clock, I see we have 4 minutes left.
We got to start asking ourselves the questions now.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, if you could look this way, please.
You are responsible for what you've heard tonight.
You are responsible for what you've heard.
You cannot walk out the doors and truthfully say.
I didn't know.
I think we all have a good understanding and I hope I've done a good enough job keeping it simple for you tonight, but I hope that you understand that we all have sinned.
I hope that we've all understood that there's only one person who can satisfy the longing heart. I hope that we're really crystal clear on the fact that there's only one person who can save us from going to hell.
And that's Jesus.
So I need to ask you a few questions.
Do you believe what you've heard tonight?
The Bible says that all have sinned. Do you believe that?
00:55:01
The Bible says that because of our sins.
We deserve to die. Do you believe that?
Yes or no?
The Bible says that if you die in your sins where I am, you cannot come.
Do you believe that?
The Bible says, Jesus says, or Jesus says in the Bible, I am the way, the truth and the life. Do you believe that?
Tonight, Jesus wants to save you. Do you believe that you need a Savior?
Follow up with question #2 is when is Jesus?
When does Jesus want to save you?
He wants to save you right now. Are you willing to let him save you? I want to close with this first.
And it's found in.
Numbers, Chapter 22.
Stop.
And I'm taking a verse out of a story, but it's got a good uh.
Got a good thought?
It says in Numbers chapter 22 towards the end of verse 16.
Let nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I pray thee hinder thee from coming unto me. Let nothing, I pray Thee, hinder thee from coming unto me. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let nothing hinder you from coming to Jesus if there's something in your life that's keeping you from coming to Him tonight.
Turn to the Lord in repentance and justice. Bring it before Him. Don't let it keep you from coming tonight. Don't let it keep you from accepting Jesus as your Savior. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, tonight.
Is tonight is the day of salvation, do not put it off. We're going to sing a song and afterwards if you have any questions if this didn't make sense to you.
You feel your pulse beating.
You know the Spirit's working.
Please see me afterwards.
My name is Don Mackwich. It doesn't matter. But uh, just so you have a name, I'll be just up here. Just come up and we can talk. Don't put it off.
Don't wait tonight.
Tonight, Jesus is the answer.
I'd like to sing that song that says.
About not putting it off.
The one that says, umm, that would be saved. Why not tonight?
I'm sorry, I don't know what number that one is.
#36.
Oh do not let the word depart and close thine eyes against the light, for Sinner harden not thine heart that would be saved. Why not tonight?
Verse four, the world has nothing, nothing new to give. It has no true, no pure delight. Look now to Jesus Christ and live. Thou wouldst be saved. Why not? Tonight we're gonna sing verses one and four of #36.
Oh, do not let the word.
01:00:40
Last person closing John 14 six Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Thou wouldst be saved.
Why not tonight?
Eternity - What's Beyond Here
God Wants His Word to Be in Our Heart
Children—Caleb Buchanan
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.
Less than a minute now, while we're waiting, you can look in the song sheets and maybe pick out a song that you want to sing or if there's another Sunday school song that you know and, and I have to know it too. But if I know it, we'll try to sing it too. Somebody have a song picked out.
Go ahead, what song do you wanna sing?
#38 #38.
#38.
Stop.
I know not why God was dressed great to me, behind me.
Nor why unworthy.
Unlike.
His own, but I know.
I believe in.
He had him hard.
For how believing in him were brought peace with him my heart, but I.
Told her I have believers.
And then persuade an idea.
To give us a great time to come in and do him. I'm getting back in.
I know.
How about the rivers convening dollars through the offer free anything else? But I don't know if I have to be laid to be made rest.
And that's her and swayed us down. He is a.
Nsnoise.
How about another one?
#11.
Let's sing.
The 1St and I want to make sure they're the same the 1St.
Let's sing the first verse in the chorus. I know they match up in both of the versions of the song Book. First verse in the chorus. Then give time for some more songs. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold, their wings of drive when the strong tides lays and the cables ring?
Will your anger get Lord for every name?
Good. How about another one, Luke?
#41.
41 on the Backpage.
00:05:02
Sing the 1St and the last verse on this 141 first and the last verse around the throne of God in heaven.
Things are all forgiven will have the absence.
Glory, glory, glory. Take it on.
Anybody else? Is somebody there OK?
#14 if there's somebody in the back that wants to give one out, you're going to have to wave your hands. Catch my attention.
#14.
Let's sing the 1St and the last verse #14.
Have you been to Jesus?
Lot of land, all you want to pick up love in the fall. Breaking blood.
One of the land.
In the fall and big blood.
By your farmers, by the sided wine and snow. Are you washed in the mud of land?
OK, maybe a couple more.
22 #22.
Again, the 1St and last verse #22.
The heavenly Bridegroom.
To the ground and then I.
How about one more?
Oh, there's a hand back there, Number 40 #40 on the Backpage, the first song.
00:10:07
We'll sing the whole thing #40.
Jesus loves me this.
0075.
Zero well washed away my dim left on it so I'm coming.
Yeah, let's see.
Yeah, it seems like love me. Yeah, she's like one day God. The Bible tells me so.
She don't want me, so I'm bad and you wait to make me laugh, wait to hold me in his honor.
You will watch me where I lie.
Yes, it's a blunt name. Yes, it's a bluntly.
Yes, being sung by me, loud by the bull tells me so.
She just loves me. He will stay close beside me all the way. If I trust him, shall I die?
See if you need to, well, take me on my mind. Yeah. Give us a lovely day. Yeah, she's like me.
Yeah, give some love, me.
Survival help me so.
OK, raise your hand if you've never heard that song before.
I don't see any hands. Raise your hand if you know that song, at least the chorus, in more than one language. Sign language counts. Raise your hand if you know it in more than one language.
A lot of people I've sung it in.
I think 4 different languages that I can remember.
Uh, maybe five. I didn't know all of those languages. I was taught this course just so I could sing it in those languages. But, uh, this is a very well known song. I sometimes talk to, uh, some boys and girls that, that, uh.
Uh, most of them haven't been to, haven't spent a lot of time in Sunday school like this And so they don't know the Sunday school songs very well, but they almost always know this song. And if they don't, by the end of the song, they're usually starting to sing along. And uh, that's pretty hard not to sing in the chorus of this song. So easy to learn, so easy to remember. It's got a nice tune, it's catchy and it's got a beautiful, beautiful message. Yes, Jesus loves me. We're going to talk about that this morning.
Talk about the Lord Jesus and His love and His Word.
OK, umm, I know in a lot of your Sunday schools, uh, you memorize a verse and I'm not going to ask all of you to say the verse, but I would like at least a couple, one or two at least to let me know what verse you might have memorized. And I'm kind of hoping that somebody memorized the verse on the Sunday school paper, so.
Paul, you want to stand up and say your verse?
Is it Psalm 15 word?
00:15:03
Does it start thy word?
OK, somebody else. Oh, get more hands here. Go ahead.
OK, go ahead. I'm I'll just pick out a few of them here.
Logan.
And I saw.
I'm sorry, I saw a hand back here. Go ahead. Silence.
OK, maybe one more. One more. Oh, I gotta pick Conrad. I'll let you say it.
Thank you. Very nice. I know that there's others that learned it and I want to keep us on the schedule, so I'm not going to take time for everybody to say it.
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
You know, this is a, a, a nice introduction to what I would like to talk about today because it's talking about the word.
And how it the word of God and how it affects us. And so to help us understand this verse before we kind of move into what I would like to talk about, let's go through this verse real quick. And I, the way my brain works, I guess I kind of like to break things down into pieces, simplify it, make sure I understand really well what it's talking about. So let's talk about this verse. And I'd like to talk about three things in this verse. First of all, it starts out with thy word, right?
I think we know what that is. We use a lot of different words for it. We can call it the Bible, We can call it scriptures, uh, holy Bible. We can say, uh, in the Old Testament, it uses the word, the law, thy law, umm, other words that maybe we don't hear as much precepts or, or, uh, umm, there's a, there's a several other statues is another one, the word of the Lord, the word of God.
All of these phrases words are used to talk about this book.
Right, thy word, I think we understand that, right? So that's the first part, thy word very important to start with that. And then it says, have I hid in my heart? You ever hide anything?
What kinds of things do you hide?
Well, there might be different things that we hide, but one of the things that we hide, and I would like to use this because I don't think it's talking about hiding it in a place where it never gets seen. I don't think that that's so much what the verse is talking about. But some of the things we hide are things that are precious to us. Some of you might have some money in your pocket. You don't just lay it out on the table because it's valuable, right? You don't just leave it laying around. I hope not. That's not a good idea. You most of the time, if it's something that's valuable, something that's precious, we guard it.
We keep it safe and maybe we put, if it's money, we put it in a wallet or a bill full and keep it in our pocket or in a, or in a, in a purse or something like that. And I think that that's maybe one of the ways we can think about that. It's hidden. It's it's, it's protected, it's guarded and it's kept where.
In our heart, right? Is that what the verse says in our heart?
This is kind of, uh, uh, an important part of the verse, I think. Umm.
Some of you memorize verses today.
That's a good thing. I know that, uh, most of you memorize verses for Sunday school class and that's wonderful. I hope you keep doing that. Uh, is that hiding it? The word of God in our heart.
Let me ask a question a different way. Can you memorize verses from the Bible without hiding the word in your heart?
I'll let you think about that a little bit. Can you memorize verses like John 316 or Psalm 11911 or a lot of other verses that you've memorized? Can you memorize those verses without?
Really hiding it in your heart.
I'm afraid that the answer is yes.
We can know verses from this book. We can know it and even understand what it's saying.
00:20:00
But not ever really hide it in our heart. It never makes it to our heart. Sometimes we say we understand it in our head, but not in our heart. I think what that really means is when we, when we understand it in our head, we, we, we read it and we agree it, but we don't necessarily believe it. We don't really believe it. And to hide it in our heart it, we have to believe it. We have to receive it as from God, we have to believe it.
That's what it means to hide it in our hearts. So it's not enough just to know what it says. We have to receive it. We have to believe it. We have to make it our own, make it real in our lives. And I also think that that brings us to the last part of the verse, which is that I might not sin against thee.
That I might not send against the if we have the word of God hid in our heart, if we believe it and we've made it our own. Do you think it's going to show up in our lives? Do you think it's going to come out? If you take a say you have a a big bag and you put all of your favorite toys into this bag and you carry it around for a little bit. When you take stuff out of that bag, what's going to come out?
Something different than what you put in or the same things that you put in.
Your favorite toys, right? Of course. You can't take something out of the bag. You can't, you can't show something out of the bag with that you didn't put in there. And it's the same thing in our lives. What comes out in our lives? What comes out in the way we play with our friends? What comes out in the way that we talk when we're at school or at home, What comes out when we're working? What comes out when maybe something happens that we don't like, What comes out of our heart.
Is it the word of God is the things that.
We learn from this book, I hope so, and it will if we have hid the word of God in our heart. But if we haven't, there's other things that sometimes come out, Sins, lusts, fears, wickedness. All of these things sometimes come out of our hearts too. But we need to make sure that we hide the word of God in our heart so that that's what comes out in our lives. And I would like to.
And as a way to introduce sort of introduce my topic, I would like to re read a verse that was read.
Yesterday. It's in the book of Deuteronomy.
You know I had.
AI had three different stories in the New Testament that I was thinking about talking about and it seemed like the Lord brought these three stories to me last week after, after a gospel meeting that we had and I was thinking about them that. And when, when my friend Clayton called me on the phone and asked if I would talk to the Sunday school, I thought, OK, well, I'll talk about one of those three stories and I thought, well, maybe I'll talk about this one and then pretty soon I thought, well, maybe the Lord wants me to talk about the other one and, uh, well.
But there's there's some things in this one that I really feel like I should talk about. And when Mr. Don Rule read this verse yesterday.
I realized that I need to talk about all three of these stories, so let's read in Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse one and two. We'll go through this.
Keep trying to stay on schedule here. All Deuteronomy 8 verse one.
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do. Isn't that what we were just talking about? The commandments of the Word, That's another word for the word of God, the commandments, right? And he's talking about not just hearing them and understanding them in our head, but he says we should observe to do them, right? So this is doing the word of God. This is practicing it. We use that word, practicing it, that making it come out in our lives so that people can see it. All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do that you may live.
And multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers, and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
To humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart.
Whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
There were three stories that I wanted to talk about. The first one was about.
To humble thee. And the second one was about to prove thee, and the third one was about to know what was in my heart. So when Mr. Donroll read that verse yesterday, I thought, OK, Lord, that means I need to talk about all three of those stories. And we've only got about 20 minutes left, so we better get into it, right? The first one is in the book of Matthew, chapter 18. Now, what first started me thinking about these is I was thinking about children.
00:25:20
And children in the New Testament and how there's a lot of stories about children in the New Testament if you start.
Looking for them. We we don't know very many of their names, but there are a lot of stories about children in the New Testament, and I was specifically thinking about times that the Lord Jesus used children to teach.
Lessons.
Can children hear the word of God?
Can children receive the Word of God in their heart? Yes, of course they can't. Can children teach the Word of God?
You think so? Yes, they can. And the Bible has examples of that. And I would like to look at three times that the Lord Jesus used children to teach a lesson. So you boys and girls, you know, when you hide the word of God in your heart and it comes out in your life and the things that you say and the things that you do, you are teaching the people around you, you're teaching your your, your friends, you're teaching the adults that are watching, you're teaching.
I believe even the angels are learning things.
From you all when you hide the word of God in your heart and it comes out in your lives. So let's read just a few verses in Matthew chapter 18, verse one.
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called the little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto thee, I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
S.
Starts with a question, who is the greatest?
You ever asked that question?
Who is the greatest?
Football team.
Who is the greatest basketball player or who is The Who has the highest grade in the class?
Who is the fastest? Who is the strongest? Who is the tallest?
We ask those questions all the time, don't we? And we want to know who's the fastest, what's the fastest car, What's the, what's the tallest building? What's the highest mountain? What's the deepest part of the ocean? All these things, you know, what's we, we want to know, we want to rank things. We want to put things in order based on our understanding of things. We want to know who is the best. And the disciples were asking a question, but you know, they, they were asking about the Kingdom of heaven here. And they said, who's the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? You know, that sounds like a good thing, isn't it?
That sounds like maybe a good thing. Wouldn't you want to be the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? Maybe you don't want to be the greatest in your in your sports team or, or, or something like that, But wouldn't you want to be the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? Doesn't that sound maybe like a good thing? Of course, I think, you know, this is a bit of a trick question, isn't it? Because the Lord Jesus answers that, you know, sometimes we can umm.
Maybe one of the things we think of is I'm maybe I'm the greatest in my Sunday school class.
I always know the right answers and I memorize longer verses than than anyone else. And uh boy, sounds like a good thing, doesn't it? We need to be a little bit careful. Let's read what the Lord Jesus says, because He answers this question here.
Says, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
Wait a minute, that wasn't their question. The question was who's the greatest? And he answers a different question. First of all, he answers the question, How do you get into the Kingdom of heaven? Why did he answer the wrong question?
Or maybe we think it's the wrong question. He didn't answer the wrong question. He answered another question that hadn't been asked but needed to be answered first. Because you know what? He's talking to his disciples there. And there was 12 disciples that we know by name. And there was a lot of other disciples too. And some of them may have been there too. But let's let's assume it's just the 12 disciples that we know by name. And in those 12 disciples.
There was one of them that didn't believe, remember?
00:30:04
To hide the word of our God in our heart is to believe it, right? It's not just to know it in our heads.
And be able to give the right answers about it. But it's to believe it. And there was one of the disciples there that did not believe. And so he answers this question first. He answers, how do we get into the Kingdom of heaven? And for, for our, our purposes this morning, we're going to think of the Kingdom of heaven as the place where God's people receive God's blessing, OK.
How do we get into the Kingdom of Heaven? I think maybe they just thought, well, we're all in the Kingdom of Heaven, of course.
So we want to know who's the greatest and maybe which one of us is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But he says, first of all, you need to make sure you're in the Kingdom of heaven because there was one of them that was not.
Had not believed put it that way, he had not believed and so I look around the room and justice like the disciples I'm sure they all look nice on the outside and I look around the room and you all look like good Christian boys and girls but all I can see is what's on the outside. The Lord Jesus, he looks down here and he sees what's in our heart. Have we hid the word of God in our heart I hope so but the Lord Jesus sees I can't see the Lord Jesus sees and so before we go on and answer the question I want to make sure that first of all we have believed the word of God and if we come we need to come like it says you're like a little child well that.
Might be easier for you little children than some of us that are grown-ups. We need to maybe.
Be converted like it says or changed or turned.
Maybe it's harder for adults. I think it is. I believe that more people get saved as children and get saved as adults. Thankfully, many do get saved as adults.
But uh, we need to make sure that we have received and if we're going to come to the Lord Jesus, we need to come not because we're great or not because we deserve it or not because we've earned it, but just come and accept what God has given.
So first of all, are we in the Kingdom of heaven? And now let's talk about that question. Who's the greatest?
Says whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. You know, we think if somebody's going to be great, they need to be show their abilities. They need to show just how great they are. They need to show how fast they are. They need to let other people know so that they can compare their abilities with somebody else and decide, well, maybe this person is a little bit better than that one. And we look around and decide who's the greatest. But this verse says we need to humble ourselves to be great in the Kingdom of heaven.
We need to humble ourselves. Remember those three lessons. The first one was the Lord Jesus.
Took the children of Israel through the wilderness and one of the lessons they needed to learn was humility. That means humility means to take the place that God has given us, whatever it is, except the place that God has given us.
And not be trying to lift ourselves up or put ourselves out so that people see us that how great I am, how fast I can run, how good I am at school or even maybe in Sunday school. You know, if the Lord Jesus has given you the ability to memorize lots of verses, that is a wonderful thing. And I believe it would be wrong not to memorize those verses. But do you do that for the Lord or do you do that so you can stand up and say.
Look at me, I memorized a lot of verses today. You know, maybe that's not really humility. Maybe that's putting myself out there instead of just accepting the place that God has given me. And if he's given you the ability to memorize lots of verses, wonderful. Do it.
And give him thanks.
Next lesson is in John chapter 6.
To humble thee, and to prove thee your test. To test you.
John, Chapter 6.
Verse five. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he said unto Philip, When shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him, for He himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that everyone may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrews Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, there's a boy here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes. But what are they among so many?
00:35:03
That's far enough. I think we know the story. What did the Lord Jesus do? He took that boy's lunch. Those five barley loaves.
I don't think that means big lows. I think that means small, what we would call maybe rolls. Five small rolls, five small barley loaves and two small fishes. It says the word small, so I don't know how big they were, but they were small fishes. Maybe enough for one boy's lunch with maybe a little bit of leftover for supper. I don't know, Just enough for him to bring on his lunch. 5 barley loaves and two fishes. And he took that food and he multiplied it and he fed the whole great big crowd several.
1000 people altogether. Several thousand people altogether.
Wonderful miracle that the Lord Jesus did, but it starts out with this question that he asked and it says he asked it to prove.
To prove Philip. To prove Philip and the disciples.
Because he already knew what he was going to do.
What does it mean to prove, to test? You know, sometimes we face difficult questions, we face difficult situations and we don't always know the answer. Sometimes we have to learn that we don't know the answers. And so the Lord Jesus uses this boy's lunch.
To show that God is in control, God has a plan.
And God is going to provide for his people.
You know the disciples learned.
Maybe not right away, but maybe later they learned that they could trust in the Lord, that He would provide for them, He would take care of them. And I hope that you can learn that lesson too. You know, sometimes we face questions that we don't really know the answer to or situations that are hard, but we can trust the Lord. One more thing before we move on. This boy brought his lunch and he at some point had to give it to the Lord or to Andrew or to somebody. He gave his lunch to the Lord. Did he go hungry then?
Was he hungry that day?
Did he go home with an empty belly? Now? It says later they were all filled.
He had plenty to eat, in fact, there even leftovers.
You know, sometimes we feel like, well, if I, if I do this for the Lord, if I give that to the Lord, I might, I'm going to lose something. But I think one of the lessons in this story is that no, we don't. If we do something for the Lord, he's going to provide for us, and not just for us, but for the people around us too. In this case, it was several thousand people. If we learn to trust the Lord to prove it. One more Matthew chapter.
21.
Matthew chapter 21 and verse 15.
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did.
And the children crying in the temple, and saying Hosanna to the son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Here's thou what these say. And Jesus saith unto them, Yeah, have you never read out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou hast perfected praise.
Another story where the Lord Jesus used children to teach a lesson. What were these children doing?
They were in the temple.
Just playing over there, off to the side, playing by themselves.
No, it says they were crying. What does it say?
Says they were crying out in the temple and saying hosanna to the son of David.
Hosanna to the son of David. They were, we'll talk about it here. They were offering praise. Hosanna is kind of an interesting word. I don't think maybe we use that very much. Maybe we sing it in some of our songs. But, uh, it's really, I, I believe there's, there's, there's maybe more than one thing that the word hoseanna means, but, uh, it's, it's certainly, at the very least it is an expression of praise and adoration, saying this is the son of David. And I believe it was a phrase that was supposed to be reserved for the Messiah.
The one who was going to come, who was going to deliver his people, was going to bring salvation. And they were saying, this is the one, this is the Lord, this is the Christ, this is the Messiah, this is the Son of David.
00:40:00
And there were some other people over there, the scribes and the Pharisees, and they said they were displeased. It said they weren't very happy. They said, don't you hear what they're saying? It's kind of like, aren't you going to stop them? Don't you know things are getting out of hand here? And the Lord Jesus just says, yes, I've heard them. And haven't you read out of the mouths of of babies and sucklings or nursing infants that has perfected praise? He says yes.
I've heard them.
And he received, he accepted their praise, their adoration, and he used their praise as a way of teaching a lesson to these other people who were very happy about the situation.
Now we started out saying thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? And remember I used the example of of, you know, some kind of a bag. If we think of our heart as a place where we store things.
We put the word of God in there, we hear things, we learn things about the Lord Jesus and we believe them. They go in our heart. And then what happens when we open our mouth?
And talk or sing. Do we praise God? Is that what comes out of our heart? You know, this I believe, showed what was in their hearts. I don't know where these people, these children heard it earlier in the in the chapter. There was there was a whole crowd and not just the children that were saying this. And for one reason or another, they had stopped, but the children kept going. The children were crying in the temple Hosanna to the son of David. That was what was coming out of their heart.
They were offering praise to God. Do you ever praise God? Can you praise God? Can you offer praise or worship adoration to?
The Lord Jesus, if he is your Savior, you can, yes, you can. Like these children did right here. They were in the temple. That was the place where they came to worship and they were, I'm going to say singing. It just says crying. I'm going to say they were singing out. They were crying out. Hosanna to the Son of David. When you come, maybe with mom and dad, and you sit down to worship the Lord, do you open your mouth and sing? Do you? Is that what comes out of your mouth? Praise? If we've accepted the Lord Jesus, if we believed him.
Received him in our hearts we can praise and we should praise. He deserves it, doesn't He? And I hope that we want.
To praise him, OK.
Three lessons. We will go through them backwards to show what was in your heart. What is in your heart?
What comes out when you are at work? At school? Is it praise? Is it honoring to the Lord Jesus? Is it pleasing to Him? What comes out of our hearts?
The second lesson to prove you, to test you. You know, sooner or later, boys and girls, if the Lord leaves us here, you're going to face tests. Maybe you are. Right now you're going to face test. I don't mean tests at school. I mean tests where the Lord brings a situation in your life to find out how you will respond.
Will you get angry at God or will you say?
I accept this, Lord, I'm going to have to trust you. I don't know the answer, but I'm going to have to trust you. But I know that you provided for those 5000. You provided food for them, and so I'm just going to trust that You're going to provide for me.
And then the first lesson was to humble you.
You know, when we come to the Lord Jesus, we need to remember that He is the one that has the 1St place always. And we like to compare ourselves with each other. And the Bible says that that's not wise to compare ourselves with each other and say, well, maybe I'm better than that guy or maybe not quite. I don't quite measure up to that guy. And we look at ourselves and each other and that's what we're looking at. And I don't believe that. That's why the Bible tells us that's not wise. So we need to take the place that God has given us, whatever it is. And if he's given you the ability to do well in school, then.
Do that for the Lord. If He's given you the ability to make to run fast, I believe you can do that for the Lord. If He's given you the ability to learn verses and to understand the stories in the Bible, do that for the Lord. Take the place that God has given you thy word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? I hope that each of you, boys and girls, and each of us, all the grown-ups too, learn.
To read this book, to take it and to guard it, to protect it, to make it real, to believe it. And if we do, then it will come out. It will be evident in our lives.
God's Singularity; His Uniqueness
Address—John Kaiser
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Yeah, yeah, I'm glad I'm out of my way home.
2000 Nine Eyes.
Turn to Isaiah.
Chapter.
45.
Isaiah 45.
Verse.
Umm, I'll start verse 9/18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it. He hath established it. He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord.
I am Jehovah.
And there is none else.
I have not spoken in secret.
In the dark place of the earth.
I said not.
Unto the seat of Jacob, seek ye me.
In vain. In other words, God didn't tell them to seek Him and make himself inaccessible.
I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come near, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations.
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray into a God that cannot save.
Tell you and bring them there. Yeah, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from the time? From that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else?
00:05:11
Beside me adjust God and a savior. There is none beside me.
Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and.
There is none else.
Over and over in this passage, God.
Asserts his.
Singularity.
And his uniqueness.
Over and over he says I am God and there is none else.
And.
It's a truth that I hope is impressed on each of our hearts this afternoon. Because that's the the umm.
Theme before me is God's singularity, his uniqueness.
And it's a subject that's too big for me.
But then it's too big for anybody here. We're going to touch on a few scriptures that.
Umm, give us a fringe of the idea.
But here it's announced that the nations have no knowledge.
It's true, the world does not recognize the God who made it.
And he says.
They have no knowledge and it's a sad fact.
That the world around us, there are so many around us going on into eternity with no knowledge of God.
But there is a sadder fact in some respects. Turn to the first chapter of Isaiah.
In verse.
Two hero Heavens.
And give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children. They have rebelled against me. The ox knows his owner, and the *** his master's crib. But Israel does not know my people, does does not consider another translation says my people don't understand.
And over and over in the prophets, particularly in the Old Testament.
We find this lament on the part of God that his own people don't know him.
His own people don't know him.
By the time.
The book of Isaiah was written. Israel had been in the land for about 500 years.
They had had plenty of opportunity to get to know Him and they didn't. And we'll find later, I'm going to look at one more verse in Isaiah before we leave Isaiah permanently. That is so to speak. We'll find that there were some that did know Him, but speaking as a whole, His people did not know Him, and they should have. They had the Scriptures. They had a history of God's intervention.
In their course.
And they didn't know him. We say, well, that's, that's sad. That's, you know, the Jews really failed. Let's turn to 1St Corinthians 15.
1St Corinthians 15.
In verse 34.
Awake to righteousness.
And sin not for some have not the knowledge of God.
I speak this to your shame.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, who by and large were an educated, cultured group.
And he said to them.
Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not.
The knowledge of God.
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Some among them.
Didn't have the knowledge of God, of God's ways, his character.
He said. I speak this to your shame because they should have known it. They had the Old Testament.
They probably had Isaiah as well, including in the Old Testament.
And brother, I want to take my place.
This afternoon.
With Corinthians.
I feel the shame.
I feel it.
Because I observe among us.
So many.
Who should know God better than they do?
Why did Paul say this to the Corinthians? Because there were those.
Younger who had the opportunity to know and didn't, And there were those older who had the opportunity.
To teach.
And didn't.
I remember years ago.
I was invited into a Christian home.
After the breaking of bread.
Went home Sunday, Lord's Day afternoon, looking forward to a time of Christian fellowship with that family.
And the wife served a wonderful lunch.
I didn't enjoy it.
Because soon as I got they got home, they turned on the TV.
I had hoped there might be a scripture reading. There was nothing for the Lord the rest of the day as far as I knew, and I left I.
I couldn't stay there.
I I ate the lunch, I thanked the Hostess and I I left.
And there's a lot of homes.
In which the TV and entertainment has displaced.
The regular family Bible reading.
And maybe there's a young person here who says, well, I was, I was raised in that kind of home, you know, don't make that an excuse. You have the word of God.
Scripture says the diligent soul shall be made fat.
I look back at my life and I see lots of opportunities I've missed.
I'm not alone in that.
I read recently where chapter Spurgeon said the same thing about his life.
Most here in this room could say that too, that they've wasted time, wasted opportunities to learn.
The God to learn to know, the God with whom they are going to spend eternity.
This is a preamble to my subject to give us an appetite for knowing God because.
Well, I hope to bring out here in the brief time we have some basic principles, basic thing and and just a few of them, of the God with whom we are associated and with whom we shall be associated forever.
Now there may be somebody in this room.
It says, well, it doesn't apply to me Then in that case, if you're not going to be associated with this God, you need might as well know something about the God that you're standing against. You're either with him or against him. And so we're gonna look at some characters. And the first thing we saw here in Isaiah is that God reveals himself as the one, number one, the only one, the only source of salvation.
The only one to whom man every man has to answer. He says I am God, and there is none else. And remember.
Remember that in every situation it applies in every situation, he declares himself in that passage we read as a just God and a savior.
I'm so thankful for that.
Two full revelation yes he's a just God and he's also a deliverer. He's adequate for every situation but let's go back to Isaiah before we start looking at these principles Isaiah chapter 51 and verse 19 of just a verse that I.
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It was drawn to my attention just as just minutes before this meeting, and I want to share it with you because there were some in Israel who loved God, who knew Him.
You find them described in Isaiah chapter 51.
And verse 7 Excuse me, Isaiah 51 verse 7 Hearken unto me, ye that no righteousness, the people in whose heart is my love.
The Corinthians had failed to discern righteousness because God's law, in a general sense, was not in their heart.
Had the had the Corinthians had that law in their heart as they should have, Paul would not have had to write as he did. I'm not saying we wouldn't have an epistle to the Corinthians. It would not. I had not would not have had the character it had if they had had the character they should have had if they had known. Was it say here?
The law.
Now we think of the law as something harsh. It's not. Scripture declares that the law was an expression of the love of God.
I'll leave you to find that, but it's in the Bible. It's in the book of Deuteronomy.
The law was the expression of God's love and it says my people, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. We want, we need, we need discernment in this life. We're not going to have that discernment if we don't have his law in our hearts.
This world is more confusing by the day. Not only are the thing as technology confusing, but morals are confusing. Standards can see. Everybody's promoting their own idea. There's confusion abounding around us. We're gonna get discernment. We're only gonna get it here.
Yeah, that know righteousness. You know, there's a dearth of people in this world who know what righteousness is. Uh, Don rule and I go into a, a detention center once or twice a week.
And for for some time, for years, as a matter of fact, I was using the term righteousness and, and speak to the young people and all of a sudden I realized, I mean, I noticed these blank looks on their faces. They did not know what the term righteous or righteousness meant.
This world doesn't know what righteousness is.
Pol politicians use the word. They can talk about it. They don't know what it is either, obviously, but.
Neither do the constituents.
This world has got a.
The only thing kind of righteousness this this world knows about is self righteousness. They don't know anything about the righteousness of God.
Well, we are not getting very far on our subject. Let's turn to Genesis chapter one.
You know, I, I don't, I don't, I'm not a great expositor. I, I last time I was up here afterward, her brother said to me, John, I was spent a lot of time trying to figure out why you're up there and.
And I sympathize with him.
But what I my desire is to take us through the garden of God's Word and to look at certain scriptures.
And glean what we can from them and get through it with a greater appreciation.
For his wisdom.
Genesis 11 Says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now that's a profound statement.
Most of us have learned that verse by heart, but it is a profound statement.
In the beginning, God created. I'm going to tell you something if you don't know, some here know it already.
But here you have a violation of the English language.
Because the word God is plural. Not in English it isn't, but in the Hebrew it's plural and the verb is singular. Now we don't do that in English. Matter of fact, I don't know how many languages they do do that in on a regular basis. But God isn't bound by language. In the Hebrew, God is plural and the verb is Singlish 3 The group it's, it's, it's not just a dual, but it's a plural, three or more form of God.
00:20:12
And its unity in action. Unity. The very first character of God revealed in Scripture is unity.
Now maybe it's an order if you're in Hebrew, maybe the bird comes before the noun and you would say, well then his power is created first. But the two things we find in Scripture there are they're first revealed about God is.
Power and unity. Unity and power, and it's about these unity.
The unity and uniqueness go together. We're going to find that this God is there is unity.
Connect with God because He is unique.
He is singular and yet he is plural in the sense of unity. He says hi, there is he says I am God and there is none else. And this theme of unity goes through Scripture. You only find the word unity in two passages in Scripture. You find it once the Old Testament in in Psalm 133. We may look at that later. You find it in Ephesians chapter 4 in the New Testament where it's mentioned twice. But unity is a theme in Scripture even though it's.
The word itself is not used much. Well we find here in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and that corresponds to a verse that was brought out in the gospel the other evening, Romans chapter one and verse 20 where it says that in creation is revealed God's eternal power.
And Godhead, Godhead. Two things.
Well.
Let's look at something else here. It says God created the heavens and the earth.
And you know, people, uh, we have astronomers who spend their lives studying the heavens and the more they study, the more they find. And they have, just recently they announced that they discovered planets around lots of stars. And recently they were happy to announce to the world for whatever value it has, that they found a planet or a planet on some star five times the size of Jupiter.
All that does is tell me that the earth is not a major planet, because if you put the earth beside Jupiter itself, it looks like a marble, you know? But it's an interesting statement here. It says God created the heavens. That includes the whole universe, this whole universe that man is still exploring and discovering. God created it all says he said, created the heavens and the earth.
Why don't say the heavens and the earth or the heavens and the planets? Because God chose one place 1 insignificant place as far insignificant as far as size or condition.
One place called Earth in which to reveal himself.
Before I go any further, I want to read to you, umm, some points I hope to cover because if I don't mention now I might forget and and I'm not gonna cover them also this afternoon but last night knowing my memory.
And how easily I'm discombobulated by being up on the podium as well. I sat down and wrote out a few statements. I'd like to read them to you.
Our God is unique.
He is original.
He is exclusive.
He is jealous. He is a God of wonderful variety, and we see that in creation around us. We're discovering more and more all the time. And I might mention that I read recently that they think there may be more species in the ocean that have not yet been discovered than have been discovered.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit. He's a God of wonderful variety, but he is not, and this is under. This is important to understand. He is not a God of alternatives. He is not a God of alternatives.
He is a God of opportunities, but he is not a God of options. The world likes to think, well, it doesn't matter what I do, you know, there's lots of options. No, there isn't. God is not a God of options.
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He has many ways.
In revelation, but only one way. In responsibility.
For any given individual or group of individuals in a given circumstance at a given time, he has only one authorized course of action.
There are patterns in God's ways, but no clones.
He may repeat an idea, but never a deed.
He is holy.
Absolute and unchanging. Consequently, he is never neutral.
This is a very important thing to understand about God. We will see some scripture, Lord willing, about that. God is never neutral. People like to say, oh, God doesn't care about little things. That's not true. God cares about everything. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples when he was here on earth. The hairs of your head are all numbered. Is that because?
God is bored. I'm speak reverently.
We don't bother counting our hairs, but the fact is God is engaged in every detail of the universe. He's engaged, He's interested, He's concerned, He sustains the whole universe. He made it. He cares. He's a faithful creator. As a faithful creator, He is concerned with everything he made and so.
He is never neutral. There's no Gray areas with God, and Him is no darkness at all. Scripture tells us there's no Gray areas with God. He's not neutral. He's never neutral. We'll see some scripture about that. Lord willing. He is, and he never compromises. We may think God compromises. No, he doesn't. God never compromises.
But he does show mercy. He does show grace because he is love.
Now.
So God has chosen to umm, just like he chose one man, Noah, just like he chose another man, Abraham. So he chose this world in which to reveal his purposes. And he says Christ as once suffered the just for the unjust, that I might bring us to God, and God could reveal himself perfectly.
And his son and fulfill all his purposes.
Perfectly.
Through that work that the Lord Jesus did and which is completed in US is yet to be completed in US. There's no need for another creation on any other planet.
So that's why it says here God created the heavens and the earth because he's gonna focus on this planet. Let's turn to chapter 5.
Chapter 5 and verse one. This is the book of the generation of Adam and the day that God created man.
In the likeness of God made he him male and female, created he them and blessed them, and called their name Adam.
We say I thought Adam was a man. Well, Adam was a man, but Adam was also a union of a man and a woman.
Because God wanted to display unity on this earth.
We know how long that lasted.
Satan came along and tempted Eve, and Adam followed Eve's lead, and then he blamed her.
And you had the first quarrel, the first controversy in a marriage.
Division. This unity came in. Adam blamed his wife.
You know, she didn't feel good about that.
And that was the beginning of disunity.
In in this thing that God had created, but he called their name Adam, because God desires unity and his people. He desires unity in marriage, He desires unity in the assembly. And the same things that break up a marriage break up the assembly. Adam said my wife, the wife that you gave me did this.
And you hear people say, well, that brother that or that sister did this or that.
That the Lord join us with turn to let us turn to Matthew. We see the corresponding passage in Matthew chapter 19.
00:30:12
Matthew 19 and verse 3 The Pharisees also came to him, tempting him, and saying unto them, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause, and the answer to send it to them? Have you not read that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, male and female, which first, male, 1St and female? And that order is carried out through scripture of order.
Do you ever think there is order in unity? Yes, there's order in unity. Order is one of the features of unity in God's patterns.
There's order in the Godhead, and there's order in marriage. And so it made them male and female at the beginning, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, And they twain shall be one flesh. Therefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, Let not man put asunder. And when God and God joins Saints together, in the beginning God joined.
The Saints into one body. It was one body in principle. It was one body in practice.
And division came in, but it was something God had joined together.
And God hates division in the body. Division and the testimony, shall we say, rather the body. The body can't be divided, but the testimony can.
And so it says here, what careful God has joined together, let no man put asunder. And there are those who who have.
Shall we say divided?
Gone off, they think. Nothing dividing the Saints. But they wouldn't. They don't know they they married, divorced. Oh no, they wouldn't do that. But they're the same in principle.
It's undoing something God did.
In a practical sense.
What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
And, and in this connection, I'll imagine something else. You know, it's interesting that when the Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and asked him about divorce, he said from the beginning it was not. So he went back to the beginning. You asked somebody today, I haven't done it. I won't do it, but I, I was tempted to ask my perspective sons, my prospective son-in-law or my one of my sons, have you ever considered polygamy?
And I know what their answer would be.
No.
I said, why not? Well, we, we have the pattern in Scripture, brother. We have the pattern for the assembly in Scripture. In the beginning it was one in fellowship in in expression and it's going to be that way. In the end, the pattern is there, it's just messed up down here.
I believe that there is one.
Proper.
Representation of the body of Christ on Earth.
One authorized, shall I say.
Because that is the way God works is according to the pattern.
Umm, let's look at.
Exodus Chapter 30, yet another aspect of of.
God's uniqueness.
Verse 13.
This shall they give everyone that passes among them that are numbered half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary, a shekel of 20 guerras. 1/2 shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Just this phrase, the shekel of the sanctuary, it brings before us the fact that God has a standard. God is absolute, and this is another thing we could trace through Scripture. God is absolute. He doesn't change. He says He doesn't change.
He is the standard of everything and he provides the standard for everything.
And so they had to shackle the sanctuary. If you look through Scripture, you'll find that shekel the word, shekel the sanctuary. That phrase is mentioned in a number of books of the Bible, and other other references to other shekels are mentioned as well.
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But there was the shekel of the sanctuary and this, you know, we're so prone to make judgments of things ourselves and forget the standard isn't the sanctuary.
There was a shekel associated with the sanctuary.
And there's a standard for each of us, and it's not down here, it's up there.
And we need to consult that standard.
Frequently you don't. If people who have scales of it, particularly with mechanical scales, they need they, we have a Bureau standards in the United States where these scales have to be checked. People who are engaged in selling things by weight, they have to have their their scales checked periodically because everything in this world deteriorates. And so that we have a Bureau of standards here in the United States. They have one in Canada too and.
Umm, the world tries to maintain some order, but the world has its own standards and everything is falling apart these days.
God's standard doesn't change. It's interesting that you can find the shekel of sanctuary mentioned in Ezekiel 600 years later, isn't it still still 20 guerras?
In connection with that, let's turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 2.
First Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 15.
But he that is spiritual judges or discerns.
All things simple statement, Paul had to inform the Corinthians about it because they didn't know about it.
He the spiritual discerns all things.
This is just to reinforce what I said earlier about the fact that.
God is never neutral, discerns all things. In the Hebrews 4 it says the word of God is quick and powerful, and divides between this soul and spirit and the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God is never neutral about any situation that comes up. We say, well, there's been, you know, there's a fault on both sides. Yes, there's always fault on both sides. But there's also the Scripture says that they which are approved may be made manifest doesn't say they're better, it says they're approved. You know, God has his standards, he has his principles, and you may have two, two people that appear equally nice, present themselves.
At customs to enter a country.
But if one doesn't comply with the standard and the other, say, has the passport and one doesn't, or is one's passport is not in order and the other is, it's not a matter of the niceness of the person. It's a matter of meeting the government's standard and one is approved, a stamped approved and the other isn't.
And so just a thought to to help us. God is never neutral. He that is spiritual, God is spiritual. He that is spiritual discerns all things. He's never neutral.
These are things that help us. I have found such help in in my own life and as I just discovered some of these things and some of these things I I discovered simply from the word of God and others little some of these statements that I read to you earlier are statements that I came across in a book somewhere and I guess it fits. We can be thankful for the help we get from our brethren encourage you to read the ministry. I wish I'd read more of it.
Especially the Word of God. Let's turn to umm, Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 3 here therefore O Israel.
And observe to do it, that it may be well with thee.
That's that, that you may increase mightily, as the Lord God thy Father says, promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord. He keeps coming back to this because he needs to be the focus. And it's interesting here, in this case, here, the Lord our God is plural. The verb is singular. There's no ver. Actually, probably not in the Hebrew, it's not there, but notice.
00:40:28
God plural 1 Lord, the unity again brought before us, because unity.
Is a an attribute of deity and it's something that hates. Satan hates and the children of those who are going into a land of idolatry.
And God knew what they were going to meet.
And so he sets before them the fact that he is unique.
That he is 1 Lord, and he says, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart.
With all thy soul, with all thy might, God can never set before man.
At less than perfect standard, of course they couldn't achieve that.
But that's the standard he set before them.
And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them.
Diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lieest down.
And when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as friendless between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates.
The children of God were supposed to have the word, the word of God, continually before them. Why? Because they were going into a land that had been filled with idolatry, and they needed the reference to God continually before them. It's.
I'm distressing to me that so many households beginning these days, you go into them. Christians, supposedly Christian households, Christian young couples, you go into them and not a single, at least not that I some houses I've been I could not see a single scripture. Text on the wall doesn't line with the scripture. We need to give the word of God priority and prominence in our homes.
Let's turn to.
Umm, first John 5. Just very quickly find a corresponding New Testament passage. First John chapter 5.
And I I I'm right now I'm feeling like I'm so just to mention here I got.
3 pages of notes to kind of help me and it's obviously we're, our time is going so fast. I'm not gonna get through them at all, even a fraction of them. Uh, first John chapter 5.
Inverse.
20 We know the Son of God has given The Son of God is coming has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true.
And we are in him. That is true, even as in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the.
True God.
And eternal life, thee true God and eternal life. And then in direct contrast to that, we have the following exhortation. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. We need that. We need that. It's idolatry that draws the soul from the true God.
Uh, let's turn to First Samuel chapter 12.
Stop.
Verse 23.
Moreover, As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good.
And the right way, the good and the right way, you know, again, I want to stress, God is not a God of alternatives. People say, well, you know, there's, you know, God doesn't care. You can do this and do that. And you know, I remember.
00:45:05
Remember years ago, a young couple told me they were leaving the leaving the Lord's Table, leaving the assembly. They didn't say they were leaving the Lord's Table, but they said to me, we're going to find a place where we can have fellowship. They were making themselves the standard. We are not the criteria of anything. There is a right way. You say, well, this is Judaism. This is narrowness. Let's turn to.
First Peter. Second Peter. Excuse me, Second Peter.
Second Peter.
Chapter.
Second Peter chapter 2 and verse 15 Peter says of certain ones which have forsaken the right way. It doesn't change. There is always only one right way for any purpose at any given time. There's only one God is not a God of alternatives.
It's all the way through Scripture. It's a pattern through Scripture.
Job understood this, by the way. It's amazing, but Job did understand. He didn't understand a trial he was going through. But it's interesting to see what he did did say in Job 28.
This is a verse that I often heard, read, at least I see, I remember, I seen remember hearing Brother Hayhoe read this. I shouldn't say often, but it impressed my impressed me early in life.
Verse 7.
June 28, verse seven. There is a path which no foul knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen. The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
Just.
Job acknowledging the uniqueness of God's ways. In connection with that, let's look at another passage in the New Testament.
Umm First Corinthians chapter 10.
There's a wonderful passage.
I sometimes wish Joe could have had this this verse to encourage him.
First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such is is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make also also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Well, that sounds nice. God's gonna make a way. No, it's it's if you look in Darby's translation or better translation is better than that.
God will make thee way.
God will make their way. God, if you're in a situation right now that you don't understand.
God already has the way through it.
God already has the way, the way. And you know, sometimes we get impatient. We try to work our work our own way and we make things a worse mess. We don't wait to find God's way. I'd like to share with you a statement I ran across years ago that has impressed me.
The willing heart will seek.
God's way.
The willing heart will seek God's way.
The obedient heart will find God's way. God doesn't make himself hard to find. He doesn't make his ways hard to find. But there has to be the willing and obedient heart, the Lord Jesus said, if he.
He that wills to do His will shall know, so the willing heart will seek God's way.
Are you willing to seek God's way? It isn't something it's, you know, God doesn't play games. He's not casual. God is not casual. We often are. We're casual with the things of God.
00:50:10
The willing heart will seek seek God's way. The obedient heart will find God's way.
And every other heart will find.
An excuse.
And there's plenty of people this day, these days, Christians included, who are living with excuses. And they make excuses. They know they made mistakes and they, they and they, instead of repenting, they still make excuses.
The willing heart will seek God's way. The obedient heart will find God's way in every other heart.
We'll find.
An excuse. Now what are you looking for this evening? Are we looking for God's way or are we looking for an excuse?
Good question to ask ourselves.
So it says here in second, in First Corinthians 10, there is no temptation taking you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make thee way.
To escape that ye may be able to bear it.
And we haven't. We're running out of time. I want to refer to Psalm 133, where it says how blessed it is when brethren dwell together in unity. And I wonder if that psalmist.
I how how he had, how he'd even know about that. Wha, wha. Where had he ever seen Unity? Your brother dwelling together? You he'd seen. He'd seen what looked like Unity to him, I presume. And there are lots of things that look like Unity, and I'd hoped to cover that.
I read somewhere, you know, you, you, we just, we, we don't understand the nature of unity. We need God not only to understand the nature of unity, but unity as a divine attribute.
Only comes from God. That's why we have the unity of the spirit in the New Testament. And umm, I may run over a minute to speak about that, but we don't. Unity is not something man made. Uh, I think was, maybe it's Mark Twain said you can tie 2 cats together by the tail and they're united, but there's no unity. Maybe it wasn't Mark Twain that sounds like him.
But just because things are tied together doesn't mean there's unity. And I remember a brother out in California once who had gotten away from the Lord and gotten away from the Lord's table, and he got into this fellowship and he was there for a long time.
And then he came back and I said, why you come back? He says. There was no unity.
He said. I went out thinking I was getting something better, but there was no unity there.
Let's just very quickly we're we're abridging a lot that I hope to cover, but let's look at Ephesians chapter 4 and say just a few brief words about the unity of the Spirit. It's not man's unity. It's not something we create.
Let's look at this Ephesians chapter 4.
Verse One. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called, with all loneliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Now, what does it mean to keep the unity of the Spirit? The unity of the Spirit is the Spirit's unity.
But what does it mean to keep it?
Doesn't mean we work at it.
Not exactly. The word keep here is also found in one other passage that I think is quite enlightening. Turn to June 6th. That is the original group, umm, the original Greek word. Darby's translation uses the word maintain. Other translations due to I presume. But Even so, the idea of maintaining the unity, the spirit doesn't really give us a clear thought. But it's interesting we haven't Jude verse 6 here and the angels which kept not their first estate.
But lest their own habitation He hath reserved an everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. The angels which kept not their first estate, that word kept is the same word.
They didn't stay where they were put.
They kept not their first estate and the Ephesians, you can read how they were built together. They were brought into an estate, the unity of the Spirit, and they were to keep that estate to not to maintain it as something to which which belonged to them, but to maintain it as something to which they belonged.
00:55:25
How wonderful. That's what grace did. It brought them into the unity of the Spirit. And and like everything else that grace brings us into in a practical sense, we can lose. They were in the practical part of the epistle here, and so there was responsibility here to see that they kept.
In that state to maintain the unity of the Spirit says in the uniting bond of peace. And I'll, I'm, I'm gonna comment on peace, I'm gonna have to stop because our time is out.
But for years I ponder why.
Peace. How does peace? I mean, peace is nice.
But how does peace says the endeavor to keep this, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace? And I thought, how well, how does peace keep anything? Because we think in terms of peace is something dormant, something Placid, something static, uh, something inoffensive.
It's interesting in scripture.
That when we're talking about spiritual things, this peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit. This is dynamic. The piece that we have is dynamic. The Lord Jesus said my peace I give unto you not as the world gives. The world has something they call peace and it's a piece of it's, it's dormancy, it's it's a status quo. It's.
Dead, frankly.
The peace we have is dynamic. Ephesians chapter 2 it says He is our peace.
In UMM Philippians chapter 4 is referred to earlier in one of the meetings. It says the peace of God shall Garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is a powerful piece, something we need to experience.
And then in the Colossians, it's let's turn to one in Colossians just present.
A final scripture.
Colossians Chapter.
Umm 3.
Verse 15.
And let the peace of Christ.
The peace of the Christ.
Rule in your heart's rule.
That means it's effective. It controls our hearts. We need to know more of that dynamic piece that we've been given. Well, how do we get to know it?
Turn of me to Psalm 119. We'll stop here. Psalm 119.
We get back where we started.
So I'm 119. Here's a averse to help us.
You know, the piece that we know I'm sure far exceeds anything.
The psalmist had in mind when he wrote this Psalm.
Some 119 verse 165 great peace have they which love thy law.
And nothing.
Shall offend them nothing shall stumble them great peace have they that love thy love over and over in these meetings this week and we've come back to the necessity of the word of God. This in the same Psalm you find this verse. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation.
All the day.
That which governs our lives.
And keeps our hearts.
Gospel 3
Gospel—Al Coleman
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I want to start off tonight with prayer first. The reason being for this is that the last gospel meeting I took, I got carried away and I never prayed. First, it's important to pray to ask the Lord for help, isn't it? Let's ask the Lord now. First of all, I want to sing #17 #17 have you any room for Jesus?
Have you any room for Jesus? And I'm predominantly tonight with the Lord's help.
I'm going to talk about this gospel track that really I love and I've given out. One day you will meet Jesus. One day you will meet Jesus. Well, we can talk about that tonight.
#17 Have you any room for cheese?
Have you?
Walmart glass area rampart in man.
145729.
9.
5.
From marching on the floor down for me.
Embrace me all again.
All those years there in this time next time, that's a goodness. Tomorrow I'm going to love you. Make all their day.
And and then there's a while you're coming.
Then let's go back to 15 and we're going to sing the last stands of 15. God's house is filling fast, yet there is room. Some guests will be the last, yet there is room number 15, verse 4.
Gun House.
Because.
Redmond Operations Day on your hands away.
And break one more real thing you have to say Yes, there is no terrorist room.
You know.
I'm amazed at the grace of God.
I'm amazed at how God uses the instruments.
Uh, uh, sometimes hundreds of souls to lead a person to Christ.
00:05:04
And sometimes through circumstances that God speaks to a man to bring him to Christ.
And the precious word of God, that is the key He uses that precious word of God.
Uh.
It's a wonderful God and not willingness any should perish. You know it says in Ezekiel 33, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his evil way and live. And then he then he pleased, he says turn ye, turn ye for a while when he died. That's the heart of God, isn't it, the heart of God.
Yeah, let me tell you about my plane trip here.
I took a plane from Seattle to from Vancouver to Seattle and uh, got into Seattle airport and the next plane was to Atlanta.
Now, this was Tuesday.
And, uh, when I get into the airport, well, uh.
I like to have a window seat because I want an over ongoing. I want to see where I'm going. Sometimes you don't, you don't see it, you know?
Anyway, so I went up to the wicket and I said, uh, is it possible that I could get a winner seat? And he says, no, this plane is jam packed full. It says 767 and uh, there must have been what 200 and 5300 people on board this plane. Uh, and it was a four and a half hour flight. I thought, Oh well, if, if I can't, I can't. That's all there is to it anyways. Uh, but he says, uh, at the, uh, wake up there, he says, but you've got a, a computer, uh.
There he says I'll give you 1 instead of it. So he gave me a boarding pass instead of. OK, fine. Anyways, uh, I have to sit now. No problem.
Well, anyways, uh, uh, we got on board the plane, I had 40C40C uh, for my seat and uh, we get on board the plane and I go down the aisle, uh, find NUM #40C.
And somebody sitting in it.
Well, you know, oh boy, here we go. So I and I showed him, look, I got 40 seats. Well, he says, look, I got 40 seats too.
So stewardess come here and help us. So the stewardess came down to help us and, uh, and she said, OK, you go right, right to the back of the plane there and you just stand there and wait. OK, little patience. OK, And presently she came back.
And, uh, she said. You know, I was looking over the plane at the back of you couldn't see one.
Empty seat, not one and.
You know, I, I really thought I was gonna be put off the plane anyways. Umm, she came to me and she says here you are 30.
A what 30 A That's a window seat.
No wonder how God works. Isn't that wonderful?
But this is not the story. This is not all the story.
38 was a window seat was over the wing. You couldn't see anything anyways so it didn't matter.
That's not why God wanted me in that seat.
Because I sat down there NE next to a lady who was 40 years old. And immediately, as soon as we, uh, we sat, uh, she, I sat down, we started talking and we said, well, I'm going to a Bible conference. Oh, you are.
And that started the conversation.
That this woman.
Well, this woman says.
Let me tell you, I go back a little bit.
You know something, I got the last seat on that plane.
Now we've just sung uh yeah, God's house is filling past. Yet there is room, Some guests will be the last. Yet there's room, some guests will be the last.
00:10:01
That last one and the door will be shut forever. No opportunity to accept Christ as your Savior. You know the minute I sat down in that empty seat the the the door closed and the plane moved away.
Wouldn't it be sad tonight if there's a person here?
And it was put it off, this question of your soul salvation.
Put it off, put it off, put it off. Maybe some other time, maybe some other day. I'll wait till I maybe 1415. No, it doesn't work. Doesn't work.
God in this Master's grace, wants to save you from all your sins. You know something that you have sinned against God.
You've sinned against God, and those sins have separated you from a holy God.
God cannot have sin in His presence, no.
Think of it.
How precious it is that heaven will be filled with saved souls. Heaven will be filled with saved souls.
And all heaven will rejoice at that Blessed One who is going to be the center of all eternity. The center.
And well, I'm just, it's so excited that that moment is not very far off.
Yeah, I think what a world in which we are living today.
What a world.
Awful. We're getting off pretty soon. We're getting off and we're going home. We're going home to the Father's house. That's where I want to be. Well, I got the last seat and so I sat beside this lady and like I said, immediately we started talking. I'm not a very talkative person and I'm not very good at one-on-one giving the gospel.
Anyways, we started talking, so I thought, I thought, I told her. I said, well, I'm going to a conference, to a Bible conference. You know, it's very important to tell everybody who you belong to, show your colors.
Show your colors. I belong to Christ, I know Jesus as my Savior, and I'm on my way to the glory.
And she said, well, I'm a Christian too.
Oh well, that's good.
But what is a Christian? What is a Christian?
Shall I define a Christian? What is a Christian? I believe that Christian is one that knows, has come to know personally and had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and knows him personally as Lord and Savior and have all their sins washed away.
That's a Christian.
Umm, so this woman, she says to me, uh, uh, I'm a Christian. But then she says to me, is it alright if I have a glass of wine?
So what am I gonna say? Well, I didn't say anything, but anyways, we had a nice conversation and we had 4 1/2 hours.
I have a friend in Richmond where I live part time.
I tell you about this friend.
His name is Bob.
Now, Bob and I, uh, were buddies 55 years ago.
And umm, we were part of a gang.
Yeah, we were a game, and not a very nice game.
Not at first, I can't.
Zero. How precious it is.
That God saved one member of that gang. I don't know about the others.
It's just matchless grace. I didn't deserve it. And I say a 500 pence debtor. That's what I am by the grace of God. I am what I am today by the grace of God.
00:15:11
So we do each other in those days, but then we drifted apart.
I remember the day that that we drifted apart and we were part of the gang. We were down there in the beach and you know what was going on. And I told him, I said, look, I can't walk with you guys anymore.
I want to follow the Lord in my life.
I can't walk with you anymore.
And that was the last I saw them.
You know, they didn't want me anymore because I was a Christian.
Show your colors.
Well, anyways, the years passed and uh, one day there was a grand sale in Richmond and uh, Kathy and I went to this garage sale and along comes this man Bob.
And uh, whoa, haven't seen you since we were, you know, and, uh, so we got to talking and we were just quite friendly and, uh, Bob was telling, he says, you know, I got cancer.
I got prostate cancer and I'm fighting it and he wasn't in. He wasn't very good shape.
Dear Bob, he was a lost soul.
But you know something?
Bob was a member of the United Church up there in Stephen Highway and and #3 Rd.
And, uh, he was an active member in that, uh, in, in that church.
He uh, uh, I was told by uh, uh, a girl in our, Our Lady in our apartment that goes there, that Bob was a real handyman in the church. If there was something need need to be fixed, he fixed it.
And, uh, I just remembered then that, uh, I remember us calling Bob. We used to call him Tinker.
Because he he would always tinker with something and he was, he would always fix it.
So Bob got sicker and sicker and then not too long ago he was in hospital. He was in palliative care ward and very exercised about the sole salvation of Bob.
And so I went up to, to, uh, see him and he was in bad shape. He was getting morphine about three or four times.
In pain it had gone to his bones and I, I I figured not long for this world.
And I was, you know, concerned about his sole salvation. And, you know, tonight, if there's one here that's without Christ, I'm concerned for your soul salvation. I want you to listen to the word of God tonight. I haven't opened it yet. I'm going to.
And I gave Bob this track. One day you will meet Jesus. And I'm telling you tonight.
That one day you're gonna meet Jesus, and you're gonna meet him either in one or two ways.
As your savior or as your judge?
One day you will meet Jesus.
So, Bob, what about your soul salvation? What about Jesus in your life?
And then he started, and boy, he was a good talker and he talked. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. I couldn't get a word in edgewise to give him the gospel he was all full of.
I did this, I did that, I did this, I did that.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not at worst, lest any man should boast. Not one thing that I could I do to merit my salvation. It's all been done.
00:20:00
At the cross of Calvary, when the Lord Jesus 2000 years ago went to that cross and willingly died on Calvary's cross for my sins as he hung there in that cross.
As they mocked him on that cross.
He could say, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That's my Savior. That's my precious Savior who died for me.
Can you say that tonight? Can you say the savior died for me? I am afraid to say that. I don't think Bob is saved, and I think he's been on his way to a lost eternity. He's going on his own merits. Yeah. Sad.
I should get into the word that, uh, I got one more story to tell.
In our apartment complex, there's a man. I might have told this before.
There's a man by the name of Dave and, uh, he's a drinking man. You know what I mean by a drinking man? And every time I saw him, he was going into his apartment with a bottle and he was upstairs. But he was a, he was a quiet person and nobody could get near him. Just didn't want people to be near him. Well, uh, they've got cancer.
Liver cancer.
You know what that is 10%.
Recovery 10% that's it. Liver cancer. And he was on his way out of this world and I couldn't get near this person. So you know what I did one day I, uh, I made some cookies.
And I made a dozen cookies. Peanut butter cookies. I mean good cookies.
And uh.
Amid his cookies and I brought him up to and knocked on the door and a long, long time. Who is it? Well, it's all done a #103 and then finally he came to the door open. The door cracked deep. I got some cookies for you. Some gospel tracks in there too. So I want the word of God.
Am I talking loud enough? OK.
Sorry.
He opened the door and I gave him these cookies and the Gospel tract and I prayed for that man that the Lord would open his blind eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ and read those tracts. Well, they got sicker and sicker and sicker until it there he was up in palliative care in the Richmond hospital and he was on his way out and I wanted him.
You know, God, I, I, I, It's so beautiful that God gives a man every chance, every opportunity to be saved, every opportunity.
The secret that if there's one here tonight, if God is giving you another opportunity to be saved, that's why the gospel is preached. He's giving another opportunity.
But you know something?
Dave closed the door.
Uh yeah. Umm, I wanna, I wanna see Dave.
And they said, no, no visitors, none, no visitors. And you know, sometimes that's the way with a lost soul. No, I don't want it. And they go out of this world without Christ. And what a solemn thing it is to shut the door of their heart against a wonderful God who would.
Delight to save him.
So what I did is I got an envelope and I put some, uh, gospel tracks in it and, uh, I wrote a note on the day. Dave, I'm, I'm praying for you. I'm praying that God would save your soul.
And uh, umm, I gave it to the nurse and the nurse gave it to Dave. I don't know. He left this world. Where? Where? Eternity where?
And let's talk. I'm sorry, I should have opened the scriptures long ago. Let's let's turn to.
00:25:03
John 14.
No, I'm sorry, John 12.
John 12.
And verse 20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of the state of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sirs, we would see Jesus.
That's it. We would see. And that's what my desire tonight, that you would see Jesus. You would see Jesus.
What did the Lord tell him, Philip tell, tell us that cometh, and tell us Andrew. And again tell Phillip, tell Jesus sorry. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hours come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.
It abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth. That's true.
What was the answer that Lord gave? I'm going to go to Calvary's cross. I'm like that corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died. Yeah.
To think of it.
We would see Jesus. I want you to see Jesus as the one who died on Commerce Cross for you.
We would see Jesus, you know, we're.
These last three days we have seen Jesus. That's what it's all been about this weekend. Jesus.
And eternity is going to be all about Jesus.
Oh friend, don't turn your back on the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear young boys, young men, here, the time, the best time of your life to pick up this precious word of God and read it and meditate upon it and memorize it and let it go right into your heart.
You know why I'm telling you that? Because I didn't, and they were lost. Years of my life. Lost years of my life.
Thurs we went to see Jesus.
So is Jesus your Savior? He's mine. Yes, he is, by the grace of God.
What he done for me on Calvary's cross.
Oh, how precious.
And that he saw me and as a guilty law Sinner, and he went willingly to that cross to die for me. What a savior. Hallelujah, what a savior.
Let's turn now to.
Is Luke 19.
Loot 19.
And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich, and he sought to see Jesus who he was. He sought to see Jesus who he was, and it's often been said, seeking.
Sitter and a seeking savior they're going to meet.
They're gonna meet. Are you seeking the Lord Jesus? Seeking the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while is near. He's near tonight. He's available. He's available.
And you'll find that if you come to him.
It'd be wonderful.
How wonderful.
And here's this man that is, oh, we've heard the story so many times over and over again. He had a handicap. What was the problem? He was too short. He was too short and so.
In seeking the Lord, he wanted to see the Lord as the as the Lord passed away and passed that way, you know tonight the Lord is passing.
00:30:03
Bye. The Lord is passing by. Here's a gospel meeting tonight and he's passing by.
And his name is being exalted as the only savior of sinners he's passing by.
In downtown Vancouver.
There is a War Memorial.
Right in the center of downtown, pretty close to the Skid Row.
And this War Memorial says, is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?
Now you think of that, that this War Memorial was for those that, uh, gave their life in two world wars and and many more.
And many passed that War Memorial and they look up and Oh yeah, somebody.
That's just the War Memorial.
And he says.
The the the verse says isn't nothing to you. And I asked this question tonight. Is it nothing to you that the Lord Jesus died on Calvary's cross for you? Is this nothing to you?
He sought to see Jesus, who he was.
And he ran before and climbed up into a Sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And Jesus came to the place and looked up and saw him. And he said unto him, Zach, he is make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. What was the problem with, uh, Zach Diaz? He was too short. But what was the other problem? He was too high up. He needed to come down.
You know, that's the only way of salvation we need to come down.
We think we're too good.
Is that right?
Oh listen, I went to Sunday school. I learned my verse. I came to gospel meeting every week.
But what about Christ?
Do you know him personally?
You could come to Sunday school, you could come to gospel meeting all your life and still go out of this world the lost Sinner. That's it. That's the solemn part of it.
God makes us responsible.
Umm, I gotta make, I gotta word this right. God holds us responsible for what we know He does.
And he holds us responsible for what we what we know.
You've heard the gospel.
He holds you responsive.
Well, I always tell the some of these stories.
Uh, they're, they're, uh, a burden to my soul.
You know your loved ones, you love to see them all saved. My my little grandsons, I wish they were saved. They're growing up in ungodly houses.
My sister.
Umm, she has gathered to the Lord's name in Richmond.
She had a stroke of somewhat, we don't know what kind it was, and she, uh, cannot speak properly.
She can't come to meeting any more.
But that's not the reason why she can't come to meeting. It's because her husband refuses the gospel.
He hates the gospel.
And, uh, you know something?
For 50 long years I've been praying for Wes that the Lord would save his soul.
And not yet, not yet. She's not saved, but a solemn thing. And you know he's not in good shape neither.
00:35:01
He's as old as I am.
And yet he's still not saved.
And for 50 years I've been praying for him as the Lord can answer my prayer.
God is not willing that any should perish.
He's still a lost soul.
That is, come down.
Calm down, for today I must abide at thy house.
The Lord just values our communion with Him, just walking with Him.
What can you just picture what it was like when Zacchaeus sat at the table with the Lord?
Beautiful. He sat at the table with the Lord.
You know, this morning we had the beautiful privilege of sitting at the table with the Lord.
Isn't that nice? What a privilege it is to sit at the table with the Lord.
I like to quote one verse.
Sun 27 Ford.
One thing I desired of the Lord, then I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, and to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple, and this is my desire.
To dwell in the House of the Lord.
Has gathered to his precious name.
All the days of my life and to behold the beauty of the Lord.
That all together lovely one, the fairest among 10,000. You know what it says in Psalm 84? It says, umm, a day in thy courts is better than 1000. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house than I got, than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
No other place would I love to be than right here today to remember my blessed Lord.
This is the place for me.
How valuable is that place?
May it keep me, may we go on.
Umm, yeah, Zach, he just wanted to wanted to see who he was. Now that's very important. Who is the Lord Jesus? Who is he? Oh, first of all, you'll say he's God's beloved son. Sure he is.
God so loved the world that he gave us only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He is the eternal Son of God, who he was, the sinless one. This this beautiful person, the Lord Jesus, never sinned. I've often said it this way, that if the Lord Jesus had sinned only once, I I might as well close my Bible and go and sit down.
Because it'd be useless.
John the Baptist could look on that blessed one and say, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, think of it. He's the only savior for this world. Who is he? He's God's beloved Son.
The one from all eternity.
John 834 if.
Ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins, and where I am that where I am there you cannot go. A tremendous verse. If you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. That's very solemn. We must believe that He is the eternal Son of God. That is crucial.
For our salvation, we must believe.
The Son of God.
Turn with me now to John's Gospel Chapter 9.
John's Gospel, Chapter 9.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. You know, it's beautiful when you're reading through Scripture, how the Lord sought out some of these ones in Scripture, Zacchaeus and and here this blind man.
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Blind Bartimaeus, you know either a a wonderful God, he sought out individuals.
Here's a Here's a blind man.
We we don't know his name, that's not important. But he says here this man was blind from his birth. He never saw a thing.
Why? You know this is a picture of a soul, a lost soul before Christ. You're blind, you cannot see, you cannot see. Beauty in the Lord Jesus.
He wants to give you eyesight. He wants to you to see.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
This man was blind from his bird. Now look what it does.
Jesus answered, neither has this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifold, manifest in Him.
I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of this world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clear the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay. And he said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seen.
Think of that, the Lord of glory. He comes to this poor blind man who never saw a thing.
And he spat on the ground, and he made clear the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man. He says go wash in the pool of Siloam.
And he watched and came to see him.
He speed on the ground.
The Lord Jesus, God's beloved Son, he spat on the ground.
You know, dear one, at the cross of Calvary, man spat in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They spat on the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll find I think it's five times where they spat on him.
And yet that blessed one who could speed on the ground. You know, it says, I think it says in Isaiah 50, doesn't it? It says I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Think of it.
There was the Lord there before man, and they spat on him. He didn't even turn his face. You know, if I was to go and spit in your face, it it, it's the worst thing that any man could do to his fellow man is to go and spit in his face.
Showing the utter hatred.
Of that person.
And you know, that's the heart of man, isn't it?
My brother-in-law, he hates the gospel, he hates the word of God, he hates anything and connects you with the gospel.
So he washed in the pool of Siloam. Now it says it says.
They asked him how were thy noise opened?
Umm, somebody asked me, uh, think yesterday, umm, how were you saved?
Supporters and I went down all the rows here and asked everybody, how were you saved? Well, you probably saved well. I was brought up in a Christian home and I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was young, things like that.
And if I told you how I was saved?
I'll tell you one thing, it was a miracle of grace.
It was a miracle of grace, even though I was brought up in a Christian home.
How were thine eyes opened?
Not nice. How were your eyes opened?
What did the blind man see? He saw the Lord.
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He saw the Lord. Oh, that's the person I want to see. We see him by faith right now, tonight.
One day we're going to see him face to face, face to face. Oh, how, how wonderful that is gonna be.
And then he says, uh, let me see, I gotta find this now.
A man that is called Jesus.
Oh sorry, thank you. I even have it underlined. A man that is called Jesus may play and anointed my eyes. A man that is called Jesus.
I'm going to tell. I'm going to say it again. One day you're going to meet Jesus.
One day you're going to meet Jesus.
Are you ready to meet Jesus?
The name which is above every day. For thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Do you know this Jesus?
I know by sovereign grace I know him, a man that is called Jesus. Open mine eyes. Are your eyes open to see beauty in the Lord Jesus? Is he altogether lovely one?
This Jesus is so good for you, for you young men, Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus all your life.
He's worthy and he's an all the way home savior. You know it, it it's interesting. Here I am getting on an age. I'm not gonna tell you this time how old I am because you probably know, but you know, I, I failed many, many times failed him, but he never failed me. And he's I see, I look back at my life and say, Oh, Lord.
All those things that you did for me all through my life, what is what a what a savior.
Isn't it only that way when we get home to the glory, we're going to cast all those crowns at his feet and say worthy is the Lamb that was slave everything. It's all his grace that.
A man that is called Jesus.
John 19.
John 19.
1St 27.
They shall look on me whom they pierced.
That's a very solemn verse. They shall look on me who may Pierce. One day you will see Jesus. As this track says. One day you'll see Jesus.
But in this particular case, he'll be your judge. He'll be your judge.
One day you'll see Jesus. They shall look on me.
Whom they pierced. Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation chapter 20.
Or is it umm?
Uh, it's a great way of throwing.
OK, sorry.
Verse 11 And I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face and the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.
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And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book of in, in, in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And and they were judged every man according to his words, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And who's whoever was not found written in the book of life.
Was cast into the lake of fire. My prayer, my prayer tonight is I hope there's not one person that is going to stand in the great white throne to be judged of all your sins, to see that blessed one.
The Lord Jesus Christ to be your judge. One day you will meet Him.
When I meet him, he'll he'll be my savior. If you don't know Christ, you'll see him as your judge.
I got one last verse to do to to read and that is this Matthew 27.
Matthew chapter 27, verse 22.
What shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ?
You know, I really feel like this verse is one of the most key verses, the most.
Uh, important verse. I don't know how how it how I could express it, but this is a question.
A question to any here that don't know Christ.
What shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ?
That was Pilot, wasn't it?
What are you gonna do about Jesus?
What shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ, the great eternal question? And you must settle that yourself again, I say.
You see, Pilot tried to wash his hands of it all. It won't do. Neutrality is impossible with God. You must accept Christ and reject Him. That's it.
One day you will see Jesus. I'm going to see Him as my Savior. How about you?
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