St. Thomas Conference: 2010
Table of Contents
Hebrews 1:1-8
Hymnsing
I Know
Hebrews 1:8-14
Companionship
Address—Don Rule
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Right our God, we ask for thy blessing.
I would.
Present.
My beloved son, to each of our hearts in a way that.
Would attach our hearts to His.
Or our God, according to thy perfect will for us.
We seek this and we ask for it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
You turn with me to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18.
And the Lord God said it is not good that a man.
Should be alone.
I will make him and help me for him.
Verse 20 And God gave names to all the cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found, and helped me.
For him.
And Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh, and said thereof, and of the rib which Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.
And brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now a bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
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It is not good.
That man should be alone.
And uh.
Collection of people of this size. Even though it's a Christian gathering, I doubt not that there are individuals in this room that can be characterized as lonely.
People that in the midst of this crowd of people, your heart feels alone.
And here we have a statement from God about the creature man, he said. It's not good.
That man should be alone, and so God has created every one of us with that natural desire given of himself to have companionship.
This afternoon.
I would like to take that up the trust of the Lord.
From his side.
It is not good that he, the man Christ Jesus, be alone.
He is a perfect man.
And as perfect man, he has desires.
That are perfect and right in their place.
And one of the desires of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ as man, or as we had him this morning, the sun as a man.
Is to have companionship.
Is not to be alone.
Turn with me to.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 4.
Chapter 3.
We're going to trace a little bit of the life.
Of the Lord Jesus to begin with.
And see something of his desire for companionship.
Companionship that includes, of course, fellowship with himself.
So we have here in Mark.
Chapter 3 and verse 13.
And he goes up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came unto him, and he ordained 12 That they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. And so he calls what we call the 12 disciples.
But the expression that I want you to notice and enjoy.
Is that little expression in verse 14 that they should be with him?
We will find over and over again in the Word of God when it speaks of desire in the heart.
The blessed Son of Man.
That little expression.
Be with him.
He wants companionship.
He desires souls, men.
To be with him.
To have a fellowship with himself.
And so here the disciples were to become his followers. But the very first thing you might say, the 1St and most important thing to his heart.
Was that they'd be with him.
Yes, he was going to send them forth to preach. Yes, they had to be with him in order to learn from him, to be prepared to go out and fulfill the services that were given to him.
A dear fellow man.
Lord Jesus.
1St at all once your companionship.
He wants to have you be with him in your heart and in your life. And if we're not with him, then there's really no.
Value if I could put it that way and going forward in service.
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Unless your heart and his heart are enjoying the companionship.
Fellowship of one another.
Turn over to John's Gospel.
Chapter 6.
John, Chapter 6.
And verse 64 But there are some of you that believe not.
For Jesus knew from the beginning whom they were that believed on him and should betray him. And he said, therefore I.
Said unto you that no man can come unto me, except that we're giving him of my Father. And from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12.
Will you also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou has the words of eternal life, and we believe and assure that thou art the Christ, the Son.
Of the living God.
Jesus answered them.
Have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is the devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the 12.
There was a price to be paid for a disciple to follow.
And be with.
Is Lord.
There's a price to be paid.
To fulfill the desire of the heart of the Lord Jesus for your companionship.
And so here it comes to a test.
Some of those that were disciples, the life, the the path was getting more difficult for him as he went on in his life.
And consequently some while it says they believed on them.
And, uh, they did. In their measure, in their way.
But when the test came, some turned away.
They wouldn't pay the price that was involved in being with him.
Did he feel it?
I'm not so much this afternoon, but on my heart to.
Emphasize, although we'll bring it out, the responsibility side of it, but more his own heart.
And hear his own heart is what does he say?
Will you also go away?
Does that touch your heart, Brother. Sister.
Does it not give us a little bit of a sense of the person with whom we have to do?
What's in his heart toward us?
He's welcomed us to himself, he said. I won't reject any that want to come and be with me.
Them that come to me, I will not cast out. Not a single one. There's not a single person in this room that the Lord Jesus does not desire.
That you be with him.
And so when there were some that had professed to be with him and and their measure had followed would lead to some degree with him.
Turn away.
His heart opens up.
His feelings come out.
And he says to the 12.
Will you also go away?
May there never be anything in us.
That would result in this.
I'm not bringing out the side of saved or lost here.
But the sense that there might be anything in our lives.
That would cause us to turn aside, to seek to be.
No longer inactive, if I could put it that way. If you're real, no longer an active companion.
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Of this map.
This man who God says it's not good for man to dwell alone.
And as man, he had that.
Pure desire.
To have companionship.
We know in Genesis, particularly speaking about the bride, the Church, and yet before me this afternoon is not so much the collective side of it, but the individual, personal relationship.
That the Lord Jesus wants between each of our hearts and Himself.
And he wants you and he wants me to have that firm fixed.
Sense in our hearts that he personally wants.
Wants us, me, you, to be with him.
There's no substitute for it. The Lord looks at it individually and personally. He doesn't look at some crowd of people and say, well, 90% are and 10% are. That's a pretty good ratio. I'll be satisfied with that.
No, it's not that his heart is too large for that. His heart reaches out to every single living person in this room this afternoon.
With a yearning.
With a desire in his heart for you, will you be with me?
Will you be with me?
Can we walk together?
This fellows companions, friends.
As those who love each other.
We'll walk together.
Stand by one another.
So he says, will you also go away?
Turn over to Chapter 8.
Chapter 8.
And umm, verse 26 I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak in the world. Those things which I have heard of Him, they understood not that He speak to them and the Father.
And, umm.
Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. He that has sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
And as you speak these words, many believed on him.
As he gets nearer to the cross.
The path becomes more difficult for him.
And he felt increasingly alone.
You might say fewer and fewer.
We're able to enter in and even a little measure to what he was going through.
But wonderfully.
To our hearts, appreciation to our God, we say.
The father went with him all the way.
No man did.
There was none that could go all the way with him that he desired and craved their company. But.
The father didn't leave him alone.
So we have in Genesis 22 They went, both of them together.
To Mount Moriah.
He knew what it was.
He knew what it was to enjoy in his life, the fellowship, the companionship of the father.
And he knew what it was in that way to find fullness.
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Joy.
And that's really what's in the heart of the apostle John when he writes his first epistle, and second and third too.
He had learned that truth.
And God had given it to him to share with us.
Say he had been an observer.
Of the fellowship that the son enjoyed with the father in his life.
And he said.
That's fullness of joy.
That's satisfying.
And the Father and the son of chosen to share it with us.
That our joy, too, might be full.
Not only does the Sun want companionship.
But so does the father.
That fellowship and companionship has to be in light, perfect light.
The Father and the Son could walk together with not a cloud between them, not a bit of sin, nothing of darkness. In other words, it was in perfect light.
And John writes to us to encourage us.
To walk and fellowship with the Father and the Son in life, no other way.
The moment, the tiniest little bit of sin.
Comes out in US.
Father doesn't have fellowship with that, the son doesn't have fellowship with that, and we can't have fellowship with them in that thing.
Till it's confessed.
Until fellowship is restored.
But the desire of the heart.
Of the Lord Jesus.
Is.
I want them with me.
We know what it is to love somebody and be at a distance, not out of fellowship with them, but because life is what it is. We're in one place and they're in another, and so our hearts are where they are.
And their hearts are where we are.
But we feel the separation, the physical separation.
It doesn't.
Do it completely.
Doesn't fully satisfy us to know that well, they love me and I love them and they're where they are and I'm where I am.
No.
When the Lord Jesus says that they may be with me, he means it.
Literally.
Physically.
That's the end result of his intent.
Is that we may be with him.
And so he felt it here as the way becomes more difficult.
He recognized it as we, for example, see him later on. Let's turn over to Luke's Gospel the 20.
2nd chapter.
Perhaps a little lesson for us here.
And the desire of the Lord.
Chapter 22 Verse 21. Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed.
And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing, and there was also a strife among them.
Which of them should be accounted the greatest?
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercised lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so.
But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that does serve. For whether is greater he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at me?
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But I am among you. Is he that service?
This is a verse that I wanna notice especially.
And year they which have continued with me.
In my temptations.
And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom.
And sit on Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee.
Both into prison.
And to them.
Amazing Grace here.
There's one who's about to die.
The next day and knows it.
Have these companions who have been with him for approximately 3 1/2 years?
They can't really believe.
Than anything else but the Kingdom is coming.
They're going to have a place in it. They're following the one who is the king.
And so human heart gets to work and.
There's some stripe there among them.
Which is gonna have the best place?
The touching, perfect way in which he deals with it.
So unlike us.
We don't deal with imperfection the way he does, at least not all the time or much of the time. Maybe some of us.
But here.
He just says well.
You talked about the greatest.
Right now, the greatest is the one who serves.
Not the one that sits the table.
Not the one that has the base of authority.
Before he says more, he says, but here they which have continued with me.
He valued.
He valued.
Every one of them.
He appreciated every little bit of the work of God.
The scene in their lives.
And he really commends it here.
In the midst of this thought, so good expression of man, he says, You continued with me.
My temptations.
Someday it's heart's desire will be realized. Perhaps today.
Perhaps not today, we don't know. But.
He's gonna tell you.
Just like he individually said to the disciples here, I appreciate.
The two walked with me.
Lord Jesus is going to tell you personally and individually his appreciation.
For that desire of your heart.
And the measure in which it was carried out.
To be his companion.
Rather amazingly to me, he said. The greater are those that sit down.
An E.
So he says to the disciples, he said, you're going to get to do that.
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You're gonna get down. You're gonna sit down my table and my Kingdom.
With me the honored places.
The first place.
More important than the reigning?
Is sitting at the table.
There are many who serve in a government capacity and have some place of service or honor among men. They don't sit down at the king or the president or whatever he is at the table. No, that's for the that's the honored special place.
I don't know what you're gonna feel like. I don't know what I'm gonna feel like.
But I've got an invitation.
He's going to perhaps delight personally to usher me to my chair at his table.
When he reigns in his Kingdom.
And so are you.
Hope you're enjoying that today or tomorrow you will.
There's a table here as well.
He's invited you to sit down with him at his table.
He's expressed his desire that you will.
You're gonna take your seat.
Well, it says here just again.
You're they that have continued with me.
He values that.
Now let's turn back.
To John's Gospel.
John chapter.
14.
John 14 and verse one. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am.
There you may be also.
Hold your place there. We'll come back. But before we comment, let's go over to Chapter 17.
Chapter 17 and verse 24 Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me.
Where I am.
That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation.
Of the world.
Wonderful here in the 14th of John that.
He addresses a need in the hearts of those that were with him.
On the basis.
Of what he saw was in their heart.
That is, in other words.
He saw.
That they loved him.
He saw that in their way and measure they valued the fellowship of being with him.
And consequently, he recognized the sorrow, the pain the separation was going to cause.
When he returned to the Father's house and they remained on earth.
And so he prepares them for it with comfort.
But isn't it wonderful?
That he saw it, he appreciated it.
The value.
Fact. They loved him.
That they valued being with him.
And they would miss him.
Miss him. Not just casually, but.
They might say their world fell apart for them.
It's perfect love to my heart.
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That's the 14th chapter comes before the 17th.
In this way.
I know it comes before it chronologically and so on, but.
At least an application I wanna say this.
He puts the needs of their heart first.
And then the desires of his own.
In the same subject.
The subject is being together himself with themselves, and he puts their need at least in the way it's presented to us here 1St And he speaks to them about it and he says I'm going away and I'm going to prepare a place for you. Why?
Because then where I am you can be.
With me.
And in the 17th chapter, when speaking to the Father, he expresses his own heart. Father I will that they whom thou hast.
Given may be with me.
Where I am.
I'll just quote the scriptures.
Or at least refer to a few of them.
Here in the 14th chapter.
Speaking on of what's ahead, he says that they be you may be with me.
The 17th chapter that we've read it says that we might be, they might be with me.
First Thessalonians, chapter 4.
Father, I will. Well in First Thessalonians 4, when it speaks of the rapture, it says so Shall we ever be in heaven? Yes. No, no.
So shall we ever be with.
The Lord.
What would heaven be if he wasn't there?
Well, that happened be if he wasn't there.
What would heaven be to him if we weren't there?
Think about that. What would heaven be to him if we weren't there?
Perfect, glorious, wonderful as the place is.
His heart yearns.
And patients waiting.
For the fulfillment of the desire of his heart as a man.
It is not good.
That man should dwell alone, be alone.
What would happen be if he remained a man alone for eternity?
In an otherwise empty house, even, of course, accepting the father.
The Angels.
He longs for it.
Hour or so.
Thank you. I have the time, right?
Would be Ralph Buchanan's funeral.
A few days ago.
Ralph entered that state.
Of being absent from the body.
And what?
Presents with the Lord.
The Apostle Paul says that's far better.
They sometimes try to imagine.
Just for the good of the heart.
What did it mean a few days ago to the Lord Jesus?
When in spirit.
Someone whom he has loved since before the world created.
For whom he died 2000 years ago.
And now he waited 2000 years approximately.
With himself.
What unspeakable joy to the heart of the Lord Jesus.
I have another one of his own.
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With him.
To go in, to go out, no more.
It's it's the better part.
If you're still on Earth as we are, it's because you have the needful part.
But those who are with him have the better part.
He knows what it is to be alone.
He perfectly knows and understands what Carolyn feels.
Buoyed up, perhaps, by the fellowship and companionship of many, but.
Lord Jesus is the only one that will be able to fully fully enter in.
Perhaps others who have passed that way may.
So what it'll mean to sit down at the breakfast table alone?
And yet not alone.
Because the Lord Jesus, who is the only one.
Who could?
Well, I'll put it this way, who the Lord Jesus knew what it was to be forsaken as a man on the cross.
And it was a horrible experience.
Experience beyond comprehension for us.
But having experienced that, he makes this promise, he said. I'll never forsake thee.
Never.
I'll never leave the.
So there's that wonderful comfort of himself.
I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you.
Can always come to me and find the rest that the heart needs.
At whatever time, whatever circumstance.
And so he.
Looks on.
To the fulfillment of the desire of his heart.
That we may be with himself.
Now let's turn over to the first epistle of John.
Chapter 3.
Verse 12312 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Verse 24. He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he and Him, and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Verse 12 of chapter 4.
Hereby.
Umm, first, excuse me, chapter 4, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US and His love is perfected.
In us, I think most if not all of us at one time or another.
Heard the song Meet companion fit for Jesus.
The two people are going to go together, two people are going to walk together.
There has to be something in common.
When you meet somebody, they almost immediately, the only thing that's known a lot of times to be common is the weather. And so conversations with strangers often talk about the weather or some other such thing. But you know what it is if you.
Start talking about the weather with the stranger, and then the conversation turns to more important things and you find out that you're both.
Fellow children of God, members of the body of Christ and the whole tenor of the conversation changes because you have something wonderful in common, and likewise you know what it's like to turn things to spiritual things and find nothing in common. In fact, the termination even of a friendly conversation sometimes because of the rejection of.
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Demand Christ Jesus.
It is not good that a man should dwell alone.
So God makes a companion for him, His like.
You know if God is purpose that we be with his Son for eternity.
We need something in common.
Is children of Adams Rice were not 5th companions for him, were not his like.
But God takes care of that, doesn't he?
He does a wonderful work.
In US for us.
To produce a result.
That makes us a fit companion for eternity.
Often like example, they kind of fascinate me of ants.
I imagine in front of me here on the lecterns and Ant.
And I can't imagine enjoying fellowship with it forever. It just doesn't work. We don't share much in common and so there isn't a satisfaction in my heart.
Although.
A little aside, but I was talking to somebody at work this week and we were having a conversation in springtime's little Ant time anyways. And typically in the spring, somehow ants find their way into the kitchen area. And we were talking in the kitchen area and we were talking businesses we were talking business with.
My fellow, every once in a while the little finger went out onto the counter top which and 1 amp went out of existence.
Few more minutes and.
Another aunt went out of existence.
I think totally unconsciously, if I were to speak to that person, do you remember that? I doubt that they would even remember. It wasn't any big thing, wasn't a big deal at all.
Just the way life goes, isn't it? Little nuisance that he is.
Didn't go out, put us here to look after those little things.
As part of our responsibility.
I'm not making any moral statements about getting rid of nuisances in the kitchen.
It's not the point here.
But the point is this.
I saw that and I said.
Thank God he doesn't do that with us.
I'm infinitely tinier in this.
Creation than that aunt is to me.
I'm greatly closer to the end than than what I am in creation to God.
What if he was having some conversation with an Angel and he went to me or to you?
That's it.
Blessed be God, he says no, he said.
Jesus is a man.
The sun has become a man.
He is going to remain a man.
It's it's a wonderful mystery.
Why he would ever so do.
But as a man, he wants companionship.
And so God does that mighty work.
It says I have a gift for you.
Mm-hmm. I'm gonna give you the gift of eternal life.
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And having received that gift.
You're gonna be able to.
Enjoy the same things.
Love the same things, turn away from the same things.
Feel the same things?
As the man Christ Jesus.
Christ, who is our life.
While we read in chapter 4 is if that's not enough.
The Father says I want it to be perfect and complete and wonderful between the three of us, you, the Son and I.
So is it where I'm going to open you up and I'm going to pour my lobby in?
Or you can love the same way.
Love of God is perfected in US.
The source of that love is the heart of God, and that love is poured into us.
If you see something of that loving me, you can know that the source of it is God, and God has put it there.
To display it.
And so he says now.
You're fit.
Of course we have these bodies that comment on that.
Citizens in 2nd Corinthians 5.
That while we're present in the body, we're absent from the Lord.
Why is that?
Are we with the Lord if we leave this world? Yes, we are in spirit.
But our bodies aren't suited.
His presence as they are, they have sinned in them.
So the body waits its redemption at the time of the rest, umm, the rapture for us, and it gets changed, and that sin is removed from it. And then physically we are suited to His holy presence in the Father's house.
But as far as the physical thing, it's not ready yet.
So it's with the Lord in spirit and the soul, but not yet in the body.
I'd like to close.
By reading.
A song in the Echoes of Grace hymn book.
You'll most of you will be very familiar with it, but we'd like to read it again and enjoy it together.
#239 and echoes of grace.
Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow.
One bright gleam I see.
Well, I know the blessed Morrow Christ will come for me.
Midst the light and peace and glory of the Father's house.
Think of it. There he is in the midst.
The light and the glory of the Father's house. What's he doing this afternoon?
Christ for me is watching.
Waiting, waiting.
Till I come.
They're amidst the songs of heaven, sweeter to his ear.
Think of it.
Can I have an angelic choir? Yes, I know angels don't sing but.
Let the poet have his license here.
Think of the most beautiful sounds of music that could ever be imagined taking place in heaven but this afternoon.
But what's it say here amidst all that? Is the football through the desert ever drawing near? He's watching you.
Every little step getting near.
There, made ready, are the mansions.
Glorious, bright and fair.
But the bride the Father gave him still is wanting, still is absent there.
He and I together entering.
When the moment comes, he says. I've waited a long time to have you with me. I'm gonna come get you.
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I'll come, right? I can't. It's not time for me to come to the Earth yet.
But I'll come to the clouds and call you up, and I'll usher you home together.
So he says he and I together, sharing all the Father's love.
Back up, He and I together, entering those bright courts above, He and I together, sharing all the Father's love.
Where no shade or stain can enter, nor the gold be dim, and that holiness unsullied.
I shall walk with him.
Meet companion then for Jesus.
From him for him made.
Glory of God's grace forever.
There in me displayed.
He and I in that bright glory.
One deep choice shall share.
Mine to be forever with him.
His that I am there, let's pray.
Lord Jesus.
We look forward to it.
Perhaps today.
Come Lord Jesus, Amen.
Hebrews 2:1-8
Man's Responsibility
Gospel—Michel Payette
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.
Like to welcome everyone to the Gospel meeting and we'll start our meeting this evening by singing together hymn #23 on the hymn sheet.
Behold, behold the Lamb of God on the cross, on the cross for us. He shed his precious blood on the cross, on the cross.
Oh, here the overwhelming cry, Eli, Lama, Sabachthani, Ronier, and see the Savior died on the cross, on the cross #23 someone started, please.
Let's have a word of prayer before we start.
Our God and our Father we.
Thank you this evening for such a hymn that we can sing of that one, the Lord Jesus that was hung between heaven and earth.
That was forsaken, that I was having my house, father, children.
That I was blessed human beings, millions of them, because of thy love.
And we pray tonight, Father, as us giving us another opportunity to open my word and to speak of these things that, uh.
Every heart here would be attentive.
And if anyone here and tonight, Father, is still a stranger to such love and to that finished word, to thine glory, Father, that would please Thee tonight to work in their hearts. We pray Thy help. As we open Thy word and we seek Thy guidance, we ask it with Thanksgiving. Father, thanking thee again for Thy love and for the Lord Jesus in His name we pray.
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Well, this evening we'll be considering verses from the book I have in my hand, which is the Word of God.
People who claim it's not the word of God are not really read it.
Or read it attentively, because those that have started reading it and recognize it to be the Word of God, they read it and read it and read it and read it and never exhaust the depth that is found in the pages of this book. So tonight we're not presenting thoughts from ourselves. We'd like to present something from the Word of God, the Epistle to the Romans, chapter one.
Some of you I know, some I don't know.
When you walked into this room this evening.
You had a certain level of responsibility before God because all of God's creatures have a responsibility towards Him.
I don't know what that responsibility was when you came in.
Well, all I can say is I'd like to make you more responsible.
And I trust with the Lord shall you be so responsible that if you don't know the Lord yet as you're saved, you'll be so responsible and uncomfortable at such responsibility that you might pay attention to God's offer. A wonderful offer cost him so much to propose it to you, to offer it to you free.
Men have heard about it and they've forgotten about it.
It went in one ear, out the other and they make jokes about it.
And they're very, very responsible.
Tonight, perhaps this is your umpteen gospel, meaning you might have heard it many, many times before. Perhaps not.
We're going to read from the Word of God. The Apostle Paul writes an epistle to the Romans, chapter one. We're going to look at different levels of responsibility in the Word of God.
Because we all have one. In Romans chapter one verse 18 it says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.
Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
You know, gospel, meaning gospel means good news, and you're starting to preach the good news on speaking about the wrath of God. Well, actually, the good news precedes the wrath of God. We've been singing about the good news from God, the good news from God. You could sell it, say it in one word. The good news from God is Jesus.
This man whose name is Jesus, the Son of God, who came into this world 2000 years ago.
And dine on that cross we've been singing about.
And more on that cross. At that time, the sins of all the believers were gonna be in heaven, mine included.
I don't know about yours, I trust yours included too.
Doesn't depend upon God. If you included yours or not depends upon you tonight.
If you have not yet.
Pondered. Thought about, considered.
Seriously.
The question of what's coming on the horizon, not only for this world.
But for eternity.
Now the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.
But it's not coming down from heaven right now.
It will.
But it fell on the person of the Lord Jesus on the cross when he was forsaken. When he said that Eli Eli Lama said back tonight, Why hast thou forsaken me?
The wrath of God was upon him.
Not for any unrighteousness or ungodliness that was found in him. There was none in him.
But there was mine.
And there was that of many in this room.
And we pray, We hope.
But there was yours also.
So it says in this verse, the apostle Paul, he writes about the condition of the world that he was in. A lot of the world was Pagan, and he says there for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth.
In unrighteousness.
So God holds man responsible for truth.
And somebody somewhere on the face of this earth tonight, there are probably millions like that they've never heard.
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About the Lord Jesus.
His death and resurrection and what God proposes to us through his finished work, they've never heard that.
But they are not without truth.
And these ones that the apostle Paul writes about, they did not necessarily have the truth of the gospel yet, but they had to measure of truth.
Now if I ask you to distinguish between blue and red.
Black and white, yellow and orange. Most of you, you make a difference.
If I spoke different languages and I asked you which language was that, most of you would find out what it was. You'd be able to discern with your mind all sorts of things, and that comes from God. God has given us abilities as His creatures to recognize things, and one of the things we should be recognizing as His creatures is that there is a God.
You and I and the rest of the creatures human beings on the face of this earth should know.
We're equipped to know that there is a God. We might not know how he is, we might not know him personally, but as we observe creation, God has given us senses and a perception to know that this creation as an author, and that's what God is.
And it says here that they hold the truth in unrighteousness because they refuse to acknowledge.
The obvious that there is.
If you travel different countries in the world, you'll find you meet up with different religions, different forms of temples, different religions, forms of worship. What's all this about? Well, there's a consciousness in the soul of man that there is a God.
And God says, well, you're responsible to know that.
If someone says tonight there is no God, well, God says there's a fool.
The fool says in his heart there's no God, he's lost a sense and French, the word is senseless. The senseless says in his heart there's no God, He's lost a sense when he was born into the world, unless he was crippled or blind or something. And it can happen, but generally you should have a sense that tells him there's a difference between good and evil. You don't need to go to school to find out what that.
That's ingrown and not theirs ago. And when you say there's no God, well, you've lost something that you're supposed to have.
Hi, Chris. There's no one here tonight that says there's no God.
So these ones here, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. Ungodliness, that word, it means not that somebody that doesn't believe there's a God. It means somebody who knows there's a God but pretends there's no God.
He acts as if there was no God.
He acts as if he's not going to give an account of himself to God, which he is going to do, by the way, and everyone of you is saying.
That word ungodliness.
It's better in English than in French. It's not a clear as clear in French. It has reference to God definitely.
Living in a manner that is ignorance, voluntary ignorance of God. And it goes on to say, Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, For God had showed it unto them, 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.
Now when we talk about the gospel, we know there are two things. One is our responsibility when we hear about the things of God.
And the other we recognize too, that the working of God who knocks at the door of our hearts and brings conviction and puts your sins before you and makes you feel uncomfortable about these things. This is the working of God in us to bring us to repentance and faith.
And that's his work.
But you know, nobody is going to stand before God in the future day and say, why didn't you do this work in me?
Nobody's going to say anything like that, because when we stand before God in judgment, it says every mouth stopped.
Not one excuse, not one argument, no alibis. Every mouth stopped and all the world guilty.
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Now the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, and we're not right now standing before God to give an account of ourselves. God is so long-suffering and patience, he said. I don't want them to meet up with me this way.
I want them to meet up with me in a different way, availing themselves of what I've done for them.
Through my beloved Son the Lord Jesus and the sacrifice that he provides by his death and shed blood on the cross of Calvary. So I ask you tonight, my friend.
You know there's a God.
I trust you do, and you're not senseless.
This book also says.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
You accept that.
That you have in your mind a distinction might vary from a person to another of what is right and what is wrong. We all have that. Might not have the same reference, but we know when we go to the extremes, we all agree that's bad, we know that's wrong.
And then we kind of move back and then we start with our elastic and say, well, that's not that bad.
Well, there's a standard for what's right and wrong. It's in the Word of God. But you have a conscience. And even if you had never had the word of God, you have a conscience that tells you.
What's right and what's wrong? And when you do what's wrong, when your consciousness told you it was the right thing to do, it wasn't that. It was something else. He did it anyway. You become responsible.
You can't say I didn't know you knew, but you did it anyway.
So the apostle goes on, and the Epistle to the Romans to bring conviction to those that never had the law of God, but they had the testimony of creation to realize.
That when they did wrong, they were guilty.
Now God in time, in the history of man, He communicated with men.
And he brought to Moses in the book of Exodus. There he brought the 10 commandments, He brought his law.
He brought a requirement for man to be declared righteous. He had to do all these things and not do these things.
Now before the law.
If you said something wrong, if you told a lie, well, your conscience might have accused you. So I shouldn't have said it that way. I should have said the truth because I I can't look at the person in the eye anymore. And I'm uncomfortable when she comes because if she finds out that I've lied to her, you know it's going to be bad. It's going to break our relationship when the law says thou shalt not lie.
Then it's not just your conscience.
There's positive communication from God not to do that.
If you lie again.
You're more responsible, aren't you?
It says in Romans Chapter 7 as to the law. We can look at that.
Route 7.
It says in the middle of the verse there but sin that it might appear, sin working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
So somebody lied and say that's really bad.
But if somebody knows the law of Moses and your life, that's really, really, really bad.
It's still a lie, but it's exceeding sinful.
Because you have more than just your conscience and just a society around you to to incline you to do something or something else. You have the very word of God that says don't do that and you transgress. You go against God. That's very, very, very bad.
Have you ever disobeyed God's law?
Have you told a lie? You know God says not to lie.
Take God's name in vain.
Covet with your heart, through your eyes, perhaps through your mind that says don't do that.
Do it anyway.
You're gonna tell God when you stand before Him. I didn't know every mouth stopped. No excuses.
Now I know most of you. You know there's a God. You've heard about the law of Moses.
And you know this hymn that we sent about Jesus the Son of God?
We died on the cross 2000 years ago. Who uttered these very words? Eli. Eli lamas the back tonight.
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You don't believe that happened? That really happened. God saw it and he recorded it in his word for us.
And it happened so God could bless you and bless me and bless this world.
Says in John chapter 3 verse 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting life.
This has been done already.
That happened 2000 years ago. But you were not there 2000 years ago, or 100 years ago. Nobody here was there a hundred years ago. You were in the world yet.
But now you're here, and the God who's given you life and an ever dying soul, he lets you hear.
About his love.
Well, what he's done for you, he wants to make you conscious that you're responsible before him for those things he's allowed you to hear and understand.
You know.
Villa boy sits at the table.
And the mother says that here's your supper, some vegetables and some meat. Perhaps I'm not hungry.
Have a little piece of cheese and some bread. I don't want any.
Well, mother says, you know, if you don't have something because you don't have any supper, come 8:00, you're gonna be hungry and you're not gonna eat. Before you go to bed, eat your supper. No, I don't wanna eat meat supper.
No any of those.
I'm not hungry, but come 8:00 Mommy, I'm hungry.
Why are you hungry? Why didn't you eat when you had it before You was a child young enough and you know what to do? Parents, you know, we love them and we help them out with that. But you know, if you got any older, you say, well, he's hungry, but who's responsible for him being hungry?
It's him.
And that's what's gonna happen, you know, And the story of the gospel, it's a sad thing to consider.
The wrath of God, eternal fire and punishment which we can hardly take in to consider people that are going to suffer.
But it's not God's fault.
Because God would have spared everyone of them if they'd let Him.
And we're not talking about having a meal.
Going without dessert. We're talking about eternity and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
And people say God so good.
He's not going to send anybody to hell.
We know God is so righteous that if he just goes by his righteousness, he'd have to send every one of us in eternal punishment forever.
But because of his love, He wants to send none of us.
Into eternal punishment and because of that, because of his love, that's why Jesus on the cross says.
Eli Eli Lama said back that night so God could save every Sinner on the face of this earth.
By the sacrifice of Christ.
Tonight God proposes to you to put your faith in the Lord's Jesus. Simple faith tonight from your heart you can say, no matter how old you are, you say Lord Jesus, I want you as my savior. Maybe it's just in your head. It doesn't matter. It'll it'll go down into your heart and time. Lord Jesus, save me, please. I want, I want to be saved. God's going to save you. He's going to honor the name and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and bring you as a trophy in heaven a Sinner safely.
If you say no.
I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes. You might not have any shoes at that time. Standing before the judgment seat of Christ.
Standing before the great White Throne and God with you in your life.
And you're leaving in your head those moments when God feedeth with you, he said.
Don't be neglectful.
We had this verse this afternoon. How shall we escape?
We neglect so great salvation.
Can you answer that question?
How are you going to escape?
If you neglect what God and His love and incredible grace and mercy did for you to take you to heaven, he said, I won't have that. I'll have it my way. How are you going to escape? Was it the verse First Thessalonians chapter 5?
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First Thessalonians, chapter 5.
The last part of that verse.
First Thessalonians, chapter 5.
Verse 3.
The last part of verse three it says And they shall not escape.
And they shall not escape. You know man is not smarter than God.
Man thinks he's smart.
But he's not smarter than God. And if you compared levels of intelligence, there's no comparison between the intelligence of God and intelligence.
My brother was talking about this.
Particle accelerator Hadron, I think that they have in Europe 27 kilometer loop, you know, and they're having these particles, they speed them up in other chambers and then they precipitate them into this 27 kilometer loop there underground and they make them collide and, and if you follow all what they're reasoning, they're looking for a little invisible particle nobody's ever seen, but they suspect.
They suspect.
I think it's maybe €30 billion that they've spent so far on suspicion.
A little particle.
It's a little particle called a boson.
Nobody ever saw it.
But even if they don't see it after they spend €30 billion on the Boston, probably sometimes I saw it. I saw it. Yeah. Yeah, we saw it. Yeah. We're gonna write a book on it. We saw it like we saw evolution. We've seen evolution. Everybody knows about evolution. It's no longer a science. It's not Ethereum. Sorry. It's a science. No, it's a science of evolution. Everybody can observe evolution and creation, right? You look outside, you see, you see men, half monkeys, you know, they're they're evolving. It's just it's a continuous process over long periods of time.
Well, they're spending €30 billion to find out how.
And then they figure once they've got this particle colliding, they'll better understand how the universe came into being.
Well, if I read Hebrews Chapter 11.
In my Bible anyway. Hebrews Chapter 11.
Because they wanna have an understanding how the world's were put together.
Hebrews Chapter 11 verse three. It says through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
So invisible bosons they don't appear.
Within the scriptures here, we know that God spoke the world into existence. Not God is so much more intelligent than you and I, but He's powerful. He's almighty. Let him be God. God says something, and there it is.
But man in his unbelief.
He wants to prove God wrong because this is not the word of God. This is written by men. We're going to find how this universe came into being, but God tells us how it came into being.
Now where do you find this? Search for the origins.
Of the universe outside of God's plan. We find that in Christian nations. Is that what we're talking about today?
Christian nations are looking for answers that God has already given, but they have not believed, so they're looking for other answers.
And God will let them look.
But you know if I go into this book here of Jude.
The last epistle in the New Testament I'm going to read in verse.
40 June 14. And Enoch also the 7th from Adam prophesied of these things Behold.
The Lord cometh with 10,000 of his Saints, or myriads of his Saints, not an exact number here, it's myriads of his Saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that our ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
If I ask you, what's the word?
Comes more often in this one verse. Ungodly, ungodly, ungodly, ungodly.
00:30:07
When Paul writes to the Romans, he's speaking to Pagan nations, and he found ungodliness in Pagan nations.
But he's not writing to Pagan nations here.
He's writing to apostate Christendom.
He's right. It's a Christian nations who have professed to know the true God and they know in their heads about the story of Jesus. And I've gone on to other things.
Where do we find laws that go against the laws of God's moral?
Morals being passed, we find that in Christian lands, that's where these laws are passed. What is that? That's apostasy. And you know this little expression here, ungodly sinners.
It's ungodly and it's sinners kind of say that same thing, yes, but ungodly sinners, I believe the Spirit of God singles it out because these are sinners voluntarily without Christ. These are ungodly who refuse to recognize that they are sinners and they have a problem when they're going to stand before God. They've done away with God and Christ, and God calls them ungodly sinners.
And when he comes down from heaven.
It says he's gonna execute judgment and he's gonna convince them.
No arguments, they will know.
And you know of all the things that these people do and say.
Part of their discourse is.
Their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
You know, if you go Muslim lands.
You will not hear Muslims speak against the Lord Jesus.
You will not hear them. Blasphemous name.
Nor in Arab or in French or in English.
But you hear his name taken around where you live from where I live.
Do we take the name of the Son of God in vain? Do we say blasphemous things about Him?
In the very lands where God has committed to us His Word.
So when the wrath of God?
Comes down from heaven.
It's going to be well deserved.
But God is slow to anger, You know the Lord Jesus He put up with spitting in his face.
They blindfolded him and they hit him with their fists. And here's the Son of God. Tell us who hit you. He knew He just had to say a word and the universe is gone. Make a new one.
What are you doing?
Because God is love.
And if we could see tonight, the wickedness.
Of his creature that he made into his own image.
And the affront of his glory that we impose upon Him with our mouths and heartbeat. If you get a picture of that and say, oh, May God forgive us.
Goodnight my friend. God wants to forgive you, young person, young people.
God looks into your heart tonight.
Is there ungodliness there? Is there ungodliness in your life?
Does God see sin in your life tonight? Doesn't like it?
Has to punish sin.
His wrath is revealed against these things.
But he doesn't want you to have it. He wants to spare you because he's such a wonderful God.
Long-suffering, not willing that any should perish.
I don't know how many people are in this room tonight, but God is not willing that any should perish.
Can we be assured that we're all going to be in heaven tonight? We could.
Are you gonna be in heaven today? Can you say yes, I'm gonna be in heaven?
In front of what I've done, God is able to forgive me.
Tonight we're responsible, dear ones.
No, there's a man in the Bible. We spoke about him this afternoon. It was King David. King David was a responsible man.
He had a position God had given him, had chosen him when he was a child, made him make him a leader of his people.
00:35:07
Adam gave him victory over his enemies, established him as king.
He had wives in the plural, not as many as Solomon his son, but he had wives.
And then he failed.
He acted in an ungodly way, as if God didn't see what he was doing.
He committed a serious sin.
And then to try and cover it up.
He had an innocent man murdered.
Any of you here have done that before?
I don't believe so.
I don't believe anybody in this room perhaps, but I I don't know you personally, but I doubt anybody in this room is as responsible.
As David was before God.
There were consequences in David's life, but I'm going to see David in heaven.
And we're going to sing together about the same person.
About the Lord Jesus, it doesn't matter tonight what you've done.
God can forgive. He forgave David and restored his soul, and I'm gonna see him in heaven.
And those things that David did, many others, I'm sure in his life, God knew all about them.
One man was punished for David's sin.
And that was the Lord Jesus on the cross.
I'm not gonna tell you about my sins.
But God punished my sins.
On the Lord Jesus, on the cross. And many in this room can tell you the same thing. They're sinners and their sins have been punished already. The judgment that we deserve, the chastisement of our peace, fell upon somebody else. Not just anybody else, somebody else. And God wants us to say it with our mouth. The Lord Jesus is the one who bore my sins in his own body on the tree. The Lord Jesus is my savior. The Lord Jesus died for my sins.
I accept the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, as my personal Savior.
You ever done that?
If you've never done that, why don't you do it tonight?
Hate in your heart to God. God.
I've done that. He knows them all anyway. Recognize those things for what they are.
It says repentance is taking sides with God against yourself. It's all the opposite of making excuses.
Is addressing those things that you've done when David's sin was brought before him and the prophet said you are that man. He recognized that man. No, he he about, he said yes, he confessed.
We don't need to bring everything out in the open. God knows your life, He knows mine.
And he wants you tonight.
To feel responsible before him.
For the thing that you've done.
And for what you know about him, and for what you've heard from him.
And he wants you to be a wise man.
I told you there's a guy laying bricks as you go out the door there and he's really clumsy. Every five seconds he drops a brick, go out by the other door.
You've been advised.
You see? Yeah, it's not gonna happen to me.
There you go, bump on the head.
Why did it happen to you?
You didn't become a wise man. You had information. You didn't act about it. Nobody in this room tonight can say I didn't have any information about Jesus.
Can you say that tonight? I don't know about Jesus, never heard about him before. Do you have a copy of the scriptures in your hand? If you don't, we can get you one.
God says don't go that way, don't be stubborn, don't be unbelieving tonight.
Tomorrow there might not be a gospel meeting. Tomorrow we might not be here. You might not be here tonight. God says don't stay any longer under the possibility that my wrath will fall upon you.
So it wouldn't fall upon you already had it fall upon my son for you. If you'll have him, if you'll trust him tonight, if you'll have him as your savior.
Somebody said I'll I'll think about it.
00:40:00
Wakes up one morning.
All his friends that he knew from the assembly, they're gone.
And then he hears all sorts of other things.
And he sees signs and wonders, and he says, ah yes, I believe now.
Well, that's that person in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. Wouldn't wanna be in his shoes. Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 9.
Piece of the future day when a man of sin appears.
And he's going to seduce many, many people.
You know one thing about somebody that's seduced is a person that's seduced doesn't know they're seduced.
Otherwise it wouldn't be seduced. Might not be the right word, but I think it's that seduced, yes.
It says verse 9 even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all powers and sign and lying wonders.
And with all it's deceived that I wanted to save, rather than seduced with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
That day all might be damned who believe not the truth.
But had pleasure.
In unrighteousness. So it was deceived was the word I was looking for is different in French. But someone who is deceived obviously doesn't know he's deceived, otherwise he wouldn't be deceived.
And Satan is a deceiver.
God will not deceive you.
It says they receive, not verse 10, the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
It's not that they didn't love the truth.
What happens after they did not receive the love of the truth? Because the truth from God tonight is that He loves you.
He so loved the world. That's the truth.
God is love. He's undertaken. He knows your need. He knows my need. He knows what this world needs. He's undertaken in love and provided in his love for your need and mind. And that's what the truth of God presents to us.
A true Savior for lost sinners. But these ones?
They receive not the love of the truth.
That they might be safe because had they received the love of the truth, they would have been saved. I asked you tonight, my friend, are you saved? If you can't say you're saved, don't put it off because this is really going to happen.
Power of deception God allowing those who did not want to believe the truth.
They're going to believe.
Many lies out there. Books written about lies. They're not presented as lies.
They're deceitful.
When finite man contradicts the infinite Creator. When the words of man pretend to be truer than the word of God.
You make a choice.
Well, Mr. says, let God be true and every man a liar.
Doesn't matter who's speaking, Mr. Obama, Mr. Harper, the Pope, whatever they say, if it's contrary to the word of God, you pick who you want to believe. I've made my choice.
Now when you die, what's going to happen when you die, what God says is what's going to happen when you die. It's a pointed at them and wants to die after this the judgment. Maybe your doctor doesn't believe that, maybe your teacher doesn't believe that, but I assure you it's appointed until then wants to die after this the judgment. That's what's written in this book. Jesus says having a nurture will pass away. My word shall not pass away everything we have in this book.
Is going to come to pass every promise of God.
And the Lord Jesus, the one who is being blasphemed right now, mocked, derided like he was when he was here, He's gonna reign over this earth.
You know, it's quite a contrast there when you think of that.
Man in Europe he made a load caricature. Is it of?
Mohammed.
Haven't even tried to kill him ever since. For mocking their prophet, you know, and, and Muslims do not believe Muhammad was God. You know, they're they, it's just a prophet, but it's a prophet of God. You don't mock a prophet of God.
00:45:07
But in North America, those have been to Sunday school, they've been to churches. They're the ones who are blaspheming.
Not a prophet of God.
God himself and a person of His Son.
Now, if you look, want to read the news tomorrow, in a week, if you've been noticing over the past few years, things are kinda worsening, you know, things are kinda heading up to some of the climax, some sort of a climax. You know, I don't know about Ontario, but in Quebec they had, I think 500 people vaccinated.
In something like 2 1/2 months, you know, they just, they vaccinate everybody.
In case you had to swing.
How long would it take to get a little mark on your hand or your forehead to make sure you could buy? And you know, if we reorganize the market, you think it's taking five years?
These things in the Book of Revelations, everybody has the mark of the beast on their hand and their forehead, or else they can't buy anything. How long is that gonna take to?
Be brought into functioning power while the trouble comes. You know this was AII. Don't believe the swine flu was very serious though. It's just my opinion. There wasn't that many cases after all anyway.
But when there's real trouble and say, no, no, this is no Mickey Mouse, we're gonna, everybody has to have it. That's it. The governments of the world have gotten together and they decided unity and and resolution, we're gonna have it this way. And that's the way it's gonna be. And it says so in the Book of Revelation. It's gonna be exactly as it is in this book. It's not gonna happen any other way that God's gonna see to it. It's according to his word.
And I tell you, my friend, tonight you hear the gospel, tonight you're hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and you don't believe it, and you put it off till the Lord Jesus comes, which might be in the next 5 minutes.
You is gonna be one of those gonna believe a lie because you did not believe the truth. You did not receive the love of the truth to be saved. And it says right in the verse that they all might be.
That.
Think God talks for nothing, He has nothing better than to have this written for you and me. No, God knows the end from the beginning. He knows you're never dying, soul.
He knows your name, he knows what you're thinking right now and he pleads with you. Do not put it off. Talk to somebody if you're not sure, get somebody and and look at these verses and consider what he says to you tonight. 2 testimonies and then we're over the first testimony.
And first John chapter one. First John chapter one.
God says Romans 323 other passages to all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So no one in this room is excluded from what God says, but some people say verse 10, first John chapter one and verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned.
We make him a liar and His word is not in US. Would you dare call God a liar?
God bears testimony to his creature man, and he says all have sinned.
And come short of the glory of God it was, otherwise the Lord Jesus wouldn't have had to go and suffer and die and shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross. But because there's none righteous, no, not one. The righteous woman, the Lord Jesus, He was made sin for us, Him who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Then in first John chapter 5 verse 9.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he had testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God had made him a lawyer, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
God speaks about you and me, we better receive what he says, otherwise we're making him a liar. And God tells us about the Lord Jesus, we better receive what he says, otherwise we're calling God a liar. I suppose for a minute that you did have, when you stand before the judgment seat of God, to give an account of yourself. Suppose God would say, OK, I'll, I'll allow you to feed your case, what are you going to say?
00:50:07
I didn't understand.
It wasn't clear. I don't speak English.
Or I put it off.
But other things on my mind.
I didn't believe.
What was being brought out from the Word of God?
Tonight, my friend, you have a choice to believe.
You have a choice to take God's side against yourself and say yes I'm a Sinner and Christ didn't die for nothing.
He died from Can you say that tonight, my friend? Christ died for the involvement, Christ died.
God is going to judge this world. He calls them ungodly sinners because they've heard about Him and about His Son. And not only do they continue in ungodliness and sin, they have bad words to say against you. Tonight, my friend, I trust you have good words to say about the Lord Jesus. He is your Savior, that you trust Him for yourself.
And you have a desire in your heart to live for him. Let's bow our heads.
A God and her Father.
We thank you for the Lord Jesus.
How little we enter into thy heart of love, and all the things that let us know about Thy creature and man. What grief did I heart? We were made in thy likeness to behave as we have and as we are still, and we thank thee for thy long sufferings and patience, Father.
With our haughtiness and pride and ridiculous endeavors, we just thank you for their patience. We pray tonight, Father, wherever the Lord Jesus presented, that there might be souls that come to him tonight. We wait for thee from heaven, Lord Jesus, tonight to come. We know all these things are true. We have them in our precious word tonight. We pray together for anyone in this room, young or old, that has been made responsible. Super has been brought up in a Christian family and perhaps Sunday school or.
Whichever way has been pleased to visit them and instruct them that, uh, we would be responsible and just take now notice of those things that I was told us and we wouldn't go to that broad Rd. that leads to destruction that everybody's on and having a good time. It just appears that way.
We pray that tonight someone would be saved and accept the Lord Jesus his Savior. Lord Jesus, I'll just do all the work to bring us all to heaven. And we pray that all in this room tonight we would be all together in heaven too. And if there's anybody here still unsure he would talk to someone would confess thee with his mouth, believing in his heart. We pray Father, these things and thank you for our time together and the wordy name of the Lord Jesus on that.
Life
Children—David Mearns
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.
Well, good morning boys and girls.
And older boys and girls.
Good to see everyone here this morning.
While we're waiting for some more folks to come, how about we sing a few hymns? Does somebody have a number for us?
Right over there. Do you have that number? Sorry, which one is that #44? So let's say #44 Glad T no into a tent. Tell it again, tell it again. Salvation story, repeat or, and, or you know, many of us here in this room have heard that, uh, salvation story over and over and over and we enjoy hearing it again. So we're going to tell it again this morning hymn #44.
Into.
Clothes of the day.
Nobody ever has talked to me.
Rolling again. Rolling again.
I'll make some story with people around the world.
Else has one for us.
Which number was that?
Are we thank thankful for grandpa #47?
Like the stars of the morning.
His bright crown adorning, they shall shine in his beauty, Bright gems for his crown #47.
Microsoft.
00:05:36
Who else has one course? Benji.
#27 So let's sing #27.
How about we seeing the?
1St and the last two verses of #27.
My God.
The glory.
Of your body and glory on there. I've never gone to the end of my life.
And over here.
You know, boys and girls, we trust and we hope that that's true of everybody here this morning. It says here he'll not be in glory and leave me behind. All we trust that everyone here.
Will not be left behind when the Lord Jesus comes.
Before we sing another couple, let's just ask the Lord for His help.
Our God and our Father, we thank thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus, we thank Thee that we have the privilege of being in a company like this this morning where my precious word can be opened, and not for fear of the authorities coming in to break up the meeting, but we can be here with liberty. We thank thee for this. Our God, help us not to take these things for granted. And we just would pray earnestly our God this morning that as we open my precious word that we might hear thy voice.
If I would speak to each of our hearts, and especially those who are younger here, blessed God, we just would pray that these young hearts might come to know Thee as Father and thy blessed Son as their Savior while they're young. And for any of us who are older too, who perhaps.
Do not know this, Father, We just would pray that Thy precious word would speak to us this morning. And so we'd ask these things in the worthy and the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, Amen.
We sang You know when this this little hymn where life and where joy and true comfort abound. This morning I want to talk about life. Life.
You're on our way home last night.
We were driving to our motel and we passed a raccoon. It was dead on the road.
This morning, on our way here, we passed the same raccoon. You know what? It was still dead. It was still dead.
And you know, this morning, boys and girls, there may be boys and girls here that are dead in their trespasses and sins.
You know, that's not an unusual thing to pass a raccoon that's dead and to pass by a little while later and find it's still dead. In fact, when we went to uh, on our way here this morning, there was four others. So we passed 5 raccoons that were dead. And I expect if we were to go back there, we'd find they'd all be dead. But this morning, we trust that if there's someone here that is dead in their trespasses and sins, that there would be a change. There would be a change.
00:10:17
The most unusual for raccoon to come back to life, but no, wouldn't be unusual for someone who is dead in their trespasses and sins.
To become a lie. To have life. Oh, this morning, as we take up the little subject of life, we trust.
Everyone here this morning would be alive. Who has another him for us?
That's another one for us.
I need the boys and girls in the front row here or well, here's one over here, number 40.
That's thing #40.
How about we sing the 1St and the last two verses of #40?
Yeah.
You know, if there's other boys, there's lots of boys and girls here in the front row, and there's a few extra chairs here. If there's boys and girls that are sitting back, why don't you come up to the front row here? It'll help me to focus a little bit on what I'm trying to say. And I have something for the boys and girls on the front row. So if there are boys and girls here that would like to come up to the front, that would be great. So the last verse of #40.
Jesus, love me, Jesus.
OK.
I'm gonna read a verse here in Genesis.
The second chapter.
Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
Supposed to have a red light here.
Is it on? There's a chapter 2 and verse seven and the Lord God forms man of the dust of the ground and nostrils, the breath of what's the next word?
Life, the breath of life.
Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And became a living soul. If we were to turn to the previous chapter, we would find, you know, that the Lord created some things. He created some grass and He created some fish. Then there were beef.
00:15:05
And then he created man, and man became a living soul.
And became a living soul. Only God could do that. Only God could do that. I have something to show you here this morning.
I'm going to ask you boys and girls a question.
I got some plants here.
See some plants.
Which of these plants is alive? This one here, it's alive. What do you think?
Plants is alive. We're all going for the yellow. You can go for the yellow too.
What do you think this is alive?
I don't think it is.
You're going to go with that too. OK, So we got a life plan here, got some other plans that are, well, they don't look too good, do they?
Sometimes looks so deceiving though. I want you boys and girls to come up here.
If you could, I've got something here for you.
I want you to take one of these.
OK, take one of those. Let me take it back to your chair and you just hang on to that.
Just hang on a SEC.
You say a couple if you want.
Just go ahead and as soon as you get one, go and sit back on your chair.
Thanks. Let me get some names. You can just go back in your chair.
That's the one.
Anybody else missing some?
They wouldn't want the old folks to be able to do some of this too.
Are you almost done?
Mr. Berry looks like you'd like to have one there, too. He's got this longing look in his eyes in this little bag.
If anybody else wants to have one, there's lots here. There's about 3000.
You know what's interesting?
When the Lord Jesus was speaking to the disciples.
Uh, the disciples came to him and they said to him in Luke's gospel, they said, uh.
Lord, increase our faith, increase our faith.
You know the Lord said, the Lord said that ye have faith as a grain of sand that we said.
What we said, what you say.
If you have faith at the grain of mustard seed, That's right. He doesn't choose a grain of sand. It's about the same size. But he chose something that was a lie. No, boys and girls, I want you to look at what's in your hand there that is alive, that is alive.
You know, boys and girls, we have a live plant here.
This here is a Thistle.
There's real live feeds in this Thistle.
So we're going to have to ask a horticulturist, what's this?
So Mr. Rule says this is a sunflower.
Real live seeds in this sunflower. Very much a lie. Interesting. Hey, the Lord Jesus didn't say faith is a grain of sand. He said faith as a mustard seed, something that was a lie. And his desire is that our faith, none of the size of it, but it wouldn't be a lot. And that's what our desire is.
00:20:00
Morning that our faith would be alive until we got something else here. You know, sometimes you see these and they're in the summertime, they're yellow. We call them ragweed or goldenrod. Got real live seeds. You know, if I go outside and I blow on this, it'd be ragweed. They'll come up on the lawn. We do that sometimes with, with, umm, dandelions, don't we? When they get past their prime and they're not yellow anymore and you see these puffs and the wind comes along and blows them.
Real live feeds. Live feeds, you know, Let's turn to the book of Exodus here for a moment.
The Book of Exodus.
Exodus.
The 8th chapter.
With the plagues here in Exodus chapter 8 and verse 16, the Lord said unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretched out thy rod, and Mike the dust of the land, that it may become light throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand and his rod and smoked the dust of the earth, and it became life in man and in beast. And all the dust of the land became light through it, all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did So what their enchantments to bring forth life, but they could not.
So there were lights upon man and upon beast, And the magician said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. We had some interesting things said yesterday.
One of the things I found fascinating was that matter is going to perish, but life is forever. We heard a little bit yesterday about the things that men can do and can do some pretty fascinating things. And you look up there, you look at all those lights up there in the ceiling.
Well, I wonder how those lights got up there. That's pretty amazing. Somebody could put those lights up there. Someone could put that ceiling through there. Someone could build this building. As we were driving here, we were going through Toronto and there's a big skyscrapers, some of them round, some of them all glass. Tremendous things that men can do. There are airplanes going overhead.
Lots of cars on the highway. Man made all those things, Boys and girls, look at what's in your hands. That's something that man cannot make.
That is something that man cannot make if you boys and girls were to take that home.
And you would have planned it. It would sprout. It would sprout and it would grow. You know why? Because it's a lie. It's a lie.
You know something, something as small as that, and man cannot do it. You know, here in the book of Exodus, the magicians, now I believe the magicians out of fear of God, Pharaoh didn't seem to have a fear of God. But the magicians, they knew that there was something here that they couldn't do. They could not create life. They couldn't do that.
Well, he goes, is there a fear of God in your heart? Is there a fear of God in your heart? Sometimes we're afraid of things. I have something interesting happened yesterday. I needed some wheat seeds obviously and I didn't have any with me. So I, I went to the corner store to see where I could find a, a feed store to buy some seeds and they said, well, if you go down here to Fingali, there's a feed store down there. And so I drove towards Fingal and I got my directions, umm, crossed. I was told that there was a flashing light down there. Well.
It was the 2nd flashing light and I came to the first flashing light and I didn't see anything go. And there was a, there was a few men that were there building a building there and umm, it was off in the back. And I kind of parked my car and I strode over to where they were and I, you know, I was dressed up and umm, I looked at these folks and I thought, well, I'm going to have some fun. I said, umm, I'm a building inspector And their faces went.
You know, umm, I'm not the official building inspector, but when I look at buildings, I like to inspect them. So I am a building inspector And you know, I'm standing there and these men, they're, they're afraid, they have fear in their hearts. And I said, I'm not really a building inspector. I'm not from around here and I'm looking for a feed store. Could you point me in the direction? And one of the men said, you just gave us a heart attack.
You know it opened up a door for the gospel.
You know, I went to the feed store and I bought, I bought this feed and as I came back, I passed those men, you know, I waved, they waved. Umm.
There was some fear in their hearts, but that's not the kind of fear we're speaking about, the fear of God. You have the fear of God in your heart. These men, these men that were with Pharaoh, they recognized that there was something they could not do here, Neil, boys and girls, you look at what's in your hand. Take a look at your shoes. Interesting, eh? The man can make those shoes, man can make those dresses. Man can make those socks, those pants, those shirts. But man cannot make what you've got in your hand there. They just cannot make that, and they've tried.
00:25:29
Why?
Because it's got light. It's got life in it. Yes, this plants got life, but these other ones do too. They have light. You know, it's interesting. Remember Daniel?
Remember Daniel when he, umm, when he, umm, was with his friends and he was told what to eat and he was told that he was going to have the King's meat, but you know, he didn't want the King's meat. Can anybody remember what Daniel's diet was? What's that?
Beans and water. No, that's right. The word there is pulse. You know what pulse is? It's a green. Daniel didn't want the meat of the king that was dead. He wanted something that was alive. He wanted something that was alive to eat.
Just in passing, I would say this to the young people here. What do you feed on? Do you feed on what's dead or do you feed on what's alive?
Just this past a few weeks ago, I was in Florida and I spent quite a bit of time.
Uh, watching some, uh, some Pelicans and, uh, the young people in Rio Ferry heard me speak about Pelicans a week ago. I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to make one comment as I observe these Pelicans and observe their diet and how they eat all kinds of things that were dead, lots of dead fish. And, uh, I got close to these Pelicans and there was a few that were kind of tame and there was a, a railing about this high and there would be some sitting there that would be selling themselves, you know, and I would, they see me day after day coming to them and they kind of be looking at me. And I watched one of them one day and it kind of started to scratch underneath its wings. So I reached over and I scratched underneath its wing and it just kind of left a swing like that and let me scratch.
And it's after a while started to scratch blind it's leg. And so I kind of scratched it's like a little bit and it just, it just enjoyed that so much. But you know, the same Pelican when I was going by umm, I don't know if it's sneezed or cough, it opened up its mouth and it belched this, this sound and the horrible smell, the bad breath. You know, it was not, it was very easy to tell what this thing was feeding on. It said on things that are that were dead. But Daniel, he wanted to feed on what was a lie. He wanted to feed on what was alive. And you know, when they looked at Daniel.
A little while later, his complexion was finer than the rest of those that have been feeding on things that were dead.
Life, life.
Let's turn to, umm, the Book of Numbers.
I'm sorry, the book of Leviticus, I believe the.
Leviticus, Chapter 11.
Epiticus, Chapter 11.
In verse 13, you know, this is a portion where we read about unclean animals and clean animals and there's unclean clean birds. There's two portions. We could look at it in Deuteronomy as well. But here in Leviticus 11, it says in verse 13, these are they which ye shall have an abomination among the fowls.
And.
Then we read down in verse 21, Yet these may ye eat of every flying, creeping thing that go up upon all four, which have legs above their feet to leap with all upon the earth, even those of them you may eat the locust after his kind, you know, as you go through these, these creeping things. I've just been impressed by the locust that it was, uh, it's a fine bird, a fine little creature for us to, uh, consider like a grasshopper. You remember the umm.
Remember the spy and they went to spy with the land and they, they came back and there was, uh, two spies that says we're well able to, uh.
To to take the land. But there were other spies that said, you know, there's giants there and we're just like grasshoppers in their eyes. Oh, it would have been wonderful if they could have taken the place of a grasshopper because you know what? You know what a locus does in a grasshopper when it comes to an obstacle, it's able to surmount the obstacle. It is. It's a wonderful characteristic to have as believers when an obstacle is in the way, to realize that we can surmount any obstacle that comes in our pathway. You know what locusts feed on? You can't tense a locus.
00:30:16
With something that's dead, they're not interested. If it's green, they're going to eat it.
It's alive. They're interested.
Only if it's live, it's dead. They're not going to go there. They're not going to go there. What do we feed on? We feed on what's alive. Let's turn now to, umm, the book of John.
The Book of John.
John, Chapter 12.
I thought you were going to turn to this portion yesterday dawn. You bypassed it went over to the 14th chapter. But in John chapter 12 and verse 23, Jesus answered them saying, the hour is come with the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.
It abideth alone once you look at that, what's what's in your hand? I went to the feed store and I said, you know, umm, Sir, I need umm, I need a bag of uh, wheat seed.
He said, well, uh, we have some of that. I said, uh, I'll tell you what I need it for. I'm going to speak to some children. I want to show them some wheat seeds. So he ran in the back and he got me a bag of wheat seeds and he didn't charge me for him. And so here we have some wheat seeds. You know, it's incredible to me, boys and girls that.
Some of the pyramids that we can see today over in Egypt.
Are over 4000 years old. Over 4000 years old when they open them up in those pyramids there were wheat seeds like you see in your hand there.
4000 year old wheat seed and they planted it and ****.
It sprouted and brought forth fruit.
4000 years old. Now you try to lie down and try to play dead for 4000 years and we'll see what happens. I don't think it could be done. But here's a seat. Here's a seat that God made and it can sit there for 4000 years and we can take that seat and plant it and it spreads. It spreads. I was walking down the sidewalk. I was here a very interesting to me see a little crack on the sidewalk.
And up through the sidewalk, little plant forcing itself.
Life living.
Boys and girls, this morning our desire is that everyone here would have life as we leave this room. Real life.
You know, I did something else yesterday on my way home from the feed store. This is at lunchtime as I drove down something we've all done this morning as we drove by a graveyard down here. So I thought I'm going to wheel in here and I wheeled in here and there's one section of it that's a newer section that had a lot of flowers, people that brought flowers at Easter time. You know, it's a marvelous time of year. We think about the death, we think about the UMM, the burial, the shed blood, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Anyway, I wheeled into that graveyard. All the stones were there.
And I just thought about that a little while. Well, this morning as we are going by, we saw the same graveyard. I didn't see any of the stones dislodged with somebody that came in out of those graves. Now everybody still dead, all still dead.
They're bodies anyway.
But we read in Genesis that man breathed, God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. And every one of us has a living soul, every one of us. Now, Mr. Stewart just passed away this morning. Just heard that.
Mr. Stewart's body dead, but his soul is with the Lord Jesus. With the Lord Jesus, you know, boys and girls, you have a living soul.
00:35:03
What about that living soul?
The live and it's going to live for all eternity. But where is it going to live? Where is that soul of yours going to live?
And we just read in this verse.
The Lord Jesus speaking verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. You know the Lord Jesus was speaking about himself and how He was going to go into death. He took a body so that he could go into death, and he did go into death on Calvary's cross, and there is pressure's blood was shed.
And why did he do that? He was. He rose from the dead. And as we've been having in our meetings, he's at God's right hand at this very moment.
Why did he do that, boys and girls? It's so you could have life. So you could have life. You know, you might be able to go home and you might be able to get some mud and you might be able to try and make a, a little grain just like what you have in your hand. And it might look exactly like that. And man has tried to do that and they've made something that looks exactly like those little corns of wheat that you have in your hand. But they've got no life. They've got no life. They're dead. They're dead.
Do you have life this morning?
You have.
Life before we continue, I'd like to.
Sing the first verse of #26.
This reminds us of a story in Israel's history, when all the people were bitten by serpents and they started to die. But there was a way that they could get life. There was a way that they could live. And we find it here #26 we'll read, we'll sing the first verse in the chorus.
There is life.
I'd like to turn now to another verse.
In First Timothy.
Chapter 6.
First Timothy, chapter 6.
For those children here who are a little older than these ones and they're in the front row, that's.
Read First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 12.
Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Or we have another translation. Lay hold on that which is really light. Young people, what are you feeding on this morning? You have life that we had in our, in our umm, somebody prayed the first prayer meeting about our lighting under a bushel and our light being under a bed.
Is there evidence that there's life with us? Might have life, but is there evidence?
Because we speak with one another, is there, is there the evidence that there's satellites?
Well, there's some things that doesn't look like there's too much evidence they're alive.
Not much evidence though.
Quite a bit of evidence here. What do we look like as we intermingle with each other and as we visit with one another?
Is that the evidence of what we've been feeding on?
The Lord's desire is that there would be not just life, but there would be the evidence of it. Oh, boys and girls, our desire that you would have life.
00:40:07
For every one of us here, those that are older, there would be the evidence of that light.
As we would intermingle with each other through this day before, so we have the privilege, in just a few minutes, of sitting down with a table there in the midst of the Lord Tyres, and on it a loaf, and on it a cup.
And it speaks to us the death of the Lord Jesus.
Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground, and died abideth alone. The Lord's desire is that he would have our company.
If indeed we do have life, does he have our company? Does he have it? We trust these things would touch our hearts. And boys and girls this morning, if you don't have life, if you really don't have life.
We trust as we read this last verse, John chapter 3.
That you would indeed receive the Lord Jesus into your heart and have life. John chapter 3.
These were interesting things for Nicodemus to converse with about the Lord, he said. How can a man be born again?
John, Chapter 3.
For God so loved the world.
Verse 16. That He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have what everlasting life, boys and girls, you have that you have everlasting life. And for those of us that have it, is there the evidence of it?
Let's just pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus, we thank thee for that finished work on Calvary that has brought so many of us here into such blessing. And this morning, our God, in a special way, we would pray that if there is someone here.
And they realize that they were speaking to their heart. They don't have life. All that they might receive the Lord Jesus into their heart this morning, that there would be life.
And for those of us our God that have it as our speaking to our hearts, perhaps there's not the evidence of it that is desire for us to have. We just would pray that there would be that exercise of our hearts as to what we feed on.
That there would be that which would be the expression of real life or God. We would ask these things and just commit ourselves in by hand. We would pray in a special way for the Stewart family at this time. And we would think too of, uh, Sue Rubin a special way. And so we would ask these things are God giving me thanks and the worthy and the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Hold Fast
The Waters
Hebrews 2:9 to 3:1
Gospel 2
Gospel—Jim Hyland
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.
Like to begin the Gospel meeting this evening with hymn #38 on the gospel hymn sheet. I know not why God's wondrous grace to me He hath made known, nor why, unworthy as I am, He claimed me for his own, But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I'm going to suggest that we stand up to sing this.
Hymn #38 and if someone will please start it.
I know not my God wonder and grace to me in high faith. No Norwalk learning how Thai good night before it is known by all my heartbeat in your life. I have my eyes.
I have seen his name and soul.
***.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father how thankful we are this evening for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank Thee that He is indeed the Savior of sinners. We thank Thee that throughout this world today He has been presented as such in so many places and in so many ways. And we would pray that wherever the gospel has gone forth this day, that there might be much blessing and fruit. But now our hearts are burdened as this gospel meeting is before us in this room.
We think of this being the 2nd consecutive night that it has gone forth here, and we pray that there might be much fruit and blessing. We thank Thee for Thy living word. We thank thee for Thy spirit that works, convicting men of sin and drawing to the Savior. And so we pray that tonight there might be a mighty work that no one would leave this building lost and in their sins. We pray too that the hearts of thine own might be refreshed and encouraged as we go over once again.
The sweet story of Jesus and his love. So we look to thee for help and blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
I'd also like to sing one verse of another hymn on the hymn sheet #24. We know there's a bride and a glorious HomeAway in the heavens high where all the redeemed shall with Jesus dwell. But will you be there and I just verse one? And if someone will, please start it?
00:05:32
We're going to begin this evening by connecting 3 portions of the word of God. The first one is in the book of James.
James, Chapter 4.
James, Chapter 4 and verse 13.
Go to now ye that say, today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the Morrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away for the ye ought to say, if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that.
And then in First Corinthians chapter one.
First Corinthians chapter one and verse 18.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God.
Verse 21 For after that in the wisdom of God. The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. And one more portion for now in Matthews Gospel, chapter 24.
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 24.
And verse 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man know not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark.
And knew not until the flood came and took the mall away, so shall also the coming.
Of the Son of Man, be notice verse 42. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Well, these might seem like strange portions of Scripture to connect in this way at the beginning of a gospel meeting. And I would just say at the outset that we're going to take these scriptures and we're going to make some applications. What we're going to bring out of these scriptures are perhaps not their strict meaning.
In the context of the chapter in which we find them. But having said that, I want to stress that they are the living word of God.
The word of God that is living and powerful. And I believe that the applications that we are going to make are in keeping with the rest of Scripture and in connection with the gospel of the grace of God, which we hope, with the Lord's help, to present here this evening. And so I want to encourage you to open your ears to the word of God, to take in what God has to say, because God has a message for us tonight.
Just as he has always had a message down through the ages, God is still speaking. He's speaking from His word in the power of His spirit in so many, many ways. And I was impressed the first night that we were together when we had a little hymn sing out in the courtyard.
And Brother Dean Ruhle spoke on some things that we know, and it brought to mind the subject that I have on my heart this evening.
Because this evening I want to notice some things that we don't know we're going to notice, some things that we don't know, some things that we can never know, and some things that we should know and can know. If there is the proper exercise of soul and desire to learn. You know, this is a day of knowledge. Man thinks he's pretty smart. You know, some of us have had opportunity to travel to other parts of the world.
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And to go to museums and to view some of the ancient ruins of past societies. And you know, when you delve into past societies and how advanced they were, you realize that man really isn't on an upscale. He's on a downscale and he's on a downscale. He's on the skids pretty fast. I wasn't going to relate this, but I will relate it. And perhaps you will smile, but maybe it will make my point.
You know, man often speaks of evolution and how he evolved from some ape like creature and so on. But you know, I was eating a banana out in the courtyard this afternoon and I stopped by two brothers and I said, you know, man thinks he's pretty smart, but I said just look at the way he eats the banana. You know, when we eat a banana, we peel it from what we think is the top. Actually, if you saw bananas grow in the tropics as I often do.
We peel it from the bottom because that part that we think is a handle and we tear off that is actually the bottom of the banana. The banana on the hand grows up from that. And you know, a monkey will never peel a banana from the end of the banana that you and I do. You know why? Because when you peel a banana from what we think is the top, but it's really the bottom, you ever notice how often it's stringy? You know, if you peel the banana from the other end, it'll never string.
And I only say that to show that man thinks he's pretty smart today and he thinks he's evolved into something that has great capacity. And certainly God has allowed man.
To develop many things. And this is a day when the Bible says knowledge is increased.
If you want to prove that we're in the last days, just before the Lord Jesus is about to come, just consider that verse in the book of Daniel. Two things there, knowledge is increased and they run to and fro throughout the earth. We're on the go like never before and I'm just as guilty as the next person. And knowledge is on the increase. Not wisdom and understanding. You ever notice that? Not wisdom and understanding, but knowledge because.
They are three very distinct things, and we don't have time to distinguish those three things. But knowledge is increased and you young people understand this. It just seems like there's reams and reams of knowledge, reams and reams of writings to go through to get through a curriculum and to make sure you're prepared for those examinations that you get at school and university. Anybody in business knows that just to stay afloat in business, there's reams and reams, folders and binders of information.
Because things are changing so fast in the world in which we live, I watch them on the early flights out of Ottawa. Businessmen who can't even sit on a plane at 6:00 in the morning and enjoy a cup of coffee because they have to be on their laptop going over that information, reading through that binder that they're going to get out at their seminar when they land in Toronto or Montreal or Philadelphia, Chicago, wherever they're going.
And so knowledge is increased. But you know, there's a lot that man still doesn't know in all those fields, whether it's the medical field, that the technological field, whatever it is, there's still a lot that man doesn't know. And we're going to find some scripture that there's a lot that man doesn't know as well. And many things that, as I say, we can't know, only known to God. Because, you know, his thoughts are above our thoughts and his ways are above our ways if we could understand everything concerning God.
And his ways with mankind, his purposes for this, this planet, and so on. Why he wouldn't be God? No, He's above our thoughts. He's infinite and we're finite. And so we can't enter into many things. And we begin here in the book of James with a very, very solemn portion, because here we find He is. He says, go to now ye that say tomorrow.
We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gained. And I see it every day. People rushing from city to city, people doing business again. You don't just sit at the airport and wait for your plane. No, you're on your BlackBerry. You go to the business lounge, you turn on the Internet, you fox, you do all those kinds of things. Everybody's rushing from city to city trying to buy and sell.
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And get gain. But you know, they're only living for the moment. I've often said this before, but because I travel with the airline so much, I have status with the airline with what is called aeroplanes, since Air Canada is my main carrier, They're part of the Star Alliance air network and they have a slogan live for the moment. Now I realize that that's only a slogan and advertising slogan trying to get people.
To not only fly more, but to fly with Air Canada and their Star Alliance partners so that they can get certain Air miles. And hopefully over the years they can build up gold or platinum status or something like that. But I often think of that when I bring up their web page to check my account. There it is. Live for the moment. Isn't that the spirit in which of the day in which we live, Everybody is just rushing, rushing and rushing and rushing. But they're only living for the moment.
And that's what he says here. He says they go into cities, they buy and sell and get gained. But he says wait a minute, we know not what shall be on the moral.
Isn't that searching to think about? Man rushes on with no thought of tomorrow and you know, many times he gets stopped in his tracks. You know it's frustrating when there's an hour delay at the airport. It's frustrating when you have to detour for a construction site and you lose an hour in your travel plans. We don't like that in the fast pace in which we live. But God says stop and consider because we don't know what is going to be.
On the moral Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And he tells us here that our life is like a vapor. It only appears for a little time. Recently I went through the word of God to notice some of the things that God likens our life to. It's like a Weaver shuttle just there and back in a moment. It's like a shadow, it says, and many other things. It's like a lease that fades and there are quite a number of.
Times that our life is brought before us as something that appears and vanishes very, very quickly. Man, that is man's life, it says, is he's born like the sparks upward fly. You ever see sparks from the fire while they fly upward and they're gone in a moment. And here it says it's like a vapor. You ever plug the tea kettle in and watch the vapor as the water boils? Why, It just comes up for a few moments and then it disappears into thin air.
God says your life is like that. I sometimes illustrated it too for the boys and girls in this way.
We might be able to say your life is like a cloud that appears for a little time.
When I was a boy, I like to go out on a cloudy day and lie on the grass and watch the clouds as they passed overhead. And perhaps the boys and girls here have done this. You watch those clouds and often you can pick out forms in those clouds. Maybe you see a cloud and it looks like a man's head, or a cloud over here and it looks like a horse or a dog or something like that. But you know, you watch that cloud for a few moments as it passes overhead.
And it all breaks up and changes shape, and in a few minutes it's completely gone and another cloud has replaced it. God says your life is just like that. And that's why when we present the gospel, there's an urgency to the message. We never tell people to wait till the end of the message to get saved because we don't know if this message is going to end in the way that we anticipate or you might look at your schedule.
And you might say, well, this meeting is scheduled to end at 7:30. It probably will end around 7:30, but we're not going to guarantee you at 6:50 that there are another 40 minutes to present the gospel message because the coming of the Lord draws nigh. And so he says, your life is a vapor. It appears for a little time and it vanishes away. I've talked to some very elderly people in my lifetime.
Some people who have been over 100 years of age and all, they'll tell you, like Jacob, that few have been the days of their life, those that life seems to go very fast. I never thought I'd be to the point in life where I'd say that of myself. But as I look back over 50 years of life, life has just gone in the blink of an eye. I know sometimes when you're younger you think you'll never get to certain points in life, you know, I can remember when I wanted to be thirteen years of age. I thought it'd be wonderful to be a teenager.
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Well, I got there and I wasn't satisfied. Oh, if I could only be 16, I could drive a car. And when I got to be 16, I thought if I could only be 21, I'd be of age and my own boss. And you see how it goes. You get to about 25 and then you want it to slow down a little bit. But you know, it doesn't slow down. It just seems to get faster and faster. And so he says, we ought to say, I want you to notice this, if the Lord will, we shall live comma, You know, sometimes we read this quickly and we think of this in connection.
With our activities, and certainly as believers, we need to say, if the Lord will, we'll go here and there and do that. If the Lord will, we'll leave this building later on this evening and tomorrow we'll go to our homes, or tonight or whatever. But notice there's something before our activities we ought to say. If the Lord will, we shall live.
You know, Daniel stood before a man, King Belshazzar, perhaps one of the greatest men of his day. And Daniel said to Belshazzar, He said, the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified? We read in the New Testament He's the preserver of all men, And again he giveth life and breath to all things. God is the sustainer of the universe, the Lord Jesus, it says by him all things subsist.
And he gives us breath as we sit here. Have you glorified him? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? Maybe you don't know the Lord Jesus as your savior. You know, it's a very sad thing. We're talking about things we don't know. It's a very sad thing if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your savior. You know, I've known the Lord Jesus by the grace of God as my savior most of my life. And as I've often said, I wouldn't want to trade places with anyone that isn't a Christian. What I've received in exchange for the forgiveness of my sins.
It's so much more than you could ever anticipate. And then that home above in heaven of which we were singing, We know there's a bright and a glorious HomeAway in the heavens high. I want to tell a little story tonight to illustrate what we're saying. And I realized that some of my brethren in my local area have heard me tell this story on one previous occasion, but I'm going to repeat it. A few months ago I was in Sandy Bay, Saint Vincent.
And Sandy Bay Saint Vincent is a beautiful little village on the hillside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, on the windward side of that island. It's in the north of Saint Vincent, not the very last village, but one of the very northern villages in Saint Vincent. And as I leaned against the railing of a little house there, I listened to a very interesting and search searching story. The man who lived in that house, his name is Esford.
Esford is a fairly as an older man now, but he told me an interesting story. He said that in 1986 he owned a boat, and he would often take people for hire over to Saint Lucia, which is the next Caribbean island just north of Saint Vincent. It's about 26 miles or so across the open water.
And he would often. He was an experienced seaman, and he would often take people over in his small craft. That craft really couldn't hold more than five people, but it was seaworthy, and many had crossed to and fro from Saint Vincent to Saint Lucia and safely back. But there was a trip scheduled on a particular Thursday in 1986.
Esford as the captain of that boat.
And four other passengers on a Thursday evening were to go over to Saint Lucia. There were several things they were going to do there, several points of business, one of the main being that a Christian man from the village of Saint Vincent named Mr. Charles had asked us for if he would take him across to get some car parts that he needed. Mr. Charles was a mechanic and he did repairs on cars and he needed to get some parts for his business.
Early on that Thursday morning, Esper decided that he needed to make a quick trip to Kingstown. Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent, and it's in the South southern end of the island. It's probably from there about a good hour and a half drive. In fact, it might have even been more back in those days. The roads that we travel there now are better than they used to be, but it's at least an hour and a half drive, and so he jumped on his motorcycle early in the morning.
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Went down to Kingstown. He needed to do some errands and he needed to get some paperwork for himself and his four passengers to go over to Saint Lucia. He was on his way back out of Kingstown, and I suppose if you've never seen roads like this, it's hard to picture them. They are windy mountain roads that hug the sides of the Cliff. Sometimes you're looking up at the sky and sometimes down into the sea. They don't drive with much caution.
I've often said between Georgetown and Kingstown, you can get more chiropractic adjustments from slamming on the brake than most people will get in their entire life. But it's a windy mountain Rd. and he was coming out and they don't worry about dotted lines or solid lines. They just pass. Whenever they think it's, I was going to say safe. But whenever they think they can get by without scraping another vehicle, they they pass. And so he was coming along and there was a car, a Jeep in front of him.
That was going too slow for his liking and so he decided to pull out and to pass this Jeep. What he didn't realize was if he had looked in his rearview mirror. There was a motorcycle behind him as well, and that motorcycle decided to pull out and pass at the very same time. Well, what happened was those two motorcycles collided there in the middle of the road. Esford was thrown several feet from the motorcycle.
And so he hit his head. He was not knocked unconscious, strangely enough. Or, I say, perhaps, as I should say, the Lord allowed it so that the accident happened right in front of the home of a friend of his. And even more ironic, if I can put it that way, this friend was one of the four passengers that was planning to go with him later that evening to Saint Lucia. The friend saw what happened and rushed out to help him.
He quickly determined that his friend wasn't badly hurt and he was a mechanic as well, and so they did a few adjustments on the motorcycle, and in a little while Esford was on his way back up north to Sandy Bay. When he got home, he told his wife what had happened, and so his motorcycle was drivable. It was somewhat banged up, and his wife became concerned. At first, Esper said that he fully planned to go ahead with the trip.
But as the afternoon wore on, he had a slight headache.
And his wife pleaded with him not to go. She said you don't know what might develop. Some internal injury may show up and I think it would be best if you didn't go well. He listened to his wife and he called the others and told them that while they could use the boat, since a couple of them were also experienced seamen, that he wasn't going himself.
As evening came on, he went down to the beach to see the other four off.
And as they were about to push off, his cousin David came down to the beach as well to help launch their craft. The other four said to David, why don't you come with us? There's room in the boat. Well, there's room for five. And why don't you come with us? We'd be glad to have you. Well, he decided that he would go ahead. And though he hadn't made any preparations, he knew he had friends on the other island that would take care of him. And they were only going for a couple of days and.
So he decided to jump in the boat and go ahead to take Ashford's place, as Ashford put it to me. Well, they went over to Saint Lucia, they landed safely in Beaufort, and then they drove over the mountains to Castries, which is the capital. It's again a very windy mountain Rd. I've made that trip many times myself. They did their business. They stayed two nights. Saturday they came back and they were seen getting in their boat.
And heading back to Saint Vincent. Later that evening, another boat arrived in Sandy Bay from Saint Lucia, a boat that had left shortly after the one that David Ashford's cousin and the other four men were in. When they landed in Sandy Bay, they made inquiries as to whether the other boat had safely docked, and they were told that it had not arrived. There was immediate concern, and it wasn't long until the Saint Lucia boat went back out.
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To search those waters to see if there was any trace of the boat. And to this day that boat has never been found. Nor did they ever find the bodies of those five men that were aboard that boat. Those that were in the other St. Lucia boat had seen them leave and so it was confirmed that they had left, but they were lost at sea. And for me to stand here and speculate as to what happened would only be that.
It would simply be speculation. Nobody knows to this day. Did they capsize? Were they hijacked? You know, there's a lot of hijacking in that area of the Caribbean. There's a lot of drug running. There's a lot of people shot and thrown overboard in those waters. And the Coast Guard has warned me not to travel those waters anymore. I have traveled them, but I don't travel them anymore. I fly on a prop plane now if I'm going to Saint Lucia or other islands in those those areas.
We don't know what happened, but one thing for sure as Ashford stood there and tears came to his eyes, he said. My cousin David took my place and it cost him his life.
I wonder what where you would be if you had been one of the five men that was in that boat that day. Where would you be right now? You know, those men had every thought of returning to Saint Vincent on that Saturday evening. They've gone over to Saint Lucia to buy and to sell and to get gain and to come back with their having done their business. They never made it.
Esford said to me, said one thing for certain.
The Lord allowed it, and God has a purpose in all these things. I believe that Ashford is a believer, a simple believer, but I believe he is ready for eternity.
But what about his cousin David? I don't know. He doesn't know. We don't know about the other men except Mr. Charles, who we know had a bright testimony as a believer in that part of the island.
But you know there is one who took your place. There's one who took my place. And if you know him as your savior, you can say with certainty that he bore your sins in his own body on the tree. And so we read in the book of Corinthians, in First Corinthians chapter one. And here we find that the preaching of the cross is brought before us because tonight we want to stress for a few moments across.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, David, when he got into that boat, he had really no thought of dying.
And taking his cousin's place in that way. But you know the Lord Jesus, when he came into this world, he had the cross before him. He knew that he was going to go to the cross and that he was going to lay down his life, and nothing in his pathway deterred him from what was ahead.
He set his face to go to Jerusalem. Did he know what was going to happen at Jerusalem? Indeed he did. He knew that eventually wicked hands would be laid upon him, and they would take him from Gethsemane to pilots Judgment hall and from Pilots Judgment hall to the high Priest, and back again, and back and forth again. And then eventually they would lead him out to Calvary. They would lead him out to the place of a skull.
You know, again, man thinks he's pretty smart.
Man thinks he knows a lot of things. But you know what a skull is? It's an empty head, and it's the height was the height of man's intellect. The height of man's thought took their creator, took him out to Calvary, the place of a skull, and had him nailed to a Roman cross. And there he hung on Calvary as a spectacle for men and angels and for those that passed by and reviled him and others that sat down and watched him suffer in his agony.
And there at the end of those hours of darkness.
He gave up his life, he said. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.
There he shed his precious blood. There one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.
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And forthwith came there out blood and water.
But you know the preaching of the cross.
Is tonight, as Scripture says, foolishness?
But notice it's to them that perish foolishness.
How often have you given someone a trap and they've ridiculed it? How often have you spoke to somebody about their need of a savior? And they've lost. They've mocked. There are mockers. It's a characteristic of the last days, It tells us later on in scripture. It is to them that perish foolishness. Why? Because in the wisdom of God it please God that by the foolishness of preaching to save some.
And man cannot know God by his own intellect. God cannot know God by his own wisdom.
No, it has to be on the grounds of what God has said in His word.
And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the only way that a person can be saved tonight. Maybe you say, I just find it hard to believe the gospel. I just find it difficult to take all that in. But God has told us that it's repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that is going to save a soul. Not whether you can reason it all out, not whether you can understand it all. But the way of righteousness tonight is so simple.
That it says a wayfaring man, though a fool may not err therein. It is so simple that as we sometimes sing, a little child of seven or even 3 or 4 May enter into heaven through Christ the open door. That's how simple the gospel is. That's why we had a children's meeting this morning, because the gospel is for the children, for the boys and girls, but you know, for those who are older, they have to come as a little child as well.
Because whether you're six or seven or whether you're 96 or 7.
It's all in the simplicity of putting your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the work that he accomplished at Calvary's Cross. And Paul said, we preach Christ.
And Christ crucified, he 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.
What does the cross of Christ mean to you tonight? What does the Lord Jesus mean to you tonight?
What? Thinking of Christ is a question raised so long ago, a question that echoes down to through the ages, right to this room this evening. What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you think of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, to Paul it was a thrill to preach Christ and Christ crucified. It was a thrill to consider the cross, because there though it was the place of a skull, though it was the emptiness of man's mind.
An intellect called that caused them to crucify the Lord all. To Paul it was precious. It was the power of God unto salvation. And all I trust it is to you tonight, because there's no blessing tonight. You'll never come to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior tonight without the cross, without the death and the shedding of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. And remember, it's the blood of Jesus Christ.
God's Son that cleanses from all sin. It's the blood of Jesus through whom we have.
Forgiveness. We're redeemed. Those of us who know Christ, we're redeemed. Not with corruptible things of silver and gold, not with those things that change in value from day-to-day and week to week. No, but with the precious blood of Christ. And when it says the precious blood of Christ, that's not my estimation of it. That's God's estimation. God says tonight that the blood of Christ is precious, and that's why there's no substitute for the blood of Christ.
It is only the blood we sometimes think what can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. But you know, we read, thou sought that solemn portion in Matthew's Gospel.
Where the Lord Jesus spoke of the days of Noah and how it was in the days of Noah, man went on living.
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And they just went on with daily life, enjoying life as it came. Because, you know, man features this world as a playground, a stage in which to indulge and entertain himself. And they did that in the days of Noah. And they knew not until the till the flood came and took them all away. I think there's two very solemn things contained in this statement. They knew not, you say well, didn't know a preach righteousness.
For about 120 years or so, yes, he did. He was a preacher of righteousness. Wasn't the building of the ark a testimony that there was a flood coming? Yes, it was, but they knew not. In other words, they went on in complete indifference to the preaching of Noah and the testimony of the ark as it was erected there. No doubt by Noah and his three sons. They had a testimony, but they knew not.
It's not that they didn't hear and see, but they chose to block it out.
They chose to turn away an indifference to what God was saying.
And the flood came. And what happened?
There is hardly a more solemn statement than this in the Word of God.
And took them all away.
Do you know there were boys and girls living on the earth in the days of Noah?
Do you know there were young people living on the earth in the days of Noah? There were middle-aged people living on the earth in the days of Noah.
And the flood came, and it was no respecter of persons, It took them all away.
Those who did not avail themselves of the refuge that was provided.
In the Ark, because I realized that only eight souls went into the Ark.
And I realize questions could be raised as to could the ark have taken everybody in that lived on the earth. But that's not the point tonight. The point is that there were only eight souls saved, and that God had refuge for those who had faith and believed his word and took heed to it. And Noah and his family were saved from the judgment that fell at that time. And all I want to impress upon our souls tonight.
That there is refuge from the storm of judgment that's coming on this world, and it is available to all. Whosoever will the Bible says, and whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And we don't know the hour that that judgment is going to fall, when it's the Son of Man. As was pointed out in the readings, it has to do with judgment.
With his right and authority to judge. And all judgment has been committed to the Son. And there is a time of judgment coming. It is appointed a day when he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and God has appointed that day. If, if I can put it this way, it circles on God's calendar and nothing's going to frustrate it. You know, sometimes I slight things in on my calendar and it never happens or it doesn't happen when I plan.
Sometimes I have to postpone. Sometimes I even have to cancel dates that I've circled on my calendar. But God has a date. You don't know it. I don't know it, but God has a date when the judgments of this world by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be taken up, and it will be a solemn time for those who have rejected the Lord Jesus and those who are left behind when the Lord Jesus comes.
You know something else we don't know is when the Lord Jesus is going to come and give the shout and call the believers home. We know it soon. It tells us in the book of James, the coming of the Lord Draweth nigh. We don't know exactly when, but one thing is for sure, we've never been closer to the Lord's coming than we are right now. We've never been closer. And if that doesn't wake you up, I don't know what will stir your soul.
Because if the Lord Jesus were to come in the next 13 minutes before this meeting ends, there will be a lot of vacant chairs, empty. And maybe, just maybe, you'll look around and you will be the only one that's left in your seat.
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You know it is searching to realize that when Elijah was raptured away to heaven in a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire.
It wasn't the general populace in Israel or in the world that missed him.
It was the sons of the prophets.
You know, I look into the face tonight of the sons and daughters.
Of those who have praying parents and grandparents.
And if the Lord Jesus were to come tonight, and you looked around and saw mom and dad gone, and other loved ones gone, and maybe your friends gone, you will know, initially at least, what happened. Or there'll be a strong delusion, I believe, sent very quickly. So you'll believe something else, believe a lie, but you will realize.
That something has happened and that a great deal of the populace is no longer present here in this world.
I'd like to turn to John's Gospel, Chapter 9.
John's Gospel Chapter 9.
And verse 25.
He answered and said, whether he be a Sinner or no, I know not. One thing. I know that whereas I was blind, Now I see in this chapter we have a story about a blind man in the days of the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus came along and he gave this man back his sight. Now I believe that in this story we have brought before us by illustration a great truth, a truth far beyond just the ability of the Lord Jesus.
To give a blind blind man back his physical sight. No. You know, everyone of us in this room were born into this world blind. Not physically blind, but spiritually blind. John Newton, in that hymn that is still sung around the world today summed it up like this. Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a Wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind.
But now I see. But you know, you read the life of John Newton. He wasn't born physically blind. No. But he realized at a point in his life that he had been born into this world, spiritually blind. And he also came to know the Lord Jesus as his savior, so that he received spiritual eyesight to see beauty in Christ, to see his own condition 1St and then beauty in Christ the Lord Jesus as his Savior. And I believe that's what's illustrated so beautifully here. So often this chapter is gone over.
On a gospel occasion like this, But we find that after this man received his sight.
He got lots of questions and he had to say on more than one occasion.
In fact, I think there's five times in this chapter that he admits things he doesn't know.
They asked him questions. His parents asked him questions. The Pharisees asked him questions. His neighbors asked questions. And on every occasion he had to admit that there were things he didn't know. But finally, he says here in this verse, he says, I don't know what you're asking me, but one thing I do know, I know that I was blind. And now I see I've got my sight. You know, he wasn't going to let the things he didn't know rob him of the enjoyment of the things that he did know.
You know, I love to meet a believer. Maybe they've just been saved and they say there's a lot of things I don't understand about the Bible and following the Lord. The one thing I know.
I was a Sinner and now I'm saved and that wonderful. Do you know that tonight maybe there's a lot of things you don't know? You say I just don't understand so much of the Bible and prophecy and all those things. But I hope that every one of us here can say, like the blind man, this one thing I know, just one thing he knew. But that was enough. We were saying, speaking about how this is a day of knowledge, if you went into an exam at school and you only knew one thing that you'd learned from the course.
Why you'd fail the exam? No, a student, a diligent student. One wouldn't walk into the exam saying, oh, I only know one thing or one little section of what we've gone over in the curriculum. No, you want to know many things, but here we find it's just one thing. And this one thing gave him confidence amidst all the other enigmas and questions. Oh, I trust. As I say at the end of this Gospel meeting, we all know this one thing. All I want to impress upon our souls again.
00:50:21
That we have no lease on life. We have some brethren here tonight from Trinidad and we've been thankful to have them in our midst with us this weekend. It's been an encouragement to many of us and I was handed a newspaper clipping by our brother yesterday.
It brought back to my memory.
Perhaps one of the most difficult experiences I've ever had in my life.
I think it's three years ago. I lose track of time in the busyness of life. But I think it's three years ago that on the streets of Trinidad, between Independence Square and a secondary school where we were going to speak, Garvin Seymour was with me from Saint Vincent. We were going to speak at a school that morning on Nelson St. just up from Independence Square in the heart of Trinidad, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
And at 10:30 in the morning I was mugged.
By a man, and I won't go into the story, but by a very notorious man.
Nicknamed by the police $0.10.
It's an experience that you don't get over very quickly when another human being violates your person. It's very different from having your house broken into having your car stolen, uh, and things like that.
But it happened in broad daylight by a man that the police told me.
Would kill for $0.10.
I was handed a newspaper article this weekend.
At the top of the page, it says the murder toll has jumped to 470.
And in big red letters it says $0.10 murdered.
And if we were you were to read this article with me.
You would find that at 23 years of age, this young man was gunned down on Nelson St. not very far from where the incident took place three years ago. He was gunned down in cold blood and he is an eternity tonight. A life of violence and crime. Several murders attributed to his gun. Lots of robberies, lots of crime.
But he's in eternity tonight.
You know, scripture says those that live by the sword die by the sword.
I'm solemnized by this article because.
I'm afraid.
That I didn't pray for $0.10 salvation.
Like perhaps I ought to have.
And I suppose he's in a lost eternity tonight.
Are the streets of Port of Spain, Trinidad, any safer tonight than they were back then? Probably not, but another soul is in eternity.
What about you? Tonight you say I don't haven't lived a life of crime. I don't have a list of murders attributed to me. I wasn't wanted by the police for years. I haven't run and had to hide. Maybe so, but there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But you know, salvation is offered to you tonight.
You know, someone said to me back at the time of this incident.
Someone said to me, you know, Jim, there is salvation for $0.10.
But not anymore.
There is salvation for you tonight, but I'm not going to promise you.
Anything beyond right now?
Can you say, like Paul, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day? Remember, as we said earlier, it's the cross of Calvary. It's the blood of Christ that's available to you tonight for salvation. Oh, don't go out the door lost unsaved tonight. Some of you have sat in this room for two consecutive nights.
00:55:22
And had the word of God read and quoted in your ear, it will be a serious solemn thing to go out tonight, still rejecting or neglecting, and to pass into a lost eternity. Oh, come tonight, jobs, that I know that my Redeemer liveth. You know, the one who's living. He's living. And is he your Redeemer tonight? And Paul again said, as we sang at the beginning of the meeting. I know.
Whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able.
To keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And you can know tonight that you have eternal life and that you've passed from death unto life. Let's pray our God and Father how thankful we are tonight for the gospel and the one who's made it all possible. And now we pray blessing on Thy word our God. We pray that no one will go out of these doors tonight. Still on the Broad Rd. We pray that each one may come to know.
With certainty the Lord Jesus Christ, the joy of sins forgiven, being washed away, and the joy of being on their way to heaven. So we ask thy blessing on thy word. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Open Mtg. 7
Open—B. Prost, D. Hayhoe
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Whom have we, Lord, but thee of all thirst is satisfied? 153.
Oh oh. 10-4 1010, 1000.
Yeah.
Our God and Father, become before thee resightful hearts.
We thank thee that thou hast made of us a singing people.
That we can sing of thy love, O God and Father, and of the love of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Heaven will rejoice, and all the Saints up in glory will sing honor and glory to the land.
But our grandfather, we are still here.
And we are still a needy people.
We come before thee. The Dow mayors provide this afternoon meat and dew season for each one.
That was able to throw Thy Holy Spirit to provide for each one, but each one stands in need of.
We do pray for subjection to that holiest appearance and that he may take up the things of Christ.
I'm sure. So we pray for this meeting.
And the precious I read the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Have a real burden on my heart this afternoon that I'd like to share with all of us I trust from the Lord.
And I'd like to turn first of all, to a verse in Matthew's Gospel.
Matthews Gospel.
Chapter 24.
And verse 12.
Matthew 24 and verse 12.
And because iniquity shall abound.
The love of many.
Show wax cold.
And then connect that with a verse that is well known to us in Revelation chapter 3.
Revelation chapter 3.
And verse 11.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast.
That no man take thy crown.
We're living in very difficult days.
And I know maybe some of you young people have heard that bandied about so much that it becomes a little more than a cliche, and maybe you get a little tired of it.
00:10:01
But you know and I know that we are living in difficult days.
And as we see what is happening not only in North America but also around the world.
We are made increasingly aware that the coming of the Lord draws nigh.
But I believe there are two dangers that attend upon that time in the history.
Of believers dangers that the Spirit of God warns us about.
And we have one of them presented in these two verses.
Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
There's a need to hold fast.
Because in the day in which we are living, the devil is doing his best to take away from believers whatever they have.
I suggest that here when it's a question of the address to Philadelphia.
That it isn't laying an emphasis on anyone particular truth or line of truth.
But the apostle John in bringing it out here.
Is saying whatever you do have.
Hold onto it.
I can remember well about 20 years ago now, more than 20 years ago, I was talking to a dear brother in Christ whom I had known well for quite some time. He didn't live in North America. He still doesn't.
But.
He was getting involved in things that were a little bit frightening to some of us and in love I warned him about it.
He tried to reassure me. He said I will never leave. Don't you worry about it. I will never give up the precious truth that I have. Don't worry, I won't do it.
But he did.
What happened? Did he intend to? Did he willingly say this is not worth anything? Just the same way sometimes we have something in our hands and we decide that instead of being valuable, it's garbage. So we pitch it in the trash. No, he didn't do that. What happened?
God did not allow him.
To hold, if I could use the expression, the theory of the truth in his head without the practice of it in his walk.
And when he gave up the practice of it in his walk.
He found that he couldn't hold onto it in his head.
He lost it.
Does God warn us about that? Yes, he does.
Turn to a verse. This one will do. There are many others because this verse, if I remember rightly, is repeated 5 times with variations. But turn to Luke 8.
And verse 18.
Take heed therefore, how ye here.
Here's the part for whosoever hath.
To him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken.
Even that which he seemeth to have.
What does that mean?
Oh, it means that if I have been on the receiving end of the precious things of Christ, I am among those who have. Whatever it might be, whatever degree, whatever measure God has given me, I am among those who have. What a wonderful place to be in.
I was reminded recently that there are millions of people in the world today who have never even heard of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's true. It's true.
You and I, everyone of us here is among those who have.
And yet if we don't walk in it.
God says you're not gonna be allowed to carry it up here. If you don't get it down into your feet, I'm going to take it away from you.
00:15:10
And it's happening.
Don't think I'm pointing the finger except anywhere but back here because it is evident and it is possible in any one of our lives.
Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. What crown is that? It doesn't specify.
But I believe that God is going to give a crown for those who are faithful to Christ in these last days. I can still remember an old brother who has been with the Lord over 30 years now saying to me concerning the address to Philadelphia.
He said Bill, the Lord wanted something very specially for himself.
Just before he returned to call his own home, and amidst all the confusion, all of the giving up, all of the rising tide of iniquity and infidelity, God wanted something for himself.
And that's what Philadelphia is. Well, I hope none of us here would stand up and say yes. And that's where I am. I've arrived. Because if I talk like that, the sign is pretty clear that I belong in Laodicea rather than Philadelphia. But the fact of the matter is that there is a crown, and there is a danger of losing it because God is going to have a Philadelphia right to the end.
I suppose some of this is fresh in my mind, and in the fresh of sorry, and fresh in the minds of others here who were there when we saw, and you'll pardon my Speaking of them, but some of those young brothers in foreign lands, whose hearts are so on fire for the Lord.
This young brother wouldn't appreciate my telling the story, but I'm going to how that when he accepted Christ as his savior, his parents locked him up without food or water for three days and he was only able to escape.
After three days, and made a run for the brethren who had given him the gospel, said, What do I do now? They fed him, they helped him out.
Got them straightened out. You know what they told them? They said you go back, you go back, you go back to your parents. Don't run away. The Lord has a message for them and he went back.
I met that young brother. He doesn't speak English so it was hard to communicate one-on-one with him.
But to see those in this world today who are standing for Christ, who want to learn more of Christ, they're going to get the Philadelphian crown, who are saying give us more. We want to hear more. We want to learn more. We want to spend time, we want to be a little longer over the Scriptures.
Makes us hang our heads, Doesn't it hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown?
Philadelphia in the address there, the emphasis on is on keeping.
Kept my word, it says. Excuse me.
So I was kept my word.
And not denied my name.
Very important.
And everyone here, as I say, has something, and the Lord wants you to hang on to it.
Why does it say in Matthew's Gospel? And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Now I know that more properly refers to what will happen during the tribulation period, but in a general way I believe you and I can take it up.
It doesn't say because iniquity shall abound.
Spiritual intelligence will decline, it doesn't say, because iniquity shall abound. A knowledge of the things of the Lord will decline, that is true. But the beginning of the decline is not the loss of knowledge and understanding. The beginning of the decline is the love of many waxing cold. Oh, I say it to my own heart.
00:20:10
Does Christ have a grip on my heart?
Iniquity is abounding today. And what is iniquity? The word iniquity literally is lawlessness and we had that brought before us in the meetings. It's not the doing or saying of anyone particular line of things, but rather an attitude that says don't tell me what to do, I will do what I want.
Don't anyone try and straighten me out.
That attitude, if I can say it, gets into our blood, doesn't it? In this day and age, because it's all around us and it's fostered by the world in which we live, lawlessness, it will find its ultimate expression.
After the church is called home, and when the Spirit of God is no longer here in the same way, and when that man of sin will be revealed, and there will be nothing to hinder the total unleashing of all of Satan's power in lawlessness. But you and I are seeing it now.
The love of many shall wax cold. Does it have to be that way? Oh, I say it to each one of our arts. It doesn't have to be that way. The Lord is able to touch your heart and mind. As a brother used to say many years ago, if God has not won your heart and mind.
What more could he do to win it? Turn to 2nd Corinthians 5 for a verse that we've often read before in this same connection.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 5.
Verse 14.
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
But under him which died for them, and rose again.
All the Lord Jesus looks out over this company and this is an extension of what our brother Dawn brought before us yesterday, and his heart longs for each one. Here He says, you are part of my bride. You are the ones whom I paid for with everything, and he says I want you.
And I want you to live for me. I want you to live for my glory. I want you to take up my cause down here. I want you to take up my interests. I don't want you to live for yourself, but for me, because I died for you and rose again.
So there's a need to hold fast what we have. And again I say there's only one way to hold on to what we have, and that is to walk in. And I say to your heart and mind, if I don't find that I am advancing in the things of God.
I don't want to say invariably, but probably it's true.
Invariably I have not put into practical effect what I already know.
Because if I know something and I say Lord, I can't do that, I can't go down that road, I can't go that far, then I would suggest that I am effectively putting the cap on my growth. Is the Lord going to show me more?
Someone yesterday referred to John 7 and 17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. But notice it does not say if any man will know his will. I've used the illustration before and you'll make a you'll. It'll bring a smile to your faces.
There are people that I can go to and if I say, will you do me a favor, their immediate reaction would be yes, what is it?
And there are others whom I know would somewhat guardedly say, what is it?
What is it? And the implication is very, very strong, isn't it? When I know what it is, I'll decide whether I'll do it or not.
God doesn't want that kind of a response. God doesn't want you and me to come to him and say, show me your will, Lord, and then I'll sit down and decide whether I can do it or not. No, the Lord isn't going to reveal his will of those kind of people. He's not going to reveal his will to those Christians, but to those who come and say, Lord, show me and I'll go tell me what to do and I'll do it. The Lord says he shall know of the doctrine.
00:25:21
That's one danger.
But I suggest that there is another danger, and to get that, let's turn back first of all again to Matthew 25.
Matthew 25.
And this is at the end of the Parable of the Talents.
Verse 24. Matthew 25. Verse 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said Lord.
I knew thee that thou art in hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strode. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth.
Lo, there thou hast, that is thine.
His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strode. Thou Artest therefore to put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath 10 talents.
Now turn over for a similar expression to the 19th of Luke.
Luke 19 Here we have the parable of the pounds.
Little different emphasis on things here, but a similar expression.
Verse 20 of Luke 19.
And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin.
For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man. Thou take a stop that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not so.
He set unto him out of thine own mouth. Will I judge thee, thou wicked servant? Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gave us not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required my own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that had 10 lbs.
The parable of the talents and the parable of the pounds are a little different. One perhaps emphasizes more the sovereignty of God. That's the parable of the talents. The parable of the pounds emphasizes more the responsibility of man. But we're not going to get into that this afternoon, but only to notice that in both cases.
There was one man.
Who was given something?
And who didn't use it?
I said the one danger was not holding fast what we have.
But I suggest the other danger is not act.
Using what we have.
It is not enough, I suggest to your soul and mind.
Simply to have something and to hold on to it.
And maybe as far as it goes to be in the right place.
Where that precious truth is known and enjoyed.
Yes, that's wonderful, a blessed privilege, and I can't emphasize it more highly as we sat and remembered the Lord this morning.
What a privilege it was to hear different brothers around the gathering here.
Give out to him. Read a scripture.
Get up and give thanks and a feel the presence of the Spirit of God and the Lord in the midst. And I thought to myself, what a privilege this is. What a wonderful thing that the Lord has preserved this to us in spite of our failure.
00:30:11
And so I can emphasize that too strongly.
But on the other hand, if God has given talents, if he has given pounds, what are we doing with them?
The man with the talent hid it in the earth.
And I would suggest for our purposes that the application of that is that it was used perhaps.
With a horizon that didn't reach beyond this world.
There are many young people here.
Especially young men, many who have ability.
And I marvel at what young people can do today.
I marvel at the way they can handle technological advances that sometimes spook those of us, or some of us anyway, that are a little older.
That's great and God gave you that ability and it's wonderful to see it used. But I say to you, don't bury it in the earth.
Don't use it just for an end that doesn't reach beyond this world. Because as Dean reminded us yesterday.
Matter is temporary, contrary to popular opinion, but life is eternal.
And he which doeth the will of God abideth forever, it says.
In the parable of the pounds, we have 1 LB laid up in a napkin.
What does that speak of?
I suggest that that speaks of one.
Who has something very carefully put away in a very safe place where no one could find it, where no one could steal it, so that whenever it was needed he could get it out. There it is. I've still got it.
What did the Lord say to that servant, as He said to the one who misused the talent by burying it in the earth? It was pretty hard on that serve, it wasn't he. He was pretty hard on him. Why?
All because ultimately both servants had wrong thoughts of the master.
They misrepresented the character of the master, and within the context of the type, it's you and it is I misrepresenting the character of God.
Remember being at a Bible conference?
Over 20 years ago.
And we were discussing.
Some of the seven assemblies addressed in Revelation 2 and three, and the call to repentance in some of them.
And one brother.
No doubt with, as we would say, his tongue in his cheek.
Said What if you don't have anything to repent of?
What if you don't have anything to repent of?
And the answer was a good one.
Very good one.
God has put you and me here in this world in order that in the absence of Christ, we might represent His character in the fullest way.
And until you and I.
Have reached that point.
There is always something of which we can repent.
Does that hit home?
You notice in the address to Philadelphia that the Philadelphian has promised the key of David.
And there are different thoughts on what the key of David is for. What I have enjoyed is that if you go back to Isaiah and read the verses where that expression is taken from.
You find that there is a man by the name of Eliakim who was outstandingly faithful and whom God commands, and he says, I'll give him the key of David. But then as the Spirit of God goes on, it's very obviously talking not only about Eliakim but about Christ himself, because of whatever Christ could be spoken of as the nail in the sure place.
Eliakim, at least in figure, was representing the character of Christ. And that's what God wants to see today.
00:35:09
So getting back to what we have here in the parable of the pounds and the parable of the talents, the one who had one talent and 1 LB. He had wrong thoughts of the master, wrong thoughts of God. He totally misrepresented his character. And God was misrepresented as an austere man asking for more than we could deliver, reaping where he hadn't sold, gathering where he hadn't strawed, and so on.
You'll pardon me if I unburden my heart, but many dear believers today are going down that road and maybe unconsciously they are misrepresenting God's character by saying I can't do it. The road is too rough, it is too difficult.
I say it with all reverence, but sometimes, in so many words, believers will say this business.
Of having a heavenly calling and yet living in this world as men on the earth and being a living witness, that is too difficult.
That is too hard. I want some respectability down here. I don't want to have the reproach thrown at me all the time. This is a difficult path and I don't think I can walk it anymore.
And then the calendar that goes into the earth.
Or it goes into the napkin and is it gonna be good enough in the coming day? If you and I say, but Lord, I was very successful.
Or to bring it closer to home, is it going to be good enough in the coming day? If I can say, Lord, I was at least outwardly gathered to the Lord's name, and I went to conferences and I sat there and I broke bread. Oh, that's the most blessed thing. Don't let me in any way diminish the preciousness of that.
But let me put it this way.
It's a wonderful thing to be, either as an individual or collectively.
Blessed. It's wonderful to be a blessed individual. It's wonderful to be a blessed company.
But unless I am a blessing individual, unless we are a company that is involved in blessing to others.
We will inevitably decline. We will go downhill, we will lose. And that's why at the end of the Parable of the Talents and the parable of the Pounds, you have that same verse that we read in Luke 8, repeated with variations. Because the Lord knew that ultimately, the moment a believer ceased to use what God had given them, the more he ceased.
To be a witness to this world.
To display God's character not only for the enjoyment of his own heart, because if we really do it for the enjoyment of our own heart, it will be there for others to see. What does that involve? Does it involve preaching the gospel? Paul says to Timothy. Do the work of an evangelist.
I don't find it easy to give out tracks. I don't find it easy to hand someone a gospel track.
But when I think that that soul is on the road to eternity, it makes it a lot easier. When I think that maybe that heart is waiting for something that they need, it makes it easier even though I have to keep thinking about it every morning. Put those wallet calendars in your breast pocket. Put those tracks there. You may need one. You'll see someone.
Appreciated what our Dave said at the children's brother. Dave said at the children's meeting, played a joke on some men and then gave them the gospel. Well, we have to be instant in season and out of season and sometimes that's the way it goes. You get people's attention that way. God will show you what to do.
But then.
Oh, we can use the precious things of Christ.
The precious truth of God in one of two ways. We can wrap it up in a napkin, as if too, shall we say, a credit, and distinguish ourselves as an individual or as a company. I know more than you do. See what I've got here with the idea I've got it and you don't.
00:40:03
Oh, brethren, no, not that I'm pretending that we have that attitude, but it can be if we're not careful. No, that precious truth of God is meant to be used and expanded for the blessing of every true believer.
Now I know there are those who will not receive it, and I know that just as you preach the gospel and get a good many rebuffs and reproaches, so to hold fast.
And live the truth of God and represent God's character will likewise bring reproach, and it is not easy.
And the devil is working overtime today to turn Christianity into that which is Luke warm and respectable in this world.
But which has no ultimate effect. He's working hard to dull the edge of the sword of the Word of God.
But you and I need to wield it all the more.
And so I say to each one of our hearts, these things are reality. These things are serious. On the one hand, there needs to be a holding fast.
On the other hand, there needs to be a using of that which God has given us. Because I say again, it's wonderful to be a blessed individual. It's wonderful to be a blessed company.
But the moment I cease from being a blessing individual.
The moment we cease from being a blessing company.
At that point we are inevitably going to decline, we're going to go downhill.
And then we'll say what happened, what happened. Now, I don't say that in every case. When there's decline, that's the reason for it. There are other things that can come in. There can be open sin and other things that cause problems.
But I say to your heart and mind that I believe God would arouse us in these last days. First of all, by laying hold of our affections is the responsibility. Yes, there is a very serious responsibility, and we ought to feel it. But responsibility by itself will never take me all the way down that road. But a heart that has been touched by Christ, that is drawn out to Him, so that my affections reach out to Him.
Will give me the guidance, will give me the strength, will give me the energy in these last days.
I'd like to turn, brethren.
Who's some scriptures?
In connection with Waters.
First of all, I wanna say something connection with yesterday as a man who spoke unadvisably with his lips and I apologize for a remark I made.
Turn with me, please, to Isaiah 55.
Isaiah 55 and verse one. Just the first couple of verses.
Oh, everyone that thirsteth.
Come ye to the waters.
Either have no money. Come you buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money, without price.
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bred, and your labor for that which satisfieth not hearkened diligently?
Unto me.
And eat ye that which is good.
Let your soul delight itself in fatness.
55 -, 2 is 53 I think.
You go back two chapters, you'll come to Isaiah 53.
A lot of us in this room learned Isaiah 53 when we were children.
How I love Isaiah 53.
That's the chapter of The Waters.
Come new to the waters.
In this chapter 55.
It says ho everyone thirsteth.
00:45:00
God goes out beyond the bounds of Israel to the whole world.
Oh, how we.
To reach into the volumes of this book. How much we love that verse. John 316.
For God, soul of the world.
Hello everyone thirsteth, come ye to the waters. You see, the waters in scripture are spoken of in many different ways.
And here, I think, brethren, it speaks to the waters of judgment.
Does Christ love you?
How do you know he loves you?
Because he went into the waters for you.
Come ye to the waters.
Buy and eat without money, without price. If it's without money and without price, why does it say buy and eat?
What do you have to buy if it doesn't cost any money?
Not gonna cost you money, it's gonna cost you something else.
If you come to Christ and how we trust that everyone in this room belongs to him.
It separates you from the world.
And in that way, it costs you something.
But it's worth it.
Buy and eat without money, without price. So it goes on.
We're 4D spend.
Money for that which is not bread.
You ever get tired of this whole world?
Have you tried it?
Every one of us have tried it one way or another. You know I love that him.
I tried the broken cistern's Lord.
But all the waters fell ignores. I stooped to drink. They fled and mocked me as I wailed.
You won't find satisfaction.
In this world, dear young people.
Satan is a hard taskmaster.
But Christ can satisfy.
He can fill you.
Well, it speaks of the waters here.
So we had a lot about the waters this morning and meeting.
Umm.
So let's turn back to Song of Solomon chapter 8.
And just to comment on this verse that we know so well.
You know.
Let me just make a little comment in connection with this Song of Solomon I remember years ago.
We had a young people's meeting in Pine Grove, invited the young people from many places and I was only young at the time.
Sunday morning, the room was full.
Our brother Albert Hayhoe was there.
He got up and ministered after breaking a bread.
And let me tell you what he spoke about. Turn back to the first chapter of the Psalm of Solomon.
Verse 4.
Draw me, we will run.
After they What kind of people are they that run?
Mostly the young people, right?
So here we have the beginning of life brought before us.
Draw me.
And we love to see the energy of young people running after the Lord.
What does our hearts good to see you young people here.
Are you running after the Lord?
Don't stop.
Now let's go to the end of the book.
Verse 5.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
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What kind of people do the leaning?
Aren't they when we get older, Brother John?
Oh, that's what happens when we get old. We lean on one another, don't we?
If you're young.
Run after the Lord, and when you get old, the character of your life becomes a little bit more leaning.
And you can lean on the same one the young people run after.
God has only given one object.
So it says.
In verse seven, many waters cannot quench loss.
Neither can the floods drown it. The same love that drives the young people along after the Lord is the same love that God would occupy those of us who are older.
Draw me, we will run after thee.
Many waters cannot quench love. Now turn with me to Isaiah 43.
I suppose we could say.
The connection with that, uh.
Chapter.
That we just referred to in the Song of Solomon Mini Waters.
Speak of Calvary.
You think of the love of God, You think of the love of our Savior, You think of the waters that he went through with the cross.
His love was greater. I loved the story we get back in Genesis chapter 6 about the ark and it tells us about the the waters, tells us about the waters from beneath. It tells us about the waters coming down from the heavens, and it says of the ark rose above the water.
And the arc speaks of Christ.
The love of God, the love of Christ for you and me, was greater than all the waters of judgment that he went through.
Does he love you?
Oh, the depths of his love. May it be the motive.
It's springs from your heart and mind to draw us along through life.
Now water is here. These are beautiful verses here. Isaiah 43.
And I only want to read the first couple of verses.
I'm gonna start Oh my first one.
Now, but now thus saith the Lord. Isaiah 43 one.
The Lord created thee, O Jacob.
Jacob was a scoundrel.
And he that formed the O Israel.
Israel is the name he was given as a Prince of God.
If any man be in Christ.
Is a new creation. You belong to Christ.
You have a new creature.
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee.
I've called thee by thy name.
Thou art money.
How much does the Lord love you?
From eternity past.
He needs you.
Do you remember when he first called you?
I'd love to ask people about when they got C.
You know why I wanna hear what God did in their life?
I asked a man and a brother just yesterday.
And he told me.
I'll tell you this much.
He pulled over the side of the road in his car.
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Gave his life to Christ.
God was working.
I could tell you some other stories.
A man who God worked with at 3:33 in the morning when he saw the digital clock 333.
That was the time God was working, brought him to his knees, came to Christ. He's a new creature in Christ to this day. He was a he's a Jew.
He said to me the last person I wanted in my life was Christ.
But Christ wanted him. You know who won, don't you?
Wonderful, he said. When I when I came to Christ, there was no going back.
It's wonderful you belong to him.
I've called thee by thy name. Thou art mine.
You think Christ is gonna give up on you?
No, the next verse, verse 2.
This is Waters, I think, in a little different way.
Beautiful.
When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.
And they'll walk us through the fire. Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle thee.
Anybody here has never had any troubles?
When you get to be a Christian, do you stop having troubles?
Where does God put this verse here? Right after salvation if you like.
She the first verse she heard, says, I've redeemed thee, have called thee by thy name. Shouldn't everything be rosy after we get saved?
Oh brethren, the Lord here, he says I've redeemed you. But remember, you're still walking through this world that's rejected me.
And you're going to have trouble. The water is here. Speak of troubles.
And when you pass through the waters?
I'll be with you.
Now I like to tell the story in connection with this.
That happened in this very town that we're in. It's in connection with my mother.
And she went through some difficult times. She was bothered about things and I remember.
Staying in the house overnight with her back there on 43 David Dr.
And I slipped on the couch.
And she got up in the morning and.
She came in in a very, very, uh, bothered state.
And she said to me.
We are not told.
How deep the waters will be.
We are not told how wide the waters are going to be.
But we are told that there is the other side and he's gonna take us through because it says when thou passes through the waters.
Are you facing difficulties in your life right now?
The Lord will be with you all the way through.
Don't cave.
Submit to His will in His way in your life.
It's the way he works in our lives.
It's the way He brings us along, brethren.
When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee. You don't wanna go along without them, do you?
I don't know what you're facing.
You know, there's three things.
In the first in Hebrews 12. In the first couple of verses of the chapter.
Wherefore laying aside.
I'm not very good at quoting. Just hold the place please and turn to Hebrews 12.
Wherefore a verse one. Wherefore, seeing we are also accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience of race that is set before us, looking under Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.
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And is set down in the right hand of the majesty on high. I've enjoyed these two verses this way. There are three things.
We have, we have weights, we have sin and we have cross.
Now it speaks here about let us lay aside every weight. You know what weights speak of weight speak of hindrances. If you're a runner, you make sure you don't have too many hindrances on you and your pathway, don't you, if you're going to run a race?
You don't wanna be hindered.
So it says here as the runner would lay aside the weights, lay aside the things that would hinder you from following the Lord, you and me.
And sin, you know, if we have a bad conscience about something that we're going on with, it's gonna slow us down.
In our Christian life.
It's going to hinder us.
But then there's a third thing mentioned here, and it's a cross.
Let us lay as these things aside, but in connection with the cross it says both, the Lord, it says, Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.
Did he seek to set his cross aside? No, he died on it.
Do you have a cross that God has given you?
Don't try to set it aside.
You may have something that is difficult to bear in your life.
Don't try to set it aside.
Just like the Lord Jesus bore his cross, will you take it from him and go on?
He endured the cross. Well, I've enjoyed that in connection with those two verses. But now I just in connection with the verse back there in, uh, Isaiah 43. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee through the floods. They shall not overflow you. And so, beloved, sometimes I find it a cheer. You know, I've heard of so many Saints recently at a mix, my wife and I.
Bow down. And we've been, Sometimes we put a list, they're not very good at remembering names, and we'll go down the list and tell the Lord about this and that one. They're going through trials and then I find out afterward how they got sustained in the trial. And I wondered how it would ever work out.
Well, that's our God.
That's our God.
Can we count on them? Can we trust them?
It's a privilege to pray one for another.
To seek to encourage each other to go on.
That's why we need the prayer meeting.
And I wanna say this, when you pray, don't just pray sitting in a chair. It's alright. Sometimes it's alright to pray standing up, it's alright to pray when you're driving. Get down on your knees. You know, it's interesting to read in the scriptures about the Lord Jesus, it says he knelt down and prayed.
It's reverence before him.
Pleading with God.
Tills about Solomon.
And God put it in his word that he knelt down and he prayed.
No, this subject of water is too big for me and uh, I just want to give a little thought. I enjoyed so much of scriptures in John 4:00 this morning.
I wanna give you a little thought before I sit down that uh, in John four. Please turn to it.
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John for the woman.
At the well.
What a well.
John Fore.
No.
I want to read.
These verses in my little new translation, I don't very often read out loud. Uh, I like to read this at times, but I want to read it. And when I'm reading along, I'd like you to read it. Look at it in your King James translation. And there's one word that's different on two or three occasions.
Very interesting, and you'll pick it up as we're reading So John 4.
John 4.
And verse one.
When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus makes and baptizes more disciples than John. However, Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples. He left Judea and went away again under Galilee and.
He must needs pass through Samaria. He comes, therefore to a city of Samaria called Saikar, near to the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now a fountain of Jacobs was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with the way He had come, sat just as He was at the fountain.
He was about to. It was about the 6th hour.
Now you know this passage, let me go on verse 10. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it was that saith thee, give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living waters. The woman says to him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the whale is deep.
Whence then hast thou the living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well?
And drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle. Jesus answered and said unto her, Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst forever but the water that I shall give him.
Shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life.
I know you noticed it. Oh, I love to see the difference you see. As I understand it, there are two different words in the original and in the new in the King James translation that it is translated as the well.
But when? But when the Lord Jesus referred to the well, he referred to it as the fountain.
And every word of God is pure. He puts them there for our good and blessing. Now what is the difference between the whale and the fountain? Well, there was Jacob's wealth, and the Lord referred to it as the fountain.
And the woman referred to it as the well. You see, the well speaks of the place that she came to for refreshment.
And she went to draw water to get it from the well, and she would take it, and then she'd come back the next day and she'd get more water and then she'd come back the next day.
And that's like the thirst in the life of everybody in this world who is trying for one thing after another.
So we quote that same hymn. I tried the broken sister's Lord, but all the waters failed. And so there is a desire of thirst that God has placed in the heart of every man and woman.
To thirst after something.
And there can be thirsting after money and after fame and after education and after music.
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And after whatever it is. Cars, clothes, whatever.
Thirsty.
And then Jesus spoke of it as a fountain. You see, it really was a different source completely.
It was a different source. And so he said to that woman, basically this if you come to me.
If you have me, you're going to have a fountain inside you that springs up into everlasting life.
All to go away from the wells of this world.
Where all the drink that goes on and drinking. I'm not referring to hard drink, but the thirsting. Think of the newspapers, think of the Internet, think of all the TV's and everything that is put out there for mankind in general, Christians whoever they are.
To satisfy. To try to satisfy.
And God has given one source.
For satisfaction.
You and I have had the privilege during these 2 1/2 days at the meeting to sit at the well. But dear young people and Saints of God, are we going to go home with that well inside us and let it spring up into everlasting life to drink from this blessed book?
Our brother Bill spoke about.
Having tracked.
And being able to pass smoke to others. I want to give you a verse turn please to Isaiah chapter 52. I think it is.
Noah's chapter 50.
Verse 4.
This is Christ in his manhood. You know, if you want an example of how you're to walk through this world, you look at Christ. He left us an example of how to walk. Now look here. The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He waken of morning by morning He wakeneth my near to hear us and learn it. The Lord God hath open my ear, and I was not rebellious.
Neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them, plucked off the hair I had knocked my face from shame and spitting.
You wanna know how to speak to other people?
I like Bill, find it hard to give out track sometimes and I have to ask the Lord to help me. I got some tracks right here. I gotta tell you something, I haven't given one out today yet.
Uh, here you have something Here's a little secret right here in these verses. You notice how it says the Lord God verse four have given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season.
You know, you wanna speak to somebody else, do what the Lord did here. You know, it says the next thing he wakeneth, uh, he wakeneth morning by morning. He, he wakeneth my ear.
To hear as they learned.
And I found this a little bit in my own life if I spend a little time with the Lord.
Maybe a lot of time.
Why spend time with him? He will help me. He will fill up my life. He will. It'll be like the well of water that's springing up to everlasting life. And like that woman, she went and she told other people she couldn't hold it inside. Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did.
Why'd she do that? Oh, she was so filled up with him.
And we can't, we can't walk away from these meetings with the joy that we got in these meetings and use that as enough, so to speak, to bring us to the next conference.
No, we need him daily.
To walk with him and to get the strength to go on for ourselves.
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And for our brethren that are around us and to let it spill over to others that we meet all, may the Lord encourage His beloved. Let us try to help each other to go on to please Him.
It's a cold world out there.
It's wonderful to have the fellowship of our brethren. Let's seek to go on together to help each other in these precious things that God has given to us.
#166.
I Know