St. Thomas Conference: 2013
Table of Contents
Romans 8:1-7
Hymnsing
Hymnsing Talk
Romans 8:8-17
Portions from the Epistle to the Hebrews
Address—Bob Thonney
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I'd like to start our meeting.
This afternoon with #150.
One of the hymns that.
Is a true worship hymn.
Focuses almost completely on the glories of the Person of Christ.
Our faith rests on the person and work. You can't divorce the work from the person. But this hymn as we sing it.
Uh, let's try to focus on this person that we're singing about.
I don't wanna be the only one standing, so I'd invite you to stand as well.
Thou art the earth.
In life.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Miracle.
Nsnoise.
Waterloo, MI.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, it is our privilege to bow before Thy presence once again this afternoon.
To think of all thy glory, Lord Jesus.
And our desire is that our hearts would be drawn.
After thy glorious person, grant that thy Holy Spirit would have liberty.
And then opening up thy precious word, so that it would have the right effect, that we would be father drawn after thy beloved son.
We cast ourselves upon thee in some measure, conscious of the human weakness.
But we look up and have confidence that thou art overrule. We give thanks, Father, for these moments together in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Like to turn to the only book in the Bible that begins with the word God.
Don't look at me, please.
I think you know what Rick I'm talking about.
Book of Hebrews.
Interesting. We believe that.
Perhaps the Apostle Paul was the writer of this epistle, and yet his name never appears in the epistle.
Perhaps because.
The Hebrew believers had a particular bias against Paul, but there is an apostle mentioned in this epistle.
In the third chapter.
But it is not the Apostle Paul.
But I would like to read particularly to start off with the 1St 3 verses of this chapter.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners.
Spake in time fast into the Fathers by the prophets.
Hath in these last time they spoken unto us by his Son?
Whom he has appointed heir of all things.
By whom also he made the world's.
Who being the brightness of His glory.
And the express image of his person and nothing, and holding all things by the word of his power.
When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
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Like to extract 3 words from the 1St.
2 verses to begin with.
God.
Hath spoken.
Isn't that wonderful? To me, I think it is so tremendously wonderful.
God has spoken.
He has something to say to us.
Are your ears open?
Do you listen when his word is read?
You know, I don't pretend to understand a whole lot of this book.
But my desire is when I read it or hear somebody else read it, to have my ears open because he's speaking.
He spoke in time past to the Fathers by the prophets, and that's what we have in the Old Testament scriptures.
And he spoke on Mount Sinai.
But it was always a partial revelation.
But in these last days He spoken unto us in the person.
Of his Son, and now because Jesus has come.
We have a full a complete revelation of all who God is. I think it is so marvelous to think about it. I've often mentioned.
That the Muslims in their doctrine about God say that God is unknown and unknowable.
How tragic. And you and I say we know God.
Isn't that wonderful?
To be able to say that we know God, How do you know Him?
In the person of his son.
And so in these the rest of verse two and verse three, we have 7.
Phrases that speak of the glory of the sun.
And to me it is extremely touching.
To be able to meditate on the grander, the glory, the power, the wisdom, the love of this person we're talking about every way you want to think about him.
Even his humiliation.
It is without equal.
In human history.
God has entered his own creation in the person of his own Son, and he's spoken. And you and I can learn now who this God is. What's the first phrase say about Him?
Middle of verse two it says he's appointed heir of all things.
We're talking this morning in the reading about the inheritance.
And that the inheritance in the widest view of it includes every created thing, the whole universe.
And you know, I used to stop and say, why does he start with that? I would think he would start with the creation of the world, which is the next phrase.
It was because before the worlds were made.
All there was was God in the fullness of His being.
And his eternal counsels. And in those eternal counsels God had already determined.
My son.
When the worlds are made is going to be air of all things and that incredible God's eternal purposes. You know, we live in the realm of time and we have a hard time thinking about eternity. I'd like to ask people what is eternity and I get all different kinds of answers.
Thousands of millions and billions and trillions of years.
Doesn't even start it. Yes, that's one way of looking at it, but that's because we think in realms of time. But really there are no years, there's no days, there's no hours in eternity. It's all just one day, the day of God.
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And the best explanation of eternity I can come up with is in Isaiah 57 where it says the high.
And lofty one, who inhabits eternity, the where God dwells in the fullness of his being.
But the next phrase is by whom? Also He made the world's the universe.
Rather than I think sometimes it's helpful to study the universe, I find it thrilling to tell you the truth. My children have bought me a couple books on the universe. It never ceases to thrill me, to look up and to realize the grandeur of it all.
The creation of which we are a partner, what he made.
Last year in March.
I was down with my wife in Bolivia and in the course of the visit, couple brothers and I went in a pickup down.
Into the South of the country.
For to see is where Brother Eric Smith arrived in 1921. We were there to break bread with our brethren in that city.
And afterwards we took off across the High Plains toward Uyuni, a city on the Altiplano.
I think, uh, some of you may have studied geography enough to realize that they're in South America. There are two main ranges of the Andes mountains, the inner Andes and the outer Andes is what they call them.
The inner Andes are the ones that are further to the east and the outer Andes are along the coast. In between there is a plateau about 12,000 feet altitude and so we crossed the inner Andes over towards Uyuni, which is on the Alta Plano at 12,000 feet and we came across.
To the place where it drops off to 12,000 feet altitude.
Well, I stopped there a minute just to take in the view.
Tremendously beautiful you can see out there two 300 kilometers to where you can see the outer Andes on the coast sticking up way above the 12,000 feet altitude mark and they're in between those High Plains off to the right was the salt flat civil uni 200 kilometers wide and it happened to be at this time is the time of harvest down there and.
They grow a lot of quinoa, and when quinoa is ripe, it's red and yellow. So it's splattered with red and yellow all across there. I don't know. It does something to me to look at creation sometimes and see the grandeur of it and to realize the one who created it is the one I'm personally acquainted with. Tremendous to think about. But then I still stepped back and said.
Really, this is nothing in comparison with the universe that we live in.
You realize that we are in.
Group of stars called a Galaxy the Milky Way Galaxy.
And our son is one of probably about 200 billion more stars in this particular Galaxy.
Light that travels about 300,000 kilometers a second takes 100,000 years to cross our Galaxy alone. Think of it this way, the light that started across the Galaxy when Adam was placed on this Earth isn't even a tenth of the way across our Galaxy yet.
You get any idea the vastness of it?
One more step.
In the universe.
Scientists now calculate that there are perhaps as many as 400 billion more galaxies like these.
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Just leave this completely behind.
This is the one who created it all and how did he create it? Where did he get such power?
By the word of his mouth were the heavens created, and all that is in them.
He commanded and it was done.
He commanded and it stood fast.
Oh, the power of this person we're talking about.
And this was the person.
That stood before the Council of the Jews.
And the high priest came up and spit.
In his face.
Incred.
Well, there's five more phrases here in verse 3.
Next one is Who being the brightness of His glory.
The full out shining of the glory of God was the Lord Jesus.
When he was here, like was mentioned yesterday in the reading, there was no beauty that they should desire him.
And yet there he was, the brightness of his glory.
You step outside, will you, and try to look at the sun for a minute? No, you better not do that. You'll damage your site.
But that's just the created part of the person we're talking about. And brethren, He is the brightness, the full out shining of the glory of God.
And the next phrase is.
The express image of his person images representation.
So that's the Lord Jesus. Here was the exact representation of all that God is.
Do you want to know what God is like?
Look at Jesus.
You will find out what he's like.
As I mentioned, they stepped up to him when he was on trial and spit in his face. I can't think of a worse insult to somebody.
Had people spit at me but not spit in my face. They went up the chief priests and spit in his face.
I've often asked as we preach in prison. Sometimes.
Prisoners, what would happen if somebody spit in your face?
One man said that guy wouldn't be standing very long.
That's our natural reaction.
What's God like?
What a patient.
Long-suffering God we have in the Lord Jesus.
No reaction.
Simply went straight on toward the cross. What a beautiful thing.
Does God have any interest in children? Sometimes the children, I think, get kind of tired of long meetings. It's got interested in them. He sure is. How do you know?
They brought them to Jesus.
The disciples wanted to shoo them away, Thought the Lord was way too important, way too busy to deal with children.
Is that the way God is? No. He's interested in everyone, whoever you are.
Whatever little thing might be bothering you, he's interested in it.
That's the kind of God we have in the Lord Jesus.
But now the next phrase is upholding all things by the word of His power.
This is tremendous to think about to not only has he created everything that exists in the universe, but he upholds it by his power.
Man makes something and it has to be repaired every once in a while.
How often has the solar system entered into repair mode?
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How long has it been going? Thousands, Maybe hundreds of thousands, maybe more years.
We don't really know for sure.
But it's all maintained in clock like order by the word of His power. The Lord Jesus was just born and laid in that Manger.
Poor mother didn't have any place else to give birth to him except where the animals were eating.
And so she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the Manger. That little baby.
That little seemingly helpless baby, because he wasn't a helpless baby, was the one that was controlling the whole universe by the word of his power.
When they nailed him onto the cross.
The same time he was hanging there and abject agony.
He was giving breath to those that crucified him.
He upholds all things by the word of his power.
That then notice the next one. This is the phrase that deals with his work. Most of the phrases deal with the glory of his person, but here's one that deals with his work.
When he had by himself purged.
Our sins.
Oh, the glory of this person.
He by himself purged our sins when it came to the question of putting sin away.
He could only do it by himself. Nobody was there to help him.
There on that cross he hung. We know the story how he suffered from the hands of man.
For the first three hours he was there and there was light.
He suffered.
For righteousness sake.
His disciples forsook him and fled. Reproach broke his heart is full of heaviness. Look for some to take pity. But there was none. But then God clouded the scene with darkness.
And in three hours.
He made purgation for sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Three hours.
Every sin that wise ever committed was placed on His holy Head, and the storm of judgment broke in all its fury on God's beloved Son. If I was to be forgiven, somebody had to pay, and pay in full, the price of my redemption.
And he paid it in full.
The end of those hours, he cries. It is finished.
All the other sacrifices of the Old Testament.
The flames consumed the sacrifice, but in this case the sacrifice consumed the flames.
There is therefore now no more con, no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Thank God, I'm forgiven, but all the awfulness of the cost. At the end of those three hours he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His God, who had been his strength, his stay in all his life, the one in whose will he delighted.
First took him in the hour of the most abject suffering, and by the sacrifice of himself he paid the price in full. Thank God for it.
The last phrase.
He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
I understand it's reflexive. It could be read. He sat himself down.
Because of the worthiness of his person and because of the completeness of his work, he had the right as a man to walk right into the presence of God and sit himself down.
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At God's right hand.
You Canadians up here in Canada, would you ever dare to go to Ottawa and walk right into the President's personal office and sit yourself down right on the right hand, right his right hand? I don't think anyone dare to do such a thing. He might be invited to do that, but you would not do it on your own. But here is one because of the worthiness of his person.
Because of the completeness of his work, he walks right into the presence of God, walks right into heaven, and sits himself down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Oh brother, this is the man that I worship, that we worship. I trust His glory, His grandeur, His greatness fills our souls. Just feel sometimes we need to stop.
And let it sink in who we're talking about. We're living in what is called Man's Day.
In which man makes himself the reference point in everything.
I do what I want to do because I have the rights to do it. OK, you have the rights. You go ahead and do that. But when you get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus properly.
You're gonna realize you have no rights left. There is only one who has all the rights, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is it that we focus on each other so much? We have divisions and we focus on the brethren on one side and on another side brethren. We're not called to be occupied with ourselves. There are principles in God's Word, but the focus point is Christ.
The only focus point and I find that Satan makes determined attacks.
To try to get your attention off of this glorious person.
And we are called to focus in on him.
There's always the tendency in us to focus on maybe gifted brethren.
It bothers me sometimes, brethren, in our prayer meetings that just seems like the brother in up front are the ones that pray and thankfully in these meetings have been somebody's, some people back further, they're prayed. You young brothers, have you been exercised to pray in the prayer meetings? I mean, at the conference, I find it very helpful when a young brother has that exercise.
Why do we focus on certain ones and think that they're the only ones? I really believe it's because we've lost sight of the glory, the person of our Lord Jesus.
I'd like to use the rest of the time we have to go to some practical reflections.
Uh, based on this, brethren, again I say my desire when I look at you, dear young people, and I thank God for you dear young people, and for the evident desire on the part of many of you to please the Lord.
But I say the only thing that is going to keep you on target is focus on the person of Christ. Sometimes I see people sitting here and they're not singing. I say, well, I guess there's somebody that really hasn't gotten their focus on this person yet. Because you know what? When the Lord Jesus was here and the little children were praising him.
And the the Pharisees complained about it.
The Lord said if they should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
So if you refuse to praise him, God is going to have others praise Him.
I want to encourage you. Praise Him not only when they come together and meetings. Praise him at home.
Praise him in your car, Praise Him at all times. He's worthy.
Let's go over to the 12Th chapter of this epistle.
Verse.
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25 says.
See that you refuse, not him that speaketh.
For if they escape not who refused him that spoke spake on earth much more Shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven? Whose voice then shook the earth? But now he hath promised, saying Yet once more I shake not earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as those things that are made.
That those things which cannot be shaken may remain, wherefore we receive in a Kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
Well, here we have what relates to what we heard in the first chapter. God has spoken. Here is the advert admonition. See that ye refuse, not him that speaketh.
And it speaks that his voice at that time shook the earth.
But he's talking about a time when not only earth, but also the heavens will be shaken. Every created thing that can be shaken will be shaken. And we're starting to see the shaking going on. Things that have stood for years have started to shake, and they're going to shake apart the only thing that will stand firm.
Is what is based on the precious word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away, the Lord Jesus said.
But my words shall not pass away.
So make sure your life is founded on the precious Word of God. It's the only thing that will stand in the days that we are living. And I'm thankful for young people who ask questions, who want solid answers. The Lord stir us to help and to give them answers. And if we don't have the answers to admit I don't understand that part. Don't just give any kind of an answer.
We need answers based on God's word because it's the only thing that will stand. See that you refuse, not him, that Speaker God is speaking. I'd like to go back to the first part of this chapter.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, proud of witnesses is evidently the witnesses of faith mentioned in Chapter 11, and they are therefore our encouragement. But notice what it says. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Lay aside the weights and the sin that does so easily beset us.
You know, there's things in life that are not wrong in themselves.
But their weights they don't help you in running properly.
You know what impresses me when I look at the Lord Jesus?
The Lord of glory when he passed through this world.
How simple a lifestyle he had.
What did he have, materially speaking?
Almost nothing. The only thing I can come up definitely that he had was his clothes.
Which they took away from them when they crucified him.
Is there anything wrong with having a house?
Or at that time, an animal to ride on. Nothing wrong with it, but he didn't have it.
When it comes to the question of feeding 5000 people.
Did he have something that he miraculously took out of his own hands? No.
He waited for what was seemingly a ridiculous solution. A little boy with A5 loaves, we call him Rolls, and two small fishes.
What are they among so many?
A brethren, what has impressed me, sometimes we look at others and say, man, they have a lot of money, and if I had had that much money I could do lots for the Lord. Well, we don't do anything with what we have, and God doesn't wait for you to have a whole bunch of money. You use what you have right now, put it in His hands. You'll be amazed what God can do with the little. They all were fed and they had leftover.
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12 baskets full enough so that each apostle could go away with a basket full of fragrance that remained. Isn't that amazing? The Lord always did that He didn't have. We don't really have any record of him having a piece of money in his own, in his own pocket, but He always supplied the need in one way or another. So they call us to brother and to look to him, not to be looking at each other.
Not to be forming ideas in our minds based on that. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endures such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Consider him.
Did you have contradiction? Maybe. You say I've got real problems. Yeah, he did too. Did he give up because of the problems that encountered him? No. Straight on. Oh, what an example.
Looking unto Jesus, dear young people, I want to encourage you to look to Him. You will be encouraged in your soul in the measure that you look to Him. If at these meetings you only get looking at certain brethren, I guarantee sooner or later you're going to be disappointed. Don't do that brethren, God may use to help you a little bit.
But looking.
Unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He started it. He begun it. He finished it.
And then it says, who for the joy that was set before him, endure the end, endured the cross, despising the shame?
What was the joy that was set before him? I like to think of it as being able to go back into the presence of God and say, Father, I finished the work that gave us me to do. Only He could really say that properly. Lord's given each one of us a work to do, but I don't suppose any of us, not even the apostle Paul, He could say I finished the course, but he didn't say I finished the work that I was given to do.
May the Lord encourage us though, because I really, truly believe that God has given every single one of us, you young brothers, you young sisters too, something to do for him. And one day we're going to stand and he's going to say, I gave you something to use for me.
What you do with it, We're gonna give an account before the judgment seat of Christ. So be exercised. Be encouraged to use what little you have for Him.
I love the verse three and the old version of the Spanish Bible.
Re lucid pues Westero, Pennsylvania miento octel que sufrio Tau contradiction de pecadores Contra SE mismo.
Paraguay, No southeast.
De Sonny Model and Westeros correspondence.
The way it translates out is reduce your thoughts to him.
I love that expression. To reduce our thoughts to him, we think of what people are, what they've done.
Reduce your thoughts to him. But that brother offended me. Reduce your thoughts to him. But you didn't consider what he did to me. Reduce your thoughts to him. Don't be so self-centered. That's where our culture has gone astray, terribly astray.
As we think of ourselves, we make ourselves the reference point and we go astray. Reduce your thoughts to Him.
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Now let's go over to the 13th chapter for a few more practical reflections that I find very helpful. Brethren.
Let brotherly love continue.
You know there's two words for love in the Greek. One is I mean two main words that are used. One is this one which is filet O which is brotherly love. There's another word agape, which is divine love, the love that is used most in the New Testament.
It is the love that loves when there's nothing lovable, but the word that's used here is.
Brotherly love.
Brother Michelle, I've learned to appreciate you as a brother in my years of acquaintance with you. I.
Suppose you might appreciate me a little bit.
You have to.
You know, there's something so wholesome about the interchange of love, and we need to cultivate it. Scripture tells us to let it continue.
But sometimes brother and we have problems.
Maybe I don't quite agree with you, brother Michelle.
And perhaps in a fleshly reaction.
I give you a slap on the face.
Now as their brotherly love.
But that's not brotherly love, is it? That's divine love.
You forgive me because of what God has done for us, that love, that loves when there's nothing lovable in US. And that's why it says in second Peter chapter one.
To brotherly love add love. So if there is a problem between me and you, what are going to do about it?
Let brotherly love continue, but they get some resentment in my heart. Well, we need to get to the divine love and add that and then go back to cultivating brotherly love. I love to see young brothers and young sisters too, cultivating fellowship with one another in the Lord's things. That is very wholesome. I can look back and think of young brothers that were a tremendous help to me.
When I was young.
One young brother that I was going in the wrong direction at that particular moment, and I suggested something that was not proper for a Christian.
You know what he said to me? I don't do that.
You know what? That was all I needed. That was it for me. I didn't go in that direction again. That's the importance of good brotherly love, and Scripture encourages Let it continue.
Verse two. Be not forgetful of two interesting strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
I don't know if this refers to Abraham. He seemed to be aware of who those were that visited him.
I remember a brother I got to know in Bolivia, city of Cochabamba. They told me one day when I was visiting him, he says I always am careful at how I deal with people that come to my door. It might be an Angel the Lord has sent.
There's lots of beggars down there and sometimes, you know, it might be tempted to dispatch and get going. But he said I'm careful because it might be an Angel.
Verse three, we had read this morning in the prayer meeting and I think there's something we need to be exercised. The brethren, brethren, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and then which suffer of adversity as being yourselves in the body. Our brethren, our suffering terribly in other parts of the world. Is there any exercise on our part?
To put ourselves at disposable as disposable to the Lord's use, so that there might be blessing for others.
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In this world who have very difficult.
Circumstances to pass through where persecution is very severe.
May the Lord encourage you, dear young people. I know you say, well, what can I do? I'm just one person and I don't have very many resources.
Do what you can. Important thing is put yourselves up in the Lord's hands. Say Lord, is there something I can do in view of this need? And then let the Lord lead you in whatever way he may in fulfilling.
That how important it is, brethren, we have brethren that are in bonds.
Verse four Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but ************ and adulterers, God will judge.
Here we have the question of marriage, and it's honorable in all.
And the vet undefiled.
Intimate relations between a man and his wife are not prohibited in the Scriptures.
But there are the limits.
The lines are drawn. It is within the marriage bond.
Young brother in any measure you have interest in a young sister, do it as Paul spoke to Timothy treat the young sisters with.
Uh, as sisters with all purity.
Don't let yourself go in that. Let there be restraints. You know, a river is a beautiful thing to see, but if the river gets out of bounds, it does a lot of destruction.
And human sexuality is a powerful river, but keep it within the bounds that God has put it in within marriage.
And you're gonna find it a extremely wonderful blessing in your life, within the limits that God has put it. ************ and adulterers, God will judge. Seems like we're always under attack to let down the bars, let in some of it.
Lord, help us to respect God in what He has set for our own good.
Another problem, verse five. Let your conversation or your manner of life be without covetousness.
And be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. It's a beautiful promise of the Lord, but it comes on the heels of the exhortation to let our lives be without love of money.
Covetousness. Always wanting more and more and more, just a little bit more.
That's what's so characteristic of the American culture.
Brethren, the Lord help us to listen to what Scripture says here.
Be content. I find it such a blessing to see people that are content with what they have. They're not always wanting more. They're not always looking at somebody else that has a little bit more and discontented with what they have. They're content.
I think maybe I mentioned a brother. That was a real blessing to me down in the Dominican Republic.
Juan Vasquez was his name. He's with the Lord now, but he was a brother that was very poor.
And when I was there in his home one time with Brother Clem Buchanan.
He had us there for the noon meal and his wife hadn't gotten an meal quite ready yet, so we had to sit down. And the only place we could sit down in the house, it was at the table. And we had to be careful how we sat down not to break the benches because there weren't that reliable.
His house was just some sticks stuck in the ground for the walls and.
A roof out of palm leaves.
And when it rained, sometimes the rain came inside just as well as outside.
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But I still remember sitting in that brother's house.
Dear brother, the black face, the joy that radiated from his face. He sat down at the head of the table and took out his Bible, and I didn't realize he didn't know how to read. He started quoting scriptures. I thought he was reading. Found out later that he couldn't read. But the joy that being from that face, content with such things as he had.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. The Lord help us, brethren, not to be always desiring more and more. The Lord help us to use what extra we may have for the advancement of His Kingdom.
It just seems like things are going to start going downhill. I'm not a prophet, so I'm not saying what's going to happen with the North American economy.
But it can't help but believe that something is going to happen in the wrong direction sometime the way money is being spent that they don't even have.
Money we have in our hands. What are going to do with it? It's the Lord's Use it in view of that coming Kingdom, when everything of this world is going to be passed into oblivion.
That's its only value is the way we use it now in view of the future.
So let your conversation be without love of money or covetousness. Be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that we may boldly say, isn't this beautiful?
The Lord is my helper. I will not feel fear. What man can do unto me, shall do unto me.
Down a little bit further here and just want to touch on these points, he says in verse 10, we have an altar.
Whereof they have no right to eat. Which serves the Tabernacle? Where is our altar?
What is our altar?
It's Christ. Christ is the sacrifice. Christ is the priest, Christ is the altar. By him we offer the sacrifice to praise, a praise to God continually. He says they have no right to eat, which serves the Tabernacle. In other words, going back to that old Jewish system of things is a denial of where we are now. And so they have no right to eat of it, of this altar, if you're going to go back.
To serving those old Jewish customs.
Now, verse 11.
For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Let us go forth unto Him. There is the reference point again. It is not to a group of brethren, it is to Him. We are called out of the camp. The camp is that Jewish form of religion, and so many factions of it have been incorporated into Christian groups. In this day and age, to have music and worship is Judaism.
Sometimes people say, why don't you have music to praise the Lord?
Because that was connected with Judaism. And what God wants is the expression of the heart. Not what sounds good to our ears, but what sounds good to His ear is what comes from our hearts, even though it may not sound that great to us.
Having a fixed priesthood, certain ones that are qualified to speak and others not, where does that come from? That comes from Judaism as well. Brethren. Are we exercised about these things? We're called to come out of that. And that's why exhort you, younger brethren, be exercised in your local assembly. Do you pray in the prayer meeting? It's a good place to start taking part in assembly meetings.
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Do you give the Lord praise given out of him? Those are things that you can do. It's not a matter of age and intelligence. It's a matter of priesthood. And if you are born into God's family, you are a priest. You need to be exercised about that. Come out of the camp, come out of that principle that does those kind of things. We could go on and.
Enumerate. But that's sufficient, for now we're called to come out unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.
Verse 15 and 16 By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise.
How often?
Continually, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. There's another sacrifice of doing good and communicating in verse 16 that we are to listen to as well. May the Lord help us, dear brethren, to keep our eyes in these last days on the Lord Jesus to go on, dear young brother and sister, be encouraged. Do what you can.
It doesn't matter if it seems small and negligible.
But be encouraged to go on keeping your eyes on the Lord. Let's just pray. Father, we're thankful for Thy precious word. Keep us, we pray. Confess how easily we get distracted from looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We pray for blessing the rest of the afternoon now.
All in that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Romans 8:18-26
Gospel 1
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.
I'd like to welcome everyone to our gospel meeting this evening.
And to start our meeting, we're going to sing #9 on the hymn sheet that was handed to you.
The course goes, only trust Him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now #9 on the Gospel hymn sheet.
Nsnoise.
OK.
Anywhere else? Thank you.
For taking your name.
You're doing now.
Before we open the scriptures, we have a word of prayer together. Ask for God's blessing on our time.
Our God and our Father we.
Come before thee this evening. We would thank thee for this opportunity. We thank you for the good land that we live in and the liberty we have of having meetings like these, and that we pray for blessing on our time together.
Let us know the need of all the hearers, and we pray for Thy help with the speaker and with our hearts to to hear and believe those things that Thou has prepared for us, written down for us in our precious word. So we pray Thy help as we speak from its pages and we pray for a blessing for everyone here this evening. Father, we ask it with confidence. We know thus love us, loves us, Let us love us. And the proof of that is Thy Son, the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross. And we thank you for this. And we pray that none would leave this room tonight without being at the benefit of that finished work done for us in Thy love and by thy beloved Son, Father.
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And we ask it with Thanksgiving, in His precious name, Amen.
I'd like to start this evening by looking at some verses in.
The book of Romans.
Those that were with us earlier, we were in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans. We'll go to the first chapter.
Apostle Paul writing to believers in the city of Rome.
I would just like to start from the 14th verse.
Romans, chapter one and 14.
I am a debtor boat to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. What is the power of God unto salvation? To everyone that believeth, To the Jew 1St, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to fate. As it is written, a just shall live by faith.
Well, someone told me this week as we read some of these verses, she says what about us, We live in Quebec. What about us, We live in Ontario, St. Thomas or whichever location. Well, the Apostle Paul was ready to preach wherever the Lord would send him the the Greeks to Rome, to the Barbarians, to the wise, to the unwise, the messages the same.
It's wonderful to consider the message of the gospel that there is not a 2013 edition of the gospel God has not had in time to revise the good news.
It's been around for 2000 years and millions in glory will have believed the good news.
And our concern tonight is that if you're in this room with us, that you'll be one who has believed this good news. That's what the word gospel means. It means good news.
And your parcel, Paul, as to the good news that he preached, he was very specific and I'd just like to say a few words about that.
When the Lord Jesus was born, there were shepherds in the field.
And the angels had good news for them, and the good news was about the birth of a child, which was the Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah. Christ the Lord promised to the people of Israel, a descendant of the lineage of David, to be king of Israel. That was the good news that the angels presented. And this is not the good news the apostle Paul was preaching.
The good news is the Apostle Paul was preaching went further.
Because there was a time when the Lord Jesus lived on the earth. He was born and he lived on the earth, and then he died and he did the work that had been prepared before the foundation of the world that God wants you and me to hear about. And the apostle Paul saw himself to be the one to whom it was committed to tell others about this wonderful good news.
We could turn for a verse in the First Corinthians chapter 2.
He was writing to believers in the city of Corinth.
And he says in chapter 2 and verse 2.
For I determined not to know anything among you save.
Jesus Christ.
And him crucified.
The substance of the good news the apostle Paul preached, had not to do with the birth of the Lord Jesus.
But with his death on the cross.
And that doesn't sound like much good news.
But this is the good news that God wants you to hear.
Emily, it's about a person and his work.
If I say I have good news, it was 85° in Florida and the people had a wonderful time on the beach, that's good news for them, not good news for you.
The good news wants that. God wants you to hear concerns you.
Very important.
This message that we have tonight before us in the Word of God is for you.
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And what does Jesus Christ and Him crucified have to do with you?
Well, this good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified gives God the power.
Towards you.
Take that away from the Word of God.
And God, I have to speak rabbently, is powerless to bring you in heaven.
Or me in heaven? Or anyone else in heaven.
And that's what we had in Romans chapter one. Let's look at that again.
Your parcel, Paul says in the 16th verse. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ where there's a power of God.
And to salvation to everyone that believeth.
Here's the power of God.
The God of the Bible is a thrice holy God. Holy, holy, holy. There's no sin in him, no darkness in him. He's absolute light.
And if you and I have a fault, a defect, a sin, a failure, were estranged from him forever because of that absolute holy nature.
But God is not only light, absolute light is absolute love.
And He had in his heart to have you. You have me failing creatures in His presence forever in eternal bliss and happiness.
In the enjoyment of himself and of one another.
And to do that, the Lord Jesus came into the world. He was born of a virgin, perfect man. He lived a perfect life, and then he was crucified as a malefactor.
Objects of curse. A curse that is one who hangs on the tree.
That's Jesus Christ.
And him crucified.
We have a verse in first Timothy chapter one and the 15th verse.
Let's look at that for a moment.
First Timothy, Chapter One.
Verse 15.
This is a faithful saying.
And worthy of all acceptation.
The Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
First qualification for someone to be saved is to be a Sinner.
The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And is there someone in this room tonight who doesn't own themselves as a Sinner?
Falling short of God's expectation, His glory.
God, that's never savior for you. He has a savior for sinners.
And that's why Christ Jesus came into the world, became a man.
And accepted our rejection, our insults.
Our spittle in his face as we had this afternoon. How we hit him with our fists. The crown of thorns, mockery, blindfolded hymns. Say you be the Son of God who tell us who hit you.
You just submitted to that because He came to save sinners, not to judge. He will come later to judge, but He came to save, to seek, and to save that which was lost.
Now this little verse says here, this is a faithful saying.
In my French Bible and perhaps another English translation, it says this is a sure word.
Sometimes just the same, something that we say, it's something that's absolutely sure.
It's a sure word of God.
And worthy of all acceptation.
And unfortunately, some people have not yet accepted that.
And perhaps I could put the question to you this evening.
Have you accepted that?
It's worthy of all acceptation.
Well, the good news the apostle Paul preached concerned that person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, the eternal Son of God, become a man born into the world so he could die.
He partook of flesh and blood so he could die.
And he died.
And he rose again the third day, and as we speak together this evening, he's at the right hands of God, a man in flesh and bones, with nail prints in his hand and his feet. This is Jesus Christ the Lord, the one who's going to rule this earth, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.
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I can't show them to you tonight because he's invisible. He's at the right hand of God. You can behold him by faith. You trust in him.
But there's a day coming when you will see him.
Every eye will see him.
Some will wail and weep.
Some will be in terror when they see him.
And many of us will be in fullness of joy when we see the face, the one who loved us so much.
And gave himself for What's it gonna be for you?
You know, it tells us in the scriptures that God is long-suffering patient, not willing that any should perish, but also come to repentance.
We live in a culture.
North America.
Culture that keeps you busy.
Keeps your ears busy, your eyes busy, your fingers busy.
Everybody's busy, busy, busy.
And sometimes we're so busy that we're sleeping.
We're spiritually unconscious of what's happening.
On this planet.
What I was saying about on the Internet, you saw something on the Internet, this man called Kim Jong, 28 years old.
The ruler of North Korea.
He has hundreds of thousands of children. He's going like this.
Remind me of one who is saluted like that. Hello Hitler.
His folly brought the death of over 50 million people.
And destroyed most of Europe. One man and his folly and the ones that followed him.
They tell us.
Not to worry about him.
He probably doesn't have nuclear warheads.
I hope they're right.
Well, Pakistan, you read about. Pakistan's people get killed in Pakistan every week.
People get bombed in the marketplace. What about Afghanistan? Iran.
Iraq.
Egypt.
In Africa, some of the countries in Africa.
Turmoil upset war.
What about the economics on the face of your nice planet that we live in? What about Cyprus and Portugal and Spain and Italy?
But this afternoon was speaking about.
Our way of spending money we don't have.
This could crash any moment.
Are you sleeping?
Busy with all sorts of things, but not being conscious of the times that we live in.
We are living the very last moments of God's patience towards this earth.
He's not willing that any should perish.
There's a limit to his patience.
There's a day he's appointed and in which he's going to judge this world.
And we need to be sensitive at the warnings that God gives us and the things that we see all around us.
I hope you're worried.
I hope you're concerned.
I hope you're awake.
Help you know?
How about your condition before God tonight and how many in this room they have accepted that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners?
And God's power has been active towards them and saving them because they believed.
Look at that verse again, Enrollment chapter one.
I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
Men are not ashamed of blaspheming the name of Christ every day.
Not in Muslim countries and Christian countries.
They're not ashamed of blaspheming the name of Christ. They're not ashamed of their wickedness and abuse and immorality. They're not ashamed of that.
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I asked you, unbeliever, you're ashamed of the gospel.
But Paul wasn't ashamed of the Gospels. The power of God.
Unto salvation to everyone or anyone.
Who believes?
That's your part.
You can know about it. You can answer questions about it. You can know Bible verses by heart.
Teach them to other people.
But unless you believed in your heart.
You're a guilty Sinner.
That she deserves God's wrath.
And God is not going to give it to you, because he's given it already to the Lord Jesus in your stead.
That's what God wants you to believe.
So God has us hear the gospel, and he expects you and me to believe what he says, what he says about you, and what he says about his Son. 2 little verses in First Epistle to John.
John, Chapter one.
Verse 10.
First, John one and 10 if we say that we have not sinned.
We make him a liar.
And his word is not in US.
God says you were sin. You said no, I haven't sinned. Well, you make God a light.
Very serious to refuse a testimony of God that he gives us about ourselves.
I thank the Lord I have occasion from week to week to speak to men and women.
We have many difficulties in our lives.
Because of sin.
And they have no difficulty accepting.
That they are sinners.
And many are attentive.
To the offer of God's forgiveness to the Lord Jesus, and I trust many have put their faith in him well. The other verse in first John chapter 5.
Verse nine first John 5:00 and 9:00.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
This is the witness of God, which he had testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God had to witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believe it not. The record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God had given us to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he's a hath not the Son of God.
Hath not life. Here's another instance where.
Someone is C making God a liar but not believing a testimony of God concerning his Son.
We believe the testimony of God concerning us. We believe the testimony of God concerning his Son. It's as simple as that. So we have in Romans chapter one, the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. God is powerful to bring everyone in heaven to forgive all their sins. He's powerful to do that because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, because His Holiness is righteousness has been satisfied. His judgment poured out on someone who didn't have any sins, who did not deserve judgment.
And he would receive it in our stead on the cross. But it's to everyone that believe it.
I don't know how many people there are in this room this evening.
But I trust we're all going to heaven.
I trust tonight as you leave this room, if you were not saved when you came in, before you leave this room, say I'm one of the ones who believe on the name of the Son of God. I believe the gospel that concerns the Lord Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. I believe that Christ died for my sins.
May perhaps you say?
I've heard that many times. And it's not that I don't believe, I mean.
But I I'm thinking about it, I'm I'm not fully persuaded.
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There might be other ways where God could.
I could be acceptable before God. Well, men have many, many ways that they'll tell you.
Will make you acceptable before God. That's what men say.
But God says their salvation in no other.
Someone is wrong somewhere, and I'm fully persuaded that the one who's wrong.
Is not God. I'm fully persuaded that the one who cannot lie.
Is right when he speaks about my condition before him as a lost and guilty Sinner.
One who cannot lie, who testifies to the work of his son that has satisfied.
His Holiness and righteousness forever. So it says here in Romans chapter one to everyone that believeth, to the Jew 1St and to the Greek it's for everyone. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And if you might allow me to use the words that I have in my French Bible on the principle of faith for fate as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
You see, in the Old Testament, God had given prescriptions through the law.
How? How man could be righteous before him if he kept his commandments, his ordinances, his laws?
And nobody ever kept it perfectly save the Lord Jesus.
So on the principle of the works of the law, no man can be justified before God.
And God doesn't tell us that, so He will condemn all of us. But He wants us to understand that we cannot stand before Him on the basis of our performance.
Even if your performance might be a lot better than somebody else's, You might be almost perfect, but you might be almost perfect, but you're not.
You have to be perfect. How many sins can get into heaven? 0 Nobody save the Lord. Jesus never committed any sins in thought or word. Indeed, we're all sinners.
Falls short of the glory of God.
So God has given us his standard to prove to us.
That we cannot be before him on our own merits.
But you can have anyone in his presence on the merits of another, which is the Lord Jesus.
So if you read in the Gospel of Luke, that thief on the cross, a matter of factor, one who did evil things, it is not specified which evils he's done, might have been a murderer. He had capital punishment there.
He was on the cross beside the Lord Jesus.
Railing him with the others, insulting him with the others, deserving the wrath of God.
To such an extent.
And that man is gonna be in heaven.
In fact, he's in heaven right now, not with his body, but in his spirit. He's with the Lord Jesus.
How can that be?
I'm not as bad as that fellow.
I think.
But he's gonna be in heaven.
What did he do?
He said didn't hear Paul's gospel.
Never read the Bible, he said to Jesus, Lord, Remember Me an alchemist, and I came and the Lord Jesus said, today thou would be with me in paradise.
He called upon the name of the Lord.
With itsy bitsy teeny weeny face.
Ultimate time in his life. He just turned, didn't ask the Lord to forgive him his sins. He didn't have all this information.
He just knew he was going to enter into eternity.
And he called upon the name of the Lord. Tell us in the Scripture, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
Shall be saved.
There's the glory of the Son of God dying for guilty ones, one right beside him. He was guilty almost to the last minute, yet he's gonna be in glory.
And you know I'm afraid.
Many people, many, many, many who have not done things as bad as that man are not going to be in heaven.
They don't think they're bad enough to need to get saved.
Well, it's brought to us here on the principle of faith. That's how God justifies now. He justifies those that believe.
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And he says that to you and me, so we would believe.
It's four feet.
That's why we hear the message for it to be believed and for those that believe God is powerful to save him them. First Corinthians chapter one.
We looked at verses from chapter 2 a minute ago.
Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Verse 17 of 1 Corinthians chapter one.
First Corinthians one and 17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
Not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God as it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, whereas the wise, whereas the scribe, whereas the disputer of this world, has not yet made foolish the wisdom of this world. 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 believe, For the Jew require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jew, as stumbling block unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jew and Greek, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Brother Bob this afternoon was Speaking of.
The power of God and creation.
Beyond our ability to grasp how we could produce, create a universe, we cannot even measure by the power of His word.
That's how powerful God is. He just says, and there it is, Let there be light, and there was light.
As the power of God and creation.
But the power of God and salvation.
It required more than words.
They required a sacrifice.
Not just any sacrifice.
A sacrifice that would satisfy God's character and holiness forever for everyone who are going to be in eternity with God.
And for God's power and salvation to be effectual for you and for me.
Jesus Christ came into the world.
Born of a virgin. And he walked the streets of Palestine, and he healed, and he preached, and he resurrected and he fed.
And then he let himself.
Be taken and smitten and spit upon.
And he could say.
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
What words of grace and forgiveness forgive them for they know not what they do.
Do you know what you're doing tonight?
Do you realize what you're doing tonight?
As you're hearing from the word of God in weakness, what I trust in truth about Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
You're either giving God the power to save you by trusting in the work of the Lord Jesus.
Or you can be sealing your doom.
Tonight.
You can know tonight.
The judgment of God upon you.
If you put off trusting in the Lord Jesus, let's read a verse in Second Thessalonians chapter 2.
1St The 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 speaks of the man of sin coming.
Verse 9 Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders.
You know many people who were eyewitnesses.
Of signs and wonders and miracles.
By the Lord.
Perhaps remained in unbelief.
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Most people in this room that are believers never saw the Lord or any miracle performed by the Lord, yet they're believers. How can that be? Well, that's how God works.
God works in having us here and believe without seeing. Blessed are they that have believed and have not seen, and that's you and I. But those that I've seen and heard and have not believed, well they're gonna see and believe. And we have this in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. It speaks of one coming after the working of Satan without power signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.
So there's somewhere perishing, and here is why they 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 they all might be damned, who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
She doesn't say here because they receive not the truth. They receive not the love of the truth.
What we're refusing when we refuse, put off the offer of God's salvation and forgiveness. It's his love.
God had no reason other than love to you and me to get His Son.
To forsake him on the cross. And our answer is dying. Christ, my God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me?
In love for you, he forsook him.
And you won't have that for yourself.
You won't believe that for yourself.
Well, in the day coming.
God will ask you accounts about that.
It says in First Corinthians chapter one as to the Apostle Paul, God hadn't sent him to baptize.
Well, this world has.
Many propositions to make to men, to mankind, to make them better and fit for heaven. And those scriptures teach about baptism. Baptism won't make you fit for heaven.
The only thing that can make you fit for heaven is the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, the gift of God's love.
That you can be yours tonight by simple faith in the Lord Jesus.
You actually could have come in this room tonight and sat in your chair.
Dead in trespasses and sins.
And on your way to a lost eternity and you could get up from that chair, save forever through faith in the Lord Jesus. It does not depend on God.
The work of your salvation has been done 2000 years ago. God has accepted it. God makes you hear it, so you believe it. And you would benefit by it by trusting in the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
I ask you tonight, my friend, trying to make it as simple as they can if you walk into this room tonight a lost person.
And you walk out of this room tonight a lost person.
You'll have to answer for what you heard, maybe not only tonight, but on many other occasions what you've read.
Did you not hear? Did you not know? Did you ever hear these words? Jesus Christ and him crucified?
For you God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life, Well, they receive not the love of the truth to be saved. And that's why they're perishing for not receiving. They don't go to hell for being sinners.
We go to help for not receiving the salvation that God has provided for us. Just a few more verses in First Corinthians chapter one.
Verse 18.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish.
Foolishness.
You know foolishness today.
As a Tribune, I know that's the right word. They have. They have access to the media.
They can publish and they can announce and they can say all sorts of things.
00:40:05
Foolishness.
Can be proclaimed throughout this world tonight. Nobody challenges it.
God says in this book here.
That he made the world by the power of his word.
That's being refused.
There was something in the beginning and.
Was really small, little tiny black hole. It was really, really small. And there was so much puffer. There was so much pressure. It exploded. And when it exploded, it created the universe that's all around us. Ordered full of beauty, full of design. Just happened like that. This is foolishness, The fool is saying in his heart, There's no God. There is a God that made the world. You're responsible for looking at it and knowing that I'm there.
But there's more than the testimony of creation. There's a testimony that God has given us concerning his Son, the apostle Paul writes in First Timothy chapter 2.
There's three.
The end of the verse. First Timothy two and three. God our Savior.
We will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. There's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. That's a testimony that we hear now to the apostle Paul and many others now, until it was done, until he had given himself a ransom for all. Risen again, gone back to glory.
God couldn't announce the message, but now it's here, the testimony to be testified in due time. Run to Amazon. A preacher, an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ. I lie. Not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and Verity.
This is the testimony that we have before us in the Word of God.
He gave himself a ransom for all. Here's some prisoners. They're all tied in feathers. They can't move around. And there's been a ransom asked for them. And somebody comes and pays the ransom and the jailer comes around and he takes all the feathers off and he says, OK, you can leave.
The one who paid the ransom stands at the door and he says come, I paid the ransom for everyone.
Those that believe.
They come up, they benefit the liberty that has been provided for them by the one who paid the ransom.
Can you imagine someone staying in that dungeon, in that prison, not coming out?
That's what we're doing.
When we put off the gospel, the Lord has given himself a ransom for all willing to save everyone. All the asks of you is to believe in your heart. You also confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. It's God's power, it's God's word through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Don't put it off.
Don't be a fool tonight.
Don't listen to the mockers of this world who think the cross of Christ is foolishness.
Foolishness to them that perish, but to us who believes the power and wisdom of God.
We sang on him. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now.
He will save you. He will save you. He will save you now.
When you get up from your chair tonight, are you gonna be saved on your way to heaven?
Or still lost in your sins, young person, young child.
Older one.
It's your choice, it's offered to you. It's free cost God a lot. The ransom was paid.
Will you trust him now? Don't put it off. Let's pray.
I got in. Our Father, how we thank thee for the Lord Jesus.
For the gift of Thy Son who gave himself a ransom, for all that one mediator between God and man. And we thank thee, Father, for his work on the cross, for his shed blood, for his finished work, for thy satisfaction in him. Thou St. him from the dead, set him at thy right hand. And we know he's coming from heaven shortly to take his home home, and then to come back in judgment over this guilty, guilty world. We thank Thee for thy long-suffering. Father, We pray for the gospel this evening wherever it goes forth. And we pray that none in this room tonight would leave still lost in their sins. We just thank Thee for thy patience. We thank you for thy word.
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For Thy Spirit that strives with our souls, we thank Thee for it all, Father, in the beautiful and precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm in.
Hearing and Listening to God
Children—James House
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good morning.
How are you this morning?
Can everyone hear me?
That's good. It's nice to be able to hear, isn't it?
Can you imagine your world if you couldn't hear?
If instead of hearing me talking.
Change your life, wouldn't it?
Glad there's some kids on the front row. Can I interest you girls in moving to this prime seating section over here?
Thank you.
Hopefully we'll be able to do something this morning, those of us who are in the front row, and it'd be easier if we're all down here.
Any other kids do want to come up, feel free. We've got lots of seating.
Hi Levi, what do you want to say?
The what?
God's word is like a hammer. Well, looks like you don't need your hammer sheets. We'll have to sing it from memory.
God's word is like God.
'S praying. Uh-huh. It's like it's a little worthy and you can't hear anything. Uh, so I'm not having to wear everything and the mirrors and the mirror palaces to sleep. Oh yeah.
Enterprise Ltd.
You know God wants us to be able to hear.
You know who made your ears?
Jesus did. That's right.
The book of Proverbs tells us that the here and here is one of the things that God's made.
And so if God made it, he must want us to listen.
Does anyone have another song?
Yes.
When he cometh, let's see if it's in here Last song #47.
When he comes, when he comes.
To.
As long as he is on.
The board, it's really bright. Round the Dorning there is no shining.
Nsnoise.
838 never stinks, right? And for him.
You know, there was once a great Kingdom.
00:05:01
And there was a wise man who ruled over that Kingdom.
And he was a traitor. He's a Wheeler and dealer. He negotiated, he made deals. He arranged for the construction of all kinds of projects, and he built up a beautiful capital city. He brought in all kinds of wealth. He had ships and sailors who went to all different parts of the world.
And they brought in all kinds of fancy things, like monkeys.
To entertain people.
And they brought in fancy Peacocks because they were beautiful to look at.
And this man had a son.
He wanted his son to hear. He wanted his son to listen. Because this king.
Had all kinds of wisdom to teach his son so that way when his son grew older and when the king died, the son could be the Crown Prince and take over and become king after his father.
And eventually that day came.
That mighty Kingdom, it belonged to the sun. Everything that his father had built up, all the wealth, all the beautiful buildings, it all belonged to that sun.
But there was a problem.
He didn't listen to his dad.
He didn't hear what his father had to say.
And as a result, shortly after he became king, he lost a good portion of his Kingdom.
And then he made even more mistakes, and before you know it, another king came in and pulled all the beautiful things off of the buildings that the father had built.
And that sun, because he wouldn't hear, because he wouldn't listen.
He ruined.
What his father had made, he had a beautiful Kingdom, but he spoiled it because he wouldn't listen.
Sorry for the sad story. Does anyone have another song?
Yes.
41.
#41.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Anyone else? How about you?
44.
#44 into the.
Airport.
Why can't I hear that? I'll get my hands.
Salvation Salary.
No one can stay on thyself, man. Nobody ever has called me before.
00:10:00
2848 Lullaby. And then I'm here to make a miracle. I think that's what I'm saying. Do you think that I don't know Beverage? My hand will be full.
God.
Nsnoise.
Before I forget, we are gonna do something important. We are gonna ask our Father in heaven for help.
My father, I ask for your help this morning.
To tell each person here, but especially the boys and girls, about the Lord Jesus Christ, how much He loved us, how much He gave to save us, and how each one of us can be saved.
Pray this in the name and for the glory of Jesus Christ, Amen.
So that story I just told about the Prince who became king and wasted everything that his dad had built, it's a true story.
Young man's name was Rhea Bol.
You can read about it in Chronicles and Kings.
That wouldn't have been better if he just listened.
Phoenix Maybe, maybe not.
I think it would have been better if he'd listened to what his dad had to say.
I'll read you something. His dad had to say. His dad's name was Solomon.
Solomon wrote most of the book.
Proverbs.
And Proverbs chapter 4.
I sort of imagined Solomon.
Talking to Rio Bond.
And saying to him, come here, I need to tell you something.
And then I can hear him saying Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 10. Hear O my son.
And receive my sayings.
And the years of thy life shall be many.
What in today's words, come here.
Listen up, pay attention to what I have to say, and if you do that then things will go well.
There's another verse, the first verse of the chapter.
Since this is Sunday school and we're talking mostly to the kids, it's one I wanted to read. It says here, you children, the instruction of a father.
In the Bible we learn that God.
Wants to be a father to each and every single one of us.
But he wants us to listen to.
So how do you listen? How do you hear?
Do you use your mouth to listen?
What do you think, Toby?
Use your ears. That's right.
Now there's times when we can hear.
So today we were pulling out of the parking lot.
And my wife, who was driving, said I hear sirens. I didn't hear him, but she did. And sure enough, a couple minutes later, an ambulance came flying down the road with the sirens going. That was something she heard. And we hear all kinds of things during the day. Maybe we hear a door slamming. Maybe we hear our brother yelling.
Maybe we hear our mom or our dad calling us and we wish we didn't hear that.
00:15:00
But there's something else that goes along with hearing that's very important. It's called listening.
And hearing means that the sounds going in.
And your brains computing and.
You know that there are sounds being made and you can figure out what the sounds are. But if we listen.
It means we're paying attention to what we're hearing.
Means we're thinking about it.
It means.
That we pay attention.
And it doesn't just go in one ear, as they say, and come out the other.
Because there's sometimes when people talk to you and they talk.
Talk.
And then they say, isn't that right? And you say, huh?
Or maybe your parents, says India.
I'd like you to go and go and walk that way. And because you were only hearing and you weren't really paying attention and listening, you turn around, you walk this way.
You see, what we do shows whether or not we were listening.
And God wants us to listen.
He wants us to pay attention.
And yesterday in gospel.
And in the address by Mr. Tony.
We found out how God talks.
Right now I'm talking to you. I'm using my voice. You can hear it with your ears. But if we're going to listen to God.
How do we do that?
If we were very, very, very quiet, would we hear a voice?
We don't hear that right now. There were people in the Bible who heard God's voice, but today God wants to talk to us through the Bible.
When we read the Bible, it's like we're hearing what God has to say.
Yesterday we were told that it's important to listen when the Bible is read.
To pay attention to what it has to say.
Some of the things the Bible has to say are nice to hear. We like to hear them.
Do you guys have things that you like to hear?
Yeah.
Alright, what's something you like to hear?
Any volunteers?
What's that?
Well, do you have something that you'd like to hear?
You wanna tell us?
Yeah.
He likes to hear motors.
Has been the one that just took off to the back.
Ben likes to hear motors. That's something that he enjoys.
Me. Well, I like to hear my wife say that supper's ready.
Anyone down here or something that they like to hear?
Yes, music.
Toby likes to hear music.
Do you have a favorite songs?
I just like all music.
Not all, but there's something that you like to hear.
And the Bible is full of things that we like to hear.
Things like God saying to us in the book of Jeremiah, I have loved you with an eternal love. That means that God has loved us forever. He loves us right now and he's going to love us forever. It's never going to stop.
God loved us so much He wanted to prove His love.
And God says.
And this is the love of God manifested or proved.
Because the descent is only begotten Son into the world. When Jesus came into this world to die on the cross, that was God's way of saying to the entire world, I love you.
Other things we like to hear.
Are sentences like be not afraid?
Does anyone here on the front row like to be afraid?
No, you'd rather be happy, right? And there's voice. There's words in the Bible that tell us to be encouraged to be happy. We like to hear those words.
But there's also words in the Bible that God has said that sometimes we don't like to hear.
00:20:07
Words that tell us that we're sinners.
Now can someone give me a definition for a thinner?
That's a good definition.
A person who does something that's not right.
The Bible tells us that we're all sinners because all have sinned.
And that's bad, The fact that we've all sent.
You know, there's something worse.
Deep down inside each and everyone of us, there's a part of us that likes to do what's wrong, that likes to sin.
And that's scary.
Everybody has it.
If you hear people in the meeting talking about an old nature, that's what they're talking about.
It's part of us that wants to do what's wrong.
And that's something else that makes it thinner.
Nsnoise.
That's why the Lord Jesus had to come down and die on the cross.
Because not only did we have all piles of bad things that we've done wrong.
But deep down inside, we needed to be changed.
Because we were bad right deep down inside us.
It's not very nice to listen to that kind of thing, is it?
Do you like it when your parents look at you and say that was wrong, you shouldn't have done that?
I don't know about you guys, but when I was a kid, that usually came along with all right? Now you're gonna be punished for it.
That I really didn't like to hear.
And that's something else God had to tell us. God didn't enjoy writing that in the Bible. He didn't enjoy telling us that there's a punishment for our sins because God doesn't want to punish us. That's why he sent the Lord Jesus to take the punishment instead of us.
Because he didn't want and he doesn't want to punish us.
But he has to, because you see, deep down inside, we're all wrong, we're all sinners, we're all bad. Way deep down. God's the opposite of that.
Everything about God is perfect.
On a test in school or a quiz? Perfect as what, 100%?
Everything about God is perfect.
Nothing wrong.
Everything about God is good and pure and holy.
And so God has to tell us that because he is so good and because we are so bad.
He has to punish us for our sins.
And that's something we don't like to hear.
And so we have two choices. One, we can listen to what God has to say, which is what he wants. Or two.
We can ignore what God has to say.
And choose not to listen.
Let's reverse in Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 30.
There's another verse that talks about kids.
But the last verse is a nice verse because it was encouraging kids to listen.
This verse is a sad verse.
Because it talks about bad kids.
You guys know any kids who are bad?
Yeah, any of them sitting on the front row.
OK, alright, Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 9.
This is a rebellious people.
I mean, the people that go against and don't want to do what God does and what God says, when God says go right, they go left. That's rebellion. It's going against what God wants and what God says.
Lying children. Oh dear.
Children who don't tell the truth.
God always tells the truth.
Children that will not hear the law of the Lord.
Children that don't want to listen to the Bible.
That sound like bad kids.
Yeah, no good. Here's what they say.
They say to the seers the Sears back in the Old Testament were the people who would tell them they were men raised up of God to tell the people what God wanted them to know.
They say to those people see not don't say anything.
And they say to the prophets.
00:25:02
Prophecy not unto us. Write things instead. Speak unto us. Smooth things. We only want to hear the nice stuff. That's what these people were saying. That's what these kids wanted to hear. They only wanted to hear the nice things.
They didn't want to hear about how they were bad.
And about how there was punishment and consequences.
They say prophesied deceits tell us lies. We'd rather hear something that's not true because it sounds nice. It makes us feel good.
But where would that get us?
Imagine you've smashed the front window on your house.
It's like a baseball wound up and threw it right through.
Smashed it into 1000 pieces. Would that be good?
No, it shows you don't care about your parents who own the house.
You're like my parents, you didn't need to be told not to throw things at the house.
You got in trouble when you threw things at the house. You knew that was wrong.
But imagine you've just thrown that baseball right through the front window.
And somebody comes up to you and says, oh.
Good boy, that was wonderful what you did.
Would that make you feel good? There's somebody telling you that it's OK. Does that make you feel good?
We might. It would be better than something, someone coming up to you and saying James.
Come inside.
That was wrong. You're going to be punished.
But if somebody doesn't tell you the truth, if somebody lies to you, even if they're making you feel good.
It doesn't change what's right and wrong according to God, and according to the Bible, that doesn't change.
And so we can choose to either listen to what God has to say or to not listen.
So because you're on the front row, we're gonna try and do something as an activity.
There's all kinds of different things that can get in the way of us listening.
1234.
In there somewhere.
Alright, I need 3 volunteers.
Oh, OK, we got one.
We got two. And how about you, Sir, in the blue vest? What's your name? Simon? Thank you. And Rachel and your Savannah. All right, I've got earplugs. Earplugs keep you from hearing. And, you know, there's all kinds of things that can keep us from listening to God.
I've got three different things written on here. One says fun.
There's nothing wrong with having fun.
But if we're so busy having fun, and if fun matters so much to us.
That we don't want.
To listen to God. And it's like that fun is clogging her ears and keeping us from listening. So who wants the fun plugs?
You wanna have some fun Simon? All right, just hang on to those for a minute, OK? Now next thing is self being selfish, focusing only on us and me.
Not caring about what God thinks.
That can clog our ears when we only think about ourselves and we don't listen to God.
We want self.
Savannah.
Last one I have is one called Will.
When we say I don't want to do what God wants to do, I want to do what I want to do.
I don't wanna listen to God and our will plugs up our ears and we don't listen.
I guess there's stuff like that.
Alright, we're gonna try putting these in.
Really. It's going near.
Gilbert.
Does it feel strange?
Yeah, alright. We'll see if it'll work.
You can put them in. OK. I'm going to test those to see if they're working. You want to put them in yourself, Savannah, or you want me to?
Me. Me too. OK, so we've got one person and their funds getting in the way of listening to God. That's sad. That's someone else.
And their selfishness.
Sorry, and they're only thinking about themselves is getting in the way of listening to God.
I got someone else and their will is set against God. They don't want to listen.
OK.
Let's see if Simon's earplugs are working here.
Can you hear what I'm saying, Sir?
00:30:00
Apple.
What group did I just talk about?
Can you hear me?
Alright, I'm going to assume it's working. Are yours in Rachel?
Nsnoise.
This could be tricky. I don't know if it's gonna work, I've never done this object lesson before.
How about you, Savannah? Can you hear me? You can still hear me. I don't bother.
OK, umm, can I get my volunteers to please put their hands over their ears as well?
Because I'm gonna give instructions.
Yeah, nice little bait came from Walmart last night.
I'm going to give some instructions.
And there's some candy in this bag. And if you're gonna get the candy, you gotta listen.
So, Mike, can you turn the mic off for a second? That might help too.
There you go.
If you reach your hand all the way down to the bottom, Levi, you'll find something.
See reach in reach all the way to the bottom.
Oh, you want that?
Yeah, what's that? Oh, and he keep his sister company. All right, reach your hand all the way down to the bottom.
OK.
How about you guys, If you reach your hand all the way to the bottom, those are the instructions. If you just grab what's on the top, I think you'll be disappointed.
All the way to the bottom.
Gotta go all the way.
You get one no.
I'll try that.
OK.
Did you get one? No So.
If you just looked in this bag at the top.
What did you see?
No curtains empty, no cartoons.
It's in there.
Alright, those of you with earplugs can take them out.
OK, you find something.
Get your hand all the way in.
For the sake of time, I'm just going to hand these out.
So at the very bottom, there's a box of candy.
But it was covered an empty milk cartoons. Thank you to those of you who helped me save them yesterday.
And empty juice boxes.
The people who had their ears plugged.
They didn't hear the instructions that you had to reach past all the empty containers in order to get the good stuff at the bottom.
If our ears are plugged and we aren't listening to God, we're going to come up empty.
Because there's someone out there, boys and girls, who doesn't like you, who hates you, and his name's the devil, and he's going to put all kinds of empty things out there for you to grab anything in these, any use, you know, I had to fight off the young people who were trying to clean them up.
It's our job.
They're empty. Anything the devil gives you is going to be empty.
But the Lord Jesus doesn't want us to plug her here. She wants us to listen. He wants us to hear. So we're going to read a verse now in John chapter 5.
John, Chapter 5.
And verse 24.
Lord Jesus himself speaking.
He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you.
He that heareth my word.
And believeth on him that sent me everlasting life.
And shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
00:35:03
Anyone who listens, Anyone who hears the word that the Lord Jesus said.
Because the entire Bible.
Is what God wants us to know. Many many, many different people wrote it down.
But it's what God said.
Men like Solomon and John and Paul wrote it down. They were the ones writing the pen, but it was God's words they were writing down.
So anyone that hears, that's the first thing we need to have our ears unplugged.
We can't put our fun and having a good time in front of listening to God. We can't be selfish.
And ignore God. We can't have our will.
And say I don't want to listen to God and ignore him.
We have to hear and then it says whosoever believeth.
On him that sent me.
We need to believe in God the Father who sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to die for us.
If we believe.
In the Lord Jesus Christ, if we believe that we're sinners, that everything he says in this book is true.
About us, about how our sinners that need to be saved if we believe that and we believe that He died for us on the cross.
It says.
That person, and it can be anyone, any boy, any girl, any adult.
Hath everlasting life, just like God has loved us.
Forever and will love us forever. He wants to give us life so that we can enjoy His love forever. Everyone in this world, to some extent or another, enjoys God's love.
Because they feel the sunshine on their face. Because they have food to eat.
Because there is some measure of happiness in their life. All of our blessings come from God. The question is, are they enjoying the one who gave them those blessings? Are they listening? Do they hear God?
But anyone who ignores God, anyone who doesn't listen, they're only going to enjoy God's blessings till the day their life ends.
Till the day when God has to punish them for their sins. That's when their enjoyment of God's love stops.
God wants our enjoyment of His love to go on forever. He wants it to last for all of eternity in heaven. He wants to spend.
Forever. Imagine that it just keeps going and going and going and the whole time God is just showing us more and more and more of His love.
How much he cares about us. How much he wants to bless us. He's gonna keep showing us more and more. It's never gonna end. That's what he wants to give us. What he wants us to listen.
If we listen to God.
He's promised he will listen to us. In the book of Isaiah, it says the Lord's hand is not shortened.
But it cannot save.
Levi's hand here on the front row is shortened that he cannot reach his hymn sheet, which is on the floor. But the Lord's hand can reach anyone. There's no one here. There's no one in this world that God can't save. Everyone is within his reach. And right after that it says neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. If you call out to the Lord Jesus today, he will hear you. He's promised.
He wants you to listen.
He wants you to hear, but if you believe and if you call out to him.
Then He will hear you. He'll answer your prayers. He'll take away your sins. He'll give you a new life. He'll make it so you can enjoy His love forever.
That's what he wants to do.
But we have to listen.
All right, does anyone have a number they want to see?
Yes, Sir.
#4 alright.
Alrighty #5 you counting up? All right, This one's called Oh Happy Day. Is that what you wanted or did you want #5 in the little kids book?
This one OK, number 50, happy day. And this is what happens when we listen, it becomes a happy day.
Oh, happy day.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Blah blah blah my thing, go away.
Nsnoise.
One more thing, Rachel, I noticed you came up with the candy.
Were you listening to what I said?
You know how Rachel knew how to get a candy?
She was watching the others.
Even if we don't say anything to people whose ears are plugged.
People who aren't listening to God, they can learn from us by watching.
Very important what we do.
Because people can learn from us by watching, and that can be good the way Rachel got a candy. People can learn good things from what we do.
It can also be bad the way Levi and India grabbed an empty carton even though their ears were open. They followed what their sister did.
So either we can show people what's right, or we can show people what's wrong.
Let's be good examples of people who listen. Let's pray.
God our Father, please help each one of us to listen to.
Your word that you've given us in the Bible. I pray that each person would put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior in his name, Amen.
Exodus 15
1 Thessalonians 1
Psalm 91
Romans 8:27-39
Gospel 2
Gospel—Stan Allan
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.
I'd like to welcome each one to the Gospel meeting this evening.
And I wonder if we could start by singing #11.
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, When the clouds unfold their wings of strife, When the strong tides lift and the cable strain, Will your anchor drift or firm remain? We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure, while the billows roll fasten through the rock which cannot move, grounded, firm and deep.
In the Savior's love, perhaps we could stand and sing #11.
Oil.
***.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
46011.
4.
8-9, 10-4.
Will God be upon through the morning?
The heart gave me a call, and the heart of the bride will be awake for a day. I am sleeping on the Lord, but my thorn stars forever.
We just ask the Lord's blessing.
00:05:01
Our God and Father, we thank Thee for each one in this room tonight. Who can say? We have an anchor that keeps the soul. And uh, Lord, we would just pray tonight for anyone in this room who cannot truthfully sing the words, this little hymn grounded, firm and deep in the Savior's love. Oh, we would just pray, Lord, if there's anyone here, boy or girl, man or woman, the nosy, not a Savior, we pray that tonight.
They might come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might realize their lost, guilty condition before Thee. And yet, Lord Jesus, discover Thy wondrous love that brought Thee into this world to save sinners. And so we ask Thee tonight for Thy blessing. On Thy word we pray, wherever Thou art being held up tonight as the only Savior of sinners, we ask Thee for a blessing. And so we commit ourselves to Thee, asking Thee for Thy help. For we know without Thee we can do nothing.
In the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I wondered tonight if we could just turn to a very well known story. I suppose that almost all the children in this, uh, room know the story. I was thinking of uh, Jonah and umm. I would like to turn to the book of Jonah tonight and look at the third chapter.
To start off with Jonah chapter 3 and perhaps we would read the UH chapter.
Hosea, Joel. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.
Jonah chapter 3 verse one. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying.
Arise, go to Nineveh.
That great city.
And preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went on to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey. And he cried and said, Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh believe God and proclaimed the fast.
And put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them.
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne.
And he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth.
And Saturn ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock.
Taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yeah, let them turn everyone from his evil way.
And from the violence that is in their hands, who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fears for anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that He had said, and that He would do unto them, and He did it not.
And just one other verse that actually we had before us this morning with the children, uh, John 5.
And, uh, that wonderful 24th verse.
I'm sure most here can quoted by heart.
John 5/24.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from or out of death into life.
Well, I think most of us here tonight have heard this story of Jonah many times.
Particularly the story of him taking that trip by boat and being thrown overboard. But you know, it says here in this first verse that we were reading, it says the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying.
00:10:07
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. You know Jonah lived in Israel.
Nineveh, as I understand, was on the, I believe the Tigris River. It was about a A5 day walk from Israel. And God here tells Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach what he was told to preach. And uh, we know that he wasn't very happy about going there. In fact, we know in the first chapter he went on the exact opposite direction. I'm sure that he was afraid to go there to Jo to, uh, Nineveh.
Uh, he didn't think that his message would be popular.
And he didn't know just how it would be received, but how wonderful. And in this third chapter he did go, He obeyed God. And we find here that it says that God said, preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. And I want to say tonight, dear friend, that God has given me a message I trust. And he says to me as well.
Preach that which I bid thee. And so you know I'm not up here to give my own opinions. I am here to speak to you the Word of God. And dear friend, I want to tell you that every one of us are one day going to have to give an account of ourselves to God. It says that every one of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Every act, every thought that you have ever imagined.
One day you're going to have to give an account of How do I know that?
Well, you know, it says in Genesis chapter 6 that God said that every imagination of the thoughts of man were only evil continually. God knows your thoughts. He knows everything that you have ever said, everything that you have ever done, and every one of us, both saved and unsaved are going to have to give an account. Thank God that all my sins have been taken care of through the blood of the Lord Jesus shed on Calvary.
And so I'll never have to come under judgment for those sins.
Because the Lord Jesus paid the penalty. But I want to say dear boy or dear girl.
If you've never accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, the day is coming when you're going to have to stand in the presence of God and give an account of your your life. And if you've never accepted Jesus as your savior, you're on your way to a lost eternity. How solemn. You know, life down here is really very brief. I can remember coming to conferences like this.
We've just mentioned there brother John Stewart.
Being at the Jarvis St. Collegiate Conferences, that was back in the 50s, you know, life has gone by very, very quickly, very quickly. We're not here very long. Our life is like a drop in the bucket. And the question is, where will you? Where will I spend eternity? Well, we find here that Jonah was told to preach what God had told him to preach.
And that's my responsibility tonight. And so we find here that Jonah arose, it says in the third verse, and went on to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city.
You know, as I understand it, Nineveh, uh, was about 60 miles in circumference, 60 miles. And apparently it had walls that were about 100 feet high. I don't know how high, how high the walls are here, but I would think maybe between 3030 and 40 feet. Can you imagine these walls 100 feet high, 60 miles in circumference, and as I understand that it had 1500 towers.
There were about 200 feet high. There were 15 gates into the city and at each gate there were these winged lions that were imprinted on the, on the stones to the entrance of the, of the city. So as an exceeding great city as fact, in fact, at that particular time, I think it was the, the, the largest city in the world. Nobody could conceive that anything could happen to that place.
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But, you know, if you went over to Iraq today, because that's the city that Nineveh was found in, at least the the country where Nineveh would now be found, you would find nothing but a heap of rubble. In fact, as I understand that hardly anybody lives in the area whatsoever. So that great city has now been destroyed completely. Well, we find here that it says that it was an exceeding great city.
You know, in man's eyes it was an exceeding great city. But, you know, I was thinking of what our brother read this morning in Ecclesiastes where it talked about a little city with few men They're in. You know, that's the way God looks at it. You know, this world is really just a speck in the universe. And yet it's wonderful that God has a love for every man, woman and child in this world. We've also often read that, that verse for God.
So loved the world.
That He gave His only begotten Son. And he speaks there in Ecclesiastes of that little city, with few men there in it. But then it talks about a poor wise man that came to deliver the city. Who was that poor wise man? He was none other but the Lord Jesus Christ. That one who was rich for your sakes became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich. And so he came down into this world to deliver it.
Because I want to say that judgment hangs over this world.
And uh, just like we find here, I didn't I'm a little bit of ahead of myself. But you read now in the fourth verse, it says Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey. And he cried and said, yet 40 days and nine of us shall be overthrown. I've often wondered why it says here it was a great city of three days journey. Many people have different ideas as to what that means.
Some have felt that Jonah, when he went into that city, it was divided into districts and if he was going to preach the gospel so that everybody could hear, he would have to travel for three days in different directions in order to preach the gospel, or at least to preach his message. But whatever it means, his, his message was very short, only 8 words, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Can you imagine any gospel sermon shorter than that? Yet 40 days and and umm, Nineveh shall be overthrown. A very brief message and yet it was a very serious message. And I want to say tonight the judgment hangs over this world just as it hungover Nineveh. I can't tell you that in 40 days judgment is going to fall on the city of Saint Thomas.
Or of the city of New York, or whatever God has not promised us.
Umm, that he's going to give us 40 more days. It could be that before this meeting is over that God would have caught away the believers to be with himself and those left behind would be left behind for judgment. But we do know that judgment does hang over this world. There's a verse that says in Acts chapter 17, God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Very well just read the verse. I'm sorry, we all know it so well. Acts 17 and verse 30.
The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he have appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
So God makes it very plain here in this verse that He will judge the world in righteousness.
And I want to tell you, dear friend, tonight that judgment is hanging over this world.
And God has been faithful in warning man. We think of the various tragedies that have happened in recent years.
We think of the tsunami in Japan, the one in Thailand. We think of the hurricane that hit New Orleans a few years ago or, and we think also of Hurricane Sandy last October. God has been warning this world of what's coming. And so we find here that it says that he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.
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By that man whom he hath ordained, Who is the man that he has ordained?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the very one that tonight we are off, we are presenting as the Savior of sinners. Is one day going to be the judge? And I want to ask you tonight, boys and girls, those of you who are older, are you going to meet the Lord Jesus as the Savior of sinners tonight? Are you going to accept them as your Savior or are you going to meet Him one day as your judge?
Well, it says here that he's going to judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And it says whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised them from the dead. You know, this world thought that they had got rid of them 2000 years ago when they nailed them to a cross. But I want to tell you, he rose again three days later. And right now, as I speak, he's at God's right hand, waiting for that moment when he can have His redeemed with himself.
And then he's going to come in judgment on this world. Well, Jonah here he says, yet 40 days and nine of us shall be overthrown. How was his umm, message received in Nineveh? I think it's one of the most remarkable stories in the whole of the Bible. It says in verse five, so the people of Nineveh believed God. You know, it's rather remarkable. It doesn't say.
That the people of Nineveh believe Jonah, although that would have been true, but it says that he believed they believed God. And how wonderful that huge city and how big it was, I can't say. But we'll just take a look at the very end of the book, the last chapter and the ver and verse 11.
It says I should not spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score 1000 purses. Persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand. You know a score was 20,000.
And six score would have been 120 thousand children in that city that couldn't discern their right hand from their left hand. So the city must have been very large.
But just think it says here, the people of Nineveh believe God. You know, the gospel has been going out in Canada and in the United States for I suppose 2 or 300 years. I remember reading one time that in the city of Ottawa.
Lord Cecil and there was some other brother, I can't remember who it was. They rented the Queen's Theater just across from the Parliament buildings and they filled it. There was, I forgotten how many thousand were in there.
And they preach the gospel.
Well, today you could never have that done. Look, we had an announcement made here in the city of Saint Thomas to come and have a free supper last night and to come and hear the Gospel. How many responded? Very few.
And yet it says here that the people of Nineveh believe God. They listened to the message. And all I want to ask you tonight, dear friend, are you listening to what God has to say to you tonight? Well, you'll see here that it says they proclaim the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even on to the least of them. And so they showed that they truly believed and that they were serious about this.
Well again I say, do you believe what God says? You know, it says that without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them the diligently seek him. Well, do you believe? You know, there's a lot of men today in this world that put their trust in science. We could mention names. I won't mention names, but there are some men who.
Have PhD in science and they confidently tell us there is no God. We don't believe what the Bible says. We don't believe that this book is the word of God.
00:25:06
Well, just because they don't believe doesn't mean it's not true. You know, I might stand up here and say I don't believe in China. Does that mean that China doesn't exist? Absolutely not.
And so, uh, these people, however, they believe God and they were serious about it. And you'll notice it says there in the sixth verse, umm, it says, umm, the, the word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. You know, here was the, the king of the most powerful city in the world.
And he had been sitting there on his throne, perhaps indifferent to what's going on. I want to say this too, that not only was Nineveh warned that it would come under judgment in 40 days, but if you go back to the first chapter and notice the second verse, it says, arise, go to Nineveh. This is Jonah, God speaking to Jonah. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it.
For their wickedness is come up before me. Not only was Nineveh a great city, but it was also a very wicked city. You know, some years ago I was a school teacher and I taught history and I remember telling the students about the city of Nineveh. I don't think you'd even want to know what went on in that city. They used to take their their victims, the people they conquered, and they actually skinned them alive and they put their skins on the gates of the city as a warning to others as to what would happen if they.
Umm, challenge the Nineveh or the Assyrians. There was a very wicked city and God was bringing judgment on that city because of its wickedness. And God looks down today and he sees this world going on with absolute wickedness, and that's why judgment is coming. Well, the king here, he was serious when he heard the message, and it says he arose. In other words, he was no longer indifferent.
He took off his kingly robes. He knew perfectly well that those kingly robes weren't going to be worth anything.
If he was going to die within 40 days, and so he stripped himself of those kingly robes and he put on sackcloth. You know, if you read in the Old Testament, you'll find that sackcloth was a picture of repentance.
And, uh, we all know the story of Job. You remember how he said, I have heard the heard of thee by the hearing of the year, but now my eye and seethy and I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes. And so, you know, they're putting on of sackcloth and sitting in ashes was a sign that they were repentant. And you know, there are sometimes, umm, people and even young people, they come to a gospel mean like this. And they said, well, I, I believe what the Bible says.
But you know, their life does not show it. They go on living just like they always have. There's no change in their life.
These people, they, it says they believe God, but then it says.
That they, they covered themselves with sackcloth and sat in dust and ashes. In other words, they were repentant. And you know, there's a verse that I like to think of. It's found in Acts chapter 20. It says testifying both to the Jew and to the Gentile, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I believe that both of those things were true.
Of these people of Nineveh, they believed God. There's faith.
And it says repentance toward God here. They put on sackcloth and ashes proof that they had repented. And not only did they put it on themselves, but you'll notice they even gave instructions that the cattle and their animals were not to be fed. They were not to be given water, and they were to be covered in sacklot too. And that's exactly what happened. And so to me, this is absolutely amazing that a city like Nineveh could actually do this.
But they did, they believed God and they repented of their sins. And so how important it is, uh, for everyone here to not only believe, believe that the Lord Jesus came into this world to save sinners, but willing to make a change in your life. You know, it's not by works of righteousness that we have done that we're saved, but it's according to his mercy. So I want to make it very plain that we don't get saved by.
00:30:20
Turning over a new leaf. But you know, we prove that we're sincere about what we believe by what happens afterwards. And so it says, For by grace are ye say through faith, that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But then it says, But we are his workmanship. So the works follow salvation, don't they, James? Let's just look at James for a moment. Umm.
It's true that the works do not save, but you know, James says.
In chapter 2, and we know these verses, it says verse 17 of chapter 2, it says umm, Even so faith that it has not works is dead, being alone. Yeah, a man may say thou has faith and I have worked. Show me thy faith without thy works.
And I will show thee my faith by my works. In other words, when someone has real faith, there's a change in their lives.
And how wonderful it is when you see someone who has really changed. I know there was a man in my town in Stellarton that that I knew. I didn't know him personally, but I knew him by his reputation. And umm, he was a womanizer and he stole and he did a lot of things. But you know, one day I couldn't believe it. He phoned me and he said, Mr. Allen, I want to tell you that I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I could hardly believe it.
But, you know, there was a complete change in that man's life. He never went back. You know, his friend said, oh, he's on a religious kick, and he will.
He will umm, get over it in a few, few weeks, but you know that man has gone on for the Lord Jesus ever since there's been a change in his life. I want to ask you tonight, have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Has there been a change in your life? Well, we find here that there was truly a change in these people and umm, at verse 8. But let man, our time is running by very quickly. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God.
Yeah, let them turn everyone from his evil way, from the violence that is in their hands.
You know, as a verse, I just want to quote it's found in Isaiah 55 and uh, verse, uh, seven. I like this verse. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Are you willing to forsake your wicked way tonight? You say? You might say to me. Well, I you know I'm not so wicked.
So I know there are people who are drunk or get drunk and they they rob and they steal. Yes, the message that you're giving has to go to them. But you know, I'm not so bad. I go to church on Sundays and I try and do the best I can. What does the Bible say? The Bible says there is no difference.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
You know.
Uh, some people are known by their external works, but the gospel preachers have often said, you know, if I just took everything that I had thought, just thought about in the last two weeks and had it all written across the front of the, the room here, I don't think I'd want to stay in this room very long.
Why? Because there's no difference. All have sinned. A man might look good on the outside.
But God looks on the heart, and so we find here that it says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. All I want to say tonight, dear friends, if you come to the Lord Jesus, he will have mercy on you. It says here unto God, and he will abundantly pardon. I want to ask you tonight, dear friend.
Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Savior? If not, you are guilty, you are condemned, and you are lost.
00:35:09
But thank God there are many here tonight who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. They are pardons, they are forgiven and they're saved. Where are you tonight?
Well, you notice what the king says here in the ninth verse. He says who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away his fierce anger that we perish not who can tell? You know that's not the message we give tonight.
If we want to get the message from God himself, let's look at John chapter 5 where?
James took us this morning.
Wonderful verse John 5 and verse 24. And here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the one who left heaven's highest courts of glory, came down here into this world, died on the cross, took the judgment that I deserve.
What does he say?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word.
And believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life, and shall not come into conduct.
Condemnation, but is passed out of death into life. I like that ex that uh, translation. I believe it's the Douay translation. Uh, so it says here, he that heareth my word, dear friend tonight, are you listening to what the Lord Jesus says? We had a lot about that this morning, didn't we hearing, you know, the other verse says hear and your soul shall live.
You know, there's a lot of people today, as they, as James told us this morning, it goes in one ear and out the other. But you know, if there's true, a true work in your heart, by the Spirit of God, you will hear what the Lord Jesus is saying here, He that heareth my word.
And believeth on him that sent me.
Do you believe on the one who sent the Lord Jesus into this world?
It says the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.
It tells us in John chapter 3. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
But that the world through him might be saved. And so the Lord Jesus here, he says.
He that believeth, he that heareth my word, and believes on him that send Me has.
Everlasting life. You know there's three PS in this verse that I like. First of all, if you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you believe in Him.
What do you have? We have the possession of eternal life.
And then it says and shall not come into condemnation. I believe the word could be translated judgment shall not come into judgment. So your preserved from the judgment that is going to fall on this world. And finally it says is passed from death unto life. Your passage is from death unto life. What does the word death here mean? You know, I think we all understand that when a person breathes their last they die.
You know, physical death is the separation of soul.
And body, When a person dies, their soul leaves the body, but you know that soul is consciously either in the presence of the Lord Jesus, that they know the Lord and Savior, or that soul is in conscious torments. All you have to do is read Luke 16, I think it is to find that out.
But what is? There's another kind of death, and that is the separation of, umm, how shall I put it, the separation of God from man. The Bible makes it very plain that if you don't know the Lord as your Savior, you're separated from God. You're dead in trespasses and in sins. But this verse tells us here that if we believe what the Lord Jesus says.
That were passed from death unto life. The Lord Jesus came into this world to give life.
00:40:01
And to have it more abundantly.
And tonight, He's offering you salvation. Will you not accept Him as your Savior tonight?
You know, I read a store RE story recently that I've enjoyed. There was this young man, his name was Roger Sims and umm, he was a soldier, but he knew the Lord Jesus as his savior and he was discharged from the army on May the 7th. I don't know what the year was, and he decided to hitchhike home. He was beside the road and umm, he was hitchhiking and waiting and a lot of cars whizzed by. But finally.
One car came along. It was a black Cadillac and it obviously belonged to someone fairly wealthy. And umm, he expected the car to go right on. But the car stopped and umm, he went down and spoke to the man and the man said, where are you going? He said. He said, I the, the man said, I'm going to umm, Chicago, are you going in that direction? He said, well, not quite to Chicago, but close. He says, well, pop in. So he hopped in the car and they were driving down the road.
And, uh, as they went along, the, uh, young man who was the soldier, you know, he thought I got to speak to this man about his soul, but you know, he was afraid. You know, often we who are Christians were afraid to take advantage of opportunities. But you know, as they got closer to the destination and close to Chicago, the young man asked the Lord for help. And he spoke to the man and he said, Sir, do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
And, you know, the man pulled his car right off to the side of the road and he couldn't believe he thought he was going to put him out of the the car for asking such a question. But, you know, the man turned to him and he said.
I want to accept the Lord Jesus as my Savior right now. And he was saved right there on the side of the road. And the young man was completely dumbfounded by what happened. And the man said to him, you know, he said, I'm a successful businessman. And he said, I've heard the gospel before and I've never taken advantage of it. But tonight I want to take the Lord as my savior. And he said, I belong to an organization called Hanover Enterprises. And if you're ever in Chicago, come and see me.
Well.
The young man thanked him and he was let out at his destination and the man went on five years later.
Uh, the young man was in Chicago and he thought, you know, he had the business card of this man. He thought he'd go and see him. So he went to, uh, he, uh, went to the address that was on the card and he went in and he said, can I speak to Mr. Hanover, please? And they said, we're sorry, but you can't possibly.
Uh, speak to Mr. Hanover, but you could speak to Mrs. Hanover. So the ushers him into, uh, an office and there was Missus Hanover and uh, she said, umm, I understand that you knew my, you know, my husband. And he said yes, he said, umm, he picked me up five years ago when I was hitchhiking and umm, that's how I got to know him. And he said I'd like to just speak to him, which he said you can't speak to him because he's dead. And he was rather shocked by this.
Uh, she said. What day did you actually get picked up by Mr. Hanover? He said May the 7th.
She said. I want to tell you something, she said just after.
Umm, just after he dropped you off, he went on and he got into a car accident and he was killed.
And the young man was dumbfounded by this. And, you know, finally he got the courage to speak to the lady. And he said, I want to tell you something.
Just before he let me out, he pulled over to the side of the road and he accepted Jesus as his Savior. And you know, the woman burst into tears. She said, I want you to know, she said I have been praying for my husband for many years that the Lord would save him.
And she said.
I never knew that he ever accepted the Lord as a savior, as a savior until right now. And she said, you know, I got so discouraged that I got away from the Lord and I didn't pay any more attention because I thought he didn't answer my prayer. But you know, I was just thinking in that verse we had this afternoon. All things work together for good to those that believe, believe God to them that are called according to his purpose, God and blessing. Say that man before he passed out of this world and dear friend tonight, you don't know how long you're going to live.
It could be that within 24 hours you're an eternity.
Boys and girls, have you ever got down on your knees or bowed your head and told Jesus that you're a Sinner?
00:45:08
Have you ever prayed that prayer of the publican God be merciful to me, the Sinner? If you haven't, why not tonight? I remember sitting in a gospel meaning like this. I don't mind saying who was speaking. It was Harry Hajo and I heard the gospel just like you're hearing it tonight.
And you know, I'm thankful that I went home that night and I got down on my knees and I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior. Boys and girls, men and women, if you've never done that, why not do it tonight? God is offering you salvation now. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Take Him tonight. Go on your way rejoicing.
Well, I see our time is up, so maybe we'll just look to the Lord.
Our God and Father, we come before thee, and we thank Thee for this story of the men of Nineveh. We think of how they believed thy message, the message that was delivered by Jonah. We think of the repentance and how they covered themselves with sackcloth and sat in dust and ashes. Oh Lord, we would just pray tonight if there's any here, a boy or a girl or a man or a woman.
Who have never taken that step and acknowledge that they're sinners, that they might do so tonight, and Lord Jesus, that they might hear thy voice, and that they might believe thy word, and they might pass from death unto life. Oh, we just asked thee that thou would bless thy word tonight. Save souls. We feel, Lord Jesus, thy coming is very, very near, and we just pray that there might be some who would pass from death unto life.
And accept thee as Savior. We ask now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Yes.
Open Mtg. 7
Open—B. Prost, D. Rule, D. Mearns
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The name of it was called Mara.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which, when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.
And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in his, in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
And they came to Elam, where were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
It's often been mentioned before that in the first verse of this chapter is the first recorded singing in the Bible.
What a wonderful deliverance God had given to his people.
There they were under that terrible ******* in Egypt, and yet God had by degrees in various plagues 1 after the other, that He brought upon Egypt clearly shown that He and He alone was the true God.
And finally He had delivered them first of all from his own wrath, by the blood on the door, and they inside eating the roast lamb. And then he had delivered them from the power of Pharaoh, destroyed all their enemies in the Red Sea, and brought them through on the other side, so that now they can sing those wonderful words. I will sing unto the Lord.
For he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
And they talk about the Lord being their strength and song and their salvation.
My God and I will prepare him in habitation and so on.
And if we went on and read more of that song of Moses, we would see that it carries right on to the point where the Lord was going to bring them into the land that He had promised to give them.
What a wonderful song it was.
How could there ever be a negative thought in their hearts again? How could they ever doubt the Lord's power? How could they ever doubt His goodness after what He had done for them?
I suppose you and I can relate to that, can't we?
We can go back, perhaps to the time when we were first saved and what joy there was bubbling over in our hearts as we realized that all our sins were gone, as we realized the fullness of the work of Christ, as we realized all, perhaps that was ours in Him. Although of course that is a matter of learning too. We don't realize it all right away. And perhaps there have been times in your Christian life and mind when we have felt like singing.
Just as we have here.
But when they get into the wilderness, they go three days, which I suppose is a typical time, showing us that it was not merely a quick experience, but rather three days, if we could use the expression. They come right back to earth with a thump.
Things aren't going so well.
No water.
Have you and I found that too in our Christian pathway? Perhaps we have. Perhaps we have found that amidst that new found joy which we thought would never leave.
We suddenly have to realize that the Christian pathway is not quite as easy as we thought it was going to be.
I read something the other day that.
Struck me.
It was actually in a secular magazine, but I believe written by a believer.
00:05:03
He made this remark and some may have read it too.
He said that is the quotation said it is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but rather that it has been found difficult and left untried.
That may be true in some cases for those who are not saved, but does it strike a chord sometimes?
Does it strike a chord sometimes with you and me as believers?
Does true Christianity end up being untried?
Because it's difficult.
That's the way it appeared to Israel.
That's the way it appeared to them as they looked at that wilderness, because immediately.
There was a test and I'm not telling you anything new, but I think we need to be reminded of it.
Because if you and I are going to walk the Christian pathway, we are going immediately to be tested.
As to where our hearts really are.
They had sung about the Lord, they had sung about his power, they had sung about what he had done.
But now where is their trust in the Lord? Where is their faith?
And instead of trusting the Lord, they cry to Moses and say we don't.
Have any water?
That was bad enough.
But then finally, when they do come to water, they find it better.
And how often have you and I in the Christian pathway found that somehow the water that we had hoped would refresh us was bitter?
I say to my heart, as I say to yours, what is the problem? What was wrong with Israel's outlook here? Uh, they were looking for refreshment where it was not to be found.
And if you and I think the Christian pathway is going to be an easy one, we are going to be greatly disappointed. And I say without any fear of contradiction that it does not matter whether you and I live in a land such as we referred to earlier in the prayer meeting, where there are those who are being severely persecuted for Christ, beaten for their faith, in some cases martyred, or whether you and I live in favored lands like Canada and the United States.
Where we can meet together like this in peace and liberty, and where we don't have to worry too much about where our next meal is coming from or whether we'll have the ability to go from A to B and so on. Know you and I materially are very blessed.
But is God going to let you and me in these favored lands lead a quiet, easy life?
Is he going to keep us from all of the difficulties of the way? No, that is not going to be the case. You and I are going to find that the waters are better if we look at circumstances that are around us, and we know that there are many ways in which those waters can be very, very better.
Sometimes it can be problems in our personal lives, it can be problems with our health.
I just heard yesterday about a dear brother in Christ whom I have known for many years, who has been diagnosed with a very miserable chronic disease. And he's not the only one. And many others are suffering. The waters can be bitter. There can be problems and difficulties in family life, in our work lives. Sometimes things are very difficult on the job or in whatever life.
Work we have, whether we are working for ourselves or working for someone else and perhaps, and this is where it hits very close to home, there can be problems in our local assemblies that cause the waters to be better.
Well, the children of Israel, they cry to Moses here.
And we want to make a point of this. Was it wrong in one sense to look to Moses? In one sense, no, because Moses had been the one whom the Lord had used to bring them out of Egypt. Moses had been the one who had gone to the Lord, who had gone to Pharaoh, who had been the instrument the Lord used first of all to bring those plagues on Egypt, then to be given the instructions about the Passover lamb, and finally he had been the one to stretch out his rod over the Red Sea.
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And lead them through and then stretch out his rod again and bring all their enemies to an end.
It wasn't completely wrong.
But I say that the seeds of a wrong outlook are here.
Because it seems that there was the beginning of getting their eye off the Lord.
And on to a man.
And we see it exemplified not too far down the road.
When Moses goes up into Mount Sinai to receive the law, and the people say to Aaron, As for this Moses, we want not what has become of them.
Suppose something had become of Moses. Had the Lord changed? Absolutely not. Could the Lord not lead them even if something had become of Moses? Of course he could. But here they had, perhaps very easily and subtly.
Got their eye off the Lord and on to a man who had been much used of the Lord.
And as a result, they cried to Moses.
The waters were bitter.
But you know, the Lord was using this as a test. We read further on and we won't turn to it in the word of God, but it says there he proved them. Why? Ah, because the Lord was going to see if there I would be on him if they would be dependent on him completely Again, those verses, those words from the hymn. Oh, keep us love divine near thee that we are nothingness may know.
And if we think that somehow we're something, the Lord is very quickly going to show us.
That not only we are nothing, but neither is anybody else.
Yes, the Lord may graciously use others to be a wonderful help to us, but they are a help only in so much as they minister Christ to our souls and bring Him before us.
What does Moses do when the water is bitter?
Moses has the right idea. He cries, it says in verse 24 or verse 25 rather unto the Lord. Oh, what to God? There were more like Moses today who would cry to the Lord when there are difficulties and problems And don't think that I'm pointing the finger at anyone else except right back here because I am guilty too. And all too often we look at others or perhaps look into our own hearts and say, what can we do about this?
Whereas what the Lord really wants is for our hearts to be directed upward to Him and to say, Lord, you have brought us into this wonderful place, and your purpose is to take us all the way through this wilderness into the land of Canaan. Was God going to fail in his purpose? Absolutely not. And I say to you and to me, will God fail in his purposes? For you and me? Never. All the promises of God in him are yay and in him Amen.
It says unto the glory of God by us, God will never fail in what he is going to do. And if the waters are bitter by the way, oh, it is a test for your heart and mind.
The Lord leads each of us different ways. The bitter waters may be of different kinds from different sources. Perhaps you and I look at someone else who seems to have an easy life, someone else for whom things don't seem so very difficult. And we may say, why did the Lord allow this to happen to me?
Have you ever thought like that?
It's not a right way of thinking, but I don't mind admitting that I have thought like that. I have, I am afraid, more than what's in my life thought. Why did this have to happen to me? I don't need this. I could live a much better Christian life without it. I could do much more for the Lord without this.
The children of Israel no doubt felt the same. It would be so nice to have fresh water. It would be so nice it were if it were all readily available. But all the Lord had something that He wanted to show them here.
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What happens when Moses cries to the Lord?
Verse 25.
And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had.
Cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.
I said that word was in another scripture, but it's right here too. There he proved them. But what was the answer to those bitter waters the tree cast into those waters?
What did that mean?
It does not require a great deal of insight or a great deal of spiritual understanding to understand what that meant, does it?
I believe anyone here who can understand the Word of God, even in a limited way, can understand the picture that God is giving us. No doubt Israel at that time didn't understand the significance. But the tree cast into the waters brings before us the cross, doesn't it? It brings before us the cross. And although they perhaps didn't understand the significance of it, they knew.
That what Jehovah had said to Moses and what he instructed Moses to do.
Was the answer to the problem and what was the result? The waters were made sweet. Oh how beautiful.
And we want to dwell, if we could, for a couple of minutes on the significance of that tree cast into the waters.
We want to talk about it first of all from God's side and then from our side.
And if we look at it from God's side.
We say it with all assurance.
Do you and I even deserve Sweetwater?
We don't deserve anything, do we? We live to some extent in North America.
In a world of entitlement, many of us have grown up to expect certain things.
I don't suppose very many here have ever had to worry about had to worry about where their next meal was coming from. Maybe some have. Most here probably don't have to worry about having a roof over their heads, or clothes to put on, or the usual necessities of life.
We live in a world of entitlement, and perhaps we have gotten the idea that we are entitled to certain things. But when we get into God's presence, we realize that we don't deserve anything. We don't deserve anything. If we had what we deserve, we deserve bitter water. And if the children of Israel had had to endure that bitter water, they could have said we have been redeemed. We don't deserve anything any better. But when we get to the land of Canaan, things we'll be different.
Oh, they were going to find out that the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt was not going to leave them just to fend for themselves in the wilderness.
And I say to your heart and mind, the Lord isn't going to leave us there either. And so here we find that the tree was cast into the waters. Oh, in order that those waters might be made sweet.
My Savior, Your savior had to go to Calvary's cross.
The people found those waters bitter, and you and I no doubt find the effects of sin in this world very, very bitter. And they are.
It's not nice to get along miserable chronic disease.
It's not nice to have something happen to you in this world that set you back financially.
It's not nice to have problems and difficulties of various kinds in our lives.
But my blessed Savior had to come down into this world.
He had to endure a bitterness that you and I can never understand.
2nd Corinthians 8 and nine says that you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
That ye through his poverty, we, through his poverty, might be rich.
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And the poverty that he endured went far more.
Then physical poverty in this world, It's true, he was poor. A brother read that scripture this morning from Ecclesiastes referring to the Lord Jesus as that poor wise man. But his poverty was far deeper than anything that you and I can conceive of. That poverty took him into those three hours of darkness with a bitterness that you and I can never understand.
That's why there were bitter herbs in connection with the Passover. That's why it says in Psalm 45, All thy garments smell not merely of myrrh, which is a beautiful perfume, but of aloes, the bitterness of the cross.
He had to go all the way down.
In order that those waters might be made sweet.
What does it mean for you and for me then? Is there something for you and for me in it?
Yes, first of all, there is the realization of what he went through and sometimes, shall I say it, the going through trials and difficulties. It is not in that same sense.
I want to be careful how I say this. It is not necessarily.
Suffering because he suffered.
But there is such a thing as suffering with Christ.
There is such a thing as feeling what he felt.
Now I want to be clear on this.
I don't believe the Lord Jesus ever suffered physically from within.
Because he never sinned the Lord Jesus. We say it reverently.
Never had a cold.
He never had a stomach ache. He never had any of those diseases.
That you and I suffer from. But he suffered all the effects of sin from without. He suffered it all and ultimately the ultimately.
At the cross he suffered the penalty fork.
And if you and I suffer somewhat in fellowship with him?
We do see the fact that He went all the way down to those depths for us, and we want to make it clear that He suffered much that wasn't necessary to put your sins and mine away. He didn't have to be hungry and thirsty to put your sins and mine away.
Again, we see it with all reverence. He didn't have to be scourged to put your sins away or to have a crown of thorns on His head, and all of those things that man did to Him, because the sufferings that put away your sins and mine could never come from the hand of man. And so when it says in Isaiah 53 by His stripes we are healed, those were not the stripes laid upon Him by man.
They were those stripes, figuratively speaking, that he endured in the three hours of darkness.
But when you and I.
Taste that bitter water.
The Lord, as it were, says you are going through it now, not merely as those.
Who are lost, guilty sinners. What does the natural man do when he suffers bitter water? Two reactions. The natural man going through bitter water in this world has two reactions. Either he becomes hardened or he becomes crushed. And you have seen both. You have seen those, first of all, who have built a hard outer shell around themselves.
Like that man who wrote that poem concerning himself as being the captain of his soul, as he called himself. And he says my head is bloody but unbowed.
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul, and so on.
That may not be strictly accurate, but you know the poll.
A hard odor shell that says, all right, I can take it. Whatever I get, I can tough it out.
And then there are others who are totally crushed, who dissolve completely, who fall apart.
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Can't handle it. Sometimes they end up.
Totally burned out. Sometimes they end up in hospitals and so on. Sometimes they end up physically and mentally completely destroyed because of the bitter water.
For you and for me as believers. What does that bitter water mean to you and me? Ah, first of all, it takes us back to the cross, and we realize first of all that if our blessed Savior went down into death, became man typified by that tree.
Went down under the water. That's where we Bill Law we belong under the under the that bitter water. That was where we were. And it was only because he went down into that bitter water and came up out of it that you and I.
Can taste that Sweetwater.
But when we come into that bitter water with him, what do we find? Oh, we find that in going through it with him, the waters are made sweet.
Now does that mean that all the effects of sin are taken away in this life? No, they aren't. Does it mean that a dear brother who has a long standing incurable disease is miraculously going to be cured?
Not necessarily. Does it mean that the problem that is in your life and mine is suddenly going to go away? No, it does not.
But what it means is that that bitter water.
In being tasted in connection with the cross.
There is a sweetness with it. Why? Why is it?
Ah, because I learn something of Christ that I can never learn in any other way.
Mm-hmm. I won't be able to learn Christ like that up in heaven, will I? I won't be able to learn Him as the one who can meet me in every difficult circumstance, because there won't be any difficult circumstances up there. I won't be able to learn Him as the God of all comfort up there, because there won't be any need for comfort up there.
There may, in one sense.
Be tears in heaven for you and for me, but there'll be tears in sympathy with Christ perhaps.
Because in the coming day, as God's earthly people go through that awful tribulation, Christ, in sympathy with them, will share in all that they are going through. And I believe in that way, that perhaps you and I, as one with Christ and as his bride, we'll be able to share in those tears. But they're not on our own account. They won't be tears for ourselves. They'll be tears on behalf of others, perhaps.
But there are things concerning ourselves and experiences down here that we'll never be able to learn in the glory.
That's why the apostle Paul could say I glory in tribulations. Why glory in tribulation, Hmm.
That's a mouthful to swallow, isn't it? Glorying in tribulations.
How could we glory in tribulations, O Paul says. And you know the verses well in Romans 5, because there's a process through which the Lord puts me that eventually causes the love of God to be shed abroad in my heart in a way that perhaps it could never be shed in any other way.
The bitter waters are made sweet.
I say to your heart and mine, these things are not easy. In some cases it wasn't easy for Israel here to have that bitter water.
But the Lord made them sweet for them by in tight casting that tree into the waters. Unhealed dew. The same for us.
And the wonderful thing is, and we want to mention this.
There wasn't bitter water everywhere in the desert. There was not always bitter water. Sometimes if we're not careful, we can find some fault with everything in our circumstances, can't we? Things are never going to be perfect down here.
But what did they find when they got to Elam at the end of the chapter here?
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They find that there are 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. Oh, how beautiful that is. The Lord is not going to.
As it were, always give us bitter water. The Lord gives us that which tests us, but then he gives us the wonderful tokens of his goodness. And here are 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. Those numbers are not just random in the word of God, are they 12 I suppose, would speak of 12 months in the year 70, as we as we've already heard in these meetings.
Is the normal life span in years down here and so we can say that God is going to give that refreshment all the way home, not merely water, but those palm trees they speak of rest and these no doubt are the date palm which provides not merely water but food to the Lord is going to provide that and I say to your heart and mind.
As the days are growing more difficult, and they are, the whole atmosphere of things in this world is becoming such that men's hearts are already beginning to fail them for fear and wondering what is going to happen.
I read in a secular magazine a few months ago that politically and economically.
This world is ripe for what they call the perfect storm. We know the term a perfect storm when we are talking about climatic and meteor meteorological conditions and so on. Well, the world is ready for a perfect storm in other ways.
And it's true. And the effect of all of that is having its fallout on believers, and we can start to get discouraged if we're not careful and say where are things headed?
Oh, I say to your heart and mind, they're headed nowhere but for you and for me. And if for the moment we are finding that the waters are bitter, let us remember that in casting that tree into them, the Lord will make them sweet.
And then we will find without any doubt, and I believe that while we can look at Elam as perhaps being up there in the glory, yet I would suggest that the thought is more related to down here. God is going to provide for you and me in every possible way all the way home. He cannot help but do it if you and I really look to Him and realize the truth of those words in that hymn.
Our own nothingness and truly look to him. I say it without any fear of contradiction. He cannot help but do it because he has given us his promise. But in saying that, just one final comment.
And we've heard this before.
And the remark was made at the recent meetings in Allendale.
It's not about you, it's not about me, it's all about Christ and the moment I get occupied with myself and what I've got and what I received.
My focus is wrong, but once the Lord directs your heart and mind to Christ in glory, I believe we will find that in going back to the cross, the waters will be made sweet and we will find that God will provide those 12 wells of water and those 70 palm trees.
All the way home.
First Thessalonians, chapter one.
And verse 2.
We give thanks to God always for you all.
Making mention of you in our prayers.
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the sight of God and our Father.
Paul's writing to young believers newly. That doesn't mean they're all young in age, but young in Christian faith.
And.
Paul, particularly in this letter and in the next one to them, brings before them what the character of a Christian is.
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People are known. We speak about people by their character. Some people have one kind of character and some people have another.
But we learn in this letter, and in his second letter to them, what God looks upon as the character of a Christian.
It's a character that is to be seen in the Christian life from the very beginning of that life.
It's not something that we wait for and say, well, I have to learn a whole lot and when I'm a little older, I'll be this or I'll be that.
But Paul spent only apparently a few weeks with these believers presenting the gospel to them, and then because of persecution, he was forced to leave where they lived, and he after that goes back and writes them a letter to encourage them to go on.
And so this character of the Christian is to be seen in every single person in this room who takes the place of being a Christian.
This character was seen by the whole area where they lived.
The people talked about it because they saw the change in the manner of life of this group of people, and in that way they saw what a Christian was in his practical character of life.
We find three things found I believe in every single, as we call it, chapter in the latter and brought out in the second letter as well.
Verse that we read in verse two it says remembering without ceasing your work of faith.
And labor of love.
And patience of hope.
The three things.
That give us the character.
Of a Christian.
Our faith in God.
Love.
Particularly love for fellow believers.
And hope IN the Lord Jesus Christ.
And his coming, I'll repeat that. Because it ought to be seen in my life, if you look at me practically. And I ought to see it and desire to see it in your life.
If someone were to speak about you and your character, what would they have to say about you?
You know.
We are talked about by each other whether we want to be or not. Well, there's the three things that the whole world in that area of the world recognized in this people was a faith in God, a love for each other, and a hope in Christ.
Would people speak about those three things if they were talking about our lives?
Faith in God.
Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and a love for each other.
There's particularly, I mentioned the hope or the love for each other because that's what's particularly brought out. We have the divine love of God for souls and in the world and see their salvation and so on.
But if where you live, where I live, people know us.
They may know what our what they would call our church or Christian fellowship is.
Would they speak about it as those people?
Have a faith in God.
They have a love for each other.
And they have a hope.
A hope, particularly in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He speaks about how it manifested itself in verse nine. He says for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
That's faith in God. You turn to God from idols.
They serve the living and true God, and one of our services to the living and true God is to love His people.
In First John, when John is writing about the Christian life, he says the Christian life, the evidence that a person has it.
The city loves his brother.
It's a very evidence that life is even there in a person. It's seen in his love.
For his brother.
And so here it says, And to wait his faith brings him to wait for his Son from heaven.
And so that's the practice, if you will, the carrying out of what this character is seen in daily life as it's brought out to us here, turning to God and faith from idols.
The world is full of idols.
People are characterized by their idol.
That which controls their life. It's not generally hard to talk to a person, and if you ask them a little bit, you start to find out what they're interested in and what their life is all about.
And very often, sadly, there's something that's controlling it that's puts God out of their life. And if it's a replacement for God in the life, it's an idol. And so these people had all lived with idols.
Had idols that controlled their lives, but they had turned to God and away from those idols, and so their faith in God became that which characterized life for them.
It says here and I want to particularly apply it this afternoon to serve the living and true God.
You and I have the opportunity, the privilege, the responsibility to serve each other in love.
I say that because I believe it's a really important need.
For us.
To actively seek to serve one another in love.
It's true. We may serve God in the gospel. We may show love to our fellow man, but.
Sometimes it's the people you are closest to and know the most that are the hardest to love.
And yet the characteristic of the Christian, that which shows Christian character, is the activity of love for one another.
To wait for his Son from heaven.
The Lord Jesus is waiting.
Patiently.
For God, it's time.
When he.
Bring us to himself and have his own desires fulfilled. So too we have the privilege to have a life that's characterized by the patient waiting.
To be with him.
To be with himself.
Going down to the.
2nd chapter.
2nd chapter. We're not going to go into the details here, but in this second chapter we see the Apostle Paul.
Displaying.
His faith, his love and his hope for the Saints in Thessalonica.
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And.
As he says in his love for them in verse seven, we were gentle among you even as a nurse.
Cherishes her children being affectionately desirous of you. It's not a nice statement of brotherly love.
Here's a man that before what was his character? Before he got saved? He was an insolent, overbearing man. That was his character. An insolent, overbearing man.
Sarcastic. Probably.
Domineering.
Harsh.
But his character got changed.
Like God's work in them.
And now he's characterized as having that gentle, loving spirit as a nurse that cherishes her own children.
Verse nine. He laborers night and day for his brethren.
Saints in Thessalonica.
He also brings out in the chapter if you go down to uh.
Verse 14. Ye brethren, became followers of the churches of God and Judea.
Uh, verse. Also, he says in verse 12 That you would walk worthy.
But in part of what he expresses to them is.
They saw his life.
And it gave them something to imitate.
In A practical character of Christian life.
Is your life.
One that someone else would want to imitate.
Your number of young people in this room.
Who probably in this room influences you most?
Very possibly the person sitting next to you.
The person sits next to you, your friend, the one that you are enjoying here as a young person at this weekend.
That person next to you has a significant influence.
In many practical respects, more influence than sometimes the words you hear in the reading meeting, or someone standing up here and saying something to you, and so on.
It's not. It brings the responsibility on the person next to you, and it brings you a responsibility to the person next to you.
Is your life something that encourages them?
To have faith in God.
To love their brethren.
To have a hope that.
Keeps you direct shoe in this world.
Umm verse chapter 4.
Well, Chapter 3 bring another thought out of it.
In chapter 3 and verse 12 he says Lord make you to increase.
And abound in love toward each other.
And toward all men, even as ye do, we do toward you.
Verse Chapter 4 Verse one for the more than we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
We learn from Paul's letter.
That these things characterize the new believer, his faith, his hope, his love.
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But what also should characterize each one is a growth in faith, a growth in love, and an abounding in the hope.
It's a challenge sometimes.
But it's an important thing if I could be practical about it.
Some are younger here, some are older here, and those who are older here.
The younger ones should be able to see in them.
And greater perhaps, if I could put it that way, expression of faith.
An expression of loving care or fellow members of the body of Christ.
And abounding a greater increase in the Christian hope.
So that's a little thing that we who are older need to.
Stop and consider.
Do our younger brothers and sisters in the faith seeing us that which encourages them?
We say we need to encourage each other.
Well, in practice.
One of the great encouragers things that does encourage is to see the living example of Christian character in another, and so it's good for us to seek to grow in these things.
Turn over to Chapter 5 for another thought.
In chapter 5.
Go to find it.
Verse 8.
Let us who are of the day.
Were children of the day, it says in verse 5.
Were children of light.
Let us who are children of light and children of the day, let us who are of the day be sober. Doing what? Putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope.
Of salvation.
Those very things which are to characterize us, faith and hope and love, we also see here are what protect us.
They're what protect us. It's interesting that the very thing that should characterize us also acts to our protection.
That faith, that love.
Guards.
And in fact it expresses it in this short epistle that the proper activity of that love for one another would keep us.
From the false expression of fornication and things like that, the very proper activity of love protects the soul in holiness if it's lived out.
One who truly loves another would never defraud, that is, improperly treat them.
Through lust.
And so these things that not only characterize the Christian, but God uses them also for his protection.
For his keeping.
So that he might go on and please God.
Well, it's often been said that.
Two legged stools aren't stable.
3 legged ones introduced stability. These three things have to be kept. You can't have just two of them and leave the third off or you become an unstable. And that's what happened to concurrent in a very short period of time. Turn over to Paul's second epistle for a moment and see what happens when one of these things is lacking.
2nd Epistle.
And verse three of chapter one, we are bound to thank God always for you brethren, as it is me.
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Because that your faith, What do we want to see in it? That faith groweth exceedingly.
And the love or charity of everyone of you all toward each other aboundeth. Well, there's the 1St 2, isn't it?
Lovely growth.
In that which should characterize every young and old believer it says your faith groweth exceedingly Paul was happy about that he also says your charity or your love for each other.
Abounds, and that brought joy to him.
We won't times to its close but sadly something had come in and their hope had been distorted.
It had they weren't able to exhibit that hope as.
It some had come in and give them wrong thoughts and so their, their hope. He couldn't talk about that. He had to teach them. He had to bring them back to a proper understanding of their hope, which he does. He cares for them, he loves them, and so he teaches them again, uh, to bring them back to.
That third part of what should characterize them so that they could have a proper hope and enjoy it together.
Just one, perhaps brief added comment about it.
In Paul's, not not Paul's, but actually John's.
Remarks to the seven churches. The first Church.
That was addressed was Ephesus. Ephesus received the gospel after Thessalonica. Ephesus saw Thessalonica's faith and love and hope.
And it was made known to those in Ephesus and they enjoyed it. Ephesus was given some wonderful instruction in the letter to them. But also we see later on in what John has to write to Ephesus or the Spirit of God directs to Ephesus in the letters to the seven churches, He says to them, you left your first love.
The Church was placed in the world to be a Candlestick for God to the world.
And as a Candlestick of God to the world it was to display.
God is light.
And God is love.
And if the activity of love to one another.
Fails.
It won't be a light to the world either.
And if it's not a light to the world, then as the Candlestick for God, it has failed.
And he says if necessary I will remove it.
It's a word for us to remember.
That we have a responsibility to one another.
To love one another.
In the face.
And.
If we fail in that, if we fail to live out the divine life of love that God has placed in US, then we're not going to display it to the world either. And if we don't display it to the world, then we're not a Candlestick to the world.
And that's sad.
So may the Lord help us to each grow.
In living by faith in God.
By loving each other.
And by living.
In the abounding hope.
That is ours by the promises of God.
01:00:07
We just have a minute.
When I was a boy.
My father impressed upon me.
Faith in God, He had it.
And I saw it.
And he impressed me.
If I could turn you back.
50 some years in our household.
On Saturday mornings, children would gather into my parents bed. My mother would be squeezed out.
And my dad would tell us stories of his boyhood.
We always wanted him to tell us stories of the war.
He was reluctant to do that.
Uh, most of us here haven't had the experiences that that generation has.
On this one Saturday morning, he decided to tell us one of his stories.
Of his wartime experiences.
He was in the Navy.
His portion was to umm.
Was to be on the the battleship, the Nelson.
It was the sister ship to the Hood, for those of you who've done any, umm, any, uh, homework on the Navy, the British Navy.
Both those ships at one time were were sent out to do battle with the Bismarck but the Nelson.
On which my father was.
UMM was on.
They were stationed outside the Orkney Islands, which is just north of Scot, Scotland. There's some islands there.
And.
Umm, my dad at the time had a little, uh, three-year old girl.
And uh, just this week she turned 70. We've been talking about 3 score and 10.
Umm, they were stationed out outside the Orkney Islands and, umm, uh, for some time they were there and they had time in their hands. And sometimes the men would take the lifeboats and they go into the, uh, into the, uh, islands and umm, just for something to do. And it was my dad's portion to umm, to bump into an older couple.
That were very poor in the village, but they love the Lord and they took a shine to my dad. And, uh, one of the things they did was they burned peat in their, in their little, uh, furnace, umm, to keep warm. And my dad would help them go out and cut this peat like peat Moss, except it was, uh, in squares. They'd cut it and they'd stack it up in what we would call a woodshed, but it was a Peach shed. And then they would burn this, this peat. And while my dad was there and he was working with them, he, umm.
He asked the older gentleman. He was well on in years, just there, him and his wife and they had had circumstances that had uh, come across their pathway because of their unfaithfulness.
And my dad asked them, umm, asked the man, uh, do you have a bomb shelter in the village here? And the man said, yeah, we have, uh, we have two of them. We have two of them. Would you like to see them? So, umm, my dad said, yeah. So my dad and this older gentleman who walked along, he took him to the, uh, uh, bombs shelter. He says, we have two of them. We have one of them made of the concrete and another one made of feathers. And so they got to this one that's made of concrete and they went down the stairs.
Close the Hatch, went inside, turned on the little lamp and.
The older gentleman turned to my dad. He said. You know.
We have this bomb shelter here.
I don't have much faith in this concrete one. I really don't.
But I have a lot of faith in the one that we have that's made of feathers. He pulled his Bible out of his pocket, and he turned to the 91St sum.
Psalm 91.
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Psalm 91.
And verse 4.
He shall cover thee with his feathers.
And under his wings.
Shalt thou trust?
He looked my dad in the eye and he said Mark.
I don't have much faith in the shelter that we're in, but I have a law of faith in this shelter.
My dad went back to the ship.
Some months later, it was his portion to come back to be moored outside the Orkney Islands.
And the Germans had bombed the Orkneys.
And my dad took a little.
Lifeboat vacuum.
To where the little village had once lay.
And he got to the shore and the little village was devastated.
Except for the humble abode of the elderly gentleman and his wife.
So my dad passed on.
On that Saturday morning in bed, faith in God, thought I'd learn to appreciate a little bit. Could we turn, just for a few moments, to the book of Ruth?
The Book of Ruth, the 1St chapter.
And the sixth verse we read here of Naomi.
My brother Bill brought before us how sometimes the waters in our life are bitter.
And here is a woman, and the waters in her life were bitter.
And quite possibly because of her own doing, what we find in the sixth verse, it says, And she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab, For she had heard in the country of Moab, how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
And let's go on now to the 19th verse.
So they too went until.
They came to Bethlehem, they came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them.
And they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi. Notice what she wanted to be called? The very same thing that we find in Exodus 15.
Call me not male my.
Connie Marra, For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me, Naomi, seeing that the Lord hath testified against me in the Almighty hath afflicted me, so Naomi returned.
Erythromythis her daughter-in-law with her, which were turned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
I can't help but think of this dear woman.
And how she could look back to the time in Exodus 15 when the people of God came to the waters of Mary and they were bitter.
But she knew, too, that the Lord could turn that bitterness into sweetness.
I think of how so often in my own life, the bitterness that I find.
Isn't it wonderful to realize that this woman heard?
How that God had visited his people and giving them bread and.
Faith always lays hold a blessing.
Faith always lays hold of blessing, regardless of how bitter the waters are, regardless of how low the point is. Faith lays hold of blessing and she says, call me Mara. Oh, did she have a sense in her soul? At the end of Mara was sweetness.
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We were to turn to the end of the book. Oh, we would find the sweetness that the only experienced beautiful to see. Well, may the Lord use these few thoughts to encourage our hearts.
Perhaps we're experiencing the bitterness that Bill was talking about, but the sweetness that the Lord can give.
Yes.