St. Thomas Conference: 2018
Table of Contents
1 Corinthians 15:1-21
Reading
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May we sing together #225.
225 Mid scenes of confusion and creature complaints. How sweet to the soul is communion with Saints 225.
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As we pray.
Lord, we come to Thee this afternoon. We have sung together about the trials and difficulties, yet it has been a delight to look on to home and the wonder and the joy of that place. But we pray too, Lord, that Thou would give us a foretaste of it here. We pray that as we're together for these meetings that we would have sweet communion with one another.
And be encouraged.
To press on into that moment when that will come. But we pray too, Lord, and for the meeting that is before us, and the other readings too, as we consider a portion, we pray that Thou would especially guide us to that portion that would, uh, be of blessing to each one who is here, and that we would be encouraged and refreshed as a result of it. Lord, let us know where each one of us are and what our needs are.
And.
And so we looked today, and just pray that thou would lead by thy spirit, and we ask in thy name, Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
I have had a chapter on my heart all this week. I'd like to suggest it.
1St Corinthians 15. I'll go over a couple of reasons why I think it would be good for us. Number one, we're living in a society very much like that which was in Corinth at the time of Paul's writing to them.
#2 There is, I feel in my own soul, often a tendency to make judgments on things based on what our experience is down here and on the way things are in this world, rather than looking on to the blessed results of resurrection.
There is much in that chapter, I suggest that is very apropos for some of the problems that we face today.
What do?
My brethren, think of that.
I think it's a good suggestion, Bill. I'd be happy to read the chapter. Were you thinking the whole thing? Well, make a suggestion. It's a very long chapter, and uh, if our experiences in general meetings in the past is any indication, getting through a chapter is a problem at best, even if the chapter isn't too long.
I would suggest reading the whole chapter if that's OK, but perhaps starting with verse 12, we can refer back to the 1St 11 verses, but I would suggest perhaps starting with verse 12, which is really, shall I say, the, uh, the kernel of what Paul really wants to say to the Corinthians as to the resurrection of Christ, the blessed results of it, and then the practical.
Effect that it ought to have on our lives.
I think too, if we uh.
We have an exercise, perhaps.
Not a rule, but an exercise maybe to cover 20 verses in each reading meeting we get through the whole chapter.
Put that out there for some thought.
1St Corinthians 15 verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas even of the 12. Then of the 12 after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are falling asleep.
After that he was senior James, that of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time.
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For I am the least the apostles, that I'm not meat to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they. So we preach, and so you believed.
Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how stay some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain? And your faith is also vain? Yeah, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ whom He raised not up. If so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ risen?
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope, in Christ we are of all men most miserable. But now it's Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them. That sleep that slept.
For since by man came death.
By man came also the resurrection of the dead. Whereas in Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterwards say that are Christ at His coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom of God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he that hath put all things under his feet.
For he has put all things under his feet.
But when he said all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is expected which to put all things under Him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject on to him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, What advances advantages at me if the dead rise not?
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. You're not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness.
And sin not for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
But some men will say, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
Thou fool thou, which thou sowest is not quickened except to thy.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but fair grain, it chance of wheat, or some other grain.
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and every seed his own body.
All flash is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars for one star different from another star in glory.
So also with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonor, It is raised in glory, It is sown in wickedness, It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, The first name Adam was made a living soul. The last man, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual.
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The first man is of the earth earthy. The 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy structure, they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal have put on immortality.
And shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Just a few brief comments.
On the chapter first of all.
We know that Paul's ministry really began with a risen Christ in glory. He never knew the Lord Jesus when he was on earth, his first.
Introduction If I could say to the Lord Jesus was when he met him as a risen Christ on the road to Damascus, that light from heaven. And so all of Paul's ministry really deals with a risen Christ seated there at God's right hand.
And here in Corinth there had been an awful lot of blessing in that place. The Lord had told Paul, I have much people in this city.
But they were a worldly bunch, if I could say it, and I would suggest speaking for myself. We need to take a long look at the society in which we live and move, and perhaps it ourselves. Its a tendency into which we can all fall.
And there are problems in the Corinthian assembly, quite a few of them, that Paul had to deal with 1 by 1.
But then when he gets to the end of this epistle, it's beautiful how he takes one last error to bring out what was really on his heart, what he really wanted to say, what he really wanted to give them. And he gives them such wonderful truth based on the resurrection of Christ that goes on to our eternal blessing, on to the millennial day, right on to the.
Eternal state that follows the Millennium.
But then there are practical effects.
That ought to be in your life and mine.
And so I suggest that when Paul brings before us in the 1St 11 verses of the chapter, the resurrection and his preaching of the gospel, he brings before us the fact that the resurrection was and is an integral, integral part of the gospel. We can't leave it out. If Christ is not raised, we have no salvation.
And I don't know that these false teachers were necessarily denying the immortality of the individual. I don't know for sure, but they might have allowed for the immortality of the soul, but they were denying the resurrection of the body. And Paul shows what a serious thing that was and how that everything in Christianity, including our salvation.
Depends on resurrection. So that really is the theme of the chapter. And as I say, I think there are a lot of practical things that we can gain from it that are relevant to the day in which we are living.
So it is the truth that we need to tenaciously hold on to as believers, and that is the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Because there have been those down through the ages from this very point here who have taught that the Lord Jesus only rose in spirit and not bodily. But the Lord Jesus said on one occasion to his own handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me have.
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And just very quickly notice in the beginning of the fifth verse, there are 6 testimonies here of individuals or groups of individuals that the Lord Jesus appeared to bodily in resurrection. Just notice them very quickly. In verse five you have Cephas, of course, that's Peter. Then you have the 12. In the sixth verse you have about 500 brethren at once. Then in the seventh verse you have James. That's the 4th. Then you have all the apostles 5.
And then you have the Apostle Paul, of course, is the 6th. We might say the 7th is the word of God itself because.
The prophets had prophesied that the Lord Jesus would rise from the dead. And it's very significant. I believe too, that when you come to the poor gospels and you read the life of the Lord Jesus, each gospel takes up the life of the Lord Jesus in a different way. And it's beautiful to see that. And while there are different details in each gospel concerning the work and life and person of Christ in regard to the aspect that the gospel writer is taking up, yet there is one truth.
That is brought before us in each of the four Gospels, one truth that is elaborated on at the end of each Gospel. Lest there be any doubt in our minds as to the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus, each evangelist at some length brings before us his resurrection. And so important was this, and so much did the Spirit of God anticipate that this would be a truth that the enemy would seek to undermine.
That every gospel gives us details as to His resurrection. So it's vital. It's important because this has already been said. If Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain and ye are still in your sins. But thank God, brethren, He was raised again for our justification.
There's one more.
Fact that the Gospels bring out connection with Christ bodily resurrection.
The grave clothes were were still there, but the body was gone and these witnesses saw that body.
They're just a little story. I know I've told it before, but it helps to illustrate what we have been saying. Remember some years ago reading of some missionaries that were working and laboring in a Hindu city, I think it was in India. And they were on one of those, the busy streets of that city one day and they were startled by a large procession coming down the street and they made inquiries as to what was happening. And they were told that supposedly a bone of Buddha had been found.
And it was being carried in an ornate box down the street, and the followers of Buddha were rejoicing that this bone had been found. Well, the missionaries watched this, and when they retired to their quarters and talked over the matter, they were struck by the contrast between that and, as they said, if supposedly a bone of the Lord Jesus were ever found. And they concluded that if that were true, if a bone of the Lord Jesus were ever found, it would not cause great rejoicing amongst the Christians, it would cause great sorrow.
But they also were thankful on the authority of God's word to realize that a bone of the Lord Jesus will never be found in this world, because, as you say, he rose broadly from the dead, the grave clothes gone, the tomb opened to give ample witness at the the morning of the resurrection. And what makes Christianity unique to all other so-called religions of the world is the fact that we have not just a risen Savior.
But after he remained on earth to give ample and complete testimony to his own as to his bodily resurrection, a moment came when his feet less the Mount of Olives, and bodily he rose, a glorified man to sit at the right hand of God. And we have a man this afternoon at God's right hand, a real man, a glorified man, but a real man who's there. And that is the man that we're going to see another day.
Perhaps, uh, get a connection to is that, uh, spiritually we are in resurrection, aren't we? Or we have resurrect resurrection life in Christ.
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That has been accomplished already.
Uh, this is resurrection of the body here spoken of, but, uh, it's nice to realize that while here in this scene that we already have resurrection life. We've gone down into death with Christ.
We've risen with him.
We're in the new creation already, uh, with Christ and him and uh, now we're waiting for the redemption of the body or if we're still alive when the Lord comes, the change body that'll take place when the Lord returns. But.
I always like to think of it as I'm already in a new creation. I already have resurrection life in Christ. I haven't got the the benefit of the change body and.
Yes, and that is developed later on in this chapter, isn't it? If Christ is raised, then if we could say it reverently, it follows inevitably that every believer that has died in Christ will be raised and every believer alive at the Lord's coming will be changed. It could not be otherwise because we are so intimately connected with Him.
And so that is one of the blessed results of the resurrection of Christ and one of the things that Paul brings out here. Yes, we have that life now, but what life is it? It is the same life as Christ has.
I guess I sometimes feel, and I don't know if others have felt this way, but sometimes living in this world with everything that goes on here and we are subject to disease to.
Serious disease, even to death, and all of the difficulties through which we pass in this world. Does it really come home to my soul that as I live and move down here?
In what Paul in Philippians calls a body of humiliation.
That I carry with me a life that is a risen life, a life that cannot possibly be totally at home in this world because it belongs in another world. I remember while reading in some of our written ministry how that there was a brother who had served the Lord for many years and toward the end of his life he makes this comment.
In a private letter I believe it was.
He said I feel increasingly that I belong to another world.
Well, we do belong to another world, don't we? How is that? Because the one whose life we have is in another world, and we are identified with him in the closest possible way.
As has been mentioned, we have the Lord Jesus Christ as a glorified man in heaven.
The God's word says it's not good that man should live alone. And so we wait for the time when our bodies will be raised and we should be like him, and he waits for that time too, when his own shall be with him. That I I'd also note too that the umm, as we get in this 12Th and 13th verses, the apostle Paul uses a method of argument that's called reduced to the absurd.
And he makes it to to to use that method of argument. You make a proposition and say if this proposition is true, the next one's got to be true. And if the next one's got to be true, something else has got to be true. And so he says here.
Verse 12 Now if, if Christ be preached, he rose from the dead, how say some of you, there's no resurrection of the dead. They were denying the bodily resurrection. And then of course he says if that's true, then it must be true that Christ has not been raised. And that was the ultimate absurdity as far as Paul was concerned, to question the fact that Christ had been raised.
And if Christ isn't raised, why would we preach the gospel? And why would we give up present advantages as believers?
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I was thinking of the letter you mentioned. Bill, the brother, had written of a story too, about William Kelly. William Kelly had, I believe it was a nephew who was attending one of the universities of England. And he was excelling so in his Greek studies that the Dean of the college asked him if he was getting some extra tutoring. And he told him that it was his Uncle William that was helping him. And so the Dean of the college asked for an interview with William Kelly, one of the great minds of England.
The time and the Dean was astounded in the presence of one of the great minds of England at the time. And after a while he leaned across his desk and he said, Mr. Kelly, you could be a great man in this world. And Mr. Kelly's reply was, which world? Which world? Because it's been said there is another world. But again, why do we give up present advantage? Another little incident comes to mind. John Wesley, who gave up much to preach the gospel and serve the Lord in his day.
He was passing one of the great Manor houses of England and he stopped at the gate and the gardener was working around the gate and they got into conversation and the owners of the home were not, uh, not there at the time. And so the gardener, seeing that John Wesley had an interest in the grounds, he offered to show him the grounds in some of the house. And when the tour was over, they came back to the gate and John Wesley said to the gardener, he said, I too have a liking for these things.
But there is another world. And so if we lose sight of the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, the fact that we are waiting to be, uh, with the Lord Jesus, waiting for the shout, the dead in Christ are going to be raised. We are live and remain, are gonna be caught up. If we lose sight of what is ahead and that there is another world, brethren, we're going to settle down in this world. We're not going to show the proper character. We're not going to be zealous in reaching out in the gospel. We're not going to have the character of those who are are heavenly citizens.
So this truth is very, very important. And again, it's a truth that is unique to Christianity, and it is why we don't build simply for things down here, but we live in view of eternity.
We hope the soft drink tears resurrection, but often we have to hide death and resurrection together. The Lord Jesus died 1St and then he rose again. So there's the resurrection. And we find God has that in His mind from the very beginning. We find even when we go back to Adam, God put him into that deep sleep. So that was a picture of death, isn't it? And then when he woke up, what happened? A bride was prepared for him.
So on this resurrectionism where Eve was made for this man of God harm didn't give her the name Eve. It said there was her name is the woman or Mrs. Adam was made so we find in this chapter is telling us something very similar, isn't it? The Lord has to suffer first death and then three days. We'll find that consistently through Scripture resurrection and our faith is based on that. Even we preach the gospel verse. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
And what are we to do next? And believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Resurrection is a very important part to our salvation.
It's a very solemn thought, isn't it, that we have in verse 18.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, or what perished, perished, and we who are alive in verse 17, ye are yet in your sins.
And so there's no part of the work of Christ that can possibly be ignored or set aside. And as Jim was mentioning, the devil will always try to attack something in the work of Christ. There is a system, quite a large one, and it's worldwide. It's here in North America that says the work of Christ was not complete on the cross.
They attacked that that aspect of the work of Christ. There's another system, a very large one. Most would recognize it if I name the name, and they would say that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ after he died, was dissolved into gases.
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Not too well known. They don't preach it very much, but that's one of their dogmas. They attack that part of the work of Christ. They essentially deny the resurrection. And on and on it goes so that the devil tries in this way or that way to attack something either in the person or the work of Christ. And error never exists in isolation. It always exists in.
Addition to many other errors that stem from it.
And I believe that's why Paul speaks so strongly and so strenuously here to the Corinthians, as it were, to nip in the bud that kind of thing that was coming in, because he knew that if that kind of talk gained a foothold, not only would it deny the salvation of those who believed it, but it would also inevitably breed further error.
And so how very, very important to keep the truth clear and definite as we get it in the Word of God, and to have it before us. And more than that, Paul knew, as it says in verse 19, that if the hope of the believer did not extend beyond this life, what does it do? It brings Christianity down to the level of a worldly religion.
And basically says.
Do what you can down here because eventually you have to die. And of course, every false religion without any exception, as far as I know, does not have any strong guarantee of anything after this world. How can it? And the devil says I am going to try and bring Christianity down to that level. And we all know, sad to say.
How much he has succeeded not only among professing Christians, but, sad to say, even among believers.
There are many believers today who would absolutely and definitely uphold the bodily resurrection of Christ, and yet somehow Satan has persuaded them that what goes on down here is almost more important than what is going to go on in resurrection. So Paul deals with that, and I believe we need to recognize that danger not only in professing believers but also in true believers.
That there can be that worldly aspect of Christianity which makes it popular but eventually destroys its heavenly calling.
As the apostle in that section. This section of the chapter.
Takes us, shall I say, to the conclusion of denying the resurrection of Christ.
It will remind us that I believe that if there was anything that Satan would have liked to have prevented, it was his, the resurrection of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it's notable that in the first of Ephesians.
Wendy, the the apostle refers to the power of God verse 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us would have believed according to the working of the his mighty power. I believe it could be translated the mighty, the might of his power, which he wrote in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. The apostle, when he wants to refer to the power of God, doesn't refer to creation.
He refers to the resurrection of Christ because I believe there is nothing more that Satan would have liked to have prevented it would would then the resurrection of Christ, but the power of God has been manifested in that he raised him from today and seeking to make his own right hand in heavenly glory.
MMM, we mentioned that it's connected with the salvation, isn't it? It's, uh, it's faith, believing in Christ for salvation and his work on the cross. It's also faith to believe in his resurrection. So the enemy attacks our faith, doesn't he? And, uh.
As I mentioned, what would be the point of, of going on if there wasn't anything beyond this life? We couldn't see our Lord after we died and so on. But we know, we have, uh, we know that, uh, these things are true because we have been given faith to believe. But, uh, sometimes your faith is tried. We know that, uh, the Lord prayed for Peter, didn't he, that his faith not failed. But it's amazing back in Joe, the book of Joe, isn't that we all, we're all familiar, I think, with the job there chapter, uh.
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Chapter uh, 19.
We show that it's, it's faith that's given by God in these Saints. It's not something that we determine ourselves that there's going to be a resurrection and I'm going to have these benefits after I die. It's it's something that is revealed to us by God and we believe it by faith, which is a gift.
But chapter 19, verse 25.
Go to say, I know that my Redeemer liveth, that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroyed his body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. This is.
This is an Old Testament believer to get faith, to know that in the coming day he was going to stand before his God.
It's not a helpful to look at the division because we read a lot of verses. So I, I, I'll share with you how I find it helpful for myself. The 1St 12 verses on 1St 11 verses that we read and took up. We have to look at that. Perhaps as you mentioned, it's about the gospel and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So once you see that, it's easier to understand and then we have just taken numbers 12 diverse 19.
Uh, the question really was raised that in Price, if he wasn't raised, then what? And we spent some time on that. And then the next section that we're going into from verse 20 to perhaps 28, it speaks of Price as the first fruit, first fruit of resurrection. But then what's after that? And that leads a section Expe explained to us what's after.
Assets go to the first W as advanced come at the end, the end of the beginning as if it were.
In respect of the 21St, it's important to notice that, uh, umm.
And this is a general comment that, that where it refers to the resurrection, umm, but now it's quite risen from the dead. Uh, I think Mr. Darby translates it from among the dead. The important thing is that Christ was raised and we will be raised and our recs resurrection will be from among the dead too, because in, in, in, in, uh, uh.
Revelation 20 we read the rest of the dead, and those are those who did not accept Christ, but So what we have in.
Generally speaking, throughout the New Testament, Mr. Darby translates instead of the resurrection of the dead, a resurrection from among the dead and that is what we will experience. We will experience a selective resurrection. Dead in Christ arise first, but as we get in verse 20.
Across the first groups.
Now that's an illusion. Back to uh, uh, Leviticus 23.
Verse nine. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, say unto them, When you come into the land which I will give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then she'll bring a sheep of the first fruits of your harvest, and to the priest.
And he shall wave the sheath before the law to be accepted of you.
Now when the home team wins the victory, what do people do? They go out on the streets and they wave flags and make a noise when the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has been raised, the first fruits, the first fruits as the apostle later had developed in in the chapter, if you say there's first roots, there's going to be a harvest. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is that cursed fruit, the first one raised from among the dead, the first fruit and we joy, we celebrate.
His, his, his resurrection because of, as we've already had mentioned before us, if we do not have the resurrection of Christ, we have nothing, but we, we have that celebration. We, we preach. Uh, notice the umm OX4 beginning of X4. And as I spike unto the people, the priest and the captains of the temple and the Sadducees came unto them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus.
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The resurrection from among the dead. Mr. Darby translated. So that's our privilege to preach the vision and glorified Christ. We rejoice that we can indeed preach arisen in the glorified Christ. The Lord said, accept the corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone, but if it die and bring it forth much fruit. The Lord we know is a corn of wheat. He is.
He is gone into the ground.
In depth and he has risen and he will bring forth much fruit. He is the first fruits, but uh, all those that are redeemed in this present time day of grace will, will uh, all go home at the rapture.
So there were really two errors that Paul was speaking about. Uh, one of them, of course, is the denial of the resurrection across the board, the denial of bodily resurrection. But then there was another error among some of the Jews and others that, Oh yes, there would be a general resurrection. The Old Testament mentioned that, as we've had in the book of Job and other scriptures.
And so they recognize that there would be a general resurrection, but a resurrection from among the dead. Some would rise and others would remain in the grave till the coming day. Oh my. They found that difficult to take in. And so Paul brings both of those, shall we say, errors to light not only here but in other parts of his ministry by pointing out, as we've just had, that the believer.
Who has died in Christ will experience a resurrection from among the dead. Wonderful truth.
And as what's the assurance of that? Christ is there. And so it can't be any other way. He's the first fruits. He's up there now. There can be no doubt about it. And if he is raised, there cannot be any possible doubt about our being raised. Just a couple of days ago we had a funeral for a beloved sister in our Rita Ferry assembly.
And it was mentioned that she was even at that very moment that the funeral took place in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord's presence, but that there was a day coming when her body would be raised. And so that precious truth is meant to be a living reality in our souls, to be enjoyed, and as Paul makes an illusion to hear.
It ought to have an effect on our lives because all of Christianity is based on the giving up of present advantage in order to have future gain. It's the giving up of what we might have in this world as the pleasures of sin for a season in order to have a gain in eternity. Does that really hit home to my soul in a practical way?
To those among whom I live and move, realize that I count everything down here as merely temporary, because what is really worthwhile is going to be in resurrection.
Paul had to remind Timothy of that in order that he might teach it, and in fact, it wouldn't hurt to turn to it. Second Timothy, chapter 2. Here were the seeds, the beginning of declension. Here was Paul having been given up by the churches in Asia and his teaching being set aside.
Here he's telling Timothy how to conduct himself in a day of ruin, and I'm going to read Second Timothy 2 and verse 8.
As it is in the Darby translation, because it makes the point clear. Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David, raised from among the dead. According to my gospel, it wasn't that they needed to remember the fact of the resurrection. They needed to remember Christ. What, as he was in this world? No, raised from among the dead.
00:50:18
According to my gospel, what is the import of the thought? I suggest that the import is that the reward for a life of faithfulness down here will be in resurrection, not in this world.
Paul was saying to Timothy, Timothy, all they which are in Asia have forsaken me. What does he say? Does he say, well, Timothy, I guess we aren't doing something right, we better do something different because this isn't working. No, he says, Timothy, you continue.
Because the reward for faithfulness is going to be in resurrection, and it was so for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul reminds these Corinthian Saints that the believer does not live in order to get the rewards in this world. That's what they wanted. They wanted one foot in the world and one foot for the Lord. As we would say in modern language, have your cake and eat it too. They wanted to enjoy everything of this world.
And still have.
A future in glory? Paul says it doesn't work that way. No, the devil can't take away our salvation, but the reward for a faithful life is in resurrection.
If we give up everything in this life and there's no resurrection, all says we're of all men most miserable. But if we give it up because of a sure uncertainty of reward in the coming day, that's well worth it, isn't? And Paul knew exactly what he was talking about too, from experience, didn't he? Because later on he writes to the Corinthians in the second epistle, and he is forced by inspiration to bring before them that experience that he had had.
Of being caught up to the 3rd heaven and hearing unspeakable words that it was not lawful for a man to utter. And Paul always had that before his soul. He, he knew what he knew what was up there. He knew he'd seen Christ, as we said earlier, not here as the man of sorrows, not here as the lowly man walking in grace. But he had seen him in resurrection and ascension as a glorified man at the right hand of God. I've often thought too, when Paul wrote those words, to depart and be with Christ is far better.
You know, who better to write that than Paul? If John had written that, or Peter or James or any of the other New Testament writers, you'd say, well, yes, it's the truth of God's Word and and it's true. But when Paul said to depart and be with Christ is far better, again, he knew exactly what he was talking about. He had been caught up there temporarily and could confirm that it was indeed far better. But just say this too about the Old Testament Saints. They never had this same hope in the way that we do.
Nor was it, as Hebrews chapter 6 tells us, assure and steadfast hope. They had hope. Job with me was reminded. He spoke in the way he did. David said, I will be satisfied when I awaken my likeness. But those were little, if I can put it this way, flashes of light beyond the normal revelation of the day. Because in the Old Testament there was always a little cloud and a little bit of an uncertainty. But in Christianity now, as we have in Hebrews 6, we have assured and steadfast hope. Why? Because the forerunner is already there.
Brethren, if we ever doubt our hope in Christ and what is ahead, all we have to do is look up by faith and see where the Lord Jesus is now. And just read the end of Hebrews 6 sometime where it speaks about the forerunner having already entered there. The forerunner is the Lord Jesus in resurrection and ascension and the fact that God has raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand.
Is God's Amen to the work of Calvary. It is the proof beyond doubt that God is satisfied with His Son.
And it is the confirmation beyond doubt that we're going to get there too.
If God has accepted His Son at His right hand, then He cannot refuse you and I. I speak reverently, because having availed ourselves of the work of Calvary, if God were to refuse us now, He would have to refuse His own dear Son, and that is impossible. And when it speaks of the Lord Jesus as the forerunner, it necessarily denotes the fact that there has to be after runners too. And who are they? Well, we've quoted the verse several times. Christ the first fruit afterwards say that our Christ that is coming.
00:55:25
So that, brother, this is not just something vague, something we hope for in the sense of of hope and as the world counts hope, uncertainty at best. This is not just a theology or a doctrine. This is reality. It is a doctrine, of course, but it is a reality. And brethren, in the measure in which this reality sinks down into our souls, in that measure, I believe it will have a practical purifying effect on your life and mind.
And in the measure in which we have a glorified Christ before us as the object and the end of the story before us as a reality, in that measure we will run with endurance the race set before us, and we will be the testimony that God intends us to be to those around us.
Just just recently there have been two, uh, umm, well known people who have have, umm, passed away and uh, I would like to compare the two, umm, results of these, umm, one was known, it was Stephen Hawking who was a well known atheist and there was Billy Graham who was a well known evangelist and uh, Stephen Hawking's umm.
Would like to have believed that, uh, once he died, he was annihilated. There was uh, just nothing here after, uh, when Billy Graham passed away, he said that, uh, and perhaps you've read this, uh, that uh, umm, when people say when that Billy Graham is dead, don't believe it at all. He says I'm more alive than I ever was. I have just changed my address. And so, uh, Stephen Hawkings will have also changed his address, but uh.
What a difference in the results when we get We've been talking about this, the resurrection from the among the dead, and I believe we get it covered in John's Gospel chapter 5 when we get.
Talking about the resurrection mainly of the Saints and uh, but Revelation chapter, or I mean uh, John's Gospel chapter 5 speaks of both of them.
Uh, verse. UH-25 Well, let's read verse 24 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 condemnation, but his past from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. And verse.
UH28, says Marvel, not this.
With the hours coming in, the which all that are in the grave shall hear the voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. So we get the rest, the revelation of the resurrection of the dead in Christ first that have been put asleep in Jesus and then we get the later on in Revelation chapter 20, I believe it is verse four or thereabouts. We get the resurrection of those martyrs that died during the tribulation period.
And then in the same chapter we get the resurrection 1000 years later of the rest of the death. So there's no such thing as annihilation like Peter Hawkins, Stephen Hawkings would have liked. But it says that all that are in the graves shall be raised some the resurrection of life. They have written after the resurrection of that. So everything is required of God, the Lord Jesus who is the resurrection and the life spake these words.
And so there is no, there is uh, no such thing as anyone escaping the ver, the, uh, condemnation of God, what the believer. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And so God has ordained it that they're all will be raised. Doesn't matter how many years there might be, doesn't matter where the, their ashes have been scattered over the oceans or where the mountaintops, wherever or the, the bodies have been buried in the depths of the sea, They're going to be raised for judgment or for blessing.
01:00:08
He speaks of them here in our chapter has fallen asleep. I think that's an important expression to note because in Scripture, whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament, it is only those who have died in faith that are spoken of as being asleep. And we find in the New Testament this expression they're they've fallen asleep in Christ. The Thessalonians were concerned about those who have their number who had died.
They were waiting for the Lord to return from heaven. Some of their number had died and they wondered if they had missed out in some way.
But the apostle Paul says to them, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again them also, which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them? And why is it referred to as sleep? Because sleep is only a temporary state of things and the sleep is always in connection with the body. It's the body that sleeps. There's a system, a fault system that has taught down through the Asia Soul fleet that when a person dies, they become unconscious until the resurrection.
But we know from many scriptures that's not true. It's the body that is referred to as asleep. It sort of hit me some years ago when my father passed away and I stood at his grave and I realized, and thank God I did, that this isn't the end of the story, that we laid the body in the grave. He was asleep in Christ. We laid the body in the grave temporarily until the resurrection. But that doesn't mean that the person is unconscious, whether they're a believer or an unbeliever, of course, as Brother Ken has said.
Because again, for the believer, it's to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Our loved ones that have gone ahead, we don't have to wonder what state they're in. It's true that they are waiting for the their their changed bodies, that the resurrection, their spirit is with Christ, but they are in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence now. In fact, what they are enjoying now is so much greater than we could ever anticipate.
That if they had opportunity to come back, they wouldn't want to. If they could come back for 10 minutes, they'd say not a chance. What we're enjoying now is so much greater than what we've ever anticipated. So this again, isn't something vague. The Old Testament Saints didn't have complete understanding. But it's all been revealed to us. So that again, we rest on certainties. The other day, the other week, last weekend in the Gospel in Lawrenceville was mentioned.
About in this connection.
That Michael Faraday, who was reputed to be the father of modern electronics, he was on his deathbed. He was a believer and he was on his deathbed and a friend came to him and said, Michael, what are your speculations for eternity? He said speculations. I have no speculations for eternity. I'm resting on certainties. He was resting on the certainty that if he went to be with the Lord through the article of death, there was a resurrection, but again, not a general resurrection. Martha looked, even understood, there was a general resurrection, she said of her brother Lazarus. I know he will rise again in the last day.
The Old Testament Saints knew there was a resurrection, but they didn't understand what was going to be introduced in Christianity, the resurrection from among the dead. And brethren, that's what our loved ones who've died in faith are waiting for. And of course, we're waiting as those who are alive and remain for that shout and will be called up together with them. And brethren, we've spoken of it in this meeting, but you know, before another meeting it might be a reality.
You and I really enter into that these things we have spoken of may be a reality before another meeting because they're about, I believe we're right on the eve of the fulfillment of that which we've been Speaking of. And the Lord Jesus is about to come raise the dead in Christ 1St, And we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. What were you going to say, Brother Dave? We wanna hear it.
Uh, I I love the detail in connection with the resurrection.
I, I and I and I believe the reason I love it is because it probably affected the Corinthians and and maybe we could look at it in Matthew's Gospel.
We don't know exactly what it was that caused.
Some of the Corinthians to have a difficulty with the resurrection, but I think part of it is what we find in the end of Matthew's Gospel, Matthew's Gospel, the last chapter in the ninth verse, it says, umm, in the, umm, the 15th verse. So we, we know the story. They, they, they, they came with this story and they, they wanted the story hushed up. And so they said, uh, so they, they took the money in verse 15.
01:05:27
They took the money and did it, they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. So you know, that may have been part of what the Corinthians struggled with, which was this story that was being purported as to what happened concerning the body of the Lord Jesus. But what I love is the ridiculousness of the story because you just back up a few verses.
It says in 11 first now when they were going.
Behold, some of the watch. Now notice it wasn't all the watch. Some of them struggled with it because they saw what was happening and they realized we're not gonna get into this because we know what's happened. So some of the watch, it says.
Came into the city and showed up as a chief priest. All the things that were done and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money onto the soldiers. You know this next verse I find incredible. It says before I read the verse last night and my wife will tell you when I go to bed.
And she's doing something in the room. I'm not too much aware of what she's doing. Last night she packed our bags. Or she packed our bags while I was sound asleep.
OK, so I'm dead to the world now. Notice what this says.
Saying, say ye, his disciples came specifically by night.
And specifically what they did, stole him away while we slept. This is the witness. OK, there are sound asleep and they have very specific things they can portray that it was disciples came and it was they came by night and they stole away the body and they're sound asleep. It's like, I love this, but this is the story that the enemy comes up to disqualify.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, like really, at least they, they could have come up with something better than that. But you know, I just, when, when you read this, you've gotta love the resurrection and how you just can't possibly believe this story that was promoted right at this time. So I don't know what it was that, umm, made the, the, the Corinthians, uh, swallow part of this story. But when you look at it and you, and you, uh, and you go through it piece by piece, you realize.
This is R absolutely ridiculous that the witnesses for this were sound asleep, You know, I just love that. So if you wanna get somebody saved, tell tell them to prove that. No resurrection of the dead, though. That's so ridiculous, though. They see the truth, they'll get converted.
#121 all that blessed work is done. God will cease the sun he is raised in from the dead set him over all instead.
#121.
Glory until.
Thursday from the breakfast, now I'm free.
Oh, I kill all the wars playing.
In a random.
And you know, when I get, it's a lot of rain.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's an earthquake.
I'm going to get lost. I don't know. I want you.
God and our Father thanked thee and for resurrection by yourself, Lord Jesus.
01:10:03
We thank you that he is alive in heaven today. He's looking down and seeing our you. Pray Lord Jesus, that we may willing be willing to trade president manage the glory. We look forward to that day and we'll be with thee, Lord Jesus.
To enjoy thy company for all eternity. We pray that we might have courage to go on from day-to-day.
What we have talked about this afternoon.
So we give thanks for this portion that we've had. What an encouragement, a day that is so dark and help us, Lord Jesus, to go on to the 11Th. Come thanks, my name, Lord Jesus, Amen, Amen.
Fathers
Address—Shawn Allan
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Good afternoon everybody. I trust you'll pray for me a bit. I've been up since, umm, 1:30 in the morning, uh, Ontario time. Just the way things worked out with flights here today. I'd like to start our meeting this afternoon by singing the 1St 2 verses of 127. The 1St 2 verses of 127.
We just pray.
Our Father, we give thanks for this beautiful hymn.
How it touches our hearts to think of that bus at home that one day we will share in.
Our Father, we.
In great need of help this afternoon. We pray that the speaker will be hidden.
The subject that is before us will be.
Minister to the hearts of the hearers, as only the Spirit of God alone can do.
We give thanks for that beautiful verse, for God to love the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
We give thanks for each and everyone who is here this evening.
And we just do commit this short period of time into thy care, our God and Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, thy beloved Son, we do pray, Amen.
The topic I have in my heart today is one that, quite frankly, terrifies me.
I hadn't planned on Speaking of it at all, and it wasn't even on my heart in any way prior to Tuesday of this week.
It's a very emotionally charged subject.
And I trust you'll pray for me as I speak on it.
They're just sort of random thoughts.
But I wanna tell you the story of how we we come here this evening.
A good friend of our family passed away last week.
And we were visiting in the home of the, uh, the elderly man that that had passed away on Tuesday night. Just wanted to be a little bit of an encouragement to that, that home. And they had a son-in-law who had traveled up from Virginia.
00:05:11
Who? He and I got into quite a lengthy conversation. He spoke of many, many things.
And, uh, he had gone through a period of time where he was flat on his back for weeks and the Lord.
Really impressed upon him a ministry to fathers.
And we spoke on that topic for some time.
Lynn and I left the house.
We both had tears in our eyes. We said, Lord, why? Why have you given such peace about us going to the conference? We feel like we should be home in St. John's going to the memorial service this weekend.
And I just felt in that moment of time that the Lord's answer was, I allowed this to happen because I wanted you to speak in fathers.
And so that's my subject today. It's just a short period of time.
One of the things that led me to believe this is what the Lord gave. There's a movie out right now I can only imagine. I haven't watched it, but I do know the song.
Spy group called MercyMe and the the singer of that band is the uh, it's the story of his life things Bartz Millard.
And Bart had a very problematic relationship with his father over the years, and this the movie goes into that in quite some detail.
And that movie has been very successful. I believe it's touched a lot of people.
Because fatherhood is a serious issue in the world today.
And you can imagine why this subject terrifies me because I feel so unworthy of it.
I sat down in my basement before I came to the conference with one of my children and I said, how do you feel about me speaking on this?
You'll laugh a bit. The answer came back. Just don't stand up there, Daddy, and say what a failure you are.
So I can't say that.
What I will say is that the diverse in connection with that though, the David said.
It's always touched my heart a great deal, although my house be not so.
So the first thing that I.
I just want to point out is the first instance in the New Testament.
That we have the Father mentioned is in the Gospel of Matthew.
And let's turn to it. The third chapter, 16th verse.
And Jesus.
When he was baptized, he went up straight way out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, and low a voice from heaven, saying.
Notice.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
First instance of the father mentioned in the New Testament.
When I was asked to speak, it was told to me that there was an exercise.
For young families, fathers as you start out.
Two things.
Let your children know you love them.
Second thing.
Tell them.
Tell them as you are able.
That you're pleased with them.
It may not be always easy to do that.
But there's always, there's always opportunities.
So many people struggle.
With the question of fatherhood, because they don't feel the approval.
00:10:00
And all I want to do this this afternoon is to draw your attention to this beautiful fact that when the father is introduced in the New Testament.
He says this is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.
Now I want to go back.
Genesis 22.
Please forgive my shaky voice.
We won't read this whole story. I just wanna touch on a few points.
It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, And he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get the end of the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell the of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and settled his *** and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and Clay the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went under the place of which God had told him that on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide here with the *** and I, and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the word of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together.
And Isaac speak on to Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Hear my my son said, Behold the fire in the woods. But where is the lamb for burnt offering?
And Abraham said.
My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son.
And laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, Here my, he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fears God, seeing thou is not withheld thy son thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him in a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
Time is short, I'd just like to go over a few points in connection with this beautiful story.
And the first point is this.
Especially if you're starting out as a dad. But even if you're a dad now for a few years, and I have many more years ahead of me in that regard, it all starts.
With.
You and the Lord.
It all starts there. You can read every self help book on being a good father that you wish. You can get all the advice from everybody you wish.
You need to start in the presence of God.
Fathers, I implore you to do that.
That's where it all begins.
God called Abraham, and Abraham's response was very simple. He said, Behold, here I am.
Here I am.
You know, it's interesting. My brother Mark was visiting short while ago in in Newfoundland, and I speak here just for a second about marital relationships. And we were Speaking of the facts again, that you can read all the books you want.
On how to be a better husband and a better wife and all of these things.
It starts with you and the Lord and the desire to serve Him together, and things will tend to work out if you do that.
Second point I want to speak here is the second verse. It says, and this is exquisitely beautiful. He said take now thy son. And if you look in the in the J&D translation, pay attention to the commas, it says, and he said take now thy son comma.
00:15:02
Thine only son comma.
Whom thou lovest, comma Isaac.
Beautiful.
Take now thy son, O brethren, I don't pretend to enter into this in the way that I should, but we know that verse so well in first John chapter 3. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
To be a son is to be loved.
What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the Son of God. That's true of everyone who knows the Lord Jesus as their Savior here this evening.
The first thing that though God said to Abraham, take thy son. Second thing thine only son.
Only sun, only dinosaurs if you will. Special uniqueness. We know what this is a type of.
Those of you who have multiple children in your family, this is something that I have really struggled with.
But it's very important.
Treat each one of your children like they are special.
Your only son, your only daughter, because they're all different. And one of the things that we struggle with, and my children know I struggle with it.
We don't understand those who are different from us a lot of times.
All that means is they're special.
Help your children to know that.
And then the last one.
Who now loves Isaac?
You know.
I spoke on this already because we don't need to repeat it, but I'd like to share a little story.
One of the.
Great memories of my life.
And I'll be forgiven for sharing this story.
We're sitting in the living room and home.
And watching as one of my siblings opened up a Wan gift.
And that wedding gift was this verse.
As a father.
That's love me so if I loved you, continue ye in my mouth.
And I saw the tears flow.
And I never got it.
For God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son.
And so.
Abraham here is told to offer up his son for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of which we had more time, but we only.
This is too big a topic, and there's others much more qualified than I am to speak on it.
But one of the things that's so precious about fathers is in the Bible, our Heavenly Father is always denoted as the Giver. The giver.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable is, nor shadow of turning. We read a verse in Ephesians chapter one. I'll just quickly read it. It was in the prayer and I was struck by it.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Says this, that the Father, verse 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, et cetera.
He is the giver. God so loved the world that He gave.
And fathers.
The givers and you know, I don't speak of this as giving presents, buying the happiness in the, uh, joy of your children through material things. It's not what God did here.
He gave.
00:20:00
Something so precious to him we can never and never will understand how difficult it was.
It hurt.
Why? Because He had you and I as His objects of generosity, as it were, if you were. He gave his Son so that we could have all those riches, the inheritance of the Saints of light, that we could know the Lord Jesus. That's why he gave His Son.
And so far as I see to you and I, I'm a very poor example of this. Give what hurts to your children.
Time.
Time give up something that maybe you would like to do you know, and I say this especially to young fathers practical point you'll forgive me though it's not easy when you start off as a dad because you've been used to doing things with your friends you've been used to having good times and traveling and all those things and all of a sudden you get married and there's someone else you got to look after right away as it were think about.
What they would enjoy, what they would like. And then you have kids and you don't sleep for months and it's hard. It's hard.
But that's what giving is. And think of it as a privilege, because by you giving in that way, you are enriching other people. You know, I've often thought another practical point. Forgive me for saying this. Those of you of young children, elderly people love children.
Give your young children to elderly people because they will love it.
My parents will forgive me for saying this, but they used to take us to and that little lady called Mrs. Joyce. She had she was flat on her back. She had a a condition, I think it was Ms. She couldn't move at all and she that mom would take us to her bedside. I Northeast. I never forgot it. And I have no doubt that that Miss lady, Mrs. Joyce so appreciate it because she what did she have? Just the bed in the room all day long.
The joy of children gives your children.
Our time is nearly gone, so just a few other comments here.
Isaac asked the question where is the Lam for burnt offering?
And Abraham says this.
In verse eight, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them together.
Teach your children that God provides.
Because he does.
And you know, Abraham here did not know.
What was going to happen this day? We know from the book of Hebrews that he expected that he would potentially have to slay his son Isaac, and that it would be through resurrection that the promises would come that had been given to him.
All he says is my son. God will provide a lamb.
You know, I have no doubt that Abraham provided a very good example to Isaac.
In showing Isaac that he trusted God no matter what, even when things were not clear.
We need to do that for our children.
And it starts with us. Us.
You know, share a personal thing. Again, you'll forgive me, but it's not really a secret. Some will know that.
I struggled with wanting a slightly larger home for a number of years.
And.
The door just never opened and never opened and never opened. Never got an answer. Couldn't see why. I prayed for hours. I feel I showed my children that I was a discontent father.
But you know, Lynn said to me. So forgive me for sharing this. You know you can teach your children.
Through things like that, you may not get an answer for years. You may never get the answer.
Show them that you trust him, even if you don't know.
Abraham said My son God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering.
God will provide. Yes, He will. It's a promise.
00:25:02
And the last point I wanna make with this story is twice it says and they went both of them together.
Together.
And you know, isn't that exquisitely beautiful, The fellowship of the father and the son?
We need that with our children.
And I think I just will leave it there.
They went, both of them together.
A few more verses because our time is gone. I want to turn to John chapter 17, the very last verse of that chapter.
What's the last thing the Lord Jesus says?
In John 17.
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare Notice that the love wherewith.
Thou hast loved me.
Maybe in them, High in them?
How does the world know that we have a father who loves us?
The prayer of the Lord Jesus was that the Father's love would be manifested in US.
One more time that the love we're with, Thou hast loved me. The love that the Father had for the Son may be in them, and I in them.
The question to myself and to every father in this room is this.
Do we display the Father's love?
I want to just make a few quick closing comments and I hope we can go just 5 minutes over time loop 15.
We can't read this whole story, we can only just make a brief comment on it.
The prodigal son.
And I just want to read.
Verse 12 The younger of them, certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, and took his journey into a fire country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And so this is just something that I want to address to those of us.
Who are sons?
What separates us from communion with the Father? What creates the distance?
His son took what his father had and he wasted it with riders living.
Sin game in.
And it caused separation.
And that's what it does, and it does with our relationship with the Lord Jesus too.
But you know, I just wanna point out the father's heart of love in this story, because when you go down a little later and the sun comes to the end of himself, what does it say about his father? Verse 20? He arose and came to his father, and when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the sun said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. But the Father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, And bring Heather the catted, fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be married.
For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to be married. Isn't that beautiful? The sun comes to him end of himself and he comes back and what does he find out?
The father was there all along, any compassion on him, and he threw his arms around them.
And we know this is a type.
Of our Father.
When our children come back to us after they've sinned, how do we react? Do they see the heart of compassion?
In US.
I hope that they do.
And so I just want to close with.
Coupled final thoughts.
I'm just gonna go right to, uh, that will those verses that David penned. I wanted to speak of him and Absalom, but we don't have time and.
00:30:08
That's OK. Second Samuel, chapter 23.
And this should be an encouragement to all of us.
The fifth verse of Second Samuel.
23.
Although my house be not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things ensure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make it not to grow.
All of us know.
Failures. None of us here are perfect in any way.
But David here, rather than being despondent, he says that all his desire, all his desire.
Is that he had been God had made with him this everlasting covenant, and it was all his desire.
And you know, we may fail down here.
But we are the children of God.
And he has promised so much to us, and he has made us his own.
And no matter how we might fail and mess up, we know that His promises are sure.
Sure.
Never forget it.
And so I just, there's more I wanted to say. It's not intended to be a comprehensive look at this subject at all.
But you know.
We need fathers, and we need them in the assemblies too.
And, you know, I'm one of the younger ones here, and I have so much to learn from my older fathers. In this room, I'm going to share one statement that was made to me.
That I really appreciated. This will be my last thought because we are over time.
It's not easy raising.
Teenagers and I made a comment both that to a brother and the brother said to me and I was really rebuked, he said it's fun.
And I never forgot that.
Because I realized that there was an important perspective that I was missing. And I only say that because.
You of you who are older, we have much to learn.
Please help us.
And how thankful we can be that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so many of both, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you and the Father's house. There's a Bose, there's places of communion and closeness and nearness. And we will enjoy that one day.
I'd like to close.
With the last two verses of the hymn, we opened up with 127.
Someone else can start that.
Just closing prayer.
Our God and Father.
Give us to know more deeply the Father's heart.
And how great the gift that was given to us in the giving of thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus, Son of thy love, to think that he is gone to prepare a place for us, and that one day we will know in a way we have yet to know in this world.
What the Father's heart is.
We do give thanks for the fathers that are among us too.
Oh, Father, how grateful we are for the many examples and for those who are fathers here and perhaps just starting out. We just pray for them. We pray to encourage them in this great task, this noble task, this difficult task. Our God and Father, we just give thanks for all that thou art and for thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus our Savior, and his name, we pray. Amen.
Hymnsing
Confidence in the Lord
Hymnsing Talk—Bernie Roossinck
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.
OK, let's ask for the word itself before we begin.
Gracious God and Father, what a joy it is to be able to be here tonight with so many dear friends and, uh, brethren and, uh, to be able to sing.
Of the goodness of God and, uh, Father, we ask for help. We, uh, know that there are a great many needs here. Uh, a great many.
Uh, stations of life and things that different ones are facing. And so Lord, we ask for, uh, a little encouragement from the word of God, we.
Ask this in a good deal of dependence.
And, uh, we do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Well, I, uh.
Uh, about a week ago. Those of you that know me know I like history. So a week ago at this very hour.
I was addressing him Sing in my own living room.
And so for those of you that were at that him sing, pardon me for, uh, some common thoughts, but, uh, I have on my heart a few things that I would like to share, uh, you know, and I, as I considered what to say.
I asked the Lord to.
To give me some encouragement, uh, for each one, you know, there are folks here that are excited and young. Good to be with your friends.
Uh, look forward to the conference. Here we are. And it's, uh, something we look forward to fellowship with their loved ones, right? And they're assuming in this room that, uh.
Uh, perhaps.
Are struggling a little bit with some challenges in their life. Maybe some loved one that you had that used to be here in this crowd isn't here tonight.
Maybe you're in college and you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed.
I can't imagine if that would be true.
But I went to college with Mark Allen and, uh, he and I taped up a text on the wall that said in Ecclesiastes of making a many books, there's no end and much study is the weariness of the flesh.
But anyway, we had a lot of lovely times together too. It didn't March so. But anyway, uh, what I have before me is confidence.
And I don't mind telling you that.
Probably the past 18 months have been.
Uh, I've had some difficulties in them and I'm not gonna get into all of what they are, but I want to share with you some things that have been very helpful to me in these past 18 months or so, and I hope that we can be encouraged by them. So let's first turn to the very middle verse of the Bible.
Sum 118 versus 8.
Now I have to confess to you young people. I haven't counted them up, but I have heard that this is the middle verse of the Bible.
Some 118 verse 8.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in them.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princess.
You know, brethren, uh.
How easy it is, especially you young people.
Kids, when you're when you're young, it's tempting to feel umm.
Uh, like you can do things without any help and I'm not speaking against, uh, you know, competency or being good at something, You know, maybe some of you can ski well or snowboard or play hockey and that's nice. Umm.
But on a deeper level, to have confidence in ourselves is a is a mistake. And here it says it's better to to have confidence in the ward than to put confidence in man trusting in the Lord. Confidence to me is not very good at definition. So I'll try this. The confidence is putting your trust in something.
It's anchoring yourself on something that's solid and here at the beginning.
00:05:06
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. You know there's another verse that says have no confidence in the flesh.
And so there are some things that we need to be careful of and not to put confidence in ourselves or in our ability to make the right choices, but our trust needs to be in the Lord.
And now?
Let's turn over to Proverbs 16.
14 Roberts 14 This is a verse that has been a very big encouragement to me in the last year.
And uh, those of you that are at our house last Friday night, I noticed that I I like this first so well that I cut it out on scroll. So I'm hung it on the wall. Here's what it says.
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge. You know, I, I know that there are, uh, folks here in this room that, uh, are facing challenges, real challenges, uh.
Umm, ailing parents, Uh, per.
Perhaps children that are wayward, uh, perhaps relationships that haven't turned out like you wanted them to, uh.
Umm, you know, it's easy to lose confidence.
But here we're told in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. And I want to encourage you young people, especially put your confidence in the Lord. You know, there are, uh, it seems like there's so many things that want to, uh, derail us or want to overwhelm us. Umm.
And here it says.
Umm, his children still have a place of refuge. You know, that's so comforting to me, a place of refuge and.
It, uh, it reminds me of a a verse in Isaiah 32.
Just think I could quote it, but I'll turn to it to get it right. Isaiah 32.
In verse 2.
A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind.
Let me get to it here.
Isaiah 32 Two and a man shall be as in hiding place from the wind, and a covered from The Tempest.
As rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And who is that man? It's our beloved Lord Jesus.
A man shall be as in hiding place from the wind.
Recovered from The Tempest. So I've told the story before, but I'll tell it again because I mentioned I like history.
And uh, I know there are some Newfoundlanders in this room, so part in this story from Newfoundland 100 years ago this winter, there was a vessel of, of steamship called the s s Florazel.
And, uh, a good many years ago, I met the author of a book that wrote about that story. Her name is Cassie Brown.
And, uh, my mom knew that I liked that story, so she took me to the library and we met there. Cassie Brown. Anyway, that ship was a, uh, pretty good ship, probably the pride of Newfoundland's fleet, really. And it was used to, uh, go to the front, they called it for the seal hunt, but it was also used as a troop carrier in the First World War to take Newfoundland's men to.
Uh, Belgium and France to fight. But anyway, on this night in the end of February.
She was bound for Halifax.
And, uh, then to New York.
And, uh, it was a stormy night and, uh, she slipped her lines and set sail down the South Shore of the Avalon Peninsula and, uh, it was pretty bad, pretty rough.
And there was some ice on the go, so they really couldn't, uh, they used to pull what's called the log.
00:10:00
Uh, to tell how fast they were going? Well, you couldn't do that when the ice was on. So anyway, eventually they steamed out of the ice and the captain was pretty sure that he had rounded tape brace.
So he gave the order to call her off to the West and head for Halifax. Well, he hadn't rounded the tape race and umm, they saw some white and they thought it was ice.
But it was actually, uh, waves breaking on a reef, so they drove that ship.
Onto a reef full speed and there she was stricken and the seas were big enough where they just carried right over the ship and she was stuck. You know, you're reading Acts 27 about the four. The four part of the ship was fast and the hinder part was broken off exactly the same. And there were 34 survivors in that boat.
And they got into a little.
Steel shack, the only thing that wasn't swept overboard called the Marconi House and for two days they were in that little 8 by 10 shack, 34 people and the seas just washed over again and again.
What we have in this first year, a man shall be a covered from The Tempest. Ever feel like in your life if I see you young people that, uh, the waves are just washing over your ship and you're in trouble?
And here we have a man shall be a covering from The Tempest, and that's what we have in our Savior, the Lord Jesus beautiful.
Protection that we have hiding place from the wind. Yeah, The other day it was a really windy day. I had to work outside, man, it was cold. I was glad to get back in my truck.
Umm, the shadow of a great rock and a weary land. That's what our Lord Jesus is. You know what?
I just want to encourage you put your confidence in the Lord.
Umm, if you don't mind if I check my notes brother and I, I apologize for being nervous.
Umm, I did jot down a few things I wanted to, to say here. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Umm, and this is Speaking of our Savior. You know, the Lord Jesus walked through this world and he went to the cross and he died, uh, to settle the question of our sin. But you know, there were a lot of things that happened in his life that weren't necessary.
To take care of your sins.
Did the Lord have to be tired?
Trip to take care of Sims.
No. Did the Lord have to be thirsty?
To wash your sins away, no.
Why did he do it?
I think we have the answer in Hebrews 4 and verse 14 says seeing we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession where we have not at high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities or within all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. And you know I believe the word Jesus went through some of those things so that he could identify with you.
In your circumstances.
Umm, and I find that to be encouraging. You know, the Lord knew what it was to be lonely. You knew what it was to be overwhelmed in a human sense. You knew what it was to feel hunger and thirst. And, uh, I find that that beautiful, uh, reminder that the Lord did that so that he could, uh, identify and that he could be a sympathetic high priest.
And so I just wanna encourage you in that.
Umm.
Turn to Isaiah 26.
And verse 3.
Now we'll keep him in perfect peace.
Whose mind is stayed on day because he trusted in me.
Your confidence in your life. You know what a stay is. Who can I? Who can I? What's a stay? If you're on a sailboat, what would a stay be? We need John Rusick here. If you refer to it in the wrong word, he would certainly correct you. That's not what it is. It's all the stay.
00:15:11
A stay is a table or a, uh, rope that goes up from the side of the hall to the mask that holds it tight, keeps the clock in place. And if that breaks, that's catastrophic to that ship. That mass is certainly to come down. And here it says that I will keep him in perfect peace. His mind has stayed on the fixture. Thoughts on the Lord Jesus?
And, uh, you know.
What, what we, how people long for peace in their lives? Uh.
So important, anchor yourself on the Lord Jesus. Let's turn to, uh, Philippians chapter 4. And this is a verse that I find has been a tremendous help to me throughout my whole life. But uh, just read verses 6 and seven. Be careful for nothing. And I pardon, pardon me, brethren, if I paraphrase this first few words. Don't be anxious about anything.
But in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known unto God and the God of peace.
And the peace of God, sorry, which passeth all understanding. So keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
You want that peace in your life.
I do here, the Lord says, don't be anxious.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer, with prayer, with Thanksgiving. Let our requests be made known unto God. You know, it's, uh, it's so important to get on your knees and ask the Lord for help, for guidance, for direction. The Lord wants to provide that for you. You know, it's uh, umm, it's difficult to struggle through a problem and not know.
Umm, what the result might be? Uh, it's hard to.
Yeah, we, we fear, naturally speaking, what we don't know, right? Umm. So I'll tell you a story that happened to me this week.
Umm, we're on the verge of planting crops. Very busy right now.
And, uh, Tuesday morning my operations manager got a call from the Greenville hospital, said your wife has been in a car accident, She got a broken leg and we're taking her to Grand Rapids.
So I told them go.
Well, we got down there.
Turns out it was a little more than a broken leg.
22 broken bones.
16 ribs? I didn't even know you had 16 ribs.
Well, how many ribs do you have?
24.
Umm, 2 vertebrae broken in the back of the neck. The doctor told him they fused those. On Tuesday night. The doctor told him I'd never do this surgery on this vertebrae. These people are always dead.
So I went down there last night to the hospital and, uh, sat with my friend Pat there and he had a pretty good front on.
Pretty clear that his situation is bleak.
And so I I I asked him, can I pray with you?
Yes, he says. Please do.
And immediately all that facade was gone. He sat there weeping.
That we fear what we don't know.
And it's.
The Lord Jesus that can give us that peace, that, uh, that we, that we need in our lives. Umm.
That confidence Umm.
It's, it's, it's a difficult thing for us a lot of times, you know, grieving the loss of a, of a husband or a wife or a grandpa or grandma or, you know, decisions get made in their lives. I'll, I'll speak for my own family, you know, uh, mom and Bethany's decision to end the bookstore, very, very difficult decision to make and a good many tears set over that.
What to do, what to do and the last day?
Umm, my mom sent me a picture of the.
Uh, empty room and the locked door.
00:20:03
And she was upset. You know when it feels like you're cutting a string, that tells you to that.
And the Lord gave me this verse, and, and Isaiah 55 my word shall uh, not return unto me void, uh, uh, it will accomplish what I send it out to do. And then it says, they shall go out with peace.
And be filled with joy, you know, and the, and the Lord has things in our lives for us to do. And let's not be overwhelmed. You know, for 45 years, the word of God went out in that bookstore. And, uh, I just thank the Lord of the many, many times that people come in and say, you know.
I got saved. You didn't know this 20 years ago. I got saved at the gospel 10th The Lord spoke to my soul and so.
Things like that though, are stressful and they're difficult in their lives, but let's be encouraged that the Lord is in control. You know it's umm.
I was, I was saying just a minute ago, we fear what we don't know. You know, the apostle Paul could say, and Timothy, uh, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day. And so Paul could say, I know what the end result is.
Are we, are we going through turmoil in our lives? Yes. We need not be cast down here. We, we know the ends. We know what the final story is, the final chapter.
Uh, God knows what he's doing. And so I wanna encourage us to, uh, trust. And, uh, the last verse I'll share is, uh, Hebrews 10. Really enjoyed this verse a lot.
And I know this is special to a good many folks in this room, but I'll read it. Hebrews, 1035.
Cast not away, therefore thy confidence.
Which has great recompensive reward.
We have need of patients that after he had done the will of God, you might receive the promise. We had a little while, and he that shall come will come.
And we'll met Terry.
Well, brethren.
Don't castaway your confidence.
Your confidence is placed in the Lord Jesus and.
Here we can say, cast that away, therefore thy confidence, which has great recompense of reward, that means you young men, Here that means.
Umm, a recompense is a prize, if you will. A payment, a reward. God values us, putting our faith and trust in them, even though sometimes we can't see the end of the road. You know, when we leave here and go back to the hotel, are your headlights gonna shine all the way from here to there? No, they're not.
You're only gonna see about 200 yards. That's it.
And we trust as we go, the light goes on a bit further, right, a bit further and it'll presently here you are at the hotel. The light didn't shine all the way from here to there. But we go on and trust and we don't castaway our confidence, brethren. And and it's so valuable, especially in these days when there's so much.
Uh, against us, if you will. And I hope I'm not depressing everybody. Umm, I do joy for some of the young people, you know, I look at your faces and you're eager and anxious and confident and be confident in the Lord fear the Lord is strong confidence and you know.
It says here the just in closing a little while and he that shall come, will come and will not tarry. You look forward to that day when the Lord Jesus steps out of heaven is where and he says.
Arise.
Come away and we're gone. Be with the Lord in an instant, and the Lord is coming. And so let us go on in confidence and find that peace of God that passes all understanding.
Well, I hope this has been an encouragement to you. And, uh, I value especially young people. Be confident in the Lord, trust him, find refuge in him. Don't find your refuge in all that other junk that promises peace. There's no peace except in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's close in prayer.
00:25:05
Our loving God and Father, we pray that.
We would find our confidence.
In the Lord Jesus.
Our Father we know, with thy heart is for us.
We pray for these young people.
And children here in this room, Lord, we pray that they would anchor themselves.
On the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of us that are a bit older, Lord, we pray that we would turn to Thee in times of stream and find that security and that peace that we need.
Lord, we know from Thy word that Thou art willing and able to go along in it with us. Go together, Lord, help us to walk in night paths. Trustee and everything.
And we do look forward to the moment that we'll be called out of this world to be forever with thee.
The Lord, we ask for help and blessing for the rest of the evening. We give thanks for the snacks here, uh, that we have laid out here. And again we give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Would it be all right to sing one more song? Have we got time, Jason?
Sing, I tell you, it's a real joy to sing together. I love singing and uh, I'd like us to sing #94.
Where it may have crossed and falls within half water still together.
And then if we move across and automatically.
I'll come get home.
A Thai baht, lovely to go out of life while I need it and I have seen blah blah blah. And I don't know for her sightseeing. That's right.
1 Corinthians 15:22-28
Reading
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.
317.
How pleasant is?
The soul of praise that will become a state of God should be ridiculous.
Uh.
It is not ever pursued by the way.
Lakers in the Hall of his Love.
And we praise the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died for us because he loved us so much.
We're so glad this morning too, that he's alive. See your right hand and that someday very soon, at any minute, see you face to face. And we look forward to that moment. And in the meantime, pray that each one of us Father would grow to love him more and he would mean more to us every day. And we pray that the meeting this morning would help each one of us with that. We pray that each person that speaks would follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, open our ears, open our hearts, make us willing to listen that pray. We also pray for the children's meetings too. And we ask for a blessing in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
For those who were not here yesterday, we had started on 1St Corinthians chapter 15.
I would hope everyone was happy to go ahead with it.
I would suggest that.
Uh, probably we could start with Verse.
00:05:01
22.
Would that be about right?
We were mentioning yesterday that we wanted to, uh.
Try and keep on going a bit in the chapter because it's a long one. So I think we I think we got about that far.
1St Corinthians 15 uh, starting at verse 22.
For resin Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits afterward say that our Christ that is coming.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must drain until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For yes, but all things under his feet.
But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that it is expected, accepted, which should put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they then baptized for the dead and why stand be in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. If after the manner of men I fought with beast at Ephesus, what advantages of it me? If the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners.
Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God.
I seek this to your shame, but some men will say, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
So full that which thou sowest is not quickened except to die. And thou which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but fair grain. It may chance of wheat, or some of other grain, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him. And to every seed his own body, all flash, is not the same flesh. But there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial.
But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star differeth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. His Son in corruption is raised in incorruption, His sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory is sown in weakness. It is raised in power, a sown in natural body. It is raised in spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, the 1St man Adam was made a living soul. The last man Adam, the last Adam was made of quickening spirit.
Albeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The 1St man is of the earth earthy. The 2nd man is the Lord from heaven, as is the earthy. Such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trump the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So on this corrupt tool, so I'll have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then she'll be brought to pass the same that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? A thing of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as he know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
00:10:01
I would suggest that there is something very precious and very important in the order in which everything is given to us from this point on.
As we mentioned yesterday, one of the themes of this chapter is the giving up of present advantage in order to have future gain.
But then it goes further here, and it's very typical of Paul's ministry that he starts with God's purposes and counsels and the glory of Christ that is before God the Father. And so beginning with this verse that we started with, well, it actually started earlier, but beginning with this verse, we have God bringing before us all of his purposes in Christ.
Carrying them right on to the end, right onto the full fruition of everything that God has for His beloved Son. And then after that, beginning with verse 29, He brings in you and me and how all of that has an effect or ought to have its effect on us. Very, very important.
Sad to say.
In many Christian circles today, and we have the tendency to.
There is very often the thought of putting ourselves at the center of everything in Christianity and looking at everything as how it affects us. What do I get out of it? How does it affect me?
And if I can say it bluntly, because I'm guilty of it too, we often tend to look around at things.
In Christendom, of which we are a part, and say what's in it for me and if what's in it for me doesn't add up properly.
Then I don't wanna be there. I don't want any part of it.
Yes, there is plenty in it for us, but let's remember that God does not start with you and me. He starts with His beloved Son. He says I am going to honor and glorify my beloved son. Here are my purposes. Here's where things are going with Him.
And then here's where you've come in, because I want you to be part of it. And so the order here is important and it's a practical order. I would suggest that is.
Part and parcel of everything that Paul brings before us, not only in Corinthians but in all his ministry, have Christ before us, and all that God's purposes in Christ.
Are mean to God and to Christ.
And then we come into the picture afterward. In that way, Christ is far more glorified, and you and I are far more blessed.
It's always been part of me. It's, it's so important and I, I, I trust I've learned this in my younger life life too. And that is that we want to understand anything as to God first. We have to start from heaven and work down from there. And we are at the bottom, shall we say, but it's always Christ 1St. And if we see what God's purposes were in the beginning, that we understand.
We can, we'll, we'll get the picture from there on and we'll understand it better and more clearly. And we want these quite, uh, as important as we thought we were, you know, and, uh, umm, but if we give God his portion first, then, then we will be blessed. And, uh, we're going to spend all eternity doing that. We might as well start here. Oh, and taking up this subject, Paul not only addresses the present need there with the Corinthians, but he.
These purposes of God come out of these verses here.
And it gives the whole story how sin, where sin came in, in the very beginning, and then he carries it all the way into the future when God is gonna be. All in all, one of the things that perplexes people in the world today is why is God allowing all the confusion and disorder there is? Well, it can be an honest question, but the answer is here, God.
00:15:05
Purposefully allowed sin to come in because he had it in his design that Jesus Christ would become a man and fulfill those purposes. And one of the main things about it is death and resurrection.
This is the we and as Christians are the only religion really in the world that believe in resurrection. It's a cornerstone of the Christian faith. And so here you have the whole story when we understand why God allowed this to come in and how he by the Lord Jesus, conquers death and brings life and incorruptibility to light to the gospel.
The Lord Jesus then does that and uh, it's, uh, I wanna say a word about Christ, the first fruits.
There were people that were raised from the dead before the Lord Jesus, Lazarus, and in the Old Testament too. But that resurrection was not the same resurrection that the Lord Jesus accomplished. He rose in a new life.
Those who were raised from the dead in the Old Testament were raised to the old Adam life possibly died again. You get both in this chapter.
And it's beautiful to see that order there is going to be.
There were and there is such a thing as people raised again to an earthly body. That's what they look forward to in the Old Testament, no doubt, to be raised again and enjoy the Kingdom that Christ would set up on earth. But now you have a whole new sphere opened up. That's why it says Christ the first fruits when we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
We receive of that life and uh, we're, we don't get a new life when the Lord comes afterward, they that are Christ that is coming. That's what we're looking for right now.
Yesterday we someone ran in Leviticus about the feast of the first fruit. We find God has that in view through our scripture. If you go through that chapter, which we won't have time to, that feast was after the Passover. It has over within the 14th day of that month. The first route on the 17th day, that's the day. That's the same day as the resurrection day we find through scripture.
God has resurrection in view. We find that the 17th day is reminded, we, uh, reported repeatedly. We find in the case of the flood, where the flood was a picture of death and then immediately resurrection. So you can go back to Genesis. You'll find that they aren't rested on the mount on the 17th day of the month. Picture of resurrection, death, resurrection goes together.
Now the first group is interesting too that we sometimes think of the fruits as wheat, but I believe that these are the first fruits they raise was bomb. And the reason I say that is we doesn't come into harvest until later on in the year. So we find that in the fees of the Tabernacle. Marley oh, I should say the Passover is around this time of the year, early spring. The first fruit is far away. Now there's importance to that because.
The Barley.
That despise food, the food well, the poor are for animal food. So the Lord Jesus was there's a picture of the Lord Jesus as that despised and conjectured. 1 barley was it was often sold in the fall, a lame, dormant or dead as if it were through the winter. And then the first room that came out was far the precise one. You'll find that throughout you'll find when Ruth and Naomi returned back to the land, they said it was the beginning.
A barley harvest, this is electricity. And then you'll find the first fruits, the next piece after the first fruit in the church, that's a piece of pet. The church, the bride is being prepared because of the of the first food she found the picture of Isaac being offered up. Yes, we don't find a picture of Isaac returning with Abraham. Picture of that direction, isn't it?
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And then at the end of that 22nd chapter of Genesis, we find a ride between the air. So we find in there is an index UL. We get a revector and would you find it consistently? We can find when they cross the Red Sea, it was on the 17th day of the month, resurrection day. We found where they crossed Jordan. It was on the 17th A. So throughout Scripture God put forward not only to the death, but to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then that's just the beginning, as if it were, as we go further into this chapter, the next few verses are just to the end, then come up to the end. But the end really is the beginning, isn't it? I think it's helpful to see too, that these verses that we're considering at this point are really somewhat parenthetical in the chapter. In fact, from verse 20 to the end of verse 28, it's a little bit of a parenthesis because we're going to notice when we get further down.
That in verse 29 and 30, He really goes back to what was stated or asked in verse 17 and 18. But in these verses has been said, He's showing us the far reaching effects of resurrection. You believe in the resurrection, Here's the effects of it and he really is has already been said. He takes us from the beginning of man's history of sin right through to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross.
Right through the Kingdom period and right on into the eternal state. This is the far reaching effect of resurrection. But I would like to make just a practical comment in connection with these verses because they are really, at least to my own soul, a great comfort brethren, because what they show to me in general is that God and His man Christ are in full control. Nothing frustrates the purposes of God when the enemy came to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And Eve was tempted, and Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Satan, I'm sure, thought the purposes of God were frustrated, but they were anything but frustrated. As Brother Doug has said, God allowed sin to come into the world, to reveal His heart and to reveal His purposes in connection again, not so much with us, although we're brought in, but in connection with the full exaltation of His Son, the Lord Jesus.
And the reason I say that is, brother, and I know there are many here whose hearts are discouraged, are burdened, concerned about situations in the world, in your life. It looks like everything is out of control in this world today. And certainly the man of the world is wondering where it's going to end. His men's hearts are failing them for fear and looking for those things that are coming on the earth. Many Christians are discouraged, and they're discouraged often because they don't understand.
The purposes of God, they're looking for better and brighter days down here. But if we really understand God's timetable and God's purposes, we're not going to get discouraged. We're not going to give up. But brethren, let's bring it right down to day-to-day life. Do things seem out of hand in your life? Remember, they're never out of the Lord's hand. He's going to bring it all to fruition according to what he sees, not us, but what he sees is for our blessing and again for the.
Exaltation of his son in our lives and in the situations that we go through.
And then, brethren, to realize there's a day when everything is going to be brought to full fruition through His beloved Son, and are we going to have a part of it? Yes, It tells us in Thessalonians He's coming to be glorified in His Saints and to be had to be admired and all of them that are about Him in that day. But even when we're involved, what is it for the full glory and the outshining of God's beloved Son? So I just say that we have in this little parenthesis here.
The full and far reaching effects of resurrection, it ought to rejoice our hearts and to make us realize that whether it's our lives personally, this world in general, God is going to bring it all to fruition and blessings regarding his Son.
And so there is a man in the glory today with a glorified body. He's the first one that's there. The first one.
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And at the moment the only one. But when the Lord comes, everyone that has died in Christ, right from Adam on down, we'll get a glorified body, the character of the old creation as an Adam all die. But then it says in Christ shall all be made alive. I believe that believers that are in view there, some have taken it to go beyond that, but I believe here.
It's the positive side of things. It's believers that are in view. And in that, the wondrous power of resurrection is going to raise every true believer. Just imagine.
Brother Jim has been there, some of the other rest of us have been there in Egypt and you see places where people were laid to rest thousands of years ago. You go into a museum and see mummies there that are thousands of years old. Did any of them have faith? I don't know.
But if they did, they will be raised in the coming day. Everybody that has died of someone who was in Christ, that had faith. Now it says in Christ, that's a special, shall we say, privilege for believers of this dispensation to know that we are in Christ. But I believe here it refers to all who have had faith they are going to be raised in that day.
What a what a tremendous thought. And I say it's Christ here and what is characteristic of new creation, but it's true for you and for me too. And we need to rejoice in that. The other day I heard of someone whom I know is a true believer. And when her family approached her and said.
Mother, you know you're getting older and you need to tell us what you would like us to do if something suddenly happens to you and.
You're on life support. Uh, what, what do you want us to do? Uh, how do you want us to handle it? And she just couldn't face it. She ran out of the room in tears and just wouldn't face up for that.
Well, the believer, I say it kindly, doesn't have to look upon death that way. We don't have to look on the future that way. As if, Oh no, is that really going to happen to me? Am I going to have a brain aneurysm or a heart attack or some other miserable disease and suddenly be incapacitated and have to have people making decisions about whether to pull the plug on my life support? No, as Jim says, we can just quietly rest that it's all going to end in glory.
For the glorified Christ. And what's the assurance of that? He's there already. He's there now. We only see him by faith, but he's there now.
So those that have died now in Christ are not in glory yet.
Am I right? They're with Christ, but they're not ignoring. I remember a sister, uh, uh, whose husband passed away and, uh, brother came to see her and said that and she said, well, he's in glory now and he says not yet. Well, she was very disappointed. She thought for sure he was in glory, but that's, that's coming. Umm, we're with Christ, but that's not really in Gore yet.
But we will be when he comes and takes us home to him, to himself. So when it says we'll see him face to face, will that be when we're in glory? Or is that when when we're we die to go be to be with the Lord, which is far better. And we will have our bodies as well right now.
Those that have gone to be with Christ will see them face to face. I believe in spirit, the Lord said to a thief from the cross.
Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
That's not the Father's house, but still he was going to be with the Lord in paradise, so I think we'll see him.
Those that have already passed honor with the Lord, but it's not yet in the Father's house, that'll take place at the rapture. I would only say this, brethren, when we consider these things, I don't take away from what has been said, but.
00:30:01
We need to be careful about trying to be too technical. When the Apostle Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven, what was his remark?
Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. Yes, we will not get a glorified body until the Lord comes. But I hope when we make these remarks, we don't minimize in any way the joy of being in paradise or what that state will be. Because as I say, Paul, whether he was in the body or out of the body, he he said, I can't tell. He wasn't even conscious of that.
And so the joy of being with him is far better and.
We can be very thankful for the fact that in the coming day we'll have the fullness of blessing when we get our glorified bodies. So it's good to stick to the language of Scripture when we speak about these things because it's really a realm and sphere of things that we are not able to really comprehend. Mercifully, God has put us in the realm of time and distance and physically physical limitations so that we can operate on planet earth.
When Paul said he didn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body, when it was a temporary state of things, wasn't it? He was caught up there and then he came back to earth for the furtherance of the gospel and the blessing of the Saints. When we're caught up there at the rapture, we're going to be ever with the Lord, and we're not going to be able to. We're not going to wonder whether we're in the body or out of the body, because we're going to have bodies of glory like unto His body of glory, a body that is perfectly suited to that, to that spirit of things.
And so when we talk about our loved ones who've gone before, I believe it is simply good to talk about them as absent from the body and present with the Lord. How much more do we know? Well, we know as we have in another place in Corinthians, that they're not closed yet. They're in their unclothed state. They don't have they're glorified bodies. But to try to go beyond that and reason it out, I believe we get into into a tangle and on many of these things like the person and work of Christ.
We stick to the language of Scripture and then we don't have a problem. But I'd just like to go to Hebrews for a minute because in connection with what Bill has said and others have just said, just to give a couple of Scriptures that confirm what we've said. First of all, in Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22.
But ye are come unto Mount Zion under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, I want you to notice these different companies that are mentioned to an innumerable company of angels. When we get to heaven, there's going to be that innumerable company of angels. We're going to be aware of them, but they're not going to enjoy the same position that we are.
But then there's the General Assembly. So there's this vast multitude of the redeemed, I believe more than we can ever imagine or anticipate. Billions and billions, if I can put it that way. But perhaps that's even limited so to the General Assembly. And then he breaks it down. The Church of the first born. That's you and me who've been saved in the dispensation of the grace of God, who through by his grace, there's been a work of the Spirit and it's been repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We're gonna be part of that inner circle, so to speak. We're going to enjoy that closest place of relationship to the Lord. The angels are going to step back and we're going to, as it were, like at a wedding. We're going to walk down that aisle right into the presence of our bridegroom and be married to the Lord. But then there's more, he says, which are written in heaven to the and to God, the judge of all the of all. Now notice this.
And to the spirit of just man made perfect. Now who are they? Go back to the last verse of the 11Th chapter.
In the 11Th chapter, of course, he's given this list of men and women who in the Old Testament live by faith and they die. And what about them? God having provided the last verse, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. So they don't. They're not there yet either. They're not in the Father's house yet either. They don't have glorified bodies yet either. They haven't been made perfect.
Just like our loved ones who have died in faith.
But just to confirm what is has been said from scripture, when the Lord Jesus comes, all those who have died in faith from Abel down, they are going to they are the spirits of just men made perfect. They're going to receive glorified bodies. And while they will not be part of the church, there are different companies in heaven. The Old Testament Saints referred to by John the Baptist as the friends of the bridegroom children who died before the age of responsibility.
00:35:29
There's going to be the tribulation martyrs who will have their part in the first resurrection, but they will all have glorified bodies and they will all be all be there. So I think it's just good to get these things right from the word, the word of God. And you say, well, how do you know that those when it says in Christ in our chapter that it's all those who've died in faith from righteous Abel down? Well, I believe these verses in Hebrews confirm that. Would that be right, brother Bill Yes, definitely.
So I would like to just check my understanding here. Umm, I, I would have thought that based on what you were just saying, Jim, that that whole group of people that you read about, that all the different groups that you mentioned that are gonna be in heaven are Christ.
And that those who are in Christ are those who are brought into blessing with Christ today, new creatures in Christ. Is that correct or did I misunderstand it?
That is true, but as we saw from the end of the 11Th chapter, those who are going to be in heaven who have their part in the first resurrection are all those who have not only died in faith up until the rapture, but there will be this little addendum in the tribulation because the tribulation martyrs are taken directly to heaven. And I believe a key to understanding who is involved in the first resurrection is.
That everyone who has a part in the first resurrection has a heavenly portion. They are all on the heavenly side of things. And so that's why the tribulation mires, even though they're brought in after the rapture, as if like the little extension or addendum to the first resurrection. So you're right, those who are in Christ today are those who are saved by the grace of God in this dispensation, but all who have died from Abel down.
Are going to be part of the first resurrection.
And that's a, that's a good point that there are multiple parts to the first resurrection if you look at the overall timeline.
Thank you for going through it so all.
All of those people who are in heaven are Christ.
Thank you. Yeah, I believe that. So wouldn't it be helpful to look at this chapter and say we really have not in Christ the way it is presented in Ephesians, but it's it's talking about two men, the federal headship here, there's in Adam and in Christ. And that's what I think really is the point here. Not those who are in this present period of time has seen a seat in Christ, but all those that are his.
And that's the point that's made at the end of verse 23. Afterwards they that are Christ that is coming, that won't leave out any who have had faith in Him, will it?
Well then, if we go on to verse 24, as has already been mentioned, then come at the end, the end of what? The end of what God is doing as far as this world is concerned.
In honor and glorifying his beloved Son, where he was rejected and crucified. And so it says in verse 25, He must reign. Why must He reign?
Maybe I quoted this before, it's not original with me, but I never heard it expressed better.
The Millennium is necessary.
Is necessary for the public vindication of God's holy character.
But as our late brother, I say our late brother, it's been gone for well over 50 years. But as our brother Harry Hayhoe used to say, while the Millennium will be a wonderful time, it is really only the front porch to the eternal state. And so the Millennium is for the public vindication of God's holy character. His beloved Son came into this world.
00:40:08
In love and grace.
He was cast out, crucified man said. We will not have this Mandarin over us.
God says as man.
That beloved son is going to reign for 1000 years over this world and be publicly displayed for who he is and what he has done.
But then, going on further, the brother said yes, the Millennium is for the public vindication of God's holy character.
But the eternal state is for the everlasting satisfaction of God's heart. Will there be perfection in the Millennium? Not quite.
Then we'll still raise its head. There will be those sad to say that we'll be cut off because of open rebellion and sin. At the end of the Millennium, there will be two more awful judgments. One judgment of those who on earth rebel against the leadership, the kingship, the headship of God's beloved Son. And then they'll be following that, the White throne, the great White throne, judgment of the dead.
Those judgments take place.
But then as it says here, and I know we're, I'm just kind of summarizing this a bit at.
The end of all that, the last enemy, verse 26 that shall be destroyed is death. After the Great White Throne. I believe it's fair to say there will be no more death. And we get that brought out. We won't turn to it, but it's in the 1St 8 verses of Revelation 20 or Revelation 21 I should say, and it shows the character of that eternal state that will be ushered in.
But as we already had, it's the result of the death and resurrection of Christ. And so God will glorify his beloved Son. But who's going to be associated with him in all that glory when he takes his rightful place, you and I?
Is that worth looking forward to? Is that worth making decisions in this world relative to that date? It is, isn't it?
For those of us was that date.
For those of us have simple Li simple minds like myself, I I appreciate these verses. How you know the prophetic clock? It stops and then it starts again and then we have all these things that transpire and then we have in the 24th group. Umm, then come at the end when he shall deliver it up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. I'm in an interesting umm, season of my life right now. A lot of you have entered into that season. Umm, I just entered into it. Umm.
Umm, the nest is empty. Umm, my children are gone. My wife and I are wrapping around this big house. And the truth of the matter is I'm enjoying my wife now in a way that I don't think I ever have before. And it's wonderful. And I think what's going to transpire here is the income. And no, we have all this activity during the Millennium and the time comes when the Lord Jesus, he just hands everything to the Father.
And then he enjoys his bride and his wife for all eternity. I just love that. Beautiful. And could I add 1 little remark to that, Dave? I believe we see that and we won't turn to it, but look it up. It's worth looking at when we get the full results of that in Revelation 21. God, in the way that He puts it, puts the eternal state first, not in chronological order.
And then?
Starting with verse 9 brings the character of the heavenly Jerusalem out, which is a picture of the church in millennial glory. But when it's the millennial glory of the church, the bride is presented as a city because administration is in view. And I think that's what you're alluding to, Dave.
There's administration when you're bringing up children and all that kind of thing.
But when the eternal state is brought out, the city is presented as a bride. And uh, we used to have some over member whom I'm talking about, an old Scott's brother in the Toronto assembly years ago. And he spoke all his life with a broad Scotch accent, which I won't try and imitate. But he would say, did you ever see a bride of 1000 years without a wrinkle? And he was referring to just what Dave's been bringing out that when everything has been settled.
00:45:24
Then Christ is free to enjoy his bride.
I suppose the other reason he turns over the Kingdom to the Father is because there's nothing more to be ruled over and brought into check and put down. He's going to, he's going to take the Kingdom and he's going to rule it in perfection. The last enemy that's destroyed is death. There is a sense in which in other scriptures it says we shall reign forever and ever, but a thought of the Kingdom is that there's something that needs to be kept in check, something that needs to be ruled over.
There needs to be a suppression perhaps and A and an order, but when it's all brought to fruition, there will, there isn't the same thought of a Kingdom in that way. And so I've enjoyed what has already been said. Two reasons why the Lord Jesus turns over the Kingdom to the Father. One is so that he can devote eternity to his bride, and the other is there's nothing else to be ruled over or suppressed or put down. What a tremendous thing it's going to be, brethren. And it's been said that ought to encourage our hearts now.
One of the problems that Corinth was they were raining and trying to and the apostle Paul said to them, I would that you were reigning as kings because if you really were, we'd be reigning with you. This would be the reigning time now. But brethren, this is not the reigning time now. Now we see not yet all things put under him. I remember you, pardon me for telling this, but I remember one time having some inter interaction with a brother who believed we were in the Millennium now that this was the time of the Kingdom and.
We were a moral force to change the world and reign and so on. And the last time I talked to him on the phone, I said to him, I said, if you really believe that this is the reigning time now and I look out at the condition of things in this world, I said that is a slap in the face to the Lord Jesus. Can we say that he's outwardly reigning now when we see the condition of things in this world? No, brethren, when he takes the Kingdom.
Again, it's not going to be a perfect order of things, but he is going to reign for 1000 years till he brings it into absolute perfection and that will then introduce what we refer to as the eternal state where God will be. All in all, one of the things that I like to talk about, and I'm sure lots of other people do, is politics. And I don't believe there's anything inherently wrong with talking with the current state of affairs, but I think it's always really important to keep it in perspective.
And if we just supply verse 24, what does it say in the second-half says when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power? So when we put this into perspective and you look out at the nations of Canada and the United States, our rulers are in for four years, 8 if they're lucky in Canada, it can be even longer. But you look at some other countries, countries like Turkey and Russia, where the leaders have, uh, currently, uh, amended the rules and they can be in for much longer periods of time. And we can get talking about these things and we can get very passionate about them, but it's.
Important to keep it in perspective that God.
Controls all of these kingdoms, and there will be a time when he puts an end to all these things. So when we get talking about these things, and if we do, I think it's just really important to keep the perspective on it, to know who's in control and to know who holds all things.
I have I have a question in respect to.
First, uh 28 Does the Lord retain humanity in the eternal state?
Yes, I believe He does. I believe our blessed Lord is going to be a man for all eternity. He will be there as man for all eternity in order that he may enjoy your company and mine. We know, of course, He's God too, but we see, I think in this 28 verse now that the Lord as men.
It wouldn't be, shall I say, appropriate for him to take the highest place, but he takes, should I say, a slightly inferior place because he retains his manhood and wants to enjoy his manhood with you and me who are there in our, umm, glorified bodies. I think that just mentioned that in connection with what David has brought. Yes, the only, the only thing I would say to that, Brother Dave, and I know you would agree with it, that.
00:50:25
When we read verse 28 and it says the.
Then shall the Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all. What God is referred to There is a God the Father. No, it's God in Trinity. Yes, I I quite agree, and I know you agree with that. And if we turn back just for a moment to first Timothy chapter or turn forward, I should say, to first Timothy chapter 6.
It's brought out so clearly there.
And this, I, I think, is very important for us to realize.
First Timothy 6 and verse.
14.
That they'll keep this commandment without spot unrebucable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And it should read which in its times it shall show, that is, the appearing shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Who only have immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach. Unto whom no man hath seen nor can see. To whom the honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Can we understand that here is one who never leaves his place in the Godhead, because this is talking about the Lord Jesus.
And yet he remains a man for all eternity. Why? In order that he may enjoy the company of you and me. But then does that detract from the fact that God in Trinity is All in all? No, it doesn't. Can I wrap my mind around that?
No, I can't. But it's blessedly true, isn't it?
One of the things, there's two verses that troubled me a lot when I was younger. Uh, one of them is in Daniel Chapter 7 and speaks about the Lord Jesus coming and taking the, uh, Kingdom and reigning forever and ever there. The others in Revelation 11 Says the same thing. He'll reign forever and ever. And then I used to come here and read this first and say, well, how does this work? He delivers up the Kingdom and it's only 1000 years. And so how is 1000 years forever and ever until I saw that point that you just made.
As man he reigns for 1000 years, but then as God it does indeed go on forever and ever, doesn't it?
Somebody I was going to mention from, like Tim said, it's been a difficult passage for me as well. And I think from this point of view that as a, as a human, as a person, I like to assign rank. So in the political world that Ben was talking about, we have a president and the rank goes down from there. And England, it starts with the Queen and it goes down to the House of Lords.
And everybody has their importance, but I think it, we very often in the word of God, we see, umm, something else and we confuse it too. And that is the role that is there and isn't necessarily a ranked question. So for example, when we go to, uh, First Corinthians 11, also in this book that we're looking at, there's a husband and a wife, not a question of a rank, it's a question of a role.
Not saying one is better or more important than the other. God has given each a job to do. And I believe the same thing applies within the Godhead. It's not that one is greater than the other. They each have, uh, roles. And I realize it's a very difficult subject and I agree entirely with, uh, what has been said and presented. I just put that forward as a, a trap. I think as a person that I was falling into that it trying to make one bigger or more important than the other.
When Ben was speaking that comment on verse 24, I took a quick look at the, uh, latter part of verse 24 and Mr. Darby and says when he shall have annulled all rule and authority and power. Uh, when you annul something, there's often no evidence the thing ever existed.
00:55:13
We don't have it here in this chapter, but it's alluded to and it might be helpful to just make a comment as to what happens at the end of the Kingdom, the Millennium that introduces the eternal state. Again, we won't turn to it because it's a very familiar portion in Second Peter, but there we have again that what is referred to as the day of God. And that's a little key to understanding when it's the eternal state, it's the day of God. Why? On the basis of what we have here, that God may be All in all, when it's the Millennium, the Kingdom, it's the Lamb, the King, and so on.
But there in Second Peter, he takes it up and he tells us that at the end of the Kingdom, at the end of the Millennium, at the end of time, the elements are going to melt with fervent heat. In other words, everything that has been tainted with sin is going to be in creation, is going to be dissolved and done away with. Because, his brother Bill said earlier, the Millennium will show beyond the shadow of a doubt to man that all creation is tainted with sin.
It will show that man is a Sinner in himself because he will sin even though the devil won't be free to tempt him. Satan will be bound for 1000 years and the people won't say, be able to say when they openly sin, the devil made me do it. They'll sin because they are a Sinner, because they have a sinful fallen nature. But the Millennium will also show that even under the best of environment, that the earth and creation itself is tainted within. And so all that is tainted with sin is going to be dissolved and done away with at the end of time. And there's going to be a new sphere that Peter speaks about.
A new heaven and a new earth, wherein not reigns righteousness like the Millennium, but wherein dwelleth righteousness. And brethren, isn't it a tremendous thought to think that there's a sphere going to be not just in heaven, but on in the new earth, where sin will never penetrate again? Sin penetrated the first earth, and Satan came in and adamated the forbidden fruit, and death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. But there is a sphere, an earthly sphere of things in the future day.
A fixed state of things where sin will never penetrate again.
So again, the Millennium will not be a perfect state. The serpent will still eat dust. Open sin will be judged morning by morning. But at the end of it all, everything that has been tainted with sin when Satan was cast out of heaven, the Prince of the power of the air, that the heavens are not the 3rd heaven, the eternal dwelling place of God, but the created heavens are tainted with sin. Man sent his junk up into the into the starry heavens. Everything that Satan and man has touched is tainted. God is going to do it away.
Do away with it and he's going to introduce a new sphere of things wherein dwelleth righteousness. But remember this, and it's very important that in the eternal state, heaven and earth do not meld together. There'll still be a distinct heavenly company, and there will still be a distinct earthly company. They don't meld together. They're brought closer together, and time and distance aren't measured in the same way. There's still a heavenly company and an earthly company, and the bride still remains distinct has been said for all eternity.
Perhaps we can just look at that reference and, uh, Isaiah chapter 65. And it's been referred to earlier that there will still be sin during the Millennium and that will be judged. And we see this from, uh, verse 19 of that chapter. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy and my people. And the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crime.
There shall be no more dense an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his days, where the child shall die 100 years old, but the Sinner being 100 years old, shall be accursed. While this doesn't sound like typical language for the Millennium, does it? But it brings forth the truth that has been expressed this morning.
And I was just thinking of that.
Expression that we booked at He must rank. Today we have, and throughout history we have people who have assumed the throne.
01:00:02
On uh.
We're just trying to figure out how to put it. But not on their own. They're usurpers. They don't belong there. They put themselves there. And we think of that one emperor who, uh, even at the time of his coordination, uh.
Seized the throne and would not have another. Put it on his head, but he put it on himself. This is the act of the usurper. And that's man, isn't it?
And I suppose we we have no, uh, greater contrast than the one that is brought before us in Daniel Chapter 11.
And uh, verse 36 And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvelous things and against the God of God. Well, that's a usurper, isn't it?
But the war Jesus reigns in his own right, doesn't he?
I think it's a wonderful thing to get a hold of. We were talking earlier about, about the tendency for the hardest to see what I get out of it and we direct everything to me and, uh, how would we, umm, if we do that with the thoughts that have been before us, what do we get out of that? But when we turn around and we think of, of what, uh, we get in Genesis where God's rest was disturbed.
And now?
So security in what you and I are, it's, it's a, a time when God is bearing with this world and, uh, he's bringing out of it a people for his name. And it's also the glory of the Lord Jesus. But when we get to the end of the eternal state, it says that God may be All in all, as we mentioned, that's the Trinity. And so God's rest was disturbed. Now it's now he's going to come into his eternal rest. When you and I think about that.
And we think of God's portion of it if we should rejoice in that.
But if we leave God out of it and God thoughts out of it, it's not near the same. I mean, then it's all addressed to how is it going to affect me? And I lose something in that. But you know, when we, when we bring God into it, that it's God's thought, it's God's purpose and God is going to have his eternal rest. We rejoice in that. And uh, we get far more out of it when we, when we give God his place and these things.
Then if we try to think that, well, how does it affect me?
At least that's how I how I feel about it.
Well, I believe that's, uh, that's very true, Brother Ken. And that's one of the important points that we need to get hold of, as we said earlier in the meeting, because the tendency of man is to focus everything on himself. The natural man does it. And sad to say, we can get that way as Christians too, where we look upon our Christianity as well. What's in it for me? And if I can say it bluntly.
Sometimes where we go to worship the Lord is a decision made on the basis of, well, what do I get out of it, or does it suit me, or are my needs being met, or whatever it might be? Well, yes.
If things are right, the needs of the believers should be met. But at the same time, the character of Christianity is to give, not to receive. Yes, we do receive.
But the character of Christianity is to give. It's God's character. And so when we come to Christianity, true Christianity, we find that even in preaching the gospel, and I know I've said this before, but it bears your feeding. Even in preaching the gospel. Paul didn't start out with man's need, no.
Well, he brought that in, but if you read the book of Romans, it's abundantly clear that God starts out.
With His beloved Son, His purposes in his beloved Son, the glory of His beloved Son, and then our need and how that need is met. And if we approach things that way, I believe we will find, as we said earlier, God is far more glorified and we are far more blessed. If we approach things from our point of view, then not only does God lose His glory, but we end up being short changed.
01:05:11
Everything depends on God's purposes in Christ and the glory of Christ. And as I say, it's a theme that runs throughout all of Paul's ministry, and we can't do better than to get a solid hold on that. They're just in that regard. That's another reason why he must reign. Yes, I've enjoyed that because there are a number of reasons why he must reign. One, they'll never be order and peace in this world till he does.
But He must reign so that the heart of God can be finally fully satisfied. You know, God's heart is never going to be satisfied until His Son is vindicated, not just in heaven. He has his rightful place in heaven. He's crowned with a crown of glory and honor in heaven. Hebrews 2 tells us that. But God is looking forward to the day when His Son is completely vindicated and glorified here on planet earth. And Revelation 19 comes tells us He's going to come forth wearing many diadems.
Mr. Darby's translation, a diadem, is something that is worn by right and title as by royal birth. And the Lord Jesus is coming whose right it is to reign, and God is looking forward to that day. But it's very interesting. You can look it up in Hebrews 10. The Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of God this morning is looking forward to that too. You know, Scripture rarely tells us what the Lord Jesus is thinking about now at the right hand of God. But there is one thing for sure.
Henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. The Lord Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God this morning thinking about that time when he's going to come forth and have his rightful place in the world that spit in his face and said we will not have this man, crucify him, crucify him. They cast him out, He's coming. Whose right it is to reign, Brethren, does that throw your heart and mind? Does that make us want to live for Christ now?
As we think of his full exaltation and as we think of what God's part is going to be in that day.
When God finally has the full vindication of His Son, yes, we're going to have a part in it too. But it just thrills my heart to think that God's heart will be fully and eternally satisfied as His Son is given His rightful place universally.
Could we sing #40 in the appendix #40?
Hail to the Lord's heart.
Right.
Went with a boy that the golden years shall run.
He comes to break on Christmas to himself. That kind of breathing.
And.
You are reckoning.
All.
Ah, I think there's a mold and cry.
I have to go and fall like a Chihuahua.
Raining out when you can't come.
Sleeping for him on the world.
Umm, could we also sing part of #170?
170 the last.
3 verses beginning with verse four. Israel's race shall now behold him full of grace and majesty, and then.
Finally, in verse six, Yeah, all men, let all adore thee, high on thine exalted throne. 170 beginning at verse 4.
Could we stand?
Yay.
Right about our Father. Thank you for the blessed truth he's been enjoying meditating on this morning.
Through fact of the exultation of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and two, the knowledge of our.
Sharing is reigned with him, being joint heirs with him. His glory, which uh, will be manifested, will be revealed in a soon coming day when, uh, he is over all has put down all rule and authority and the last enemy to be destroyed to be death. So we thanks for all these.
01:15:16
Blessed things that we have, uh.
Enjoyed and made a.
You to cheer our hearts as we wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus for us. Thanks again for this time the name of the Lord Jesus our Savior. Amen, Amen, Amen.
God Has Spoken
Address—Doug Buchanan
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Perhaps we can they'll open our meeting with him #4.
Ergod has built the mountains, or raised the fruitful hills before he filled the fountains that feed the running rills. And thee from everlasting the wonderful I am found pleasure never wasting, And wisdom is thy name.
And diverse UH-2.
He wrought by weight and measure, and thou wast with him then thyself the Father's pleasure, and thine the sons of men #4 Someone started please.
Their God has built.
All good, Moray, my friend from hell.
Me more in fill the clouds like me to run.
And they promise.
All uncirculated I am.
He's red as the sky and the broad.
That's why about the Twilight.
And my good life he cry by the way, and furniture. I don't know what's crazy by.
Look to the Lord in prayer.
Blessed God our Father, we thank Thee for the revelation of Thyself that Thou hast made to us since the beginning of creation, and more fully with Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee, our God, that Thou didst choose mankind.
To be associated with them.
That the Lord Jesus Christ became.
Flesh dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
There is so much for us to lay hold of.
In the revelation that thou hast made known to us.
We asked Lord that in this meeting.
Our hearts and souls would be broadened.
The appreciation of thyself would be increased.
To know.
The only true God.
In Jesus Christ, whom thou ascent, we thank thee for giving us these Bible meetings to be together. We thank you for the word of God that we have.
And we are persuaded that it is thy word.
00:05:01
We pray for each of us, Lord, especially for those who are in the straits of decision.
Deciding their own faith, what they believe in.
Help us, Lord, to be convinced, fully persuaded.
We thank you for this hour, ask help and give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
I would like to speak this afternoon.
About.
The subject of Has God spoken?
Do we have a revelation from God?
How has he made himself known to us?
And I trust that as we get into this subject, it won't be just theoretical.
Each one of us probably here has a Bible.
I have it here in digital format 2.
Is this the word of God?
Are you persuaded of that?
Or is this just something that you've been taught when you in the Christian home where you grew up?
And as sometimes I hear down in South America.
I believe in the religion of my father's.
Is that good enough for you?
Are you fully persuaded that God speaks to you individually in His Word?
You know, sometimes when we talk to the young people.
The question comes up.
Thank you.
Well, when should I ask for my place at the Lord's Table?
I have an answer to that that I like.
I believe young people.
Should take their place at the Lord's Table.
When they realized that First Corinthians 11/23/24 and 25.
Are written.
By God to them.
To you.
When you realize the Lord Jesus is saying to you, this do in remembrance of me, and you respond to that request by obeying it.
And appreciate it in your souls you are believing God.
You are acting on your own faith.
And it will become real to you.
If you walk in what you believe in, if you are fully persuaded of these things.
Let's in in Hebrews chapter one it says we don't. You don't need to turn to it. We're gonna go to Genesis 1 next. I'm gonna read several scriptures here, but in Genesis 1 verses one and two.
The simplest form of that statement is.
God has spoken.
There's some other clauses in there, but we're gonna leave them aside for right now.
God has spoken.
Now let's go back to the book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one.
And we're gonna reduce this verse down to a simple form.
In the beginning, God.
I'm gonna ask a question here.
Maybe someone up here near the front that I can see?
Who in this room knows what day of the week you were born on?
Let's have a show of hands, OK? We got one right here. Got any young people?
OK, what's what day of the week were you born on?
Friday, thank you. I was born on Lord's Day or Sunday.
How do you know you were born on that day of the week?
00:10:03
I like your smile. I like your thinking process.
How do I? How do I know?
What day of the week I was born on. I didn't ask you what your birthday of the month is, I asked you the day of the week. It's not, as many people know that.
What do you say, Paul?
OK, that's not good enough for me. I gotta have a better one.
You wouldn't. No, I wouldn't either. Somebody had to tell me. Who do you think told me? Who told you what day of the week you were born on your mom? That's exactly the answer I wanted.
My mom told me to. You know what? I believe her. Anybody here not believe their mother told them when they were born?
Pretty good evidence, isn't it? About as good as you can get.
How did Noah? How did Moses?
Now to write this, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Was he there?
Wasn't there?
Somebody had to tell him.
God told him.
Wonderful thing to have a witness.
Something.
Firm to believe in.
Something to build your life on.
Like the wise man that build his house on the rock, and that rock is Christ. Young people, all of us, what are your convictions? What is your faith?
Are you just going to meeting? Because that's the way you brought up.
Are you breaking bread just because your parents and grandparents did it?
Or have you read in the scriptures verses that were the voice of God speaking to you?
And you believed it.
You obeyed it.
You walked in it.
And you found out it's real.
Now let's go down to verse 26 of this same chapter. I there's one other thought I wanna express before we go on and we're gonna talk about the revelation of God.
In verse 26 it says, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have the dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creep us upon the earth. So God created man in his own image and in the image of God created him, male and female.
And then God blesses them.
I call attention to this verse because it shows the counsel of God in His purpose of making man that was distinct from every other animal that God created when it came to the case of man's creation and how God took that play and formed it into a man and breathed in his nostrils, and man became a living soul.
God did that because he wanted to have a relationship with the human race, with mankind, with you, with me and all of his chosen ones. It's a wonderful thing to develop this relationship, to know God.
To accept his word.
Believe it, it is of God.
We're going to look at witnesses.
Different reasons, and I hope this is not just for an intellectual purpose.
To know it in your head, this verse here would teach us of the desire of God to have a relationship with mankind, with you and me. It's a wonderful thing that our Creator or him spoke about that the marvel.
00:15:09
That the Creator of God made a special people to be in relationship with himself. You know, I travel a lot.
And one of the experiences that I found out in my travels was that when I go alone, it's never the same.
In spite of all the wonders of the creation and the and so on, the beauties that you can see.
Uh, we like to enjoy vacation time. We like to see the the creation you go up in the Andes Mountains. They're in the grandeur of them.
It comes home to you when you go to a restaurant to eat a meal and you sit down all by yourself. I.
Imagine most people here have had this experience going to a restaurant, you order a nice meal and you're all by yourself. It's not the same.
It's not the same.
Relationship. God wanted the people to share with, to react with, to speak with, to hear their response.
Their feedback.
Now let's go over to the end of the Bible. Genesis, I mean Revelation chapter 22.
I wanna call attention to a verse here.
A per partic purposely chose a verse at the end of the Bible to touch next.
In verse chapter 22 of the Book of Revelation, verse 18.
Where I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto.
These things.
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written thereof in this book, and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of life, and so on.
What we can conclude from this verse is that the Bible is perfect. You can't add to it and you can't take away from it. It is the complete revelation of God as He intended to speak it to us. It's so perfect that we dare not or ought not to add anything to it or take it away.
No human author has ever written a book like this.
We all need editing, changing and so on. God wrote a perfect book. We've been enjoying a similar thought in our chapter about God being All in all at the end. This book tells us the whole history and if God is God.
Who he says he is, He's perfect holy.
Never makes a mistake.
This book is perfect.
It's the revelation of God.
You can believe it.
Matthew, Chapter 26.
I want to pick out something out of the life of our Lord Jesus as a witness.
To this book.
Matthew 26.
And in verse 52.
The Lord Jesus rebukes Peter.
Who was about to interfere with something that Lord Jesus purpose to do?
He was taking out the spear. Verse 53 says, Thinkest thou?
That I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels. But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
This was not weakness.
This was perfect obedience.
Why did the Lord Jesus as a man obey the scriptures? Because when God prophesized a scripture, it must be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled.
00:20:13
You can be sure, in obedience to the Word of God, if a scripture is being fulfilled by what you do, that you are in the right with God.
And I'd like to go back and look at the book of Job, chapter 33.
Now there are. I want to divide up what I'm gonna say into.
How God gave us this book into three parts.
There is an overlap in these three parts, and maybe it's not all clear, but I believe that in God giving us this book, His word.
It involves revelation.
Inspiration and communication or understanding it, writing it out, being able to convey it to others, the three parts of how God speaks to us through his work. Now this verse in Job here and verse 33 is interesting because.
It gives us something of who God is.
Job 3314.
For God speaketh once, he ate twice, yet man perceiveth it not in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed. Then he openeth the ears of men.
And with and seal us their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and high pride from man.
This was particularly.
Applicable to job.
Because Job was reasoning with God.
Justifying himself.
God speaketh once, yet twice. Man perceiveth it not.
How many people read the Bible and don't get it?
God purposefully does it.
In a way, that man.
Cannot take credit for himself.
And what he understands of what God reveals to him.
You know, we we by nature like that.
We like to be in the know. We like to be the one that tells other people something we know. I see that in my heart through and through. Brethren, it probably is coming out even while I'm up here right now. Sorry.
But God, when he reveals himself to us.
He is so much greater, so far beyond our comprehension.
We need his help to understand that.
When you take your Bible and open it up.
Don't open up your Bible and say, what can I learn from this book? That may be all right in some SI situation, but there's a lot better way, there's a lot better attitude to take when you open up your Bible.
Such as?
Lord, teach me what you want me to know right now.
We don't discern the right and wrong of this book. This book discerns us. It searches us out.
It searched out Job and job in the Inn, humbled himself, and repented in dust and ashes.
He thought he knew.
But when he really got into the presence of God, it changed his whole outlook. This is the God that speaks to us.
But he wants to convey his thoughts to us, and it is a blessing.
00:25:06
To learn and appreciate it is a blessing.
To walking in faith.
So God can reveal himself to his people.
When Moses penned those first five books of the Bible.
God revealed that to him.
First beaters chapter one.
Verse 10.
Peter's writing here.
Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow?
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us.
Did they minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into?
Interesting how angels are brought in here as desiring to look into.
Brethren, we are a very favored race.
God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.
Let us answer to that desire of God. Let us respond to that.
So it says it was revealed.
This is the first.
Part of how I've put together this subject. Revelation.
I know in the Book of Revelation it starts out the revelation of Jesus Christ and I that is also perhaps applicable.
Uh, but since it refers more to the person of the Lord Jesus, I didn't use that as a verse even though I believe it is true.
God revealed himself to the writers of this book. They were divinely inspired as the next thing that if God doesn't reveal himself to us, we cannot know him.
No, man.
Has seen God.
The only Begotten which dwelleth in the bosom of the Father reveals Him.
So Peter here speaks about the profits that wrote and he tells us that they.
Didn't necessarily understand what they wrote.
By that I don't mean they didn't understand the words, they understand stood the words, but the import, the significance of it, they didn't understand it fully. This is a proof of inspiration that God revealed these things to them, a source outside of themselves.
That made these things known. It even says they search their own their own writings.
They didn't understand the fullness of it.
God is revealing himself. God is so large, he can do so many things all at once.
And he has. And that's why many prophecies in the Bible have more than one fulfillment.
Because God gave what was the present circumstances to cause the prophets and the writers to write scriptures. But it has a future meaning, a proof that God has spoken. No one else can do that such a thing.
00:30:10
Second Peter.
Chapter One.
Verse 19.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy now. This is Peter has been speaking about the amount of transfiguration and what was revealed to him there and how he heard that voice from the excellent glory and so on. It was very real with Peter because he was there.
I kind of think of that about that in connection with the chapter that we're studying in First Corinthians 15 about someone telling Paul that there's no resurrection.
And Paul was the one who saw the Lord Jesus after he was risen from the dead, and somebody tries to tell him there is no resurrection.
Didn't set too well with him. He couldn't accept that testimony, could he?
The whole foundation of the Christian faith depended on it. He saw the Lord Jesus, he knew it was real, and he was the one who was an opposer to the gospel. He hated it. He put people to death for that very thing. And then God turns him around and says, now I want you to testify of me of a risen Christ.
Who can do that with a man?
And so Peter here, he says we have a more sure word of prophecy.
Where until you do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the daystar arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved.
By the Holy Ghost.
No prophecy is of private interpretation.
We can't dissect the scriptures and make it say what we want it to say.
If you wanna understand the Bible.
Go to the man that wrote it. Go to the Holy Spirit.
That inspired it and asked him to help you.
Maybe I should tell a little story right here.
Of a young lady.
That was in her teenage years.
And.
Had had a Christian upbringing, but.
Came to the point of.
Trying to decide.
What she really believed in.
The world was out there.
A good life.
What is life really about?
Why do people do the things they do?
And in frustration.
Tried to read the Bible.
She had been taught that I go.
From our use app.
But wanted to be sure.
She wasn't sure.
So in frustration.
She threw the Bible on the floor.
And said God.
If you're real, show yourself to me.
Now, I'm not suggesting this is a pattern.
But I am saying God answers prayer.
This young lady picked up the Bible.
Opened it up.
And the first verse that her eyes laid on hold on were like a dart into her soul that made her realize that God was speaking to her at that moment.
00:35:03
The one who wrote this book?
Is also the one who works in our hearts.
To prepare us and to make us understand. You can't understand the Bible without the Spirit of God.
It takes obedience, it takes willingness to submit. We can't go to God under conditions and say God, If this and this, then yes.
That's not faith and obedience.
So the prophets.
What they wrote was not the will of man.
This faith that we believe in was not invented by people.
It's not just a denomination that people organize.
Of people who are of like persuasions.
It's God speaking to us.
Be firm, get this decided in your life.
I would shudder to think of a young person going off to college without having settled this in their mind.
Being sure.
The word of God.
Is what he says.
It's a foundation. It will keep you. It will direct you. So men didn't.
De decide what to write. Peter didn't decide what he was gonna write. He was in one of those divinely inspired ones. It says they were holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I understand the they were that worse.
Moved.
Uh, the word escape me now they were born along, but it's, uh, it's not in. Uh, they were B uh, God breathed. They were the scriptures are God breathed the same word that when God took Adam and breathed in his nostrils, the breath of life.
And so God breathes into by the Holy Spirit.
Those who wrote and so that's inspiration receiving.
Into your being the authors, those who wrote the book, they were inspired. God inspired them. And that is.
Proof of the scriptures.
Now we'll go on to a couple more verses. First Timothy, Second Timothy, chapter 3.
Another.
Another part of inspiration here Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work.
The inspiration of God.
Into those who wrote this.
And it has its purpose, not just to be inspired.
How many of us have have taken our Bibles and been in a situation and when we've tried out to the Lord, the Lord has answered with verses or thoughts that prove.
And give us something to be stable in our Christian life.
And so it's for, for the various reasons here God wants us, He's made every provision for us in our Christian pathway. And this book is is the source. Now I want to go on to 1St Corinthians chapter 2.
First Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
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Now we come to the third part here.
Of taking in or understanding the scriptures.
They are the natural man does not have apart from this, the work of the Spirit of God, we.
By our own intellect, By our own human natural capacities.
California are not sufficient within ourselves to totally understand now I know.
Anybody can read the Bible.
And they can get a history lesson, they can understand the words and they can understand many of the thoughts, but the fullness of what God wants to communicate to us, we must have the Spirit of God. That's why the first step in the in the in the Christian life is to accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your savior, if you haven't been born again, if you're not sealed with this Holy Spirit.
That's the step you need to take. Then you can get into what God would speak and reveal to us.
But when we're.
When we have that new nature.
The Spirit communicates with our Spirit that we are the sons of God.
We have that divine nature.
That the Spirit can work with, and we read our Bibles, we can really glean the fullness of what God would have to say to us.
And so it's a very important thing not just to study the book as a human resource for our intellect.
My brother spoke of Stephen Hawking's The Other the other Night yesterday and.
It is, uh, it's interesting how that a man with that kind of intellect can.
Miss in life one of the most fundamental things of life.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
I'm going to conclude with a verse from Acts 27. Here we have the Apostle Paul on the journey.
Jerome and the shipwreck.
And God spoke to him.
In verse 23 X 27, verse 23, he says, Well, let, let me go back to verse 22. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.
For there stood by me this night the Angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul.
Thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Now here's the verse. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be, even as it was told to me.
Want to leave you with these words?
I believe God.
Can you say that?
Are you fully persuaded of this?
If so, you have a foundation.
Upon which to build your life.
To walk through the situations.
Paul could say that as to his own self.
He was fully persuaded.
That God was with him and would sustain and preserve him through those circumstances.
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And he says it for the rest.
I wonder how many souls might have gotten converted that day by witnessing this faith, Paul.
It's a wonderful thing to be assured of what you believe in.
Let's pray bless the God our Father.
We thank thee.
For the revelation that thus made known to us.
We here in this room this afternoon are a very privileged people.
We have the complete Bible, the whole word of God.
Sometimes we have treated it as just another book.
Sometimes we haven't always walked according to the instructions of this book.
And we have proved.
The vanity of such.
And as we look out on this world, Lord, where we see blindness.
Mint taken up with present things.
Unaware.
Are uncharied about the coming Day of Judgment.
Or even Christians postponing.
The coming of the Lord.
We ask Lord.
To keep our souls.
We asked Lord to impress these things upon us.
That we can say with Paul.
I believe God.
We thank you for this time together. We thank you for thy patience with us and teaching us these things as we grow. Help us, Lord, to honor Thee.
By obedience to thy word, and help us lower to glorify the Lord Jesus, to respond to Thy overtures to us.
As a God of love, As a God who wants to take us home to glory with Christ.
These things are beyond our human ability to.
Grasp, let alone to.
Have come up with a a design so great and wonderful.
And yet Thou has revealed this to us.
We think of many Christians that.
Have been not taught these things like we have.
We feel responsible, Lord, for certainly every privilege bears with its corresponding responsibility.
But this is great. This is wonderful, Lord.
We thank You for Thy choice to call us to these things, and so we ask Thy blessing now.
Through the rest of this day, too, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:29-34
Reading
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Thing 312.
Wait on all my day on.
The day.
Glory.
And grace all I.
Love.
Where God will bring home.
Connect him to the same tune.
All day.
Straight.
You give us You give us all the.
Our God and Father, we thank thee that we can be here this afternoon. This is the words of him. Lead on Almighty God, lead on to victory. We thank thee.
The South made us overcomers, David believed.
So Jesus is the Son of God, our overcomers, that has given us victory over death. And Lord, we thank thee. Thou art the God of the living, and so we just ask thee for help with the Word here this afternoon.
More than our hearts might be.
Prepared in our ears, willing to receive. That would set us up for us.
And let us give us instruction as we go over.
This land waiting path into the place that thou is prepared for us, we will hear that shout.
And so, Lord, we pray that while we're here, we might have a desire in our hearts to do.
Those things that are righteous, pleasing to my sight, to bring glory and honor to Thee and to thy precious name. And so we thank Thee again for this time and ask for thy help. In thy name we pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
1St Corinthians 15 is where we've been reading and.
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Verse 29 be about right. I think so, but I'd like to make one little suggestion that when Jason reads this he go back and first of all reads 17/18/19 and then go on to uh, the 29th 1St because it connects good.
So first Corinthians 15 verse 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are falling asleep in Christ or perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable than 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand me in jeopardy? Every hour I protest by rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily, if after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus.
What advantages does it mean if the dead rise not let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die? You're not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
But some men will say, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
So fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat, or some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him. And to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of man, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon.
And another glory of the stars, For one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is zoning corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is zoned in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, the 1St man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Albeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual. The 1St man is of the earth earthy, the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall stand, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this incorruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swelled up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks thee to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Just to put it in perspective again, you might wonder why we suggested that we go back and read those verses that we earlier talked about. But as we said this morning, that versus 20 through 28 are somewhat parenthetical. In those verses he does a couple of things. He brings before us the effects of resurrection and shows it's far reaching and universal effect also we have in those verses.
They pledged that an assurance that because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, those who have died in faith are going to rise as well. And so that little parenthesis ends at the end of verse 28. And then he goes back to connect it with what Jason read in 1718 and 19 because he says if there's no resurrection, two things, those who have fallen asleep, those who have died in faith, they're they're, they're perished. That's it. It's over for them.
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There's nothing beyond the grave and for those of us who are living, we're of all men most miserable. But now he goes on to connect that with a couple of things here in verse 29. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not again, Why are they then baptized for the for the dead? And so it's if I can illustrate it this way and it's certainly not original to be baptized for the dead is not the way it's been misconstrued and christened them sometimes.
But it's really stepping in and filling the ranks of those who have gone on ahead, those who have fought their Christian warfare, those who have stood for the truth, those who have been faithful, they're gone. But now he says, we need, others need to step in and take their place. And why would you do that if the dead perish, if there's nothing after this life, if it's all over, if it's annihilation, if I can put it this way?
The Apostle Paul, when he wrote to Timothy, he knew he was going to lay down his life. He had a special sense from the Lord that this was the end when he wrote the 2nd Epistle. And he encourages Timothy to take up the torch of the truth and what had been committed to him. He was to take and to commit to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. And it's like the the relay race, the battalion is passed from one to another.
But it's interesting that it isn't long. In that second chapter of Second Timothy, you can read, I think it's verse 8, and I believe it was alluded to in the first reading. He brings in the resurrection because why? Why would he pass things on to Timothy? Why would he encourage Timothy to go on in the truth, even amidst persecution and reproach and giving up and so on, all the things that characterized the last day? And why would he tell Timothy to encourage others of the next generation to take it up?
You know, there's there's a resurrection, there's something beyond, there's something far better. And then in verse 30, he says, and why stand we in jeopardy every hour? You know, the apostle Paul, let's just go back to it or over to it in second Corinthians chapter one, believe it connected with what he's saying here.
2nd Corinthians chapter one he develops this a little bit. Uh, verse 9.
But we have, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead who delivered us from so great a death and dust deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. You know the apostle Paul in another place, he said I die daily. Now don't try to spiritualize that. This is not Roman truth. This is not being dead and risen with Christ and so on. This is physical death.
Paul stood in jeopardy every hour. When Paul got up in the morning in his service for Christ, he well expected that this might be the day when he suffered physical death. And why would he do that? Because there was something beyond. There was a resurrection. Why would you put your life on the line for the gospel and the people of God if there wasn't something beyond? Many of our brethren are going out today in other countries and they're putting their life on the line. Many are laying down their lives for their testimony for Christ this very day. Why do they do it?
Because they've grasped hold of the fact that there's another world, there is a resurrection and there's something better beyond. So I say that's why we went back and connected it. There's a resurrection, yes. If you say there's not, then why would you? Why would you step in and seek to carry the torch of the truth for those who have gone before us? Why would someone go out and lay down their life, seek to put their life on the line for the gospel and for, for their their brethren if there wasn't something after. But brethren, there is. And brethren, I believe that I can only say this to my own soul. If I could grasp this more in my soul, it would make a difference.
In my faithfulness and your faithfulness in going out with the truth of God, if we just grasp the fact that what is what is ahead is far better than anything we can experience down here.
I would suggest too, that there's another thought that I believe is connected here. Jim, you made reference to that expression. I die daily. We don't have to go far for it, do we? Very next verse the apostle says, I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily.
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I suggest that the force of that is that when we take baptism, we turn our back on the life that we had before we were saved. We turn our back on the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Not that they still don't get into the picture. I only have to think of my own life to realize how sad it is when it happens.
But in baptism we turn our back on what we were as children of Adam, we turn our back on what we were in flesh, and we take our place going into the water and coming out of the water as being identified with what a risen Christ. And he did it. First of all. He went into death, was put in a grave, and then rose from the dead. And of course, that is a line of truth that we don't have time to develop this afternoon.
It's developed in.
Places like Roman 6 and Galatians 2 and 20 and so on. But then when I die daily, what does that mean? It means, I suggest, that every day, not only was Paul, as we've seen in verse 30, in jeopardy, that is, as we would say, taking his life in his hands, so to speak, but also there was the continual appeal of those lusts of the flesh, of the lust of the eye, of the pride of life.
And it takes us back. We don't need to turn to it, but it's in 2nd Corinthians 4.
Where we have the expression always bearing a vote in the body, what the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body and so on. I may not be quoting that strictly accurately, but every day there was the challenge and in your life and mind it's going to be the same because the devil is going to attack and say look at all those things that you're missing out on. Look at all the good life that you could be having.
Why are you giving it all up? And I'm sorry to say, but most of you know this is true, that there is a gospel being preached out there today which in essence says you don't have to change your lifestyle. You don't have to give up anything you've been doing. You can be a Christian. You can know where you're going when you leave this world, but you can still be a Christian.
Not very good is it? And Paul says I die daily. Meaning that the application of what baptism means had to be made on an everyday basis in his life in order that he might walk the Christian pathway, give up those things that were a hindrance to him, in order what? That he might have something else down here he did in the sense of having joy in his soul.
So where is the reward? Where is it all going to end? In the glory? And that's what he looked forward to.
Is an interesting story that was relayed to me some time ago in connection with the truth that you brought out concerning baptism. It was an elderly couple that were saved in their late 70s over in England.
Was through the instrumentality of the Salvation Army, but both the husband and wife could hardly read they they had uh, fairly uh.
Low paying jobs and they were struggling to make things meet but they were truly safe and.
The husband said to his wife, I would like to wear one of the uniforms like.
The others. And so the wife was fairly handy and she, uh, made a uniform form that looked somewhat like a Salvation Army uniform.
But they both couldn't read. And he said, I'd like something written on that uniform. What shall we put on it? And the wife said, I don't know, but let me go out side and walk down the street, and if I see a word or something, I'll write it down and I'll embroidery it on the uniform. And they passed the store.
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And there were the words on the store.
Under new management and so.
Those words were embroidered on that uniform, and that expresses the truth that our brother Bill was bringing before us. And that's why they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Because when they were finally on the Sinai side of the peninsula, they looked back and realized they were no longer under the authority of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Moses, a picture of Christ was their authority. Now he was going to lead them through the wilderness. It was, as you say, uh, new management. But I want to make this comment too, because we don't want to give the impression that God doesn't provide the Lord doesn't provide a present portion for us now as well. If we're faithful. I want to go back to Mark 10 and just read what the Lord said to Peter and something that perhaps sometimes we miss. So yes, we live in view of, of what's ahead.
The reward, the place we're going to share with Christ, that's all ahead and that ought to motivate or not motivate us. Christ is the motivation, but it's a little incentive to live for him now, not get entangled with the things of this world. But I want to read you what the Lord said to Peter in Mark 10. I'll start at verse 28. Then Peter began to say unto him, lo, we have left all and have followed thee. Isn't that the way we feel sometimes? He said, Lord, I've I've made a lot of sacrifices and and what am I going to get in in return?
And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the Gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold. Now notice this. Now in this time houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, and per with persecution, and in the world to come eternal life. There was really a promise for both, wasn't there? So he says, Peter, if you've left anything to serve me and follow me.
I'll make it up to you in this life. Yes, you'll have you left family relationships? Have you left things behind? I'll bring you into new relationships. You know, there are a lot of brothers and sisters in this very room that I'm a lot closer to than I am to some of my own relatives.
By nature. And so we're brought into new relationships that's for this time. And then he promises something, something for him in the in the something in the world to come. So I just say that because.
If we seek to follow the Lord, stand for the truth, go act under the new authority, we're under the Lordship of Christ, it doesn't mean that everything is going to be bad down here and it doesn't mean that there isn't going to be a present portion and enjoyment. God is going to give us that. But the real, the real reward and the real what, what's really ahead for the believer is not connected with this life. It's connected with that which is in the world to come.
I think one thing that we would do good is to, uh, read daily Galatians 2 and 20 I.
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh are live by the faith, the Son of God thus and gave himself for us. It's not what I can do, but it is through Christ what I can do. And it'd be a good exercise every morning to think of that verse. Give it, encourage our lives.
Well, Paul had really, in a manner of speaking, thought with beasts at Ephesus.
It doesn't really bring it out as clearly in the account in the book of the Acts, but I believe that's the account that Paul is for the, shall we say, the occasion to which Paul is referring in Second Corinthians chapter one that was read to us. Paul really thought that that was going to be the end for his life down here, that riot in Ephesus over the silversmiths who were upset about their.
Trade to do with images of the goddess Diana and so on. He really thought that that was going to be the end, and he talks here about that occasion as if he was fighting with beasts. Terrible expression, really, but it bears out what the natural man in the flesh can become, especially in hatred to the things of Christ and to Christ himself.
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Man literally becomes a beast, and I believe that's brought out here because sometimes we don't realize what the world is really like. As long as you and I don't talk much about Christ, the world will say, yes, we like you Christians. You're good workers, you're honest, you're dependable, you're everything that a lot of people, sad to say, are not today.
But start speaking about Christ and see what happens.
I remember many years ago hearing the story of a young girl who was in high school and a brother who was visiting their home talked in terms of the reproach of Christ, and she openly said, well, I don't find it too bad. When I go to school, the other students treat me with respect and friendliness, and I don't seem to have any problem.
Older brother said try speaking to them about Christ. Try speaking to them about their need of a Savior. Try standing up for the honor and glory of Christ in an outward way and see what happens.
Well, the brother had occasion to come back to that home in about a year and he made a point of asking the girl. He said did you take my advice? And her answer was yes, I did. And you were right.
It it will happen, the nicest people in this world inwardly are at enmity with God. And of course so would you and I be, except for His grace. And so we need to realize that.
This world is ultimately even with the nice outward appearance it puts on, and we can be thankful in that sense for it. But the natural mind is at enmity with God, and you and I will soon find it out if we bear the name of Christ in the way that we should.
One of the important things in this chapter, and pardon me for emphasizing it because we mentioned it at the beginning of the meetings and I asked my own heart this question when I make a decision about anything in my life.
Am I making it with reference to how it will look in resurrection, or am I making it in reference to how it will affect the life down here?
Very searching, isn't it?
The world is increasingly getting the attitude that we get at the end of verse 32. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
We see it, if I could put it bluntly, even in the political world.
We are facing an election here in the province of Ontario within a few months and we have three political parties that are gearing up for it.
The government of Ontario, and I'm not particularly trying to throw stones at the government, pretty much they're all the same when it comes to this sort of a thing. They brought down an election budget and as you may well imagine, it had a pretty big deficit and there were a lot of handouts using borrowed money. And of course, some people are asking in honesty, who's going to pay for all this?
Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. That's down the road. We don't have to worry about that. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Let's spend the money, borrow the money, do what we can and have a good time.
And that is the attitude more and more of this world as men are losing hope in anything in the future, in this world, it doesn't look good. What a what a challenge I say to you and me who are believers who have a hope beyond this world and who have, I say, the privilege to make decisions with eternity in view. Only the believer can do that. Now, of course, the unbeliever needs to make that one decision.
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Concerning salvation with eternity in view. But you and I can live before this world and make our decisions with eternity in view. That is a testimony that carries tremendous weight in view of everything that's going on around us. And yet.
Again, I say pardon me for emphasizing it because in my observation and experience.
I see so many dear believers, and maybe I'm guilty of it myself, who make decisions based on how it will affect them in this light, but with very little thought of what is going, what it's going to mean in eternity. This chapter brings that out very solidly, and of course, ultimately on the basis of the resurrection of Christ.
In Acts chapter 17, the apostle Paul encounters two groups, the Epicureans and the Stoics, and the Epicureans were bent on pleasure, and we see that this world is going in that same direction today. The Stoics were just the opposite, but it's interesting to see what it says at the end of verse 18.
Says he preached unto them Jesus.
And the resurrection. So that brought them.
Or, uh, that brought them to a much higher plane than what the Epicureans, uh, could offer and what the Stoics could offer Jesus and the resurrection.
So I fly with Air Canada and they have a frequent flyer program called Aeroplan and it's always struck me what their slogan is. Aeroplan slogan is live for the moment. Now I realize that's just an advertising slogan to get people to fly with Air Canada and Star Alliance Airlines and so on. But I've often thought, isn't that, doesn't that really sum up the character of the age in which we live? And in Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18, it says where there is no vision, the people perish.
And if we lose a vision of what is ahead and the glory, we're not going to live as Christians ought to live down here. Perhaps a little different, but I was struck one time to look up in a secular dictionary the word circumspect. Because we're told on more than one occasion in the New Testament, Ephesians 5 being one of those occasions, to walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. But the secular dictionary tells you that the word circumspect is careful to consider.
All circumstances and consequences, everything we do today impacts down the road. It may be for this life, but much as we've been saying is if we do is has an impact on eternity. And so we're not to live for the moment. We're to live with vision. We're to live with Christ and glory as the object. Paul speaks of himself on more than one occasion, as in an athletic event or an or a race.
And we understand very clearly when the athlete goes out to run the race or participate in the event, it always has the end in view, always has the prize in view. And what is the end for the Christian? It's resurrection and glory. It's Christ and and glory. That's the prize that Paul was was referring to in Philippians. And we're told to run with endurance, the race that is set before us. How can we do it looking unto Jesus?
To have Christ and the glory ahead of us. So brethren, let's be careful that we don't get caught up with the spirit of the age, but that we live in view of eternity, as we've been saying.
Yeah, this next verse, the 33rd verse.
Since we not received evil communications, corrupt good manners.
I think that can speak to each one of us.
Byrne will back me up in this. I think our parents used to say this, tell us this quite a bit.
Young people.
Be selfish when you choose your friends. What I mean by that is look around you.
Choose your friends.
Of those who are going to encourage you to go on for the Lord.
If I choose my friends, those people I associate with, they're going to have a big effect on my life. Evil communications corrupts with manners, and if I choose to hang out and spend my time with those who are going to bring me down spiritually, I shouldn't be surprised at the result. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Choose your friend of those who are going to encourage you to go on for the Lord.
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Choose your life partner.
Someone who is going to be an encouragement.
To help you go on to the Lord and to walk in the things of the Lord.
Might say.
Well, I've chosen I choose a life partner, a wife or a husband.
Who's a Christian?
That's not enough.
You seek to go on to the Lord.
Choose a help me who's going to help you.
That desire and not hinder.
Evil communications corrupt good manners, and I, I wanna apply that. It's not just strictly as we think of evil, but choose someone, choose your associates, your friends, your life partner as someone who's going to encourage you and help you to serve the Lord.
And those things that the Lord has told you to do.
Very important decision with evil communications, corrupt with matters. No matter what our upbringing, what our parents have taught us, there comes a point where we are on our own. We have make our own decisions. We are influencing so much by those around us and those we associate with.
All unpleasant with Corinthians Saints matters can be interpreted as morals. You know that they live carnally and there's a danger that that comes along with that is spoken of in the next verse there that this is awake, awake on the righteousness. It's not our own righteousness that we might devise ourselves and keep us in a pathway that's pleasing to God.
We can develop that.
We can justify ourselves by looking at perhaps with somebody else is doing.
And, uh, we can, uh, easily have a, a conscience, uh, that's, uh, arranged that way that we think that we're OK. Uh, perhaps the Corinthians Saints thought that way, that they were doing everything all right. They were, but they were living, uh, not to please God. They were living to please themselves. And, uh, their morals were corrupted.
And uh.
They, they, they didn't live. They weren't living according to God's righteousness and knowledge. It mentions knowledge here.
Well, knowledge is gained by reading God's word. You need to read the word of God to find out what God says. Knowledge is not an evil thing. Knowledge is good. We shouldn't know what the mind of God is. We have the Spirit of God dwelling within. That's a revealer.
Of the mind of God to us and so we need these things we leave them out there's this danger, but it's in the wake and so when it tells us to awake it means that there were some there that were asleep concerning these things so we need to be awakened to the.
And I believe that was happening there in Corinth, wasn't it? Because there were teachers coming in even among these believers, and some of them might have been believers themselves, but they were corrupting the truth that Paul had taught them. And, uh, they were trying, as it were, to take over the work of the Lord in Corinth, to take over the group there. And they were teaching them that which wasn't right. And I believe that is at least in part what Paul is warning about here.
And so for you and me today, I would suggest we need to be careful. I, I, I, I think, uh, Reg's warnings are very necessary, but even on a higher level, we need to be very careful where we get ministry to help us explain the word of God. The Internet today has made a tremendous amount of ministry and comment available from every source you could imagine. And all you have to do is go on Google with a question and probably thousands and even hundreds of thousands of answers will come up from every possible viewpoint.
00:40:03
That is not a good way to find out what the word of God means.
Read the word of God for yourself, form your own thoughts on it, but then go to that which is reliable, which comes from those who have walked in the truth of God. Remember that you will never learn the whole truth of God from those who do not walk in it. I don't say you can't learn anything from them, that's that would be unfair. But you will never learn the whole truth of God from those who don't walk in it.
It's very, very clear in Scripture that I don't really have the truth of God until I walk in it. And if I try to keep the, if I could use the term, the knowledge of the truth in my head without the practice of it in my walk, I will eventually lose what I even have in my head. I can't hold on to it in a proper way without walking in it. And so to get the the proper view of the word of God, we need to read.
That which has been given to us or listened to, that which has been given to us by those who have lived and walked in, what the Word of God gives us. And it's a warning. I suggest that we need more than ever today because there is so much available out there that is not right.
Perhaps you will allow me to add this too to what you say, because if you read something by a contemporary Christian writer, and again, we want to be careful because it's not that all that they write is wrong, but if you read something by a contemporary writer that counts, contradicts what men of of past age have been raised up to rights and expound on the Scriptures, it's a red light.
It it's it's a warning.
I I trust I can say this carefully, but we were taking up a subject in a conference like this one time and there was a young man at the conference was very, very upset with the line of things that was being brought out. And after each several of the meetings he came to me and he, he was quite upset. I would even say angry. And I finally said to him, I said, young brother, if you go to the writings of brethren that God raised up in the revival of the truth.
And caused them to give us explanations and expositions of the scripture. You will find that what we have taught in these meetings is nothing new. This is what God has caused these writers to enjoy and present to us. And that it is not something that is brand new. It corresponds with that which has been expounded to us in the past. And I again, the word of God is our authority and nobody, nobody's infallible when it comes to writing and expounding the Scriptures.
But I say that because God did raise up men back in the 1800s and truth was being brought out again, truth that had been lost for, uh, for ages. And God raised up these men. And I believe we need to go back to the, to their writings and that what we read on a contemporary basis, we want to be very sure doesn't count contradict what they, they have written. We are thankful for many of them out there that are giving some food.
To the sheep, yeah. And, uh, but we are encouraged to, Ruth was encouraged to, to, uh, glean in the field of boats. And so, uh, that is our Christ. And if he has given us the truth of Scripture, why do we glean it elsewhere? But again, I say we're thankful that there are those who, according to what they know, are seeking to be, to help to some of the Saints of God and God will honor his.
Who puts it out and how it's put out?
But we don't have to go there.
What I find interesting is we're taking up the subject of resurrection. That's one of the teaching that the apostle Paul has for us. And I find among a lot of Christian group that they don't believe in a lot of false teachings and that should be a good guideline for us. What are the apostles teaching? We're to follow the apostles doctrines and fellowship, in particular ministry. Some would say, well, he's old fashioned. No, we can't.
Because if you start taking out Paul's ministry, you might as well take a good part of the Bible left. We have 27 books in the New Testament. At least 14 are written by the apostle Paul. God used to inspire him to write this for our for our learning. Isn't it that we are to follow the apostles doctrines and.
00:45:20
At home, we make a, a practice of part of our devotions to read, uh, a devotional called Our Daily Bread, which I'm sure quite a few have come across from Grand Rapids, MI. And when I read the monthly portion, uh, for the day, my wife will look up the, uh, King James Version. Then afterwards we look up the J&D translation and then we discuss it.
And, brethren, there is such a difference.
Between what you might read from the devotional.
Uh, and yet what you read from the truth, the understanding and the statements made between the verses is quite drastically different. A lot of it is missed. Her brother once said that you'll never get from the writings of the camp away or direction to the Lord's neighborhood. I think that's.
Important as uh, uh, whether they were saying here that, uh.
Umm, we need to, uh, very critical that uh, we get our information from the right sources.
One more little comment, and I don't think we need to flog the top too long, but there are a lot of young people here and I have heard this and I want to speak to it. Is there some thought that the brethren who take part in general meetings like this are simply parroting year after year what they've read in our written ministry?
Yes and no.
I am very thankful for what God gave us in our written ministry, and I believe that those who neglect it.
Do not grow in the same way, but we all have the Spirit of God. We all serve our own generation by the will of God. And so the principles of the truth do not change. The application of them may change drastically considering the day in which we live. And so some of the applications that we read concerning those truths that were developed.
By our brethren back in the 1800s, we smile at them today because we don't live in a, in a horse and buggy age, for example. And all of the things that characterized will say Victorian England or North America back in that day. But the principles that were laid out and the truth that they gave us, that does not change. And so we need the freshness of the present enjoyment of those things.
The freshness of the present application of it. And I'm quoting a brother who's long since with the Lord. He said, I can sit in a Bible conference and I can give out simply word for word what either some older brother said or what I read in some of our written ministry. He said, well, sometimes there's a place for that. But he said.
There's nothing like home cooking.
What did he mean? He meant that personal meditation on the things of the Lord.
Will give us the application of it for the day in which we're living and that is what we need. And so we don't just parrot something that someone wrote 150 years ago and say well don't ever challenge it because it's just about as infallible as the Bible. You know 1000 times no and those of us that have read a fair amount and I know there are quite a few here would readily say that they have seen minor.
Contradictions and disagreements in that written ministry.
But again, we don't need to flog the subject too long. There are other things here, but I wanna say that for the benefit of perhaps young people that are saying, well, all right, you're just, uh, parroting what you've listened to and the Muslim parrots what he's listened to. And so what's the difference? No 1000 times. No, we test everything by the word of God and even our, our older brethren in the 1800s. It's a kind of a bit of a laugh, but one time in a.
00:50:14
In a general meeting, uh, somebody actually challenged JND as to something he'd said, and when he repeated it and said, I believe that's the truth of God, they said, well, the synopsis doesn't say that.
Challenged him as to his own synopsis and his reply was well then the synopsis is wrong.
Got right to the root of it. The Word of God was the authority, and so we should always remember that.
I could just add, uh, two verses to what has been said on this subject in John 14, John 14 and 26.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.
When the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. And in the 16th chapter.
And in verse 51St part of verse 13.
Albeit when He is, a spirit of truth has come. He will guide you into all truth.
I don't believe there's any more.
Sure way of knowing what the interpretation of the word of God is that the Spirit of God showing it to us and revealing it to us and I might add that that Spirit of God has not changed from 2000 years ago to.
The early 1800s until 200 years later right now.
The Spirit of God will always teach us and reveal to us the truth of God, and He's not going to reveal something to you that is different from what He would reveal to someone else.
I think if we make these things good to our own soul, we can read word for word the books of the ministry and her talking to maybe mention already. But if you and I make it real.
Through our own soul, it'll come across through our ears, it's the same thing. It'll be real to them. So it's it's quoting scriptures or other ministry, but we need to make it real to ourselves and then it will come across as fresh.
288.
488 Sing up the 2nd stanza reserved by clothes graciously within thy sheltering forward Move them from every harm away, And in thy saves our hold, till thou shalt fully have obtained in US the spirit of grace, And we enjoys that never end. Shall see thee face to face.
In 250 years.
Just read that verse again. Verse 34. Awake to righteousness.
For some have not the knowledge of God. Let's pray. Our God and Father, we give thanks for these thoughts we've had today. And now we look towards the Gospel meeting. We know that some have not the knowledge of God. Some have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And we are thankful that so many have been invited in and have have agreed to attend the Gospel meeting this evening. And Father, we just look to you for strength and dependence, as if there might be liberty of the Spirit and that their brother might have.
A sense of Thy presence and a message straight from the Spirit of God that would the Spirit could use to convict the souls of sin. Father, we just pray for those who would be coming in at their hearts would be prepared to hear the word of God. We just pray for the young people here in this room too who have heard the gospel many times and have a knowledge of God, but they have not accepted the Lord as their Savior. We commit them to you Father, and we just commit this evening to your hand and ask for blessing in Jesus name, Amen.
Jesus Died For Me
Gospel—Jim Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We're going to pray a moment and ask God's help before we have something from the Word of God, our blessed God and Father, how thankful we are for that Amazing Grace that sent the Savior of sinners into this world. We're thankful for everyone in this room who has come to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. But we're burdened to think that there may be those who do not know Christ, those who are on their way to hell and not on their way to heaven. So we pray that they'll help us to listen and to take in the message that you have for us this evening.
And we pray above all that no one would leave this facility lost and unsaved. Tonight we ask thy help. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. I want to share 2 portions of the word of God tonight. Just two portions. 1 portion. We've had those of us who've been here for these meetings. We've had much of it before us, but I'm going to reread it in First Corinthians chapter 15.
First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 3.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the 3rd day according to the scripture. Going to read one more portion in First Timothy.
First Timothy chapter one.
And verse 14.
The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. You know I am thankful that this evening as we seek to present the good news of the gospel in the few moments that are allotted to us.
That we don't have to base what we're saying tonight on theories. We don't have to base what we're saying tonight on speculation. That we can turn to the word of God and know that it is true from cover to cover. And I want to just stress this before we start that when we quote the word of God tonight, the Word of God is truth, Thy word is truth, and it is impossible for God to lie.
There are many theories in this world. There are many philosophies, There are many theologies. But we want to base what we say tonight on the authority of God's living word. And so we find that the apostle Paul writing to these folks in Corinth long ago, he confirmed the simple message to them, the message of the good news of the gospel, that Christ.
Jesus had come and that the gospel could be summed up in these short simple statements that he died, He was buried, and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. Yes, the Lord Jesus came into this world. He came into this world born in Bethlehem's Manger. He grew up a boy in Nazareth and then at about 30 years of age, he began to traverse the dusty streets of Palestine.
Dispensing good and blessing on every hand but all, there was more to the story to be accomplished than that.
The Lord Jesus then, according to God's perfect timetable and what had been prophesied.
In the Old Testament, he went to Calvary's cross and there he died.
There he gave himself. And I am thankful that tonight I can stand with the apostle Paul, who later recorded these glorious words, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I am thankful that I can say that Jesus died for me. We want everyone in this room to be able to say that, to leave this room and say with confidence and assurance.
That Jesus died for them. But let's for a moment back up.
Why did Jesus have to go to Calvary's cross and to die?
Well, the answer is very simple. The wages of sin is death. That's a quote from Romans. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It takes us back to the very beginning of man's history. Here in this world. We're not long after Adam and Eve were placed in that beautiful garden called Eden. Satan came as the tempter.
00:05:26
Tempted Eve she took of the forbidden fruit and gave to her husband. And they ate. And it tells us that by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death by sin so death passed upon all that for that all have sinned. Every one of us born into this world are born sinners.
True, I know there are people who will try to counteract that, try to shut it off and say no. I even heard of a man who came to a friend of mine's house.
And he said, oh, I'm not a Sinner. I've made mistakes, but I'm not a Sinner.
The Word of God. The truth of God is that we are all sinners, born sinners into this world and it isn't long till that sinful nature comes out in practice. We've all done wrong things, but thank God. The message is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save, not good folks.
But sinners, I am so very thankful for that. But let me tell you a little story. I have the privilege, as was mentioned, of going down to the Caribbean, and they give me tremendous opportunities in the schools there to preach the gospel. And I have a friend and brother in Christ who travels with me. Missionary friend. He's from Saint Vincent. That's an island just north of Grenada.
Just off the, uh, just out from off from Barbados.
But Mr. Seymour tells an interesting story. His name is Garvin Seymour, and we go from class to class often in the schools, and we have tremendous opportunities to preach the gospel. But Mr. Seymour in his younger days was a teacher himself and a principal, and he often tells the children in the schools this story, and I suggest that it illustrates very well the gospel in connection with the Lord Jesus going to the cross.
And giving his life one day. Mr. Seymour had said to his students there is 0 tolerance if the homework isn't done. He was having some problems with homework in his class not being done 0 tolerance and the penalty for homework not done from now on is 4 lashes with the strap, 2 on each hand.
Well, the children all went home that night, and the next morning when he checked the homework, he was very surprised to find that a girl by the name of Maureen had not done her homework. Mr. Seymour was a little surprised because Maureen was normally a good student and he was a little concerned because Maureen was a small, frail girl. He really didn't want to have to give her four lashes with the strap, but he had to do it.
And so he called Maureen up to the front of the classroom, pulled the drawer of his desk open, and took out the strap.
She held out her hands, trembling.
One lash on one hand, the other hand whack 2 lashes. By this time Maureen was really shaking and crying, and in her shaky voice she said. Mr. Seymour, would it be possible to take my other two lashes later in the day? Well, Mr. Seymour was very relieved, actually, to, uh, grant her her request.
And so they arranged that she would come in at noon hour and she would take her further 2 lashes.
Mr. Seymour was sitting at his desk during noon hour having his lunch and correcting papers, and he looked up and Maureen and her friend Caroline were coming toward him. Caroline was a bigger girl, they were very close friends and as they approached the desk, Maureen said Mr. Seymour, Caroline has agreed to take my further 2 lashes.
Well, Mr. Seymour, who loves the Lord Jesus and knows the story of the Gospel so well.
I was a little surprised at this at first. He'd never heard of a friend of someone agreeing to take their punishment for them. But he thought, why not? And of course, it immediately reminded him of the Lord Jesus. And so Caroline held out her hand and wah, that's three lashes. The other hand and what 4 lashes administered. Caroline took half the punishment.
00:10:21
For her friend Maureen. And as Mr. Seymour tells us, they went hand in hand out of that room, greater friends, closer friends than they'd ever been before. But you know, it reminded Mr. Seymour, and it reminds me of the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus, my precious Savior, he went to Calvary's cross. And he didn't just take half the punishment for me, He didn't just take half my lashes.
But the Lord God laid on the Lord Jesus all the punishment for my sin.
The Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
Not just half, not just part, but the Lord Jesus there in those hours of darkness he took the punishment for my sins. But I wonder if you can say the same thing.
You know, there are so many age groups in this room. There are children who've heard the gospel many times. There are young people who've heard it many times. There are young people, perhaps, who haven't heard it very often or not at all. There are older ones in this room. But, you know, the gospel is for all. It's the same message for the children who've heard it many times as it is for the older ones. It's the same message for those who are perhaps hearing it for the first time.
As it is for those like myself who grew up hearing the gospel message.
But the question tonight is, are you saved? Can you say that the Lord Jesus died for you, So the Lord Jesus for my sins in his own body on the tree?
And all the sins of those who will put their trust in him. And then a moment came.
When he bowed his head and he laid down his life, he gave up his life in a way that no other person ever has. Or can he lay down his life for us.
Later on a soldier came along and with a spear pierced his side, and it tells us forthwith came throughout blood and water, of which blood the Scripture says, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I am glad for the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. When I was growing up we often sang a hymn what can wash away my sins.
And of course, the glorious answer is nothing but the blood of Jesus. You know, there was an evangelist one time at a meeting very like this, and he was trying to impress upon his audience the importance of the blood of Christ to wash sins away. And there was a young man who thought he was pretty clever. Sometimes young people think they're pretty clever. But, you know, he stood up and he started to Heckle the preacher. And he said to the preacher, I don't understand.
How can blood wash sins away?
Well, the preacher thought a moment, and then he realized there was a glass of water on the podium from which he was speaking. And so he picked up the glass of water. And he said to the young man, I'll ask you a question.
How can water quench thirst?
Well, the young man thought about it for a moment and then he said, I don't know, but I know it does. And so it is with the blood of Jesus. I can't tell you how it happens, but I know in my own experience that it did happen. And I know there are so many here that you can talk to after the meeting and they will tell you that there was a time in their life when they came to know the Lord Jesus as their savior.
And experience the power of the blood of Jesus to wash sins away.
They took the Lord Jesus down from that cross. They put him in a tomb as had been prophesied.
But you know, as we read in our verse, we find that he rose again.
The third day according to the scripture.
I have opportunity to be in Trinidad.
00:15:01
In the lower Caribbean, often, you know, Trinidad is really a Hindu country. It's really a Hindu government. They celebrate all the Hindu holidays and so on and justice about on every corner, it seems there's a Hindu temple.
I have had the opportunity to go to Muslim countries and countries where something other than the light of Christianity prevails. But you know what is unique to Christianity is we have a living savior, not dumb idols or not a person who once lived in this world and is in the tomb. Mohammed is in the tomb, Buddha is in the tomb. All the other so great call, so-called great religious leaders that have.
Risen in this world over the centuries are in the tomb, and people will spend great amounts of money and make great sacrifice to visit those tombs.
We have a tomb too in Christianity, and there were some ladies and others who came early to that tomb on the resurrection morning, but they didn't find a body there. They had a confirmation.
He is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Because tonight, as we present the Savior of sinners, we're not presenting a Savior on the cross, nor are we presenting a Savior in the tomb.
You know, there was a an evangelist one time and he was in one of the villages in eastern Canada, and he was going from door to door with some gospel tracks and telling people who would listen about the Lord Jesus. And he came to one house and he asked the lady if she'd like to read a gospel tract about the Lord Jesus. And she said to him, oh, by all means, I often look at him. Well, the evangelist was surprised. He'd never had a response like that.
And so he questioned her. You often look at him. Oh, yes, she said. Come into my house and I'll show you. And she took him into her house. And there on the wall was a cross with a figure of a man to represent the Lord Jesus on that cross.
And while it's true she understood that the Lord Jesus was taken down from the cross, buried and rose again the 3rd day, yet it had never really hit her that hard, as the evangelist explained.
To her once again, the Lord Jesus is not on the cross. The cross is empty. The work is finished and thank God it is the Lord Jesus is no longer in the tomb. He rose from the dead the third day according to the scriptures.
There's an old hymn we sometimes sing Some of us. It's one of my favorites. I grew up singing it. There is a savior on high in the glory, A Savior who suffered on Calvary Tree. A savior is willing to save. Now, as ever, His arm is almighty, His love great and free. Do you know my savior? Are you on your way to heaven? Because I also want to point out to you in all faithfulness.
That when we leave this world, it's not all over. That when we draw the final breath we are in the conscious sense of one of two places, The conscious sense of torment, like a man the Lord Jesus told about who lifted up his eyes in hell. Or we are in the conscious sense of the enjoyment of the Lord's presence, absent from the body and present with the Lord. You know, sometimes.
I hear people say, well, I'm going through hell on earth. I'm living hell now. You know, people who say that have no idea what hell is.
Again, I I like my my illustrations and stories and I know I repeat them often. But I remember reading about a man who was, uh, the Stoker in a glass factory in one of the communities here in the in the United States. And he was his responsibility was to keep the fires going in the furnaces so that the glass blowers could do their craft and and make glass objects.
And one day there was a preacher passing the glass factory, and the doors of the factory were open.
And he could look into one of those furnaces and he just stood there mesmerized for a while, looking into the seething flames of that glass furnace, that glass blowing furnace.
Not realizing that the Stoker was around, he said aloud. What must hell be like?
00:20:05
Later on that evening he got a knock on his door, and he was surprised to see the Stoker from the glass factory. And this Stoker had a reputation in the town of being an ungodly man, having no time for Christ and Christianity of the gospel.
And the Stoker said to the preacher, I heard what you said today in the door of the glass factory, and I do not want to go to hell. I want to be saved. And he came in, and the preacher was only too happy to sit down and explain to him the gospel message. Hell is a reality. The Lord Jesus talked about it many times when he was here in this world. But oh, tonight the good news is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
So that we don't have to go to hell. There will be nobody in hell who will be able to blame God or anybody else. They will be without excuse. And as you go out of this room in a few minutes, if you go out of this room still on your way to a lost eternity called hell, there's a day coming when you will remember the verses that we have read and quoted. The Lord said the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day.
You'll remember a verse I'm going to quote now. 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. Maybe you've heard that before, I don't know. But you've heard it now. But if you go to a lost eternity, you will remember that verse, but it will no longer be directed at you as to a point of refuge and salvation. That verse will rise in judgment of you, because you'll realize that you heard the word of God and had opportunity.
The verses that we have read and quoted tonight, you will remember in a lost eternity. But all I say again, the wonderful thing is that Christ is the Savior of sinners, and I always rejoice when I have opportunity like this to stand before a company and confess Him again as my Savior. I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've known him as my Savior for 50 some years.
And all the joy and peace he gives for the path of faith through this world. And then to know that there's a happy day coming when I'm going to be with him. And before I close, I want to impress one more truth upon us. I'm going to quote from the book of James. A simple phrase the coming of the Lord draws near.
Simple phrase, but true. And we want to impress upon our souls that when the Lord Jesus comes, I can't tell you when he's coming.
But I know he's coming soon and when he comes there will be no more opportunity.
To get saved.
The door to heaven will be closed in that way and closed forever. The invitation tonight is come unto me. Those who knock on the outside of the door in a coming day, who are too late, we'll hear these words. Depart from me. Come unto me tonight. Depart from me if you reject the message and the Lord comes, or you leave this world.
Without Christ. Oh, tonight, our prayer is that you won't leave this room until you know the Lord Jesus. I'm going to tell you before I pray how simple it is because I think sometimes people come to the end of a gospel meeting and they say, well, how can you really get saved? I'm going to pray. If you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, all you have to do is speak to him quietly in your heart. He hears what's in your heart even if you don't utter one word aloud.
And in your heart just confess that you've sinned. But tell them you want to be saved. Tell them that you want to accept that gift of eternal life through the work of Calvary, the blood of Christ. And I can assure you that if you do that, by the time I'm done praying, or before you will be saved, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if you don't understand, there are just so many like myself in this room tonight who would like to speak to you after who perhaps can open the word of God, and maybe even in simpler form.
Explain the way of salvation. It's a thrill to our souls to do that, and it's a thrill to our souls when we hear of another one who comes to know Christ as their Savior. Let's pray our God and Father, so thankful again for the Lord Jesus, the Savior of sinners. We pray for each soul in this room. We know that every soul is precious in my sight. We pray that Thou work and that they might be saved tonight. We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory.
00:25:27
Amen. Maybe we could just sing one verse in the chorus of Jesus Loves Me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Clean on the Inside and Outside
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.
All right. Good morning.
Who's ready to do Sunday school?
Good. Does anybody have a song they wanna sing?
Emily.
Number two, Number two, a little child of seven or even 3 or 4 #2.
A little child of seven.
Lord.
OK, who's next?
#3 I don't even have to turn the page #3.
A little must anything in the light the shore was needed.
Alright, somebody else.
Yes.
Number six.
46.
#46.
In the house and.
Is coming very soon.
00:05:37
Alright, next.
Caitlin #30.
#30.
Glad.
Thank you. And because $70,000 and G1's all the big alliance to do, we've been getting the artitude right.
In here and every time all there's been some of us children.
All right, Savannah.
Number 93.
What a friend we have in Jesus number 93.
What a friend.
Of rain should have read.
Into thy impression.
Anybody else with the number?
Yes, Sir.
39.
#39 I am so glad that our Father in heaven, hi, I'm so glad that.
Wonderful things in the Bible I see this is the miracle of biography of thus many days of thus may be thus thus made in.
00:10:07
I am so proud that it is a submission. It is a submission.
I am so glad that you must come to me.
All right, I know.
Umm, I've done this in other places and it's something that I don't do very well all the time, but sometimes we sing a song like this that says, I am so glad that our Father in heaven, that's God, the one who sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Savior. And we've seen it like we're sad.
So this third verse says Jesus loves me and I know I love him. We love him because he first loved us. So if the Lord Jesus Christ has washed your sins away and you know that you love him because he loved you and died for you, let's all try to put a big smile on while we sing the third verse in the chorus. Jesus, love me.
Love all. He sounds like my glory. Go through the beginning.
Yeah, yeah, it was one day and die on the tree. Oh, I am scared and that is upon me and so far out of it. She is a submitting. She is a submit. I am so proud of my kid upon being Jacob continued from being.
So there's still a few vacant seats on the front row.
If anybody came in and wants to see, I did bring something for everybody to look at and if you sit on the front row you can see it better.
I'm just gonna pray and ask God for his help.
God and Father, come to you this morning and ask for your help to talk about the Lord Jesus, about His great love, about how He died for us, about how His blood can wash all of our sins away. I pray that each person here, but especially the kids, will learn something from the lesson today and help us to put it into our hearts. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen.
So this morning I brought three friends.
Their names are Jaime, Jacques and James, and they're not real people. They're just Styrofoam cups.
And we're gonna talk about these three Styrofoam cups.
Because they're all different.
They all started out the same yesterday. They were stacked 123 next to the coffee maker.
But then I did something to them this morning and now they're all very different and we're gonna talk about each one of them.
The first guy we're gonna talk about is my friend Jacques.
Now I'm gonna walk around here so people can see Jacques.
And I need a brave volunteer.
Levi's got both hands in the air, so have a good look at Jacques here as he as he walks past you. Levi, I need you to put your nose in there and tell me what you think.
Does it smell good? No, it doesn't smell good.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with Jacques?
Yes, Sir.
Perfect. Exactly right. Jacques is very dirty. I made Jacques that way. But you know, Jacques is just like everybody here at one time or another. We are all dirty.
Now Jacques has a mixture of coffee, baby food and yogurt.
But you and I.
We have something that's way, way worse than breakfast on us.
We have something, it's called FIN.
We have a part of us inside that lives inside of us that we can't get rid of.
That likes to do things that are bad. It enjoys it. So I'm gonna read some verses because that part of us that likes to thin, that thinks it's fun to thin, it goes out and it does things that are bad.
And that makes us all dirty. So that's something that's very important that I want everybody here to remember.
00:15:03
Because it's very important to remember in life that sin makes us dirty. And now I'm gonna read some verses.
They're from the book of Isaiah chapter 64. It says we are all as an unclean thing, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
And the Lord Jesus said in Matthew, the things that proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart.
And they defile the man. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are things which defile a man. And then in the book of Romans, God says they are all gone out of the way. They are all together, become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, No, not one.
Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace.
Have they not known there is No Fear of God before their eyes?
Does that sound bad? Because it is bad.
We are all.
Like an unclean thing. We are all like Jacques.
Says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags because sometimes we think, well, maybe even though I'm dirty, maybe I can get better. Maybe I can clean myself up a little bit. But if I were to take a dirty ugly rag that I used to clean my car and wipe Jacques with that dirty greasy rag, would that make Jacques clean?
No it wouldn't. It wouldn't help at all. It would make it worse.
And this morning?
If you've since.
And you're dirty from your sins.
There's nothing you can do to wipe yourself up to make yourself clean.
Because the best that we can hope to do if we try to impress God is to make it worse.
Do you like trying to wipe a dirty cup with a dirty rag? It won't work.
It says that our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Yesterday I parked our stroller, but I didn't put the brakes on out by the playground.
And it blew away. Thankfully, somebody caught it.
If I put Jacques out in the wind this morning, he'd blow away.
And iniquities are sins. They're sins that are really bad and awful.
But you have to do things that are really, really bad and awful to be all dirty. No, even something small makes us dirty because it's not me that decided that we're dirty. It's God. And God told us what he tells us, what he thinks in the Bible. That's why I'm reading these verses about how everybody.
Has since and is a center. How we are all dirty.
Lord Jesus said that it's not the stuff that gets on the outside of you that makes you dirty, because if your hands get dirty, you can go to the top and wash your hands, Lord Jesus, and it's what starts inside of you and then comes out that makes you dirty. The things we feel in our heart, the things we think in our minds, and the things that we end up doing.
That's what makes us dirty with sin.
And sin is dirty.
You know, there's somebody out there that hates all of us, and his name is Satan. And what Satan does is he takes the dirt and he wraps it up and he makes it look all fancy so that we look at it. We say, oh, maybe I would like to try that, but no.
It's still the same dirt and fill and grossness.
If I wrapped Jacques up and put a fancy bowl on him, he'd still be dirty underneath.
And when you open them up, you'd get dirty.
Don't believe the lie that Satan will try and tell you about how it'll be fun. You you won't get that dirty. Just just have fun.
Believe what God says in the Bible.
Now, if all I had to tell you this morning was that you were dirty, that would be a very sad thing. But thankfully.
00:20:04
We don't have to stay dirty. Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means that everybody here has done things that make them dirty. So are we stuck because we can't wipe ourselves up and clean ourselves up? That won't help. That's like using a filthy rag. What do we do?
First, John chapter one and verse seven says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanse us from all sin. Think about that.
That means there's a way.
Free to be clean.
I have another cup here, his name is Jaime.
Have a look at Hyme.
How does he look?
Looks pretty good right inside and out, all clean.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that the Lord Jesus shed when he died on the cross.
Can take all your sins away and make you all clean.
God wants to take your sins away, and it says that he puts them so far away you can never get to them. God says about your sins, I'm not going to remember them anymore. God knows everything you've done.
Every time you did something wrong, every time I did something wrong, God thought.
God had to mark it down. God knew all about it. He knew my thoughts before I did it. He knew my thoughts after I did it. He knew my thoughts while I was doing it.
But God looked at me and he said because James believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, because James asked the Lord Jesus Christ to wash his sins away, he's clean.
Now you say, why did why did you choose cups? Well, the Bible sometimes uses a big word called a Bethel, and a vessel is just another way of saying a cup or a bowl or a plate or something you can put food and water in.
Now I have a bottle here. Nice clean water, compliments of the hotel.
And I need.
Somebody who's thirsty. Oh wow.
Huh. All the hands went down.
Why did all the hands go down?
Are you still thirsty?
Huh. You see, I poured that nice clean water. I'm gonna hold it up here.
Anything wrong with this water?
No.
Anything wrong with the water that I poured into Jacques? Yeah, it's all dirty. You see, God wants to use us. You see, when I took Jacques out of the pile yesterday, he was very useful. He was all clean. But then he got dirty. And now?
Nobody wants to use them. He's dirty.
And our sins that not only make us dirty, they make it so that God can't use us.
But there's something that we need to be very careful of, and we're gonna read about that next. Because you and I, we're like a cup, and God wants to use us, but he can't use us if we're covered in sin.
He wants to take our sins away, and the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and gave His life to take our sins all away.
But sometimes we forget that not only what we look like on the outside, everybody around us, that's easy to remember. You remember when you look in the mirror. And we tend to think a lot about what happens on the outside. But it's.
Also, what's on the inside that matters because in the Old Testament God told a man named Samuel, he says I don't look on the outside the way you do. I look at the heart. I look deep down inside. God says I see things differently than people see things. And so that's why it matters that we need to be clean on the inside and on the outside.
But I've got another friend of mine here. His name is James now.
How does he look?
Looks pretty good.
I know the lights giving something away but just just only try to look at the outside OK?
Does he look pretty good, Jordan? Yeah, clean, rub my hand on. He's clean. But let me read you some verses. So look at the outside of James and how nice he looks here. It says in Matthew 23, this is Lord Jesus talking. He said, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup.
00:25:20
But within they are full of extortion and excess. Blind Pharisee Clean's first now, which is.
Within the cup that the outside may be clean also.
Now you get to see what's on the inside.
On the inside.
Is James any better than Jacques? No. If I were to pour some of this nice clean water into James.
Anybody wanna drink?
No, not really.
Is James useful?
No, he's just as bad as Jacques, but you don't know it when you look at the outside.
He looks pretty good on the outside, and that's easy to do. You know, it's easier to clean the inside of us, or sorry, it's easier to clean the outside of us than it is to clean the inside.
You know, the outside, we worry about what everybody thinks. So oh, what do my friends say? What do my friends think? What do my parents think? What do my parents friends think? And so we get the outside all cleaned up and we don't worry about the inside.
Is James any better than Jacques?
No, if anything is worse because he thinks he's clean.
He looks all right. Nobody's worried about James because he's all clean on the outside. He looks nice.
Could anybody use James?
Remember, God wants to use you.
But he can't use you if you're dirty.
Remember what the Lord Jesus said, How it's what's inside that makes us dirty.
Lord Jesus also said that.
What's on the inside eventually comes out. He says that.
Out of what's inside the heart, your mouth speaks. It's not just your mouth. Your hands do things, your body does things, and it's all based on what's inside. And if what is inside is all dirty, guess what's gonna come out? Is something good gonna come out if it's all dirty inside? No dirty things are gonna come out if it's dirty inside. That's what the Lord Jesus said.
And if the Lord Jesus says something, you can know for certain, for absolute certain.
That it's true.
Now.
Let's talk about Jaime.
I'm gonna read you some more verses.
Says if a man purged himself from the East, he'll be a vessel, a cup to honor sanctified and meet for the masters. Use prepared to every good work. Flea also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace within the call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
So here we have we finally have a cup. On our third try, we have a cup that we can use.
Now, why can we use them? What's different about Jaime?
He's all clean inside and out.
So anybody thirsty?
Oh, everybody is thirsty now. Because he's clean. We can use Jaime. Jaime is clean inside and out. And if you are clean inside and out because the Lord Jesus has washed your sins away, God can use you. You know, God wants to use you to make other people happy.
To let other people know about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And something else you get to do if you get to make God happy, if you're clean on the inside and on the outside.
And if you're ready, like Jaime is to be used, that makes God happy. And you and I, we get to make God happy.
Now, Vienna, would you like to take a little sip?
There.
Is Jaime useful? Yeah, he's very useful.
Because he's clean.
00:30:01
Now did anybody notice when I unpacked my bag here?
That inside my yellow ShopRite bag there were two bags. This is the bag that James and Jacques wrote in.
And this is the zip lock bag that Jaime wrote in.
And if you guys were listening, you might have heard a word. That's a big word and gets used sometimes in a meeting, but it's an important word. I hope we can all understand it a little bit better today. It's called Sanctify.
You also hear the word sanctification sanctified. This morning, as he wrote the Sunday School, Jaime was sanctified. He was kept separate because if he'd been riding next to Jacques.
He'd have been dirty, he'd have gotten here and he wouldn't have been clean. He needed to be a part.
From James and Jacques. Otherwise he would have been dirty. And if he was dirty, would he be useful? No, he wouldn't be useful if he was dirty.
God wants us to be sanctified so that he can use us.
Now let's suppose.
That Jaime isn't careful.
And Jaime bumps up against Jacques.
Oh yes, maybe.
A little bit there too.
What now? Do I Do I have to throw Jaime out?
Is he useless now? Well, right now.
Wouldn't really wanna take a drink out of him because he's dirty.
But.
I don't have to throw Jaime out. And when the Lord Jesus Christ saves us, he takes all of our sins away. The Bible says that He makes us a new creation in Him. Something completely brand new is inside of us. He gives us a whole new life.
But let's suppose we think something bad or we do something wrong after we ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Savior. What do we do? Are we dirty? Is God done with us? No, He's not done with us.
We're gonna read some verses and.
Before I read these verses, I just wanna make something very clear. This is only talking to people, to kids, to teenagers, to adults that have asked the Lord Jesus Christ to wash their sins away.
To you.
Who sat on their side, their heart. Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner and I want you to take all my sins away. I need you. You're the only one who can help me. I want your blood to make me clean. If you've never done that, if you've never prayed something like that in your heart, if you've never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what you need to do first. That's what He wants from you. What if you have?
Then we're gonna read some more verses.
1St Thessalonians 4 says this is the will of God, even your sanctification.
That means staying clean after you're saved.
That everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel or his cup in sanctification, staying clean and in honor.
Now in John 13, Jesus said something to the apostle Peter. He said he's at his washed needs, not safe to wash his feet.
But is clean every wet. That means that after you get saved, if you send, God doesn't want you to send, but if you do.
I'll tell you right now, I've seen after I got saved, it wasn't good at all. It was very bad. But I spent after I got saved and it makes me sad when I think about it because the Lord Jesus died. Take away those sins and I know that I'm still saved because the Lord Jesus has made me clean. And so the Lord Jesus says you don't need to get saved all over again.
But you do need to be washed. You do need something, because Jaime can't stay like this. Jaime stays like this. He's gonna keep getting dirtier and dirtier, and he won't be useful.
So what do we do if we're like Jaime?
And we believe in the Lord Jesus, but we sin and we get a little bit dirty. What do we do?
Says that in first John 19, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then in Ephesians chapter 5 says that he wants to sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of water by the Word. So I have something else in my bag.
00:35:16
I have a box of wipes.
So we're gonna take a few out, and we're gonna see how we can make Jaime useful again.
There does look useful again.
Yeah, see, sometimes after you get saved.
You're gonna see things and go, oh damn, it's dirty, but you're gonna hear something and ah, dirty. It's in.
Maybe you're gonna think something and you're like, oh, because after you get saved, even though God puts a new life inside you, you still have that old nature that likes to sin. And if we aren't careful, that old nature makes us dirty again. And.
We think things that are bad and then we end up doing things that are bad if we aren't careful.
And we need to be made clean again, so how?
The second verse that we read talked about the washing of water by the Word. That means you open up the Bible and you read it. And the first verse that we read talked about something called confessing.
That means you admit you did something bad. That is one of the hardest things you're ever gonna have to do in your life.
But it's also one of the best things that you're going to do in your life.
Is to fess up and say what I did was bad, it was wrong.
So when you pray in your heart and you say to God, I've sinned.
That was bad. That was wrong. I should not have done that.
That's what confessing is. It's admitting it to God and sometimes we need to go to somebody else.
If we've done something to somebody else.
Then we need to go to that person and we need to say I did this and it was bad. We need to confess. That's what God says. We have to confess. And if we confess says that God is faithful, that means that God is always there. He's always ready and waiting to forgive us. He's right there. He doesn't say, Oh no, I'm done with you. No, no, no, you're dirty, can't use you. No, no, no. He wants to make us clean.
And part of how he makes us clean is by the Bible. That's why it's very important to read the Bible, because reading the Bible makes us clean. It makes our minds clean.
You can open up the Bible or else you can think about a verse that you've memorized and.
Instead of having the thing that you heard that's bad in your mind, you can put a Bible verse in instead.
Or instead of the thing that you saw that's bad, that you wish you could forget, that you wish you hadn't seen, you can think of the Lord Jesus and you can think of a Bible verse instead.
That's how. That's why it's so important to read the Bible to know verses, because maybe you can't read.
But I hope your parents have had you memorized versus maybe you've learned verses at Sunday school and you can think about those verses. And if you can read, that's why it's important to read every day, because I read in the morning usually, and then I eat breakfast and sometimes by the time I'm done breakfast, I can hardly remember what I read. I forgot it. That's why we need to keep reading the Bible. If we remembered everything we'd read, maybe you'd only read it once.
But we forget, and so we need to go back to the Bible. And it's like we go back and we're washed.
So our three guys, we have Jacques, who's all dirty.
And all of us.
Have sin inside of us and we all do things that are bad and we need to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to wash us clean in His precious blood.
The Lord Jesus loved us so much that he died on the cross.
To take away our sins.
Think about somebody that you like, somebody that you love, somebody that you care about.
Would you die?
For that person.
Lord Jesus Christ loved us all so very much that.
Before he died on the cross, he let people punch him in the face and slap him.
00:40:04
And they grabbed his beard and they pulled the hair out, and then they spit on him.
Because they had hurt inside. That was all dirty.
A heart that is just like mine was.
The Lord Jesus, did that stop him? Did he say no, I'm not gonna go?
He went all the way to the cross and he died.
He didn't.
1-2 It wasn't something that he enjoyed, but he did it because he loved us so very much.
And.
If you've asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Savior, I wanna tell you something.
In a little while, we're gonna have breaking of bread.
And in the breaking of bread meeting, we remember, we think about the Lord Jesus Christ. But sometimes, if you're like me, it gets really long sometimes and it's hard to keep thinking the things that you're supposed to think. It's easy to get distracted, diseases that maybe wish that the meeting was over because you're tired of sitting when that happens.
Put your fingers together.
One going up and down and one going across, and you can remember the Lord Jesus Christ and how He died on the cross for you. And when you wish meeting was over, stop thinking that and think instead about how much the Lord Jesus Christ loved you.
How much he suffered, it wasn't easy. It was very, very hard. It was the hardest thing anyone's ever had to do. So the Lord Jesus Christ to be on that cross and to die for us, but he did it for us.
Then there's our friend James, the one who looks good on the outside, but inside he's dirty. Don't be like James.
God wants to use you, and if you're like this and you've just made the outside clean so that everybody thinks you're nice, but you aren't really nice inside, God can't use you. And worse than that, you're just pretending you're just a hypocrite.
James, the only thing we can do with him is throw him out.
But even if you're like James, you can still go to the Lord Jesus Christ and ask him to wash your sins away.
And then there's like, then there's Jaime. And I hope we're all like Jaime. I hope we're all clean inside and out. And I hope that we're all very careful about the things that we say and think and do and look at so that we stay clean so that God can use us for anything that he wants to.
Alright, let's sing.
I think it's 95.
Yes, Oh no, sorry, not 9594 #94 What can wash away my sins? Number 94 What? And what shall we do?
In the heart and the light falls out. That makes me why I'm slow.
My fingers that I can come over and help me, but come on.
00:45:00
All right, I'm going to pray.
And if you've never asked the Lord Jesus Christ to make you all clean with His precious blood, I hope you do that this morning.
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming down into this world and dying on the cross for us. Thank you for sharing your precious blood. Let's be able to make anybody clean.
Thank you for Sunday school. Please help us to remember the verses that we've read. Lord Jesus, help us to put them into our hearts, to live them out every day. And uh, please help us to think about you during the breaking of bread and to remember how much you loved us and how you died for us. And we give thanks and your worthy and precious name, Amen.
Security in Noah's Ark
Open—Tim Roach
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.
This morning as we remember the Lord and his death.
I looked at the table.
And I saw.
There a loaf.
And the wine.
There is a lot of wine there.
There were six Cups. There were pitchers.
And it reminded me of the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The blood which flowed so freely from the side of the Lord Jesus.
The blood that takes away our sins.
And I was thinking of the value of that blood.
And all the scriptures tell us that their blood does.
For the believer.
It washes our sins away. It sanctifies us. It justifies us. There's propitiation that covers our sins and takes them away. And we're brought near to God. We're brought near so we can come into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Right within the veil, I want to look at Genesis Chapter 7.
Genesis Chapter 7.
And I think of NOAA.
I've said this before, but sometimes when I was a child.
I would pray each and every night. Lord, if I'm not saved, save me.
And next night I pray the same thing.
And I wasn't always sure whether or not I was saved.
As a young child.
I knew that Jesus loved me.
And I love Jesus.
But it didn't really have. I didn't really have a sense that I was a Sinner and needed to be saved.
Some years later.
At a gospel meeting, I wanted to be sure that I was saved.
Until then, I.
I don't know if I was saved already or not, I believe.
But I needed to make sure.
And then I had to put my trust in the word of God.
In the blood that was shed, I'd put my trust in that.
And I believed what the word of God says, says you shall have eternal life. You believe you have eternal life. It wasn't some special prayer that I said. It was believing on the Lord Jesus.
And it was impossible for God to lie. So when he says I will never perish, when he says you can know that you have eternal life, I was sure that I was saved because I believe God.
I wanna look at NOAA here in Genesis 7. I'll just read a couple of verses verse 7.
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
God looked down from heaven. He saw wickedness and violence and corruption much like the world is today. I just came back from Rwanda and and uh, I went through the genocide museum there and saw the cruelty that man has for one another, killing their neighbors and their relatives just because they were a different class of people. And then I looked at Congo and I was not able to go into Congo this past.
Two weeks ago because of the fighting and the killing that's happening over there.
The corruption, the violence, the wickedness. God looked down from heaven. He saw all this wickedness in the world. He said, I'm sorry I ever made man. I don't know why I ever made him. I'm going to destroy him off the face of the earth. And so he told Noah to build this boat, and Noah went in verse 10.
It came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. There actually was a flood that came and destroyed everything in this world. It it destroyed all mankind. Death came in.
00:05:11
Because of man's sin and wickedness. Verse 16. And they that went in went in male and female, all of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. The Lord shut the door. No. And his family went in. The Lord shut the door. Why? Why did he have to go in there? Well, God warned him that judgment was coming. There's going to be a flood, and you need to make a wave escape. Well, there is judgment for sin. We saw there in Noah's day that there was judgment and sin.
Judgment that came on this world in the form of a flood that destroyed all the wicked mankind.
So for us we're not worried about a flood, but there is a lake of fire. There is a danger of hell because of our sin. The soul that sins, it must die. The wages of sin is death. That death is eternal damnation in the lake of fire. Well, but God is not willing that any should perish and he made a way of escape. And so he told Noah to build this big boat, big enough so anybody who wanted to come on the boat that there was room.
For the for man and all the animals that God was going to preserve on this earth. And so there was a way of escape. And Noah went out, and he was a preacher of righteousness. And so he went out and preached before the flood came. For 120 years he was building the boat. And I'm sure during that time he was telling people why he was building a boat and he was preaching righteousness. But nobody wanted righteousness. They wanted their own way.
They wanted the wickedness of their own hearts. Well, we read those verses in First Corinthians 15 and verse 34. Awake to righteousness. Some have not the knowledge of God awake to righteousness. Noah preached righteousness in that day.
But nobody.
Had knowledge. They didn't want to know God. And today the gospel goes out. The gospel goes out by many people. They don't want to know God. They have no knowledge of God.
I know a young man who grew up in the assembly. He grew up in a Christian home. At one point, he was gathered to the Lord's name.
And he has two children of his own.
And his children don't even know who God is.
He's completely turned his back on God and he doesn't even tell his children about Jesus. When I asked him about it, he says oh, they'll find they can make their own decision. I told them you have to let them know so they can have something to decide so they know. No, he's not going to tell his children about the Lord Jesus, but we need to be preachers of righteousness too, in our in our life, in our day, both with our words and with our works.
For our actions.
Because there is a way of escape from the lake of fire.
We need to get on the boat. Jesus is our boat and we need to get in the boat. We need to get into Jesus because Jesus is the only way to safety. But yet we can't put ourselves in Christ.
We can't get ourselves born again.
We can't get ourselves sealed by the spirit of God.
When we believe on the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus gives us eternal life.
And then the Spirit of God seals us, and we are eternally placed in Christ.
And no one, no one, can ****** us out of the hands.
Of the Lord Jesus. No one can take us out of that place of safety in Christ.
We know that Jesus is the righteous one who has made sin for us so that we, the Sinner could be made righteous and so we are safe in Christ.
With Noah, the Lord shut him in. They went inside. God shut the door.
00:10:00
And I like to look at that closed door as eternal security.
God did not shut that door to keep the wicked people out. In fact, after the Lord shut the door, He waited for seven days, seven days of grace before the rains fell. And I'm thinking that if anybody called upon the name of the Lord in those seven days and wanted to get on the boat before the rains came, I'm sure the Lord would have opened the door to let him come in. You know, judgment is the strange work.
Of God, and he's not willing that any should perish.
The Lord shut Noah's family into the boat.
And he kept all the people on that boat safe. And, you know, not one drop of judgment. Water touched Noah and his family because they were safe inside that boat. But yet the water of judgment, it rained down from above on the boat. And the waters came up from underneath. And out of the world, the earth, the earth split open. The waters came up out of the earth.
Up and underneath.
And roiled up against the boat from beneath.
First Peter chapter 3 and verse 20.
It tells us that there are 8 souls on board that boat.
And that they were saved by water.
And that's a curious thing to say, that they were saved by the water.
Because we thought they were saved by the boat.
But the very waters of judgment that destroyed this wicked world saved those people of faith, because the water lifted up the boat with the people of faith that were in the boat, and lifted them above the death and above the judgment. And he carried those eight persons through the storm of God's wrath.
And it saved them from the destruction with all the sinners.
The door was shut.
And so for us when the door is shut.
That's eternal security.
Because when the door is shut, you can't get out.
Jesus took all the wrath of an holy God against sin. He took all God's judgment at the cross.
And the believer is saved.
Because of the water of God's wrath that fell on the Lord Jesus as he hanged there on the cross.
There are three hours of darkness, and during those three hours, God wouldn't let anybody see what was happening to the Lord Jesus if we had looked, if anybody had looked, on the righteousness of God at that time.
There would have been certain debt, and so God turned the lights out so nobody could see what Jesus had to endure for our sins. And it was so terrible that his face was marred more than any man's.
More than the sons of men. And so the judgment waters fell in the Lord Jesus Christ to save me from the damnation of hell that I deserved because of my sin. And not one drop of God's wrath will touch the believer who puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was speaking to a man in Rwanda last week.
And he wanted me to explain to him what we believed. And then he wanted to explain to me what he believed.
And so I told him about the grace of the Lord Jesus, and how we're saved by faith and it's not by works, lest any man should boast. And he agreed that he could get saved by the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But he had to continue to do good works to get to heaven, because if he had a disagreement with his wife and she and he did not get reconciled, and he died before he, he sorted things out with his wife, he had a heart attack and died. Would he go to heaven or would he not?
No, he couldn't go to heaven because there is one little thing that would keep him out of heaven.
Because he didn't confess that sin. But you know, not one drop of God's wrath will touch the believer who puts his trust in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That man, he asked me after we had discussed this for 3 1/2 hours. He said, you look like you want to say something, so tell us whatever you want to tell us. And I say, you sure you want me to tell everything? Yes. And so I said, I believe that if Jesus came today to take us to heaven.
00:15:19
You would go to hell because you have not put your trust in the Lord Jesus. You are trusting your own self and the little bit of good that you can do to get yourself to heaven. You need to put your trust in the Lord Jesus.
And he considered that for a while.
And after a few minutes, he said.
I think I'm right and you're wrong. You have to do the work. You gotta keep doing good to get to heaven. Genesis 8.
Verse 15.
And God spake unto Noah, saying, Verse 16 Go forth out of the ark, and uh, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons, wives with thee.
And so NOAA.
He was in the boat, The boat landed, the ark landed on the Mount Ararat and the water subsided. And after some days, God said, OK, Noah, go forth out of the boat. They started a new beginning. There was a new life. And that's how it is with the believer. When we're saved, we begin a new life. And look in Second Corinthians chapter 5. There's a nice verse here, Second Corinthians chapter 5, because we start a new life.
When we're saved, we don't change our old life and try to modify it to make it new and good that we receive eternal life. We receive a life whereby we can please the Lord, we can do those things, we can awake to righteousness, and we can live a life that honors the Lord Jesus. We don't have to depend on our ability to do good works we have.
Anew we are a new creation. We start a new life. Verse 17. Second Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
And that's how it was for for NOAA. He came out of the boat. He looked around. All things were new. New vegetation, new grass growing, new new plants of for food. Everything was new, and it was undisturbed by sin.
And so for NOAA, things were new.
When we receive eternal life.
There will be a spiritual change in our lives if there's not a spiritual change.
You probably don't have eternal life. But if you have eternal life, you receive it. And it's something. It's a new create. You're a new creation. There's gonna be a change in your life. And so we are new creatures. We are no longer citizens of this earth. Now we are citizens of heaven. And we need to act like a child of God, and we need to act like a citizen of heaven. And again, that verse we had in in First Corinthians 15.
A week to righteousness.
Live like a Christian. Your actions should look should be righteous and there should not be sin.
That would characterize our life Genesis 8.
Verse 2021.
And NOAA building an altar unto the Lord.
And took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.
It was a new thing for Noah. He got off the boat, a new beginning. What's the first thing he does? He builds an altar to the Lord. He's going to worship the Lord.
The altar was a witness to remind Noah's family of what God had done to save them from the flood of judgment, and he worshipped and honored the Lord with the burnt offering.
It was a witness.
00:20:01
A witness to God. A witness to Noah? A witness to his family. Well, we should be a witness of what God has done to save us from the fire of God's judgment.
What is a witness?
A witness is one who shows and shares what he knows. And let's look at First Corinthians Chapter 11.
A witness is one who shares what he knows and he and he shows what he knows.
First Corinthians Chapter 11.
This shows what we can do as a witness.
We can remember the Lord in his death. We can show the Lord's death till he come. First Corinthians 11, verse 26.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.
Let me ask, do you show what you know?
Do you show the death, the Lord's death by remembering the Lord in his death? Who are we showing this to? Who's looking?
Do we close the windows in the meeting rooms? Nobody can look in?
It's a witness.
As a witness to the Angel, it's a witness to ourselves. It's a witness to God.
And to witness anybody looking in.
It's not for the unbelievers. It's.
For those who know the Lord as their savior, it's for you.
It's not a show that we do to the world, but the world knows what's happening.
We show the Lord's death.
Till he comes.
A witness not only shows what he knows, but a witness also shares what he knows. Let's go to First Peter chapter 2.
We share what we know, and so we share the gospel. We're told to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Now it's impossible for all of us to go everywhere, but every one of us can go somewhere. And so as you go to your somewhere, that's part of fulfilling the word of God into going into all the world to preach the gospel. So we need to show or share what we know with others.
Tell others. Preach the gospel. Show forth His praises. It might be in your actions, but it's not only your actions.
It's your words. People might look at you and say you're a good living person, but so is this guy over here. He's working to get to heaven. What difference is there between you and him? You look the same. The words are necessary to share with others about the Lord Jesus. So it's good to have an understanding of the gospel. It's good to have an understanding of what the Lord has done for us, what He's done for you, and so you can share the news.
Of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and preach Christ crucified, First Peter, chapter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth.
That you should show forth.
The praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Why do we worship Jesus?
We worship Jesus because of who he is.
And who is he? Who is Jesus?
He is Jehovah. He is the Creator. He is the Lamb of God. He is the Savior of sinners. He is Almighty God. He's He's the Alpha and Omega in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse verse 9.
Isaiah I'm sorry. Isaiah 9 verse six. It says for unto us a child is born.
Unto us the Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And so he worship the Lord Jesus because of who he is, and when we realize the immensity and the power and the person of the Lord Jesus.
00:25:10
There's nothing to say.
We worship, yeah. Just think of Mary when she came to the Lord Jesus and she wiped his feet with her hair.
And what did she say?
Nothing.
What did she sing? Nothing. She was quiet.
And her silence and her quiet her adoration is worship. And that's what we what we can do as we did this morning. We we had some some hymns we sang and verses we read. But we had thoughts. We had thoughts about the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus takes those silent thoughts. The women are told to be silent in the church where you can sing but you can't get up and and express your thoughts.
But.
The Lord knows your thoughts. The Spirit of God takes your thoughts and He takes. And there's 400 people here and maybe 10 people spoke in the meeting this morning. But everybody else had their quiet thoughts and they enjoyed the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the and the Spirit of God takes the thoughts that you had and puts them all together with the hymns and the prayers and the praises and the songs that went up and puts it all together and all goes up to God.
As a sweet smelling savor. And it's all because of who the Lord Jesus is and for what he has done for us. And so we worship the Lord for who he is, and we praise the Lord and we thank Him for what He has done.
And what has he done for us? Well, who we know that he he. He's created you for his pleasure and he wants to bring you into glory and blessing. And he's washed away my sins and he's justified me. He's removed my guilt and he's reconciled me back to God. So that we, because we had been separated because of our sin, but he took away the sin that separates us and bring us back to God, reconciles us to God.
Through the death of his Son and the Lord, Jesus gives me eternal life.
And he makes me a child of God, and he makes me the bride of Christ. And there's so many things that the Lord has done for us. We can hardly begin to to to list all of those things. But it brings our hearts full of worship and joy and praise. And we don't have to wait until we come on Lord's Day morning to give out our praise and our prayers and our worship and Thanksgiving.
Do you do you have an altar?
Where you can worship the Lord? Do you have an altar where you can praise and give thanks and honor the person of the Lord Jesus for who he is and what he has done? Do you have a personal altar at home by yourself?
Maybe you read in the morning. Maybe you read at night. Maybe you read in the middle of the day. But you have time to to read and meditate and pray, and to consider what the Lord is saying to you.
And do you have a family Bible reading an altar where you can come and bring your family together and to share the words of God and share the person of Christ and share the work of Christ and and instruct one another in the things of God? Do you have that personal altar? And then there's a a group alter. Sometimes we call it a collective altar where we can all come together and and worship and honor and remember the Lord and his death. Do you have an altar like that where you go to?
Maybe the altar is there, but you don't go to it. Oh, you're in the audience. But are you there to remember the Lord and his death in in the Lord's Supper and partaking in fellowship at the Lords table together with other believers?
And as we as we think about, like this morning, as we think about the various themes in the breaking of bread meeting, and we enjoy these themes, it produces worship and praise and Thanksgiving in our hearts. And after, after we go into the Lord's presence for worship, first we go in, then we can go out with the Lord's presence for our service, He he promises.
With you to the ends of the earth, the ends of the age. He will be with you as you go out to serve in the gospel. And so when we think of all the Lord Jesus has done, all the glory and the honor belongs only.
00:30:14
To Jesus Christ.
The Lord's Presence with Us
Open—Mark 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 just like to share.
A few thoughts that I just have enjoyed the last couple of days. You know, we've been taking up First Corinthians 15 about the Lord's resurrection and, uh.
One of the things that has been impressed upon me was that it yesterday, particularly that it didn't have the meaning to me yesterday.
And perhaps the way I would have liked it to.
Thursday I came home from work and had a very busy week this week and we're in First Corinthians 14, umm, right now in Rio Ferry at the end of the end of the chapter and I had read a little bit on 1St Corinthians 15 and I was.
Impressed in the outline of Rustanstein's outline, he goes through how in the first part of that chapter Paul goes through an explanation as to the proof of the resurrection. And then he goes through, well, what would happen if it didn't happen. And then later on in the chapter he goes through what are the implications of the resurrection.
And I, I read it and I thought, oh, you know, that's, that's neat. Umm, I never really noticed that before.
It didn't really hit my heart and you know, yesterday as we were going through it in the, uh, reading meeting.
The import of what it means is beyond what I can even comprehend. And it was very well explained yesterday. But you know, I just, I felt like my heart needed to be touched a little bit more. And you know, this morning and we know this is Easter, umm, I woke up and.
I've been considering it. I spoke to a number of people about it yesterday and I said well.
Maybe I'll read the end of Matthew, the Lord's resurrection. I said no, I'll just read where I normally read, which is in Hosea right now in a verse call down there that I just want to read because it struck me. Jose, chapter 4.
The end of verse 15 and I'm not even sure I fully understand.
This first, I think most people here would know the story of Hosea. He was asked to marry a prostitute because Israel had turned their back on the Lord. There was two primary things and you know, these are two primary things that I struggle with in my own life.
They were going after things that replaced God.
And they were enjoying pleasures wine. See that in chapter 3 it says there.
At the end of the verse one it says who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. And you know, if I had to point to what in my own life keeps me from an appreciation of the resurrection of those two things, I let things take the substitute.
Of God in my life. And I like pursuing after pleasures. You know, that's a natural tendency that we all have.
And what does it say at the end of verse 13? I just want to read it because it really struck me. It says, though thou Israel play the harlot, yet not due to offend, and come not ye unto Gilgal neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear the Lord liveth.
I don't know and I'd be interested in other thoughts and this it seems like the verse is saying they weren't to say the Lord lives.
Or maybe they were saying it and didn't mean it.
Does it mean something to you that the Lord lives?
Is it evidenced in your life that he lived? What, what, what effect is it? You know, yesterday? And I thought it was beautifully brought out. You know, it isn't really about us.
What you have in First Corinthians 15 there is God's plan from eternity past to the eternal state in the future to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was said that we are brought into tremendous blessing because of that. Because of that, we're brought in the phenomenal blessing.
And that's a little bit what I'd like to look at. You know, we stepped through it yesterday of a future day when the Lord is he's been rejected by this world and God the Father is going to set him up. He'll become, he'll rule this world for 1000 years in righteousness. You know, you look at the governments today and it's hard to even comprehend where things are going, but to consider a day when the Lord will rule this world.
00:05:13
And everything that goes with that imperfection for 1000 years. It's an incredible thing to consider. And then eternity.
All because of the resurrection, but what I I just so after I read Jose in that version just thought about should I in my life be saying the Lord lives. I went to Matthew the end of Matthew and I'd just like to read.
Last chapter in Matthew.
Matthew 28.
Verse 19, this Great Commission here, but it wasn't so much the Great Commission that struck me when I read this morning. It's the next verse that says, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even under the end of the world.
Amen.
The implication of the Lord being risen again in terms of the blessing that it brings to us is He is with us even to the end of the world.
Do we need to worry about the Canada how Ontario having the largest sub sovereign debt in the world? No. Do we need to worry about the fact that tensions between Russia and and the rest of the world are growing and they pulled the diplomats out and all of this is going on that the debts are skyrocketing? No, it says here the Lord will be with us even unto the end of the world.
An incredible, incredible thing. You know what struck me? And, and.
Even in First Corinthians.
15 And it's a very solemn thing, you know, that chapter starts out and, and, and Paul has to say, he says, you know what if if you don't think the resurrection happened, you're not saved?
And yet he recognized his own failing in that when he lists all the evidence of the people who saw the Lord in his resurrection.
He had to, at the end, say, and maybe this was commented on in the first reading. We got here a little bit late. He was the least of Saints. All of that was happening in Jerusalem where he was taught all about the word of God. He didn't recognize it. He didn't recognize it. He didn't recognize that Jesus had been risen from the dead, even though all that evidence was there. He had to be struck down.
By God himself before he got the import.
Of the resurrection and who the Lord really was, you know, searches my heart.
He is with at the believer. If you believe that he's risen, he is with you.
Even to the end of the world, you know, I've been struck, umm, and I know I've commented on some of these things before. I'd like to step through some people who had an appreciation just quick, quickly of what it meant to have the Lord with them. The first one I'd like to turn to is an Exodus Chapter 33.
I remember Dave. Hey ho.
Seeking on this portion and I have never forgotten it.
He referred to two times the question was asked and the answer was the same. The Lord would go with you.
And you know, I'm not gonna turn to it, but if you go to John.
The garden scene there it was right this morning.
What did the Lord say?
To marry, he says, I go to your father.
And my father.
And to your God and my God, we had fathers before us Thursday night. You know, one of the privileges of the resurrection is that we all have a father.
00:10:08
No matter what the situation.
I comment on this just briefly, you know.
And I helped my wife and mother-in-law will forgive me. Lindsay made the comment to me, she said. You know, Mark has been almost 20 years since I saw him, I thought.
My son prays that he'll be able to see him thank the Lord he's given.
Me, I've got any mother-in-law who loves the Lord, who wants to follow him. But you know, there's no place replacement for somebody you can turn to in the struggles of every day and ask advice who will help you along the way, you know, as a father.
It's incredible, the example we have that was shown to us in Genesis 22 of Fathers there with God the Father's. Ultimately the whole story of the Lord being glorified is the story of a father. And we have a father here you have Moses, and where is he? They've left Egypt. He's with two million complaining people.
And he has the job of leading them for 40 years in the wilderness.
That's not a daunting task. I don't know what is and you know.
I have five children.
And that's not always easy, but I'm very thankful for the privilege of being a father. You know, at work I have challenges. Every day there's challenges. You know, the nice thing is, is because the Lord lives, I have a father. Go to my father and your father. And, you know, here Moses doesn't know how he's going to handle all of this.
Let's just reverse what it says.
Exodus 33.
Verse 13 says Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I might, I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.
Show me now thy way. He wanted to know how he was going to do it. And what does the Lord says? He says My presence shall go with thee. I'll be with thee until the end of the world. My presence shall go with thee. That's how Moses did it.
The Lord's presence went with Him every day.
Does the Lord's presence go with you every day when you wake up in the morning and you can't feel you can handle what the Lord has put on your plate, whether it's family situations, whether it's work situations, whether it's assembly situations, whatever it may be.
Your words present.
Is with us by presence. Shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. I'd like to turn to the next one, Joshua.
His verse has been a tremendous encouragement to me. I haven't. I had it in my the back wall of my office for the last four years.
Largely because.
Well, I think it's self-evident. Joshua going. The rains are being handed from Moses to Joshua. What's Joshua's task? He's to go into a land where he is to do something that is naturally impossible.
The concord cities that couldn't be conquered by Israel, and yet God had asked them to do it.
He could not do it on his own.
And Moses says this to Joshua, but then later actually in the beginning of in the beginning of Joshua, the same thing is said directly to him. But it says there be strong and of good courage, fear not be, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God he it is.
The dust go with thee. He will not fail thee.
Nor for safety. And Moses called in Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all the people.
Be strong and of good courage. The Lord goes with us.
The Lord goes with us. Here's Joshua.
He couldn't have done it any other way and we can't do it any other way either.
The impact of arisen arisen order.
00:15:02
Striking, isn't it? Well, you know I.
Every once in a while I'll come across a verse that really hits me, and I've spoken to several people about this verse. It's actually currently my password, which has to change every 90 days, but.
Umm Isaiah. Isaiah had to prophecy.
In a very difficult time in Israel's history.
When things are going downhill and they're gonna be going to captivity. And yet the Lord gives promises through the books of Isaiah that are truly remarkable.
Truly remarkable and this verse has been a tremendous encouragement to me. Isaiah 4110.
Hi, speaking with John Kemp who voted in this.
December, I believe it was. And then he gave me a book and you know, in that book it had that verse in a comment, this verse in a commented on it for several pages. Angels and light thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I was listening to umm, a brother speak and he was talking about how there's four promises that he loved to have whenever he spoke that he could just rest on, and this was one of them.
Isaiah 4110 Fear thou not. You know, fear is the natural enemy of just about everybody in this room. But how does this first start? Fear thou not. But then what does it say? It says I am with thee.
I am with.
God is with us.
You couldn't start the verse any better. Don't fear, I'm with you. And then what does it say next? It says be not dismayed. I get dismayed all the time. You just have to ask my wife and kids. Be not dismayed, for I am my God. The creator of the universe is with us, the one who can do anything, the one who orchestrated this all to glorify the Lord and work we come into blessing through it.
I am like God.
Could anybody better strengthen us? I will strengthen thee. Yay, I will help thee, yay, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Incredible promise, incredible promise. The Lord being with us gives us that. It's a phenomenal thing. You know, I have been amazed.
I'll, I'll there'll be a meeting that I absolutely dread going to. I think about it the week before and and I'll just have to work for help in the morning at the end of the day.
I just say he didn't necessarily make the problems go away, but he took me through it and it's incredible. The Lord gives us the strength we need. He's he's with us, he's our God. He strengthens us, he helps us and he upholds us. That's what it says here in Isaiah. Go to Jeremiah the next book. What what kind of a job did Jeremiah had? He started preaching in the reign of Josiah and things just went straight downhill from there.
They didn't listen to him through just about any of those rains.
It BA basically went against almost everything that he said.
He was threatened to be killed. He was thrown into mud and they told him not to go to Egypt. They went to Egypt. When he told the king not to surrender, he wouldn't surrender.
When he wrote a scroll God gave him, he came through it in the fire.
What was the strength allowed Jeremiah to go on if you just go to Jeremiah 1?
Verse 7.
But the Lord said unto me, Say not I am a child.
Supplies.
To even the youngest tier. For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. He had that promise.
And it was carried through his whole life.
I am witty to deliver the sample of the Lord's presence. It's a result of the resurrection.
00:20:07
Something that we have you go to Lamentations, which was also written by Jeremiah, but you know, we like, we often read it in the breaking of bread and, uh.
Perhaps.
One of the verses that we enjoy are the Lamentations the most. You know, Jerusalem was ransacked, the Temple des destroyed, people taken captive and by all natural circumstances.
It was not a very good picture, was it? But what does it say in Lamentation chapter 3?
1St 22 Well well known versus.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because thy compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion.
The Lord is my portion.
Incredible.
That even in the midst of all of that.
The Lord was still there with something new every single morning to help through the difficulties. Incredible to consider Ezekiel and uh.
I just finished Ezekiel and uh, it was.
Sharing with my brother and and those there just some thoughts that I enjoyed. And you know, Ezekiel was a priest.
And he was at a similar time when Israel was on the decline and they're going to go into captivity and.
He lived through some pretty brutal things himself. He saw as a priest. Of course, the temple where the Lord was was the center there.
He saw the Shekinah glory Cloud leave.
If that was your job and what would that do you know?
As we see things and ruin around us.
As the shift is slashed, we're heading for shore. You know, it's easy to get discouraged.
But I, I so appreciate and I've again, this is something that I've mentioned before, just the last four. What what the whole end of Ezekiel is, is the it's the millennial picture of the, the temple in new Jerusalem, the new earthly Jerusalem. And it ends with the Lord is there.
What a comfort that must have been to Ezekiel to realize what was coming and the Lord would be there again after he saw everything completely fall apart before his eyes. The last chapter it says the Lord is there and what it also struck me in the final verses of.
Of this chapter was the sons of Zadok and, and I've, I've mentioned this to a couple of people and, uh, how they kept the Lord's charge and they were near, they had the privilege of being near to the Lord because they didn't, they didn't go away. You know, the Lord's presence is an incredible, incredible thing.
Daniel.
You know, I was thinking.
The three friends What is Daniel Shadrach Mesa Bendigo.
Your throne shot, a piece of Bendigo are thrown into the fiery furnace.
Bucky's and strength there.
So the fourth person in the fire.
I don't know. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been in the circumstance of those four men, but the Lord's presence was with them.
Incredible, incredible to consider Hosea, we've just talked about. So just over and over and over the Lord's presence. This is a, a practical reality of every single day. You know, I yesterday when I was thinking about the resurrection, just how to bridge that gap between knowing it in theory in your head and putting it into practice in every day of your life.
Do we naturally turn to the Lord who has promised to be with us as Father, the Lord Himself?
I will never leave thee, nor for safety. You may boldly say the orders might help, or will not fear what man shall be doing to me. The promise of the Holy Spirit in dwelling is phenomenal to consider.
00:25:03
Phenomenal to consider. You know, that's really what I had on my heart. Was this just to consider?
The implications of the resurrection. I just wanna read those verses again. End of Matthew, uh, last verse it says.
Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. And then let's just go over to John.
Verse that I quoted earlier.
Chapter 20.
Jesus said unto her, Touch me not.
For I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and I say unto them, I ascend unto my father, and your father, and to my God, and your God.
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her.
Oh, I hope myself that I as I go to work tomorrow morning, and I forget it as often as I remember it, that I will realize that the Lord.
Is with me busy with you? I hope you know it's.
One of the greatest evidences of the reality of a believer.
Is that they realize that the Lord is with them and you see the evidence of that in their life. You know, sometimes we don't know and it tears us apart.
Are you leaning on the Lord, or are you leaning on your own strength?
Without the Lord, you have nothing. With the Lord you have everything. The future that we have ahead of us is beyond comprehend. You know we can read through those verses in Corinthians.
And sort of know it in our head, but it doesn't even excite us sometimes. And it's probably because of we're no different than the children of Israel in the book of Hosea.
And you know, I think we need to consider that, but tomorrow I, I don't know what you're struggling with. I certainly know that all across North America, there's struggles in the assembly. All across North America, there's struggles and marriages all across. People are struggling with their work everywhere we go, every day, whether it's relationship, whether it's school, not knowing what to do next.
If you look at the general outlook of North America right now and the whole world.
How can you help but be depressed?
Yes, you didn't know that we have our risen Lord, who wants as it says in Revelation, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and stop with him and he with me.
Encouragement
Open—Enos McCavour
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I'm proud to get turned to.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
The only one that they can encourage us in this pathway.
The only encouragement that we have for our lives.
In the pathway here comes from the book that you have in your hand God's Word. And when the Lord Jesus was here with his disciples, he was a word manifested and he encouraged them all the time. He was here with them and before he left to go back to glory.
John 14.
He spoke of his death and his resurrection.
Chapter 14.
Verse three, If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself.
To where I am.
There you may be also. That's a promise that we're waiting for, has not been yet fulfilled. We're waiting to hear the shout. Could be this very day when everything will change for us and we will be with the Lord.
The fulfillment of this promise, what we realize? He also made another promise, though, before he went home.
To be with the Father.
He made a promise to the disciples, but for us to also.
The 14th chapter, he says. Umm.
Verse 16 I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. He may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know Him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Verse 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.
He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
And then if we go to uh.
Chapter 16.
There's other references to the Holy Ghost, but just read the one in in chapter 16, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth of the IT is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him on to you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and righteousness.
And of judgment and.
13th verse Albeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall He speak. He will show you things to come.
And so the Lord knew that His people, you and I, would need to be comforted. We would need to have a comforter here in this scene as we journey through. And He made allowance for this before He went back.
And winning with back to glory, He fulfilled that promise that He had made on the day of Pentecost. He has set the Holy Spirit down. Each one here that knows the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior has that divine guest within.
But do we realize?
The Holy Spirit as that is within us.
Also the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
Everywhere we go, we take the Trinity with us. We've never been living in a day like this before.
With all the Old Testament Saints, they could have the Holy Spirit that would come and go and so forth, but we've never been living in a day such as this, a day of grace.
00:05:06
I'd like to turn to uh.
First Corinthians, chapter 6.
Verse 15.
Says know ye not?
No, ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ.
And uh, shall I then make the members of Christ?
And make them the members of the harlot, God forbid.
Verse 19.
What know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?
Which is in you, which you have from God a year, not your own.
Per year, bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, in your spirit, which are Gods. The body that I have I can stand up here with today is not my own.
It belongs to God, the Spirit, which I'm able to speak to you from God's Word, spiritual things.
Belongs to God.
They belong to Him and so it's interesting in the context here where we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, our bodies being a temple.
That it brings before us certain conditions, Not that we can lose the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, We cannot.
But we certainly can quench that spirit.
And uh, mentions here about things perhaps could quench the Spirit of God that is within us.
And so.
If we wanna make use of the resource that the Lord Jesus has promised and had given to us on the day of Pentecost.
And Holy Spirit that dwells within we should be exercised about how we keep ourselves.
And certainly the Holy Spirit is the one that takes the things of Christ and makes them good to her soul. He's our comforter here in this scene. He helps us in many different ways in our prayers. Sometimes we don't know how to pray. We're so distraught about things. And the Holy Spirit says in Romans he'd grown with groanings. He makes utterance the gods so that.
God knows what we are thinking and we would wish to say, but we just can't, can't find words to say it.
And so.
If we turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6.
Here again.
Mentions uh verse 16. It says what agreement at the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said. I will dwell on them and walk in them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touched off the unclean thing, and I will receive you.
And will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.
Saith the Lord Almighty.
I mean to say if we.
Are going on with things that, uh, we shouldn't be going on with that we don't have the father within.
No, it just means that perhaps we're missing the enjoyment that we could have knowing the father is within and the father is the one that says here I will be.
00:10:02
Ye shall be my sons and daughters.
That the Lord says the Lord Almighty.
And so he wants to be a father. He wants.
For you and I to be sons and daughters. He wants to help us. He wants to encourage us and strengthen us every turn of the pathway here. But sometimes we hinder that ourselves. We can hinder that enjoyment of the Father being within.
And so.
It says someone may say well.
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? And you say well.
We're living in.
This century we don't worship idols. There's no idol worship around. There's no temples available anymore. There's there's no statues that I bow down before to and worship.
Look at a verse in Colossians.
Colossians, chapter 3.
Verse two Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For your dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then we shall also appear with Him in glory.
Mortify, therefore, your members, which are upon the earth fornication on cleanness, inordinate affection, evil occupants, and covetousness.
Which is idolatry.
Covetousness, which is idolatry.
If we are putting something in our lives.
That we.
Have an attraction to before the Lord's things becomes an idol.
That thing that we put before the Lord can shut the Lord out.
It can cause us, perhaps, to neglect reading His word. It can take us away.
And uh, there are many things to attract and we may not consider them as idols, but God says that covetousness is the same thing.
I don't have to spend too much time on this, but uh.
I also like to look at uh.
First, John.
First John 4.
Verse 12.
It says that no man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in US and as love is perfected in us. But we had in in 2nd Corinthians 6 that God does dwell within our bodies, our temple, and God dwells within here. It's more to do with the nature of God, nature of God.
Is proof that we have this nature when we love one another.
It says here is in love not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for her sins. Beloved of God, so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
And no man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US.
And as love is perfected in US.
And so we carry as nature with us.
And we can encourage one another with that nature that we have.
We can show love and kindness to one another.
And uh, I would like to go on with different examples of how we can encourage. There's many in scripture. We can encourage one another by prayer. We can encourage one another by visitation. Uh, we can encourage one another just by helping another person in some way. There's many, many different kinds of ways in which we can.
00:15:14
Encourage one another.
Of the Lord Jesus, he saw a need for us to be encouraged ourselves and he did everything he possibly could to encourage us. Now we had the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, our bodies, and we have God the Father dwelling within us. And let's look at.
Colossians.
After.
One I believe it is.
Chapter One.
Speaking of the mystery here.
Of the church.
This is a 26 verse, even the mystery which have been hid from ages and from generations.
But now is made manifest to his Saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of His glory, of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory?
Here we have Christ in US, dwelling in US, and every believer we're taught that we're in Christ. In fact, all our blessings, that tells us in Ephesians.
That we have, we have with Him, but here we have Christ in US. I think it's nice in this verse that it brings before us Christ being in US, and then it says the hope of glory.
Isn't that nice? Because when we think of Christ, we think of.
The Messiah that came into this world, we think of, uh, Price as the one that went to the cross and gave himself for us, there to redeem us.
And we think of our Lord Jesus Christ now as risen.
And what has he given to us while we wait? Hope. It's not a chancey hope, it's a certain hope. But it's a hope of glory. We're going to be with the Lord Jesus and like Him in that coming day. And so he brings before us a connection with Christ being in US, that present hope each one of us have.
Of soon being with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And glory.
I'll stop there because if I go any further.
Might take up too much time.
But.
These structures perhaps would encourage us. I know it's encouraged by Brother Allen and.
Scripture certainly can encourage us. We know that we're not, we're not Old Testament safe, but we can look back there and we can see.
Uh, in their actions, what they did, how, how, how affected God's favor towards them. If they were disobedient, of course then they would suffer consequences from God for their disobedience.
If they went on faithfully, then they were, uh, commended for their faithfulness and they had certain rewards for that. And, uh, I believe it's so different for us in the New Testament. We have more, we are more responsible, uh, but we have the Trinity within and as we go our way each day.
If we if we would remember that it might help keep us better on track.
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Reading
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Tall and free.
Nothing ye our soul is hard to.
Not forget.
Of being.
Our story.
Of gods more and more.
In thy breasts we are happy in 1000.
Killer.
In the crowd and all of them.
We can give it to the Lord, make it endure.
Wandering.
The floor. It was not my.
Our God and Father, we come before thee again at the end of these meetings.
And thank you for the very happy time we've had. Surely we can sing the words of this middle hymn. In Thy present we are happy. In Thy presence we are secure. In my presence. All afflicted we can easily endure. And so, Lord, we just pray as we had this last meeting, that it might be encouraging for each one of us. We might be built up in our most holy faith. And we pray to that. Thou just give journey mercies home for us, without us still carrying.
And that we might have a renewed desire to go on for thee in July has come, we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Still have quite a bit to cover in First Corinthians 15, but perhaps we could start at verse 35.
1St Corinthians 15, verse 35.
But some men will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Thou fool, Thou which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And thou which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but fair grain. It may chance of wheat, or some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it pleased him, and every seed, his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
00:05:33
And so it is written, the 1St man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
I'll be it that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual. The 1St man is of the earth earthy. The 2nd man is of the is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy stuff are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have formed the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trump the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass. The saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I suppose most of us at times in our lives have encountered what was going on, no doubt among the Corinthians and perhaps other students, and that is questions being raised about things that they did not understand but wanted to enter into, but not in the right way.
That is, those who quibbled about the resurrection and denied it would argue, well, what happens in resurrection, as it says here in verse 35, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
Have we ever seen someone with a glorified body? No. Do we know exactly what it will look like? No. But Paul uses natural things to explain spiritual ones here, pointing out that when we sow and reap, we see that very simple picture.
We put a seed in the ground, it dies, we don't recover it again, but what grows from it is characteristic of that seed, and it is not characteristic of another one.
And so when you and I have glorified bodies, they will be characteristic, I believe, according to this chapter, but they'll be, as it says further down here, celestial bodies, not of terrestrial body, not a body that is suited to this world, but a body suited to that world. It will be a different in, in that sense, a change body, but not a brand new body. It'll be changed.
And So what a wonderful thing that is.
We don't know all about it. We don't know what it will look like, but as our brother brought out in the last meeting, we can have confidence in the Lord, in all that He is and all that He is doing and all that His resurrection means, and leave the way that our bodies will be raised and what they look like in that day. We can leave that with Him because He knows exactly.
What he's going to do?
And I believe that's the force of what we have in these next few verses.
00:10:01
Yes, that's important because.
The Resurrection.
It shows that the body will be raised. Anything less than that is some form of reincarnation. And I believe the apostle deals with that in because we know certain Eastern religions would hold that depending on my performance while here on earth, I might be resurrected as a pig.
That the apostle deals with that. That what will be resurrected is my body. Notice what Job says. Job 19.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, Job says. The eyes that I have are the eyes that will see the Lord.
If Job has brown eyes, I'll see them in glory and you'll still have brown eyes, the same eyes, the eyes that I have now. If the Lord takes were to come now, these eyes would see the Lord. If the Lord doesn't come for another 50 years and I.
Door When I'm raised, God can take that dust and form my eyes, and my eyes will see the Lord in his glory.
I can well remember, and this is quite a few years ago now.
Stood in a Funeral Home.
Cite a young man whose father had gone to be with the Lord.
His father was not an elderly man, at least not by the standard that I look at. At this point in life. He was only 60 years old.
And he had had cancer for quite some time, and during the course of that disease, the cancer had so ravaged his body that the family decided, probably wisely, that.
To open the casket in the Funeral Home would give such a false impression of what he really looked like that they'd better have a closed casket and put a picture of him on top.
Probably some of the rest of you have been at viewings in a Funeral Home under similar circumstances.
His son was about the same age as I was at that time, and I said to him, addressing him by name. Well, I said, the next time you see your father, not only will he look a lot better than his body does now, I said, he won't even have white hair.
While his father was one of those, probably a bit like me, whose hair went Gray and then white rather sooner than some other people did. And his son said, well, I don't remember him with anything but Gray or white hair, which was probably true. But if you looked at the wedding pictures of, and I'm sure he'd seen a wedding picture of his father, his hair was totally dark. I said. He said, oh, I don't care if he has white hair up in heaven.
Well, I said yes, I know you wouldn't mind, but God does because that white hair is a symptom, a sign of aging, and that won't exist there in the glory. He'll have a glorified body, fashion like under His glorious body. But I don't think any of us will have any trouble recognizing Him in that glorified body, or anyone else for that matter.
The natural man says that is impossible.
But why is it possible? Because there is a risen man in the glory with a glorified body, and it's absolutely impossible that it couldn't be that way with us. Because if he has raised our Lord Jesus Christ and he has a glorified body, it has to happen to us too, doesn't it?
So we will all be like Christ, but has been said I believe actually, so we'll all retain our individuality because every one of us were chosen in crisis individuals. We were called and saved as individuals. We're taken care of along the path of faith as individuals and well collectively will be the bride, the Lamb's wife, the city and so on. Yet as I I say, I believe from other scriptures that we will retain our individuality.
00:15:08
I don't wanna go too far with an illustration or an application, but we find on the Mount of Transfiguration a little preview of the coming glory. There were men there from three different eras of time. There was Moses, Elijah, and the disciples, three of the disciples. And we don't leave that they needed any introduction. We find that the disciples who were there, they immediately recognized without the Lord telling them.
Far as we read who these men were, we don't read that Moses and Elijah needed any introduction. And so I believe on that basis and other Scriptures. We took this up in Lawrenceville last weekend when we spoke from Revelation 20 and 21, how that there are little hints that we will be like Christ, yes, but retain our individuality. Now you say, how can that be? Well, I don't know, but God can do it.
But I would like to say this too about our glorified bodies while we're on the subject. While those bodies will have capabilities that are far greater than the physical bodies we have now, there are three things that we will never attain to that are reserved for deity. We will never be all knowing. We will never be all powerful and never omnipresent. We will never be omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent. Those things are are for Deity alone. Yes, there will be capabilities.
We'll have bodies of glory like unto His body of glory, but those things are reserved for God and Christ Himself.
There will be a lasting mark on the body of the Lord Jesus when we see Him, and that is the nail prints in His hands.
The nation of Israel, when they're restored to the land, they will say, they'll look upon the Lord Jesus, they'll say, What are those wounds in thy hands? And then I saw in thy hands those of which I was wondering in the House of my friends.
So he will never lose that. You and I will have bodies of glory and, uh, humiliating marks that we've achieved down here will be gone, but not so with the Lord Jesus.
People sometimes look at us when we believe in the resurrection and consider us to be rather backwards and superstitious. It's interesting to me that God's opinion of the people who don't believe in the resurrection we have in verse 36.
How does he start off full?
Same class of people who don't believe in God fool or said in his heart no God. So whose opinion matters most to people who criticize or gods?
MMM.
You said, Bill, God hasn't left himself without a witness either.
You know, uh, Doug, you could probably give this analogy better than I can, but I'll try. So when you take a corn seed not too long from now and plant it in the ground.
It begins to absorb moisture.
And it's not very long before the life that's in that seed sends out a little root.
When a shoot begins to go up.
And if we would go out there with a shovel and the corn was knee high, say, we could find that little seed coat still there, but it would be dead.
It's uh, I think it's Gen. 12 where the Lord said except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and abide it alone. But if a diet bringeth forth much fruit and so is that plants coming up.
And then there's a silk and a tassel. I'm at corn and it's pollinated at harvest time. Why? Maybe they'll be 3 or 400 kernels on that ear. And that is much fruit.
And this I I find it tremendously interesting to drive around and and look across the cornfield that's just spiking out of the ground. That always makes me smile because there are millions and millions of witnesses that the resurrection is real.
Now I I know that a corn plant is not nearly as valuable as the Lord Jesus.
But God has not given us, uh, without, with given, given this to us without witness. And I just just do that sometime pull up a corn plant when it's about ankle high and you'll find that little seed in the, they're about two inches or so down right, Doug, There it is.
00:20:18
Debt, but it bringeth forth much fruit and it's a some of you kids that wonder, I I wonder what this means. How could God do that?
Does, and it gives us millions of witnesses and examples. We can look at that and trust God. We know exactly how. No, God said it, I believe it. That settles it.
That God's everyday miracle.
That you take the seed that has no life. You put it in the ground.
Little bit of warmth.
Which which brings into life. Without it we would have no food.
You mentioned.
Not believing in resurrection. It's happening every day all around us and only God can do it. That's why they took that sheep and waved him. This is resurrection.
Only God can do it. Satan has the power of course, sin and death.
That the Lord Jesus Christ, God through Christ has the power of resurrection.
Happens every spring.
Actually, the seeds do have life in them. They when you plant them, if they're a dead seed they won't germinate. Uh.
So.
It's uh.
It's like the Lord Jesus, he was that corner wheat that fell into the ground and died. And uh, we have the example of his resurrection.
I was interesting, I read a number of years ago that they discovered some wheat in the pyramids somewhere that they calculated was 1000 years old and they planted and they were able to germinate a few to make a study if it was still the same.
We characteristics that we have today and they found out it was so it's a miracle 1000 years in the ground and planet and it it it sprout.
So there'll be no problem when the Rapture takes place for able to be raised for Adam for all those Old Testament Saints that have been gone for thousands of years.
They've returned to dust, but God is going to take that dust and He's going to bring it forth again. Not a new body, but a changed body, not in the way it was laid in the grave. So your wheat is a good illustration. And I believe it because God has spelled it out in His Word. I appreciate what Bernie said because I don't understand it. I don't understand how it's all going to happen, but I believe it because God has told me enough so that by faith.
And the Spirit of God, I know that it's true. You know, these things, as we've said in these meetings, they're so beyond what we are used to in the natural and physical realm that if, even if God tried to explain it to us further, we couldn't grasp it. But he has told us enough so that by faith we understand that these things are very real and that they are going to take place. But if we could, if he told, if he was able to tell us everything.
And we were able even to understand everything, we wouldn't need faith. It really does take faith to count on it, doesn't it?
It's a strange thing and uh, in nature that not only the seeds that go into the ground that dies, but also things like the butterflies and the caterpillars.
They get transferred and there's no understanding of how that works.
We might say logically that, you know, a little part of the Caterpillar turned into a certain part of the butterfly.
But it it doesn't work that way and so it's a total miracle.
Or something even if we don't think about.
It is amazing. Now we are going to still look like ourselves. We're not going to transform like a butterfly, but.
Still in concept, in danger around us. It's it's a tremendous miracle that that science, they just shrug and go just the way it is. They have no clue how.
00:25:18
And so when we recognize this, and again, we probably should keep moving a little in this chapter, but down in verses 42 to 44, we have.
The truth that is well recognized that the body is sown in weakness, in corruption.
In dishonor, and we see that in our own bodies. We see it sometimes when we're even younger. We see it more and more as we get older. Those bodies are characterized by weakness and corruption. And ultimately it says dishonor. Why dishonor?
I can well remember when I was in university, and that was quite a few years ago now. I did not study philosophy, but some of my classmates did and I remember they came one day and they raised the question. They said our philosophy professor was raising a big question today in the class as to why in creation everything had to die.
Why does everything have to die?
Oh, yes, he admitted that there were trees in this world that are thousands of years old and so on. And there are animals that live much longer than human beings do, at least at this point in the world's history. But ultimately, no matter what it is, eventually it dies. And he raised that question almost in disgust about what kind of a creation have we got that everything has to die?
Well, I remember trying to share with them the answer from the Word of God and, uh, it was a bit like fall in Athens where some mocked and some said we will talk about this again. And a few of them said, yeah, that.
That makes some sense. Maybe. Maybe the Bible is right after all.
But everything that you and I experience in this life, as far as our natural bodies are concerned, tends toward these three adjectives, doesn't it?
And even if perhaps we're born with a good constitution and we have relatively good health, no matter who we are, we have to recognize that if the Lord doesn't come, it's going to come to an end down here. What a blessing thing it is when it says.
It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power so and in dishonor, raised in glory sow, and in corruption raised in incorruption.
The future is where it is at, if we could use that common phrase for the believer. But it's not that which comes first. That which is natural comes first.
And we see that in the Word of God, we see very frequently that God allows man to see the results of what is natural, and then brings in what is spiritual. God allowed man to see what is natural in Cain, but then he brought forth a man by the name of Seth, and it says then began men to call upon the name of the Lord, and so on. And the number of times in the book of Genesis you see how that the first born in a family.
Was seldom if ever the prominent one. It was usually the second son or a younger son that took more prominence morally and spiritually. Why? Oh, because God had this precious truth before him. The 1St man is Adam, and he's a failure. The 2nd man, as it said here, is made a quickening spirit. The first manners of the earth, earthy, made of earth.
The second man is the Lord from heaven.
You and I are bearing the image of the earthy right now. We are bearing the image of that which is natural. But there is a coming day when we will bear the image of the heavenly as Christ does already.
Good morning, John. You'll have to.
Pipe up a little louder. I didn't catch that.
It's correct to say that the 1St man is sinful.
00:30:04
Well, he is, no question about that. But the chapter doesn't use that word. It simply uses the word natural and earthy and and so on. Because I believe that while sin was ultimately the cause of death, God had in His purposes that He was going to allow that which was natural, which eventually ended up in sin in order to introduce that which was.
Far surpassing it. And that is.
That which is spiritual. And so I think it was mentioned the first day of the meetings that.
While man deplores the effect of sin in this world, and God could have prevented it, he allowed it because sin entering this world eventually resulted in far more blessing than a sin had never entered. But it does not use that term in this chapter, I believe for a reason, because it is simply contrasting Adam and Christ.
And that which is natural and that which is spiritual. But of course you can't separate the corruption and the weakness from the sin which was the cause of it.
But we are going to inherit the Kingdom from the heavenly side and that they will be completing corruptibility.
And I see we only have 10 minutes or less left. This meeting ends at a quarter two. I think it'd be helpful to just speak a little bit about from verse 51 where he explains a little bit how this is going to all take place. In verse 51, he says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. We've spoken of that. But then he's going to fill in a little detail as to how this is going to take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
I want you to notice this. The 1St division kind of breaks it up a bit. But let, let me go back. We shall not all sleep. Notice this next. We shall all be changed comma in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Now I believe, brethren, that when the Lord gives the shout and we're called home, it's all going to take place very quickly. But I believe it's also significant that He connects the moment of the twinkling of an eye with the change of the body. Why?
Well, here we are today. We're sitting in this this room. If the Lord Jesus were to give the shout before this meeting is over, and he may, there's something above us to hinder our bodies in their present physical condition from rising to meet the Lord in the air. There's a ceiling and a roof and so on, something that these bodies could not go through. Not only that, but when the dead in Christ are raised at that time.
There may be 6 feet of earth over them. There may be several fathoms of water. There may be a city or a building long built over that that graveyard. There's something that would physically hinder them from rising from the dead at that time. The dead in Christ are going to be raised with their glorified bodies. We know that from First Thessalonians and other places. We're going to undergo a instantaneous change.
So that when we rise to meet the Lord, whatever is above us at the time is not going to be a hinder. If we were to go back to the time when the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples in resurrection, He came and stood in their midst when the doors were closed for fear of the Jews. And we're going to have bodies of glory like unto His body of glory. We're never going to attain deity, as we said earlier.
But those four walls and closed door were not a physical hindrance to the Lord coming and standing in the midst of the disciples. When we get that instantaneous change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, I say, whether it's the dead raised with their glorified bodies, or you and I which are alive and remain caught up to meet the Lord, whatever is above us is not going to be a hindrance. So some have questioned and wondered how again, how all this is going to be. But there's an order. God has given an order. The Scriptures give us an order in these things.
And I think it's helpful to see that order.
Lord Jesus, uh, was crucified and rose again. There were those that were raised from the dead, from among the dead, but their graves were open so that that was visible and they walked in the streets of Jerusalem again. But that won't take place with Saints. Now when the Lord Jesus comes, we don't, the graves will not be open. We just go, as Jim has been explaining. We'll just go through. We've got a question for you, Jim.
00:35:10
Uh, when and John 11.
The when Lazarus was raised from the dead, he said, take away the stone and uh, of course, uh, you know what happened. And then he called Lazarus.
He called Lazarus by name and he came forward. Did he have to take away the stone because it was an earthly body and he had and he couldn't go through that stone. I, I believe that's right. I believe he came forth with the same body. He had gone into the grave.
And so the SO necessarily had to be removed. Let let me just say too, that it's interesting, other than the incident that Ken just mentioned, there were three individuals that we read out that the Lord raised from the dead. There was Lazarus in his prime, the widow of named son and a 12 year old girl. But it's very interesting that in Scripture you never read of the Lord raising from the dead an elderly person. Why? Well, I don't believe it would have really been merciful. It was really those who had their life on earth ahead of them.
But suppose he had raised a person who was well, I'll, I'll pull it 95 years of age and with they wouldn't have had much longer to live naturally speaking on earth. Perhaps when they died, they had aches and pains and some malady and they were beyond that. So he he never raised an elderly person from the dead. I don't believe it would have been merciful because those he raised from the dead and those that were raised that Brother Ken.
Mentioned that went into the holy city and showed themselves to the brethren at the time.
They returned, I believe, back back to the grave in time. Now, in contrast to that, at the open tomb, when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, the stone was rolled away too, but not for the same reason. Why was the stone rolled away at the at the tomb of the Lord Jesus? Not so the Lord Jesus could come forth in resurrection. As we said, He had a body and resurrection that wasn't subject to physical hindrances.
But the stone was rolled away so that there would be ample testimony to those who came early to the sepulchre and so that the Angel could declare He is not here, he is risen. Peter and John could see he had risen from the dead. Mary and the other ladies could see that he had risen from the dead. It wasn't so the Lord could be released from the tomb. It was to give testimony. So I just say that Lazarus, it had to be. It came out with a physics, the same physical body.
With the Lord, it didn't have to be, but God made sure the stone was rolled away so that there would be ample and complete testimony as to His resurrection.
Jim, just a comment. The Lord in his human body walked on water. I said the Lord in his human body walked on water. I can't see how the stone would be of any more of a obstacle, but I'll just leave it there. Yes, very good.
Now, Jim, if, uh, some of us that are a little bit overweight, we have to worry about our overweight when that time comes? No, I don't think so.
Uh, I don't wanna bring any levity into this meeting, but there's a brother in Egypt Bill knows and well, brother onstate and he's a quite a heavy brother. And one time at the meal at the conference, some were talking about the Lord's coming and they said, well, you know, the Lord may come before this meal is over. And someone said, well, maybe we shouldn't eat so much. And they all looked at auntie and said, well, he's gonna go. So I don't think the rest of us have to worry. Well, that's just a little smile. But but we're again, we're going to undergo a tremendous change, brother.
And brethren, we're not going to have bodies that feel the limitations and the pain and the discomfort that we feel now. Can you imagine not having when we get to heaven? We're not going to have something to bother us either as to our surroundings, either as to something physical or something within. Now there's a worry. There's always a worry of care. Some of us are thinking about things that are going to transpire this week. And we're concerned and we're.
We're we're starting to plan. There won't be any worry or care. Nothing from within, nothing physically, nothing about our surround brothers, Doesn't that thrill our hearts? Doesn't that make us want to live for Christ now, To not go home as it were, the same way that we came. I'm not talking about whether it's down the 401 or not, but to go home with a renewed desire, brethren, to live for Christ now, as we've been saying in these meetings, in view of what is ahead.
00:40:13
We have no if if we've had some inkling by the Spirit of God from the word as to what's ahead. It's just an inkling what we really what, what's ahead and what's ahead very soon is very real and it is far beyond anything that we can anticipate. And I can't tell you when the Lord is coming, but one thing I know at the end of these meetings, we are closer to the Lord's coming than we've ever been before. And that ought to rejoice our hearts and cause us to say Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
But Brother Jim just described.
Verse 57. The victory.
That's what we have. We've been talking for the last couple of days about the victory.
And the last verse, the conclusion is not in vain.
Maybe we could close by singing 300 and 23323.