Address—A. Hayhoe
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In the 18th 1St.
Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18.
That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.
We might have a strong Consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hopefully have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus.
Made in High Priest, forever after the order of milk.
An anchor of the soul, for sure and steadfast. Doesn't that sound good? Isn't this something, dear young believer, in which you and I can rejoice with confidence? We have an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, you know, if you listen to the advice of those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
You're not going to find the comforting assurance of what we have here.
You're not going to find anything, sure, and steadfast in the advice which they may give you.
If you ask your friends, if you ask, shall we say even your school teachers or those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, what they consider to be a wise path through this difficult world, you're going to find disappointment. You're going to find sorrow. And we've seen those who have tried it and have tasted disappointments 1 after the other.
And sorrows one after the other. But we have dear young believer in God's precious Word, that which is a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul. I wonder if everyone here knows the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Permit me to speak faithfully about this at the beginning. Permit me to point to the very boys and girls and young people who are gathered here.
I see where the Bible open on your knee, but I cannot see your heart. But my dear young run, The Lord Jesus at this very moment is not looking at that Bible you have in your hand. He's looking right at your heart and at mine. And let me tell you this, at this very moment, under the eye of God, your heart is either stained with sin.
Or its claims from every stain through the precious blood of Christ. I don't know which it is in your case, but God knows and he cares. Oh, he cares far more than is within my power to tell you how much he cares about that heart of yours. Perhaps your father cares. Perhaps your mother cares.
I thank God.
For a father and a mother who cared and prayed for my soul. But neither my father nor my mother loved nor cared for my soul as the Lord Jesus. He looked down upon that soul of mine as I sat in meetings. As you are sitting this afternoon, with a Bible open and a hymn book, there too, and a heart that was stained with sin.
And when the speaker would turn to this or that book in the word of God, I could turn to the places I could find the passages. I could sing the hymns.
But my heart, dear boys and girls, my heart, dear young people, was stained with sin in the presence of God. God knew it and I knew it. And I I wondered, do you really know this afternoon? Do you really know that your heart has been washed from every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ? Just before I came away, I was visiting with two dear elderly sisters back home.
They have rejoiced in the Savior's love for a good long lifetime and they were telling me of their conversion. One of them was 6 and the other was 7 and they awakened 1 morning to find the house was empty and their first thought was father and mother and the rest of the family have gone home to be with the Lord Jesus and were left behind and they spoke to one another in terror as to what had happened.
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And you know the older one? Seven years of age? She turned to her sister. This may sound strange.
She said, you know, I remember Daddy reading a verse in the Bible after the Lord comes the the waters are going to be bitter to taste, she said, Let's go out to the well and see if the waters are bitter. Perhaps you know the passage I'm referring to. And these two dear little girls ran out to the whale, pumped the little water they were telling me just a few days ago. And they tasted the water and they quickly spit it out. Oh, they said, we can just still taste how bitter it seemed to be. We just knew the Lord had come.
Thank God, Thank God, they were still in the day of grace. Father and Mother and the rest of the family had gone off on some other plan that morning and hoped to be home before the two dear girls awakened. But by the time Father and mother got back, those two dear girls were down on their knees. They owned their guilt before God, even though they thought the Lord had already come, and they were cleansed in the precious blood of Christ.
They are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been now for many years. Though my heart is so burdened as I look out upon these dear young people and these dear children, do you really know as a sure and steadfast anchor for your soul the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who himself went into death and taste of the awful wrath of God which you and I deserve in order that we might have this glorious anchor?
We might have himself, having gone within the veil as the sure and steadfast anchor for our soul. When you turn back, please, to Luke's Gospel. And there we'll just see a passage of Scripture which speaks of his pathway toward the cross, the 9th chapter of Luke's Gospel.
And the 51St verse.
And it came to pass, When the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face.
To go to Jerusalem.
Oh, I've read this verse and meditated on it. There was that about the very countenance of the Lord Jesus that betrayed the purpose of his heart. He steadfastly set his face.
To go to Jerusalem, and as another scripture tells us, knowing what would befall him there as he went through this world, dear young believer, there was a steadfast purpose before him. It was the will of his God and Father, and your blessing and mine. There was a steadfast purpose in all his pathways, and those around about him could see it in his very countenance.
He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem over so apartment, to just slip on from one verse to the next, and fail to pause and realize what a solemn message this is. Such was his willing obedience to his Father's bidding. And such was his love for you and me, dear young believer, that with a steadfastness of heart and countenance.
He went onward toward Jerusalem. What do we read about?
When he approached Jerusalem, he stood on the brow of the hill that overlooked that sad city.
And he wept. There the tears ran down the face of my beloved Savior. And this is what he said. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou the stone of the prophets, and killest them that are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathered her brood under her wings? And he would not Such a tender heart. Oh, I believe this, that if my precious Savior were here this afternoon.
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And looked out upon your faces. You'd see those tears again. You'd see those tears again. So great is his love toward you. So fervent, so steadfast is his desire for your happiness and your blessing. But I feel persuaded there would be tears. As he looked upon you and realized what you're missing. Dear young believer, you're missing. Yes, I'm afraid it's true of all of us. There's a pathway through this world.
That brings forth the richest blessings of God upon us, and a pathway that is filled with happiness day by day. Are you and I tasting it? Are you and I enjoying it? Are you and I walking in the good of it? I'll let us just ask our hearts about this. The Lord Jesus went through this world with a steadfast countenance, walking a pathway which none other has walked so perfectly.
The will of his God and Father was ever before him.
It's true that Paul could tell us in Galatians 2 and 20 the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God. What a tremendous expression, That which governed the heart of the Son of God, governed the heart of that most devoted of servant.
How much of that is found within our hearts? Is there that purpose of heart with us? Is there any of that steadfastness with us? He said his face steadfastly. To go to Jerusalem and their beloved young people. The work of redemption was accomplished. His hands were stretched out there upon the cross. We heard about it last night. He shared his precious blood for you and for me.
Oh, you say. I have heard this often before, and I know it's true. He died for me and my sins are gone. Is that all the effect it has upon your heart, just simply the knowledge that your sins are gone because of the cleansing power of that precious blood? Oh, I believe it ought to have such an effect upon our whole heart and our whole pathways, the steadfastness of his heart as he went onward.
Toward Jerusalem. Toward Calvary. Toward the awful cross that awaited him there.
There, I say. He bowed his head and endured that awful load of wrath until he could cry in triumph. It is finished. Thank God for those glorious words. All the work of atonement, all the burden of wrath and guilt. Completely exhausted.
But there's more than that. There's more than the joyful knowledge of sins forgiven for you and me.
Where is that precious savior now? Ah, dear young believer, I feel we need this. Where is he now? Why, you say he's just waiting for the day when he's going to call me home? That's true. Blessedly, gloriously true. But are you and I just, shall I say, marking time in the meantime?
The very one who stretched out his hands in love there upon the cross, now has those same fears in hands up lifted.
On your behalf and on mine up there in the glory, I believe we find a picture of it in the 17th chapter of Exodus. Let's just turn back briefly and take a look at that passage, the 17th chapter of Exodus.
Beginning at the eighth verse.
Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in referendum. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men, and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed.
And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat thereon, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
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I believe we have a glorious picture here.
Of the one who loved us and shed his blood to redeem us, the one who went through this world with that steadfastness of heart and countenance toward Jerusalem and all that befell him there. Now, dear young believer, that same one who loved you and died to redeem you is living for you. That God's right hand in the glory, He knows all about the conflicts that you and I must face on our way through the wilderness.
When it came to Israel in Egypt, When it came to the crossing of the Red Sea.
It was entirely a work of the Lord, but now that they are in the wilderness, they find themselves confronted by an enemy named Amalek, which I believe would speak to us of the flesh, the flesh. And I'm sure that many of us have found this conflict to be a very real 1A very serious one, perhaps a very puzzling one to us too, though I believe we find here a picture which gives us.
Glorious confidence. We find there that there was up on the top of the hill one whose hands were steady until the going down of the sun. You and I, dear young believer, have one to whom we can turn in our problems, our difficulties, our conflicts, one whose hands are uplifted for us in intercession, there in the very presence of God our Father.
As our great High Priest and as our advocate, one whose hands thank God it can be said, His hands were steady. His hands were steady until a going down of the sun. And as you and I passed through this world, as you and I start out to school or to work or wherever it may be, we find, I'm sure we've all found it to be so. We find that there is that which is opposed to the pathway of faith.
We find there are difficulties. We find things are perhaps not quite as smooth and easy as we might wish them to be, perhaps as we expected them to be. Where do we look? Where do we look? Oh, what a confident look it can be when we turn upward and realize it's there in the glory is the very one whose hands were nailed upon the cross because he loved you so.
He's up there in the glory with his hands uplifted in watchful intercession on your behalf. Don't you think that a lot of our failure, a lot of our wandering?
Comes from the fact that we just don't look up as we ought to. I'm sure the devil himself knows that no victory can be gained over you as long as you're found looking up.
And my dear young believer, I need this exhortation as much as anyone else gathered here. I say again, the enemy of your soul, the enemy of mine, has in these last days made a very special effort to rob us of the most needful reality of looking up and realizing that the one who loved us unto death is now up there at God's re hand in glory.
There, with hands uplifted in tender, faithful intercession for you, you don't know about tomorrow and the problems that will confront you. The home problems, the occupation problems, the school problems, the assembly problems. There are those here from Des Moines, and from a good many other little assemblies scattered here and there. And sometimes, perhaps, we're inclined to think that we are the only ones confronted with, shall I say, local problems.
Oh dear child of God, it's a wonderful and a comforting thing to be able to look up and realize that he who has ordered our circumstances with perfect wisdom and unfailing love is living for you now, up there in the glory with a faithful.
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An understanding heart. He himself went all through this pathway.
In order that you might have the sympathies of his heart for the rest of the journey.
Why did he not come right down from the glory to Calvary's cross? There accomplished the work of redemption and return to the glory? Was there anything in his lifetime added to the work of redemption? Not one thing. Your soul and mind would be just as effectually cleansed from sin if he had come straight from the glory to Calvary and straight back again. Why then those years?
Through this world. Isn't it wondrous? Isn't it wondrous to know that he experienced loneliness, weariness, thirst, misunderstanding, false accusation, in order that you and I might be able to realize that this very afternoon, this very moment, you, my dear young fellow believers, have up there in the glory one who has your name written upon the very palms of his hands when he looks at your name.
He sees the nail prints there, and those nibbles, hands with your name engraved upon them, are uplifted in intercession and care on your behalf. Oh, you say, Then why? Why is my pathway brought with so many mistakes?
All I can do is make this personal confession. I know this that every mistake, every failure in my life has been the result of a failure to walk according to the light and wisdom of some portion of God's Word. Perhaps I might use the excuse, but I didn't know that that light and wisdom was there. I didn't know that there was direction in the Word of God for that particular problem. It seems so.
20th century, shall I say? Is that a valid excuse? No. Dear child of God, I believe that if you and I read this precious book with meditation and submission, that we would find light and wisdom for our 1963 problems. And then there's the other, which I dare not call an excuse that knowing the light was there, I didn't want it. I didn't want it, then turn to my own way, then ended in failure and sorrow. And I stand here this afternoon to exalt.
The wondrous faithfulness of him who lives for me in the glory. I cannot stand here on any other ground than to exalt the faithfulness of the one who died to redeem me and lives for me now in the glory. And I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. I'll confess this, that when I was a boy in the city of Ottawa and I heard the older brethren from time to time give us words of exhortation. I honestly and truthfully thought that they were telling us what we needed, but that they were far past the point where they needed these things.
Anymore themselves. It's strange. I better not mention any names, but I can still see some of those older brethren standing up and giving us a word now and then. And I thought, my, it must be nice to reach the point where you don't need that for yourself anymore. Then you can tell other folks what they need. Now I know how wrong I was. I'll tell you, there's someone here this afternoon that needs every word that's being uttered, and that's the one that's trying to utter them all that we might never forget.
Faithfulness of him who lives for us with steady hands, beloved young person, steady hands. They'll never fail. Never. You may fail, but not because of the unsteadiness of his hands.
Let's turn to the first chapter of Acts for another passage.
Acts chapter one and verse 9.
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And when he Jesus, had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, 2 men stood by them in white apparel, which also says, Ye men of Galilee washed and ye gazing up into heaven, this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven.
Come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Isn't this a lovely portion? Here we find these dear disciples. They love the Lord Jesus.
They mourned his being, taken from them by cruel hands and crucified. They rejoiced when he appeared again in their midst, and now they actually watch as he's taken up from them in a cloud, received him out of their sight. Can't you just see them standing there, gazing up steadfastly? Isn't that a nice expression?
Gazing up steadfastly, wouldn't that be a fine occupation for you and me? Again, I repeat, the enemy of my soul, the enemy of yours, knows what a good thing this would be for us, and strives in every possible way to rob us of the joy of gazing steadfastly upward.
I've heard ever so many stories about sheep wandering away in what a great search the shepherd has to find them.
And I heard one day the man who was talking to an old shepherd about those many stories. And he said, but why is it? Have you ever noticed why it is that sheep so often seem to wander away? How does it come about? Well, the old Zephyr didn't have to think very long, he said. I usually notice that they nibble their way astray, they nibble their way astray. And I think that's what happens with us, does it not?
The.
The enemy, let's name him Satan, puts in front of Maine, puts in front of you something that seems so harmless.
And so attractive we try it perhaps.
Perhaps we become a little disappointed it doesn't yield the pleasure we thought it would. What did he do? Give up? No, there's something else just beyond that. And something else. And something else. Until, my dear young believer, you will nibble your way astray. And so will I. Unless, by the grace of God, we take heed. Do what's before me this afternoon.
Steadfastness of hearts that would look up and realize that we actually now belong to him who loved us and lives for us in the glory He's actually given us. Not only a home up there, but our citizenship up there. We were just Speaking of that after the last meeting. How wondrous is the grace of God that is given to us? The joy of saying now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners but.
Fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, how does that sound to you and me? Oh, I know what's wrong with us. We read these verses so often we just nod our heads and say, yes, I've heard that before. I believe it too. But what does it mean to our hearts to know that I'm a fellow citizen with the Saints who said so? God himself has told me so. And of the household of God.
What business do I have nibbling my way astray in this poor, doomed and guilty world? I remember traveling to Des Moines a number of years ago with our brother Jackson on the train he met on the train minister of a certain denomination, and they were having a conversation together concerning the truths of God's word. And our beloved brother Jackson was trying to point out to this man that he felt that his responsibility to warn wherever he went.
Concerning the imminent doom of this world and the glorious prospect of the redeemed that will soon be called home, the other man didn't agree with him at all. He felt that his responsibility was so to spread the principles of Christianity, that this world would become gradually better and the happier place. And in spite of all that, Brother Jackson said, he didn't seem to be in the least shaken from what he was standing for.
Finally, I can see Brother Jackson. He shook his finger at him Like this and he said how much would you have given for Sodom the night before it was destroyed?
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The man said not much. Well, he said that's exactly the way I feel about this world the night before Sodom was destroyed. Would you and I be found gathering possessions together to ourselves to try and add to our happiness? Oh dear child of God, if you have been entrusted with those things that someday you must leave behind.
May God grant that you and I shall look upon them not as those things which in themselves can bring us happiness, but those things which can be used for him while our gaze is upward steadfastly toward heaven. We find an individual example of this in the 7th chapter of the Acts.
The 7th chapter of the Acts and the 55th verse.
But he, Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, Saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. This was the man of whom it could be said that his face was as the face of an Angel, Stephen. He was soon to be buried under a heap of stones. And what's he found doing? Looking up how?
Steadfastly, steadfastly. Oh, I say again that privation, difficulty, persecution need not bring unhappiness. If you and I are found looking up with a steadfast gaze upon him, who's gone there on our behalf in the glory, these things will not bring us heartbreak. These things will bring us joy. It was mentioned in the readings.
That in Second Corinthians chapter six we find as sorrowful.
Yet always rejoicing. In Second Corinthians chapter seven we find.
I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. In 2nd Corinthians 8 we find how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and of their deep poverty abounded, you give the man of the world sorrow.
And affliction and persecution and deep poverty. And what do you find?
You find a man that doesn't know which way to turn. He's so discouraged and so disappointed with everything.
But have we not seen, dear children of God, those who are encompassed with sorrow and affliction of persecution and deep poverty? And have we not seen them actually displaying in their very countenance the joy of the Lord?
Here's a wondrous opportunity and privilege for you, my dear young believer. A privilege and an opportunity in a day that's filled with disappointment, in a day that's characterized by a frantic seeking after contentment and happiness.
And you know that it's not to be found in all that the world has to offer. You, My dear young fellow Christians, can have the happy privilege of standing out in this world as one who has found true joy, true contentment.
Happiness.
Where in a steadfast upward look the joy of the Lord in your own soul, look up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, let's turn over to first Peter, and there we find another passage that perhaps reminds us something of the difficulties of the pathway. Here First Peter Chapter 5.
And verse.
8.
Be sober.
Be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion.
Walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resist.
Steadfast in the faith.
Steadfast in the faith.
I tremble to speak about this. It's so very, very searching, steadfast in the faith. There is an enemy, dear child of God. There is an enemy, dear young believer that would seek to attack you, to discourage you, to turn you aside, to devour you if it were possible.
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Works in different ways. Sometimes it's open, violent persecution that ends in actual martyrdom, and sometimes it is by more subtle. While the deceitful attractions of this world's pleasures. Sometimes it is through, perhaps shall I say, discouragements that you might meet with in your.
Home assembly in your occupation or something of this kind?
No matter what the enemy uses, his desire is that your eyes and your heart might be turned away from the Lord Jesus Christ. But here we find whom resist steadfast, steadfast in the faith. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is, dear young believer, to be steadfastly established in the precious living truths of God's holy Word.
I wonder if we really have a right exercise as to this. Here we've been sitting under the sound of the ministry of God's Word.
And if the Lord should leave us here for just a little longer, are you and I going to Are you and I going to value these things, as by the grace of God perhaps we see them valued in some measure to day.
I remember our brother Erismann saying those very words to us here in Des Moines one year ago now.
He thanked God that we value these truths today. And then he said, But will we be valuing them in a year from now or two years from now? And that really struck my heart. By the grace of God, dear young believer, you have been gathered here these meanings to hear the precious truths of God ministered, and I hope your soul has been touched by them. I hope you value them more and more. But look at these words.
Steadfast in the Faith, It may be that you and I will be tested far more solemnly and seriously than we realize concerning the faith which today we value. But perhaps we haven't been tested as to the claim it has upon our hearts.
You've read stories of those who have been tested, even under death.
Those stories always have specially touched my heart, I guess. I've read a lot of markers stories and I admit to have shed a good many tears as I read these stories too, for I seem to visualize what I read.
Maybe I've mentioned this before, but on one occasion when with the family we were visiting among our beloved brethren in Europe.
We turned aside to visit some of those places that had been mentioned in the stories of Rome's fearful days of the Inquisition.
The days of a sword, the days of a steak, days of the rack and of the dungeon. We turned aside and we visited what the man who took us through actually said. Now this is the Inquisition chamber where we tried the heretics. Then we were taken down the spiral stone staircase, and this is the torture chamber where we tortured the heretics.
And finally we visited a dungeon.
A dungeon made specially noted by having been the lodging place of Mary Durand. Perhaps you've read her name among the martyrs. She was in that dungeon for 35 years.
Because she was steadfast in the faith. Dear young believer, she was 17 years of age when she was given the opportunity to give up the faith.
Or to go to prison 17 years of age and at 17 years of age.
She clung to the truth of the word of God and was locked in this dungeon.
One wall of a dungeon. I noticed what appeared to be a sort of oversized fireplace with an iron grating in front of it. But I could see by the construction it was not a fireplace. And I said to the man in there, what's this in the wall? He said that that is where we put the heretics who refused to recant. I said in there.
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And for how long? Oh, he said, depending on how stubborn they were, he said Marie Durand was in there for five years.
I said put me in. I want to see what it feels like. And I got in there. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't sit down. I couldn't lie down. The only posture was on my knees with my head bowed low. If I raised my head, I hit the stone on the top, in there, behind an iron grating for five years, 35 years altogether in that dungeon. Why? Why? Because Christ was precious to her heart. She'd scratched.
On the stone on the floor, the French word crazy stay, which could I suppose, if very freely translated even be be translated. Be steadfast. Be steadfast. Oh, it came as a voice to me that brought the tears to my eyes. I want to pass it on to you today. I don't know what you may face at the office. Or you say nothing very serious. Just a few little things that my worldly companions encourage me to take part in. Yes, my friend, that's the way the devil starts.
A few little things in which there is no harm, a few little things which you see your fellow believers sanctioned with no conscience, and you feel it must be all right. I've no doubt married. Duran saw many another recant rather than pass through what she experienced. My dear young believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, may I exhort you with all my heart this afternoon in view of the subtle wild or the roaring of Satan himself.
That you and I fall down before the authority of God's precious Word, and seek from him on our knees, that we might be found steadfast in the faith, and with a gaze that would look up steadfastly into the glory, and there see him whose hands are steady on our behalf.
Until a going down of the sun.
Could we just turn in closing to a verse that was quoted this morning, 1St Corinthians 15.
1St Corinthians 15.
In verse 57.
Thanks, Peter, God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye 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, Oh, what a verse this is. Thanks be unto God which giveth us.
The victory.
Lord Jesus Christ, Therefore, therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable. Those are good words. Those are commendable words. Put your finger upon those words, my dear fellow believer, and on your knees before the Lord seek that he might grant them to be true of you and of your testimony through this world, steadfast, unmovable.
But that's not all.
Steadfast and unmovable. That comes first, it's true. But what is it followed by always abounding in the work of the Lord? To whom is this addressed? Certain ones who might be in some way or other qualified for some public service? I'll tell you to whom it's addressed.
To you, it's a dress. To you, all these exhortations here, steadfast, that's for you.
Unmovable. That's for you, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
That's for you too. Whether it be the boy at school, whether it be the girl in the office, whether it be in the neighborhood where you live, in the assembly in which the Lord has placed you, Are you characterized by what we find mentioned here, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? How does this end? For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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Is there any other labor in which you or I can be engaged? But we can pause in the middle of it and say, I know that this is not in vain. What about the Iowa farmers? Can they go out and cultivate their fields and sow their crops and watch the corn come up just so high, and then stand and say, I know that this is not in vain. I know how many bushels per acre I'm going to reap from this field. You may get nothing, and you know it, and there's no occupation, no earthly occupation.
In which any man can stand up and say, I know that this labor is not in vain, How very, very easily the Lord could blow upon the whole thing. But here is something in which you and I can be joyfully engaged and be able to say with confidence and with Thanksgiving. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain, in the Lord there's light and wisdom for your pathway in mind.
There is a path marked out in which you, dear young believer, brother or sister, can serve the Lord acceptably with reverence and godly fear. And it will not be in vain. It may never bring you before the public eye. It may never bring you the glory that the natural heart would seek after that you and I wouldn't want to seek after that, would we? We were just hearing this morning about the reward of the Lord to a man who is faithful in shepherding.
What is the specific reward? The one who's faithful in shepherding?
A crown of glory. I believe that the crowns in Scripture are, if I might put it this way, that which makes up for that which we, shall I say, lose our forefoot on the way homeward. One who lays down his life is in a special way promised a crown of life. One who is faithful and shepherding is promised a crown of glory.
Why is that? I believe if you want to be a faithful shepherd, you won't get much glory for it down here. Your attempts to be faithful in shepherding may be repulsed. They may be misunderstood. I hope you won't get discouraged by it. I hope that you will just go on and seek to serve him acceptably. I remember I better not say how many years ago, but it was quite a long time, right here in Des Moines.
After a little talk, something like this.
Dear Brother Kohler came up to me.
Outside the door of the meeting room where the conferences used to be held, he put his hand on my shoulder.
He said, Albert, keep your heart lifted up and your head bowed down. That wasn't much to say, but it carried a lot with it. That was a short little word of faithful shepherding. Keep your heart lifted up and your head bowed down. Oh, dear young believer, we have one who set his face steadfastly because he loved you and the steadfastness of his purpose of heart.
Took him to the cross for you. Now he lives for you in the glory. Then those steadfast hands are uplifted on your behalf. He loves you. He wants you to have a happy pathway. He wants you to walk according to the light and wisdom of this precious book. He wants you to be found as Stephen was found, looking up steadfastly into heaven and knowing the power of him who was opposed to all this, were exhorted to be steadfast in the faith.
Steadfast and 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, but just once more, lest there should be someone here who doesn't yet know that precious savior as your own, do you have, do you have as an anchor of your soul, both sure and steadfast?
That precious Savior who loved and died, that he might have you with himself in the glory. If you're not sure about that, if you've never yet confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior to any one, wouldn't this be a good time to do it? Wouldn't this be a good time just to turn, even if it were only to Father or mother and say Father, I've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior? Come now, be honest.
Just stop for a moment.
This is specially for the children. Have you ever said to anyone in all your life I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior? Wouldn't that be a wonderful, wouldn't that be a glorious thing to happen this very afternoon? And then these precious things that we've been Speaking of would be yours to enjoy for a little while and then an eternal home in the glory with all the redeemed forever.
00:50:30
Could we?
Sing 256 Just one verse. Keep us, Lord oh keep us cleaning to thyself and still be leaving till the hour of our receiving. Promise joys with thee the 4th stanza of #256.
Keep us, Lord.
All we are praying when I developed everything.
Don't tell me.