Address—C. Hendricks
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Turn with me to Luke chapter 16. And he said also unto his disciples.
There was a certain rich man which had a steward.
And the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship.
I cannot dig to beg. I am ashamed.
I am resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
So he called everyone of his Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord?
You said 100 measures of oil.
He said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write, 50.
Then said he to another, And how much OST thou? And he said in 100 measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write for score.
And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely for the children of this world.
Are in their generation wiser than the children of Light?
And I say unto you, make to yourselves, friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, or when it fails.
They may receive you into everlasting habitations.
He that is faithful in that which is least.
Is faithful also in much.
And he that is unjust in the least.
Is unjust also and much.
If, therefore, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust?
The true riches.
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
No servant can serve 2 masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and Mammon.
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him.
And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than that one title of the law should fail.
Whosoever putteth away his wife and marieth another committeth adultery, and whosoever marieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery.
There was a certain rich man.
Which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And that was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores.
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried.
And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted in thou art tormented.
And decide all this between US and you. There's a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.
Then he said, I pray thee, Father, therefore, Father, that thou would send him to my Father's house, for I have 5 brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 1 rose.
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From the dead.
And I want to read a verse or two from the 15th chapter.
Verse 4. What man of you having 100 sheep does he lose? One of them does not leave the 90 and 9 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it.
And when he hath founded, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and brings it home, and so on.
And then we know the next 1A next part of the parable is the woman having lost the gold, a piece of silver, piece of silver, and she sweeps the house till she finds it. So in in this parable you have a seeking God.
It brings before us a new dispensation.
And not God requiring by law obedience, but seeking God.
Seeking after the lost sheep, seeking after the lost coin, and then the reception of the father. Notice what it says in verse 11. He said a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give to me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
So here's this man that received from his father and he goes out and he wastes his substance with riotous living in the 16th chapter.
Following this idea of a new dispensation.
It says in the end of the first verse the same the steward was accused unto his master, that he had wasted his goods.
So in both of these chapters, we have those that.
Have wasted what has been entrusted to them in this 16th chapter.
We have a rich man mentioned in the first verse, and then in verse 19 there was a certain rich man.
And the last part of the chapter draws the curtain aside and lets us see the unseen world.
It lets us see the other side.
Of the scene.
And when they crossed the rich man and the beggar to the other side, everything was changed.
Everything was changed.
The rich man was in torment, and the beggar was an Abrahams bosom.
A place of blessing.
Not so in here.
What this chapter tells us is we need the We need not myopia. We need not the short look.
Near sightedness.
Plagues so many of us we can only see what is immediately in front of us instead of the Longview.
And this is what this steward is commended for.
And that's why, he says, the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, because they prepare for their future. But the children of light sometimes just foolishly live for time.
Live for the immediate presence.
Present.
He said unto his disciples, there was a certain rich man which had a steward.
The same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee?
Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.
There's a little picture of this in the Book of Revelation.
I won't turn to it. We know it well. I'll just refer to it in the first chapter, the Son of Man, a vision of John, He hears a voice behind him. He turns and he looks. He sees the Son of Man standing in the midst of 7 golden candlesticks representing the seven churches, giving us the seven churches in chapters 2 and three give us a prophetic history of the church.
And here the Lord is there in his judicial character. John had never seen him that way before.
He lay on his bosom and felt his heart beat the disciple whom Jesus loved, but he was afraid when he saw him in his judicial character.
He wasn't there as a sympathizing high priest. No, he was there as a judge. And he was looking with these piercing eyes as a flame of fire in his feet, like fine brass is burning in the furnace. And he has the voice of irresistible majesty. And John was awed at this. And he's saying to to those seven churches, he says, give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer be steward. We're going to have.
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To give an account of our stewardship, we're all stewards in a sense. He's entrusted us with a tremendous amount of truth in our four readings. It's as though each reading went higher and higher and higher.
And the blessings, a wonderful blessings that are ours, what has been entrusted to us in the way of light from God.
Making us very responsible indeed.
Well, this steward was an unfaithful steward. He hadn't dealt with the the his master's goods as he should have. He'd wasted his goods. And he says he's he realizes he's going to be put out of the stewardship. And then in the third verse, then the steward said within himself, what shall I do?
For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship.
I cannot dig to beg. I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses, that is, those that were the Lord's.
Debtors. He wanted to get on their good side.
He looks towards his future. I'm not going to have my job anymore. I'm going to be put out. So I want to make it so that those that are indebted to my master.
Will treat me well.
And so he figures it up.
And he calls one of the Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much do you owe to my Lord?
And he said, 100 measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down, and write 50.
Then said he to another, and how much owest thou? And he said in 100 measures of wheat. And he said, Take thy bill and write 4 score 80.
And the Lord, that's a small L. You'll notice the Lord knew what his steward had done. He had acted wisely for his interest in his future that was before him, so that they would his these, that he had lowered the amount that they owed to his master, that they would receive him into their houses, that is he prepared for his future.
The men of this world do that.
In many ways they lay aside great amounts in their bank accounts and and they invest in various undertakings. They're preparing for their future.
What are we doing in preparation for our future?
Our future is not here.
Our future is ahead, and the Lord commended the unjust steward because he'd done wisely, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
They don't have a future beyond this scene. That's all they've got, the unsaved.
Children of this world, and so these, this steward who was one of them.
He prepared for his future. What do the Children of Light do?
If you're living for time.
If I'm living for time and believe me, young people.
I look back.
74 years now.
And I say, where did it go?
Where did it go? James says. It's it's just like a vapor.
And I I could ask anyone who's older in this room and they'll say the same thing.
Where did it go? I'm speaking especially my burden in my heart, to those of you who are young, who have talents, intellect, skills, abilities.
And how you're going to use those talents that he's given them to you. You didn't acquire them on your own efforts. You were born with these talents.
This man in the younger son in the previous chapter.
He wasted his talents, his goods, with riotous living.
And this steward, he was an unfaithful steward, Paul says in First Corinthians 4. It's required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
Most of us have not been very faithful in our stewardship when I look back.
And I see the toys that I've bought.
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Acquired that I really didn't need.
But just for time, just to satisfy my own desires.
That's all going to be burned up.
Anything that I've done, anything that you've done for the flesh to please yourself to live for time.
And you're preparing for. You're not.
Sending it on ahead.
The Philippians were a poor lot, not like the Corinthians that were wealthy and Paul didn't receive from them because they would have jumped on him and said you're just out after our money.
He wouldn't receive from the Corinthians.
You had enemies there that were trying to discredit him, but he did receive from the poor.
Philippians and they sent him something. They didn't have a lot.
But they they used it to help on the Lord's work.
And that will bring a future reward.
And what we have done.
With our trinkets and toys and.
We're living in a country where there's so much to attract us.
Away from eternal things.
So much you don't know what it is to stand here.
With the burden that's on my heart.
That you don't make the same mistakes that I made.
That you live for eternity.
You live for the one that we've been singing of, that you belong to. I am thine.
Do you realize that?
And that everything that he's entrusted into your hands isn't yours.
It belongs to him.
The United States thinks this land is theirs, but the Bible says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It belongs to the Lord. Everything here is His.
He's the creator, but man appropriates it to himself. Just like I can say my car and my house and and and my boat and my plane or whatever it might be as far how how far up the ladder of success I may have climbed.
But all that I'm I'm going to leave behind.
And you will too, everyone of us.
It's what you sent on ahead. You see, the people of this world are wiser than we are because they prepare for their future, which is down here. But our future is not here. It's up above.
And we can prepare for that by holding loosely, not driving our 10 pegs in too deeply.
As far as what we have down here.
I think of that statement when they were going to go.
And get their father sons of Joseph.
The statement regarding not your stuff, oh, we have so much stuff that was mentioned at this at this conference in cleaning out a house, so much stuff.
We've acquired.
That we don't even need.
Well, he goes on to say.
The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Is that word mammon? That's not a very familiar word. It simply means riches. And it's called the riches or the mammon of unrighteousness because it's used. It's the common tender of the day. And we're living in a wicked world. The whole world lieth in wickedness.
And so much of what is done by by means of the of money.
He is unrighteous. It's called the mammon of unrighteousness. It's the common tender of an unrighteous world.
Make to yourselves friends of it. How do you do that? By using it for eternity and not for time.
That when it fails, they may receive you, or you may be received into everlasting habitations.
Now we get to the meat of this chapter. He that is faithful in that which is least now he's committed to every one of us, certain skills and talents and intellect and abilities, most of you, many of you younger ones, some of my own sons, far more.
Capable than myself.
In some things.
You parents can say the same.
What are you doing with your skills?
Are you using them for your?
Own pleasure.
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Satisfaction.
For your own interests down here, what is your object, young person? What is your object? Why are you here?
To make a name for yourself in the world that is cast out, the one that you belong to, who is everything to you. We were just singing that we hear his, we belong to him. We're thine, we said to the Lord Jesus, oh, if you and I could just realize this, if we could just realize it more fully, we belong to him.
And we're here to live for him.
He that is faithful in that which is least the little that He is entrusted to you, whatever it might be.
If you're faithful in that, if you use it with a view to eternity.
And not just spend it on yourself for your own pleasure.
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also and much.
If you're faithful in the little things that He entrusts to you, He'll give you more.
And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much if you can't handle the little responsibilities connected with your life down here.
And live these things with a view to eternity. Why should he give you more?
He won't.
If you really want to, one brother said to one person said The young person came up to a brother after he had given a very stirring message, and he said to him.
I would give the world to know the Bible like you do.
And he said that's what it cost me.
That's what it cost me.
You see, he goes on to say.
Well, let's go on. We'll come to it.
Verse 11 If therefore, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust? The true riches. What are the true riches? We've just had those before us in the four readings. The true riches, those things that no one can take from us.
You see these, these mundane things, these worldly things that that we have down here. You can lose it all in a moment.
And I know what I'm talking about. I have a son who in one day.
Lost everything.
Down here.
Lost his wife.
Lost his three children.
Lost his job, lost his home, lost his property, everything.
Didn't lose his health like Job did.
In a moment.
But these eternal riches, these, these that are valuable, no one can take them. Satan can't touch them. He can't take them from you. These things we've had before us in this conference, this is one of the last meetings. And oh, what we had before us was so precious. Those are the things that are the true riches. Those are the things that are really ours that Satan can't touch.
They're ours.
If we're his.
If, therefore, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, the little ladies entrusted to you in the way of money, resources, property of things, whatever it might be, whatever you may have inherited. Some of you haven't even worked for what you have, it's just been handed to you from your parents. Others have worked diligently to get where they are.
But the whole point is.
Is that your objective? To get a head down here in the world that has cast out the one that you love more than anyone else, the blessed Lord Jesus?
But if you have been unfaithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
I'll never forget speaking on this chapter a long time ago when I was a young man.
And sitting in the home, one of my sons.
Started to handle something that was mine and I said to him don't do that.
That's mine.
And he said no, dad.
That's not yours, that belongs to the Lord.
And I was happy that he understood the message that I was giving.
That's not really ours.
It's just on loan. We're just stewards. We're here to handle what belongs to another man and how are we handling it? We're so used to saying that's mine, that's mine.
My car, my home, my clothes.
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And on and on and on. But those are the things that are another man's.
They really belong to him.
But what really belongs to us? What's really ours?
Are eternal things the things we had before us in the readings in Ephesians 1?
Those you'll never lose, never lose. You can lose everything. I I remember, I think it was mentioned at the at the conference. It's good to repeat it.
A rich man multi millionaire.
He had cancer of the stomach, he said. I'd give all my wealth up if I could enjoy one meal.
He couldn't.
You could lose your health in a moment. Some have been taken from us. We would think assemblies that really needed them and they're gone.
And we don't understand. There's one thing I want to say, young people. Never, never, never doubt the Lord's love for you. Never, No matter what happens to you, no matter how cruel it might seem on the surface in our limited way of viewing things.
Never doubt his love.
Where you see His love in full display is what we had before us this morning at the Lord's Table when we were occupied with Christ on the cross and what He suffered to bring us into blessing.
Greater love you'll never see.
Anywhere.
That's where to look to see how much he loves you. Don't look at your circumstances.
They're hard to interpret, sometimes very hard.
I remember a sister had lost her husband.
Brother went to her to comfort her and she said some very.
There are nasty things against the Lord. Why did he do this to me? He knew how much I needed him and he's taken him away, She said some things that were not very nice.
And this brother said, And I rejoice.
Rejoice and I heard that you rejoiced.
He said yes because I knew the Lord wasn't listening to her.
She was speaking, she was speaking out of deep distress of soul and she came to him the very next day and she said.
I didn't mean what I said.
I didn't mean that.
He said. I know you didn't.
I know you didn't. Sometimes when we're in such distress, we can say things we're really deep down we don't mean at all.
We still have the flesh that will rear its ugly head anytime it gets the opportunity to do it.
Who shall give you that which is your own, if you're not faithful in that which is the least that he's given to us?
If you haven't been faithful in that which is another man's, who will give you that which is your own.
No servant can serve 2 masters.
Remember this?
Young person.
For either, he will hate the one.
And love the other.
Or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve.
God and Mammon, I thought of the story.
Of a worker.
That was.
Just one of the the other workers there in the plant where they were manufacturing some equipment.
And he was just sitting there with them, and he had large opportunities to talk to them about the Lord, because he was right on their level.
And Satan had a conference with his demons and, and said, what are, what are we going to do about that? John there, he's, he's really evangelizing.
He's getting the gospel out. What are we going to do to stop this?
One of his demons said.
Give them a promotion.
Put him in management.
Then he'll be so far removed for them that that he won't be able to talk to. And I know what I'm talking about because when you're in management, you don't have the same access that you do when you're just rubbing shoulders with them.
On their level.
Well.
Sometimes the things that we think are good for us are bad for us.
And sometimes the things that are bad for us.
Are good for us.
We heard at.
One of the meetings.
That.
In China. Communist China.
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Where they hate Christianity.
The enmity of the enemy has resulted in more Christians in that nation than ever before.
And look at this country, beloved.
We have everything.
All the wealth and the riches.
That you could desire.
Are we better off spiritually? No.
No, we're not.
No, we're not.
No servant can serve 2 masters either. He will hate the one and love the other.
Or else you will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon riches.
Now the Pharisees, you know, they were taught just the opposite. See, this is a different dispensation entirely from Judaism, because in Judaism, if one was living godly, they would be prospered in this world and rewarded by God. And so they, the Pharisees also who were covetous.
They heard all these things and they derided him. They didn't like what they were hearing at all.
Because the new order of things that was being introduced here.
Grace in the 15th chapter. God going out to the to the lost and receiving a returning prodigal on his repentance.
That's called grace.
That's the 15th chapter.
And here we have.
A new dispensation, too.
That which is.
Highly esteemed among men.
His abomination in the sight of God. I read that whole 15th verse. They derided him, and he said to them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men.
But God knoweth your hearts.
For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Now that dispensation has ended.
And since that time, the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it he he has to.
With energy, he has to enter into it.
A little example of that is Bartimaeus.
Blind beggar sitting by the highway side. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Hush, be quiet. He's not interested in you. You're just a blind beggar. Be quiet. And the more they told him to be quiet, the more he cried out. Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me. He was not going to be denied. He had to press into it. He had to press into the Kingdom. He had to overcome all the obstacles. And in order to get blessing, that's what we're going to have to do.
This is a new day. The enemy is there to stop us in every effort we make.
Every man presses into it, and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than in one title of the law should fail. And I always used to wonder about verse 18. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marieth another committeth adultery, and whosoever marieth her that is put away from her husband committed adultery.
That's what the Lord taught.
That's not what was in the Law of Moses, and the Law of Moses if a man found something unseemly in his wife.
He could put her away.
All a Muslim man has to do to divorce his wife is, say, three times. I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you, and she's divorced, he's gotten rid of her. Well, the Law of Moses made it pretty easy for the for the Israelite man to do something similar that to his wife.
But in the New Testament.
The order of things is quite different, isn't it?
The whoever putteth away his wife and marieth another committeth adultery. Why does he put her away? Because, well, she doesn't please me now, so I'll get another one. In other words, the man is living on the level of the flesh.
When he married her, he said, for better or worse.
She's mine.
I'll never put her away.
But something's come in.
And so we get all kinds of reasons to justify satisfying our desires.
Whosoever married her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Well, that's the first part of this chapter.
And then we have the curtain drawn aside.
Again, it says there was a certain rich man.
That's what it says in verse one.
And now we have this. This time he's involved in the story, he's involved in the plot. He has everything that he wants, everything that the heart desires here in this world.
And then there was Lazarus. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
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It came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abrahams bosom. It doesn't say anything about the rich man's how he was carried. It says the rich man died and was buried. That's all it says. But Lazarus was given royal treatment. The angels carried him into Abraham's bosom place of blessing.
You see, the dispensations changed. It's not like it was in Judaism where the rich were those that God had blessed and they were the favored ones. They were the godly ones, and those that were like Lazarus were looked down upon. And now it's changed in hell or in Hades.
Which means the disembodied state. It's not a place so much as a condition.
The disembodied state, spirit and soul separate from the body.
He lifted up, his eyes being in torments.
And he sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue from tormented in this flame. He had everything going for him in this life, but when he changed to the other other scene everything changed.
Besides this, between US and you, there's a great golf fixed.
So that they which would pass from hence to you cannot.
I remember when I was young and I read in Ecclesiastes that where the tree falleth, there it shall be. And I just said to myself, well, that's obvious, it's going to be right where it fell.
What's the what's the spiritual lesson there? The state in which we are when we die is the state in which we will remain for all eternity. I don't get a second chance.
So between US and you, there's a great gulf fixed. It's fixed. So the day which would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass to us. That would come from thence. If any of you are toying with the idea that you'll have another chance after you die.
This ought to convince you. You won't. There's a great gulf fixed.
Between the saved and the lost.
And that will never change once you've died. You have the opportunity to change it right now, as long as you're here in this world.
You can change your state of soul.
You can pass from darkness to light. You can receive Christ and be saved before it is forever. Too late, but if you neglect it, you'll not get another chance.
This Left Behind book.
Has a very serious error in it and it gives the reader the impression that.
After the rapture takes place, you'll have another chance. Well, if you rejected the gospel of the grace of God, you won't.
So it's so important to make your decision now.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my Father's house, where I have 5 brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him.
They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.
He said nay, Father Abraham.
But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
He said unto him.
One has gone, one has come from among the dead.
Have they repented? Lord Jesus rose from the dead. Have they repented? No.
If they hear not Moses.
And the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 1 rose from the dead, Remember when he was on the cross, they said, If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross, and we will believe thee.
Had he come down, they would not have believed, Absolutely not.
They had seen so many miracles. None of them had convinced them.
Because they were. Their minds were set against him.
Well, you're in time, young person.
And you'll be amazed at how fast it passes.
Time what you're doing with it.
Is gone.
You'll never get it back. All you have is what's ahead, and right now you can make a decision.
I haven't been living for the Lord.
I'm going to do it now.
Start right now.
I hope that's.
What you come to?
If you don't make that decision, if you've never made it, make it right now time.
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Your skills One of the biggest mistakes young people make.
Is they say, well, I'm just too busy right now.
With my schooling and all this.
When I went to college, it went one quarter to school. The next quarter you worked. The next quarter to school, the next quarter you worked well. I learned how to study when I was in school so that when I wasn't in school.
I could study the word because I was saved then as my freshman year.
And so the learning how to study.
Just the material that the college presented was a help to me when?
I was on those quarters where I was just working and I used my spare time.
To study the word, read The Good Ministry.
Good ministry that we have such a legacy, such a treasure. We had it out there just tremendous amount of.
Truth.
More truth was in that one room, the rest of the world.
What have you done with it? How much time have you spent pondering over its pages?
Much time have you sat at the feet of these giants in the 1800s, and there were giants in the earth in those days. Spiritual giants had gifts exceeding what we have today.
What have you done with it?
Have you read it?
Have you pondered it?
You know what it is to meditate.
On these things, Paul said to Timothy, Meditate on these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all.
It's so, so thrilling and refreshing to my soul to see young brethren really digging into the Word of God.
They're living for eternity, not for time.
The choice is yours.
We all have the same amount of time every day.
24 hours.
What are you doing with it?
What are you doing with your energies?
Oh, don't make the mistake of saying when I get older, I'll, I'll do my studying. When you get older, your mind isn't as keen. Your memory goes, your eyesight goes, your hearing goes.
I on this first second stop on this trip, I was in a bedroom of a brother and I picked up a book sitting by the bed and I read it.
And it was, I remember this one thing from the book, John Quincy Adams, He used to be a president of the United States, someone asked him.
Mr. President, how are you feeling?
And he said, John Quincy Adams is very well. Thank you.
But the house in which he lives is all broken down, in need of repair.
But John Quincy Adams is very well. Thank you.
I believe that that he was the Lord's.
The outward man perishes.
But the N word man is renewed daily.
Don't wait.
Don't wait to give the Lord the best years of your life.
Don't wait.
Give him your best years now.
When do you start right now?
Do it now.
Make a commitment our brother was bringing before us in one of the addresses the.
4 important things.
Well the one that stuck with me was have a set time when you get along with the Lord over the Word and in prayer daily, daily, daily, daily, every day.
Do that.
Don't, don't, don't read this book. Helter Skelter.
I know someone that they just take the Bible and they open it up and put their finger on a verse and that's going to be their light for the day.
Oh no, that's not the that's not the way to read the God's Word.
Study it, learn the tenor of it. Learn what it means.
Learn where we are, what dispensation we're in. If we were under, if we understood these things, we wouldn't be LED astray by by those errors that are out there Christendom.
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We'd be able to refute it, stand against it.
Is this true of you?
Thine Jesus, thine.
No more.
This heart of mine shall seek its joy apart from thee. Did you sing that?
The world is crucified to me.
And I am thine.
Thine, thine alone, my joy, my hope, my crown.
Now earthly things may fade and die.
They charm my soul no more, for I am thine alone. Is that true, The true of you?
If it isn't, get on your face before God on your knees.
Ask him to.
Give you that purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord.
Thine ever thine forever to recline on love eternal fixed insurer. Yes, I am thine forevermore Lord Jesus thine.
Before I forget this thought.
See, when you get my age, you get a thought and then it just goes out of your mind. You forget it. Got to say it right away. It's been said that.
The law is the strength of sin. That's from First Corinthians 15.
You can't get holiness by insisting on it by a law.
But grace is the power of holiness. Grace produces it.
Why so? How does it work?
It's just as simple as this. The law puts us at a distance. Remember when the Law was given the lightnings and the thunderings, and they all stood at a distance afar off? God dwelt in the thick darkness. The Law didn't bring them near to Him. It drove them far from Him, and they were afraid.
Here, grace, grace.
Grace is God's heart of love and the goodness that's in His heart being shown to us when we deserve none of it.
And it brings us right into his very presence.
Brother said to me just at this conference.
When the Lord ascended, where did he go? Where is He? They've been all over the universe, at least our solar system. Not the universe, but the solar system. They haven't seen him.
And I said, I think he's right here.
He's just in another dimension.
He's right here.
He said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now I want to ask you if you were in the conscious sense, that he's right with you, if I were in that conscious sense.
Would I sin? No, absolutely not. It's virtually impossible to sin when you're in the presence of the Lord, I mean.
Consciously realizing it.
If you could see him.
Right there.
You wouldn't dare to sin.
Grace brings us so near.
That it.
Brings us into his very presence.
And that's the power of holiness.
All you have to do is get into His presence, cultivate it. Take a walk.
And hold his hand, he'll hold yours. And talk to him as a friend.
Or there's no friend like him.
When we get home, have you ever thought when we get home, will he be a stranger to us? Do you know him so well?
Have you become so acquainted with him by reading the Word of God?
That you know him.
Very precious.
Then let me live continual praise to give to thy dear name, my precious Lord.
Henceforth alone, beloved, adored, so let me live.
Till thou shalt come and bear me to thy home.
Forever freed from earthly care, eternally thy love to share.
Lord Jesus, come.
Brother was sitting talking and sitting to his sister once and he was pressing upon her the the imminence of the Lord's coming may come today, she said. I hope not. What do you mean?
Well, there's things in my life that I have to correct. I have to adjust. I have to change. I.
No, I'm not ready. I'm not ready for him to come.
Well, if that's true of you, if that's true of me, then let's get ready. Let's get those things that that would hinder my desire for him to come.
Let's get them out of our lives.
Paul said I am conscious of nothing in myself.
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That is contrary to to him.
And this pleasing to him, and he says, but that doesn't justify me, for he that judges me is the Lord.
He said I verily thought with myself to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus. I thought I was doing the will of God. I thought Jesus was an imposter and I thought I was right, but I was dead wrong. And so when he says later I'm not conscious of anything that's wrong in my life, but he says that doesn't justify me, but he that judges me is the Lord.
Because we may not be conscious of something in our life that He is, and then he may have to deal with us.
In order for us to recognize it and deal with it.
Ourselves.
Let's cultivate the habit of being near to him.
Being satisfied with nothing less.
Well, that would eliminate all kinds of.
Evil things that we might be doing.
Reading.
Looking at.
Entertaining ourselves with.
That would be good if we got rid of those things.
That would hinder fellowship with our blessed Lord Jesus.
I'm not speaking down to anyone, just as guilty of failure in these regards.
As any of us, let's encourage one another to go on together.
Till we hear the shout.
Near to him.
Nearer to him, let's read Let's Sing 46 in the appendix.
In closing.
Have I an object Lord below?
Which would divide my heart with thee, Which would divert its even flow in answer to thy constancy. Oh, teach me quickly to return and cause my heart afresh.
To burn.