Sully Conference: 1993
Table of Contents
Numbers 6-10
Address—L. Judd
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We could open our meeting by singing 139.
139.
This world is a wilderness wide. We have nothing to seek or to choose. We have no thought in the ways to abide. We've not to regret nor to lose. The Lord is Himself drawn before He is marked out the path that we tread. If as sure as the love we adore, we have nothing to fear nor to dread.
139 of someone started flee.
This world is.
Why they have nothing to say or to kill, when no heart and no grace kills no one?
Wake us to wake ground nor kill.
Is the pressure we found in his love.
That he's ready now.
And desire when he's great and my father has heard no, no sinfulness will know.
And the baby girl gets me from my eyes. We have wait till now time thou shalt come together to take fellow himself as planned by my life to myself as I can and play home.
And all the landfills are kind of thou proud and stroke and strong.
So our.
One was wondering for some time today. Just walked forth and we should turn to.
And each time I believe I came back to the same portion in a book of numbers.
The precious book. It's the book of the wilderness, and it gives us instruction for our pathway down here at the present time.
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Maybe we could turn to.
Numbers, first of all, just the end of Chapter 6.
We'll just clean a few socks here and there.
Number six and verse 22 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying.
Speak unto Aaron, and unto his son, saying On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord blessed thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
I will come back to #7, just a verse in Genesis.
Chapter 5.
Janice says 5 and verse one.
This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man.
In the likeness of God made He him male and female created He them.
And bless them.
And call their name Adam.
In the day when they were created.
Adam. God not only placed the name of Adam on the man.
But also on the woman he called their name Adam.
Now in number six, verse 27, they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
I've turned the First Corinthians chapter 12.
1St Corinthians 12 and verse 12.
For as the body is 1 and hath many members.
And all the members of that one body, being many, are one body. So also is Christ.
Love, just as God calls the man and the woman.
Adam, just as he put his name upon the children of Israel.
So God called Christ and the Church Christ. He has placed His name upon us all the long. We need no other name. We can have no higher name.
Not the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
And every tongue shall confess.
That Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, He has placed His name upon us. Christ our risen, glorified head in heaven, We the body down here.
The love of Christ and the Church God called Christ.
We need no hiring below than that. We can have no higher name than that and we need no other.
Let us look at numbers in Chapter 7.
You notice when we started verse 22, the fixed chapter, and the Lord spake unto Moses say.
You do not find these words at the beginning of this chapter.
And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the Tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it. And all the instruments there of both the Alger and all the vessels are all, and had anointed them, and sanctified them, that the Princess of Israel heads of the House of their fathers, who were the Princess of the tribe, and were over them that were numbered offered.
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And they brought their offering before the Lord.
This beloved is worship. They weren't told to do this. They did it of their own free will.
God never told them to do this, but he accepted it. It is worship and the Lord delight. He desires the worship of his people.
He desired that we might give back to him.
A little of that with which he is blessed us.
Just heard the Deuteronomy 26 for a moment.
We can read from verse 10. And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hath given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God.
What did he bring that with which the Lord had blessed him? The first fruits?
Of his land, his inheritance, He brought that to the Lord. He worshiped before the Lord.
And the Lord, we should be gathering day by day, the precious truths of this book. And as we gather them so our heart will ascend and praise and worship on Thanksgiving to Him for all the precious things that He has given to us.
So I'm going back #7.
First three and they brought their offering before the Lord. 6 covered wagons and 12 auctions, a wagon for two of the Princess and for each one and off. And they brought them before the Tabernacle. And the Lord speaking to Moses, saying taken of them.
The Lord accepted that which they brought. It was acceptable to him.
That they may be to do the service of the Tabernacle, the congregation, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites to every man according to his service.
And Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them under the Levites.
Two wagons and four auctions he gave under the Thunder Gershon according to their service, and four wagons and eight auctions he gave under the sons of Maria, according under their service, under the hand of Isamar, the son of their the priest.
But under the sons of the Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.
Those polar vessels were to be borne on the shoulder of the Levites.
But that was departed from one time.
Turn to First Chronicles Chapter 13.
Maybe we can go to First Chronicles.
15.
In First Chronicles 13 David.
Proposed to the Oh, we should turn to it and read it, I think, below. Sorry. First Chronicles 13 and verse one.
And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.
The love is one that David didn't consult here.
He had so often consulted him before, but he didn't consult them here.
David didn't consult the Lord. He didn't inquire of the Lord. Now there's no doubt in my mind that David had a perfectly right thought, one pleading to God to bring up the ark.
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But he didn't bring it up in the right way.
Let's go to verse 6.
David went up on all Israel to Bela, that is, to Kurdish Durham, which belonged to Judah.
To bring up that the Ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the Cherubims, whose name is called on it, and they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the House of abandoned and other in Ohio, grazed the carpet, David copied the Philistines. The Philistines put the ark on a new car, and he copied the Philistines.
And David, all Israel played before God, with all their might, and with singing, and with hearts, and with sultries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals and with prophets. There is much genuine religious fervor.
There were some fear, I'm sure, in what they were doing.
And when they came under the threshing floor, tied, other put forth his hand to hold the ark.
For the often stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against us.
And he smote him because he put his hands in the ark, and there he died before God. Rather we see much today that may indeed be genuine.
Fervor for the Lord.
But is it according to the word?
Are they going according to the word? That is our guide, That is our direction? We read their numbers, That the Ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levi.
Here they put it in a new car turn, The First Chronicles 15.
Verse 2.
Then David said, none ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites.
For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever.
Now have inquired. He's learned something, He's learned a lesson. Now he is going to go according to the word.
11 And they were called for Zadok and the buyer, for the priest, and for the Levites, for Uriel.
And Joel, shemia, and Elio, and a minute out, and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel under the place that I have prepared for it. For because he did it not at the 1St.
The Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
The Lord God has not left us today to go according to our own pasties.
Many things may look very nice. They may look as if they were.
Just what should be done, but I repeat, isn't according to the word of God.
That is our guide, not our own ideas. Our own ideas may look wonderful, but is it according to the word that is our one and only God love? Let's go back then the number 7.
First half And the Princess offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that was anointed. Even the Princess offered their offering before the altar. And the Lord said unto Moses, they shall offer their offering each Prince on his day with a dedicated of the author.
God is not the author of confusion.
He is a God of order.
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And he that offered his offering a birthday with Nassau and the son of the nine of Dad over the tribe of Judah.
And his offering was wasn't Silver Charger. The weight thereof was 130 seconds.
One silver bowl of 70 shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. Both of them were full of fine flour, mingled with oil for a meat offering.
The silver would speak to us of redemption.
The fine flower for the meat offering.
Fine flour mingled with oil.
Yeah, we read in Luke chapter 2 That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Yeah, the Holy Ghost shall come upon me.
The power. I'd better turn to it below, I guess. Luke, Chapter one.
Verse 35 And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon me.
And the power of the highest over shadow thee Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called the Son of God.
That is the fine flower mingled with oil.
You also get the pine flour cakes made anointed with oil. That was when the Spirit of God came down at his baptism. But.
The Spirit of God was in that blessed one from the beginning.
He was though here a man on earth, yet God over all blessed forever.
Yet ever gone, although he was also a man on earth.
Knighted with oil.
Verse 14, One spoon of 10 tackles of gold full of intense.
I believe that incense would speak to us of that sweet fragrance ever ascending to the Father from that blessed man as he walked this earth.
And the gold will speak of his divine nature.
One young bullet, one round, one lamb of the first year for a burnt offering. Christ wholly offering himself to God, solely vindicating God in every respect. We're in the first man have failed.
Christ as the birth offers.
One kid of the goat for a sin offering, oh beloved, not blessed, one more our sins in his own body on the tree.
And for a sacrifice of peace, offering to often 5 rounds, 5 Eagles, 5 lambs. In the first year this was the offering of Nashon, the son of the mineral. There we get communion.
Of every one of those things that was offered spoke of Christ in one aspect or another.
And we read through the rest of this chapter, aside from slight variations in the way it is worded.
You find exactly the same thing 12 Times in our eleven more times.
Every Prince offered exactly the same thing.
Love. If it was to be accepted, it had to be of Christ.
And if what we offer is to be accepted, it must be of Christ that bless the blood.
In one aspect or another, oh should be of Christ.
Don't call this repetition.
I believe God will bring hope to us, that very truth, that if we offer to be accepted, the offering must speak of Christ.
I want to go on in the chapter 8 just a couple of little.
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Practice things in it, verse one. And the Lord speaking to Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest alarm, the seven lambs shall give light over against the candle stick. And Aaron did so he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candle sticks, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Turn back to Exodus 25 for just a moment. We'll see the Candlestick.
Exodus 25 and verse 31.
And also make a Candlestick of pure gold, a beaten work, till the Candlestick be made his shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knots, and his flower shall be of the same, and six branches shall come out of the side of it. 3 branches of the Candlestick over the one side, and three branches of Candlestick out of the other side. Three bowls made like unto almonds, with an off and a flower in one brand.
Bowls made like some almonds and the other brands with an off and a flower. So in the six branches that come out of the Candlestick.
And in the Candlestick.
Notice now, while it was all the Candlestick, Yep, there's one portion of it that is specifically the Candlestick.
And in the Candlestick shall be 4 bowls made like unto almond, with their knots and their flowers.
There shall be an offence under 2 branches of the same and an off under 2 branches of the same and an off under 2 branches of the same according to the six branches that proceed out of the Candlestick.
Love, that central shell, is a picture of Christ.
The branches coming out of the side. A picture of the church.
You will recall that the Lord took a rib from Adam's side, that place of affection, till the branches speak to us of the Church. That central shaft is preeminently speaking to us of Christ.
Now going back to #8, we find that the lamps were to give light.
Over against the candle stick.
They magnified the glory and the beauty of that central child.
Yes, beloved, that they shed their light all around, but they gave their light over against the Candlestick. They magnified the glory and the beauty of the central child. Let's go to first Peter chapter 2.
First feeder tube verse 9.
A year of chosen generations, a royal priesthood and holy nations.
Our peculiar people, that ye should show forth the phrases of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous life.
All the love do we do.
Show forth his praises that one who has done so much for us brought us into his marvelous light. Dewey chauffeur those phrases.
Oh dear one, he is worthy of all honor. All praise, all working.
I love who.
In these chapters, God is preparing his people to cross the wilderness, the desert. An error is instructed to light the lamb, and we never read of those lamps being put out.
Oh, no doubt. They probably were put out when the Candlestick was covered and put on the shoulders of the Levites to carry it. It doesn't say they were put out. Beloved, as we crossed this wilderness seat, we should ever have to owe one pail we could ever show forth the Lord the beauty.
The majesty of that blessed One who loved us and gave himself for us.
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I want to go to.
The end of the chapter.
Verse 23.
And the Lord spake unto Moses.
Say this is it that belongs under the Levites. From 20 and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
And from the age of 50 years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more. Now we'd read earlier chapters of this book, we would find that the Levites were numbered from 30 years old. Here we find it 25 years, would appear that they went into the Tabernacle at the age of 25 and learned what to do.
At the age of 30, they were qualified to assume the responsibility and carry on the work of the Tabernacle.
Now you dear young brethren that are here, there is no better place for you to learn.
Than right in the assembly, in the reading meeting, in the prayer meeting.
Yes, there's no better place for you to learn than races in the Assembly.
But, and from the age of 50 years they shall seek waiting upon the servicer of and shall serve no more, but shall minister with their brethren in the Tabernacle of the congregation to keep the charge.
And shall do no service, thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.
They weren't laid to one side. Yes, they cease the act of service of the Tabernacle. I believe one of their duties was to play our skin, the animals offered for sacrifice. And there's some of you, dear brethren here who know far better than I will.
Just how hard it might be to skin a bullet.
It's a hard job. It's heavy. I've tried some letter animals but never have I tried a cow or a boat.
Heavy work. And so at the age of 50, they see the act of service.
But they kept the charge, the love. They were the Gray heads. They were the ones that knew what the Lord commanded Moses. They were the ones that knew what could be done.
And though they remained there in the Tabernacle to see that things were done as the Lord commanded Moses.
They kept the charge and beloved you and I that are older. We have a responsibility before the Lord to see that we go on our according to the precious word of God.
According to the word.
We might turn just for a moment, to Hebrews 13.
I like to.
Confirm these passages in the Old Testament these truths.
With the truth and the new customer, the things which were written aforetime were written for our learning.
We, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
Hebrew 13 and verse 7. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you, the word of God, whose faith follows, considering the end of their conversation or the end of their whole honor of life.
Yes, faithful ones have gone on before. They have.
Opened up the scriptures to us, to his faith, followed.
Verse 17 of the same chapter Obey them that have the rule over you.
And submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account.
That they may do it with joy and not with greed, for that is unprofitable for you.
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Grief to those that would seek to have them go on according to the word unprofitable. For those that do not walk according to the word do not walk according to the good instructions. Oh first Peter Five would tell us the same truth. But time is slipping away.
Number Chapter 9.
And the Lord begun the molds in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year.
After they were come out of the land of Egypt saying Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season.
In the 14th day of this month, and even ye shall keep it in his appointed season, according to all the rights of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it. And Moses speak unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. And even in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man.
That they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.
An old man said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man.
Now that Beloved, is the fruit of sin.
We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord and His appointed season among the children of Israel?
And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning.
Moses did not say, I believe you should do this for that.
Stand still and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. Moses was going to go according to the word of God.
He was going according to the word of God, not by his own ideas. And from start to finish in this book we find the path of obedience. The path according to the word of God is the right path.
Not what this one has said or that one has said Or this thing is wrong or nothing is wrong. No.
What? Seth, the scripture?
And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the throne of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity.
Shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in the journey afar off, yet he shall keep the path over under the Lord. It was recognized that there could be a physical or moral reason why they couldn't keep it.
The 14th day of the second month of even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinance of the Passover, they shall keep it.
They were to keep it. If not on the 1St, 14th day of the first month, they would keep it on the 14th day of the second month.
Provision was made.
For one that was unclean or away on a journey and he couldn't keep it. The vision was made for them, but if they couldn't keep it in the first month, they were to keep it in the second month.
Well, we find that was done in Hezekiah today. They kept the whole Passover.
On the 14th day of the second month, the love the Passover looked back to that night in Egypt when the sprinkled blood of the slain lamb.
Saved the first born from the just righteous judgment of God.
God's judgment was to fall on all the first born in the land of Egypt, and the lamb was slave. The blood was caught in the basin, and that blood was sprinkled on the lentil and the two side posts of the door. It was the sprinkled blood that saved the first born in that house.
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Oh, could there be one here that does not yet know the Lord Jesus as their Jesus, the Lord Christ has died, His blood has been shed. But until you make it your own, until you put your trust in that finished work for yourself, you are still lost.
If the sprinkled blood that saves the blood applies to your heart, to my heart.
The individually.
Verse 13 But the man that is clean and is not in a journey, and for bear to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he brought not the offering of the Lord and his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
Love that we gather on Lords Day morning around those around the Person of Christ, those emblems before Speaking of His body, given in death for us of His precious Blood shed there in Calvary Frost.
Love. Do we keep it?
Do we make excuses? Is there some reason why we don't remember him according to that request he made on the same night in which his betrayed?
Said this, do in remembrance of me. We are under grace. God does not come in judgment on us if we don't remember Him, but dear ones. It was His dying request.
So we say that we remember him in his death.
He's given the thoughts and love that our hearts might be recalled that what he has done for us.
That our hearts might be warm before they grow cold so quickly. Oh dear one.
Let us remember he had said this dude in remembrance of me.
Well, just going on in this chapter.
For 20.
Verse 19 And when the cloud card long upon the Tabernacle many days.
Then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and journeyed on. And so it was when the cloud was a few days upon the Tabernacle.
According to the commandment of Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journey. And so it was when the cloud abode from evening until morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning. Then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
Or whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud tired of on the Tabernacle remaining there on.
That children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed on, but when it was taken up they journeyed at the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tent, and that the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
Here we find the people.
Sheltered by the clouds.
You're hold of people marked out by that cloud of his people.
And they went according to the word of the Lord.
Oh, what a lesson there is in for us. We are sheltered by that blessed one.
Here, said Whoso toucheth you touch the apple of thine eye, not a single thing can the enemy do.
But what the Lord permits him to do?
And if he permits them to touch us and dear ones that endure love and grace.
That he might recall our heart, that he might be so a blessing on us. Oh, how dear Abraham was tried.
But the Lord blessed Abraham and made him a blessing to the whole.
Earth. Look how Job was tried. When Job learned his lesson, the Lord blessed him with twice as much as he had before.
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The Apostle Paul was tried, given the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, the buffet.
01.
The Apostles would thank the Lord for that thorn in the flesh it was given to him, lest he be lifted up with pride because of the revelation he received.
And so the Lord thought, needful to leave that thorn in the flesh with him.
And the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in wisdom. Everything must be of the Lord, not himself.
Well in chapter 10.
One more precious thing.
And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, Make thee 2 trumpets of silver.
Of a whole piece shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly and for the journey of the camp. 2 Trumpets of silver. Silver usually speaks of redemption, but I believe in this case if the word of God.
And possibly the two trumpets could be the Old and the New Testament.
Verse 3.
And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to be at the door, the Tabernacle of the congregation.
And if they blow but with one prophet, then the Princess, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east park will go forward. When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the South side shall take their journey. They shall blow an alarm for their journey. When the congregation is to be gathered together, he shall blow.
But ye shall not sound an alarm, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall blow with the trouble.
Those that were nearer to Jehovah.
To whom Jehovah communicated his mind Were responsible for blowing the trumpet, For communicating the mind of Jehovah to the rest of the congregation.
That was how they were instructed by the blowing of the trumpet.
Now, dear one those gain, those left that are older, I believe we have a responsibility.
To instruct.
To sound an alarm.
To let it be known what the Lord's mind is.
That's what the priest had to do. They had to sound an alarm or they had to let the people know what Jehovah's mind was. And I believe we have that responsibility.
The past the warnings on and pass on not only the warning, but the joys of the light that he has borrowed.
Go on, and they shall be to you for an ordinance.
Forever throughout their generation. And if you go to war in their land against the enemy that will prostitute, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpet, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your month, ye shall blow with the trumpet over your burnt offering, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, that they may be to you for memorial before your law. I am.
The Lord your God, I believe, Rather they use those trumpets on every occasion when they came together.
Do we find ourselves with the word of God in our hands?
Each time we come together. Oh, we do. And we come into the meeting room here. Yes. What about in our home? Is the word of God constantly before?
Each time they came together, they had to found the trumpet.
The love I believe we cannot be over the word of God. Who knows?
The more we are into its blessed changes. The more we learn of that blessed life. The more the love, the more precious He will become. Just look at Second Peter, Chapter one.
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Verse 2.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
The more we go on learning the love of that Blessed One, the more we're pouring over the pages of this blessed book, the more we'll know of that wondrous grace, that favor that has been shown toward us. And the more we enter into that grace that he has showered upon him, the more will enter into that peace that He has for grace and peace being multiplied.
Well, the end of this 10th chapter.
Verse 29.
And Moses said unto Hobart, the son of Rigel the Midianites, Moses father-in-law.
We are journeying under the place of which the Lord said, I will give it. You come now with us, and we will do thee good. For the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.
Love. This man had been there all the time. They were at Sinai, no doubt had seen.
The Lord come down in fire on top of the mountain he had seen.
The Tabernacle built. He had seen the Tabernacle.
Assembled.
Dear one.
He had seen everything, He said. No, I won't go. I'll be part of my own life. Oh, is there one here that has seen everything?
Seeing the Spirit of God working in the assembly.
Seeing it all, heard the truth, there's no I'm going back into the world.
There was that saw them, that saw them, what responsibilities there is when we have seen and heard it all and then would go back into the world.
Verse 31 And he said, Leave us not, I praise thee.
For as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou may it be to us instead of eyes.
It shall be if thou grow with us. Yeah, it shall be That what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. Oh, you're suggesting that Hobart be a sort of a scout for them?
The Lord makes no comment on that, but what do we find? And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days journey.
Death and resurrection those three days journey would bring before.
What man could lead us through death and resurrection?
And the departed to the mount of the Lord three days journey.
And the arts of the cousin of the Lord went before them in the three day journey.
To search out a resting place for them.
It was God's purpose originally that there would be 6 tribes in front, then the Levites with the Tabernacle and six tribes coming behind.
But here we find the ark goes out in front.
To search out a resting place, Water. The Lord's our blessed Lord and Savior has gone before. He has gone through those waters of death.
He is an old Satan's power. For him, he has gone back to the glory.
Is there a risen, glorified man at God's right hand, and he is there on our behalf to make intercession for him?
The law he has marked out the way that we go.
We have only to follow in his footsteps all the love. The time must be so short.
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When he will come to call us to meet him in the air, may we be found going on.
Following after him according to the precious word of God, until he comes forth, it cannot be lost.
Maybe we could just sing another hymn.
231.
Where pilgrims in the wilderness are dwelling as a camp.
Created things, O pleasant, now bear to us that's that. But honor we are speeding though often lepantry. The Holy Ghost is leading home to the lamb. Has tried 231 and someone start a place.
No, no, no, I'm there. I have been very long. I'm busy. So I'm going to learn what I'm going to do.
You know what I'm going to do?
When we give the love, it will begin our God.
From America, breathe in the mountains.
Not the Lord Without being trials, stretching, turn, blowing together. I've never seen anything before.
We have anything you don't need your own self.
Honey
Address—C. Hendricks
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Boy, to look above and see thee on the throne, to search the heights and depths of love which thou to us has shown.
And owed his joy the path to trace by thee, so meekly trod learning of thee to walk in grace and fellowship with God. 106.
Oh Lord, destroy.
On the world.
The story is for all its friends. That's all lonely. It's frozen to us and to.
Your joy to unfair.
Why do you want my name?
To flow away.
Heart growling.
Oh lovely.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for that blessing.
3rd with me tonight to Leviticus, Chapter 2.
In the first chapter of Leviticus we have the burnt offering.
Which brings before us Christ, this perfect obedience in death.
And the glory that he brought to God.
And our acceptance before God in Him, and now in the second chapter, now that we are accepted in Him, taken into favor in the beloved, we become a part of a priestly family. And it's to the priestly family that they are privileged to feed upon the meat offering Christ in His.
Blessed life as he was down here, as he walked through this scene, and that's what you have in chapter 2. And I'm just going to touch upon a few verses, not to look at it in detail and then consider certain things that we have in the chapter.
And when any will offer a meat offering, it's really a meal offering or a grain offering. There was no blood involved in this offering. It speaks of Christ's holy humanity. When any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flower. Fine flower is a beautiful picture in the word of God, of the perfect humanity of Christ. No inconsistencies, no incongruities, No.
Hard particles. If one was to represent our humanity, there would be.
Hard lumps in it with pieces of grit and so on, but.
Fine flowers. You can run your fingers through fine flour and you don't find any unevenness. It's all perfect consistency and smoothness. And this was the life of Christ. There's no one predominating characteristic or feature that you can point to Him you can take. You can take, for instance, of the Apostles James and John. They were called Sons of Thunder Peter. He was very impetuous and forward and spoke often before thinking.
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Those were characteristics. Those are things that stood out in him. We all have our strong points and our weak points, but that's not true of the Lord Jesus.
There was number such a thing as a strong point in him or a weak point in him. There was always.
Perfect evenness, and in every aspect of his walk down here, and it is holy life. As a man he was perfectly even represented here by the fine flower, and he shall pour oil upon it always at type in Scripture of the Holy Spirit. The oil of the Spirit of God upon the fine flower He was born of the Spirit He was begotten of the Holy Spirit.
And he was also anointed of the Holy Spirit. Everything he did as a dependent, obedient man was done in the power of a of an ungrieved spirit. And then there's the frankincense And put frankincense at their eye. Frankincense speaks, of course. It's an incense, and it's that which went up to God on the altar. In fact, all of the meat offering that had the frankincense on it was placed upon the altar, and it all went up to God.
One hymn writer puts it. The frankincense is Vine speaking to God the Father. The frankincense is dying. He is the one that evaluated that perfect, holy, sinless, impeccable life. The life of his beloved son. Become a man. And it was all St. Savored. It was frankincense, and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priest. That's us in type. We are the sons of Aaron. We are the priestly family, and it's our privilege.
Now that we're accepted in the beloved under the burnt offering, we now can feed on Christ as He walked down here His holy life.
What a wonderful privilege. Now she shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and he shall take there out his handful of flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof. So all the part that had the frankincense on it, that was all placed on the altar, that was God's sacked offering. And the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Frankincense is that which only God himself.
Could appreciate and value in that perfect, holy, sinless life of his beloved Son. He expressed it two times at the River Jordan. This is my beloved Son whom I am well pleased. They get on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son from whom I am well pleased.
Now verse three, and the remnant of the meat offering, the rest of it shall be Aaron's and his sons. So what a privilege Aaron and his sons, the priestly family privilege to feed upon Christ as he's presented to us, especially in the four Gospels, as he was down here as a man. It is the thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. That's repeated again in verse 10. I'll read it. And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons, our portion.
It is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. This meat offering, setting forth the the holy humanity of Christ, is a thing most holy.
In Adam, as he was created of God, the state of his humanity was a state of innocence. He was created in innocence without sin, but capable of sinning. After he sinned, the state of his humanity changed. He was no less a man after sinning as he was before. He was just as much a man after as before, but the state of his humanity changed from a state of innocence.
To a state of sinfulness.
Christ's humanity is neither innocent nor sinful. His humanity, as it says here, is most holy.
Humanity of Christ is in a state of holiness.
Incapable of spinning without sin, and incapable of sinning that stress again in verse eleven, no need offering which he shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven.
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Leaven in Scripture is always a type of evil. Take one Corinthians 5A. Little leaven leaveneth the whole love. Let us keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and fruit. So there you see Levin is a type of evil again in Galatians 5 there it was moral evil. In First Corinthians 5 and Galatians 5 it's doctrinal evil. Again a little leavened, leavened the whole love.
And he spoke about the doctrine of the Pharisees, the leaven of the Pharisees, the doctrine they're teaching.
So leaven and I don't want to dwell much on leaven because we were very familiar with that and we know that it speaks of evil. There was no leaven in the meat offering. That was a type of Christ, because there was no sin, there was no propensity, there was no.
There was number nature that could respond to sin. He was holy. What is holiness? Holiness is delight in good and abhorrence of evil. His nature, his human nature was holy. He always delighted in good, in his Father's will, and he abhorred evil. And that is holiness. And there was the exclusion, as we have it here of Levin.
No need offering which you shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven.
For ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey.
In any offering of the Lord made by fire now verse 13.
And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt.
Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering with all thine offerings. Thou should offer salt. Now that's all I'm going to need from this chapter.
Two things were absolutely excluded from the meat offering. Speaking of Christ, Levin speaks of evil and hunt.
And I'd like to talk tonight about hunting and what it speaks of natural sweetness, amiability of nature. The meat offering that spoke of Christ excluded honey.
But there's one thing that had to be in every meat offering.
Excluded level 2, of course. But there's one thing that had to be couldn't be lacking. That was salt. And what does that speak of? It speaks of the energy of holiness preserving from sin when I was in Jamaica as a young man in my 20s.
Visiting around in the back parts of Jamaica, where there was no electricity, the only lighting they had were oil lamps.
And they had no refrigeration. So the way they preserve the meat was they packed it in salt. Salt is a preservative and so the the salt of the covenant of of his God was not to be lacking in any of the meat offerings. It's the preserving power of holiness in the life of the Lord Jesus preserving from from sin. There was that salt.
But there was not to be leavened, and we could understand that very easily, but neither was there to be honey.
And we oftentimes.
Fail right here.
The Lord Jesus, though he had natural affection, says in Second Timothy 3. In the last days men shall be without natural affection, and we ought to have natural affection. Children should love their parents. Parents should love their children. Wives should love their husbands. Husbands should love their wives. There should be affection in the family. Brothers should love their sisters.
And their other brothers and sisters likewise. That's proper. But when natural affection, honey.
Controls us and guides our judgment and guides our pathway, especially in regards to spiritual things that is to be excluded.
And I'd like to look at the life of the Lord Jesus and also some other illustrations.
From others in the Old Testament and the New that were controlled.
By what would be considered honey. The first illustration is in Genesis chapter.
12.
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And it has to do with the pattern man of faith Abraham.
Genesis chapter 12 We read verse one.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing, the Lord had said to Abraham. Three things get thee out.
From thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house. Now let's back up to the 11Th chapter, verse 27.
Now these are the generations of terror. Terror begat Abram, Nahor and Herod. So Tara was Abram's father and Heron begat Lot.
And Haren died before his father Tara, in the land of his nativity, and her of the Caldes. And Abram and Nehor took them wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, in the name of Nahor's wife Milka, the daughter of Heron, the father of Milka and the father of this cup. But Sarai was barren. She had no child. Now notice this. And Tara took Abram. While you might say that's proper according to nature.
But Abram was Abram had the call of God, it says in chapter 12 verse one.
God had said to Abram. Get the out from.
By country and by kindred and thy Father's house. But instead of obeying the call of God, now God did not call Kara to do that. He called Abram out. The call of God can only be answered in the energy of faith.
It can't be answered on the level of nature, but there was failure in Abram answering the call of God. So we read in verse 31 of Chapter 11, Tara took Abram.
His son and Lot, the son of Heron, his son said. You might say, well, that's perfectly natural, That's according to nature. But nature cannot answer the call of God. It has to be a higher principle than nature.
Kara took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Heron his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son, Abram's wife. And they went forth with them from Irv the Caldes to go into the land of Canaan. And they came unto Heron and dwelt there. I remember I traced that on the map once urged the colonies, It's way over here in the east, and there's about 400 miles to the desert to get to Canaan. But they didn't go straight across. They went up to Heron, which is in the northern part of the land, and they stopped there until.
Tara died.
Now that was not answering to the call and the days of terror were 205 years and terror died inherent They got to Heron which was not in Canaan which was not answering to the call of God. And terror dies. And now that terror is dead then Abram can answer the call of God. He couldn't do it as long as he was controlled by nature and so he had to be delivered from that. And the death of terror did that and then he answered.
The call of God. I want to make this statement that nature cannot, never will answer the call of God. Nature cannot walk in the path of faith. It will not walk in the path of faith. It can't. It can only be done by faith. It can only the path of faith can only be trodden by faith and by those who have faith and those who are walking according to that path.
Now let's turn to Matthew 16, where we'll have another illustration, this time from the Apostle Peter of Nature.
Natural affection.
Natural love controlling Peter.
Matthew 1621.
Now it's interesting that just in the previous part of Matthew 16 the Lord had asked the question, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM? And they they gave the answer. And then he said, Whom say ye that I am? He asked that of the disciples. And Simon Peter answering said to Art the Christ the Son of the living God.
And the Lord said, Blessed art thou Simon Bargilah, for flesh and blood, if not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And he called him, blessed he would he had received that as a revelation from the Father. But now the Lord it says in verse 21, From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem.
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And suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the 3rd day. I wonder at all when I read this, and when I get Peter's answer. You wonder at all if he heard the last part he raised again the 3rd day. I don't believe he did, because they when the women came with the report that he's risen, they believed him not. They believed that, not the report.
But Peter certainly heard that he must suffer and many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.
And then he says, Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from the Lord, this shall not be unto thee, be it far from the Lord. Pity yourself, don't allow this to happen. Save yourself from this, what you've told us about being dead, being killed, being put to death, and suffering. And then the severest rebuke that the Lord ever administered to anyone is now administered to the very man that he had just pronounced blessing, because he had confessed the truth of this person.
But he turned and said unto Peter gently behind me. Satan. Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savers not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Peter was acting from the natural man. He loved, the Lord Jesus. He had real affection for the Lord Jesus, and he was trying to spare him the sufferings and death that he had just described. He must go through. We don't like the cross.
We don't like rejection, we don't like suffering. The natural man recoils with horror added And Peter, trying to save the Lord Jesus from going through that, is administered a very severe review called Satan. Get the behind the Satan. Thou savers not the things that be of God, but those of thee of men. One moment he's pronounced blessed by the master, the next moment of a severe rebuke.
Under the very title of Satan falling right into the hands of the adversary himself in trying to prevent the Lord from going to the cross, had Peter's advice given with good intention given because he really loved the Lord and he wanted to preserve him. He wanted to save him from suffering and death. He had good motives, but he was altogether wrong. That's honey.
That's honey. The Lord never was motivated by nature. He what? What motivated him? The will of God, which He had come to do. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. He was always an ever guided by the word of God. And I went fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. He came out of that and he hungered. He was hungry.
Satan said, it Thou be the Son of God, Command these stones to be made bread. Satisfy your hunger, prove who you are. And he would not, because he said, Man shall not live thy dread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He had no word from the Father to change the stones into ready could it? But he wouldn't do it, because he lived by obedience to the Father. He lived in subjection to the Father's will.
And the Father had not told him to do that. So Peter, with all good intention, speaking out of natural love for his Savior, for his master.
Tries to keep him from the cross and is severely rebuked.
The Roman Catholics teach that we should go to Mary because she has a softer, more tender heart, and then she will present our supplication to her Son, and he will not deny her because she has special access into His presence. Is that what the Scriptures teach? No. And I want to look at several of them to show that it teaches just the opposite.
Just the opposite. The first one we'll look at is in Matthew, Chapter 12.
Matthew Chapter 12.
Verse 46 While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren, When it says, thy brethren, it means his brothers, his half brothers. After the flesh born of Joseph and Mary, his parents, behold thy mother and thy brethren my brother, stand without desiring to speak with me. But he answered and said unto him, that told him, Who is my mother?
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And who are my brethren? And He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples.
And said, Behold my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven.
The same as my brother and sister and mother. So he sets aside the natural relationship.
In favor of the spiritual one doing the will of his father, which is in heaven. The ones who did that they were truly his brother, his sister, and his mother.
She didn't have a special audience with the Lord Jesus because she was the most privileged of all women to bear the Messiah, but she had no special claims upon him for that reason. Another instance, John Chapter 2, John's Gospel, Chapter 2.
And the third day, verse one, and the third day there was a marriage.
In Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him.
They have no wine, so she comes to him and she presents a need. It's as much as though she said they need one. Please provide it. She just. She didn't go that far, but she said they have no wine and notice how he responds.
Jesus saith unto her woman.
What have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come. The hour for him to turn the water into wine. The water of purification, the wine of the Kingdom, the blessing of the Kingdom, the time for him to reign down here.
After the repentance of Israel, signified by the water of purification, they have to go through that before they can be brought into the blessings of the Kingdom, he says. My hour is not yet come.
He was talking about something spiritual, and the effect that it had upon Mary was.
Was very great, notice his mother saith unto the servants.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
She just backs off and says, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
The water of purification in the six water pots have to be applied. Israel must repent and be brought into blessing 1St through repentance, and then the joy the wine of the Kingdom will confess.
There's another.
Illustration in the Lord's Life of.
However, now you see, that would be if he had given his mother a special place. It would have been honey, and that was not in the meat offering representing Christ. It isn't that he did not love her. It is not that he did not consider her. And we'll see that in the moment in the 19th chapter when.
He was on the cross, but he never allowed the claims of nature.
To guide him in his pathway. What did guide him? The will.
Of his Father, which he had come to do. The Word of God always guided him. The Spirit of God was always the source of his fellowship with the Father, and he was always full of the Holy Ghost and LED of the Holy Spirit. Now in the 11Th chapter, we have another illustration of the Lord not being motivated by what we would consider to be honey.
Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wife to speak with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. They present a need just like Mary. When she came to the Lord, they have no wife. She presented a need, and he said to her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hours not yet come, It's not time for me to.
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They turn the water into wine, though he did do it at that feast, but what it signified is still future. So here they come to the Lord, his sisters Mary and Martha. And they say, behold, he whom I love is to sick. He loved Lazarus. He had deep affection for Lazarus. Was this then going to govern what he was going to do? Not for a moment.
When Jesus heard that, he said this sickness.
When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
He loved them for lack of love that we read the next verse. The next verse. If he was motivated by just his love for them, for Lazarus, Mary and Martha, he would have immediately gone.
Said I'll come immediately, but we read just the opposite.
When he heard therefore that he was sick, he abode 2 days still in the same place where he was. Why did he do that? Because he had no word from the father to go. He never made a move, he never moved, he never spoke, he never acted without the father.
He says as the living Father hath sent me and I live on account of the Father, so he that eateth me, he should live an account of me.
My need is to do the will of him that sent me in to finish his work. That's what was his nourishment. His sustaining power down here in this world was to do the will of God. He was. He had taken the place of a servant. He'd become a man now. It wasn't for him to act independently, but always in subjection to the Father. The very principle of acting independently is the principle of sin.
So he had both two days still in the same place where he was.
Then after that he saith to his disciples, let us go unto Judea again.
And it says.
When Martha met him, she said, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died, all if he had only come in time.
And Mary said the same thing, though she fell at his feet.
Said, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother had not died. He was going to do something in the will of his father, far more glorious than healing Lazarus. He was going to raise him from the dead.
And so he did, and we know the story.
Verse 40 verse 39 Jesus said take you away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he speaketh for yet been dead 4 days. Jesus saith unto her, Said, I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou should have see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone for the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. You see, he didn't just heal last. He didn't just raise Lazarus, because he was the Son of God, and had the power to do it.
But he did it in answer to the progress.
Word to him.
Prayed he had He had asked the Father for guidance, and the Father had heard him, and given him instruction. He says, I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, hazardous comfort. And he that was dead came forth, found hand and foot with three clothes, and his face was found about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto him, Loose him.
And let him go. So I read this account as an illustration.
How that the Lord Jesus though he loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha, that didn't govern him going. And when he went it had to be as from the Father instruction from the Father.
Now I want to look at John 19, but before we do, we have to look at two other passages. Matthew, Matthew 13.
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Matthew 13.
Verse 54. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, and so much that they were astonished, and said, Whence half this man, this wisdom in these mighty works?
Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brethren, his brethren, his brothers after the Flash, his half brothers through Mary, James and Joseph, and Simon and Judas? Now two of those that are mentioned here were writers of New Testament epistles.
James wrote the Epistle of James, and Jude wrote the Epistle of Jude. So four of these, two of these four brothers.
Were instrumental in writing Epistles and one of them, James, was instrumental and we're going to see that shortly.
In the early church, yet it's a very, very prominent part. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then have this man all these things? And they were offended in him. So he had four brothers and sisters, were not told how many. Now look at John Chapter 7, please.
John Chapter 7.
Verse one after these things.
Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in jewelry because the Jew sought to kill him.
Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brethren, his brothers therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. This was a good bit of worldly wisdom that his brothers after the flesh gave to the Lord Jesus.
And then it says in verse 5. For neither did his brethren believe in him at this point. While the Lord was here on earth, they had not come to faith in the Lord Jesus as to who he was. They didn't believe in him at this time. And the Lord says, my time is not yet come, but your time is always ready, His time for reigning, His time to establish the Kingdom.
See, this was the feast of Tabernacles that speaks of the setting up of the Kingdom when the Lord will reign as king, He says My time hasn't come yet. Your time is always ready because you're part of this world, so your time is always ready. You're just worldlings.
The world cannot hate you because you're part of it. But me had hated it, he said. I'm not of this world, and those who are his have been taken out of it, so that he says of us they are not of this world as well. But he couldn't stay that of his brothers after the flesh because they didn't believe. The world cannot hate you but me and hateth because I testified of it that the works thereof are evil. Go get up under this feast. I go not up yet under this beast.
For my time is not yet full come.
This time hasn't come yet for him to establish the Kingdom. Now, with that as a background, let's turn to John 19.
John 19.
The Lord is on the cross.
Verse 25.
This has often been cited as a type of honey. And say the Lord showed honey here, and it's not bad at all, and we're let's look at it now. There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophus and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and his and the disciples standing by whom he loved, that was John, the author of this gospel.
He saith unto his mother, woman, Behold thy son then, saith he to the disciple. Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her under his own home.
That's very tender. It's very precious. The Lord most surely had natural affection for his mother.
We've seen these other instances where he was not controlled by his mother. He was not under obligation to act as from his mother. Whatever she told him he acted as from the father. He always acted according to the will of God. It was always the salt that governed his motive. Not honey, not nature, but salt. His relationship to God is father.
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But did he not love his mother? Most assuredly he did. Now this incident in John 19 proves 2 Things. It proves first of all that Joseph had died.
Mary's husband. He's off the scene. If he was still there, then the Lord would not have committed his mother to anyone else because Joseph would have cared. Would have cared for her. Why didn't he leave her with?
Her four sons and daughters that we read of in Matthew 13.
They were still living.
We know that James and Jude were living because they wrote epistles in the New Testament.
Now referred to later because they were still in underneath. What do we do? What a rebuke to them that he could not leave his mother. If he was acting just by nature, according to the principle of hunting, he would have said nothing. He would have just left his mother for her sons and daughters to care for her, but instead he commits her to John.
The disciple whom Jesus was to one who had faith, to one who was spiritual, to one that would care for her as he desired. What a rebuke to his brothers after the flesh. Now turn to Acts chapter One, please.
Acts, Chapter One. The Lord is risen now.
Here we have a resurrection scene verse 13 and when they were come in they went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew, Phillip and Thomas.
Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon's, Elohim, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer. Those were the apostles. Minus Judas is carried, of course. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. There you have his brothers after the flesh. They're there now. They've come to faith now through the resurrection.
Now he's risen and they saw him in resurrection, and they now believe, and they're there. They're there with the other believers, very beautiful and wonderful. They weren't there when it was just a matter of nature, but now they've passed from nature into the spiritual realm that they've been born of God.
That which is born of the flesh's flesh, and the flesh profiteth nothing, And as long as one is only in the flesh, he cannot see the Kingdom of God and enter into it, can't understand it, can't appreciate it, can't value it. We need to have a new nature.
Now turn to 1St Corinthians 15 Please another resurrection chapter, First Corinthians 15.
Verse three I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas.
Who's that? That's Peter, of course. Whose other name? Cephas. Why did he appear to Cephas in resurrection? Because Cephas. Peter had denied the Lord three times with oaths and curses, and he had said I won't do that. But he had done it, and he needed to be restored individually first before he was restored publicly. So he appeared to Cephas.
Then of the 12, the 12 apostles, and after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained under this present, but some are fallen asleep. And after that he was seen of James. Who is this?
Well, it was his brother. His half brother.
You say. How do you know that? Well, the very next thing it says, then, of all the apostles, he's not one of the apostles.
He's separate. He's distinct from the apostles. James was not an apostle, but he had a place of leadership in the early church and he wrote an epistle. And last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time. Now notice he the Lord in resurrection. 2 of the persons that are mentioned by me that he appeared to were Peter, Cephas, Peter and James. Now let's turn to Galatians chapter one where we have the Apostle Paul being saved.
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And going to Jerusalem, and he appeared, or he had a visit with these same 2.
Persons James Galatians, Chapter One, verse 15.
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred. Not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him 15 days.
So there's Peter's name mentioned, but other of the apostles saw, I know save James. And now there's no question as to what James he's talking about. James the Lords, brother.
Now the things which I write unto you before God, behold before God I lie not.
He also is mentioned a little bit later in Galatians chapter 2.
Verse 11 The same two men. But when Peter was come to Antioch I was stood into the face because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from James. Same two men mentioned he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they would come he withdrew and separated himself. During them which were of the circumcision. They came from James who was resident at Jerusalem. Now let's turn to Acts chapter 15.
Where we will see the same two mentioned, the two that the Lord appeared to in resurrection, the two that the Apostle Paul saw when he went to Jerusalem, Peter and James. And now we have these same two that pronounce the final sentence that is endorsed by the Holy Spirit that the Gentiles were not to be put under law. Acts 15 verse one. And certain men which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said except to be circumcised after the matter of Moses.
You cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension, and disputation with them. They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other events should go up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Tennessee and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, And they cause great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, that is, the Gentiles, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for the consider of this matter.
Now in verse seven we have Peter mentioned.
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto their men. And brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and be saved, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt you God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they we Jews, shall be saved even as they Gentiles, on the principle of faith and by grace.
Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. But that's all it says about Barnabas. And Paul doesn't say that they gave any, any, any judgment. Now comes the final judgment, and who is it that gives it? James. This same word that we were looking at. Peter gives his sentence. James gives his. The Lord appeared to Peter and to James. Paul went to Jerusalem and saw Peter and James.
And now we have James verse 13. And after they had held their peace, James answered again. This is the Lord's brother.
Saying men and brethren hearken unto me, Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name, and to this agree, and so on, And then verse 19. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollution to vitals, and from fornication, and from thin strangles, and from blood, he said, My sentence is and a little later on just to skip some verses for the sake of time.
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Later on in verse 28, they say it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. The men that were sent from Jerusalem have arrived at Antioch, and this is what they give them. Just exactly what James had concluded, that she abstained from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well.
So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch, and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle, and they rejoiced for the consolation. So here again we have Peter giving his judgment and James, and that's endorsed, and it's spoken as the sentence of the Holy Spirit.
All right, now let's turn to Acts 21.
We will come across James again and the Apostle Paul this time now in Acts 21.
Verse 3 And when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed it tire, for there the ship was to unlaid her burden.
And finding disciples, we carried there seven days, who said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
They said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. He was the apostle of the uncircumcision. Peter was the apostle of the circumcision. He was the one that was sent to the Jews. Paul was not, but he loved them. He loved them so much that he says in Romans 10. I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for my brethren according to the flesh. He loved them so much he was willing to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
But that was in God's mind at all. If he had died at Jerusalem, we wouldn't have the prison epistles. We wouldn't have Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Timothy. We wouldn't have them. We wouldn't have the highest ministry that God has given. It wasn't God's mind that he died at Jerusalem because he had such an intense love for his brethren after the flesh. You see, he was guided by honey.
And whenever we're guided by honey, by just our natural affection, even though that's proper in its place, there's nothing wrong with that. But for that to guide us instead of the word of God, it's wrong.
Nature can't ever answer the call of God.
Nature can't. It has to be subjection to the word of God by the power of the Spirit of God. And here is this mighty man. We saw Peter trying to prevent the Lord from going to the cross because he loved himself and he's rebuilt that Satan.
Get the behind me, Satan. Thou savoured not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. And here the apostle Paul himself, the great apostle to the Gentiles, who wrote the epistle to the Galatians, saying that the Jews and Gentiles are not under law. What's he about to do? Make a serious mistake? Well, let's just follow it through. And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way, verse 5. And they all brought us on our way with wives and children till we were out of the city, And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed.
And when we had taken our leave one of another we took ship, and they returned home again. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais and saluted the brethren in a boat with them one day. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came into Caesarea. And we entered into the House of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with them and the seven. And the same man had four virgin daughters, which he prophecy. And as we tarried there many days there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place, we saw him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered what we need to weep and to break my heart. For I am ready not only not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. His motives were pure. He had good motives. He loved his Jewish brethren. He was willing to die for the Lord. There that wasn't God's will, That wasn't God's mind, that wasn't God directing him together. He was told not to go, but he was motivated by his perfect love.
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1St President, I went to God that when we failed, we failed that way, but still it was failure. That's not, that's not mitigate that. Let's not present it as something other than that It was failure. It was hunting. And when you would not be persuaded, we ceased saying the will of the Lord be done. And after those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem. There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mason of Cyprus and old disciple with whom he should live.
And when we were come to Jerusalem, the Brethren received us gladly. Now here they were, Jerusalem. He was told not to go. They pleaded with him not to go, but he goes.
And the day following, Paul went in with us unto James. There's James again. He was the leader of Jerusalem. He was not an apostle. He was the Lord's brother, but he had a place of prominence. He gave the final sentence. We saw it in Acts 15 that the Gentiles were not to be put under law.
Today following Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present. Now he's in a place of weakness, not the place of strength. He wasn't to be at Jerusalem, and so he failed.
And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto him, Thou seest brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe. And they're all zealous of the law. Today I've decided in Acts 15 the Gentiles were not to be put under law, but it never ended their minds. Not yet that the Jews weren't under law either. These early Jewish Christians, they were still under law. They were zealous for it. And so if this condition of things had been allowed to continue, you would have had a Gentile church not under law, in a Jewish church under law of cortex. Impossible. But God bore with this.
For a while. And the Epistle to the Hebrews was written to deliver the Jews who believed from the law. That's why that was written. That came later. But at this point in time James was under law, and so were all the other things at Jerusalem.
And they are informed of thee, verse 21, that thou teachest to all the Jews which are among the Gentiles, who forsake Moses.
Saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, needed to walk after the customs. What is it? Therefore the multitude must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this, that we say to thee, we have four men which have a vow on them. The Nazarite vow like them, take and purify thyself with them, and be a charges with them, that they may shave their heads. And all may know that those things where they were informed concerning, they are nothing but that thou thyself also walk us orderly, and keep us the law.
Now here we have the great apostles.
Of the Gentiles.
Putting himself under the law.
In order to appease these Jews who believed who were under law.
As touching the Gentiles which believed. Going back to Acts 15, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. Why didn't Paul then say just a minute? You Jews who believe aren't under law either.
It doesn't do that.
You didn't have the power to do that. Not a Jerusalem.
So what does he do then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification. Until then, an offering should be offered for every one of them. And when the seven days were almost ended, God did not allow him to carry this vow out.
He interrupts it.
The Jews, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him.
Crying out men of Israel help. This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law in this place, and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and have polluted this holy place. For they had seen before with him in the city of Trophymus, in the city Trophymas and Egypt, and Ephesians, whom they suppose that Paul had brought into the Temple.
And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple. And forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him tidings came under the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down onto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. Then chief captain came there and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was and what he had done, and so on.
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So he gets to groan as a prisoner in chains. God saw to it. But he almost loses his life that he loses him. He said he was willing to do that, but that wasn't God's mind. He was led by nature.
He was led for his intense love for his grazing after the Flash.
You can't fault him for that, but you see, there's something higher than that.
And that's the will of God.
And the Christian is to walk as Christ walked through, always walked according to, and in the will of God.
There's only one man that's been here. All others have failed. Abraham faith.
To walk, to answer the call of God as long as terror his father was alive.
Peter failed because he had natural love for the Lord Jesus.
Paul faith because he had natural love for his Jewish friend we've all faced.
We've all allowed hunting.
On nature to guide us as to many areas in our lives, whereas it ought to be.
And the will of God.
There was one man that always acted accordingly to the real God, precious sacred.
And we're to walk. If she walked, we know we failed. The greatest apostles fail.
Week there, too.
But how important that we don't act and make our decisions.
On the level of nature.
But according to the word of God.
Without having.
Prayer
Address—J. Hyland
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And on thy care depend to thee in every trouble flee our safe, unfailing friend. 243 Will summon Please start it.
Yes, I'd like to begin this evening by reading several portions. The first one is in Luke, Chapter 18.
Luke, chapter 18 and verse 10.
Two men went up to the temple to pray the 1A Pharisee and the other a publican, and then in Hebrews 13.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 15 By him therefore.
Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. And then in Philippians chapter 4.
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Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Well, these may seem like strange scriptures to connect at the beginning of a meeting like this.
But I'd like what the Lords help this evening to speak a little bit of the privilege we have and the resource that we have in prayer. We spoke the other night of the resource that we have in God's Word and how God speaks to us through His Word, and how we need to let Him speak and apply it to every aspect of our lives. And so, very simply, when we open and read the Word of God, God speaks to us, but then we have the privilege of coming and speaking to Him in prayer.
But when I take up a subject in the word of God, I like to go back to the beginning.
And what is the beginning for us as Christians? It's that time when we recognize two things, when we recognize our own needs, and then God's provision for us. And that's what this man in the 18th chapter of Luke where we began he, that's what he recognized these two things. We didn't read the verses here. They're well known to us. But we find that these two men went up to the temple to pray.
One man thought he was a pretty good fellow, and it's interesting what it says of him. He prayed thus with himself. His prayer never got above the temple roof as he tried to tell God that all the things that he could he had done that he felt merited him favor before God.
He said I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess and so on.
But there was another man there, and he recognized his need before God. He wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but he smote himself on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a Sinner. And aren't we thankful as we sit here tonight as we look back, some of us over a few years, some perhaps over many years? But doesn't it rejoice our hearts to look back to that time when we came as guilty sinners, realizing that there was nothing we could do?
To merit favor before God. Nothing we could do to rid ourselves of our sins. But we came as this man here, and we owned our guilt. But then we realized that God had made full provision for us. I say this is the beginning because the things that we're going to speak of tonight have no application to those who have never come to this point, like this publican, to confess their needs.
And it says, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. And so this is the beginning, because when the children of Israel were redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb, and delivered from the land of Egypt, and from Pharaoh, who is a picture of Satan, Egypt a picture of this world, the Lord said to them, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It was a new beginning for the people of God.
As they came under the blood of the Passover Lamb and were redeemed and delivered from *******. And so it was indeed the beginning for us as we came and that burden of sins was taken away and we were justified before God and brought into a place of favor and blessing with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I say this is the beginning and I would say if there's someone here and that you have never prayed the prayer of the public and.
The things we're going to speak up tonight, I say, have no application to you because if we haven't come in this way, then we cannot come and address God in prayer. I believe it that you find in First Timothy four. I think it's the fifth verse, that if you read it in Mr. Darby's translation, it speaks a prayer. There it says it's freely addressing God and isn't it a wonderful thing that we can come and we can speak to God?
We can freely address him now. The hindrance has been removed. We're brought right into the presence of God.
And we can come, as it says in Hebrews, boldly under a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I say the barriers are removed, the hindrances are removed, and we can come in a far closer relationship than any have enjoyed in any past dispensation. And so I want to make this very practical tonight in connection with prayer, and I want to show how it applies to every part of our Christian lives.
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You know, Christianity is not just a theology or a philosophy or something mystical. Christianity is a reality. And you find that those who had faith in the Old Testament, it says that faith is the evidence of things hoped for from the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Some of us were Speaking of this today, and I used to think that that was a definition of faith, but I don't believe that's what you have there.
What he's really saying is that it was faith that gave substance to their lives. And so as we walked by faith, as we listened to him speak to us, as we speak to him in prayer, then our lives have meaning. It's a reality if there's substance to our lives. And So what a wonderful thing to be brought into this relationship where we can freely address God in prayer. But as I say, I want to make this very, very practical this evening.
That's why I said this verse in Hebrews chapter 13. Because here we read that we can come and offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, because this is the first thing after we're saved. You know, if someone has done a great deal for you, what is the initial reaction? You want to come and thank them. Perhaps they paid a great debt. Perhaps they've even saved your life and you come and you thank them.
For what they have done, and we have the privilege, after we're saved, of coming and thanking God.
For the gift of his son, and for reaching out to us in all our need. Because, brethren, it was all a work of grace in our souls.
If the choice had been left to us, we never would have come. But he in his grace has departed, imparted.
Divine life to us. He opened our eyes to see beauty in Christ. He, by the Spirit, worked in our hearts and in our consciences so that we realized our need and so that we came. Like the man in Luke's gospel, I say it was all a work of grace that drew us to the Savior and opened our eyes to see beauty in that blessed one. And so we come now after we're saved and we pour out our hearts in praise.
Thanksgiving. You have to see that with the 10 lepers, how that they were all cleansed, but only one returned to give him thanks. And I just hear the sadness in the voice of the Lord Jesus as he said to that man where they're not ten cleansed, but where the nine. He valued the response of that man's heart, but he wondered why there was only one out of the 10 that had returned to give him thanks.
And so we can give him the sacrifice of praise. In the 116th Psalm, David raises a question. He says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? And a few verses later, in that same song, he answers the question. I will offer to him the sacrifice of Thanksgiving. And brother, that's what he wants from our hearts. He wants that praise. And I realize that if there is any response in our hearts by grace.
That he has put that response there. David said all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. But all he delights in that response from your heart and mind. And so we can come and it says in everything give thanks. And isn't he worthy as we think of what he has done for us in connection with salvation, and then what he has done for us since we are, we've been saved.
You know, when we get into a difficulty, the tendency is to forget how he has undertaken for us in the past. And you know, it's wonderful to come and make requests and to ask his help in a situation. But when he does take care of the situation and there is a victory in our lives, do we forget to return and to give him thanks, to thank him for that which he has done in the past, I say it is so easy.
When we face a new trial, a new difficulty to forget his undertaking for us in the circumstance and the circumstances that we have already passed through. And there's something precious in this verse here in Hebrews because it speaks of the sacrifice of praise. You know, brethren, so much does the Lord Jesus, and so much does God the Father value the response of your heart and mind.
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That he counts it as a sacrifice. As I say, it's very wonderful when we think of how he has put that response in our hearts. And then he turns around and he says now I count it as a sacrifice. That's how much it means to his heart to have his own praise him and thank him. And it's the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Because as I say, if someone has done a great deal for you, you don't just thank them once.
But perhaps every time you see them, you say thank you for what you've done. I appreciate it. And wouldn't you think it's strange if you had done something for someone, got them out of a bad situation, and they didn't return to thank you for what they had done? And I just say to my own heart tonight before we pass on, when is the last time that I thank the Lord Jesus for dying for me? When is the last time that I actually stopped? And thank God for sending his Son. Oh, he's so worthy of the response of our hearts.
But I'd just like to apply this too, in a collective sense, because as I've often said, when you have the individual side of the truth, then there's a comparable truth in connection with the collective sense of things. And Lord's Day Morning, when we were gathered together to remember the Lord Jesus in his death, we came not to get, but we came to give. We came to give the sacrifice of praise to God to pour out our hearts collectively.
Because it's true that individually he loved us and gave himself for us, as Paul said in Galatians. But then collectively, Christ also loved the church.
And gave himself for it. And so we have the privilege of coming to the worship meeting to thank him collectively for what he has done for us. And, you know, I think this is, there's a nice encouragement in Mary in connection with the sisters because it's true on Lord's day morning that the brothers take part audibly. But, you know, when Mary poured out her ointment at the feet of the Lord Jesus, it says the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. You know, I'm thankful that it was Mary that poured out an ointment there and not Lazarus.
Because if it had been Lazarus, you'd say, well, of course the brothers can take pirate, but it was married. It was, shall I say, a sister. And I really believe that a sister on Lord's Day morning, whose heart is full of praise and worship, is a tremendous blessing to the assembly. And perhaps some of the brothers have experienced this. How that a sister has said to you after that for him she had on her heart, are the scriptures that were brought before her.
With a very scriptures that you had read or the hymn that you had given out. And so I believe when a sister comes and her heart is full of praise, I believe it can sometimes even set the whole tone for the worship meeting. And so her as she poured out the ointment, the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. But I want to just say a little word for my own conscience, because sometimes I come on Lord's Day morning. And if I say we come to give on Lord's Day morning.
But if I don't bring something, I don't have anything to give. And sometimes I have to confess that I come on Wednesday morning and there isn't much response from my heart. There isn't much praise in my heart. Why? Because I haven't been enjoying Christ during the week. I'd like to, just, without turning to it, make a little application concerning the marriage in Canaan of Galilee. And I realize that there we have a prophetic picture with the third day of Israel. No doubt a millennial scene.
But Scripture always has a present application and I thought of those six water pots that stood there at that marriage. And when they took those six water pots, they were told to fill them to the brim with water. And I thought of those six water pots of six days of the week. And brother, we need to fill the water pot 6 days of the week and we need to fill them to the brim. Scriptures tremendously accurate. They didn't say they were just to fill them, but they were to fill them to the brim.
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Because when you fill something to the brim, there's not no room for anything else. And so we need to have our lives filled with Christ. We need to seek to read His word, let Him speak to us, speak to Him in prayer, fill up the water pot 6 days of the week, and then we can come, as it were, on the 7th day, and we can pour out to the true governor of the feast. If they hadn't filled the water parts, there wouldn't have been anything for the Lord to turn into wine, because I believe wine speaks to us of joy or praise.
And so we can come as we have filled the water pots, and he can turn it into praise.
So that we will have something to pour out to him when we come on Lord's Day Morning. And so I just say it to exercise my own heart. I cannot expect to come on Lords Day morning with a heart full of praise if I haven't enjoyed the person of Christ throughout the week. But I believe as we enjoy the person of Christ, then there will be that fitting response for him on Wednesday morning. And again, He counts it as a sacrifice.
We sometimes think of the effort that is put forth to be in His presence, those of us who have families. Sometimes it does take effort, it takes diligence, but all it means so much to His heart to have us come together in that way with that response in our hearts. And the Lord Jesus said to the woman at the well, they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such.
To worship Him. You know, it's not the greatness of the response that matters, although he does want our appreciation of the person and work of Christ to grow so that there ought there will be a greater response. But you know, if you notice carefully there in John Four, it wasn't worshipped so much that the Lord was looking for but worshippers. Now it's true that worship is the fruit of it, but He wanted worshippers because it's not the greatness of the response.
If any little response to him that he counts as a sacrifice, and I think you have this brought out in Leviticus in connection with the burnt offering, which was the free will offering. It wasn't the greatness of the offering that counted, it was the fact that there was a response in that Israelite heart.
And when he brought something from the herd, or something from the flock, or something, even those birds, every one of those offerings, when they were offered in the proper way, they rose as a sweet smelling savor to God. It wasn't the greatness of the offering, the one who brought those birds he might have looked at, the one who brought something from the flock, or something from the herd, and he might have said, well, my offerings, not very great.
In comparison to his offering. But that's not what counted. It was the response of the heart that God valued.
And I say, when those offerings were offered in the proper way, God got all the Savior. He found joy and delight in those offerings. And I believe that true worship springs from a heart overflowing with Christ. And when our hearts are overflowing with Christ, when there's that spirit of praise and Thanksgiving, then we come. And as we offer up Christ to the Father, then it rises as a sweet, smelling savour.
To him. And so we can offer the sacrifice of praise. But you say I have requests, I have needs, and those needs are very real. And I believe this is true particularly in the day in which we live. The people of God have always had needs. There's always been difficulties, and trials just follow through from the book of Genesis. You see this because Satan is always opposed to that which God has established.
And those who have sought to walk in the truth in any age have always found themselves in the minority.
Rather than in the majority. They've always found opposition both individually and collectively. And so there are real needs. And that's why I read this verse in Philippians 4 because he says here be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and brother, while we have real needs, he reminds us here again.
That as we come, and we make those needs known to Him, and we pour out our hearts in connection with our situations, yet we are to come with Thanksgiving. You know, the difficulty with Israel when they were in the wilderness was that they only looked at the present circumstance. They only looked at their situation, and they failed to see the hand of the Lord behind it all. And they when they did that, they murmured in their tenants. When they when they saw the hand of the Lord, then they sang His praise.
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But when they only looked at the situation, it brought discouragement and brethren, If we only look at the situation, we're going to be discouraged. But if we look to him and realize how he has undertaken for us in the past, it will cultivate the spirit of Thanksgiving and praise in our lives. And brethren, it's very easy to cultivate a critical, grumbling spirit to only look at the circumstance, but we need to look above the circumstance.
To look to him that there might be that Thanksgiving. And so as we come and make requests, let's not forget to thank him for past answers. To prayer for all that he has done for us, for all that he is doing for us. And let's not forget to thank him for all that's ahead in that coming day of glory, when we will be beyond the need and the resource of prayer. And so here we're told not to worry or to be careful for nothing, not to be full of care.
You know, this speaks to my own heart because as some of us have already been saying, I worry about things that I think are going to happen tomorrow. And, you know, when tomorrow comes, God has already taken care of the situation. I think that's the thrust of that verse that's in the end of Matthew 6. It says there take no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Very simply, he's saying there that we worry about things that we think are going to happen tomorrow.
And when tomorrow comes, they never happen. And even if they do happen, the Lord hasn't changed.
He's the same yesterday, today and forever. You'll bear a little repetition just in that connection.
Because I thought, of the women that came early to the sepulchre, what was the subject of their conversation?
Who of us shall roll away the stone? They were concerned about a difficulty that they thought was going to present itself when they got to the sepulchre. But they needn't have worried when they got to the sepulchre. The Lord had taken care of the difficulty. That stone, it says, was very great, but it was already rolled away. Why was it rolled away? I don't believe it was rolled away So the Lord could come out in resurrection, because in resurrection He had a body that wasn't subject to physical hindrances.
That's why later on, when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, he came and stood in the midst of them. Those walls didn't have a weren't a hindrance to him in resurrection. Why was the stone removed? It was removed so they could look in and see that empty tomb and hear those glorious words.
He is not here. He is risen. And so he says here to be careful for nothing, or not to be full of care, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known unto God. And so we have those requests that we can bring to Him and brother. He knows our needs even before we ask, but He wants us to come independent and express those needs.
I've often said that I believe God withholds an answer to prayer until there's that spirit of dependence with us, and then when we have come in prayer and expressed our need. Because I believe that prayer is the expression of dependence and confidence. It's the that is, when I pray, I'm really telling the Lord I don't have any might for the situation, but I'm expressing confidence that he is able. And so when we come and express that need, then he's got the answer right with him. It's just like he withholds it until there's that.
Expression with his children.
And then he comes in, and he delivers in a very wonderful way. It says, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Well, as I said, like to make this very practical. I like to speak first of all of individual prayers. And so let's turn over to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6, and verse 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet.
And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Well, as I say, what we have brought before us here is closet or individual prayers, those times when we get along with the Lord, and we just pour out our hearts and tell them everything. You know, it's very few people that you can tell that you know that you can tell them everything. You know. If you told them all about you and told them everything, maybe they wouldn't want to be around you.
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How many people, if they knew all about me, they wouldn't want to be around me. But here's one that we can come.
And we can talk to him in our closet. There are things you can't say in the family prayer time. There are things you can't say in the assembly prayer meeting, but you can say them when you're alone with the Lord. And I'm sure many of us can look back to those victories that were won upon our knees, the little poem says.
And in blessing to the Saints, they were men and women of prayer. We're going to mention some of them as we go along, but there are many. I think of Epifras. You know, he labored in prayer, and little did he know that it would be written down in God's eternal record to abide for eternity. Because I I believe we can serve the Saints on our knees. We can pray for one another. Paul expressed on several occasions how he prayed for the Saints, and he also expressed on many occasions.
How he appreciated the prayers of the Saints for him, and so we need to.
Pray for one another. We can bring one another to the throne of grace to bear them up as to those needs, and that we might be preserved too in the path of faith. You know, sometimes we pray for folks when they're in trouble, and that's good, brethren. But you know, we need to use prayer as a preventative measure too, because we appalled, delighted to pray for the Saints when they were going on well notice in Philippians and I think in Thessalonica.
Defined in both those assemblies there was a freshness, There was a fervor there. And yet Paul spoke of how he prayed for the Saints there continually. He prayed for the Brethren when they were going on well, that they may be that they would be preserved. And I just picture dear Epifrast as he labored in prayer. Maybe he wasn't a brother that took much part in the assembly, but he went home, and he saw those needs that the Saints had, and he got along with the Lord, and he brought the Saints before the Lord, and he prayed too, for his brethren who were going on.
And so, Brandon, this is what we need. Sometimes we feel helpless, perhaps, in a situation.
But we can always pray for a brother or for a sister. Doesn't take any special gift to pray for one another. Will we find that Daniel was a man of prayer? We find that three, three times a day he got along with the Lord. And you know what's interesting? What it says there in connection with Daniel, Because when Daniel got into a situation that was very difficult in connection with the lion's den and praying to his God.
He knew where to turn. He wasn't overwhelmed by the difficulties, but it's nice what it says there. When the petition was signed, he went into his room. He opened his window towards Jerusalem, he kneeled down and he prayed three times a day, as he did a four times. I think that's very instructive and encouraging, because if you notice for some time, it seems that under the new king, Daniel had really prospered.
He prospered in his business. Things were going very well, but he prayed not just when he got in trouble, but as he did a four time. It was the habit of Daniels life, even when things went well, to get a loan and talk to his God. That's what prayer is.
It's just talking to God, you know. If you have a friend and you feel you can turn to that friend in difficulty, maybe you only call them when there's a problem. Pretty soon they get tired of talking to you. They say you only call when there's a problem or a difficulty. We never just enjoy those happy times of fellowship together. Well, you know, while it's true, we can call on the Lord in difficulty, yet he wants us to come and just enjoy fellowship and communion with himself.
It says truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And I can just picture Daniel as things were going well and yet he took that time to commune with his God, just to enter into the heart of his God, just to speak to his God, to tell him everything, just to talk and to enjoy that communion. And then when the problem came, he knew where to turn. Isn't it nice if you have a friend and you enjoy those happy times of fellowship and communion, and you enter into the heart of one another? You say we understand one another.
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Then when a problem arises, you know where to turn. You say we understand one another, and so you can turn to that friend when the difficulty does arise. And So what a wonderful thing to take time in our closet alone with the Lord. And if we have a problem, brethren, we can come to him. And if it takes five hours, he's still willing to listen. If not, very many people will listen to us for all night. But you know, we read of those who pray all night.
Samuel spent all night in prayer concerning the condition of the people of God. Paul said he prayed for the Saints day and night. Lord Jesus, before he chose his disciples, those who would be closest to him in his public ministry, he spent all night in prayer. In fact, I would just say that we have a beautiful example in the Lord Jesus because in Luke's gospel where he brought before us as the dependent man.
Seven times you have him in prayer to his Father, and he's left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps. And I realized that he was the sinless, the spotless Son of God. But if he as a man could feel in his pathway the need of lifting up his eyes to heaven and praying to his Father, independence, how much more you and I, what an example we have for our pathway. And as I say, we can come at any time.
I speak reverently. He doesn't keep office hours like some folks. How often have you called the doctor or the lawyer or an accountant or somebody you needed in a situation and you've got a machine? That said, well, the doctors out till Monday call back, the lawyer's not in today. And you say how frustrating. I know they could help me if I could get a hold of them, but, you know, there's always an open mind between you and the Lord.
You can turn to him at any time of the day or night. And I like what it says in the 46th Psalm. It says he's a very present health in time of trouble. You know, I might offer to help you if you're ever in a situation, but you know, when the situation arises, maybe I'm not available and you can't get a hold of me. And you say he wasn't a present. Hell, the Lord is always available. But more than that, perhaps you do get a hold of me.
And I listen to the problem.
And I shake my head and say I can't help you on this one. And so not only is he willing to listen.
But it says in Isaiah 40, he giveth power to the faith and to them that have no strength. The increase of might that is, he's not only he only listens to it all because it's good to have someone who's a good listener, but then he's able to help no matter what the situation. There's nothing too difficult for him. There's no situation that's beyond his control or beyond his health, and so he can help us to mount up with wings of Eagles.
To run and not be weary and to walk and not faint, and So what a privilege. And it's interesting here in Matthew 6 that the Lord Jesus makes a contrast because there were those in his day prescribed from the Pharisees who would make long prayers in the marketplace. They wanted to be heard for their eloquent prayers and for their words. But the Lord said that's not what he was looking for. He was looking for a response from the heart.
He was looking for prayers that came as a result of a felt need, and so he rebuked them here. And you know, it's interesting that you never find long prayers enumerated in the Scripture. It's true, there were those, as I say, who spent all night in prayer. But you know, the longest prayer that's given to us in the Old Testament is Solomon's prayer, the dedication of the Temple. And if you read it slowly, it might take you 3 minutes.
The longest prayer in the New Testament is the Lord's High Priestly Prayer in the 17th of John. And if you read it slowly it might take you 2 minutes. And so we never have long prayers enumerated for us. Sometimes there are long prayers perhaps, and I don't take away from that. But I say what the Lord is looking for is a response from our heart and a response to a felt need in our lives. And so isn't it wonderful Brandon that we can turn to him?
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Get it? Go into our closet. Just shut our door and to talk to the Lord. And He knows all about us. He knows all about the situation before we act, but He wants us to speak to him. Now let's turn over to Acts Chapter 2.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 42.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine and fellowship.
And in breaking of bread and in prayers, well, here we have what we might say are the assembly meetings.
The meeting up for breaking of bread, the worship meeting, the meetings where we have the word of God before us, ministry in the assembly and then we have prayers and they're brought together here. And we're told that the early believers who were first gathered to the Lords name, they valued this privilege of collective prayer, it says when he takes up the subject of the administration of the local assembly in Matthew 18.
That one of the things that is to characterize those who are gathered to the Lords name, is dependence in prayer, collective prayer. And it says there two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, It shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven.
Because while we have needs individually, we also have needs collectively. And I believe that that's what assembly prayer is for. It's to bring before the Lord those needs that we have as assemblies and as an assembly, and as those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a resource this is. I said that prayer was the powerhouse of our lives individually, but I also believe it's the powerhouse of the assembly.
And brethren, why is it that sometimes the prayer meeting is the most poorly attended? Well, I believe there are perhaps two reasons. One, we don't really recognize that the Lord is there. Because if we really believe the Lord was there on Wednesday night, just as he is on Lords Day morning, wouldn't we desire to be in His presence collectively? And I suppose the other thing is, we don't really recognize the power there is in collective prayer. We have some examples of collective prayer. I'll just cite a couple of.
In the Old Testament, we find again with Daniel. You know, Daniel was a wonderful man of prayer. That's why he had such blessing and power in his life. That's why it was used in such a wonderful way. But we find there that there was an occasion where there was a situation that didn't just affect Daniel, but it affected his three friends as well. The king was angry because no one could interpret the dream or even tell him the dream that he had, and he said that all the wise men of Babylon were going to perish.
If the dream wasn't revealed and interpreted, and again, was Daniel overwhelmed by the situation? No. He gathered his three friends together and they had a prayer meeting and the Lord came in and answered their prayer in a wonderful way. We find the most beautiful example of assembly prayer in Acts 12, where again there was a difficulty and a burden that affected the people of God as a whole. Peter was in prison. The Saints were concerned because it seemed like Peter was going to be.
Put to death for the testimony of Jesus.
And so they came together to have a prayer meeting, and God came in and answered their prayer. It was a tremendous request to think that the Lord would deliver Peter in that way. And you know, it's interesting there that as they came together to pray, they really didn't have much faith because when Peter came and knocked at the door, they didn't even believe that he was there. But God honored that exercise and answered their collective prayers. And haven't we seen that in the assembly where we came with a felt need and we poured out our hearts before the Lord?
We came, as it were, to the end of ourselves as an assembly, and then we brought that need and that burden, and the Lord came in and answered our prayers. But again, I think there's something nice for the sisters there in Acts 12 because Rhoda was at the assembly prayer meeting and Rhoda was a damsel or a young girl. And Rhoda might have said, well, the brothers can pray at the prayer meeting and I can pray just as well at home. Well, she could have prayed just as well at home.
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But you know, I believe that the Lord gave Rhoda a special blessing that night as she was there with her brethren. He allowed it. So she was the one who went to the door and saw first hand the power of God to answer assembly prayers. If she hadn't been there on that occasion, she would have heard about it. She would have rejoiced with the Saints, but it wouldn't have been the same. And as she saw the power of God to answer prayer in the assembly.
I wonder if Rhoda missed very many prayer meetings after that. I'm sure her desire and her exercise was to be there. And if we want to see God answer prayer in the assembly, we need to be at the assembly prayer meeting. I know the assembly wasn't formed in the first chapter of Acts, but I think there's a principle there. It says of those ones who were waiting in obedience at Jerusalem. It says they continued with one according prayer.
With the women also that were with them, you find when they came to Philippi, there they went out where there was a prayer meeting and there were sisters gathered together for prayer. And I realized there again, it's not the assembly, but I've often wondered if that wasn't the beginning of that work in Philippi.
If that wasn't the beginning of the assembly there, and if God didn't honor the collective prayers of those dear sisters as they came together in that way. And so again I say to the sisters, your presence at the prayer meeting, your silent prayers are a tremendous blessing, and we need to avail ourselves of the resource that we have in collective prayer. And Brother and I feel a special burden in connection with collective or assembly prayer in the day in which we live.
Because I believe we would see more power and blessing in the assembly if we would be at the assembly prayer meeting and if we would avail ourselves of the resource in the way that God has established. I want to say just a couple of practical remarks in that connection. Because as we come together for collective prayer, first of all it is to bring those needs that affect the people of God as a whole. And brethren, I don't believe there's an assembly on the face of the earth tonight that isn't going through some real trial or difficulties.
The Lord's people have tremendous needs. The assemblies gathered to the Lord's name have tremendous and real needs and so we can come and bring those needs before Him and brother. Let's be specific in our assembly prayers that I believe if we were more specific we would see more answer to prayer. Now I don't want to be misunderstood because I believe that the assembly prayer meeting it's good to embrace the whole household of faith.
And it's good to pray for the gospel work worldwide. But we need to be specific as we bring the needs of the local brethren and the local assembly before the Throne of Grace. Now, I will grant you, there are some things you cannot pray for in the assembly, and we need to use discretion and wisdom in our collective prayers. But, you know, I want to just say this too. But why is it sometimes we're afraid to pray for a brother?
Or a sister by name, and to pray concerning a need that they have that is known in the assembly.
Because that brother and son or sister is kneeling on the other side of the room, Brethren, I believe as we bring one another to the throne of grace in our collective prayers and pray for those needs that are already known and have been expressed in the assembly and that burden the Saints, I don't believe it would tear us apart. It would draw us closer together as we saw and heard the heartfelt prayers of our brethren who pray for us by name and brother. As I said, I believe it would draw us closer together because we cannot really pray for one another from the heart.
If there's malice or bitterness one to another in our hearts, and so we need to pray for one another in this way in the assembly. Now when a brother prays audibly in the assembly, he's the mouthpiece of the assembly. I think this is one of the wonderful things about collective prayer, because if I forget to pray for something that is a need amongst the Saints, then another by the spirit of God can pray for that same thing.
We all have to say the same thing. Maybe we do. Maybe we come together. And like in Daniel's day, I'm sure that everyone of those four men prayed for the same thing because it was a real burden and a real need at the time. When they came together in Acts 12, they all prayed for Peters Deliverance. And so there are times when there's such a felt need and a burden that perhaps we, each one who, each one who prays, audibly prays for the same thing. Maybe not much else is prayed for that night because it's such a burden.
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But if I forget to pray for something, then the Lord can use another to bring that out and to pray. And I think that's why it's good, Brethren, And I want to be very careful, but I do want to be practical, because at the end of a brother's prayer, as he prays audibly on behalf of the Saints, I believe it's good to say Amen. You know, in Ezra's day, it's after Ezra prayed. It says this, and all the people said Amen.
And you know, it encourages a brother to. When a brother prays, there's nothing more discouraging than a few weak men's. At the end of the prayer, if we agree with the brother, if he has spoken and expressed those things that are that our needs amongst us, let's say Amen to his prayers. Because Amen is the expression that we give in connection with consent to a brother's prayer. Of course, I would just say that we need to pray.
Clearly in the assembly, so that our brethren hear us, because you can hardly say Amen to a brother's prayer if you don't hear what the brother prays for. And you know, I believe it's proper to kneel at the assembly of prayer meetings. I have no problem with those who cannot do it, but it's nice to kneel. But I would just say to the brothers, when we pray, let's raise our heads so that our brother can hear, because we're speaking on behalf of the assembly.
And if a brother does that, then I just say to us again, let's say a nice, clear Amen.
At the end of the brothers prayer, I believe too it will encourage the younger brothers to pray.
If we say Amen at the end of their prayers, well, now let's turn over to 1St Thessalonians Chapter 5.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 17.
Pray without ceasing. Well, we've spoken of first of all how we come as sinners, and we pray that prayer of the publican. God be merciful to me, a Sinner. Then we've spoken of how we come with praise and Thanksgiving in our hearts. Then we've spoken of individual prayer and those times we get along with the Lord. Then there's collective prayer in the assembly. But here's something a little different.
Here's what we might say is instantaneous prayer because, you know, sometimes we're faced with a situation.
Perhaps at school or at work, Oregon, at home. And we don't have time to like Daniel.
Go into his room and bring the matter before the Lord. We don't have time like Daniel together.
Others together and to bring the matter before the Lord. Maybe we don't have time to bring it to the assembly.
But we can pray to Him wherever we are, to have that spirit of dependence so that we can turn to him and brother. Let's keep that open line between himself and between ourselves and him. Let's keep it open so that we can turn to Him. If a cloud comes between, let's get before him and confess it so that we can turn to him in any situation and pray without ceasing. You have a nice example of this in connection with Nehemiah.
In the second chapter, because Nehemiah faced a very difficult decision in his work, he was the kings cup bearer, and he his countenance was sad in the presence of the king. And we find that the kings in those days had the power of life and death. Whom they would they slew, and whom they would they kept alive. And it was wrong for the cup there to be sad in the countenance in the presence of the king. And so the king noticed this.
And he he spoke to Nehemiah, and he said, for what do you make requests? And Nehemiah knew that it was a question that had to be answered wisely.
That if he said the wrong thing, he might even lose his life, or at least lose his job.
And he didn't have time to go and pray about the matter in his room. He had to give an immediate answer. And I like what it says there. It says. So I pray to the God of heaven. And I said, under the king, between the time the king asked the question and Nehemiah had to give an immediate answer, there was a swift little prayer went up. And haven't you experienced that? Sometimes maybe somebody asked you a question at work and you know, if you say the wrong thing, that is just too bad. Someone asks you to go somewhere. Someone at school asks you something.
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And you need to answer wisely. Just send up a swift little prayer. It says if any man lack wisdom, let him ask. Have you ever lacked wisdom in a situation? Have you ever known, not known how to answer someone? Just ask. If you lost wisdom, let him ask. And what does it say to give us to all men, liberally and upbraideth not. And you find there in the story of Nehemiah, that the Lord came in in a wonderful way. Again, it was a tremendous request.
To think that the Lord would answer that request, and even more than he asked. And so it says, The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will you find too. When Peter walked on the water, he began to sink. And what did he do? He cried out, saying, Lord, save me just three words in a prayer. But when there was that expression of dependence, when there was that felt need, then immediately Jesus reached out his hands and took him up. And so how often?
We've turned to the Lord in those situations. And so it says pray without ceasing.
Well, just in closing, we won't take time to turn to some scriptures, but just in closing, let's lift up our eyes and look to the right hand of God and let's see that one there rather than who's praying for us every hour of every day. We've spoke to the privilege of addressing him in prayer, but then to realize there's one as our great High priest, whoever liveth to make intercession for us. You know, sometimes I forget to pray for my brethren who have needs. Maybe I'm not even aware of their needs.
Sometimes I'm not even aware of my own needs and so I don't bring them in that way.
But there's one who's praying for us every hour of every day, and he knows every need of each of his own, and he brings each need before the Father. And so we need to avail ourselves of that resource that we have in him. We can come boldly to a throne of grace. Why? Because there's one there who's living for us. It says we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are.
Yet without sin. And so he's there. Not only does he know our needs, but we find that he enters in fully to what we pass through. Because he walked through this world as a man. He knew what it was to be hungry. He knew what it was to be thirsty. He knew what it was to be weary with his journey, he could say to reproach, has broken my heart. He felt all these things as a man, and sometimes we sing that him.
In the days of feeble flesh poured out his cries and tears, and though ascended fields of fresh what every member bears, he feels what we pass through. Not only knows, but he enters into it, and I think it's illustrated very nicely in the 14th of Matthew. I wish we had time to turn to it, but just read it. Sometimes he compels the disciples to get into a ship and to go to the other side across the sea, what we might say is the sea of life.
And there they find that it's night, The wind is contrary, the waves are high, but we find that there was one the Lord Jesus.
And he was gone up on the mountain. And what was he doing there? He was praying, brother. Maybe the circumstances do seem difficult, but there's one up on high and he's praying for you, and he's praying for me. And there's a little comment made about that incident in Mark's Gospel that you don't find there in Matthew. It says while he was there on the mountain, he saw them toiling and rolling. Maybe we say, no one knows about my situation. No one knows what we're going through in the assembly.
One who does, He sees us toiling and rowing, but more than that, you find that then the Lord Jesus comes to them walking on the water, because you know, not only was there one who knew the situation, but there was one who was above the storm. He walked on the water, and Peter learned a very wonderful lesson that night too. He learned that he that not only was there one who was above the storm, but that he could walk on the water with Jesus.
And so we can, as we go on independence, Brethren, as we look to him in prayer.
Individually and collectively, we can go on. There's a resource, brethren, even for these dark, difficult days. The storms are are great, The waves are high. Often situations that we have to say we've not passed this way heretofore. But the resource that we have in prayer is still the same. May we turn to him in every situation. I believe he allows circumstances in our lives to make us feel our need.
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So that we will walk independence before him. And I would just say in closing again, as we bring those needs before the Lord, let's not forget that He's done so much for us in the past. And let's not forget to thank him and praise him for all the way that He has LED us, and then to trust him as long as we're left here. Shall we, Sir?
Sitting
Address—J. Hyland
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This evening by reading 4 portions from the book of Hebrews. The first portion is in Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews chapter one and verse 3.
Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person.
And upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins.
Sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high and then in the 8th chapter.
Chapter 8 and verse one. Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, and then in chapter 10.
And verse 12. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin.
Forever sat down on the right hand of God and one more verse for now in the 12Th chapter.
Chapter 12 and verse two looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Well, as are him suggested, I'd like to look at some individuals in scripture this evening who are seen in the position of sitting.
We're going to find that there are some individuals in scripture who sat down in a very blessed place.
And because they sat down in that place, they received a wonderful portion and blessing.
We are also going to see that there were some who sat where they ought not to have sat, and their history is given to exercise us and to speak to our hearts and to our consciences. But I thought it would be well at the beginning of the meeting to read these four scriptures, because they bring before us the blessed Lord Jesus, seated at the Father's right hand. But before I comment on these scriptures, I'd like to go back, just in thought, to the life of the Lord Jesus and His pathway through this world.
Because we often find in the pathway of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus seen in the position of sitting.
You'll find that at the age of 12, he went up to the temple with his parents.
And when his parents missed him, they returned to the temple, and they found him sitting in the midst of the doctors, asking them questions and listening to listening to them. Then you find, as he begins his public ministry, he goes up onto the mount and gives what we sometimes refer to as the Sermon on the Mount. And it says there And he sat down and taught the people. You'll find on another occasion there was a great press on the seashore.
So much that the Lord Jesus entered into Simon's boat, and he sat down and taught the people. On another occasion he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and they delivered to him the book. And he read in the words of the book, and he sat down and taught the people, you find when the upper room ministry was given, it says. And when the hour was come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. It's true that later on he rose from supper.
And wash the disciples feet. But I believe he gave most of that ministry in the position of sitting.
And I just want to pass on a little, a simple little thought in connection with why the Lord Jesus always sat down when he taught the people. You know, He had come in loneliness and grace. He had come to show out the Father's heart. He could stay at the end of it. Have I been so long time with you? And hast thou not known me? He that has seen me has seen the Father, and in showing out the Father's heart of love and grace to his own.
He takes his position right amongst them. He sits down with that nation.
The nation of Israel, his chosen people, those that he had come to bless, because he had indeed, as it says in First John, come unto his own. And so it's like Ezekiel said, I sat where they sat. And as a man, the Lord Jesus, in loneliness and grace he sits down and he teaches the people. Now it is true that on an occasion where he gave an appeal to those who rejected him, it says, And Jesus stood on that last day.
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Great day of the feast and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. But I say, that was an appeal to those who had rejected him. But I say again, I believe if you trace through the Gospels and compare the different accounts, you'll find that invariably he sat down to teach the people. He took his place amongst them in humility. And then we'll just go in thought to the 7th chapter of Acts, where you find the Lord Jesus has ascended back to the Father because he had told his disciples that he had come from God.
And he must return to God, and having completed the work of eternal redemption, his feet leaves the mountain there in Acts, and he's taken up out of their sight. And then you find that the gospel goes forth after the day of Pentecost when the Spirit is given and they reject the gospel. And the culmination of that rejection is in Acts 7 in the stoning of Stephen. And we find there that as Steven takes those last breaths, he looks up into heaven.
And he says, I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
And I've often wondered why he was standing there in Acts and seated here in Hebrews.
Well, just again a simple thought. I believe that God had first of all given the testimony of the Lord Jesus as he walked through this world, and they had rejected that testimony in crying away with him, crucify Him by having said in their hearts we will not have this man to reign over us. And so they rejected the testimony of the Son and then they had the testimony of the Son by the Holy Spirit in the early days of the Acts. I'm Speaking of the Jewish nation now because the.
Gospel was to go out beginning at Jerusalem, to go out to that guilty nation because God still desired their blessings. But I believe the final culmination of the rejection of that nation was the stoning of Stephen. And God had nothing else for that guilty nation at that time. They will be brought into blessing in a coming day, but at that time they had rejected the testimony of the Son and they had rejected the testimony of the Son through the Holy Spirit.
And I believe the Lord was still standing there, because if they had received the testimony of the Son through the Holy Spirit in the preaching of Stephen, the Lord would have come back at that time and blessed that guilty nation that was his heart towards the ones who had crucified him, the ones who had spit in his blessed face. The ones who had taken him outside that city of Jerusalem, in effect had said he's not fit for our society, and they had taken him out and nailed him to a Roman jibbett.
And yet so much was his desire for their blessings that I say, have they received that witness.
That was given in the early days of the church. There as the testimony went out through the Holy Ghost, I say he would have come back. He was standing ready to bless that guilty nation. But I say that was the culmination of their rejection. And so I believe at that point the Lord Jesus sat down.
Now I would just say too that when the Lord Jesus walks through this world.
There was an object in this world that was worthy of heaven's gaze. And that's why in the Gospels you find the heavens, which sometimes open up, and a voice would declare, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Because of that one walk through this world, the sinless, spotless Son of God, the one whoever did the Father's delight, we read of him. Even Christ pleased not Himself He set himself I came down from heaven.
Not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, He could say, at the end of His pathway. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work that Thou gave us me to do. And as that blessed One walked through this world in perfect obedience, as the perfect Son of God, heaven would open up, and heaven delighted to open up and to gaze at that blessed object as he walked through this world. But the Lord Jesus is not in this world the way He was at that time. He has indeed gone back to the to the, to the Father. He's there at the right hand of God.
And I believe now that the book of Hebrews opens up to us, the heavens.
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Not so much that heaven can look down, but so that we can look up and be occupied with that blessed object.
And brother, that's why I read these four verses, because they open up to us, the heavens, in a wonderful way.
They point our hearts and our gaze to that one who's there at God's right hand. That lovely man who will never disappoint us, that one who will never fail, that one who's faithful, that one whose glories are beyond our comprehension.
And all we need tonight to lift our eyes up and see this blessed one. And as we just make a few comments on these precious verses, may they direct our hearts and our gaze to the Lord Jesus. That's the one that God would have us to be occupied with. Tonight, when the disciples were on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord, they saw two other men walking with talking with the Lord Jesus. They saw two of the greatest men in the Old Testament, Moses and Elias. But they got their mind and their eyes on those men.
And when they did, and Peter made that statement, asking the Lord to make two tabernacles, what happened? Immediately those great honored men disappeared. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus. Only Well may we lift up our eyes to the open heavens tonight and see Jesus only. I say, God has opened up the heavens to us so that we can gaze at that blessed object that's there at his right hand.
Well, I believe as we look at these verses, we're going to see him seated at God's right hand. And it's in four different contexts here. And first of all, we find in this verse we read that he brings before us very clearly that as the Lord Jesus walked through this world, he was the full expression of God the Father, the Lord. Jesus could say no man has seen God at any time, or I shouldn't say it was so. It was in the first part of John's Gospel, it says.
No man has seen God at anytime, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father.
He hath declared him brethren. That's why he came into this world. He came to this world in obedience to glorify God on the earth, to show fully what was in the heart of God the Father. It was the full revelation of of God.
And he fully accomplished that work. He could say. I have finished the work thou gave us me to do.
But I believe in this verse we read here at the beginning of Hebrews that it's a general thought here, because if you notice in Mr. Darby's translation, it's not that he has had by himself purged our sins, but made the purification for sins.
Because I believe it's in connection with his being creator. The verse before gives us the context by whom also he made the world.
And as creator he offered himself and made atonement, because everything is going to be brought back into blessing in a coming day. You know, when man sinned in the garden, not only did man come under the curse, but if we find there, it says the whole creation grown up and travaileth in pain even until now. Because when men sinned in the garden, the whole creation came under the fall, it came under the curse.
But you know, there's a day coming when everything is going to be brought back into blessing. Everything in creation is going to be brought into conformity with himself. And he's going to take it all not just as creators, but he's going to take it in redemption because he's made the purification for sin. It will be the result of what John the Baptist said when he saw the Lord walking. He said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
That verse hasn't been fulfilled yet. There's still sin on every hand. The creation groans under the under the curse. But in a coming day when a king reigns in righteousness, it says that the lion will lie down with the lamb and the everything will be brought back into a into order that was spoiled and destroyed when man sinned in the garden. And so he's made the purification for sin.
And as a result, now he's seated at the Father's right hand. Now again, just notice a better translation. It says that he sacked himself down on the right hand of God. You know, in Ephesians, I think it's the first chapter, it says there that God has set him at his own right hand. Because I believe that the resurrection, the ascension and glorification of Christ is God's. Amen to the work of Calvary.
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It's the proof that God has his satisfied with that which his Son accomplished here, and not only in his pathway, but at the at Calvary's cross. And the fact that God has set him at his own right hand is God's proof that he is a proof that God is satisfied. But you know, here we have something a little different. We have that he set himself down. Perhaps I'll just mention in passing that in the book of Hebrews you don't have so much the work of the work of redemption taken up, but it's the results of that work.
You only have the cross mentioned once. That's the 12Th chapter. You only have the resurrection mentioned once. That's the 13th chapter. It's more his ascension and enthronement that's taken up. It's the fruit of that work. It's what it has resulted from that work of Calvary. And so here he has seated himself down because the Lord Jesus knew that he had accomplished the work of Calvary to the latter, that he had not left anything out that the Father had given him to do.
And in perfect confidence, he enters the Father's presence. And while it's true, God has set him there as a proof of God's satisfaction. On the other hand, the Lord Jesus, in perfect confidence seeks himself down at the right hand of God. You know, they say there's nothing like a mutual feeling. But all think of this mutual feeling between the Father and the Son, The Father forever satisfied with the work, the Lord Jesus knowing that he has accomplished what the Father gave him to do.
And now he seated at God's right hand, let me illustrate it this way. Sometimes when I was in business, I would be called to do a job for a large company, and I would go in, excuse me, and I would do that job. And when the job was completed, I usually had an interview with the man who had hired me, be he the owner of the plant foreman or the supervisor. But, you know, as I entered that man's office and sat down.
To go over the work and to present my invoice. It was rarely with a feeling of real confidence, because there was always in the back of my mind that there had been something left out, that I had not done the job to his satisfaction. But all I think of the blessed Lord Jesus as he enters those courts of glory and seeks himself down. There was no feeling of that. Perhaps something concerning the work that he had been given to do was left undone, He knew.
He knew. He knew.
That he had accomplished that work. And so in perfect confidence he seeks himself down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Well then in the 8th chapter we find him seated again, and here he seated as our great High Priest. We touched on this just very briefly at the end of the meeting the other night. How that we have one who has not only died for us, but one who is risen, ascended, and there at God's right hand he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
And that's why it says the sum of the things which we have spoken, because in the chapters before he has taken up how we have and the high priest who's living for us in the glory and brethren, we need to avail ourselves of the resource that we have in Christ tonight as he fulfills this office for us. We spoke of how in Matthew 14 we have it illustrated as the disciples were in that ship going across the sea. It was dark.
It's a way waves were high.
The wind was contrary, but there was one up on the mountain and he was praying for his own. And he saw them foiling and rowing. He knew what they were passing through. But you know, isn't it wonderful to have someone who's not only with us in a trial? It's wonderful to have someone who will take our hands and help us over that rough spot. But isn't it more wonderful to have someone who fully enters in and understands what we pass through?
Someone who's been through a similar situation. We say they understand what I'm going through because they've experienced it themselves. And so we have one, as we mentioned the other night, who fully enters in. It says we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. It behooves him in everything to be made like unto his brethren, yet sinned apart.
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And I think it's illustrated again in the book of Exodus, where you find Israel in the wilderness and they go out to fight with a powerful enemy. And that enemy pictures to us the flesh. It was Amalek. And as they go out to fight with their that enemy, what was the secret of their victory that day?
It was a silent work that was going on nearby on top of the mountain because their Moses sat down and Aaron and her came and stayed up his hands till the going down of the sun. Now I realized that the advocacy of Christ is not the subject here in Hebrews, but I would like to just make a comment in this connection, because on the one side of Moses you had Aaron who held up his hands and he would picture to us our high priest, because we have one who's praying for us so we won't fail.
But what about when we do fail? Well then her came and stayed up his other hand and I believe her would picture to us the advocacy of Christ because hers name means purity and it says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. I have a righteous advocate because he's paid for my sin. And when I fail it's just as if I have one in the presence of God and he says to the Father I paid for that sin.
How he can be a righteous advocate. You know, if I'm brought up to the judge and I'm guilty of some crime, the judge may let me go. But if he's a righteous, but not if he's a righteous judge. If I'm really guilty, he can't righteously let me go without paying the penalty. But if the judge says, now I know what the penalty is, and I know you're guilty, but I'm going to pay that penalty, then he's a righteous judge. I go free, but it's not because he was unrighteous.
It's because he has paid the debt himself. And so the Lord Jesus has borne my sins in his own body on the tree, and now he's a righteous advocate when I fail. And so there was Moses and they stayed up his hands till the going down of the sun. And brethren, I really believe we need to avail ourselves of these resources because, you know, sometimes I have to stay to my own heart and considering his past work and I trust we never lose sight of Calvary the ground of all our blessings, but in considering that.
And considering his future work, and may we never lose sight of that either, may we have that before us, a vision of the coming glory and our association with Christ in that day. But in thinking of the past and the future, I sometimes forget that there's a present work being carried on for me.
At the right hand of God, and you know, we find that salvation is taken up in three ways in the book of Romans.
There's the salvation of the soul, then there's the salvation of the body, that which we're waiting for when the Lord comes and we.
Receive bodies of glory like under his glorious body, but in the interim, it says.
We are saved by his life, that is his present intercession for us now. And I believe too, that if we would avail ourselves more of his high priestly work, we wouldn't need his advocacy. You know, the Lord said to Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And if Peter had only availed himself of that resource, he never would have needed the restoring grace of God later. He never would have needed the advocacy of Christ.
Because he never would have failed had he availed himself of that prayer of the Lord, that he would be preserved in the path of faith. And so we have one. And as he takes up in these chapters, he brings out that there's one who's praying for us every hour of every day, and you'll notice that he's seated at the right hand of God. That's the one thing that's consistent in all of these four verses we read. It's the right hand because that's the place of power.
And you know, we have one who is above everything, one who's able for every situation greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord Jesus said in the world he shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And so for us his hands are uplifted in sympathy and love. And I think I quoted that those lines about him the other night he in the days of feeble flesh, poured out his cries and tears and those ascended fields afresh.
What every member bears, he enters in. You say nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody enters into my situation. There's one who does. He fully enters in. He understands. And so we can look to him. And you know, the supply that we have in Christ tonight is the same limitless supply that the people of God have always enjoyed. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. We still have all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
00:25:22
Well then in the 10th chapter we have something a little different, because here again, he's seated.
And it's having offered himself as that one sacrifice for sin. And I believe here it's in connection with substitution and our being brought into blessing because it says a couple of verses later for by one offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now he makes a contrast here in the book of Hebrews. He's contrasting what you have under Judaism with what we have in Christianity. And we find here that it's in connection with the.
The sacrifices and the work of the priests in the Old Testament. Because, you know, when we take up the subject of sitting, I believe it would bring before us that which would speak of rest and a work completed. My wife doesn't always appreciate my illustration, but you know, sometimes she has more energy than I do. And I know that sometimes in the evening I just want to sit down and relax. And I say to my wife, come and sit down, let those few spoons in the dryer go.
Let that little bit of dust go, And she says, I can't relax until the work is completed. But when the work is completed to her satisfaction, then she'll then and only then will she come and sit down and relax. And you know, it's interesting that in the Old Testament, in the temple and in the Tabernacle and in the temple, there was never a seat for the priests because their work was never completed. It says every priest standeth daily, offering often time the same sacrifices.
Which could never put away sin. Their work was never completed, but here was one who was not only the.
Offer. But he was the offering itself. And after he offered one sacrifice for sin, he forever sat down at the right hand of God. And I believe it would bring before us to the security that we have in Christ, because as I've often said, so secure. Am I in Christ tonight that if God were to refuse me now he would have to refuse his own dear Son, who glorified him as to the work of redemption, And that is impossible.
He is so satisfied with that work and we are accepted in that Blessed One and on the ground of that work of Calvary. Well then very quickly in the 12Th chapter we find He's seated again, and here he's seated as the object for your faith and mind again. I believe if you notice in a better translation, it's not so much that he's the author and finisher of our faith, but he's the author and finisher of faith because the Lord Jesus as the perfect man.
He hastened through this world in the path of faith. He walked independence and faith through this world, and having begun and completed imperfection, the path of faith, now he's seated as the object for your faith and mind. It says he's left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps. He showed. I speak reverently. He showed that there is a path of faith through this world that we can walk in.
And I realized he was the perfect man. He never deviated from that path that was set before him.
But he's there now as the object for our faith. Because, brethren, isn't it precious to think that the Lord Jesus never asks us to pass through anything in the path of faith that he hasn't passed through as a man himself? He's left us that, those examples. He's marked out the path for us as he walked as a man through this world, and now, having returned to the Father, having completed imperfection, that path, now he's seated there.
As the object for your faith and mind. And I believe that we will be preserved in the path of faith as we look to Him if we have our eye on Him. It says, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. And as we have our eye on Him, and have a sense of His preserving grace and walk in dependence, then it's His delight to preserve the feet of His Saints. When I miss the path, it's because I'm not following the Lord. It's because I'm not looking to Him.
It's because I'm looking either at an individual or I'm looking at present circumstances. You know, I believe the spirit of God is very careful in the scriptures that guard against our brethren ever being the object for our faith. They are to be an encouragement to us. And it says whose faith follow? And no man liveth to himself and no man dies to himself. We affect one another. There are those who are watching us, and we affect them either for good.
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For bad, for blessing or for discouragement. But you know, it's interesting that as he takes up in the 11Th chapter, this tremendous list of those who live by faith and conquered against all kinds of odds and and stood for the truth against all kinds of difficulties. And while they're given to us as an encouragement to us, to me it's very remarkable that immediately upon ending that list, he directs our gaze to the object.
He says these are not the objects for your faith contained in the 119th Psalm. I have seen an end of all perfection. We're going to see an end of all perfection if we're looking for it in the flesh. You say that person let me down, but so and so will never let me down. We're going to see an end of all perfection. The grass withereth in the flower fadeth. It puts on a display, but there's nothing abiding. But I say again, we won't be disappointed as we look to Jesus.
As the author and finisher of faith, well, I'd like to look at some other individuals now who are seen in the position of sitting. There are many in Scripture. I never realized how many there were. You'll find the first mention of sitting is in connection with Abraham, as his house was in order and he sat down in the tent door, and he received a blessing as those three men came to him. And we know that one of those men must have been the Lord, as he appeared in various forms.
To his own in the Old Testament. And So what a blessing he received from sitting in the tent door. We find that David sat before the Lord. He enjoyed that sweet fellowship and communion with his God. Solomon said, I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his words were sweet unto my taste. We find that Ezra, when he saw the condition of the people of God, he sat down, astonished, until the evening sacrifice, when Jonah presented his message in Nineveh.
And he went out and sat down on the east side of the city to see if what he had prophesied would come to pass. We find in the New Testament there were those who at the foot of the Cross, they sat down and watched him there. And so we have many who are seen in the position of sitting. And I just like to look at a few. First of all, turn back to John, Chapter 11.
John Chapter 11 and verse 19.
And many of the Jews came to Mary and Martha, and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house, and then noticed verse 45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. Well, it's remarkable if you trace the history of Mary of Bethany.
She's mentioned specifically three times by name in the Gospels. She's alluded to in other places, but three times.
She's mentioned specifically by name, and on each occasion she's found at the feet of Jesus.
We find that in the 10th of Luke, the Lord Jesus came to that home for the first time.
And those two sisters were busy preparing for the coming of the Lord Jesus. I say they were both busy because it says there Martha said there. Carest thou not that Mary hath left me to serve alone? They were both busy. But when the Lord Jesus entered that house, Mary, as it were, said, this is an opportunity that can't be missed. I'm going to let the work go now. I'm going to sit down and hear what Jesus has to say. She sat there at his feet.
And that's a good place for us, brethren. We were singing. We sit as learners at thy feet, thy words and honey far more sweet. And when the when Martha came and spoke to the Lord concerning Mary, he said, Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. Then we find in the 12Th chapter of John, when the Lord comes for the last time, we find there again that Mary is at his feet.
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Lazarus was one that sat at me. Martha served.
And I believe that Martha learned the lesson there, because doesn't say the service was cumbersome, but she served. And what about Mary? She's at the feet of the Lord again. This time she's at his feet. As there's a response of worship from her heart, we find that Mary, who had been so occupied with the person of Christ as he walked through this world, Now at the end of his pathway, she comes and there's a suitable response. And so she pours out her ointment at the feet of the Lord Jesus.
And the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. But here we find she's at his feet. We didn't read the 32nd verse, but we find she's at his feet here again, and here we might say it's on behalf of her brother. It's an intercession because she wasn't overwhelmed by the difficulty. She knew where to turn in her trial. And she falls at his feet and says, If thou hast been here, my brother had not died.
But my point in reading this portion was what we have in the 20th verse, where it says and Mary sat still in the house. You know, Martha was one who seemed to always have to be doing something. And perhaps one like myself, who was always concerned about the situation, may be worried about things, anticipated things. And so she seemed to always be having to be doing something. And when the Lord was coming, we find that Martha runs to meet him.
But I love what it says about Mary, And Mary sat still in the house. How could Mary sit still in the midst of this trial? She loved her brother Lazarus. She felt this, this difficulty very keenly. But she sits still in the house. Was it indifference to the situation? I don't believe it was. I believe that Mary entered into the heart of the Lord Jesus. She sat and heard his words, and now she could enter into his thoughts.
Concerning this situation. And she knew that there was one who was coming in his own time and in his own way, and that when he came he would take care of the situation, and with that confidence and that rest she could sit still amidst the difficulty. You get a similar thought with Ruth and Naomi. Naomi said to Ruth, sit still, my daughter, until they'll see how the matter will fall. For the man will not be in rest until he accomplished the thing this day. Again, confidence in the midst of the situation.
That there was one in control and one who would not rest until he brought his purposes to fruition could encourage another to sit still in the house. Oh brethren, we need to enter into the heart of Mary. We need to enter into the heart of Naomi as the sweet face the situations, both individually in the family, often in the assembly. The initial reaction is that something has to be done. That was Martha's reaction. But Mary could sit not in indifference, but she could sit with that piece of God in her soul, knowing that he not only knew the situation.
But he was able for the situation and that he would bring blessing out of the circumstance. I believe as we realize this, as we enter into God's purposes and God's thoughts, we will be able to sit still in the house. It is interesting that when they told Mary the Master calleth for thee, then there was immediate obedience. And when we have a word from the Lord, we need to act in obedience to His word. But I just say again, we need, like the children of Israel, to stand still.
And see, the salvation of the Lord, He was going to work for them. He was going to deliver them from their enemies. And so it says in Isaiah 30, I believe it is. And their strength is to sit still. Oh, brethren, let's sit still. Let's enter into the heart of God. And so that we can, like Mary, sit still in the midst of the severance trial. And what was the result? You know, scriptures tremendously accurate. And it said that many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary. But why did I read verse 45?
Because there's something different here. We find it says many of the Jews which came to Mary, they're the ones that believe, you know, I believe, as they saw this confidence and this peace that Mary exhibited as she sat still in the house, as she put her full trust in the Lord Jesus. It was a tremendous blessing to souls. And as they saw that, it was the ones that came not to Martha and Mary, but to Mary that believed. And haven't you experienced this? I know I have. I look back and I see brethren who have gone through real trials and difficulties, and as I have seen them, face those situations.
00:40:07
And have that peace of God and exhibit that confidence as they went through the trial. It's been a tremendous blessing and encouragement to my own soul. That's the effect that Mary had on others. Well, let's turn back the first Kings, Chapter 10.
First Kings 10 and verse 4.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, and his cup bears, and his ascent by which he went up under the House of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And then notice verse 8 Happy Are thy men happier, these thy servants which stand continually before thee.
And here thy wisdom. Well, here we have something a little different now.
The Queen of Sheba had heard of the glory of the Kingdom under Solomon, but now she had come to see it for herself. And she noticed many things in connection with the administration of the Kingdom under Solomon. And one of the things she particularly noticed was the sitting of his servants. You know, we don't often think of servants sitting, but here I believe there was a time for Solomon's servants when they came apart from their busy duties, their function that they had under the administration of Solomon.
A time set aside.
When they came into his presence and were occupied with his person, I spoke of Marian, how she sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus. And it's good as individuals to sit at the feet of Jesus. But I want to apply this in a collective way, because here these servants, they collectively came into the presence of Solomon. They sat, there they were, they heard his words, they observed his wisdom, They were occupied with his person.
And I often think on Lord's Day Morning.
As we have the privilege of coming into the presence of the Lord Jesus, I think of that verse it says, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. We have the privilege of not just coming into a king like Solomon, the greatest king of his day, and let be queen of Sheba had to all the half had not been told me, But we have the privilege of sitting down collectively in the presence of the king of kings and Lord of Lords. Then we value it. I think of these servants and how they must have looked forward to those times.
When they came apart, each from their function, each from their capacity, and they came as a time was set aside for them to sit in the presence of Solomon and to be occupied with himself. Brethren, do we value those times, whatever the occasion may be, whether it's to remember him in death, whether it's for collective prayer to sit under the sound of ministry? Do we value those times that are set aside? Service is a very wonderful thing, but these servants, they came.
And they left their service behind for a few moments, and they sat down in the presence of Solomon. And what else did the Queen of Sheba notice in connection with these servants? You know, you don't often think of servants as sitting. You think of them as fulfilling a busy task and doing their their jobs under the administration of another. But here, as they sat, there was something else. They were happy again. You don't often think of servants as being happy. Perhaps they carry out their tasks, but it's just drudgery and something that they have to fulfill.
Because it is their duty. But that's not the way it was with Solomon's servants. They were happy servants. Why were they happy servants? I believe the joy in service sprung from those times that they sat in the presence of Solomon. And the more they entered in and communed with Solomon, the more joy there was as they went out. And they're standing here in the eighth verse because it would speak to us of one who is ready to do the bidding of another. And here they're they stand ready to do Solomon's fitting.
And they stand there with joy in their hearts, their happy servants. And so it says, I will go in and out and find pasture. I believe that Martha, as I say she learned the lesson that the Lord sought to bring before her in the tent of Luke, And she sat at Jesus feet, no doubt after that, although we're not told by divine inspiration, but we are told this, that in John 12, where she served, there was nothing cumbersome about the service. There was now a joy in service, because I say it in our joy in service.
00:45:10
Springs from those times that we spend both individually and collectively in the presence of the Lord Jesus. May we value those times, Brethren, I believe with all my heart that even in a day of ruin he has made full provision so that we can enjoy his presence collectively. Boston said that when God establishes something, he always makes provision to the very end. That's why he said where two or three are gathered together in my name.
There am I in the midst of them. Let's turn over to Luke 12.
In Luke 12 and verse 37 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down, to meet, and will come forth and serve them. I find this one of the most tremendous verses in the whole word of God, to think, rather than that there's a day coming when our service is going to be over and we are going to sit down in his presence.
And he's going to come forth and serve us forever. Now I realized there were two services under the Levitical order. There was the service of burden of which we have just spoken in connection with Solomon's servants. And there was the service of song. And it's true that the service of song is going to continue for all eternity, because in the end of Revelation it says his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face. And so we will serve him in song and praise for all eternity. But the service of burdened brethren is something that's only given to us for this life.
Because when we get home, he's going to make us sit down. Our service in that way will be over. And when we think of how he's going to come forth and serve us forever, it ought to be the springboard. It ought to be the motivation brethren to serve him. Just a few moments, just a few seconds that remain. Down here, we sometimes think of what it costs us to follow and serve the Lord.
But what is it going to be in comparison to his service for all eternity? And I think this is one of the reasons why in John 14 he refers to glory of the Father's house. Because you know, as I visit amongst the dear people of God, I feel at home in many of the the the Saints homes, but never as comfortable as in my own house. When I get home I can sit down with my wife and children and be as comfortable as is possible.
In this world and brethren, when we get home, we're going to be as God's children in the Father's house. And I realize that in that day there's going to be nothing to mar our enjoyment. It's going to be uninterrupted happiness. There will be nothing to annoy us. But you know, again, when I enter the Saints homes, often they come forward and they try to do everything to make you feel at home and comfortable in that home and all. I just think of the blessed Lord Jesus as we enter the Father's house.
And we sit down there we rest. And I love that verse that says there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. But as we sit down in that fullness of joy, then he comes forth, and he ministers to our every need and satisfaction for all eternity. I want to be careful in Speaking of the glory. It's unspeakable, as Paul said in 1St and 2nd Corinthians, but all I just think of how he comes forth to make sure.
That our every need, our every satisfaction, our every joy is met for all eternity. Oh, I say, brethren, doesn't this motivate us to serve him just a little few moments that remain to think that he himself, the blessed Lord Jesus, the Son that inhabited eternity, he's going to gird himself and come forth and serve us forever. Well, what a day we little realize what a day of glory is ahead.
May we have this as the motivation to follow and serve him now? Well, I'd like to just very quickly look at two more scriptures. And I believe these scriptures will bring before us a warning because we have seen those who have sat down and received a blessing. But we're going to look at some who sat where they ought not to have sat, and I say they're given as a solemn warning to our hearts. Let's turn over to Mark Chapter 14.
Mark chapter 14 and verse 54. And Peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. Well here Peter sits down, and what a sad history in the life of Peter. But you know, it really started long before this event, because Peter's difficulty here started with self-confidence. He said that though all the disciples deny thee, yet will not I deny thee.
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But the Lord had to teach him that he that trusted in his own heart is a fool. And then we find too that Peter followed afar off. You know, I mentioned that battle in Israel's day in connection with Amalek, and it's interesting. There's another comment made about that battle in another place. It says Amalek smoke behind her. Most of them, those that follow the fire off, those that were farthest from the captain Peter did that he followed. And don't we do that? Sometimes I follow the Lord, but there are some things I want to keep for myself.
I follow a far off. Then in another gospel we find he stood and warmed himself at the fire, and here he sits down. And so I think of the progression in Psalm One. It says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, or standeth in the way of sinners or sitteth in the seat of the scornful. That was the progression of things in the life of Peter. And what a sad lesson. It's true. There was restoration for Peter, but if he had not associated with these ones here.
Who had no heart for the Lord Jesus or what was going on, He never would have denied his blessed Lord. I just say to those of us who are younger. As I was growing up, I suppose every day I heard that verse quoted in the home. Evil communications, corrupt good manners. David said I am a companion of all them that fear thee and that keep thy precepts. Do we make our companions? Do we have fellowship with those who love the Lord and have a desire to follow Him? I say it will be a blessing in our lives.
But if we associate with those who have no love for the Lord, it's going to drag us down.
Well, I say there was restoration for Peter, but he could have saved himself a lot of grief if he had not sat down here and warmed himself at this fire with those who had no regard for love for the blessed Son of God. Well, let's very quickly then turn over to Acts Chapter 20 for a similar thought.
Acts chapter 20 and verse 19. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eudicus being fallen into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third law and was taken up dead. You know, it's remarkable that the name Eudicus means well off, and Eudicus was well off when we think of how he was associated with this little company in Troas as they came together.
That evening, on the first day of the week to remember the Lord and his death, He was associated with those gathered to the Lord's name. He had the privilege of sitting under the sound of the ministry of the Apostle Paul who was visiting on that occasion. But you know, he wearied of all that. You know some of us. This speaks to my own heart, who have been brought up in the assembly. Sometimes we little value the place we've been brought to. We little value the truth. We're like Eudicus. We become weary.
Of what is going on inside. And you know, some of us have been pretty shaken as to whether we had really bought the truth for ourselves because the gospel is free, but we must buy the truth because we'll never value something until we buy it for ourselves. But, you know, Utica sits down in this window. He wanted to keep one eye on what was going on inside and one eye on what was going on in the street below. One year tuned to the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
And one ear tuned to what was going on outside and you might say, well, wasn't there a 5050 chance that Eudicus would either fall in or out of the window? Brethren, it never works that way. If we if we leave part of our heart open for this world or for something other than Christ, it's going to drag us down. Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and so it's going to cause a fall such as Eudicus had. But you know, I would just say too, to each of our hearts, I've wondered as Utica sat down in this window.
Why? There wasn't someone who saw him nodding off to sleep and went over and sought to warn him of the position he was in. Someone who would have had a shepherds heart and put their arm around Utica and said, Utica, you're in the wrong position, you're going to fall. Come over and sit by me. It might have saved you to cause a sad fall. And so it speaks to my own heart. Do we seek to shepherd one another to bear one another's burden? Do we seek to have the same care one for another?
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Because I say, you know, if you fall asleep in need and you're never sound asleep one minute and wide awake the next, it's a progression of things. Your eyes get heavy, your head goes down, then it comes back up, then it happens again. And if that progression of things is allowed to continue, you may find yourself ultimately sound asleep. But why didn't someone see this progression of things with utilities? Why is it sometimes someone goes off and I haven't seen a progression of things that has led to it?
Why have I not had the heart to speak to that individual and seek to encourage them? It might have saved many sad things. Well, I just read these scriptures as a warning and to speak to our heart. But if you'll bear with me just another moment, I'd like to end on a better note like than that. And so, in closing, turnover to Revelation chapter 4.
4 and 20 seats, 4 and 20 elders. And this verse has been a tremendous blessing to my soul, as sometimes I look around the meeting room and I see the empty seats a brother and I once enjoyed happy fellowship with. Thank God some of them are safe home in the glory, Others have perhaps chosen a different path, and I trust I feel it in my own soul. But as I look around and I see those empty seats, I am thankful that I can look on to glory when every seat is going to be full.
4 and 20 elders, 4 and 20 seats, every seat full in the glory and brethren. I realized when we get home to glory, that and we're going to be occupied with himself, and that is paramount. But again, it's been a tremendous encouragement to my soul to realize in that day that not only will I be in perfect, uninterrupted fellowship with Christ, but all the mind of heaven will be one. We will be in perfect, uninterrupted fellowship with one another. Oh, what a day when there's four and 20 elders and four and 20 seats.
Not one empty seat there, not one discordant. No, not one discordant thought what a day of glory. But brethren, in the meantime. May we seek to be faithful to him. May we seek to sit at his feet. May we sit where we receive a blessing. May we receive, like Solomon's servants, to sit, to sit and enjoy his company, to sit at his in his presence collectively. And may we not, may we be exercised in connection with Peter and with Uticus.
That we not sit in a dangerous position that was, but that we keep close to Him. That we seek to be faithful to His name and His person and His word, until that day when all the redeemed will be there, and we lift up our voice with them, and praise Him for all eternity. Oh, what a savior we have. May we, until that day we see Him face to face, and in the midst may we seek to lift up our eyes to heaven and be occupied with that one who sees it. At God's right hand shall we pray.