Address—Bob Thonney
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let's sing number 99.
On Christ salvation rests secure. The Rock of Ages must endure #99.
On Christ salvation.
Grazing your love into the world, You must serve your Lord.
Nor can thy face be no more very strong.
Who is grace upon?
Living.
No.
God in your grave.
Are one day shall we let's go. I feel like Christ.
And rise.
The.
Grace of God I was.
I want your heartbreak.
I love you.
The.
Heart of God.
He's gone.
Let's pray, Father.
We're thankful for our Lord Jesus, that living stone.
And for the fact that.
None who trust in him will ever be put to shame.
We live in a world where there's a lot of uncertainty, Father.
And we do pray as we open Thy word this afternoon, that we would be strengthened.
In those things that will last for all eternity, pray for blessing Father.
As we open thy word, grant that thy spirit may have liberty.
In speaking.
Listening to thy word, we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Let's turn to.
Hebrews chapter 12 to begin with.
And we'll read from verse 25.
See that ye refuse, not him that speaketh.
For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him?
That speaketh from heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth.
But now he hath promised, saying yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
00:05:08
And this word yet once more signify, it signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace.
Whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
How many here have been in an earthquake? Please raise your hands.
Oh, not that many. I thought there would be more.
Interesting.
You know, we've been having quite a few of them in recent times.
Went down in Haiti was pretty devastating.
Probably because there were no building codes in that country and so.
230,000 people lost their lives I think it was.
And millions are without homes.
Permanent homes, anyhow.
Was interesting to me because we have been in Chile quite a few times, to hear that the quake that struck Chile a little bit later was 500 times more powerful than the quake in 80.
Hard to believe it was 8.8 on the Richter scale. Shelley evidently holds the record for intensity of shakes. They had one.
A few years ago that was 9.5 on the Richter scale.
We live in a shakable world and God has said here he's going to shake not only the earth but heavens also. I don't think we grasp properly in the world that we live in how unsteady everything we count on is.
Not even the ground you walk on is steady any longer. I was down in El Salvador several years ago with some brethren. We've gone down to help some of the brethren rebuild their houses.
After they had an earthquake and I was happened to be in the morning in a hardware store.
And was going to buy some stuff. I had it in my hands and all of a sudden.
The floor of that hardware store, just like it was waves, and I rushed out into the street without even paying for my stuff. I guess they realized that I had a reason to do that, but it was pretty scary, I must say, to watch the walls of those buildings wobble. Thankfully nothing fell there, but all the traffic stopped.
The women started wailing terribly, and probably with reason, because they've had some pretty devastating shakes in that country.
What impresses me?
Young people and older ones too, is that we live in a world that is not to be trusted. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and we are beginning to see the beginnings of that shaking today. God is giving warnings in those earthquakes of how terrible it can be, and I really believe it's going to be far worse.
And what's ahead for this world, this present civilization will not continue. We look at it and we say, Oh well, the economy will get a little better and we'll come out of it just like we have other times.
That's not the picture that the Word of God paints for us if we read the Word of God.
We are coming down to the end of this present civilization.
And everything that can be shaken will be shaken. But what is encouraging here is that there are things that can not be shaken.
00:10:00
To me that is a tremendous consolation for my soul and I want to encourage you young people and older ones to to lay hold on those things which cannot be shaken here. It speaks of a.
Kingdom which cannot be moved. Isn't that wonderful?
There are things that cannot be moved. There are things in which if you put your trust, you will not be put to shame. I must say that sometimes I thought my trust was in the Lord only, and I have been shaken and I stopped and stepped back and I say, hey, what happened? I thought I was trusting the Lord. But I do believe the Lord showed me that there was a lot of trust in myself and therefore.
He allowed that to be shaken so that I might learn to trust.
In those things that cannot be shaken, let's go to.
Psalm 62, I believe it is.
Psalm 62 and verse 2. There's two verses in this chapter I want to read.
They are just about exactly the same. There is only one additional word in one of the verses. You can notice that word as we read these two verses. First verse is verse 2.
He, referring to God only, is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
Now verse 6.
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved.
You probably see the word that's added in the verse 2.
The psalmist says I shall not be greatly moved. It seems like there was still a little bit of reason that he was not fully confident. But further on in the Psalm he says simply, I shall not be moved. Isn't it wonderful that that our confidence is in God? We will not be moved.
But you know, faith is an interesting thing. It is an intensely individual thing. How does faith come?
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That's why in this morning's meeting we put so much emphasis on the matter of hearing.
Do you listen when God speaks? That's the way that the Word of God can get down into your soul and produce that faith that is of God. That is so important. Listen to God. As I said before, there have been areas of my life when I feel in those areas that I've been shaken, and I think the Lord has allowed me to be shaken.
Because I was not in those areas fully leaning on the Lord, there was a lot of self-confidence. You know, it's the current of our culture is humanism. Trusting in yourself, you've got it in you, you can do it.
That is humanism and I sometimes say the Christian should be a confident person, but not self confident, confident in the Lord. How important that is in the world we live in. You know why I'm making an emphasis on this? It's because.
Just this month.
On a trip I stopped to see.
A man, I think I could say I still consider him to be a friend.
That.
For 30 years.
Was in the meeting.
And spoke the word.
He seemed to have a real grasp of the truth of Scripture.
00:15:02
And as I sat down, I asked him.
Where are you in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ? Know what his answer was? Says Bob.
God is not my life.
This totally blew me away.
God is not in my life.
Come on, what you talking about?
And I fear that there are others perhaps here they're going along with all that you've been taught. And I think that's proper way to do. But what I want to challenge you to do is that faith lays hold in an individual way on what God says.
Remember, I was raised in the meeting out in Walla Walla, WA.
18 years old, I came to Chicago to work at Bible Truth Publishers.
After.
Six years of working at Bible Truth Publishers. I got called to do my service for the country. That time the draft was in place, so I had to do service and I did alternate service in a hospital in downtown Chicago.
And in that place I found others that.
We're professing Christians and they asked me about my beliefs.
And when I told them of my beliefs, they laughed square in my face.
And I felt myself shaking.
And like I say, I think the Lord allowed it so that I myself, if I would have been asked, what do brethren teach, what do brethren think about such and such, I would have been able to say all the right answers. But it was not my conviction. And God allowed those challenges so that I would go and say, I believe God because He says it here and I rest on the word of God.
Sometimes my understanding of scripture is faulty and so I need to be challenged.
And if I pretend to base my faith on the precious, living, eternal Word of God, I should be willing to be challenged by the full light of Scripture and not get uneasy about it.
Young person and older ones too.
Do you believe God?
Or are you here because?
Your parents brought you or your friends are here and you enjoy being with them. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
But if that's the only thing that means that you're here, I want to challenge you to go back to the Scripture. Seriously, get back to it, because we're living in days when everything is going to be shaken. And if you don't have it from this book, you're going to be shaken.
I've heard about.
Not counting the man I was telling you about, I am not sure where he stands with the Lord. I've heard about four other young people who?
Used to be so-called in the meeting.
That now professed to be atheists. They deny the very existence of God.
And that's why I say we need to be real with God. Is what we are saying cleverly devised fables like Peter says in his epistle? Or are we speaking? What is the truth of the Word of God?
I must say I've been challenged and I've come to the conclusion that they are not cleverly devised fables. The person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was an historical man that was born into this world. He lived, he died, he rose again and he ascended into heaven.
Of his resurrection Sam was talking this morning about is it Greenlee?
Simon Greeley, I remember Mr. Bowman used to talk about the book, and since he was a lawyer, he used to use that book in their arguments. It's a book of facts that lawyers argue from and said one of the best established facts in human history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, even if you want to ignore the testimony of Scripture about it.
00:20:18
You still have to face human testimony and God is going to hold you responsible because.
Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Oh, it's wonderful to realize that we have a foundation that cannot be moved. But I want you, dear young people, to be established in that foundation that cannot be moved. Not be going on. Just what dad and mom says. Thank God for dads and moms that teach their children.
Truth from the Word of God.
But you need to believe God yourself and I'd like to go to.
Matthew's Gospel chapter 16 to speak about.
The only place in the four gospels that the church is mentioned.
Actually, it's two chapters of Matthew's Gospel that we're going to go to the first chapter.
Chapter 16.
And speak about this, the importance of being, of knowing where you stand before God.
Matthew 16 and verse 13 When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, him? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, and others Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Here we have the first mention of the Church in the Scriptures and.
It's interesting that the other three gospels don't mention it.
Why Matthew?
I liked what an older brother said one time, he said. Matthew is the introduction to the New Testament.
And the main theme of the New Testament is the church, so you get it in the very first gospel.
Gospel of Matthew. But it's interesting the way the Lord poses the question to his disciples. He says, whom suit say whom do men say that I, the Son of Man am? Notice that title Son of Man. That's important.
And there were a number of different opinions. Some said John the Baptist, others said Elias.
Or Jeremiah's, or one of the prophets. You know, there's a lot of human opinion.
About the Word of God.
And if you're going to be occupied with what one denomination or another denomination thinks about this particular thing, let me tell you, young people, you're going to get all confused.
Try to avoid that if you can.
Come back to the Scriptures. This is the reference point. This is the truth of God.
He says in John 1717, Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. Here we have truth in its absolute form.
What do we mean by absolute? It's that bit beyond which there is no appeal.
It's the final word.
Isn't that wonderful to know, dear young people, truth?
But human opinions may be interesting.
To talk about and to debate.
But then the Lord turns to his disciples and says to them, whom say he that I am. And notice Peter, who is always out front, is the one that responds, and he gives a beautiful confession as to who Jesus is.
00:25:11
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
In verse 13, the Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as the Son of Man.
But here we have the Son of the living God and those verses. We have the truth as to His person. How important to be clear as to who Jesus is. So much false teaching as to who He is. Make sure you understand what it means when He says Son of Man and Son of God. Son of Man is his humanity, Son of God is his deity.
He is both. He is Son of God, He is Son of man.
Like the way Chuck Hendricks used to put it, and it's been a help to me, he said as man.
He had a mother, but no father.
As God, he had a father, but no mother.
He is completely unique in human history. There is no one like him.
He is the touchstone of all.
How important to be clear as to who Jesus is. You know why it's important?
Notice verse.
18.
I say unto. I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and Peter means a little stone.
And upon this rock, that word, it's related to the word Peter, but it is a different word. It means a huge, immense stone, so that when he says upon this rock I will build my church, he's speaking about his person. So anybody that attacks the truth of the person of Christ is attacking the very foundation.
Of the Church of the Truth of God.
It all rests on him, and that's why it's so important to be clear as to who Jesus is.
Are you clear on that? Can you show verses from the Bible who he is? Son of man, Son of God, son of the living God. I love that.
Anyhow, it's interesting the way he puts it here. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. He doesn't say I have been building it because he hadn't started building it yet this time. You know, some people say that the church existed in the Old Testament.
Here's a verse that kind of shows you pretty clearly that he hadn't started building it at this time. He was going to build it, and it started to be built on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven to form what is the Church, the body of Christ.
And notice I love this part. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I love that that's the security of the person that has come to rest on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hell's gates cannot shake it. Oh, it's wonderful.
To listen to the testimonies of people around the world, people that are challenged as to their faith, people that are persecuted and how steady they are because they are resting on this rock.
You know, Peter was the one this was spoken to, and I'd like to go over to Peter's epistle to show that he really refers to this incident.
First Peter, chapter 2.
And verse.
For it says to whom coming?
Who's that whom you look back in verse three? It's the Lord is gracious.
To whom coming as unto a living stone.
Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, wonderful, this building, this spiritual house. Because when we talk about the church in the Scriptures, it never refers to any building made out of brick or stone or wood or whatever you want to make it out of.
00:30:15
The church is.
A spiritual house built of living stones. You know, stones, naturally speaking, are dead.
You can kick a stone and it'll move across the floor, but it'll just come to a stop again because it's dead. That's the way we were until we came to him. And when do we become part of the church?
Verse four says, To whom coming when you come?
To Jesus in simple faith, He makes you part of his church.
That's how simple it is. It's not an organization that people make. It's God's work. And I must say, I really enjoy as I travel around seeing the different ones he puts in this spiritual house, this building, tremendous to get to meet a few of them.
And I sometimes wish I could share more of the enjoyment of meeting.
Those different living stones that are put into the building.
You know, not one stone is just like another. They're all different.
Least I'd like to ask Bill you. Bill, you've been around the world a bit. Have you ever met anybody like Sam?
I'm not saying that negatively, Sam.
But everybody's different, isn't it? Isn't that amazing?
When man builds, at least when he builds in the Old Testament, the Tower of Babel, he didn't use stones, he used bricks. You know how you make bricks? You put them in the mold, and they all have to be the same size. They all have to conform to the mold. God doesn't use bricks in his building. He uses stones. And in case you might think you could push.
Stones into brick molds. It's kind of hard work. Don't try it. God uses stones. I've seen him build houses of stones in Bolivia. It's a real work of art, really and generally.
People that are building with stones, a stone Mason will have a hammer and a chisel. And sometimes when he's trying to fit a stone into the wall, he will stop and use the hammer and chisel to take off a few edges that are not suitable to leave there. And sometimes the Lord in his building has to do that to me and maybe to you too.
Take off some hedges that really are causing distress.
Let's not get upset at other brethren if they have some things.
They need us to attend to let's.
Try to understand that it is God building his building.
Oh, it's it's a wonderful way that God builds. I just wanted to go back to verse four again and speaking about this stone, the Lord Jesus upon which the church is built.
You know, like we said in the Old Testament.
When they built the Tower of Babel.
In Genesis Chapter 11.
You remember what was the purpose of the Tower of Babel?
Sometimes people say is to get to heaven. That's not the purpose of it.
It was to reach to heaven, it says, but the purpose of it was to make.
Us a name.
United States Sears. The company Sears had a name for themselves.
They built the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States. Understand it's different name now.
I don't remember what it is.
But Sears got a name for themselves. And, you know, we live in a religious world where people like to have names for themselves. The best preacher, the most humble person, they like names for themselves. But in the measure that you're striving for names for yourself, you know what's going to happen, Going to happen just like it did back there in Genesis 11, going to result in confusion. Don't go that way.
00:35:19
And that's why when Jesus came, he was this living stone that God had provided the Jewish leaders who were builders in that building.
Were there to make a name for themselves, and when they saw Jesus and he presented himself to them.
They said we don't have any place in this building for this stone.
And they cast him out.
He didn't come for it to make a name for himself. He came to glorify his father's name.
And so God takes that stone that the builders rejected, and he makes it the foundation of a completely new building, which is the church.
And oh, it's a precious thing.
To see you, dear young people.
There's faith in the Lord Jesus. If you have come in simple faith to Him, you are part of that building. It's something that He is building and when he builds, he does it right. When man builds, and we have that in First Corinthians 3, there's a lot of false material that gets in. I'm afraid I've done some of that. But when he builds and hear it in Matthew chapter 16, it says I will build.
When he builds, it's all true material.
You know why I say this? There's a lot of confusion in Christendom today, one of the expressions I hear a lot on the mission field in different parts of Latin America.
Has that, they say. We've come to plant churches.
We were in the Amazon basin of Bolivia for about 10 years and then we moved to Cochabamba, Bolivia.
And in Cochabamba, it's a nice climate up about 8000 feet into the Andes and beautiful climate. There's a lot of missionaries there.
And we were one of them.
Anyhow, they asked us what did you come here for? You must have come here to plant churches.
I said.
I hope not.
There's way too many different groups as it is if I do anything I want to gather.
Simply recognizing the church that Christ began to build on the day of Pentecost and continues to build to this day. I've not come to plant more churches.
No, just come to recognize that and meet in that simplicity how important those points are, he says. I will build my church.
So many people say my church. It's not our church, brethren.
That's his assembly, it's his church. Thank God I came to Jesus, I'm part of it. And if you've come in simple faith to the Lord Jesus, you are part of it too. But it's not our church, it's his. Oh, how important these points are. Let's go on here just a little bit. So the living stone in verse 4 refers to the Lord Jesus.
Disallowed indeed, of men rejected by those religious leaders of his day.
But chosen of God and precious ye also now in the same character as lively means living stones, stones that have life are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So in this house it's for priestly service.
Now you know, you sisters, that you are priests just as much as the brothers. I hope you know that.
Don't you?
00:40:01
Because you are.
Sisters sing in meetings just like the brothers do, and that's a priestly activity, elevating praises to God.
Yes, the sisters don't take the lead. You don't hear their voice in prayer.
It's the brothers, but the sisters are praying in the prayer meeting when they listen to what the brothers saying in his prayer.
Brother should say in his priestly activity.
Our Father.
He doesn't say my Father, he says we ask or we praise thee, speaks in the plural because he's representing the whole group. And so and he says Amen and we all say Amen. It's the whole assembly that prays. Sometimes people have the idea that assembly prayer is everyone out there doing their own individual little prayer. That's not assembly prayer, that's individual prayer.
Assembly prayer is 1. Voice is heard and all those that are present are represented in that voice. Important those principles are, but that's part of it. And I sometimes am afraid we are losing.
This truth of as to our priesthood, and I want to speak especially to you young brothers.
Don't get.
Uneasy. Want your attention?
You are a priest.
In this spiritual house, and it's not a matter of gift, this question of priesthood when it comes to the prayer meeting or the breaking of bread, meaning when we praise the Lord, it's not a question of gift, it's a question of priesthood. And it makes me uncomfortable to tell you the truth, brethren, when I sit in prayer meetings at conferences and all you do is wait for their brothers up in the front rows to take part.
That's not right.
We're getting away from what Scripture teaches us and we need to be exercised. And it really encourages me sometimes to hear a younger brother thank the Lord. You don't have to be complicated or long. Be simple about it, but do it from your heart.
So we are priests, holy priests in verse five to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Spiritual house spiritual sacrifices.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion.
A chief cornerstone elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same as made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling in a rock of offense, even to them that stumble at the word, being disobedient, were unto also they were appointed.
So here we have another thought as well that I'd like to finish with. It's not only the foundation upon which the church is built is the chief cornerstone, or I think in the new translation is just simply the cornerstone.
They used to when they were building buildings. They don't do it so much today, I don't think, but they used to take a large stone and put it in the corner, one corner of the building, like say over there, and that was the reference point for the rest of the building, building it. How wide is it going to be? How long is it going to be? How high is it going to be? All was referenced to that stone.
And Jesus is not only the foundation stone, he is the he is the cornerstone from which all measurements should be made. You know, sometimes we measure things. That's how people treat us. They didn't treat me very nice.
Maybe that's right, maybe they didn't. But are you the cornerstone? Are you the reference point?
In this place, that's not the point. You are using a reference point that God does not use, so it's important.
To use the right reference point in connection with this building. I remember an old brother.
00:45:02
Some time ago this story was told about a problem in a certain place and.
There was a lot of complaints voiced against this particular brother and he was sitting there in one of the chairs and he didn't say anything afterwards.
One other brother said to him, Do you have anything to say about this? He says.
They haven't said anything against the Lord Jesus yet. I don't really have anything to say.
And the problem kind of dissolved from then on.
You know, if we weren't so intent on defending ourselves, so many problems would just vanish. It's because of the humanism of our culture. We think we have rights. How can I have rights? They're in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And he left. He gave up all his rights so that there could be salvation for us. How can I claim my rights? It's because we've been affected by.
The culture we're passing through, may the Lord help us, brethren, because if we give place to that kind of thinking, we are going to be shaken. And it's scary to see the way we are being shaken.
May the Lord give us the grace to go back to the Scriptures, go back to the person of the Lord Jesus, to have those things clearly in our souls and to make it personal. You young people, you young brothers, you young sisters, get it from this book, make it serious, study the Word of God. I know sometimes we take it up and we read a chapter hurriedly. Come on, give a little time to the Lord.
Little bit more time. Don't just do it hurriedly and then just set it aside and run off.
Give the Lord some time to speak to you. It's so important. If we're not going to be shaken, we need to have our faith firmly grounded in the precious Word of God.
Let's just pray, Father, bless thy word, we ask.
That these dear young people, and older ones too, and myself included, Lord, would be grounded in that which cannot be moved. We thank the Lord for Thy precious word and commit the rest of the afternoon in Thy hands. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.