Address—H. Walker
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Just like to read a.
Little extract from one of the calendar leaflets that appeared some time ago and in connection with the word of God that you and I have been so blessed with. It's really not part of what is on my heart this afternoon, but I cut it out and I taped it on the inside front page of my Bible and it it reads like this Holy Bible.
Book Divine precious treasure, thou art mine, mine to tell me whence I came.
Mind to teach me what I am?
Mind to chide me when I Rove?
Mind to show a Savior's love. Mind thou art to guard and guide. Mind to punish or reward. Then last year walking out of the conference here, there was a Bible on a chair that was open, and I noticed a little inscription in the front page of that Bible. And I don't know whether the owner of that Bible is here this afternoon. I'm sure they would pardon me for having taken the time to copy.
What was in their Bible and it reads like this.
When thou readest what here is writ, let thy practice second it, so that twice each precept read may be first in the book, and then in thee. So we trust that what the Lord may bring before us this afternoon, beloved young people, will be something of an encouragement and something of a practical word for our hearts and for our souls in the day in which we are living.
I would like to.
Turn first of all to two verses in First Timothy.
1St Chapter. First book of Timothy. Chapter 3.
And verse 14 and 15.
These things right I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth. And beloved young people, what especially is on my heart this afternoon?
Is in connection with verse 15.
That thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the House of God.
If we were to turn into Ephesians at the end of chapter 2, and perhaps we should just to prevent misquoting a verse, we read there in verse 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Jesus Christ himself.
Being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. I'm sure you have noticed.
That we don't read of the households of God, we don't read of the temples of God, we don't read of the buildings of God. Everything that we have before us in these two portions that we have read have been in the singular, not in the plural.
I think that's very instructive and very important for the young people because Christianity Today, if we were to look upon it.
Objectively, we would have to say it looks to me like the houses of God are all around us. It looks to me like there are many buildings of God. Everywhere I turn in Christianity, I see buildings dedicated to the glory of God. And yet we find in the word of God, if we're careful and we read it carefully and prayerfully, that it's referred to as the household of God. It's referred to as an holy temple.
In the Lord, it's referred to as having one chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in the singular. Well beloved young people, it's easy for us in Christian Christendom today, I suppose, if we're not before the Lord, if the Lord isn't before us and we aren't diligent in the things of the Lord Lord and in the word of God, to become confused and to even imbibe, shall we say.
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That which Christendom generally glories in, and that is the multitude of so-called Christian denominations.
All God is the not the author of confusion. And if you were to visit one of these denominations and then another one and then a third one and so on until you had exhausted yourself or the denominations, I'm sure it would be yourself first you would find confusion rain you would be in an utter state of.
Confusion. But God is not the author of that. And what I have primarily on my heart this afternoon is fourfold. First, that Christ might be glorified in you and in me, his Saints. That's first, the glory of Christ. First of all, beloved brethren. Secondly, individual encouragement for you as a Christian young person, or perhaps as an older one as well, because we have to acknowledge the presence of our.
Brethren, here this afternoon, thirdly, that you might be encouraged, not only as an individual Christian but in your collective assembly testimony, and perhaps last of all, that we might have some very practical instruction in connection with the working of the Holy Spirit in the assembly.
Well, we have to perhaps use a school teacher's format because of the passing of time. If we are unable to accomplish, shall we say, those objectives this afternoon, Would you bear with me if I assign you a homework project? Because I know that traveling down the highways on a day like this can be hot and humid, and perhaps it's difficult to concentrate too much. But it's nice that we could continue the conference even though we're not gathered.
Actively, as we travel the highways or the Airways, what a privilege we have of being able to be together. But as we separate and go to our homes, may the Lord encourage us in just continuing on in the spirit of the conference, in the spirit of the Lord and that which we have enjoyed collectively together since last Saturday. Would you turn then, please, in connection with this?
To Exodus chapter 28.
Brother Armstead Barry once made this comment and it was helpful to me and I'd like to pass it on. When you read of Aaron alone, you have brought before you in tight Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you read of Aaron and his sons, you have brought before you the family or the household of God. Now with that in mind, I'd like to read some verses from.
Various chapters here and then turn to a portion.
That, I trust will give us encouragement in the sense that we will see the operation of the Spirit of God in a very real way in Israel's presence. And then finally, that the Scriptures in the New Testament might give us, and they give many examples. We'll turn to one where the Spirit of God can be an exercise in our practical assembly matters as the church is looked upon. I want to say this at the beginning that I.
I don't want to create the impression or leave the erroneous impression that the the assembly of Saints here at Wheaton are the household of God in Wheaton or in Addison. I don't want to leave the impression that the assembly that you may be privileged to meet with in your own home city is the household of God there in the sense that the household of God is made-up of all believers. A brother in his prayer this morning prayed for.
Member of the household of God, they're everywhere wherever the Lord Jesus Christ has been owned as Lord and Savior of that person is a member of the household of God. But I do believe this, beloved, that the assembly is the, shall we say, the testimony that exists in the earth today to the truth of the household of God.
One body. It is the testimony.
That exists presently on the earth today, that there is one body. Let us read then from Exodus 28 verse one, and take thou unto thee, Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priests office. Even Aaron, Nadab and Abiyu Eliezer and Ifthem are Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy.
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For Aaron, thy brother, for glory and beauty.
Verse 40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles. And bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, and that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches.
Their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs, they shall reach, and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons, when they come in under the Tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they may bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him, and his seed after him.
Well, in these two portions we find Aaron and his sons brought in, and we find that they were both given in or God gave Moses instruction concerning the clothing of both Aaron and his son.
And we find that we have some similarities, of course, and some differences, and we look upon Aaron as a type of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his glory, His beauty, it must exceed ours. We will be seen, though, as the church in the coming day displayed in his glory and beauty. But here we find that.
The garments that Aaron was to wear.
And the garments that his sons were to wear were for glory and beauty, for glory and beauty, beauty. Well, that seems to me to suggest that there is a testimony to be seen in the world today. And the only way this testimony can be seen according to God's mind.
Is if it's in obedience and in subjection to the Word of God I enjoy so much.
Chapters in Exodus, because so many of them begin with and the Lord said unto Aaron, or to Moses, and the Lord said unto Moses, one chapter, the next one will do it, but the next one will do it. But then near the end of the book of Exodus, it tells us, and Moses did all of the Lord spoke unto him. He left nothing undone of all at the Lord did said unto him all beloved obedience.
And happiness.
Go together. If you heard that before at a conference, I have many times before. Obedience and happiness can go together. Well, we find if we look at the book that sometimes has been sold here, there's a book called The House of Gold.
And the Alice in different prints, so it looks like the House of God, and it takes up all of the typical meanings of the various parts of the robes that Aaron was to wear and the mitre and the ephod and so on. It's not my intention this afternoon to dwell on them, except to say that everything was given in godly order and for the glory of God and for testimony or for beauty.
Well, that was fine. And we look in those picture books, we see a beautiful.
Shall we say display of a robe and a mitre. Holiness unto the Lord. But there's something I've enjoyed in the Scriptures that doesn't usually, I believe, show up in the picture books. And it's found over in the 29th chapter of Exodus. We'll read from from verse 21.
And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar.
And of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him. And he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons garments with him. Beloved, have you seen a picture of Aaron in those priestly robes?
With the blood, the stains of the blood.
And the stain, shall we say, of the ointment, I believe that ointment, that anointing oil, speaks to us of the Holy Spirit of God. And the blood speaks to us as we're sure we're all in agreement with that precious blood of Christ that was shed. The cleansing of sin and the priestly work had to do with sin. We're in a world, beloved, our testimony that we render unto the Lord in feebleness and weakness.
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But I trust in faithfulness as God enables is rendered in the midst of a world of sin, and so much glory is made today in the embellishments of Christianity. I had the opportunity of seeing the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, and I was impressed, I have to confess, with the beauty of Saint Paul's Cathedral.
In London, England.
I was impressed with the sounds that I heard in terms of what was rendered on the pipe organ. The natural man responds to these things that have come into Christianity. But Aaron went forth into the presence of God with these robes of glory and beauty, but they first of all were sprinkled from the blood of the altar.
With that blood, and they were anointed with that holy anointing.
Oil and maybe to an Israelite who wasn't acquainted with the mind of God, as he saw Aaron going forth, he shook his head and said, my he looked so much better before the blood was put upon him. All the flesh delights in the flesh, beloved young person. I know it from experience and I trust you have and perhaps are learning it from your own personal experience. The flesh delights.
In the flesh. But the eye of God rested upon that holy priest, and the eye of God rests upon today.
In Wheaton and worldwide, the household of God and that household of God has no beauty, it has no meaning, and it has no blessing unless the blood has seen sprinkled upon it, unless the holy anointing oil abides upon it. When the early church was formed in Acts 2, what was the evidence? What was the manifestation of the evidence there? First of all, they were believers.
They had been cleansed in the precious blood of Christ. I trust that every young person in this room this afternoon has been cleansed, washed from their sins, washed from their guilt, save for glory through faith in Christ and his finished work. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Then those believers gathered there at Jerusalem.
Were suddenly overshadowed, shall we say?
With the Holy Spirit descending upon them, the anointing oil, that's when the church was born. That's when the Assembly of God, the household of God first was manifested collectively. Then if you go on to the 19th of Acts, you'll see that there were some at Ephesus who were cleansed with the precious blood of Christ. But Paul says to them, have ye received the Holy Ghost? And they said their answer was, we don't even.
Know whether there is such a thing as a Holy Ghost? He said, under what were you baptized? They said unto John's baptism. John's baptism, he said, was the baptism of repentance, but he led them then to be baptized. He said from John, I'll just turn to it because I want to get the thought there correct. Acts 17.
From John's baptism were led into Christian position or Acts 19, I'm sorry, Acts 19 and the Saints of Ephesus referred to in verse three. And he said unto them, under what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him, which should come after him, that is.
Jesus Christ, John said, I am not the Christ, I am not the Messiah. My gospel, my baptism is a baptism of repentance. And it was. It was for the nation primarily of Israel. They were to repent and had they repented, all the blessing would have come in at that point. But they didn't. He came onto his own and his own received him. Not so he says. Paul says unto them that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Jesus.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when the Lord Jesus and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, now says the Holy Ghost came on them. So you'll see that the Holy Ghost, they wouldn't be an assembly until two things had taken place, sheltered with the blood of Christ born again believers and then.
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Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and thus LED.
And directed by the Holy Spirit. Every believer is a member of the household of God because those two things are true of Him. But every testimony isn't correct in the sight of God because those two things don't apply to every Christian. Christian testimony that is in Christianity and generally.
Well, we find then that Aaron and his sons had to be anointed and sprinkled in this way. Now I'd like you to turn with me to chapter 30. Verse 22 Continues with the Lord's instruction. Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also under the principle spices of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, half so much.
Even 250 shekels and of sweet calamus.
250 shekels, and of Cassia 500 shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive and hin. And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary. It shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the Tabernacle of the congregation. Wait a minute. We just read about Aaron and his sons being anointed. Wasn't that enough? Isn't that enough?
Sight of God No, beloved brethren, the assembly is a very special place, has a very special place in the heart and in the sight of God. Aaron and Aaron and his sons could go forth anointed with the ointment and sprinkled with the blood, but to what place would they go? Where in the midst of Israel would they go with this?
Indwelling of the Spirit of God.
God provided a place for them as individual believers to enjoy worship, to burn the incense offering on the altar of incense, to burn the sin offering on the altar of sacrifice, to present all of the various offerings, and so on. There was a place provided by God, but what was to characterize that place? Was it something that Aaron and his sons got together?
And made-up Did Aaron and his sons get into a architect's office and say we have been anointed of God for the purpose of worship as holy priests and you and I are holy priests unto God. We have a royal priesthood and a holy priesthood function. No, they didn't go that route at all. Again, it was the Lord's leading them. And beloved young person, on Lord's Day morning, there was a special section that I have yet to be at a conference.
Where it hasn't been necessary for a special section to be erected for those young people not yet in fellowship. Not yet in fellowship they have not. They may have been saved. You may be saved, you may be indwelt by the Spirit of God, and enjoying Christ individually in your heart and soul. But don't you see from these scriptures, beloved young person?
That God also provided a place.
And what was it the characterized the place that God provided? Did Aaron and his sons choose it? Go to the Church of your choice? No, that wasn't it at all. God provided for them entirely. He left nothing to the will of the flesh, nothing to the imagination of man's mind. Well, what's it? What is it that characterizes it? It's the.
Anointing I took time the other day.
To write down the various pieces of furniture that are in the Tabernacle. And I have to confess that I'm not fully acquainted with their type, typical meaning, and so on. But there is the the Mercy seat, and the Ark of Arc of the Testimony, and the table of showbread, and the labor, and the basins, and the altar of incense and the altar of sacrifice, and the curtains and the boards and pins and.
So on. All in their proper order.
All arranged, given to Moses by God's mind and by the Word of God. Well, we find that they could have set that all up, but it still wasn't enough because now God, as it were, provides a very special anointing oil. Now God gives them exact proportions for making this oil. God knows, and you and I have witnessed, I believe in this world today more so than ever before, that there are many spirits gone out.
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Into the world there have been many who have been indwelt with these terrible spirits from Satans power that are felt in the even in the Christian world even in the United States of America the power of these spirits is felt. But you see God gave.
Instructions as to the anointing oil, the compounding of it, the Constitution, shall we say of it? It was from God himself. And then he gives a warning.
In connection with it, He has them, He said everything in the Tabernacle, everything has to be anointed with this oil, everything is anointed. Why? Well, it says in verse 29. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy, beloved young person Holiness.
Become a fine house, oh Lord, forever, forever.
In the glory, the essence of heaven, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe will be holiness unto the Lord forever. And that characteristic should be seen and borne witness to right now. That they may be most holy, Whatsoever touches them shall be holy. That was one. That was the reason for the anointing not only of Aaron and his sons, but also.
Of the assembly, also of the Tabernacle. Everything was in it. I checked it off to make sure that nothing was left out. I took my pencil and as it reads here, it tells us what was to be anointed. The priest was a Moses was to take it, and it was to be all anointed, sanctified, sanctified, sanctified. Nothing was left out. Nothing was left out because it was all of God. Isn't that wonderful that we can have a place even in the midst of a ruined testimony?
There is a place where we can rest in peace, where we can rest in quietness, knowing that God has his delight in His people and in the gathering together by his Holy Spirit of His people for worship. God is satisfied, God is honored, God is glorified. In that position there may be outward weakness.
There may be outward.
Shall we say from the eyes of the world scorn?
But the eye of God rests satisfied, because it is in accordance with his mind. It is in accordance with His word. Now it says in verse 32. And upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it after the composition of it. It is holy, and it shall be holy.
Unto me the in the ways of God, beloved young person in the assembly.
There is no place for the flesh upon man's flesh. Shall it not be poured? You know there's a verse in John 6 and 63. I believe it is, and I think it's a very important, instructive word there. It says it is the Spirit or the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh.
Profiteth nothing have I learned this for my own heart.
All May God give us exercise to learn the truth of those of those words. The flesh profiteth nothing. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. Now in verse 33 there's a very solemn warning. It says, whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off.
From his people, Beloved friend, beloved young person.
Please, please be warned about these other spirits.
These imitations, if you like, there are those today who say we have a power, we have a spirit that fills us, that overpowers us. It's an imitation. And God warns solemnly, whosoever compounded any like it, they say you should see the manifestation of the power that comes over us. What a power that is. And you know, we're all human in that we enjoy, I suppose, that which the flesh.
If we're not living in the spirit, if we haven't judged the flesh, well, they even shall be cut off from His people. Oh, how solemn it is to dabble in that which is not the Spirit of God. Try the spirits, we're told, Try the spirits, Prove them. How can we discern? How can we know what is the Spirit of God?
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Does not that which exalts Christ come from the heart of God?
Has it all, has it not always been that that which exalts the Lord Jesus Christ is of God that honors that precious name that was so despised in this world, and that my heart too once despised, and that your heart too once despised? But now unto you therefore, which believe He is precious, He is precious. Oh, beloved friends, here we have dear young people, here we have Moses and Aaron, or Aaron, I should say.
Sons and the place and the place all sanctified, anointed with this holy anointing oil. What is the result? Well, let us turn to a portion now in Second Chronicles chapter 19. Our brother brought before us in the first young people's address something of the life of Josiah.
And I'm sure that we were encouraged by the.
The life of Josiah, but saddened to in connection with his latter end. Here we have Jehoshaphat that brought before us, and preceding the portion in the 19th chapter. We find that Jehoshaphat had a very solemn.
Warning from God Jehoshaphat made. He was something like Josiah in that he set out to please the Lord.
And he set out to do that which was right in the eyes of the Lord.
And it tells us in the in the 18th chapter how that he had riches and honor in abundance, but he tells us also that he joined affinity with Ahab.
My brother mentioned in one of the reading meetings earlier in the conference were joined to Christ and we don't need to join anything else. We've been joined to Christ. And here we find that Jehoshaphat makes a mistake. He joins affinity with Ahab. Then we find that he goes out into a war that he had no business being involved in, but because of this.
Unequal yoke. He was honor bound, I suppose we might say, to get involved in it. And.
But by the grace of God, his life is spared and he learns a very wonderful lesson from this experience. And now in chapter 19 and verse 8. Moreover, in Jerusalem, that is after Jehoshaphat had learned this lesson and you can that can be part of your homework assignment to read back a little bit and find out more about this lesson.
Moreover, in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set out?
Set of the Levites, The Who? The Levites. He's he sees now in the mind of God that there's a place for these anointed ones, for these ones who have been sprinkled, for these ones who have been anointed with his holy anointing oil. He set go on in our chapter.
A set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for judgment of the Lord, and for controversy when they return to Jerusalem.
He charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart, and we'll go on in a minute. Beloved young person, some of our brethren here have been exercised, at least I sense that in the meetings about the How shall I put it kindly?
Lethargy or lack of interest that sometimes I trust. It's coming from a humble heart myself.
That sometimes is evident amongst some of our young people in connection with assembly matters.
The responsibility I've sat in this conference and there are voices that we all have been so used to hearing that will not hear this side of glory because the Lord has taken some whose ministry we have enjoyed.
And being privileged to hear. But I was so thankful in sitting back in the reading meetings.
And that the Lord has exercised others to minister Christ to our hearts. The Lord is able even for these days of weakness and declension. And the Lord won't forsake the testimony and the assembly of his own. And so these dear priests.
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And Levites had a very solemn charge. He charged them, saying, Thou shalt do, thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord. Beloved young brother, beloved young sister, don't and don't become involved. Don't undertake anything.
That has glory for the flesh connected with it.
May it be that whatever you seek to do for the Lord's glory is done in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a perfect heart. Moses and his sons could not have gone into that anointed Tabernacle either faithfully or with a perfect heart, unless the blood was present and the anointing oil was present.
They would have. In fact, we find later on that two of Moses.
Son, two of Aaron's sons and maybe using Moses and I should be saying Aaron, I'm not sure two of Aaron's sons did indeed undertake a work that had all the appearance of a religious exercise, if you like at one time in their life. They off they took incense offerings of strange fire and offered it unto the Lord. Did the Lord honored such an act of the flesh.
No, no he didn't.
He judged it, beloved young person, he judged it. He did not honor it. The earth opened and swallowed them.
Or was it fire? Fire came down from heaven and destroyed them. Yes. And beloved friends, anything, beloved young person, anything that we undertake to do in the flesh can only receive, I believe, the judgment of God. So He gives them very wonderful and practical instruction. Thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord.
Faithfully and with a perfect heart. And what's caused so ever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments. Ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord. And so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren this do, and ye shall not trespass.
And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord, and Zebediah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the House of Judah, for all the King's matters Also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with you.
Well, that was wonderful instruction, but it hadn't yet been tested. Is that instruction, is that instruction going to stand the test of experience, the test of time? We go on into into Chapter 20 and we find some test coming along. Then that test, the practicality of the instruction that they had received, Chapter 20. And it came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children.
Famine with them other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle another battle this time. This time the battle is not one that she holds the fat is forced into because of a an unequal yoke. This is something that is allowed of God in his experience and in his life, and it puts to test his faith. It puts the test.
The reality of the instruction that he had given the Levites and the priests.
And the chief of the fathers of the house, and so on. And the verse 2. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria. And behold, they be in haze. Azan Tamar, which is in Getty.
And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. Oisei, Jehoshaphat, faith is like yours and mine. I'm sure we can talk about our faith, but in the midst of the real test, sometimes we have to confess. I have to confess at least.
That there is fear. But what did Joseph Jehoshaphat do in connection with this test that was coming upon him and which caused fear in his heart? Well, it says he set himself to seek the Lord, set himself to seek the Lord. Beloved, anointed. 1A young Christian, born again through faith in Christ, indwelt by his.
Holy Spirit.
In the midst of any test and any trial of what a example we have for our hearts, set himself to seek the Lord.
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And proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the House of the Lord before the new court, and said, Now this is a prayer.
Let's look carefully at Jehoshaphat's prayer. Oh, verse 60. Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rule us not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand? Is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who did strive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel?
And gave us it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever.
And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary there for thy name, saying, If when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house.
And cry unto thee in our affliction. Then thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the children of Ammon and Moab, and mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt. But they turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
Oh our God, wilt thou not judge them?
For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither nor we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
There's so much beloved in that prayer, so much there perhaps is an element to that prayer that.
Indicates weak faith because in each in the beginning he starts out not with a an assertive sentence, but with a question. An interrogative sentence says, Art not thou that God who did strive out the inhabitants are not thou God in heaven, and rule us not thou. There seems to me perhaps to be a little element of a weakness of faith, but there is certainly.
Element of faith. He's resting upon that which he has learned of God the Creator. He has learned of God as the ruler of all kingdoms, even of the heathen. He has borne witness in his prayer to the truth that God did drive out the nations of the land of Canaan as the Israelites went into inhabit the land. All this is wonderfully and gloriously acknowledged by.
Affair. And then he speaks of the sanctuary.
I think that's so lovely, the way that is brought in, and it's so simple a way. It's expressed in that ninth verse. If when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence or famine, we stand before thy house and in thy presence. Now I really enjoy what's in quotation, what's in brackets, in parentheses. Therefore thy name is in this.
House when the trouble came, when the crisis came.
All the people of Judah came from their cities to Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? There were other cities that they could have gone to because it was in Jerusalem that God met with them. It was in Jerusalem that the temple stood. And so they came to God's house, the House of God, that sanctified place, that anointed place.
And they acknowledge not only the presence of God, their beloved, but the name.
Of God, I would just like to.
Just like to tell a little incident that recently happened in our home assembly, there was a sister who used to come and sit back from time to time. She was a friend of a sister gathered and.
Arthritis took possession of her body to such a degree that the the dear sister wasn't able to go anyplace and just at that point in time, which was back in the early 60s, she wrote a letter to my father, which she read out in the.
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In the assembly 1 Lord's Day morning after meeting and in her letter she in her own words, but in the tenor of her thought is this that she recognized that the Lord's presence with was with those who were gathered there to his precious name. And if the Lord had enabled her, she would desire to have been gathered with us, but she was no longer able to to come.
Any of the meetings? Well, Brother Gladding and some of the older ones in the assembly kept in a reasonable touch with this sister, but not, shall we say, overdoing it in any way perhaps. But this spring this sister went home to be with the Lord, and in her will she left a rather large bequest. But she hadn't fully grasped the concept of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone because.
When the check came to my house, I opened it up and there was a check from the executors and it was made out to the Plymouth Brethren at Saint Thomas. Well, this caused a bit of a problem in connection with the processing of this check because in the bank where the assembly funds are kept, the.
Account has been opened in the name of Christians gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at St. Thomas ON. Well, the banker didn't want to cash a check that was made out to Plymouth Brethren. We weren't particularly anxious that that name be identified with the testimony that we seek to to uphold by.
By grace, there in Saint Thomas.
The question came and to a brother who went to cash the check, is this a one shot deal? Well, of course, beloved, it was a one shot deal and he cashed the check and everything went all right. But that sister, just to use it as an illustration, although her hearts desire in her, shall we say, lack of intelligence in scriptural things, spiritual things hadn't discerned really.
That we're not gathered as Plymouth Brethren. We're not gathered as Brethren, period. We're gathered as Saints gathered to the name.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is exactly I think what Jehoshaphat is indicating in his prayer for thy name is in this place. Isn't that precious that it comes out in the Old Testament a truth like that that Jehoshaphat recognized he didn't have the the glorious revelation of the epistles and Paul's teaching and so on that brings out such wonderful.
Church truth and church teachings, as you and I can be privileged to enjoy.
Supposing there was a young person because it says they came with their little ones, their wives and their children. All the assembly is a family place. The Assembly of God is a family place. Opposing some young Judy boy from the from Judah came and he said.
I really don't want to be associated with Jehoshaphat in this place. I would rather go to another city and I would rather go to another.
Place in Jerusalem even than it then to the temple. What would Jehoshaphat say if the young boy from the tribe of Judah came up to him? Says really, is it necessary? Is this the the place that you think is the only place? Well, Jehoshaphat I'm sure would say to him, my dear young friend, his name is only associated with this place. You can go anywhere else in the city of Jerusalem. And if you go there today, you'll find there's mosques.
And different be non Christian denominational churches. But at that time Jehoshaphat could say there's only one place where his name is upheld where he has placed his name there. That's there at the temple. And if you don't go there, you've missed the mind of God for your pathway as a young boy, young man or a young girl, because as I said, it was a family place. They brought their wives and their children and I'm thrilled to see the.
Mothers and fathers coming to Wheaton conference bearing with the heat.
Because they have little ones to care for and to dress and to provide for and to get those trays for and everything in connection with it. There must be something that that attracted your heart to, to stimulate you to put forth the effort to be here with your family.
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You know, there's a verse, perhaps I should have read it. It's in seconds in first Peter. I believe that she may know how to behave yourself in the House of God. There is a behavior associated with it too, a behavior in connection with the House of God. I remember in high school when I was in grade, 930 years ago this September actually, and I was just a little boy from a small country school. And to be honest with you, I'd never been in a school.
Over probably 60 or 70 children in it and this school was a big City High school and I was very small and very much alone on the first day of school and lost on top of it. My brother was in grade 10 but he didn't have a grade 11 but he didn't have anything to do with we grade 9 hers. So he abandoned me as soon as we got to the door and he said you're on your own so.
I suddenly spotted a boy that I had gone all through.
Elementary school with some distance down the hall. What a site that was to a lonely lost boy and great nigh on his first day of school. I ran down that hall and I was just rounding the corner where I'd seen him go when a hand clamped me on the shoulder and I looked up what to me then seemed to be a giant of a man. Turned out it was the principal of the school, and he says young man.
We don't run in the halls of this school, I was beginning to learn.
Some of the lessons about behaving myself in the school I had, I had misbehaved that you may learn how you ought to behave yourself in the House of God. Well, you see, he was teaching me a lesson. That was my first lesson on the first day not to run in the halls of that school. And I don't believe that I can recall ever running a second time because I looked up into the eyes of that man I knew he meant.
Everything that he said and beloved, God is not mocked. God is not, shall we say, smiling at what we might term to be deliberate disobedience. God is not marked in connection with those who seek to scorn or despise of that which he has promised blessing upon. And there may be those who are even true Christians who say.
Oh, I couldn't go there. You're too legal. You're too strict. You're too this. You're too that.
And they, they may even ridicule you for any stand that you may take in faithfulness. God is not marked. That principle was not to be marked in connection with my misbehaving. As we were coming from breakfast this morning, I met a sister and her husband. There were three little girls walking along, but I knew there were three that also that they had that weren't with them. I said, where are the other three? And her reply was.
Behaving, I hope. Behaving, I hope.
See behavior. Behavior always brings blessing. It always brings a comfortable feeling. If you know if you go into a certain persons home that there is a certain manner of the behavior expected of you, you'll be more comfortable if you adhere to that.
If you're convinced of it and act accordingly. When Lady Diana Spencer became engaged to His Highness Prince Charles of England, from the moment of her engagement, she moved in with the Prince's grandmother in Clarence House. Why did she move in with the Prince's grandmother, Queen Mother Elizabeth? Because Queen Mother Elizabeth could instruct her on how to behave in the House of royalty to which she was going to be.
Joined in marriage in two or three months and so she learned from the times she fell in love with the Prince. She learned how to behave and you know and beloved the Lord Jesus. If we may use a speak of it reverently and I trusted his cell. He's such a savior.
And he would have, he would have us fall in love with him. And in connection with that, of course, there is that thought of responsibility, because we wouldn't want to displease the one that we have learned to love, the one whose love has so filled our hearts and being so wonderfully manifested to us in so many uncountable ways. Would you desire in any way?
To grieve him.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God when you go on in a pathway, When I go on in a pathway that does not please the Lord Jesus Christ, it grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Well, perhaps we've gone a little off our subject and our time is up. I'd like you to to notice that when the crisis came, and you can read this for yourself, the rest of this 20th chapter.
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It was a different war and the other war that was a war that.
Jehoshaphat had no business being connected with. He had to go out there and ride in the Chariots. He had to go out there and endanger himself. When it was the Lorde testing of his faith and so on. We find that they just had to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord the very morning. It was to be the next day that the Lord would deliver them from this huge host, and the very morning of deliverance. If you read from verse 20 on, you'll find that they went out.
And they sang praises unto the Lord. What did Paul and Silas do when they were put in prison? That was their test of practical Christianity, saying praises at midnight. What was the result? Well, the prison doors swung wide open. They didn't have to escape by climbing over a wall. God brought them out and full deliverance. And what was the result for Jehoshaphat and his and and Judah?
Full deliverance and they never had to raise a sword because I believe they rested in the truth.
Of the assembly. He brought them to that place where they could get strength. He brought them that place where God's presence was promised. Well, we need to search the Scriptures in connection with these things, but may these thoughts, and I trust the Lord will bless them to your heart as well as to mine, in connection with the anointing and in connection with the place.
Be for our prophet and encouragement.