Address—Bill Prost
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Well, good afternoon.
We thought we were going to have to start a little late, but it seems people are here after all. Good. I'd like to sing part of an unusual hymn for an address in starting number 98.
We more commonly sing this hymn at the remembrance of the Lord, and very appropriately so, but.
It brings before us the contrast that I want to talk about a little this afternoon, and one or two points we'd like to bring out of it. So let's sing together the 1St 4 verses of #98 gazing on the Lord in glory while our hearts in worship bow.
There we read the wondrous story of the cross.
It's shame and woe.
Going to start a tune to it that I know is familiar but sometimes is sung ever so slightly differently in different places. But we'll, we'll make it work.
Now.
I.
Give you.
Praise God.
And smash them.
4 verses for those that came in a bit late. Maybe we'll finish it later.
Let's look to the Lord.
Loving God our Father.
What a privilege it is to lift up our eyes.
From all that is in this world and see the Lord Jesus as a risen Christ in glory. We bless thee for this.
And we thank the Lord Jesus that it is on account of thy sufferings that thou art exalted. Thus we thank Thee for thine exaltation, as we thank that He this morning for thy suffering.
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And now we commend our time together to Thee. As we open Thy word together, we pray for help. We pray that by Thy Spirit Thou wilt speak to us from Thy Word. Encourage our hearts.
Warm our hearts. If necessary, stir up our hearts.
While we are still down here in this world.
We do pray for some that have had to leave, and we ask for safety for them and care as well As for many our God whom we know would have loved to have been here but were hindered. We ask for Thy help and care for them too. So we commend our time together to Thee and ask all Lord Jesus in Thy precious and worthy name, Amen.
Number of years ago.
Quite a few years ago now.
A brother handed me a piece from our written ministry that I had never seen before, which wasn't, of course at all surprising, but the brother brought out some thoughts in that little piece that really went to my heart because I never quite seen it that way before.
But ever since that time in reading the Word of God and more particularly the New Testament and even more particularly Paul's ministry.
Everything that that brother brought out has really, I trust anyway in my own soul come alive.
Allow me, if I may, to share a little bit of it with you this afternoon.
And there's an object in that too.
Because sometimes in these last days.
As we see, and I don't think any would doubt this, as we see things getting weaker, not merely among those gathered to the Lord's name, but among Christendom in general. And we are part of Christendom. We are not separated from it. We're in the great house along with others, and we share in the weakness.
We share in the declension and we have to share in the humility.
But as we see things getting weaker sometimes on the one hand, and some of us were talking about that not too long ago, there is a tendency, perhaps maybe on the part of people in my generation, to start reminiscing and looking back, it's tempting, isn't it?
Ecclesiastes says, Say not thou. What is the cause that the former days were better than these?
For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this matter, but some of us do it anyway.
On the other hand, there is a temptation and we had a bit of it before us in the readings yesterday.
To start to become discouraged and the hands can hang down, the knees can grow feeble, and pretty soon it tends to be a bit contagious, doesn't it? And others tend to feel it. And then perhaps.
There's the looking over the fence, as the cows and the sheep do, sometimes thinking that the grass maybe is a little greener on the other side.
And we give up something that we know to be true in order, hopefully to get greener pastures.
Only to find out that that doesn't work. What is the answer?
I had several thoughts brought before me when I came to the meetings because.
As is often the case today, the brethren had let most of us know that they would like us to take a responsibility at the meetings. But then last night when Wally turned to Romans 1.
I think it clinched it for me. Let's turn back there. Romans chapter one.
And we want to start off there.
Because we'll remind ourselves of what we were already reminded of last night.
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And that is that when God preaches the gospel in this dispensation, he does not start with you and me.
And before Wally read that scripture, we were reminded of it in Hebrews 12 where Brother Ed brought out that thought from what the Lord gives us there in Hebrews 12 when it says that the Lord Jesus.
Went back to sit on the throne of God, but what does it say there?
Let's read that just hold Romans one, but let's read that just to get it again. Hebrews 12 and verse two, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and the IT was brought out and rightfully so that that joy.
While it included having you and me with him.
Goes higher than that.
It was the joy of being able to go back to the Father and to be able to say I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
When I was growing up, I had a father who was.
And I don't say this in order to bad mouth my father. I just make an observation. He wasn't used to giving out a lot of praise, so that if you got a bit of praise out of him, you really put a mark on the calendar, as we say. And one time my brother and I, who probably were only about maybe 10 and 12 years old, were commissioned to put some shelves together in our.
Basement, while my brother was better at it than I, even though he was younger than I, but at that age, you know, you're a little clumsy at it sometimes. And we had a quantity of tongue and groove lumber and some two by fours, and we did our best.
I still remember my father coming home and looking at it, and for once he said good.
You boys did a good job.
Wow.
That was nice to hear. And those shelves stayed in our home and they were there when we sold the home after my father went to be with the Lord. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to compare us to the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus went back to the glory, having finished the work the Father gave him to do.
First and foremost before we came into the picture. Now back to Romans 1.
You know when Peter and John, and I have said this before, but it bears repeating, When Peter and John started preaching the Gospel and Philip and many others in the book of the Acts, they tended to start with the need of man because they were preaching mainly to the Jewish nation and here was a guilty nation that had crucified its Messiah.
And suddenly they were convicted by the Holy Spirit.
Of the awful crime they had committed, and they immediately say, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
And how wonderful that there was an answer for it. Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, for the remission of sins and so on.
There was forgiveness. Wonderful news.
But then the nation as a whole, as we well know, rejected that wonderful message.
And God.
Writes over Israel.
He was going to set them aside. No longer would he own them publicly as his earthly people. No, he was going to turn to the Gentiles. And he raises up another man.
Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, and how that happens.
Never ceases to amaze me. Not because not watch, let me rephrase that. Not only because of the very signal way and the demonstration of God's power, but because of how it happened.
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And in order to say it better, I'll quote from Mr. Wigram. He said it better than I could.
This may not be word for word, but it's close, he said. When Satan.
Using the hatred of man put out the brightest light in the early church in the person of Stephen. It was typical of the grace of God in this time of His grace that God reached down, laid hold of the very worst one responsible.
And said, all right, you come and take its place. Isn't that wonderful? And then what does he do? He makes it even greater servant of that worst one than the one that they had stoned to death.
But when Paul comes on the scene, where did he see the Lord? Here on earth? No.
He didn't know the Lord Jesus when he was here on earth.
He met him first.
Has arisen Christ in glory and everything about Paul's ministry.
Was characterized by that, and so let's turn to Romans 1 again.
The end of verse one, the Gospel of God.
Notice that.
Verse 3 concerning what concerning man is a lost, guilty Sinner who needs a Savior. That's not what it says, does it? Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness.
By the resurrection from the dead.
Old Paul starts his gospels first of all with the focus on God.
And his purposes in his beloved Son, the gospel of God.
Now, when it comes to you and me, it's the gospel of Christ and it's an interesting study which I invite you to do.
To look in the New Testament, the number of times you see things connected with God.
And with Christ, the power of God, the power of Christ, the grace of God, the grace of Christ, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, and so on. And there are many more.
When it's God, it's his nature and power. When it's Christ, it's more the practical side as it applies to you and me.
And so here we have the Gospel of God. Now turn over to Two Corinthians 4 where we get this supported.
Later on in Paul's ministry, a well known verse.
2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 3.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Lest the awful condition of their sinful state be clear to them.
Now what it says is it? I don't mean to corrupt the Scriptures, but I'm making a point. What does it say? Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, or more accurately, the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine under them. In Acts 20, Paul tells about preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Wonderful.
We need that grace, but first and foremost, Paul brings before us the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Some will recognize this name. Maybe not. But there's a prisoner out in the Colorado State prison system by the name of Alan Yerke. I've never met him. I've corresponded with him. I've even talked with him on the phone. He's far better known to other brethren closer to that part of the country, and also to some of our brethren at Bible Truth Publishers.
He is in there for life.
But he's an earnest Christian now.
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And that man and one of his fellow prisoners, who also knows the Lord.
Apparently repeatedly remind one another.
It's not about us. It's not about us.
Why do I emphasize that? Because.
The day in which we live, and if we could say it in modern language, right from the beginning, right from the get go of Christianity, there was a tendency, and it's in our hearts, mine as much as any, for the focus of Christianity to be on us.
Does it concern us? It does. Does God have blessings for us?
The book of Ephesians brings them out in a wonderful way, and we are meant to enjoy them, no question about it.
But if the focus of Christianity is on God as a philanthropist, one who is there to give us what we need, one is there to whom we can go whenever things aren't going right and whenever we need help in difficult circumstances, whenever there are problems and difficulties.
And a number of hymns that we sometimes sing focus on those things.
If that is our main focus, oh how far short we fall. Because, as our brother Clarence Lundeen used to remind us, the man or the woman who is occupied with him or herself is never happy.
No, I don't want to be misunderstood. Does that mean I don't occupy myself with the blessings the Lord gives me? Of course not.
Does that mean that we do not go to the Lord when we are in trouble and difficulty? Of course not. Does that not mean that He hath given us all things richly to enjoy as a brother reminded me yesterday? Of course we love to hear that, and we should enjoy all those things. But God wants your focus and mind to be primarily.
On the glory of that Blessed One.
And when the apostle Paul was given the precious truth from a risen Christ in glory.
How did it all start? It started with the gospel he preached, but let's turn to Ephesians chapter one to see how that carried on in his ministry to believers.
Ephesians, chapter one.
We read this verse already, but.
Excuse me at these meetings, but.
It starts with.
The beginning of verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then go down to verse 9.
This is chapter one. Sorry, Ephesians 1.
Verse three and then verse 9, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having made no one under us the mystery or secret of His will, according to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.
And then you and I are brought in, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things, after the counsel of his own will.
In whom know that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ?
Notice the order, the glory of Christ and God's purposes in Him. And then you and I brought in an association with it. Why is that so important? Because if that truth gets hold of our souls.
It's not going to be about us, is it? It's not going to be focused on us.
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It doesn't mean that we will be oblivious to all that God is for us. It doesn't mean that we will neglect the blessings God has given us. But when the eye is fixed on a risen Christ in glory, oh, what a difference it makes. And don't think for a moment that I have arrived. That's not the point. But the point is that when we see all that, we see if I could use a.
An expression what made the apostle Paul tick is that being irreverent, I hope not. We see what kept him going. We see how that a man like Paul, yes, he could make a mistake in his zeal for the Jewish nation. He could go up to Jerusalem and get into all kinds of trouble and end up being in prison for several years and then end up.
Being sent to Rome as a prisoner.
But after being in prison for at least two years in different parts of Judea and Caesarea and so on, then what happens? Here's Paul brought before Agrippa and Bernice or Bernice and brought before Festus and so on. And I don't know why they felt it necessary to have them in chains under those circumstances.
Just maybe to emphasize the fact that he was a prisoner, because where was he going to escape to? But anyway, there he isn't changed.
But who's a master of the situation? Who's got the helmet of salvation firmly on his head?
Who is there with the whole armor of God, enjoying that vision of a risen Christ in glory?
The one with chains on them.
There's Festus, there's Agrippa and all those big.
If I could use the term Roman big shots as we would call them. Dignitaries all there with their pomp and their glory. Paul stands head and shoulders above them all.
What a picture, What a picture, And that's what if I can say it, That's what the Lord is looking for.
For you and me in this world today, he's looking for those.
Who will walk in all the dignity of who they are? Why? Because of what they are.
No, because of what Christ is. Because they are associated with a risen Christ in glory, they are not occupied with their own circumstances.
Now, do we get under our circumstances? I have to confess that I do sometimes. Yes, I really do. And it's not easy sometimes to go through difficult circumstances. And we had it yesterday, didn't we? No chastening for the moment seemeth to be joyous but grievous.
That's that's being honest, isn't it?
But at the same time, when I see up there in the glory the man who exemplified every kind of suffering that a sinless man could go through, and where is he now? At God's right hand? What a place for him to be in.
Sometimes as time goes on and we do see the Christian testimony getting weaker.
We shouldn't be surprised. God has told us it will be that way. And God has told us that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. God has told us through the mouth of the Apostle Paul that grievous wolves would enter in not sparing the flock. God has told us that even of our own selves, sometimes those will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.
Second Timothy 3 describes.
Not the heathen world, but what becomes of Christendom when they turn away from the Lord and those nations that had the light of the word of God.
We shouldn't be surprised, but it's difficult and it's hard to go on.
And if I start looking at myself, my circumstances, the situations I am faced with, yes, I can take them to the Lord. And He does help us, Absolutely He does. And we're meant to go to Him.
The eyes have to go a little higher than that.
We've lost a brother whom many here revered. Turn to Hebrews 13.
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Hebrews 13.
Verse 7.
Remember them which have the rule over you.
Who have spoken unto you the word of God?
Whose faith followed, considering the end of their conversation.
But don't stop there. What's the end?
Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever, or as it reads in the Darby, in the ages to come or to the ages to come.
You know there is a danger on all of our hearts to put our brethren between ourselves and the Lord.
And don't think I haven't done it.
All perhaps fall back on reminiscing a little bit.
I grew up mostly under the Ministry when I was younger of Harry Hale.
I didn't appreciate him when I was in grade school as much as I did as a teenager because things he said started to come to life.
And I still remember going to the first conference when he wasn't there.
In 1962.
And how the bottom fell out of my stomach when I looked around. Uh, he's not here.
And then a few years later.
At a meeting in 1966, someone stood up and said, just to let you know that last night Paul Wilson went to be with the Lord.
Young people in my generation broke our necks to get to the conference if we heard Paul Wilson was going to be there.
Because we knew it, every young people's meeting, we wanted to hear them.
And I could go on.
But then all this comes home to our souls. Oh, the Lord doesn't want me to be occupied with those. Yes, enjoy what they give us. Because what was their message? If it was a right message, it was Christ.
But let's face it, we look at our brethren.
Everyone of us, and there's failure in everyone of us. There's only one in whom there is no failure and who remains.
The same.
Today.
And forever yesterday. And today. And forever.
Can we look to him? Indeed we can. Can we have a sense of his presence? I believe it can still be had collectively, and that's another story. But what a wonderful thing to be able to come together. We're that blessed one gathers to himself in the midst.
And I want to say this without any shadow or doubt, that I have no question in my own soul.
That when the Spirit of God gathers around the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst, he cannot, There's no way that he can gather on any other principle except that there is one body. To do so in any other way would be making God the author of confusion. I believe with all my heart that God will never give us truth in His precious word, and yet make the circumstances so difficult that we have to say well.
I know what I ought to be doing, but it's impossible to carry out.
Now, I don't want to be misunderstood.
When the Apostle John was on the Isle of Patmos, it may well have been that he couldn't remember the Lord and couldn't enjoy, at least for a while, the collective testimony.
And.
Alan, your key to whom I referred a few minutes ago, he's in prison there. It's very difficult for him. He can't enjoy the collective testimony the way you and I can.
It's out of his control. I'm not talking about those situations, but I'm talking about.
You and I who perhaps have liberty, a measure of it anyway, I believe God will always make a way.
For you and for me to be able to answer to what He shows us in His word.
Let's turn back now to John 17, because this brings us to another thought that I alluded to a few minutes ago but didn't develop it. John 17.
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This is a most wonderful chapter, as most here are very much aware of. Here is a prayer by our blessed Lord Himself just before He went to the cross, and he is praying for His own, but not merely for His own who were present at that time, but he looks on down through the ages.
To those who would believe through their word.
He was praying for you and for me. Isn't that amazing that here a prayer that was uttered?
Perhaps close to 2000 years ago.
Was prey on behalf of you and me, but I want to look particularly at what we get toward the end of the prayer.
And let's look at verse 22.
Well, I'll read yeah. Verse 22 And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.
That they may be one, even as we.
Are one.
Quite a few years ago now.
Probably at least.
20 and probably more.
I was at a conference in Lawrenceville, IL.
And we took up this chapter.
We came to this verse.
And a good deal was said by a number of brethren, most of whom are now with the Lord.
Concerning coming glory and how that we were going to share the glory.
Of the Lord Jesus.
And after there had been quite a few comments.
Our brother, our late brother Clem Buchanan, spoke up.
And said, brethren, I wonder if we're missing something here.
He said. I agree with all that has been said.
And it is true that a divine person such as the Lord Jesus could speak of something in the future as if it were already true because of who he was. He could say, for example, in verse four, I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do.
Even though as to actual time, the work on the cross was ahead of them.
But then Clem proceeded to say, Notice the tense of the verb in that 20 second verse.
The glory which Thou gave us, me I have given them.
He said, Brethren, I believe we have that glory now.
That was all he said. He didn't develop it because there wasn't time. It was at the end of the reading meeting. I went home. It's just personal reference. She'll have to pardon that. But I went home and I thought there's more there, There's more there. So I kept thinking about it and then I stumbled on something.
In our written ministry and suddenly it clicked.
A brother made a comment on this verse and he brought out what I believe Clem Buchanan was alluding to.
And I'll try and pass it on. He said something like this. He said that glory.
That Christ is going to share with us is shared with us now.
But he said it is manifested down here in a slightly different way.
He said.
There is a glory that the Lord Jesus.
Will display with you and me in a coming day when he appears, but that glory appears now in the way that it appeared.
With him when he was on earth. That is what God looks for in you and me.
Is those who, on the one hand, walk through this world.
Despised, rejected in humility and taking that place without resenting it, without rebelling against it, without trying to straighten the world out or take the place that doesn't belong to them, they walk through this world like that.
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But he said they walked in all the dignity and moral power of who they are as sons of God, sharing the glory of a risen Christ up there. That's as best as I can say.
I that just overwhelmed me.
What a difference that makes.
We don't suffer so much physical persecution now, do we? But we do get suffering of different kinds. It says all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Some of our brethren and other lands, and I know some of them and others here do too, have gone through nightmares of suffering. I knew at least two people in India who are now with the Lord.
Martyred because of their faith, by their own families, because they refused after their conversions to bow down to Hindu idols.
Cut right off. And they're with Christ today, and it's happening over and over and over again, as we well know. But over here the Lord may put us through different things. It may be through trials and difficulties. It may be, shall I say it, having to face problems.
Sometimes that faces us even in the circle of believers in which we live and move.
And it can be very, very difficult.
A man was once very severely persecuted for his faith and later on in his life he was attacked, falsely accused for many other things in his life, in his Christian life. And he said I would far rather have been beaten the way I was in the past than have had to put up with that. He said it hurt more. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not minimizing the physical sufferings of our brethren and other lands. All I'm saying is that the Lord.
Going to make you and me feel it if we want to take a pathway that is pleasing to Him. And as we see the day darkening in these favored lands and as we see, and we had it before us in our readings. The level of godliness in the world around us going down, down, down. The word of God being thrown aside and man adopting that which is flagrantly opposed to this precious book.
You and I are going to stick out more and more.
If we seek to follow the Lord faithfully.
We shouldn't resent it, but at the same time, what should be there?
The moral power and where will it come from ourselves down here? No, it has to come from seeing a risen Christ in glory and recognizing who we are with Him.
Turn over now, please, to Luke's Gospel to see a similar thought.
Because.
This is a time when we can serve the Lord.
Will there be service in Glory though? I believe there will.
I believe their will. The first verse of that 17th chapter brings before us the Lord Jesus.
Where he says in so many words, Father, I've done everything possible to serve thee down here in this world, glorify thy Son. He says, that thy Son also may glorify thee. And if I read that rightly, the Lord is saying.
I've glorified you, Father, down here in every way that you ask me to do. But now glorify me.
At your right hand, to what point or to what end I should say, so that I can continue to serve thee up there Isn't that beautiful? Lord Jesus remains a servant for all eternity, and in Revelation 22 it reminds us that His servant shall serve Him, and they shall see his face.
So that service, in one sense, will not end completely in glory. I love that.
But there's a special character to service rendered under difficult circumstances.
There's a special appreciation for what is rendered in a world that has rejected our blessed Lord and Master. And notice what the Lord says to His disciples in Luke 10. Here, Luke 10.
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To get the antecedent for this, look at verse one.
After these things the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whether He Himself would come.
Therefore, said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Verse 3. Go your ways, and so on.
And then?
He gives them instructions.
And then what happens?
Verse 17.
And the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils or demons are subject unto us through thy name.
They come back full of joy. Well they might. Things had gone well. The Lord's power was with them. They had been able to do all of those things which He told them to do. And in the power of that name of the Lord Jesus, it says even the demons were subject to them. Wonderful. What's the Lord's reaction?
Verse 18.
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
They must have loved that. I do too, naturally speaking. Oh, the Lord looked on to a day which hasn't happened yet, when Satan is going to be cast out of heaven, no more access to God's presence. And we know that in that day he'll be come down to earth, as it says, having great rock, knowing that he hath but a short time.
That is, the Lord looked on to the day when that power of Satan would begin to be diminished, diminished, diminished until the final day when he is cast into the lake of fire after he leads that final rebellion at the end of the Millennium.
And the Lord encourages those who served him, and we need encouragement today.
And we would encourage each one here.
Let's do what we had before us yesterday. Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees.
And make straight paths for your feet. And I might say that when it comes to serving the Lord.
Don't get the idea that somehow.
Some here, including myself, have had the privilege of going to foreign lands.
But that's not necessary, and it doesn't start out that way.
God starts out by using you where you are, and if you want to do something for the Lord, look around where you are. That is the place to start and then.
As things go on, the Lord may see fit to use you in wider circles.
But that should never be our object, as a dear brother remarked many, many years ago, and it's in our written ministry.
He said the best Christian is the one who serves the Lord quietly in his own sphere.
And who does it? Unknown and unpraised and unsung. He or she will get the greatest reward in a coming day. I believe that with all my heart. And so yes, it's nice to make others aware of what is going on in the rest of the world. And I have done it myself occasionally, and it's nice to know how things are going in other lands.
But let's remember that.
There is work to be done right where you are, and I can't tell you what your work is and you can't tell me what mine is. But I rest assured, and Scripture tells us that, that each one of us that tells us in Ephesians 4 is given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ. You have something you can do for the Lord that no one else can do as well.
He'll show you what it is if you want to serve him, but notice what it says here.
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The Lord encourages them. I am going to give you power.
But then he gives them a gentle caution. And I want to notice this in verse 20. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject under you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
Oh, I must confess that that goes home to my soul. Why?
Because there is a danger in all of our hearts of getting taken up with service.
Of getting occupied with of what we're doing for the Lord.
It's good to serve the Lord.
But.
Many years ago, some of us knew our late brother Eric Smith fairly well, who served the Lord in South America for many years. He had a very strong effect on some of our lives.
And he told of how he went to Bolivia way back, approximately 100 years ago now.
To serve the Lord. And he had a zeal and an energy to see souls saved and to see souls brought into the truth of God. And things weren't going very well. And one time he went into his room, he told us, and as we would say, had it out with the Lord.
And he told us how that the Lord brought before him, and he used his first name.
He said. The Lord seemed to say to me, Eric.
Whose work is this?
And he said, well, Lord Jesus, it is Thine and Eric who's.
Power is it?
Oh Lord Jesus, it is thy.
And then the hammer hit harder. And Eric, Whose glory is it?
Lord Jesus, it is dying.
He said after that the work started to go ahead. Why? Because the focus was on a risen Christ in glory.
Why does the Lord say, rejoice that your names are written in heaven?
What did you and I have to do with that? Oh, we have to hang our heads, don't we?
We have to hang our heads. We have to say nothing but our sins.
Nothing but the degradation and the awfulness of our sinful condition.
We remembered that this morning.
That puts everything in perspective, doesn't it?
And when I realized that my name is written in heaven, not for anything that I have ever done, then it puts service in its right perspective.
No one needs to tell if I can use his name and I know he won't mind. No one needs to tell an Alan Yerke who is in prison for life.
And he says I deserve it because of what he did. No one has to tell him that he's a lost Sinner. But sometimes when we're brought up in Christian homes, we don't realize how bad our sinful self is. Sometimes the Lord has to put us through circumstances that are very difficult to make us realise that.
Rejoice rather, because your names are written in heaven. And then what does the Lord say? And we'll end with this.
Verse 21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father.
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
I pondered in my own soul why the Lord Jesus added these two verses, and I don't pretend to know the whole answer, but I suggest this thought. The Lord Jesus brings before us that which you and I can never understand.
There's much in this precious book that we can understand, and we thank God for the precious truth that has been revealed to us.
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We thank God for that for which we can have heights and depths of meditation that exhaust not merely a lifetime, but will exhaust, if we could say it, all eternity. But how are they revealed to those who come as babes, to those who come in simplicity? Now that don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that God rejoices in those who don't know very much.
Paul had to correct the Corinthians and it's in Hebrews 2 where they were carnal and they weren't able to eat strong meat because they were so juvenile in their Christian understanding that they were good for just.
Nothing but milk. That's not the thought.
But I have to approach God with all the reverence that is due to Him.
And remember, and we have it in verse 22, that the person of that blessed one who sits at God's right hand.
That blessed One who loved us and died for us on Calvary's cross, that One with whom we will spend all eternity. His person is a divine mystery. And I say it I think I'm right that I don't believe even in all eternity, you and I will ever be able to understand it.
We had in that in that hymn 150 that our brother gave out this morning.
The higher mysteries of thy fame the creatures grasp, transcend the Father only thy blessed name of Son can comprehend.
It's true.
And when we think of all that, then we come in the right way, occupied with a risen Christ in glory, yes, walking through this world and all the dignity of those that belong to Him, yes, but in all the humility, not merely of who we were before we were saved, but in the humility of realizing who has brought us into His favor and with whom we are associated.
That will carry us in these last days.
Let's sing the last two verses of that hymn we began with at the beginning.
And maybe we'll start a different tune because I noticed a lot of.
Maoists were not too widely open. I didn't realize that tune was not as well known as it perhaps should be. So let's sing the last two verses of #98 gazing on it. We adore thee, blessed precious holy Lord.
Thou the Lamb alone artworthy this be earth and Heaven's accord #98 versus 5:00 and 6:00.
And we'll we'll sing it to to a German tune. It's called Rhineland. I think it's well known.
Gazing.
On it.
Our loving God and Father, we commit thy word to Thee. Being conscious, we trust the object before us and the feebleness of human language.
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To occupy us with him, as it should.
But we thank the our God and Father for thy spirit, which is able to make things good to our souls.
And able to give us the energy to walk in the good of them. We pray that we might have it in these last days. For Thy honor and glory, and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, where we ask it in His precious and worthy name. Amen.