Address—Bill Brockmeier
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We sing this afternoon number 76.
In the appendix I was told about the year 1918, nineteen nineteen, that my grandfather Smith, he was raised in a godless home. He had over his bed a text that said I will not settle for less than $60,000. He was about 15 years of age. There was a couple of brothers in an assembly that invited him into gospel meeting and he heard the gospel and he was saved.
And that text came off the wall.
And he lived his life for the glory of Christ. And when he was 73, he died, and at 18 years of age.
His death had an impact on me and and likewise his funeral. And this hymn 76 in the appendix was sung. Then let me live continual praise to give to thy dear name, my precious Lord, Henceforth alone, beloved, adored. So let me live number 76 from the appendix.
Thine Jesus.
Nsnoise.
I don't know.
My God.
And I.
Thought.
I'd like to read first to verse in first Peter chapter 3.
Mm-hmm.
First Peter, chapter 3.
And verse 10.
For he that will love life and see good days.
Let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from that. They speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, thinking of that expression in particular. For he that will love life.
Just by way of contrast, part of a verse in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 2.
And the first 4 words of verse 17.
Therefore, I hated life.
I suppose the desire of every Christian parent.
And the desire that we would have for our younger ones this afternoon is really twofold. Two thoughts cannot be separated. The 1St is that your life, As for our life would be spent for the glory of God and the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. And linked directly with that is that in the words of the.
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Prophecy of NAFTA life that your life might be characterized by satisfied with favor.
And full of the blessing of the Lord.
Really, that's the great desire that we have that your life, that our life would be here for the glory of God, the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that you might not, that you might know experientially the blessing of the Lord, the joy of the Lord in your life. I want to turn to it, but we could turn to first Timothy chapter 5, and it says bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now.
This and that which is to come.
Physical exercise has merit. It has value. It is a good thing.
For the life that now is.
There can be problems when does one does not exercise doesn't mean you make a God out of it doesn't mean it rules your every waking moment, but Timothy, the word from Paul's word to Timothy, it it has a little profit. It's not that it has no profit. It has profit, but in contrast with godliness, he says that it has promised of the life to come. You say why of course.
But it also has promise of life that now is that godliness has a present blessing and has a present reward. It has a present joy and that was Peter's desire. There is rights in first Peter three, he that will love life. You know, it's a very sad thing and I don't know how else to put it to see a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That more mirrors the expression that Solomon had, which is I hated life.
Solomon was a man of faith.
He had a godly father, David. But we find in Ecclesiastes we find the experience of a man that pursued the best of human wisdom. And when it was all done, regardless of the path that he followed, it was miserable. It was vanity in pursuit of the wind. It was emptiness, it was frustration, it was vexation. And he says, I hated life.
We've seen it, you perhaps know individuals that hate life and how sad it is when a believer in the Lord Jesus gets to the point where they hate life. But on the other hand, Peter said he that will love life. I understand in John 12 it says he that loveth his life will lose it, but he that loses his life for my sake and the Gospel the same shall save it. That is that we seek to pursue our own objectives, our own dreams, our own ambitions without reference to the will of God. We're gonna lose our life.
It's all said and done, it's going to be an empty wasted life, a life live for self with emptiness and nothing but headache, if not heartache. But Peter, when he says he that will love life and see good days, he gives us something very practical. Let us refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile, no says in Proverbs that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and he that loveth it shall eat the fruit thereof. It is a marvelous thing we have all chapter in the word of.
James chapter 3 that takes up the question of the tongue and it can be used for great blessing and it can be used for great heartache and great sorrow. How many times in a poorly timed in a poorly selected word with a poor attitude behind it has ruined and devastated someone? On the contrary, how wonderful it is for someone to say a word in season and that has left someone's heart up into blessing. And So what is before me this.
Noon, I really would like to speak of what I referenced in First Timothy 5 there as as far as godliness has promised of the life that now is. You know, there is a wonderful future that we have to be with Christ. It is a wonderful joy to think of that. And we think of the different awards in Scripture. There's the crown of righteousness, there's the crown of glory, there's the crown of life. It is a future award to encourage us to help us through tough times in life and realizing there is a reward.
In that coming day. But Christianity is more than just a reward in a coming day.
It is more than having a bright a blessed hope in the future. And that's all blessedly true.
But there is promise of the life that now is, and God desires that we have a happy life and a life for His glory here and now.
So turn it over to First Timothy chapter. Umm.
Six for a moment.
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We referenced the 5th chapter, but I'd like to read here in the 6th chapter.
In verse 17.
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life, or that they may lay hold of what is.
Really. Life and justice. One other verse back in the 5th chapter to reference it in verse 6.
But she that is the young widow, but she that liveth in pleasure.
Is dead while she liveth or she that lives in habits of self indulgence is dead while living?
So Paul's desire for Timothy is that he would lay hold of what was really life. I don't believe here it's in reference to the eternal portion. It's not a gospel message that you might come and lay hold of Christ and know your sins are forgotten and to be blessedly in his presence forever. But he's contrasting to those that are rich in this world and you say, well, that is that would be what is really life. He says, no, that's not what's really life. It's not wealth and riches in this in the in the sense that we commonly think.
But because he charges them that have these things, they don't trust in them and they don't elevate themselves.
With that sense of superiority, because I have more proverbs tells us again that the rich answereth roughly riches have a corrupting influence, and they have a influence to make us proud. And he said, no, you don't trust in them, but you lay hold of what is really life. And what he characterizes as being rich in good works, the principle of giving and of sharing and of helping others. In contrast to that, there is the widow.
In the first, in the, in the 4th chapter or 5th chapter, rather, we read there that lives in habits of self indulgence, dead while living nothing of real value, nothing of real life. You say, well, that's exactly what living is to live for yourself and live for uh, uh, your own interests. He says that's, that's really a moral death, nothing of life in that. Well, one more verse and then we'll get into the subject in more detail. Proverbs chapter 22.
Proverbs Chapter. Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 4.
By humility.
And the fear of the Lord, our riches in honor and life.
We know that the Proverbs, as with most all the Old Testament, was written to a people under law, the Jewish people under the Law of Moses. We know that in the Law of Moses, go to their early verses of Deuteronomy 28 and we see that the promise for the one that honored the Lord was earthly prosperity. Their produce in their field, their families, everything in a material way was gonna be prosperous of God.
And it was a sign of.
God's blessing to be prospered in a material way.
And that was an understood concept and therefore it was very difficult if one did not have these outward favors to wonder what is wrong with said individual. And so to understand that in the book of Proverbs, that is the context of it. But I would like to go ahead and reference it in a way that's true for us even now, because the verse you read there in first Peter is quoted for from Psalm 34 as it was written to the Jews. So it is true for us, the person that speaks with his tongue in a healthy beneficial.
Way is there's going to be blessing and joy as a result. The one who does not, there will not be that and so there are these common principles that apply to both of you under the law and the Christian in this day of grace. But he says here by humility and the fear of the Lord our riches and honor and life. Those riches, as I say today might not be material, but it will be.
The joy and the blessing and a happy life, indeed life is the result. This might be translated the reward of humility.
And the fear of the Lord, the reward of humility.
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Now I have I have to admit as I I was seeking to be before the Lord what I might have to say. This verse came before me and I said how? How can I, how can I speak on this subject?
Humility.
Young brother, son, young, not young brother, but he's got young children, said to me a couple of months ago. He says why is it we never have any ministry on the subject of parenting?
I think we'd all admit it's a important topic. Why don't we have any ministry on it then?
We avoid it.
Said well, I can't say brother, other than I don't think any of us feel qualified to speak on the subject.
And the brother that does think he's qualified to speak on the subject probably isn't.
It might might be struggle to to listen.
But it doesn't mean, and sometimes I think of that with regard to humility, saying, well, why don't you speak on a subject you know something about, brother? But humility is something that is very that's brought out very clearly and very powerfully from the word of God. And and although whenever we look at a subject like this, we kind of shrink back because we recognize that that we we fall short in these things. And yet the way to this is an important topic because it says by humility and the fear of the Lord.
Our riches and honor in life, the reward of humility there is a present reward if there is humility what it might be good to see what is the word of God have to say on the supporting topic rather than avoiding it because we don't feel qualified to speak on the subject. And so I'd like to notice a few verses and I again I'd like to notice a few things that will result in blessing and joy in our life. Now there's three verses in the New Testament I would like to turn to and I say them I, I trust.
Save them with with love and also in the sense of.
One's own failure and experience in them. First Corinthians, chapter 8.
And, you know, the benefit that the younger ones have, uh, over the, those of us that are older is you, you don't have the years of, uh, stumblings and failures that some of us have experienced along the way. And there's some more opportunity for you to, to learn from the, uh, experiences of those that are a little bit older.
I would just read from verse one to the context. First Corinthians 81. Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, the charity edifies, and if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. There's a helpful note in the margin of the Darby translation that he contrasts 2 words used for knowledge. There is conscious knowledge.
And objective knowledge. Objective knowledge is what we learn from a book and there's many things that we can.
Learn from books. That's healthy. It's important. Uh, progress tells us that the that the soul be without knowledge is not good.
To be devoid of knowledge is not a good thing. And in Hosea the Lord says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. So ignorance is not a good thing. But to understand that in book learning as we speak of an objective knowledge, the tendency of it is to puff up.
Not build up, but puff up, you know, when someone's puffed up, there appears to be more to them than there really is. And that's the tendency of knowledge. And so Paul, as he goes through this objective, knowledge pop pops up, but love edifies, love builds up and strengthens. And I just read the second verse in this way, that if any man think that he has conscious knowledge of anything, he objectively knows nothing.
Yet as he ought to know objectively.
And I say this because I know there is a danger that when we are young, when we are young, not real young now, but when we begin to learn, we've gone to school, perhaps we've got some jobs, we've got some work experience, we begin to learn how to get things done, and we begin to learn more than than others, and we begin to think we know something.
And the warning here is, If any man thinks he knows something, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
And so here we have the the danger of the pride of intellect, the pride of knowledge, and we're warned against it. And so how we need humility when we learn something to recognize the danger of knowledge. I don't see the benefit of knowledge. Now, I'm just speaking here of danger in the context humility. This is one area that can lead us astray when we begin to think that we know something.
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That the Scriptures speak, we know nothing, as we ought to know. Now turn over to the 10th chapter.
Paul gives the history of the people of God through the wilderness journey and the many different types of issues that they ran into the the temptations, the murmurings, the complainings, and all these lessons that are for us to learn. But in verse 12, he brings it home to the assembly there in Corinth into our own hearts where he says, wherefore let him that thinketh.
He standeth, take heed lest he fall.
So in chapter 8 you have the man that thinks he knows something and now we have a man that thinks he stands. And here is the danger of self-confidence.
You know brother, back in I'm an assembly for many years has gone and continues I think in some small measure, even today out to the umm prison facility out good many miles away and umm.
Many of them in are in there for, umm, more drug related charge. It's not, not a lot of, uh, violent crimes there, but there's, uh, I, I found it very invigorating times past when I was able to go the one. What I think I found was very invigorating is the interest on the part of the men to hear the scriptures. And many times they're hanging on every word, listening and wanting to learn. And I found it very engaging, very interesting.
Someone shows manifest interest in learning the scriptures. I think frankly it makes your ministry better.
But the other side of it is these men, and they're enjoying the Lord. They want to be strong for the Lord, and they go out for the Lord. And yeah, they failed and yeah, they've fallen. They're going to go out again. They're going to be strong for the Lord and not going to happen again.
Self-confidence and time after time after time, back they come falling. And why? It's because of self-confidence. My father thought to instill a few scriptures in me and there's a couple that he linked together. One is in Jeremiah 17. You often hear it quoted in the gospel. The heart is deceitful of all things, and desperately or incurably wicked. Who can know it?
To drive home the fact you have a fallen nature and you got it from your father so he knows just how rotten it is. You have a fallen nature within us. It's in desperately or incurably wicked. It is worse more than you can even imagine and believe what God says about it rather than saying, well, I'm not that bad. Oh yes, you are incurably wicked, but more than incurably wicked, it's deceitful. It's entirely untrustworthy. Are you going to trust a man that is incurably wicked and is deceitful on top of it?
Well, the proverb says he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
You and I would be a fool to trust a man that's incurably wicked and a man that is a deceiver. And yet when we walk in self-confidence and not dependence upon the Lord, that's what we're doing. And so here Paul says, not only is there the danger of thinking I know something now, I think that I've actually arrived and I've attained to something. Be careful of what we think. One more verse in Galatians chapter 6.
S.
Galatians, chapter 6.
And verse 3.
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing or being nothing.
He deceiveth himself. Oh, here's something else that a man might think. First he thinks he knows something. The next thing he thinks he stands. Now he thinks he's somebody.
When he's nobody and what does he do? He deceives himself. You know, I believe all these things fit into the the aspect of humility that if we're going to walk and have a happy life, we have to realize I don't know anything.
My father used to often quote Albert Einstein and I know less than 110th of 1% about anything. One of the most brilliant minds this world has ever seen. But at least he had the, uh, the honesty and the humility to say what he did. So the danger of thinking we know something, then to think that we've actually attained something that we're standing and now to think we're something, we're in the presence of God, we're nothing. And you know, when we're in the presence of our blessed Lord, there's no difficulty being humble, is there? Because.
Just how great, how majestic, how wonderful he is and how nothing that we are. And so that's the real key. But I would like to pursue a little bit more of this thought of, uh, humility.
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I wanna turn to uh verse in passage in First Kings 21.
I'm not taking these up in any particular order necessarily, because I want to speak of this of false humility.
Stop.
First Kings, uh, rather 22.
We know that many years before this there had been a breach in the Kingdom between the two tribes of Judah and the 10 tribes of Israel, the northern Kingdom and the southern Kingdom in Judah. And was a godly king of Judah, honorable man, good man, commended of the Lord. Now to the north we have Ahab, the king of Israel.
Uh, morally, a bad man and a man that, uh, ruled over a godless people.
But let's just read a few verses here in First Kings chapter 22. And they continued three years of out war between Syria and Judah, Israel. And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down in more ways than one, came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria.
And he said in the Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead? And Joshua said to the king of Israel, I am.
As thou art my people, as thy people, my horses as thy horses, and we're not gonna read the rest of the chapter. Jehoshaphat got himself into a jam. That was he almost lost his life in the process of it getting and connected with associations that he had no business getting into lining up with a godless king of Israel.
Who said let's switch clothes so they think you're the king of Israel and I'm the king of Judah?
And they were about ready to kill him because he thought he was the king of Israel. His discernment was shot. His discernment was spent. Where did you where do you ever come up with the idea of going along with this proposition? Josh Fat, godly man that he was. Well, I think we find one of the reasons here is.
He went back and said, I am as thou art.
My people is thy people. My horses is thy horses. Isn't that nice? Isn't that humble? He wasn't taking the place of being better than anybody. Certainly not another king of the divided Kingdom. Sure, we're the same.
There is a real danger.
And you can apply it in specifics. I don't have anything particular in mind of making moral equivalencies where none exist.
We all fail.
And fail my fail. How can I say anything?
I mean, we're, you're of Israel, I'm of Israel. I am as you are No difference between the king of Judah and the king of Israel. Really, Jehoshaphat? Think about what you're saying. And because he made a moral equivalency where none existed, he got himself, in effect, an unequal yoke, and he almost lost his life in the process.
Because of a false humility. It sounded so good.
It's not a question of.
Personal superiority or anything of the sort. We've already addressed those verses, but we mean to be careful. The issue here was not one of.
A personal distinction, but rather for God had placed Jehoshaphat. He was a man of God, and he was not a moral equivalent of a wicked man like Ahab, even if he had repented in the chapter before.
So perhaps that's a few comments on humility. I'll reference a couple more.
Moses was called to speak to the people.
And, umm.
He said I I'm not a man of eloquent lips. I can't talk.
What did the Lord say to him who made man's mouth?
Then I I made it. I'm telling you to speak. Oh, I can't do that. Well, my brother Aaron, he speaks well. And the Lord was angered and said, OK, if you refuse to pardon the vernacular, if you refuse to do it, I will give it to Aaron.
And he led the people of God into idolatry. Was that humility? I suppose to a point. It was to recognize our own limitations. But the Lord had made his mouth and challenged him on it and said go. And he said, no, that's not humility. That's called stubbornness.
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And the result was almost havoc to the people of God. Then there was a man named Job, and Jobe was a very righteous man.
And job is a model to us of endurance.
And that poor man, what he endured in one afternoon or one day was more than perhaps any of us will endure in our entire life. He lost all of his earthly possessions. He lost his means of livelihood, he lost his means of transportation, he lost all of his children. And one day and when it was all said and done, he said, the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What a man, what a man to say something like that.
Satan wasn't done with him yet, got permission from God, and he comes and afflicts him from head to toe.
So the man is 1 aching, riding, massive misery and physical suffering and torment.
And I don't like to, uh, belittle Job's wife. My sense with Job's wife is she loved her husband and didn't want to see him suffer anymore. She said, curse God and die. Just close the book and be done with this. He says, you speak as a foolish woman. Shall we not receive good at the hands of the Lord and shall we not receive evil? And it says in all this, Job did not sin with his mouth the most intense suffering and sorrow that perhaps any outside of our blessed Lord have gone through.
And a dent breaking, he retained his integrity.
But then his friends started in on him. He sat and quiet for saying seven days and that's the most good that they did. And when Joe finally opened up, then they started in on him. From their rationale, they saw this man must be living a double life because good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, and Job appears to be good, but he must be living a double life. He must be a hypocrite because all this bad stuff wouldn't happen to him if he wasn't a very simplistic and a very reasonable theology.
And so they started accusing job of.
Having character defect.
You're not what you purport yourself to be. That is what hit the quick with Joel and then he comes out swinging.
His pride was touched.
With no sin, but there was self-righteous and and sometimes we read the book of Job and we're amazed at the attacks, verbal assaults that that they leveled at him and he met him punch for punch. He came right back 8 rounds.
And Job has the last word. They could not break that man. He was, he was. He was consistent to the end.
So the young man alive who comes in the messenger among 1000 that gives a word to God and then God himself says to Job and let's just turn to that Job chapter 38. Just two verses to close the chapter on this little section on humility, Job chapter 38.
Verse One. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this? The darkness? Or obscureth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand thee.
And answer thou me. And the Lord begins to challenge him with one question after another.
Now chapter 40.
Jove is humbled in the presence of the majesty of God, and these answer these questions to ANS uh, the questions to answer is he cannot provide and Job says, answer the Lord verse one and said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholding from thee. Who is he that hide of counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered words that I understood not or I have uttered that I have understood not.
Things too wonderful for me which I knew not here, I beseech thee and I will speak. I will demand or I will inquire of thee and declare thou unto me. I find this is a remarkable play really on words. It's it's irony that the Lord says Joe, all right, you've had a lot to say. Now I have some questions for you. If you're up, you're always like a man and answer my questions that I'm gonna address, uh, to you.
And he, uh, he says I'm gonna demand of you and I want an answer.
But when we come to chapter 42.
Joel takes the very words of God and uses it against himself. Who is he that hideth counsel or obscureth counsel without knowledge?
That would be me.
Therefore I've uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. I was sounding off on something. I didn't know anything about it in the presence of the majesty of God, as you realize how infinitely small He is and how great God is.
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And then he says in verse 4 here, I beseech thee, speak. I will demand that the it's not the thought we see demand we think of that as a superior to an inferior. The thought is inquiring. He's asking now as Joe has got a challenge him now he takes the learner's place. You tell me. You tell me though there's humility to be in the presence of God. Well, our time is going quickly. I do wanna make a couple of other references.
There how important humility is that we might have some sense of what it is.
In the presence of God and what it isn't a false humility, but we also read there in Proverbs 14 that by humility.
And the fear of the Lord, our riches and honor and life and the fear of the Lord is such a important, uh, principle and key to blessing and happiness in our life. We know that Ecclesiastes, it's God throughout, but in Proverbs is primarily Jehovah because Jehovah is the name that God takes in relationship to his people.
The fear of the Lord. It's the reverential fear.
And in Proverbs we have the principles of 1A godly soul that walks in the wisdom of God.
And he walks in the fear of the Lord, in contrast to Ecclesiastes, where a man walks according to sight and according to human wisdom. It ends in frustration, it ends in irritation, it ends in misery, and it ends in despair. Where the proverbs, as it says, but the path of the justice is the shining light. When translation says, that goes on and brightens until the day before they come.
You've noticed, so have we. That verse lived out in the life of some of the Lord's people.
Probably the most demoralizing thing that I've experienced in my life is to see an Old Believer That's sour.
And full of critical words.
Whereas the enjoyment of Christ in your soul, do you have not a good word to say about anybody? Is there nothing you can enjoy from the Scriptures? Nothing. You've lived your whole life, you're on the brink of stepping in the Lord's presence, and all you have is harsh words, critical words, sour words.
And on the other hand, to see those that have walked with God and he is like the Lord is putting the finishing touches just like the leaves in autumn when they read all their rich colors just before they fall. And you see the impressive Christ in these dear ages, Saints of God. And they're so Christ like they can't do much, but they reflect Christ. That's how God would intend our days to end as China more and more into the perfect day. But the fear of the Lord. I've helped years ago by a comma and a brother made the difference between a legal man and a man walking.
Of God is this the legal man is not a happy man. The man that is walking in the fear of the Lord is an exceedingly happy man. There is all the difference in the world. What is it that's putting a check on our conduct and our behavior. But the Proverbs 14 times I believe we have the expression the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of knowledge, it's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is a wellspring of life, and he that hath that shall abide satisfied.
With the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance. See an evil way in the forward mouth Do I hate?
Think of it, you know there's things that the Lord loves. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
But there are things the Lord hates. He hates pride. He hates arrogance. He hates the evil way in the forward mouth, and he hates those who are so discord among brethren. The Lord loves, but he hates.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Well, the fear of the Lord, how important that is in our life. And there are so many questions. Sometimes in our life we come to it. So I don't have a verse. Maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't. But there are answers that the fear of the Lord will guide us and preserve us. And so those are two things, humility and the fear of the Lord that will bring riches and honor in life. Now there's just a couple more I'd like to turn to and.
The first is in Acts chapter 20.
Brother Jonathan quoted in his prayer in the prayer meeting the first night. Acts, chapter 20.
And we'll read from verse 32 for the context. Paul is addressing the elders, the Ephesian elders that had come to to Troas.
And his final appeal to them he says now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yeah, yourselves know that these hands have ministered under my necessities, and them that are with me. I have showed you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and remember the words of the.
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Jesus how? He said. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
What a poignant scene here where Paul commends these dear believers, recognizing it was the last time that he would see them.
You know in Hebrews one we read the word of his power. In Revelation 3 we read of the word of his patience. But as he was leaving these Ephesians in the Saints of God, there he says, I commend you to God in the word of his grace.
And that's what we need. We need the word of His grace, which is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance among all of them are sanctified. I take that. That's a present portion. And so he commends them to God. That will bring before us prayer in the word of his grace, the word of God, the minister to us in grace. We need both these things. And then in contrast to Aiken there when he entered the land, he stole, took that gold and the silver and that goodly Babylonians garment.
Paul says I've coveted no man's gold.
Or silver or apparel. That was what not not motivated him. And then he says, and I wondered if he doesn't say it, you know that these hands, these hands have ministered to my menus necessities and to them they're with me.
Paul laboured, he worked for himself and used those hands for the good of others. Like it says in Ephesians 5 that let him install steal no more, but let him rather work with his hands that he may have to give to him this need. Is it wrong to try to make money? No.
Make it in order to give and to share.
And so he gives himself as an example. He says, I showed you all things, not just told you all things, showed you all things. How the so laboring ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. It's been noted here that this is the one quotation of the Lord that we don't read about in the Gospels, but it was something that the disciples knew and the disciples heard. He says, remember what he said. We may not have the record of it, but it's obviously something.
Lord did say, Paul said he said it and it was certainly the exemplification in his life. It was more blessed to give than to receive. And I think of umm.
Hebrews there in reference to.
The Melchizedek priesthood, but just his expression without controversy. The less is blessed of the better.
Think of that in reference to us without controversy. The less us are blessed to the better God. There's another beautiful example. We often think of Jacob and what a life he had. We say it was a checkered life. It was up and down, full of deceit and trickery and all the rest. You know that man, the end of his days are a marvelous. And there is Jacob, a man who had been under the discipline of God much of his life. Because of his ways, he comes into the presence of Pharaoh, the highest monarch on earth.
And Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
A Saint of God under discipline is far superior than the highest earthly monarch. And so we see this character that the higher path is the giving path, the spirit of generosity and the spirit of giving. That's where joy lies and giving not in taking.
I was young, I was just a kid and I don't know, I don't remember much details.
Other than there was some something at school, we had to, uh, exchange gifts. I mean, what it was, but you each all gave a gift. You got a number and you got some of the gift. So I don't, I don't remember what I gave. I don't remember what I got. But all I do remember is that what I gave was something I would have liked to have and as far as superior to whatever I received and wasn't happy about it. So I was complaining to my dad when I got home and said, well, I gave this and I got that.
He says, well, that's good. Now I'm really upset. First of all, you're not even listening. I said this what I got, he says. And I said that's good.
So not only does he wasn't listening, no, he doesn't now he doesn't understand. You don't understand that I got what was not as good. And he said, well, it is more blessed to give than to receive. You know the problem in that though, I wasn't given, I was trading and I didn't have any sand and I got the short end of the deal. And so I was upset about that and I did not understand that concept. It is more blessed to give than to receive. But what is the character of?
Giving and we won't turn to it, but you can read in Luke chapter 14 there what we have, we might say is the hospitality of God and as a great supper and the Lord says that when you have a have a have a feast going and and bring all those that cannot repay.
00:45:12
So you give without any expectation that you were gonna receive anything.
No reciprocity in it. Now there's reciprocity. This brother, we'd love to have fellowship backwards as far as one another, but just that side of it, the blessing of giving without any thought that I would get one thing in return has real liberty and real blessing in the spirit of generosity. Now one more passage in First Thessalonians 4, rather First Thessalonians chapter 5, and I just mentioned these things.
With regard.
That we might indeed know something of the promise of life and the joy of life. That we might love life. Not only do we have a blessed future, but we might have a happy life. Because it's well been said, our testimony to the world is our joy in Christ. And so and, and the world may not read their Bibles, but they will read us. And if there is a witness of joy in our life, it will be noticed in this world.
1St Thessalonians 516.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
We've heard that little saying, and I take it it's taken from these 3 verses that joy will ever rise in proportion to prayer and Thanksgiving.
Verse 16, joy. Verse 17 Prayer and verse 18 Thanksgiving.
These short little sermons rejoice evermore. That was Paul's desire for this young fledgling assembly there in Thessalonica. Joy, the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy. But say, how do I have that joy? Well then, he gives us 2 little practical clues to pray without ceasing.
It says in first Timothy that, uh, I exhort that first of all, prayer, giving us thanks we made to all men that all that in authority and so.
The importance of prayer without ceasing and not saying prayers but praying.
I have so many times at work. Well, I'll say a prayer.
Saying a prayer is no, has no value in it. We pray, we intercede to God directly, not say some prayer like you light a candle, as if there is something meritorious in that, but to pray and to look up independence upon God. But now in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
There are little incidents and anecdotes that, you know, we compile over the years that make an impression on us. And something I just passed it on that was.
It's helpful to me.
I was a sister, she had umm.
I don't know how it was she came into the assembly. I don't think it was a Christian home, but she came and.
She ended up marrying someone that I don't remember his history either. None of their families were in the assembly and.
They are married and some children.
I know maybe 10 years or so, 15 years into marriage, things just flew apart and you went sideways.
Left her and her life was one of heartache and sorrow and some of these things you just cannot wrap your mind around the sorrow and suffering of the Saints of God.
Where you're afraid you're gonna lose your mind, your sanity.
But something she told a brother that was passed on to me in order how she retained her spirit and her and her joy. She said first thing in the morning I began to thank the Lord for everything. So I looked at the clock in the wall and saw what time it was. I thank the Lord for the clock on the wall.
And from there she went out throughout the day with everything that she could see she thanked the Lord for.
Thank the Lord for eyes to see the clock and we go through that and you will find, won't you? And we've been sure experienced it many times we come into life and.
And we're going to do all things without murmuring and complaining. But what is the answer to that? It's giving a thanks and everything. Give thanks because in that we know we're doing the will of God.
How many times in life we don't know what the will of God is for us? We say I trust I have the Lord's mind. I think I do, but I don't know.
But how good? When we give thanks, we know that we're doing the will of God, and there will be that joy that attends to it.
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So just a few things that.
I hope we've learned a little bit over the years and how we would to our younger brother, and especially that you might know something of humility and the fear of the Lord and of generosity and of gratitude. And in these things we'll experience not only promise of the life that is to come, but promise of the life that now is. Let's pray our God and our that we do thank Thee for thy precious word, and we thank thee for thy Des.