Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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2 verses that I'd like to look at first of all in one Corinthians chapter 6 and a 19th verse.
What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God?
And GR bot with, And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. And then I'd like to turn also to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body.
Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our.
The Lord Jesus Christ, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Well, dear young people, I'd like to speak this afternoon about these verses and how they affect our lives, and I'd like to look at it in connection with five very important decisions that we make in our lives. The first of all, of course, is as regard to our salvation, whether we have accepted the Lord as our Savior. And then it's to know His will for our pathway. And then to, I believe we could say to that.
He has a plan for us as to where he would have us to live.
He also has a plan for us in regard to.
The group of Christians with whom we associate, and that is to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. And then he also has a plan if it's his will for us as to the partner that we should have as a helper for us in our Christian life. And I believe we need to realize that God is interested in all these things. And more than interested, he has given us direction.
And His word saw that we don't have to follow our own wisdom or our own thoughts. Isn't it a wonderful thing to know that when He saved us, it was not just to deliver us from the just penalty of our sins? Wonderful as that is, indeed, to know that we have been delivered from hell and coming judgment, That is indeed a tremendous deliverance, and to know that with assurance.
But he wanted also to have our company not only in eternal age as above.
For he's waiting for that day when he's going to share our company. His heart of love will not be satisfied until he has us at home with himself and supremely blessed. What dear young people, He wants our company here. He has marked out a path so that we can walk through a confused world like this, a world full of sin and darkness. A path has been marked out so that we might be able to go on in obedience to Him and above all.
All in the enjoyment of His company. Oh how wonderful those words the Lord Jesus spoke to His own before He went away. He said, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. He never leaves nor forsakes us. We may not be in the enjoyment of His company. We may not even be conscious of His company like the two on the road to Emmaus, but nevertheless He is. His heart of love is ever toward.
It was mentioned this morning how in Malachi it says the burden of the word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord, surely at a time when we might have least expected it. But that love was still the same in the churches too. In Revelation, the first one, we read that they had left their first love. But in the last one the Lord reminds us of his love. He says as many as.
Love, I rebuke and chasten. His love hadn't altered, in spite of all the failure of the church as a Candlestick in the earth. Isn't that an encouragement for us? Well, as I say to your young people, I'd like to just look at some of these things in connection with those two verses that I have read. First of all, if you do know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
Then you are not your own. You belong to him. He has bought you. He has.
You with his precious blood, you are his and his forever, and your happiness depends upon whether you and I glorify Him in our bodies.
And then in Thessalonians, where Paul is writing there to that assembly of Thessalonica, he shows them how they could be preserved. And I believe this is what we need in a day like this. Everything is falling to pieces because man is setting aside on every hand God's plan and trying to introduce his own plan. He thinks that he can settle the problems of life, he can settle the problems of nations. But as he tries.
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He only makes matters worse instead of better. But the young people, you and I have a very precious book. We have God's word. We have a revelation from God. We are not left to our own thoughts. We're not left to the wisdom of men, nor do I want you to follow my thoughts. But I do desire that you should find in this blessed book the instruction for your pathway and also.
Being close to the Lord, He would guide you as to the details I.
Sometimes said.
That God has made some things very, very clear in His Word, some things that He has definitely stated His mind so that we wouldn't have any question whether certain things are pleasing to Him or not. These things are very definite in His Word. But then there are other things that I believe that He would have us to learn in communion with Him.
My Father used to remind us that when God has made something clear in His Word, we don't even need to pray about it. We just need to ask Him for strength to carry it out, because how could we ask Him to change His mind? When He has declared His mind in His Word of these things, then they're very definite, and it's our happiness and His glory that we should follow them. But there are details in our lives.
Whether you should come to the meetings here at Glendale and what you should do.
Tomorrow, a lot of those details are matters of being close to the Lord and just in a love relationship at home. If a man and his wife are happy, there are certain things that they understand that one definitely doesn't like or the other definitely doesn't like. But there's quite a few things you discover by acquaintance with one another and so that you get so used to your partner that you can just tell by the look on their face without a word.
Being said, whether it pleases them or not. And so the Lord says, I will guide thee with thine eye, Be not as the horse of the mule, who have no understanding, whose mouth must be kept in with bit and bridle. He wants us not only then to follow the direction of His word, but He also wants us to walk closely with Him, so that at any moment when a new situation arises, we can look just into His blessed face. And there seems to be.
Be something to tell us, no, this isn't the thing to do. And someone perhaps says, well, is there a verse? Well, I say, I didn't find a verse to say to come to Glendale. But the Lord does direct us if we are close to Him and show us His mind even in all the smallest details of our lives.
He intended us too, to be guided, dear young people, in this order.
It tells us, I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice that order and in the scripture the spirit is the God conscious intelligent part of our being. The soul is the seed of the emotions and desires and the body then is the physical. And I believe that is the order in which God directs us. He didn't intend us to be.
Like animals, you know the animal doesn't have any God conscious part to his being. And according to the ideas of men today the. The thought is well if you feel like doing something, do it if it brings you any pleasure, do it. And that is being guided by the soulish emotion of man. And since man is a fallen creature, his emotions and soulish desires often lead him far away from God and more than this into a path of.
Happiness and how many there are. They wanted to do something, they did it, and it has only brought sorrow into their lives, not the pleasure they expected at all. Because the scripture says the way of the transgressor is hard. It's not really happiness then to put your emotions first. How would you say that I have emotions? Yes, God has given them to you. Thank God, He has given them to you so that we do feel things.
We feel hurts, we feel pleasures, we feel many things, we enjoy the food today, we're glad He has given us feelings, emotions, and as we meet one another, there's a feeling of joy. But I say these things must be directed by the word of God, and unless they are, unless then we put the Spirit first, which is the intelligent, God conscious part of our being, we can fall into many, many troubles in our lives.
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Lives troubles we bring upon ourselves because we don't follow the light and wisdom of His Word.
And so, first of all, I'd like to turn to the matter of salvation, and if you'll turn with me, to Deuteronomy chapter 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 29 all that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.
Well, here we find God addressing a man as being a person who has intelligence, who can receive a communication from God. And we have a responsibility to God. He is the one who created us. In Him we live and move and have our being. When he placed Adam in the garden, he gave him certain directions. He didn't give directions to the animal creation because it was to be guided by instincts, but he intended that.
Women should be guided by light and direction, which He gives us through His own precious Word. And so He tells us we ought to be wise. Oh, is there any young person here? I can't think of anything more foolish than to be going on through life without Christ as your Savior. Going on through life not knowing what is at the end and not caring. I'm sure some of you have read the story about the man who many, many years.
Of God, this great king, he had an entertainer in his court. He called him a fool because he was the one who could always entertain him with funny things and so.
He was told the king told him if he ever met one who was a better entertainer than himself while he was to get him instead, because the king wanted to have the very best. And so one time the king told him that he was, that he was going to die, I believe it was. And he said to him, have you made any preparation?
And he said no. And he told about a man going on a long journey.
And not making any preparation for the journey. And he said I wouldn't be so foolish as that. And can it be that there's someone here? And here you are in the bloom of youth, healthy and strong, knowing that before tomorrow two things may happen. The Lord Jesus may come, or you may be in eternity and you're totally unprepared.
Can you call that wisdom? Is it not absolute folly? And God has.
Told us in his word how we can know with divine assurance what is ahead. And so he says, oh, that they were wise that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Oh, if there's a young person here that's unprepared that doesn't know Christ as Savior, will you be wise this afternoon? You say, well, I am well educated. I've studied I think I know quite a bit, but there's no answer to this question and all the wisdom of.
World, the world doesn't have an answer to that question, one wise man said. I spent all my life trying to find an answer to two questions, where I came from and where I'm going to. Why all this research to find out where the world, how the world began? Because man doesn't know his beginning. If he knew his beginning, he would know his responsibility to God. And so will you be wise this afternoon?
And so here we have the spirit, the intelligence that says.
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. That is, God has given to man that intelligence, and He has spoken to Him and given Him direction in His Word. All you say, But if I get saved, I'm going to have to give up a great deal. Oh, the next one is, are you really going to be the gainer by receiving Christ or the loser? Now we come to the soul.
That which you will enjoy, because the soul is the seed of emotion.
And desires and appetites. Oh, I want to tell you, I've known the Lord Jesus as my Savior for many years, and I wouldn't trade places with anybody in this world, no matter who He is who doesn't know Him. Have I lost anything? Well, I lost my sins. I'm glad of that. But I haven't lost anything else. I've been a gainer. We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.
And I want to tell you.
That Satan is deceiving you into thinking that you're so wise that you don't need to consider this matter. So I beseech you this afternoon to be truly wise, to consider your latter end. And then if you do, and if you come to Christ all, He'll fill your heart with joy and rejoicing. Oh, what joy there was when the prodigal returned home. What joy there will be in your heart this very afternoon. You'll be able.
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To look up into the face of your Creator and say, I know him as my father. He gave his Son to die for me. He loves me with an unending love. Oh, how wonderful. And so in the matter of salvation, can you see that this is God's order, the Spirit, the the God conscious, intelligent part of your being, and then your soul.
He satisfieth A longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
And then what is the result in your body? Well, it tells us in Romans chapter 6 that let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should fulfill it in the lust thereof, but yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God. Oh, isn't that a lovely thing too? That when you come to the Lord, that then the Holy Spirit of God comes and indwells your body? God gives to you a new life, and now you have a new.
And shall I say in your body you have one who can direct you in the right way. You have a new power. One young man said, well, I'd like to be saved, but I don't think I could live the Christian life. I don't think I'd find pleasure in going to prayer meetings and reading my Bible. Well, you can't. Until you get the new life. You can't, because until you possess the life, you can't enjoy it. But when God communicates the new life, then there is a new tenant in your body.
The Holy Spirit of God, the divine nature to whom God gives to the believer, saw that now he gives us that new life. And what is the character of the new life? Oh, it says, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, and his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. You have a life that delights in pleasing God. And I have often said, dear young people, God will never ask you to do anything.
And I say anything that the new man that he gives to you, the new life doesn't want to do.
He'll never ask you to do anything that the new life doesn't want to do. You call that *******. I call that liberty. To be asked to do something you want to do is a pleasure. And that's what God does when he saves you, He gives you new life. And then he says, now I'll tell you how you can please me because I know you want to do it. That's the character of the new life. And you say, but the power I need, oh, the Holy Spirit of God.
Indwelling your body, spirit, soul and body. What a full salvation.
And then we have in the Lord Jesus. And if there's anyone here who hasn't come to him, what more opportune time than today, what more opportune time than right now to just look up and say, Lord Jesus, I take thee as my Savior right now. Oh, you'll never, never be sorry that you did. No one ever has been. The devil is deceiving you.
About God wants to bless you, and may He grant that if there's anyone here.
Who hasn't known and received this great salvation? And that you will receive Christ today, for he is himself God's salvation.
Well, then there's the question of God's will for our lives, and I'd like you to turn to Acts chapter 22.
And verse 10 Here we have the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
Acts chapter 22 and verse 10.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. Isn't this lovely too? Here's one who has just been saved. Previous to this he was an enemy of Christ, spending all his energies to stamp out that glorious name, for it tells us that he hated that name.
With an exceeding mad hatred, but all how different now he has been brought to know the Lord and he wants to do God's will and I know that if you're really saved. These are questions. This is a question perhaps I should say that you have over and over again perhaps asked this very question that.
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That Saul of Tarsus asked, what shall I do? Lord, I can just see it as I look at you young people. I know how many times you've just looked up and said, Lord, what shall I do? And over and over again, because we know that the will of God and the heart of God are the source of all our blessing. The remainder of this recording will have a few gaps due to an unfortunate circumstance in the recording equipment beyond our control.
Our sister asked that he would be shown his will. He was told that he was to go into Damascus. And there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. This blessed book that God has given to us to direct us in terms of God, knows no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
God wants you to know intelligently what He wants you to do in your pathway. Isn't that very blessed? And I'd like to think of that in two different ways. First of all, as to serving the Lord, and secondly, as to perhaps what might be our ordinary everyday occupation. And God is interested in all these things.
In everything. And so he directs us first of all, by our.
Our intelligence we find in His word much direction for us in connection with our pathway and how He would have us to be occupied in perhaps earning a daily livelihood.
You might possibly say, well, I'd like to be such and such, but he says, now just be careful. If you got into that occupation, could you glorify God? I want to say, but I like that kind of work. But you didn't put First things first. If you'd look to the Lord Intelligence intelligently to be directed by His word, then He would show you that you ought to be in some kind of an occupation where you can honor Him. Many dear young people.
People go and get a lot of preparation for some course, some plan in life. And then when they get into it, they find that there's something about it where they can honor the Lord. Perhaps some union, some association, perhaps some thing that's associated with the job, where they say, oh, I've spent all these years and now I find that I can't honor the Lord as I would like to in my daily work. Oh, dear young people, you don't have to do that.
The one who is the Lord of all, who knows your fitness, because he hasn't made us all alike. He has made each, just like he did in the Tabernacle. There were those who did certain things, and there were others who did other things. There were those who wrought in the silver and gold, and there were the wise women who made the hangings and all for the court.
Every one of us has been fitted and we need to learn the calling that God has for us.
And oh, how nice it is to seek this out in use. Oh dear young people, I asked you, are you just going to run into something and say, well, I like that without stopping to think, if I get into this particular line of work, can I honor the Lord in it? That's having the Spirit first, that is being directed intelligently by the light of God's Word. And so say, Lord, I want to get in some occupation where I can.
Things honest in the sight of all men, and also where I can honor thee in my daily work. And oh how happy it is. Then you get into that work and someone says, do you like it? Oh, you say, I feel that's what the Lord wanted me in and I'm very happy in it. So there comes the soul, you see, the soul that is. You're happy because you have found the place where the Lord wants you to be, your body.
Then takes you there to that particular occupation, place of employment, or if it's school, it's necessary you make the arrangements and go to school. But you have been satisfied that's where the Lord wants you and that you can be happy in that work because that is according to His will. Now isn't this very lovely, that this is very possible for us?
As young believers and some of us perhaps can look back in our.
Lives and thank God that he enabled us to get into some work where we were able to happily fulfill our daily tasks and know that we could honor the Lord at the desk as one man when he ended the day he used to pull down his the top of his desk. It was in the days when they had the roll top desk and he pulled down the top of his desk and say Lord Jesus come.
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Sure that if you do this, you won't be sorry.
And more than this, you're going to be a blessing in the meeting where you are. That is, if you're doing what the Lord wants you to do in your daily occupation. You're going to come to the meeting with a soul that's free and happy. Not something hanging over you that you just have a big question mark about, but you come free and happy. You're able to enter into the assembly and be a happy addition in the assembly where you.
So that has to do then with our daily employment, the the Spirit, then we decide before the Lord. We say I like it because I believe that's where the Lord wants me to be. Our body takes us day by day to that place of occupation, whatever it may be.
And then there's the second thing, and it was specially saw with Paul. Our brother mentioned the other day on Saturday that the Lord doesn't necessarily want everyone to leave their employment. No, he may want you to glorify him at your employment, but if he does have some service for you, it may be something that you can do while you're employed, or it might be that he wants you to devote more of your time to him. And so Saul of.
Looked up to the Lord and he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And he was directed and sent, and the Lord told him that his mission was to go far hence to the Gentiles. Yes, that was the call that he had. Was it exactly what he wanted to do? Well, I I suggest that he would have much preferred to have gone and preached to the Jewish people.
He loved them so much that he could say I I could wish my.
A curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. But the Lord said, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. In other words, he didn't just say, Well, it's the kind of work I'd like to do for the Lord. He was directed by the Lord, and was he happy in US? Oh, he lifted his chained hand in front of a gripper and said, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I shall answer to thee this day. Oh, you say.
Path brought him in the chains, but he was far happier than Agrippa, who was a free man. Why? He was in the path of God's will. He was in the path of God's will. And so he found joy in it. His his body took him into that path that was pleasing to God. And so there was that happy order in his life. And one another thing I have enjoyed was how this is according to what we find in the Old Testament, the Levites in Israel.
Represented.
The first born, we are told in numbers. And when God delivered the first born in the land of Egypt, then he took the Levites as representing the first born. And every single one of those Levites was brought to Aaron and was appointed to his service and to his burden. Isn't that lovely? And you say, well, some of them must have been much more pleased with what they had to do.
Than others, Well, I don't believe that that's necessarily.
Saw it all because the only true joy in the Lord's service is doing his will. And if one was appointed to carry the pins and another was appointed to carry the ark, they could both be just as happy one as the other, because they were doing what God had called them to do. And dear young people, I often say to the young people.
That I think many go through life without ever discovering.
But the Lord wants them to do. They just drift along. And I beseech you, dear young people, the Lord has a place for you to fulfill in the assembly in the Church of God. He has a definite place and no one can fulfill it as well as you. Someone else perhaps can fill in, but no one can fulfill it as well as you. You know very well if you injure your hand, the other hand can do remarkably well in taking care of things, but certainly not as well as.
If you had two hands. And so it is in the things of God. If we have a place to fulfill, why that is a happy place. No one can do it as well as ourselves. And God is not going to demand or require of us something that He never asked us to do, But He appoints to each His service, and then He appoints to each His burden.
Oh, perhaps I hear some young person say all that. You don't know the burden I have to bear. But.
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To stop to think, the Lord appointed that, the Lord appointed that, and perhaps that you're going to glorify him in that in the 27th Psalm.
The psalmist talks about being in trouble, and this is what he says. And now shall 9 head be lifted up above mine, enemies round about me. Therefore will Ioffer him his Tabernacle. Sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yeah, I will sing praises unto the Lord. I want to tell you, dear young people, your friends in the world will never, never know what you have in Christ until they see you in trouble and see that you have something that's real. Something.
You in the trouble and they'll perhaps come to you and say, what do you have that we don't have I couldn't have taken that you must have something and then you have the happy privilege of saying, Oh, I have Christ he's my support. He helps me so Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Let's remember this order then, dear young people, don't just plunge into something because you say you like it, but ask the Lord and let him direct you by his word and by.
Communion with him, and then when he has appointed that service to you, I'm sure that you will have like it says in Galatians. Then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. You will find happiness in that path. There's nothing sweeter like the Apostle Paul when he came to the end of his life with all the hardships he had borne, he said that at the end of his life.
He said I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. He was happy at the end of his.
His path, he wasn't sad, he could look back and feel that it had been at least his desire to honor his Lord in his life and his body was the last. So you find the spirit direction from the Lord happiness because we have his direction. And then the body goes. And so it tells us in Romans chapter 12 and verse one.
And it says There, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that he presents your bodies.
A living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable unto God, which is your intelligence service. Now you present your body, and what do you prove? You prove What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So let's not forget that order then, as we think of what the Lord wants us to do in life. Now let's turn to 1St Corinthians and the 10th chapter.
First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 15. I speak as to wise men.
And judge ye what I say, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Now here again I call your attention to it, says, I speak as to wise men.
Judge ye, what I say, isn't this very interesting too?
Don't we find the same order again? And spirit, soul and body here is the intelligent God conscious part of our being. We are children of God. We have the divine nature. We're indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God. How do we have direction in connection with the ones with whom we can have collective fellowship?
Is there are we just left to, as the world would say, to go to the Church of your choice?
No, he says. I speak as to wise men, he said. I want you to consider now what I am saying.
And I've often commented that this is the only time in the New Testament where it speaks of the Lord's Table. And here it shows us what is expressed at the Lord's table. And that is, it tells us in this 17th verse, For we being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread or that one loaf.
And so if we are intelligently directed by the word of God, by then we know that we are members of the one body of Christ tells us in First Corinthians chapter 12. By 1 Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit, so we can see them that has believed.
Because we are members of the one Body, and we know that as we read in the early part of the Acts, we see how carefully this oneness was maintained. There was not to be a Jewish church and a Samaritan church and a Gentile church. How carefully the Spirit of God maintained that oneness in the early church, so that whether they were Jews or Samaritans or Gentiles, they were all made to.
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Into one spirit, as difficulties came up, we see how by the Spirit they worked out a solution in the light of God's Word, so that they could go on together as a testimony to that blessed truth. Isn't it sad the way the enemy has succeeded in bringing in so much division among the people of God, but God has marked it out in His Word, a path of obedience to Him?
A path where we can give expression to this blessed and wondrous truth that there is one body. Now, of course, it must be in separation from evil, moral evil and doctrinal evil. But I'm speaking primarily of what the testimony really is. And so there is no suggestion here. In talking to these wise men at Corinth, he doesn't say well.
You should find a nice company of Christians. No, he doesn't mention anything like this at all. He even had to say, you see, you're calling, brethren, how did not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, wasn't a question of the people, but it was a question of following the direction of God's word. And I believe it's a most wonderful thing, dear young people.
That we can be gathered not as members of some.
Humanly organized group, but as members of the body of Christ. Oh, I think when we get hold of this, it becomes precious to our souls. And that one loaf placed on the table, representing to us this blessed and wondrous truth that there is one body and we seek. As we look at that one loaf we see represented in.
Every member of the body of Christ there may be some who call themselves.
By other names who may not come to give expression to this truth, there may be some who, perhaps because of something in their lives, may be unable to partake. For it says, Put away from among yourselves that wicked person. But nevertheless there is a testimony to the truth of the one body. Oh, I believe that this is most precious to the heart of Christ.
As we think of the IT says he loved the church AM gave him.
Self for it, just think, who did he love the church, and he gave himself for it, because he desired that we should be part of that glorious church to be presented another day. And as someone was just remarking yesterday, how lovely to think when the Lord Jesus comes and gives that shout, that we'll all be gathered together unto him. But isn't it a privilege now to be gathered in this way?
And so.
We're to be followed. We're to be guided intelligently by His word instead of saying, well, I know a nice group of Christians and they do a good gospel work. One doesn't deny this. There are many nice groups of Christians and they do a nice gospel work. But I say the Lord's table is associated with the expression of the truth of the one body. And if they have set up something apart from the testimony, that is to the truth.
One body if after the day of Pentecost.
And they all were gathered as members of the body of Christ. If one in the number should have decided to start an independent meeting on the other street, and they were going to carry on a very active gospel testimony, would that be endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace? Would that be a testimony to the truth of the Church as the body of Christ, or would it be an act of division?
Oh dear young people, we need to be simple about these things I believe, and so even if there were only two or three who desire to gather as members of the body of Christ in separation from evil. What a privilege. I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say. It isn't that we just try and find a nice active group, but we search out in the light of this blessed book how we can be gathered. Another little comment that.
I'd like to make sometimes we hear people say, well, they're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I reply, dear young people, I wouldn't want anybody to use my name without my permission. And if they use my name without my permission, anyone where they use my name has certainly the right to say, well, did Gordon Hale give you permission to use his name that way?
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Wouldn't they have a perfect right to ask that question? And whenever I hear of a group of Christians?
Who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a right from Scripture to examine their position in the light of this book, because this is the only way I can know whether they have authority to use His name. That name that's holy and true. That name that represents to us what it is to be gathered to His name. And that Christ is the head of the body, the church. Well, dear young people, if we seek to follow the light of His Word, I don't have time to speak.
In detail this afternoon.
Then we then, shall I say, we want to be there, and we can say with the one in the 26th of Isaiah, the desire of our soul. Here's where the soul comes in. First. We're directed by the word. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. So the soul responds, wants to remember the Lord, and if you really love him and want to please him, and you know where his.
Direct you how lovely the desire of our soul. Doesn't your soul respond to the claims of such a Savior? And don't you want to be there? Well then the last body is the next that says where two or three are gathered together. They are gathered now physically sitting down in the chairs gathered around the Lord Jesus hid himself in the midst spirit, soul and body. He directs us in the light of his Word and through our soul to where he.
Have us to be, to be gathered, to remember him. What a privilege. Now I'd like to turn just to the 12TH chapter of.
Genesis and the first verse. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land, that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Perhaps I could take up this passage as to where the Lord wants us to live.
Now Abraham was living in Mesopotamia, as I understand a little.
Of ancient history, it was a very advanced civilization. They had many modern things. According to what they are finding out today, it really was quite advanced. I have no doubt that Abraham, who was no doubt a wealthy man, he had a nice home there and supposing he would choose the place where he should live on the basis of the most comforts.
All he would have said to his wife. Oh Sarah, this is too comfortable.
And Sarah would say to him, well, does the Lord want us to move from here and tell me what kind of a house are we going to live in if we go to Canaan? Well, he has to say, I don't know. The Lord's going to show us. Well, is it possible that we're going to have to live in a tent? Well, yes, for a while anyway. How long? Well, perhaps the rest of our lives. Well, was this a decision that was based then upon the most comforts? No, this was a decision that.
Based on understanding the will of God.
Where did God want Abraham to be? All you say? He likes us to be comfortable, doesn't he? Well, but he didn't choose that for Abraham. He chose that Abraham should leave his country and his kindred. Oh, this was the second thing that wasn't so difficult. It wasn't so easy, I should say, to say goodbye to his father. At first. He wasn't prepared for that.
Now his emotions became involved and he couldn't say goodbye to his father.
And so he came halfway because his father didn't want to come all the way to Canaan, and they stopped in here. And we see there his soul now becomes involved. He thought, well, I'd like to do the will of God. Perhaps I could come halfway as far as my father will go. Is that the way you're planning your life, your young person? Are you thinking of the most comfortable place where you can live? Are you thinking of the place where it'll be most pleasant to you and to all?
Relatives and friends and so on, you say. Well.
If I set a layer, I'll have lots of friends, but oh, I don't know whether I'd be prepared to be in a place where I was isolated. You know, our meeting is very, very small. I like to be in a place where there were more, where I could have more fellowship. Well, perhaps it was a little easier for Abram to settle down and hear him where his father was, and perhaps this was an easier spot. But God hadn't called him to that. God had called him to go to a place where he would show him.
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That was the important thing. Where would he live? Where God showed him? And dear young person, if God wants you in a certain place, that's the best place you can be. And you say, well, I don't think I could be happy there. Yes, you can be. You can be far, far happier there than you could be in the most comfortable place on earth if you have the sense of the Lord's presence with you.
I will bless thee. I'll make you a blessing.
And he said.
I will make thy name great. Oh, wasn't this wonderful? He lived in a tent the rest of his life. That's true. And I, I will say a lot of commendation for Sarah, that she was willing to do it. It mustn't have been very easy for her to forsake home and share in this too. But here we find the both of them. They make this journey. And yet what reward was given for it? I believe that Abraham lived a very happy life.
In the knowledge that God didn't want him in Mesopotamia, he might have said, well, couldn't I serve the Lord there? The Lord said, I want you in the land that I will show you. And so he obeyed intelligently. That voice from God. He comes out, he says goodbye to Mesopotamia, and as far as we know he never returned. And he takes with him his belongings, so to speak. He burns his bridges behind him and enters into.
Land of Canaan and there now he is physically. And if you had said, Abram, are you really happy there? Are you really happy in Canaan? I believe you would have said, Oh yes, I wasn't happy in Heron at all. The Lord had to speak to me there. But now I believe I'm in the place where he wants me with his tent and with his altar with Hai on the east. Speaking of.
Destruction and Bethel, the House of God on the West.
As he traveled toward the sunset of his life, so to speak, it was all bright ahead. Oh, how lovely.
So he didn't live in the place he wanted to live. He allowed God to choose that for him, and his body brought him there. And I hope that, dear young people, you'll live in the place the Lord wants you to be. 1 often feels badly as he sees people who could be useful perhaps moved from a place where they could be so useful. Well, may the Lord direct us even in this. And now the last one in the 24th of Genesis here is one I'm sure that is of real interest to.
Many young people and here we find that God was planning for a bride for Isaac. And there's just a few little points that I would like to bring out in connection with this chapter. And that is that in Isaac having a bride, he, he allowed the servant to do the choosing. And I want to say to you, dear young people, will you allow the Spirit of God to direct you?
In choosing the one the Lord has for you.
You know, Samson fell into trouble because he allowed himself to be guided by his emotions instead of intelligently by the word of God. The word of God said that he shouldn't marry a Philistine. But he said, oh, she pleases me. Well, he was probably a nice looking girl. She probably hadn't attracted to. Now wasn't the one God intended for. And you know, are you going to put the whip?
Or your young people. This is going to affect your life.
Perhaps more than any other, one thing that you get the right partner is going to either make you or break you in your whole Christian life. And I I urge you not to just allow yourself to be guided like dear Samson was. He was a Nazarite, A separated one. Now you say that he did many useful things he did about his life ended.
A sad dishonor turned out, and it all started because.
Because he wasn't guided by that. He was guided by his emotions. He saw a nice looking girl. He was guided by that. But here we find, and it's rather interesting here to notice that actually Isaac didn't even see the girl. And you say, well, why was that? Well, I think it's just to show us that it was fully being guided by the Spirit of God. I know in everyday life you do see the one, but I only mentioned this because I believe it shows that that.
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That wasn't a deciding factor at all. It was rather to be guided by the Spirit of God.
The servant went out and the servant sought for him those characteristics that would really make a wife that he could love for. The chapter ends by saying she became his wife and he loved her and Janelle. I often say it's much better when the love deepens afterwards. There can be a lot said about love before, but what really counts is love that comes after marriage. And so here we found it came after.
She became his wife and he loved her. But you notice here that this servant went out and he he sought quite a few things. First of all, she was he was the figure of the Spirit of God.
She was not to be a wife of the daughters of Canaan, so she couldn't be one who was of the enemies of the Lord. It was of His own kindred. And so we find here that.
You should have one who is of the family of faith, one who wants to please the Lord, for how can two walk together except they be agreed? And then he looked for character too. In the 14th verse he came to the side of the well.
Seems to me that the well represents to us how we're guided by the Word and we find a partner who loves the Word. It's nice to have a partner who loves the word. You. When you go out together, do you talk about God's Word? Do you really enjoy this together? Well, that's where he met this girl was at the well side. And then he asked that she might be one who was diligent and industrious, shall I say, one who had character. And it's nice to look for this too. Dear young people, how are you looking for someone who?
Character or just looks you may be very, very disappointed because looks don't continue. It says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised and he said now Lord, if this is the right one, she'll draw water for me and for all my camels. Wasn't that something they didn't have a gasoline pump or something there that was a real job, wasn't it? But here we see diligence here's.
Display of character. She got water for all his camels or you said she was trying to win him. No, there wasn't anything of that at all. That was just a display of character. And you know, you can observe this display of character before you let your emotions go. He was just watching. And he said, Lord, if she's the right, you'll be from the right family. She'll display this character and she'll have the right kind of a home. Isn't this nice too? Do you want a hospitable home? Well, he said.
When he told his little Aaron, then he's invited into the home and it's nice to see how here was a home of hospitality. Here was a home where we see the Lord was honored. And then after that she's asked, wilt thou go with this man? Now the soul becomes involved. She's not going to yield right away, and he's not going to decide until he has settled all these things intelligently.
And I say to you, dear young people, don't put the body first. Don't put the emotions first. That may bring you into a lot of trouble. But observe and watch for those things that really display first that there's a Lords. They want to please the Lord. They display character. They're the kind of a home that you would like to have and then you can let your emotions go.
And on the wedding day, the body, not before.
On the wedding day, the body. And so how lovely it is to see here's one who was guided to the right partner in the right order, spirit, soul and body, guided intelligently by the Spirit of God. Then her emotions go and she's willing to make all this journey across the desert and go back to meet this man. And then she became his wife and he loved her. Is it any wonder that this was a happy marriage because it began the right way?
And dear young people, these are decisions you have to make. Remember these decisions, as I say in your life, oh, they're so important. And God cares. He really is interested in you. I love to think that we're never lost in the crowd to God, that he has an individual interest in every young person. He knows your whole makeup, all that you are physically, emotionally, everything about you. And he can direct you, and he wants to direct.
You. And more than that, He wants to bless you. He wants to bless you. Never allow a doubt in your mind about that. He desires your fullest happiness, and He's not going to be satisfied till you're supremely blessed up there. But He wants you to have a little foretaste of it down here. May He grant it, dear young people. And I'm sure that if you walk in His ways, you'll say her ways are ways of pleasantness.
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And all her paths are peace.