Address—G. Hayhoe
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General Meetings Saint Francisville, April 1978, addressed by Gordon Hayhoe.
Like to let first of all a verse in Daniel Chapter 7.
And verse 25 Daniel Chapter 7 and verse 25.
And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and the dividing of time. How can we also turn over to First Peter, First Timothy, First Timothy, and the first chapter?
And the 16th verse.
Howbeit for this 'cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, and then in the third chapter in the 15th verse.
But if I tarry long that thou mightest know how thou art just to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God.
The pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels preached under the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Well, as on my heart this afternoon to speak about First Timothy and how it brings before us the House of God. In order, we often go to an area where some new homes are built and they have what they call a model home. And this model home is sort of a little example of what the home is to be like. And the furniture's all in it and it's sort of set up to give a model. Well, you know, this world is in a state of confusion and things are getting worse.
Are we just left to the ideas and opinions of man, or do we have, shall I say, a model that God has set before us in His word? It was mentioned yesterday about how Paul was not only one who was a trophy of God's grace, but a pattern to them which should hereafter believe to life everlasting. And so in the epistle of Timothy we have what is often spoken of as the house in order.
In Second Timothy we have the house in disorder, and so instructions are given to us of how to act when the house is in disorder. But it's very lovely for us to see that God has given a pattern and shown us what it is when the house is in order. Now this becomes more and more confusing to us as we see the breakdown of everything. Roundabout our brother mentioned when he was speaking in Ottawa how God is a God of order.
But Satan likes to bring in disorder. He seeks to spoil.
All God's order that He has established and we have to be careful.
That we aren't influenced by all that is about us, which would seek to breakdown the order that God has established in his word. The reason I read that portion in Daniel 7 is to show for that is Speaking of the beast in the last days. The beast as we know is the head of the revived Roman Empire and we're part of that sphere of the world that could be spoken of in that way. And what is he trying to do? Well, it says.
It wears out. The Saints of the Most High tries to change times and laws and always see this taking place. You just get worn out trying to face new situations that arise every day and we tend to just almost throw up our hands and say, what am I going to do? There's everything so changing that. Is there any place that we can turn and find the instruction that we need?
Because the Lord said I am the Lord, I change not. And when did he say that? In the very last book of the Old Testament, Hadn't plenty of changes come in? But the Lord hadn't changed. And so Paul, writing in Hebrews chapter 13, says Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Isn't it a good thing that we have an unchanging Savior?
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An unchanging friend. An unchanging pattern. We like friends that aren't always changing.
Now, I've heard people say, young people say, well, you never know where you are with that person. They're so changeable at one time. They seem to be with you the next time not. We like friends that aren't like that. We like ones that are steady, ones that really are the same to us. And that is the character of this blessed friend that we have in the Lord Jesus. Well, I say again, just as you see a model home in an area, so you go into that home.
And it's all the furnitures in it. It's all laid out in a very tasty way.
To let you see what this home was intended to be when it's properly fixed up inside, Well, God has given just that in First Timothy. He has set before us a pattern of the House of God in order. And it's very important, brethren, in these last days. And I speak especially to those who were young, although I believe this meeting is intended for all I speak, especially to those who were young.
That we need to be very careful that we don't adapt the patterns of this world, but that we go by that which God has given to us in His precious word. I say that His pattern too is the best, because God seeks the blessing of His people. When He made this world and placed Adam and Eve in it, it tells us that his delights were with the sons of man.
He tried. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word tried. He did fix up everything in this world for the happiness and the joy and the good of man. Man went about to spoil it. He immediately led on by Satan, rejected that which God had planned and tried his own way, and introduced a vast system which is really the world, a system of things which is after man's ideas.
And instigated by the enemy himself for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The vast world system. It makes man the center. It shuts out God. It says we're going to plan for ourselves. It's man in his world. But how wonderful it is that God has done something in this world. He has set up a pattern. A country might send an ambassador to another country, and that ambassador represents.
His country in the other, no matter what conditions exist in that other country, the ambassador is there to represent.
Not the changing ideas of the country where he is, but rather the country that he represents.
And we are in this world as those who are intended and should represent heaven.
Oh, what a wonderful responsibility and privilege is ours in this world to represent heaven. Where May God grant that we might desire this? We know that not only has God-given us the pattern, but he has also given us the power. For it says in First John chapter 4, Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Don't say, well, I just don't have the power to go against the current. I can't do it.
Well, Satan does try to wear us out to break us down. And in days gone by the person. If a person boldly confessed Christ, he had to make a one time sacrifice and he was burned at the stake or thrown to the lions or whatever the punishment was, he took a firm stand and once for all he paid for it with his life. He was faithful to death. That isn't the way in these Christian lands.
It's a question of having to do it not once, not twice, but all the time, because Satan is trying to wear us out just to get you to finally say I can't stand this pressure any longer, I have to give in. Well, that's the way the enemy is working today and one is sometimes commented. It's rather interesting about the different crowns that are mentioned for believers, the only one that is mentioned twice.
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Is the crown of life, and that is the martyrs crown. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Why is it mentioned the second time? Well, it's mentioned in James and there it says.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, For when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. We might say, Well, we're not living in countries where we're likely to be martyred, so we could never get that crown from the Lord's hand. The Lord says, Oh yes, you can, You have to meet temptation 7 days in the week. You have to face these situations in school with your friends, and sometimes with even friends who are in the gathering.
Just to be faithful to the Lord. And the Lord values that to him its faithfulness in the midst of temptation. And it's remarkable, it says, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Why do you give in to a friend? Oh, well, you think a lot of that friend, and you say, I can't hurt him, I can't hurt her. You really have a love for that friend, and so you don't want to hurt that friend. But the Lord says I'm your best friend. Do you want to hurt me?
The Lord hath promised to them that love him, he is the one who has done the most for us.
He's the one who loves us most and loves us to the end. Well, as I said, I'd like to look at Timothy and bringing out some of these thoughts in connection with a model home that is the House of God that looked upon particularly as our individual homes. But perhaps I should say that in the Scripture, the House of God in its broader sense is Christendom in its sense, where the Lord himself is the builder.
Its only living stones and all that he builds are real.
And so the House of God is not how we act in the meeting room. The House of God is how we act because we have been saved and in that way brought as living stones into the house. Living stones, I say. So whether I'm in the meeting room or outside of it, I am always in the House of God, part of the House of God at all times, if I'm truly a child of God.
And was our brother mentioned to were made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to man. The world is looking on. What pattern do they have? Well, it's constantly changing, as I said. But they're looking on and they know that we as Christians prove us to recognize that this Bible is the word of God, that it is our guide. And therefore they have a right to expect, as they watch us now, that we would be a pattern to them.
That we would be like the model home and living stones before them, and so that the standards that they see, that we value, and that we seek to walk in our pattern for us by the word of God, well, there's different ones that I'd like to point out. As I say, first of all, it tells us in the fifth verse, the fourth verse I'll read of the first chapter. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogy.
Which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, So do now. The end of the commandment is love or charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. He's bringing before us here that Christianity isn't a system of questions and reasoning. It's a testimony that we render before the world.
And when it says the end of the commandment, it's really the purpose of what God has given to us.
His love out of a pure heart. And so one of the great characteristics of a Christian is love, the Lord Jesus said.
He said by this Shalom and know that ye are my disciples. If he have love one to another, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. We love him because he first loved us. And so it's not just a lot of questions that mark out a person as a Christian because you can answer certain categorical questions, but is the character of the family displayed its love out of a pure heart.
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And then of a good conscience. Dear young people, do we seek to maintain a good conscience? There are many people who are allowing their consciences to become seared, and they'll say, well, I used to think that was wrong, but I sort of changed my ideas, and they're allowing their consciences to become seared. And so the result is that, having lost that affection for the Lord, the next step is to give up a good conscience.
And very likely the next step will be doubts will begin to come in We see that taking place and christen them all about us. We see good conscience being given up. And then the next thing is people beginning to question the word of God. And we as Christians have to remember the purpose of these things that God has given. And each one of us should be exercised to walk in that freshness of first love.
To not allow anything on our consciences unjudged, and then to not to allow the enemy to put doubts into our minds. Because all failure springs basically from unbelief, the reason that Adam took of the forbidden fruit.
Because he doubted that God really had provided what was necessary for his happiness.
So he thought he'd have to try something else. And whenever we allow ourselves to reach out beyond what God has given, why we're practically saying, well, God is forbidden it, but he really didn't know that. I would have been happier with it. Oh no, that could never be so. There is love, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Well, this ought to be the whole purpose, and it is the purpose of what is given to us.
In this epistle, now I'd like to call attention to the 15th verse.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Well, that's the very first thing. You can't be a living stone in the House of God if you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior. Is there a young person here? You come to these meetings, and yet you have sat under the sound of the word, but you have never accepted for yourself.
This marvelous, this wonderful truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You're still a stranger to him and to His grace. You're still on the Broad Rd. If that is solved, then I can't go any further with you. How can you be a pattern if you don't have divine life? How could you be a pattern if you're not a living stone in the house? And so this is the grand starting point. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And if there's anyone here, and you've come to this meeting and you're still without Christ, oh, May God grant that you will take that first step that you will accept that's as worthy of all acceptation. You'll accept this wonderful, this glorious truth. The Lord Jesus came to save you. He died on Calvary's cross for you. He shed his precious blood that you might be cleansed from your sins. What are you going to do? Are you going to say no, or are you going to receive him? I say this is the grand starting point.
And I can't go any farther with any unbeliever. If you won't take this first step, you're still without him. But oh, how wonderful it would be if you took this first step today. These meetings would all be worthwhile if you were brought to know the Lord Jesus as your savior.
And now we find he speaks in the end of this chapter about holding faith in a good conscience.
And then the second chapter, I'd like to call attention to the next thing that's brought before us. I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intersection, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men and for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
Now here we find, I believe, our attitude toward the authorities, that God is established. That's a very important thing. Don't we find today that men despise authority? Young people are being brought up to despise authority. There used to be a time when there was a respect for authority, a respect for authority in the government, a respect for authority in the schools, a respect for authority in the home. We're living in a time when there's a complete setting aside of this.
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Are we following the pattern? Do we speak respectfully about the ruler of the country? Do we speak respectfully about the mayor of the town? Do we speak respectfully? The Bible says they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Yet even Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, it says he durst not bring against him a railing accusation. But sad the Lord rebuked the it's unfitting for us, who are Christians, to join the crowd and start speaking disrespectfully.
Of those in authority or you say, but they're not ruling injustice, they weren't.
When the Lord Jesus was here, did he receive justice? Did Pilate minister justice? When Paul was in prison, did he get justice? And when Daniel in the Old Testament recognized that the Most High had committed authority in the hand of narrated measure, didn't he cast 3 Hebrew children into a fiery furnace? And Darius cast Daniel himself into a den of lions? Was it proper government?
You say you can't respect that kind of government. They did, They answered respectfully when the Lord Jesus addressed Pilate, and Pilate said Norse down after I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee, the Lord answered. Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except that were given me from above. We've, I've heard people say, well, you can't respect the authority if it isn't what it should be but God.
Has instituted that authority. And what is our part? Well, we have a tremendous influence. I often say our prayers mean far more than one vote because here we're told to pray. We're not told to vote in the authorities because they're ordained of God, but we are told to pray. And who can tell what the prayers of God's people can do? It tells us the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will, and God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs. Did he get a petition up and try and work something out himself? No, they prayed, and God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs, will I say, just in a brief way as the world looks on and sees us who are living stones in this building, this model home in this world.
They ought to see that we're just not like the crowd. We respect authority. We speak with respect about them. We act respectfully to them. We pray for them, and not only for those in authority. But it says for all men, there may be certain classes of society who say we don't like that class of society. Well, we still can pray for all men. They have souls. They need salvation. They need Christ. And So what a lovely position the Christian is in in this world.
Instead of being caught up in which side he's on, in the political affairs, or whether he likes the authorities or not, here he is quietly in this world, praying for those who are in authority, desiring that we might live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. Desiring that these men would be saved for God's desire is that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now the next point. We find in this chapter a point that is.
Rather in discussion in these days. And that is, who was it that planned the place of man and woman? Was it all of a sudden men's idea to be on top and had to push the woman down? Was that something that was planned by man? No. God planned the place of man and God planned the place of woman. He didn't intend the woman should be pushed down.
But he did appoint a place for the man and a place for the woman. He appointed a public place for the man. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, a public place, a place that they occupy. And I often say to the boys, we have a very responsible position. If you were working for a company and they choose you to be the office manager, you have a responsible position to fulfill.
And because you have been put in that place, there are responsibilities that devolve upon you in that place. And every boy in this company is responsible that God has placed him in a certain position. Now it's a very serious thing. Are we as man trying to fulfill the place? Do we occupy a public place? I will therefore that man pray everywhere.
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Did you never open your mouth publicly and pray?
Did you never stand up before some others and pray? Well, it says. I will therefore, that men pray everywhere. All may not be gifted, but they can all address God. And so here we find a public place assigned to the man. And is it something that he chose to take? No, it's a place that God chose. How is the world going to understand this? They say. Oh well.
It's just that man want to be on top because they don't recognize the Bible.
But they ought to come in among Christians and see that in our homes and in our assemblies we recognize God's order. They ought to see that when we work that we recognize this. And so it says here.
In the 12Th verse of the 11Th verse, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Or Adam was first formed, then Eve. Did God arrange this? Yes, he did. And this doesn't only apply to the home and to the assembly. It's everywhere. It's a certain order. You turn back. We won't take time to Isaiah. I think it's the 5th chapter.
Says all my people, children are your oppressors and women rule over you. They that lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Who was it that said that that was the Lord that wasn't? That's not my word. That's the Lord that said that. And happily we find young people who come and say, young girls say, do you think I should take a job where I'd be in supervision over man?
What can I say? I said, well, God has an answer for you in his word. Here's a position that God has placed you in. And so here's the word of God. The world says, well, we have our own ideas about this. We're going to change these things. But are you going to be like the model home where you see what God has planned or you're just going to go and follow the ideas of the day in which we live? Well, you young people.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the young brothers assumed the responsibility of the place that God had given to them? It isn't the place where there's oppression, it's a place that is maintained by love. Because the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and men are to maintain that place in the way that God has planned in His word. The man who seeks to maintain the place of head in his home is to do it in love. That's God's plan. The end of the commandment is love.
Out of a pure heart. But it's a place that has been given. And so it's that which God has planned, and the woman's place in connection with what God has given her. The privilege of doing, of being the one who bears children into this world. Not as a privilege that is given to her, which men don't have, which they're unable to take, but the the man has been given a place and a place which is.
Appointed, I say, of God.
And then too it speaks about clothes in the ninth verse in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, and so on. Now that is the whole manner in which the woman presents herself, is to show that she accepts the place.
That God has given to her, she accepts it. And she has been made the beautiful, the more fair of the two sects. And so God gives her that place. She's to hold that place modestly. She's to hold that place. Instead of making the wrong kind of appeal, she wins the respect of man by her proper clothing. And this is what God has planned in his word. Isn't it nice to see that there is a model in this world?
Brother Potter used to say the assembly is not a democracy. It's not a democracy. God has raised up in the assembly those who take a godly oversight, and what a happy thing it is when this is so. The one who is in the oversight has a personal godly life, that it commends itself, and so that he wins by his life the respect of those who look up to him.
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And acknowledge that God has arranged leaders in the assembly.
Who are to be godly men? Whose homes are such that they have the respect of those who look up to them, then to in the material things in the assembly. There we have the deacons, the ones who in these meetings arranged all about getting the meals range about the seats. Wasn't this all planned? Didn't someone have this responsibility? Isn't it nice to see that God has all this plan marked out in His word?
The world may say, well, we have a we have a voting and we vote. Certain people in the assembly never chose those who were godly overseers in it. True, in the beginning the apostles did, but never the assembly, the assembly did choose those who looked after temporal responsibilities. You find that in Acts where they chose those who looked after the distribution of the funds. But.
As far as the godly oversight, it's nice to read in the 20th of Acts over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the flock of God and to be examples to the flock. Well, so we have an order. Where is it going to be seen? Do we go and visit man organized systems to find out what the order is? Now we find it in the Word, and the assembly is to be the.
Example of this.
And we ought to be aware that God has laid down certain things like this.
In his word, and he has marked it out very clearly.
All these instructions are given.
Now I just mentioned briefly what we read in the 15th and 16th verses, and there we have two verses which really we might say are the key to the whole epistle. The 15th verse shows that the assembly is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground or support of the truth.
And then in the 16th verse, it's the walk pattern after the Lord Jesus himself. The secret of godliness is the pathway of the Lord Jesus. And so if one could put it briefly like this, what is God's assembly on earth? It is responsible to hold a deposit of truth committed to it. One couldn't recognize an assembly as being an Assembly of God if God's truth was given up.
Because the assembly is responsible to maintain that a positive truth committed to it.
Where is the? Where is the the? The Church doesn't teach, But where are they going to find the truth? They're going to find it among those who have been brought to know the Lord and who are seeking by His grace to maintain that which is according to truth, the pillar and support of the truth. And then?
There is the secret of godliness. What ought the world to see in US personally?
That were like Christ. Why did the early church call the people's Christian that the believers Christians? Well, I believe it's just because they were like Christ. What is a Christian? I don't read in the Bible about some man saying I'm a Christian, but the world looked on and said these people are Christians. They're Christ like and so without controversy great is the secret of godliness.
They ought to see in us that we're Christ like. Do they see this in US, living stones and God's building? They have no other pattern. They don't read their bibles, but they do watch us. We are living epistles them. But now we come to the next chapter and tells us about doctrines of demons. And then the third verse It says forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with Thanksgiving.
Of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with Thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
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Well, we know that Falls Church actually went to that point of forbidding to marry, but God instituted marriage, gave it a very special sanctity in His word. And where are we going to find out?
What marriage truly is, Are we going to find it out from the world? Some of the young people were going to be married a couple, and they were asked to write up their own vows. So they went down to the library to get some of the suggested things that they could put in their vows. And one of them came back and said, you know what? One of the things was that we could put in marriage vows? That we would be true to each other as long as our love doth last.
Well, you can see what the world is. Are we going to follow the patterns? Do we find the answer in the library? Do we find the answer when we ask the people of the world, Marriage is breaking down. Sad to say, it's breaking down even among Christians. And the reason is that they haven't followed the pattern of God's word. It's a tremendously serious thing. The Lord hates putting away. He hates divorce. He tells us he hates it.
And it's becoming a popular thing, an accepted thing in the world. Are we going to just go along with it?
Or are we going to take the other position of forbidding to marry No other way? We're going to find out.
The true pattern of marriage is in the Word, and the pattern is Christ in the church. Oh, what a perfect pattern we've got. God gives us a pattern. It's a perfect pattern. And so it's a doctrine of demons to try and destroy that which God instituted for man. And I beseech you, dear young people, to enter into this very, very solemnly remember in God's account, it's intended to be for life.
It's intended to be a pattern of Christ in the church. And if you don't think that you can really respect the partner that you're intending to marry, but you better not get married, because there needs to be love and there needs to be respect. And so the important thing for us then is.
That we follow God's pattern and in these days, a breakdown of marriage. Oh dear, young people go by the word of God.
Go by the word of God because there's no happier relationship that you can be in.
Than in the proper relationship of marriage, but the enemy is trying to smash it to pieces.
It's trying to found the whole thing on sex instead of on love. But God's intention, as set before us in His word, is to follow his plan. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, but then the next one that's set before us too is about food. It's all kinds of.
Fads and ideas, yeah, But here every creature of God is good. Nothing to be received of. It would be of nothing to be refused of if it be received with Thanksgiving or is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Now, there may be special conditions that require special food. I'm not questioning that, but I'm Speaking of generalities as we have it here. Every creature of God is good. Anybody tells you that meat is not good.
How are you going to find out? God's word, God's word? He says every creature of God is good. Nothing to be refused of. But do we give thanks for it? I know that you can go to a restaurant and you'll find very very few people who give thanks. But you and I who are Christians, we we ought to give God thanks for our food. All you say. Do we have to do it in front of unbelievers? Paul was on board a ship with 270 some people.
And as far as we know, there was only one other believer on board the ship, probably Luke. All the rest I expect, were unbelievers. But it says he gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, in the presence of them all. So it's nice for us to remember that people are so worrying about food and so on. I think a great question for us is, is it commanded by the word of God? Do we give thanks for it?
Simple instruction. Isn't that very blessed too for us? Well, this is God's pattern. This is the model home. Dear young people. This is what God sets before us. How lovely are his instructions. And then the eighth verse.
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For bodily exercise profiteth little or for a little time, the margin says. But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. Does the Bible condemn bodily exercise? No, it says it's profitable for a little time. I believe it just means don't get carried away with it, don't get carried away with it. It's it's nice. We do need bodily exercise, but when we get carried away with it, why then we often find ourselves?
Getting so involved and often into wrong company, it profits for a little time, but if it interferes with godliness.
If it interferes with the meetings, if it interferes with giving the Lord His rightful place, if it interferes with the time to read His word, then it's not really profitable in the end for you. Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is.
And that was just to come. God knows how to take care of your body and mind.
Many that I have known in my life who have been so deeply involved in sports and have become really excelled in it, you find as they get older they haven't really gained what they expected in hell. But if you and I put the Lord 1St and are temperate in all things, he'll take care of us. Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and so isn't this lovely here godly bodily exercise profits for a little time?
Perhaps some of you have heard me repeat this little incident, but some years ago, Albert Otter Lake, I remember one of the boys and we were talking a bit about sport and games and so on, and he told us this little incident, how he and a few other Christians went out to a park to play.
And having some good wholesome exercise. And in the park there were some others that were playing and this other group were having some real arguments about who was going to win and who who did this right and didn't and so on. They're really carrying on with some arguments.
And when the other little game broke up, one of them walked by where the group of Christians were playing.
And he said, we've been watching you fellas here. I think there were boys and girls watching you playing here. And he said, you don't seem to be arguing. We really had some fights over our game. Well, Alice Christian Boy replied. Well, we're just a group of Christians. We came out here to have some exercise and we were just having a happy time together as a group of Christians. Well, I thought that was very nice and that, I believe, was very commendable.
That was showing that bodily exercise does have its place. It's often an occasion of happy fellowship, but let's not get carried away with it. It's only for a little time, and godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is.
And that which is to come.
And now we find in the 12Th verse.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou, be thou example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity and spirit, in faith, in purity. Paul is exhorting Timothy as a young man. He's showing him that his personal life can be an example, that he can be a useful person, and nothing thrills my heart more than to see.
Young people who are growing up in this path, in Word, in conversation, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
They're really going on for the Lord. And as you watch them grow up, you know that if the Lord leaves us here, they're going to be useful. They're going to be useful. All I want to say to you, dear young people, don't give up the path of following Christ. Oh, you say, Maybe later on I'll get restored. But don't forget, you may do something while you're away that'll blemish and spoil your life. Many a young person has come back to the Lord.
Body has come back with something on his life that has spoiled his testimony.
Well, be thou an example of the believers in Word in conversation.
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In charity. And then it says in the 16th verse, Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine.
Take heed unto thyself. Sometimes we tell other people what to do. They look at us and they say, but you're not doing that and sadly you have to hang our heads. So we're to be an example not only in what we say, but in our lives. In actuality, what we say only carries as much weight as the life that we live. So here's a place for young people, a very important place. They're young people. The streets of the New Jerusalem are going to be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.
The assembly has a place for young people. It's a wonderful thing to be brought up as a young person in the meeting and to be brought under the sound of the truth. To know God's order and to occupy a place in the assembly, that's a blessing to yourself and to others.
And now we find too in the fifth verse, fifth chapter, first verse, rebuke not an elder, for the margin says, rebuke not the new translation. Rather rebuke not an elder sharply, but entreat him as a father, and the younger man as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity. Here is that mutual respect for one another, respect for those who are in a position of leaders in the assembly.
Do we speak respectfully about the older brethren? Do we speak respectfully there? There may be times when I need a rebuke. There may be times when any of us, whatever our age, we need a little word. But it's always to be done with respect, recognizing the position, the age now, and the way we treat one another. Do we treat one another in the proper way, bearing into account their age, their position in life? Are they widows?
Bearing also a boy girl relationship is a little different between two boys. You've got to be a little more careful. You can be quite free when it's just boys, but when they're boys and girls with all purity so that you see here, there's all this instruction. The world looks on. They see a pattern in this world, a pattern set before them when the house is in order, and then to the eighth verse, if any.
Provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house.
He hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. The world is set up a way of providing for old people that saw that.
Younger people won't be. They won't have to feel any responsibility for loved ones as they get older. Is that the pattern that God has in his word? You go to an old folks home and they say, well those people have been here for months. Nobody ever comes to see them. Isn't it sad?
But it isn't to be so with us as Christians, we ought to remember that there is that care for our loved ones as they get older, our responsibility laid upon us. The world, I say, has their own ideas, but we have the word of God to go by.
There's the care, and there's nothing sweeter than to see this manifested, Bible says of the world without natural affection. Are we to be like this? Or you say that's the way the world does it today? Gordon, you're living in a different generation, but the Lord doesn't change. There's still a pattern here in this world, and here it is set before us, caring for our own. And now we come down to the 21St verse.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. Well, I want to call attention to that. That's perhaps we need to put it in simple English. That's being fair, you know, that's what I often hear people say. Well, it's not fair the way they did that. It wasn't fair.
Are we fair in our dealings? The world may not be fair. I'm sure your employer may not be fair the way he handles you. You may not find that the government is always fair in the things that they do and the things that they impose. But where is fairness to be seen? Are we fair in our dealings with one another and with our brethren? Are we fair in the way we talk and act with one another? Dear young people, are we older ones? Are you and I fair in the way we act to one another?
It's very easy, you know, just to do things by partiality. Say, well, you know, all those people are related to me and I couldn't offend that family. Are we fair doing nothing by partiality? Very easy to be influenced by it. But God's assembly ought to be a fair place. Is God going to be fair when he deals? Oh, indeed it says, it says in Peter's epistle.
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It says that when he judges, there's no respect of persons with God.
He is perfectly fair. He doesn't judge after the sight of his eyes or approve after the hearing of his ears. In righteousness, he will judge the poor and reprove with equity for the make of the earth all brother. And let's be fair, let's be fair with one another in our dealings.
Because the world is looking on and we are the model home. Now let's turn to the 6th chapter.
The first two verses let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not best blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved.
Partakers have the benefit. Now here is a little word for us in the way we do our work for our employer. We ought to do it in such a way that whether our believer or whether our master is a believer or an unbeliever, we try to fulfill our task in an honorable and upright way, giving respect to the person who is in the position of authority over us. Well, this is something for us too.
I found in the office where I was worked how little respect there often was for those who were in authority in the office. And I'm sure this is more and more so today, because all these things are breaking down. But let us be respectful, and if we do something for our employer, respect him. If we do business with a Christian, do it in a nice way, remembering how that we're partakers of the benefit. We're going to share eternity together.
We share the unsearchable riches of Christ. Wasn't it sad when in the Corinthian assembly some of the Saints were actually defrauding one another? They must have forgot that they were all heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So here we see that respect in connection with an employer.
And then we find in the end of this chapter, we find the handling of material things. This is a great responsibility. It's a difficult responsibility to know how to properly handle what has been given to us. We're we're told here that we're not to hold it as our own. In the early church it says they had all things common, but as time went on.
And spiritual life declined, then tells us that the ones who had a little more than others were to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate. I believe the reason for that is that if everything was equally shared today might do harm to some people who are not walking with God to have a lot put into their hands that really wouldn't be for their good. But all those who have means God tells us that we are to be ready to distribute.
Willing to communicate. And in other words, we don't hold what we have as belonging to ourselves. I used to wonder why the Lord said to that young man, go sell that thou hast and give to the poor. I think I understand it now that the Lord was really saying to him, Well, you look on all that you possess as your own. But from now on you're my steward, and you just give it all to me and I'll tell you how to distribute it.
I'll tell you how to handle it. And really, that's what happens when you get saved. Before you're saved, it's my house, my car, it's my money. After we're saved, we just hand it all over to the Lord and then say, Lord, help me to use my home, help me to use my car, help me to use my money in a way that's honoring to thee, The world doesn't know anything about this but you and I who are Christians. We're in the model home. There's people visiting. They're looking on. Do they see things?
Fixed up in a nice way in the model home. This is what God has set before us in His word.
All you say, Brother Gordon, That's awfully difficult. Paul says fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. How can I do it? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Oh, dear friends, it's far easier to go on in God's way than to go our own way. In the end, we'll find that it's far easier to follow the divine pattern. Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
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And all her paths are peace. So he says, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on what's really life.
What's really like to do your own will now? What's really life is to follow now that which God has given us in His word and that is closing with his 20th verse. Oh, Timothy Keith, thou which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so-called. I'm quite sure that if any of us try to follow this pattern, a lot of people are going to say, well, we know better. We're living in 1978.
We're not living in 19. We're not living in 8030. We're in a advanced stage. These are oppositions of science, falsely, so-called. They're saying, we know. Can any of us ever be wiser than God? Don't argue with them.
Just say it's what God's word says. This is the path for me. I believe it's the path of His glory. It's the path of blessing. It's the path of happiness. And so avoid these discussions. Remember, we can never be wiser than God. Follow the wisdom and light of His word. How May God grant that? We may take a visit to this model home, see the pattern that God has laid out, and see that it is really a very blessed and happy pattern.
That he has marked out in his word for us, and I'm sure if we walk in it, we'll, as the Lord Jesus said, wisdom is justified. Of all her children, that is those who walk in Wisdom's ways say I found it, You see the silent people's cars. I found it. When it says wisdom is justified of all her children, it just means that we found the path of wisdom in this blessed book. And as we walk in it, it's pleasantness, it's peace. May God grant that we might have grace.
In these last days, to follow the light of his precious word, let's ask his blessing.