Open—Bob Hutchins
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I appreciate my brother's word.
His encouragement?
I just thought we'd continue along those lines, but considering.
A little bit different aspect and that is.
The moral condition.
It goes with.
Receiving that truth and holding that truth.
And that's critical.
If that condition doesn't go with it, we don't really have it.
It's just doctrine.
It's just teaching.
In the essence of the truth.
Is Christ himself?
And to have Christ.
In our hearts, in our lives, in our prayer closets, in our midst.
But again, there's a moral condition that goes with that.
And we see it in some places in Scripture. He just referred to the recovery years of Israel.
They needed a moral condition to go with their recovery.
So I have no time to get in trouble.
I had to be raised up in Zechariah and Malachi.
Address their decline.
Malachi, especially in Hagei.
But I thought we'd look at.
Our beautiful brother Ezra.
And his exercise is to start off with in Ezra Chapter 9.
Ezra was part of that recovery.
Part of the returned captives.
And there was trouble. Didn't take long. Our hearts depart so readily. I mean, if we have any honesty at all and have any desire after Christ, we learned that quickly.
How quickly we let things slip for Mr. As Mr. Darby puts it, we slip away.
You know, we were talking, Steve and I and some of us, about how.
The Lord refers in the Gospels. I think we often tend to attribute this to seeds of the Gospel, but seeds of the Word to the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures of this world choke the Word.
And I believe it can choke it without us even perceiving it.
Departure of heart, especially from his presence, is so subtle.
And takes place so easily and we have to be so careful.
About the cares of this life.
They can really keep us at a distance without her even knowing it, you know?
But in Ezra Chapter 9.
They had. Well, we'll just read.
Verse one.
Now when these things were done, the Princess came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the parasites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.
For they have taken of their daughters, for themselves and for their sons, so that so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands.
The hand of the Princess and rulers have been chief in this process.
You know when the when the children of Israel made their way through the wilderness.
They had to confront Amalek.
And they we see that picture and is it exit of 16 and 17?
Where Joshua successfully overcomes Amalek, but it says Moses is interceding.
And as they get closer to the land, they have to confront Zion and Auge.
The kings that would oppose them keep them from entering in the land, keep them from realizing the truth. The picture for us.
Keep us from realizing Christ in glory, realizing Him, having Him where He is. Be a reality with us in our hearts, in our lives.
And the very last opposition was Balaam Social.
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Social opposition. Very subtle social opposition.
You have a friend. An old friend maybe.
Wants to hook up.
Once they get together, well, you have to guard your language, you have to guard what comes up and so on. You have to guard yourself all the time and it's nothing legal. It's just you're taking care of your treasure.
You know, it's been said that.
His treasure is on earth, the treasure in the field. Our treasure is in heaven.
We have to guard the treasure.
Well, the people of the land succumbed to this tactic of Balaam, the mix.
Even in very subtle, seemingly harmless ways, you're still mixing, and it affects you in the very important holy seed.
The Holy Seed.
We are of God, we are of Christ, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, and abideth alone. But if a diet bringeth forth much fruit.
We are of the same Colonel and stock as he is the Holy One.
And he wants us like him. He wants us going on in his life, in his nature, his character. So it's so important to take care of the holy seed. So in verse six, we get some of Ezra's exercises and said, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God. For our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up.
Unto the heavens.
Since the you know, answer is so appreciative of what God has done, he's letting them return. And now they've messed up. They failed. He's so ashamed. He's so ashamed because he appreciated it so much. He appreciated the return to the truth.
And now he's ashamed. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day.
And for our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to a spoil and to confusion of face as it is this day now that that was the state of the church, and it's rapidly becoming the state of the church too. We were talking about the dark ages at dinner time, and I joked and said, yeah, today.
Feels like that times we're going back into the dark ages.
And this verse is so precious. It's such a picture of the recovery of the truth. The church had gotten into this dismal condition. And as a brother was pointing out, God was gradually restoring truth to the church, the great reformers, and so on. And eventually Darby and Bellet and all those early brethren, Mueller and.
It was precious the way the Holy Spirit came in and restored truth to the Church. And I believe we see it in this verse 8. We can say the same thing. And now for a little space grace.
Have been showed from the Lord our God.
Sorry.
To leave us a remnant to escape.
And to give us a nail in his holy place.
That our God may lighten our eyes.
And give us a little reviving in their *******.
For we have we were bonds men, and yet our God have not forsaken us in our ******* but have extended mercy unto us.
In the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the House of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
And now, oh our God, what shall we say after this? But we have forsaken thy commandments, and so on.
But this verse is so precious. Now for a little space grace, the 1820s.
Now for a little space. Grace have been showed from the Lord our God.
To leave us a remnant, a few a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail.
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That's the Son of God.
On him we'll hang all the glory.
Let's just look at Isaiah 22 for a minute.
Just to for the sake of time, we'll just look at the few verses that I'm interested in. It shall come to pass. Verse 20, that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and he's serving as a little, as a pitcher of Christ here. And I will clothe him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle. And I will commit thy government into his hand. And he should be a father to the in heavens of Jerusalem into the House of Judah and the key of the House of David, while I lay upon his shoulder.
So he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a short place He should be for a glorious throne to his Father's house, and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's house, and so on. But it's precious. Verse 25. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the shore. Well, that's the other nail. I'm sorry, that's the false.
But Christ is the nail in the.
In the Holy place.
He's our nail in our verse too, in in Ezra.
To give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our *******.
It's so precious to realize the nail in His holy place again. It's the Son of God.
Stan was talking about Paul's doctrine. You know, we like to say that John's doctrine is the Son of God down here. I mean, that's very great summary, but and Paul's doctrine is the Son of God up there.
And we know him in both spheres and enjoy him in both spheres. But he especially wants us to know him and enjoy him.
In that sphere.
You know, when he said to his disciples, he was down here in humiliation, He said, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
And it's easy to envision the humbled Christ saying those words to his disciples.
And kind of thinking of coming together in his name to this humbled Christ. But when he said the words, he was thinking of the future. He's the glorified Christ now.
He's the holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. That's who it is. Whose name were gathered to and in, that's who it is.
Whose presence we come into.
You know I don't. I certainly wouldn't.
Be dogmatic on this and I know that Revelation is a primarily it's a book of judgment, but you just consider that picture of the Lord Jesus in Revelation chapter one. We'll just read read those few verses what John saw, he heard the voice.
In turn to see.
The voice was so real, it had such life.
That he turned to see.
Revelation One Verse 12. I turn to see the boys to speak with me, and being turned, I saw 7 golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, gird about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.
And his eyes were as a flame of fire.
In his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a furnace.
In his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth when a sharp 2 edged sword, And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
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And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the 1St and the last.
Well, this is quite a picture of our Lords. This isn't the humbled Christ anymore moving here meek and lowly. This is the glorified Christ. And what a picture to consider him like this. And I wondered if we can't just envision him as this now. This is his glorified person. Now we know that the eyes is a flame of fire and feet is fine brasser because he's walking amidst the candlesticks he's he's inspecting.
He's looking to. He's a fruit inspector. He's looking to see.
How his people have done.
But my point in reading it is just to see the character of man that He is and what he is now when we say He comes into our midst.
And he lays his right hand upon us and says, fear not such a such a vision could easily cause fear. But he wouldn't have that. He loves us. We know he loves us.
But I'm just trying to point out that that's the one.
Whom we call upon, that's the one who we desire to have come in our midst.
Is he still the meek and lowly one? Yes, he is. Remember when John later on when John wept much because no man was found to open the book and to lose the seals there, and no man was worthy.
To bring in judgment, you know.
Let me just look at that.
Verse 4I wept much because no man, this is chapter five, was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
One of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to lose the seals thereof. And I beheld, And lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Well, he said, behold the lion, and when John beheld it was a lamb, and we know him as both, we might say he's a lion.
In Revelation chapter one, in the sense of bringing judgment. But he's still our lamb. He still loves us. He would lay his right hand upon us and tell us, fear not. So for us, he's he's a lion and a lamb.
And King James says, hath prevailed, the word is overcome.
And just as a side note, it's precious to to realize him as the lion, the overcomer, to see him as that.
Then in chapter 3.
I'd like to read a little bit about from the letter to Philadelphia.
Chapter 3. Verse 7.
And to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia write these things, saith He that is holy, he that is true, He that had the key of David, He that openeth. And no man shut us. And shut us, and no man open us.
I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and it's not denied my name.
That's all I'll read. I wanted mainly this introduction.
He's the holy and the true.
That's how he reveals himself to the Church in the last days, the holy and the truth. That's how he revealed himself in those recovery years.
That's how he wanted them to recognize him, them to give place to him.
They were seeking to be gathered to his name, the holy and the true, His nature, his character. He that had the key of David, he that opened his no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. The authority. It's his nature, his character, his authority. That's what they were gathered in. That's whose name they're gathered in.
And that's very key.
He was re establishing a place on earth for himself. He wanted that. It has to be suitable to him though the holy and the true, the one who has the power and the authority.
It's a sweet thought. It's such a sweet thought. I forget where I read it once, but someone suggested that the Lord Jesus often resorted to Bethany.
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Because he felt at home there.
He felt at home there.
Now, I don't know how true that is, but it's a sweet thought. It's a precious thought. Imagine if all our assemblies.
Were such a character, such a nature, that he felt at home there. He's in the glory.
His face is shining above the brightness of the sun still.
Would you feel at home in our assemblies?
It's a precious, precious privilege where I see.
Ezra appreciated their recovery.
Those early brethren appreciated, appreciated their recovery, which is our recovery.
But it's such a privilege to have him in the midst and to have the assembly suitable to him.
He's the holy and the true.
And he has set before that an open door that no man can shut. It's his intention that that go on. And I think that was a major part of Stan's point that he said before them, an open door, no man can shut it. He wants it to go on, but it has to go on in the right character, in the right nature, and there has to be that moral.
Those that moral exercise that goes with it.
Like we read, we read about Ezra. I am ashamed and blushed. To lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head.
And so on.
It's humbling. He wants us humbled and appreciative for what he's doing, what he has done.
And what he is doing.
I just want to read those verses. Daniel had similar exercises.
Daniel was in the captivity.
And Daniel had similar exercises. We're all, most of us are familiar with those. We'll just read a couple of verses in Daniel Chapter 9. This is verse 7.
Oh Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries, whether thou hast driven them because of their trespass, and they have trespass against the O Lord, to us belongs can be longest confusion of face to our kings, to our Princess, to our fathers.
Because we have sinned against the.
But thank God, verse 9 to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.
But here again, there's another man with the proper exercises and attitude for receiving God's truth, His blessing.
And I'd like to look at Matthew chapter 19 for a minute.
A couple of familiar verses to us on a different subject, but containing a principle.
19 Verse 5. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they tween shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together? Let not man put us under.
Of course, this is about marriage.
But we know that we are united to Christ in glory. We are one with Him.
And one of the things those early brethren realized was that person we've been considering this glorified person.
And that they were one with him.
And it's easy to say the words, but to really express the truth of it.
We have to meditate on it, we have to seek to give place to it. But.
It's not like this.
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It's not Bob and Jesus.
I'm one with him, one.
We can all say that.
And think of that. Dwell on that. You're one with the glorified Son of God.
Just to realize that gives you such a new perspective on things and to enjoy him there.
When we enjoy him in his presence, there isn't there isn't a speck of flesh involved. It's out of the picture.
His love is there, the peace is there, the awesome sense of His presence is there, and you know nothing else is more important. And in the believers life there's nothing else more important. You want to read your Bible every day? That's great, seek Him.
Seek him, Seek to realize him. Be in his presence.
You go on the strength of that meal for days and you may not always have a sense of His presence, but when you do, it makes such a difference. And when those who are realizing His presence come together.
They realize what it is to have him in the midst.
But like I say this.
This verse back in Ezra is so precious. Now for a little space. In other words, God was working.
There's this little opportunity.
And we might put it this way. I mean, the Holy Spirit was behind it. He was, I believe he was raising up those vessels.
You know, in John 17.
In our Lord's Prayer.
The Lord was doing a work.
With those men.
John, Chapter 17.
And this is critical. It shows that it's a moral exercise.
We'll read verse six and John 17. I have manifested thy name.
Unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.
Thine they were, and thou gave us to me, and they have kept thy word.
You know the Lord Jesus in Psalm 22, we're coming back to this, but in Psalm 22, it's hard to believe there's a more solemn chapter in the Bible.
To be taken up on your knees, so to speak.
We get his sufferings in the first half, but then his resurrection.
In the second-half and the first desire of his heart.
The first desire of his heart I will declare thy name unto my brethren. He wants to bring us into the Father's name. He wants us to get to know God. His name is who He is, what He is, His nature, His character, His authority. It's touching and it's.
It's very significant. That's the first thing, first words out of his mouth upon resurrection.
I will declare thy name unto unto.
My brethren, in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee? It's the first thing he wanted to do.
Is declare his name, bring us into his name.
And that's what he says here. I have manifested thy name to those that thou gave us Me. They have kept thy words. He's doing the work with them. He's bringing them into His name. They're realizing who He is, what's due to him. That is essential to realize what to do to this person.
Verse eight. I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me, and they have received them, and have known surely, that I came out from thee, and they have believed the Thou did send me.
I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine, and mine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father.
He says these following words in connection with the Holy Father.
Keep through thine own name. There it is. There's the idea again. They have to be kept. They have to be kept in His name. Keep through thine own name. Those who now has given me that they may be one as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. So it's an exercise, it's a reality. It's something that, again, first desire is hot. Upon resurrection, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren. I want them to get to know You, Father. I want them to realize who you are.
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So he was doing the work with these disciples because he was going away.
And he didn't work with those early brethren. That's what I was getting at. There was a work going on in the hearts and souls of Ballot and Darby and.
Mueller and Macintosh we know. We know the names.
And they were being fitted to receive his name and have a place suitable on earth again for himself.
In other words, it's so easy for us to just think of the truth.
As the gospel and the gospel outreach. But it's more than that. It's a place where he is.
And a place is suitable to him, a place where he can come and feel at home, home to him.
Is light and glory and love and warmth.
Trying to remember the name. I'm trying to remember the words of that hymn but I can't think of it right now but.
That's what home is to him.
And that's one of the precious things of the recovery he was making. He was seeking to set up a place where he's wanted. Who he is, who and what He is, is wanted. Yes, you, holy one, You, the light of the world, You, the holy God. We want you in our midst. You come here, you be with us. We want you.
You know.
I know that may sound extreme or strange, but I believe it's it's true.
That he wanted a place where he, the way he is, could have things according to his mind. It's his universe, not only his planet, and it's his house.
That was mentioned here to set up the House of our God. That was what took place in the recovery. The the house was rebuilt, so to speak, and.
The truth of the body was established again.
And His grace for a little space grace has been showed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant again. It was just a few.
And they give us a nail in his holy place. And that's why I read Matthew 19 and five. He's the nail in the holy place, and we're one with him there. Precious, precious privilege. And that's who wants to come into the midst. And He wants to come into the midst of a suitable place, suitable to himself. He wants to see that we want it the way he wants it.
Naturally, this wasn't well thought out. It's just thoughts that came to mind because Dan.
Presented what he did, but that's my main thought the the moral exercises that go with appreciating the recovery of the truth and maintaining it.
Can't maintain it without maintaining that humility and that appreciation.
That humbleness being ready to say to us belong with confusion of face.
Just maintaining that state which was able to receive the truth which which I might say recovery forefathers had.
And seek to maintain the same way.