Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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General Meetings. Toledo, November 1973.
Addressed by Albert Ejole.
Hymn #171.
He bids us come, His voice we know, and boldly on the waters go to him, our God and Lord, we walk on lifes tempestuous sea. For he who died to set us free hath called us with his word. 171.
A bit of calm, his voice way more.
Hurried up.
And down the road?
More Ephron, him we turn the heart.
Away.
Hooray for unbelievable.
Lord.
That in heaven.
Lord the way.
Unbelievable.
And green.
Laura.
Mama Maldives. Maldives.
Like you to turn with me please this afternoon to 2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 5.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7.
For we walk by faith.
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Not by sight.
For we walk.
By faith.
Not by sight.
I suppose that there are many who look upon faith as being a rather vague and obscure and indefinite thing, something that we perhaps turn to and make use of when we haven't anything else to lean upon. But beloved, it's very, very sweet to read these words by one who really knew whereof he spoke, and that was the beloved Apostle Paul.
We walk by faith, not by sight. Notice, please, to that this verse is embraced between two other verses, both of which speak of supreme unshakable confidence. Verse six. Therefore we are always confident. Verse eight. We are confident, I say.
And between the two comes this delightful expression for.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
They love a young friend. It is my particular desire to speak to you this afternoon on the subject of faith and what it ought to mean to everyone of us.
At the first prayer meeting yesterday morning, a verse was read to us in Acts chapter one, the ninth verse, where the disciples having enjoyed the company of the Lord Jesus.
They're in their midst from day-to-day. They had seen that one whom they had learned to love.
Body In the ninth verse of Acts One they see the Lord Jesus visibly taken up from their midst, and the scripture says.
A cloud received him out of their sight. Out of their sight. He was gone now to the natural eye, hidden and hidden to by a cloud.
I have sometimes felt that that verse could be an encouragement to us when, perhaps, in the midst of difficulty, or trial, or testing of one kind or another, we look upward, and shall I speak plainly, all we see is a cloud. Have you ever had that experience, dear young friend? Have you ever in time of difficulty, in time whenever a decision of great importance is before you?
And you look up and there is a cloud, even a cloud above.
Oh, how wonderful to read those words. A cloud received him out of their sight. Where they downhearted, where they discouraged. Oh no, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. For they knew that on the other side of that cloud was the one who had loved them, who had proclaimed, and who had demonstrated his love had died to reveal that love. And now they know that on the other side of that cloud.
There was the one whose uplifting hands had just gone from their sights, and you and I do not see him by sight today. Beloved, we're going to before very long, faith is going to give place to sight. You and I are going to look into the very face of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, there is a wonderful privilege of looking up and realizing that beyond that which may seem so dark, so filled with clouds, there is the one whose hands will ever remain uplifted until he calls us home. Now, in Speaking of this word, faith, I believe first of all we ought to remind ourselves of the way in which it's presented to us in Scripture.
Concerning the need of a lost soul, for I can't address a company like this this afternoon without feeling that there may well be present in this company.
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A number of the dear young people who are not yet redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
We read in Romans 5 verse one. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. My dear young brother, my dear young sister, what a delight it is to know that we can look up and know by faith in Him who took our place upon the cross of Calvary.
That we have peace with God. But may I ask that each heart here be searched about this matter at this very moment? Have you, with the hand of faith received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have your lips ever been open to confess Him to anyone?
I want to repeat that, for I feel greatly troubled to think that the only confession that has ever come from the lips of many that I know.
Is a rather hesitant yes, if you ask them, do you know the Lord as your Savior? Never have I heard them voluntarily and with joy and reverence mentioned the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my dear young friend, I want to ask you very pointedly, very plainly at this moment, will you please answer this question?
Have you ever at anytime in your life?
Voluntarily confessed the Lord Jesus to anyone.
Does that sound like a surprising challenge to those who are older?
Do you, do you conceive it possible that there ever could be young people who would have to hesitate in answering a question like that? I think the young people themselves know that this is a needed question, and I'm going to repeat it. Have you ever, at any time in your life, to anyone?
Voluntarily confess the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You find that question rather searching. You know very well, my friend, that the word of God says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord teaser.
And shall believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved again. We find that element of faith in Ephesians chapter 2, the eighth verse. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. The arm of faith reaches out to receive the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As the one who loved us, who died for us, who shed his precious blood to purge away our guilt.
All Could it be that anyone here has never confessed Jesus Christ as Lord?
I ask you, friend, could there be a better occasion, a more challenging opportunity for you to do this than to do it this very afternoon? What I have to say on the matter of faith is not applicable to you at all unless you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, unless your sins are washed away by the precious blood of Christ and you yourself have peace with God.
It is impossible to walk the path of faith. It's possible to make a very good imitation. It's possible to deceive your father and mothers and maybe those in the assembly too. But you know deep down in your own heart.
And his eye knows, as he looks over this company tonight, whether you have personally accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior. And thy not only address myself, myself to those who would be considered young people, but the children too, the boys and the girls who have been brought here by their parents. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
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Have you confessed his precious name, perhaps to your dad or to your mother?
I remember confessing that precious name to my mother a long time ago.
I had known the Lord, I'm ashamed to say this, for some time.
Before I had Shall I dare to confess it? Before I had the courage to confess the name of the Lord Jesus to my own mother?
And one night she came in.
To kiss me goodnight.
As he always did.
And I said, mother, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I'm a Christian now.
My dear mother said, well, I hope you act like one. And she hurried out of the room. I was disappointed. I thought she would say more than that. But I'm a father now, and a grandfather too, and I know my mother hurried out of the room. I know just what she did too, although she's never told me. I know she went to a room and got our knees to thank God and to pray.
For that wayward son.
That had just confessed the Lord.
Oh, as I speak of faith, beloved, it's such a marvelous provision of God for a journey like this. It means so much, even in a little measure in which I've known it, that I want you to know it. I want you to enjoy it. I want you to look around at that which surrounds us and realize that it all will pass away and that you and I have a challenge and the privilege by the grace of God.
Of walking through this world of sight with a walk of faith.
I wonder if we could turn please to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11, verse one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen here. I believe we have a different view of faith. Not exactly that transaction by which your soul and mind has been brought to know the Lord Jesus as saviors. Not that transaction by which through the grace of God we possess peace which we never knew before.
But here, dearly beloved young people, we have put before us, I believe, that which is demonstrated in the lives of many of the people of God whose testimony is recorded in this precious book. We find a number of them mentioned here in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews. And perhaps in Speaking of faith, there's no better way of seeing it demonstrated than in the lives of some of God's dear peoples.
Reference was made in the meeting this morning to the sad choice made by one whose name was lost.
And the wise choice made by Abraham.
Lot's choice was made according to the natural. I lost. Choice was made by sight, with a view to temporal things. Abraham's choice was made with the eye of faith. And perhaps if you or I had observed these two men for a while.
We might have felt that Lot had made a pretty good choice. He was what you would call, at first at least, a very successful man.
And, you know, I noticed sometimes that when the dear young folks see someone driving a very fancy, expensive car, their first question sometimes is, what's his job? They want to know what kind of job will bring you those status symbols that are so envied in the world today. Don't worry, I'm not pointing the finger. I've got the very, very same thing in here that you feel stirring within you.
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The very same tendency to walk by sight, The very same tendency to look upon that which the natural man would admire and envy.
Oh beloved, when I think of those of old who with the eye of faith look beyond all that which the world had to offer, and I see their pathway recorded for our benefit in the Word of God, and I see not only the end of their pathway, but I suddenly realize their pathway has been written up.
And you and I in Toledo in 1973 can read of the choice that Locke made a long time ago was lots choice and that which caused him to make that choice known to God. It's recorded in this book. And do you know, my dear friend, do I realize?
These things are still being written up.
Your choices mine your footsteps.
Mine, they are being recorded and they're going to be reviewed.
That God, who's kept a record of the choice of Abraham and the law, is keeping also a record of your choices and of mine. And it may be that others look on and feel that we have made wise choices because things are going so well. But beloved young friends, I remind you, and I need the reminder that our lives are being written up and are going to be reviewed in a day that's coming.
Oh, as we look back upon some of those men whose lives are written in the pages of the Old Testament.
We know from God's stamp of approval that.
That the life of faith.
Is that which you and I surely would want for ourselves.
And for our families. But how can we expect our families to walk by faith?
If we ourselves.
So continually, so often, are guided by that which is only a matter of sight, that which is temporal, that which is going to pass speedily away.
I suppose, too, we could think of the case of Moses. Moses in the land of Egypt with every natural advantage Moses already far advanced in the court of Pharaoh, and with such ability, and such wisdom, and such opportunity. But there came a time in the life of Moses when there was a comparison between sight and faith.
And I have no doubt that many a man considered Moses a fool of the strangest sort to make the choice he did.
Sight could see the glories and the pleasures of Egypt.
Faith could see. What could faith see? It tells us in Hebrews 11, and to me it's very remarkable. What did he choose? The land that flowed with milk and honey. That's not what Scripture says. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. That's what seemed to be before Moses in the choice that he made. But the eye of faith pointed to that pathway.
Moses made that choice, and he encountered many a difficult day as he walked the path of faith.
And it is said of him and of him alone in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews that He endured. He endured. Oh dear young believer, it is one thing to make a fine start. It is one thing to go along for a time. But Oh my dear young brother and sister, the faith that God delights to see demonstrated.
In your life and mine is that which can cause us to endure in the face of any difficulty.
I must admit I have wondered whether this particular expression used of Moses and Moses alone.
Was because Moses spent most of his time among the people of God who were such a source of sorrow and grief to his soul.
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The other man whom we read of there in Hebrews 11 seemed more or less to walk something of an individual pathway, but Moses journey caused him to be continually surrounded by the people of God, and all the problems and difficulties that arose seemed to be laid at Moses feet. Moses this, that, and the other thing is all your fault. And they blamed him for the whole thing from beginning to end.
But Moses and George all the eye of faith, beloved, was upon that one who had called those people out of Egypt. And although the natural eye might see nothing, but either on the one hand, the honors and the glory of Egypt, or on the other hand, the distress and the problem of the desert, yet the.
Eye of faith caused Moses to endure.
And you and I know that the day came at last when the feet of that dear man of God, by God's grace.
Are found in the very land that was forbidden to him at the end of his earthly journey. For there on the Mount of Transfiguration, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, and with him Moses, Moses and Elias all. Beloved, there is a day coming. Dear young brother, dear young sister, there is a day coming when all that is seen to the natural eye, all that can be possessed and laid hands upon here, is going to be gone forever.
And you and I are going to be in the presence of him whom now we know.
By faith.
Well, there was not only the case of Abraham.
And of Moses and of Joshua 2 For as Joshua wandered through that wilderness for 40 years.
All that he could see with the natural eye was that which might have been very, very distressing to hear from day-to-day, the unbelief and the murmuring of the people, whereas he himself knew with certainty the wonder of the land that lay before him.
He also, with the eye of faith, continued on until he entered into that possession. The eye of sight could only see the giant and the great walled cities, but the eye of faith, the eye of faith, could see God's land of promise, the land that flowed with milk and honey.
You know, I suppose one of the greatest examples of all in this regard is the very one who wrote these words.
We walk by faith.
Not by sight, the beloved Apostle Paul.
Wrapped in his natural eye. See in the days of his youth.
His natural eye could see a great deal of honor and esteem and success in this world. But there came a moment in the life of Saul of Tarsus when he heard a voice from heaven, and with the eye of faith he recognized that the one whose voice he had heard was none other.
Than the Lord from heaven.
And from that day onward, the beloved apostle was guided by.
The eye of faith. The eye of faith.
Was it really worthwhile? Was it really worthwhile? What did it bring the Apostle Paul if he had continued to walk by natural sight?
If he had continued to deem as that which was really significant, really to be sought after, those things which he later called dung, what would his life have been?
Oh, what a tragedy, what a sad tragedy the life of that man of God would have been. But from that moment, as we read in Philippians chapter 3, what things were gained to me? Those I counted.
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Loss for Christ, that's written in the past tense. What things were gained to me though thy counted lost for Christ. I believe as an old man he was looking back to the days of his youth, his manhood, when he had made this choice, when he had settled this reckoning and he had decided that those things which were gained to him.
Were to be counted lost. Why? Because someone shook their finger at him and told him that there was something far better than what he was taken up with. I'm afraid that never would have changed my mind. I'm afraid that all the scoldings in the world would never have turned my eyes from those things which can only fade away. But Paul says those I counted lost for Christ.
There was something so real to the eye of faith, should I say, someone so real, who had won the affection of this dear man, that from that moment onward that which at one time had seen so valuable and so worthwhile to him were counted as dung. For he goes on to say, yeah, doubtless, and I count.
He now uses the present tense. He's an old man. He's in prison. He can look back over a life which could have been a life of ease and comfort and acceptance and popularity. And he looked back over the whole thing and he says, yeah, doubtless. And I count. I have not changed my mind. I look back on the whole thing and I still count.
All things, it seems to me it's broader still. As he grows older, he looked back and says, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. But now as an old man, he looks back and says, Yeah, doubtless. And I count all things but loss for the Excellency of a knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
That strong language, and it wasn't exaggerated language.
The beloved apostle meant every word of it, Every word of it.
You know I have pictured to myself, and I hope you will forgive this, I have pictured to myself the thrilling experience of visiting with Paul in prison.
Would you care to come along and we'll go to that dark old prison in Rome? We'll inquire of the jailer concerning a man named Paul.
He nods his head. Yes, yes, we have a religious fanatic in here by the name of Paul. I'll take you to him.
And we're LED down that dark stone corridor and the jailer points to the door and says behind that door is the man whom you are seeking. And we walk in and we see.
An old man.
Chained.
Chained An old man Chained.
Is this the man that could have been so popular?
Is this the man that could have ended his days with honor and esteem and dignity? And we find him an old man chained in a Roman dungeon? Surely we'll have to encourage this poor, despondent old man. Surely we'll have to go to him and try and cheer him up.
Well, what do we find? He lifts up his eye from the page that he's been writing.
And his face is filled with radiance and with gladness, and we look over his shoulder to what he has been writing.
And we read the words, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.
Beloved young friend, in the days of your youth, do remember this that God has given us in His precious Book, the account of men of like passions with you and with me, men who would naturally seek after those things.
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Which would give them reputation and esteem and honor and comfort in this world.
But one by one we see these men turn from that which sight would look to.
Turn to that which faith alone can see, and follow the course right through to the end. And what do we find at the end?
All an old man in prison waiting to be LED out and beheaded. And does he regret the choice that he made? Does he regret one footstep in the path of faith? No, beloved friend, he does not. He looks back over the whole thing and he gives us a list of that which he had endured in Second Corinthians.
You read that list and I think if I had experienced anyone of the things that Paul speaks of there.
I would think it was a lot to endure for the Lord's sake, but Paul because he felt forced to do so.
Gives a description. Could I just turn for the moment and read a few verses of it? Second Corinthians 11.
Verse 23.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more.
In labor's more abundant in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent in deaths off of the Jews. Five times received by 40 stripes, save 1 price. Was I beaten with rods, Once was I stone, thrice I suffered shipwreck, and night and a day I have been in the deep. We won't go on. You know the list. Does he really look back on all this and consider that the choice made in the days of his manhood?
With a choice for which he thanks God. It's true. Beloved young people, I'm not back there anymore. I've left the days of my youth behind.
And there have been decisions made in the days of my youth that I wish had been made with the eye of faith.
But I have a faithful God.
And a faithful and merciful and understanding High Priest.
Am I the only one that's here today that feels that His faithful hand has pulled me back time and again from bypass? That it would have led to sorrow? He has. I stand here to confess it with gladness that when those choices are made that are not for the glory of God, He does not leave us alone.
Perhaps we resent his interference. Perhaps we resent his hand that would tarnish or remove the idol, but he does it because he loves us.
He wants you, dear brother. He wants you, dear sister, to have a happy life.
An abundant entrance and a full reward. And He not only puts before you texts that are intended to stir your heart and deliver a message, but he puts before you the examples I see again of men of like passions with ourselves who had every opportunity.
For aggrandizement in this world. But we're guided by faith and not by sight. You know when I read these words of the beloved Apostle Paul.
And when I, from my own memory, recall a testimony of men of God who are now with Christ in glory.
Whose memory I Revere and I love.
I am reminded of the story that dear brother Jackson told us a long time ago in Smith Balls. He quite broke down when he finished the story.
But I'll try my best.
He told us of two dear sisters years ago during the time of the Inquisition, who were imprisoned, and they were awaiting the occasion of their being burned at the stake the very next morning. And they spent the night together in prayer, and they made this pledge. Well, they had been told that in order to make the ordeal more difficult.
One was going to be held back while the other one was burned before her eyes, and then it would be her turn.
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And they made this pledge during that night of prayer that whoever was tied to the stake first would give some signal as to whether it was really worthwhile. You can't blame them, can you? You know, I've never faced anything like this. We face the mockery of some acquaintance sometimes, and we shrink from it. Don't we now? Don't we Now? I do anyway.
Well, you know, the morning came and the two of them were let out and one of them was tied to the state while the other one was held back to witness it.
And the flames arose, and she watched and listened so eagerly, and nothing happened.
And the smoke grows higher, and the flames burns more fiercely. And she listens, and not a sound. And all of a sudden, from above the sound of the flame, she heard a cry of triumph. Come on, it's true. Come on, it's true. Beloved, when I read in this book of those who walk the path of faith, I think I hear them turn back at the last moment and say.
Come on.
It's true, and I've seen it in those who are now with the Lord.
They have gone, but they have left behind them a testimony.
Of men and women, brothers and sisters, who were not governed by the natural eye, that governed by the eye of faith.
I like to turn to yet one more thought in connection with this same word found in the epistle of Jude.
So.
The third verse of the Epistle of Jude.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation.
It was needful for me to write on the you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
Earnestly concerned for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
Faith is spoken of in the Word of God as that by which a poor lost Sinner.
Trust in accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
And knows the joy of sins forgiven and peace with God.
Faith is also presented as that which should characterize the pathway, the day by day footsteps, and the day by day decisions of every one of us.
Oh, how easily we decide by sight. You know, I can't help but feel that in making reference to the Apostle Paul in his closing days in prison that perhaps we console ourselves by saying, oh, well, if I were in prison, I wouldn't have anything else really to be occupied with. I suppose if I were in prison, I might have something of the same experience. I might really be occupied with the Lord then, when everything else was shut out.
Now, beloved friend, what you, what I have been occupied with and enjoying during our lifetime, will become more and more evident in time of trial and distress. As Paul looked around that prison cell, the eye of sight, the natural eye, could see only the stone walls of that cell, and as he looked at the door, he knew that the day was near when he'd be LED out and beheaded.
For the Lord's sake, that was all at the natural eye could see but the eye of faith, what it suddenly brought into exercise. No, it had been the pattern of that man's life to walk the path of faith.
And I pause before referring more in detail to this verse, just to add one final word of appeal to your dearly beloved young people.
For it's not dungeon walls that are confronting you right now. It may not even be that which seems to be difficult or trying to face. It may instead be that which is so very, very worthwhile, so attractive, so much to be sought after.
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Dear young brothers, dear young sister, this is the very time of life when you and I need to be on our knees in a very particular way, seeking before God that those vital decisions might be made by faith and in the presence of the Lord.
The other day in Cuyahoga Falls we were considering the 27th Psalm on the 4th verse.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire of him in his temple. And the thought occurred to us.
That very, very often we take a shortcut right through that verse because we're faced with some decision and we say, I know what I'll do. I'll go and pray about it. All I need to do is go out to my room and ask the Lord and he'll tell me what to do. And we get off into the room and we pray about it. And it seems so unsettled. It still seems so vague and we don't seem to receive what we hoped for.
Is it because we have taken a shortcut through that verse, and have forgotten that which precedes enquiring of the Lord? One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
Enquiring, I believe, should be preceded by that which is described in that verse.
Oh, dear young believer, again, I say there may be as you're sitting here today.
Decisions confronting you and you know not which way to turn. And if you were to turn to your most trusted friend, they couldn't advise you either.
Turn to the Lord. He will hear that cry. He will call you to see the path of faith. I remember on more than one occasion going to my Father for advice in matters that were to me very, very important and vital, and I can still hear His answers.
Son, I'll pray with you about it.
That was his answer.
You didn't even say I think this perhaps that he said I'll pray with you about it. In other words, son, I can't pray for you and receive guidance for you, but I promise that I'll pray with you about it and I know he did.
Now we're told earnestly contend for the faith, all beloved, what a heritage this is. I don't pretend to appreciate or value it as I ought to, but I know this and I say it with Thanksgiving. I have been spoon fed with the truth from the time I was a little boy, and I'm not sorry for it.
I've been spoon fed with the truth.
I have from my very earliest memory been brought, as perhaps you have been brought, to the meeting where I heard this precious book read as the very Word of God, when I heard its wisdom, sought out as that which ought to guide the footsteps of the Lord peoples, and where I have heard the wonderful heritage of truth entrusted by God to His people unfolded over the years.
Word to God that I grasped it better and enjoyed it more.
But I know this as I read these words, that they are a challenge to my own soul. For I'm living in a day when the truth of God is being marked, ridiculed, thrown overboard, or in some cases, compromise suggestions made that perhaps it just doesn't mean this after all. Oh dear fellow believers.
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There is a heritage and trusted to you and to me within the covers of this book.
To mean more to us than anything else that ever could be put in these natural hands of ours. You remember that in the days of Ezra.
When those men were about to return from the land of their captivity to the House of the Lord of Jerusalem, they put forth their hands, and there was placed in their hands treasures, gold and silver treasures. And they were reminded on that occasion that when they got to the end of the journey.
There would be an account found, written of everything that had been entrusted to them when that journey began.
And they were reminded that both by number.
And by weight, they would have to give an account.
When they arrived in the chambers of the House of the Lord in the city of Jerusalem.
Can you imagine how solemnly that opportunity, my heart?
Is it really true that God has kept a record of every heritage, every truth that has been entrusted to me from my childhood until this day? It has been kept. And I'm going to have to give an account by number and by weight. That's quite challenging, isn't it? By number? Well, I might be able to give an account of the truth of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I might be able to turn to half a dozen scriptures.
And outline from the Word of God the truth of the Lord's coming. I've got it by numbers, but do I have it by weight?
Is this an effectual, present, living hope that those who know me best would realize was an effectual daily hope within my soul? If on the Passover night you were to have seen a man with his loins girded, his shoes on his feet, and a staff in his hand, you'd say to yourself, without his speaking one word, that man is expecting to take a journey.
But I think there ought to be something about our testimony too. That would be tray to all the facts.
That we have, not only by number but by weight also that one glorious reality of truth. We're waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ at any moment. Am I exaggerating to say at any moment?
You know I'm not. Haven't you delighted recently, beloved, in opening this precious book and in seeing all around you the evidence of the near return of the Lord Jesus? Hasn't your soul literally thrilled and stirred within you? I never thought that I would live to see on the horizon of this world such a clear display of that which is going to materialize after we are called home.
We're going home, I say, very soon. One of the glorious, wondrous, precious truths entrusted to God's people. Earnestly contend for the faith. Why should I contend for it?
I have been guilty of contending because I know I'm right and I'm going to prove you're wrong. Have you ever done that? You know what happens, don't you? You get annoyed, you get upset, you get impatient because my contention has been based upon the fact that I'm right and you're wrong and I'm going to win this argument. No, beloved. To contend for the faith means that that which has been entrusted to us in this precious book.
Is so real, so precious, that we will not allow anyone to infringe on the very farthest borders of our spiritual inheritance. I think of that dear man Shama, to whom the challenge was presented, that he defend a field of lentils. No one else seemed to consider it worth defending. All the others fled and left him standing alone.
But he took his sword, and he defended that field of lentils against the host of the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a victory. Beloved, I stand with a heritage of truth and trusted, and a host of enemies around that would try to have us compromise or throw overboard this or that item of wondrous truth and trusted earnestly contend for.
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Oh, I know that you never for one moment would think of giving up the wonderful reality of salvation through the precious blood of Christ. That oh, how subtly the enemy works.
I was just visiting the other day with a couple of elderly sisters.
I think I'm entitled to call them elderly. One was 95 and the other was not far behind. There were two sisters in the flesh.
There were eight in that family. Everyone of them gathered to the Lord's name.
And do you know what that dear old sister told me when I was visiting? She never had told me this before, though I've known her for many years. She said, you know, Albert, years ago, when we were little, my father, who was gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, became so unhappy, so disturbed, so troubled about the conditions in the home assembly that he stayed away for three weeks, didn't go to any meeting for three weeks.
He was plowing in the fields, and he thought of that verse. This man hath done nothing amiss.
They never missed a meeting again.
Eight of a family, all gathered to the Lord's name. What a tragedy of that man had said, I'm not going back, I'm not going back. Conditions are still the same as they were when I walked out. But that first, beloved, this man hath done nothing amiss among the wonderful, blessed things entrusted to us. To us is the joy of knowing what it means to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't think for one moment that Satan is going to allow that to pass by without trying to molest you, to disturb you.
This man hath done nothing amiss. May God grant that by his faithfulness these footsteps of mine and those of yours be found.
In the place where the truth of God would direct us, gathered around the Person and under the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, valuing this precious book and all the wondrous truth that is in it.
You know there are some things that impress themselves upon you and continually return.
We as a family, some time ago we're visiting in Europe.
And we were given the opportunity.
To visit one of those Inquisition chambers.
The dungeon where those who love the Lord and valued his precious words.
Had been tried, had been tortured and had been imprisoned.
Now we had read many books on those dear suffering Saints that long ago.
And there was one story that stood out in our mind concerning a young lady named Mary.
Durant She was arrested when she was 18 years of age. She had just become engaged to be married.
And at 18 years of age, he was arrested and thrown into a dungeon because she loved the Lord and because she possessed a Bible.
And she was put in that dungeon and left there for 35 years.
We went in that dungeon.
And looked at those stone walls and pictured what kind of faith it must have taken to stay in that dungeon for 35 years rather than give up.
You know, as I was looking around the walls of that dungeon, I saw on one wall what looked like an oversized fireplace with an iron grating in front of it.
And I said to the guide who brought us in, he said, what is This is not a fireplace? And he said, no, that is where we place the heretics. And he said that word with great relish, That is where we place the heretics if they refuse to recant.
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And he said Marie Duran was in there for five years.
I said would you please put me in? I want to see what it feels like. And he did. He removed the iron grating and put me in.
I couldn't stand up. I couldn't sit down. The only posture possible was on my knees with my head bowed off. I raised my head. I struck the heavy stone above.
And there on the floor, Mary had scratched a French word which freely translated means.
Do not give up.
I'm not ashamed to admit that there were a few teardrops on the floor of that place before they removed the iron grating and let me out.
Beloved young friend, if you have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, do receive Him now. Do confess Him now. If you know Him as your Savior, remember that all that you see is someday going to fade from before your eyes and will be gone forever. The goals that you are seeking after will turn to Dustin, ashes in your hands.
Unless you give the Lord first place, He's worthy of it. And I promise you this, I can't stand here and promise it as one who has walked the path.
But I stand here and promise it on the authority of the Word of God, and in the failing measure in which it's meant anything to me. I tell you, come on, it's true.
And I tell you also that that which God has entrusted, and which you and I have heard ministered to us in these meetings, is that which we may yet have to contend for more prayerfully and more diligently than ever. If the Lord leaves us here. May God grant, my dear young brother, my dear young sister, that from this day onward you and I may remember and put into practice those words.
We walk.
Are you included in that? Am I really included in that? We walk by faith, not by sight.