Address—C. Hendricks
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Which fadeth away were not of the night, but children of day. The change that once bound us by Jesus, our riven, were strangers on earth. Our home is in heaven. Someone raised a tune, please.
The word of my patience that is waiting for the Lord. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. That expression, those that dwell upon the earth, is found over and over again in the Book of Revelation, the earth dwellers that speaks of those who are apostate Christians, and they don't go on with the Lord. We're talking a lot about apostasy in Hebrews.
This temptation, this trial that will come upon all the world, is to try them to dwell upon the earth, the earth dwellers, they preferred earth to heaven and the truly a true Philadelphia.
Is a heavenly man.
A spiritual man, a true Philadelphian.
Verse 11 Behold, I come quickly.
That's the promise.
Hold that fast. Which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Now that's that's a key verse. That's what I want to. I want to have you remember this, he says to us, to those who are.
Either in Philadelphia, if that's true of you, the state of your soul, or later to see it, he says Hold fast to to the Philadelphia, and hold fast what you have that no man take thy crown. What is the crown of the.
Philadelphia, we want to see a look at that.
And then quickly, verse 14, the Angel of the Church of the Laodicean's right. These things say at the Amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. And that's the way he presents himself to Laodicea. Laodicea means the people's rights. Philadelphia is brotherly love, and it makes everything of Christ. A Philadelphian makes everything of Christ and the Laodicean everything of self.
Laodicea means the people's rights.
And Philadelphia is concerned with the rights of Christ. He's the Amen, he's the faithful and true witness, and he's the beginning of the creation of God. That's the new creation. And not one of those was true of Laodicea. He doesn't have anything good to say about Laodicea, and he commends Philadelphia completely.
I know thy works. Thou art neither cold nor hot.
You can't get into a worse state than that.
Neither cold nor hot, I would thou work colder hat, he said. I'd rather you were totally against me, or totally for me, but not this wishy washy in between thing which is the latitudinarian spirit of Laodicea.
So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I'll spew the out of my mouth. It's disgusting to him. And he'll spit it out. He won't retain it. He'd disown it. When I read some of these things, I say, well, there's not a saved soul here, but there was. There was. There were some there that that were his. Because he says in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten you tell us therefore and repent. And then he says he's knocking at the door of Laodicea. That's not the door of the heart. It's it's the door of that church.
He's outside. He's not there inside in Philadelphia's right there. He's in the midst and they're gathered to his name as the one who's in the midst.
They value the word of God, value it of Philadelphia. Later, the scene doesn't value it at all.
You couldn't have a Laodicea after Sardis. Sardis was a partial recovery of the truth. That's the Protestant Reformation, the all sufficiency of the Bible and justification by faith apart from works. Wonderful truths that were recovered but not the whole truth. They resorted to earthly governments to protect them against the tyranny of Rome. But the Lord presents himself to Philadelphia as having the key of David. He's the one that opens and shuts and no one can shut when he is opened and so on. And the Philadelphia doesn't go to man.
To protect them against the enemy that goes to the Lord.
To the Lord. That's what characterizes Philadelphia.
And all these statements I'm making, to whom do you go when you have a problem? Do you go to the Lord? Do you go to men?
He says.
Notice what the Laodicean thinks of himself, because I'll say it's verse 17. I am rich and increased with goods.
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And have need of nothing. That's what Laodicean thinks of himself, and this is what the Lord thinks of them. And thou knowest not first thing he says about the lay of the scene. You don't know, You do not know your condition.
Thou knowest not.
That thou art wretched.
And miserable, and poor and blind and naked.
That was the condition that he saw.
What they solved themselves, They were self satisfied. They were filled with themselves. We're in a we're in a country that is gospel hardened. A country that has had the truth. Europe, England.
It's Laodicea everywhere you look in these countries.
Self satisfying. So on. I don't want to pause too much here. I want you to go back with me to number six. Number six?
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them.
When either man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow of vowel of the Nazareth.
To separate themselves unto the Lord.
Now the Lord Jesus is the true Nazarite this word Nazarite.
Notice it's Naz Arkansas and an it at the end comes from the root. Nazar NAZARI don't know how to pronounce the Hebrew word and it means consecration. It means separation.
Devotedness.
Consecration, separation sometimes, and I don't think we're going to have time sometimes, it's translated crown, the word crown.
What was the crown of the Nazarite? His separation to God.
Separation to God.
The word diadem or crown in connection with the priesthood when they were consecrated is that is that word. It's it's that same word that comes from Nazarite. And when they crowned a king, they put the crown on the King's head and that set him apart. That separated him from the rest. He was set apart by that crown. And that's that same word and it it means separation or consecration.
The Philadelphians were Nazarites.
And everyone of us that is born of God and called a Saint of God is a Nazarite.
We're going to look at 2 Nazarites in scripture. One was a very failing Nazarite, but he was a Nazarite. He was born that way.
Samson.
And the one that was that was true to his Nazarite ship.
Was the Apostle Paul.
We want to look at those two. They were both Nazarites, and every child of God who has received Christ as Savior is positionally A Nazarite. Paul writes to the called Saints. The Saints by calling? What does that word St. mean? It means a holy one.
The holy 1A Nazarite one who separated from Well, let's read on verse three. He shall separate himself three things from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried all the days of his separation. Shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husks.
Now that's the first thing he's not to partake of anything that comes from the vine.
Speaks of natural joy and so on. And I'm not even going to try to define what it speaks of, but to leave that with you.
And then the next thing.
Verse 5 All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall be no razor. There shall no razor come upon his head.
Until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy.
And shall let the locks of the hair of his head.
Grow. That's the second thing. The first thing is not to eat of anything coming from the fruit of the vine, strong drink or even grapes or even even greet juice, so on not to have anything coming from the vine. And then he was to let his hair grow. And the first verse says when either a man or a woman well over the woman lets her hair grow. That's what the New Testament said. That's her glory, that's her glory. And it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
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But what is how long hair speak of? It speaks of dependence, subjection, weakness.
Woman is the weaker vessel and when the man takes.
His mother for his brother or for his sister when they die because the consecration.
Of his God is upon his head all the days of his separation. He is holy unto the Lord. You see these three things in the Lord Jesus? They came to him, And they said, Thy mother and thy brother stand without, desiring to speak with thee. And he said, Who's my mother? Who are my brethren? But he that heareth the word of God, and doeth that.
He sets aside the natural for the spiritual.
And he denies to himself that which is naturally pleasing to him, fruit of the vine. And he even takes upon himself, if he's a man, that which is a shame for the man.
Weakness. Philadelphia, it says. It says there in Philadelphia that has a little strength. It's just a picture of weakness.
Wasn't some great ecclesiastical movement that you see all around us in system, just a few here and there, gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, weakness, but the delight of His heart.
Don't look at numbers.
What do you have? What do you have in the systems out there? So much entertainment. We were talking about that between meetings, gyms, basketball, courts.
I don't even know all that they have. And some of these things, entertainments, the fruit of the vine, something that appeals to the natural man.
That's right, he abstains from all that.
And he lets his hair grow.
Shame for a man. I remember a young man at a picnic after the Denver conference. He had long hair way down to his waist, and I sat next to him. I said I'd like to read you a scripture. Sure, he said.
And I read in the scripture in First Corinthians 11 it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
And he said, is that in the Bible? I said sure, look at it. And I gave it to him to read.
And he read it. The next time I saw him. He had short hair. I don't know if it was because of that little discussion, but he never knew that. He never had heard that from the word of God. Well, it speaks of subjection. And the blessed Lord when when he was in deity, he was in the form of God. It says in Hebrews 5, He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He became a Nazarite. He became subject.
In the spiritual sense, he had long hair. He was crucified in weakness and raised by the power of God.
Weakness. What could be more weak than a man crucified on a cross?
And more shameful.
He was a Nazarite. So was Samson. Not a true one, not a faithful one.
But we all If you're a Saint of God, you're in Ezra.
So when he writes to Philadelphia, he's writing to the Nazarites.
Are we true to our?
Position.
OK. That's all I want to touch on in numbers. Now turn to judges and.
Judges 13.
The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years.
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And there was a certain man of Zora, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoa. And his wife was barren, and bear not. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold, now thou art bare, and embarrass not, but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore, beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong, drink and eat not any unclean thing for loathe. So he's telling this woman that she's not to drink, strong, drink, or wine.
Thou shall conceive and bear a son, and a razor shall come on his head.
For he the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb. So he was born in Nazarite. And when you've been born again, you're born in Azurite. Whether you're true to it in your life is another question.
Child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel.
Out of the hand of the Philistines.
Then the Angel going down to verse seven, he said unto me, She says, Behold, I shall conceive.
And bear a son, And now drink no wine, or strong drink neither. Eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. When you get saved, you are different.
You're different.
Totally different.
You have a new life.
Sins are all forgiven. You have a new master, Lord Jesus Christ. When you own him, Lord, you're saying he is the one that's going to direct my entire life. He's Lord. He comes over the authority of father and mother and government and and and the teacher in school. He is Lord. He's top authority. The other authorities were to be subject to in their place.
But if it conflicts with his authority over your soul, he comes first.
You're changed. You're different. You're not the same.
When you come, when you get saved right out of the world like I did when I was 19, there was a tremendous change and I noticed it and everyone noticed it. But when you're raised in a in the meeting and you get saved.
I like when a person asks someone that's been raised in the meeting, when did you get saved? I think what they ought to say is, well, I always believed. I always believed Mommy and Daddy. That's what they told me and I believed it. I didn't question it.
And there's a group in Christendom that says if you can't point to the day and the hour when you got saved, you're not saved. That's nonsense.
What you want to be able to say to him, I know I'm saved right now. That's the important thing. I know I'm saved right now. Can't point to the time. I can say June 17th, 1947. That's when I know by my bed reached up and said, Lord Jesus, I accept thee as my savior. I remember that. But many of you don't have an experience like that and it doesn't matter. The point is, the important point is are you saved now? Then you are a Nazarite. You're a St. and that's the ones that Paul writes to.
The ones who are called Saints, Saints by divine calling.
And you can't change that. You belong to him. You're a Nazarite. Now let's go over to the 16th chapter of Judges.
Samson had one great weakness, and that was women.
That was his downfall.
Verse 4.
It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her and said unto her, Entice him and see wherein his great strength lieth. And by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and we will give thee, every one of us, 1100 pieces of silver. The Lords of the Philistines, they couldn't look at Samson and determine where his great strength came from.
You see pictures of my painters of Samson and he's bulging in his muscles and so on.
And you'd say, well, there's great strength come from his strong physique. No, you can come from that at all.
Where does strength come from? Of course it came from the Lord. But what was the secret of it? Something that is the weakest part of our body? Your hair.
Your hair. Unless you spray it with something that holds it stiff, it will just fall down.
Wind will blow it everywhere.
Weakest part of your body, The very last thing that anyone would think is the source of your strength.
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When I am weak, then am I strong?
That's a principle in Scripture that is so important for us to get a hold of when we're weak, when we're consciously weak in ourselves.
Are strong.
Most gladly, therefore, will thy glory, Paul says, after he had asked three times. Take away this, take away this thorn in the flesh, messenger of Satan, he says, most gladly will I glory in my infirmities.
That the power of Christ may rest upon me. What is the strength of Philadelphia?
Its separation.
As soon as we.
Give that up the path of separation in our individual lives, in our collective life.
We've lost our Nazarite ship character well.
To want to get ahead of myself.
Verse 6.
Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with 7 green widths that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
Then the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green widths, which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, And he broke the widths, as a thread of toe was broken when it toucheth the fire.
So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound? And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man delighted There Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
There were liars in wait abiding in the chamber, and he break them from off his arms like a threat.
Delilah said to Samson. Hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies.
Tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound? How could how could he be so stupid?
How could he?
Obvious, It was obvious what she was up to.
He said unto her. If thou weaveest the seven locks of my head with the web, now he's getting much closer to the source of his strength. It's in his hair now. He's getting real close.
And she fashioned it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou has mocked me these three times, and has not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death.
That he told her all his heart.
And said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head, For I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. And if I be shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once.
For he had showed me all his heart. Then the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand, and she made him sleep upon her knees.
And she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. Seven locks of his head.
He had the perfect testimony to his strength right up here.
And they shaved it off.
And she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.
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That the Lord was departed from him.
To the laodicean the Lord says, Thou knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
The Laodicean doesn't know his condition. Thou sayest thy rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not.
That's the condition that you see here with Samson.
The Philistines took him and put out his eyes. What does it say about Laodicea? They're blind.
Poor, blind and naked.
Brought him down to Giza, bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house, howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved. Then the Lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice. For they said our God hath delivered Samson our enemy, into our hands. And when the people saw him, they praised their God. They attributed this victory over Samson to their God, not to his unfaithfulness.
In telling the secret of his strength.
After all, what could be more foolish to the natural men to say the secret of your strengths and your hair in your hair? No one would ever have guessed that.
The secret of our strength, beloved, is in our dependence on the Lord and our separation from the world. That's the secret of our strength. Once we give that up, our hair is cut.
They offered a great sacrifice unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice. For they said, our God hath delivered Samson our enemy, into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their God. For they said our God hath delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
Came to pass when their hearts were merry that they said call for Samson that he may make us sport, and they called for Samson out of the prison house. He entertained them.
And he made them sport, and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand. Suffer me that I may feel the pillars, whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them I.
See him with his arms outstretched, with his arms around those pillars. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the Lords of the Philistines were there, and there were upon the roof about 3000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport.
Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord, God, Remember Me, I pray thee and strengthen me. I pray the only this once, O God.
That I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
Samson took hold. Is there recovery? Is there recovery for?
One like this, yes.
Yes, there is.
Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which it was borne up, and the one with his right hand, the other with his left. Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines, and he bowed himself with all his might. And the house fell upon the Lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which slew in his life.
Then his brethren in all the House of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zora and Estiel, in the sparing place of Manoa. His father, and he judged Israel 20 years.
Sad.
Said when? That which?
Was characterized as.
A Philadelphian movement.
Gives up its separation to the Lord.
And embraces the enemy.
To the enemy.
Secret of our strength is not in our muscles, not in our physique, not in our natural strength.
But when we're weak that way, we're strong consciousness that there's no strength in me.
It's all in him.
The Lord Jesus is the true Nazarite.
Two separated men.
They came to him and said, We know that thou cares not for any man. They were trying to trap him by flattering him, or by threatening him or whatever reason. They didn't know who they were up against.
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Jesus did not commit himself unto men, because he knew all men and he needed not needed not that any should testify of man. How often we we fail speak myself we fail in in going to human resources when the Lord has the answers.
All right. Now let's turn to the New Testament.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians 4.
1St Corinthians 4.
Here you have.
The Apostle Paul who was a true Nazarite.
He says, verse one, Let a man sow account of us, says of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of men's judgment or day. Yeah, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing by myself or against myself. Yet am I not hereby justified by he that judges me? Is the Lord, therefore judge nothing?
He that judges me is the Lord that he stood before the Lord, that he lived his life before the Lord for his approval. He wasn't moved by the opinions of men, whether they were in his favor or against him. That was the Lord himself. No one could change his course. No one could deviate him 'cause him to deviate from a path of obedience. And and Paul was probably.
Of justice, a normal man like you and me, the closest to it. As he said, imitate me, Follow me or imitate me as I follow Christ. Imitate Christ.
Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
And these things, brethren, I have transferred to myself, I've.
Left off in a figure I have transferred to myself and to a policy, he said in verse five of Chapter 3. Who is Paul? Who is Apollo's but ministers by whom ye have believed?
One saith I am of Paul, another I have a policy says, and he puts his name in there and Apollo's name in there.
They weren't the ones that were setting themselves up at Corinth to be somebody. They were false apostles, deceitful workers. But he puts his name in there.
To illustrate the principle. These things, brethren, I have transferred to myself into Apollos, for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it?
Now these next passages, these next verses, so important, I don't think I can expound upon them. Let the power of the word of God reach your soul and speak to your conscience and heart, he says to these Corinthians. Now ye are full.
Now ye are rich.
Sounds like Laodicea, doesn't it?
You have reigned as kings without us, you might say. It sounds like he's writing to.
The Saints in the United States of America.
Now you're full, Now you're rich, You have reigned as kings without us, and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
Now here's a great contrast. Now here comes a real Nazarite.
One that lived it.
For I think that God hath set forth us not just himself, but the other apostles. The apostles last, as it were appointed to death.
Where we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels and to men.
I'm speaking to an audience and I'm very much aware, and I'm just as included in this comment as any of you. Many of you don't understand what this means. It's not true of you.
Many Saints in other countries not true of us, not much.
Lee goes on to say what he went through. We are fools, for Christ's sake.
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You experience that. If you're faithful, you will.
But you are wise in Christ.
We are weak, Paul says. But ye are strong.
Your honorable, but we are despised.
Even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked. I don't know anything about that.
I don't think many of us do.
He went through this daily in his Nazarite ship.
And are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. I think we all have that.
And labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. He wouldn't take anything from the Corinthians. They were a rich assembly and they could have easily ministered to him and kept him well taken care of. But there were those there the same He's just out for your money. So he didn't take from that assembly, took from the Philippians. They were poor.
Took from them.
So he worked for his own fare.
We labor working with our own hands being reviled. We bless he didn't have a wife and children, so he had a little easier that way. But not easy. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat we are made as the filth of the world and are the off scarring of all things under this day. You know, beloved, many of our brethren in other lands know what that is. You know what that is. They're made as the filth of the world. They're despised.
I write not these things to shame you.
But as my beloved sons, I warn you.
Though ye have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers?
For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel.
Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
Do we follow him? Do we imitate him? Do I?
Very, very little.
Let's turn to the 2nd to the 6th chapter of the second Epistle.
6th chapter of the Two Epistle.
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you.
That she received not the grace of God in vain.
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold.
Now is the day of salvation giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in laborers, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love, unfeigned, by the Word of truth, by the power of God.
By the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, and behold, we live as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you. Our heart is enlarged, or it's not that it was narrowed and has to get larger. But he's telling it, telling that our heart is expanded towards you. You're not straightened in US, you're straightened in your own bowels. They had listened to these, these enemies there at Corinth, to Paul. They didn't like his message. They didn't like him, and they were. They were speaking against him.
And he says our affections towards you have not lessened.
But yours towards us have.
Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children, be also enlarged, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Here comes that separation.
That ought to characterize a true Nazarite testimony, a true Philadelphian testimony.
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them.
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And be ye separate. That's the Nazarite.
Saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
Remember, that was the third thing that the Nazarite was not to do. Touch death.
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you. Wasn't he their father already? Yes. But he said, I will be a father to you. I will play the Father's part to you when you're separate from these things that are displeasing to me.
I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Verse one of Chapter 7 belongs with this.
Having therefore these promises, he's promising to play the father's part towards us when we're separate from the world.
Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh.
And spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Tremendous passages, now the 11Th chapter, the 11Th chapter of Second Corinthians.
He had his enemies there, and I'll just begin with verse 22, he says. Are they Hebrews? Yes, so am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. He met with all kinds of opposition from his Jewish brethren, and there he's describing them.
Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ? Then? He has to say, I speak as a fool. There weren't they weren't ministers of Christ at all.
They were false apostles, he says. Going back to verse 13, he says Such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light. It is no great thing of his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works, when we stand for the Lord in separation from all that is of man.
All that is pleasing to man, the great juice and the fruit of the vine. Everything that man enjoys and loves.
If that's what we allow ourselves to get taken up with.
We violated our commitment to him when we got saved.
We became Nazarites, whether we're good ones.
Or bad ones.
Notice his list here, verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ? Are speakers of fool, though they weren't true ministers at all, I more abundantly in Labour's more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons, more frequent in deaths OFT.
Of the Jews five times received I-40 stripes save 1 Thrice. Was I beaten with rods once. Was I stoned thrice. I suffered shipwreck a night and a day. I have been in the deep in journeyings, often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
Now this man that's writing this.
Was educated at the feet of Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
Probably never had a callus on his hands. He was a man of the upper crust.
They said Rabbi, Rabbi, he wasn't a Galilean fisherman like the other apostles.
That were hard working fishermen with all kinds of evidences of their hard work. No, he was the upper crust and hardly ever had anything that was displeasing to the flesh. He's the one.
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That goes through these things.
Talk about being committed.
Dedicated, Separated.
We don't even come close. I don't even come close. Not even close. I don't think many of us do.
There are some in other lands that experience some of these things.
The Lord Jesus said not where to lay his head.
Be following him.
We sang we are not of the world which fadeth away.
Not of the world.
The Lord said, if the world hates you, he know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world hated you. The time cometh when he that killeth. You will think that he doeth God's service. That was Saul of Tarsus. That's his man. We're reading about Saul of Tarsus. He was doing that to the Christians. He hated them. He hated the name of Jesus.
Now he's the greatest apostle and the greatest sufferer. I don't think there's anyone.
It could even come close to what he went through Indiana. His sufferings, the Lord told Ananias in an Acts 9 is that I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
And he was a faithful man. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
Well.
Just about in.
What is meant?
What is meant? Read it again.
And if Revelation 3?
Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, and no man take thy crown. What is it the Philadelphian has he? Has the truth recovered that had been lost amidst the ecclesiastical rubble of Christendom? He has that you've been brought up in a company where that truth, we've had it before us in our two days previously in conference precious truths.
That you won't get anywhere else. Thank God we're still able to meet.
What's your crown?
But your crown turn back to Jeremiah 7.
Jeremiah 7.
What was Samson's crown?
His long hair.
That marked him out as being a Nazarite.
Had marked him out as being a Nazarite, A separated man, a consecrated man.
A St.
Now in Jeremiah 7.
I'll just read from.
Oh, I'll start at verse 25, since the day that your father's came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day.
I have even sent unto you all my servants, the prophets at Jehovah, speaking to Israel here.
Daily rising up early and sending them, yet they hearkened not unto me.
Nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck, they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee, but thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished Laodicean condition that we have here.
And is cut off from thy mouth. And those verse 29 he says, Cut off thine hair. O Jerusalem, you're no longer, you no longer can wear the symbol of being a Nazarite, A separated one. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, cast it away, take up a lamentation on high places, for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation.
Of his wrath, for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight.
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Saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name to pollute it, and so on and so on.
Cut off thy hair, he tells them. You're not, you're not Nazarite. You're not true to it.
Your hair.
Is your crime Cut it off.
And when we align ourselves with the world with the religious world, if.
Take up with their waves. Take up with.
The things they're doing.
That are not in the word of God.
We've lost our hair.
We've lost our separation.
That's Laodicea.
They only see a nauseous to Christ.
Which are you? I know if you're saved if you're a St. positionally.
But Samson was a pretty miserable Nazareth.
He lost his eyes. He lost his discernment.
He lost everything.
Because he gave up the secret.
To the enemy of his strength, which was separation, the long hair.
If we do that.
With all the truth we have.
We're no longer practically Nazarites.
Solemn, isn't it?
Oh, I have so much more, but this will have to do.
Do you have a Mr. Darby translation? Look up #6.
And I just copied this from it. Nazarite consecration. Separation from the Hebrew root, not Sir. And it's rendered crown. Consecration. Diadem. Those are the words. It's rendered in its rendered hair there in Jeremiah. Or it was his long hair, his weakness, his being ashamed for a man to have. That was his shame. And when we walked with the Lord, that's what they'll think of us. That's what they thought of Paul.
That's what they thought of him, the off scouring of all things unto this day.
And he's the man that used to say Rabbi, Rabbi.
They revered him. Now they despise him.
Do we do we in this land?
Experience that well, all that will have godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and if we're faithful to him, we'll experience some of it.
Some of it not like Paul did. None of us can come close to what he went through in his service for the Lord.
We're not of the world.
Which fadeth away.
I'll just close with a part of a poem. It's called The Young Christian.
And yet, outside the camp, tis there my savior died. It was the world that cast him forth and saw Him crucified. Can I take part with those who nailed him to a tree where His name is never praised? Is there the place for me? Nay, world, I turn away, though thou seem fair and good.
That friendly, outstretched hand of thine is stained with Jesus blood.
If in thy least device I stoop to take apart all unawares, thy influence steals God's presence from my heart, and Azurite with his head cut off, his hair cut off.
And.
Both eyes put out.
That's how Samson ended up.
Reset. Let's pray.
Our God and our Father.