Address—Jim Hyland
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I'd like to sing hymn #103 in the Little flock.
103 and if someone can please start it for us.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry 303 I. That's my mistake.
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They found through.
Our and I am.
Free the Lord's name, God.
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Good morning.
Classification in our life and yesterday where we left off, we spoke about it in connection with nourishment or food for the divine life and we noticed the number of different references such as your who have seen the words of God's mouth more than is necessary food. You know we had some wonderful food prepared by the ladies here this week.
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And uh, I find that, uh, when the siren goes and meals are announced, everybody's there to line up and partake, and we're very thankful for that. But Joel said there was something even more necessary than eating some good healthy food every day to keep body and soul together. And that was he needed to feed on the word of God. Jeremiah, we noticed that thy words were found, and I beneath them, and they were under me, the joy and rejoicing of my heart. But Thomas said, how sweet are my words unto my face.
Yeah, sweeter than honey.
And the honeycomb. Now we're not going to turn to it for the sake of time. But before we go on, I would just say this by saying for the sake of illustration. In the Old Testament, you find that when you read the 16th chapter of the book of Exodus and you can make a note of these references and look them up. Later when you read the 16th chapter, the book of Exodus, you find that the children of Israel were in the wilderness. The thought, young people, of a wilderness, in the word of God is it's a place where there's nothing to sustain life.
I have been 11 Times on the Sinai Peninsula, and when Scripture calls it a a wilderness, that is exactly what it is. There is nothing to sustain the natural man, and so God provided a number of things for them.
And one of those things he miraculously provided was the breath of heaven, which is referred to as manna. And they were to go out and gather that manna every day. It was a little court, like looked like little coriander seeds of manna. It fell on the dew. It represents to a Christ. And that's not an application. If you read John's Gospel, chapter 6, the Lord Jesus refers to the man in there in connection with eating up himself.
Eating on Christ.
When we eat something, we cut, we take it in, it becomes part of it, part of it. And that's why it's referred to in that way as to eating. And so the mana in the picture to us of the person of Christ is Christ in the circumstances of life as a man down here, I mean at your feet on Christ every day, you know those little coriander seeds of of manna, they were packed full of nutrition and vitamins and they also tasted good. You know, some of us take a handful of vitamins in the morning. They don't taste very good. You need some juice and water.
Some coffee to wash them down, but those little seeds of mana, they not only were tactical of all the nutrition and vitamins they need for their day and for 40 years of journeying in the wilderness, but we find that they tasted like wafers and honey that speaks again of the sweetness of the person of Christ. And so leave that capture and leave it in conjunction with John, Chapter 6, and you'll see much instruction and remember they were to feed on the man every day. It speaks of the.
Need for you and for me in a spiritual wilderness. We're not in a physical wilderness, but we're in a spiritual wilderness where there's nothing to sustain the new man, to sustain the divine life. And as we said yesterday, the divine life is a life that needs food. It's a dependent life. And so how are we going to grow and be healthy, happy, fruitful Christian? We have to be on Christ through God's Word, as we spoke of at some length. But now, this morning, I'd like to go on and speak of another aspect. Let's just recap for a moment.
We spoke of the word of God as through it showing us the way of salvation. We spoke of how it inspired we. No. We noticed that it is living. The only living book that there is in this world. It is endured, it's endured forever and it will endure for eternity. We're going to have an enjoyment of it for all eternity. We've just spoken of how it is nourishment or food for the new man, for the divine life. Now I want to speak of his power. Let's go to Ephesians Chapter 6.
Jesus chapter 6.
And I wanted to notice the last part of verse 17, the last half of Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17.
The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Now we already noticed yesterday from Hebrews chapter four that the word of God is living and operative or a better translation is living and powerful. There's a power to the word of God and here we find in Ephesians chapter 6. It's limited as part of the armor of God if you and I are going to meet the enemy and we have a powerful enemy.
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That enemy is safe in that it's host. And if we're going to meet the enemy and have some success in our spiritual life, in overcoming the enemy, part of it is to take up the word of God, the sword of the Spirit. Now you notice it's not our sword. You know, sometimes I hear people say it, having their Bible with them. Well, I have my sword with me, but this book is not my sword. It's the sword of the Spirit. It's always referred to that way.
Because it's when it's used in communion in conjunction with the Spirit of God, that it has its its power. Couple of examples we find with the Lord Jesus when he met Satan in the temptation in the wilderness. In Luke's Gospel chapter four, we find that in all Satan's temptation, the Lord Jesus quoted a verse of Scripture.
In our question and answer period last night, we noted several times how.
It is not profitable to argue the word of God. Yes, we need to be clear and concise and presented faithfully and so on. But you're you're not going to have any success just arguing things. It's to present the word of God in the power of the Spirit. And so when the enemy came to the Lord Jesus with a temptation, the Lord Jesus simply answered it is written and he quoted a verse of scripture each time it was from.
The Book of Deuteronomy. But the word of God has power. Let me give you a little story that really impressed this upon me. Many years ago we were having some gospel meetings in town in Nova Scotia, up in Canada, the Maritime. And one night there were two Mormons came into the Gospel Meeting and they had their Book of Mormon and their King James Bible under their arm. They sat on the front row and there was a young brother. It wasn't me, but there was a young brother who had the gospel that night.
And those two men were out for an argument as soon as the Gospel meeting was over. And they, as soon as the young brother stepped away from the podium, they zeroed on in on him. And the first thing they said to this young brother was, you know, the greatest man that was ever born into this world was Joseph Smith. And this product, this, this really struck me. This seems so unusual. He looked at these two men, and he said of those born among women there hath not risen to greater than John the Baptist. They closed their books and left.
If he had tried to argue with them, it wouldn't have had. They could have been there till midnight. But a verse of scripture, a strange verse, but I believe it within the power of the Spirit of God. Stop the their mouth and they left without further ado. And so it's the word of God that has real power when it's used in communion with the Spirit of God. Now a biblical illustration from the Old Testament. You remember when David went out to meet Goliath, a picture of our enemy Satan. What did he do? He first of all went down to the brook and he chose 5 smooth stones now.
A brook or a stream, or running water in Scripture is usually a figure of the Spirit of God. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And this he spake concerning the Spirit. That's the key contained. Water in a vessel is usually a picture of the word of God, like the water in the labor, the man bearing the picture of water. But running water is usually a picture of the Spirit of God. And David going down and taking five smooth stones and putting them in his shepherd's bag from the brook, I believe, is a picture to us of appropriating to ourselves the word of God and the power of the Spirit.
And so he had to take it for himself. He stored it in his bag, and when the right moment came, he reached into what he had appropriated to him for himself from the brook, and he used it to meet the enemy. I say again, it's a picture to us of taking the word of God in ourselves, making it our own, taking it with us. And at the right moment we can then, in the power of the Spirit, use a verse of Scripture, a quotation from the Bible.
To meet the enemy in all his power. We have a powerful enemy, but we have one who is more powerful. And we have also the sword of the spirit. So that's the power that there is in the word of God. And maybe I'll just say this before we pass on. That's why it's important, young people to store up your mind with the word of God. You know, when I was a young person, I used to hear the word of God read when I was a child. I heard stories from my parents at Sunday school, at meeting. You know, they didn't mean a lot to me at the time, but I heard those stories and the Spirit of God has been able to bring them back through my life and.
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All of a sudden I realized, oh, that's what that meant. Or I can use that this in this situation, the little Lord has brought a verse or an A, a, a scripture, a story back to my mind. But if you don't store up your mind with the word of God, if you don't do like David and take the stones from the brook, you won't have anything to meet the enemy. And and remember I, it's when you're young that you can memorize the word of God and take it in. You know the verses that I quote to you today, this weekend, I didn't learn last week.
My memory is starting to slip a bit, and I'm thankful that my parents drilled the word of God into me. I'm thankful that I listened in meeting, to some degree at least, and I heard the truth of God and the scriptures read in my ears from the time I can. I can remember. And so store up your mind with the word of God, and the Spirit can bring it back. You know the Spirit is the remembrance, Sir, but he can't bring to your remembrance something you haven't read or haven't listened to.
Now I want to speak of another aspect of the word of God, and that is light and direction for our Christian pathway. We're going to notice several scriptures. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 10.
Jeremiah, chapter 10.
And verse 23.
Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps and then go to the book of Ecclesiastes.
Right after Proverbs Ecclesiastes chapter 6.
And verse 12, Ecclesiastes 6. And verse 12. Just the first expression of the verse for who knoweth what is good for a man in this life? We're going to stop there for a moment. These scriptures 1 Penned by Jeremiah and the other by Solomon, perhaps the wisest man that ever lived apart from the Lord Jesus. These verses show us that you and I cannot decide.
What direction to go in our in our lives, who knows what's good for a man in this life? Solomon said, Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself but is not in man that walketh to direct his footsteps. And so realizing that it is not up to us to direct our pathway to figure out how to go in in our Christian life, then we might ask the question, well, how are we going to know? Well, I believe from the scriptures we're going to look at now.
We're going to see that there's only one way to have direction in our Christian life, and that's through the word of God. Let's go then, first of all to Psalm 37.
Psalm 37 and verse 23.
The steps of a Goodman are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand, and then notice 119th Psalm.
So I'm 119 and verse 105.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And then notice the 130th verse. The entrance of Thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. So here we find several scriptures, and there are many that show us that if you and I as believers are going to know the path that the Lord has for us, then we're going to have to read the word of God.
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And I want to encourage you young people to form the habit in your life while you're young, of orderly, consistent reading of the word of God. You know, I believe that that's the way the Lord really directs us in our pathway. It's not enough, when you're faced with some dilemma or crossroads in your life to put your Bible on its spine, on the table, let it fall open to a a passage, put your finger there and think that's how the Lord is going to direct you.
Now, I've heard stories about people who've done that and the Lord can certainly undertake for us in extreme situations and in our weakness and so on. But I believe that really the way the Lord directs us in our Christian pathway is when we orderly and consistently, on a daily basis read the word of God. And perhaps you've experienced this. I know some of us who are older have certainly experienced it time and again. You're just reading in your regular portion. Some question has arisen in your life, some decision you have to make, and all of a sudden a verse jumps out on the page.
Maybe it really doesn't mean, not in its strict context. Maybe it'll never mean that to you again. It may never mean that to anybody else. But it's the spirit of God using the word of God to direct you in your Christian pathway. And so it's not just feeding here and there in the word of God. It's not just random reading. I want to stress again, it's orderly, consistent reading of the of the word of God. And so if we're going to know God's mind in our lives, we must read His word. You know, I've talked to young people and.
Sad to say, some who are not so young, and they'll say to me, you know, I really want to know what the mind of the Lord is for me. Maybe it's in connection with schooling, maybe a job where they should live, any number of things. But you know, you talk to them for a while and you realize they're not reading God's Word. You'll never have light for your pathway unless you read God's words. Thy Word is a lamp under my feet and a light unto my path. There's two things there. First of all, it's a lamp unto my feet.
Because it shows us one step at a time.
If we don't keep moving in the Christian pathway by faith, and act on the light that he gives us for the day, we for each day, we're not going to have further light. It's like holding on to a flashlight or a Lantern. You have that and you shine it ahead and you're walking somewhere on a dark night and you say, well, this light only shines a few feet in front of me. Well, you know the answer. You hold on to that flashlight, you hold on to that Lantern, and as long as you keep moving.
It's a lamp onto your feet. It shows you each step of the way, but it's also a light under our path, because it's sufficient light for the whole journey. Again, just like that flashlight, it shows you one step at a time, just a few feet at a time. But if you hang on to it, keep it on, and keep it pointed ahead of you, it's going to be sufficient light for the whole, for your whole hike or journey or whatever you're doing. Same with the headlights of your car. They only shine a few feet ahead of you.
But as long as you keep your foot on the gas and keep moving in the proper direction, those headlights are going to guide you all the way from point A to point B. And so the word of God is light for our pathway. You know, the children of Israel were directed through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day it became a pillar of fire by night, and that cloud it directed them for the whole wilderness journey. In this connection, though, I'd like to read two further scriptures in the Psalms.
In the first of all in the 27th Psalm.
Psalm 27.
And verse 11.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Now keeping that in mind, I want to connect it with a verse in the 143rd Psalm.
So I'm 143.
And verse 10. The first expression of verse 10 teach me to do thy will. I want to stress two things in this connection, that is desire and obedience. Because again, we might be reading the word of God out of habit. And habits are good, you know. Don't be discouraged if reading the word of God is just a habit. We want it to be more than that, but it's a good habit, and we develop those habits and routines while we're young.
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You know, they it it that the older you get, believe me, it becomes harder to change and harder to develop habits and routines. What we developed in our youth is only going to become more pronounced when we get older. I know individuals who've got saved when they were older and they've been able to develop a reading habit and and so on in connection with spiritual things, but it's more difficult what what you develop in your youth is going to become.
More pronounced and become your rule of thumb as you get, as you get older. And so here we find first of all, David, it's a Psalm of David, the 27th Psalm. He says, teach me thy way, O Lord, that's the desire, and I trust that every one of us here have a desire to know the path that the Lord has for them. I really pray and trust that you today.
Have that desire that in your Christian life every day you're praying. Lord, show me your way. Show me what you have for me. Show me what you have in life. Give me direction as to schooling. Give me direction as to where I should live. Give me direction as to remembering you in the breaking of bread. Give me direction as to friends, as to a partner in life. The Lord wants that desire on your part and mine, But young people desires not enough.
You know, it says the sluggard desires and hath nothing. Let me illustrate it this way. When this meeting is over, we may have a desire to get up and to clear the room and get ready for the breaking of bread. But if we don't do something about it, we can sit here till tomorrow morning. It's going to take more than desire to get up out of these seats when meeting is over and get ready for the next meeting. No, we're going. It's going to take purpose. And so David expresses a nice desire here. And that's the beginning.
But I say again, desire is not enough. I'm thankful when I hear about a young person.
That has a nice desire, but you know, it really takes what Daniel had in his day. It takes purpose of heart because purpose of heart is a desire that's motivated by an object. And so David or Daniel had more than than just a desire. He had that real purpose in his life. That's why Barnabas, in the book of Acts, he exhorted the early Christians that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto unto the Lord. And so it takes that real purpose. And what I've appreciated is in the 143rd Psalm.
David says something else here. He doesn't just say teach me thy way or teach me thy will.
And again, it's the Psalm of David. This is David writing this by inspiration, he says Teach me to do.
Thy will and I trust that everyone of us really have that motivation, and more than just desire to know by the the motivation to do it. I say that because I think sometimes, at least in my own life, I better only point at my own heart. But in my life there have been times when I wanted to know the Lord's mind, and he wants to show us in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. If any man desire to do his will, he shall know.
And there have been times when I really desired, wanted to know the Lord's will and then he's shown it to me and I've held back and said, whoa, wait a minute now, Lord, I I wouldn't mind if it was something a little different, not that big a step, Lord or not in that direction, Lord. And I haven't had really the purpose to take the step and to follow his will. It takes more than just knowing his mind. Let me give you an example.
You know, I believe there's many young people, perhaps some here, who know that it's the Lord's will for them to remember Him in the breaking of bread. You know, you don't have to wonder if it's the Lord's will for you to break bread because he says as often as you eat and drink, that's something physical. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you just show the Lord's death till He comes. You don't have to wonder whether it's His desire for you to break bread. We need to be exercised that we would be where the Lord is in the midst, and that we would partake of the Lord's Supper at the Lord's Table.
But you don't have to wonder if it's his will for you to break bread.
But are you doing it? Are you saying teach me to do thy will? Or are you gonna let the cup and the loaf pass by? And when you get to heaven, what excuse are you gonna give the Lord that you didn't remember him, He's gonna say. But you knew. You heard it from your parents. You heard it at the meeting. She went to camp and you were exhorted and the scriptures were brought out. What was your excuse? You won't have any. And so it's more than just knowing his will. It's more than just the desire it is.
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The obedience are you going to obey? Teach me to do thy will. And I believe David above all else wanted to carry out the Lord's will in his life. There were failures in David's life. It's true there was sin in David's life. It's true. But he said he restores my soul. And David because he had a desire and the motivation to obey the word of God. He was a man after God's own heart. You want to be a man or a woman after God's own heart. Seek to not only know the will of God.
But seek to carry it out in your life. So the word of God is light and instruction for our pathways. You want to know the will of God in your life. You want to know the mind of the Lord? You must read God's word. Read it every day. Now I want to speak of something else. And that's comfort, comfort or encouragement. Sometimes the word comfort in our English Bible is sometimes the word encouragement I should say in our English Bible.
Is translated comfort, but they're very similar and I want to look at how the word of God is comforter. Encouragement to us. Go to a very familiar verse in Romans chapter 15.
Romans chapter 15 and verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort or encouragement, Mr. Darby, translates it of the Scriptures might have hope. You know, I don't doubt that there's some young people here this morning who really need comfort and encouragement. You know, the great work of the enemy, Satan is to discourage the people of God, discourages the opposite of encourage.
And the I I really wonder how many of us here are perhaps a little discouraged or a little sad. We're we're we're down. Something's happened in our lives. We've lost something or someone in our lives. Maybe another young person has really hurt us. Maybe a young person that you were once in fellowship with at the Lord's Table. And you said, I never thought they they leave the Lord's table. I never thought they'd go into this. Or they go into that and maybe you're discouraged.
Go to the word of God. You know, I often, in taking a funeral, say to the family, you know, there are days gonna follow this funeral where you're gonna need comfort and encouragement. Where are you gonna find it? You're gonna find it in the word of God. And so in the Apostle Paul is encouraging the Romans here to take up the word of God, to read it and define their comfort and encouragement in it. Because in the word of God, you're going to find that there is comfort and encouragement.
In connection with the Trinity, being interested in your welfare and mind, I'd like to just look at 3 portions of scripture that bring this out. So we're going to see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are interested, profoundly interested in our comfort and encouragement. And it's going to be through the word of God. Let's go first of all to 2nd Corinthians. We'll just look at these very, very quickly. Second Corinthians.
Chapter One.
And verse three, blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. You know, God our Father is referred to in different ways in scripture. Sometimes he's referred to as the Father of light and and so on number of ways. But here he's the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. When we need mercy and comfort in our lives, we can go to the word of God and from God the Father Himself.
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We can have that comfort and encouragement that we need. Now let's look at 2nd Thessalonians.
Chapter 2.
And verse 16. Second Thessalonians, chapter 2 and verse 16.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and Good Hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Now here in this verse, it's not just from God the Father, but it's also from the Lord Jesus Christ. I I wonder how often we just sit quietly in the presence of God our Father.
The presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and let him comfort us, to just feel his arms of love about us and to have our Bibles and to just open to a portion. A Psalm perhaps. You know, there's nothing will comfort our hearts like the psalms in so many portions of the word of God. And just let those divine persons, the Father and the Son comfort us. Now notice John Chapter 14.
John, Chapter 14.
And verse 26.
Well, let's actually, let's uh read verse 16, John 14, verse 16, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he he may abide with you forever.
Here we find the Spirit of God is referred to as the Comforter. The Spirit of God is referred to in various ways. He's the Spirit of truth and so on. But here in this portion, He's the Comforter. Why? Because that's what the disciples needed at the time. They were troubled and afraid and concerned as they thought of the Lord Jesus leaving them. And He had been their Comforter, you know, Remember when John the Baptist was beheaded, the disciples were burdened and concerned about it, and they came to the Lord.
They told them all about it. He drew them into the desert place to rest a while. He was their comfort, but they were troubled as they thought of the one who comforted, comforted, and provided for them being taken away, going back to heaven, he said, I'll send you another Comforter. I'm not going to leave you comfortless, not going to leave you without encouragement. You're going to have the Spirit of God both with you and in you. So the Spirit of God dwells in US, and the Spirit of God is with us. And so the Trinity takes up the comfort and encouragement of you and end of me. And again, we need the Word of God if we're going to have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit brought before us in this regard.
Again, it's through the reading UH, of God's word. Now let's speak of it's cleansing effect. The Word of God has a cleansing effect. I mentioned earlier that water is sometimes used as a figure of the word of God, and so that's the aspect I want to speak up Now let's go first of all, then in that connection to Psalm 119.
MMM.
Maybe I'll just mention before I read a portion here, this 119th Psalm is a very remarkable Psalm. It's the longest chapter in the Bible and these Psalms were not divided into chapters by the translators. Like the rest of our Bible, these Psalms were written as individual psalms. So the only, if I can put it this way, they're the only chapter divisions in the Word of God that are inspired the other chapter divisions and the verse divisions.
They are helpful and God allowed the translators to put them in. But these were written as individual psalms. That's why the Lord would say, quote from a Psalm and gift like from the 2nd Psalm or whatever. Because they were written like we would write poetry or hymns. They were written as individual units. So that's just a little aside. But what's interesting about this Psalm is that in every verse now the first divisions are inspired. It's it's the psalms themselves. But in every verse almost I counted one time. There's a couple but.
In every verse there's some reference to the word of God, either called by statutes or thy commandments, Thy precepts, thy word, some reference to God's word. You'll notice the headings of the Psalm, the little headings throughout the Psalm. They're the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And I like to think of it this way. It's just as if the psalmist said we need instruction and where are we going to get this struction? As we would say we have it all here from, as you say in America from A-Z or as we say in Canada, from A to Z. In other words, where are we gonna get it all?
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It's God's word. We must have God's word if we're gonna have instruction and light for our pathway. Well, I wanna notice in this Psalm then the ninth verse.
Psalm 119, verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed? Thereto, according to thy word with my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hidden mine heart that I might not.
Sin against thee and then just notice further down in the Psalm the 101St verse.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. Now we won't turn to it, but in the book of Ephesians we find it speaks there of the washing of water by the word. What it is. It's a cleansing effect that the Word of God has, in a moral sense on our lives when we read it from day-to-day.
You remember when the priests in the Old Testament performed the service of the Tabernacle, they had to come again and again to what was called the labor which contained water. And in that labor they had to wash their hands and their feet, because they became defiled with their service and with the sand of the desert, as they were there from day-to-day.
And so, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word, there was an older brother at home. He's long with the Lord now, but he used to tell us in his working days that when he came home from the office at in the evening, he needed a good wash. And he wasn't talking about soap and water. He was talking about the washing of water. By the Word he felt he had picked up some of the defilements of the world.
He perhaps heard things said by his fellow office workers who were not believers. He saw things that corrupted and defiled him, and he felt like he needed cleansing when he got home in the in the evening, he needed the washing of water by the word. That's like coming to the labor in the old in the Old Testament has nothing to do with washing our sins away as far as as our our acceptance before God and to get into heaven. That's been taken care of once and for all.
In the blood of Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses from all sin. But this is a moral cleansing that you and I need, so it's taking heed thereto, according to thy word, just as a little parenthesis, the Psalmist says with my whole heart. Let me let me reread it here again, here again, he says.
Verse 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee. You know, what God really wants from you and from me is wholeheartedness. I went through one time and counted how many times we have the little expression my with my whole heart. Or something ex, uh, similar. It's quite a few times.
God doesn't want half heartedness in our Christian life. He wants our whole heart. My son, give me not half your heart, but give me thine heart. Well, that's a little apart. But then he says thy word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? Later on, he says I've refrained my feet from every evil way. Why? Because he takes heed to the word of God. It's the word of God with its cleansing effect that is going to keep us.
In the path of faith, it's going to keep us within practical holiness.
So David said he restoreth my soul. Maybe we failed, maybe someone here. And you say I haven't been following the Lord and I've got into things that are defiling.
But David said he restores my soul. But he doesn't stop there. He said he leads me in the paths of righteousness. That's why it says in first John if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's a a a washing that takes place that keeps us now from going any further in that direction and puts us back in the right direction, the way of practical righteousness.
And practical holiness, you know, if you have a basket and you pour water into that basket, the basket's not gonna hold the water, but you know the water will keep the basket clean. You wanna be kept pure in your Christian life. It's the cleansing of the word of God. I was standing in line some years ago at a for to go in for a meal at a conference and a brother said, you know, I've got a memory like a sieve. And someone else said that's why you need to keep the water running through it.
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It won't. The sieve won't hold water, but it will keep the sieve clean. But there is one way to keep a basket and a sieve full of water, and that's to immerse it in the well. That's to immerse it in a in a bucket of water. And you and I, we immerse ourselves in the word of God. It's going to keep us, keep us pure. And so he wants that practical purity in our Christian life. Now again, we won't turn to it for the sake of time, but if you just reference the first few verses of John's Gospel, chapter 13.
The Lord Jesus there spoke of the truth of feet washing. He said to the disciples that they needed to have their feet washed. And he wasn't talking about literal feet washing. Now he gave a literal illustration. He put water in a basin, he gird himself with a towel, he got down and he washed the disciples feet. It was a literal illustration. But he also said to them what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
That indicates, I believe, that there was a spiritual application to what he was doing that they wouldn't understand until the Spirit of God came. If if it was just literal feet washing he was teaching them to do, he wouldn't have had to say that because they saw and understood what he was doing in a literal sense. And so that verse indicates that it was a there's a spiritual sense to feet washing. Two things in connection with that, first of all.
He washed their feet. How does the Lord wash and refresh our feet for our path of faith and service? That's when our feet speak of in scripture, it's the washing of water by the word. It's the cleansing effect. It's for the refreshment that we need. And so we let him wash our feet. And then he said to the disciples something very instructive. He said wash one another's feet. Now I know there are groups of Christians who literally wash one another's feet and they have feet washing services, and so I'm not out to criticize that.
But again I say he wasn't teaching literal feet washing. What he was teaching is let me refresh you. Let the word of God refresh you and then you can refresh your fellow Christian. You know I cannot encourage you or refresh your soul unless I've been refreshed myself. The order there is very important. It was he first washing their feet and then they washing one another's. Why is it so often we get together?
And we may have a nice time. We may have activity in young people. We have. I have nothing against activity. I'm thankful to see you all out playing the games and playing ping pong and having activity that's wonderful. But that's not fellowship. You know, we confuse activity and fellowship. Activity is good, but true fellowship is our enjoyment of Christ one with another. It's common thoughts concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe we get together and we spend an evening or we spend the day.
And we have some nice activity. Great. And we come away and we say, you know, we didn't really enjoy Christ together. We didn't share much of Christ. There wasn't a lot to refresh us spiritually. Why? We can work. We only are collectively what we are individually. We're no more collectively than what we are individually. If I don't enjoy Christ in my soul, if I don't allow the word of God to refresh my spirit, then I'm not going to be able to refresh my my fellow Christian, I can only share with you.
What I have enjoyed of Christ in my in my own soul. And don't we need that young people? You know, there's enough today to discourage. We can get together and talk about all the problems amongst the people of God and difficulties in our local assembly. And there are plenty of them. There isn't a a family, an individual, an assembly who isn't going through some real problem and difficulty. And the enemy is working extremely hard in these last days and perilous times. But let's not focus on that. Let's not be indifferent to it. We don't want to be indifferent to those things.
We want to learn by them, be exercised by them, correct them if if needs be, and so on. But let's not focus on those things when we're together. Let's have have our own feet washed. Let's let the word of God cleanse us so that we can refresh and cleanse, uh, one another. And if you see a fellow young person going on with something that's not right in their life that you realize is going to lead to some detriment in their Christian pathway to a wrong direction.
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Down the road, go to that young person in love. Speak to them. Bring the word of God before them. And again it's the word of God that refreshes. It's the word of God that has the cleansing effect on our lives. It's not a scolding, you know there's a way to admonish the Saints of God without scolding them. And you know when the Lord Jesus washed the disciples feet, I suggest that the water was just the right temperature.
You know, we can scold one another, or we can freeze one another. And so we want to make sure that the word of God is applied, uh, in in the proper way. And so the word of God has a cleansing effect on our life. Now, this afternoon, after lunch, we're going to go on with this subject, but this is probably a good stopping place. Uh, this morning again, the word of God is a necessary, vital part of our Christian life.
You're not going to get through life as a believer and bear fruit for God's glory and have joy in your life if you neglect your Bible. When I was growing up, we used to sing that hymn O cling to the Bible, my boy, O Cling to the Bible My Girl. I trust every one of us are encouraged to read and to claim to the word of God. It's really our greatest treasure apart from Christ himself.