Address—Bill Brockmeier
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Let's open with #294 two 9/4.
All Lord and large are scansy thought to know the wonders thou hast wrought, Unloose our stammering tongues to tell thy love immense, unsearchable.
Oh, come thou stricken.
Around the world.
Listen for us.
Vinyl of life.
And Jesus.
All thy love.
Then pain in life.
Were Sweden.
Take.
Low our hearts and let them be.
Forever.
Very close to all of thee, thy willing.
Servants, let us work the seal of love.
Forever.
There.
Our blessed are they.
A sin of mine.
Who sheltered by?
Thy watchful side.
Life and strength from thee racer haven with.
They move and in.
They live.
Our Lord and Lords are scanned, he thought.
To know the one.
Nurse the astronaut Unloose.
Our stammering tones.
The My Love.
Amen, son, Sir.
Able first born of.
Many.
Brethren.
Ball to whom both heaven and earth must bound.
Heirs of thy shame and.
Of my.
Throne Reaper.
Like cross and seek.
My crown.
Let's pray. God and our Father, we thank you this afternoon.
Turn first, if you are pleased, to Psalm 119.
Verse 161.
Princess have persecuted me without a cause, But my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice at thy word. Is one that findeth great spoil. I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love.
Don't know exactly how to express it, but my desire is this afternoon, but it would be that I could pass on some things that would, uh, have been a help to me. I trust it be a help to you, uh, some specific scriptures and then some larger themes that would cause this. I trust to gain an appreciation or a further appreciation for the word of God, the scriptures, and I trust to, to make a few comments that might help us.
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And our understanding of this blessed book.
When, uh, we were first married, we have an assembly at that time was in the Winchester assembly and we met in a refurbished garage and there was, it was like a retirement home for some of the older ones. And there was a aged brother lived right against the, uh, the, the, the garage or the meeting hall like justice of old, whose house joined heart of the synagogue. The brother could open the door and walk right into the meeting room.
However, what struck me is when you went in the front door of that brother's house.
There was a text that immediately faced you. I've never seen it before or since. And this text was the last half of this 161St verse. My heart standeth in awe of thy word and knowing that brother, it was a reality with him. He loved the scriptures, He valued the scriptures, He respected the scriptures. SO3 brief points in these verses. That is good for young and old. It's interesting here how the.
It really gives us insight even to the path of the Lord Jesus here who loved the Word of God. Thy laws within. My heart looks on to a coming day when the the the New Covenant will be written on the hearts of the Jewish people, the Jewish remnant. And again this gives us a language. Part of it is love for the Word of God. Well heres his Princess that persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth of them. No, my heart standeth in awe of Thy word.
Since said by using the same word we don't all mean the same thing, which is true, but also we find that occasionally a word is used.
To describe something but it really overstates it. For instance, I might say.
I had a piece of cheesecake that was simply awesome.
But it really wasn't. It was delectable. It was mouth watering perhaps, but it wasn't awesome. Standing in awe would be the suggestion, the presence of hear the scriptures of our God to be overwhelmed with a sense of His Majesty, his greatness and his glory. This is what's standing in awe is to come before the word of God. This is.
It is the word of God living in powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. And so I just bring this verse out at the beginning that there is holy reverence for this book. There is no book like this. This is the word of God. Just recently again, I picked up on Miller's church history. That's pretty cumbersome. It's it's it's, it's thick and good. But I there's a little church history book by Price GHS price. I think it is. But anyway, I read it because it gives you a quick snapshot of church history and very few pages.
I encourage you to read it, it gives you a quick overview. But what I was impressed with it again is these men like William Tyndale that sacrificed and gave their life in order that we might have copies of the Scripture in our own language. What it treasured is to have the word of God, men and women that have laid down their life and sacrificed their life really as martyrs, that we can read casually the PLA, the blessed precious word of God. Well, the first thing the psalmist was this.
His heart stood in awe of the word that the word of God that would have a commanding influence in our life that says in Isaiah 66 to this man will I look even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word. This is no common book. This is the word of the living God, so we need to stand in awe of it. But more than that verse 162 I rejoice at thy word as one that.
This great spoil. Isn't it a wonderful thing to be in the presence of somebody who is enthused in reading the scriptures? This is no dry, tedious book. This is filled with riches. This is a delight. You may have heard the anecdote I was told of by a friend of mine when I was younger. Thought a younger brother went to an older brother and said this book is dry. He says. Then try wetting it with a few beads of sweat.
You know, we understand that it requires labor, and of course I've heard a variation of that as well.
Which is perhaps more to the point. Try wetting it with a few tiers.
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There's brothers that have given their life, as we say, to have a copy of the word of God, but it's not dry and tedious. If I'm out of communion, it is. But if I'm walking with the Lord, a psalmist says, I rejoice as thy word of one that findeth great spoil. Go back to, uh, verse. See if I can find it here. Yeah, 72 of the same song.
The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
I don't have it here in uh, because I have a parallel Bible, but in the King James, I think you noticed on the introduction to it 1611 how they spoke of this book as an inestimable treasure. And so it is the word of God. It says here the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Just a couple points here. Why doesn't it just say thy law is better than thousands of gold and silver?
But it's better unto me.
It's true it's better than gold and silver, thousands of gold and silver, but what is it to you? What is it to me? The Psalm says it's better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. But then he also says the law of thy mouth finally say thy law is better than gold and silver. It's the law of thy mouth. Made me think of this this morning. It's the voice you know in in the chapter we read this morning in the 20th, John wasn't commented on. Perhaps you noticed it that Mary came and spoke.
The Lord that he had spoken these things unto her.
There's things we pick up, there's things that we learn in our Christian pathway and we value them, but haven't there been times when you have something because you have the sense the Lord has spoken these things unto you? Like the woman in John four there she went and told the men of the city and Samaria there come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. And what did they say to her later on in that chapter?
They said now we believe not because of thy saying.
But we have hurt Him ourself, we've hurt Him ourselves, and that's the great thing. The law of Thy mouth is what I've heard directly from Him, what I've received directly from Him. Well, rejoicing at His Word. And now verse 163, I hate an import line, but thy law do I love, Love for the Scriptures, respect for the Scriptures, joy in the Scriptures, love for the Scriptures. You know three things that mark the Saints of God. They love Christ, they love His people, and they love His Word.
If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
Love for Christ, a markable believer, and then love for the love for the people of God. Hereby know we pass from death into the life because we love the brethren and here we have love for the Word of God. Well, those three things we should all have in order that that we are going to value and benefit from the Word of God. But I want to move on to Matthew Chapter 9 for a few further thoughts.
Matthew, Chapter 9.
And verse 11.
And when the disciples saw it, that is, the Lord eating republican sinners, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that behold need not a position, but they that are sick.
But go ye, and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
We'll just stop there. The point I want to bring out here?
Is the, uh, the men criticized? He's been criticized. The Lord. And who did they go to? The Lord? No, they went to his disciples. Why is he doing this? But what does the Lord say? Go and learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. He told them to go learn what a specific scripture meant, not just to know the scripture, but to know what it meant.
Now turn over to Chapter 12.
Verse one.
At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn, and his disciples were in Hungary, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. So when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, I disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did when he wasn't hungered, and they there with him, how he entered into the House of God, and eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law how that on the.
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They, the priests in the temple, profane the Sabbath, and are blameless. But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if he had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. He would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
So the very thing the Lord told them to go and learn, they didn't go and learn. And he says if you would have learned, specifically, if you would have gone and learned what I told you to learn, you would have not have condemned the guiltless, whether it was the disciples doing nothing wrong or ultimately when they would condemn the guiltless 1. Sinless 1.
They condemned the guiltless, But why? It's because they didn't go and learn what the Scripture meant.
We wanna know what the scripture means, but first we have to read the scriptures. Now That passage is in the 6th chapter of Hosea.
It's not a perhaps a real, real well known passage, but we find something else I find very interesting here with what the Lord says to the Pharisees. Now, we noticed before that when the the Pharisees were criticizing the Lord, who did they go to? They went to his disciples. Conversely, when they're finding followed the disciples, they go to the Lord. They don't go to the master when they have an issue with him. They don't go as disciples and they have an issue with them. It just seems like there's that.
That insidious effort to undermine and to bring in dissension and discord, but the Lord was aware of of their operating procedure, but what he does here in reference to what they're doing eating corn on the Sabbath day. He says twice over. Have you not read?
Haven't you read what David did? Uh, when he ate the, when he ate the showbread, it's only for the priests. And then he goes on to say about the, the umm.
The priest that profaned the Sabbath.
Numbers 28, they have scripture for it. Now a couple of points on this. The one is these are what we might think of as relatively obscure passages tucked away in First Samuel, tucked away in numbers, the end of numbers, tucked away in the profits. But the Lord says, have you not read?
And Mark is even stronger. Have you never read?
It's almost as if the Lord would expect that we're familiar and comfortable with these passages.
I worked with a Christian woman for a number of years. She was effectively a single mother raising three daughters. And uh, she had, she'd been saved, uh, later in life, but she wanted to raise her, her girls for the Lord. And she did. Umm, she wanted to get good exposition teaching, really teach, get teaching. At any rate, she seemed to have a desire for the word of God. And one day an issue came up at work where.
Uh, there was an issue between her and and the the boss and.
Spoke about having the right attitude and so I just referenced in passing the story, which I suppose most of us are familiar in the story in this room are familiar with the story about, uh, Naaman's little mate and said to her, her, uh, name is wife all that what the God that Naaman was with the prophet in Israel for he would heal him of his leprosy. My only point in bringing that portion before her was what a beautiful attitude she had towards her boss.
Arguably, your parents may have been slain by the man in his armies if you looked at maybe kind of a blank look. And I said, you don't know that story, do you? She says, no, I don't.
I felt very bad. She wasn't raised in the Christian home. She wasn't raised in the store. What a wonderful work it is for those who teach the children of God these stories that we speak of them. Just when we mentioned that everybody knows what we're talking about. But now the challenge for us is to hear the Lord refers to three other passages that are perhaps not as well known. And yet I take it from this verse. His expectation is that we would have read it and even here we would have read it.
And gone and learned what it meant.
One more passage in Luke Chapter 9 and then I'll get on to some other things. So the importance of knowing the Word of God, reading the Word of God.
And then the importance of applying the Word of God as we've learned it.
We read in First Thessalonians chapter 2 how Paul thank God for the Thessalonians believers because.
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What they receive the word from him. They received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. And then he says, which effectually worketh in you that belief. He thanked God. First of all, they received the word, but not Paul's word. They received this. What it is, it's the word of God, and that's how they received it. But more than that, it says it effectually works in you that believe. That is when the word of God is read.
The effect is it's going to work in us, it's going to change us, it's going to and we need to have application in our life and that rejoiced the heart of the apostle. But Luke Chapter 9 for one other point here 52 verse 52.
Our umm Verse 51, I should say. And it came to pass. When the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him.
And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go out to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and Josh saw this, they said, Lord we all, thou, that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did. But he turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit you're of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
Well, here's another point for us, the disciples.
Knew the word of God. They knew the story about Elijah calling fire down from heaven. The captain in this 53 times over.
They knew the story and something else in addition to knowing the story. They applied it. They were ready to apply it. Well, Elijah, he brought down fire from heaven. And is that what you want us to do? Lord, too? So you can't fault him for not wanting to apply the scripture. But they didn't apply it correctly, did they? And what did they do? They compared the Lord to Elijah, not Elijah the prophet of grace.
And the Lord just said, you know not what manner of spirit you're of. And so it is not enough to not only know the Word of God and to apply the Word of God, but we need to apply the Word of God intelligently. The disciples were not In Sync. They were not in harmony with the Lord's mind, the prophet.
That, that umm, you know, it was a profit, but he was that man of grace of like the prophet of grace, Elijah. And so how important it is that we apply the word of God intelligently. Sometimes the expressions made well, we need to connect the dots. Yes, we need to connect the dots, but we need to correct connect the correct dots. One doesn't go to six or to 10. It goes to 2 and so on. There needs to be a proper order.
Well, we had it. We're familiar with the verse. I'm not gonna quote it.
In the second Timothy chapter 2, to study thy shell self, to be approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
Rightly dividing the word of truth. And so the rest of the meeting, I would just like to make a few comments that I trust will be a help to us and, and rightly dividing the word of truth. And, uh, kind of sense the comments are directed to those who are younger that haven't perhaps had the opportunity to hear these things before. And, uh, I always hesitate to be telling my dear brother things they already know, but, umm.
I I do wanna pass on a few things.
I'd also like to say something else is by way of encouragement. Maybe it doesn't apply up here at all, but uh, sometimes we emphasize and stress the importance of younger ones, younger brother, and to get a hold of the word of God because if you don't get it when you're young, you won't have it when you're old.
And that's fine as long as we're addressing young people. But it has been to my great encouragement in our days of weakness. I can think of two assemblies +5. Right where we live is there are now older brothers, leading brothers and their youth, they did not contribute either in priesthood or in the readings. And as they got older.
The responsibility became.
Of of caring for the Saints of God and teaching the Saints of God became very real to them and brethren well under their 60s and past. 70 getting into the Word of God and getting into the ministry with obvious growth, obvious progress in understanding the scriptures and teaching it with profit.
My brother said to me one time. He said well.
You know, I think it's the government of God. Why? I'm just not getting on the word. I really didn't, you know, live for the Lord. And my youth is just, you know, earthly minded and all that. Now that I'm older, it's the government of God that hinders me from enjoying the word of God like you and some of your brothers.
You know that wasn't an issue at all. The issue is not past behavior. The issue was present behavior.
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If we get into this book with earnestness, God will by the Spirit open to us. We may be sorry and sad we didn't use our youth better than we did, but I believe it's the work of the enemy to shut down older brothers from enjoying the scriptures. Like you wasted your your youth. You blew it. You're not kidding anybody. No, that the Spirit of God would open the word of God to us as we get older. So I just mentioned that as an encouragement. I can say I can think of two brothers specific. I thank God for them.
They have been such a help to me and there is a humility, uh, with one that's just remarkable. Well, we need to know the word of God. We need to apply the word of God and we need to apply the word of God intelligently. So we said about cutting the word in a straight line and the Darby are rightly divine, the word of truth.
Wanted to see a few words about the differences between Paul's ministry and John's ministry and Peter's ministry. But I see I have a little bit of time and what I would like to do is just very briefly go through the New Testament and just try to give a few quick thoughts on each of the books. That may be a help to you, especially as you're starting out, that there might be a little bit of guidance and nudge in the right direction. So turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter one.
Now I suppose many, if not most here.
Know the character of the four gospels. You have the king in chapter one, the servant in chapter 2, the perfect man in chapter 3 and son of God in chapter 4, or the four beholds and Matthew's gospel it's behold your king Matthew. Mark's gospel is behold my servant, Luke's gospels behold the man and John's gospels behold your God. So Matthew's gospel again begins the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
And so here in Matthew's Gospel we said, Behold your King as we find through it we have the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.
Through Joseph, his legal father, not his biological father. God was of his father, but legally the Lord Jesus was an heir to the throne of David because Joseph was in the royal line.
It takes us back to David, the son of David, the legal heir to the throne, the son of Abraham, to win all the promises are committed. When you look at the early chapters of Matthew, you will find one Old Testament passage after another. From Isaiah, from Hosea, from Jeremiah, you find all these references to the prophetic scriptures, which to the Jew would make a lot of sense. Understanding, connecting the fulfillment of the prophecies was in this one.
We find as you come to chapter 8 his powers, the miracles, whether it's over creation.
Whether it's over disease, whether it's over demons, indeed, whether it's over death.
He demonstrates the power, uh, as as to who he is, We have the character of his ministry in the early chapters. Now in something in Matthew's Gospel, remember he is, he was the king of the Jews, but he's the rejected one chapter 12, he's rejected. They ascribe the works that the Lord Jesus did and the power of the Spirit of God. They saw the work of the Spirit of God in perfection before them and they said that's the work of the devil.
That's to be eligible.
And now it's a sin for no forgiveness there it could they they took the work of the Spirit of God and said the work of and that's the work of Satan. You know, the coming day is going to be the man the Antichrist called the man a sin and he is going to sit in the temple of God showing that he is God. And will we worship as God such as man state by nature that the man of sin is worshipped as God.
And God manifest in flesh. Who does this? Miracles and the power of the Spirit of God. They say that's the work of the devil. How far man is from God? That's chapter 12.
And then in chapter 13 we have the Lord Jesus sword that goes forth and sows the good seed of the Kingdom, not looking for fruit from Israel anymore because he's now the sower. And so in Matthew we have 10 similitudes of the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of heaven is like unto similarly, the similarity a likeness to it. And it describes this present day when the King, the Lord Jesus has been rejected by his people. He's gone on high.
And the Kingdom is seen primarily in two ways. We have the expression in Matthew and the in in these parables of the Kingdom of heaven are only in Matthew in keeping with this king that's been rejected. And it is.
The Kingdom of heaven and mystery. Why is it in mystery? Because the reject, the king is rejected. He's gone back to heaven and he's not seen, and yet there is a sphere on earth that owns his authority. There is a day coming when that Kingdom will be in manifestation and the Lord Jesus will come in power and glory. But that's not Matthew's gospel. If the Kingdom is in mystery, so that you have the Lord Jesus as the king and as you go through it.
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We we find that there are citizens.
And then this trouble, this is not just abstract. I remember when I was going to school and umm, Matthew 22, and I had some very zealous umm, believers coming up to me. And there you are. Unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness is a believer.
He's a servant. What am I gonna do? I'm what, 18 years of age? And here I am, someone coming to me with the word of God saying there's a servant, Says he's a servant, you know, cast out.
Well, I'm going into the ministry for one. All I could say was all I could say was the 10th of John. My, my share, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me and I give it to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I am resting there on that. And he said, he said, well, yeah, you'll never perish, but.
But uh, there's outer darkness. No, we need to rightly divide the word of truth. A citizen of is not a a son. You may be in as a profession that may be without reality. Well, Matthew's gospel is behold your king. And so you have administrative principles in the Gospel of Matthew and that's why it's so important. Matthew 1820. See how scripture just fits together for where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. What's the force of that It's.
Straight of authority, right in keeping in the context with the gospel, that has to do with administration, and that's where the authority is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul quotes in First Corinthians 5, when ye are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is the name, that is the power, that is the authority for exercising assembly.
Action it's his name, not the great minds that we might think we have no, the power is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the Mark's Gospel, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now let me just say this. It was a help to me and again I'd like to pass it on to you that the four gospels in Matthew you have the Lord's birth, but you do not have his ascension. It was very important that we learn his birth because it was of the royal line that.
Get a legal right to the throne of David, but you don't have his ascension, Matthews. Uh, Matthew's gospel is earthly in character. Now in Mark's gospel, we don't have the Lord's birth, but we do have his ascension. Why is that important? Let me put it very simply this way. You don't need pedigree to serve the Lord. You say, well, my father served the Lord and my grandfather served the Lord. That's irrelevant in a certain sense. Thank God, if we've had a godly father or godly grandfather, but the call of God to the servant.
When the Lord comes here, there's no genealogy. He comes out serving from the beginning, John the Baptist serving from the beginning. And I believe it gives great liberty. The Lord can raise up whom He will, irrespective of your upbringing. And there's so many men that have been a help to me that we're not raised in the assembly. They came into the truth later on and they bought it for themselves. But in Mark's Gospel, we don't have this genealogy. The Lord serves from the beginning. And if you wanna fun little exercise, those of you who are younger.
Is just pick a chapter out and see how many. Let's see what the first word is of every verse in that chapter. Take any chapter you want and you're gonna see and and and and and and and and, and. The servant constantly doing something else, constantly doing something else. And so we get at the end of Mark's gospel, the Lord is ascended and what is he doing? He's serving with them now, Luke's gospel.
Not sure the best verse to reference here.
The go to a chapter 4. This is a temptation.
Luke chapter 4 When Jesus full of the Holy Ghost went into the wilderness, and verse three of the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command the stone, that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Now in Luke, we have the Lord's birth and we have the Lord's ascension. Now his genealogy in Luke, as we've often heard, is not through Joseph as the legal heir of the throne, but through Mary because Jo, Joseph and Mary were, were sons of David, one through Solomon and one through Nathan. So he was the seed of David and and Luke's gospel. He was the perfect man. And it's in Luke that we have not only the birth of Christ, the virgin birth of Christ.
But his conception, he is a perfect man and as we quoted uh this morning, how and when they they were thought they'd seen a spirit there in Luke and and he said handle me and see a spirit hath not flesh and bones that you see me have. He is a real real man. Yeah, in resurrection flesh and bones, not flesh and blood, but he was a real man. Now what we find in Luke's gospel, I think 14 times we find the Lord praying either says he's praying or we actually read his prayers. And here we have him in the wilderness tempted of the devil and what?
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Do he references the word of God and in that he's the perfect pattern for us. True, he's God. He could say get thee behind me Satan or get thee hence Satan and properly. It's not here in Lucas. It is in Matthew as the king would dispatch him. Well, Luke, the point is it's his he he takes the place as a dependent man. He prays and he uses the word of God and so in this it can be helped to us those two things we can do we can pray.
And we can read and follow the word of God.
Just another minor point that's intrigued me.
When the Lord Jesus quotes Scripture to the devil.
It's all from the book of Deuteronomy 2IN chapter 61 in chapter 8, they're all relatively compressed together in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a small, uh, area of the book, which seems I have wondered that maybe that was something that the Lord is he is his ears open morning by morning, something that he'd read only recently. Often we found it if we're reading the word of God, that when a test or a challenge or a question comes off often.
If we're before the Lord, the very scriptures that we've only recently read will be of help.
To us, so he is that perfect man.
We could, we could say more, but we need to move on. And of course, and John, and John, his birth is not mentioned, nor is his ascension mentioned. Why is that? Because he's the eternal one. He's the everlasting Son in the bosom of the Father in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And so in John's gospel we have the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, the eternal Word, the eternal Son.
And because his deity is so prominent there, we have his miracles brought out in a remarkable way. We have those singular expressions, I am, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the divine, and so on. But we find that the hours of darkness are not mentioned in John's gospel. Why? It's because he's seen as the eternal Son of God there.
Not as the dependent man that we have in Luke or as the as as we have in the other gospels as well, who became the sin bearer, but he's the Son who is in the bosom of the Father. I can make just a comment on that expression. The Buddhism of the Father. I heard a brother say one time he says, well, he left the Buddhism of the Father in order to come into this world. But that really is not the the force of scripture, the force of the expression, the bosom of the Father. It's true the Lord left.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
But the expression, the bosom of the Father is that eternal dwelling place of love, and He never left it.
When he came into this world, He was as much as in the bosom of the Father when he was here as he was before incarnation. And so we don't have the hours of darkness. There's no cry. My God, my God, why I thou forsaken me? Because in John he's the eternal Son, but it's only in John where we have his bloodshed. It had to be the death of an infinite sacrifice in order to atone for our sins.
So I just mentioned those little things briefly to give us perhaps a little bit of an outline.
Of these of these things now we go to the book of acts Acts is really a book of transition and Acts of course picks up from where Luke leaves off right at the Mount of Olives. They see the the Lord going up and then the next one that we see the Lord, uh the Lord ascending to heaven and says Terry of Jerusalem until you be endowed with with endowed with with power from on high by the Spirit of God being sent down and so in Acts we have the work of the mighty work of the Spirit of God and it is a transitional book that.
Takes us from the Gospels into the light of the epistles. The book of Acts teaches us by pattern. It doesn't give us doctrine per SE. So for instance, you say, well, what what do you what do you mean by that? OK, OK, occasionally you may have in your local, your assembly, you might have what we speak of as a care meeting where matters are are taken up that pertain to the local assembly. What scriptural basis do we have for doing that? Is it just a good idea?
Well, we have the pattern for that in Acts chapter 15, when the apostles and elders came together to consider a matter. But we don't have apostles today. We don't have the elders and strict sense of the word.
But it gives us to print the pattern of it, how they came together to discuss a matter before it was brought before the whole assembly. Dodd has an order in his assembly, just as we have order in in our homes, order in business. God has an order too, and we have to learn God's order by reading the word. But the book of Acts teaches us by way of pattern and it's a very important to see some of these truths lived out. Even the the meetings they they continue to steadfastly and the apostles doctrine.
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There needs to be ministry.
In fellowship and breaking the bread and in prayers. And so again, as I said, we have the pattern in the book of Acts. It takes us from the Mount of Olives and then halfway through the book and and then Jerusalem and then it changes to Antioch and I just, you know, let's go to Acts 13. I love this thought, but it really, I believe shows a change in the character of.
God's work as Israel has set aside and God takes up in Christianity.
In a new way, Acts chapter 13 and verse one. Now they were in the church that was at Antioch. Certain prophets and teachers is Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and luscious of Cyrene and Manan which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch.
And solve 5 men that ministered and labored there in Antioch.
I really enjoy this. Each man is known for something different. The first one is Barnabas. His name is Son of Consolation. He his, what do we know about him, was his character. It's not a name he gave himself. It's a name his brother gave him. They said there is a brother that loves the Saints, that cares that he's the son of Consolation. He's a brother you'll like to see walk in. He's a he's a brother. That sympathy. He was with the Saints. He was one that was a help to Paul.
So he was there and then Simeon that was called Niger Black. So he was known and characterized by his physical appearance.
But he was ministering right alongside Barnabas and then Lucius to Cyrene. He was known from where he came from from Cyrene. And then you have Manan, which had been brought up with Hera, the Tetrarch. He was known more for his upbringing. And finally the last one who was the most notable servants of them all eventually is just tacked on. And so none of his none of his accomplishments that he would read about any fi in the Philippians chapter 3. But this is the character of.
Church of God today of God is called out of the nations a people for himself.
It's not heritage, it's God and the sovereignty pulling in one, pulling one there, and he would delight to take it and use it in this way.
So then we come to umm, then we come to Romans in Romans through Hebrews. We won't have time to go through all those, but I would say that's something I, I read as a young man that was helpful. I just passed it on.
That Paul's ministry primarily has to do with the assembly, Peter's ministry has to do with the Kingdom, and John has to do with the family.
Now, when it comes to Christian physician.
Our individual blessing in Christ, or it has to do with the assembly. We get it in Paul's ministry.
Now, all of Paul's ministry is not contained in every epistle. What do I mean by that, and what's my point in saying it?
Well, for instance, I say, well, the one body is not the subject of Romans.
You see, I can point to chapter and verse chapter 12 where Paul speaks of the one body in Romans. What do you mean it's not the subject?
Just because something is mentioned does not mean it's the subject. And so as we read the different epistles, they each have a different character to it, and we would desire that we might learn what the character of the different books are. Romans, of course, is the unfolding and teaching of the gospel of the grace of God. Relationship to sins and deliverance from sin is the ruling principle in our life and a practical expectations, whether it's in relationship to the government or personal exercises or whatever it might be.
What Paul has to do with the assembly? He is the only writer that mentions the one body.
Of Christ, that was Ephesians 3, that was given to the apostle Paul to make known that truth others had a revealed to them, but it was Paul that was given to teach it. And so if we're gonna take up truth as to the one body, we're gonna have to go to Paul's doctrine. And more than that, we're gonna have to go to the epistles that teach that.
Now, Peter, let's turn over to umm, first Peter for a moment.
And I realize we're going rapidly and we're going very top line, but I, I trust that these few comments might be of, of help to clarify some things.
In our minds.
Peter and apostle 11 and the Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout pontus, galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and bithynia, and.
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Then he speaks to them elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Now you remember that Paul was the apostle to the uncircumcision. Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles. Peter was an apostle to the Jews to the circumcision. So when he writes his addresses, he's writing to Christian Jews. Again, it doesn't bring us into the full light of Paul's doctrine in the one body of Christ.
And so we need to understand our remarks based, uh, understand the passage.
In reference to what what the writer, umm, what his line of things was, I'll just say this as an aside that might be helpful that.
Paul, all the assemblies you wrote were Gentile assemblies, but it does seem from what Peter writes in his epistles about Paul writing to them, that Paul did write the book of Hebrews, but as such as apostle the Gentiles, his name is not mentioned.
And Hebrews and further, of course, in Hebrews, it's Christ who is the apostle and high priest of our confession. It's almost like the Lord said, Paul, I know you have that great burden for, uh, for your brethren according to the flesh. So I'm going to let you write them, write epistle to them, but your name is not going to be on it. I take the vast Hebrews. Now Peter was the apostle to the Jews, But remember, go back to Matthew 16. What did the Lord say to Peter? He says, I give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, not the keys of.
And we've heard all these little jokes and things are about Peter being at the door of heaven or the key of heaven with keys to heaven. It's keys to the Kingdom of heaven. That is Peter opened up a sphere of blessing on the earth that would own the rule of the heavens. And he did that in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 8 with regard to the Samaritans in chapter 10 in regard to the UMM and the the Gentiles. So.
Sometimes we want to make things cut and dry, but we find that the apostle to the Gentiles was given the privilege of writing to the Jews, and the apostle to the Jews, Peter was given to extend blessing to the Gentiles.
So when we read Peter's ministry, we're not gonna have a lot of the great Christian truths that Paul brings out.
So when we come to chapter one, for instance, the second Peter, and he speaks to establish them in the present truth. What is it that Peter wanted to establish these Jews who are now Christians? What did he want to establish them in?
He wanted to establish in the fact that that coming day of glory, that that wasn't lost, that that truth of his coming day, of his appearing, that it wasn't lost, that they'd be established as they went through trial and burden and hardship and suffering. They would be sustained by what Peter emphasized, the truth of the Kingdom. There's a moral side of it, and Paul takes it up as well. But we don't have time for that. Now turn over to 1St John chapter.
Two, if you would.
I know it's.
A bit warm and it's hard to.
Stay focused and we're covering a lot of ground here.
But in first John chapter 2.
Verse one says, My little children, these things write unto you, that ye sin not.
Then verse 12 I write in your little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. And then you see in chapter verse 13, fathers, young men and little children are addressed. So we mentioned that John is more the family of God and what characterizes the family of God is everyone in the family of God has eternal life.
John's ministry brings before us eternal life as a present possession.
And Paul is generally future at the end, everlasting life.
But in John, it's a present possession and it's the family of God. Now a couple verses I read there where I said, little children, it's helpful to read Mr. Darby's translation because I think there's three times, maybe 5 * 3 times at least where he addresses my little children. It should be just my children. You say why? Because he's addressing the whole family of God. My children, these things are right and you sin not, not just the little children. He doesn't want any in the family of God to sin.
All our sins are forgiven for His name's sake, regardless if you're a little children, a young man or a father.
And so as he dresses the family of God, we see that all have alike. They have eternal life.
The Lord Jesus had it. It was true in him, and now it's true in US. Every believer has present possession of eternal life. But in the family of God, why that's in common, There's growth. There's little children, there's young men and there's fathers. There's growth. And that's what his desire is, that there would be growth in the family of God.
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Two other short epistles. I didn't mention James I.
I think it's Mr. Ferriday that makes the statement William Faraday that says, James is to the New Testament what Jonah is to the Old Testament and all the Old Testament that's written to Israel. There's one little book that talks about blessing going out to Gentiles, Nineveh, the capital of the Syria that that, uh, so afflicted the people of God. But right there in the Old Testament, there's a story of blessing the Gentiles. Well, James, what assembly was that written to?
Well, you say it wasn't written to any assembly. Well, what individual wasn't written to? It wasn't written to any individual. It was written. Think of this in the New Testament. It was written to the 12 tribes that are scattered abroad. And so when they come to the Epistle of James, if we're gonna look there for Paul's doctrine, we're certainly not gonna find it. Because when we come to chapter 2 in the book of James, we find that if one comes into the assembly and splendid attire.
Really. The thought as he comes into the synagogue.
And the truth of God, it wasn't just the light was slipped on and everything came into view at once. There was a gradual bringing out of Judaism into the light of Christianity. But James brings a very practical point of living faith. Faith without works is dead.
And you can have faith without works. The devils believe in tremble. There's no living faith there. But faith, uh, is living faith in James. And it shows the distinction between those who are simply in an outward position and those that have real faith. Say that again as an example of an epistle if we're trying to.
Force all of Paul's doctrine into the book, into the Epistle of James. We're just going to get ourselves confused. Jude has to do with apostasy. And then of course, Revelation in the last, the last book. Let's just read a few verses there to begin with.
Or or rather at the beginning of the first chapter.