Address—Robert Boulard
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Five in the appendix.
#5 in the appendix.
Come thou fountain.
During my heart screams of murder see never mercy the same.
All four sings love songs of praise Jesus, Lord.
Lord, I fell in the best of her.
Dangerously.
Where is my.
Spirit from the world.
Rescue all songs and painter.
Where the Lord?
Say that's love.
May I walk on earth but pray.
Let's turn just to introduce the subject.
To my but I have on my heart to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs 16, verse 31.
I've been thinking a little bit about the legacy of different ones that.
In Scripture, the legacy every one of us is living every day, one day at a time, and at the end of it all, your, your life and mine is going to be summed up.
Somebody will have about 3 or 4 sentences to say.
We perhaps read obituaries every now and then and we have a little summation of life and how a man or woman sees that life while your life is being lived one day at a time. Historically the record is being kept and will soon be reviewed in the presence of the Lord. So Proverbs 16, verse 31, it says the hoary head or the Whitehead is a crown of glory.
If it be found in the way of righteousness, and then in Second Timothy chapter 4.
Connection with the Apostle Paul.
He says in verse 6.
Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse six. For I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure at hand. I fought the good, a good fight. I finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only.
But unto all them also that love his appearing.
So wonderful we have a crown of righteousness, really a crown of glory in Proverbs chapter 16. Now we have a crown of righteousness and God is interested in not only the beginning of your life, but the end of it. And how often we used to be reminded when we were younger.
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Those in this room by brother Gordon Hale and how he used to tell us how wonderful it was to have a good beginning in life, but to make sure that we had a good ending in life. And so let's look at three things that characterized the church in the day that we live in really I'm going to really I'd like to speak of nine things that we're only going to have maybe.
A couple of minutes on each point, but three things that hinder the church.
The church testimony in the day that we live in three things that the church prospered under and three things that the church suffers under. And so let's start with those things that under which the church prospers and the first one really is suffering or really pain. So let's look at.
It's just for a type of it in Exodus chapter one.
We'll, we'll hit just skip around a few places here as we speak because the subjects are scattered throughout, but I'd like to look at the New Testament equivalents in each one of these points. So the church prospered when there was suffering. And we read where we had before us this morning in prayer, meeting our beloved brethren in India.
Their suffering, their suffering persecution, but their suffering.
There are those that suffer pain suffer in different ways, but in Egypt in Exodus chapter one it says that.
Let's read from verse 11. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh, treasure cities, Python, and Ramseys. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. They made their lives bitter or bitter with hard ******* in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field oil in all. Their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. And so really it speaks of severity and cruelty.
Well, isn't it wonderful? God is never defeated by what man does and the pain and the suffering that was caused by the king of Egypt and his program in connection with the people of God says in verse 12, the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. Well, you know, it's the same thing in connection with the church. We sometimes wonder why is there so much suffering?
Why is there so much pain?
Why is there so much sickness? Why do you have to go through these things?
But you know, the Lord has a purpose.
Has a purpose and his desire is that there would be blessing. I think it's in Second Corinthians. It speaks, I think it's Second Corinthians chapter 4. It speaks of how we there's a purpose on the part of the Lord. And yeah, it's verse 17.
Well, let's read verse 16, for which 'cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
And so God is working in your life and in mine, and allowing suffering.
That there might be more of the characteristics of Christ seen in US and he's working out things that there might be fruit for himself in your life and mind. So there's suffering and when there's suffering, why there's growth and the church prospers. And so we know that in the New Testament when there was suffering, we'll just turn just thinking of the apostle Paul and.
Silas in Acts chapter 16 and it's says there.
After they were beaten and they were suffering at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed. Verse 25 Acts 1625 They prayed and sang praises unto God. The prisoners heard them.
You know, there was an assembly formed as a result of that suffering and that assembly prospered and there was an assembly in Philippi. They were characterized, we'll learn other places that they were impoverished. They were poor and yet they took of the poverty that they had in their poverty and they saw the needs of the apostle Paul may fill those needs and sacrificial love and thankfulness to the apostle and for his ministry.
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They took of their in their poverty and they provided for his needs.
Churches really prospered when it has been characterized by.
Poverty and by pain and so the second thing is really persecution. We know that persecution came in among the church. Let's look at.
Acts Chapter 8.
And we'll find there that there was persecution, so there's poverty.
There's pain, there's persecution.
There's pain, there's suffering, The Lord is allowing it that we might be more conformed to the image of Christ. But then there's persecution. Says in chapter 8, Saul was consenting unto the death, unto his death, that Stephen. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
So we think of the persecution going on in Egypt.
We think of the persecution going on in India.
We think of the persecution of those that leave the church systems in places like Brazil and.
They're persecuted, they're shunned by those they once met with, and some of they they suffer the rejection of their family and they suffer persecution of the sometimes of the authorities. And the church has always prospered under the persecution of this world.
And the persecution of those two that were real, that were professing believers. But isn't it nice in this little passage in Acts chapter 8, there's a measure to the persecution. And God is in control. He allows persecution and just to this point. And so he says that they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judah and Samaria, except the apostles. Isn't that nice to know that when there is persecution among the people of God?
The church prospers and there is blessing. The Lord is allowing it and I believe that we can thank Him that He is able to preserve his own through it. Let's look at.
Acts Chapter 11 And we'll find there that they went out and they preached the gospel. Acts 11, verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as finesse in Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the Word.
To none but unto the Jews only, and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecian is preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed.
And turned unto the Lord.
So while we don't appreciate persecution, we don't like to be persecuted, we don't like to feel the wrath of the enemy and the feel the opposition of those in political power. The Lord allows it. And the church historically has prospered as a result of persecution. And God in his purposes allowed that. There would be an assembly formed in Antioch, and you might say it became the home assembly of the apostle Paul.
His home assembly was not Jerusalem. And so that Gentile assembly was raised up. There was pain, there was suffering. There was an assembly that rose up in Philippi. And you'll notice that in the passage of Scripture, in the Old Test, in the New Testament, particularly when there was persecution, there was fruit for God. And then when things got easy, why then things started to.
Become a little more difficult spiritually.
Well then we find too that there is poverty. And if we look at the end of that chapter, Acts Chapter 11, it says in verse 27 that in these days came prophets from Jerusalem on the Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, or a drought through all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according.
Visibility determined to send relief unto the brethren which were at Judea, which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So there was poverty, there was difficulty connection with a drought at that time, and there was financial difficulty. We know that the apostle Paul, he was called Saul here in Barnabas, were used of God to take funds from the Gentile.
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Assemblies.
And to take the those funds and to bring them to Judea and for the blessing of the Saints. Remember at the beginning of the church period, they came, I think Sacks chapter four. They came and they sold property. They laid the money down at the apostles feet and so on. Barnabas did even himself. And then when hard times came, they didn't have the resources to be able to provide for themselves. And so there was poverty and the Saints of God generally.
Prospered in their souls when there has been poverty. And I believe that this is one of the things that hinders us in the Western Christian world is that we don't know what it is to be impoverished. We don't know what it is to suffer persecution.
And we don't know what it is really to suffer. The Lord is allowing us some pain. He's allowing us to suffer physical, physically and disease and different things. And you know the apostle Paul, he writes, I think it's Ephesians chapter 5, verse 20. And he says giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we can thank the Lord for the pain that he allows in life. It's not that he doesn't do it with a loving.
And with a purpose for our blessing and for his glory, so we can thank him for the pain and the suffering. We can thank him for the any measure of persecution. It says that they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so those that desire to live for the Lord piously. I think that's Mr. Darby's translation.
In that passage they will suffer persecution. So if you identify with the Lord Jesus.
The Christ Jesus, that one who has arisen, glorified man on high. You're going to suffer something of the animosity of this world that hated the Lord Jesus and crucified him.
I just recount a little incident there was.
Man.
And he lives in Ohio in near Wooster, OH.
His name is Dan Strong. He was brought up Roman Catholic.
And ran a printing business, still runs a printing business, graphic arts, and so on. And so we bought graphic materials from them and printing and instruction sheets, whatever it might be packaging, and spoke of the Lord with them over the years. But you know, one day he got saved. He took Christ as a savior, as a Roman Catholic. He left that system.
And we used to get together every Tuesday morning.
The restaurant and have breakfast, take our Bibles and it wasn't he might have been saved maybe three weeks, 4 weeks came to the restaurant, open up our Bibles and he said, you know, he said, you know, the church really didn't do.
The persecution under the Roman Catholic Church, he says. I'm, I'm learning about how the Christians, true Christians were, were really persecuted under the Catholic Church and everything.
He says, but really, it didn't do Satan's job, he says the church seemed to prosper under the persecution, he says. But you know, I've been observing, he says, in the Christian world here in the prosperity. He says prosperity is working far beyond his wildest dreams. It's just destroying the church. And here is the perception of a man only saved for three or four weeks.
Oh, beloved brethren, we live in a day of prosperity.
But I trust that we'll use what we have for the glory of Christ. We won't use it for our own pleasure, but we'll use it for the furtherance of the things of God and for the people of God. And that we might recognize the need of our brethren in different places. I'll just refer to one more passage of Scripture, Hebrews chapter 13, and it says.
There verse three remember them which are in bonds.
With them and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body, so you and I have a body. It's not Speaking of the body of Christ in one body, but Speaking of the body. We know what it is to suffer. And let's not forget our brethren that are an affliction. We live in very favored circumstances, but let's remember that these brethren that are suffering in other places.
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They suffer and.
Let's pray for them, and let's do what we can to ease that suffering.
Well, let's look at three other things that perhaps that hinder the church and if we could look at perhaps.
Galatians, chapter 5.
It just gives us the principle there.
Galatians chapter 5 and I was thinking of the.
Verse seven Ye did run well, who did hinder you?
That you should not obey the truth. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Well, there are those things that hinder the church today, and one of those things is bad doctrine. And as we mentioned this morning, there is leaven. There's two types of leaven that the Apostle Paul speaks of, and it always speaks of sin. It's never a good thing and it works silently. It's Levin is a culture we know, and it works silently and under the right condition. It just permeates the whole of what?
Where it operates. And so that's the picture given to us. Evil works silently. We might say it's the mystery of iniquity, but it leaveneth the whole lump. But here were some false doctrine that these people had come under and they said.
It was Judaizing teachers. Let's look at Acts chapter 15. I didn't mean to turn to too many of these places. We don't have a lot of time, but Acts 15.
Let's just read a couple of verses. Verse 1 Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except he be circumcised after the manner of Moses, he cannot be saved. I told an outright lie. And so they were trying to mix Judaism in with Christianity and.
And you've heard this, no doubt, and I heard it when I was young from those that we call Protestant, they say you can be saved. You can accept Christ as your Savior, but you have to do your cart. Well, that's not true at all. It's all the work of Christ. It's a work of grace. It's work by faith of accepting the work of Christ, the finished work of Christ. And here these people came and they said, well, the work of Christ isn't sufficient to save you.
You need to do your part.
It's not true at all. It wasn't wonderful to think of how the work of Christ is complete, It's finished, and we can add nothing to it. But they came under the influence of these teachers, and so they really.
Perhaps you might say we're influenced by those that didn't go on doctrinally in a right way. So we need to be careful as to where we get our truth, where we read what we read. I'll just say this. I had a young fella.
Come to me not too long ago, he said. Brother, he says.
I'm kind of interested in reading the ESV translation of the Bible, He says, do you know anything about the ESPN translation of the Bible? And I said, well, no, I don't know a whole lot about it, but let just give me a few hours. I'll I'll research it and I'll let you know what I think about it. So I went on the Internet, you know, and ESV and so here the chief translator, the head translator of the team of translators.
Of the ESV translation of the Bible. It was a chief head theologian at such and such Covenantal Theologian College thought, well, I guess that's not very good. So he was a head theologian of the Old Testament. And then I looked and said, well, who? Who is the head head of the translation team that did the New Testament well?
Went and looked and here's another the head of this the.
Theme of the New Testament translators. He was the head of the theologians of the covenant College of such and such a place. Well, I said to this young man, I don't think that's really a very good translation. Then I looked at some other places. I'll just let's look at Galatian. I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 3. I'm just pointing this out not to be critical but.
Brethren, we need to be careful as to what translations we use and what ministry we use.
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But what ministry we read, it says in Genesis chapter 3.
He says, let's read verse 16 unto the woman. He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, and in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Well, this is how they translated it. They said, well, there's a feminist movement and we don't want to offend the sisters and so on. So they translated this way your desire shall be.
Contrary to your husband.
But he shall rule over you.
You know, there was such an outcry among those that were true believers. It's it's not that way in the Greek or in the Hebrew. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband. That's not how it reads. And there was such an outcry that the ESV translators who had mistranslated it, willfully mistranslated it. They said, oh, OK, well, we're going to change the next edition that we come out with the ASV. We'll change it to what we think is better.
And so on so forth. You know, I just want to encourage you, if you don't have a new translation, Mr. Darby's translation, we can be very, very thankful for that new translation and that it has not been tampered with. Mr. Darby did not tamper with that, with the translation of Scriptures to make it say what he wanted it to say. Can I just use another example? A brother was saying to me.
Before this meeting that some of the translations now say where two or three.
Meet together there are my in the midst of them. Well, that's not the truth of God at all. It's where two or three are gathered. Are gathered by who? If they're gathered by the Spirit of God because you and I aren't smart enough to save ourselves and we're not smart enough to gather ourselves. We're gathered by the Spirit of God into the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Well, what a truth. How thankful we should be that the truth of the word of God is still clear and that we.
Read those things and not have them tampered with. I'll say another thing is this. You know when we're gathered to the Lord's name, we don't gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. I know that some Christian groups use that term. They say we gather to the name of the Lord. No, brethren, that's not the language of Scripture. We are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus. We don't gather ourselves to the Lord.
We come to where He is in the midst, and let's use scriptural terminology when we speak of these things.
Well, there's something else that hinders us. And if we just turn?
A page or two to chapter 15 of Acts. Just at the end of it, verse 36. Some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark, but Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them.
From them from Bamfilia and went not with them to the work.
And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed 1 asunder 1 from another. And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cypress. And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren under the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Celestia, confirming the churches.
Well, you know, there was family. Family and friends will sometimes influence us and will sometimes hinder us in the path of faith and obedience to the word of God. And so here you have this man Barnabas. He was a very, very unique individual. He was a Levite. He was a mighty man of God. He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost that says in Acts Chapter 11.
And.
God has wonderful things to say as we're introduced to him in Acts chapter 4 at the end of the chapter. It was a wonderful man. And the apostle Paul and Barnabas labored together approximately 10 years. And so they were good friends and they knew one another very well. But you know, Barnabas wanted one thing. He wanted his own way just in one thing.
And as a result, we don't find Paul and Barnabas laboring together.
There was a break in that communion, in that fellowship together. And so Barnabas wanted his cousin or his nephew. I think Mr. Darby and Colossians Chapter 4 says it's cousin, but it could be nephew. He wanted a relative to be involved and when it comes to divine things.
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We cannot follow a family line. We have to recognize that our responsibility is to follow the Word of God and to be loyal to Christ Himself and not to set our our hearts and our affections upon the family.
Tie and to hold the family. Tie more in.
More in repute, you might say, than the tie that we have in connection with Christ. And so there was that break.
And I just say this, that when the family has a higher place in my affections than the Lord Jesus himself, it becomes a hindrance to me in the path of faith. And it's wonderful to have it with God's purpose that the whole family would work together and would live together and would go together to be found in the in the presence of the Lord. And it might be like heaven on earth.
And that the family together would go on in the presence of the Lord, gathered to the Lord's name. But we find that when we want our own way.
That oftentimes there's that break now that we find that there's one more thing in connection with the hindrances and that is in.
Weights and sins, So Hebrews chapter 12.
I'm just giving a little bit of an outline of some of these things so you can search them out for yourself and maybe.
Flesh it out and find some other verses of Scripture and meditate upon these things to see whether they be so well here we have in the Hebrews chapter 12, verse one. Wherefore seeing, we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. That cloud of witnesses that live by faith in the previous chapter LED us.
Not thou shalt but let us lay aside every weight.
And the sin which thus who easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. While there are weights and there are sins, well, the weight is something that slows us down, something that isn't really a good idea to carry.
And.
A sin is something in connection with Hebrews. Here it was the sin of unbelief. But there are those things that we could go on with sinful things, and it was mentioned this morning in connection with 11.
And they hinder us and they have hindered the church. And so the church hasn't prospered if they have allowed.
Weights and sins. But you and I make up the assembly locally in the place that we're at, and we affect. No man liveth unto himself. No man dies unto himself. So we all have an effect upon one another. And so if I allow myself a weight, then I might slow myself down, but I might slow you down too. And if I allow a sinful practice in my life, you might see it and you might say, oh, brother Robert does that. And that's, that's.
That's all right. And he must. He's, he's a brother. And I, I think I could do that too. And so whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And so isn't it wonderful to be able to, just to have Christ before us who never had a weight, never had a sin that characterized him. He was holy and harmless.
Without sin and.
Separate from sinners He will. He knew no sin, He did no sin. And yet we, you and I, are born into a race, the fallen race, and where we just kind of get accustomed to a weight and to those things that we ought not to have. You know, we have weights and sins brought before us in Nehemiah. I'll just point that out and then we'll go on to something else. But.
Nehemiah chapter I think it's.
Chapter 3.
Nehemiah chapter 4 and he says verse 10.
And Judah said the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish.
So that we are not able to build the wall. Well, you know, the wall in Scripture always speaks of separation. And so those things that are weights, those things that we allow in our lives that are not positively sinful, but they don't really help us spiritually. They may really just be rubbish. And we need to judge those things and walk with the Lord that we might be able to walk in separation to Him and for His glory and to give him the portion.
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That he desires among his people. And so the rubbish, there was much rubbish and it hindered the walk and separation. Then in Nehemiah chapter 13, it speaks of another, it speaks really of the sin here verse four says before this allieship, the priest having the oversight of the Chamber of the House of our God was allied to Tobiah. Now Tobiah was an Ammonite, remember.
He had prepared for him a great chamber.
Where afore time they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tides of corn, the new wine, the oil which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the offerings of the priests. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem, For in the two and 30th year of artistic king of Babylon, I came unto the king.
After certain days I obtained leave, obtained I leave of the king.
I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that Elias ship did for Tobiah in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the House of God, and it grieved me sore. Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers.
And thither brought I again the vessels of the House of God, with the meat offering.
And the frankincense. So we have here the stuff. And this was positively sinful. And in connection with what took place at the temple, because this man was an Ammonite and Elias ship, it really speaks of no separation in connection with worship. He allowed an Ammonite to come into the temple. He prepared a great chamber instead of the Lord having his portion of the tithes.
The offerings of the priests and all those things that were listed there.
Why this man, the Ammonite, he had a place to buy A and so really the stuff speaks of positively things that are positively sinful and that need to be judged. And we see that Nehemiah expelled him out of say, out of the temple, and then re established the use of that room for proper purposes.
Well, let's look at three things that really.
The church suffers under today particularly and really leads to perhaps we might say, a pitiful state among us. And one of them is very characteristic of the day that we live in. It's Revelation chapter 3. Let's read it.
Has to do with the heart, you know, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14.
Unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, right these things say at the Amen.
The faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. That's the new creation of God. You. He's the head of a new creation race, but you and I are a part of that race as well. He's the first born. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would nor cold nor hot. So it's indifference to the glory of Christ. It's indifference to his claims.
And you know.
It's tragic that we live in a day of prosperity, we live in a day of ease, and we live in a day when the claims of Christ are those claims that are really not valued and the rights of Christ in the assembly and in the church at large.
But it it's indifference. Indifference.
Can I just say this in connection with these things that we ought to desire to give the Lord the first place in our lives and not to be indifferent in connection with our hearts? You know, I think it's in Hosea. I think it's in Hosea that it speaks of the heart.
It says.
Verse chapter 4, verse 11 boredom and wine and new wine Take away the heart. Take away the heart. So we have the indifference to the glory and the claims of Christ and then we have you know.
In Jose it speaks again, it speaks of ignorance, speaks of ignorance of the truth of God and ignorance of the purposes, the principles of God. If we looked at.
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Acts Chapter 17. We might find there the whole crux of the matter.
Is a devotion that these men that they had in Berea, they had a devotion they had a burning desire to know the truth. It says in verse 10, Acts 17, verse 10. The brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night hunter Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures.
Daily.
Whether those things were so, therefore many of them believed, well, there was diligence on their part. I would just say this, we live in a day. We live in a day when it's possible to know, it's possible to enjoy all of the truth. You imagine being Christian in a place in a Portuguese speaking country and not being able to read any ministry.
Reliable ministry on the New Testament. Try to be a Christian without reading any ministry.
On the New Testament, try to read the Epistle to Ephesians and try to figure out what they're really saying. And some of the commentaries were not accurate doctrinally and so on. It would be difficult. But you know, you and I, we have all kinds of commentaries.
We have ebooks on our phone, we have tablets. We have in the last days of this church's, the church's history in this world. There's no reason for us to be ignorant of the purposes of God or the truth of God or the doctrines of Christianity.
We have ebooks. We have 30 ebooks of Bruce Anstey's material. We have ebooks, I don't know how many. BTP has hundreds, and there's no excuse. The Apostle Paul knew the Scriptures inside out, but he had the Old Testament and he had memorized Old Testament passages of Scripture. He could preach the gospel from them.
But the New Testament is even shorter. There's no excuse for us not to know our New Testaments inside out.
We should know it inside out, and May God give us the desire to know the truth and to study the truth. You know there's a man.
In Brazil, his name is Jean Raymond. He used to be a Roman Catholic priest. He's 88 years old and he got saved, took Christ as his savior. He's gathered to the Lord's name in the little assembly. And he got, we sent him five books. One of them was God's order, and the other, another one was doctrinal definitions. He sent a note back. He said, you know, I got these five books. He said, I read them all.
88 years old, he says. I read doctrinal definition as once.
He says, I'm reading it again. He says it's a fantastic book. I've never known this before. 88 years old. And here he is 88 years old and he's learning the truth of God. He's learning the doctrines of Christianity. There's no excuse for us to be ignorant of the truth of God. And so may we not go on in ignorance. Let's look at one more. And that is really.
In subjection to the authority of the Lord, let's look at Ezekiel.
I think it's chapter 33 and then we'll close.
Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 31.
They came under thee as the people cometh, they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for they who For with their mouth they do show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song, as one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, but they do them not. And so you know the authority of the Word of God should have wait with us. We should really have a desire to bow to the truth of the Word of God, to enjoy it, not only to enjoy what it says and the light that it gives, and the security that we have in the.
Shift that we have and the Father and the Son, but we should really value the truth and thank God for it. I want to ask you a question. Do you thank the Lord every day for the work of salvation? Do you thank God every day for the sun? Do you think the Lord every day?
For the ability to know the truth, to know what it is.
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To be eternally secure, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. There are Christians.
Perhaps even in this city, and they're afraid of losing their salvation. Do you thank the Lord?
Every day for the privilege of being gathered to the Lord's name. We live in a remarkable time. We live in a day when it's possible to practice all of the truth and to know it and to enjoy it, to read about it, and to live for the glory of God just before the Lord's coming. And so may we desire to live that way for His glory.