Address—Bruce Anstey
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Let's begin the meeting this afternoon by singing #294.
O Come, thou stricken Lamb of God, who sheds for us thine own life blood, and teach us all I love. Then pain in life we're sweet and death we're gain #294.
Oh come, thou stricken Lamb of God.
For us I.
Fly.
Nsnoise.
Let's ask God's blessing on His word. Our God and our Father. We look up to the.
And thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, the relationship that we've been brought into through what he did at the cross. May it touch our hearts, affect our hearts, affect our lives, we pray.
Now this prayer hymn that we have sung to Thee, Lord Jesus, may it be the true expression of our hearts. We think of how we want to know and enjoy that I love better and more. Yet our lives seem to reflect that we are not enjoying it as we should. We confess to these that, uh, we have failed in the pathway, and I've not walked as closely as we should have. But this day we asked you that that would give us a fresh recharge reset.
00:05:27
May we set our steps forward because the time is short now. It's coming. We know, and we wanna be Lord Jesus in a good state of soul without us. Give that shout. So we pray for every person here in the audience this afternoon that we would hear words that would lift up our hearts, quicken our pace, Lord Jesus and divine things, and that we would live the last few days of our lives for Thee.
We asked thy help on thy word. Now we ask our God in the name for the glory of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brother Al Coleman told me a story years ago when he was young.
Long before I was born, I think. But anyway, Brother Eric Keating from the assembly where I come from, along with the Lord, now illustrated the brevity of life to young people and children at Sunday school, and he came out with a board.
And it was covered with uh tin foil, and on the board there were 3 candles, one tall candle, and there was a medium sized candle. Then there was a little stubby candle and he lit the candles, had them on fire there before the children.
Then he said, I want you to know that these 3 candles represent a young person, a middle-aged person and an older person and I want you to tell me which ones they are. Well he got a lot of hands and a lot of help. They all wanted to tell him what the answer was. And they all said that the little one would be the young people in the middle-aged, won't be in the older one, would be the the bigger handle would be the older one and he had to tell them that they were all wrong.
The little one represents the old folks, those of us who have been down the path some distance, you know that little candle was once a big candle, but it's Wick is almost all burnt out and it's just got a little bit left to go before it's done under normal circumstances.
That's what happens. But the little, the big candle represents the children, the young people. You got a lot of work to burn if the Lord doesn't come. And you know, my question for us this afternoon is what we're doing with our time, what we're doing with our WIC. We wanna put it that way. Are we just burning it for ourselves, for our own interests? Or are we burning it for the Lord Jesus, for His cause in this world?
Let's look at 2 verses.
2 verses, the first one in Acts chapter 20.
Acts, Chapter 20.
Verse 24 to 27.
None of these things move me, neither can't I myself life dear of unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. And the ministry which thou hast received, I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take unto you record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For all, uh, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God and one other Scripture, to compare Second Timothy chapter one, Second Timothy chapter one.
Verses 11 and 12.
Whereunto I am appointed A preacher and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for which 'cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
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Now I've read these two scriptures.
For comparison's sake, the first scripture that I read had to do with what Paul was doing in what he calls this day.
And the second one that I read has to do with what he was looking forward to in what he calls that day. And so it brings before us this very simple fact that Paul, as he served and lived for the Lord Jesus, had two days before him, and only two days before him. He had this day, and he had that day. He had this present hour and day which he could use for the Lord and serve in whatever way. And he did those things which he did in those days, in that day.
In view of another day, that day, that day of coming glory, when there will be a manifestation of our lives before the whole world. And He lived in view of that. In fact, that day motivated this day in his life. Now He set before us in the Scriptures as a model for us. We learned that from the first chapter of First Timothy. And so I can safely, justifiably ask this question to each one of us.
What are we doing?
In this day, in view of that day, what are we doing with our time, dear young people, in view of the day that's coming, when there's going to be a manifestation of what we've been doing with our lives? You know, Mr. Hayhoe used to tell us a story. He said, you know, each one of us are like making a present in our lives for the Lord Jesus, and he's going to open someday at the judgment seat of Christ. Just think of it in that way. Your life and mine is like a little present that I'm making up for the Lord.
And it's gonna be presented to him at that day, and he's gonna open it. He's gonna see what I thought of him. He's gonna see what my life was really all about, or if he's gonna manifest it because he knows and sees it now.
And I have thought about that a lot, because we can live one way for ourselves and we can live another way for the Lord and for his pleasure.
But uh, the challenge for us today is what are we doing in view of that day? There's a time coming at the judgment seat of Christ when he my name is gonna be called.
And so to speak, I'm gonna go give him that present and he's gonna open it.
He's gonna look at it.
What will he see in my life? What will he see in your life? That was for him. I asked this question for the search our hearts this afternoon because the Bible says First Corinthians Chapter 7. The time is short. The time is short. You said time is not short. I got a big candle on my hands. Under normal circumstances, if the Lord doesn't come or tragedy sets in, in your life, you do have a big candle to burn.
But the time is short and we must live as if we have little time because we do not know the future. We do not know what tomorrow holds. There could very well be many of us here in this audience that will not be here in a few months in this world, because the Lord could have come. That would be all of us, my trust. Or one of us or two of us could have met tragedy in the way of death. So even though we have a candle to burn, that maybe have some considerable.
Length of Wick. We mustn't look at it in that way. We must look at it.
That we have time being short and we need to use it for the Lord Jesus. Now I want to look at three different hindrances that there are in the pathway to living our lives to the Lord. Because there is a conflict that we're involved with. There is a spiritual conflict that every one of us are in. We may not feel the conflict. We may not be even be aware of it. We heard about that last night in the Gospel meeting. But there is a very real conflict and there is a the far the forces of evil.
All right, over our heads vying for our time and for our life and uh, to turn us out of the pathway. And there are three hindrances. I say that I would like to speak about this afternoon that we need to be aware of and know what God would have for us to do to meet those things so that we would not be turned out of the side and have our life wasted on trivial things of this world and of nature and other things that I really don't count for the Kingdom of God.
Before I mentioned some of these these three things, I just like to point out something.
And uh, it's in uh, Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. There's a real touching verse to my heart, and that's, uh, read that together. Luke's Gospel, chapter 24.
00:15:15
You know to to motivate us and to cause us to have conviction and and interest in trying to live our lives for the glory of the Lord Jesus and glory the glory of God requires hearts that have been committed to him and carts that have been touched. And the problem is with many of us is we don't feel the touch of God in our hearts. And so many times we live our lives, many weeks and days, months where we're really living them for trivial things that have no.
Eternal significance. The thought of living for this, living in this day, for that day, brings into the perspective of what is being done for eternity. And I think it's important that we keep that before us. So in Luke's Gospel chapter 24, we know the subject. The subject is these two that are going down the road to a Mass. They're discouraged because what they had thought was going to happen didn't happen, and they were going to go home to their home, any Mass. The Lord met up with them. His eyes, their eyes were holding. They didn't know it was Him, and He opened the Scriptures to them.
And he talked with them, by the way. And what was the result, they say?
Verse 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while we talked with us in the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
You know you want your heart to burn for the Lord Jesus. This is the formula right here. There are two things that were that made their hearts burn, and they mentioned them here. Well, they talked with him and he opened to them the scriptures. In other words, reading and prayer are what will cause our hearts to burn within. Our hearts will be touched and motivated, and they'll be conviction produced by the power of the Spirit of God.
In our lives. And so I can't insist more strongly, dear young people and all of us, that we need to spend more time in the word of God, in prayer with the Lord, talking to him, because the more we take time to be alone with the Lord.
Great things happen. The heart gets burning. There's fire inside.
And it results in devotion of heart and transform lives. And so it's very important that we take time to be alone with the Lord. That's what they were doing. They were just alone with the Lord.
And he opened the scriptures to them. What a wonderful exposition they must have heard. And he talked with them. What a wonderful conversation that must have been. And you know, that's open to us too. In principle. We can talk with the Lord and have the scriptures open. And what a wonderful thing it is to provision that God has given to us in this day. And the results are all good. The heartburn heart is touched. Lives have changed, you see. What about their lives? They turned them right around. They were going the wrong direction.
They returned to Jerusalem, where they where their brethren were, and they found that the Lord was there too. So that's one way in which the Lord touches hearts. And I recommended heartily to each one of you dear young people, do you take time to read your Bible? I don't mean read a few verses, slam it shut. I'm talking about taking time to be with the Lord, to talk to Him. You know, there's a verse that I wanted to get into the Bible reading a child. Now I have the mic. I will do.
I'm just kidding. But uh, Psalm 62. I think it's verse seven or eight. It says pour out thy heart before him. Isn't that a beautiful verse? Just pour out your heart. Well, you know, the Lord loves to hear our hearts being poured out to him. I'll show you a verse in the Bible that says that it's John 20. There was, uh, Mary Magdalene. She was weeping.
Her beloved had been taken away through death, and she was weeping. And what did he say to her woman? Why weeping style, You know, What would he ask that question for? Did he not know what she was waiting for? Of course he did. Why did he ask that question? Because he wanted her to tell him. He wanted her to pour out her heart and to let him know how she felt.
Pour out thy heart before him. Psalm 62.
What a wonderful verse. Let me.
So our hearts will burn if we to spend time with our blessed Lord Jesus. But you know, there's another way in which God makes our hearts, touches our hearts. And I want to turn to that now. And that's enjoyable. Help me find this.
00:20:04
Job, I think it's 23.
Yes, it is job 23 and verse 16.
Job 23 verse 16.
For God maketh my heart soft. Oh, isn't this something? And the almighty trouble is me. Here's another way in which the Lord and God touches hearts of his people. He makes them soft. And when our hearts are soft to become impressionable. And the Lord can impress us and and create change as far as the soul is concerned with evidences and change of life. Maybe you're saying this afternoon that's what I want. A soft heart. Wait a minute.
Read the latter part of the verse. The Almighty troubles me. You know, the way in which He makes our hearts soft many times is through allowing trouble in our lives. I don't say trouble necessarily, because we've done something wrong and we're treading the wrong path. He might very well do that for such a case, even if we're seeking to go on the pathway. The Lord does allow trials and difficulties and troubles to come in through the path. Because He wants to soften the heart. Because He wants to speak to the heart, He wants the heart to receive.
And to get a benefit from it, So everything that's been appointed of God that is allowed in your life and mine is because he loves us and he wants to make our hearts soft and oh wonderful and faithful of a God we have that would take time to order our lives in such a thing. Every single thing that touches your life and mine has been ordered and allowed of a God who loves us and cares for us. And so is it. There's another verse in Psalm 30. It says, As for God, his way is perfect. He doesn't make any mistakes.
And so He uses these two things, I believe, to touch our hearts, to soften our hearts, to make our hearts impression, impress our hearts, that He may speak to our hearts, and lead our hearts after himself. One is reading of the Scriptures and talking to Him in prayer, and the other is the difficulties of life that come into our hands, that we are outside of our circumstances, outside of our ability to control. And he uses those things as well. Take them all, dear young people.
From his hand He does not mean trouble for you for no reason at all, is only because he has some good in the end, You know it says he all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. He has a divine end for your life and it's all good. But there may be some difficulties that he has to engage with to soften the heart, to prepare the heart to receive His word. And what a wonderful faithful God we have Now we have an enemy too.
And the enemy of our souls.
Is trying to interfere with this work and he wants to turn us out of the pathway. And here there are three hindrances that I'd like to point out. The first one is and found in Galatians Chapter 5. Let's turn to Galatians Chapter 5. We'll see this and.
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 7.
You did run well. Who did hinder you, that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that caused you a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that you will not otherwise be minded. But he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Now we have this expression. You did run well. Who did hinder you so I see two things here.
The need and the importance of running the path of faith well.
And then I see something else. I see that there's an adversary that would like to hinder.
And whether you realize that, I'm sure you realize that you heard your brother and say this many times. But there is an enemy in our life that it stands in the path of faith to try to turn us out of the path of faith. And as I say, these things he would like to do to trip us up and to hinder us. And he has had a great success in doing this, Sad to report, but there's no need for him to have a success in your life, because if you follow the principles of God's word, we're going to be preserved.
Unblameably until that day.
The hindrance that I'm pointing at now in Galatians chapter 5 is being hindered doctrinally doctrinally.
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You see what happened here? There was bad doctrine that came in and taught these Galatians Saints things that were wrong, and I let them off track. And the enemy knows that he can use doctrine, bad doctrine, to lead Saints off track. And he did. He had great success. Here wasn't just one assembly, but many assemblies in the province of Glacier were affected by this bad teaching. We find here that it was one individual. Apparently it was doing the teaching because he mentions it in the singular, whosoever he be.
Then he mentions the little 1111 is a whole lump, showing that it can grow.
Then he talks about they showing that others have picked up on this and it became a movement amongst the people of God in that region. And many were stumbled as a result of this. And the apostle had to write this very stern letter to correct things. And so we need to realize that we can be stumbled, we can be turned the other way by doctrinal error, and we need to pay attention to the truth of God and the teachings of scripture. And so I'd like to point out a few things that may help us in regards to that.
And the first thing I want to talk to you about is, umm, the fact that we need to maintain a right state of soul if we're going to read the Scriptures, because we could get LED away by some teacher or teaching or thoughts that we may have that are not right. And so let's turn to First Timothy chapter one, First Timothy chapter one.
And what we're gonna see here, what I wanna take up here is just very briefly to amplify this point of being preserved from doctrinal error. And the reason why it is so important that we get turned preserved from doctrinal error is because doctrine effects our walk. Doctrine, OK, if it's not right, can lead us in the wrong path and get us going the wrong direction. I can remember you listening to a tape one time by Chapter Brown. Now he passed away in 1967 or 8 so you're talking about.
50 years ago, he probably said this, but he said in a word, no. He said, uh, why don't I go with the Baptist to church with them? In a word, doctrine. My doctrine on ecclesiological matters is different than theirs. My doctrine is different. And so I go a different path. And he said, also, you need to believe, right, if you're going to walk, right? And so it has an effect on our walk. And so it's important that we understand that we need to be preserved doctrinally, in fact, almost every person.
That does depart in the past in some way or another, will usually have some doctrine that has got them on that track. Because what happens is, what we're going to see here in First Timothy is that we get into a state of soul that is not good, and then we get the will at work and we wanna do this or that. And then we adjust our doctrine to accommodate our state and our will. And so there's where doctrine can come in and affect or at least support a person's mistaken steps.
First, Timothy chapter one. So I want to just speak of a few principles here that would preserve us from getting off track doctrinally.
First, Timothy, chapter one, verse 19, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith or concerning the faith, have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenaeus, and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn or be taught by discipline not to blasphemy. Here's the first one, and that is a right state of soul. Timothy had been charged by the apostle Paul to lead the Saints in a line of conduct in the House of God, that they may know how to move and walk. It would be pleasing to the Lord, and in accordance to the holiness of God's house.
But before he gets going and what he tells him to what he needs to labor for the Saints, he says you need to take care of your own state of soul first, because you've been called to fight a good warfare. But you need to have a good conscience and a good state of soul if you're gonna fight a good warfare. So Timothy is told to check himself before he used to address his brother. And that's a good state. That's a good thing for each one of us. We do address our brethren publicly, and we address our own state of soul first.
And I find here two things that are necessary for the maintenance of good state of soul, and that is holding faith and a good conscience. Then he goes on to say, and some didn't do that, and they turned aside, the word could be translated, swerved, or made shipwreck concerning the faith.
Two things here are necessary for us to maintain a good state of soul. First of all, holding faith. Now as a general rule in the Bible, when the word faith comes up without the little article the in front of it, it's talking about the inward energy of the soul's confidence and gar in in God. That's a Darbyism.
00:30:12
Let me say that again. Faith is a is the inward energy of the soul's confidence in God. But one of the little articles thus placed in front of faith, It's referring to something completely different. It's not talking about state, it's talking about the the body of Christian truth, the revelation, the faith that was once delivered to the Saints we were to earnestly contend for that. It's Jude, isn't it? Chapter Jude, verse 3. And generally you can see that now.
As we find here is talking about holding faith, So I was talking about our confidence in the Lord, how important that this must be held up, right and simple. But the enemy knows that when we have confidence in the Lord, we will not be moved. Many, many songs that would show us that we will not be moved, our feet will not be moved if we have our confidence here in the Lord. And so that's the very thing he wants to attack. That's the very thing he puts in the crosshairs and says, OK, let's go after this person's faith, let's shake their faith, let's disturb their confidence in the Lord. And the one of the ways in which he does it and he is most successful is by using the circumstances of life to do it.
Or negative or troubling or difficult disappointing circumstances of life come into our path. Very often what Satan will do is move in and say, see what's happening to you, look what's going on and then you may pray about it. You bring it before the Lord and nothing happens because he has his own timetable, which we had in the Bible reading. And you begin to weaken your faith and your confidence. You get troubled and often times we lose faith. We are for confidence in the Lord. Is, is, is, is.
Is compromised and what happens is.
We get discouraged.
And then what happens is we make a step on our own, not by the Lord. Leading of the Lord, we get into something that we know shouldn't have done or whatever, and then we get acquire a bad conscience. So he brings in a second thing here, and he says, and a good conscience. Now maintaining faith is done by holding up the shield of faith at all times. And when these doubts and things that come into trouble, things that troublesome, things that trouble our lives, we need to just hold up the faith and say Even so, Father, for so it seems good, and I sight and not let the enemy get a foothold in our souls of doubting the Lord's ways with us.
As soon as we begin to question the wisdom of God's ways with us, we are going to find.
Our faith be weakened and we're gonna start giving up on the path. And when we give up in the past, we usually turn to something else. Because the heart is like a vacuum. It gets, it doesn't, It doesn't like a vacuum. And something has to be there to replace it. And what happens very often is we reach for something that is outside the path of faith, something of the world, something natural or whatever that we think is gonna provide satisfaction and happiness or whatever in our lives. And we can get on a course in the past. They could lead us out of the will of God altogether.
And the cases here holding faith and a good conscience, How do we hold a good conscience?
By never doing anything wrong, you'll always hold a good conscience. But that's not realistic. We all fail. It says in scripture that we all often offend and we have to own it. And if we're honest before the Lord, we've all failed in some way or another. So how are we going to hold a good conscience? We hold a good conscience by practicing self judgment.
Practicing self judgment is to keep short accounts with God. Keeping short accounts with God keeps the communications open. It keeps us close to the Lord. If we allow something in our lives and we don't confess it to him, now we're going to hold a bad conscience and it will may grow and we can get off track further and further and further. But by holding a good conscience, by practicing, by practicing self judgment, we hold a good conscience. What I'm trying to say, so these things are necessary. But he brought before Timothy.
And they're necessary for us as well, that we would hold faith in a good conscience. And if we don't what's gonna happen is we're going to have happen when here when he mentions, and that is some having put away concerning the faith, have made shipwreck. They swerve from the course concerning the faith.
Now here the letter, there's a little article the I believe should be in there.
Doesn't mention it in Darby's translation, though other translations do, apparently, and so he's talking about swerving from the faith, that is, get off course with regard to the truth.
So what starts is the heart being, uh, affected by not holding our confidence in God, allowing certain things to come into our life without judging it. Then what happens is we accommodate that course that we're on by changing our doctrine, and we veer off course and it could get so bad that we could end up being a blasphemer of the Lord Jesus. These men were true believers, they were in the assembly, and they ended up being blasphemers. When Paul had to excommunicate with his Apostolic power by delivering them unto Satan that they would have been taught by discipline not to.
00:35:22
Last team. I'm not saying anybody may get that far off. We trust the Lord would rescue us from that, getting that far out. But the point of the matter is this and this alone. If we're gonna be preserved from getting into bad doctrine, we need to have a right state of soul. That's all I'm trying to say. Let's move on to another passage that would show us something with regard to being preserved doctrinally as well. First, a right state of soul. Second, second Peter, Chapter one.
Verse 20. I'll run through these rather rapidly because we don't have the time to expand on them like we perhaps could at other times.
First Second Peter, chapter one verse 20. Knowing this first that in prophecy of Scripture that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but by the holy but holy man of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Here's another principle that we need to adhere to if we're going to be preserved be preserved from doctrinal error. And that is simply this.
Contacts, contacts, contacts. He's warning us here that they're and telling us that there's no scripture that has any private interpretation, and that word private is misleading. It should be translated for any particular.
Interpretation. What he's saying is that there are no scriptures that are orphans all by themselves and they have an orphan interpretation.
Scripture will interpret itself, and we interpret anyone verse of Scripture in the light of all the rest of it because it fits as a harmonious whole. Soon as we isolate one passage, come up with a doctrine or an idea that we're fixing that verse, we have to make sure that it matches the rest of Scripture, because the scripture stands as a whole and the Scripture cannot be broken. The Lord said John 10.
And it's important that we get that you know you've heard me say this many times at least young people have that you know when you go and buy a house, the real estate man sits you down and tells you the three most important principles that you need to adhere to when you're buying a house is #1 location, #2 location, #3 location. And when you sit down with your Bible open it is very important that you're here to three great principles and we could bring before you. They are context #1, context #2, and contact number three. You know to tear a text away from its contacts is a pre tax.
And that's what's happening many times when people get ideas that they try to find scripture to support is that they have isolated a passage of scripture from the rest of Scripture. And uh, they think they got something. But the true test is that will IT support the Scripture as a whole. Now, private interpretation, as I said, should be any particular interpretation. That is it that is talking really about an isolation or an isolating of one verse or one passage all by itself from the rest of it. Let me give you a couple examples.
01 Anyway, because we don't have the time to go on any further here, but the the use of the word 11 in Scripture 11 is we've often been taught throughout Scripture symbolizes evil, evil, working whatever way, doctrinally, morally, spiritually, whatever. But there are those that will tell us that the Scripture in first Matthew chapter 13, where the woman hides, 11 in three measures of meal, is a picture of something not evil but something good. And it's like the gospel. I've read this too, and and books of ministry that it's like the gospel.
We, we, we put it in one place and it spreads throughout the whole world. And the gospel will be, will be, will be preached in all every nation, and the whole world will be affected by the gospel because it permeates like leaven throughout everything. Well, it sounds logical, but it doesn't fit the rest of the Scripture. And so because the rest of the scriptures always has the context of evil. And so when we come to that verse in chapter 13 of Matthew, we must put it on our minds that it has to be representing something that would be.
Uh, of a of evil because.
The rest of the tenor of Scripture supports that idea. And when we look at it and that way, we can see what it really speaks to. So it's talking about how the church is bringing in things that were negative, negative and detrimental to the Kingdom of the heavens. He's talking about the introduction of in the restoring of the tears there. He's talking about the introduction of evil persons. And then we get the birds and the follows introduction of evil spirits. And then this is the introduction of evil doctrine. So it's all to do with negative things. If you get the context of the passage, we'll pass on here because we have to.
00:40:24
Continue, but just just to mention how that is important that we can observe context.
No verse in Max chapter.
17.
Acts, Chapter 17.
And verse two, And Paul, as his manner was when when unto them and three Sabbath days, reason with them out of the scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, that this is Jesus, whom I preach unto you is Christ. Here's another point. That is, we need to reason from Scripture. Mr. Hajo Hejo used to often say, don't take your thoughts to Scripture, Take your thoughts from Scripture. We've heard that many, many times.
Over the years and it is a wonderful UH.
Point to make Don't take your thoughts to the scriptures. Take your thoughts from the scriptures. That's what we see here. Paul was doing. He was reasoning, but he says he reasoned with them out of the scriptures. He didn't reason into the scriptures. He didn't come with certain ideas and then reason them into the scriptures. He his reasoning was taken from the scriptures and that's important to see even if I thought that we may have.
Is logical. Does not necessarily mean it passes the grade as being the truth of God in the passage. I was talking to my brother a couple of weeks ago and he has a friend that has been talking to him about the rapture and appearing and so on, and they've enjoyed some things together. Anyway, one of the things that your manager said, and I've met the man too, is that the Lord's coming is like a thief in the night. The rapture is like a thief in the night, he said. And I told him that thereafter as a thief in the night is like is appearing, not the rapture, not the rapture.
And he said, well, I don't know about that. Because, you know, you think of it, you know the Lord's gonna come someday and just like a thief just secretly just show up, nobody's even waiting and watching and just take us away. Well, that's logical, that's thief does come quietly and very suddenly and so on. But the description also could you could say that it wouldn't characterize as a thief as he breaks in and there's destruction and there's uh, plundering and so on.
That's logical too.
But these two logical human thoughts lead two different directions altogether. One might point to the rapture, the other would point more to the destruction. Side of things would be more to the appearing when there's going to be judgment, and so on. But which is right, because you've now come to a fork in the road, and both thoughts are logical, and you're going to come across this as you study scripture well. You must not let human logic be the decider. You must let the word of God be the decider. Turn to the six places in the Bible where the Christ the Lord's coming is looked at as a thief, and you'll get the answer.
I don't have time to turn to it, but I'll just do it from memory here if I can. Starting in Revelation, chapter 16, verse I think 15. He's talked. He mentioned there as being a thief, coming as a thief. The next very verse says, And all the armies of the earth gather themselves together. Armageddon, and he judged them all. Well, does that happen at the Rapture? No. We know that's the period.
OK, move it to another scripture. Matthew 24. It says that he's gonna come as a thief, but he says he comes as the Son of man to be a thief. As a thief. Well, the Lord's coming as the Son of Man is always in scripture, is coming in judgment, His actions in judgment. He acts as a son of man. Always in Scripture He comes as a bridegroom and as the Lord for the Church. But when he comes in judgment in the world, he comes and acts as the Son of Man.
So it could not be that and that scripture and uh. Well, first Thessalonians chapter 5. It tells us that uh.
And I think my brother bought this particular scripture before him. And he said, well, first, Thessalonians chapter 5, where you get them mentioned as a thief. It says sudden destruction shall come upon them. That's not what happens at the Rapture. That's when the Lord comes and judges. But then he said, this is interesting. Yes, but the context is the Rapture because you leave the end of the fourth chapter of Thessalonians. It talks all about the Lord coming for the raptures and read right into the 5th chapter. And so there it is. So then thinking, all right, I like that. But he's thinking not according to scripture because if you look at the passage, you'll find that there is a change in the pronouns, that is the first person plural to the third person plural.
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And you have to see that the end of chapter 4 is really a parenthesis in between what happens in chapter earlier and four and then what happens in chapter 5. What I'm saying about the the change of pronouns is vital to understand that that passage and other passages. What I'm saying is that the apostle speaks in first person, plural, we and us. We're looking for the Lord to come, to take us to heaven and so on, because he places himself among the numbers presently, hoping, waiting for the Lord to come.
But when he's talking about when he comes as a thief in the next chapter and sudden destruction is going to come.
He says they and them he changes to a different class of persons and talks about those who are going to be under that judgment as them and they distancing themselves from the Christian company as opposed to the company that are in this world. And so we need to take pay attention to the change in pronouns. And I find you can find that many, many places in scripture. So I just point that out. If you went to Luke's Gospel chapter 12, it says that his coming as a thief is when he comes from the wedding.
From the wedding, not to the wedding. If it was the Rapture, he'd be taking us to the wedding. We know there's gonna be a the the bridegroom. I see that Bob is turning to it, so I'm gonna beat him to it and we'll turn there. Just read that more carefully.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 12.
Verse 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for the Lord, when he will return from the wedding.
And when he cometh in Narcos, that they may open unto him immediately, Blessed are those services whom the Lord cometh shall find watching gladly, I say unto you, shall gird himself, and make him sit down to meet, and will come forth, and serve them, And so on uh, verse 38 And if he shall come unto the second watch, or come on the third watch, and find them, So blessed are those servants for this know that if the Goodman of the house had known the hour that the thief would come.
He would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken through and so on.
So there you have the thought of destruction again. But isn't it interesting? It comes from the wedding. Now we know there's going to be a a marriage in heaven to our and we're going to be involved with that as the as the bride. But and after the wedding is over, after the marriage takes place in heaven, from Revelation 19, the heavens open the White Horse and then comes forth with the Lord on it to judge this world and so on. So what am I saying now? You're going to come across logical thoughts that miss it.
And there's nothing wrong with being logical. We wanna be logical. But that is not the decider. The decider is the word of God. And so we look at these six places. I don't have time to go any further on this subject, but you're in six different places. Every one of them point to the fact that is to do a judgment, not taking his bride to heaven. And anyway, I mean, you wanna be logical now, won't, don't we? Does any young man come to get his wife?
At a wedding as a as a bridegroom.
As a.
Fee.
Not likely, but there is one passage that you could probably argue for that, and that's Judges 21. Go look there sometime.
Those men went in there and told their wives. Remember that OK, enough.
First Corinthians chapter six, chapter Two First Corinthians, chapter 2.
Verse 12 and 13 For we have not we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit of witches of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which men's wisdom speaketh, but that which.
Is taught by the Holy Ghost. Comparing. The word comparing should be translated communicating spiritual things with by spiritual means. I point to raising this is that uh, when God inspired the apostles to write the scriptures, he gave them very words to write.
And they were inspired words of God. And the use that God has in those words are not always the use that we use in in modern English or even. And so we need to observe the fact that Scripture has its own dictionary, if I could put it that way. And we need to understand that some of the terms that we come across are not just the way we use them in common vernacular.
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It's important to see that those who deny the eternal sonship of Christ.
Will tell us that he could not have been a son in eternity past, because son has the thought of generation, has the thought of the junior of the father, and therefore inferior. Inferior It would be making him inferior for all these last prostaternity. Surely that would be wrong because we know there were equal persons in the Godhead and so they want to deny that, not understanding that the word Son is often used in scripture not to denote generation but to denote essence being of the same essence. John 5 verse 18 we had in the meetings already when the Jews knew that he said, ah, he was the Son of God.
They knew that he was making himself equal with God because the Son is often used in Scripture to denote essence.
And it's mentioned many times in that way, not just in connection with the Lord Jesus, for instance.
The son of Perdition, the sons of Belial Borbilio, doesn't mean the Belial actually had procreated these group of people and they were, they're his sons by natural birth or anything. He's been talking about that. It means that they were of the same essence of him. And there are many other places that we could turn to to show the sun is used in that way. And so to plug that in and think, oh, there couldn't be eternal Son because.
Sun is generation all the time is to misunderstand the use of the word sun, and scripture itself denotes that first born is another one. We often think of first born a person being born first in a in a family and birth order. But it's not always birth order. In scripture it often is used to denote something completely different, preeminence and being first in rank. That's even used in connection with the Lord Jesus be only begotten. It doesn't have anything to do with the with being born.
Uh, congenitally, it's talking about one who is dearly beloved to the one who has begotten them. The emphasis is on the only dear, dear one not being begotten. Many other passages I could turn to to show that Adoption. We think of adoption. Yeah, you go down to the adoption agency and pick out a child and you can, after a lot of headaches and uh.
Pennsylvania paper and all that. You can actually choose a child and bring it into your family, but God doesn't use the word adoption in that way. And if you're gonna use those things in Scripture, you're gonna come up with wrong ideas.
Adoption in God's way of using it in the New Testament is really an upgrading in the family to a favorite position that the other members of the family don't have. And the church has seen the end of the adoption of the Spirit. We have a favorite place in God's family.
Then from all the others. So enough on that. But just to realize that we need to understand that scripture has its own terms. We must interpret scripture.
From scriptural terms and we need to rightly divide the word of truth. We're running out of time. But you know that verse in Second Timothy Chapter 2, it says rightly divide the word of truth. That is so very important because we're going to come across to something which is Bible teachers call standing in state. If you don't understand the difference in standing in state, you're gonna get totally confused because you need to rightly divide between what is what. Some places in the Bible were told that we're holy. Another one tell us be holy. Well, you say what am I? What's going on here? Sounds like it's contradicting.
Am I holy or do I have to be holy?
Well, one is to do a standing, the other is to do a state. And I could go on and on giving you verses and and subjects that would show how that there is a difference between standing and state in scripture and we need to observe that won't go any further with that.
Avoid personal preconceived ideas. Example that comes to mind with that would be, uh, baptism. Many Christians have the idea that baptism is a demonstration of the person's faith.
And the Lord Jesus. And so they gather people together, and they have a baptism where?
A person can show his faith to others and show that he's identified himself with the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, when you bring that to some scriptures, you're going to have to do something to make it fit, and that is to infer things into scripture. Because you have a preconceived notion. You turn to Acts chapter 16. You'll find that Lydia's household was baptized and the jailer's house was baptized. So you're going to have to infer that the Muslim people, other than the Lady of the God that believed because they were baptized them all. And according to this doctrine, if you reverse engineer the thing.
That's according to this doctrine. If it's true, then they would have to have other believers there. It's better to leave scripture in scriptural position and not to infer things into many other scriptures I could give to you that would show that it's dangerous to infer by preconceived notions and ideas. We can't help it. I remember talking to a person one time about being a clergyman and he said, what are you talking about? The Bible talks about pastors and of course he's talking about the verse and Ephesians chapter four. Well, that's true.
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But I told him the word pastors in the Bible. But the what they've made that into is a clergyman is not found in the scripture. So we have to understand that just because words are found there doesn't necessarily mean that what men have made them into attaching their own human reason meanings to them is in scripture. Mr. FB Hole told us that theological terms very often.
Our man takes and empties the terms of scripture of all their scriptural and meaning and fills them with man made ideas and then present them to us. And so we read about different things like pastors and the other topical topics and they've attached different meanings to it. Well, you're never gonna get the truth if that's the way you handle the scriptures. It's dangerous. And remember this too. You're never gonna understand all the scriptures.
Learn to park scriptures that you don't understand and leave it for time.
When the Lord will short you later, You know, don't let the things that you do enjoy spoil the things that you don't understand. Don't let the things you don't understand spoil your enjoyment. Other things you do understand. I've got many things I don't understand. I'm sure many of them here. One of them I'm thinking about is it's always wondered about this too, you know, help me with this. But I've never understood well what's gonna happen at the Rapture since we've been Speaking of that to pregnant women. What's gonna happen if a woman's pregnant? The Lord gives a shout.
This I don't know. I'll leave it with the Lord.
There's gonna be a birth in heaven.
I don't know. We live with the Lord. There's many, many questions we have. We have to leave with the Lord. I don't lose sleep over it, but I'm just saying you can't get all your questions answered now. Don't let the mind get at work. And the things of God is essentially what I'm trying to say. Now that's the first thing that we're talking about here. That would be a hindrance. Hindrance doctrinally by these principles not being adhered to. Now in the next 3 minutes I'm going to tell you the other two things we could we have to be careful not to be hindered with, and that is.
Family and friends, you turn to Genesis 24.
And we'll find that word comes up again, and it's in connection with Rebecca going with Isaac to A to where Isaac was Genesis 24.
And verse.
55 and 56 And her mother, and her brother, and her brother and her mother said, let the damsel abide with us a few days at least 10, and after that she should go, or 10 full months, the margin says, And he said unto them, hinder me, not hinder me, not now. The hindrance here is that of family and friends, companions. They can get in the way and hinder you. You know the call here. The bride Well, they were going to try to get her to stay home for 10 months.
And they interfere with this. And he said, hinder me not. And so when the Lord is moving in your soul, you want to please him, you want to live your life for him. There's gonna be family and friends that could come in if you have connections with people that may not have the same interests that you do, and they may be and they will be a hindrance. Now one last scripture and that's Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse one. Wherefore seeing we also are accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin or sin which does easily beset us. And that word beset could be translated hinder, The word beset could be translated hinder. So dust easily doth hinder us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Now here we have something else and that is.
Being hindered by weight and sin. We've heard in the meetings that sin here is the sin of unbelief and weights would be anything that's not necessarily a positive sin, but just something that is not superfluous. It's not something that we really even need in our lives at all, but it's something we have. It could take the form of a recreation, it could take the form of a hobby, it could take the form of anything. I'm not saying you can't have a hobby or recreation, We need exercise and so on. But I'm saying if it gets to the point where it captivates my mind and I become enslaved to it, and I started to think it good morning, noon and night.
It's become a waste. And what are you supposed to do with the weight? He says. Lay aside the weight, Mr. Hajo said. There's three definitions of what, whether you have a weight or not, You can do the test on yourself and find out whether you have a weight in your life, he says. First of all, you'll find just you find yourself arguing for it.
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You're Secondly, you're uneasy about it. And thirdly, you go around looking for some more godly, more spiritual, more intelligent, more doctrinally astute brother than you are to tell you that it's OK if you do that in your life. You gotta wait.
Now let's pray. Father, we thank you for this the time together with the word open. And you think of these three hindrances to the path of faith. We pray for these dear young people that they would be motivated to live their lives for thee and they would be preserved from getting off into doctrinal lab. They've been preserved by influence of friends. That would be negative. And they would be preserved from allowing weights to get into their life to the point where it distracts them from falling. The Lord Jesus. We commit them to Thee. We thank you for our time together here this afternoon. We ask this our God in the name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus.
Amen.