Address—Don Rule
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84.
We hear the words of love.
We gaze upon the blood.
We see the mighty sacrifice and we have peace with God.
We change, he changes not.
Our Christ can never die.
His love not ours, the resting place we on His truth rely. We know He liveth now at God's right hand above. We know the throne on which He sits. We know His truth and love number 84.
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Let's turn first to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews, chapter 13.
And verse 8.
Jesus Christ.
The same yesterday.
And today?
And forever.
Back to Hebrews chapter one.
And verse 12. Hebrews 112.
As the Vester, thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed.
But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
And uh, back to the last book of the Old Testament to Malachi chapter 3.
Malachi Chapter 3.
And verse 6.
For I am the Lord.
I change not.
As an introductory remark, I want to comment that.
God's doing a work in this room.
In each one of us.
And I want to encourage you.
To make the work as easy for him as you can.
He's been at work for several thousands of years.
And at times the work has been very difficult.
But God is very persistent. He doesn't give up.
And, umm, he's not gonna give up, whether it's easy or hard, but at least I wanna give you the encouragement this afternoon to.
Give God, uh, as easy as it can be.
Uh.
So try to keep that in mind.
Couple of days ago came across in my in basket the following postcard. Probably you can't all see it, but some of you might be able to see it.
Make a change for good.
I misread it. It was lying there at an angle to me and because much of what comes on my in basket has something to do with spiritual things, I misread it to read Make a change for God.
Make a change for God. And that was the germ perhaps that the Lord allowed as to what the remarks are going to be this afternoon started to muse on that a little bit and what came before me is given in the verses that we read.
And that has to do with the character of God.
He never changes.
He has been the same forever.
He is the self existent unchanging one and in fact the name of God in the Bible is the same.
Thou art the same.
Totally never changing.
Solid complete the same.
If you're dealing with God about a matter and somebody has to change.
You might remember that.
He is unchanging.
Unchangeable.
Forever the same.
And his son also, Jesus Christ the same.
Yesterday, today, and forever.
I trust we will see why that's an encouragement.
So and it says make a change.
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That's you.
That's me.
There's change needed. There's change going on. In contrast to God, man is a constantly changing creature.
You were not the same this afternoon as when you came in this room this morning.
And you will not be the same tonight when you go to bed that you are right now.
Your life is constant change.
Like it or not, it's the fact man is a changeable creature and he is constantly.
Changing.
And I want to encourage you, since you're constantly changing and God is affecting some of that change, again, I say make it easy for them.
Don't make it difficult for God.
I want to put before you three things.
That God is going to do with your life.
Absolutely going to do with your life.
Whether it's hard for him or easy for him, he's going to go to the end. He doesn't change. He purposed these three things before he ever created the world.
And in the end, he's going to have the result of what he says purpose concerning you.
We'll look at them.
Those three things are this.
Number one.
You are going to trust God.
Absolutely, completely without the tiniest amount of unbelief.
#2.
You are going to love your brethren.
That may seem strange, but we'll look at it.
The number 3.
You are going to be like Christ.
You wanna call it your destiny? It's your destiny.
You're going to trust God.
You're going to love your brethren.
Perfectly is what I mean by that.
And you're going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you want to call it a joy, set before you. If you St. those things as joy, I do.
Think of what's set before you.
Is that not a joy to your heart? Is that not encourage your soul? I'm going to trust God.
I'm going to love perfectly those in relationship to myself, my brethren.
And I'm going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the joy in one sense that I'm going to this afternoon say God sets before you.
Let's turn to Hebrews again, Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse six. But without faith it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Faith is necessary to please God.
God created you and me as creatures that he could have fellowship with, and the only way that relationship can be maintained properly is by faith.
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Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
Adam and Eve.
The route.
Beginning of the problems that God had with man was unbelief.
Satan tempted them.
To undermine their faith in God.
Successfully did it.
And as a consequence.
They disobeyed.
And they had to be separated from God, and man became a wanderer and a Vagabond in the earth.
He was lost without God. There is no guide. No, he's not capable of directing his own steps in a meaningful, profitable way. The world is full of lost people. Not just lost in the sense that they aren't saved, but they're lost, period.
They have no moral center to their lives. They wander from this to that, to the other, to seek to find some kind of satisfaction, something that endures, something that makes life worthwhile, and so on. But their very nature, by the very nature of their condition, their loss. Man is lost because of what he is. He's a Sinner because what he's done.
Without faith, man's lust because only God.
Can direct his steps.
In a path of O happiness, obedience, satisfaction to God and man.
And God has been working ever since.
On that problem.
And I speak to you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ when I say these things are your destiny. If you're not a believer, then these words, this message in that sense can't apply to you.
But it is the intent and purpose of God that everyone of His creatures who remains before Him for eternity is put into that state of perfect.
Unquestioning faith and obedience.
About it.
If I can put it this way.
You wanna go this way and God says we're going that way.
I encourage you.
As the world would say, let go and let God, or not the world. But people often say let go and let God. This is the way it's gonna end up.
Trust in God.
The encouragement of us is.
Let's get in the program.
Let's not make it more difficult for God. Let's not resist His work.
Let's accept it. Let's embrace it.
Let's leave it.
We don't. We ought to be growing in it.
We may say I'm imperfect. We are.
But life is more difficult.
When we're struggling against the purposes of God.
It makes it harder, it makes it more difficult for us and for God.
But it's a happy thing, if you could, to use the world's way of saying it, if we could get on the same page.
In our hearts and in our lives and God says this is where we're going with this matter. And when we know the finished, the product is done, the work is done with God, then he will have brought us into that condition in which we trust him absolutely, completely and never mistrust him again.
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He will sustain us.
In that condition, we thank him for that.
Turn over to 1St John.
Chapter 3.
First John chapter 3 and verse 9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin.
For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest in the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that ye should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother.
And wherefore slewing him, because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous?
Marble knot, my brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
When man sinned, he became a selfish, self-centered creature.
May 1St.
Life's about me.
And when Cain saw his brother do something that was acceptable to God, and he did something, and God did not accept it.
There was a jealousy there, an envy there perhaps.
And when there is jealousy and envy, it leads to anger.
Anger is often a manifestation of hidden sin. You see somebody angry, it's often the manifestation of something at work in their soul that is not of God.
And he slays his brother. He didn't love him, he was his brother, but his anger of himself having the greater place resulted in.
The death of his brother.
That characterizes man. He doesn't love his brother in the way that God wants.
And God has stopped seeking love from man for his brother.
The fact that he doesn't do it is proven by the law. The law had two basic foundations to it. If you did these two things, you would fulfill all the commandments of the law as it the moral commandments of the law.
Love God with all your heart and love your brother as yourself.
Van isn't capable of that in his natural condition.
And as part of God's answer and part of God's purpose to the matter, is he.
Sent his son into the world.
Sun dies on the cross.
And as a result of that, God is free to start giving gifts according to the gifts, the desires of his own heart, and to accomplish His purposes. And one of those gifts is the gift of righteousness. Another of those gifts is the gift of eternal life.
Which is the life of Christ.
Which is a life that loves.
One's brother.
And in fact, the way John presents it, it's the very display or evidence, if you might say, that there's life there.
When one truly, properly loves his brother, it's a it's an evidence that he has life, eternal life.
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But it's hindered.
By the flash, and so it isn't always manifesting itself.
And God doesn't want us to wait until heaven.
To live it out properly.
And so I encourage you.
And myself.
Make it a point.
To love your brother.
I sometimes wonder news why it's his brother versus your neighbor.
Under the law, it was loving the neighbor.
But the commandment to you and I is love your brother.
And I think one of the reasons is it's one of the more difficult tasks of a believer's life.
It's a real challenge the closer you are in relationship to someone else.
The more challenging it is to live that truth out.
Sadly, sometimes people find it so difficult they separate.
For that very reason, they may give some other reason outwardly, because that isn't a very acceptable one, but the truth of the matter is sometimes their separations between brothers in the faith.
Because of coming short.
And loving one's brother.
The root failure of the church is that.
God left the church in the world to display his own heart.
Of love.
An emphasis.
Failed to display that love.
And God said as a testimony for me in the world, if you fail in that, I will have to put you aside as a Candlestick. And all other failures in the church came after that. And from that really.
So I want to encourage you this afternoon.
Yes, we might say, of course I love my brother.
But do you love him? Does Christ loves him in the full measure?
If not.
God's working on you.
God's working on you.
He's going to maybe make your brother rub you the wrong way.
He may put you in a position where your brother has a need.
Because he wants to develop in you the practical reality of what it is.
To love your brother.
And when he finishes his work, you will.
Perfectly, completely, and forever.
But let him, let him have an easy way with it in your life now.
Turn over to Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. For we know that all things work together for good.
To them that love God.
To them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.
To be conformed to the image.
Of his son.
We don't always couple the two verses together.
Let's think about them a little bit together this afternoon.
We say all things work together for good.
God has a purpose in all things that are working together in your life.
He wants them to work together.
To make you like his Son, like Christ.
Do we accept all things?
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Do we embrace the difficult, the trial, the persecution, the whatever it may be? That's on what we think of as negative in contrast to the positive, the good things?
God's a perfect Workman.
You aren't going to be like Christ if all goes well.
In your life.
That isn't going to fulfill His purpose concerning you and me. He is working those things of life.
With an object before him, with an intent to fulfill the desire of his own heart concerning you.
And me.
And so he says I'm working everything out for good.
Because I have decided.
Back in the past eternity that I was going to make you conform to the image of my son.
I'm satisfied, perfectly satisfied with him. I find delight in him.
And as I love to say, it's enjoy it every time I think about it. Brother Clem Buchanan used to say God is so satisfied with his Son that he wants heaven to be filled with people that are just like him.
And so he's working on that.
Are you?
Are you is that what are you working on that too?
Are you and God working together toward the same end? Turn over to Back to First John chapter 3 again.
John chapter 3 and verse 2, beloved.
Now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be.
But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him.
For we shall see him as he is.
Every man that hath this hope in him.
Purifieth himself even as he is pure.
In other words.
We're conscious that we aren't there yet.
We're conscious in ourselves that we're not perfectly like him.
But if that is honestly and sincerely and truly the hope of our life, we are exercised as we use that word. We are active in our lives to do that and not to do the other, which would contribute to being more like him.
He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he Christ is pure. And so there is that exercise.
To produce that end result.
Are you, can I say, a fellow laborer with God on the matter?
Is it a project that the two of you have together? We know the end of it. We know the result of what's going to happen. Are we making it more difficult or are we making it easier for God to accomplish that purpose, which He will without question is going to accomplish in our lives?
Mm-hmm. God has ways of working with us to.
To accomplish these purposes, we're not going to go very far down that, but I'll make a few comments about them, two of them.
Are discipline and government.
Discipline and government.
We have in the chapter before us, which we'll get into in its details and.
Hebrews chapter 12 is discipline.
What does he discipline us for?
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He wants to make us practically partakers of His Holiness. He wants us to be like Christ.
And we all who have been parents or our parents know what it is to train our children to a certain end result. We're not very good at it sometimes. We're not like God in his perfection, but nonetheless, at least in desire and objective and activity, it's toward that end. A parent has a certain desire for a child to produce a certain end result in them, to train them.
And uh, so there's discipline.
Not appreciated very often by the child until later, but nonetheless necessary. And so it is in our lives.
It's a lot more enjoyable to train an obedient or child that will listen than a child that's constantly fighting. So I just put it before you. It says you're a child of God, are you fighting?
Or are you submitting?
To the training.
He's not going to give up on you.
He's not going to change his mind about you. He's not going to say you're worthless. I give up on this one and put it aside. He will not do that. He decided on your future before he ever created the world.
And he's going to stick with the project, if I can call it that, until it gets to its proper and full and satisfying end.
But you can, you should, I can. I should desire that the process be a straightforward as possible.
God introduced government.
To control a world, there was no government in this world, and from Adam to Noah, government wasn't instituted in the world till Noah came out of the ark.
And, uh, he said. I, I'm, as it were, I'm putting government into the world to restrain it.
And if you kick against God in the training program?
And to use an athlete's expression, no pain, no gain. You, you, you're gonna go through some pain in growing to the conformity of God's will. But at the same time, there is a government of God. And if we refuse the training?
We will find ourselves under the government, the restraint of God, and that's even more painful.
Comment. We're passing it in Hebrews 12, but it spikes about in the new translation sin that entangles us, and it was commented particularly the sin of unbelief.
That makes the job of God more difficult sometimes, but necessary if necessary goes that way with us.
Sin entangles the life.
It entangles the life. It makes it more difficult.
Don't entangle your life and make it more difficult for God to fulfill His will.
But we we get entangled.
Abraham got entangled when his faith failed him and he went down to Egypt.
And his life was more complicated, really the rest of his life in many ways because of that.
Just, uh.
Few more remarks really.
Umm.
Look at First John chapter 2.
Verse 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him, that is, from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men.
Because you're strong in the Word of God, abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but as of the world and the world and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
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This very briefly gives before us three things that hinder and make difficult the work of God.
And that we need to recognize our hindrances to this path that we are on that God has put us on. There are three things particularly that are working against God and His purpose.
One is the world, one is Satan.
And one is your flesh.
They all oppose.
Man, in his natural condition, constantly opposes God's. Whatever God wants to do, man doesn't want it. That's why it says he's an enmity against God. And the flesh in US. Well, we're not at enmity against God as beings anymore. The flesh in US will never conform.
And Satan uses it.
He set up a whole system of things called the world, and he manipulates man.
Through it, to hinder, to stop if he can, the purpose of God.
So be be aware, be aware. I can put it this way, the Lord says to you.
I have a yoke for you.
He's a more experienced one in carrying a yoke than you are.
Either yoke, you have to learn. Will you accept in your life? My yoke, Let's go through life together. I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
But except my yoke, and let's go through life together in a common yoke. And when there is the tests that come from the world, the flesh and the devil, let's go through it together.
As yoked together.
Don't. Don't fight it.
Embrace it.
Don't say I gotta have my way.
It's it's just doesn't do any good.
It just makes life miserable.
And it doesn't stop God from his purpose, it just makes his work harder.
And as to this life, it makes yours more miserable.
Then if anything else.
And so I encourage you, be encouraged with God's purpose for you.
To make you fully trust him.
To make you love your brother without any failure in it.
And to make you like his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's your destiny.
That's his present work for you.
And uh, I just encourage you.
Let him do it as easy as possible.
They'll make it hard or then it has to be.