Open—John Kemp
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Shall we see 200 and 85285?
The glorious light of courts above, joy for the Saints below, to us still manifest. Thy love that we adapt may know.
285.
Jesus, I had one.
It's crowned with glory now.
Let's try all the way again by the doors almighty.
Proud.
Where all the restraining wherefore it's great and speaking.
To the Lord bless.
Ed him, God understands him and heaven.
President Blower rings alone in the night and, well, I know where I'm very glad.
I'm not going to speak.
For any length of time.
I'm going to speak on a scripture.
And I don't think you've heard spoken on before.
At a conference.
But it's the word of God.
It may sound strange to you.
But it's the word of God.
And.
The lips of the Lord spoke this Luke 16.
The Lord gives some moral principles here.
That are important.
Not so much concerning.
Our spiritual blessings.
But concerning concerning our material possessions.
You know, the Lord is has claims upon us individually because of redemption. We should be willing to dedicate our lives to the Lord voluntarily willing to surrender our lives to him. That's Romans chapter 12. Maybe we'll speak a word on that later.
Could call that dedication.
There's also consecration, when the Lord puts something into our hands.
To to use for Him. Dedication is when we put something into the Lord's hands to be used for His glory.
00:05:11
And he said on Luke 16. And he said unto his disciples, there was a certain.
Rich man which had a steward.
And the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it?
That I hear this of thee.
Give an account of thy stewardship.
For thou mayest no longer be steward.
Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do?
For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship.
I cannot dig to bathe. I am ashamed. I am resolved.
What to do that when I am put out of the stewardship?
They may receive me into their houses.
So he called everyone.
Of his Lord's debtors unto him.
And said unto the first, How much OS thou unto my Lord?
And he said in 100 measures of oil.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write, 50.
Then set it to another.
And how much OST thou? And he said in 100 measures of wheat.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write 4 score. And the Lord, This is not the Lord Jesus. Here the Lord commended the unjust steward.
Because he had done wisely.
For the children of this world.
Are in their generation.
Wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.
That when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful, and that which is least.
Is faithful also in much.
And if therefore you have not.
Been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon.
Who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's.
Who shall give you that which is your own?
Well, I think we all know the context of this parable that the Lord is giving.
This unjust steward was accused of wrongfully using his Lord's goods. He was dishonest.
He was not faithful.
The writing was on the wall. He was going to be dismissed.
From his.
Occupation there.
But you know, he still had control of the funds of his master's.
Possessions and.
He was in, he was in charge of the money and he had certain people who owed, who had debits to their account and.
He began to devise the plan.
I know I'm going to lose my job.
I don't want to be out there digging.
I don't want to be on the street panhandling looking for money.
Here.
You owe your Lord $100.
Forget that.
Just sit down and say it's settled for $50 another man, 8080 dollars. Don't worry about that. I'm in charge of the finances of my Lord. I'm not yet dismissed. So sit down and write 80 and we'll call it a deal. We'll we'll market paid.
It's it's settled.
And so.
Of course, his debtors were quite pleased with this.
00:10:05
This plan that he was carrying out.
But you know what was at the bottom of it? He says.
I'm going to be without a job.
I won't have an income and.
These people that I have graciously reduced their their liabilities.
They'll be my friends when I meet them on the street.
They'll greet me. Oh yes, I remember you. You did me a good favor. You saved me $50, which I couldn't afford.
All right, he's going to have friends.
When he loses his job because he's going to lose his job for sure, he's been dishonest.
But he looks on to the future.
He looks on to the time.
When he will need some.
Some financial or temporal help?
Because he's going to be.
Dismissed or we say fired and what's he going to do?
Well, you see the point of the parable.
The Lord goes on to make a remark here. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.
That's I think the.
A term for the God of wealth, but the Lord uses it here in this sense. Make to yourselves, friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, really it's when it fails.
Ye may be received into everlasting habitations.
So all this the Lord is applying this the mammon of unrighteousness, let's put it plainly, is money.
And usually when people have money, they use it unrighteously.
If they have a lot of money, beware, there's not always honesty.
But you know, we can make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.
That's that's the temporal.
We might say the temporal.
Financial assets that we might have that could apply to other things.
What I'm going to speak of it in a broad application.
The Lord refers here to money. I would say this if you have money.
It doesn't belong to you, Belongs to another man. This is what the Lord says here. It belongs to another man.
So how are we using what the Lord has entrusted to us?
We have eternal blessings, forgiveness, eternal life. We have been speaking about a home in the glory, the companionship of the Lord down here in our pathway, if we are obedient and dependent, we have the Word of God. We have the high priestly work of Christ, we have his advocacy, we have the fellowship of our.
Brethren that we're enjoying this weekend.
All of these things are spiritual blessings that we can enjoy. But what about our pocketbooks? What about?
What the Lord has entrusted us with.
I said I would speak in a broad, broad character here. Certainly money is one of them.
If you have financial assets, the Lord has blessed you.
And he's given you that money, first of all, to provide for your family.
If any man provide not for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. So the first responsibility of a father is to provide what is needed for his family.
Not to give it to the Lord, not to put it into the collection box.
What is needed for the maintenance of his household?
00:15:00
But we all have more than we really need.
And why don't we send it up ahead?
We're not going to take us with us into the grave.
We're not going to take one ***** not $1.00 with us into the grave. Why not send it ahead? Why not have some treasure up there in heaven?
How we use what the Lord has given to us is important.
That's making friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. We'll meet it up there.
A treasure in heaven that fadeth not.
Or you say that's living for the Lord and following him. That's true, but it also applies in the temporal realm. I think this is where the Lord is explaining it here in our chapter.
And it's a privilege to know that we can use.
The mundane, the temporal things which the Lord has entrusted to us. It could be money, it could be possessions, it could be our home, it could be our car. It could be.
Our time, it could be our abilities, it all belongs to the Lord.
We're just stewards. The Lord has given it to us. You have a gift to ministry. Well, don't boast about it. It's it's been given to you by the Lord. We could look in First Corinthians 4. He has given us that. Use it for the benefit.
Of the people of God.
And what about our time? How much of it do we waste? I'm afraid I have to bow my head here and own that I waste time.
One golden hour set in, 60 diamond minutes lost, could never be found. It's gone.
So our time is a valuable commodity.
While they speak in the world, time is money.
But now we have a new master.
And we're not beating. We're not.
We're not.
Following the drum of Satan, who would say?
And the educational system. I was in education myself. The educational system, the philosophy is.
Do what you want to do. If you have an ambition, a pursuit, don't let anything stand in the way of it. Go ahead. You have the ability. Please yourself. Do what you want.
You're your own master and.
Everyone will will praise you. Men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. Psalm 1949.
I can remember that verse being.
Repeated by brother HE hayhole time and again men will praise thee, if thou doest well to thyself that Psalm 49 you better, you better read the book verse so that we have it here. The end of Psalm 49.
It says.
Well, while he lived he blessed his soul. And men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. Man that is in honor and understandeth not notice these words is like the beasts that perish.
There is man without Christ. He lives for himself. He enjoys all the pleasures that his money can give him.
And he's not responsible to anyone.
But he is responsible to God.
For what he does with what God gives him.
Like the prodigal son, he was responsible for the goods that were put into his hands. What did he do? He wasted them in riotous living with women and wine until he had nothing. He was bankrupt.
But he was responsible for what was given to him. So are we.
But now on the positive side.
00:20:01
God wants us to have a reward in that coming day.
It's going to be the Lord's delight.
To give.
Rewards a probation for what is done for him. It may be something small.
Remember, the Lord said Mary did what she could and.
If we use what the Lord has given us.
For His glory, to promote His eternal interest down here.
That's the lesson we learned from the unjust Stuart. The Lord commended him. He says you're smart, you knew you were going to get fired and you prepared for the future.
Are we in the same in the same way?
Living in view of eternity? Or is this world, as far as we lift our eyes, the horizon of this world? Are we, like Lot, Lot separated from Abraham? He went into the great, the cities of the plain, picked up a woman there.
Drifted closer to Sodom, a wicked city that the Lord was going to destroy.
There he settled. He became a judge. He sat in the gate. What testimony did he have in Sodom? None whatever.
God was going to destroy the city. Abraham in communion, he pled with God, if there be 10 Lords, will you destroy the city? The Lord said no, if there are 10 I won't destroy it. He was thinking all the time of Lot, but there wasn't 10 righteous in the city of Sodom, so Lot will have to be pulled out.
He had to be pulled out of the city and his two daughters with him and his wife.
When he when he tried to be a testimony to his sons, they laughed at him. What's wrong with our father? He's trying to make this city, he's whitewashing this city, and he's speaking now with being destroyed. There's something he's demented.
But he wasn't.
God pulled him out, the angels took him by the hand, and they had to pull him out of the city of Sodom. And you know what happened? God's fire and brimstone came down on that wicked city for their gross immorality. What's going on today?
That's what God thinks of sin.
Anyway, the point I'm making, or trying to make is that there's a reckoning day coming.
And if those things that the Lord has graciously given to us, we're responsible.
What we do with what God has given to us.
And the reckoning day will come.
And the judgment seat of Christ.
There will be a review, a manifestation of our lives, and there will be rewards given at that time. Now, we've often been told it's not a motive for service. True, it isn't. But it is an incentive to know that what we do for the Lord will remain. It will go on into eternity.
Either doeth the will of God abideth forever, there it will not be lost.
What we do, what sacrifice we make for the Lord.
Like the sisters have in the conference here, it's going to be rewarded. It's in the Book of Remembrance, and someday that Book of Remembrance will be opened up. There is your page and there is your name on that page.
And there is what you have done for the Lord.
When you say I've forgotten a lot of what I've done, maybe you don't need to worry about that. The Lord does not forget our work and labor of love. He has it all recorded.
00:25:05
A cup of cold water is not a very big gift, a reward for that.
A cup of cold water, that little.
Help that you give to a soul that's sinking under.
Depression or discouraged, Oh, Satan, I think the greatest, the greatest weapon that Satan has, brethren, is discouragement. We often connect, connect Satan with as a roaring lion, you know, and in some countries in northeast India, that's the character he's showing, he's a roaring lion.
We don't see that so much in these countries.
But you know, Gordon Hales once said to me, he said, I believe that Satan as the roaring lion is when he discourages the Saints of God. It was a little different. It was a little new to me. The more I thought of it, the more I agreed with him.
If he can discourage you in the assembly where you are.
And lead you away. We've had it happen in Nepean, we've had it happen here.
He has accomplished His purpose. He doesn't want you to be gathered to the Lord's name on scriptural grounds. He doesn't want you to follow a scriptural order in your apparel and in head coverings and so on. He doesn't. The thin edge of the wedge is in there, and discouragement is one of His successful weapons.
Because if he can discourage a child of God, I speak for myself. I don't want to do any gospel work, Ben. I just want to sit and nurse my wounds.
And.
Discouragement.
Comes from Satan, doesn't come from the Lord.
He doesn't, as Jim Highland used to tell us. Have you got fears? They don't come from the Lord, they come from Satan. Anyway, I was going to speak on just three aspects, and then I'm finished.
Turn over to Hebrews chapter 13.
We're familiar with these verses, but I'll just make a few comments on them.
Hebrews 13 and verse 15. By Him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Here's the first sacrifice I want to speak about.
Giving thanks to his name.
We did that this morning. Our brother read that verse, giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life.
We should be a thankful people from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed. We think of all the mercies of the Lord day by day, but also we contemplate the cost of our redemption, how much the Lord loved us to go down into the deep waters of death and judgment.
Surely that should bring forth praise from these redeemed hearts. It says here by him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God just on Lords Day morning. That's what it says.
Continually.
You are gathered to the Lord's name seven days a week. You are in the House of God all the time.
You're never out of it.
And so this should characterize our lives. Alas, I have to bow my head and say it's it doesn't always characterize mine, But this is an exhortation here to give thanks to the Lord Mary. She poured out that ointment on the Lord. That's a picture of praise.
And Thanksgiving, all the disciples looked on critically, especially Judas.
You would like to have that money that was in that ointment, that alabaster box. He would like to have had the money that he could gain from that. And all the disciples said the same. But the Lord spoke up for Mary. She hath. Wherever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this act of Mary shall be told as a memorial of her.
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Sisters say, what part have we got in the in the?
Assembly, we can't speak. No, you don't speak. That would be disobedience to the Word of God. But you are holy priests just as much as the brothers. So you have the privilege on Lord's Day morning of offering your tribute of praise to the Lord silently. And the Lord has recorded it every thought.
Malachi 3 Every thought that a sister has on Lord's Day morning.
About the.
The sufferings of Christ.
The person of the Lord is recorded there in the Book of Remembrance.
What is the second? We've already spoken on the second sacrifice. It is the use of the temporal materials, we might say.
The the the stewardship of material things. We've spoken already of this, so we won't.
We won't belabor it again. I say our time is important, an important commodity.
And you waste time, you can't gain it again.
And so, first of all, however, the Lord must have his rightful place. Praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord comes first. Now, there's some controversy here.
Praises, praise and Thanksgiving is.
Is more important to the Lord than service. I don't accept that.
I would say there is an order, most definitely. First of all, the Lord should have the praise and Thanksgiving of our hearts.
But service is important.
We are left here to be a testimony to use those goods which the Lord has given to us for the furtherance of His interests, for the building up of the the Lord's people, for the encouragement of those who are young, for the preaching of the gospel. Wherever we go, the world is perishing. We have a we have a gospel field everywhere, and the time is short.
And the there's liberties in this country.
And all we need is.
The exercise to go out to realize the eternal destiny of souls that we are meeting every day. This is all part of service for the Lord.
It comes after worship, of course.
The third thing, and we won't have time to speak very much Romans on this passage, Romans chapter 12.
We have these verses that are well known. Romans 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Here's the third sacrifice. Our bodies. You know, our bodies in themselves are not sinful, but you know well man can use his body in a sinful way, and so can you.
Our bodies are a vehicle of which can be used for the glory of the Lord, or it can be used for the service of Satan too, and for the indulgence of our lusts. Yes, the body is the vehicle of expressing what is within the heart if our hearts.
Are true to the Lord. This is a voluntary sacrifice.
It's not a command. The Lord isn't commanding you to do something.
The Lord never commanded anyone whom He blessed.
To follow him it was love that motivated Bartimaeus to follow the Lord, and it must be love. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge if one died them, then all were dead. If we're close to the Lord, the The love of Christ will be a motive for us to go forth with the gospel to the lost and to serve the.
00:35:11
People, as you have done here in Hammer Bay, voluntary.
One thing to know the Lord is your Savior. Another thing to know Him as your Lord, to acknowledge the authority of the Lord in your life.
You are not your own. You've been bought with a price to glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are gods so.
The body can be used.
For the glory of the Lord, but be careful.
Because.
Because the body can be used other ways.
I've been thinking lately of what James says about the tongue and the.
We won't dwell on it, but it's frightening the way James describes the tongue. We won't take time to turn to it. Venomous serpent.
A raging fire is that? Is that the tongue?
In our members it is.
I sometimes say to myself.
If you've lived as long as I have, you would say, James, your description of the tongue is very accurate.
I would say very accurate.
If you can't control your tongue, it's not like that. You can control other parts of your body, but listen, that's negative. Our tongues can be used to praise the Lord, to encourage our brethren. We can use our bodies, our hands, our feet. Before we said these are our members. We can do what we want. That's the way the world talks.
When we come, when we're saved, these members that we have, they belong to the Lord.
And the body can be a vehicle of blessing.
Actually.
In Philippians 3, it speaks of our vile body that is a.
That is an expression that we don't use the word vile in that way now.
The body is not in itself vile. It's a body of humiliation.
It's a body connected still with this groaning creation, but it's a body of humiliation with infirmities and an old nature and.
But it can be used as the apostle develops in the book of Romans that Romans 6, excuse me, our members can be used for the the furtherance of the Lorde interests, for his glory. That's the way we should desire that our bodies be used.
And not for the dishonor of the the Lord Jesus.
And for the indulgence of the old nature, you know, we all have that old nature. I I was brought up in a group of believers that taught, at least their originator taught, that the old nature could be burnt out.
But I never found that was the case.
And I never found any of the people in the group that I was with that had that had a nature that was burned out. But we have a power now to control it. We have the Holy Spirit of God that gives us the power we have. We are delivered from the penalty of sin through the work of Christ, delivered from the power of sin as we.
Yield our bodies to the Lord and walk in dependence and self judgment.
And then we have.
Deliverance from the presence of sin when we're with the Lord. May God bless His word to us.
Thank you.