Address—Jim Hyland
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Start the meeting this afternoon with 267.
A fullness resides in Jesus. Our head fullness abides to answer all need. 267 Let's stand to sing this and if someone could please start it.
We crawled, and production will be on his way.
We are destroyed in Thy rhythm, Willow God.
We know.
One time.
The graveyard.
Of introduction to what is on my heart this afternoon, I'd like to read a portion in Second Peter chapter one.
Second Peter chapter one and we'll read the 1St 4 verses of the epistle.
Simon Peter, a servant, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God.
And of Jesus our Lord according as his divine power.
Hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.
That by these she might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. It's not my thought to expound on these first four verses of this epistle, but I'm particularly thinking of this little expression, life and godliness. Yesterday we had a message in the afternoon to those who were older, and I think many who were younger enjoyed what was taken up as well.
This afternoon the message is particularly with a burden to those who are younger.
But you know, no matter where we are in our pathway, isn't it wonderful that God's word is relevant and timely for us?
And I've often thought of the children of Israel when they came to Elam. There were two things provided for their refreshment there in that little Oasis at the end of the 15th chapter of the Book of Exodus. Because we find there there were 12 wells of water. Because the wells in scripture are running water, often speak to us in figure of the spirit of God, and he doesn't give the spirit of by measure. And there was a well for each of the tribes, but there was also something else.
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There were three score and 10 palm trees. Why were there three score and 10 palm trees? All the days of your life shall be 3 score years and 10. There's provision for the whole journey. And you know, I was once a young person sitting in meetings like this and I often wondered with all that seemed to be looming on the horizon of life, how I was going to get along through life. And though there's been many ups and downs in my Christian pathway.
I'm thankful that I can look back and say my God has been sufficient. The Lord has brought me through, and I'd like this afternoon as we turn from scripture to scripture to take up some of the provisions that God has made for life and godliness. But before we do that, just to make a couple of general comments on this portion we read, You know, it's often been pointed out, and I believe it's helpful to realize that when you turn to 2nd epistle.
It often brings before us days of weakness and failure, days when things have been given up, and often the truth that has been brought before us in the First Epistle has been given up, or to a great degree turned away from and there's been failure. And so we have Second Timothy. We have the 2nd Epistle to the Ephesians in Revelation chapter chapter 2.
Where they left their first love when the apostle Paul wrote to them, there was a great fervor in Ephesus, and they were able to take in the precious truth that Paul gives them by divine inspiration. But when John writes to them in the second epistle, if I can put it that way, there had been failure coming. Come in and we find here in Second Peter, Peter is writing to those in his day.
Who found themselves in the midst of Christian profession where there had been a great giving up. It's parallel to what we find today, where we have the present condition of professing Christendom and the world. And we find here that it's not so much the fact that we have life that's true. We have life, the very life of Christ. We're partakers of the divine nature if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
But here it's more the life that we live, because we have that life given to us from God.
It's very practical here. And so he tells them that they have in spite of the condition of things.
In which they find themselves, They have all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And I want to encourage our hearts, because we have all that's needed to live even in these dark, difficult days, young people, they'll never be such a thing as being able to say we can't live for God's glory because of the moral and spiritual darkness that we find even in professing Christendom. No no matter how dark things become, how no matter how difficult things are, no matter what the opposition or the circumstances may be.
The resources that we have in Christ today are the same limitless supplies that have always been available to the people of God. I've often thought of it in connection with when we were in business, because when we were in business we did a lot of field work. We would go out to industries and public buildings and we would service on site their Fire Protection and safety equipment as the law and the insurance required.
But you know, we never went out on a job without the proper equipment. And there were tool kits at the office that would be picked up by those who were going out on the job. There were checklists for the equipment that you were going to need to service those accounts that day. Sometimes, sad to say, we neglected or forgot certain equipment and it was very frustrating to get into the midst of a job and realize.
We didn't have the right tool kit or the right right equipment, but if I can speak in this way, I want to speak carefully. But if I can put it this way, God has given us the divine tool kit so that we can live for His glory here in this world and everything is supplied in that tool kit. If we just open that tool kit with exercise and avail ourselves of the resources that He has given us.
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We're going to, very quickly this afternoon, go to a number of scriptures that bring before us some of these tools.
That God has supplied. And as we look at these tools, we can only mention a few things in the time allotted to us. But there are many aspects of each of these tools that God has supplied for us. Again, to go back to the illustration of the tool kits that we had when I was in business, you know when we went out with a ratchet set, it wasn't just one ratchet no or one size no. There was a whole set because we never knew what size we'd need.
You had several pliers, You had some vice grips for certain things, but you also had needle nose pliers. You had some heavy pliers, but some very fine ones. You had all kinds of different aspects of the equipment, sizes and shapes and so on. And God has provided again those things in a spiritual way. And so I trust as we look at these things that we will encourage our hearts and again, not just those of us who are young because you know, we never can say in the Christian pathway we're home free, as it were. In fact, young people don't look at some of us who are a little further along in the path of faith and think it gets any easier.
No. We face perhaps different situations, different temptations, different difficulties than you do.
But they're very real nonetheless. And as long as we're here, there's going to be those things, because we're in a world where Satan is the God and Prince of this world. We're under a world that's still under the effects of the curse, and we feel those things very keenly on a daily basis. And so we all perhaps need to be reminded in our souls of what God has provided in his divine tool kit for us.
Let's go first of all to John's Gospel, chapter 14.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
And verse 15.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.
But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. The first thing I want to speak of is the Spirit of God. Because, as I said earlier, we have divine life. We have the very life of Christ. But you know that life has no power of itself. The Spirit of God has given us the power for our divine life. It's sometimes been illustrated this way.
But we'll suppose that you have a vehicle out in the parking lot and that vehicle has the best engine that Ford or Mercedes or Chrysler can put in that in that vehicle. And you say, oh, I've got the best engine that money can buy. But you know, if you go out and turn the key in that vehicle, unless you have gasoline in that car, you're not going to have any power. No, there's an unseen commodity in that engine that's going to give it spark and cause it to Rev to power so that you can drive down the road.
And so we have divine life. But the Spirit of God, I say, has been given as the power for our new life.
I remember a young man who came to some gospel meetings that we were holding one time some years ago.
And in talking to some of us after he said, oh, I'd love to be saved, but I know I could never live the Christian life. But none of us could live the Christian life apart from the resources that God gives us. And so the Lord Jesus, in encouraging the disciples before he left them to go to the cross several times in these chapters in John's Gospel, in what we refer to often as the upper room ministry, he encourages them that he is going to send the Spirit of God down.
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So that in his absence they can live to please him, live to glorify him, and have power in their Christian, Christian life. And remember this too, that it is the Spirit of God's main function to minister Christ to us. You know, none of us would understand anything of the Word of God apart from divine revelation, and so it's the Spirit of God that brings to us.
The Word of God, the Scriptures, applies them in connection with the circumstances that we're going through.
And makes it good and real at the time. And I want to encourage you in that way. We're going to speak a little later of the importance of God's Word in our lives. But it is important to not only read the word of God, but with exercise. Seek from the Lord that in the power of the Spirit He would make it good to you, give you understanding so that you can walk according to what we you, what He teaches us in His living word.
Why does the Lord introduce the Spirit of God here as the Comforter? You know, Because that's what the disciples needed at this time. You know, the disciples were afraid. We get that at the beginning of the 14th chapter. He had this very chapter. He knew as he looked into the the hearts of that little company around him that their hearts were troubled. They were afraid as they thought of the Lord Jesus going away. But he said, I'm not gonna leave you comfortless. I'm going to send the comforter.
And he's going to be with you and in you. And isn't it wonderful to realize, brethren, that the Spirit of God in the Christian era is given until the rapture, until the Lord comes? He's going to abide with us forever. That's why at the end of Revelation it says, And the Spirit and the bride say come, because the Spirit is waiting for the same thing we are.
He doesn't leave until we leave, and so I say he's here as the power.
For our Christian life, and we're exhorted in various epistles to walk in the Spirit, we can't do it on our own. None of us can live the Christian life except we walk in the power of the Spirit if we don't have time to develop it. But if we were to go back to the Old Testament, part of the blessing of Asher was that he would dip his foot in oil. And we know that invariably oil in the Scripture is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
And when he dipped his foot in oil, what was the result? His shoes would be as iron. That's power. You want power for your pathway. You've gotta dip your foot in oil. You've gotta walk in the power of the spirit. And thy shoes shall be as brass. What's that? Brass is endurance. Because the Christian race is the marathon. It's the race of endurance. Let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us. And then it says, as thy days so shall thy strength be.
We find too. It says in Isaiah at the end of the 40th chapter.
That he giveth power to the faint, and that to them that have no might, he increases strength.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.
You know, there's a lot of young people giving up today, a lot of young people who are saying I just can't do it. But there's power. There's power for the faint. It's a walk in the power of the spirit of God. Now I'd like to go to another resource, another tool that God has provided for us. It's in Titus Chapter 2.
Titus, chapter 2 and verse 11.
For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness.
And worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.
In this present world, or this present age? Well, the next tool I'd like to focus on for a moment is grace. And so here we find that the grace of God is brought before us. And this is more than just the grace that saves us from our sins. It's true in Ephesians chapter 2. It says by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And thank God for that grace that saves us from our sins. And if there is someone here this afternoon and you're not saved, all that grace is limitless. God in his grace has extended the day of salvation so that you can be saved. But after we're saved, we need that grace as well. We need the preserving grace of God, and it tells us of all we received, of his fullness and grace upon grace.
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Do we need more grace? He giveth more grace. Is it all we need?
My grace is sufficient for thee, and grace here in the book of Titus is a teacher.
It's the grace of God that teaches us, first of all, to deny.
That which is unholy, and not according to the character and mind of God.
Grace teaches us that to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, but it also teaches us something else. It teaches us how to live for God in this world. It teaches us to live soberly, righteously and godly when in this present age that's right now where we are. Because again, I think sometimes the tendency of our hearts, especially when we're younger, is to think well.
The ministry of the Word was good back in the days of the early brethren. It was good for our grandfathers and fathers. But what about the day in which we live? Can we really live for God's glory in this present age? Again, as I said earlier, no matter how dark the day is, morally or spiritually, the resources are the same and we can live for God's glory in this present age. It brings us right down to 2015.
Where we are and we're We're left here a little longer. God's grace and the resources that we have will do the same tomorrow. And when I see a Christian who exhibits godliness in their life, moral piety in their life, I say there's a Christian who understands grace. There's a young brother. There's a young sister who understands and appreciates the grace of God because grace does not give us license to live as we please.
I know there were those in scripture who are referred to as turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Or taking license from the fact that God was gracious to live as they pleased.
But they really didn't appreciate grace. They didn't have a true understanding of the grace of God.
If we really appreciate the grace of God, that grace that meets our need, that grace that provides for us even when we failed, then we're going to live in this way. And I want to encourage you to go through the scriptures.
Learn to appreciate. Meditate on the grace of God. You'll find that it will have a tremendous effect on your practical Christian life, and there will be, even unconsciously.
God, Likeness or godliness exhibited in your path through this wicked world, wicked world.
But now let's go back to John's Gospel, chapter 14. I mentioned that we're only going to look at these very quickly.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
And verse 27.
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Well, here's another thing, and that is the Lord's peace. We didn't develop it when we were in Second Peter, chapter one, but there we found that the apostle Peter spoke of grace and peace being multiplied. And I believe we need these two things, especially in the day in which we live. We've spoken of grace, but now here we have peace.
Now again, this isn't so much the peace of go, the peace with God, that which we receive when we again come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's the peace of God that comes from a path, a life of obedience and walking according to His word and His will. But this is something perhaps a little different here.
This piece that the Lord Jesus left with the disciples was the same peace that he had experienced as a man.
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As he walked through this world. As the Lord Jesus walked through this world.
We find that he suffered from every hand.
And not just physically, but he suffered reproach. He could say reproach hath broken mine heart. He was misunderstood. Who was more misunderstood than the Lord Jesus as he walked through this world and spoke for God. He suffered physically in many ways, but he walked through this world with a piece, a piece, the piece of doing the Father's will.
The story's often been told, but there is a painting that is hanging in one of the galleries of Europe.
And though I have been to many of the art galleries of Europe, I have never seen this painting.
But it is a painting that hangs there and it was painted by one of the famous artists of Europe years ago.
In answer to a competition that was put out by one of the nobility. And the competition was for the for artists to come together and to paint a painting each paint a painting of their best depiction of peace, what they felt best depicted peace. And when those paintings were gathered together and put on display, there were beautiful paintings of very tranquil scenes.
There were paintings of quiet water with foul swimming and birds chirping in the trees and so on.
Paintings of beautiful tranquil landscapes and so on. But none of those paintings got the prize for the best depiction of peace. The painting that got the prize for the best depiction of peace was a painting of a waterfall cascading over the rocks and crashing below, with foam spraying up and in front of that waterfall a thin branch of a tree on the shore coming out.
And a bird sitting quietly on her nest of young. And the judges decided that this was the best picture, the best depiction of peace. Because as it has been said, peace isn't found in the absence of danger or trial. It's found in the presence of God. It's found in walking with the Lord Jesus. It's found in trusting him for every circumstance.
And I can't stand here this afternoon and tell you that as you go through life, things are going to get easier, that there's going to be less trials and difficulties. No, I would be less than honest if I if I told you that. But I can tell you that there is a peace, the peace of the Lord Jesus that you can have in walking through this world. And again with these disciples, with troubled hearts, they were afraid, you know, when the Lord Jesus was with them and they had walked with him during his public ministry.
He provided everything that was needed for them. Why, when their hearts were troubled and burdened over the death of John the Baptist, we find that they came and told the Lord Jesus all about it. He listened to them. He knew the sorrow of their heart. He drew them into the desert place to rest a while. A little while later, when the multitude came and they needed something to eat, why He took those few loaves and fishes? And after the disciples had distributed to the multitude.
Very remarkable. How many baskets were leftover? 12 because the disciples were hungry too.
They needed something to eat. There was a basket for each disciple to take away to, for their own enjoyment. And so many circumstances where the Lord had had provided, even when there was a lack of faith on their part. The Lord was there in the asleep in the boat. They could wake him, and he arose and rebuked the wind and the waves, and there was a great calm. But he was going to leave them, and they were troubled as they thought of this. But he says, My peace, I leave with you the same.
With which I could sleep in the back of a boat in a storm.
The same peace that the Lord Jesus could face Pilate and answer him never a word.
Was the peace that he left with the disciples. It's another one of those wonderful tools in God's divine tool kit that has been given for our resource through the through this world. It's not gonna be Peters, never gonna be peace in this world this side of the Millennium. There's never going to be a such a thing as saying there aren't troubled waters both in this world and our circumstances in the home, sometimes in the assembly. But we can go through this world with an inward peace that the Lord Jesus alone can give.
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Now let's go back to the Old Testament, to the 119th Psalm.
Psalm 119.
And verse 105.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Well, here we have the word of God brought before us what a tremendous resource we have in this book. And remember that this book we hold in our hands this afternoon is the only book that's living. It's the only book in this world that's living. It lives and abideth forever. You and I have a wonderful resource to get us through this world.
And here we find that the psalmist says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
And a light under my path. This book also contains precious promises.
Again, we found in Peter that one of the resources that he mentions right there in that passage.
As to that which is provided for life and godliness is those great and precious promises.
Because those promises never fail. Maybe there's someone here and someone has made you a promise.
But they failed in their promise often, I suppose most of us, if not all of us here.
Have to hang our heads and admit that there was a time in our lives when we've made promises and we haven't been able to carry out those promises for one reason or another. Maybe we promised too much at the time. Maybe we had the resources when we made the promise, but when the time came to fulfill it, we had somehow lost those resources or they had slipped away. But we have promises in this book that will never fail. Is there a young person here and you're going through some real trial?
Maybe you just feel so overwhelmed and discouraged with life. Maybe someone has failed you.
Go to this book. And in spite of our failure, there's one who never fails. He abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. He's made great and exceeding promises, and all the promises of God in him are yeah, and in him Amen. And then we need guidance and direction for our pathway. There's only one way to have it, and that is by orderly and consistently reading the word of God.
How much is that true of our lives, if we had to answer before God truthfully this afternoon?
Could we all here in the room say honestly that we on a day-to-day basis, orderly and consistently read the word of God? Sometimes I've talked to young people and sometimes those who are not so young as to the fact that they desire direction in their pathway. They say I want to know the Lord's will, but he doesn't seem to reveal it to me. Well, the problem is never on his part.
Because it says in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths, no question about it.
But if that we do not know the will of God for our lives, it's a hindrance on our part in one way or another. And sometimes it's because we aren't orderly and consistently reading the word of God. It's the word of God that, generally speaking, directs us in our Christian pathway. I'll just mention two in passing. We need the word of God in other aspects of our lives too. If we were to back up in this very Psalm, it says wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto, according to Thy word. You know, as believers, we sometimes allow in our lives those things that defile.
Not only that, but just rubbing shoulders with the world. Every day we see and hear things that dull our affections and chill our souls. How are we going to take care of those things? It's by reading the word of God. It's the washing of water. By the word, it's feet washing that the Lord Jesus brought before the disciples in John's Gospel chapter 13.
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There was an older brother at home. He's with the Lord now. But he used to tell us that when he came home from the office at night, in his working days, he needed a good wash And he wasn't talking about soap and water. He was talking about the washing of water by the Word. He'd heard and seen things at the office that he knew defiled. And he loved to open the word of God and let it have its cleansing effect. You know, we operate in a sinful world.
When we come home at night, we need the word of God and it's cleansing effect. But the Word of God is also food for the divine life.
How are we going to feed the Newman? It's the spiritual food that we get from the Word of God.
You know, wherever we read in the Word of God, the subject is always Christ.
It may be the types and shadows in the Old Testament. It's the life of Christ in the Gospels.
It's the principles and the doctrines of Christianity and the Epistles.
It's the full fruition of things in Revelation and his full exaltation.
But you don't have to read very far in the word of God to see that the subject is Christ.
I want to encourage you to read the word of God. In that way, see Christ. As you read through the verses and chapters of Scripture, you'll find that it will feed your soul. You want to be a happy, healthy Christian. You want there to be spiritual growth in your Christian life. You've got to feed on God's Word. When we were young people, we often sang that hymn Feed on God's Word in the morning.
Feed on God's Word at noon, feed on God's Word in the evening to keep your heart in tune. We need it, and we need it every day. Any of us who've raised children know that we didn't feed our children a good, healthy meal on Lords Day and expect it to do them the rest of the week.
No, we tried to provide good, healthy meals on a daily basis. But you know what? Exercise is? My own soul in this regard is the fact that so often we take care to eat perhaps two or three good healthy meals a day and a snack in between times. But how? How do we take care of the spiritual? How do we take care of the new man? Do we seek defeated in the in the same way?
You'll never grow and be a healthy, fruitful, happy Christian in your spiritual life if you don't feed on God's word. That's why Job said in the 23rd chapter of that book, he said. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. I find that a very exercising statement. Do we really esteem the word of God more than our necessary food? The Lord Jesus said something similar.
To Satan in the temptation, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. And so we need the word of God and we need it each day and let it have its practical effect on on our lives. And it's a lamp under our feet. That is a step. It's a light, it's a it's light for each step of the pathway. It's a lamp under our feet and a light under our path. That is, it shows us where the journey ends and it's sufficient light for the whole journey. This book is as up to date.
All right, I perhaps I'll reword that. It's more up to date than the daily newspaper. It's more up to date than the newscasts of the day. It fits what's happening today, and it'll do the same tomorrow. It's relevant. It's able to answer every question and to guide you in every circumstance of life down here. Now let's go to Ephesians Chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints. Now we don't have time to take it up. But if we were to back up in this chapter, as we well know, we have the armor of God. And the armor of God is really, to put it very simply, taking up those things that we have provided for us by God in and through Christ.
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And utilizing them in meeting the enemy and standing fast in the days in which we live.
And it we are to take the armor of God, not so much that we can meet the onslaught or the power of the enemy.
But the Wiles of the devil isn't that interesting. The armor of God is because the devil is a family and a wily foe. Yes, I'm not saying there aren't times when there is the onslaught of the enemy, but I suggest that the enemy is more successful in tripping us up and discouraging us by his Wiles by his subtlety rather than his onslaught. But after the pieces of the armor are listed for us and there are six pieces of the armor.
There's a seventh thing and that's prayer. And prayer is not really a piece of the armor. It's the spirit and attitude in which we take up the armor that which we have in Christ and we utilize it in a in an effective way. And when he has brought before us the armor, then he says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the in the spirit, because prayer is the powerhouse of our Christian pathway.
You know, we listen to God speak through His word, but then we can come and speak to Him.
It's that communication or communion that was brought before us in the children's meeting this morning.
And I know again that the old telephone receivers are perhaps somewhat foreign to the young people here.
But when I was growing up, there were those two parts distinct parts. There was the earpiece and the mouthpiece. You put the earpiece to your ear so you could listen. That's what happens when we open the word of God. God speaks to us through his word. But then there was a mouthpiece as well and you spoke into the mouthpiece. And so again communication or communion is a two way St. and so we listen to him speak to us, but then we can come and speak to him in prayer.
And prayer is the powerhouse of our lives individually. It's the powerhouse of our lives as families. And it's the powerhouse of our lives collectively as gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. And if we stumble and fall in our Christian pathway, I believe often it's because we haven't utilized this tool from the divine tool kit, the tool of prayer. Are we really men and women of prayer?
We used to sing an old hymn. Did you think to pray this morning? How many of us, and you have to answer truthfully in your heart before God? How many of us spent some time in prayer this morning in by our bed or individually? We cannot expect power in our Christian pathway if we're not men and women of prayer. You know, when I was growing up, I read some of those biographies of great men and women of faith.
And I still do. I enjoy reading about ones that are past generations as well as ones of our own time. But, you know, when you examine their lives carefully, you'll find that the reason that they had power and testimony in their Christian pathway, and why they were so mightily used of God, is because they were men and women who spent a great deal of time in prayer. But it's not just the time we spend privately in prayer. Set aside and.
We need to discipline ourselves to set aside that time, but it's to learn to pray without ceasing, to go forth each day from our closet of prayer to and to keep an open line between ourselves and the Lord. It doesn't mean that we're always consciously speaking to the Lord or saying words, but to go forth with the conscious sense of His presence with us so that we can turn to Him in any situation.
So that there's no hindrance between US and the throne of grace.
You know, I thought of this subject really in connection with what our brother Dawn brought before us the other day.
Those needs that we have. And when it comes to the throne of grace, we're to come at a time of need.
You say I've got lots of needs in my Christian life, needs that nobody else knows about, needs that I can't share with anybody else. But you can go to the throne of grace in time of need. You say I don't deserve it, but it's a throne of grace. Grace is the undeserved favor of God. You have needs. Oh, go to him and keep, I say, that open line between yourself and the Lord and the throne of of grace. He knows our every need. But, you know, prayer is the expression of dependence and confidence, and that's what he wants from each one of his children.
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He wants us to come and own our dependence and confidence. In fact, I think sometimes he works circumstances in our lives or even withholds something from us to bring us to that point where we express our need and our dependence and confidence. And then while we're speaking, he has the answer right there as another portion of the Word of God tells us. Now let's go to Hebrews Chapter 8.
Hebrews chapter 8 and verse one. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum we have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Well, here's one of the most wonderful resources that we have. We have a living Savior at the right hand of God. The right hand is the place of power and if we were to back up in these chapters in Hebrews we would find.
That he's he's brought before us as our high priest, the one who's living for us to preserve us.
In the path of faith and service again, we don't have to live the Christian life by our own devices. We couldn't.
But to look up every day and avail ourselves of that resource that we have at the right hand of God.
We've just spoken about prayer and the wonderful resource of speaking to the Lord in prayer.
But isn't it wonderful to consider that we have one who's praying for us?
Every hour of every day. You know, sometimes I'm not aware of my the needs I have. Sometimes I forget to pray for my own needs, the needs of my family and those brethren that I know. But there's one who knows my every need, and he never forgets a need. And he's praying for me. And I say he's praying for you and for me to preserve us in the path of faith. But in that regard, then I'd like to notice something else he's doing at the right hand of God. Let's go to 1St John.
Because there's another office that the Lord Jesus is fulfilling. He's our high priest on the one hand.
But here in first John chapter one or chapter two we have something else.
Chapter Verse One, my little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And so he's praying for us as our high priest to preserve us in the path of faith.
But when we sin, when we fail, He's praying for us to preserve or to restore us.
As our advocate, it's illustrated in the Old Testament where Moses, a picture of the Lord Jesus, went up on the mountain when Israel went out to fight with Amalek, a powerful enemy in the wilderness, A picture of Satan's working on the flesh, seeking to hinder our walk with God through this wilderness world. But the secret of their victory was that Moses sat down on the mountain, a picture of Christ where he is now gone on high.
To fill all things. And Aaron on the one hand came and stayed up one of his hands.
And I know Aaron hadn't been officially put into the priesthood at that point, but I think we see the illustration very quickly. Aaron illustrates to us the high priestly work of the Lord. But on the other hand, there was another man, and his name was her, and her name means purity. And he's a picture to us of the advocacy of Christ. Because when I sin, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. I have a righteous advocate, and I can't. I'm forgiven and restored on a righteous basis.
I sometimes illustrate it this way if I go against society and I'm brought up to the law.
And the judge listens to my case. He might let me go. If I get a good lawyer or I'm a fast talker, he might let me go. But if I'm really guilty, he's not a righteous judge. But we'll suppose the judge listens to my case and he says, Now, Jim, I know you're guilty and the penalty is thus and so, but I'm gonna pay the penalty so you can go free. Now he's a righteous judge because the the penalty has been paid. The claims of society have been met.
And when I sin, it's just as if the Lord Jesus, in the presence of the Father says.
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I paid for that sin. That's how he can be a righteous advocate. But notice it's an advocate with the Father. His high priestly work is in connection with God because that's power. But his advocacy has to do with the Father, because that's relationship. Some of you have heard me say before that to my own soul at least, this is the clearest verse on eternal security, because I know some of you may have Christian friends who will tell you, well, you know if you sin, you lose your salvation.
If it's said we have an advocate with God, we might well wonder. But when I sin, I don't lose my salvation. But I have to do with my father. It's an advocate with the father. When my girls were younger and they went against me, I didn't bring them up to the court of law or disown them, but they had to do with me. As to family relationships, it shows that when I sin, the relationship is in no way broken.
But I do have to do with God as my father. So this is another one of the one of the wonderful resources that we have.
I'd like to go back to the 119th Psalm for a moment.
So I'm 119 and this time the 63rd verse.
Psalm 119 and verse 63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
I believe one of the wonderful resources that God has provided for us in our Christian pathway are others who desire to follow and please the Lord. Aren't we thankful for companionship that He gives us as we walk through this world, friends and brethren who seek to encourage us in the Lord? Because, as someone has said, our friends, those who we make, our closest associates, they are like the buttons of the elevator. They either take us up or down.
And our friends are either going to be an encouragement and help to us in our Christian pathway or they're going to be a detriment and a discouragement to us. And we find in Scripture that those who chose their friends wisely always found encouragement in their pathway. I remember attending and officiating at the wedding of a young man some years ago, and there was a role of young men on the front who had a special place of honor at that wedding.
And someone said after to me about the groom. They said, well, I can see why he goes on for the Lord.
He chose his friends wisely because that row of young men and I knew the mall well. They were young men who had a similar desire to please the Lord. You know, Timothy, in his day, as bad as things had become, he was told to go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And I believe until the Lord comes, the Lord will provide companionship if we really seek and desire to have friends who.
Are going on for the Lord. He will provide those friends. I know sometimes there have been those who have called been called to go on alone and.
God can sustain them too, but I say I believe there are others, and if you really seek those friends and companions, they're going to be a wonderful help to you. I say it's another one of those tools that God has given us in the divine tool kit. Are you choosing your friends? Well, I'm not talking about those you have to associate with work and at work with at work or school, maybe some you have to work on a project or a team with. But are we like those in the early church? Who?
Being let go, they had their responsibilities, but being let go, they went to their own company. They sought those who had a similar exercise and desire just one more scripture back in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews, Chapter 6.
Again, this is just a sample list. There are many other resources that God has given us. I'm just giving you a sample list. And maybe you can, in your own time, take a notepad and go through scripture and make a list of some of the resources, some of the tools in the Divine tool kit. In fact, I'd be interested down the road to see what some of you might come up with as some other of the resources that God has given us, but just as a last one dimension.
In the 6th chapter of Hebrews verse 18 and that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.
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We might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which generous into that within the veil. Whether the forerunner is forest centered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Well, here we have a hope. We didn't read it in Titus, but grace teaches us something else, something beyond just living soberly, righteously godly in this world. It also teaches us to be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing.
Of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And here we find we have a hope set before us.
And we're exhorted to lay hold of it, to make it real in our souls. You know, when I, again, when I was in business, there was no use sending someone out on the job with a tool kit if they didn't utilize it when they got to the job or I myself got to the job. You had to lay hold of those tools. You had to reach into those that that tool kit. You had to lay hold of that tool and utilize it in the proper way. And here we're told to lay hold of this tool, the hope set before us.
Because young people, to keep the whole, the goal in view is what is going to encourage us. God has made us in a way that we need incentive. We need an eye to the future. Faith always needs an object, No such thing as blind faith. Faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith has an object. Paul was running a race and he was pressing toward the mark for the prize. And the prize in the Christian life is always Christ and glory. And so we need to keep this before us and it's a hope unlike any other hope connected with this life.
Which is uncertainty at best. Know the hope we have in Christ is sure and steadfast. It's the only hope that we can speak of in that way. And why is that hope sure and steadfast? Because Christ the forerunner is already entered there, the Lord Jesus having been received back by God the Father. And seated at God's right hand is the assurance that you and I, when the time comes, are going to be there as well. I say it so very carefully and reverently, if God were to refuse me entrance into heaven now.
Availed my Having availed myself of the finished work of Calvary, he would have to banish his own dear Son who glorified him in that work. And that is impossible. That is the security. That's why it speaks of this hope, assurance. Steadfast. We've spoken of these things so very quickly. But there are needs. We have needs, physical needs, spiritual needs. And for those needs, as we've had in these meetings, God has provided everything.
My God shall supply all your need. I know that in its context that refers to temporal need there, and Paul writing to the Philippians.
But let me apply it at the end of this meeting in a broad sense. You have needs. You wonder how you're gonna get along in the Christian path if the Lord leaves us here. Let me say like the Apostle Paul, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.