Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1971, addressed by Gordon Hayhoe.
Could we sing hymn #100 and 10110?
For God, thou now has glorified thy holy, blessed, eternal Son.
The Nazarene, the crucified, now sits exalted on thy throne. To him in faith we cry aloud, Worthy art thou, O Lamb of God, 110.
Oh God.
So we look up and ask the Lord. I'd like to turn to a few scriptures. The first one is an Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
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The second book after the Psalms.
Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.
And verse 10.
I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He has made everything beautiful in His time. Also, He has set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Now I'd like to turn also to Daniel chapter 4.
Daniel, Chapter 4.
In verse 29.
At the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the king of Babylon.
And the king spake, Kingdom of Babylon, And the king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built?
For the House of my Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty. And then in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 5.
And the 17th verse.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Well, it was on my heart this afternoon, dear young people, to speak about two worlds, if I might use that expression to speak of that which has been built up by man in his departure and alienation from God, and that which is in the purposes of God, where His blessed Son will be the center of a whole new creation scene of glory. And that we who accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior are already introduced.
Into that new world, into that new scene. I believe that it's very important for us to see this because one is often remarked that the only person who has an intelligent outlook on what is going on in the world is the Christian. And the only way we can have any intelligent outlook is through God's Word. And that's why I read this in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. Perhaps it was a puzzle to you as I read it.
I'll read those verses again. I have seen the travel which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He has made everything beautiful in His time. Also, He has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
That is, God created man on the earth, and we know that when everything had been created and man had been placed at the head of the whole system of things, fresh from the hands of God, God looked upon it and said it was very good.
It was surely beautiful in his time. In its time it was surely wonderful as it came fresh from the hand of God.
For Adam to enjoy in all its fullness and we know that he was given a help me too, a partner because it's very hard to enjoy things alone. We need company to enjoy things fully. And so he was given a helpmate, a partner to enjoy what God had provided. What a wonderful scene it was. And this was as God had planned it and for man's good. And perhaps we could say when this verse says.
He has set the world in their heart. It would bring before us the fact that God has given to man the possibility of appreciating all that God has made. And I want a world that would be if we couldn't appreciate the scenery, if we couldn't appreciate good food, we couldn't appreciate all the things that God has given. Why? It would be very dull living in this world, but God has given the capacity, the ability to appreciate all the good things.
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But into that wonderful scene that God had made came one who before himself had aspired to be like God, who had not been content with the place that He had been given. For he was the highest of God, God's created intelligences, and that was Satan. He was one who was full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, according to Ezekiel chapter 28. Now this marvelous being, a Satan.
Was created into such a marvelous place.
About he aspired to be like God. He would be like the most high. He would not abide in the place of a creature, but would want and did want more than what was given. And he fell about very being came into this creation that God had made. He came into the Garden of Eden, so beautiful, so fresh from the hands of God. And now the the question to Adam and Eve was this were they going to believe that God?
Had made those things for them and had provided all that was necessary for their happiness? Or were they going to listen to Satan, who himself was already a fallen being? Well, we know this sad story. I don't think very many of us are ignorant of that story. And how, instead of listening to the voice of God who had provided for their happiness, they listened to the voice of Satan. And what did Satan suggest?
He said ye shall be as gods. He shall be as gods. That is, you can occupy a higher place than what was given to you. That God has given you a marvelous place. That's true. But you can have a higher place. You have to climb. And so that's what they did. They listened to the voice of Satan and sin came in. It's true that part of what Satan said was.
Was a fact now, that is, they did get the knowledge of good and evil, but they lost the power to do good. They lost the power to refrain from evil. They brought death into the world, and with it all the sad light and misery that was stamped upon creation from that day forward.
Oh, how foolish they were to have listened to the voice of Satan instead of to the voice of God.
Well, it tells us that after this Adam began a son in his own image and in his own likeness. That is, he was the head of a fond creation, and all of his posterity partook of the fallen nature that Adam himself had. Every one of us in this room were born with a sinful, fond nature. How much we haven't altogether lost the appreciation of some of the good things of creation. And So what does Satan do?
Well, when sin came in, then we know that.
Cain killed his brother, and then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and he built a city, and he filled that city with all kinds of things to try and make himself as happy as he possibly could away from God. We might illustrate it like this, supposing that my boy was disobedient.
And so I send him to a room where he should be punished, but I tell him he has to stay there for 1/2 an hour in punishment. After 15 minutes I go out to see if there's any repentance in his heart and I find that he has dragged into the room all his toys. And when I opened the door he says, oh daddy, I'm having a fine time here. I'm just as happy as I can be. I don't need you all I would say.
Isn't that sad? The correction didn't do him any good. Instead he has just alienated his heart from me.
That's what Cain did. That's the world system as we see it today, dear young people. It is that which has been built up by man in his alienation from God. And in the posterity of Cain we see the three different worlds now, the world of commerce, the world of education, and the world of entertainment. For one was the father of such as handle the harp in the organ.
The other was an instructor of brass and iron, and the other was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. So we see that there was a vast system of things build up, and where was this city that came built that was so nicely garnished?
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That city was out from the presence of the Lord, out from the presence of the Lord. Now do young people. This is the sort of thing that we live in and God has given in his word, the story of certain cities in this vast world system. And Sodom represents to us the world in its moral corruption. We see something of that today. People think, young people think why we're just going to go out and.
We're going to let loose morality of the thing of the past. We're going to enjoy love, but in reality, it's not love, it's lust. And we're going to just have a good time. Now, there was a city that tried that, and that city became so filled with it that God dealt with that city by raining fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And so that was one of the cities of men.
And then there was there was tyre, which was a center of commerce.
And God brought terrible judgment upon the city of Tyre. And until we find that the city of Babylon, God destroyed that great city because it was a picture to us of the confusion at which man is brought in. And in Scripture is often identified with religious confusion because I idolatry began in Babylon. Now that is the system. That is what man has built up.
And in the immune system, man is the center. Man is the center of this system that he has built up. Our brother read to us this morning that verse in Esther where the king asked the question, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor? And then he turned us over to the New Testament and showed that God delighted to honor his son. But if our brother had read on, you would have noticed.
That it says this, that when King has you wear us, ask that question.
Haman thought within his heart, This he said, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? Notice that to whom with the King delight to do honor more than to myself. And I'm bold to say, dear friends, that this whole world system in which we live has circles around that that man is seeking honor for himself, and in every sphere of his whole system that he has built up, that is exactly.
What he is doing, someone said. What has the world gained by the visit to the moon?
And a Christian man answered all. They've gained very much. They've made themselves a name. That was why they were going to all the expense of building the Tower of Babel long ago. What was it? What was the sense in this building putting all the ingenuity of the very whole world into that Tower of Babel that they built long ago? Here's what they said. Let us make us a name.
Let us make us a name. Yes, we will be very important because we have shown that we're not restricted to this earth, that we have capacity and power to go beyond that which any previous generations ever thought could be done.
So, dear young people, I say that this is the world system, and that's why I read to you in Daniel chapter. In Daniel chapter 4, it says that this great king Nebuchadnezzar, who had built the city of Babylon to the state that it was in, he looked upon all his works, and he said, is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power?
And I, the Excellency of my Majesty. And Babylon is still famous in world history as being one of the wonders of the world at that time. At who took the credit for it all? Nebuchadnezzar took the credit to himself.
Then God had to deal with that proud man, and I might say that in Ecclesiastes.
I believe that the purpose of Ecclesiastes is this, to show us that God did.
Allow a man to try everything the world had to offer in its fallen state.
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Now as far as Adam was concerned, when he reached out beyond what God gave in the Garden of Eden, why he fell, but now in its thorn state, God allowed Solomon to have everything if it was possible for the world in its fallen state to really bring satisfaction. And he uses this expression. You'll read it in Ecclesiastes. I withheld not my heart.
From any joy you say? Wouldn't that be wonderful if I could just indulge myself in everything that I wanted to do? If Father would never say no? If Mother would never say no, if the brethren would never bring the Scripture before me, If I could just let loose and enjoy myself fully? I don't mean to leave God out, but just to have a good time in the world and not to be restrained.
You know, this is the idea of the modern world is to have a good time without restraint. Now, why did God allow a man to do this? And this man was not a man without wisdom. The Bible tells us that he exceeded in wisdom all that had ever been before him. He was a marvelous man, King Solomon, and the wisdom was given of God. He was a wealthy man, for he made he made money like the sand of the streets in his day.
He was a powerful man because he controlled A tremendous amount of land.
And he had, he had the right to do just as he pleased in his Kingdom. He was an absolute power. And this man who had health, who had influence and everything, when he had tried it all, when he had just seen what the world had to offer for him, did he find satisfaction? Did he? Oh, I'm sure that you've read a book of Ecclesiastes.
And you know the conclusion this wise man came to, This is what he said.
All is vanity and vexation of spirit. He made a careful research and study of the lives of people and tried to understand why people did things, to see if there was any possible way, either through things or through a proper outlook on life, of finding a solution that man in the fallen state that he was in could find in the earth what satisfies.
And I just call attention to the expression that perhaps you wondered at that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. That is, God never intended to man through all his research and through all his knowledge, to find the solution to his problems himself. He didn't intend that he made it all, and he didn't intend man to enjoy it.
Independently of him, just as if I did something for one of my children.
And the child said to me, I want to enjoy what you've given me, but I want to enjoy it independently of you. I'd say, well, I'm very disappointed. I wanted you to enjoy it as something that I had given to you and that I could rejoice in your happiness and that we could enjoy it together. But you want to enjoy it independently of me. And that is the world. I say man wants to enjoy it independently of God, but God did not make the world so that you could enjoy it independently of him.
And King Solomon was an example who had everything and didn't find any satisfaction. You cannot. You cannot, I say, dear young people, really find satisfaction if you shut God out, if you don't recognize Him, and if you don't recognize his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. And so it tells us here that when.
King Solomon had tried all these things, he says in the next verse.
I know that there is no good in them. That's the first clause of the next verse. I know that there's no good in them.
And Jerry had tried them to the full. But this great king that I spoke of, King Nebuchadnezzar, now he had everything. He was able to enjoy all the things that God had provided, and he became filled with pride.
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And took all the credit to himself. I can say that Solomon did not do that.
Solomon did recognize that we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth. He was not in the same class as Nebuchadnezzar, not by any means, but he was making a discovery of what could be found under the sun.
What a man could enjoy under the sun apart from divine revelation. But God has given us a revelation, dear young people, and that's why I want to impress upon you this afternoon the importance of this book, God's precious word. And men have made research in all kinds of subjects of the writing of books. There is no end, said King Solomon. Yes, the world is filled.
The printing presses can hardly turn out quickly enough, all the new books and all the bolstered progress of man, because they can't keep up with all that man is finding out. But I dare to stand before you this afternoon, dear young people, and say that this book is a revelation. This is the secret as to why we're here, how God made this world, His purpose in making it, what you're here for.
Don't we hear people say, well, what am I here for? It wasn't my idea to be here. The Bible tells you why you're here. The Bible tells you also the work of God from beginning to end. Isn't that marvelous to think that your Creator is interested in you?
And has written a book so that you might know his purpose.
All men may despise the Bible, men may try to shut out God out of their lives, and men may say we can find out for ourselves. But God says you can't find out for yourself. You can't. All that man's wisdom can discover would never find out.
How the world was created in the 1St place he can't find out. By faith we understand that their worlds were framed by the word of God. That's how we know we have the word of God. And what is man here for that God tells us that He put man there at the head of creation. But all there's more than that. It says that when He created this world, His delights for with the sons of man.
And when he came down to walk in the garden on the cool of the day, what was he seeking?
He was the seeking the company of his creature. He was seeking the company of man. Now let me turn again to that in 2nd Corinthians 5 that we looked at.
Two Corinthians 5 and verse 17.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. We also turn with me to Colossians, chapter 3.
And verse 10.
And have put on the Newman, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him as I created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, civilian bond or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Well, I've read these verses to show that God has stepped into this creation and it's ruined. God has stepped in. His blessed Son came down into this world. He became a man. And that creation that had been completely ruined under the first man, a God sent the one whom he calls the 2nd man and last Adam, He sent him down into this world for a purpose. He sent him down into this world.
In order that he might reveal his heart, it says in John chapter one, No man hath seen God at anytime. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. And so this blessed One came down.
And he is the beginning of the creation of God. Now this doesn't mean that the Lord Jesus is a created being.
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Be the thought that Blessed One is the eternal Son of God. He is from all eternity. He's spoken of in Isaiah. I believe it's the 6th chapter as the Father of eternity. Yes, that Blessed One is the one who inhabits eternity. But he came down into this world and new creation began with the 2nd man and last Adam, God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who was in this world and his disciples looked at him, and they handled of him.
Our eyes have looked upon our hands of handled of the Word of life. That Blessed One came down and He is the beginning of a new creation. Now I want to make this point very clear. God is not attempting to improve man in His fond state. He is not looking for anything good in man in His fallen state. The axe has been laid to the root of the tree.
And the Scripture says very plainly in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. They that are in the flesh cannot please God, and God is not going to try and improve the first man. Now men don't like that because it puts an end to their system. They don't mind you talking about Christianity if you'll at least acknowledge that there's something good in man, if you'll mix Christianity with a little bit of good in man.
If you'll even teach that there's something good in his will and that of his own will, he would accept Christ. Well, he'll say, all right, you have acknowledged at least something good in me, that I might make a right decision. But God says there's absolutely nothing good in the first man. The whole thing is just as it was about Nebuchadnezzar. Cut down the tree. Cut down the tree. Dear friends, let us be clear of this. Dear young people, I want you to get hold of this.
And see what God has done with the first man. It says our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. It's the complete end of the first man. And God has a new man, and that's his blessed Son. And it says if any man be in Christ, the new translation is if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation, a new creation. And when you took the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
It began by God giving you a new life, a new life smoking out in that verse in Colossians as the new man. He didn't improve the old man. He didn't try to bring something good out of it. And that's what the system of Judaism was. That is, God was testing man in the flesh. Now God knew the result of the test, but you might say, well, didn't God give a good temple?
Didn't he give fine music? Didn't he? Didn't he have raw priests in the Jewish economy? I say yes. Man was under trial and is spoken of in Hebrews as a worldly sanctuary. God gave all that, but what did he give it for? He gave it for the express purpose of showing that no external influences, whether it by that, were by the outward forms of religion, even given of God.
When the Lord Jesus came in and they saw His perfect life, that didn't change man's heart as it was read to us. They have seen and hated both me and my Father. So the whole system of external religion, the presence in this world of the Son of God, did not change the heart of man at all.
And when the Lord Jesus died, that was the judgment of this world. That was the end of man's trial. It was the end of the first man. And I want to impress upon you that Christianity is an entirely new thing. It's not an extension on man's wisdom. It's not an extension of the system of Judaism. It is something entirely new. And if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation.
All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And God isn't looking for anything good from sinners. He's looking for them to acknowledge that there's nothing good in them. That's what He wants you to do. And if there's a boy here that's not saved, if there's a girl here that's not saved, God's not trying to improve you. He wants to give you a new life. He wants you to become part of this new creation.
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The first creation ruined by sin, now a new creation, with Christ as the head of the new creation, and those who are part of that new creation possessing his life. For it's often been said we won't have a different new life when we get to heaven. We have the same new life right now that we'll have in heaven. We're all ready when saved, part of new creation. And so it says, if any man be in Christ.
There is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, that God drag in something of the first man. No, Christianity is a new thing, and the place where we meet is not something.
That is the holy building. Now it's just a convenient meeting place. The building is a spiritual building composed of living stones. The praise is not by mechanical means. The praise is as it was read to us this morning. We go out to bear His reproach, and we offer the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
It wasn't how well you sang this morning, but it was whether it came from your heart.
That counted, and God, who is listening might have seen more worship from the heart of someone who couldn't keep the tune than from the best singer in the room, because all that he accepts is that which is produced in the heart by the Spirit, its new creation.
And so it says there's neither barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. It's not a question of your position in society. It's not a question of your nationality. It's a question of whether you've been brought into new creation. And in new creation, all things are of God.
And Christ is all and in all, there's only one person who God honors in the new creation, and that's his beloved Son. He wants him to be the center. He wants him to be the one who is honored. And until we see this, and we'll always be trying to introduce something of the old thing, that's what Christendom has done.
Christendom has in a.
Outward sense accepted Christianity as an improvement upon.
The old system of things and that which is judged in the end.
As spiritual Babylon in the Book of Revelation. Do you know what it really is? It's a mixture of Judaism and paganism and Christianity. Yes, that's what it is, a mixture of Judaism and paganism and Christianity. And why would why would men have such a mixture? Because as long as man is given a place, as long as man has a place.
Whether it's in the political thing or whether it's in the religious thing or whether it's in the scientific man, the purpose of man is to have a place for himself and our dear brother, Brown once said.
I said Christendomic has become a vast arena where men strive for honors for themselves.
Yes, they want to have a position for themselves and so, alas, we find.
Men can obtain a very, very honorable place even in Christendom. And so you'll find in their religion. They have a place for great men in their religious world. They have a place for great men in the political world. They have a place for great man in the business world. They have a place for great man in the entertainment world. And that all centers around man. But in God's order of things, he has one person who.
He desires to exalt, and that one person, I say, is his own.
Beloved Son, man is the center of man's system and this is the constant danger for us as Christians and we have learned that the Lord Jesus is to be everything but how we allow that which would have would give man a place. I'd like you to turn with me to Romans 12.
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Romans 12 and verse one.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, or it could be translated.
Which is your intelligence service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now here He is speaking to those who have been saved.
And dear young people, I know that many of you have taken the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Many of you have really received Him. But I ask you, have you entered new creation by the blessed knowledge that He is your Savior? And yet in your life you still give a large place to the great system of this world. Now, when it says here, be not conformed to this world.
I don't intend to speak of this as certain things, but I intend to try and bring before you that being conformed to this world is a principle that is liable to get into any of our hearts. What is the principle on which the world systems are operates? Is not this great Babylon that I have built? It's a system in which man is the center. It's a system in which man is exalted.
It's where like Haman who was an Amalekite and he said, to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? And So what does the rural system operate on? I say again, he's not talking to unsaved people here. He's talking to Christians. He's talking to those who have been brought by new birth into the new creation, who have been brought into the place where God.
All things are of God and where Christ is all and in all.
Why then does he exhort them not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind? Because if if you and I are making our Christian life center around ourselves, then we're following a worldly principle in the way we live our Christian life. If I buy a home to attract attention to myself.
And that I've been a prosperous man and that I've got along well.
Then I say, the principle on which I have acted is the same principle that governs the world.
Because the world says make everyone look at you and think that you've done well and your house and your car. Envy your clothes and do something that will attract attention to yourself.
That's a worldly principle. That's the principle. And I ask you, I ask myself, why?
What I buy, the house I buy? Why would I buy the automobile I buy? Why do I go in the store and buy the clothes that I buy? Is it to attract attention to myself? I don't need to say to you, you know it as well as I do, that in this age of prosperity, everything is done to attract attention to self. Cars are more fancy, more stylish. House houses are more stylish.
Clothes are such as to attract attention to the individual and to make people look at the individual and stare at them. This is the whole principle on which the world operates. And dear young people, if this is the principle you act on them, you're conformed to this world. I'm not asking you the color of your claws. I'm not asking you. I'm not asking you whether I approve of this or that.
But I'm asking you this, are you trying to attract attention to yourself or is Christ the center of your life? And when you when you went down and bought that automobile, did you think that you belong to Christ and that you wanted to have a mode of transportation that would be honoring to him? When you bought those clothes, did you want to get something that would be honoring to Him so that others looking at you?
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Would take knowledge that Christ was everything in your life. All these things search my heart. If they search yours, they certainly search mine. Be not conformed to this world. I want you to see that there are two distinct world systems. The one system is a system where man and all his progress and all that he can do is the center and God is really shut out of that.
Vast system. And when you get saved, God brings you into a new one. But what are you and I likely to do as Christians? And this, I say, is the great snare of us as young people and as Christians is to bring something, borrow something from the world and bring it into the new position into which we have been brought. And as someone said in the early church, they turned the world upside down.
But in the modern church, the word, the church turns the, I mean, the world turns the church upside down. Why? Well, because when the Christians went out, they made an impact on the world and they said, why? Look at these people, They've turned to God from idols.
Paul said I don't need to even speak anything. They them, they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you.
That is, the people who looked at these saved Thessalonians said all these people have a new center in their lives. Christ is everything to them. But now what is the what is the image that is presented to this world? What is the image I say that the world, they look upon the church and they see that we've borrowed a lot from them. They say, well, you preach Christ, but you seem to want to mix what you have with what we have.
You haven't got enough. And So what a sad thing. And I say to each one of us, have we really presented ourselves to the Lord? I remember how the king of Syria came up to King Ahab and he said.
Your sons and your daughters, even the goodliest of them, are mine. And you know what King Ahab said? According to thy word, we are thine, yes.
He actually yielded to the claims of this man.
And the prophet came and pointed out to him that he was entirely wrong in doing that. What a contrast to as we read of one in the songs, who says, Lord, we are thine, Lord, we are thine all. Dear young people, I want to speak this to you in a very practical way.
I don't want to criticize you because I see worldly principles in my own heart, but I want to speak to your heart and I want to speak to mine. What is the center around which you and I are living? We have been brought into this new place where Christ is everything. When we get to heaven, we won't need to introduce anything of man's world to make heaven happy. We won't have to introduce anything that man has brought into his vast system.
Can we not see that the Lord Jesus can make us happy even now?
When we speak of being conformed to the world, it isn't that we don't in a certain extent follow its styles. And the Scripture says those that use the world has not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away. I'm glad that I can go to a store and buy a suit in which I feel I can dress in such a way as to honor Christ.
And if you want to please the Lord, you can be very thankful that you can still buy things in which you can honor Christ. Yes, you can buy an automobile, you can buy a house. You can live your life in business in such a way that you can honor Christ. But this speaks to our hearts. What is the center?
System in which we live, is it Christ? Have we recognized this? Have we really presented our bodies to him and said, Lord, we are thine bought by thy blood, once the poor guilty slaves of sin. Oh, I speak to you, dear young people. I've been very much impressed in reading in the 27th of Leviticus where it speaks about the priest putting a value upon.
Different ages.
And from a man, a boy from five years old, from one to five years old, I believe it is, he was valued at 10 shekels, I think it was, or five shekels. And then from 5 to 20, he was valued at 15 shekels. And then from 20 up to 60, he was valued at 30 shekels. And then after he passed the age, the age of 60, he dropped down again.
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And if I remember rightly, it's 10 or 15 shekels. How wide is the Spirit of God bring this before us?
I love to look into the faces of young people. I sometimes think they're more valuable than myself. Because you have life before you. If the Lord leads you here, you have an opportunity of giving your life to the Lord Jesus and living for Him. Many of us the the greater part of our life is past, but you're still young and you can in this good part of your life, this useful part of your life, to recognize the Lord's claims and live for Him.
In that sense, the priest valued the man who was from 20 to 50 at more than twice what he valued the one. I think it was 50 shekels from 20 to 50 and then dropped down to 15 after he passed 60. Want to change? Dear young people, this is the best part of your life. You're making decisions right now at this very conference. Some of you are making decisions. Some of you have made decisions.
You perhaps made a decision to live for Christ. Some of you perhaps have decided to go home and ask to remember the Lord in his death. Some of you have chosen partners. Some of you have made decisions that are going to affect the whole of the rest of your life. All your young people. What a privilege to be brought into new creation where Christ is all Does he want you to rob you? Is He asking for you because he wants to rob you of something?
When God made that world so beautiful for Adam, did he try to rob him? No, it was Satan that robbed him.
God made it beautiful for him, and He listened to the voice of the tempter. When God saved you, did He? Did He save you to rob you? No, these things, right? And you that your joy may be full. And He wants you to know the fullness of joy that He only can give. And more than this, as it was pointed out in the meetings, the joy of the Lord is your strength. I want to tell you something wonderful.
God finds more pleasure in your happiness than all the happiness you will ever have. You know, I have children of my own, and when my children are happy, I think my happiness is greater than theirs. I just love to see them happy. I just love to. It satisfies my heart. And I would be willing to make sacrifices if it would do something for their good and for their happiness. And so at every parent here, oh God, your Father has made the greatest sacrifice that was possible to make. He gave his son.
Because he wanted to make a new world where all would be supremely happy, where God himself would wipe away all tears from off of all faces, and there would be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying or pain. Yes, He wants you to be happy. And I say to you, He's able to fill your heart with joy and happiness right now. But your young people, just as the tempter came into the Garden of Eden, he's coming into your Garden of life.
And he's coming with all kinds of suggestions. He's saying the goodliest are mine, the goodliest. And as I see young people that I felt were really promising, young people who have could have contributed a great deal, and as I see them listening to the voice of the tempter and turned aside, I feel like weeping. I know they're losers themselves, and I know the people of God are losers, but the one who feels it the most is the one who wept over Jerusalem.
Now I just like to say a little more to before I close and that is that in this new creation, it tells us that Christ is all and in all. And I want to point out that he's not only all for salvation, but he's all for your whole life, for the he's the object of your life. He's your example. Perhaps you've had your eye upon some Christian.
00:55:01
Somebody that you admired very greatly, someone you said all that person's been such a wonderful Christian. I could never, never think of being such a fine person as he or she. And that person disappointed you. That person didn't go on for the Lord and you got a big let down. Well, you got your eye on the wrong person. Dear young people, get your eye upon the Lord Jesus. There's a verse that says I've seen an end of all perfection.
And if you live long enough, you'll see failure in every servant of God. You'll see failure in every Christian. But I don't want you to look at them. In new creation. God may use a servant, but the servant hasn't filled his work properly unless he's hidden himself and pointed to Christ. The one whom God called the greatest among those born of women was the one when they pressed him as to who he was, all that he would say is.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness said I'm just a voice. So in God's program, Christ is all for salvation. He's the example. He's to be your object. And I say he's to be the gathering center too. He's to be the gathering center. Now, you know, in the systems of man, they're often the names of man. And these men may have been great men.
For the Lord, they may have done a great deal for him, but in God's program, I say the Lord Jesus is to be the gathering center too. He's to be the one to whose name were gathered. And I know it takes courage when your friends ask you.
Where do you go to worship? It's not hard to say. Well, I go to such and such a church. It's not even hard to say.
I belong to brethren because you don't really belong to brethren, but it's not hard to say that.
But it takes courage to say I belong to the Lord Jesus. I'm gathered to his precious name alone. I'm gathered to his precious name alone. Now, who's the head of your church? Well, the Lord Jesus is the head of the body, the church. Paul, I mean, who's in charge? Well, I, I hope the Holy Spirit is in charge. That's the way it should be. And the world doesn't understand that sort of thing.
And I believe I can say this, that reproach for the Christian is proportionate to the measure in which he gives Christ his rightful place. If you recognize Christ only for salvation, you'll get quite a bit of reproach.
If you recognize Him as the object of your life, you'll get a little more reproach. If you make Him and Him only the example of your life, you'll get a little more reproach, because people like to set men before you. And if you recognize Christ only as the gathering center.
You'll get a little more reproach. Reproach grows proportionately in the measure in which Christ is given his place because the world has cast Christ out. And they want a system where man is the center. And they're very pleased when Christendom brings in something of man into its system. But they don't like a system. If I can use that, they don't like a position would be a better word. They don't like a position on earth.
Where we recognize Christ only for salvation. Christ is our righteousness, Christ is our pattern, Christ as our object. Christ is our gathering center. They don't like that. And yet in heaven it's going to be Christ. Everything there. And will we need anything more? No, nothing more than that. But just before I close, I just like to turn to a verse in First Epistle of John on the 5th chapter.
Verse 4.
For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. You say, how can I overcome?
Gordon, you don't know what I have to meet when I go back. You don't know the forces that are tugging at me. You don't know what my parents are going to say. You don't know what my friends are going to say. You don't know what even some of the young people in the meeting are going to say. If I really want to make Christ the center of my life, well, there's a way of victory. But it's by faith. It's by faith. And what is faith? Well, faith has an unseen object.
01:00:17
Before 1 in faith, we have an unseen object, and if you act to please me, you've got the wrong object before you.
And you won't have victory in your life because as soon as you're tested by, it's going to be found that you had your eye on the wrong object. But you know, the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. Oh, you say, I'm afraid I haven't got very much faith. Well, it's possible for faith to grow. You know, faith is the gift of God. It's given to us. But you know how faith grows? Well, faith grows by trusting the Lord in little things.
And so when you meet the first difficulty after you leave this place, just look up and say, Lord, I'm not sufficient for this situation. It's too much for me, but I just look to Thee to help me. That will be the first step. And when you've taken the first step, that's going to encourage you for the next. And without you trying to make an effort, you'll find your faith grows. Your faith always grows in someone when you become better acquainted with them.
If you find there what they should be when you first meet a person, you may not know too much about them, but as you get to know them better, if they're worthy of your confidence while your faith grows as time goes on. Well, dear friends and dear young people, I like a little hymn that says, Able art thou our love to win, worthy of all our trust. The Lord Jesus is worthy of all your trust and confidence.
Don't look too far ahead. If you try to look too far ahead, you might see difficulties.
And say I could never meet them but the first one that comes up after you leave this place.
Or perhaps before you leave this place, just look up and say, Lord, I'm not sufficient for this.
But give me the strength, I say again. You and I have been brought into this place.
For we belong to new creation. May the Lord grant that we'll give the Lord Jesus his rightful place. And I'm sure if we do, we'll be like the wise man. When they had come up to see the Lord Jesus after he was born, then it says that God warned them.
Not to go back the same way. They came, and it says they departed into their own country another way. They departed into their own country another way. They had to go back home, but they didn't go the same way. And you have to go back home. I have to go back home. As the Lord leaves us here. We have our earthly home and we have to go back now. We're going to meet the same difficulties that we left when we get back home, but we can go another way.
We can go having seen the Lord with something of His glory and his beauty.
Filling our hearts something of the realization that we belong to this new creation where Christ is all and in all.
Can't we just?
Don't we just sing that little hymn? As soon now will come again, Jesus our Lord. We shall be happy then. Jesus our Lord forgotten the number.
Thank you, 286.
Then we thy face shall see. Then we shall like thee be than evermore with thee, Jesus our Lord, 286.
Soon at all God.
Who is in his life?