We have talked during the past three days on the motive for service, on the ways and means God gives us to serve Him, and how to know the mind of the Lord about what we should do for Him.
Today I would like to speak concerning “Understanding the Times,” or having intelligence as to the days in which we are living and what we can look for as results in our service for the Lord.
First of all, I would like to read a verse in 2 Timothy 2:55And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (2 Timothy 2:5): “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.”
We are going to spend most of our time today in 2 Timothy. What I want to do, with the Lord's help, is to bring before us some warnings we get and also a great deal of encouragement. The thing I want to impress upon us, first of all, is that you and I are not living in “apostolic times.” We are not living in the days of the early church when everything was fresh and new, when Peter could go out and preach and 3,000 people were saved in one day, when there was power to deal with problems, when there was a love and a unity displayed, not only to other Christians, but also to the whole world. We are not living in those days.
Every dispensation (which means every period of time in which that God has dealt with man in a certain way), God has given man a responsibility and man has always failed in it. When God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they failed. When God put Noah on the earth after the flood, he failed. When God gave the children of Israel the land of Canaan, gave them the law and everything that they possibly could need, to live for and serve Him, they failed. The church has not been any different. The church has failed! It is one of the principles in the ways of God that when man fails in what God has committed to him, God never restores things to their original state. God never puts us right back where we were at the beginning. Not that the principles change, but God always restores things (if we may use the expression) in a “remnant character,” that is, He restores things in a “limited” way. So you see at the end of Israel's history (refer to the book of Nehemiah) He raised up people like Ezra and Nehemiah to come back to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple and the wall, but He never brought back the days of glory such as Joshua had when he conquered the land of Canaan, or when David and Solomon sat on the throne. No, those days were gone. It would have been unintelligent and wrong for Nehemiah to have attempted to restore that kind of a thing, because they had to recognize that failure had come in and that they were under the judgment of God.
I say that, because very often, many dear Christians are upset when they do not see things happening that they see in the Word of God during Pentecostal times. We need intelligence in the things of God. We are right at the end of the dispensation of grace. Man has ruined it completely. But what has happened? I believe in wondrous grace, God in these last days has restored truth to you and to me. I say this because most of you here are gathered to the Lord's name; you have been brought up in what I can honestly feel is “the truth of God.” God has restored it to us; not that there weren't always individuals that have enjoyed it down through the ages, but as far as a “public testimony” was concerned, God raised up those in the last century who restored something of what there was at the beginning, but in a small way. That is why it says in the address to Philadelphia in Revelation 3, “Thou hast a little strength.” It does not mean that they were small and weak and others were strong, it means (if I may say it reverently) that Philadelphia was “a chip off the old block!” A chip off the old block——-it was part of the REAL THING! There is no strength mentioned in connection with the others at all. What I want to impress upon us is that we need intelligence as to the day in which we are living, we need intelligence when we want to serve the Lord, we need to realize the character of the days in which we live, and what we can expect.
Here we read this verse in 2 Timothy 2, “A man is not crowned unless he strive lawfully” — you don't find a verse quite the same as this applied to the early days of the church. You do find brought before us in 1 Corinthians 3:1212Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (1 Corinthians 3:12) about how God can reward that which is done for Him “gold silver and precious stones” — but He is going to have to burn up the things that were done for self — “wood, hay and stubble” — just things that are no good at all. They will burn up. We do find that — but we don't find the warnings that we get in 2 Timothy. Why are they necessary? Because ruin has come into the church.
Well, what do we do about that? How do we handle that? There is a tendency on the one hand to give up and say, “Well what's the use? There is no point in trying to carry on any longer.” On the other hand, there is a tendency among some to say “We have to get back and get things the way they were in the beginning!” I don't want to be critical, but there is a hymn sometimes that is sung (I haven't heard it sung around here), “Send the power, the Pentecostal power.” Would to God that that would happen, but it is not intelligent to sing like that. I'm not critical of those that do, perhaps many sing it with a true heart, but it doesn't display intelligence in the things of God. The thing we need to impress upon ourselves is this, that God, when we are found in a situation such as we are in today, has given us light in His Word as to what we should do.
Some people say, “You just have to do the best you can, you can't apply things the way that they were at the beginning” — but God's principles don't change. However, we can't expect to see the kind of public testimony and blessing that there was in the days of the early church. I want to talk a little about a few verses in 2 Timothy here, and then go on to some real encouragement.
First of all, this verse brings out the importance of striving lawfully. I guess most of you heard about a young man in Canada at the last Olympics, who ran the 100 meter dash in record time. But then he was completely disqualified and his gold medal taken away from him. Why? Because it was determined that he had in his system some kind of drug (we won't bother going into it) which was totally against the rules. It made headlines! Everybody knew who he was! Ben Johnson, — everybody felt sorry for him, but other people said, “If you don't clamp down on this sort of thing it is going to be rampant.” A lot of people thought, “He got caught, but others were doing it too.” Perhaps so. The point was, he was totally disqualified because he broke the rules. God has certain guidelines in His Word and God does not always withhold the blessing because we don't adhere to the guidelines, but nevertheless, isn't it a good thing to do things according to God's Word?
So we find in 2 Timothy the emphasis is on FAITHFULNESS. The emphasis and the warnings are on faithfulness because so many devious teachings and practices have entered into the church of God.
Let's go down a little bit in the chapter, but I want to make one point here first. 2 Timothy 1 gives us the setting — the ruin of the church. 2 Timothy 2 gives us the individual's pathway when everything is in ruins. 2 Timothy 3 gives me my attitude as an individual toward the professing church at large. So 2 Timothy 2 is more what I need to do for myself as an individual. 2 Timothy 3 is more my attitude toward those who take the name of Christ at large. What do we find in 2 Timothy 2:15-2115Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus; 18Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 19Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. (2 Timothy 2:15‑21)?
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (or perhaps “cutting in a straight line” is more accurate) the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his, And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”
Here we find (I suggest to you without making a lot of comments on these scriptures), one of the important principles of service in these last days. Do you want to be fit for the Master's use? Do you want to be prepared for every good work as it says here? We talked a little about separating from the world yesterday, but this is even more difficult. You are going to have to separate yourself from that which is not according to the mind of God, even among those who profess to be Christians. Some may be real, some may not be real, nevertheless you will have to separate from that. This is one of the biggest “hang-ups” among Christians today. So many do not see the truth of this — to separate from another Christian. I can remember when a brother said to me, “You mean to tell me that I have to separate from another Christian?!” I said, “Well, what does it say here, 'purge himself from these' — what are these'?” Vessels to dishonor. A believer can be a vessel to dishonor. Suppose another believer is going on in a very careless way in his life and engaged in wickedness that is not in keeping with the testimony of a Christian. I have to separate from him. Supposing that another believer holds very bad doctrine concerning the Person or the work of Christ. I may have to separate from him. People say, “How can you do that? How can you show love if you do that?” Well, here is an important point — all too often we tend to think of the love and the care that is due to others, without first thinking of what is due to the Lord! Which of those two should get the highest priority? The Lord should be considered first, shouldn't He?
That is where it all starts. If I look at someone else my heart goes out to him, but I cannot sometimes show the love that I would like to a fellow Christian who is deliberately walking carelessly. He should know the love is there — he should know that it hurts not to be able to walk with him. I had some correspondence a while ago with a dear brother in Christ who is connected with a system which is not according to the Word of God and oh, it hurt! It brought tears to my eyes sometimes to write back and forth because my heart went out to him so much. I had to tell him, “Brother, I can't go along with those things you are trying to say!” It was difficult and he knew that I felt it. I hope every Christian would know that because it is an important principle. If you want to be fit for the Masters' use you have to be ready to separate from that which is not according to the word of God.
Why does it say, “If a man (or a woman) therefore purge himself from these?” It has to be individual. I have to get to the point where I say that if every other Christian in this world is not willing to please the Lord, that is no reason for me to go along with it. That is no reason, because the Lord can give me the strength to walk alone! Brother Rick was just proposing something that I think was a terrific idea because it is not easy to walk alone. And do you know what? — we are never going to be asked to walk alone! The Lord may bring you to the point where you say, “Well, by the grace of God I will walk alone with the Lord if that is what it comes to.” But then what do you read in verse 22? “Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
There is always going to be a “with them” until the Lord comes; you will never be asked to walk alone. There may not be very many. You may find (I am going to say this very carefully and very kindly) that there are other Christians, other young people, other people my age, gathered to the Lord's name, but you don't seem to be able to have much fellowship with them; and, I'll say this too, because it is true, you may find that there are other Christians with whom perhaps you could not break bread, but with whom you can have more fellowship in the things of Christ because practically they are living more up to the light that they have although positionally they are connected with that which is not according to the Word of God. Others positionally may be where the Lord is in the midst and yet practically are not walking in the good of what they know.
Well, what do I have to do? I have to stand fast for what the Lord has told me, and it may mean walking a narrow pathway, but my heart ought to be broad enough that it takes in every member of the body of Christ. I can be narrow-minded and walk a narrow path in the flesh. I can be broad and include every other Christian in the flesh, but I can't walk a narrow path and have my heart go out to every believer unless I am in communion with the Lord. That is why there are so many difficulties with these scriptures. Sometimes young people ask me, “Why is it that I have to ask to remember the Lord, why isn't it that I just go to the meeting room and sit down and the brethren pass me the loaf and the cup. Why is it that I have to first express my desire and sometimes the brethren have a visit with me — why do we do that?” That scripture may be quoted in 1 Corinthians 11:2828But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (1 Corinthians 11:28): “Let a man examine himself and so let him eat.”
The reason for such care is in 2 Timothy 2. I don't think you had to ask in the days of the Apostle Paul. I don't think that if there were a Christian in the city of Corinth that wanted to remember the Lord, he had to ask. (I don't mean that children who had grown up might not have expressed their desire, that's different). But I don't believe that if someone got saved at a gospel meeting the week before and the next week he was baptized and wanted to remember the Lord, that he had to ask and have the brethren visit him and talk about it and all the rest of it. Why? Because there was only ONE place where Christians met in Corinth — ONE place. If there was a Christian in Corinth, all the other Christians knew who he was because there was no other place to go except a heathen temple or maybe a Jewish synagogue. There was only one place.
But it is not like that now. Christendom is like a “great house” as we have it here in 2 Timothy 2:2020But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. (2 Timothy 2:20). Things have become divided and bad doctrine has come in as in Hymenaeus and Philetus. They brought in bad teaching and Paul said, “Their word is going to eat like a gangrene.” Do you know what gangrene is? It is dead tissue. I don't know whether you have seen it or not, but it isn't very nice to see. When someone's foot has gone gangrenous, it is awful, and it spreads. Paul says that is what happens with bad teaching. Do you know what has to be done with someone's foot that has gone gangrenous? You have to amputate it!
I have talked with people and had to tell them, “You have a gangrenous toe!”
“Do you have to amputate it?”
“Yes!”
“Where?”
“Above the ankle.”
“Above the ankle!!? Why?”
“Because if you don't do that you are going to lose your life. That gangrene is going to spread!”
“But I can't give up my foot. I don't want to lose my foot.”
“Well, but if you don't lose that foot your whole body is going to suffer.”
That is the point here. Bad teaching has to be dealt with even if it means saying to another Christian, “I'm sorry, but that is not according to the mind of God.” But I should do it with tears in my eyes. Sometimes we get the attitude of “good riddance to bad rubbish.” Oh no! If we do it in that way we are totally wrong.
But nevertheless, what is due to the Lord? Remember it will spread like gangrene — that is the reason. Don't be too upset if when you or others ask for your place at the Lord's table it takes a little while; it shouldn't take a long time. I say very firmly, that if brethren know you and know you to be a Christian who is walking in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it should not take, as one brother said this morning, ten weeks to remember the Lord. Nevertheless, if your brethren are careful, don't be too upset. Sometimes brethren get to doing things in a bit of a protocol and I don't believe that is according to the mind of God, because we don't have protocols in the New Testament, but if your brethren are careful, there is a basis for it, a reason for it.
When someone comes to the assembly whom we don't know, they can't just simply sit down and break bread, because we would be wrong simply to receive them on their own testimony. You didn't have to do that in the early days because everybody knew who they were, and what they were doing. If a man was living a sinful life, every other Christian knew it. But now I don't know. I don't know where a person comes from, what he is connected with, what kind of a life he lives, so we are responsible on the ground of 2 Timothy 2.
We don't have any more time to spend on that, but if any of you are unclear yet and want to talk about it, we would be glad to sit down and chat, some of us, because it is important to know why we do things; it isn't just something that has been dreamed up.
Well, let's go on now to 2 Timothy 3. Here we have more the “collective” aspect, and once again, we get warning in the first part of the chapter. Look at that list in the first three verses: Verse 2: “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,” and on and on the list goes. I just say to you that this is not a description of the world, although it is true of the world. This is a description of those that profess to be Christians. Pretty sad, isn't it, and yet it is true.
In the “great house” there is a mixture of believers and unbelievers, and sometimes you can't tell the difference. That's why it says, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.” This is a description of the world, yes, it's true, but more particularly a description of the professing “house of Christendom.” That's what we are faced with. What do we do? Notice verse 10: “But thou hast wholly known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions.”
Paul says, “You've known my doctrine, manner of life and purpose.” Which are you going to follow? Are you going to go back to the Word of God and say, “By God's grace I'll walk according to what God's Word says?” Or am I going to be caught up in what we read in these first three verses?
It's not going to be easy. Notice verse 12: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus (may suffer persecution? No!) SHALL suffer persecution.”
If you try to live for the Lord, you are going to have a rough time. It may not take the form, as some of our brethren have experienced (and perhaps still are in some countries in the world), where they lose their jobs, lose their homes, are persecuted every step of the way for Christ. It may not take the form as in China where Christians are imprisoned for the name of Christ, but you will certainly suffer persecution and you will have to be prepared for it. It doesn't say just persecution from the world; you may have to take it from other Christians who say, “Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are walking that way? Who do you think you are taking “holier than thou” ground and separating yourself from other true believers?” If I don't have the Lord before me I won't be able to carry on.
So much for the warnings. 2 Timothy gives us warnings, and if we don't pay attention to them I say very plainly to each of you dear young people and to my own soul, our testimony will be ruined. It pains me many times to see dear young people whose testimony has been ruined by not paying attention to what we have here.
But then the 4th chapter is encouragement. What does it say?: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
Oh, I love that! There is a warning, but “preach the word, be instant in season, out of season.” Why does he say that? Because in these last days it is not going to be easy. You and I like nice, neat opportunities to be opened up to us. I was talking to some last night who would have liked (as I often would have liked) for the Lord to have opened up a real vision as He did to the Apostle Paul, and say, “Paul, I want you to go over into Macedonia.” A man saying to them, “Come over into Macedonia and help us,” and then we would say, “I know what I have to do now.” But things don't always work that way in these end times. I don't mean that the Lord won't give us a definite sense in our souls of what He wants us to do, but it will be “in season, out of season.”
Let me give you a very practical point. I don't know whether it is the same way around here. I would imagine it is the same as it is in Canada, but we have a gospel meeting in our hall every Lord's Day and it is not easy to get people to come in. It has to be a personal invitation before somebody will come. We can't just put the time of the gospel upon the wall of the meeting and open up the doors and expect people to pour in. It used to be that way, but is isn't any more. People need a personal invitation, and need someone to get to know them, to talk to them, and it is harder to get them in than it ever was before. We have to reach out to them. What are we doing in our everyday lives?
You know the Lord had to bring it home to me. You have seen ads in magazines sometimes about various charge cards — the one that comes to mind is American Express, and the phrase is, “Don't leave home without it!” “You know it should be that way,” the Lord said to me, “with your gospel tracts. Don't leave home without them!” That took some doing! But finally I can honestly say to you, I got to the point where I don't leave home without them now, because I never know when I am going to need them. The Lord will bring you an opportunity “out of season.” You smile at someone and say hello to them. Then they say, “Boy, you seem happy this morning!”
I might answer, “Well, I am happy, you know.”
“How can you be happy with the way things are in this world?” “out of season” — but get your “sword” out and use it! Then you can reach into your pocket or purse and say, “I'd like to give you a good gospel tract; it has made me so happy that I would like others to have the same happiness.” And you can say quite honestly, “This isn't promoting any particular denomination. This is just the simple way of salvation.” The Lord can use that. More people have been saved that way than we realize.
One time a man was standing in front of a large group of Christians (I believe it was several thousand), and he said, “I want a show of hands. How many were saved at big gospel crusades, the type that Billy Graham might hold?” A few held up their hands. Then he said, “How many were saved by listening to radio preachers or watching a program on television where the Word of God was preached?” A few more put up their hands. “Now,” he said, “How many were saved by a personal contact with another Christian who took a special interest in you and brought Christ before you?” I forget the exact percentage, but it was something like 70 to 80%!! That's where it is at in these last days, and God can use you and me in those circumstances, if we are whole hearted. If we are whole hearted the Lord will make the opportunity. You say, “I can't do much for the Lord!” “Be instant in season, out of season.”
Notice verse 5: “Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist.”
Why does it say that? Oh, in the days of the early church you didn't have to tell somebody to do the work of an evangelist because there was a good evangelist there. If I were around someone like Tim Cedarland all the time, somebody wouldn't have to come to me and say, “Bill, do the work of an evangelist,” because there would be someone right there that had that gift. But when I am by myself, I need that exhortation because there isn't always an evangelist right there handy to do that. Many of the gifts are being used in a wrong way — connected with bad doctrine, bad teaching, — very sad! What do we do? You may have to “pinch hit” for something you aren't really trained to do!
A few years ago in our home, my wife was very ill and had to be in the hospital for some time. My two children were quite young and I had to “pinch hit” as a cook. You can imagine they noticed the difference and they remarked on it too! Why did I do it? Because I wanted to take over? Oh no!, not at all! — but because my children were hungry, and I wanted to see them fed. Things improved as time went on, so they told me. Things were better at the end of one or two weeks than they were at the beginning! Why? Because practice made things come a little more easily. It didn't make me anywhere near what my wife is and I was more than happy to hand things back when she was well enough to take over again. This is what we have to do today. Sometimes you have to “pinch hit.” God will give us the grace.
“Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” What about results? Oh you say, “Wouldn't it be nice if I could just see somebody saved through my efforts? Wouldn't it be nice to know if I had been a blessing to someone.” I would love it if someone would come into our assembly and get saved at a gospel meeting — it can happen. Let me say this about results in these last days — there are two things we need to remember. We often hear it brought before us, “We are not responsible for results” and that is true. We don't have time to turn to the scriptures. They are in 1 Corinthians 3 “Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God giveth the increase.” That is blessedly true! We are not responsible for results. If we are in the place where the Lord wants us, doing what He wants us to do, we can leave the results to Him.
A brother who is now with the Lord, used to say, “Don't count your converts before the glory; you won't count enough.” It is true. Much of what the Lord has used us in blessing for down here probably won't appear till the judgment seat of Christ. Why? Because we would get too puffed up. We would get thinking of ourselves as being somebody. So, somebody may have been blessed by something you have said or done, but you don't find out because you need to be (and I need to be) kept humble and just go on quietly for Him.
The other side is this. I believe we can expect the Lord from time to time to give us encouragement by showing us fruit for our work. If I never, month after month, year after year, see any fruit for what I am doing for the Lord, I believe it should cause me to get before Him and say, “Lord, am I in the right place? Am I doing it in the right way? Is there something connected with my service that is hindering the blessing?” I believe that there should be and we can expect encouragement from time to time.
I can remember when I was in England some years ago and I preached the gospel there, an older sister came up to me and told me how much she had enjoyed it. She said in her own quiet way, “A little praise to lift you up, but not enough to puff you up.” That was good! That is what God does for us. He gives us a little praise from time to time to lift us up but he doesn't let us see enough to puff us up. If God doesn't show us very many results, sometimes it is just so He might keep us humble in order that we might serve Him better. So don't be discouraged if you don't see a lot of results, but on the other hand I believe we can expect encouragement from time to time as if the Lord is saying to us, “I'm with you; you are doing what I want you to do and here is just a little indication of it!”
Well, our time is just about gone and I want to read one last verse. It is the last verse of 2 Timothy 4 and I want to leave this thought with you on this last meeting. Verse 22: “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen”
Why does He say that? It's an unusual expression, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit: — that's not the Spirit of God. That is your spirit, my spirit, because every man and woman is a tripartite being; body, soul and spirit. We know what a body is. That is the casket in which the real you and me is kept. The soul is the seat of the appetites and the desires, but the spirit is the God-conscious part of our being. And he says, “the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” He has given us warnings about how to do things, what to look out for, how we have to separate from evil, how we have to be careful, and so on. He has given us encouragement and the final essence is “the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” You know, Timothy was in danger of doing one of two things, I believe. He was in danger of giving up on the one hand and becoming discouraged with what he saw, and there is a real danger of that today, but the Lord encourages us because He is the same.
There was another danger in Timothy's day and that was a danger of getting upset and angry at the situation in the church and perhaps, shall we say it, using the whip to try and straighten things out. Sometimes we do that and that is usually the fault of those of us who are a little older than you young people. You don't act so much like that, but we do. Sometimes we see things that aren't right in the assembly or in our brethren and we think, “If I just get the whip out that will straighten things out; if I just come down hard on them for it, that will straighten everything out.” Well, I don't mean that we don't need to be faithful. We need to be faithful. There are times in the assembly when discipline has to be carried out, sad to say, but it should always be done in love. The individual that has to be dealt with should know that it pains us beyond measure to have to deal in that way, although we have to be faithful, and there is a danger of that attitude overtaking us when there is a lot of failure. What is the antidote to both of those attitudes? “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” If Christ is always before me, you know it is not so much what I do often that is wrong, but the spirit in which I do it.
I have a real problem in the way I say things to people sometimes. It may come through in the wrong way. I may say the right thing, but it comes through in a wrong way — a harsh way. What do I need? “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” We can do the right thing but in the wrong way.
One final comment. You will never be able to walk rightly before the Lord, or to serve Him, unless you are in direct contact with Him. Some of us are very concerned about you (as we are about ourselves), because Lassen Pines is not the real world. This isn't the world you and I have to live in every day. There is a danger of getting so happy here that we come down to the earth with an awful thump when we go back to the reality of life at school, life in the assembly, and we say, “Boy, I just can't wait to get to the conference, or I can't wait to get to Barakel or whatever it might be, where I can get charged up again. It is sad if we just bounce from one peak to another. What we need is to be directly in contact with the Lord himself.
You will never walk properly as long as you lean on somebody else. Sometimes you and I may need to. There have been times in my life when I needed the sympathy and love of others, but if my life is nothing but asking for sympathy and saying “Help me, I'm hurting,” then I should be before the Lord. Christianity is characterized by giving, not by asking. We all need at times, and God has given us, one another for that; but I say what God really wants you to do is to be so enjoying the love of Christ that not only can you overcome your own problems and difficulties with His help, but you can be a help to others. Nothing enables you to forget your own problems so easily as to have the Lord use you to help somebody else. “He that watereth shall be watered also himself.” If I am always thinking about myself, that is not the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ is, What can I do first of all for the Lord, and secondly, what can I do for others. You will be amazed that if you forget about yourself and put the Lord first and others next, how you will find that for some strange reason you are very happy, although you haven't been bothering to think about your own happiness. You have been thinking about what the Lord would have you do, you have been thinking about helping someone else out, and strangely enough in the middle of all of that you will be very happy.
If you want an example of that, look at our blessed Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ never had one thought for Himself — always for the glory of God, His Father first and for the blessing of others, and He was the happiest man that ever went through this world.
I know our time is gone, but can we just sing one verse of that hymn I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.
You know the story behind this hymn is very touching because an Indian prince wrote it who lost everything for Christ. He had to make a choice. His father said to him, “Son if you are going to follow Christ, I am going to have to disown you. I'm going to have to disinherit you. You are going to have to go it alone. You go up to your room and think it over and then come back with your answer.” So he went up, and when he came down some hours later his father said to him, “Son, what will it be?” His answer was to hand his father the words of this hymn. He gave up everything in this world for Christ. Was it worth it? Indeed it was! May you and I be willing to give up things in this world in order to serve our blessed Saviour better.
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