Vestal Conference: 1995
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Colossians 2:1-8
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193.
We're righteous, we're feeble, wretched as I am my house and glory in my name I'll cleanse in my most precious blood, And made the righteousness of God. All that thou hast, thou hast for me on my first finger hit. Indeed I live, while I suspect by nothing and at all for death. I was wondering if it might be profitable for us to look at the 2nd chapter of Colossians.
Washington, Chapter 2.
For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding.
To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
Although I'd be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit, enjoying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, as you have therefore received in Christ Jesus the Lord.
So walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as he had been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bottling, and you are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power.
In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the flesh, on the sins of the body, of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, and you being dead in your sins.
And in the uncircumcision of your flesh hath He quickened it, together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly.
Triumphing over them in it.
Let no man, therefore judge you in me, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which you have not seen, mainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
Wherefore.
If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is the living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not handle not, which all are to perish with using after the commandments and doctrines of men.
Which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
Mm-hmm.
I believe that, uh, hauling right into the squash is really offers the remedy a number of years before for the state of things that we find the latest deal when we read the third chapter of the Book of Revelation.
It's remarkable that, uh, you mentioned the latest. See it here. But the condition of things which became full blown and laid accused so that the Lord had to say the latest, He behold Hispanic door and knocked.
He was outside of the assembly that, uh, they all saw this certain condition of things developing a number of years before in these assemblies and he wrote in Colossians and we really have the answer and the remedy for that. We've often spoken of the fact that related team and state and I really believe that if this was Washington is the remedy and the anxious that pay the things that are.
All right. So it's very helpful.
We see the apostles heart come out here too because it caused a great conflict in his own heart. These two assemblies were perhaps about 10 or 15 miles apart from each other, but they were characterized by the same type of thing and that was that they were giving up really the the headship of Christ and laid his team and lay. The key as we know is after the traditions or the customs of the lay people and it is typical of our day generally, not just in the assembly but in the world.
Man looks to man.
Rather than to Christ and across the end of the first man and God delighted to honor a man that the world despises. But we're gathered for the name of that precious one. And so in the assembly, the girl that it gets into the our hearts and into the assemblies and man becomes the object rather than Christ. Man's rules, man's ways, man's habits, man's person's president Christ. And so the fear of God will deliver us from that.
And really turn our hearts to Christ.
The beers that fall had never been to Milwaukee working laying the sand just that by the part of this first verse, but that didn't hinder him from uh, having great conflict or combat for them. How did Paul combat for those things over there in philosophy and lay the seal. She never saw him or her.
The lot of friends will be praying for it, don't we? Because we've never met before.
In other parts of this world, and certainly have hold them before the throne of grace and prayer, and amend them to the Lord, that they be established in the truth of God.
And the other way this call was going to help them was to show them something that they had never seen. They had never seen Paul's face, but Paul has seen something that they had never seen and he had been caught up into the 3rd heaven and he had seen Christ and glory. And so that's really what he's bringing before them here because that really answers all of this confusion looking in that because he wants their hearts to be knit together in law. But he's going to show us. He's going to expose to us the first of Christ and whom are hit all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Well, if you know someone like that, why are you going to turn to a man and why are you going to look to a man and be confused by that? And so that's really what Paul is doing. So that's the way we can be a help to one another too, is to minister the things of Christ is that it was great conflict and it's all for them. And so he was going to give them what he had and that was priced.
00:10:08
Alright, well, you know too that the lotions.
Brings before us, as we find at the end in the 27th verse of the previous chapter, to whom God would make known on what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ in you, the hope of glory in Ephesians. We're in Christ seen in the heavenly places. And so, as you were pointing out, we need this excitation. We need to be delivered from all that surrounds us. That is ritualism, rationalism, whatever it may be.
Because as he says, Christ is in you the hope of glory. It's the hope of glory because we're not there yet. We're down here, aren't we? And we need the exhortation of the word of God. So how precious it is to see that God uses that is the Lord uses Paul here in in that connection, because he says that in verse two that our heart that their hearts might be comforted being knit together. What do we see around us?
We see dispersion, we see division.
All right, what is the desire of the Spirit of God?
Being knit together as as we find in Philippians, having one mind striving together, not against one another, but together for the truth of God, for the gospel of God, for the faith of God.
See Christ and one another as instruct frequently in the 116th song. It seems that it's a very low spot to spare, because she said in the 116th Psalm, the 11Th 1St.
My in my haste, I said. In my haste, all men are liars.
So what's he gonna do? Run away at Hive or save your brother? Lift into the eyes of everybody. In his face he said everyone of them is a liar. What does it say? What shall I render unto the Lord for his benefits toward me? We'll take a cup of salvation. I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows under the Lord in the presence of all his people.
And so it really turns the eyes from the brethren, and it sees Christ and the brethren himself. It does see. It was a hasty thing that he said, that all men aren't liars.
And, uh, it really drew him to the place, the great congregation where he was going to pay his vows before the Lord. And so the call upon the name of the Lord. And so as you pointed out there, it's Christ to you, which is the hope of the Lord.
In the second verse, I think of the word, uh, riches that, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and onto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. And if you look over in Revelations 3 and uh.
Uh, verse 17.
Revelation 3, verse 17.
Because I'll say it, I am rich and increase with goods and have need of nothing and knows not as our wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. How how the the two contrasts together. The riches of this world is nothing compared to the riches what what you have in Christ. You know, each one of us would like to try and make a little bit more money. If I only made a little more money, I'd be more happier. I have the things I want then I I would be happy but.
If you get a little bit more, it just seems to go as fast as faster than it went. It can go and but the dedriches that you have here in the second verse, they'll never, never disappear. The rich is forever.
00:15:17
Even the apostle falls herself.
Uh, when he was, he called the elders of, uh, Ephesus together, uh, on the shore, uh, when he was passing through, and he spoke of the dark days that would come and.
And then he said that, that they would see his face no more. And, uh, they weren't listening. They weren't listening to what he was saying really, because he wasn't, he was talking about the darkness of the days. Uh, that would be ahead after his departure. We just moved to enter in amongst the thought, not sparing the flock and so on your own selves and would rise. And then they're all weeping and crying.
And they cried, most of all because he had said, I don't see my face anymore.
They were missing the client. And so here Paul says you haven't seen my face, but you rejoiced in the Lord. You get your eye on the Lord and it's it's so important, isn't it not attract attention to ourselves, but it should always and ever be to exalt Christ in what we say and how we live.
You like Johnny Baptist? I'm only a voice. I'm only a voice.
But he added a real serious.
Conflict. Why? Because Satan was trying to occupy them with two things. One is the philosophy. Because these were Gentiles and they were exposed to the brewery thinking of the of educated people. And so they were having a tendency to look towards the mind. So that was a big fault. And today, what are we finding? New Age movement. That's the very same thing.
And that is towards the people to raise them up.
One of the fellow said me one time.
As the mind of man gets bigger, so God gets bigger. That is what reasoning does. Now. That was one of the faults of the Colossians. The other one was that they were going back to the Jewish customs and the Old Testament things and, uh, touch not a face not, handle not, and so on. They were slipping back to that. Now we have those two dangers today because we may just be hosting along on.
Coming to the meetings, sitting down singing and brave and.
Not hearing that which would touch the conscience and to lift our heart is right. That's a danger.
That faces each one of us. And so we these things were allowed to happen in the days of the Colossians assembly by the known by the Spirit of God that even in the last day we would be facing the same thing.
It takes real energy of faith to cast down reasoning.
Call to the friends and casting out imaginations for reasoning and everything thing that resolves itself against God. And so a sister was telling us some of that on the way up she was girls were asking her at school but why she did what she did in meeting real believers description. They said well, that's the pretzel of that. Will God speak, you know, and it's his word. It just shows what a vein and an empty thing it is when God speaks to man.
Praises his reasonings, however.
Well developed they are the phase just simply rests on the word of God. I think that that was the deliverance for the psalmist there because in that song we read because further he comes to the 119th song before the Psalm agreed and the first is both the word of God and so he settled in his soul and the word of God and he said Paul says to the Romans, let God be true in every man a liar from that faith believes there.
00:20:08
But we need to be comforted because there are people all around us who will and will.
The shaking of the face and that's really what prophecy is that believes that, uh, chapter in Isaiah was written at the darkest time and pathetic and Gabriel's history that comfort she comfort she might be cold the people of God.
The word of God is true and it's a buffer. Trust the Lord and just the looks of the Lord because there will be many great weakness and feedback. And so you may well ask yourself, well, for everything exterior is gone. They see Paul's face no more. When everything is gone, what will be left? And so there really needs to be that confidence and comfort to trust the Lord and to trust in His word.
And Ross desire is to bless his people, isn't it? And though we, uh, man looks at things as a great mystery, yet God has revealed to you and to me a marvelous, glorious mystery. Christ in you, a poor Sinner saved by Christ, saved by grace, the person of Christ dwelling in me. Yes, that is true. And also in the assembly, of course, but I was just thinking here too and again when the verse 2.
Uh, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding. This assurance of understanding is connected with the mystery, the mystery. It's a mystery to man, isn't it? To think that here's a soul that went on in his sins and now he's, he's, his whole view is changed because it's Christ in that individual that has been changed, not connected with any kind of, uh, ritualism or rationalism that we see all around us. That's not the point. The point is.
That the center of our whole being is Christ. If that isn't so, we've missed the mind of God. I believe here we read, we, we, uh, there's a little different reading here. To the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God. I think the rest of it is Mr. Garvey leaves out in his translation to the mystique of God. God has desires to reveal this mystery. And where is that mystery to be found?
Not only in the word of God, but notice verse 3IN not in whom, but it says in which the mystery there in which are his all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that brings us before the person of Christ too, doesn't it, the Lord Jesus Christ. So God's desire is this great mystery has been revealed to you and to me. It may be a mystery to your to your neighbor. It may even be a mystery to some professed Christian.
A Christian who professes But it's not a mystery to you, and should not be a mystery to you or me, because God has sought to reveal it. And it says in which are His all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Where do I find it? Where to go personally? Christ, that's where it is.
What you're saying found in the 1St Corinthians 2.
So 9 and 10, yes, but as it's written, I have noxine or you're heard neither. It's entered into the heart of man. The things which got us prepared for them that log in, but God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit.
So they're not yet they're revealed.
Lovely too there, and that you call attention to that in First Corinthians chapter 2. Just notice the last verse for who has made, who has known the minds of the world, that he may instruct him.
Who is known as but we have a mind of Christ not boasting this, but let's rely on God to reveal this to us and plead to His word with the purpose of heart.
We need to help it, but it's probably undergoing persecution.
What they needed to be reminded too about this love and verse two being mixed together in love because someone was, uh, from clouding their thoughts.
I'm bringing, uh, doubts into their minds. You know, they were intruding into those things that they had not seen. Well, you know, you're reminded of Philadelphia. It means brotherly love. In fact, you find this very same expression in connection with Samuel says you're a lit with love of.
00:25:13
Uh, first MLA team rather the first verse, it says when David had made an end of speaking on this call, the soul of Jonathan was Nick and soul of David and Johnson loved him as his own soul. Absolutely. Picture isn't it rather than that when Christ is manifested to his earthly people, which Jonathan is a type of the remnant originally remnant will love Christ as their own soul. Uh, so here it says that your heart says that you live together in laws. That's very important. That's what keeps.
Uh, I believe what's going on together in spite of our differences, you know, love from one another and, uh.
All these hours that would be increased.
Would you say, Mr. Little, is this, uh, wisdom and knowledge? You only get it by fear.
The the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, so that's the place you can get it from.
Not to be afraid.
Work here.
Afraid of something that is to have a a respect.
A willingness to listen rather than to talk back or defend ourselves. So it's to have, we're to have that for our earthly fathers and mothers.
Not to be afraid like to hold them in respect. And so here is a a secret this is.
How we we get the communication from the Lord?
It's like when somebody gives you directions from your directions to a place you've never been before, maybe a little complicated to get there that you're very attentive to every detail, not to miss one detail because if you know to get way off in the wrong direction.
Remember when I was a young man to allow a story? I was a large city of 14 million people and I had directions.
Uh, I've lost them and, uh, arrived at the city and I was in the area, talked about the taxi driver said how do I get to touch and touch a place? He said I'm gonna give you an exact direction to follow him. He said you take your first lap and then you turn right and so on. And you gave me the directions. Well, I came to the first left and sort of spurred off and I said, well, surely he doesn't need that one. He means the next one and he could see me from where he was. And, uh, I got lost. I came back 20 minutes later. I said I'm looking, I'll pay you a cab fare to take me to this place. He says I wouldn't take $200.00 from you if you won't listen to what I say.
And that's really, you know, we get into trouble and we ought to have that fear to depart from the word of God with that earlier the pathway of safety to spare the Lord. And it's the beginning of wisdom. And when we get into our own thoughts and we, uh, we need to fear to, to depart from the Lord in that way.
So fear is not pleasing the Lord, isn't it? Brethren, we shall always have that figure of the Lord. I'll save you some verses over in 111Th Psalm, and also in some even seven, I believe it is, Or 80.
The umm.
89 and Psalm 111. Very interesting verse nine. He sent redemption under his people.
He hath commanded his covenant forever, wholly and reverent is His name. Now we know this. This has been cast about, but reverence means holding in all someone who is far greater than we. It's a it has an awesome thought, doesn't it? Reverence is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as our brother has said. A good understanding have all they that do His commandments, His praise endureth forever.
And notice in Psalm 89 and verse verse 7, now we see it in connection with the assembly. I, I, I apply this.
Uh, Psalm 189 and verse seven, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints, but we see it as two individuals. If I as an individual see the awesome and I have that certain fear of God and I bring this, this thought with me, then I, when I come into the assembly, it says.
00:30:17
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints, and to add in reverence of all them that are about you. Doesn't that have an effect upon it? It should have really. And I I think of it again, but our brother said that about the fear of the Lord.
You notice there two circles there really there is. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints.
Speaking now on the assemblies, very important to realize that that.
It's for us.
It's a very blessed, precious privilege to be gathered to the name of the Lord, but then there's a another circle outside and to be had in reverence of all them that are above him, that embraces, that takes in all everyone who might be the Lords, but not the privilege of being at this assembled. So there's a special.
Word to us to have that holy reverence, or at least a holy fear of the Lord in the assembly.
So that's the final authority on this earth.
There's no recourse beyond the assembly.
But uh, those who don't have that privilege, there is needs for them to be a reverence for him.
A piece of joint beholding their orders.
And there can be all the love in the world in a home, but if there's no order, the love can't even enjoy.
That's quicker. We reverse it that way off and say, well, faith is we put it first.
The Spirit of God, but the other person.
Whether it's the assembly or whether it's in the family, family, that where there's disorder, there's unhappiness for the children and no lack and no sense of security.
Six verse is very important and always related to Luke 818. Take heed how are you here to him that has shall more be given if I'm walking in the truth that I have learned, even though other young people here. If you are walking in the truth that you know.
Or have her, then the rest of her says in the half shall more be given.
The pass of tennis, it's going to be given to us. What, how, when? If we are walking in what we know, then the verse, the thought of the rest of the verse says, and he that has not. If I know the truth and I'm not walking in, what does it say? It says shall be taken away from him that which he seemeth to have.
Oh, I can appear to have the truth, but unless I'm walking in it, he's going to take it away from me and I'm going to lose my discernment there.
Very important for us to see that in connection with this first.
Walk in.
I guess prior to that and versus the four and five, he speaks about the the umm.
The, uh, this I say, unless any man should beguile you with enticing words, you know, words can have a very convincing effect upon us, can't they? We, uh, we sometimes hear words that are very flagrant and we reject them immediately. But there are other are other words that are very enticing that Satan's method, isn't it? And he was, he used uses net.
00:35:04
He is.
Here personally is that in that sense that he uses men to entice with with different words that is be enticed or turned away with enticing words. Uh, you know, knowledge popeth up, but uh, we could have a lot of knowledge, but what is in the heart means more to God and this is what will affect our walk. One is mother Barry. I was thinking again, that's just not too, uh, just going back to verse five, although I'd be absent in the flesh and fall was he was in prison. He was in change and it was in irons.
He wasn't in a happy POSI condition at all.
In writing to these Colossians and he says, umm, although I'd be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit. How marvelous that is to think that the apostle was there in spirit with those Colossians believers, even though they were being deluged with deluge, I guess you would say, with all kinds of doctrines and and philosophy. You know, philosophy is just man looking for more knowledge. That's why he wants to know more. So it's not a question of great knowledge, is it? It's a question of who we know, not what we know.
So I think of this Paul, as Paul says, join and behold in your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, in Christ. That's the key. The key to any great joy or knowledge is to be in Christ. This is this is his whole point. And I've, I've said it many times and I repeat it, that God's desire from, from the from Genesis to Revelation is to present his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts.
That he might be the object, not something else, whatever it may be.
So I think it's so beautiful and as you pointed out by the very as you have received, therefore received crises with the Lord Now what is he saying? Listen to him talk about him says walk ye in him that puts it where it belongs. It enters the mind and into the into the heart and puts it in our feet. How are we walking? What are we enjoying? Where are our feet going?
So searching question, isn't it so lofty? And him, This is a good word for the young people. They're saying, where are you walking?
Are you walking with the world? Well, you have to walk in the world, that's true. But are your is your companionship with the world, or is it with Christ? So it says, so walk ye in him.
Hmm. It was there that they have received right by faith. So there was law in the loss by faith.
But even I face that, uh, as it says in, uh, Galatians 220, in the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, not my faith, by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself on it. That is the sustaining power of the blessed Lord Jesus living for us on high.
Romans, I think it was three, says much more. Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved by His.
Life is living on not high this morning forest and heaven, and then by that faith we are sustained. I I realized that there has to be a correspondence and that is walking in the.
Doctor, what is the contrast to all that?
The that went back to that, uh.
End of the fourth verse with enticing words.
Were exposed to dear young people. You're exposed to entitled words. What's that in today's language, culture. Culture?
I don't want to be funny, but it may help you to understand. Culture is the embalming fluid that keeps the old man from stinking, and that is what the world does.
To substitute for Christ in this world.
To have a nice, elegant life and so on. That's what Egypt is a picture of in the Old Testament. In Egypt there are amazing things, and the riches of that land must have been beyond our imagination. And it's a picture of the culture of it wasn't great military power in the Old Testament days.
00:40:13
But it was the attraction of and the intelligence and the enticing words and the maintenance, maintenance of, of life here. But that is a great danger for us today, our culture, education, whatever it might be. I don't top down education for a minute, but let's realize that that's what will happen. The word says we will be.
It's right there.
And.
The word I'm looking for.
Beguile, that will be the beguile will be pulled, Yeah.
That'll be cool. Or if we're not feeding and walking.
In price, we will be cool with everyone of us.
Worldwide proofs of Christianity without a crisis. Yeah. And uh, that's really was why the children of Israel were in Egypt for so long was because the iniquity of the amorite was not yet full. But there was what Christians are going about in the world, trying to make the world a better place. And really the effect of it is, is just the pumpkin bomb included into the corpses spoke of. And so we want Christ wants reality.
And he may actually cause us to feel our seableness. And that's what Lay the Seal was insensitive to was her poverty.
May cause us to feel our poverty because the thing that God met us to enjoy, He may remove to us to cause us to really turn to Christ again. It may be actually fellowship with the brethren that may keep us from Christ if we're not careful to be with the brethren. Many good things. And so This is why concise things and reference was made to Paul at speaking to the elders at Ephesus. But they were there. They were elders and they were to warn people about these enticing words.
We ought to listen when we're warned all warned people don't want and we ought to listen and we don't heed that warning if we the foolish go on and are punished. And so he had set these elders at Ephesus and there's two things that could happen. We could advocate our responsibility. The elders could have rather could that advocate the responsibility to warn people and then those that are warned to fail to heed the warning impulsive to the clause and quit. You like man and a man wasn't to shave off the hair between the eyebrows.
For the dad, that is, he was not to remove the natural fierceness. And we make travel and evil and want to think the world is a great, big, nice place where everybody's nice and don't say anything about anybody unless you have something good to say. So we're not to shave off the hair between our eyebrows. There's a brother I specifically think of, and he's got very pronounced hair between his eyebrows. And I heard two children speaking about them. They said, are you afraid of so and so? And the other child says no. And he couldn't understand why he wasn't afraid of missing natural fierceness. But in spiritual things, there has to be that, too.
And we're not to round the corners of our viewers. That means that we're not always, I believe, trying to be well balanced in what we say. There's a time to speak the truth and believe it with God. And there are those warnings. There were the elders at Ephesus. So they may advocate that responsibility, but the pathway of the Lord's servant is a lonely one. And so there has to be. The Lord was the most approachable of all men, but he was lonely. But not to shrink from that and love for these things. Paul would warn them about that.
Then on the other hand, I can't go through life ignoring the provision that God has made in the assembly and for me to protect me from these things. I can't ignore all those warnings. And then I expect to be preserved. So there's the two sides of the soul for those of us who are younger and those that are older. So there's, uh, but he's warning them not to be beguiled by enticing words. And so, and this may sound rather obvious to say this, but they wouldn't be enticing unless they sounded true.
And so the devil will transform himself into an Angel of light and, uh, he that he appears as a counterfeit to the truth. And the better the counterfeit you said is, is, uh, better the counter, but the more dangerous it is. Bad counterpart school is nobody, but a good counterfeit fuels many people. And so we need to be careful about that.
00:45:03
They're connected with the walk.
We know the 1St 7 rooted and built up in him. He's looking over at a verse over in Jeremiah chapter 17. Very interesting verse. There are verses.
Uh, we know that the trials come, the difficulties come, uh, for the child of God, but just notice the Jeremiah 17 and verse, uh, seven. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord.
And whose hope the Lord is? What is our hope? Colossians tells us, Christ in you the hope of glory. So what is our hope? But notice then what he said. This man who is blessed to God, blessed in the Lord, and the Lord of his hope, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters. Oh what a what a refreshing thing, a tree planted by the waters. I thought of it in connection with our verse, rooted and built up in him.
Rooted means.
Gone in there, there's a root there, there's something there that is holding that tree together. If somebody has said there are many, there's many roofs under a tree as there are branches above. So we need that balance and we need to be rooted as Paul says here. But notice what he says in verse eight of that Jeremiah 17. He shall be as a pre planted by the waters that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when he comes. All the heat is coming, the trials come, the difficulties come, but he won't see when the heat comes.
But her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drop, neither shall cease from yielding fruit, and so on. Very interesting little, uh, thoughts there in connection with that. The tree planted by the waters, The water is the word of God is what we have before us, don't we? And the person of Christ has been brought before us, so it says, rooted and built up in him.
Established in the faith as you've been taught.
Abounding therein with Thanksgiving.
You put all there's a lot of there's a minor wealth in this little worse, isn't there? Rooted in him, build up in him, established in the faith, uh, taught of him a bonding in that same faith with Thanksgiving, giving thanks for all that he's done for us. I would like to I want to verse 10.
I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the conscience.
No, that's something he's doing at this very moment. So this is a wonderful portion for us.
He had it sounds like so you and me right now that he did through Paul for.
Alaska and and the first part I mean.
Wait, let us say it. But one is completely vanished.
The The thing is, if he's testing the conscience, am I really trying to hear his voice to me personally right now, that's the way I was just to consider.
It's important to see the order of it the routing in other words.
I'm not, I'm not sure established. And this is where the meetings like we're having now, this is so important for us to be listening and that's driving the roots down. Don't be afraid to.
Listen, in the meeting, you're very young on much of my heart.
I was six years ago visiting and Nova Scotia and home to home and I was not, you know, wood stuff on the way back in the country. And one of the men that had been saved at 70 years of age took me up to the back of his house up on the High Hill and he said this is where my grandfather.
Built his house and I said, why would he ever build up on the top of it? Why not down in the in the valley? And he looked at me and he said, oh, up on the top of the hills are where the trees are exposed to the wind and the rain and the rain, the wind blows the trees over and opens up a space and then the rain comes and it goes down, down and the roots and the roots go right down.
00:50:01
So that's where the hardwood is.
Down in the valley, it's not well, that's what you and I need. We need to be rooted down and then what's the other side? Build up, building up ourselves, our most holy faith, Paul said. They tend to be left eye progress being seen and known to others. Are we seeing progress in eoderium, ones that are here from year to year? Or it's so important to be rooted and grounded and then.
Built up doesn't say build up, but build up. He will build us up if we root ourselves in the truth.
You said it with a tree that more extends the wind and the rain and all the terrible things the deeper the roof scroll and how I, I've been thinking of it in each one of our lives that, uh, we, we don't make trouble. We don't like trials. We just don't like them. Well, I should say that it's OK for the other person because we know what they did wrong and it's OK if you get, you can do it because you deserved it. But me.
I don't think I should have to stand for the in the trials that I'm getting. I think it's a little unfair, but that's where we too, where we really dig our roots in. And some of the trials are very, very hard. I'm not misunderstanding that away from them, but when you come through them and look back at them, you wouldn't have missed them for anything that that's that's one way too, where the roots go down deeper and deeper.
All right, it's interesting that the roof roof of the tree hadn't succeeded by.
Anyone else around and, uh, the routing process that should be going on in our lives, uh, gathering that water from the word of God.
Isn't something that we uh.
That other people can see.
It's something that has to go on quietly between.
Each one of us in the world not to be, not to be seen by by having the other thing, the fruit, the branches, the fruit if there is the rooting underneath. But if if we try to build up the branches and show off the fruit and the roots aren't there, if the whole thing is just the sound and it will fall down.
It has to be that quiet, unseen, uh, speed. It's underneath. Isn't that beautiful to think?
Here is is 1 little verse 7 Here, uh, we we see the principal that God has given to us first establishes us in the truth. That is, it's supposed to be supposed to be rooted and and grounded.
Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving. Now it comes out.
What is my heart, Uh, what am I rejoicing in? Am I rejoicing in my circumstances or am I rejoicing in the war? I think that that that we we see here. It says rooter then build up in him established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving abounding that is not abounding in the circumstances again, but abounding in faith. It says talk about invariant with Thanksgiving, thanking God for every phase of our lives.
Whatever it may be.
But it just it just seems to me that God brings these things before us and they're not I I know it's not contrary to reason. You know, we don't reason Scripture, but we we believe it. But faith is not contrary to reading either. And so we see that the faces here is the being rooted. And then as it comes up, then we see the results. We see that so thanking God for all that he has in Christ and his results there, there's a proof there isn't that isn't it? Isn't it by that says by their fruit, the Lord Jesus could say by their fruit. Shall he know that.
Uh, you know, we don't, we don't know what's in the heart of man, but we can see the results of it coming out, can't we?
In the first script it says the remnant of the escape and the escapes of the House of Judah shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upwards. The Lord get them to work in their heart before they can ever produce fruit for God.
00:55:05
The second King's 20.
The taste for like the type of covering on the vessel, that there was a vessel and a leopard's house that even if it had a tight covering on it, it wouldn't be the file until we seven first fulfill ourselves and our children with the truth. That error just seems ridiculous. And the reason we're beguiled is because.
We don't know the truth and we've often heard a stick. I've heard it from various sources with the Chinese businessman would let his child play with real money and when he knew the real that he quickly detected the fall. And that's really what the progression here is. If we're grounded in Christ and we're not going to be swept away by every wind of doctrine. We wonder why the young people are so easily fooled or others or why we fooled ourselves as well if we were killed with the truth and Sierra just seems like foolishness and so.
But philosophy, I took a course in philosophy and they taught it based on if then statement. And that's how the reasoning of the human mind. If this is so, then this is true. But in that song he says, I believe, therefore I have to focus and that's faith. We begin with we believe what God has said and therefore we proceed from that and the reasoning advances. Well, if this is true, then that is true and you construct like children, builders, bricks, you construct a a whole reasoned argument out of it. But faith as I believe, therefore I'm so.
And uh.
Rudiments of the world, you know, everywhere you go, we were in the hospital and there had a little value statement there. And everywhere you go, companies are making these value statements and they're really the rudiments of the principles on which the world operates. And so the children are taught these things. You know, they say, well, they don't want them to get into drugs. So they say, uh, you've got to love yourself. So that's the rudiments of the world.
You, uh, you've got to respect yourself. You've got to know yourself. Well, these are all the rudiments of the world. But what we learn in Scripture is really quite something else is that I want God to know me. And the time will come and I'll be known even as I'll know, even as I know. And I want God to search my heart. I don't want to search my own. So take in that sense, but it's, uh, search me. Oh, God and the rudiment of the world. And they're training these things from school from the youngest age and are assaulted with these constantly.
And they seem to write in many ways, if we're not grounded in the truth, you know, and, uh, the world doesn't understand what submission is, you know, stand up for yourself. That's one of the rudiments of the world. Stand up for your right. Civil disobedience, submission of the Lord to Pilate and to others. It was something that was unknown in the world. And so we're not clear as to these things. And we adopt these principles and ways of thinking when we get into the assembly and into the home and when we go to work and.
Uh, we operate on exactly the same principles as the world. The boss asked us to do something that he has no right to ask us to do. And we say, well, I've got my right and we're operating in the rudiments of the world, you know?
It's very difficult because the boss will call you in and he'll ask you for your opinion and he wants to make sure you're in agreement with everything before you do it. He just doesn't know what it is that somebody come in and say, I'll do what you tell me to do because it's absolutely foreign, this system of this world. And so we're we're deceived by all of this. The type of appearance, right? And a, an attraction too obvious, trying to deceive ourselves and thinking it's not an attraction. It is.
I like to use the illustration of a person that is well off and they gave a very lovely gift to a child.
And they had wrapped it up nicely and given it to the child. So after a little while, they wondered, well, I wonder how much the child is enjoying the gift of the hip code around to the room. And I saw the kids on the floor. Instead of enjoying this expensive gift, he was fooling around with the spring that was the parcel was wrapped up in. That's what the rudiments of the world are.
Philosophy.
Is the natural law for wisdom. That's what philosophy is and man.
Two weeks and, uh, I think it's one of the powers that, uh, therefore get wisdom, get understanding. I still remember our brother, umm, umm, William Martin was in, he went to the West Coast and California and over one of the colleges there, I've never been there, but over one of those great universities inscribed in the, in the over the headstone was wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom.
01:00:31
And he just brought out the fact that.
I didn't read what was working the wisdom, the wisdom of God isn't that God was given and that's different altogether different contrary to.
It.
That's what we had what we had already and and the third version, right. And whom are you all the presence of this and all.
Or in inhabitants.
1St chapter Second, Peter says giving diligence to make your election your calling and the election. Sure, give villages. That means be serious about it. For if he do these things, if he do these things, he shall never fall, never fall. There's the assurance that every one of us can happen.
Not if we know them, but if we do them.
1St chapter of second here.
All props needed about whether Rush is going to go tomorrow with this country or that country. People get all taken up with those things. It's the testimony of a person and the details as to that is right and God's overturning. What is eternal life? It's not a thing. The first thing is when we stand up and we preach the gospel, we're not preaching about life insurance policy. We're speaking about a person. You have to somehow have life. So what is listening now?
Is him and when we try to have these things apart from him.
And we spoil the entire thing.
131.
Christ is my witness.
Right.
Problems. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom and then it turns right into the person.
296.
I'll be running all three to seven. Joy of heaven to earth come down. Bless us with thy rich indwelling all I merge all thy thankful mercy found. Savior thee we shall be blessed.
We hear none of our crazy hair figure without the glory in thy dialogue 296.
Comforter
Joshua 3
Four things Pharaoh Said to Moses
Colossians 2:9-17
Reading
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Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bottling, and you are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also He are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the flesh of the sins of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.
Who hath raised him from the dead?
In you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath He quickened, together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was contrary to us.
Was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it. Let no man, therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which you have not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is the living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with using after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
There are two very important principles.
And there's a portion of the picture and the chapter before, and that is the the Lord Jesus.
As part of faith, God has Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not complete without us. Look at the 18th verse of the previous chapter and he is the head of the body.
Well, a person isn't complete. The head isn't connected to the body. So we are the body and he's the head. He's not complete without us in the verse that we have just read.
Verse 10 and ye are complete in Him. Now there's the converse, there's the opposite. We're not complete with Him.
As children of God born again.
Now the head is in heaven, and Colossians not, we're not seated there yet within, that's in Ephesians. But the hedge is up in heaven because the body is down here. But he sees us now as connected. So we need to be looking up to the head in every way. Without Him we are not complete.
And we need him every minute of our life.
Directed the human body when I get a a something when I get a cut in my finger, my finger doesn't tell my other hand to to ask my feet to walk and get a Band-Aid and put it on. But all my finger does is send a signal to my head to my brain. I got a pain and the head tells the rest of my body what to do so.
We need to remember that we need to bring everything to Him and get our instruction from not complete with Him. We needed to operate minute by minute in our life.
00:05:27
To work with you to remember that this is a part of the mystery that was spoken of in verse 26 of the first chapter. That even the mystery which have been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the state. These things were hidden. The fact that Christ is the head of the body and to the Church.
His, his body, it was a hidden from, in Pine Pass from the, uh, Jews. That was something that was revealed. And uh, the apostle Paul was particularly given to the apostle Paul to reveal what that mystery was so that we would be able to enjoy it. So it may manifest and reveal to us here. So we're not complete without the head and the head is not complete without us.
That's a very important point that you're mentioning brother too. Uh, thinking of a Ephesians chapter 3.
Verse nine and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.
It was never revealed until the Lord Jesus came, went to the cross, went back to glory and the Holy Spirit comes down and it's just so beautiful to think it was hitting God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known by the church or the assembly, the manifold wisdom of God, the all various.
Glorious wisdom of God so.
What a what a revelation is then, as we think that God has revealed this glorious mystery to us, that Christ is in US. We're in Christ for all eternity.
It's not really a a mystery to us now. It was that, as you say, which is hidden from God. But we have been let in now to the secret. The secret has been revealed.
The apostle Paul got it and he never saw the Lord Jesus on this earth as a man, but the Lord Jesus chose that man who is the chief of sinners and he has been said he revealed to him that secret. There is lot from the past eternity and in Ephesians 3 it says and by made known to the others through the Spirit, and here it's now all the apostles.
All committed to Timothy and he said to Timothy, the things which thou hast heard of me amongst many witness witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Are there some Timothy's here this afternoon? We can't be apostle calls, but we can be Timothy, and he's passing on in those four steps Christ, Paul, Timothy.
To teach others, and they would teach us. And here we are, 1995, learning what the apostle received from Christ and the glory, a mysterious secret. Oh, let's walk in the glute of that secret, not trying to get as close to the world as we can, keep as far away from it as we can, and so to be in the enjoyment of these things.
So he is ahead of all principality and power. And we turn to the first chapter. We see He has delivered us from the authority of darkness.
So we really see who is ahead of that historic, that power. That's what the Lord said to Pilate when he said, uh, you have no authority, but what is giving you from above? He acknowledged pilot's civil authority, but he was the one who had granted the pilots that authority As soon as he walked through this world, his leaders said we're called to obedience. We're not called the disobedience. The principle of the world, one of the rudiments of the world is civil disobedience there against violence because it hurts man.
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But they're not against disobedience because.
God called us to obedience to the world, sees nothing wrong with disobedience, but says.
Children of faith were called to the obedience of the Christ. And so when umm, Peter was, and uh, they were forbidden to preach, he said men ought to obey God rather than man. So if I tell my child to leave the room and somebody puts out their hands, don't go out and my child goes out, he's not being disobedient. He's obeying the proper authority that is his father. And so I just mentioned that here because he is now the head of all principality and power.
And in the address to the Church of Philadelphia, he says he has the keys of David, which he, he doesn't think he's going to happen, but he has them now. And so he, uh, well, he has assumed that position in earthly power on earth. That is the assembly. We can realize that now he has the keys of David. That is the keys of earthly government now. And so we don't need to go asking, uh, the Prime Minister for Christian privileges because.
The one who holds the keys of David is in our midst.
Is that the thought in Ephesians one? Uh, verse 22?
Where at the end of the verse, uh, Speaking of the defendant, Christ says that put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. Umm.
Season 122 So that it's fairly commonly known amongst Christians that Christ is the head of the church. But it seems to me there's a broader thing that you just described and that is that he's head over, over all things, all principality and power. And he is in that capacity of wealth, uh, a man in whom is strength, a great one on high. And he's that to the church. So that's an added, uh, majesty or glory of Christ that he is towards us.
I don't know if I'm going to say that there are 4 spheres.
Of authority, first of all, there is God-given government and the government passed laws and the people of the country, they obey the law. But suppose there is some unjust injustice there? Well, the courts are, uh, appealed to and the court proves that the government didn't have a right law. So they changed the law a little bit, but they do have recourse.
Now the second thing is I, I boss and I.
Boy, these are things that are in the scriptures and in Ephesians and Colossians. There are masters and there are service. So we have boxes in, uh, our, uh, work for a boss and the boss tells us what to do and we, we do that. But suppose the boss tells us to do something that we don't really think it's right. We do right. We have recourse. Now. The third are the parents or the father particularly.
A father in the home has the authority, God-given authority, to rule his family in obedience. But suppose the father does things that are not quite or orders somebody to do something not right or unfair or really cruel. There's a recourse, but the 4th one is the assembly, and there is no recourse beyond that.
The assembly as the authority from the head, who is the head of the assembly, Not the Lord of the assembly. He's the Lord of individuals, but he's the head of the assembly. There is no recourse. We don't have any choices. I haven't put it that way. Old Testament, yes, choices, but never in the new. It's I'm either obedient or I'm disobedient. And so we don't have choices. It doesn't give us choices because I would make a mistake and I if I made a choice at any time.
He is there and we submit and obey through the assembly and it's very important for us to realize that authority of the assembly. I'd like to point out the two scriptures that fear this note in Ephesians chapter 6, I notice the order. This is a practical consequence, I believe of the British. You're mentioning groups. It says children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.
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Honor thy father and mother.
Which is the first commandment?
Now the world's order is honored by father and mother God, honorable parents and obeyed them. But the commandments to the children to obey them comes first, and then the commandments on and the parents comes afterwards. And I believe that to preserve us from thinking, well, I don't have to honor them if they're not honorable, I don't have to obey them. And he said, uh, and then the word is to the father to provoke them not to wrap. And then you'll notice that it mentions to the servants who made your masters according to the flesh.
And uh, then, then there is a word, uh, to the masters afterwards. So I don't obey my master if he's, uh, he's uh, a threatening man if he disobey my master if he's a threatening man, because the polls need to obey him from before the exhortation to the master.
And I think this is illustrated also practically in health Epistle to Philemon. And it's interesting that Paul takes up the question of head shift to the Colossians, the headship of Christ over the church in Colossians. But in Philemon he takes up that in the other spirit that you were mentioning, and that is the headship of Philemon as a master. And this relationship actually resist existed because of the fall, because here was a masters place. God didn't intend men to be bond servants or slaves.
And yet God, we see in the epistles of Philemon how Paul not is in a fossil, but as the bondsman is the servant of Jesus Christ, maintains that relationship even though it is a result of failure. And so he sends Philemon back to her own estimates, back to Philemon, and he says, without my mind they would do nothing. And so the apostle does not intrude into the order of Philemon's home to set something right.
Though Philemon was in debt to the apostle Paul and though he was an apostle, and so I believe that those 2GO together because Philemon I believe was from Colossi, perhaps from landed Sia, but there's abundant evidence that he was from Colossians. So Paul is maintaining the headship of finding his own home, a relationship that was a really a result of of the fall and of sorrow that he should have his play. And he sends an estimate back to him. He says without timeline, I would do nothing.
And we see the Lord doing that too. We've had that pointed out to us often in Harry and Martha's home, and we see that the Lord never intruded into that natural order. So.
And we've been taught that, uh, this phrase price is ahead of this home is not scriptural, that the father is the head of the home. The head of every woman is the man.
And, uh, often we take up with these things to say, well, I only follow Jesus. That means I don't have to listen to my brethren in the assembly. I don't have to, you know, we, we tried to get out from underneath what God has established and we see how carefully he maintains that each one of us.
Uh, men particularly bothers, We experience these four as, uh, conditions every day. In other words, a man, he goes to work, so he's under the authority of the boss. So the boss tells him what to do. So that submission to one on the way home, he's driving home. So he's subjected to the government, the government says.
40 mile an hour zone, uh, obey that. That's the government. And so he obeys that when he goes home, he becomes, he's the father there and the children are subject to him. So the three there but on the Lord's day.
He goes into the assembly and there is the final authority, and it is so important, isn't it, for us to realize that.
Loving Head of the Assembly through whom we submit.
Perhaps something that should be spent about that too, because I mentioned that birth that, uh, a man was not to shave off the hair between his eyes for the dead. And I believe there's another one in his spiritual sense. It's the man in the home and in the assembly too. And his position is that a man is not put on that which pertaineth to a woman.
And that is that there is a time called into the Corinthians quiche like man. And uh, if that work, you put in a position of responsibility.
If you abdicate that responsibility, your boss will remove you from that. And if I go home and I advocate that responsibility?
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As head of my home or in the assembly of the brother, uh, or if the elders at Ephesus, as they did, they really neglected the responsibility as elders to watch over the flock of God, then, uh, then there will be sorrowful consequences for that.
And so there is a place for submission in a man, as with, uh, with Samson, that, uh, his long hair was a speak of was really an unnatural thing, womanly submission. But as in the sphere in which God has placed it, we have to occupy that spirit faithfully.
And it's hard because in the world you'll go to work and they don't like to tell anybody to do to do anything anymore. They form a committee and ask you what you want to do. And it's all kind of this rudiment of the world, this worldly confusion. And we may get caught up in that. And they say, well, that's the way we do things that work. But we need to speak diligently to be subject to those in authority over us because they may be our bosses may be active and willing participants in this confusion, so to speak. And.
Surrendering their authorities is always uh.
Uh, we're under them. There's one other verse in connection with this that, uh, was helpful to me that a brother pointed out.
He's with ensuring the Lord, marveled his face.
He said he wasn't worthy that the Lord should come under his house and he said just speak the word. And this is the reasoning, divine reasoning that this ensuring you. She said I being a man under authority and with authority and the way that we learn to properly exercise authority in the home or in the assembly is by being under it.
And I think we understand in a natural sense when we've had an abusive thought, it's been generally somebody who's never ever been subject to anybody. And when we get abused it in that way, it's because we haven't been sub in subjection ourselves. I being a mutton man under authority and with authority, he understood authority and he had faith in connection with the Lord.
Here you see that very, very, very good people like to.
Speak against the government that they did this wrong. They did that wrong. But the Lord says he pushed the basis of men in the government and in authority at work in that. And the reason that for that is that that doesn't give us any reason to to be able to talk back to them. The Lord put them there and where to accept them.
So this is a circumcision made without Judaism. They were circumcised. It was an outward thing, and there could be really no faith in connection with it at all, with an outward mark. But this is the circumcision.
That's made without hands to putting off the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Until the believer has an entirely different set of motives than the world. But remember when I was a teacher's college that said they had this values clarification, and in it they asked people to come up at the front of the class. These were prospective teachers, and to explain.
Why, they did something and two Christians were called up to the front and one said, well, I would never do that because it's forbidden by the tenants of mine religious group. And he names his evangelical religious group. And the professor said, you know, we have to respect people's religious opinion.
And he said we ought not to violate those. He could understand that that was the rudiments of the world, an outward saying, a rule. But then a young lady was there, and she was put in a position she really didn't want to be in, but she didn't even lift her head. And she said I wouldn't do such a thing because it would be dishonouring to Christ.
And he said I was so embarrassed for her, He said. He said everybody was embarrassed. They got up on the left, 300 of them, without saying a word. He didn't understand the motive like that. But I believe that they were really brought into the presence of God by her comments.
And uh, he was recounting this and was kind of interesting because I don't want to get some stories, but towards the end of the class, I asked him, I said, was that not a good reason for asking? And he kind of blushes in his 10 minutes towards the end of the class, he blushed, He closed his book and he left and everybody and other hundred left the classroom doing the same thing. But if you say I don't do that because I'm brethren, people will understand that they think it's a little odd, but to let, but to really the circumcision of the crisis to do something to please the Lord the world knows nothing about.
00:25:23
It.
Is that not what you get in the Colossians chapter 3 and verse 22, That principle there that servants obey in all things your master according to flesh, Not with my service as men, pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God. That's his order, isn't it? The order in the home should be with singleness of heart fearing God, ordering the assembly, the same thing, uh, order in our work.
Same thing gone. The principle is the same singleness of heart, hearing God take our complaints. You know from the Lord that all right now in Genesis 16, watching your slings, $50 by my interest is treating me very hardly. Uh, I can't serve any longer.
No, what those things are there in the 16th chapter of Genesis returns to lawmakers and submit by adults on their hands. There was a proper authority for those there wasn't Canadian properly at the time is Hagar was still on the left to submit, wasn't it?
Oh, OK.
Well, first was a little bit farther. Not only have we died with Christ, that is what Jordan is. A picture of the Red Sea is a picture of Christ's death for us. They saw the water right on either side, but when they crossed the Jordan, they didn't see the water. It was the way back up, almost a mile away.
And so the difference between the two is.
It's not the position only of my having died with crisis, but it is my realizing. I emphasize that. It's my realizing that I have guys with growth. My life shows whether I realize it or not. I can literally say it. We can all easily say it, but are we acting, living as if we have died to the world?
With Jesus on the cross, at least at that time, not within exactly. Do I realize that if I do well in in the in a prophetic way, or at least in the illustration, we've crossed the Jordan, but it's the realizing that they all crossed the Jordan. But do I realize that So it's not only death, but it's very the person is very.
Down they go. Their body goes into the ground and the earth is piled on top of it. They're buried.
That's our position now.
We should really be out of sight.
People often speak of baptism as a testimony of an outward sign of inward work and so on, but you know, in a actual medium and so on. But it's hard to see. Nobody ever asked to be buried, to take a dead person and you buried them. And that is really why the commanders to the baptizer, because, uh, and it's really not as it really is a sign of death.
The person did and you're not expecting anything more of this person. Do you expect any more life out of that body wouldn't bury it. And that's really the point. We get all wrapped up in ourselves even in baptism and it really becomes the opposite to what of which is really a testimony and that is the fact that Christ died so.
Then we also realize that he was raised from the dead. So now we have been raised.
And a whole new life.
Fred, you can't even sin in your new life, can you?
Epistle of John tells us that our new life I can't sin. Am I living that new life?
00:30:21
I was too, uh, just going on to the first person somehow verse 12 tells us buried with him in baptism, wherein ye also are written with him through the face of the operation of God, with God, with ****** from the dead.
But it's lovely, isn't it, in verse 13? And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened.
Together with him.
Having forgiven you all, because marvelous truth isn't it, that this is all done now in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, That you being dead in your sins, the uncircumcision of your Christ, have seen quicken or made alive together with Him. Having forgiven you all though it's beautiful to know that that blessed One who went to that Christ.
Bore the judgment for us and put in the tomb. Raised again the third day.
Send it back. It was right and all the work has been done by him and now is given to us and attributed to us too.
The difference between these adhesions and collections and this connection is this is kind of an illustration of it.
Facts is a picture of our coming out.
Like Exodus and then Philippians is a picture like.
Uh, numbers.
The wilderness journey.
Then they come to the Jordan and they cross the Jordan, but Colossians is like having crossed the Jordan, but just sitting on the bank on the West Bank. You often hear about the West Bank. Uh, Colossians is like sitting on the West Bank, but Ephesians is having taken the whole country.
And that's what the difference is in Colossians, or at least in the adhesion second chapter, we are seated.
Not with Christ, but in Christ already in heaven. That's the way Ephesians sees it, the whole possession now of it now of this truth or as Colossians is always looking forward to. Sometimes people don't quite get what the Colossians is about, but if we see that there is that energy required to go on and.
To take possession. And so there as it were, Israel sitting on the West Bank in the land, but not having possessed it. That's Ephesians truth.
I believe that 14 first is greatly misunderstood because many believers believe in what happened when Christ died on the cross. With that he got rid of the law, and really what he did was he got rid of me, so to speak, if I may put it that way, and that Pamela's been written as the law did. Or am I instead?
Of the to the believers, as you said earlier, this for instance, possession of a light now that cannot stand.
So it doesn't want the liar to steal. And so before I was saved, I wanted to do those things and it was against me. Everything that I wanted to do, there was a law against it.
And uh, and so the what you wanted to plow my field? And they said, well, what, what's wrong with plowing fields? The word of God says the plowing of the wicked is sin, plowing another man's field without acknowledging it. And so nothing, even the good things that I did, all my righteousness was this all the righteousness is a filthy rags. Is that nothing that we could do? And the law was entirely against us. And so we felt that. But when he was nailed to the cross.
We received a new light and that new light, the lights and the things are going well. It's not against us anymore. We open the Word of God, the pages of the Word of God, and it's light for our pathway, it's light for our houses until we find instruction and help there. And all those types of shadows in the Old Testament, all that instruction is not against us anymore, but it's to help us. These principles. Therefore, the Word of God is no longer against us.
00:35:06
He was delivered for a student class of people.
There could be certain occurs all right and used having forgiven you all trespasses. My first fourteen. It says the ordinance was placed against us. It also seems like it's addressable. The cautions of Gentiles in the verse 13 and referring to Jews in verse 14, but the orphan is being against the Jews. So that means so really the Gentiles were never under the law.
They were the sample and the fields. We bought the 1St SO.
Well, we know too that Galantians were they were umm.
Using, uh, using their knowledge, seeking wisdom and philosophy and, and learning. There was a lot of intellectualism there. And I was just thinking too in verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinance. So really your obligation. We had an obligation. Man has an obligation before God to listen to what he has to say. And that blessed one, the Lord Jesus wiped it all away on the cross. More as this murder said, it's more than just the law, but it's.
Man putting himself under obligations that he's not able to keep, so he says, blotting out the obligation of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. As man goes on with that reason mind, he only winds up with his reason in the lost eternity and he loses it all. And so here he says contrary to us and took it out of the way, kneeling into his cross. So the blessed Savior did not only die for my sins, but he died for all my.
Own thoughts and ways and and all that, It's all done away in the work of Christ and the crosses blotted out completely. So it's good to remember that, isn't it?
My brother was talking to somebody at work and he told him to read the Bible.
Why would I want to read that book? Because everything I want to do is if I can't do and everything I don't want to do, it tells me to do it.
But you know, you get a mask and you completely turn them around.
So it's now no longer, you know, it becomes our meat and we don't even get a child doesn't lie because the Bible says you shouldn't. I mean, it's there for our instruction, but you know, the child of God is the child of light now.
So we spoil the principalities and powers that kind of wrecks things, if I may put it that way, or even, uh, all of these things because, uh, the way of Commission and obedience to God is.
Is a password shining light, and the devil has no power over it. Some somebody obedience.
To get into a pathway of disobedience and we have problems, but uh, we're in the pathway of faith and we've got the, the powers and the authorities will kind of spoil us.
The, uh, child of God now being involved by the Spirit of God has been said that, uh, the, he's motivated now by a new, he has a different, he has different views, different thoughts. And his motivation, if he's walking in the Spirit of God is contrary to all the ways of the world and he goes in directions that he would never go in, in his natural state. So it's good to remember that, isn't it? So it's all.
When when one gets saved involved by the Spirit of God?
He's in a he's in a position where he can walk contrary to everything that his world professors to be the right place. We know it's all wrong, but the Spirit of God is the one that was motivates us to do that. Apart from that, we can't we just go along with the clerk of the world, which is always downward.
And I said just a word and bachelor for younger ones and in in connection with these principles because we're just allowed to just say, oh, I just can't understand. Well, the Lord Jesus when he was here, he said the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in need.
00:40:17
That means that.
Satan couldn't see anything in the Lord that he could attack him on. And so Satan was never able to touch the Lord Jesus. But we might say, well, yes, but we're different. Well, just take a minute to turn to the first Epistle of John.
Chapter. The last chapter of First Epistle of John, chapter 5. Now take this to ourselves. John's got at least the Epistle of John, the First Epistle of John, chapter 5, the last chapter, and the 18th verse.
And we can put ourselves right in here. Now in this verse, we know that whosoever is born of God.
Thin enough. In other words, we have a life now that cannot sin at the physician. Now here comes responsibility.
But he that is begotten of God, that every believer in this room who is a believer in the Lord Jesus.
Keeps himself, keeps himself. You and I need to keep ourselves. And what does it say? And.
The wicked one touches him or her not.
We keep ourselves. I don't need to ask the Lord to keep me. He says we have a life that cannot sin. He that heaps himself, He's the young ones here, each one of us. We were older as well. If we keep ourselves from the world, Satan, the same Satan and the Lord couldn't find anything in the Lord. He won't be able to find things in me if I keep myself pure from all the things that are in this world.
And Satan can't touch me. So this is a wonderful assurance and an encouragement that it is possible to go on in this way. This isn't impossible. He says Satan won't be able to touch us. I just say that as an encouragement to everyone of us, to we're we're kept by the power of God, Yes, positionally, but now he says we can keep ourselves and that wicked one doesn't touch us.
So we can go from these meetings with that confidence that we keep ourselves, the very younger ones. Keep your people away from people that don't love the Lord. People away from them often ask the young people in the Nova Solution Gospel tent. Sometimes they would come back the next year and we wouldn't see them again and so I'd go and visit them. I asked them, what do you think? What would you say is the cause of your not being interested anymore?
And they'd always answer the same way. My friends. My friends.
You know, they need to keep away from those ones that don't go on with the law and that is what is keeping ourselves.
And now that your friends, are they sorry? I'm sorry, I said. They're not, not your friends. Are they going to take you away from the Lord?
I think there's four nodes in this that you were talking about, brother. We know, uh, who's ever born of God's in that lot, the 19th person, we know that we are going 20th, 1St and we know that the summit is covered and on them that we may know of him, but it's true and so on. Well, we don't think we know what authority of God, don't we?
Depression Products.
I didn't mean to take you away from the chapter.
That's how he spoils it by getting us involved in things we don't know, and that's really the next person. He gets involved in things because it's what management is to Christianity. And instead of going on in the simplicity of Christ is that he gets involved in these things. There are shadows and and the voluntary humility, submitting to ordinances and so on, but really we're not a God or institute of the Lord.
And so it brings within the ******* and so it starts with over ritualism and then we find this rationalism getting down in the 18th 1St post, a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, improving into those things that you have not seen.
00:45:04
Vainly popped up and has questioned mine. It's a little bit like a boy checking out his father's top dresser more, if I may put it that way. There are things that the father wants the son to know, and there are things that really are none of the child's business.
And there are things that we read in Corinthians that are given for us to know by spirit, but we may use our minds to probe into things that are not given for us to know.
And, uh, there are many things, the glass coverage that's we've talked about revelation, revelation of the mystery that's an uncovering of things and occult is something that God has covered up. And so man, if we know that, uh, God close to men by the stars and so on, and the old Old Testament God has covered that up. Now that's not the way that God is revealed. And there are certain things that God is covered up. And if we get intruding into those things, we get into difficulty.
And outside of the pathway of faith.
And it's not that we shot not just a laugh when people talk about that, maybe people at work will speak of these things, you know, and it's like somebody groping around in a dark room and they know that there are things that are there. And the world on the one hand will say, oh, it's all a farce, There's nothing to it. And the others say, well, yes, these things are real of this other world. But, uh, we ought to just realize that it's that God has closed the door to that room when we're not to go into it.
That's the real secret and not to just disregard it as something, uh, a charlatan phenomenon necessarily, but it's really an intruding into things that, that God has not given us to know about. That's Deuteronomy chapter 29 and 29, isn't it? Uh, the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed along us into our children forever, that we may do all the words that this law. So we have things that are given to us. They're giving us to us by the Spirit of God.
For the edification of the spiritual man. And what we find is, uh, that the man that, uh, carnally minded wants something to satisfy the flesh. And so it gives up that which God has revealed. And instead of enjoying it, those things in our school, So things that are revealed, uh, we call and try to find something else. So, uh, what he really is, uh, bringing out here, uh, is that humility and worshipping of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly popped up by his fleshly minds.
Those things we ought to be careful because the fear of God directs our hearts to Christ, exalts Christ before our eyes. And so if we go and we look for things that would exalt and, uh, pop up the flesh in his mind, they don't edify us, uh, and, uh, build us up and see, have our eyes, our spiritual eyes focused on Christ. So we ought to recognize those things that are secret things that we ought not to delve into. Those things that are revealed, we ought to be thanked for They're revealed to us by the Spirit of God.
Uh, thing of that verse, I just forgot where it was. My eye affected my heart. And it's true, isn't it? Uh, looking at, at outward things, it, it has an effect upon us. And uh, thinking again, just, uh, going back to this, uh, verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in need.
Orange drink, or in respect of the holy day, or a new moon or a Saturday. What are all these pieces of the outless things? Aren't they the man? Because they occupy for these things and be called a very religious man?
You heard that, and I have too. Oh, he's so religious. But it's an outward thing, isn't it? But notice what it says then, which are a shadow in verse 17, a shadow of things to come. They're only a shadow because some of these things are going to take place in the Millennium. Remember, they're going back to some of these things. Some of these things will be prevalent in the millennial reign. Umm, but he says here there are only a shadow of things to come. But the body is a Christ. You're a part of that body.
So it's quite a thing to see that, isn't it?
00:50:00
We didn't mention that these things are freaking in amongst us. There's a warning here, what's, uh, written as a warning to the Colossians. But the Spirit of God, I believe, would warn us today. He says let no man therefore judgment need or drink or a drink or in such a holy day we see, uh, among in Christendom, the keeping of Easter holidays.
Of the.
Ought not to be sold. We, uh, ought to remember the Lord Jesus and his death. The Lord's Day should mean something to us. But, uh, those days that are kept in Christendom and in the religious world, we ought to be very careful to be separate from it.
The 19th first really takes this up because how do we preserve faith? The world has a system of feasts and holidays by which they hope to preserve faith. That is, they say, is to remember the birth of Christ or to remember the death of Christ. And so they have festivals and pageants and so on to try to perpetuate fish. But that's not a means by which God has determined that faith should be maintained.
It's what we have in the 1930s that the whole not holding the heads from which all of the body and joints and bands having nourished and ministered and knit together.
Increases with the increase in cost. That is the head of the church. He has his instruments and it means by which to maintain faith. And what we're doing right now is that means he told Colossians to, uh, to read the epistle in the assembly and to read the epistle that was at Laodicea. And that's the way the means by which God has chosen to maintain faith and the preaching of the gospel is not by carnal means that we use the way that the world would use by, I don't wanna speak in a negative way, but the world has its means of communicating.
Uh, certain things, but the way that God has chosen to communicate faith is by the preaching. And so I just say this to encourage us because perhaps we feel we're not being relevant or we're really not communicating with the modern generation. But the way by which God has chosen to communicate the gospel, the way by which he's chosen to nourish the body is by the preaching of the word and the maintaining of the word of God continuing to steadfast in the apostle doctrine.
So our hearts are very easily distracted by these things. To get off into some other method by which to do this, then it's not the way of God.
And the solution, sorry, uh, interesting that he mentions here in verse, uh, if you call attention to verse 19 and not holding the head, what does this mean?
Holding the head, esteeming Christ that is following on the Knoll, the one who is the head being attached to him that says not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together.
Now this term has been used in earlier in this chapter, very interesting verse, verse, uh, two, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together. He mentions this twice over being knit together. And I'm sure that they need the sisters that do any knitting know what happens when you, when you begin to knit you, you in trying all these things together and they become one, they become a part of that one piece. And I think it's beautiful to see how God uses that whole word knit, knit together here.
In love and then he says in our verse 19, uh, uh, having and uh, by not, not holding the head from which the body by joint and band, having nourishment ministered and knit together increases in the increase of God. This is his desire. His whole desire is to build us up and to cause us to be holding that head, esteeming Christ as the one who is above it all and the one the only one who can not only.
Not only save us, but care for us. For every step of our journey, we need to be realized that we'd be knit together. Instead of having, uh, dispersions and divisions, we should be knit together and in enjoying the person in Christ himself.
This would teach us, wouldn't it, that we're really, uh, receiving nourishment down from Christ, the head of the Church to our brethren.
00:55:07
And going in and out amongst our brethren is, uh, is something very needful.
For us all, and we suffer the extent that we don't have that in our practical life and in the assembly. And at times I think it's, uh, I might just say it's important to remember this, especially in our day, because as things get weaker and weaker, it's easy to, uh, to disdain or to look down upon, uh, the assembly and it's weakened character that is the assembly as a testimony, especially, uh, where I live, we're down to very small numbers.
And, uh, and we might look at that and say, what do we think?
But the assembly is really in a practical sense, what's nourished us, uh, from down from Christ. And I often think of that verse, I think it's in Proverbs, uh, where it says not to despise thy mother when she is old. And the testimony is, uh, is like our mother in a sense. It's, it's been a source of comfort and nourishing for us. And, uh, when it gets old, we ought not to despise it, but give it more special care. And that's an exercise to it.
So at times, especially, uh, I suppose when we're younger and if we have an active mind, a sense of idealism, uh, we may read ministry or read the word itself and then go out Tuesday night to the reading meeting and say how different and get dissatisfied and upset. But God has ordered, He's set up in the body as it leads him. And he knows how to order our circumstances so that we're around just the ones we need to be around. And we need to, uh, submit to that and have confidence that he knows what he's doing.
And that in weakness, he'll provide for us. And, uh, as the apostle Paul said, uh, when I'm weak, then am I strong? I gotta fight that way. So again, we might read ministry or re listen to tapes the former days, which is an enjoyable thing to do, but it's not a replacement for, uh, the Spirit of God working actively in our lives to our brethren. Ephesians chapter 4. There's another verse that I think bears out the same thought, uh, in verse 16.
For the sense to read back in verse 15.
Speaking or holding the truth, and love may grow up once in Him at all things, which is the head, even Christ. And this is the verse I was thinking about the 16 first, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplier, according to the effectual working in the measure of every party, make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. So in a sense, we we really only learn what we learn and how what we have from the Lord.
So that Paul wrote Timothy and said, consider what I say, the Lord gives the understanding in all things. But Timothy learned in another sense from Paul. And uh, Paul was a needful joint of supply in the body and administered nourishment down. And Timothy, as someone mentioned earlier, was responsible to to pass on the nourishment like a joint event himself further on down the line. But this is an interesting expression edifying of itself in love and umm.
We trust that's what we're experiencing.
Uh, the privilege of that this afternoon. So it's not good to, to be, as some of us maybe have been tempted to be and go off by ourselves and say, oh, I can read better ministry at home than what I get in the local assembly. It's good to read good ministry, but it's no replacement for what we get actively by whatever and whatever weakness by the ones and the Lord has surrounded us with where we are today. That is a needful thing. I'd just like to add to that, that both the, these verses in Colossians and also the ones that are just being read to us and, and Ephesians, you'll notice that.
The joints, our joints of supply, in other words, the bones have contact with the other bones of the body. But the joints seem to be the oil, as it were, that feeds this bone, feeds that part of the body. Well, sometimes we need to remember that at least all the time. We need to remember this, our relationship with each other. Are we abrasive?
Do we act as if there was no oil between the joints and squeaking and so on? Well, I believe this is a word for us all, our contact with each other. Is it the love of Christ that constrains us? Or are we rubbing them others the wrong way? We're spoiling our ministry if we do.
The thing here is, uh, in Colossians is a little bit even broader than what we have in, in Ephesians because they're, the ascended Christ is giving gifts in the church. But as you say, I, perhaps I go to an assembly where there's no gift for very little gift. And yet there's still what I need to apply there. The Lord will see to it. The Lord is there himself.
01:00:20
And so I believe that that uh may go to a perhaps being reduced to very great weakness, two or three.
And yet there's what is needed there for me, it supplies unless all things that contribute to life and godliness and.
So we may say, well, there's no gifts there, but the Lord is there.
You say, well, there's no elders in my offender. He's the Ancient of Days. He's there and there's no teachers there. Well, you read the Word of God, all of the teacher. Maybe you could read the word of God in the assembly and not even comment on it. If you're going to receive what you need and the conditions in which the Lord wants you to be to receive us. Maybe if we were in a larger assembly where there was great gifts, maybe in the day in which we've been living that we've been reduced to not very much give a very little evident gift, but the Lord placed within these circumstances.
And if we're subject to experience, to be able to give what's needed.
That's beautiful thought that meal. I, I know of a little gathering that's very stable. Umm, and, uh, in visiting there and we, we realized that there was not much gift there, but they went on together, uh, and happily. And, uh, when, when I came, I didn't feel there was any gift yet. But, uh, however, uh, they were identified now, uh, it's interesting there in Ephesians, this isn't it. Don't get the, we get there. There are gifts given of, uh, like that is from an ascended head.
Definitely gives to the whole body of Christ.
But there's also, as those verses were read to us, there's, there's the, there's the joints in the bands that, uh, nourish one another. And we're, we're nourished by the complements of our freedom, aren't we? We're encouraged and edified and built up just to see them. Perhaps that reason that's, that's to me, that's a edification. It's more than just doesn't have to be a special gift because as you point out.
God is always there. The Apostle Paul in the epilepsy in Philippi, he couldn't be with them. But I'm saying he said the largest radio, he'll always be there.
Romans 125, I think it is. It says that I might impart them to use some spiritual gift. Well, it's nice to come to the meetings and have a little gift for some of the folks and we can come and if we're enjoying something during the week, say it in the meeting.
And that's embarking a spiritual gift to somebody else. Just maybe some sister needs that very little word of encouragement. That's what we need, brother. We don't shouldn't be just depending on one or two, but we should be bringing a little gifts ourselves and that nourishes the whole body.
#70 in the appendix.
We sing in the realms of the blast, that country so bright and so fair, glorious mansions of rest of what must be there in #70 and the appendix.
Seven Nows
Gospel—Roland Ruga
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Start our gospel meeting this evening by saying the second Him and the hymn sheet reading the third verse. Come for night is gathering quickly or the world's fast leading day. If you linger till the darkness you will surely miss your way and still waiting sadly waiting till the day of course has run with his patients on abating.
Jesus lingers for you. Come #2.
Come.
To our friends.
When you're guilty of all the people, thou landing thy will get.
Yeah, umm.
For your day 1F star.
Somewhere was done, and the Word by God never.
In the late winter with rainstorms in town.
100 pounds and no rain when they fall off the landlord.
And returning to that father.
All day.
Nsnoise. Turn around.
Convey to me I am sorry about the third. Well, I'm on the phone.
OK.
Please wait for the world that's lately.
You have to hire him. You Well so far. There's your life.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Umm.
I guess it will be done now.
Our Lord, and then cry, and thou mind why our holy sound?
Uh.
Or bow our heads and close our eyes, we'll look to the.
00:05:07
Well, I've been very much impressed recently with the fact that.
As we sang together.
In verse three, there night is gathering quickly, or this world's fast fleeting day. About a week ago I was speaking with a brother in our assembly about the coming of the Lord.
And we were just wondering out loud together.
Where do we measure the day of grace from? Do we measure it from the Lord's birth into this world just about exactly 2000 years ago? Or do we measure it from his death? And we were both mentioning how that we hoped and prayed that perhaps God by His grace would measure it from when the Lord Jesus came into the world as a little baby there and Theftland's Manger. Because if that were the case, it's your brother who I was speaking to.
He would, and I'll do probability be alive and remain, uh, until the coming of the Lord.
You know, we don't know the day nor the hour, do we? We really have no idea. We have a perhaps a vague outline. Uh, we feel that umm 2000 years are about expired. The gospel has been going out and umm and all due probability as their brother Hey Ho said several years ago.
And address that our home assembly, he says. You know, uh, as he looked over the audience, those of us were a little younger than he. He said no due probability. You are the generation which will not fall asleep but will be alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. Well, that's an exciting prospect for so many of us. But I wonder as I look around the room tonight, I don't believe I see any strangers in off the street.
And I just wonder who here they're not. A stranger off the street is perhaps a stranger to the grace of God, which bringeth salvation. It hath appeared to all men.
Umm. And so I'm impressed with the brevity of the gospel.
The brevity of time that we have to turn.
To God's beloved son for salvation. And so if my local president will bear with me, I'd like to turn to seven passages that I've spoken on in our home assembly before. I'd like to speak on again, because it's very much on my heart. I know that, uh, several of the brethren that prayed tonight the prayer for the gospel, they mentioned how that this could very well be the last gospel meeting that we're going to attend down here.
From this Earth. And so we want to wake you up.
We wonder why you might yet be drifting along unsaved. But by the grace of God, we'd like to point you once again to the Savior of sinners tonight. Turn with me, please.
To the first passage in Ecclesiastes 12.
So look around the room. I see many our brother May, he mentioned earlier today. Many children.
So we'll start with the children.
And we're going to notice a little 3 letter word in every passage that we turn to tonight, and that three letter word is NOW.
Now.
Now.
The Lord in His grace has given my dear wife and I5 children, and there are times in our family life that we have to say quite affirmatively, Come here now.
You know, I think our children have grown to understand what that word means.
There is a desired response.
From you.
As God speaks from his precious word tonight, he's going to say 7 times over that word now.
He wants us to pay attention.
So the first thing there in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one.
00:10:06
We'll read together, it says, Remember now, there it is. Remember now thy creator, in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them. Remember now thy creator.
We have been created in the image and likeness of God.
And therefore, because we are, as it says there in Act 17, the offspring of God.
Brings in a solemn fact that we are responsible to the Creator.
And here the Spirit of God has recorded for us. Remember now Thy Creator, whether you're three or four or seven or nine or however old you are.
The Lord says now is the time to think about the fact that you have a Creator with whom you have to do, whereas it says there in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, to whom we must give an account.
As in Romans 14 verse 12, everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.
Well, as he looked down tonight upon this little company, I wonder what he sees. You know, I see all kinds of.
Happy, smiling children. Everything looks pretty good on the outside.
But the Bible says man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. He looks right through what might be just a false, pleasant exterior, and he looks at your heart, and he knows whether or not your heart has been washed.
Clean and the precious blood of Christ.
And so tonight we desire you.
While yet young.
You know, seems like.
Yesterday.
I had the opportunity to come to vessel meetings when I was at, I believe, some sort of a.
YWCA up on a hill where there was a a pool and empty. Uh.
Underground pool there that we used to go down and play in, and perhaps that was only five or six. I don't remember exactly how old it was, but it just seems like yesterday and uh, here we are perhaps 25 years later.
We're that much closer to the end of the day of God's grace and kindness towards poor, lost, fallen mankind. Time is going by so quickly, you know, when we're young, we think life is long, and I don't have to worry about these things until later. I'll put it off. And Satan, the enemy of our souls, he comes along.
Occasions like this and he whispers in your ear and he says.
Some more convenient time, like that poor man there in Acts 26 was it Felix?
Said. When I have a convenient season, I will call for the well. What is more convenient than this Gospel meeting here tonight?
So why the 1St 1995, seven 16 In the evening there's no better time than for you to wake up to the fact that you are a Sinner, and that you have sinned against your maker, a holy God, and with him Sin can have nothing to do, it tells us in Psalm 5, verse 4. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure and wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with thee.
It tells us in the Old Testament. I believe it's in Havoc Cook one verse 13.
00:15:03
It says, Thou art a pure eyes than to behold evil, and can't not look on iniquity.
God can have nothing to do with sin.
Sin will never enter His Holy Presence, and so if you are here tonight with.
An unclean, a dirty heart.
You need to pray, dear boy or girl. You know who you are, the Lord knows who you are, and He's working right now in your soul.
And he says, why don't you come to me?
The Bible says, Lord Jesus himself says look unto me, be saved all the ends of the earth from God. There's none else. Isaiah 45, verse 22.
Look unto the Lord tonight, pray.
Thus no prayer as it's been called. Psalm 51 verse seven. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Oh, there's no simpler prayer than that. But that prayer can get you into the holy heavenly court of glory.
That's where we want you here, center friend, tonight to be. We don't want one seat to be occupied here tonight if God should decide in His sovereign love and grace that the day of grace is over.
Door, like the door in the Ark, was shut.
Noah and his family were safe inside and the judgment fell. Well, it was too late. I'm sure we all know the story of Noah and New York. I'm sure my own soul, the Bible doesn't tell us. But I am sure that when the waters came down from heaven and the floods were loose from underneath and that arc began to be lifted up above the earth, that there were many who came.
Let us in.
No.
But it was too late because God had shut the door.
Says Revelation. Behold, I have set before thee an open door. The door to heaven tonight is open. Jesus himself said, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. Oh, won't you come to Jesus tonight while you're young, tender, before your heart gets a little older and a little harder and it becomes much harder.
To turn to this blessed One. And we're going to seek by the grace of God tonight to exalt as the only Savior of sinners.
Remember now, like Creator in the days of the youth.
Well.
Let's turn over time, gliding swiftly by, a few pages to Isaiah chapter one.
And we'll read that little word again.
NOW.
Well Known Gospel verse 18.
Says come now.
And let us reason together, saith the Lord, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as well.
The Lord himself.
From heaven itself.
Wants to reason with you tonight.
You know man by nature.
Become a reasoning being, and often I was just reading the other day.
A little bit where?
The scientists had found a recent fossil that they figured this must be it. We finally found the missing link.
Well, mankind reasoning.
00:20:02
But you know the Lord, He says in this same book in Isaiah 55, somewhere around verses 9 and 10, He says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My way, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts and your thoughts and my ways than your ways.
So tonight we want God's thoughts. We don't want our thoughts because they'll only lead us in circles. And unfortunately, if left to our own way, as it says in Proverbs 1412, the Spirit of God repeats it again in 1625 and says there's a way which Seamus writes unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That's where your reasoning will ultimately land you.
In the place which God originally designed only for Satan and his angels.
Well, the Lord says, come now and let us reason together. He has some things he wants to say to you tonight.
And what does he address here, though your sins be scarlet?
We're sinners by nature and by practice.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20 there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
So I don't care how good you may think you are. I don't care if you are perhaps 10 years of age here tonight and have come to Sunday school every Lord's Day morning like we're gonna do tomorrow morning. For the last 10 straight years Dad and Momma faithfully brought you. I don't care if you've come to the Gospel meeting Every Lord's saving.
The question remains, what about your sins? That's what the Lord wants to speak to you about tonight.
It's very possible to come to a place like this.
And to walk out. Lord willing, if God in his grace extends the hour till 8:00 PM, we'll walk out. And it's very possible to walk out the same way you came in.
Still a Sinner.
Still yes, your ears shut.
To the voice of the Lord.
We wonder what is it going to take for you tonight? Send our friend to wake up.
Dinner. That's how it says. Guilty too, before thy God.
Do you realize that you may be lost, headed in the wrong direction without God, without hope, all the while sitting?
In a meeting like this tonight.
Under the sound of the word of God, for whatever reason passing yourself off.
As one.
Who professes to know and love the Savior?
And so again.
The same holy God with whom we have to do, He looks down, and he knows who is clean and who is unclean here tonight. And he says, you know I have the remedy for your problem. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as well. You can walk out of this room tonight.
Without clean slate.
Your name can be entered forever in the Lamb's Book of life in Heaven.
Your destiny will be that same blessed place where He is enthroned as the Lord of glory.
And you'll have in your heart a new song which God Himself will give you. Even praise back to Him for what He has done for you and forgiving your great debt, washing you clean.
00:25:02
And furthermore, send her friend. If you come to Jesus tonight, you will cause rejoicing in heaven itself.
Because the same Blessed One we're seeking to proclaim Himself said likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner that repenteth just one. Maybe you think you're very small and insignificant in your seat. I don't know if we have perhaps several 100 people here tonight and you think, but God he can't be too overly concerned about me.
I'm young. I'm just one of many here tonight. Now he looks down and he is very concerned about you. Any reasons with you? And he says I wanna make your black heart clean. I wanna make it white. I wanna give you a white robe of righteousness.
So that you too can walk with my beloved Son in a coming day, there in that heavenly sea where no sin shall ever come. Well, come now, now, Come now.
Let's turn over to the next one.
Back in Job, the book of Job.
Before Psalms.
Chapter 22.
In verse 21.
Till 2221, says Acquaint. Now there it is.
Thyself with him, and be at peace thereby.
Good shall come unto thee.
It's very important tonight.
For you to get to know this Blessed One.
You know, the world has a saying. It's not what you know, it's who you know. And.
There couldn't be a better application to the gospel of Christ here tonight.
Do you know the Son of God? I didn't ask it. Do you know about him? I didn't ask. Can you perhaps quote some scripture verses?
Have you, by the sovereign grace of God, read this book to a point where you know the author, where you can say blessed is assurance, Jesus is mine.
Can you say that tonight?
Oh, he'd like to make you his.
And he wonders why you continue to pay no attention, to turn a deaf ear, he says. Oh, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Wake up, pay attention.
Your soul hangs in the balances tonight, and if you're lost, it tells us in Daniel Four, I believe, verse 13.
Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. You're coming up short tonight, and you're in trouble.
Do you realize that you say no, I'm safe and secure. I'm sitting between my father and mother and all is well and we're going to go to the motel tonight and we're going to go to the hospitality room, then we're going to go to bed and so on, Friend, if you are here tonight.
And your seat lost.
And you know it and the Lord knows it. You're in deep trouble.
Because the Bible says in Job 36 verse 18, because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
I've known people. I'm sure many of my older brethren here tonight have known people who have been brought.
00:30:07
To similar meetings like this one.
And have been brought and have been brought over and over again and perhaps have hardened their heart for whatever reason. And there came a day when they were cut off. And you know what? There's no salvation for them now. We only have one opportunity and there's only one way to be saved. And we're going to try and point you that way.
Tonight.
Turn to Christ for salvation before it is forever too late.
A quaint now thyself with him and be at peace. If you're sitting here tonight unsaved for whatever reason, known only to you and God, you're not at peace. The Bible says that there is no peace, Seth, my God.
To for wicked.
The wicked are those who continue on in their sins, living a life irregardless of the holy righteous claims of God upon their souls. That's something else we should talk about tonight, the fact that God himself has said, behold, All Souls are mine. Your soul doesn't even belong to you, it belongs to the God who gave it.
And it goes on to say in that same chapter, Ezekiel 18.
The soul that sinneth it shall die. There's not a one of us in this room tonight who's not experiencing in the body physical death.
We're all getting older. We talked about that already. These bodies are decaying quickly, breaking down. But we're talking here tonight, more importantly, preeminently, about the fact that the soul that sinneth it will die, will die, and if it continues on.
In that way it will experience the second death and from that.
There will be no recovery.
And so we beseech you, we implore you tonight, as ambassadors for Christ, be reconciled to God. Don't leave this room the way you came in tonight. Send her friend be made right before it is too late yet to know him now.
Now before it is too late.
Uh, quaint. Now thyself with him and be at peace.
Well, we'll turn over now.
To the New Testament, towards the back.
In Hebrews.
Chapter 9.
I will break into the middle of verse 26.
And it says but now there it is.
Once in the end of the world, or as it should read into the age.
Hath he appeared.
To put away thin by the sacrifice of himself.
And someone has well said whenever you see a ****.
In the Word of God.
And there's something about God thereafter. It's always a blessing to mankind. And isn't that true here? Now it says. But now, once in the end of the age hath He appeared? Who's that speaking about? I think perhaps the youngest one here could tell me that it is God's beloved Son. He appeared, and we quoted part of that verse earlier in Titus chapter 2.
00:35:06
I often enjoy it in connection with his birth into this world. The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men.
All men.
That all men everywhere might be saved, it says. In another place he appeared, he appeared and he appeared. Send her friend for one purpose.
That purpose was.
To deal with the question of your sins. Now, I realize there are other purposes too, connection with the glorification of God, but right now we're concerned about you. God is concerned about your soul tonight, and he was so concerned that they tell us it's almost exact somewhere in the year four or five BC. So if you add four or five years to 1995.
Almost exactly 2000 years.
The grace of God and the person of his beloved Son appeared there in Bethlehem's Manger.
That long last, I hope.
For 4000 long years God had looked down from heaven seeking for some kind of response from man.
Some sort of fruitfulness, thankfulness, holiness, and consistency with his holy nature.
He planted Israel as we have there in Isaiah 5, the nation verse four. He did all these wonderful things to his vine, and it didn't bring forth the kind of fruit he was looking for. It brought forth wild grapes.
Crepes as they saw fit to bring them forth, a righteousness which did not begin to measure up to the holy, righteous standard of God. And so.
God had to, as it were, set man aside.
As it says there in uh First Corinthians 15 verse 47 I think it is. It says the first man is of the earth earthy the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven he came.
God, shame, God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit this blessed baby laying there was.
God become a man. Oh, think of such condescending love as that.
What has that done to your soul? Have you considered the fact that your Creator loves you enough to come into this world the same way that you came? It tells us that he bypassed angels. He humbled himself. He took upon himself. The form of a servant was made in the likeness of men.
God became a man, the man Christ Jesus.
Who gave himself a ransom for us all?
Oh, how can you turn away tonight from such love as that?
Well.
He hath appeared to put away sin.
By the sacrifice of himself and the Lord Jesus speaking prophetically.
It said there in Psalm 88. I think it's verse 13.
Says I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up from the time he was just a little boy.
He was ready to die.
That was his purpose, coming into this world. You know, I work with people every day who don't wanna talk anything about that, although the fact remains so. It's each fleeting moment.
00:40:00
They draw that much closer to death. As the hymn writer said, death and judgment draw of nigh.
To the arms of Jesus fly, be in time well.
Christ came, and from the time He came, he was ready to die, to offer himself as a sacrifice. That tells us in Ephesians 5 verse two and offering to God for a sweet smiling favor and an offering on your behalf.
As the final, the ultimate sin offering. That's why John the Baptist could say, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Have you Sinner, friend, dear boy, or girl? Have you beheld the Son of God?
Has he taken away your sins? He came.
And he offered himself on your behalf. The Bible says you in his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, oh that blessed body which was prepared for him.
As it says in this same book of Hebrews, the next chapter, Sacrifice and offering that was not but our body has thou.
Prepared me and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Dallas had no pleasure then, said I. Lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. He came to do the will of God his Father, and in doing that will he.
Live a life of perfect, holy, sinless perfection.
But I speak reverently.
It was not enough.
For God.
For he had declared.
An eternity pass.
That his son must become sin.
For uh, for you.
For I.
And so he would go.
There, the Holy Spotless Lamb of God, he would spread his arms wide.
And there on a cross of wood.
Be found, as it says, in the Psalm 118 with chords to the horns of the altar.
And then God having a loud, filthy, wicked hands to have their way for three hours with his beloved Son, He would, as it were, closed the dark, the scene and darkness. And there in those three hours of darkness, the wrath of God would go over his holy soul.
But previous to that God, his God laid upon his brow your sins, The sins that you are committing right now, perhaps in your state as you continue to reject his offer of love and salvation, he bore those sins committed on July 1St, 1995 there.
70 some years ago perhaps?
In his own body on the tree, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Well, as I said, his arms were stretched wide in love.
And tonight, from heaven itself, those same blessed arms are still bearing.
In his hands and in his feet, and inside the marks with which he was wounded. In the House of his friends, he has those same marks, and his arms are still stretched open wide tonight.
00:45:06
At the door of heaven.
And he is yet imploringly, beseechingly calling to you center friend, and saying, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden the burden of sin, I forgive he rest.
He wants to take that burden away.
Burdens are lifted at Calvary, we sometimes think. Have you looked to that blessed one?
Hanging as a sacrifice and an offering for sin, Have you confessed him as my Lord, my God, my Savior?
Well, now is the time to do so.
Let's turn over.
To Acts chapter 17 quickly for the next one.
Act 17, verse 30.
And the times of his ignorance.
God winked at but now there it is now.
Commanded all men everywhere to repent.
In Binghamton, NY.
The American Civic Association on Front St. God Commands you to Repent.
In light of what we said, that God has provided a lamb for a burnt offering, God, I speak reverently, has done everything He could do to win your lost soul back to himself.
And now he woos you tonight with his love, he desires to point you to his beloved son, hanging there in the cross of Calvary. And looking to that one, he now says, repent.
And so all men everywhere.
Repent.
Maybe we should talk a little bit about that.
And I enjoy a definition of repentance I read some years ago, a little track by Mr. Macintosh, she says. Repentance is a discovery and Hardy confession of my utter ruin and guilt.
So finding out that my whole life has been a lie and that I myself am a liar.
But that's the fight as a suitable definition tonight for repentance, what it means to repent. Others have defined it simply as taking sides with God against yourself. But you know he wants to do it with you tonight.
He wants.
To show you your lost condition and then.
He wants you to have his thoughts.
About that lost condition, he wants you to acknowledge it to him, as David said in that same Psalm 51 against thee and the only have I done this evil.
And have sinned in thy sight. All sin is against God. We sin against one another, but ultimately all sin is against God. And so he commands you to repent and he says do it now. Now tonight, a simple transaction, your boy or girl perhaps looking up at the clock and wishing that the next 9 minutes would go by quickly.
So you can go outside and play or get an apple downstairs.
God says repent.
Turn from your evil way and turn towards his beloved son. Really, that's another definition. To turn away from what's wrong and to turn towards what's right towards God? Well.
00:50:06
The times of this ignorance God winked at.
But he's not winking tonight, Senator friend, I assure you.
The day of God's grace is about over, and we're gonna read a little bit about that our next passage in Second Corinthians well known verse.
Turn with me Second Corinthians chapter 6.
Probably the youngest here could quote it as well.
1St 2:00.
The middle of the verse.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation, and so he repeats it twice over.
For your respectful consideration here tonight, now.
Is the accepted time. There's no better time than now for you to be saved. Satan would come along and say, well, perhaps tomorrow night the Gospel will again be proclaimed in this room. Wait till then, or perhaps and he can whisper so many excuses in your ear.
Than her friend as to why he doesn't want you to get saved tonight, but by the grace of God we're seeking.
As the enemy comes in like a flood tonight to lift up a standard against him.
The standard of the Word of God.
And he said now is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late. You have no lease on life. Life is short at best recently.
Some of us in the assembly, where I come from, experience this in a very real way.
A young life with a lot of promise, you might say. A long life, you might say, yet to be lived, cut off in an instant.
Never to be lived out again in this life.
Now, by the grace of God, I knew that person.
Very well.
And I can assure you, as we heard at the funeral of my sister 3 1/2 months ago.
That she came to her mother one night, perhaps a night like tonight.
And she said, Mommy, you know I'd like to go to heaven.
But mommy on the center.
Will you pray with me?
She made that transaction.
And so I can tell you that I have peace in my soul, that I'll see my sister again, the words of the Lord Jesus himself, who said, because I've said these things, he was speaking about his death. Death is a very sad thing, he says. Sorrow has filled your heart, But oh thank God for the ****. I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice.
I'll see that young lady again. Perhaps tonight.
Perhaps many years from now, I don't know. But I have the assurance of the word of God that I'll see my sister again. But I don't know about you. As I look around, I haven't the foggiest notion about you, and so we seek to point you to Christ tonight.
Look to this blasted 1.
The Bible says the name of the Lord is a strong tower.
The righteous runs into it and is safe. Have you come to him for salvation?
Now is the time to do it. Don't put it off. Don't listen.
To the West springs of the deceiver of the souls of men tonight.
00:55:02
Well, I'd like to look quickly one further back.
In Roman.
We sang, I believe we saw earlier a meeting this afternoon.
Once we stood in condemnation.
Waiting us the standard zoom.
But here in the first verse of Romans 8.
The final verse and then our gospel meeting be dismissed.
So there is therefore now is that little word again now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Safe in Christ, the poet said. The weakest child stands in all God's favor.
Does the favor of God shine upon you tonight? Can you claim this first as your own? There is no now. No condemnation, no judgment.
Well.
We quoted that first earlier.
That there is Wrath about the Fall.
Be aware there is Wrath.
Fought by the grace of God, he has provided A refuge from coming wrath as he provided for his people of all those six cities whereby the accidental manslaughter could flee.
And the revenge of Blood could have nothing to do with that man, so long as he was safe inside of the walls of that city. Have you sent a friend? Fled to Christ for salvation?
For refuge from the coming.
Wrath.
There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. I want to tell you tonight it's a wonderful thing to know that death and judgment are behind grace and glory are before all is well, even in the face of death, physical death in this life, we can come to the Lord Jesus.
Knowing him as the one who's conquered death and brought life, our brother quoted that verse. Second Timothy one verse 10 and immortality, the light through the gospel blessed wondrous news Jesus is risen.
Oh, it's a wonderful thing.
To know in your soul you have peace with God through his beloved Son.
Jesus is mine. Can you say that tonight?
Or the wrath of God.
Yet abiding upon you, it says in John 336, He that believeth on the Son hath for lasting life, He that believeth not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth upon him Oh tonight now while you may come to Christ, make peace with God.
Through his beloved Son.
And you too. We'll be safe when the judgment comes. Let's think quickly in closing #10.
Reading the course oh come now to Jesus, that dear loving Savior receive him this moment.
And peace shall be thine just the first and the last verses of #10.
There is a thing you're on highlight in the Glory Beyoncé.
Ashes
Children—Robert Boulard
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good morning boys and girls and everybody that's here. It's nice to be at a Sunday school, isn't it?
Does anyone have a a little song that they want to sing? A lot of the children's hymns are on the at towards the rear of this little hymn sheet, yes.
#5.
Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice. I remember singing that when I was a little boy and I didn't really know everything that it meant, but means that there's a choice that you have to make and there's a happy choice to be made. The life of a Christian is a happy, happy life. You might have difficulty and you might have some sad times, but it's a very, very happy life to live for the Lord Jesus. OK, let's sing #5.
Umm, humiliating. Umm, it's a different honey, I don't know anything what I mean, do you know blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
What are you doing tomorrow? Blah blah blah. My big problem.
Nearby in the house.
New York Camera.
10-4, 348687368.
9539893986 Uh, can you hear me?
Virginia Dr. Salon, My name is tomorrow, Wednesday.
Alright, so I would like to thank you so much.
For the.
End of the day, I'm here to have anything. We're having a period of a while. My friend's laughing about landing.
00200200.
Nsnoise.
Alright, somebody else with a him.
Yes #8 we'll, we'll get maybe a boy next time.
Shall we gather at His coming? Is there anybody going to be left sitting in their seat if the Lord Jesus comes within the next couple of minutes? Would there be any boy or girl sitting there left all alone and mommy and daddy are gone to heaven? I hope not. It's right now that we have to ask the Lord Jesus to wash our sins away, isn't it? We can't wait. So if you haven't asked the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away.
00:05:16
Do it now while you're sitting right there and while we're singing this hymn, OK?
#8.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
108 dollars, it's not a lot of money now, but it's not blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know anything.
What are you doing that's good day tomorrow?
Nsnoise.
I don't really do the heart.
May thyroid and.
Nsnoise.
10-4 AM. 10-4 AM.
***.
ARA.
OK, another one.
OK, right at the end there.
#41.
1St and 3rd verses of #41.
The man who wrote this hymn #41 I believe he died when he was 84. And this is one of the hymns that he wrote. And they sang it at his grave. And as they were burying that man, there was a little child a couple of rows over and they were burying the child, the little boy or little girl. I can't remember what, what it was, but you know, boys and girls, I sometimes like to walk through the graveyard at Hammer Bay and I look at some of the headstones and some of them the boys or girls were.
00:10:03
Two days old.
Some of them were two years old, some 12 years old. And so we all have to be ready to meet the Lord Jesus. We all have to be ready to meet God. And if you're not saved yet, if you've never asked the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away, won't you do it this morning because it might be too late 5 minutes from now? Do it right now. Ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away. Tell him that you're a naughty Sinner, that you've sinned against him and you want to have your sins forgiven.
All right #41 first and third.
Nsnoise.
OK, one more, Jonathan, you had one.
#4.
OK, how about we sing, uh, number the number four, the first verse and the 2nd?
Plus the chorus.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
0000912.
72440, 4048.
All right, let's just bow our heads and ask the Lord. I brought something with me this morning, not to entertain you, but as a little bit of an object lesson. I brought something with me in a little bag here.
And I'm going to go and put it on the table.
And I'd like for somebody to identify what I've got in this little container.
Is there any boy or girl wants to come up and look in this container and tell me what's in here?
How about you? You come up here and tell us what you think is in here.
Ashes. Yeah, that's right. That's ashes in there. OK, You can go and sit down.
I wanted to bring this in because the Word of God talks to us about ashes and how how much do you value ashes? You think that's good stuff in there?
OK, Do you think you think you'd like to have that bowl of ashes? No.
00:15:07
Very good. No, I wouldn't like to have that ashes either. Doesn't look very good, does it?
Doesn't look very good. Well, I want to read you a verse in the Bible, in Isaiah, in the book of Isaiah chapter 44, and it speaks about ashes there.
In a very, very interesting way. Now God's words are never wasted and you can read the entire Word of God and God speaks about the Lord Jesus and about having our sins forgiven throughout the entire word of God. And so we can get something for our souls, enjoyment and for instruction in Isaiah, if you have a Bible, you turn to Isaiah chapter 44.
And verse 20.
Does everybody have it there?
All right, let's read that first.
He feedeth on ashes.
A deceived heart hath turned him aside.
Well now, what do you think the Word of God is talking about?
How often have you eaten ashes? Anybody here ever put their hands in the stove and taking a handful of ashes and.
Eating it, I don't see any hands up.
Well, I'll tell you a little story. When I was a little boy.
There was a stove in a room that my mom and dad put us in and there were two doors to the room. There would be a door over here and maybe one in the corner and the only thing in that room was a stove to keep it warm and a bunch of toys.
And I had a twin brother. His name is Norm.
And we used to watch, one of us would watch at one doorway for Dad, and then one of us would take a turn playing in the ashes in the stove when the when the fire was out.
That's what we would do. So I would play in the ashes for a while and then he'd say it was his turn. And so he'd go and play in the ashes. And Dad would never catch it and never spank us if he didn't see us doing it. He wanted us to know what we were getting spanked for. So if we weren't right there, you didn't catch us with our hands in the stove, We wouldn't get a spanking and we knew enough to not get caught. Well, the Word of God here tells us that He feedeth on ashes.
Now, I don't know if I ever ate ashes, but I look pretty messy after. I have a few pictures, black and white pictures, they're not color, but I look pretty messy after having played in the ashes. But boys and girls, there's people in the world, even Christians, that are feeding on ashes. And the word of God speaks very plainly about this world, and that's under judgment. And God looks at this entire world as having been judged as.
Yeah, I'd use a little thing that Mister, I believe Harry Hale used to say. He says prophecy is history.
It was written ahead of time, but prophecy is history. Anything that's prophecy in the Word of God, God looks at is that already having been accomplished already. So he looks at all this scene and he can see ashes. He can see that it's being judged and ashes burned up. Well, I want to ask you a question.
Did you get a present Birthday present this year? What did you get? Barbie roller skate. A Barbie doll. Barbie roller skates. Oh, Barbie roller skates. That's pretty good. How long do you think you're gonna have those Barbie roller skates?
Maybe for a couple of years, and then you'll outgrow them. Sooner or later they're going to get burned.
They're going to get burned.
You know, I thought about that. Ashes.
Boys and girls, I was in a hotel last night and I saw a couple of boys feeding on ashes.
In the lobby, they were watching television.
And what this world has is ashes. That's all they have. Everything that they have is going to be burned up. Can you tell me some, uh, do you have any idea what some other ashes might be? Television is ashes. It's all under God's judgment. It's going to be gone very soon. It's, but people are just eating it like this. See, I brought a spoon. Anybody here like a, a spoonful of ashes?
Would you like a spoon? You think you might eat that?
Well, you know, that's why God speaks about this world's music.
00:20:05
How many of you had rock music on your radio this morning?
You're feeding on the ashes of this world.
How many of you went out and polished the car a little bit before you got into it this morning? You're polishing the ashes.
How many of you were thinking about the education of this world? How many of you were distracted this morning about some of the things that you have in your home?
Were you feeding on ashes? Well, you know, when I see a television in my hotel room, I look at that and I say.
There I can feed on ashes.
And maybe the friends of this world, you have some friends that belong to the Lord Jesus.
Do you? Do you have a friend that belongs to the Lord Jesus? What's his name?
You have Caleb, a friend that belongs to the Lord Jesus. Well, you can feed on Christ together.
Well, boys and girls, that's what this world has. The books of this world, the music of this world, the television of this world, the possessions of this world are all ashes. Don't be feeding on ashes.
Well we have in verse 22 of Isaiah chapter 44, it says I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. And so the Lord Jesus laid down his life. He bore the judgment for our sins on the cross in his own body on the tree, if we'll accept him as Savior. I want to talk a little bit about how we get ashes, but before we do here.
Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 23 and Justice. Read a couple of verses there and we'll find out what happens if you eat ashes.
Proverbs, chapter 23.
And verse six. And we'll find out what happens if you eat ashes.
It says there in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse six, Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye.
Neither desire thou his dainty meat, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words.
Now what happens if you eat ashes? Someone wanna tell me? Hey, somebody over here, can you tell me what happens if you eat ashes?
Do you know?
That's right. You get sick and then can you, can you keep it in your stomach? Can you keep ashes in your stomach? No, you can't. Can you? You'll vomit that ashes. You'll vomit that ashes. I guarantee you that you, if you ate some of that ashes, you'd be real sick. We'd have to take you home. We might have to take you to the doctor to get you fixed up.
But you know, boys and girls, there's people all over the world today, even in this city.
That are eating and feeding on the ashes of this world and God's word is very, very clear here.
In chapter 23, if you go and eat the ashes of this world with the friends of this world.
You can't keep what you eat.
You'll vomit it up.
It's not for eternity, it's for time. And it says there that his heart is not with thee.
Boys and girls, this world wants to spoil you, doesn't want you to live for the Lord Jesus. And whatever they give you, they only have what is for time, not for eternity. And if you feed on it, you don't get any sustenance at all for your soul. No sustenance, no nourishment that ashes there, any nourishment. If I had burned some food, all of the nourishment would be gone. It's gone. There's just ashes there.
So if you eat ashes, how many vitamins do you think there are in ashes?
Not much. So the Spirit of God tells us in the word of God that you're going to vomit that up. It has no nourishment, no nourishment at all. And the man of the world, his heart is not for you at all, but the Lord Jesus, his heart is for you. The Lord Jesus loves you. He has affection in his heart for you. He values you. You know that verse that we read in in Isaiah, It says there that umm.
00:25:12
He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart hath turned him aside. So boys and girls, maybe young people, one time or another, perhaps you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Perhaps you did when you were younger, and perhaps you fed on Christ for a while. Perhaps you enjoyed the things of the Lord Jesus for a while. But now, as you got older, you got distracted and your heart is deceived. Your affections are no longer.
Centered on Christ your Savior.
Today is a day to turn to the Lord to confess your sin, confess that you've been feeding on ashes, and turn to the Lord Jesus and ask him to be restored, and he'll restore you in your soul. If you look at that 23rd Psalm, it says He restoreth my soul. He'll do it for His glory, for his honor.
Well, let's turn to another verse of Scripture. Let's turn to Numbers chapter 19. We'll just read a couple of verses there. One of the first five books of the Bible, Numbers 19.
While you're turning to that portion of scripture, let me tell you a little story. I asked a question not too long ago.
I can't remember where I asked the question, but uh, I'll ask you the question and you can answer it yourself.
If your house was burning.
And you had only 5 minutes, maybe 2 minutes to go into that house and go and get something out of that house. You had to go get one thing. And the fireman said you've got time to go and get one thing out of that house. What would you get?
The Bible. You would get your Bible. That's nice. That's nice. I would. I would probably get my Bible too, because I have a lot of notes in it and it would take a little time to get all those notes back. I like. I like my Bible. I get that Bible. What would you get? Would you get something or would you? Yeah. What would you get? You get your Bible. Any boys here would get their Jack knife.
That's hidden under their pillow or whatever.
Anybody. What would you get?
You get your Bible too. I guess we'd have a lot of burning houses with no Bibles in them. Very good. Well, I tell you something. I asked the question and I had some young people in the room and I got all kinds of different answers.
Not one of them said that they'd get their Bible.
And then they asked me what I might get out of the house if my house was burning.
And you know the our brother Mayhew said yesterday he read those verses in Exodus where Pharaoh said leave your children. He said leave your children. You go and worship in the wilderness, but leave your children. You know what my answer was? I would get my children out of my house.
That was burning.
I would get my children. Maybe grandpa would go and get you too. He'd make sure that you were out of the house well.
The Lord Jesus is going to come, and he's going to get.
Everything out of this world that he has affection for in his heart, that he values dearly, He's going to get everything that he wants out of this room, out of this world. Everything that he has value for. What's he going to get? What's he going to take out of this world? Do you know?
Christians. That's right. He's going to get some Christians. Everyone who has their sins forgiven, who has asked the Lord Jesus to wash their sins away, he's going to take them out of this world.
Every Christian.
He's going to leave the ashes.
He's not going to take any ashes with him at all, but boys and girls as you are younger and young people as you are younger, maybe some older ones here.
Maybe you're putting a lot of value in the ashes.
Well, let's read this verse, these couple of verses in Numbers chapter 19.
00:30:03
It says there in verse 2.
Of Numbers, chapter 19. This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.
And then we'll read verse nine, it says.
A man and a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up without the camp in a clean place.
And then a little further on it says.
That the inverse 17.
Numbers 19, and verse 17. For an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin. And running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone.
Or one slain, or one dead, or a grave a clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day. So, boys and girls.
God offers. God requires a sacrifice for sin. What happened to the red heifer when it was burned?
Do you know? No. Do you know what happened to the red heifer when it was burned?
It turned to ashes. That's right, it turned to ashes.
How many times do you think you can burn a sacrifice?
How many times do you think you could burn the sacrifice?
Can you tell us? That's right, once. Once you can burn the sacrifice and then once there's ashes. I have a little charcoal in this bowl here that would it's not thoroughly burned.
But God does things thoroughly, and the sacrifice can be only offered once, and ashes is evidence that the sacrifice has been burned.
Not evidence that the sacrifice has been accepted, but evidence that the sacrifice has been offered and thoroughly burned. Well, what was going to happen with the ashes of that heifer that we just read about? The animal a heifer is umm.
Some farmer might be able to properly identify a heifer, but I believe it's a a female.
Cow or calf? This was to be a red heifer, a very special heifer, and it was to be clean heifer, without blemish, without spot, no fault at all in this heifer.
And what was going to happen to the ashes of this heifer? Do you remember? We just read it. Do you know what was going to happen to the heifers ashes?
Anybody tell me how long this roll? How about I read it again and then you'll remember. OK, everybody listen.
A man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the of the heifer and lay them up without the camp in a clean place. And then a little later on it says that a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water. The water had in, if you look at verse 17, was mixed. There was ashes put into some running water and put into a vessel, and then he was going to take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it upon.
The tent and upon anybody that was unclean was going to get sprinkled with that water and ashes. How would you like it if I took this ashes and I put some water in here and I put some hiccups, weeds, you know, not very good looking stuff. I saw some once. I think maybe Brother Neil, if he was in Egypt, might have seen some hyssop growing over there and some others that have been there. But how would you like it if I took some some of this ashes and I put it in some water?
And then I took the some weeds and I just kind of shook it over your head. Well, that would be evidence that the sacrifice was offered.
And that the sacrifice was burned and it was required in the law. God required that of Israel. But if you turn to Hebrews Chapter 9, we'll look there and see that it's a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a type of our Savior.
00:35:16
And we'll look at verse 13.
Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 13.
For the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctifier to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ?
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered him without himself, without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Boys and girls.
The heifer that was offered, the lambs that were offered in the Old Testament, they all turned to ashes. They were thoroughly burned. You know, if you remember in Exodus chapter 12, the land that was offered there in a lamb for a household. What was to be done with the leftover lamb if you had a lamb at your house and you only ate a little bit of that lamb?
You couldn't eat the whole thing. What were you to do with the rest of the lamb? Does anybody know?
Yes, what were you to do with the rest of the lamb on the door?
No, that was the blood. The blood was to be applied to the door. You were to apply the blood to the doorpost and the lentil, and then you were to eat the lamb roast with fire.
Not sodden at all. Yes. What? What do you think you did with the rest of the lamb?
Burn it. That's right, You burned it. Burned it. And so you know what was left was ashes.
Well, I want to tell you about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
All of those sacrifices were burned in the Old Testament, and what the result was was a pile of ashes. I'm not sure. I never burned a lamb. I don't know how much ashes.
But I don't think any of us would like a room full of ashes or even a little bowl full of ashes. But the Lord Jesus, it says that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
And he exhausted the judgment of God upon the tree, and in the Old Testament, all those lambs and heifers and so on.
They were. They turned to ashes. The judgment consumed the sacrifice. But the Lord Jesus, when He was on the cross, consumed the judgment. There was no ashes. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross of Calvary, there was no ashes. He consumed the judgment of God against sin.
Now we were talking about how many times you could burn something.
You can only burn it once. I think you said that down there, didn't you? You can only burn something once. And I like to think that that's one of God's favorite numbers, the number one. How many saviors did he send into the world to save sinners?
One right now, how many times do you have to ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away? Do you know?
Once, right? How many times?
Are you going to die if you if the Lord Jesus tarries, how many times would you die?
One, unless you die in your sins, then it says there's a second death.
A second death if you die in your sins.
How many times will the Lord Jesus come for us? How many times is he going to shout and come for us?
Do you know?
10 isn't that nice?
God does things once, and He does them perfectly. How many times did Christ offer himself on the cross?
Once he did Once. How many times did he rise from the dead?
Once. Once he rose from the dead. Once he offered himself a sacrifice to God. Once he consumed the judgment of God against sin perfectly. Once.
00:40:04
And we're going to see a risen Savior, arisen, glorified Savior.
Well, I want to read one other place where it's mentioned Ashes. That's very instructive to us. It's in first. Uh, pardon me second, Peter.
If you turn to Second Peter, the Epistle of Second Peter, chapter 2.
We'll find a verse there. But while you're looking for that place, second Peter chapter 2, I'll tell you another little story.
I love old cars. Anybody here like old cars?
Yeah, I like old cars. You know what they're going to turn into? They're going to turn into ashes very soon. There's not going to be anything left of them. But I was driving by with Mr. Steika this morning and I saw some old cars, 1940 Ford coupe. I saw a few other cars too, and I could identify them because I know them. Boys and girls, there'll be lots of things that you see with your eyes that you want in this world or that you think you would like, but before you reach out and get them.
Remember that everything that you can see with your eyes will turn to ashes and a deceived heart goes after the ashes and feeds on the ashes. I saw recently a nice 1957 Chevy black 2 door post coupe. It needed a little bit of work.
Not a lot, but it needed a little bit of work. And I thought to myself, well, the price was right, but it needed a lot of work or a little bit of work and umm, I could either spend my time reading some books that Mister Hale gave me, or I could fix that Chevy.
And I thought long and hard about it.
And I'll tell you, I didn't get the Chevy because I thought of that big pile of ashes soon to come. And if I spent my time fixing that car and polishing it, and it occupied my thought, occupied my mind, occupied, took money.
Money that I might use for the Lord.
Then I thought to myself, it might be a real waste of time.
Boys and girls, young people, there's lots of things in this world that will deceive your heart and steal your heart's affections, God says in Proverbs chapter 23. He says there, My son, give me thine heart, don't trade me.
You know, sometimes we do that, don't we? We say, God, if you give me this, I'll serve you faithfully for a long time. God doesn't say I'll trade you, I'll give you a 1957 Chevy and then you can serve me faithfully after it's fixed up. We read about the field houses, didn't we yesterday?
Give the Lord Jesus the first place in your life and don't feed on ashes. It's going to be taken away. Everything that you see with your eyes will be burned up. Well, let's let's just read second Peter chapter 2 and verse six it says.
There actually let's read verse five. He spared not the old world, but saved Noah the 8th person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those that should live ungodly, and delivered just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the world of the wicked.
What did God turn Sodom and Gomorrah into?
Who can tell me what he turned those that those two cities into?
That's right, he turned those two cities into ashes.
Did you know that God is going to turn this entire world into ashes? He's going to burn it. Everything.
But he won't burn Christians. God never, never judges the righteous.
With the unrighteous never the principle of God, that he takes the righteous out of the scene of judgment first.
And then comes judgment.
After Sodom and Gomorrah were judged, they were burned. The smoke went up. Abraham saw the smoke.
Now those two cities were never built again. Never built again.
00:45:03
And this world will never be built again the way it was built after God judges it burns it all up.
Well, boys and girls, you're living in a scene that God has pronounced judgment upon. It will take place, its history written ahead of time.
And boys and girls, the Lord Jesus doesn't want you to be here.
When he judges this world, when he turns it into ashes, he doesn't want you to be here.
He doesn't want you to be here.
He wants you to have your sins forgiven. He wants you to. He wants you in heaven. Around the throne of God in glory will many children sing, children whose sins are all forgiven will heavenly anthems bring. The Lord Jesus made you, specially made you.
He specially made you. He knows your name. Your dad gave you a name. Your dad and mom. It's not a perfect name. The Lord Jesus will give you a name too.
He'll give you a perfect name. He'll give you a name that he loves and that reminds him especially of you, how many people just like you did God create?
1 Did he create anybody else like you?
He created one of you.
One of each one of us, that's all he's got and he wants to enjoy your company. But boys and girls, you're living in a scene of judgment. And it says in God's word that is appointed unto a man once to die, but after this, the judgment. And so the Lord Jesus asking you to come today and have your sins forgiven so that you won't live in this scene that's under judgment and will be turned into ashes that you won't feed.
On the ashes of this world, that you won't have a deceived heart. A deceived heart is tricked into thinking that the ashes is good stuff.
The ashes on this table is not good stuff.
And I asked you earlier whether anybody would like that ashes, would like to take a bite of that ashes. No, I had no takers.
But the ashes is of no value. It shows that the judgment has come, that it's being consumed, and what's left is of no value at all to anybody.
And God in his mercy and his grace, his love.
Judge the Lord Jesus on the cross, and those three dark hours he poured out his judgment against seeing a holy God, poured out his sin, His judgment against sin upon the Lord Jesus.
Well, that ashes.
Shows that judgment has come and gone. It will never be burned again.
And boys and girls, there's a Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is a Savior in heaven. He wants to wash your sins away.
He doesn't want you to have a tricked heart. He doesn't want you to be deceived in defeating on the ashes. He wants you to see clearly that there is judgment coming and that the only remedy for escaping the judgment is to go to someone who has borne the judgment.
For you.
The judgment of God against sin will never occur again.
Never occur again. For those that have faith in Christ, it's happened once.
Do you have a tricked heart? Do you have a deceived heart? I can't answer that for you.
I can't see and look into your heart this morning and say that you were feeding on the music ashes of this world, that you were feeding on the book ashes of this world, that you were feeding on the television ashes of this world. I can't do that. But God sees right into your heart and he sees whether your heart has been tricked and deceived into placing value on the ashes of this world.
Now I want to ask you to do something. We've talked about the Lord Jesus and how he's that perfect, perfect sacrifice for sin and was offered once, and I wanna ask you, I wanna plead with you.
The Lord Jesus, it's as if there's a burning house now.
The world, the fire is kindled. It's under judgment.
00:50:03
And the house is about to collapse, and the Lord Jesus is very soon going to take anything that he wants out of that house. This world, he's going to take it out. He's going to come very quickly. He doesn't have much time. He's going to come in the twinkling of an eye, and he's going to take out of that house.
Just what he has value for, what he has affection for, what his heart loves.
Every boy and girl, man and woman who has accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior will be taken out of this world. The Lord Jesus will leave everything else.
Everything else.
Will he take you?
Will he take you to heaven? Will he take you out of the burning house?
I hope he takes you.
Boys and girls, if you've never asked the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away, will you do it right now? I've got till 1015 here.
I'll tell you how I asked the Lord Jesus to wash my sins away. I don't want to to make you think that I I like to tell stories about myself, but I like to tell this because boys and girls, it's not complicated to have your sins forgiven. You know that you're a Sinner. Are there any sinners in this room?
Everybody that's a Sinner put up your hand.
I'm a Sinner.
And that's what God wants you to do. He wants you to put up your hand and say I'm a Sinner.
I need to have my sins forgiven.
When I was a little boy, I used to live by a railroad track. I think that's a very nice way to live, by the way, right by a railway track and look at all the trains going by. But my daddy worked for the railway way out north of Lake Superior in a place called Franz, where the CPR crosses the ACR. Algoma Central Railway is a little spot on the map called Franz.
And there my daddy had a little Sunday school.
And he said he read these Sunday school papers to us.
We weren't in the meeting.
But we read these Sunday school papers and my daddy said to me one day as we were reading these stories, he said.
If you are still lost.
If you have never accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, you're on your way to hell and you have to have your sins forgiven to be able to go to heaven. And there's only one person that you can go and ask to have your sins forgiven, and that's the Lord Jesus. Only one person. And so I heard that day and I said I'm on my way to hell.
God has pronounced judgment. I'm on my way to hell.
I want to have my sins forgiven. So I went and kneeled down on my top bunk. I, I, my twin brother slept on the bottom bunk and I slept on the top bunk and I knelt down on my knees on the top bunk and I said, Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I'm on my way to hell. I want to go to heaven with mommy and daddy. Please wash my sins away.
That very moment, the Lord Jesus washed my sins away. That was in 1964.
And then, you know, we had Sunday school the next Lord's Day.
Some of you have heard this story. We had another Sunday School next Lord's Day, and my daddy read the Sunday school paper again. And he said if you have, if you're not saved, you don't have your sins forgiven, You have to go to the Lord Jesus and ask for your sins forgiven. And so I went and I knelt down on my top bunk again and I asked the Lord Jesus to wash my sins away again.
Well, I didn't know any better. Boys and girls, you only have to do it once. Well, the next Lord today my my dad had a Sunday school again and this time he added something to the end of the sentence. He said you only have to ask once.
And I was so thankful because I didn't think I'd like to do that all my life.
Every Lord's day, boys and girls, you have to ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away once. Do you have your sins forgiven? Oh, that's a nice thing. Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice. I remember that day in 1964.
It's not very complicated, is it?
When we're going to pray here very shortly, and I bow my head, and you bow your head, and we talk to the Lord Jesus, will you? If you're not saved, if you've never asked the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away, will you bow your head?
00:55:06
And ask the Lord Jesus, tell him, Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I don't want to go to hell. I want to have my sins forgiven. Would you do that and ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away? And then I'd like you to tell your mommy and daddy or somebody else if you can. And then we can rejoice together. That's a very happy thing. And don't feed on ashes.
Put a bookmark if you have a tendency to read the books of this world, the music of this world, the television of this world, boys and girls, older ones.
Put a bookmark at Isaiah chapter 44. Don't feed on ashes. Your heart is tricked. If you feed on ashes. You think that it's good stuff? God says in Proverbs 23. You're gonna vomit it up.
You can't keep it, you're going to vomit that ashes up.
Well, let's just commend ourselves.
The Great Pot
Ruth
Government
Colossians 2:18-3:8
Conforter, Joshua 3,4 Things Pharoah said to Moses
Open—R. Hale, N Whatmough, L Mayhew
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Ecclesiastes, chapter 4.
And the first verse.
It says so I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed.
And they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.
Well, it's all my heart this afternoon to speak about that little word comfort or comforter for just a few minutes. And I was just thinking of this verse and these con, these verses here in Ecclesiastes are con concerning the things under the sun. And so we find here those under the sun, and they were greatly oppressed and they had no comforter. Brethren, I'm sure we're all aware here this afternoon.
That these are times of great oppression in this world. This whole creation groans in travail, and the Bible says that we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So we're not set apart for this from this growing creation. We ourselves grown brethren, but we don't groan as the rest of the world. How sad it is that this world does not know the comforter that you and I know.
It says here.
About the tiers of them that are oppressed. But you know God in His word, it says in the Psalms, it says, thou tell us my wanderings, put down my tears into thy bottle. Are they not all in thy book? And the Lord knows our tears, brethren, every single one of them, and He's able to comfort us. You know, this world doesn't have a comforter. It's sad, isn't it? But we do, brethren. And that comforter is the very same One who created this world. He created this universe.
And he's also the very same one who went to Calvary's cross and had those nails put through his hands and that crown of thorns on his head, and he went there for us. He's the very same one who's able to comfort us in all of our sorrows, brethren. So this world, sadly to say it doesn't have that comforter, but you and I do. And we can bring comfort to this world. You know, that's what Christianity is. Christianity brings with it something it doesn't take it brings.
But what's on my heart this afternoon?
Is for us as brethren, you know, in First Corinthians 14th chapter, we read that all things that are said, it should be done with a view to edification, to exhortation, and also to comfort. And that little word is so very important in these days. It's interesting the order in which those things are put. First of all, it's edification that is building up. Building up.
And that's what we need, brethren. We certainly need edification.
You know, we had a little bit about that this morning in the meetings. We enjoyed those meet, that meeting this morning where we had edification, instruction in the in the things of God, teaching from the Holy Spirit. And we certainly need it because brethren, I believe that it's a day where we could say, like the Apostle Paul had to say to those Hebrews, you are like those in need of milk. And brethren, if we're honest with ourselves, I believe into a large degree that's what we become.
Those in need of milk, we can profess high things, but we need to walk in them. And so that's the second thing is, is exhortation. And because we don't walk into things that we profess, sometimes the Lord has to bring in difficulties in Soros. He has to touch our consciences because we're not walking in those things that we know. So that's the exhortation. And sometimes the Lord has to bring in difficulties to exhort us.
To touch our consciousness. And we need that. We really need that, brother, and especially in a day like this. Because again, if we're honest with ourselves, we're not only very weak, but we're also very failing. And so there's the exhortation. But aside from those two things, what's really on my heart this afternoon is the third thing, because it comes after the exhortation. And that's comfort. You know, the Lord desires to give comfort. He turned over to the 51St Psalm. Umm, maybe I better read it.
Just a little verse there.
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Psalm 51 and verse eight make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Sometimes the Lord has to break some bones to draw us near to himself, because that's one of his desires, brethren, He wants us close. You remember what Joseph said to his brethren when he made himself known to them. He said, Come near unto me, I pray you. He didn't just say come near unto me, He said, come near unto me, I pray you. And the Lord desires us to be near to him, brethren. He wants to comfort us himself. He doesn't want someone else. There's a lot of little children in here today.
And mothers know that when that little child hurts himself or herself, the mother doesn't say, well, you go to your father and get comfort. No, she picks that child up in her arms herself, and she holds it close and comforts it. And that's the little the Lord's desire, brethren, to have us close to himself so that he can comfort us. And so we have a comforter and Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He wants us close and He wants to comfort us, you know.
Many years ago there was an old servant of the Lord just to vote at the end of his journey, and someone asked him that if he could change anything, what would he like to change.
Any thought from it And he said there's one thing I'd like to change and say, He said my desire is that if I could go back, my ministry might have been a little more of a comforting nature.
A little more comforting ministry and we need it, brethren. There's many things amongst us, many painful things that we're suffering right here in this room. I know that there's those of you with heavy hearts. And why do I know it? Because we all have heavy hearts. The Lord passes us all through different things, but it's with a desire to bring us close. You know, we had in our meeting in in the opening him this morning of his soon return. And the Lord is coming soon, brethren.
He wants a welcome, He wants a welcome. He wants us watching for him. And how else could he do it but to allow difficulties to allow Soros to come into our lives so that it would drive us to our knees and drive us to the Word and give us the look up and desire his return?
When I when I was a little younger and my boys were little, the biggest thrill when I came home from work was to have them run with their arms up and say Daddy, Daddy, oh wow, that that cheered my heart after a day at work. It was that welcome. You know, if I had given them things to do and they hadn't done it, I could take that up with them later. But the most important thing to me when I returned was that welcome. If I had come back and they were busy doing what they had to do, but there was no welcome.
It might have been nice that they were doing what I asked, but it was really the welcome that I look for. And brethren, the Lord's coming soon, and He wants us ready. He wants us watching for Him. He wants that welcome. And that's the only way He can do it, by allowing those things in our lives. But He's the one to comfort us. Well, I was just thinking about this little word comfort and how we have it. Perhaps you might say in three ways, comfort as to the past.
Comfort as to the present.
And comfort as to the future. So I'd just like to read a verse in the Gospel of John first of all.
Gospel of John, chapter 6.
I'm sorry, verse uh chapter 16 and verse 6.
But because I have said these things unto you, Sorrel, have filled your heart, nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you, and then back in the 14th chapter.
Verse 16.
The Lord Jesus says, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.
Well, the first comfort I'd like to speak about, and it's the comfort as to the past, and that is salvation. And before I continue, maybe I could just say if there's anyone here this afternoon who has yet to open your heart to the Lord Jesus, I urge you solemnly to do it now because the time is short. The Lord is coming. And if there's anyone here who doesn't know Him as Savior, now is the time you can enjoy comfort in your heart knowing.
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That your sins are forgiven and that you're on the way to glory. And that's the 1St and most important comfort of all, to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. And what a comfort it is when we think of all its past, all those things heaped up against us, all gone. And what do we have here? We have the Spirit of God indwelling us. What a wonderful thing we have, brethren. He's the earnest of our inheritance.
Were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus says in a couple of chapters back in the 10th chapter of John, none, no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And there's nothing can change that you belong to Christ. Nothing, nothing can pluck you from the Father's hand. What a comfort that is to know sins forgiven, to know that you're on the way to glory. And I just say, if you don't know that this afternoon, don't put the question off. Decide for Christ this very minute and you can have that comfort too.
But you know, we often lose that comfort, don't we? We often, just as David had to say to the Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And oftentimes we lose that. We lose the joy of our salvation. And why is it? Well, brethren, it's because other things come into our hearts. Isn't that right? I know it. It's because something gets between myself and the Lord.
And I lose the joy of my salvation. We can all remember back to that day when we were saved. Perhaps we can't remember the exact day, but we remember it and the joy that filled our hearts, that first love. But just like those Ephesians Saints in Revelation, we Rea, we read that they had lost their first love. And that's often happens, brethren, and we lose the joy of our salvation. And so the Lord desires to draw us back. He wants us close to Himself.
So that He can have us all to himself. You remember in that chapter in Luke we often read on Lord's Day morning with desire. I have desire to eat this Passover with you, brethren. He wants us close. And so He wants to bring us back to that first love, to the joy of His salvation.
Is there a way back? Yes, there is. We lose it because other things come in. But you know, God is for us. And if God before us, who can be against us? And so he works to that end. He sees us, He sees me, perhaps sees others getting away and losing the joy of their salvation, losing that first love. And So what does He have to do? Well, he has to bring in the next thing. Sometimes He has to bring in sorrows and difficulties. And it was mentioned this morning we have some severe, severe sorrows and trials in our lives.
And we all know it. We all suffer them. None of us are exempt. I mentioned that verse at the beginning. We ourselves grown within ourselves, we're not separated in that way from the things under the sun. We suffer along with this world, many of the same source. But brethren, it's different for us because we don't sorrow as others, sorrow which have no hope. There's a purpose in it for us. We need to see God in everything. And so the Lord brings things, but it's His hand. And that's what we need to look beyond those things.
And see the Lord. So that's the second thing, comfort as to the present, He sometimes has to bring in, like we read in, in the 51St Psalm, the bones which thou hast broken, and sometimes to draw us back, or sometimes to protect us, various reasons. But He allows things to come in. And that's the second thing, comfort as to the present. Because when He allows something, it's for a purpose of blessing. It's not just to cause a sorrow, brethren, it's for blessing. And it's only if need be. The Lord sees the need be. I don't see the need be. I don't see what's going on gonna happen tomorrow.
Sometimes I don't realize the course I'm taking is going to get me into trouble. Sometimes I don't see the danger ahead, but the Lord does. And so He allows things to come in, and often they're very difficult to bear. But I say again, He's the God of all comfort, and He knows just how much we can take. He won't. He won't tempt us above that we're able, or try us. Above that we're able. You think of that terrible trial that Abraham had with his son.
But it was her blessing.
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It was for great blessing. You know, God didn't try a lot. God tried Abraham.
God doesn't try a believer who's going on and doesn't has no desire for the things of God. You know, Satan likes to whisper that in our ears, doesn't he? When we pass through something, he'd say, oh, it must be something you've done. God is punishing you. He's seeking to undermine our confidence in the Lord.
Is God punishing Abraham? No, He loved Abraham. He was seeking to bring Abraham into greater blessing, greater confidence in himself.
And very often that's why the difficulties are there to strengthen our faith, to draw us nearer to himself, to bring us into a greater blessing. And it's hard sometimes to say to trust when we don't understand. It's difficult to trust the Lord. That path of faith is never easy, but it's the path of path of blessing. Well, I say again, the second thing, uh, maybe I can turn to Romans chapter 15.
Verse 4. Romans 15 and four.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
Well, the second thing is comfort for the present. We have comfort for the past, but what about comfort for the present? You know, I find in my own life, and I think many others would agree, we can really have confidence and we, many of us are at peace about our salvation.
We have that, that, uh, piece of conscience, but if we're honest, very often we don't enjoy Peace of Mind and that is comfort as to the present.
There's a lot of Soros.
And instead of seeing the Lord in them, instead of enjoying his comfort, instead of enjoying us near, we fret and we fuss.
And it causes great anxiety amongst us and in our hearts, and so many of us don't enjoy that comfort for the present. But is that the Lord's desire? Does the Lord want us to go on unhappy and comfortless for the present? Does he save our souls? And does he promise us glory? And then does he say, well, I want you to have an unhappy life? Oh no, that's what Satan would like you to believe. That's what Satan would like you to believe when he whispers in your ear, this has happened to you.
That's what he said to Eve. You know, he tried to undermine her confidence.
He tried to convince her, and He did convince her that the Lord was holding back the best thing from her. And that's what Satan does to you. And I look at the sorrow that's coming upon you. How could a God of love allow such things? Well, brethren, the Lord allows it for that very fact because He loves us too much to let us go astray. He loves us too much to let us go to anyone else. Well, the first thing is we have the comfort.
Of the scriptures, and I can't stress how much importance, how important that is, the comfort of the scriptures. Do you spend time, do we spend time with the word of God? You know, there's real comfort, real comfort in reading the word of God because the Spirit of God that indwells you, of which we've spoken. He takes the word of God, the sword of the Spirit and he makes use of it. And if you take the time to sit down and read your Bible.
I don't mean just a few verses before you hop into bed at night, take time, spend it alone with the Lord reading his word, and you'll be amazed at what the Spirit of God will do with the word of God to give you comfort, the comfort your heart in all things. I'd like to read a verse in in Isaiah.
Chapter 51.
I might say that we had that before us this morning in our reading too. In the second verse, you know, Paul said he was in a great conflict and you read the second verse. What does it say that their hearts might be comforted? Lord desires our comfort. And so in Isaiah 51, He says in the 12Th verse.
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I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art thou, that thou should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of Man, which shall be made as grass and forget us? The Lord thy Maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?
You know, those verses are so precious to me because I think if there's one thing that most of us suffer from, and that is a lot of fear and anxiety in these days, things are happening that.
Shake our minds that shake our hearts, things in the world and amongst the people of God that really tend to shake us up and cause us to fear. But you know what the Lord says here? I'm the one that comforts you and he says, who are you to be afraid?
Because you know, brethren, when we're afraid like that, it's because we have a lack of confidence in the Lord.
We have a lack of confidence in the Lord.
And.
It's not a shame to be afraid. The Lord allows it just for that fact that so He can strengthen our confidence in himself so He can come in and be the one to comfort us and show us that He's there and that He'll take care of our every need. So let's go to Him in our need. He's the comforter. He's the comforter. Well, that's comfort as to the present and how much we need it. But you know, there's also comfort as to the future.
And we had that read before us this morning. I'm not gonna take much more time. I just wanna turn over to that portion that was read to us in First Thessalonians.
And I'll just read from verse 17 of the 4th chapter of First Thessalonians.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Can you think of anything more comforting in the Word of God than that hope that we have, That sure hope of being soon, forever with the Lord? And it's a sure hope, brethren, because it's founded on the Word of God. It's not your thoughts or my thoughts. It's the Word of God, forever with the Lord. What a wonderful hope before us. We have comfort as to the past. We have ample comfort as to the present, and we have comfort as to the future. And it's all found.
In the Lord Jesus. But you know this last verse is the one that I enjoy, it says.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. It doesn't just say wherefore be comforted with these words, it says Wherefore comfort one another.
And brethren, the Lord didn't leave us here to walk through the path alone.
He didn't leave us here to walk the path, just with him, although he's sufficient. And precious as that may be, he's left us here as brethren together so that we can be a comfort one to another, and how needed that is. Comfort is hard to do, isn't it? Comfort seems to be, for me anyway, the hardest thing in the world to do, because you feel so helpless. You see a brother or a sister and they're passing through something and you wanna be a help.
You long to comfort them because.
Why? Because they're a child of God, just like you, and you long to be a help, but you don't know how, you don't know what to do. So sometimes you just stay back.
And your heart's breaking for them, but you don't know what to do. Well, says here, comfort one another with these words. It doesn't take much sometimes just to say I'm thinking of you. I feel for you. Maybe I can't understand just what you're going through, but I feel for you. Oh, how that how that cheers the heart of a brother or a sister. Just a pat on the shoulder to let them know I'm thinking of you.
Comfort one another with these words.
Desire. You know, if you turn over to 1St Corinthians, I'll just read that little portion there.
Because it's been a help to me too.
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2nd Corinthians, I'm sorry.
Two Corinthians one and verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
And that's one of the reasons why the Lord allows us individually to pass through things so that not only to bring us to Himself, but so that we can be a comfort to one another.
It's hard, brethren. The path of faith is not easy, but it's the happy path. And let's remember, we have the God of all comfort. It's the Lord Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And His desire is that we be close to Him. His desire is to that we'd be close to one another, comforting one another. And so we have these things to pass through.
But it's not going to last forever. We're soon going to be forever with the Lord.
And he's gonna wipe all those tears away. There's not gonna be any more sorrow or crying or death or any such things. But even now, he desires brethren, and he's able to comfort us in all of our sorrows. And we have each other. I just wanted to mention this because.
It's important, the other things, we really need all three of those in this day.
We need edification, we need exploitation and we need comfort.
But we're not going to have them by forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, and so much the more as you see the day approaching rather than the day is approaching. Let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together for those three things, for edification, for exhortation. And let's never forget comfort.
I'd like to look at a chapter in the Old Testament that illustrates what our hymn was about and I believe.
Brings comfort to our hearts as believers.
Him we thank you in the meeting with, uh, said once we stood in condemnation and we're in an entirely new position before God. But her brother read that verse in Corinthians about, uh, the things that happened beforehand that they, we through comfort and hope through the, the things that happened to them might have comfort and hope. And so the Lord would use these illustrations in the Old Testament to help us to understand truths in the New Testament because all of this was anticipated.
And certainly our him suggested to us Romans chapter 8.
Of the position in which we now stand before God.
In an entirely new position and I was just thinking of a chapter in.
Joshua But before we turn there, I would just like to turn to a verse in Hebrews chapter 4, because we spoke of fear in the meeting and what the ground of this comfort is.
Let us therefore the first first. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it.
Well, Paul is really referring to, uh, an incident here in Hebrews in connection with the history of the children of Israel. And they were to fear, and we are to fear unless we come short of the promise because of unbelief.
And you know, after they had, uh, not listened to Paul on that voyage and asked after a long time, Paul stood forth and he said, be of good cheer, I believe God.
And that will bring comfort to our hearts. And that really is why we get distraught, whether as to the condition of our soul or whether as the condition of our circumstances or in the assembly. Whereas those two on the road to Emmaus, going away from the place that the Lord had told them to be, they were discouraged in their hearts and the Lord had to afraid them because of their unbelief.
And that is the root of our failure. I never knew Harry Hayhoe personally, but I understand he said that often. Is that all our failure, whether St. or Sinner, stems from unbelief and the goodness that is in the heart of God. So we need to labor to enter into his rest, that is, to believe what God has said. And if we turn back to this chapter in Joshua, I think it's very lovely because it typically illustrates to us that passage from Romans 7 to Romans 8.
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Joshua chapter 3 though commenting on every verse of it, I believe that it helps us to see what the Lord is doing doing and really brings the person of Christ before us.
If we turn back to the early chapters of Deuteronomy, we'll realize that the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt. And as her brother was referring to in the reading meeting. And any of us who have been there realized that really it is a pleasant land. And especially where the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen, the palm trees and the cool breezes in the evening in the river. But it was a land of slavery.
And so God was going to bring them out of that, and it was the Passover that delivered them from Egypt. And when he saw the blood, he passed over them, and there was a question of faith, because it was not their estimation of the blood, but His.
And so it's not my estimation of the value of the blood, but it's God's estimation of the value of the blood that gives us this value. And so the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins. And so when there's settled peace to God's estimation of the blood of Christ, and faith simply believes what God has said. But there they were, if I may put it that way, the blood was there, but they were still in Egypt. And so they had another experience in a typical sense. And I think these things are familiar to us, but in a typical sense, the Lord had to take them out through the.
Red cedar separates them from Egypt.
And so just as we sing that song, Jehovah lift up is Rado, Christ that fell on thee, that we realize that Christ suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That's what he's really trying to do. He's trying to bring us into fellowship with himself.
And Moses really is the, uh, minister of the law. He lifted up his rod and the waters were parted. But if you can imagine, if you were one of those children of Israel, it was like our experience. I believe if we look back to the time, if we remember when we were saved, that it was just like that. We were walking right through. There was a wall of water on one side and a wall of water on the other side. And we were very conscious of the danger that we were in. And it's a good thing people go on carelessly, not realizing the Egyptians barged through this, these walls of water, indifferent to the danger they were in a wall, wall of water on either side.
And so perhaps.
Umm, I remember as a boy I realized I was in real danger of hell because of my sin. But then I saw that it was not the judgment fell on me, but it fell on Christ. Jehovah lifted up his rod, O Christ, it fell on thee. And I walked through on dry ground. But there was a consciousness, very real consciousness of the danger I was in. And even as the children of Israel could look back on that scene, they could see the waters crashing around the Egyptian.
But I think that we all realize when this church is taken, when the church is taken to heaven, that the terrible judgments of God will fall upon those that are not believers, that don't have real faith. They may have tried to follow the same pathways, but there was no faith in connection with it. They were just pursuing the children of Israel, but they got into the wilderness. And there's one little verse that's in brackets in Scripture at the beginning of Deuteronomy, and that is that there is 11 days journey from Kadish. Umm, I perhaps just read it. I don't quote Scripture well.
It's just in brackets in Scripture, but it says there are 11 days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir onto Kadish Parnia. That was took them 40 years to take an 11 days journey. And so now we bring in our souls experience we've made for many years belaboring to enter into that rest, but it's by faith. And if we turn to the story in Deuteronomy, we see what happened was that they didn't believe God.
There were the two. There were the 12 spies that went into Spy Out the Land.
And the two which speaks of adequate testimony, all 12 bore testimony to the fact that it was a good land. If you'd asked any one of those 12, they would have said it's a good land. But the two encouraged the heart of their brethren, and they said, let's go in. And the other ten, they discourage the heart of their brethren. And they said, there's giants in the land, and we as Christians may do that 10 feet of responsibility, There's 10 commandments, there's ten fingers on my hands. And it speaks of what we do.
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And the tan really seeks a responsibility, the two Speaking of adequate testimony in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established that was adequate. If nobody else believed it believed what the two or three bore witness to in Matthew 18. It was an established fact as far as God was concerned. And the two that bore testimony to the land before the children of Israel, according to God, it was an established fact that nobody else in the in the among the children of Israel believed it.
And in fact, as we know that every other one besides those two, Joshua, which is Hebrew for Jesus and Caleb, which is Hebrew for dog, Jesus and the dog, if I may put it that way, that they went in, but all the others died except for the children. And so it reminds us, except we become as little children, we need faith as a child just simply to believe and to rest and what God said. We cast down all those re adult reasonings and thinkings and we simply rest and believe what God has said.
And so this is really what it means to enter into the rest of God.
And so here now we find ourselves in Joshua and Joshua.
And Caleb. But Joshua as a type of Christ is leading them who's, as I said, in Hebrew, his name is. In Greek, his name is Jesus.
In Acts you get that, you know, Ji Joshua is translated Jesus in the book of Acts. Umm, and uh, they're there before the river Jordan. 40 years to get 11 days.
And uh, we'll just see this deliverance and I'll pass, try to pass over this quickly. The third verse. And they commanded the people saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priest and the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove yourself from your place and go after it. And yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2000 cubits by measure. Come not near onto it that she may know the way by which she must go.
For you have not passed this way heretofore.
Well, this to me is very lovely. I think most of us know that the arc is a picture of Christ because in one place it says, describes the construction of the ark, and it doesn't even really mention the giving of the law. It just says you're to make this arc and you're to cover it with gold. And he says to Moses, I'll tell you what you're going to put into it. And it was a picture of Christ that vessel. And he was, of course, that one is in the first Psalm and, uh, that meditated in his law night and day.
That the law was hit in the heart of the Lord.
And he was the part of mana and that part of mana that the arc was a picture of Christ. And that I, I can't develop that all right now, but they were to stand back very far.
And we need to stand back, brethren, from a great distance, 2000 years, and see that there's a finished work in connection with our rest.
That the battle is finished.
The battle was won at the cross. He's overcome. And we need confidence and we need faith to believe that we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil and battle at work, at home, perhaps in the assembly and in everywhere. And we need to realize that the battle is finished. He won the battle at the cross and all we have to do is just to rest and face as to what he said and the reason that we get fighting with our brethren and fighting among ourselves and contending and perhaps there's discord in the homeless because we don't believe God.
And simply to act and face on what God has said.
Will bring us into rest and will bring us into communion with our bread. And that's what a pure heart is, is simply to believe what God said and to act on the basis of that. And so as Paul said in Romans, let God be true in every man, a liar. That's the pure heart. Not looking around to see how many more people are gonna join me. God will take care of that. He will maintain a testimony to the truth. And I'm not just Speaking of gathering, but He will maintain a testimony to the truth. He did in Israel.
Until the very end. But what we need is confidence to believe God has faith and that itself is a gift of God. But we're to stand back very far.
And so it's not anything of our doing, not something that I do or I've done, but it's something that's going to be done. And yet I can observe from a distance. And he said, uh, we've never gone this way before. And verse five. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. The Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priest, take up the ark of the covenant and Passover before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day I will magnify thee. That is Joshua, the type of Christ in the sight of all Israel.
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That you may know, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, and thou shalt command the priest that bare the ark of the covenant. When ye shall come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come, hit her, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Gergesites, and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
Of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan.
Now, therefore take you 12 men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every man of tribe, and it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap.
Now I think we know that water speaks of judgment in Scripture.
And they were at this moment that the pre Christ offered himself to God. But the moment that the priest's feet touched that water, the water was rolled right back. And when the Lord uttered the words on the cross, it is finished. It was finished. Man came into my office at work and with some fanciful idea that the Lord went into hell and suffered for our sins. No, he said, Father unto thy cans I command my spirit, I commend my spirit. And that that thief on the cross, he said, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
So the thief on the cross, it was a wonderful revelation, you know, because the thieves that Remember Me when I come in, when you come in your Kingdom, a Kingdom. But the Lord revealed something to that thief on the cross because he had faith. He said today thou shalt be with me in paradise. To be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. He already had a bit of Paul's doctrine, I'd say, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord because he believed.
What God had said and so that the moment the Lord uttered those words, he passed, we see he brought life and immortality to life. Uh, through the gospel is that we learn what death is, is to be the Lord was absent from his body and present with his father. And when a believer passes from this Dean, he passes absent from the body to be present with the Lord just as that thief on the cross and just as the Lord, his body was laid in the grave and resurrection, the first fruits. He's the first one of the first resurrection. He took up his body.
And was raised again, glorified body in heaven. That's not yet our portion. It will be. But uh, we see that it was finished when the Lord uttered those words. So as soon as the sole of their feet touched that water, the water rolled back into great heat. And we see in the book of Genesis that all the waters were gathered together into one place.
And so the interesting thing that we have here that we don't have in connection with the Red Sea and really answers to our hem once we stood in condemnation.
Is that, uh, we'll notice here that it was at a time when the Jordan overflowed its banks at the time of harvest. And so it was at the perfect time of that the Lord suffered for our sins. But let's just look at the 16th verse.
That the waters which came down from above and stood and rose upon a heap very far from the city atom, that is, beside Zaratin, and those that came down toward the sea of the plain. Even the salt sea failed and were cut off, and the people passed over right against Jericho.
Now this is a beautiful picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross, because not only did he deal with what I've done, but he deal with what I was and what we were.
You know, you could take a crab apple tree and take all the crab apples off of it, but it would still be a crab apple tree. The Lord could cleanse your sins away, if I may put it this way. But if you didn't change our natures when we got to heaven, we'd still be the same.
So, but he's dealt not only with what we've done, but what we are. And so the judgment here was not just a mirror dealing with what we've done.
00:45:07
As I think is really seen at the Red Sea, but he's dealing with what we are. And so the waters were rolled right back to the city, Adam, right back to the first man and right down to the salt sea, which is, uh, I think the Jordan is a picture of in a way of humanity right down. I believe it's the lowest spot on earth. I think it's 1000 feet or more below sea level. And so there, there was no water, no judgment inside anywhere. We, they walk clean over.
There's many other scriptures to show this, but I think you'll see that if you we look that they went down into the Red Sea and we don't read of them coming out, but we read of them coming out of the Jordan. And so it's viewed as one complete thing in Scripture. But there was that necessity to stand back very far and to see that Christ is the answer to all that we were in the first man.
And so they passed over, it says in verse 17, and the priest that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. And so now they found themselves in Jericho and that was the real place of their conflict. And that's the real place of our conflict, if I may put it this way, is when we have settled pieces to the work of Christ and full deliverance.
And there's many more things, details that we can pick out here, but I just wanted to take up this illustration of what our him was Speaking of and really to show that it is if it is really founded on believing what God has said. And there is no comfort if there's unbelief. And so that's why in Hebrews it takes up four, it takes up the question of the word of God. And so.
That it's sharper than any two edged sword and so on because it's really that, uh, we need to fear unless we be falling under the same example of unbelief. But when they came out of Jordan, as many other lovely pictures in connection that with that they came to Gilgal and it says that Gilgal then was the reproach that they were slaves in Egypt paroled away. That's what Gilgal means is rolling away at Gilgal. They could PR practice self judgment. That's of which I believe circumcision really is a is a picture. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Very private thing we may like to practice self judgment on each other, but it says make sharp knives for yourselves. They couldn't do that until they stood saw that they stood in an uncondemned position before God that they were delivered as slaves from Egypt. It wasn't possible in the face of Mount Sinai for them to do that but to realize that our new position that we stand before God in Christ accepted in the beloved that they had power to do that and so it goes on and they were constantly to return to that place to self judgment. But we really see.
The entire position into which we've been brought delivered. Once we stood in condemnation, but now we stand in an entirely new position before God. And, uh, it's all Co. It's all by faith. Every blessing of God is laid hold of by faith.
That's where the comfort is, You know, it's just to believe God is Paul standing forth, He said, Sirs, be of good cheer. I believe God.
This afternoon, brother and I'd like to talk to you on, uh, four things that.
Moses that Pharaoh said to Moses he was led by the devil to do it and those four things that he said there as being said to you and to me today and how it is cheered my heart when I looked around here today and seen so many small children, so many of them and.
It, it has really warm my heart. I guess where I come from there's not that many children and you think, well, our children are all gone, our children are all gone. But when you see so many here today, it's really an enjoyment to my soul and I would like to.
Go back to Exodus.
Chapter 8 and uh.
Verse 25.
There's four things that Pharaoh says to Moses. When Moses says we want to go, we want to go, we've got to go, and we've got to take everything with us. But the devil has four things to say.
To him, the first one is in umm, Exodus 825.
00:50:04
And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye sacrifice to God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meat for so us to do, for we shall sacrifice.
The Abomination.
Of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their horizon. They will not stone us. We will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command them. What a solemn request Pharaoh has made to Moses.
Go and sacrifice in the land.
How could we? Where did Moses sing? Where did the children of Israel sing when they got on the other side of Jordan?
But what happens?
Pharaoh wants him to sacrifice in his land. No separation. You have your God, we'll have ours. It's just the same. There's no difference. No separation. But that's not what God wants. He wants them to leave. And.
They have to go over Jordan, so the first request is do it in the land. Would you like to re remember the Lord in the.
Land in the common so-called churches that we have today.
I heard a story this spring.
My best friend's mother died. She was 91 years old and.
She she went to a denomination they would call it, and the man came who was supposed to take the funeral.
And.
He talked to this, uh, brother and his sister whose mother had died, and he said, what verse would you like? Now this is supposed to be a man of God.
And the sister said there's a verse, I think it's in Matthew. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding.
She says. I think it's in Matthew.
Somewhere.
And the, uh, man that was there said, well, I think, I think she's right. I think she's right. And Alan said, I'm sorry, but it's in Proverbs. I'm not sure sure exactly if it's Proverbs three or five, but it's in Proverbs. And the, the man that was there said, oh, no, Sir, I think you're wrong. So he went and got his Bible and come out and he put it on the table and showed him. Now it's sort of scared the man, He thought, wow.
I got somebody here that does know a little bit about the Bible. I better be careful.
And the brother said, you know.
The funeral was disaster. The funeral was a disaster.
The man stood up.
The only thing that he said?
About his mother was he hoped there was dancing in heaven because his mother wanted like to dance. That was at a funeral. Brethren, how thankful you and me should be that God has taken us and given us this precious, precious privilege of having the word of God to be able to open. There was nothing about Christ. There was nothing about anything other than.
He hoped there was dancing in heaven because his mother liked to dance. Brethren, it's a solemn thing. Would you want to go and sacrifice to the Lord in a place like that?
Would you like to go there? How could we? There's no separation. We've got to separate from it. And where do Moses say now? The second one is in verse 28.
You shall not go very, only ye shall not go very far away. Well, what's the difference in being there and being not very far away? You've still got the rudiments of the world. You've still got it. You have to get that three days journey on the other side of Jordan. You have to get over the cross. You have to go through the cross and get onto the other side. Then you can sacrifice to the Lord because.
00:55:14
Moses saying what kind of a song would he have in the land of Egypt?
With the men of the world now, brethren.
I said, I said there was four things. I said two. But the third one has hurt me, has made me think. And I want to make it each one of us realize what it what it is.
Uh.
Romans 10 and eight.
Uh, actually, excuse me, Exodus 10 and eight. Excuse me, Exodus 10 and eight. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them.
Go, serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go? And Moses said, we will go with our young, and with our old, and with our sons, and with our daughters, and with our flocks, and with our herds. We shall go, for we must hold a feast under the Lord.
How solemn.
That speech to us today.
Ferrell said this to Moses. Pharaoh said it to Moses. But what's the devil saying to you and to me today, you and me?
You go ahead, you go ahead and sacrifice the way you want, but leave me the children, leave me your children. Have we not seen it? How many families here are not affected by that one thing? You go and sacrifice to the Lord.
The way you want, but leave me, your children, in my world, where I can look after them and fill them full of myself.
Does not speak to us. I know there's a lot of parents here.
I know there's a lot and I know there's a lot of grandparents here too, including me.
Have we got our children with us?
Have we got anything to pray about?
You say it only takes me two minutes to say my prayers at night. I do it fast. I'm tired after the end of the day. But do we ever think that we have children?
We have grandchildren.
Nieces and nephews and you say I'm I'm single, I don't have anybody, but have you got the family of God? The world is getting worse, brethren, and why? Everybody says the world is getting worse, but why is it getting worse? Why?
One reason it's taken a long time, but they finally got rid of the word of God as we had this morning and you'll have an every conference.
Once you give up the word of God, there's no.
True. Who is the devil anyways? He's the father of lies. Today you can't believe people. You can't believe people what they say.
But because they're, they're taken after their father, the father of lies.
The Corrupt 1.
And all how it should speak to each one of us, brethren.
All these very little ones here, they're going to pass through trials and troubles that you and I never even thought of. And I'm not the oldest here, but when I was in high school, I remember back that far, there used to be a place out in the backyard, a little corn, corn dog place that you could go out there and if you had to have a smoke, if you couldn't refrain until you got through school.
You could possibly go out there and have it, but look at today, brethren, look at the drugs that are in the schools, the awfulness that the men that are coming selling it right into the schools.
Is it worse? Is it bad? Yes. But is it too bad for Jesus?
It's just it's just got them all scared and excited rather than there's nothing that he's going to get excited about.
01:00:05
Of of Vadnais in the world. Just think of it before you and I were even born. Our name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life before we were even born. He knows all about it. And as you say, we've had the words spoken today about trials and troubles.
Did it get him excited when we got, uh, trouble at trial?
No, He knew all about it. In fact, he even gave it to you. And why did he give it to you for? Because he hated you. No way. No way. Because he loved you. What did Romans 8 and 28 say? All things work together for good to them. That love the Lord. All things, even those bad things, even those terrible things, those awful things that we have to get through.
You know, some children will say, you know, if I only had better parents, if I only had a better mommy and daddy, They're hard on me. They're so hard on me. They make me do what I don't wanna do. And they it's just if I only had better parents.
Think of it person, young child, young boy, young girl, you have a daddy and mommy that love the Lord Jesus and they're only doing it for your good and.
I had two boys and a girl.
And I know one boy. He.
They seem to get it quite frequently, in fact, even at times you put a telephone book in his pants so that it wouldn't hurt that bad. And he thought at that time he had the worst parents in the world.
But then, after a while, he looked back at it.
And he thanked us for what we did.
It's something, brethren, we might not think that these people that are trying to be hard to us, our parents and our grandparents and all that.
They're not doing it for fun. They're doing it because the Lord wants them to do it and because they love us, you know? I'm sorry, I guess.
I've I've got 2 little grandchildren now and I guess if I didn't know the grandchildren were so much fun. I'd like to have my children. I'd have my grandchildren before my children. But it's something to think of brethren, that the devil wants. The devil wants our children.
And hasn't he got it? Now, the next point, the 4th point, is very, very important for each and every one of us who are at the Lord's Table. There's something in this. It's very, very precious, and I don't want you to miss it.
In in 20 fo uh uh Exodus 10, verse 24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go, ye serve the Lord only. Let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices.
And burnt, burnt offerings that we may sacrifice under the Lord our God.
Our cattle also shall go with us, There shall not a hoop he left behind. For therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come together. Isn't this lovely? Isn't this beautiful?
Pharaoh says OK, take your children and and yourselves and get gone. Go.
But leave your cattle. Leave your cattle. Why?
I mean, that's a big company and maybe they would kill some for even for food. But Moses doesn't say we have we need them for food. What does he say he needs to hurt for? What does he say he needs the cattle for?
To sacrifice, to sacrifice under the Lord, isn't that wonderful? He wants them all too. Why couldn't he have left some of them there? He could have taken half of them, 3/4 of them. But no, he takes it all. And why does he take it? Because verse 26 says, our cattle also shall go with us, for there shall not a hoof be left behind.
For therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither. I've enjoyed that. I've really enjoyed that.
01:05:00
The devil wants to take away the communion that you've had with the Lord all week. And why does Moses say it this way? Because the communion that we've had with the Lord all week were to bring it to the Lord's table on Sunday morning. And why? Why are we to bring it there? Because we don't know what the Spirit of God is going to need for that Lord's Day. So we must bring everything.
To the Lord's table, so that the Spirit of God can use.
Whatever he wants, it's not what I want or what I think I should bring. It's what he wants and how important it is that we are to leave Egypt, leave the world. There's nothing there for us, only hardships and toil and trial. As we saw with the children of Israel, and as we said, they had the blood in the land, in the land, the blood did cover them.
But they weren't free then they were told to leave. And you say, I, I have fears like they, like other people don't have. I do. But think of it. Here's the people that the Lord told to go to the Red Sea, and they're going along into the Red Sea is right there, as high as it can be. There's no way in the world they're going to get across it. And they look behind and the enemy is right behind them. Surely the Lord wasn't just going to take them out and leave them.
What troubles, what fears these people had, and if they'd had gone a day before?
Into the water they would have drowned, but the day the Lord said to go, he opened the way they went through. The enemy came right behind him till he got in the middle of the sea. As Neil said that the judgment of God. And what happened as soon as they were out passed to judgment, The water went over top of all those people, and then what did they do when they got there? As I said before, they were ready and able to sing.
And that's where we should be when we come in March day morning to bring what we have, umm, got in communion through the week with the Lord. Bring it in and He will use it for the Spirit's glory.
#44 the appendix.
Colossians 2:18-3:8
Reading
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Washington, chapter 2 and verse 19. And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God. Wherefore if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is though living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with using after the commandments and doctrines of men.
Which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
Should we stop there or continue on reading some?
How far, brother?
Chapter 3. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for your dead, and your life is hit with Christ and God.
In Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in which He also walked some time when He lived in them. But now you also put off all these anger, wrath, malice.
Blasphemy. Filthy communication.
Out of your mouth.
The end of the 19th verse that little phrase increases.
With the increase of God.
That increase will never stop.
When we pass out of this light.
When the Lord comes.
It's going to keep on and on and on for eternity.
Never the increase of the boundless sore.
Well, we have to feel, we have to rather send you to get perhaps we feel as a as a brother said, uh, Bruce said to me, the world thinks we have to do to get and Christian when this thought comes in.
Is that we have to do something to get something. And even in the way the epistles are written, our brother in his prayer mentioned the individual exercise. But in the last chapter we have individuals mentioned, and I just mentioned it, that at each of the end of the epistles we have examples of what is really practically worked out in the doctrine that is given to us in the beginning.
Perhaps allow me to recount a story when I was a young man.
Umm, in a home and there was some Bible readings there and they took up the book of Ephesians. I wasn't gathered then and they took up the book of Ephesians and the brother who took up the readings that I think we really should start with the last chapter and work towards the 1St.
And really show illustrates what our brother was saying we need to do to gas is that we are we take on the whole armor of God and then we walk with God and then we're seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But Christianity is not that way at all because God can't be king didn't come to look for something, but to give something and that works itself out practically in our lives.
00:05:01
If you really hold the head, as we really see that in him, as all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, as Timothy says, great as the mystery of godliness.
It was manifest in the flesh.
Is that godliness was perfectly manifested in a person that was in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and as we abide in the vine. I realized that now the vine only lasted a few hours so to speak, but it's a really abide in Christ. Then we're gonna bear fruit and we're gonna manifest godliness as you walk through this king in a practical way and we as we get into difficulty may feel that the remedy is.
Bring in human organs is not analog touch, not set a standard against evil, but the real standard against it is Christ, a life that's hidden, Christ and God.
He very briefly put God gives before he expans.
God gives before he expects, doesn't expect anything from us till He has given us the full ability to do it, whereby are given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
But the the response is the joy.
To enjoy those promises.
Proceeding great and precious promises. Enjoy them and and all blessing comes from God.
That lived in our life. It goes back to God and praises. Circuitry comes from God. It lived. It goes back in praise and adoration.
Praise and admiration in our hearts. He doesn't want our commitments and our pledges. And so that's will worship and that's what people are constantly.
You know, if you teach with your young people that commit your lives to the Lord and so on, what you want is your praise, which is your reasonable service, David said. Could I my only given the that's really what he wants from us.
And so that there's a great deal of will worship today, I'm gonna make a commitment. I'm gonna take a pledge to do 7 things. I'm gonna as if we have the power in our lives to live to please the Lord in this world we don't and to abide in Christ. And it's the same thing in the assembly is that we can start to look for something from man and all he wants to do is, you know, open your mouth and I'll fill it and to enjoy himself.
And that's the real ministry flows from the enjoyment of Christ. And so ministry too is the Lord's coming. You know, the faithful servant is found feeding the sheep of God instead of Peter. Lovest thou me? What was he to do is defeat the foxtrot. And the wicked servant says in his heart, I'm going to delay his coming to keep the man service. Try to whip them into shape. We're not looking to, so to speak, to improve the assembly.
To restore to the glory days of Pentecost or the glory days so-called the brethren in the last century, but just to go on in nothingness, and just to enjoy the Lord, to go on together and faithfulness.
It really may mean that it is that the Lord that the prop he laid the foundation in Matthew 16 and in Matthew 18, you really, I believe, described the last state of the church two or three and it may be reduced to just two or three. And you say, well, there's two brothers and a sister in a meeting. And so you say, well, we're going to have a an open meeting and let the prophet speak two or three and the other judge why you see how we're reduced to such weakness and even such a thing wouldn't be possible.
And yet the Lord is there. So we need to satisfy our hearts with the Lord by faith or below, not to try to get back. We need to get back to the foundation that Nehemiah removed the rubble to get back to Christ. And not, so to speak, to get into all of these things, but we start to try to whip things into shape and strive with our brethren and so on. That's really the danger that we get into if we don't really satisfy our hearts with Christ.
Peter, he's, uh, gave one admonition and if Paul, Paul gives another. Peter gave an admonition to the older ones, to the elders, and he said to be thou an example.
To the flock, that's a message to all the older ones. We are to be giving an example to the ones that follow on. But Paul in First Timothy 412 Said the to the young man be thou an example of the believers of the believers.
00:10:18
The message that can apply to every one of us here.
Why do people get discouraged if you think of those two on the road to a mayor? I think it was Mary and Cleopas. But it's just the point of expectations. You know, we hope for something that doesn't happen, but if our heart is satisfied and Christ will never be disappointed. And so we're looking for something if we're looking for the restoration of some great thing or even some self improvement.
We're not gonna find it, really, but if we're satisfied with Christ, we're gonna grow up into him being mature.
But, uh, we're living in days of great weakness. And so if we're looking for the restoration of great yet, where is it? Or if we're looking for something in ourselves, we're not gonna find it. But if we're looking for Christ, we're gonna be satisfied. We're not gonna be discouraged.
The expression increases with the increase of God reminds you that more blessed to give than to receive, and God's portion is always that of the giver.
He's more willing to give than we are to receive. I'm sure. Naomi was quite surprised when Ruth came back and waited down with all these things that Boaz gave her and, uh, well, she was in the right place. And so she received Bountiful.
Just like, uh, the early apostles, you know, others took note that they had been with Jesus. Lord is willing to bless us this day according to this increase that we have here, far more than I'm sure we're willing to receive.
There's a verse in uh, Ezekiel chapter, verse four, that's good for covenant connection. In verse 18 there it says, umm, there's an admission that the Lord gives to uh, those that were teachers in Israel or shepherds. Ezekiel 34 verse 18 it says seemeth in a small thing until you have eaten up the good of the pasture.
But you but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures, and to have drunk of deep waters. But you must file the residue with your feet. And As for my clock, they eat that which you have fraud and with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet. Well, the remedy is Christ. It says there in verse 23, I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them. Even my servant David, He shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God.
Well, we have, uh, an insidious, uh, situation that, uh, the enemy of our soul desires to see the good pastures trampled and see the water foul. And so it's a really ought to be an exercise a soul that we don't ever speak of against the truth of God, regardless of our state of soul. Sometimes our state of soul might be such that we want to, umm, justify our position. Well, the truth of God.
Uh, we'll stand at the latter day, the Lord Jesus will have all the glory. The truth will remain. And uh, here we have, uh, in the chapter, in verses 19 and 20 of our chapter that something is coming into substitute, the truth of the word of God, the remnants of the world. And the question is asked, why? Why is living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances but not, ought not to be sold? Because if we live by faith, if we walk by faith, we'll want Christ, we'll want those deep waters. We'll want the pastures that the Good Shepherd provides.
Just wonder if there's not also another word for his parents detail. 34 and I hope I think practice properly but.
You know, we can trample the path just to try to get to the deep water, so to speak. And, uh.
My brother was just mentioning that the older bread and they enjoyed it either younger brothers enjoy the truth and the younger ones enjoy the truth. Not really is the mark of father written on you father because you've known him that is from the beginning and we've often heard that the cream lies at the surface and.
There ought not to be a, so to speak, an anxiousness in our souls to try to be more spiritual than we are in a certain sense, but just to enjoy the things of Christ and the measure that we're able to, and to give those things out in the assembly. But the assembly of velocity may well have gotten into difficulty, and brethren to set last century got into difficulty.
00:15:20
By constantly grasping the probe into things to get deeper and so to speak, and mysticism in these things. I think it's just a guard for us in the Assembly. It's just to give out what we've known and not to go beyond that. And the Saints can enjoy that. And when we try to go beyond what we said, we usually get into negative statements about the truth. And Mr. Darby said that negatives and divine things are dangerous. That is to say, we give out in a positive way what we've understood and not go beyond that. But if we exclude other things.
A reminder, we may in fact be excluding the truth. And so we just need to. And I thought an encouragement to us is those of us who are younger just to give out the truth and the measure we've understood it and not go beyond that. And that can be a help and an encouragement to the Saints because the Saints do enjoy the truth.
And our fed bodies.
It would seem to me that.
Oh, message to Timothy would be his last word to the church. The perilous times.
The time has come when even Christians are not enduring sand doctrine and it only records is a second Timothy 315 the Holy Scriptures and the holy Scriptures knowing of whom?
Now it's not the hospital doctor and that is holding the head trying to be faithful to the very end to the to the Holy Scriptures.
No matter it says, uh, he says in this last shot, very last shot, the Lord stood with all men forsaken. The Lord, I'm going to be faithful to the Scriptures no matter what appearances are, we're always coming to those days.
It's a very important thing to realize that with the at the end of the 2nd century when the Bible was assembled.
And prior to that, the Holy Spirit's coming, and between the two, the death of the apostle Paul, which was the beginning then of the decline. But with those three things occurring, there is like a curtain fall, nothing new to be revealed. Everything that we need the church would need to know from that time.
Break to the Rapture.
Nothing new, and we have the Word of God that's applicable for every possible need in the Scriptures. Nothing new, no new revelations. And as Mr. Darby said, if it's new, it's not true, and if it's true, it's not new. That sounds so old fashioned, but how solid it is a rock. We have everything that we need in this world.
Anything beyond what the scripture explains gives is inquisitive enough of the human mind.
It seems like with them, doesn't it? Yeah, You know, all this problem and especially divine things, and nothing is as dangerous. Umm hum. If a mind gets active in divine things.
So that the children of Israel, you know, the ones that want the adults to wander in the wilderness and they died and only the children went in and they set their faith as a little child. That's really what we need.
Written on your products that you've known him that it's from the beginning and so go beyond that.
According to the first word says.
It doesn't really mean.
If they deliver.
It it did with grace.
But it would almost be. We could use the word but since where? For? Since you have died with or dead with rice from the Adirondack, the rudiments of the world.
00:20:05
Not any question of any believer not being risen, everyone is. But since I got I can look at so many folks here and say if you're Americans, you act this way. Well, it's not a question whether you're American or not. If you are an American. This is the way an American is is to act the laws used to keep. So I believe that that's the the force of that verse. If he be dead, every deliver is dead and risen with Christ.
In the new life.
Our old life died at the cross with Christ. Are we living in a new life or living in the old?
Would that be our standing? Yes, That's where we stand, isn't it? Yes. And God's desire, uh, from the very beginning is to bring our state up to our standing. And our state surely does the ebbs and flows, doesn't it? We're not always in the enjoyment of the position that God has brought us into. I enjoyed the thought that you know, about the whatever.
Whatever God has exhorted us or given us some exhortation to walk in a certain way is already put us in a place in which we can do that.
Because we have the Spirit of God the child of God now has been brought into a blessed position. He he has eternal life. He's engulfed by the Spirit of God. And so now God can say to that to each one of us as belonging to him. He shows us a marvelous truth and he belonged to him. Now he says I want you to walk in this. I want you to enjoy this and how can we do it if we're not subject to that is the word of God unto the Lord Jesus. So as he said here, if he if if he if he if he are dead with Christ from the elements or rudiments of the world.
Why as though living in the world, are you subject to our religion? If we're really dead with Christ, why would we take up with ordinances? It seems rather, umm, uh, mundane thing, isn't it? To think that that we would do that and go back to the same thing that we've been delivered from. So I see it as the and of course, in the next chapter begins with if, if then since you're risen with Christ. So not only have we been, we've died with Christ. That's a positive statement, isn't it?
Doesn't say, uh, you should be dead with price. No, that's not it. We are dead and your life is hit with Christ and God. It's a positive thing.
I think it's a very important principle to get a hold of and that is we always have a tendency to be thinking of our state of soul and the goal from that and just the lamenting, oh, I'm such a failure and so on. And I wish I would like this sister or brother, but if we go out from our.
Enjoyment or start out each day with the realization of our standing that is taking up.
Automatically it comes up and.
We all, but we always unveil face the order and the glory of the Lord are changed into the same energy. He changes. But I believe it's important for us to to to not just be satisfied with our standing, but to be enjoying it and then our state of soul increases.
In the in the enjoyment overall, but otherwise they can uh.
Would like to occupy us with our experiences. For instance, in our store years ago when I was running DMV, uh, we had Canadian distributors of the publishers, the Christian publishers from the state and they would send books to the store each month of all the latest Christian books. Well, we had to reject 99% of them. What were they occupied with?
Experiences.
Experiences at the trend is toward experiences, but we need to base our stand our our enjoyment on the position that Christ is in which he has put us. And then go on in the United States some helpful advice, he said. Preach back. Yeah. And a lot of times perhaps your young brothers ask to take the gospel or speak for the Sunday school or whatever.
00:25:09
And you're really cast and the Lord as to what to do. But there's great question in preaching facts because many things just don't simply know the facts of what their position is. And then how can I behave if I don't know what I am brought out and I think I heard it attributed to you. I don't know if you got it from somebody else, but wherever we read the word if in Scripture it brings in man's responsibility. As you said now since and so it flows from the position you're in. But if I go to work and I don't know whether.
I'm the teacher or the janitor or the, uh, fellow vending machines. How can I properly fill the plate that my master put me in? And then many believers, they don't understand what their position is. They see the church as a servant of Christ. They don't see her as the bride of Christ. They don't see that we're separate from this world as our brother was praying before us in the last meeting. And so they think that we have some kind of responsibility to get involved in government.
And so they would exhort you, and I had the sister say to me, you've got a responsibility to go out there and change the things in the government. But if I don't see what my standing is, what my position is in this world, how can I know how to behave myself? And so a great deal of the confusion among God's people and even the gathered Saints that flows, our confusion flows from not understanding clearly what our position is. So when you know, when we have an opportunity, whether it's a friend at work or school or.
Taking off or speak to the Sunday School. Preach back.
To clear on these things and teach them and there's great blessing in that. And then the practical applications that flow from that will come of a will come flow from that.
It would be the same, wouldn't it, Uh, not only in preaching, but in seeking to encourage or wash, uh, someone's fee. It's, uh, it's very bladder, say it'd be the same in, in seeking to encourage someone or watch someone's feet is the bringing the facts and.
Umm, and not just, uh, trying to, uh, outsmart their circumstances or figure out, you know, the family background, etcetera, etcetera. Umm, this is the, the pattern that we see with Paul and this epistle and all the epistles. Uh, brother little mentioned a, a reminder of the, of the great place of dignity we've been brought into through grace and.
Flowing out from that standing to the practical side that our state may, may rise up, but, umm, today it seems more and more that, uh, that brothers and sisters feel hesitant, uh, to carry out this needful function with one another because of some lack of special training or as if we have to become specialists in some particular type of sin or failure or background. I don't think Scripture teaches that. It says in Galatians, you which are spiritual.
Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. So it's considering myself. So it's really a state of soul.
And as we have enrollments 15 where, where Paul writes in the 15th chapter. And I myself, brethren, I'm persuaded of you that you're full of goodness, filled with knowledge, uh, Abel also to admire one of them. So, uh, the green, uh, of fast and gracious spiritual way, umm, we'll build up the Saints. We don't need to start reading books about this type of abuse or that type of sin in order to help the Saints.
So we ought not to uh, uh.
Just feel paralyzed, uh, from helping one another in a matter how we, how small the assembly, uh, leave the house is still furnished and there is still provided by the Lord that is necessary to, to help us along in our way.
I think we have reverse over in John chapter 8. You don't need to turn to it, but just, uh, verse 41, you're speaking to the Pharisees there and he says, why do you not understand my speech?
They were saying they didn't understand this.
Very simple. He put, He says, because you cannot hear my word. That is, the conscience wasn't exercised to hear what he had to say. So they could say, well, we don't understand. Don't we hear some of that today? We don't understand these things. Are you hearing His word? Are you listening? The word of God is very plain and very simple and very clear. But if we don't, if we don't hear his word, then we can say well or make the excuse we don't understand.
00:30:06
So that was the first. He wasn't, he had to remind them of that. And so with us, we need to be aware that we have in our hands the word, the living word of the living God. And when he speaks, I should listen, I should give ear, I should open my ears to hear what he has to say for me because he has something to say. I think has been brought today too, something to say to each one of us as individuals. And if we hear, if each one of us as an individual.
Here what he has to say to us and we adhere to that. When we come together, we have a great time, don't we? Coming on in the knowledge of God. That is not not.
Soaring in some kind of wisdom, but in the knowledge of God, knowing what his mind is, having the word of God before us.
Sometimes it's painful about the Lord and they say, well, I read the Bible too, but you know, they read the Scriptures but they don't read them understandingly.
It doesn't penetrate to them. You see that no St. in the district after Daniel, when Belshazzar, they called into his presence all the wise men and the astrologers, uh, to read the writing on the wall in verse 8, the 5th chapter, he says, but they could not read the writings. Well, you know, they couldn't read that writing, understandably because it was written in Chaldean. It was written in their language that they couldn't interpret it. Uh, it took a man with spiritual discernment like Daniel to come in and to interpret those words which were written in their language to the kings.
Oh, it is with the word of God. You know, it takes the Spirit of God.
You unfold the Word of God to our heart, doesn't it? An unconverted person. You read the scriptures too and not get anything out of it. What you do, what the Lord exercises you about in the scriptures.
There's individual responsibility as well that's required there. We can't just.
Umm, go about without exercising. Told about what we hear, there are some things that we ought to know. As believers, we have that responsibility of thinking in First Corinthians chapter 6.
There's the same question is asked several times there. First two of First Corinthians 6 it says do you not know that the thing shall go to the world? And then in verse three, know ye not that we shall judge angels?
Little further on it says in verse 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? And then a little further on it says again in verse 15.
Know ye not your bodies are members of Christ? Verse 16 What? Know ye not that he was just joined you in harlot as one body? There are things that we know that we ought to know, that we have responsibility to learn from the Scriptures, and that we can be taught in fear of God. We need to know.
Same brother, uh, Ruben that earlier in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel's prayer versus a little.
Saw Daniel's prayer brought out that UMM connects with what I had for us.
Daniel's prayer in chapter 2.
Verse 21.
The end of the last part of the verse. He gave us wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that no understanding.
And then in June chapter 29 or 28, verse 28 unto man, he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, his wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. They give wisdom.
To the wise doesn't give wisdom to the fool, give wisdom to the wise. Who are the wise, and who are those that no understanding? Those that fear the Lord is apart from evil, those that will tremble at his word?
Getting back to our burst, it seems that.
The failure of the Colossians to lay hold of the facts of their standing as being complete in him from verse, uh, verse 10 of the chapter and realizing that, uh, as to their standing, there was nothing that needed to be added. They were complete in him and further, there was nothing that needed to be put away because they were circumcised.
00:35:04
Uh, with the circumcision of Christ and everything that needed to be put away was put away and, and it was a finished thing. And so as someone was saying yesterday, burial, someone was saying that nothing more is expected from that body. So it is very, it is very. And those are facts that are presented here wisely by the apostle And it's made an appeal for them, uh, to turn away from the, this, uh, we had earlier this afternoon this, these, uh.
These gores of, uh, one of the most legalities is a principle that rests in the natural heart of man that he has to do something to get something. And, uh, it's not that we don't understand that we're saved by grace. It's not that we don't understand the gospel and its foundation that it's a free gift. But there's a more subtle tendency in the human heart, even of a well taught Christian, umm, that if we're careless and uh, and it fall out of communion.
We start to put ourselves under the principle of law in our relationship with the Lord and we become unhappy and we, and even worse than that, we start to hold our brethren to a certain line. It's usually a hard line. And, uh, these ordinances come in and start to take shape and they grow up around us, uh, like some sort of a, of a deposit in water. They just grow up and pretty soon they're there and, uh, they're undesirable. Why?
As though living in the world. Are you subject to ordinances? Touch not. Taste not. Handle not that.
All are to perish with the using it with the menace and documents of men.
So this is, uh, an appeal by the apostle, uh, to give up this principle altogether because we're not in that sphere anymore where these things apply. And in the third chapter, uh, we developed that even more important, I believe to grasp these verses from, uh, touch Knob and 22 and 23.
It looks, I know, I hear people.
Putting it the other way around, but the last words.
We could put it in a positive way. The flesh will be satisfied with these says not to the satisfying of the flesh. Well, it that's that's kind of a double negative there. But if we grasp the the teaching of it and I believe it is that that let's not delude ourselves that the flesh isn't satisfied with the ordinance.
It is satisfying, but it's not satisfying to the new lights at all.
Why is that? Well, if I have a little list of rules of things that I don't use, things I don't eat and things I don't touch, and of course I define that, you know, around myself. And, uh, it's very satisfying because I set my boundaries and I live within those boundaries and I see somebody who's, who's, uh, doing those things and I can point the finger at them and say, well, I would never do a thing like that. But the principle of law is to do is condemn. And though Paul was.
Imagine a man that concerning the law overly was blameless. He never ever was caught lying or stealing or.
Many adultery are taking a lot of fame in vain, and yet there was one thing, and yet it slew of.
And we set up a much shorter list and a much more imperfect list of commandments of men. And we live by certain things, and the flesh enjoys that because we set our boundaries according.
By our by ourselves rather than by God. But then when we see it for a new creature in Christ, and we're at liberty to do anything that Christ would have done, we wouldn't do it unless he wants us to do it. That's Christianity.
He had suffered in the flesh, has seats from sin.
Not in relation to these first two.
There's no use, no, uh, way that we, uh, we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that the flesh won't suffer if we don't do something. We know that is a is a sin.
And if we don't do it, and we don't commit that sin, but the flesh suffers.
You don't like that too? No, no, I my old nature is what God says. That old nature is dead. Don't feed her.
00:40:06
Still there just about this 23rd verses Scripture tells you to take an umbrella or anything just to read that in the new translation and harsh treatment of the body, not in a certain honor. There is a certain honor which we also render to the body. You know, it's raining outside. People go out and get soaked and wet and catching cold. Umm.
After all, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, aren't they? And we are required by the scripture here, uh, that there is a certain honor that we should give to our body, but not backed by our flesh. As you see the brightness. Is there a lot of things that we may tend to that man would instigate, you know, and say you have to have the, it's cold here. Ludim is an element by fine buildings. You should have vestments and you should have acquires and all this finest thing that's, that's the rudiments of the world. And it was.
Umm, well, just thumbs up.
All these umm ordinances in verse 21, they can all some information of them all as a customer taste not and handle not. That's under the substance of all the ordinances that man can lay before you as far as the body is concerned about there is an honor that becomes.
I think they said in principle too, and the fact that in that 20th was the end of the 24th. Why is though living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances?
When?
People. This is speaking rather bluntly when people separate from the Lord's Table and.
Establish a A.
Fellowship, if you want to call it. There are two things that they must that body must have, I believe again from this verse. One is that they have to set a, make a set of rules and they go by that rule that they all agree, uh, to that rule, that is.
The their tracker or there has to be one person who does all of the deciding. One or the other characterizes every group of Christians not gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that sounds a little bit easier.
Straight talking, but I believe it's important that we can learn that from these versions that you have to have a set of rules or there's one person that is the boss has the authority whereas when the Spirit of God gathers us to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ here is our authority. Nothing need be added. This were taught by the Spirit of God.
No one person.
Or, you know, group or at least an assembly for brothers to make a decision by themselves. It's not good.
It's interesting they're feeling this just, uh, just thinking of the end of this chapter and looking at the opening of the next chapter, it seems that the Spirit of God is seeking to lift our thoughts above the elements of this world, uh, as we had before us here in verse 20. Wherefore if he did with Christ, uh, why? As though living in the world, well, we're dead to Christ. That death has come in. Christ died, we died with him.
And, uh, these other things follow in that course, don't they? If we're, if we're dead, we're not going to be occupied with the elements of the world. We're not going to be occupied. We're just seeking more wisdom in the world somewhere. But I just enjoyed the thought now and the opening of this next chapter. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Now he takes us from the scene of death to all these things. Now he says Christ is risen. Keep the things up there where Christ is.
Uh, to me, I've enjoyed that the thought of the, the spirit of God through Paul here lifting our spirits now up and saying, well, Christ lives. Not only have you died with Christ, but you live with Christ. Christ lives and you live too. And so how beautiful it is. I, I, I think of it in connection with how they come down to the end of the chapter and it seems to go down, down, down. But then in the third chapter, he listed back up and says, now look, don't look around, look up.
If you're dead with Christ, then seek those things which are not around you, but about, but about where Christ sits and draws right hand. So I enjoy that. It's an important principle. What God isn't. He never simply asked us to separate from something. That always gives us something to separate too. We had our meeting this afternoon. Very enjoyable that you actually separate and that's very good.
00:45:19
But Abraham wasn't simply told to leave her of the calories. He was told to go to Canaan. And so that's something very important to remember. The Lord never asked simply to separate from from something he gives us something better separate food. So then in this chapter we have see those things which are above and the Lord has something far better for us. And as we had this morning, we asked this of this world. We we have a negative. Yes, we're told to separate, but it has something far better.
I'm jealous and brothers were, uh, sent back.
To speak to their father, they were told to tell of Joseph's glory in Egypt. But when the boys get back there, they burst into the room of their father and they all say it in unison. They don't say that anything but the glory, they just make one announcement. Joseph is yet a lie.
Joseph is yet a lie. That was the great thing for them, and Christ lives in the glory now as we enjoy that, then on comes some of the things about the glory, and we never will come to the end of that. Christ lives now. Let's not forget, He lives for us. In the afternoon there is sitting a man somewhere in heaven, flesh and bones.
Praying for us, sustaining us, encouraging us.
Warning.
Living for ever lives to make intercession for.
Hold those things that are above, and it is a conscious thing to set our affection on those things, not on earth, and so we need to realize that.
Our brother was speaking the Sunday school this morning. There is a conscious decision that we often have to make and other refer to that scripture. You want to field houses in the Lord's house lies in ways and it's a conscious decision that we have to make. We need homes to live in and let's say we need to repair the roof and so on but.
There's a conscious decision that we have to make to set our affections on things on earth, and the things that we may set our affections on here may, in and of themselves, not be wrong.
You often hear people say what's wrong with this or what's wrong with that? As young people, you know, we tend to think that older brethren are legal. But I think that the word legality, I'm not sure that I really like it. The term really is decision and scripture. That's the cut off the flesh without judging it, but we.
As young people we tend to and tend to say, well, what's wrong with the thing? But the question is wrong because really the part of the book, the new nature, delights and what is good. It is true that the Lord will tell us what's wrong, but then constantly we're going to the Lord and He's always having to show us everything we want is wrong if we get into that pathway. But we really have a heart set to please the Lord and He's going to delight our hearts with good faith.
And word affection.
Very important, isn't it? Because we're told that our affection on things above and, uh.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And the price is really our treasure. Our affections will be set on things above, and so that's what's set before us is priced himself. Umm, well, I mentioned a few minutes ago a little bit when he turned back to Corinthians. Enjoy the first there. Our brother is not before us anytime.
And uh, Second Corinthians 3 and verse three, it says for as much as uh, manifesting declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with aid by the Spirit of the living God in this part, not in tables and stones, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
So when we started to help with brothers, sisters composed the CV taking a step in the wrong direction. And you desire to guide me, Well, you don't come to me with those tables of stones.
Thou shalt not what thou shalt, but what you do is you step before you pray because I have the life of Christ. Perhaps I'm taking a step in the wrong direction, but belonging to the Lord, I have the very life of Christ and she set Christ before me. There's going to be a response in my heart to that. And so it's going to be for them question papers with the heart settings right before the person, and that's the way for the feet washed.
00:50:17
It's not, it's not the tables of stone. I shall not setting Christ and appealing to the affection. It's interesting that that you say that the word affection in the Darby translation is mine. Well, it's nice to bring the two words together, isn't it? The affection and the mind and use one or the other.
And if our.
Flipping is for negative sixes. Be careful for nothing but in everything. No, that's not the worst. Uh yeah. Shall Garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Hearts and minds, affection and mind. He will Garrison or he will protect you. But it's our responsibility to set our minds and our affections on things that are above.
This is an amazing contrast.
In this section.
In the.
It says.
Uh, the reverse 10 verse, chapter 2, verse 10 ye are completed then that's absolutely positive. It's absolutely I can't change it. God forbid I don't want to change it and then in in three.
33 Your life is headed with Christ in God.
That is is true the second I trust in the Lord Jesus and yet in the very in verse five is the old man. God hasn't taken away the old man.
Especially put it in there and.
What what it says in verse 15 is saying, I suppose to have to do it, I've got to be passive in his presence.
Let him work.
Let's let's the taste of God, let the word of Christ what we need.
It's uh, I think it helps to see that, umm.
The way it's translated in the uh, Darby translation because.
A Christian can get a state of soul where they don't have much affection.
And so they say, well, how can I?
How can I set my affections on the things above? I just feel so cold I don't feel like having it.
Uh, Psalm 16 think is, uh, very helpful in this respect. And then it's a brother Lundeen, umm, for pointing this out once, uh, Psalm 16.
It seemed to me, uh, prophetic of the perfect man who walked here.
Lord Jesus.
Notice first aid.
I have said, the Lord always before me.
Well, that that doesn't take any kind of, uh, special state of soul at all.
You can be cold, discouraged his heart and uh, I have to confess I've been that way and that you can do this. You can set the Lord before yourself, uh.
Umm, it's not uh, it's just a practical thing. You can do this and notice when when he does it. I have, I'm not implying this. The Lord was in in.
State, but we can get that way. I assess the Lord always stay for me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved.
Now all of a sudden there is a resurgence of confidence. The sense of his presence is at my right hand and I'm going to be all right. I shall not be moved. And then it goes even further. Uh, therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also rests in hold. So, so it's, uh, it's beautiful to see in a practical way how we can.
Be recovered and restored by a starting on the base of things again as, uh, in a humbling way, we often have to start over again. Uh, I hope I'm not the only one that's feeling this way, but, uh, at times we just have to start with very basic things and, uh, and set the Lord before us and the rest come. And it's the one, I should say that as you're pointing out here, devotedness and confidence.
00:55:19
Brings joy.
Devotedness to the Lord gives us confidence in the Lord. What is the result? Joy, real joy in that the enemy comes along and says, well, look what you just did you, you just failed. Well, you go back to the word of God and we find out God's love doesn't say it at all. We can put our confidence in him. We can put our uh and be, have a devotedness toward him and the result will be a real joy.
Oh, about 1513, says joy and peace in the living room.
I don't need to take away from the other comments. I'm actually good and said I don't want to. I don't mean to take away from the brother's comments about affection because they're they were good comments, but I I noticed that other side that is a practical help. One of the troubles is God is set before my heart, the most beautiful object in the whole universe, and yet I still have a heart that will go after the ashes.
There's another, uh, few birds that's been, uh, the Psalms in chapter 37 groups that, uh, might go along with, uh, what you're saying there. It says in first four, Psalm 37 and the 4th, 1St delight myself also in the Lord. What do we find our delight in, in the Christ fathers? Uh, a little question that I asked award when I was younger. I said, well, what does that mean to delight myself in the Lord?
What does it mean? It says in Isaiah chapter 58 there that, umm, it gives us a little, little indication that uh, in verse 13 that if you, uh.
If I turn away from thy foot, from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him not doing thy own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, and shall proud delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and Fisi with the inherited, with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the month of the Lord has spoken it. So we have a high calling.
We can delight in the, uh, highest objects that are part defections can have in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Is number 24 of the Lord referred to the things concerning himself, which would be even broader than his strictly his person, but the glories that flow out from him like, uh, what we had before us this morning a little bit with Joseph, uh, he's the revealer of secret savior of the world and.
Gloria emanates out from him and uh, he would seem to be in the early first couple verses in Colossians include those things as well as the, the glory and loveliness of a person. But those things, heavenly things, which would include his counsels and his relationship, various relationships, uh, they have to his people and the various glories that he's acquired as a man.
Uh, and so on.
And in contrast to things on the earth.
So it would encourage us to seek to be one of him, right? That puts it to become more familiar. I can't exactly remember the phrase early him in the attendance where the the hymn writer expresses the desire to become more familiar with his glory and.
We shouldn't desire that as well as his, uh, spouse. Uh, right. He's a more familiar with the honors that are soon going to be, uh, uh, manifested to be his.
A brother sent me a book once. A brother from Chatham. Who who?
Most, some of you have been sent votes by them too, probably, except that a lot in this particular book, I never even cracked the cover, but I enjoyed the title and, uh, still have it. And I think the title of it is Whatever Happened to Hitler? And, uh, I guess they did crack it because I read the process and, uh, apparently the brother's burden was that, uh, Christendom is becoming so preoccupied with the struggle down here.
01:00:15
Uh, along the lines of what are the Keith brought out?
And along the lines of what brother Barry referred to in the, all of the book publishers sending, sending AB and P books. So Christian experience and one young sister who worked in a, in a Christian book room said, said the whole industry, book industry is becoming filled with meatballs. And I said, what are meatballs? Well, you know, it's the Christian and money that question Christian and weight loss, the Christian and this and she called the meat books. And we can, we can get into that ourselves and become so occupied at times with, uh, the struggle down here.
And, uh, it's good to be exercised because it is, uh, a terrible warfare, uh, instead we're going through, but in order to go through it happily in the way that honoring the war, we've got to have a pre constant fresh infusions of, uh, of heaven. And so I've enjoyed the title of the book, Whatever Happened to Heaven? If that was his burden, We don't seem to talk about it anymore or think about it or enjoy it before the meeting, after meeting and so on. And, uh, I think that's a good burden to have and to remind ourselves that soon we're going to be there at the end of, uh.
We're reading meeting yesterday afternoon. Brother gave out to him.
What will it be, uh, to be there? And at first I have to confess this, I thought, well, what's that going to do with what we were just taking out? I have to confess myself that way. But when I started singing, I thought, well, that's beautiful. And, and, uh, it looked at me out, but I, I think, uh, those, uh, maybe straight thoughts here, but, uh, they come to me with respect to these first couple verses. So much need our hearts lifted up beyond the weary scene, you know, just to breathe a little bit of what it's like. And during the millennial reign, at the end of the reign, at the end of First Corinthians 15, when he delivers up the Kingdom.
And, uh, we have the privilege to start to.
You know the smells always smells to and by the spirit of that coming day ahead of time and I believe that the Lord is teaching us in his word that we need that to do that ahead of time to join him as the morning star now in order to be able to lift up the hands which hang down the female knees. Not a question of setting up our treasures there are working to set treasures there. That's John the Baptist teaching.
But Christianity?
Christ is our treasure, and He's better all up there, and that's where our treasure is, but he is a treasure.
I was wondering what this 22nd verse meant in the second chapter, but I think the latter explanations are wisely brought to mind.
Which are to all to perish with the using of short lived. All the common things are with things and the Christian at large faces and how he attacked the problems that that are presented in life.
They're all so short lived. It seems like these matter things that you've been exercising with cancer. Internal issues are providing for us in Christ, aren't you?
#270.
The Great Pot, Ruth, Government
Open—N. Berry, R. Boulard, K. Gorgas
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I don't think you need me to tell you that.
We're living in dark days in the history of the world.
The history of Christianity, particularly.
There are three areas that I want, I should say Eris, I suppose, better the present day.
That faces you and me. I look into the faces of teenagers here.
And young women's. And I tell you, I tremble.
Not tremble for you.
To be in these days.
But I tremble for the problems they're going to face you if the Lord doesn't come very soon.
The world plunging down deeper and deeper into violence, corruption, and I don't want to dwell on that, but I just want to let you know that I've got a burden on my heart.
For the younger ones.
And we have opportunities today to hear the truth. I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I've been brought up in the assembly.
And I want to pass on only what I have been taught in the assembly. I don't want to add anything and I don't want to take anything away.
Secondly, we look back and see in God's precious, perfect book that which has been before us in connection with the book of Colossians. It's the same thing there.
The Apostle Paul could detect what was happening in that assembly 2000 years ago when there was the addition to the truth.
Of Christ as the Head.
Human.
Eloquence.
Human philosophies.
And.
We might say.
Delving into codes, there it was right in Colossians looking worshipping of angels and so on.
And what a wonderful thing it is, beloved ones, for you and me to have a book that is today for 1995. And we can draw from Colossians as we have warnings and encouragements to hold the head Christ. We sang in that wonderful hymn 174-O fix our earnest gaze. So, holy Lord.
Unity that with the O the occupied we elsewhere. None I see.
Three.
The word of God.
Goes back into a period 500 years before Christ lived and there was a story that we're going to look at tonight, this afternoon. It carries the same message and I just trust that I get the message as well as passing it on to you. I'm not here to lecture you, but I'm here to point a finger to one person.
Christ. So let's turn in our Bible to see this beautiful story.
Hidden in the Old Testament, not very long. I'm going to go over it fast, quickly, and I'd ask you for your attention because I'm just going to touch the highlights and let you build on it for yourself and your own profit, depending on your state of soul. Second Kings chapter 4.
This was the day. Let me just give a little bit of a background.
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This was the day.
When the two one Israel had been divided long before in the days of Rio bomb.
And they were. There were two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, the ones that are back in the land now, 1995, and the 10 tribes who broke up, who went off into idolatry. Idolatry.
Many profits were raised up to speak and warn the two tribes.
But there weren't very many that were raised up to speak to the 10 tribes.
There were two men, particularly as the days got darker and darker and darker. And here are two men, Elijah and Elisha.
And they were called to speak a message from God to those 10 tribes. And if we're not going to trace it, but you can read it for your own profit to see how that those 10 tribes went down and down and down.
Compromising, adding something to what God had ordained for the blessing of his belly and beloved people in those Old Testament days. They were going from bath to worse. And Elijah, as you remember, and Elijah walked together Monday. Elijah was taken to heaven, taken to heaven. You and I may be feeling a little bit like this.
That those that we looked up to and to and were a blessing in our souls, they're going 1 by 1 to the glory, and you and I are being left here to hold the banner of truth for the glory of God and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here's Elisha alone. Things weren't going well for him. He was a man of God and he had power from God to perform a number of miracles. We're not going to go into that. But here we are getting on in the story of Elisha and he's talking with some people. He's talking to the sons of the prophets. I'm looking into the faces of some of the sons of older generation. As a matter of fact, the brother that took the gospel last night.
I knew his great grandfather.
Tell you stories about him.
And those ones have gone from us now. And Elisha might have been feeling very much alone, but he was walking with God day by day.
What were the what were the surroundings about? Uh, uh, those circumstances around them? A famine, A famine.
Was that an accident? No, it wasn't. It was allowed of God because their departure, the giving up, the truth. We're in a day of famine, beloved ones.
Is it an accident? No, it's not. God is speaking to us. He wants you and me to realize not looking at somebody else and blaming them, but looking into my own heart, your own heart. So here is a time when Elijah.
Invites the sons of the Prophet.
Of the profit to a meal. It was the time, as I said, when nothing was growing. So we're going to pick up the story now. He has these young men. I want to address you younger ones on my heart this afternoon. Look now at verse 38.
Second Kings 438 and Elisha came again to Gilgal Oh. I would love to spend time on this, but I just dropped these points. Gilgal Oh, it's a vital spot. It's where there is the teaching of the death to flesh until everything that can add nothing to my Christian life, nothing.
The world, the philosophies, education. Whatever it may. I'm not talking against education.
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But I am saying that Satan is subtly leading us into these things that would occupy our mind. And you don't need me to tell you that it's the world is full of it these days. And so here this man Elisha came again to Gilgal. Wonderful story. Right after they crossed the Jordan, they went to Gilgal. A picture of death to the flesh.
Now the middle of the next part of 38 and there was a dearth or a famine in the land.
I've covered that.
And the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. Beautiful. Who is Elisha? A picture of no one but Christ.
Is that where you're sitting? Is that where I'm sitting? I'm not talking physically, dear younger ones, I'm talking about your life.
Yeah. Is that where you're sitting?
This was the day we were sitting, all these Suns, ones of the next generations may be grandsons, great grandsons. And here they were sitting looking at one man, just looking at him and says there doesn't it, they were before him. And he said unto his servant. Elisha said to his servant.
Set on the great pot. Beautiful grey pot.
Titus 213 says.
Looking for that blessed hope and the appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, great God, he has a great thought for you to feed that day by day. And Elijah says, set on the great part, It's somewhat like the 22nd of Luke where the Lord when they asked the Lord, where wilt thou that we gather? And the Lord told the two, the disciples to go and they would find a man bearing a pitcher of waterfall of the man. And they would be led to a house and they would go to knock on the door and say, where is the gas chamber? And I'm, uh, the man that comes the door says, come in and I'll show you.
It was a great upper room, great upper room, great pot. He is feeding on Christ.
Are you at that great pot room enough for us all, broad enough for every believer on the face of the earth to be feeding to our heavenly delight with that food, even Christ himself? And so he says, set on one man, He tells, set on the great pot, and see the pottage for the sons of the prophets.
They were to have it prepared so that it would be nourishment. I asked you. I asked myself, are we nourishing ourselves with the food that comes from heaven, The Word of God, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is that what you and I are feeding on?
I'll leave those questions for your conscience on my own, verse 39.
Here's the sad note. Doesn't say who it was, but it says and one went out. I want to say this and I know it's kind of touchy.
But I like to compare this story not only with the Christian walk, but what it means to be gathered.
To the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the truth that was revealed by Christ in heaven, in heaven to one man, one man. The Apostle Paul, he got it directly from Christ. The secrets that have been locked in the heart of God from our past eternity not revealed in the annals of time of the Old Testament, revealed to one man.
Brethren, do we value what it means to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
What has Satan done? He had, he attacked the highest truth 1St and if he can break the foundations of your confidence in the Word of God and the truth of Christ as the one gathering center, he'll do it. He'll do it and he has made great success, as we know, in these 2000 years. So one, where'd he go? It says he went out.
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No, I just leave that thought with you. You want a lot of going out these days.
One way Rd. they have good intentions. We have to give them credit for it. Maybe he didn't think very much. On the other hand, maybe he did a lot of thinking. But one of the thoughts he had was I can add something, I can add a little bit. He had a good intention, he's going to get hers. Nothing wrong with herbs, but The thing is there were no herbs around because there was a famine.
And the one thought was prepared and ready to be eaten there, and one went out to gather herbs.
No, I don't want to be lecturing of beloved ones, but are we satisfied?
To be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. It costs. It'll cost us something.
It's a little bit look, not a little bit a great deal look down. And as the days get darker, beloved ones, the test is going to get greater and greater for that truth is going to be attacked more and more.
One went out and it says there.
To gather herbs. Middle of 39.
He went out with a good intention. What did he find? And found Wild Vine.
That's what he found.
I said you're fine, that's what I'll find.
If I look for anything outside of Christ and the assembly that has been established on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and joined all the Christian believers into one body. And for Ephesians four and three says being diligent, give diligence to maintain that unity of the Spirit, the unity of the Spirit, not the unity of the body. That can't be broken, but the unity of the Spirit can. And you and I can break it.
If we're not having our eyes single upon Jesus Christ.
And so he goes out to find the herb, at least to look for the herbs, and found wild vine. That's the natural condition of a fan of a day of famine. No water. So these gourds, they're hard shelled. Uh, I don't know, I don't want to spend time on that. But it was a hard shelled fruit, uh, probably would grow in a time when there was a lack of.
Of rain.
And he finds wild goods and gathered them.
A lap for it was a scarcity of good, rich life, satisfying food, but there was no lack of the gourds, the wild gourds. And if we're looking around and saying, well, look at that group and look at this group and oh, they got a lot of nice things. Yes, maybe so. But this Christ is the Spirit of God.
Leading the way or our?
Own desires, our own thinking. So he gets a whole lot full. Think about that. Think of those words.
Didn't say a handful a lap full.
And.
Came he went out and he came with his lap full of gourds. Unknown to the others, you'll see it in the morning and shred them into the pot of pottage. Cut them up fine. Cut it very SM small. Any shredders you know, went through a shredder and it was so small that it and the and then it says notice the next thing.
And they knew not. Now in the a little more accurate translation of those words, it says they knew they.
Uh, for they did not know.
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They did not know the rest of the sons of the prophets, didn't know. Imperceptible into the assembly can creep things.
That we may, uh, creep in, that we may not be conscious of a little compromise here and a little compromise there and, uh, rode away. It's found. And here was what this man did and they, he gets, the more people didn't say he dumped this into the pot. It says they. So he collected some of his friends possibly and they put it into the pot.
Next verse.
So they poured out for doesn't say the sun, it says men this time 3 descriptions of this group for the men to eat had good intentions, they needed food and so here they start to eat it take it in next part and it came to pass as they were eating.
Of the pottage that they.
Cried out. Notice the words there. They cried out. Not one man cried out and said, whoa, there's something wrong with this food. Somebody might have said, oh, that's that's because you've got the wrong taste. There's nothing wrong with this food. Oh, there was a discernment. And what do you and I need, beloved ones? Heavenly discernment.
Direction by the Spirit of God.
According to the word, they detected that there was poison. Let's read the rest of it and we're eating up the porridge. And they cried out and said, oh, thou man of God, wasn't that lovely? They called right to the man. The man of God was Elijah. That's the one to go to beloved ones when we just don't know when we hear these things.
Uh said and we say, well it sounds logical. Oh, get down on your knees before God besides your bed and cry it to him and ask him to tell you, they said.
Man of God, there is death in the past and if you and I allow ourselves to be indulging into things that are from the human mind.
It's going to be not going to you're not going to lose your salvation, but you're going to lose the joy of your salvation and you're going to learn and lose the the joy of the truth of walking with the Lord with a good conscience day by day as Hebrews brings before us, and they could not eat.
Wonderful.
Now, I'm not talking about legality and I'm not saying Oh no, I'm too superior. No, no, no, no, I don't mean that. But there was discernment from God that there was poison in that pot. They didn't know where it came from, but they had discernment. I asked you, I and I asked myself.
Do I have the discernment from God when things don't go exactly as I like? And when we hear things said, it's rather puzzling sometimes. Uh, get to the Lord, get to him. He's the one, He's the answer. He is the answer, and so.
There verse 41.
But but this is nice, isn't it? But.
He said.
Just a very simple mind. He didn't say, well, I'll have to go and consult some, umm, some of these people are experts on food and see what, uh, they're going to analog analyze this. No, he said simple words and I trust that they will burn into your heart and conscience and mine too this afternoon and said, then bring meal.
Well, if we're a little bit, uh, experienced in reading the book of Leviticus, we find offerings there in the first chapter of Leviticus brings before us the burnt offering. That's the aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for God, not for your sins, for God. That's the highest of them all. The next one is the meal offering and that is like all the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
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Bringing before us the life of Christ. And I have been taught for many years that we have the epistles for the wilderness journey while we're here on earth. But when we get to the glory, we're going to revert to the Gospels, the life of Christ. And that's what you and I need.
Occupation with Christ, his life.
Then bring meal. Let's bring Christ into the picture. Let's bring Christ into the problems, and they'll dissolve in the assemblies.
When Christ is poured into the pot, and he cast it into the pot, and he said, so calm, so undisturbed repose.
And he said, pour out for the sons of the prophets. No for the men, no for the people. Oh, it's not lovely enough for everybody. Yeah, that great pot. Let's share. Let's tell others, uh, and not be ashamed of Christ as the one gathering center, as it was in those Preston days of the days of Pentecost.
How little the blessed Lord Jesus has left on this earth. A little glory as left as he looks down onto this earth today. May you and I, beloved ones, have Christ before us to give him the glory that he deserves. And what does it say then that they may eat that? We've been hearing a lot of truth.
Are you eating that truth? We're going to go out shortly in a few a day or two and we're going to be back at uh, not school, but we're going to be back at work and back in our home areas. Are we going to eat this food that we have been hearing precious ministry of Christ? We're going to eat it. Oh, you dear young ones, you need to eat that. You need to eat it. I see one of the meetings are over is the dash of the young kid.
Down to the dining room. Oh, wonderful. I like to see that. But what about the heavenly food? Yeah.
Whatever are we eating the gourds like the Sunday school at Roland was telling us about this morning? What are we eating? Are we eating? Are the ashes or are the gourds that the world provides or?
As it says there pour out for the people, people everyone tell other believers about Christ as the one gathering center that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot. The harm was liquidated. It was gone because of the administration of Christ as that.
Heavenly food.
Their loved ones. May we be feeding ourselves on Christ.
Rather, might we turn to the first chapter of the book of Ruth very, very briefly, and Ruth and I'd like to read a couple of verses in Second Samuel and 1St Kings.
So we just had in the hymn that we sang, the last verse of this little hymn written by J&D Will keep us love divine near thee that we are nothingness may know. And ever to thy glory be walking in faith while here below. It takes purpose of heart to walk in faith to walk by faith that takes purpose of heart while here. If we just read a few verses in the book of Ruth, to be brief.
In umm from verse one of chapter one.
Now it came to pass in the days of the judges, when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah went to soldier, and in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons. And then verse 5 And Malon and Kalyan died also, both of them, And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab.
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How that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
And then it says in verse 9, The Lord grant you, that ye may find rest, each of you, in the House of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people, and then down a little further.
In verse 14. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again. And Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, but Roost clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people, and unto her gods, return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, For whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God.
My purpose here is to just very briefly read these verses about Ruth. She was out of the land of Moab, and if we will read a little bit further on in the Word of God and it reveals there that the God of the Moab was Keemosh.
Ruth had never been to the land of Israel.
We have uh, here very instructive situation where the Lord tells us, the Spirit of God tells us that Naomi told them to go to her mother's house. What was that house like?
It had no doubt an idol in it, perhaps if it didn't have an idol in it. That household was new to God, Kimash. That's the kind of house that that girl came from.
Well, we ought to be thankful for each one here that has been brought up in a Christian home that hasn't had an idol in the home. And we ought to be thankful for the position that we're in here this afternoon. I often find myself at home reading my Bible and I lift up myself, my head, and I thank God for his sovereign grace. Sovereign grace that I am reading my Bible.
At home, dear friends, today, brethren, should we not lift up our voices in sovereign grace? We're sitting here in this little room with our Bibles on our knees, bringing Christ before one another so that Christ might be precious before us. This girl, she knew the what Key Mosh was. I don't know what Key Mosh really was, but she didn't want to go back there. She had heard perhaps something of the land of Israel and the bread that was there.
And she by faith, wanted to leave that place. She didn't want to go back to her mother's house. She wanted to go into the land of Israel. And she said at the end of her sixteen, my God, thy God, pardon me, my people, thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God. So she had seen in faith that the God of Israel was a God that required faith.
And she wanted to go unto that God. If you look just a little further on in the book of Ruth here, it says.
In verse, uh.
14.
We'll read the last chapter of Ruth in verse 14, Ruth chapter 4 and verse 14. It says, the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that thy name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee restorer of thy life, and a nourisher in thine old age for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons hath borne him. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and it became nursed onto it. And the women, her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name.
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All bad. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Dear brethren, I don't think Ruth ever forgot where she came from.
When David heard the story of Ruth, he heard the story, no doubt, about his great grandmother. He knew where she came from.
Young people, do you know where you come from?
You know where your parents, if they bought the truth, where did they come from? They bought the truth. You're here this afternoon. Ruth knew where she came from. David heard where Ruth came from. David never went back to Moab to, to quash. He lived in faith before God. Well, I want to turn to Second Samuel, chapter 12.
In verse 24, Second Samuel chapter 12 and verse 24.
Just one phrase in that verse, right at the end it says he called his name Solomon and the Lord loved him.
And then if you'll turn to 1St Kings.
Chapter 3.
And verse 3.
I'll read the two little lines together here. It says that verse in Second Samuel chapter 12 and in First Kings chapter 3 and verse three it says.
His name was Solomon, and the Lord loved him, and Solomon loved the Lord.
I love those two lines. I love those two verses of Scripture. The Spirit of God records that God loves Solomon and God loves every one of us here in this room. He knows each one. He knows the burdens of each one. He knows the pathway of each one. He knows the obedience, the faithfulness of each one, and even the disobedience and unfaithfulness of each one of us. And he loves us. Solomon here was at the beginning of his pathway and when he was born.
God records in his Word that the Lord loved him.
When Solomon was a little bit older.
When he became king, it says that Solomon loved the Lord.
That's a real encouragement to my heart.
Solomon started off very well.
What we'll find as we go on in this book that Solomon forgot where Ruth came from.
Solomon loved the Lord and if we look at verse in chapter three of First Kings, the first verse it says Solomon made an affinity, made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David.
I won't get into all the types, but if you look just very briefly at Deuteronomy chapter 17, we'll let you read the whole thing on your own time, but for our own exercise, it should speak to us here. It says in Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 16. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord has said unto him unto you, you shall henceforth return no more that way.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turned not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Well, we find that Solomon blessed, was blessed of the Lord.
He was given, uh, many riches. He walked in faith for a time. But it says in verse 9 here of chapter three of First Kings, it says that solemn asks for something. He asked for something that was good. He said, give therefore thy servant and understanding heart. If you look in your margin, it says a hearing heart. Give therefore thy servant and a hearing heart. Do we have heart, dear brethren, to hear?
The voice of the Lord, the Lord in his purposes of love, says to us, don't multiply things in this scene. They may be good in themselves, but don't multiply them in this scene. They'll take your heart and turn it aside from following the Lord. Well, there was there's three incidences in Solomon's life I'd look to. I'd like to just mention very briefly in connection with his walk, the Lord appeared to Solomon twice.
00:40:10
And he talked to him once.
He appeared to Solomon twice.
And the last time he didn't appear to him, we're not told in Scripture he appeared to him. We're told that the Lord talked to Solomon.
Well, if we'll find the first time that he spoke to him and appeared to him is in Chapter 3.
And it's connection in connection with the sacrifices. I'd like to read verses four and five of First Kings three. It says the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there for there was for that was the great high place. 1000 burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar in Gibeon. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And then you can read on your own what God said to him a little further on it says in verse 15 of the same chapter.
And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream, and he came to Jerusalem.
And stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And offered up burnt offerings, and offered.
Peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants.
Dear brethren, there are a good many high places in this world. There are places to offer a burnt offering.
That are not in keeping with what the order that the that the word of God spells out for us in scripture. So here we have Solomon going to Jerusalem. Why did he go to Jerusalem?
If you'll look at First Chronicles chapter 21, we won't look at it here, but you'll find there that God told David where that place was, that he had chosen to place his name. And David brought the ark to that place. The ark speaks of the presence of God, the presence of God amongst His people, Israel. And so Solomon didn't go back to the high place in Gibeon. The Tabernacle was there, all the tents and so on.
They were there, but Solomon went, he came to Jerusalem then he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He had some communion with Christ, with the Lord God, his God communion that the peace offering. So that's the first time that Solomon.
And then if you look a little further on in Chapter 9, I believe.
Chapter 9 and verse 2.
The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.
And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and my supplication thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, and put my name there forever. Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
Loving brethren, there is a place in this scene where the Lord has cha chosen to place His name, and his eyes and his heart are there perpetually until he takes us home to be with himself. The Lord's heart is there. His people are there. His heart is there. Pharaoh knew, we heard yesterday of how Farrell wanted the children left in Egypt. He wanted the children left there. He knew that the heart.
Of the fathers and the mothers would be taken up with their children and they'd soon be back to Egypt. But here the Lord, his people are in the assembly. His heart is there, his eyes are there too. Well, that was a promise that the Lord made to Solomon and he appeared to him there a second time. Well, let's look at the third time, the last time that God spoke to Solomon that we have a record of is in Chapter 11.
And.
Verse two, First Kings 11 and verse 2.
The Lord part way through the verse, the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go in unto into them, neither shall they come into you unto you, for surely they will turn your heart after their gods. And Solomon clay to these in love. And a little further path on in verse four, part way through verse four. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
00:45:07
And then it says in verse 7 then did Solomon build and high place for Camash the abomination of Moab? In verse 9 the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.
Every one of us has to buy the truth the word of God tells us by the truth and sell it not also tells us to guide thine heart in the way. Guide thine heart in the way. Solomon, dear man of God, man of faith, we're gonna see Solomon in glory. I forgot to guide his heart in the way He forgot where Ruth came from. I have, uh, often imagined.
A conversation between Ruth and her great, great great grandson Solomon.
What would she say to him?
I left Moab, I left Camash, I left my family that was taken up in idolatry. And you went back to idolatry. You went back, you built.
A host, a high place for key mock, in the very land of Israel, where the living God lives and reigns, where he gave us the word of God. Why did you do it, Solomon?
But dear friends, this scripture has exercised my soul how to exercise each one of us. Where did we come from?
The Lord has worked to bring us here to this place this morning, this afternoon. God has worked very hard in your life to save your soul, says that Solomon, God loves Solomon, and then it says a little later on that Solomon loved the Lord. God worked in your heart, in your soul by his Spirit to make you his.
He has purchased you. He worked hard in your sorrow, in your heart, to get you to confess that you are a Sinner on the way to hell and to accept His Son as Savior. I trust there's no one here in this room that's lost this afternoon. He worked hard to do that, and He's worked hard to bring you, to make you by faith see the place where He has chosen to place His name. I trust you have seen that place. I trust you've found it. Ruth went to Jerusalem. Ruth went to Bethlehem. Actually, she went to Bethlehem. She went into the land of Israel to the House of bread.
But Solomon.
Forgot.
Where his great, great great grandmother came from.
Dear brethren, let us not forget those that went before us and bought the truth and passed it on from one generation to another.
And with tears from one generation to another on their knees.
Have prayed that we would not sell the truth and that we would remember where they came from. Each one of us has a different story to tell, but the work of the Spirit of God.
That brings us into His presence, that gathers us. If you look in the Scriptures, any time that the Spirit of God gathers the people together, you'll you can enjoy thoughts of how it's the work of the Spirit of God. I'll tell you one little story before I leave this portion.
I worked with a lady once not too long ago. Her name is Brenda.
She was brought up in a Christian home.
He was brought up in a home.
Where they went to Sunday school and where they were brought to meetings week by week.
And she married an unbeliever.
We're never told that Pharaoh's daughter had faith in God.
With an unequal yoke, he should have never had many of the wives that he had.
This girl married an unbeliever.
She had two children. I went to visit that girl one day. I delivered something to her house.
And I saw the two girls there. I'd never seen them before. And then later on at work that week, I asked her.
Whether they were saved or not, did they know the Lord Jesus as their Savior? And she said no.
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They don't know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. They've never accepted the Lord Jesus as their savior.
And I said, did you never bring them to the meeting? Did you never bring them to the gospel meeting? Did you never bring them to Sunday school? No, I never did.
My mother sometimes brought them to Sunday school.
Brenda, did you read your children Bible stories? Did you read them a Bible calendar in the morning before they went to school? Did you sit down and read them the Scriptures? No.
Dear brethren, I told that girl that God saved her precious soul. She'll never be lost. She can't be lost. She'll be in glory. But unless in sovereign grace the Lord comes in, she'll be in glory and her children will be in hell.
It's a very solemn thing to marry.
An unbeliever.
Very, very solemn thing to marry an unbeliever and go on and lose the testimony of a life that perhaps has begun. Well, the Lord loves Solomon, and Solomon loved the Lord.
If you're a young person and you're in an.
Going out with someone, perhaps that's not saved or contemplating such a move? Don't do it.
Don't do it. It's very, very dangerous thing. Solomon Sun lost his Kingdom, the bulk of his Kingdom, as a result of an unequal yoke and a result of not personally buying the truth and remembering where he came from.
Chapter 3.
Verse 20.
For our conversation or that citizenship, our citizens citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fastened like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. In a couple of days this country that we live in is gonna celebrate a birthday.
There'll be fireworks and parades and lots of excitement and speeches and patriotic feelings all around, but we if we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not citizens here.
I said that's a strange thing to say with an American flag right behind you, but we're not. We're citizens of heaven and these things have been brought before us in the Reading meeting. Our life is hid up there with Christ and that's where our citizenship is. When I was a little boy I lived over in Switzerland and every year on the 4th of July, the American ambassador, Ambassador Tubby I think his name was.
With with the American citizens in Switzerland would put together a 4th of July.
Celebration and Americans would all come together and remember that they were Americans in this foreign land. But you wouldn't see us voting in the Swiss elections, would you? He wouldn't get speeches pertaining to how to make Switzerland a little bit more comfortable for Americans there. No, we sense that we were in an earthly sense. We were citizens of a different country and we had no business in the affairs of the country in which we lived.
Now it was brought before us that there's.
Sometimes there's wild gourds that are thrown into the pot and as a wild gourd that's thrown into the pot of chrysanthemum. And that's the notion that we have some business with the governments of this world. And I'd like you to next few minutes to just look at a few scriptures pertaining to government and see what God has to say about it, where it came from, what is this end and what's the Christians relation to it. And just close with a look at the coming government. And it'll never be taken away.
Let's just look for a moment in the book of Genesis.
Right at the end of the flood. Right after the flood.
In terms of the the uh.
The 9th chapter of Genesis.
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And the fifth verse.
Well, let's just look at the first verse to begin, God bless Noah and his sons and send it to them. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. And then was committed dominion over all the things in the earth. First of all, heaven. Surely your blood, your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast. Will I require it in the hand of uh, and at the hand of man at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man? Who's thou shed if man's blood by man.
Shall his blood be sent from the image of God made he man? We're taught in school, at least I was, that there's certain things. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights given by our Creator. And that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, and that they derive their just consent from those governed. That the power of government comes from underneath. That people give to a ruling government the power to be over them.
But we don't find that here. We find that power comes down.
God said to man he instituted government in a world that had already fallen as a way to maintain some order and to carry out his plans. So we see the government does not come from underneath, it's given, delegated by God and is backed with. We don't have the time to go through it, but if we look always the command in the New Testament is to be obedient to the governments that are here, even a bad government. What could be worse than the Roman Empire was the Christians.
Is it just because it's a good government that is to be obeyed? No. To submit ourselves to every ordinance of man. They're ordained of God. God has put these things here.
To, umm, work out his own counsel, bring to the book of Daniel.
OK.
Chapter 2 and we won't go in. Well, probably most of us very familiar with the story of Nebuchadnezzar dreamed and he saw an image, and he had a very large thing and had a head of gold.
This area was the silver, brass, legs of iron, feet of clay and iron mixed together.
Verse 37 Now our king, king of kings, for the God of heaven has given thee a Kingdom, power, strength and glory. King Solomon given what have been given world dominion, but he turned away, Israel turned away from God, and the government was given over to the Gentiles. What the Scripture called the times of the Gentiles of the nations was instituted here and it started out in God's opinion, an absolute monarchy was the best, the finest part of the type of government.
Closest related and closest uh in copy to God ruling over mankind. Nebuchadnezzar, head of Feingold What he decreed he could decree whoever he wanted to kill, he could kill. Whoever he wanted to keep alive, he could.
Absolute monarchy, and it's degenerated on down to, uh, I guess you'd call it a constitutional monarchy, A government where the law of the Medes and Persians couldn't be changed and even the king was under the law.
And we're taught in school that that's good, it's better that law is ruled rather than that king is law. But that isn't what God says. And we might as well see here God's estimation. What we're taught in Scripture is directly the opposite of what we're taught in the world pertaining to government, God says.
A descending derived power is the right way and an absolute monarchy. God viewed views as the finest point of uh, type of government. And it disintegrates on in lesser and lesser values as it goes down, but it ends. But let's go to verse 40. The 4th Kingdom shall be strong as iron for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdue with all things as an I as iron that breaketh all these, uh, as, uh, as iron that breaketh all these, they're still at breaking pieces and brews. And whereas the thoughts, the feet and toes, part of Potter's clay and part of iron, the Kingdom shall be divided.
But there shall be in it.
Of the strength of the iron. For as much as the thoughts of the iron mixed with myory clay, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the Kingdom shall be broken, shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. Democracy coming in it, It's held to us, and we're taught that it's the greatest thing, democracy. Or if it can just spread throughout the world, the world to be a better place.
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But it won't be. The heart of man is to choose a thief and a robbery.
For God, when man is able to do his own electing, he will not choose the best man. Our hearts want someone to be over us who allow us to sin. When the when the all the different trees came together and had to pick a ruler, what did they pick? The Bramble Bush to rule over them. That's what democracy does. Now am I trying to incite a riot against the United States? God forbid the scripture says to be subject whatever the laws are the law of the land were to be subject to. But let's understand where it's going.
So what happens here? Is this a good, great, wonderful thing? No, it's the weakest point of the government. And let's go on and see what happens. And then these days, uh, but they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall be the God of heaven, set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume.
All these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. This morning, as we remembered the Lord Jesus in his death, our hearts were also directed by faith to a coming day when he'll be crowned King of kings and Lord of Lords. But God has already exalted him. God has highly exalted him and given him a name that's above every name. And that's God's purpose before he set this whole.
History into existence was to bring honor to His Son and to have Him glorified over an entire race of worshippers just like Him.
That's the whole reason that things came into being.
It didn't it isn't a contingency plan on God's part man, God didn't make man to live in a wonderful garden and man herd. And so as a result, as a reaction, God now has worked out a way of salvation. And this is the best possible remedy to manage four. It's true to remedy demands 4 but it's God's purpose before the foundation of the earth to have its Son glorified. And so very shortly, this.
World government, the world government that exists, and it's a little different in different countries. In the United States it works one way. In Canada it's a little bit different. If you went to Europe. There's other aspects of it all over this government going on. But God has in mind to set a man on the throne, the one who went down into death, the one who went into awful humiliation, the one who veiled this glory and came into this scene and became a man.
Well, in this very scene where he was rejected in a place where he was spit on, where he was nailed to a cross, mocked, pierced.
Head on mocking robes. We had about that this morning. As the hymn says, royal robes shall soon invest thee royal splendors. Crown 9 Brown has a coming day, varies shortly when the Lord Jesus will be glorified, when his feet will come down and touch the Mount of Olives, and he'll take every eye will see him, and then she'll look on him when they Pierce. That's what's coming about. And the Lord will in a moment, in an instant, do away with the World Government.
Is the image will be ground to powder, it will go away as the dust just disappearing. The Lord Jesus will take the ruling representation of world government, the beach this the scripture calls them, and the false prophet, the religious leader of the world. And in umm with the breath of his nostrils, just with his appearance, they'll be thrown alive into the lake of fire and he'll be crowned king of kings, Lord of Lords. The whole world will bow to him and that's what's coming.
Why should we then, if we belong to the Lord Jesus, and if we know that this is a sure hope that definitely will happen in the not too far distant future, if we see it even now, by faith, we see it. It's clear to us. Why should we want in any way to make friends with a government system? I'm not speaking about the United States government in particular, but in a government with a government system that's about to be destroyed.
Remember this morning our brother put those ashes there.
And be as foolish to make friends with those ashes as it would be to try to make friends with the government system of this world. We're not citizens here. It's a temptation to us, and it's the way of Christendom. If we were to look, take the time to read in the Book of Revelation and we read about the great ***** that is the professing Christendom, what do we find? That the kings of the earth commit fornication with it as an interaction between government and religion.
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But the word to us has come out of her my people and be separate and touch not the unclean thing have nothing to do with it because we are citizens of the government that's about to be set up. And if we look at a couple of other verses in Daniel, just if we went through in each of the different, umm, visions that were given to Daniel of the end time, it always ends with that government being set up. And, uh, let's just look at 1:00.
7th chapter.
25th verse.
That beats that we spoke of. And he shall speak 25th verse. And he shall speak, uh, great words against the most puns, to wear out the Saints of the Most High. And things have changed times and laws, and they should be given into his hand until a time and time in the divining of times. But the judgment shall fit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end, and the Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of and the greatness of the Kingdom.
Under the whole heaven shall be given. Now listen to this. She'll be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.
And all dominions will serve and obey him. But not only is the Lord Jesus going to be crowned in his rightful place, but here's a wonderful thing, we with him. Can you imagine that? We with Him, all He won, He wanted to share with us.
That's what we have ahead of us.
Let's not make friends in our hearts with a system that's about to be destroyed. And I've quoted this before. There was a man named Jim Elliott. He gave us life for the gospel in Ecuador. I believe when he said something that when I heard it, I went through my heart like an arrow. And I may not quote it exactly right, but I hope to get the gist of it. Here's a fool who will not give up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.
You're a fool if you won't give up what you can't keep. If you love your life and try to keep it. If you wanna make friends and help to try to align perhaps the government of this country or another country with a Christian agenda and you wanna lend your ballot, that sounds so good. Let's lobby, let's vote. Let's call, let's get involved. Let's write a letter here. You wanna make friends with that system, You're fool because you can't keep it. That system is gonna be done. Away, Pass away.
Gone for good. I think we're gonna share. Those of us who would walk with Christ in his rejection will share in his glory.
Not just that the Kingdom will be delivered to him, but here we get it. The king, uh, the it'll be given to the people of the Saints, the Most High, the Lord Jesus will reign and will reign with him. One last verse in Revelation.
Yeah, and we're we've heard it before in this in the meetings here at the last church period that of the will of the people and the sayings of the people is the time that we're in in church history things democracy is coming to Christendom to such an extent that moral.
Are changed according to the will of the people.
If people would like to condone this lifestyle or that, say this is not wrong, this is not right and so on that it can change according to that's the way things are and Christendom, which we are part of, that is all that calls itself Christianity.
But listen to listen to this.
Verse 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and sat down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit set unto the churches.
The thing is, now we're not going through a persecution of lions coming after us or being cut in pieces, but the temptation now is to wanna commit fornication with the world and with this system.
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And the temptation is to wanna get involved in the world's politics and the world's going on. But to the overcomer, to one that can by grace, by faith, say God has saved me, call me out of this. I'll follow the king in his rejection. I'll suffer with him this little while. What's the reward for overcoming in this time? It's to sit with him on his throne, to reign with him as he sits on his father's throne. What a prospect for us.
It's something that we can easily when we focus our eyes on that coming day, that crowning day, when we see that in our.
Gaze is directed on that. It's easy, then, to let go of the things of this world and press on towards the calling on high.
#173.