Walla Walla Conference: 1996
Table of Contents
2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 7:1, Numbers 19:1-19
Address—C. Hendricks
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Saith the Lord Almighty in a very practical, near moral way. We all know God is our Father, those of us who are His. We all know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. But he's talking here, the Father, saying, I will be a father unto you, I will play the Father's part to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the law to Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves.
From all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Holiness is abhorrence of evil according to God, as revealed in Christ, and delight in what is good, abhorrence of evil, delight in what is good. That is holiness, and we perfect it by separating from that which is inconsistent with himself, which is the opposite to himself, as he says what?
Fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, And what concord have what communion that light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Bilio? What part had he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement is the temple of God with idols? So we have these opposites, and he wants to be a very real father to us, not just that we know him in a doctrinal way.
That he is God our Father, but in a very practical way.
Now turn back with me to Numbers, Chapter 19.
Numbers, Chapter 19.
I'd like to look at this Old Testament scripture that has to do with the red heifer.
In Romans 4 says the that which was written the four time.
Was written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
And so we're encouraged to look back to the Old Testament for principles and and wonderful truth. And I think we have it in this chapter. You might say stamped over this whole chapter is the principle that association with evil defiles. And we'll see that as we go through the chapter. The red heifer was a sin offering. It's not found in Leviticus where the other sin offerings are mentioned, but it's a sin offering for the wilderness.
It's given for a particular kind of failure.
A contracting of defilement as one goes through the wilderness, and this world is a wilderness wide for us. And as we go through it, we are rubbing shoulders with all kinds of things which are defiling every day we hear defiling language we witness, defiling business transactions, unethical and unrighteous, and all kinds of evils. We.
Are in the midst of a defiled Christendom where there is false religion.
And we were talking about some of those things in our readings.
What agreement has the temple of God with idols that he's talking about the religious sphere?
Now we'll start with numbers 19.
I might just comment before starting. The central theme in Genesis is.
Genesis 22 Abraham and Isaac speaks of the death of Christ. Central theme in Exodus is the Passover, the Red Sea, again the death of Christ, the Passover. Leviticus. Central theme is the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16 and here in Numbers the the central theme is Numbers 19, the provision that God has given us for defilement contracted along the way.
The Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying.
Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring the a red heifer without spot.
Wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke, Of course, that speaks of the Lord Jesus. He was that one who was without spot, without blemish, He never bore the yoke of sin. He was the holy, sinless, spotless, unblemished. 1 And so he's presented to us in this red heifer, and he shall give her unto Eliezer the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp.
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And one shall slay her before his face. And Ilyasia the priest shall take of her blood with his finger and sprinkle of her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation 7 times. I think that's very significant. It appears in this wilderness book. And the blood of the red heifer was sprinkled 7 times before the Tabernacle of the congregation. That's where God had said Jehovah had said he would meet with.
His people at the place of communion. And what we have in the ordinance of the red heifer is the provision that God has given us that when we get out of the out of communion by contact with death in one of its various forms. And the wages of sin is death. So it's the it's the outworking of sin and the ultimate end of it, which is death. So where there was contact with death in the wilderness, there was defilement.
And there was provision made for the Israelites that got defiled in this way and had to be put outside the camp. I'll just pause a moment, turn back to Numbers Chapter 5, and I'll just read the verse Numbers Chapter 5. It says in verse two command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp.
Every leper that's Leviticus 13 and 14, and everyone that had an issue that's Leviticus 15 and whosoever is defiled by the dead, and that's Numbers 19. That's what we're looking at. So every one of those three classes had to be put outside the camp. And what we have in Numbers 19 is a beautiful type of how God is provided for the recovery.
To fellowship of one who had contacted death and was defiled by it. Well, the blood of the of the red heifer was sprinkled 7 times before the Tabernacle of the congregation speaks of the place of communion. 7 is the number of perfection. So we have a perfect, a perfect sacrifice. The work has been done, the work of Christ on the cross which is depicted by the red heifer and the shedding of the blood.
The work has been done, giving us access to God and to his very presence, the place of communion that's been opened up to us. And one shall burn the heifer in his sight, her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, and her dung shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Now what do they speak of the heifer speaks of?
Of Christ crucified on the cross, laden with all our sins as our sin, offering all our sins having been placed upon him. Now turn to 1St Kings Chapter 5. I believe it is First Kings chapter 5.
Chapter 41 Kings Chapter 4 verse 29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore and Solomons wisdom exceeded excelled the wisdom of all the children of the E country and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men than Ethan the Ezra, height and human, and Carcal and Darda the sons of Nehal.
And his fame was in all nations round about and he spake 3000 proverbs and his songs were 1005. Now notice and he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, the majestic cedar, the greatest thing in nature.
In the the tree Kingdom even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, the very smallest, the very.
Most insignificant. The cedar, the hyssop, he spake, also beasts, and so on. All the people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. So I would say that what we have here in type in Numbers 19 is the cedar wood, and the hyssop would represent all the glory, all the wisdom of this world, from the greatest to the highest institutions of learning and to the least.
Least that man knows the cedar wood and the hyssop.
Verse 6 The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet. Scarlet speaks of the glory of this world.
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All that would appeal to the natural eye of man.
Is taken and thrown into the burning of the heifer. So you see, when we look at the at the burning of the heifer, and that was all consumed, it consisted of the heifer itself consumed. And then the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, all the wisdom of this world. First Corinthians, one God hath made the wisdom of this world to be foolishness, foolishness. The foolishness of man is the wisdom of man is foolishness with God.
And the glory of this world, the splendor of this world.
Remember how that Satan showed the Lord Jesus when he was tempting him all the glory of the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time, and it's all going to pass away. All this was thrown into the fire. So as we see the residue of that, the ashes that that were the result of the burning of the heifer, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet, we see our sins consumed.
In the death of Christ we see the judgment of God executed against all of man's wisdom.
The cedar wood to the hyssop. All of his wisdom from the greatest to the least, and all the glory of this scene has been judged. The world is crucified with Him, and with us, and with Christ and and heat of the world.
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, bade his flesh in water, shall be unclean until the even.
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. So the residue of the consuming of the heifer, That is all our sins consumed in the death of Christ, all man's wisdom and grandeur and glory and splendor, all that consumed in the death of Christ. That's all represented in the ashes which were laid up in a clean place outside the camp. Now that's what's going to be used.
In the restoration of one that contracts the filement as he goes through the wilderness.
I read verse 9 again. 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 it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel, for a water of separation. It is a purification for sin. You might wonder about the water of separation. There's been nothing said about the water, but.
That comes later in the chapter and we'll come to that shortly.
The ashes were mixed with running water and applied to the defiled 1.
But it was a purification for sin. But sometimes the mistake is made that when one fails, when one sins and needs to be restored, that he needs a fresh application of the blood of Christ. And that's a mistake. The blood is applied. Once that blood was shed, it was sprinkled 7 times before the Tabernacle of the congregation. A perfect testimony that the believer has access to God and has fellowship with God.
And if that's marred by some failure by some.
Contact with death. And we're going through a scene of death. This world is under the judgment of God, a judge seen. And when we see that all that that this world has to offer us was judged at the cross, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. John, Chapter 12.
That's what you see in the burning of the heifer, with the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet being cast into it. You see the judgment of all that man boasts of, all that man glories in. It is all judged at the cross.
That ought to make us very slow to to be enamored with and engaged with and taken up with anything that the world serves to us is is already judged it. It's a judge thing. It's come under the judgment of God, and we're not to touch it. We read that in 2nd Corinthians 6. Touch not the unclean thing. We're going through a defiling scene and how important it is to impress this upon us.
Especially those that are young in the faith.
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Verse 10 He that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the even notice. Everyone that had to that had a part in handling any of these things was unclean until the even association with evil does defile, even when brethren have to take up a a case of discipline.
The, the very, the very taking it up is defiling because we have that in US which responds to the the very sin that may have to be judged.
In our brother or sister, very, very solemn thing to have to be in the position of a judge when we are what we are.
It says in verse 10, the middle of the verse, that shall be under the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute forever.
Now verse 11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7 days.
He shall purify himself with it, that is this water of separation, which is the the.
The ashes of the heifer, cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet mixed with running water. We see that in a moment he shall purify himself with it. On the third day. Now here, he's been put outside the camp. He's not fit for fellowship with the assembly of Israel put outside the camp. He's come in contact with death. He's touched the dead body of a man in one way or another, and so he's put out.
For seven days, and then he's purified by the water of separation.
Is sprinkled upon him on the third day, and it's also on the 7th day. Notice what it says.
He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the 7th day he shall be clean. But if you purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, the file is the Tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him.
He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. That shows the solemnity of 1 Contracting defilement, and ignoring the provision that God Jehovah had made for his cleansing. And he He acts as though he had not done it, and he's defiling by doing, by not going through the water of separation, not not allowing it to be sprinkled upon him, not going through this religious ceremony. That's what it was in the Old Testament.
And what it speaks of, what we have answering to that is the advocacy of Christ.
If any man's sin I John two, I'll quote it. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only but also for the whole world. So the advocacy of Christ comes in to restore us to communion. And that answers to what we have here in Numbers 19. Here it was a religious ritualistic ceremony that they had to go through but.
It's a type of the way God restores souls if they've fallen into sin.
It's a solemn thing not to resort to the advocacy of Christ for the Israelite, not to resort to the water of purification for us, not to resort to the Lord's advocacy If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now that cleansing is not a fresh application of the blood, but it's what we have here. The water of separation, the water of purification.
Is sprinkled upon him, That is the spirit of God. Applies to the soul the memory of what the Lord Jesus went through in his death on the cross to put the sin away that we have committed, that one has committed.
And not to avail oneself of His restoring grace by confessing one sin, puts one in a situation where he defiles the whole assembly and those round about him.
Verse 14. This is the law. When a man dies in a tent, the tent is the home. That's where they lived, that's where they lived. All that come into the tent and all that is in the tent shall be unclean 7 days. So in this case, if there's death in the tent, you may just enter a tent where someone has just died and you are now unclean. You've entered into the scene of death.
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And then it says in every open vessel.
Which hath no covering bound upon it is unclean. It's striking that it emphasizes the open vessel, because it is already said in the previous verse that everything in the tent is unclean, and all that come into the tent are unclean.
But then it singles out every open vessel, which hath no covering upon it, bound upon it. That is, it doesn't have the ability to resist. The contamination that is there in the tent is unclean. Who is the open vessel? It's our children, I believe. Our children, they are open vessels. They take in everything that's in the tent, everything that's in the tent, and if there's.
Death in the tent, if there's that which Christ died to deliver us from.
Our sins.
All the wisdom of this world and all the glory.
Of this world, everything that this world makes much of and.
Revels in if that's in the tent, if that's been brought into the tent, there's death in the tent and all that are in the tent.
And everyone that enters the tent is unclean 7 days and every open vessel, especially the children, are vulnerable to what takes place in the tent. Very solemn when we consider what a Christian home is and what it should keep out, could keep out death. It should keep out everything that speaks of this world and to bring it into the tent.
Is to subject those who were in the tent to the defilement and especially the open vessel.
So there we have the Christian home typified, and now we get out into the world.
In the next verse. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword that speaks of violence, one that's slain with the sword, this world is filled with violence. You see it, you hear it. It's everywhere. Can't pick up a newspaper without hearing of some violence that is being committed in this world. Whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword, Violence. We're told that corruption and violence fill the earth in the days of Noah.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And so we're living in those days today.
One that is slain with the sword in the open field that's out there in the world. We're not in the tent now. We're out in the open field. We're out in the world and we get subjected to this. Children get subjected to this at school and fathers in the workplace and sometimes mothers and in the neighborhoods where we live, the open fields or a dead body. Dead body is one that has died by natural means and it speaks of corruption.
Corruption and violence. The sword is 1 who's been put to death by violence, and the dead body is one who has died, but it's the wages of sin speaks of death. To touch either one of those things is to be defiled.
Or a bone of a man.
The bone of a man is, after all, the meat has been decayed away or taken away. You might you might not think that a bone has any defilement connected with it, because all of that which is corruptible and that has gone. Maybe it's been eaten off by dogs or whatever, and all that's left is the bone of a man. You're just walking through the open field, and you just happen to touch the bone of a man in Israelite.
You stumble across a body. He was slain. You can tell he was killed with a sword because there's blood coming out of his side or wherever. And there's another, just a dead body, someone that died out there. And you touch that body. And Israelite did in the wilderness, it came across such they were defiled or the bone of a man. Maybe that person was killed long time ago and the birds have plucked all the meat away and so on. And all that's left, the bone, just the bone it still comes from.
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A man that was defiled.
And it was the wages of sin. So there are things that we don't look upon as very defiling. We kind of accept them. There are things that are obviously defiling in this world, and we recognize them for what they are, very evil things. But there are other things that have a semblance of acceptability, and they're still a part of this defiled scene where Christ has been cast out the bone of a man.
Or a grave. Now what does that speak of a grave? You might be walking in the open field and walk over a grave and not even know it. You don't even know it. You haven't actually touched it. But turn to a Luke 11, Luke Chapter 11.
Verse 42.
But woe unto you Pharisees, for ye tithe mint in Rule, in all manner of herbs, and Passover judgment, and the love of God.
These Archie to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Well unto you Pharisees.
For ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogue's.
And greetings in the markets. Now we're into the religious element here, the Pharisees.
Unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
This is the most subtle kind of defilement that there is in the world. Because.
It takes on the garments, the cloak, the form of religiousness.
The form of recognizing God.
And yet there is much that is in the religious world that is defiling.
A grave.
The Lord said that ye are as whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear fair to men, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
And he was talking to the upper crust of society. He was talking to those religious Pharisees, the men of the cloth.
The men that were the responsible ones in the nation of Israel to guide and lead.
Them to the true knowledge of God.
And it's a solemn thing to be in that position indeed.
Well, there are so much. There's so much that has a religious tone to it in Christendom today. And when you first look at it, we had.
We had mentioned a brother, young brother came to me and he said, why do you? Why do you discuss something before you've defined the problem or defined what you're talking about? Someone had mentioned, for instance, promise keepers.
And outwardly it appears very nice, and I'm sure that those that are involved in it are doing it with good intention many true Christians. But it's a it's a very.
It's a very sad development.
I just want to read you a little extract on the subject because some of you don't know anything about it.
It's the greatest.
Ecumenical movement in the United States of America today is sweeping the country.
So far it's only embraced men and.
It was started by a man with good intentions, football coach I think of.
Colorado football team and he wanted Christian men to assume their role of responsibility in the family, to be good husbands and good fathers. And these are all very commendable things. No one can find any fault with that. But this, this movement is so wide open.
And it's not doctrinally oriented. And that's the serious, the very, very, very serious error of it, that all of these different groups in Christendom that have all different views, doctrinally, some of them very serious errors are included and embraced in this movement, all with the all under the umbrella of getting a better family relationship.
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I remember hearing occasionally a very short little excerpt over the radio that is promoting family values. And I said, well that sounds good. And then it ends by saying Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
They're the ones that put it out.
They're the ones that promote it. A Promise Keepers is open to that group, by the way.
And I just wanted to read you this little extract this.
Roman Catholic Cardinal.
He has studied the feasibility and appropriateness of using utilizing Promise Keepers at the Catholic parish level.
He states Promise Keepers places a very strong no, excuse me, promise Cleek. There is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church, and it places very strong emphasis on returning to your own church, congregation or parish and becoming an active layman.
One of the promises is that I promise to support my local church.
In all of its activities and so on. And one of the speakers of the Promise Keepers has said we we should promote.
A local church worship whether it's the Lord's Supper. Some take the Lord's Supper, others have the Eucharist, others have the Mass, others have this and that, and he put that all together as being part of what they were supporting.
So to take that promise is to promise to support a mixture of good and evil.
A mixture of right and wrong, and that's why I read those verses in 2nd Corinthians 6.
What fellowship has light with darkness? What part had he that believeth with an unbeliever? What agreement with it of the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will walk in them and dwell in them, and they shall be my people. I will be their God.
God requires the very first thing you read in Genesis chapter one, verse 3 is God said let there be light. There was darkness enveloping this globe, and God said let there be light and there was light. And God divided the light from the darkness. It was evening and that was morning. The first day. First thing that God did was to divide the light from the darkness. And the portion that we had today in Romans 12 is we are to abhor that which is evil and to cleave to that which is good cease to do evil.
Learn to do good.
Bible does not brook any complicity with evil on the part of those who are his the ashes of the red heifer.
Tell a tremendous story to us. They contain the memorial of the death of Christ, which has separated us forever from this world and from all its glory, and from all its grandeur and from all its wisdom.
And from all that man takes such pride in, we are separated from that. And when a when a soul is defiled by contact with any of these things, the provision that is made is the application of the water of separation.
Verse 17 going back to numbers 19 and for an unclean person.
One that has gotten unclean out in the open field by touching. One that was slain with a sword, or a dead body, or the bone of a man. One that has entered a tent where there was death in the tent, whatever it was. 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. The running water speaks of the Holy Spirit.
Remember in John 7 the Lord Jesus said in the last, the great day of the feast. Jesus cried and said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. We all have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us that living water, and this running water, this living water is mixed now.
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With the ashes of the heifer. And then it says in verse 18, The clean person shall take hyssop, that's the smallest part of nature, and dip it in the water. I think it speaks of faith. Here Faith, if thou shalt have faith as a grain of mustard seed, thou shalt say to this mountain be removed in a shallow day. 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 a bone, or one slain, or one dead.
Or a grave, and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day. What does that speak of? The third day speaks of sin in the presence of grace. I have sinned against the grace which has saved me.
I have done that for which Christ died to put away He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and I have indulged in that. I have indulged my flesh.
In some way.
There's thousands of ways that can be done. We have a little picture of some of the ways that we can get defiled.
By viewing violence and corruption.
And the.
The little things like the bone of a man, that don't seem so bad, but they still come from the results of sin, death.
And so the unclean person is sprinkled on the third day. That speaks of the conscious conscience coming into exercise and the realization I have sinned.
And Christ died to put my sins away. That very sin that I have indulged in, He died to put it away.
And so the spirit of God, the running water, takes the ashes of the heifer, the memorial of the death of Christ, and applies them to my conscience, brings me to confess and judge my sin. I have allowed I've indulged the flesh. I've done that which Christ died to deliver me from. That's the third day. And then he sprinkled again on the 7th day. And on the 7th day he shall purify himself. Have you ever met any Christians? You ask them, well, why aren't you at the Lord's table? And they say, well, I'm so bad, I'm so bad, I'm so bad, I'm not fit to be there.
None of us in ourselves is fit to be there, but he has made us fit through his work, and he's looking too much at how bad he is. And it's a good thing that we see how evil we are and judge that. That's the third day sprinkling. But don't stay there. You're not really restored to be useful in the assembly until you're sprinkled on the 7th day. The third day is sin in the presence of grace. I've sinned against the grace that has saved me, but on the 7th day, it's grace in the presence of sin, he says now.
I want you to be occupied not so much with your sin, but with the grace that has saved you and made you mine.
Be occupied with the matchless grace of God, which has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life. Well, that's a beautiful type, wonderful type in the word of God. Spirit of God applies to our conscience the death of Christ and all that he has done in judging sin and all the world system. That's about it. And so when we when we love the world.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life we're partaking of those things.
Love not the world.
And it's all out there.
I was talking to a group in Bolivia.
Would be very different because they don't have the world in all its grandeur like we have in the United States.
We're living in a day when it's very difficult to remain pure.
Because there's so much impurity right out there in front of your eyes every day. You can't go buy billboards on the road. You can't. You can't go anywhere without feasting, without not feasting but looking at some things that are defiling.
And so we need the water separation. Not a fresh application of the blood of Christ, but the water of separation, the application by the Spirit of God through our souls, our consciences. I died for that sin. I died to deliver you from that sin.
And I want you to have fellowship with me, so you have to judge it. That's the third day. Now I want you to be occupied on the 7th day. I want you to be occupied with my love and grace, which has put it all away. And now I can have fellowship with you again. And so he's brought back into the camp, made useful again as he's gone through that spiritual exercise.
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Well.
Time is up.
Trust the Lord will encourage us all to look more deeply into that chapter, so rich and full of spiritual meaning. Let's close by singing #196.
Come let us sing the matchless worth.
Sweetly sound the glories forth which in the Savior shine.
196.
Oh my God, very rarely.
And I don't want to fly.
And come first week.
Zechariah 4:10, 2 Timothy 2:15, 19-22
Address—E. James
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Hymn #24 in the back of the book. Nothing but Christ is on. We tread the gift unpriced, God's living bread, with stamp in hand and feet well shot. Nothing but Christ, the Christ of God and #24 in the back of the book.
Everything.
Was for him.
Where we go?
Everybody.
What is it? Whatever.
Rain.
Like to look at part of a verse in Zechariah?
Zechariah chapter 4.
In verse 10.
For who hath despised the day of small things?
Then over in second Timothy.
Second Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Verse 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stand assure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.
And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts.
But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them.
That call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
I'd like to speak for a few moments this afternoon about that verse we opened with Who Hath Despised the Day of Small Things. We're living in a day of small things, aren't we? And I think we feel it all. We all feel it to a greater or lesser extent. And to the greater extent that we feel, we feel it. It enters into our heart and it'll have a real impact on us.
In verse 15 of Second Timothy 2 it tells us rightly dividing the word of truth.
That's important, isn't it?
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It's important to rightly divide the word of truth. You know the Bible is taken up.
In so many different ways. You can talk to people of every different religious stripe and they all claim to follow the Bible, but they don't divide it very well, many of them, do they?
And so it's important that we follow the apostles instructions and we rightly divide the word of truth.
You know, I struck yesterday when our brother Chuck was speaking about Promise Keepers, and I don't want to dwell on negative ministry, that certainly has a place, but I was struck when he did mention that.
Because, you know, that's a typical case of not rightly dividing the word of truth.
When I read the word of God, I find that the proper place for the Christian in our day.
Is this part of a remnant?
It says here in verse 20, But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver.
But also of wood and earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. What does that mean?
I believe it means simply this.
When we read in First Timothy, we find that the House of God was in order. Things were as they should be, and perhaps we'll come back to that a little bit later, that order is important to God. But nonetheless, the time came and it didn't take very long for it to happen that the House of God, the outward profession of Christianity.
Decline, and in short order the House of God was no longer in order.
There were those that were unbelievers. That's what it means when it says here in verse 20.
Vessels of wood and of earth. There were those who were unbelievers that were professing the name of Christ.
There were those that were believers that were not vessels to dishonor, not vessels to honor, they were vessels to dishonor. And so the outward testimony of the House of God was in ruin and disorder. And I think we need to be careful how we put this because as we rightly divide the Word of God, one thing we find is that the House of God is presented in the New Testament in two different ways. On the one hand, it's presented as a temple that grows up.
That God himself is building. That's what it refers to in Matthew 16 verse 18. When the Lord Jesus says on this rock, I will build my church.
It's that that house could never fall into disorder. Thank God for that. It'll never fall into ruin. But when we speak about the testimony, when we speak about the House of God being in ruin, we're Speaking of the aspect of the House of God in which it's been committed to man's responsibility. You can turn, for instance, to 1St Corinthians 3 and find out about that. Paul speaks of himself as a wise master builder. He's laid the foundation, and there could be no other foundation but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.
But now man has the responsibility to build on that.
And in that respect man has built, and in that respect, the outward testimony now is in ruin. What God has built, what God is building, is never going to fall into ruin. Thank God for that.
But what man is building has fallen into ruin, and that's what we're talking about here. What was once in order in the early chapters of Acts has now become like a great house. The Spirit of God is still there, but it's become like a great house. It's fallen into disorder. And now what are the instructions of the word of God to us? I think this is very important. I think this is critical, that we rightly divide the truth, the rightly divide the word of truth in this matter.
The tendency is that we want to see all believers get along together, don't we? The tendency is that we would like to be able to say that everybody who professes the name of Christ that we can, we can lock hands with them and lock arms with them.
But you know that's not rightly dividing the word of truth, because since the outward testimony is in ruin.
It's no longer possible to do that.
And so, as our brother was speaking yesterday about Promise Keepers.
I was reminded that that's one of three great ecumenical movements that's taken place in our day.
The first great ecumenical movement.
Was that of mass evangelization?
Perhaps it sounds strange to you, but I believe that Billy Graham was part of that movement.
Billy Graham is a dear man, certainly a brother and a Lord, and he teaches the preaches the gospel faithfully. But you'll notice if you read about who one of his crusades that'll have a number of ministers on the platform with them, and some of them have no use for the gospel that he preaches.
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He's been defiled by his association. It was a great mass movement.
And it's bringing all believers together, whether they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or not.
And that's an ecumenical movement. It's not rightly dividing the word of truth. The second great ecumenical movement in my lifetime has been the charismatic movement. It's bringing professors of every ilk together, and they're all claiming to be Christians and they're all claiming to walk under the same banner. But some are believers. Some are not believers, as we have here. Some are vessels of gold and silver. That means they're real. Some are vessels of wood and earth. That means they're not real believers.
And even some of those that are believers or vessels that dishonor because they're not clean.
And now the third great ecumenical movement is Promise Keepers. It draws together Mormons, It draws together Catholics, It draws together those that know the Lord Jesus as their savior, and they're all pushed together into the same bundle.
That's not rightly dividing the word of truth, that's despising the day of small things and that's what we want to talk about this afternoon for a few minutes.
What is the instruction then in verse 21? Let's look at it again. If a man therefore purge himself from these, that's what the word of God says.
It doesn't say to lock arms with these people.
Why? Why is it important that we not lock arms with these people? You know why?
If we turn over to Romans chapter 2 and verse 24, I believe it is, it says this speaking about the Jews, how they were the depository of the Word of God and the testimony of God and the Old Testament and what happened. They despised the Word of God, they were unfaithful and what was the result?
The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles for your sake.
The name of God has blasphemed among the Gentiles for your sake. And you know, that's what happens with these ecumenical movements. The name of God is blasphemed because of all the uncleanness that's connected with the name of Christ. And so when we rightly divide the word of truth, we understand that in our day, rather than being part of an ecumenical movement, the Word of God clearly instructs us to be part of a remnant. Mr. Darby understood that.
One of the first pamphlets he wrote about church truth had this title.
Separation from evil. God's principle of unity because he read these verses.
And it's touched his conscience and he realized that that system.
That national system, of which he was a clergyman in England, contained all kinds of vessels, vessels to honor, vessels that dishonor believers, unbelievers, and that he was defiled by that association. Furthermore, that that body did not represent its head in heaven, and the only way to properly represent the head in heaven is to be separate, to become a remnant. What do we mean by a remnant? A remnant is of the whole.
But it is not the whole it means that we do separate from those that are unbelievers.
It also means, as it says very plainly here, and this is where so many people don't rightly divide the word of God.
But it says plainly here that we separate from vessels that dishonor, whether they be unbelievers or whether they be believers. We separate from vessels to dishonor.
Verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
We also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You know, we can't go outside of this great house. It's still the House of God, but we can't go outside of it. We have to go to a little corner of it. We couldn't go outside of it because to go outside of this house would be to leave to give up the profession of Christianity. And we certainly don't want to do that, but we do have to separate to a part of it.
Where we're with those that call in the Lord out of a pure heart.
With them, isn't that encouraging word? Sometimes we say, you know, that's got quite a cost connected with it. We're going to have to separate from people that I know that I've known for years, that I've associated with from years. But that's what the word of God says, doesn't it? And that separation has been painful for some. I know some here that have found that separation to be painful.
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But taking that step in faith, they found that there was others that had the same exercise with them that call in the Lord out of a pure heart. What is a pure heart?
Well, let's turn over to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11.
Two Corinthians, Chapter 11.
Verse 2. This is the apostle Paul speaking.
And he says, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy.
For I have espoused you to one husband.
That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, but I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. That's a pure heart.
That's a pure heart, a chaste virgin to Christ.
The simplicity that is in Christ, that's a pure heart, to have no motive but Christ.
That's a pure heart. Let's turn over then for some more help on this thought of the Remnant Testimony, the Remnant character, perhaps we should say over to Revelation Chapter 3. I don't want to read much here, but I do just want to point out the general character of the remnant. I think it's well described in the last two churches mentioned in Revelation Chapter 3. We well know that these in chapters 2 and three of Revelation, we have the seven churches of Asia presented.
They give a historical outline of the church prophetically told, and they also give different conditions of assemblies. And these last two have often been mentioned. I'd like to suggest that we have a contrast in these last two, and it's fairly easy to pick up in this contrast. And in the, and in the first of these two, the Church of Philadelphia, we have a remnant testimony. We have the remnant character, which is what I'd like to speak about this afternoon.
Now, one way we can identify this character is by looking at the pronouns.
I think that's helpful.
We can look at the pronouns and see what they're really talking about in these in these churches. Look at the Church of Philadelphia, it says. Look at verse 8.
The middle of the verse. Well, yeah, middle of the verse, for thou hast a little strength. This is the Lord Jesus speaking, and has kept my word and has not denied my name.
And then skip down to verse.
Verse 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, And I will write upon him my new name. I think the pronoun is pretty plain there, isn't it? It's mine. It's the Lord Jesus speaking.
The true remnant character, brethren, is Christ centered. Isn't that important? It's Christ centered. Now let's look at the contrast in the last church. What's the what's the the pronoun there you so much.
Over in verse.
Verse 17 Because thou sayest I am rich.
And increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
Who's the central part of that church?
What's the central theme there?
Itself isn't it? I am rich and increased with goods and of need of nothing.
I am rich. That's the central theme. And what a difference there is. The true remnant testimony has Christ for the object. That's what we were singing about, wasn't it?
Nothing but Christ is on. We tread the gift of Christ, God's living bread, with staff in hand and feet well shod. Nothing but Christ, the Christ of God. Well, those are great sounding words, I know, but it needs to touch our hearts, doesn't it? Nothing but Christ, the Christ of God. Let's turn now for a few minutes and look at this remnant character, if you will, with me back to the book of Ruth.
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The Book of Ruth.
I'd like to begin with verse.
7.
Speaking about Naomi, 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 under the land of Judah.
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law.
Go return each to her mother's house.
The Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The Lord grant that she 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 were returned with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, why will ye go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way.
For I am too old to have a husband, if I should say I have hope, if I should have an husband also tonight, and should also bear sons which he tarry for them till they were grown, would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for grievance be much for your sakes, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. An Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, But Ruth, Ruth clave unto her.
And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people, and under her gods, return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, And treat 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, my God, where thou die, ask will I die? And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also if aught but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was steadfastly mind to go, minded to go with her, then she left speaking under her.
Well, this is a remnant characteristic, isn't it?
Our brother Bruce spoke to us Friday about this.
Its wholeheartedness for Christ.
That's a remnant characteristic wholeheartedness for Christ.
That's what we have in a day of small things, and the Lord values that. We want to speak about that a little bit more today. You know, I'm sure we've all felt that there's been a good deal of discouragement in recent years, hasn't there?
And I know speaking to some that.
That come they've expressed the thought that.
The things are are discouraging and some have even expressed the thought that, you know, it seems like these truths that we've learned and that we speak about in meeting one person mentioned to me, you know, he said. It seems almost like it's a millstone around my neck. It seems to be a burden.
You know, I thought about that and I have to confess.
That in the innermost parts of my heart I've had some of the same feelings sometimes.
And so I looked at the Word of God. What encouragement does God have for us? Is it not important that we go on with these things that we've learned about, that we've spoken about together being over God's word? Is it important or is it not? Is it just pride or pretense that we go on with these things, or is it that which is according to the mind of God, does it really mean anything?
Well, that's what I want to look at a little bit more in the time we have remaining, the first prerequisite I believe.
That we have for a proper remnant testimony is this wholeheartedness.
Our brother Bruce spoke about that on Friday, didn't he? Counting the cost.
You know, I heard somebody speaking the other day and they said, and I believe was they're quite correct in what they said. They said that most of the problems that people have, most of the difficulties that Christians have is because we're not wholehearted.
I think there's probably a lot of truth to that.
Why is it that we have so many conflicts in our lives? I don't say the Lord doesn't allow things, of course He does. But I'm saying that many of the things that we perceive as problems.
In his trials are because we're not wholehearted enough.
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If I were wholehearted, like Ruth was, a lot of those problems would disappear. Remember our brother Norman Berry speaking to this once at the tent when I was there some years ago?
He said, you know, it's a simple thing to follow Christ.
But it's not an easy thing.
That's an important distinction, isn't it?
It's a simple thing to follow Christ. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? But it's not an easy thing, because it involves the will and the energies.
It involves the affections.
And this is the secret of walking for Christ in these last remnant days.
Wholeheartedness for Christ. You know what Mr. Darby is writing about that 14th chapter of Luke that our brother Bruce brought before us on Friday? He says this something to this effect, he says. I tremble to think of those who haven't counted the cost.
I tremble to think of those, Mr. Darby says, who haven't counted the cost.
And that's a searching point for each of us, isn't it?
Have we really counted the cost?
Easy to say, isn't it? Talks cheap.
Whatever you really counted the cost.
You know what we're talking about in this Remnant testimony.
Is what I like to call normal Christianity.
I didn't say average Christianity, because average Christianity is something very different from normal Christianity, isn't it? Normal Christianity is that which is according to God's mind. There may only be a few in that pathway at any given time, but it's that which is according to God's mind. It's that which brings glory to God and blessing to man in a way that can't be matched by anything else, no matter how great.
It can't be matched by filling a stadium with 50,000 people.
But the Lord values it.
And if we want to look at that a little bit more this afternoon.
That's normal Christianity. Average Christianity is filling a stadium with 50,000 people. It appeals to the first man.
But normal Christianity doesn't do that. It doesn't appeal to the first man.
Let's look at the beginning of this chapter a little bit before passing on one other thing I'd like to perhaps.
Comes to mind as in the beginning of this chapter we find that there was a famine in this city where these people lived.
They lived in Bethlehem.
Which, interestingly enough, means the House of bread.
That's the place where you'd expect to find food, isn't it? And yet it's remarkable that that's the very place where there was a famine was in Bethlehem. And so there was a famine in Bethlehem. This was a test for these dear people, Limalek and his wife Naomi, and their two sons. And so a trial is a test for us, isn't it? A trial is a test for us. And this was the test for these people. The test was this. They knew that the land of Israel was the place of God's appointment.
That was where the priests were, that was where the Ark of God was, where the Tabernacle was, that's where the Levites were.
They knew that it was the place of God's appointment. The question for them was then.
Could they go on in that pathway in a time of famine?
Or were they just willing to go on in that pathway when things were going well, when there was plenty of food? Were they, as sometimes we say, satisfied to go on with with the Lord as long as everything else is going OK?
That was the question for these dear people, wasn't it? And you know, I don't want to throw rocks at these people because I know my own heart too well.
Now the Lord is a perfect accountant.
And at the judgment seat of Christ, he's going to bring out every hidden motive that I have.
And that I've ever had. And so while we can easily condemn these people, we need to take heed to our own hearts.
What about our own motives?
How easily do we give up those things that are precious to Christ? Are we only willing to go on with them when lots of other people are?
That's a test for us, aren't they? That's the test of wholeheartedness for Christ.
And I do believe the Lord's coming is very near and soon. We'll see. Soon we'll stand in His presence and we'll get our report card because, you know, that's really what the judgment seat of Christ is.
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The question of our sins is not going to be brought up.
But the questions of what kind of disciple I was as our brother Bruce was speaking about the other day will be brought up.
I can have a safe soul in a lost life, and that should exercise me. Why did the Lord leave me here? Why didn't He just Take Me Home the minute I was saved when I was nine years old?
Because He wanted me to walk as a disciple for Him in this life.
And it's true for each one of us, isn't it? So this famine came, and these dear people weren't equal to it. And so I remember.
Notes of a meeting that our brother chapter Brown gave years ago and he used that little text in in Psalms that says when he writes up the people and.
So he's writing us up too, isn't he?
Every hidden motive in our heart is plain before him. It's far better if we're, if we keep it plain in this life, if we walk before the Lord, as it says in First John, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. That's the way to walk. Well, let's look here. I just want to look at another thing before we pass on to Nehemiah.
You know, it's instructive where these people went.
There's a great number of symbols in the Old Testament.
And examples in the Old Testament, the nations around the land of Israel are examples for us.
And so I believe that there are three nations which are particularly examples of the world.
You know, the world is not just one thing. And I want to be clear about this. I just talking to a brother the other day, you know, and he says I often think of the world as just one thing.
And Satan would like us to think that. But the world is not just one thing, brethren. The world is presented in Scripture in these symbols as three different nations.
Now these people went to Moab.
Have to excuse me, I've got allergies and antihistamines get to me and dry my mouth up.
But we look at three nations that are pictures of the world. The one nation is no surprise, It's Egypt. We know that Egypt is a picture of the world. We've all read in the books of Exodus how that the Israelites were brought out of the land of Egypt. We know that Egypt is a type of the world. It's a type of the natural world. It's a type of the world and its power. It's a type of the world and its pleasures. It's a type of the world and it's politics. That's Egypt. It's power, it's architecture.
Its King's world if we want to put it that way. That's the world. And that's the world we often think about, don't we? We think, well we mentioned somebody went off into the world and when we say that we normally mean the Egypt world, don't we? That place where they, they, they went for natural and worldly advantage. And that's correct so far as it goes.
But there's two other nations that give to us pictures of the world. Babylon is the second one. Babylon gives us the world in its religious corruption.
You know, if you just keep your finger here and turn over to Matthew or to Acts 8, I think we get a little picture of that Babylon. Babylon was a thoroughly corrupt place. It had multitudes of gods. It had a wicked religious system.
It's a picture of the spiritual world, the religious world, and some people are anxious.
To be great in the religious world, they may not care about being great in the Egypt world, they may not care about politics, may not care about being a great musician, for instance.
May not care about being a great researcher, but they're anxious to be important in the religious world. So in Acts chapter 8 we get an example of a person like that.
In verse 9, But there was a certain man called Simon, Acts 8, verse 9, which before time in that same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one.
Jeremiah says, or it said to Jeremiah, Seekest thou great things for thyself?
Seek them not. That's true of the Egypt world, isn't it?
But it's also true of the religious world. Do you seek to be somebody great in the religious world?
Do I seek to be somebody great in the meeting?
That's the same thing, isn't it? That's the world. Do I seek to be somebody great?
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Well, that's the religious world, that's the Babylon world. And now Moab, where these people went, is also a picture of the world. And this, I think, is striking.
Moab is new to the religious corruption we spoke about in Babylon. Nor is it the natural corruption and natural greatness of man.
We spoke about in Egypt, but it's this.
And I think we've heard a lot about this in recent years and perhaps I think many of us here have felt this side of the world in recent years. Turn over. If you would just keep your finger here, turn over to Jeremiah 48. It speaks about Moab some.
What is Moab a picture of? It's a picture of the world, but a different aspect from both Egypt and Babylon.
Jeremiah, chapter 48.
In verse 11.
Moab has been at ease from his youth.
And he hath settled on his leaves, his haunches, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel.
Neither hath he gone into captivity.
That's what Moab is a picture of.
You know, I was talking to a brother the other day and he said.
He said in the last few years in the little assembly where I go, said fifty people have left.
That's hard, isn't it?
Well, those people haven't all given up the Lord.
But many, I believe, have been attracted to Moab. What does it mean? It means it's the world as far as the place where we don't have lots of trials and tribulations.
That's Moab, and we're attracted to that often, aren't we? I know one of the relatives we have told us, she said. Well, we left the meeting where we were going because there was just too much trouble, just too much exercise, just too much difficulty. We just couldn't, we just couldn't take it anymore until we left. That's what Moab is.
That's what Moab is. It's the desire for ease. It's the desire to no longer be poured from vessel to vessel.
That's what the Lord does for us. Why does He do it? Because he wants to draw us closer to Himself.
Because he wants us to be like David's mighty men. They weren't anybody special.
Read about those who are attracted to David at The Cave of Adela. They were in debt. They were poor.
But they came to David.
And by being near David and being devoted to David and David's God, they became great.
That's what the Lord wants for us, brethren. Maybe not great in the eyes of anybody but him, but that's OK, isn't it?
That's right, isn't it?
But Moab, then, is the desire to be no longer poured from vessel to vessel.
No longer have the trials and tribulations that comes from being where the Lord is. Just want to mention one more thing and then I want to pass on to Nehemiah. You might turn to it. Nehemiah 8. I mentioned that what we have in Ruth, what we have in the remnant testimony is normal Christianity. And I want to emphasize that, brethren.
It's normal Christianity. It's not average Christianity. That's what the world around us or the professions professors around us fall into. That's average Christianity. That's certainly not according to God's mind. But I want to say something else too.
Neither is it elite Christianity.
It's not elite Christianity either. It's normal Christianity. It's that which is close to the heart of Christ. It's not that which despises others, but it's that which walks close to the heart of Christ, just like the Philadelphia does.
It's satisfied with Christ not speaking about ourselves, because that's what elite Christianity is.
Elite Christianity is simply Laodicea, just as average Christianity is.
Let's turn on then to Nehemiah Chapter 8.
There's a verse that was read the other day.
And I've enjoyed it for some time in verse verse 10.
It says, Then he said unto them, Nehemiah speaking, Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them, for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is wholly unto our Lord. Neither be ye sorry. And then this last phrase is what I had in mind, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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The joy of the Lord is your strength. I'll get back to that in just a minute, but.
Let's if you would just keep your finger here and turn over to Haggai. We know of course, that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah go together and the book of Nehemiah took place a little bit later than the book of the events that took place in the book of Ezra.
And over in the book of Haggai.
We have some of the internal or the spiritual history of what took place in Ezra's day.
What happened in Ezra's day?
It was a remnant testimony. We remember that after the children of Israel, the the 1St, the 10 tribes were carried away because of their, their unfaithfulness of the Lord. And then in time because of the unfaithfulness of the two tribes that were left, they too were carried away to the land of Babylon. They were carried away for 70 years outside their land.
And then in time, as remember, Cyrus sent the people back, a small little remnant of the people back, just a small remnant, were sent back to the land of Israel.
And they were given the vessels from the temple that were left.
They were just a little remnant. We spoke about that remnant, didn't we? Just a little remnant. They weren't all Israel. They weren't even all Jude and Benjamin. They were just a small number, but they went back in obedience to the Lord.
Well, in Haggai we have some of the characteristics of those people I might mention. Just one more thing before we look at a few verses here in Haggai.
You know, it struck me that when those people went back in Ezra's day that they were missing some of the things they had before when they went back this time.
There was number Shekinah glory, you know, in the wilderness. The Israelites had that Shekinah glory, that cloud of glory over the Tabernacle. It was the outward visible sign of the Lord's presence.
And when Solomon dedicated the temple, that Shekinah glory also came on the sanctuary. It was the visible signal, visible sign of God's presence. But you know, we read in the book of Ezekiel how that Shekinah glory left. And so when these people went back, the Shekinah glory was no longer there. There was no outward sign that the Lord was there.
Another thing.
We read about a number of the vessels that they took back with them.
But you know, one of the vessels or one of the pieces of furniture that we don't read anything about was the Ark.
And it's been regularly said that the Ark.
That they didn't have the ark anymore, so they didn't have the Shekinah glory, they didn't have the Ark of God where the Lord dwelt between the cherry bins on the mercy seat. That was gone.
And how about the priests? They didn't have the Urim and Thummim that they could inquire of the Lorde mind anymore. That was gone.
All those things were gone. The Shekinah glory was gone, the Urim and Thummim.
The ark was gone. What did they have?
What did they have? Why did they go back?
While it was a remnant testimony and this just to read in Haggai a few verses, is such an encouragement to me because I think there's some encouragement for us. Look at Hagee Eye chapter one and verse 8. Now you might remember what happened here. These people in Ezra's day came back.
And then?
They began to build the temple. It was a small little temple, you might remember that. And when they laid the foundation, some of the old men began to weep.
Because they have seen the temple of Solomon in its glory, and they saw this pitiful little foundation that would be Ezra's temple. And they wept. The glory was gone, wasn't it? These people were low. Am I? They're never again called the people of God.
And So what a sad picture. But they're a remnant and they're given encouragement. And here's the encouragement they're given. They started to build the temple of the Lord. And then in time what happened was they were discouraged and they stopped building. And the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to prophecy. And here's what we read from Haggai, verse 8, Haggai chapter one, and verse 8, go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house.
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Now here is a remnant character.
And I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified.
Saith the Lord. No Ark, no Shekinah, glory no Urumantham.
But the Lord's approval.
Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Look at verse 12. Here's another Remnant character.
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shaltiel, and Joshua the son of Jose Deck the high priest with all the remnant of the people. Notice it says remnant there obey the voice of the Lord their God. There's another characteristic of the remnant is they obey the Lord their God.
Look at verse 13. Remember the Shekinah glory is gone, so is the ark.
But read verse 13. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, and the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
There was no outward sign of the Lord's presence there.
The ark was gone, but the Lord was with him in an abiding way. And you know about 170 years and now, now ago now, the same truth is recovered, wasn't it? Thank God for it. Some brothers knew that the outward testimony was in ruin that could never be recovered.
But they read that first. Matthew 1820.
Says For where two or three are gathered together under my name, there am I in the midst of them. Isn't that a wonderful truth?
You know, we know some Russian brethren in our area. I know you have some Russian brethren here. I don't see him right now, but I saw him earlier today and we got a hold of Ron Junior, gave us a copy of just one little pamphlet we've been able to give to these Russian brethren. They've asked us to meet with him and asked us to tell him more about the the truth, what they call the Bible way. We've only been able to give him one pamphlet in their own language so far. And I can't read the pamphlet. The only thing I know about the pamphlet is this by Mr. Darby.
And the only thing I could read was Matthew 1820 on it.
And that was given to these Russians of Brother Dave Tooks here, you know, when he gave it to him, I think about a year ago.
And about four months ago, Dave said, you know, I really like that pamphlet back. And they said, brother, we we need that pamphlet. We can't give it to you. We need it.
Well, they treasured that, and so these brethren about 170 years ago treasured it. And I submit that that's another remnant characteristic.
They have the Lord's presence. I am with you, saith the Lord.
And then in the second chapter.
We look at verse four, it says, yet now be strong those rubble, saith the Lord, and be be strong, O Joshua, son of Jaws, the deck, the high priest, and be strong all ye people, the Lamb, saith the Lord and work here we have these characteristics again, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Verse five According to the word that I covenanted with you when he came out of Egypt, that's obedience to the word of God. So my spirit remaineth among you. Fear ye not.
Those are wonderful remnant characteristics, aren't they? The Lord in their midst.
Obedience to the Word of God.
God's Spirit dwelling among them.
Let's turn back to Nehemiah Times getting on quickly.
So that's the book of Ezra, the book of Nehemiah then remembered the temple was built in Ezra's day. And now in the book of Nehemiah, the the wall is built. You know, that city of Jerusalem was a was a rubble. It had been destroyed. There was not much left there.
And it had been destroyed. Now this verse, the end of verse 10 for the joy.
Of the Lord is your strength.
You know, I've enjoyed that verse lately.
What is left in a day of small things?
It's not. It's not. I don't read in scripture to go fill a stadium with cheering people. I don't read that in scripture.
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But what is the joy of the Lord is your strength. You know, sometimes we misread that verse.
And we think it says that our joy in the Lord is our strength.
But you know that's not the meaning at all. The meaning is that the strength of the remnant is that which gives the Lord joy.
What is it that gives the Lord joy in our day? What is it that gives the Lord joy? I just like to look at a few verses. I'm sure that.
Each of each of us here has enjoyed these verses and other verses. Let's look at Matthew chapter 3.
What is the joy of the Lord in this remnant day? Matthew chapter 3.
This is the Lord's baptism.
Verse 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
And verse 17 is what I had in mind. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son.
And in the new translation it says In whom I have found my delight.
Do you think that's the joy of the Lord?
It is, isn't it? God finds his supreme delight in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a suitable subject for the remnant testimony, the joy of the Lord. Let's turn over quickly to Luke chapter 15. I think we'll find a similar thing you remember in Luke chapter 15. It actually.
Is 3 little stories, but it's actually only called one parable if you read it carefully.
Want to look just briefly at the third? Remember the story of the Prodigal son?
He comes back and the father receives him.
According to his own dignity, he doesn't receive him according to the position, the condition that the young man had fallen into, but he receives him according to his own dignity. And that's what God does with us, doesn't he? He receives us according to his own dignity. Look at verse 22. The sun says in verse 21, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and no more worthy to be called thy son. Verse 22 But the Father said to his servant, spring forth the best robe.
This is according to his dignity. This is how we've been received. And put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hit her the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to make merry.
Well, that's certainly the joy of the Lord, isn't it? It speaks about they began to make merry. What is it that the heart of God. What is it that brings heart joy to the heart of God? It's feeding on the fatted calf. That's the person in the work of Christ.
The fatted calf, that's a suitable subject for us as a remnant testimony. Let's look over. We're in Luke. Let's look over to the 17th chapter. There's more we could look at.
I'm sure we've all enjoyed many, but.
Verse 11 of Luke 17 speaks about 10 lepers outside the city of Jericho.
They lift up their voices and ask that their leprosy might be cleansed.
Verse 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priest. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed?
But where are there are the nine, there are not found that return to give glory to God.
Save this stranger.
I believe that worship.
Is also that which brings joy to God's heart. True worship. Simple worship. Just one out of 10 here, isn't it?
That is the joy of the Lord.
Let's look at another over in John chapter 4. I love that example there. You know, sometimes we hear people say, well, you know, these things aren't really very important. It's important to serve the Lord. It's important to do lots of works, but these things aren't really very important. Let's look at John 4. See what the Lord Jesus says. We don't have a better authority than that.
He's speaking to the woman at the well in John 4.
And in verse 23 it says this. But the hour cometh. And now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
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The Father seeketh such.
Worship Him.
Rather than it's not worshipping the Father, when we come and listen to some man speak, it may help us, but it's not worshiping the Father and the Father seeketh such to worship him. He wants to worship of our hearts and spirit and in truth. We don't use music, we don't have beautiful buildings. That's not spirit and truth. But he wants to worship of her heart and spirit and the truth. You know, you remember the story here and I.
Love to read that verse 32. The Lord Jesus, the disciples had gone to the city to get meat.
And the Lord Jesus, when they got back, the Lord wasn't hungry anymore. Why not?
Because he had found his joy in something, He had seen this woman turn to the Lord. And he says in verse 32.
They said master eat but he wasn't hungry.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that she know not of.
This is what fills his heart and thrills his heart is to see a lost Sinner saved. I have meat to eat that you know not of. Well, I see our time just about gone. I want to turn to a verse in First Peter along the same lines, First Peter chapter 2.
And I'm sure you can fill in many of these.
What is the joy of the Lord is your strength. It's not our joy, brethren. What is it that gives joy to the heart of God? Look at First Peter chapter 2.
First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation.
A peculiar people. And then this is what I particularly had in mind, that she should show forth the praises.
Of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, do you think that brings joy to the heart of God?
It does, doesn't it?
You know, there's some other things that bring joy to the heart of God.
If we turn to the fifth chapter of Ephesians and I know our time is almost gone, so I'll just refer to him briefly to finish the subject.
We turn to the fifth chapter of Ephesians that talks about the Church as the bride of Christ.
And that brings several thoughts the mind, doesn't it? One is, it speaks about being subject to Christ. That's a remnant characteristic, isn't it, Obedience to Christ.
It says that the Church is subject to Christ at Ephesians chapter 5. You can look it up. The bride also brings out the thoughts of affection, doesn't it? You know, in the Song of Solomon when the bride is speaking to the bridegroom, it says, Thou hast ravished me with one of thine eyes.
You know the Lord Jesus wants both our eyes. He wants our whole heart.
But even one of our eyes ravishes his heart. That's the joy of the Lord, isn't it? Thou hast ravished me with one of thine eyes.
But He wants our whole heart. If we turn to Revelation chapter 2, we read about that first.
Of the seven assemblies, the Ephesian assembly, we read a number of good things that they were doing there in Ephesus.
But then it comes down to the verse where it says, I have. You know, it says somewhat in our translation, but that word somewhat should be there because of the Lord. This was a very serious problem. I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first love.
Does the Lord want our hearts?
He's not satisfied with anything less than all of our hearts.
My son give me thine heart, it tells us in the proverbs, and he has against them that they had left.
Their first love. He doesn't want less.
Your Journey of Life, Acts 27:1, Luke 2:42-45, 9:1-3
Gospel—D. Nicolet
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As I am.
Without one way.
Thank you.
Open with me to read the 1St 12 Words of Acts chapter 27.
Verse one.
Acts, Chapter 27.
The 1St 12 words.
Of verse one.
I'm going to read it.
Slightly perhaps different in the J&D translation.
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But when it had been determined that we should sail to Italy.
Perhaps most of us in this room tonight are very well acquainted with this passage, which tells us about the voyage that the beloved apostle Paul took.
With those prisoners, those other prisoners.
Their destination was Rome. Their destination was Caesar's tribunal in Rome, there to be judged for their deeds.
We well know that the beloved apostle was innocent.
All that was going on.
In that sense, here was of God's ordering.
But what I want to do tonight is speak to the hearts of each one in this room, who can understand what I'm saying from the youngest.
To the oldest to tell you that you.
Two are on a voyage tonight.
And that voyage is going to end, in a sense, the same as this voyage ended.
With the prisoners standing before Caesar, however, the voyage that you're on tonight, the voyage of life, the journey that you're on.
Whether you've been on that journey ever so few years, or whether you've been on that journey for a long, long time, that you, my friend, will stand before a far more solemn tribunal, the holy righteous God of this universe.
If tonight.
You would enter eternity.
Loss a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your personal savior.
And so here we have a story. It's not my intent to go over this story.
But just to consider a little background to set the stage for what I have on my heart, as it were.
We have a journey that.
People are going to take.
It says. And when it had been determined, they didn't determine that they were going to take that journey, it was determined for them.
You, we might say, had no choice about beginning your journey of life. But you're on that journey tonight. Whether you made it, Whether or not there was a conscious choice or decision, you certainly didn't make it. But you most surely are on a journey.
And the journey that you're on, every single soul in this room tonight.
I say there's going to be an end of that journey. The time will come.
Sooner or later, beloved children, you that are very young sitting here, if you can understand what I'm saying.
Each one of us, those of us who are older, we perhaps, as we go on, have a growing sense of it.
That the journey of life whereon has an end in this.
World.
And should the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Wait to come for his beloved bride that long.
Every soul in this room will come to a point.
Where their journey will end?
And then you will have a destination. You will have reached the destination in one of two places.
The tribunal that we spoke of pictured by Caesar's court.
Or in the presence of the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
In glory forever, those two thieves on the cross one.
Ended in one place, the other in paradise.
And their life's journey came to an abrupt and violent end.
Forgive me if.
In here have heard this story.
Perhaps it will illustrate the solemnity.
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Of this journey, in a way, and the seriousness of the decisions that you will make which will affect.
The outcome of the journey that you are on tonight.
A brother recounted this to me.
I trust I have the details right.
During the Second World War, AUS naval vessel was sailing.
And it was a very, very stormy night.
Very difficult to see anything.
And as the vessel was sailing through the seas, being tossed in this fairly severe storm.
Off in the distance and on a direct collision course with this vessel, showing a very bright light.
The captain immediately asked the man in charge of communications.
To send a message warning that vessel with that light of the danger.
Of the course that it was on.
And so the message went out. This is a US naval vessel.
You are on a collision course. Change your course.
And for a while there was number answer.
And a little while longer went by and there was still no answer.
The light shone, perhaps a bit closer. No answer.
And so the captain asked that the message again be sent more urgently.
You're on a collision course with the United States naval vessel. Change your course.
The light still shone.
The storm blew no answer.
The captain himself came down to the communications room.
And he took the microphone or whatever device he used to send a message.
And he said this is the captain of the United States battleship.
You are on a collision course. Change your course.
There was continued silence and then a message came back.
And it said this is a United States.
Lighthouse.
You should change your course.
Tonight, dear friends, everyone of us is on a journey.
There are two destinations.
We read about one of those destinations.
Well, we read about a general warning in Acts chapter 17.
In verse 31.
He God hath appointed a day into which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man.
Whom he hath ordained, O beloved friends.
Tonight.
Is it going to be at the end of the journey you're on that you haven't heeded the warnings?
I'm looking into faces that I have no doubt have heard warnings time after time after time.
Warning you of danger of judgment, telling you of God's righteousness, his righteous holy claims, telling you of a blessed Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ, his beloved Son, who went to the cross, shed his precious blood, that you might be saved.
And you've heard that over and over again. What are you doing? What course are you on? You see the light up in front of you, as it were.
Are you going to stay on a collision course tonight? Is your life's journey going to continue on as it is stranger to the Lord Jesus?
You know, though, we aren't going to follow this story. Well, you could follow it out and see.
That there were warnings given to the one who was responsible.
For guiding this ship that these prisoners were on.
And they were warned not to go on that voyage, to stay at a place called fair havens. It was a place of safety.
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But it didn't look comfortable. It wasn't a place that says that was commodious to winter in.
It wasn't going to have all of the comforts that they desired. They knew that a little further down the shoreline.
There was a much more comfortable harbor, and though the beloved apostle Paul faithfully warned them against going any further.
They decided to continue on their journey to get to another location.
That was more comfortable.
Perhaps tonight being a Christian.
Being out and out for the Lord Jesus Christ, walking with him in fellowship, knowing him, confessing him as your Savior and as your Lord.
Is not a comfortable place for you in your heart of hearts.
To spend as it were, the winter and you're looking for something more comfortable? Well, I tell you, out beyond the walls of this building, there are many things that look more comfortable, more convenient, more acceptable than walking the Christian path then going on a journey as a Christian saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that world out there has tremendous.
Ports, as it were, that looked very, very nice, very, very comfortable, very, very inviting.
But there is a warning going out, and it may go out ever so feebly tonight.
But you hold in your lap a perfect book.
With perfect warnings so that even if the ones speaking tonight.
Does less than an adequate job in warning you. That book that you hold on your lap, the word of God.
Has been warning you ever since you picked it up for the first time and began to read its blessed pages.
Of the dangers of going on in this journey.
Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I said earlier that the journey of life can end.
Very violently.
Very abruptly.
It may be a long journey. It may be a short journey.
But before we turn now to look at some journeys in the word of God.
Let me say again, I beseech you, dear friends, sitting here tonight.
To consider.
You, you yourself are on a journey.
And that journey will come to an end.
And there's not one person in this room who.
Seriously, would dare to say I know.
When the journey of my life is going to end, you don't know that. Neither do I.
But you do know that it will end, and if it ends apart, having been taken?
Without the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal savior.
You will stand before a most incredible tribunal, as it were, a judge.
Who is going to judge an absolute perfection?
And there will be no hope.
Dear friends.
Tonight consider.
And in your mind, you beloved young people who have so much.
Naturally, speaking ahead of you, it seems like an almost endless Vista of life in front of you, and it seems perhaps so difficult to understand when people talk to you about the coming of the Lord Jesus.
He is coming. How do I know that? Because he said that.
The Lord Jesus is coming back and he said, behold, I come quickly.
Those are his words.
And yet you sit there with a life, as it were, considering stretching out in front of you. That seems almost endless.
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And they're such a great danger. There's so much in front of you. The world tells you. There's so much to do, to experience the taste, so many things to try, so much fun to have.
I tell you, there is a sign somewhere on that road.
Stretching out in front of your eyes, that says the end.
And you don't know if you're going to come in your journey to that sign tomorrow.
Or many years down the road.
I just trust tonight.
That as we turn now to consider a few journeys that we have mentioned in the word of God.
That the Spirit of God will work in your hearts, if there are any here.
Strangers to the Lord Jesus going on a journey.
With an end to stand before a holy, righteous God.
As judge these prisoners.
Was it 200 of them?
We don't know what happened, but we do know this.
Through a terrible storm, through incredible hardships, through an awful shipwreck, they still ended up evidently standing before Caesar to hear a judgment pronounced upon them for what they had done.
I'm so thankful tonight. My blessed savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken my judgment.
That's over for me. I don't have to look forward to that. He bore my sins on Calvary's Cross Precious Blood shed to wash them away.
And I don't look forward to a tribunal. I don't look forward to a judge. I look forward to meeting face to face the most wonderful friend and Lord and savior.
Impossible to describe.
But many of you here know exactly what I'm talking about. A friend that's walked with you faithfully, step by step, every step of your journey.
And it will never leave you.
That's what I'm looking forward to and maybe maybe tonight.
Behold, I come quickly. When is that going to happen?
I believe he said that to encourage each of those who belong to him to look for his coming momentarily.
No, those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ His Savior aren't looking to stand before a judge to answer to anything. It's been answered at a cross 2000 years ago and answered fully to God's satisfaction. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God.
God in Christ.
Are you looking forward to that? If you're not, I beg you tonight, dear friend, think seriously about the end of the journey that you're on. I want to turn to Luke. We will go through these just briefly. I don't put a particular significance on the number, but we're going to look at 7 instances of journeys in the chat in the gospel by Luke.
And as we look at these journeys.
I want it to be understood that I'm simply going to make some applications from them.
We're just going to look at the journeys and seek by the grace of God, with the help of the blessed Spirit of God, to.
Make some applications that might be used to bring blessing.
Two souls in this room tonight.
We'll look in Luke.
Chapter.
3.
A little account of the Blessed Lord Jesus as a 12 year old boy.
We'll start reading in verse 42.
And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast, when they had fulfilled the days as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of it, but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey.
00:25:06
And they sought him among their kinfolk.
And acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking.
Him. Now I want to start with this and I want to speak to those.
That as one attends various prayer meetings for the Gospel.
Probably the group that is, I would say, most prayed for.
Children and young people sitting in this room tonight who have been brought up in a Christian home.
And I'm just going to make an application of this journey to you.
Here were those who thought the Lord Jesus was with them in their journey.
And they were mistaken.
They thought he was there.
And they thought he was there because their friends, their acquaintances, their neighbors, their family was there. And they assumed that if their family was there, Jesus would be there.
Perhaps that's a little like you tonight. You have Christian parents. You have Christian relatives. You may be in an assembly that's large enough that you have Christian friends and you're on your journey, assuming that you too are a Christian, that the Lord Jesus is with you in that journey because he's with the others.
How many times have we heard stories of those who said that at one time or another in their life?
They woke up at night, they came home unexpectedly, and those they loved and knew to be Christians knew to.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ were not to be found.
And the accounts of the fear and the dread that they felt in their hearts, thinking that the Lord had come, They were mistaken. They thought Jesus was with them.
But they missed him.
I don't want anyone tonight in this room.
To think because you've grown up in a Christian home, because you're sitting here with several hundred other Christians, because you go to the meetings and on and on and on, all of the things that in your mind you can put together to look at and say the Lord Jesus must be my Savior.
I don't want you to go for one day on that journey, assuming that the Lord is your savior, if you have never really before him. Ask him to be your Lord and savior before him, believed by faith God's record, that you are a Sinner.
That that forever shuts you out of the presence of a holy, righteous God.
That He sent his beloved Son into this world, and that blessed One went to a cross, and there shed his precious blood.
And that that blood, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. That you will believe by faith, that record for yourself tonight, not because your parents believe it, not because your family and kinfolk believe it, but because you personally believe it for yourself. They went one day, and they found the Lord Jesus wasn't with them. May God grant.
For each one in this room.
That tonight you by His Grace, might be able to say. I know.
I know.
On the authority of the precious word of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is my personal Savior.
Let's turn over to Luke. And again, I just want to say, as we look at these various beautiful accounts, they're not the only journeys, they're not the only trips perhaps, that you'll find in Luke.
And I want to say again, I'm just simply applying these in this gospel meeting.
For we trust blessing.
But let's look at this in.
Luke Chapter 9.
Verse one then he Jesus called his 12 disciples together and they gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases.
And he sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Verse 3 is what I had on my heart.
00:30:04
And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor script, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece.
That's a strange journey to take, isn't it?
To go on a journey.
And to take nothing.
Do not have any way to support yourself on that journey, to not have the means to be able to finish that journey.
But dear friends, that's exactly what God would like you to understand tonight. If you're here without Christ, nothing you can do in your life, nothing you can provide yourself in your life, can ensure that you can finish the journey. You won't be able to do it.
These who were sent out by the Lord Jesus were going to go out in a conscious sense that they had nothing, and if they were going to go, they were going to act on faith.
Faith, Faith alone. To go on a journey and to take no bread.
One of the first things my wife and I did shortly before.
We went to the airport to get on. The airplane was to go to the bank.
And to get some money.
We came down with I trust they won't mind if I tell a little story on them.
Dan and Esther, Tony and he brought us down from the Kirkland area and I noticed they did the same thing before we left town. They stopped at a bank to get some money. We were going on a journey.
And we needed some means to be able to get to the end of that journey.
And to complete that journey, But my friend, you and I have no way.
To provide what we need to get ourselves home, as it were, to heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ has provided everything for our journey.
No money will buy that journey, no efforts will buy that will allow us to work our way through that journey.
And you don't need 2 garments, you just need one, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Clothed in that garment and that alone, by faith you will finish the journey home safe to heaven. But don't think that your money, your efforts, your character, anything about you, is going to enable you by your efforts to get home to heaven safe in the Father's house. That's something that has been provided to faith through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And faith alone can lay hold of that.
Turn it over to.
The 10th chapter of Luke.
Perhaps one of the very best known stories in this wonderful book.
The man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This was mentioned in the Reading meeting this afternoon. We'll look at verse 33, but a certain Samaritan.
As he journeyed, came where he, the wounded man was.
And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. I'd like to read that in the new translation. It's beautiful.
But a certain Samaritan journeying came to him.
And seeing him was moved with compassion.
And came up.
To him? Isn't that precious if you come up to somebody?
You have to have gone lower than them.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich.
Yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye through his poverty, might be rich.
I want to ask you.
Do you think you'll ever find anyone who so loved you?
Had such compassion and concern for your condition that has gone lower than the Blessed Lord Jesus who went down into death, even the death of the cross.
00:35:01
There in Jonah the Prophet, he went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the weeds.
Were wrapped about his head.
Blessed Lord Jesus on the cross, that crown of thorns wrapped on his head. Why was it there?
Do you think you had anything to do?
With that crown that he wore.
It wasn't there because he deserved it.
Blessed Savior, compassion. He saw that man.
He saw you wounded and needy. You think you're going on a journey. You think you can make it alone in this life.
I want to be careful with the word of God. I expect this man didn't get halfway.
Between between Jerusalem and Jericho before he was lying wounded.
In a ditch.
Had beloved young people you know very well.
As you look around.
At those you work with, those you go to school with.
Those you read about, you know very well that it doesn't take long in this life to be terribly wounded and left half dead.
But I want to tell you, there's a despised outcast.
In the eyes of this world Samaritan, I say that reverently.
Who is on a journey?
And tonight I would like to make that very personal for you. He's on a journey for you personally.
And he's looking, and he sees you, and he has come down ever so low. No man could ever go lower than the Blessed Lord Jesus.
And he's done that in his love and his compassion for you that he might bring you.
To that place of rest, the end.
What are you going to do? What do you suppose that wounded man did?
After those others, the Levite, the priests, whoever they were, whatever their excuses.
Pass by. Do you suppose that he was conscious enough to be able?
In the dimness of his wounded vision, to see people walking by.
What do you think it meant to him when he saw a form come over to him and lean over?
And come down to where he was and minister to him.
Do you think? He shrugged his shoulders.
Acted unconcerned.
Acted as though it didn't matter. Acted as though tomorrow would be fine to be taken care of.
I don't believe it for a minute.
How are you acting tonight as this blessed?
Man, this Samaritan, as it were, leans over in compassion, having come up.
To where you are.
Out of the depths of that horrible cross.
That he might pour in oil and wine.
And bring you to a place of rest. What are you going to do with that tonight?
Are you going to say no to him?
Oh dear friend.
He's not going to make a second journey.
He's gone through this world. He's passing through now. And you know, I say carefully.
That journey will come to an end, too.
When the day of grace is over, this blessed Samaritan, the Son of God.
Is making no more journeys through this world.
For those who tonight are sitting here and may be rejecting.
His offer of care and love and grace.
Let's look at Luke Chapter 11.
And verse 5.
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go on to him at midnight, and shall say unto him, Friend, lend ME3 loaves.
For a friend of mine is in his journey, In his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. You know, when we began tonight, I spoke about those who have grown up in Christian homes.
Who may be thinking that the Lord is with them because he's with their family.
Now I want to speak and I don't know. As I lookout over the audience tonight, I have no way to know.
00:40:04
If there are any here who are visiting.
If you are, we're so glad you're here.
And you've come, And if you come here tonight, not sure or without the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your personal savior, you are in desperate need of bread.
And I would like to be the friend that you have come to.
Asking for bread.
But I have a problem.
I can't give you that bread.
But I have a wonderful friend.
That has bread for you, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a precious friend.
And tonight, even now and before this meeting.
And I enjoyed that thought that was expressed here, that for weeks prayers being going up ascending to this friend, a friend who sticketh closer than a brother.
That tonight the need that you have in your journey, the need of bread.
Might be met, the Lord Jesus could say that he was the bread come down from heaven, that a man might eat of him and live.
And tonight I want to tell you, dear friend, if you've come into this hall.
You too are on a journey, but if you have come in a stranger to the blessed Lord Jesus Christ not able to say.
He's my friend. He's my Lord. He's my savior.
If you can't say that tonight.
Would you allow me to go to my friend, the best friend I've ever had or ever will have?
And beg him for bread to give to you.
On your journey.
Would you tonight, simply by faith, say, Lord Jesus, I want thee.
As my Lord and my Savior.
What a satisfying bread that would be.
You're on a journey. You have no bread if you have not the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your Savior, He is here tonight offering himself to you, and all you need to do is reach out and take by faith that bread for your journey.
Luke, Chapter 13.
This is Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 22 of Luke chapter 13 and he Jesus.
Went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward.
Jerusalem.
You know, the journey that we came on as we were kindly brought down here from Kirkland was a very pleasant journey.
We got to see what I, coming from the Midwest considered to be an absolutely incredible.
An awesome sight. The sun was shining in a clear sky as we went up through one of the passes. I'd forgotten the name of it now many of you probably know, but one of the passes over Mount Rainier.
And the view, the incredible grandeur and majesty of that trip was beyond my ability to describe.
It was a very pleasant journey.
Taken in the company of loved ones who saw to our care and made sure that we were comfortable. What a nice journey.
Do you think that's the journey that the Lord Jesus had as he went to Jerusalem?
I knew that when we got here, should the Lord leave us here, I would meet.
Those that I've never met before, I would be reacquainted with those that we have met in the past.
And we be with those who love and love the blessed Lord Jesus.
Those who I call my brothers and sisters, those who have shown love and care for me.
And so I could look forward to the end of a very, very pleasant journey.
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Do you think the Lord Jesus looked forward to a pleasant end in Jerusalem?
He, being wearied with his journey, sat on a well.
Did you ever think what it meant to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ as he walked through this world?
A world that he had created in perfection.
And saw it spoiled by sin, the misery.
The unhappiness, the violence, the corruption.
He was wearied with his journey and he full well knew what awaited him.
At Jerusalem, it was not going to be a welcome of joy and love and open arms.
And happiness. It was going to be a welcome of spitting and shame.
Blessed Lord Jesus.
And he knew every stroke that was going to fall on his blessed back.
He knew the individual of everyone who struck him in the face.
And said prophesied out Christ.
He knew everything and he knew more than that. He knew what it meant.
That he was going to go to the cross and be forsaken of his God.
Perfect, Holy, spotless man.
That was the journey he took.
And he took that tonight, beloved friend.
So that the journey you're on might and enjoy and bliss and happiness in the Father's house.
Rather than a lost eternity in the lake of fire.
Prepared for the devil and his angels.
Let's look look at.
Luke, Chapter 15.
Again, a story very well known will just read one verse, verse 13.
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took.
His journey into a far country.
And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
There is the absolute opposite.
Of the blessed Lord Jesus who took his journey to Jerusalem, he took that journey.
In absolute selflessness.
Set aside all that he might claim as a perfect man.
And accomplish the father's will.
Here is what you and I by nature are taking everything. By nature I say everything that we can get to waste it on ourselves.
I look around this room tonight and I see a group of young people. It's a tremendous joy and encouragement.
You look.
Wonderful.
This young man looked wonderful as he began this journey.
And he began it with a very, very fat pocket book.
He began it with every advantage that money and position.
Could give him.
He looked to the eye. Great.
How do you think? He looked a short time later in the pig pen.
So hungry that he would have taken one of those filthy husks that the pigs were eating.
He a Jew.
Swine the unclean Anne, one of the unclean animals to the Jew. And yet he would have filled his belly with the food that that unclean animal ate. You think he looked good then? All beloved young people, be careful.
Be careful what you're hearing the world tell you tonight. Be careful of the bill of goods that the world is trying to sell you, to tell you to go out and live it up. There's a saying.
00:50:14
In an ad from a very well known athletic shoe company, it goes something like this. Life is short. Play hard.
Well, half of that ad is very true.
Life is short. The journey is short.
The other half is an absolute lie.
Of the enemy of your soul, it should have said, Pray hard.
Life is short. Pray hard.
This young man found how short that journey could be.
By the grace of God, he was brought back. Do you want to end up down in a pig pen before you finally come to your senses and turn around and come back? Wouldn't it be easier tonight to simply in your heart say blessed Lord Jesus?
I don't want what is mine, I want to have what is mine.
That thou art offering me eternal life.
And save yourself that trip down to the pig pen.
In closing.
I'm going to.
Change the character a bit.
Of the Gospel Meeting.
And we're going to look at one more instance.
Of people on a journey.
Trust that this is.
Of the Lord turn to Luke 24.
And verse 13.
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, About 3 score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. Well, here's the 7th journey, though it doesn't use that word that I'd like to close with tonight.
These were believers.
I rather suspect I'm speaking to a large majority tonight of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I would like to speak to the hearts of the young believers, if I may be allowed for a moment.
And perhaps all of us too, a time came when there was a great discouragement that came in to these two believers lives.
They had believed in the Messiah they had.
Believed that he was the one sent that was going to restore Israel to its place of greatness and glory.
Were they wrong in believing that? No, he's going to do that.
But it didn't happen in the way that they thought, and it didn't happen when they thought it ought to happen.
And Jerusalem instead of through their eyes by faith being God's center and remaining there in spite of what?
Outwardly had taken place.
They get discouraged and they go on a journey to Emmaus. I want to be careful about attaching meanings to words. Those who are far more capable of that kind of study may.
Have a different meaning, but at least in some sources that I looked, Emmaus means something like.
Warm Springs or Hot Springs?
It probably looked it was their home and it probably looked like a good alternative to staying in Jerusalem, where everything was cold.
And bleak because that one they had trusted in.
Had been crucified.
All of their hopes and dreams had come to a smashing end.
And now they decided to go on a journey to get where their discouragement could be eased a bit in the Warm Springs.
Have you ever been discouraged? I have.
And sometimes we look around and we look for a place that seems like it's going to be more comfortable, more pleasant, because whether it's the assembly or our home or our particular job, whatever it is, it didn't work out. It wasn't what we thought it was going to be.
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And we get discouraged. The Lord didn't seem to act the way we had trusted.
That he was going to act in our behalf.
Beloved young people, you have, I know, hopes and dreams if the Lord leaves us here.
And perhaps they don't come true in just the way that you desire that they would.
You trust in the Lord. You know the Lord is with you. He loves you. He wants to bless you.
But your prayers and your earnest desires aren't being answered in the way that you wanted them to be answered.
Don't go to the Hot Springs.
But these did, and we all do. Sometimes in our lives we get discouraged and we go down to Emmaus, as it were. But this is so precious.
Jesus himself.
Jesus himself, did he know about their discouragement?
Did he know about their journey? Yes, he did. Does he know about that discouragement in your heart and in life, your life?
Just remember, dear friend, beloved young person, Jesus himself.
Knows about you and he's interested in you and he loves you.
And it's not only that Jesus himself knows and is interested in you and loves you.
But it says drew near and went with them.
Isn't that precious?
In the times when we're discouraged on our journeys.
To be able to look by faith and say blessed Lord Jesus.
Thou art with me now. The Lord Jesus, I say reverently, wasn't satisfied that they would stay there. But he went with them in grace and love and warmed their hearts, revealed himself to them. And then he was gone, and they had to go back to the place they left to find him again. And they did.
All dear friends.
What a Savior, what a Lord we have who even in our discouragement in such grace, condescending love and grace.
Would walk with us.
By US Jesus himself.
Talk to us, stir our hearts and warm our hearts. Did not our hearts burn within us?
While he walked with us and talked with us by the way, and then reveal himself.
To them that they might go back to the place where he wanted them to be.
Well, dear friends, there's the journeys. Where's your journey going to end tonight? It may end tonight.
I will say one more time.
The journey you're on.
The journey. Every single individual in this room is on the journey of life.
Will without exception come.
To an end.
Where will your end be standing as it were before Caesar, to answer for your sins?
Or there in the Father.
God's Interest in You
Gospel—J. Kemp
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.
Look.
At the Crucified One there is light at this moment for thee #26.
Revelation chapter 3.
Verse 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door.
I will come into him.
And will Sup with him, and he with me.
Now, dear friends, tonight.
This is a gospel meeting to tell forth.
The message of God's wondrous love and grace. And we sang in our hymn.
In the last stanza, admit him.
For the human breast near entertained so kind a guest and at the outset of our meeting tonight, we want you to know.
Without any doubt in your mind that God has a deep.
Interest in your eternal blessing. Boys, girls, men, women. God's looking down upon this hall tonight. He searches the hearts of everyone.
All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Nothing can be hid from his eye.
You cannot.
Hide your sins from God.
Your sins are either marked before the face of the Lord, or they're put away by the blood of Christ, one of the two.
And dear friend, this evening we want you to know at the outset of our little meeting that God loves your soul.
I don't care where you came from, Oregon, your age, but I do know that God has an interest in your eternal blessing tonight.
00:05:08
You do. This is the last meeting of the conference.
And you have no promise that you will have another opportunity.
To hear the gospel.
No promise whatever. My spirit shall not always strive with man, the Lord has said. And boys and girls, God is speaking to you tonight. Not to the one beside you, not to your neighbor, not to that boy or girl in front of you. There God has a message.
Especially for you.
And God's finger, God's eye, is looking down into the recesses of your heart. I visited a man in the.
Hospital in Seattle the other day.
And he told me, just a young man, colored man. He told me I could have been in eternity.
I got into a quarrel with my friend and the knife just missed my heart by a few inches. I would have been gone.
I said, Sir, God has given you another opportunity to hear the message.
Pardon. Are you saved if you had gone into eternity on that occasion?
If that knife had penetrated the vital spot, where would you be? He may have been a believer. I don't know. Dear friend, tonight life is real and life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal. Dost thou art and unto dust returnest was not spoken of the soul.
Tonight, we want you to know.
That the Lord is standing at the door of your life and of your heart. I don't know how long he's been there.
I know He stood at my heart's door for many years and I resisted him and I made excuses until His love broke me down and opened my eyes to see Christ as my Savior. Doctor Simpson lived in Scotland.
Someone asked him the question one day. Doctor Simpson, you've been a great discoverer of.
Medical.
Advances and cures, and so on. What was the greatest discovery that you ever made? He said. He gave this beautiful reply. He said the greatest discovery was not chloroform, which he had, he had invented.
But he said the greatest discovery was that I was a great Sinner and Christ was a great Savior. Dear friends, tonight, have you made that discovery yet?
God is reaching out.
His arms are wide open, as our brother mentioned.
The other night God gives you a warning.
Because he loves you and you're going to leave this room.
Either an acceptor of Christ or a rejector of Christ.
Or a neglector.
My spirit shall not always strive with man.
And God's grace is reaching out to you, my Sinner friend. And I don't say that disparagingly because.
The one who stands here is only a Sinner, saved by the matchless grace of God.
And if I got what I deserved, it would be a lost eternity. And there's many that would agree with that.
But tonight, God's love.
Is reaching out. His arms are wide open.
Those hands that were nailed to the cross of Calvary.
Are now reached, reaching out to you.
With a message of forgiveness and pardon and redemption.
No matter how deep you may be sunk in the pit of sin and corruption.
There is power in the blood of Christ. The Lord's hand is not shortened.
That it cannot save and reach down to where you are and lift you up.
I'll tell you the story about a little boy. His name was Alfredo Rampy. He lived in Italy and as he was playing, he fell down into a well. And the more he struggled, the deeper he got down into that well.
00:10:19
And he was stuck fast and he couldn't move. It called forth the sympathy of the whole Italian nation and some brave Cavemen. They crawled down that well.
100 and 5200 feet in the mud and the slime and the darkness, and finally, one brave man, he was able to put his hand on little Alfredo.
But there was so much mud and slime he couldn't pull him up.
He radioed back that he had found him, but he couldn't get him out. And poor little Alfredo, six years of age, he died all alone in that dark well, when the whole nation was there, longing to rescue him. But their hand was short, they weren't able to do it. They loved the little boy, they would have been anything, but they couldn't rescue him.
Boys and girls and others, tonight, that's not the type of hand that I'm speaking about. The Lord's hand is not shortened. He can reach down to the deepest pit of corruption and he can lift you up and He'll put you on His shoulders. There's no dark, darkness too great, but the love of God can reach you and save you for eternity.
Dear friends, tonight your life.
Is known to the Lord, and every act and every thought and every word.
Is recorded. I want you to know that God's love tonight is reaching out to you where you are. I don't want you to point the finger at anyone else. I want you to point the finger at yourself. Don't be like those people we have we have the story about in John chapter 8. They brought that poor woman taken in adultery in the very act.
They brought her into the presence of the Lord, and they pointed the finger at her. Those scribes and those Pharisees who thought they were a lot better than that poor woman, they pointed the finger at her.
And they they tried to.
Drop the Lords. What was the Lord going to do with a woman like that? There she was. There was no doubt about her sin. Whatever, you know. The Lord stooped down and he wrote on the ground. And then those people, convicted by their own conscience, one by one they left the presence of the one who knew all about them. I don't know what the Lord was writing on the ground.
Doesn't tell us. It does tell us in the book of ISIS, of Jeremiah that those who forsake the Lord.
Their names are going to be written in the earth. Perhaps the Lord was writing the names of those people down.
I don't know, but they left the presence of the Lord. Two classes of sinners in that story. The woman, everyone would look down upon her. There was no doubt she was a Sinner who had disgraced herself and in society.
But there was another group of sinners there who didn't know their need, who didn't feel that they were lost, who looked down upon that woman. They were pointing the finger at her. Are you pointing the finger at someone else tonight? Job did that for a long time.
He was pointing the finger at others for the 1St 30 chapters of the book.
It took him a long time before he pointed the finger at himself and he said these words. Behold, I am vile, I repent in dust and ashes.
Your friends, if you turn your back upon the Lord Jesus Christ as those scribes and Pharisees in the story, they turned their back upon the fountain of living waters.
They turned their back upon the one who could bring blessing in their lives. They went out.
And they left the woman alone with Jesus. I'm going to ask you a question, boys and girls, before we go on. And older ones too. Have you ever been alone with the Lord?
00:15:01
Have you ever been in His presence? Just the Lord and you?
And have you realized that his eye is upon you?
And that he is looking for you.
He's looking for you. God became a seeker in the Garden of Eden and he's been seeking man ever since, for nearly 6000 years.
He's still seeking sinners, and you're one of them tonight.
Are you going to close your heart to that wonderful entreaty of love and grace? And I was down in Daytona.
Florida a few months ago.
The place was filled with.
Motorcycle drivers.
They were like flies all over black jackets. And there they were, roaring all around Daytona Beach. There were thousands of them.
When I said this would be an opportunity, so I went out with tracks and I distributed tracks among them, and I sought to get the gospel to them and to warn them of the eternity. I didn't see a lot of fruit, but the tracks went out to these florals who were going on to eternity because they were there for a good time and for a parade and so on. But nevertheless they took the tracks.
But that night, one of those motorcycle drivers, he may have got a tracked, he was ushered into eternity into the in the middle of the night, right outside the apartment where I was staying, there was an awful crash and impact. I didn't hear it, but I heard about it the next morning. And one of those men who may have been a recipient of a tract but showed him the way of salvation and forgiveness, was ushered into.
Eternity, his girlfriend, was saved from death, but she was badly injured.
He was gone that night.
He didn't have another opportunity. Dear friends, we don't want to scare you. We want to warn you that that you have no promise of tomorrow. God's love is reaching out to you as you sit on that seat tonight.
And if you're still unsaved, tonight is the day of salvation for you. God is beseeching. Don't refuse such wonderful love as has been shown to you. In order to create the world, the universe that we behold. It only took the word of His power. But in order to save a soul, a lost soul, like mine and like yours, Christ had to go to that bitter cross of Calvary.
It required more than the word of his power. It required his death, his suffering on the cross, the three hours of anguish which we cannot describe or enter into, my friend.
My sins put the Lord Jesus to death, my filthy sins were placed upon that blessed head, and all the judgment of God fell upon him for me.
Wonderful eternity will be too short to utter all His praise. Dear friends, that's the Savior we present to you tonight.
One that wants you to have a happy eternity.
One whose love led him from heaven's glory.
To Calvary's depth of world I read today, the path from the glory to the cross is paved with redeeming love. The path from the cross back to the presence of God is sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Isn't that lovely? What are you going to do with the offer?
Of God's salvation tonight, are you going to say?
I agree with what you have explained, but I'm going to wait a little longer. Not tonight. That's exactly what Satan wants you to do, to put off the most important matter that can concern you, your eternity.
We had some hobby class meetings in Ottawa where I live.
And we was in the inner pretty close to the inner city part. And, you know, you get some pretty rough children in that part of the city. We had hobby classes among the boys and girls for years there, still do occasionally. We had a little girl come to that meeting. She was crippled. She had to hobble into the meeting on crutches. She came faithfully Monday night after Monday night.
00:20:23
I can still see her and she's drank in the word. She had a beautiful smile.
She was from a poor family, French Canadian family, and her brothers came too. They heard the gospel over and over again. Then one night, 1 Cold December night.
There was a fire in the house where she lived.
I know right where it was.
A pot of oil spilled over on the stove.
And that little girl and everyone in her family except one were ushered into eternity that night. That night, they all went.
I remember them well. One was, one was rescued.
She had heard the gospel. I'm looking forward to meeting that little girl.
In the glory will I meet you there. Boys and girls, the gospel is for you tonight. I want you to remember that God's love is reaching out to you as you are. You're not lost in the crowd. None of us are. Enter in at this straight gate. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that lead us to destruction. And many there are which go in there. There's a clean side to that road as well as a dirty side.
And there might be some people in our company tonight who say I'm on the clean side. I'm a moral man. I'm not like that woman you described in John Eight. I'm a religious person. I'm a respectable member of the community of Walla Walla, wherever it might be.
Dear friends, God's Word tells you faithfully that you're a Sinner in need of a Savior. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
It was once a man in Calcutta, India.
I've been to Calcutta a number of times. That's one of the largest cities in the world. Do you know how many people there are in Calcutta? 10 million.
And there's thousands of boys and girls who live on the streets. That's where they sleep. They eat on the streets. They sleep on the streets. I walk through the streets of Calcutta a number of times. But this man was in Calcutta. He was a Hindu. That's a man who worships idols. You know, he was walking through the streets and he heard in an open air meeting. All have sinned and come forth of the glory of God.
It's flocking like a Thunderbolt.
Sinned have been consort of the glory of God.
He felt the burden of his sins.
He felt that God was speaking to him. Now he was a Hindu and he went to some of his friends and they said well.
You've got a turnover, your beef, and you know, you've got to sort of clean up your life and try to do a little better from now on. And the gods will have mercy upon you if you make a an attempt to live a better life. But still the burden of his sins weighed upon him.
There must be an atonement for sin. That means there, there must be.
Some way of putting away sin. His conscience told him that.
But he didn't know it. And he went on for some time, maybe years. He went to the holy rivers. You know the holy river in India, it's called the Ganges River. I've seen it. I've, I've, I've washed my hands in the Ganges. It's a big river that comes down from the mountains and, you know, the people are washing there all the time.
Washing, washing by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands. And if you go there, you'll see the steps going down to the river, big, high cement steps. And it's filled with people. And what are they doing? What they're trying to wash their sins away. And that's what this man did, too. I've seen them. They're called the gangs right there at the most holy city of India, Banaras. Many widows there too, maybe thousands of widows. They have to wash every day.
Because they're a widow, that means that's a lady who has lost her husband. They have to wash every day because they have the sin of widowhood. Nevertheless, this man went to these holy rivers and went to the temples and he prayed and he offered sacrifices, but he never got peace. Still, that burden of sin was there. There must be an atonement. And I he didn't know where it was.
00:25:26
Someone must put away sin well.
It was he was getting more and more burdened and unhappy and finally he went to a friend in Calcutta and he says come.
I'll take you to a man that can help you. He has the word of God.
While he was at the point now of accepting anything, so he went and he sat down with the missionary who opened the word of God to him. Romans 623. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What a revelation. The burden was lifted from the soul of that poor Hindu, and he learned that someone died for him, died for him on a cruel cross.
And there and then he accepted the Lord as his Savior.
Of course he didn't have an easy time after. Oh no, he had persecution. He had persecution because you accept Christ in India. It's not going to be an easy path. You might be put out of your house.
Well, yes, you might have the door shut and you'll be outside like the man, the wealthy Hindu Prince.
He had heard the gospel, he had heard the message of salvation, and he believed in the Lord Jesus. This is another Hindu man I'm telling you about. And he came home. You know, not all the Indians are poor. Some are extremely rich. They have millions of dollars, jewelry, gold, silver. And his father was like that. He was a rich Hindu merchant from the upper caste.
This young man went back home, and he said to his father, Father, I have become a Christian. I have received Christ as my Savior. The father looked at him very.
Narrowly and said, son, do you know what you're doing? Go upstairs, go upstairs tonight, think about this decision and you'll come down and tell me tomorrow morning. Well, there was no guilt in this young man's heart at all. His decision had been made, but he went upstairs and that.
He committed it all to the Lord. He had decided to follow Jesus.
And he had counted the cost, too. The next morning he met his father at the foot of the stairs. The father said, Son, what is your decision? He said, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.
The father said there's the door out.
And that young man who could have had a fortune, he could have had $1,000,000, he was put out into the street by his parents. Do you think he was unhappy? No, he was happy that he had made that decision for Christ. And he lived a faithful Christian life. I cannot remember if his father ever got saved or not, but he had the joy of being a true and faithful disciple for the Lord Jesus. Well, we don't get away from the Scriptures here, dear friends.
The one who saved those Hindu men that I told you about in India is the one that can save you tonight.
The one who stands at your heart's door. The one who speaks through his word to you tonight. The One who can make you fit for the eternal glory.
The Lord Jesus in order to.
Make you.
Suitable for heaven to put away that.
Awful stain of sin. He had to go to the cross.
Who has not yet made the decision for Christ?
As that Hindu man did, we beseech you tonight. Today is the day.
Of salvation. Oh, what wondrous grace is reaching out to you tonight.
00:30:00
The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.
But my sins 'cause that awful judgment to fall upon the head of the Son of God, the Creator of the universe. His holy fingers made the bowels that grew the thorns that crowned his brow.
The nails that pierced his blessed hands were mined in secret places he designed.
They nailed him. The nails which pierced his hands were mined in secret places He designed. He made the forests from which sprung the tree on which his body hung. They nailed him to a cross of wood, yet he made the hill on which it stood.
The Creator of the universe, the Son of God.
Laid aside His glory and came into this world to lift you out of the pit of sin.
To give you peace with God, to cleanse you from the.
Filth of your sins and the stain.
That has ruined your life because man is a ruined creature. He's helpless and he's polluted with sin from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. But that one who came from the glory 2000 years ago loves you, and he's reaching out with a gospel message to you tonight.
There was a man once who said, well, it's true, I lived a pretty.
Wildlife When I was young. I saw quite a lot of wild oats when I was young, but for the last 40 years I've lived a pretty good life.
Isn't that enough? Won't that count in God's sight?
No, that won't count. Those 40 years of good works would not atone for one sin of his past life, and you might have turned a new leaf over.
My dear friends, it'll get just as filthy as the other one. We're not on trial here tonight. The trial is all over. At the cross, God is declared.
That you are a Sinner, and a lost Sinner at that, and a guilty Sinner, and yet God's love is reaching out to you tonight.
He's giving you another opportunity, you know, in the word of God, the last invitation. God couldn't close the volume.
Of inspiration before he had given one more invitation. Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely knows a little story about that. It was once a man in the army.
And he was unsaved and he had his tunic on. He had his uniform on.
And in his front pocket, he had a New Testament right in here.
He kept it with him. He got it. He was given to him when he joined the army, you see, and he was out in the battle.
And the bullets were flying. He was in active service. The enemy was nearby and a bullet hit him and it went right through the the pocket of his tunic.
Right through the New Testament. And it stopped at those words. Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely, That's where the bullet stopped.
And the man that was speaking to him said Mr. Brown, or whatever his name was, God has had mercy upon you. You could have been in eternity. That bullet could have gone right into your heart. But God made it stop. And look at where it stopped at the last invitation. Still, Mr. Brown was not saved. Isn't that sad? God had spared his life. He was not saved.
Dear friend, tonight God is giving you another opportunity.
And if you're still in your sins in this meeting tonight without Christ, without a Savior.
The Sword of Judgment is hanging over you. Adam and Eve were put out of the garden, will remember, and at the entrance to the garden there was an Angel with a flaming sword that turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life.
I want to tell you that that flaming sword that should have fallen upon me has fallen upon Christ.
I deserved the judgment.
00:35:00
If I got the just reward of my deeds, it would be a lost eternity forever. And you too. You're no better but that sort of judgment.
Stroke upon stroke it came down upon the spotless head of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there He took the judgment. He sees that sword in his bosom on the cross.
For you a Sinner. For me, a Sinner.
And tonight, because that work is finished.
And Christ has died the just for the unjust. He's in the glory tonight.
But those hands are reaching out to you.
Put your hand in the nail pierced hand of the man of Calvary, my friend younger Earl. That hand has never lost a man. And that salvation is offered to you tonight and the debt has been paid. The debt has been paid for you that you'll never be able to pay for all eternity. If you refuse Christ and go into a lost eternity, the debt of sin will never be paid. When I was in Calcutta, I spoke.
To.
Girls school there, the same city that I told you about and I told them a story.
There was a large group of girls in that auditorium, maybe 800. Many of them were Hindus. And I spoke on the word forgiveness. I told them a little story, which I'm going to tell you about a Scotch doctor. He was a kind man, you know, He had looked after his patients very well.
Sometimes, however, he didn't demand money. Sometimes he just wrote across their account.
Forgiven.
Too poor to pay?
Well, this went on for quite a few years.
But finally that the old Scotch doctor, he died.
And his wife and his estate is sons and daughters. They came to settle the estate. You know, when you die, you have your financial matters attended to. And they looked at his books.
And his children and wife looked at all these red marks forgiven. What does this mean? Forgiven to for to pay these accounts have not been paid. We're going to take this to the lawyer and and look into this. So they took it to the lawyer and the lawyer said who wrote these marks on the the page here? Well, that was my fault. That was my father. That was my husband. Oh, the lawyer said, well, if that was your.
Father who wrote those words? Forgiven. There's no court in all the land that can ever get that money.
The case is closed.
Dear friends, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, tonight, across your life will be written those words, forgiven, forgotten forever. The blood of Christ has affected the very memory of God.
And those sins will never be brought up again against you. For all eternity what you have done for Christ will be brought up.
It will come out and it will be rewarded, but what you have your sins will never come up to condemn you again. Isn't that wonderful? What a friend for you, my friend.
Tonight, what a wonderful savior has offered to you. In closing, let's look at Luke 23.
Was going to speak on the manufacture here. We're not going to have time to make many remarks upon the passage. It's well known to us. Verse 39 One of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ to save thyself and us. The other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? We indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Here we have two men.
3 crosses on the hill of Calvary here. Three men on those crosses.
And two of them, one on each side of the Lord, were awful characters they weren't fit for.
Earth, and they weren't fit for heaven. They were putting being put to death six hours from eternity, only an arm's length from the Lord.
00:40:01
Last opportunity to hear the gospel, they heard the words of the Lord. Now some people think, well there must have been a difference in these men.
Because one of them got saved and the other one didn't get saved, so there must have been some difference in their background. No, that's not the case. They were exactly the same in God's sight, in fact before.
We read of this passage here.
They had both opened their mouths and blasphemed the Lord.
They had used their dying breath to blasphemy the Son of God.
But there was a remarkable change in one man.
There was repentance in one man.
3 crosses side by side of what a sight sublime. 2 for their own transgressions die the middle one for mine. And that thief from the cross, at the last moment on the brink of hell, was saved and ready to meet the Lord. In fact, he was the first man that knew where he was going. When he died, he died.
But first of all he repented of his sins. He said, we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.
Then he said, This man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
When he owned the lordship of Christ, that man in the center cross.
Was going to have a Kingdom. It didn't look very much like it at that time. But this thief, he had the fear of God.
There was repentance. He was he saw his terrible condition and he put his face in the man on the center cross.
Although he couldn't do any good works, he couldn't turn over a new leaf, he couldn't be baptized, he couldn't go to church, he couldn't get confirmed. He couldn't do anything.
His hands were nailed to the cross and his feet were nailed to the cross.
And he was in the dying hours of his life. The only thing that was free was his tongue and his heart.
He believed with his heart.
And he confessed with his tongue. He did a wonderful work when all the world was against Christ, When they had spit in his face, his disciples had forsaken him.
There he was.
They sat down and watched the blessed Savior suffer. There he was, alone between heaven and earth. This thief opened his mouth and he confessed the name of the Lord Jesus, and he received him as his Savior.
The only reason that thief is in heaven tonight.
From the brink of a lost eternity to the plains of heavenly glory. Why is he there? Because Christ died, suffered.
Was punished for his guilty, filthy sins. Why could the Lord say to that woman in John 8? Neither do I condemn thee.
Sin no more. Did the Lord forget about her sins? Did He sweep them under the rug? Oh no. The only reason why the Lord could take this thief to heaven or take that woman in John 8 to heaven, or take a Sinner that's like me who stands here or like you my friend, is because Christ took my guilty place and bore all the judgment for my sins. And that nail pierced hand is reaching out to you boys and girls tonight. Are you going to turn away from it?
Are you going to turn away and say not tonight Lord, another time?
I have the summer before me. You may not get through the summer.
God's grace is reaching out to you tonight. I want to tell a little story. Perhaps the children will will appreciate this because it's about a little boy. This little boy, he lived in London.
He was just a little street boy.
His clothes were very ragged. He had no shoes on.
His hair was not combed, He was thin, and he may see it. He lived on the street, but he heard that a great preacher was coming to London. His name was Mr. Moody, and this little street boy, he wanted to hear Mr. Moody preach. Oh, he did so much.
00:45:09
And there was a Great Hall larger than this.
And he went to one door and they said no room here, get out. He went to another door. The same thing was said to him. We've got no room for you here. Good. And he went to another door and it was the same response. And the poor little boy was so heartbroken.
And he sat down on the side of the sidewalk, and he just began to *** and cry.
Just then, a big carriage grew up.
And a big man got out and the doors flew open and everyone stood at attention.
And then this man, he looked down and he saw the little boy crying.
And he kneeled down South kindly and he said, Son, what's wrong all he said through his tears. I want to go in and hear Mr. Moody speak and they won't let me go in.
I guess he thought if I had clean clothes.
And shoes on my feet, they might let me go in.
The man said here, give me your hand.
He took the hand of the little boy and he walked into that great auditorium and he took him right up to the front seat and put him down there. And then he got up onto the platform. It was Mr. Moody himself. Dear friends, tonight, that's a true story. And if you're still without the Lord Jesus, tonight he's reaching out his hand, the hand that was mailed to the cross. He's saying to you, boys and girls, will you give me your hand?
When you put your trust in the work I did on the cross, I want to take you to heaven. I want to take you to my beautiful home up there. Trust what I have done for you and you will be saved, and you'll be in the eternal glory with the thief here.
And with many of us who have trusted in that precious blood and know that our sins are forgiven through that blood that was shed for us on Calvary's cross, shall we sing in closing?
#21.
Shall we stand and sing #21?
Good Soldiers
Children—S. Bambauer
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OK, do you know what the verse is?
Well, I turned this thing on and you can hear all over with that right away.
Tell you what, let's start with singing a couple of little songs and I want all you children to get right up here in the front, because if you don't sit in the front, you won't be able to see very good.
I've got some posters and.
That you'd like to see. So who's got a who's got a hymn they'd like to sing this morning? We've got one right here.
40 #40.
That's one of the favorites, isn't it?
Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so little one in the long they are weak, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me. He will stay close beside me all the way.
If I trust him, should I die he will Take Me Home on high.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
Yeah #3.
That's a good one, isn't it?
My hope for nothing.
Filled then Jesus and the blood he filled. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on.
And thrived thus far. LED through all kinds of things and all.
You're thinking Sam.
Never forget the heart of the night.
Of my name 'cause my friend.
God's right by falling off my hand.
And thinking fast.
Eternal.
Stands my name is brave and I will give man.
Flat upon the run around.
By going to get away.
I'll not turn their ground clear that the sinking van.
You know, I don't know what the verse is for this week. Does anybody know what the verse is? We should read that this morning.
Anybody know what the reference to it is?
00:05:02
I know this is the week that you take the week off, isn't it?
Who knows what the verse is? Do you know what is it?
Do you know where it is?
Titus 3/5.
Not by works of righteousness, which we have done.
But according to his mercy.
He saved us.
By the washing of regeneration.
And renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Titus 35. Let's ask the Lord's help this morning.
Here.
At least.
Which one number 11?
Anchor hold in a storm bloodline.
When the strong times left and gave all the rain will your brain so far furniture's name. We have a girl make her their kids are the fall. That's about my daughter's my daughter while I'm in a long brawl.
Plans is not right anywhere to draw our brands not radiation and there's wild earth and rain and the wild winds falls. Shall we make great weather. And since your father for us all.
Within half night. Better than people.
That have enjoyed my own appeal of the frog parenthood where it's traveled.
Is not bad to your love when.
There is nothing stood by the trailer roasted raw.
How to do the wrong with Gather magazine and what I never saw?
Well, let's see, I've got a poster up here this morning and I think that.
If you're sitting close enough, you'll be able to see that poster there.
Can you?
Tell me what's going on in that picture, that little scene there. What's happening?
He's blowing a vehicle, but why is he blowing a bugle?
Why? Yeah. So wake everybody up. People are asleep in their tents. I'm going to blow the bugle for you. You tell me what the name of this song is, OK?
Ever hear that song before? Never heard it before? Have you heard that song before? Is your father in the army?
00:10:06
Does he wake you up that way?
Your grandpa does. I've tried that with my children before.
You know, sometimes you'll just try anything to get them up in the morning.
My wife's technique is a little more delicate than mine. She comes down, she knocks on the door. Children, it's time to get up. Time to get up.
She gets angry with me when I get fierce about trying to wake the children up. Sometimes that's the only thing that works, you know?
So I come down a little later and they're not up yet and I'm pounding on the door. Get up, get up, get up, get up.
And so sometimes I'll look back in there and there's still a lump on the mattress and a head under a pillow, covers pulled up, still asleep.
The bus is coming and you got to eat breakfast.
It's got to brush your teeth and you got to get ready for the day.
Sometimes pretty hard to pry somebody out of bed, isn't it?
In the in the army that they blow, that's what that song is for. That's just what that song was for. Do you know the name of that song?
Anybody older know the name of that song has a name to it? Ernie knows revelry. That's right, it's called Revelry. It's to wake you up in the morning.
You know.
How many wake up calls do we get?
Before we miss the bus.
The Lord is very good.
Let's look at a verse in Ephesians 5, verse 14.
Because this is a wake up call. This is another wake up call this very morning. Last night was one night before last was one.
Last week.
Where you were in your little Sunday school was another one.
Oh, the Lord is good. He gives us a lot of wake up calls, doesn't he?
He sure doesn't want us to miss the bus.
Look at this verse.
Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest.
Are we asleep to God?
You pay any attention to God when he calls by His word.
How many people are just sleeping through life?
And pull the covers back over their head when they hear revelry from God.
When he gives another wake up call.
And they spend their whole life with their head under the pillow, thinking maybe it'll all go away. Yeah, but it doesn't. God is calling the children.
And the older ones too.
Awake thou that sleepest.
Sometimes it's really hard to wake somebody up and so we try again because we know how important it is to wake up in the morning just to get.
Going for the day you can't sleep all your life.
You know you can't sleep all your life in the things of God.
You can't sleep through the Lord's call to you. Come unto me.
And he says arise from among the dead. I know it just says the dead here, but everybody is sleeping. You know, God came to this world. He found everybody sleeping.
And the Lord calls out, Come unto me.
And some awoke.
And rose from among the dead. And Christ shall give thee light. How would you like to walk through? What if we turned off all the lights in this room?
And then I said, we're going to have a race, everybody get over here and we're going to rundown to that wall and back, and it's just dark in here and you couldn't see a thing.
Black you know, that's the way most people are running through life.
Then they wind up tripping over a chair and bumping their shin on the table. Hurt too.
Ah, there are many blows in life.
That people don't see what's there because they're asleep and they don't have any light.
But the Lord wants to give you light for your path.
I am the light.
He that follow me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So he wants us to wake up and to walk with Him in the light.
Well, that's the first thing is waking up, isn't it?
00:15:02
But there's more.
What are you going to do after you wake up?
Now this is a hard one.
What's happening here?
What's going on there?
Somebody probably had to be in the army to know that one.
What are they doing?
They're raising the what?
They're raising the flag, and you know there's a song that goes to that, too. If you were in the Army, you woke up in the morning, you brushed your teeth, you ate your breakfast.
When you get up in the morning, I stress that you get ready for the day. You eat your breakfast.
And that you open the word of God and you read a few verses for yourself for the day you need to.
Need to get nourished, don't you?
Then you go out to the day.
Well, what do you think it means to raise the flag and all these people you see, they're saluting there.
While they're raising the flag.
Their giving deference their.
Showing loyalty to something.
And this little song, let's see if I can play this one. And it's played while they're raising the flag.
That's a little longer.
Because it's about how long it takes to raise the flag.
You know if we're going to wake up when the Lord Jesus calls us.
Then he wants us to walk with him all through the day.
He wants us to be an allegiance.
To him, he wants us to show our color.
Ah, now who knows the name of the song I just played.
Yeah, color through the color. That's when it's played, when you raise the flag to the color.
We've joined an army.
Let's look at Two Timothy 2.
Verses 3:00 and 4:00.
Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that worth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.
That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Ah, God has chosen us to be a soldier.
Sometimes the life of a soldier is hard.
And so he must endure hardness.
A long time ago for most of your children. Not so very long ago for me, there was a war over in Asia.
And sometimes, as it happens in war, people get captured.
And then they're taken as a prisoner.
And they're put in a like a jail prisoner. They're prisoner of war. They're put in a prison.
Way over on the other side of the world, in a different land.
And they perhaps don't get fed very much in there. And you know, what the captives would like to do is to get these prisoners maybe.
To science confession.
That the war is not fair and they really shouldn't be over there fighting that war.
00:20:06
And.
There was a time when the soldiers, you know, they pledged their allegiance to the army that they joined, to the country that they represent.
And here are some other folks that want them to say no. I'm going to change my mind.
And there were those in that camp, in that prisoner of war camp.
And I've read the stories of some of them.
Who went through quite a lot.
Torture.
And solitary confinement, where they would put him in a cell and nobody would be around.
And they would be there for months, nobody to talk to.
How would you like to be in your bedroom with the door closed for two months? Then you never got a chance to talk to anybody, Your brothers, Oregon, your sisters OR your mother or your father or your friends.
Going to school can do that. It would be hard, wouldn't it?
And they were trying to break these soldiers down South that they would perhaps sign a confession that.
The war shouldn't be fought.
And they would use that as propaganda. Well, you know, we're in a war kind of like that.
And that's why the apostle here uses this picture of warfare.
That we're in a war. That we're soldiers too.
And we're to endure hardness as a good soldier. We are to.
Look to the Lord to keep us from going out and holding hands with the enemy that wants to drag us into His camp.
And to stand there and salute when he raises his colors.
So we need to be faithful. A good soldier has to be faithful. A good soldier has to be trained. He is trained before he ever went over there. Let's look at a verse.
In Second Samuel 117.
We need to be trained.
First Second Samuel 118. David is speaking and he had an army.
And he said.
Also he bathed them.
Teach the children of Judah.
The use of the bow.
They needed to learn to use the weapon, teach the children the use of the bow.
It's not too early to start to learn the use of the boat.
You learn it at home when your father reads the scriptures. You learn it when you read the scriptures for yourself.
I hope. I hope the teenagers are listening too.
All of you hiding back there in the crowd.
I sure hope you're listening to this too. You need to be trained.
You need to endure hardness. You need to be faithful to the colors.
The Lord wants faithful soldiers. He doesn't want careless soldiers. He wants committed soldiers. Are you a soldier?
That's interested in being sure that you get good training.
That you listen when the scriptures are read. That you take heed.
With the attitude of obedience, the obedience of faith.
To the word of God.
Because if you're not, she'll be taken captive too.
And you don't want to be taken captive.
Because being taken captive is hard.
So he wants to teach us the use of the bow.
He wants us to be faithful.
He wants us to be obedient to authority.
These are ways that we salute the callers.
That we give allegiance to the Lord Jesus, to the colors to which we belong.
Children, obey your parents.
Obey them that are in authority.
00:25:06
Submit to those who have the rule.
Whether it's in your family.
Or whether it's to your teacher.
Be very careful now how you refer to your teacher.
And how you refer to the policeman on the street.
And I say this to the older one because I've heard some comments that maybe aren't very complimentary when perhaps you refer to your teacher or the policeman on the street.
You give them deference and respect.
God, may I say, is not an anarchist.
And he has given authority in every phase of our life.
Whether we're at home before our parents, whether we're at school with our teachers, whether we're driving down the road, whether we're working for someone.
And we're to treat them with dignity.
This is important.
Well, there's one more poster.
You know this one goes on for the most of your life, doesn't it?
I hope.
That you will.
Desire to give.
Allegiance to Christ all of your life.
But then something happens.
To all of us.
Sooner or later.
And here comes our bugler again.
And what's this picture?
What's that one?
Somebody died.
Yes.
Sooner or later, somebody died.
Someday you, someday me.
The Lord shouldn't come first. The bugler will stand over that casket there.
And he will play a song that goes something like this.
What's that one?
Did you ever hear that one before?
You've heard it.
When did you hear it? What was happening?
Heard it on a tape. OK, well.
That little song is called Taps.
Did you know that Taps has words to it?
The little song called Taps has words to it.
I have it here in my old Army Navy hymn book.
Taps there, you've done safely rest.
God is nigh steps.
If that if the words to that are true.
All is well.
God is nigh.
Are you near to the Lord God near to you?
Have you drawn near to God?
Would you like to die far from God without him being near?
Would you like to live all your life far from God and then have him come near right when you die? Hmm.
You will die as you live.
Near to God or far from God?
Hand in hand with the Lord Jesus through life and into death.
Or far from him.
I'm going to read you what I think is the saddest verse in the Bible.
Two Samuel 18.
Verse 33 King David had a son.
00:30:01
King David's son joined an army.
He joined the wrong army.
In fact, he was the head of that army.
And he fought against David.
And he was slain in the battle.
He had left God out. David's son had left God out.
How many sons?
In the same privilege of date as David's son.
Have left God out. Went their own way in rebellion.
Listen to what David had to say when his son Absalom was slain in the battle.
And the king was much moved. David was much moved.
Young people.
If you were to die without Christ in your folly and rebellion.
Your father's going to be much moved.
Don't be careless.
David went up to the chamber, over the gate and wept.
He wept.
And as he went thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom with God, I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son.
Because he knew what had happened to Absalom and there was number retrieve.
No coming back.
No second chance.
I hope there are no parents here that will weep.
If something should happen.
To their children, that they would not weep as David wept.
I hope there are no children here that would cause their parents to weep like that because they didn't listen to the wake up call when the bugler played in the morning.
That you would remember your Creator in the days of your youth, then come to the Lord Jesus and walk in the light now.
And not live a wasted life in a lost eternity.
The Lord Jesus is here this morning again.
Giving us another wake up call and trust that.
Young ones and older ones alike would listen.
And can.
From death to life, I want to sing the little song about the gypsy boy.
#44.
In the back #44.
To the tent where a gypsy boy lay dying alone.
Ever has gone into me.
That I got the end. Now lay right again. Now there's a story to be exceeded forever.
Salvation story is ignoring the Lord.
Yeah, I can't say about the children of men. Nobody ever has told me before.
Standing with part of life where God is friends don't stand me and there's a valley outside God standing inside of his soul. Everything.
00:35:12
I would say the other man's gentlemen of men.
Nobody can ever have no disease more. There's two the colors allegiance to Christ daily in our walk here. And finally there will be the taps. When we trust in the Lord Jesus, we'll go home to be with the Lord Jesus forever. Let's pray, thanks.
Romans 12:1-11
Reading
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4/3.
The 12TH chapter of Romans with any extension of time that we would maybe go into the 13th chapter.
There were some thoughts expressed this morning in connection with the truth of of the one body which is touched, and things that are for edification, exhortation and comfort, things for our conscience, things for going on one with the other.
Romans, chapter 12.
Verse one.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
00:05:08
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
But to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man, a measure of faith.
For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office.
So we being many or one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy.
Let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering for He that teaches on teaching.
For he that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil, pleased to that which is good.
Be kindly affectionate 1 to another, with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another.
Not slothful in business.
Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Rejoicing in hope, patient and tribulation. Continuing instant in prayer.
Distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Mind not hide things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceit.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, define enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt keep coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Chapter 12. In Romans we have practical truth.
Romans is very beautifully divided.
In the first eight chapters.
We have foundation truth, we have basic truth, and it's so orderly.
And then the 9:10 and 11:00 is prophecy.
It's really Israel.
Past, present and future Now we have. What's very important for our time is truth as to our life here.
We have a life here, and Paul is occupied with that in this chapter.
In the 13th chapter, it's.
With Christ in view, it's it's that living as Saints, but with Christ in view, we can't forget that we have to remember to whom we belong and that he's coming. And so he has the thought there of of Christ.
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Verse 11 at the end in chapter 13. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe?
How there is it today he may come before we're done today. That's how clear it is wonderful in it. And of course, the 14th chapter is practical truth as to your brethren.
It's very wonderful to see it and then I'm not getting into them when the 15, it's really Paul's special.
Special faithful ministry. It's it's something that's particularly appalled for the Saints.
The last chapter is really Paul's care and concern for individual brethren. It's personal, really. It's false. Who's who among the gathered Saints, really, all of them are important to Paul, but he has special notice. So it's nice to see these last chapters in Romans, and we're getting into the first of them here. It's just practical truth for believers.
In this world.
Is your intelligence service as a St.
First part of that verse. I defeat you therefore.
Brethren, does that come from the last verses of the 8th chapter?
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I beseech you, therefore, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Most of us here haven't been exposed to to the hazards of life that many dear Saints of God have in in in going out and evangelizing. We lead a a relatively protected life. We may be made fun of by a neighbor on occasion, but to think of I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body.
They living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your intelligence services.
What an appeal, isn't it, as you have said, Brother Baumann, to normal expected Christian living and to think of how we as we thread our way through this chapter, how intensely practical it is, isn't it as we come and it's anticipating quite a bit, but we we find the given to hospitality, to think of what it means to be given to something. Some people are given to drugs and it's a problem if they're given to drinking, but to think of being given.
To hospitality.
There's nothing like it in bringing Saints together, is it?
May be hard work for the wife, but it's sure lovely for the husband to be able to have fellowship.
One of the most important things is be ye not conformed to this world.
That is very important and you can't do it. It isn't up to you to do it is to realize who it is to whom you belong and Christ is our life and that's how you do it. We have to be occupied with him. Now this first verse really relates to the last verse, doesn't it, of the of the chapter before for of him and through him.
To him all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Therefore, I beseech you, I beg you. That's the thought and and it goes back to a wonderful verse in 33. The depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, His ways.
At finding out.
Doesn't that verse just thrill you?
Thrills me that's that's really Therefore I beg you. Therefore, if all this is true, one thought First Corinthians chapter 2 The last thought we have the mind of Christ.
Well now if you're not breathless yet.
With this in mind, I beg you, says Paul. This is your intelligence service down here now.
In the new translation, the the word translated mercies is translated compassions. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God. And there's a verse in Chapter 9.
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Verse 15.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. The word that's used here in Romans 12 is that second word compassion. It's not the word mercy, but.
Sometimes we we think when we read mercies. I think mercies and compassions really are the same.
But whether you look at the end of Chapter 11 as Bob has, or the end of chapter 8 as Stan has, the compassions of God for us and for Israel will be to bring them back into blessing. And he's already brought us into blessing. So we don't have to limit it to either one of those endings. It both would apply, wouldn't it? I beseech you, by the compassions of God, God has shown such compassion to us.
Who were Gentiles without God and without hope IN this world? And he's shown compassion. He will show compassion to Israel too, and to bring them into blessing even as he is promised. So I think it embraces both companies, Jews and Gentiles.
But you said, Chuck, it's delightful to see in the book of Jeremiah that is so full of what the prophet was given to talk about their past, to talk about their immediate future in case with judgment. But then it's as if the heart of God and compassion just has to come out with millennial blessings. Marvelous, isn't it, to think of the compassions of God and again, the book of Jeremiah so full of judgment.
And and yet you find the compassions of God, he just longs for them to, as it were, to be carried away, captives to be brought back so that they can have the revelation of that coming day of of glory of the millennial scene. Marvelous in the ways of God, isn't it? We see it in Isaiah. We see it wherever God.
Is having to bring out the judgment that His people are going to undergo. He always gives them the encouragement, much like the verse in our chapter.
Verse 12 First rejoicing in hope, then patient and tribulation, then continuing instance in prayer.
The compassion is what this world lacks.
Has a lot of other things, but it doesn't have compassion, and the Lord brings that out very clearly with the one who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
You know the priest had no compassion.
And the Levites had no compassion.
But a certain man, is that the way this I am going to perform me? But a certain man was it no Samaritan? Well, now the Samaritan is a stranger, so that fits beautifully. The Lord was a stranger here in the place of His creation, but He was the man of compassion. And so he looked upon him and he had compassion. I think that's so beautiful, compassion. What is compassion? Well, I believe, Simply put, I think probably Chuck can give you a higher definition.
Simply to be is to be moved to pity at the suffering of another.
I think that's compassion. Maybe you have a better beautiful very.
Moved when he saw me in my distress. Thank God he was moved when he saw you too, Bob.
In your miserable situation you were in.
7 million people brother. I was in the city of New York and he had compassion on me. Praise the Lord and he saved me when I was a boy. 14 and I'm happy ever since.
The comment or two in respect to What is the matter with being conformed to this world?
Chapter 2. I was just thinking about it where the apostle John says in verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father, if not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
And the pride of life is not of the Father, but it's of the world and what's going to happen to it? You know, this is where we need to get into the sanctuary. What's going to happen to the world? We'll hear the next verse that he gives the the end of it for all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
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And the pride of life is not of the Father, but it's of the world, and the world passeth away.
And it's going to be a judgement on those that are the most enlightened because here in John's epistle, I suppose it's addressing the character of the family, is it not? And you and I, beloved, are in the family of God, those of us that are saved. And if you're not saved yet to get saved, just cry to the Lord and say, Lord, here I am, I'm a Sinner, I'm not saved yet. And that, you know, I left to that verse and and the first chapter of John's Gospel. It says to as many as received him to them gave he the right or the power.
To be called the sons of God, even to those that believe in his name. Now what kind of a transaction is that to believe on his name?
You know, I was in Italy recently, leaned up, brother told me how Brother Peripatik came to Italy and he met him in a smoking room where they play cards and and gamble with the dominoes and that sort of thing. And this man came with one verse that went right to the soul of Brother Granite. He said to him, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, he that believes on me has everlasting life.
And that was the verse who went to the heart. I hope there's a person today, this morning in this meeting that would go to your heart too. He that believes on me has everlasting life. And the brother went home. That man went home to his house at night and he told his wife, a little man came into the place and he told us that about everlasting life by believing in the Lord Jesus. And the wife says, I want to hear more about it. He says me too. So the next day they walked around where's that little man that was telling about the about the gospel.
They call him evangelical. Where is that, the evangelical man? So they found out he was in the next town and they went up there and they knocked in the door of his cousin's house. Brother Pierre Potter was staying with his cousin. And he says we'd like to know more about everlasting life, how to get it. He says please come in. And he led them both to Christ. And that was the beginning of that wonderful work, that testimony in that dark place and over there. You know, that's a wonderful work that God can do in a heart of a person in this room this morning.
You don't have to wait. It's just believe. It's just it, says he that believes on the sun has everlasting life. He that believes not the sun.
Shall not see life, but what the wrath of God abides on him. Don't let the wrath of God abide on you another minute.
Now is the time, now is the accepted time. And so what's going to happen next? The world passes away and the luster of but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Well, I had to bring that in because this gets into the compassions of God. What's wrong with being conformed to this world? Everything for a believer, everything.
You know, evil communications corrupt good manners.
And you can tell us that's conformed to this world.
Very quickly by their fruits we norm. We don't judge souls, do we? That's God's province, but we're fruit inspectors. You lose your testimony. That's the first thing. You lose your testimony, then you lose truth, because this world crucified my Savior. And the carnal mind is at enmity against God or with God, which is that with or against one or the other, but means the same, the carnal mind. And that's the mind of this diabolical spirit in this world.
And we have nothing to do with it. We should be apart from it, done with it. But as Harry Hale used to say, I like to quote Saints, I shouldn't do that, but he said it. But I think probably Kelly said it first at any rate.
The thought was from someone else.
We should be the best friend this world has, but not friendly with them. That's a good way to put it. We shouldn't be friends with this world.
But we're the best friend this world has.
What's wrong with friendship with the world or conformity with the world? What's wrong with it? Is the world crucified our Lord?
That's what's wrong with it.
It put to death the Son of God. Look at first John 5 as a very powerful verse 2 verses.
Telling us how we can get power over conformity with the world.
First John 5 and verse four for whatsoever is born of God.
Overcometh the world, and this is the victory.
That overcometh the world, even our faith.
00:25:00
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth? Now this is our faith. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. What did they do to Jesus, that man Jesus? They nailed them to a cross of ignominy and shame. They said we will not have this man to reign over us, whatever enables us to overcome this world as we believe that that Jesus that they crucified is the Son of God.
He is the Son of God. He is everything to us. How can we have fellowship with the world that is hated?
Him despised him. Let me recite a poem I learned when I was a young man. And yet outside the camp twas there my Savior died. It was the world that cast him forth and saw him crucified. Can I take part with those who nailed him to a tree? And where his name is never praised? Is there the place for me?
Nay, world I turn away, Though thou seem fair and good, That friendly outstretched hand of thine is stained with Jesus blood. If in thy least device I stoop to take apart all unawares, thy influence steals God's presence from my heart. I don't know who wrote that poem, but it tells the truth, doesn't it? What thinking of Christ?
Is the vital question to us. He is the eternal Son of the living God, and the world hates that person. How can I have anything to do, any fellowship with?
Any conformity with that world that has crucified him.
In God's mind that he would not remove that old nature that we were born with, but He gave us a new nature by which we can follow after the things of God.
Now, as we live our daily lives.
As we read the various and sundry things and as we associate with people.
Which natures are repeating. If we're feeding on the things of this world, we are feeding the old nature.
And it is going to become stronger and we are going to be conformed to this world.
And we will be absolutely miserable.
We've got too much truth to be happy going on with the world.
We've got too much conformity to the world to be happy in a meeting like this.
We just seem miserable.
But one foot and one foot in the world, that's a sad situation, isn't it? We are in the world, but we're not of it. And that expression is very precious to me. It reminds me that we're here for purpose.
You know the best thing the Lord could have done when he saves the Sinner is take him home, and the worst thing is leave him here in this world.
What he didn't do either, He sent us, brethren, we're ambassadors for Christ, that we have a purpose here. That's what he's Speaking of in the next verse. I think you're reasonable or you're intelligent service. We have a reason for being here. We're not left. And even as he is sent, well, that would be John 17. Even so, well, the Lord, that would be John 15. He sent.
What was that? I I better not start that quoting, but I'll be wrong on that one. At any rate, we're not left. I don't like to hear that expression.
How long is he going to leave us here by? Every minute I'm here. I know I'm here for purpose. He sent me. That's my home. This isn't my home, but I have a reason for being here.
It's in that first verse, he says, that she presents your bodies a living sacrifice, not your soul, your spirit, your bodies. That was a teaching in the early church that the body doesn't count. It's and it's still, it's still rampant out there as long as you are.
In fellowship with Him in your soul and spirit, what you do with your body doesn't matter.
The Word of God doesn't teach that.
Word of God doesn't teach anything like that here. It says present your bodies.
A living sacrifice.
There are the Peter talks about having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
00:30:02
The body, if you look at the evils that brought down the various civilizations, the ****** Sodom and Gomorrah and so on, it was the corruption of the lust of the flesh, the lust in the body. It was using your body for your own gratification and self enjoyment. And that's not why He's given us that. And our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our body is a member of Christ. 1 Corinthians 6 Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Can I then take the members of Christ and join it to a harlot?
And he also says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own. You talk about your body. That's my body.
A woman talks about this is her body, she can do what she wants with her offspring.
It's not her body.
God has given it to her and she's to use it for His glory. Man doesn't do that. He doesn't use what God has given us. Everyone where you're saved or unsaved.
God has given the body to us to be used for ourselves, for our own self gratification, or for His glory.
And especially so as Christians, so we're told, to present our bodies.
A living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable to God, not to men, which is your reasonable service. What I'm saying right now is the direct opposite of everything that's being promoted today in the in this wicked world. Just the opposite.
If it feels good, do it. That's the motto of the world.
And it's a wicked principle. It's an evil principle. And so we have to, we have to, to speak of things for what they really are, call them what they are. It's sin. The very thoughts of men and women today are sin.
Every imagination, the thoughts of his heart, is only evil continually. It was back then, thousands of years ago. It's just as true today.
So how we need to have our thoughts formed by the Word of God. I beseech you, by the compassions of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Living sacrifice.
Every day present your body to him to be kept pure. Keep thyself pure.
2nd Corinthians chapter 4 along this line and verse.
62 Corinthians 4 and verse 6 for God.
Who command us the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us, and then in verse 10 always bearing about in the body.
The dying of the Lord Jesus.
Really means putting to death our own life, the thought that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
You know well, I better read one more For we which live are always delivered under death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
Thought about, you see, by God.
Why did Gideon and his 300 have to break the vessel?
So the light will shine, that's the only reason. So the light will shine. Why do we have to be broken vessels?
For the light of shine, That's the thought if we make much of ourselves in this body.
There is no light. It's us.
But we ought to be broken vessels. God loves to use broken material. He likes broken material, and he brings something beautiful out. And so we bear about in our bodies always the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have died with Christ. And if we can just get that in a little measure, there'll be light coming out to those in this world. But if you go along with those in this world.
00:35:00
Like Dimas, there is no light.
Demas means popular, and anyone here who finds himself popular with those of this world.
Danger. You're in trouble already.
In John 17 that are appropriate and catching with the Lord is our object. And Kennedy with this world. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not. And this was a comment that was made recently, just previously. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should has keep them from the evil they are not.
Of the world.
Even as I am not of the world, sanctify them through Thy truth.
Thy word is true.
Just to think of it, what is the measure we may be able to define the world and, and there would be something that would touch my conscience and I'd say, well, that's not right. And something to touch your conscience. And you say, well, that can't be. But if we think of it in cashless, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world, then we're putting it on a plane That is God's plane, isn't it? And and we're we're going to set aside so many things.
You know, if I'm occupied with the Lord and you come to me and you mentioned something about and I'm not even going to mention it. I don't even want to contaminate our minds by by mentioning the things that we know all around us. You know, you go into a doctor's office. I was in a doctor's office recently in a side room, and there was a Bible. I thought, what is that Bible doing in this room? And there were some other magazines.
And later, when the doctor came in, you know who had put those Bibles there? He and another.
Fellow Dr. had gotten permission in this large building to put a Bible in every waiting room. And he said many a time he said, I've come in to my patient and there they're reading the Bible. Beautiful. And there were other magazines. Maybe you know this or that and you know them. And unfortunately I know them too. But you know the temptation if we're in an office.
Or wherever to pick up a magazine or to pick up the word of God. I'm not going to deny it. It takes the grace of God to keep from picking up the magazine because we have a nature that just wants to assert itself. But we know that if the Lord were to come, what would be rather be seen and and he knows our hearts that we were occupied with. Well, the word of God. I I, I really I could tell you that the ecclesiastical connection that this that this doctor was with and.
And my fellowship could only go so far, but.
Believe me, when that doctor will put a Bible in every waiting room, I'm going to say Amen to that.
The world that we're Speaking of is a very intimidating world. The children feel it at school.
Perhaps where you work, you feel it, the world wants to do your thinking for you, tell you how to dress and what to do, how to spend your evenings, how to socialize.
And intimidating means that we just feel like we're on show and that we've got to.
Change things and change some of our thoughts and so on, and it preys on our minds.
But enjoyed there in Isaiah chapter 2 when it where it says cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. It was recently brought out out in the coming day when the Antichrist is in full power and wants to rid every trace of Christ in this world.
The Jewish remnant and those that render A testimony, what a comfort that verse is going to be to them, but how good to appropriate it to us now as we go on in this world. Deceased from man whose breath is in his nostrils to look at a man who's threatening or a woman who wants to erase that glow that is coming from your face. Erase the language that you use, that savers of the word of God that we don't even realize.
Thief, the man whose breath is in his nostrils, For where is is he to be accounted of? We don't have to answer to that spirit in this world, but to go on quietly.
And so to feel this is an appropriate portion, that we might be fortified in these last moments to go on faithfully to that One who has called us by His grace.
00:40:11
I'd like to read from First Thessalonians four few verses.
Connection with what we have before us.
In verse 2 Paul says First Thessalonians 4/2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God.
Even your sanctification.
That he should abstain from fornication.
That everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel. That means his body.
In sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God.
The Gentiles round about us that don't know God, that's the way they live.
And they present with the advantage that they have of the modern media, these things before the mind's eye constantly.
As though these things are now acceptable.
They're an abomination to God. They always have been and they always will be.
And we need to remind ourselves, especially the young, what is God's standard?
To keep our vessel.
In sanctification and honor.
Holy, that's what we have in Romans 12.
Present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God.
Does it mean more to you and to me what God thinks or what man thinks or what we do?
Well, the greatest snare that is spread for young people today is peer pressure. You get under the pressure of your peers, your fellows. You don't want to be different. You want to blend in. You want them to accept you. You want to be accepted.
Well, if that is your main priority, you're going to go along with the crowd.
There were clean and unclean animals. There were clean and unclean fish. And in the fish there are two things that were necessary to make it clean. The one was it had to have scales. It had to have a protection against the environment. Without that, it doesn't get in and destroy it. And we need that protection against the world that's without, that's ready to destroy us. And it had to have fins. It had to have the ability to go against the stream.
Have you ever seen salmon that go back to where they came from? When they leave their home, they go downstream, they go out into the ocean and when they come back, they are absolutely the most tenacious creatures on planet earth. They will jump right into waterfalls and they will with their tremendous tail muscles and that they will get back. They will, they will mount insurmountable odds, you might say, and they'll get back to where they came from and then they spawn and then they die.
But they go back, they go against the stream, the torrent, the the the downpour of water. You say they'll never make it. They make it. They go against the street. How do they do that? They have fins, they have that. To say no to 1000 things in this world, you have to have the moral courage to say no, I will not do that. I belong to Christ.
God is my Father, I seek to please Him.
And so the virtue, the moral courage to say no and to go against the stream.
Well, we had to do that. Young people, you have to stand out.
In not trying to be different, not not being quirky and looking weird, but dressing modestly and becomingly for God's glory, but with a moral courage to say no, I won't do that, young man asked a young lady to A to a party, to a dance.
And she said thank you. I appreciate the invitation. I appreciate the interest. But I can't go. Well, why can't you go? Well, my father wouldn't like it. Well, how do you know? You haven't asked him, have you? Oh, I don't have to ask him. I know my father, and I know what pleases him, and I know what displeases him. And I know that wouldn't please him. Thank you. I cannot go. That's moral courage to say no. You can say it in a nice way, but still a firm way.
00:45:10
And that's the important thing that we that we have those that we do. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Through the knowledge of Him, we know someone now that has changed our lives forever. We know Jesus is the Son of God, and that makes all the difference.
In chapter 4 Thessalonians, our brother brought out that the will of God.
Your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. Now there, that's practical sanctification. We're all sanctified.
Forever.
They were set apart from this world for glory and for himself. That's that's eternal sanctification. We have it. But there is practical sanctification and there is spiritual fornication.
And many times it really means that it's mixing with this world in the spiritual sense, not just the if you go to Romans one, you've got what the fornication of the natural body. But in Romans one, it's man's natural man's descent when he goes his way without God. That's Romans one at the end of the last half anyway. And God says in verse 20 at the end, they are without excuse.
Not one has an excuse for turning to his own way and ignoring God. Like judges, God is not in all their thoughts. And So what does it say in verse 24? At the beginning, God also gave them up.
And then if you get down to verse 26, God gave them up and when you get down to.
To 32 Who knoweth the judgment? Who knowing the judgment of God?
You see there without excuse, but they which commit such things and I wouldn't even mention them. But if we read them, that's all right. But just to mention them is not right.
Are worthy of death, not only do the same, they not only do it, but have pleasure in them that do them. That's what you were bringing out.
With this terrible Satan being, or the devil, Satan being the Prince of the power of the air, he's got it controlled and they enjoy others who do these terrible things. But that's natural. This is the natural man. Now there is the spiritual too, and that's just as bad in God's sight as to worse the spiritual fornication in this world. And that's an awful thing. So you mentioned camp before. You mentioned world when you were reading before.
And that's the spiritual fornication.
And that's a terrible thing, isn't it? I have my Bible open to Revelation 17. I'd like to read a few verses in verse 5.
Upon her that's this woman that's riding the beast. Upon her forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
In verse nine of chapter 18 says.
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, that mighty city, For in one hour is thy judgment. Come now this. This is spiritual fornication. This is illicit commerce with the world by this religious system.
Babylon the Great headed up at Rome, do you know?
Evangelicals today.
Are reaching out the right hands of fellowship with Rome?
You say that can't be. It is has happened. It has happened and that's where everything is headed. It's headed back to this religious system. There is no evil on the face of the earth that is worse than religious evil. It's the worst. That's worse than moral sin. We're not making light of moral sin and saying that, but moral, moral fornication is just a picture of religious fornication.
To have fellowship, to extend fellowship to those that are.
Diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Bible and the Word of God and the person and work of Christ.
That's spiritual fornication. It's the worst sin and evil there is. God, he's the God of this world. Satan is, as well as the Prince of this world. So he's both, isn't he? And he's got religion. He's got a religion for everyone. He, he doesn't mind if you're religious, not a bit. He's got control of that.
00:50:20
But he does. He hates Christ, and if we're true to Christ, he'll hate us too.
Best system, brother. And one thing that is evident that's denied is the compassions of God. And you'll pardon my reference to being it in Italy recently, but as I traveled through that country, every little village, every little town had this, this edifice in the middle of it. And what was it about?
Persecution against the truth of God.
And the setting forth, like you say, of this woman, this woman taking over. And the thought came to me as I went through that land. Jezebel, Jezebel. She covered the vineyard of Naboth.
Ahab covered the vineyard of Naboth and Jezebel says I'll get it for you.
And that's a character what's all around us, brother, that there is this false woman, this woman that was typified in the assembly.
At Tharatara, and what does it say there? I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not and what is it she teaches like you have brought out so clearly it's against the person and compassions of the Son of God that this terrible system has risen up and what is it doing is sweeping all into it in a day that is going to sum up and Babble in the great is that that right? That's right. And then what's going to come judgment.
In a single way, that that 17th of revelation brings us the end of it.
To be connected with something like this.
We have to remember the Old Testament is for our learning. It's not just stories, it's for our good. And I think we get those wonderful application of what's happening today. Now the remnant, there's always a remnant because God's faithful. We're remnant brethren, only because God's faithful. Just don't forget that. But there is remnant testimony always. There will be when the Lord comes. But the remnant? Asked Jeremiah.
What where we should be and what we should do? 2 questions. And Jeremiah asked the Lord, and the Lord told them.
Remain here at this place where I've chosen to place my name at. That's what we're very clear Zion.
And what? Well, of course, what is obey my word according to my word, they said.
To Jeremiah, Jehovah didn't tell you to say we should stay here and not go to Egypt. They went to Egypt.
Sad, isn't it, when you think about it now, Just one thought. Psalm 137.
Verse one here they are.
They went to Egypt for where they end up Babylon.
Religious.
Corruption out by the rivers of Babylon. There they are. There we sat down and wept.
When we remembered what Zion, the place of God's choosing. Think about that. Now what does rivers of Babylon mean? The rivers speak of water, which is the word of God, and Babylon confusion. And when you leave the truth, the place where it can be, I don't care what you go to, maybe the nice, nicest looking building in so-called church, you are in religious confusion.
That's it. That's Babylon, the rivers of Babylon. And so that's terrible to God. It's worse than, as Chuck said, it's worse than moral. Moral can be corrected, but doctrinal cannot be corrected. Let's don't forget that. The worst.
The epistle where there's no.
Commendation at all is the Epistle to the Galatians. Why doctrinal air.
I am afraid of you, said Paul. That's the best he could say for them. I am afraid of you. So when he speaks of fornication, I believe the application should be spiritual for an occasion. That's the worst.
Let me ask a question. Could you take the 7th of Proverbs as a picture of that principle?
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I haven't memorized it. I'll look, but you know what, what does what part of it, the woman there that's enticing the young man and he says I went by the way of her St. and she says I prepared spices from Egypt. She was bringing in all of that sort of corruption. But I've thought of often that in view of our brother Chuck's remarks, that's a picture there not only of the of the physical but of the of the spiritual.
And how the young man needs to be warned.
And the young woman from ever getting finding herself in such a compromising position that she would be in that devastated place. But like you say, brother, the principles and the pictures of the Word of God are their faithful witnesses to our spirits, are they not?
Proverbs 6 and seven are together, and Proverbs 6 warns she's after his precious life. Let's don't forget that. Don't trust precious life.
And that's that's what we got to remember. And then in the 7th, her house is the place of death.
And so that's a solemn, it's a solemn portion, but I think it's it's it's moral, but spiritual, as you may say. But I believe these are ones that are simple, not like the Lord Christ for the simple, but who just are so easily.
LED astray by lust and temptation. You know she so, but her her goal is his precious life the most.
Seeketh the precious life. That's it. The most wicked woman mentioned in Scripture is Jezebel and I. She pictures to the to Thyatira. The Lord says, I have against thee. Thou sufferest that woman, Jezebel.
To teach and seduce My servants, to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed to idols. That was the sin of Jezebel. She was the life of Ahab, the most wicked king in Israel, and she led him on to great evil. I want to read the end of Jezebel. It's in Second Kings nine. It struck me as I read it recently, and I'll read from verse 30. And when Jihu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it.
And she painted her face and tired her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master. And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trod her under foot. And when he was come in he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman.
And bury her, for she is the King's daughter.
And they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
Wherefore they came again and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field, and the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say.
This is Jezebel.
Now, if you read Revelation 18 and you read about this Jezebel as a religious system.
Babylon the Great, when it is destroyed, the destruction of Babylon is so complete, just like that of Jezebel, that no one can say this is Babylon. It will be totally annihilated and destroyed and removed, and the only thing that will remain is the true church, not the false, but the true church.
The bride of Christ, the Lamb's wife, and that's what we're a part of. And when we see the end of all this false religion that's out there, it makes us to want to stay as far from it and as clear of it as possible. I don't want to have anything to do with that system and with anything that smacks of that evil, that religious evil that will end in all consuming judgment.
So that they could not say, this is Jessica totally gone. We're not forcibly against them in the Old Testament. They tore down the idols and the Groves. We're not to do that. And we should pray for those that are in that system, especially those that are his. That isn't the thought that we are their enemy. That isn't it at all. But we have nothing to do with them. You know, they like to say, aren't we all Christians?
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They say to our young people, we're going to give you a broader base, an outreach that you don't have.
But and they, they take a lot that way, you know, in, in college, they got these crusaders for Christ. They're doing great things. All right. What they do, if it's of the Lord, I'm happy. But when you get with them, you're yoked with unbelievers too. You're yoked with things that are defiling. And a yoke is an awful thing, you know, But I think we got to be careful that we don't set ourselves against them. That isn't the thought. It's awful, but we're not against them.
We don't go around and tear down all the churches or burning them fast enough, but it's not our job to do that isn't the thought, is it? We should be for them, but we don't go with them. And our young people have to get that in their heart because they'll they'll see you're not doing anything, even if they're especially if they visit us, you're not doing anything but in God's sight.
We're doing good work when we worship. There isn't anything higher.
And there's no broader base. I tell the young people then where the truth is and where the Lord is in the midst and where the Spirit of God has liberty. That's broad based. You can't get any broader for the gospel or anything. And so I think it's very important for the young people to realize that Jehoshaphat, I think it was Jehoshaphat, got mixed up with Jeroboam. And he says this is our enemy. Help me fight the enemy of God.
No problem.
We're all, we're all Christians, we're all God's people. And so he got mixed up. He said my horses are your horses, my people is your people. So he's mixed up with a wicked, with a wicked king who's king of Israel. Oh, is that all? No, that isn't all. He ends up with an unequal yoke, with a heathen king now.
That's terrible. And so we have an unholy alliance for an unholy purpose. It wasn't God's will, and I don't think Joseph I could have done better and getting messed up. And that's the way it is with young people. And you'll end up out there.
That's the problem. And after he had done that and had allied himself with Ahab and with Ahab's son, the prophet came to him and said, shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them? That hate the Lord, therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Now that was said to Jehoshaphat, who was a godly king, but he totally broke down in separation from ungodly religiousness, and that's what I was talking about. We don't hate.
That persons that are in it.
We love them and would seek to deliver them from that evil. The word of God says come out of her my people, that she be not partakers of her sins and that she received not of her plagues. That's found in Revelation 18. God calls his people who are in that system to come out of it, not to stay there. We're never to stay in complicity with evil. We're to separate from it so that we might be vessels to honor.
Sanctified meat for the masters. Use verse three brings it right in. Now we don't look down on them. That would be an awful thought.
But we all looked down on ourselves sometimes. It says, I say, through the great given unto me to every man that's among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. We've got to remember we're nothing.
We can't gloat when we and we can't look down on them. We can pray for them, but we can't. We can't boast.
That'd be awful, wouldn't it? You don't. Pride's an awful thing with God, and there's three prides, which we have to be careful of. There's pride of faith, that's what we have here, and pride of race. That's bad.
And there's pride of grace, too. That's bad.
We can't be proud that the Lord, by His grace, has gathered us to the name of His son. We can't be proud of that. We can be appreciative.
And thankful, I know many mix that up for pride, but don't stop thanking him and ask him to keep you. But pride, the terrible thing. That's verse 3.
Consider for a moment what is a remnant. You take a bolt of cloth and perhaps through leakage of a roof or something it is damaged. But on the end there's a little bit that is good. It's a remnant.
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You're never going to be able to redeem that bad piece of cloth. It's gone, but there is a remnant. We're glad where I are today and see so many.
But we are going home.
To the tombs and the three.
And I say this very carefully with the lack of ministry that we think is so wonderful. And I doubt not like we get here, but I'm just thinking it's just a little remnant. We're not going to bring in a great number of people when we bring them in. We're no longer a remnant. And what is the path for the individual that believes that there is a remnant and he would like to be associated with it? I believe it's brought out in Second Timothy.
Let everyone that names the name of Christ.
Depart from iniquity. Well, that slaves me all alone.
But further around we read these. But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them to call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You take the step.
You'll find company. It's the way of God's preserving the remnant.
The Lord preserves a remnant.
For testimony sake, you know he sees the whole body of Christ. Our Father sees it as one. But when? When Judah and Benjamin.
Were in Jerusalem and Judea, they didn't just have two loaves of showbread, they had 12 loaves of showbread. And that's the same with us. We have one loaf. But brethren, by the grace of God.
We announce the truth every time we break bread. Every blood bought St. in this whole world.
Is represented in that loaf, just like with two tribes, all 12.
Were represented even though they weren't there. And I think it's so beautiful. We have that privilege. There isn't any greater privilege. That's the highest privilege anyone can ever have in this world. Lords Day morning with that loaf. I think it's so precious. That's the remnant testimony.
You know that would be I like that illustration Brother Jim gave us. It would be folly for that little part of the unspoiled bolt of cloth to say we're the whole bolt.
We're the whole thing, if we get that idea, we're we're, we're very sadly wrong, but we represent we can say well, we're unspoiled. I don't mean I don't like to say we I'm talking about the I'm, I'm part of that remnant now that that bolt that that remnant boulder cloth can say well.
The whole boat was just like I am before it got spoiled.
So in the state I'm in, because I I escaped that pollution that came upon the rest of the boat, I represent, I'm talking about being part of the boat talking now. I represent what the bolt once was before it was spoiled. And that's the thought of God, isn't it? How did you escape it?
By the grace of God, that's right.
And brethren, you better pray that the Lord keeps you till he comes, because you can't keep yourself. And I think that's the most important prayer today. Just keep us where thou would have us going on till the Lord comes. He may come any moment, but we can't keep ourselves. And if our young people get the idea they can, they're gone.
Brother Walden Hill has an expression that he often gives, and I like it very much.
Lord, keep us in the past.
Until the end of the past, what you were saying?
One of the marks of the remnant. There's a little expression in Romans 2 That speaks of patient continuance in well doing.
This isn't a world that loves excitement and gets to the emotions and so on, but the characteristic of the remnant is patient continuance in well doing and the evils that we're speaking about is a tremendous tide. And we need a, should I say, a spiritual buffer against it. And what is it? It's to daily read the Word of God, young and old. We all need it to meditate.
01:10:00
And to be given to prayer.
I enjoyed a count of some young people in a certain school.
That the teachers noticed that their academics was quite remarkable, the way they expressed the English language, that was quite noticeable. And they got together to try to figure out what it was with these young people. And kind of the key question was they couldn't figure out how come they were so intelligent, but they didn't know who the movie stars were and what the the great hits were in the music world and the sports world and so on.
Well, you know, that's a buffer that we want to covet as we go on to be knowledgeable of this world and the great names goes, it's a hindrance to us. But to think that the world is observing very keenly, mind you, very keenly, and they pick up the differences very quickly. And whether they want to acknowledge it or not, there is a respect for the child of God who is walking.
In daily communion with the Lord.
And it may be that by a manner of life, salvation could be brought to those that look on. But often we get kind of fearful and and think that we're an oddity. And so we've got to give in a little bit.
But let us not be deceived by that kind of thinking. That would be Satan's suggestion, but just that patient, day by day, going on in quietness.
Is going to bear more weight, I believe, than anything else.
Encouragement and I don't want to focus attention on myself, though it is a personal story about eight years ago at my work that the boss had recently moved into a new home and he had one of these big, wide and high viewing televisions. And so he came to each person and he came to me with the secretary somehow standing beside him and he said, I want you to all come to my home, Lord Sunday. I didn't say Lord's Day, he said Sunday afternoon and going to watch.
The Super Bowl.
I still remember the sensation that came over me and I kind of gulped and this is what came out. I don't drink, smoke or chew or socialize with those that do.
He turned to the secretary and he said, well, he said if Stan were to come, he could be in the garage with the dogs.
Well, I knew that my number, as far as he was concerned, was was up.
So the next time I had an evaluation, I knew something was going to come up, and it did. And I was able to present the gospel to him. And from then on, if there was any advantage that came my way, it came providentially.
Recently I was told that.
They called him into the big boss's office and they said you are fired on the spot.
A few months before that, they allowed me without any surveillance, without any checking of how many hours I worked, to be able to finish my time of duty for them in my own home, 1100 miles from anybody else. So God in His Providence took care of me and the fear of this man.
Would have brought a snare, but God worked it and young people and whoever else.
Is still working. Remember God will honor faith Now remember this there are two sides of faith in the 11TH of Hebrews You may get fired you may you may but if if it's worth it to you to be fired or to have a sense of the approval of God.
Remember, we don't spend Lord's Day afternoon looking at the Super Bowl. Or if it's on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or Saturday.
That is not our occupation, because here's what it does.
It spoils communion. It spoils communion. I would rather there's a verse in Psalms that says thy favor is better than life. And you and I in some small measure, when we are indeed in communion with the Lord. Let me give an example.
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If you have some that are younger, don't have trouble sleeping, that their mother has to come and get them. And it's proverbial that young people don't have trouble sleeping, but some of us may wake up.
And what I have tried to do is to start going in my mind through some book of the Bible that say John or Ephesians and, and I get stuck on about the 5th chapter and I say, Oh yes, what is that? And then you get up and you started the day by meditating on the word of God. And then you get up and you say, Oh yes, that's the 5th chapter. And then the next time you start meditating, you may get through to the 6th chapter and that's the middle of the second verse by the renewing.
Of your mind.
I remember Walter Gill was mentioned. I remember his father. His last days were spent in Portland, OR. And I remember dear brother Frank Gill saying that every time he read some scripture, it seemed a fresh renewal, as if he had never read it. And brethren, that's what we need, isn't it? That's what we need is the renewing of our minds and to have the mind so renewed that it's the word of God. Now don't take me wrongly.
I respect and believe that the truth of God is conveyed at a conference and in our meetings. But I'm not gathered and you're not gathered because of what brethren preach. We're here because of the Word of God, and the Word of God is the guide. And may we be kept and be like the brains that search the Scriptures to see whether those things were sold. And I believe that whatever dispersion has been in the past and by the grace of God.
I hope no dispersion comes. But if we understood in the simplicity of Scripture the elements of Paul's doctrine that leads us from Paul's gospel in Galatians 1 to the to the resurrection in First Corinthians 15, and understood its relation to the present day, we would have an anchor for the soul and have an anchor. And brethren, we need it individually and if we have it individually.
And we we understand it not with the mind, but with the heart.
Then we see that all that God has done in the present dispensation is centered in an arisen and glorified Christ. It so separates us from this world. And so a Christian to be an activist and and so many I could mention a work of God that is sovereignty has opened up 60 miles from from Denver in the South. And as you go along, you see a big sign that says focus on the family and you can turn and you can go into their $1,000,000 facility.
But they're spending their time, if not spending their wheels.
In trying to stop the forward motion of abortion, do we believe in abortion with all our hearts? Scripture speaks against it. But I'm not going to join a society that's going to lend their support to that because Pauls doctrine separates me from this world and and even the righteous side of the world. Let's take, let's take.
Promise Keepers.
The The football head football coach of CU and Boulder, Co, recently retired.
And for those that care, which hopefully we don't, it was quite a disappointment.
So they started what is well known throughout the United States and maybe Canada. But as has been spoken recently in this meeting about Jezebel, they're now embracing Jezebel can come in. There's a man by the name of Chuck Coulson that thank God he was saved. We're thankful for every soul that saved. But with a, with without a good conscience, would I connect myself? Because now he's embraced exactly what we have. Brethren, there is no safer ground, no happier ground.
For us to understand individually Paul's doctrine and to see that however weak an individual assembly may be, that is where Christ is in the midst and we're safe. We're safe.
Example of Old Testament for promise keepers takes care of it, doesn't it? All that Jehovah says we shall do.
They broke the first commandment before they got it.
The first What first gave more than one?
Can't keep a promise so we'd let them rule play around with that and God laughs at their calamity. But these verses first three are leading us out of ourselves into the truth of the one body of Christ and I think it's so beautiful to get into the practical that really Paul wants he wants to eliminate ourselves 1St and that's so important and I think the one thought here.
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I would just mention that not to think of yourself more highly than you ought. Well, Paul said. I'm the least of All Saints.
Chief of all sinners, so he could tell us this, you know, but we often do that and Paul in the Philippians, I want to just turn to Philippians Chapter 2.
Verse two, he says as he's in prison.
Fulfill ye my joy.
How do you do that? Well, I'm not going to go into all of it, but notice what verse three says in the middle. But lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Now I believe it should read more excellent than themselves. And look, not every man on his own qualities, but every man also on the qualities of others. That would be false joy in prison.
And then he tells them how to do it.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so that's all he's doing in the 1St 3 verses. He's trying to get self out of us like Ecclesiastes does so he can fill us with Christ like Song of Songs does. But any rate notice for as we have many members for this is the purpose of this chapter in one body and all members have not the same office, so we being many.
Our one body in Christ and everyone members of another one of the I was going to say in particular.
But I like that, don't you? In the 12TH chapter of First Corinthians, he says.
God has set the members in the body as it's pleased Him.
Accept means purposely done and permanently. God has set the members in the body as it pleased him. I believe it says the Lord and then in 27 verse 27 it says and we are members in particular.
And they're beautiful. And this is what Paul's bringing out. You know, this is what's going to happen to the rest of this. And we, we should always remember this. We're in the body of Christ. That's the most important thing to remember. And, and each member is a member in particular. And not only that, you're not only a member in particular now.
You were in God's thoughts and purposes before anything was, that is.
When Paul wants us to get the grasp of this.
He wants us to get the bigness of what's happening here even today. This is marvelous today that we're even here. You know, that's all God's purposes and goodness. So we, being many, are one body in Christ. Everyone members one of another. We can't do without each other.
A city we can't do without each other, brother, and we don't lean on each other connection with the renewing of our minds. You notice that it says that you may prove what is that good?
An acceptable and perfect will of God.
How important is only through the Word of God that we can prove what is good and acceptable and perfect as to the will of God.
We're not of the world which fadeth away, We're not of the night, But children of days, the change that once found us by Jesus are riven Were strangers on earth. Our home is in heaven.
Far away.
Romans 12:6-12
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Praise the Lord.
Again. Again.
The Spirit.
So far.
I presume.
With a praise refrigerator.
My birthday.
Takes over.
And they take time.
I'm happy.
Spring.
Manhattan Christmas.
Ever. I am taking the ball out.
And you're my heart.
Our every.
Door.
And we will.
Do.
Over 6.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.
Prophecy. Let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith.
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering.
Or he that teacheth on teaching.
For he that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth let him do it with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned 1 to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Rejoicing in hope, patient and tribulation.
Continuing instant in prayer.
Distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not.
Rejoice with him that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Might not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
00:05:05
For it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore the thine enemy hunger feed him. If he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
A comment this morning was made intentional with First Corinthians 12/18, and I read it. But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it had pleased him? There is a a construction in case with that word set in the original, that not only is it God that has done it, which indeed He has in that sovereignty, but that the glory of having done it comes back upon the doer.
And so God has not only set the members in the body, as it had pleased him, and we had nothing to do with it.
But it's greater than just mere sovereignty. It's the the glory of you and I as individuals being sent in the body to function according to the power of the Spirit, is such that the glory of that function and of having put us in the body comes back upon God for glory. And isn't that the the essence of what God desires in the assembly? Each of us are different or in their function.
In case with evangelism or sharing in the word were each different.
An intense intended soul, but that the total effect is what God has intended for the glory to come back upon Himself.
1St Corinthians 12.
We have that same word brought out very beautifully in verse 27 and 28.
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, gifts of healings helps.
I like that helps, you know, we all have a place, we all have a purpose in the body of Christ.
And I was thinking as it's worded in Ephesians.
Chapter 4, it's very beautiful.
To see your purpose.
Verse 16. Well, verse 15 at the end.
Which is the head, even Christ, 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 part, making increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love.
Every joint.
Supplier Now it's sad when some of the joints aren't functioning right. It happens. But when everything's functioning right and the Spirit has liberty, every joint in an assembly is supplying and we build up in that sense ourself in Christ. It's a beautiful picture that God has set for us.
Just to.
The young may think that we wake up some morning and all of a sudden we have a gift. It's not that way, is it? We find that a gift is associated with what the Spirit of God is working in us when we're young.
And very seldom can we just say this is my gift, like what brother Bob said to be a help. That's that's a wonderful gift. But.
It's what God works out in US and in every one of our lives it's different.
And as God has given us all kinds of fruit to enjoy.
So are the gifts that He has given to the church. If we have just one kind of fruit like apples to eat and that was it, it might get kind of tiresome. But all the variety that God has given in that way to teach us spiritually that we are not parrots, we are not learning what is acceptable, but we're learning.
00:10:17
The ways of God in our own lives. And then it comes out and gift. And then there's the thought of prophecy, which I enjoyed someone saying.
That prophecy is that spirit that steps out of time, out of the boundaries of time, just to enjoy the councils of God. Now Jacob is a classic example of one who went through great discipline in his life and none of us would change and trade our lives for him.
But we see him on his deathbed, and justice to see the vision of his soul.
I think it's Mr. Bella has said that curtains of dispensation fell to the floor as he looked right on to the end of God's counsels. So I just mentioned this by way to the young that that you have a gift and the Spirit of God is developing that gift in you and it's going to come out by and by. It may not be publicly, but it may be in private conversation. You may know how to give a word in season to him that is cast down or the breed.
All the gifts are varied and wide. May we be encouraged in this matter of gifts.
To ask a question on your remarks brother, in the 11TH chapter it says in the I think it's the 29th verse for the gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance. I'd like to have a few thoughts enlarged on that, that you would make your point.
Perhaps we could have one of our teachers.
And what's in that promise of God is in Christ and in Him. Amen. And that goes for gifts. You know, He's promised in Ephesians 4, gifts to the church. And Christ is the basis of all gifts. And I think that the thought of it is the gift is given and God doesn't change his mind. Now you may not be using a gift that he's given you and said thought, but it's still there.
And the Spirit of God can, can arouse that gift, like Paul told Timothy. But I think we're the last one to acknowledge we've got the gift we ought to be. The gift is acknowledged by brethren around and others. It isn't. I say, I got this gift that to be said. But if you have a gift, your brother will know and they'll rejoice in it. That's the thought in prophecy. I just might mention that. I think probably others have.
Better thoughts than verse 29, but prophecy is where we're getting into here.
The first first one in verse six, I think it is prophecy. Prophecy is not necessarily for telling the future. That's what many think it is. It's not it include prophecy includes that, but prophecy is foretelling God's mind and will. That's really what it is teaching is really bringing out the truth from the word of God, but prophecy is really bringing out.
God's mind and will. Am I right in that?
I will pray. I wanted to go back to 1129. It's a it's a verse that's quite often misunderstood.
The way to understand the difficult to understand verse is to look at it in its context. And the chapter says starts out with I say then hath God castaway his people?
God forbid, and then he cites himself as an example. I'm an Israelite, seed of Abraham, tribe of Benjamin. God hath not castaway his people which he foreknew, but when he was writing this, lo am I was still a written upon the people, not my people. Israel was in a state of unbelief. Bail was upon their heart. But the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. They are irrevocable. They cannot be changed. God has purpose to bless Israel and they're going to be blessed.
And that's the point of the verse, that He's going to bless them according to His grace and His will and His calling, and nothing can stop that. In other words, in spite of their performance, Would that be all right? It's the sovereign will of God to bless them. What about our performance? Truth applies to us.
There are certain gifts that we saw in First Corinthians 12 and 28, just to show that that verse in Romans 11 shouldn't mean that because there are gifts there that are not any longer given.
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We don't have it, says there, and God has set some in the church. And so the Word goes from body to church or assembly because these things are to be worked out practically in the assembly. First apostles.
We don't have those anymore, second prophets, third teachers, but after that miracles. So there's not those gifts any longer in the church. So there are certain gifts that are permanent. Others were temporary.
But didn't repent of those gifts, they were used for the very purpose he gave them and tongues and so on. That's don't bring that into 1129. That has nothing to do with 11 People. I just meant no. I'm not saying idiot, but I'm saying we shouldn't mix those two there just because the word gifts occurs in both places.
The the sense of it is entirely different. 1129 is out of our bracket anyway, isn't it? That's right, but someone asked the question. And then sometimes that's used by charismatic to show that tongues are still in operations because of gifts and callings of God or without Repentance has nothing to do with it.
So that's why it's good to keep these verses in their context.
Mention was made of some of those that are in the camp that are ministering and their ministry for what they have is very good.
And we sometimes get caught up with it, enamored with it. But there's another verse of Scripture. Yet is a man not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
I'll leave those dear brothers where they are.
But there is a path that the Lord is marked out for each one of us here, and the gifts that are here are speak to us.
God has not forgotten His sheep that are not gathered to His name.
They're scattered all over and God says I've got sheep there and I want to feed them and he's given them gifts, but I don't know about the crowning of it. Perhaps I'm introducing a subject here. In fact, I know I am that I'm not thoroughly familiar with, but I'm just thinking of the fact that a man is not.
Crowned, except he strive lawfully. They're using their gifts.
I frankly think in the wrong place. Perhaps somebody could expand on that thought. God holds them responsible for the truth they have. He doesn't hold them responsible for truth they know not.
Now those that have been gathered and have had the truth and turn their back on it, God's sovereign, he can use what they do out there in the camp. Thank God for that. But as far as anything to their account.
At the judgment seat of Christ, I think there's a big question mark. That's the thought Mr. Patterson, FG Patterson in his book on the church and brother Clem, he put part of it in the.
Christian Treasury a year ago in the spring.
He made these comments, he said. I think I can give them pretty accurately. He said. There was never a time, and there never will be a time in the history of the church when there were not those that gave expression.
To the to the mind of God and that please God and they acted according to the light that they have. And he said morally, these are Philadelphians.
Not historically, not prophetically, but morally. These are, these are Philadelphians. What is a Philadelphian? One that keeps his word and doesn't deny his name. And if they live up to the light that they have, they are morally Philadelphians. They don't have the light that we have. And so our responsibility is much greater.
And if we fail in it, our guilt is much greater.
So it's a solemn thing. We often adopt the principle that the Jews adopted this people which knoweth not the law are cursed. The truth is this, people that keepeth not the law are cursed, but not those that don't know it. God does not hold responsible those that don't know that truth, but those that know it, like the Jews knew it. And we have so much more light. We're far more responsible.
So if one walks up according to the light that he has, and God is the one that determines that, who art thou that judges another man's servant to his own master? He standeth or follett. Yeah, he shall be made to stand. God is able to make him stand. So he has to answer to God.
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You have to answer to God. I have to answer to God. Each one of us has to answer to the Lord for the light that he's given to us.
And we shouldn't be so much like Peter. What shall this man do? He said, if I will, that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee? Follow thou me, and that's the word to you and to me, to follow the Lord, and leave the other with the Lord.
A happy thing if we had the attitude that JBEZ is expressed of having in First Chronicles 4. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, all that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. Wouldn't it be beautiful if our daily prayer exercise was like Jabez, bless me?
And enlarge my coats to think of how much you know if a coastline is very smooth.
It's there are not as many miles of coast for this, for the same general contour. If there are Jags and and little bays and and and so on. We know this from elementary geography. And so to think of, of how that we want the Lord to bless us with with an enlarged coast, to think of how many little inlets and how many beautiful fjords of truth and and blessing that there are that the Lord wants to bring us into and you know.
It's found with digging, isn't it? And so the simile is brought out in the book of Job in connection with there's a place for the silver. There's a place for the gold. And I remember brethren without embarrassing them because they're here in this audience that have brought out some, some thoughts that the meanings of, of their names and, and the relation of, of them with certain circumstances. And they only got it. And they may have looked it up in a, in a concordance to get the meaning of the name, but they connected it by digging and that their coast is enlarged and by giving it out to others.
There are things that my brethren have mentioned to me.
I may never have told them that I enjoyed what they said, but I have and I've gained from it and I take it home and I, I, I masticate it. I, I search it and, and I make it good for, for my own soul. That's an enlarged coast. And, and in connection with gift to, you know, there are two spots that I would like to bring out. One is in connection with first Timothy. It's Paul tells him in the first epistle to not neglect the gift that is in him.
And in the second epistle he says to stir it up. Now some of us that have had to do with suspensions in our work where if you let something go and don't stir it up, it settles to the bottom. And so I think the apostle was telling Timothy in the first epistle, make sure that you don't neglect it because what's going to happen is going to settle to the bottom. And you know from experience that when you stir something up, it takes a lot of energy. It takes more energy to keep something in suspension than it does to stir it up from the bottom.
And I'm afraid that in the second epistle, Paul is really saying, brother, you've neglected it, and now you're going to have to stir it up. And each of us need to be encouraged. You can say, oh, I don't have this, I don't have that. But you know that they've run an experiment in medical things, and it's very true that they bind an arm with a bandage and they make that arm immobile. Nothing wrong with it, but after two weeks, there is something wrong with it because it hasn't been used.
And that's what we need, isn't it? We need to use it according to the work in the spirit, not the flesh, not to flaunt ourselves. But if we use it, then it's going to increase in strength. And you know, synergism is a word that means that if you can lift 20 lbs with one arm, you can lift 50 with the two arms. And so there's synergism. There's a working together of what God has given us to be able to to make the most use of it. And it's never going to grow.
It's going to become.
Absolutely dormant, settled at the bottom of the of the 55 gallon drum that I've often worked with is going to settle down. If we don't stir it up and don't neglect it, then you'll and then take the the admonition of stirring it up when each need it, don't we? Because God has given us each something that can be used and useful.
There's a lot mentioned here in six and seven and eight. Great variety. You've got prophecy, you've got serving, you've got teaching, and it brings in exhorting and leading and.
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Showing mercy very important. So on. But in in the.
In First Corinthians 14 we have this thought at the end of verse 26. Let all things be done unto edifying. That is the building up of the assembly. That's really the the reason for it all and it says that verse 12.
Seek that he may excel to the edifying of the assembly. So all of this is for that purpose.
Is to build itself up in love.
That's Ephesians 4. So these different gifts.
They're they're, they're for purpose of the assembly. And if they're used properly and we acknowledge them properly and receive them properly, the assemblies in a healthy condition and then the testimony goes out. The gospel naturally goes, I mean, there's a lot that are forcing gospel in assemblies, a lot of them giving them up.
But brethren, let's don't give up the gospel either. I mean, it's very important.
They say, well, we're all Christians here, just a handful. Well, they need it, right?
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. That's the gospel. And then Monday you go out and you're ready to tell somebody again afresh. Now let's don't give up the gospel. And so we, we, we, we decide what's right. That isn't that isn't the thought here we were edifying, building up.
Assembly. And then the light shines bright. That's wonderful, isn't it?
Put a little more light on that eighth verse. Some of those things are those gifts. Some people just have the gift of exhortation and and where would we see examples of that in Scripture? Like he that ruleth or he that leadeth with diligence?
You don't have to spend very long in an assembly to know there are leaders.
They're the last to say they are, but they're there. Thank God for them. And I love to see it. You know, there are ones that have the chair of the Saints in their heart too. They're the ones that just sort of lead in in that, in that meeting. God places them there. And and if that's your position, if that's really what you're doing, well, what does it say? Let's see that leaders with diligence, that's very important. Well, someone else may have a different thought, but that's a gift.
That's a gift, he'd be the last to say. I'm the Bishop here, right?
I mean, the one with the gift doesn't.
Exalt himself, he humbles. He's humble. I think it's beautiful.
Difference between gift and office is the office is a local charge applying to a local assembly that's an elder, an overseer. He that's an office, that's not a gift. And these were appointed by the apostles or the Apostolic delegates and they had authority in their local assembly. But this is a gift of rule. Now, for instance, take Mr. Darby. He, he was not an overseer, he couldn't have been, he was not married.
He was not the husband of one wife and with his children in order. He didn't have children, but he had he had the gift of rule, I believe.
He and he exercised that wherever he went.
He guided the Saints in many ways.
He had probably more gifts than most of us, any of us today, but.
That was he exerted an influence.
Of a ruling character over the whole body of Christ where he went. And that's most extraordinary gift. I'm sure the apostle Paul had that.
Well, you must remember that God raises up gifts for certain purposes too, that are very special. But I think we're talking about Brother Darby, Brother McIntosh, Brother Kelly and others. That was a special period of the restoration of truth. Those vessels were very special vessels, and we have to acknowledge it. And the truth that came out at that time is beautiful and don't expect it to happen again. God doesn't repeat those things.
They're not going to be vessels raised up today like Macintosh or Darby. No, we've got it, the Lord did it. And so we have to remember that there's special reasons for gifts too, but generally in an assembly.
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There's gift. It may be real prominent, but there, it's there.
Later, there's some instances in the Old Testament of this.
I can't recall one exactly but he that rule it with diligence and we will read in either Kings or Chronicles that so and so. One of them I remember was 8 years old when he began to reign.
And he destroyed this, and he destroyed that, and he put away the evil priests.
It shows that he had that gift, God had given it to him, and he immediately started to exercise it. And I think that's one of the things he defined these things in the Old Testament, I think is something that should exercise us. And when we read of some of the things in the Old Testament.
Just like that. It's it's a gift that he was given and he started to exercise it and he used it.
And I think your House of that was one of them. But as was mentioned this morning.
He tried to bring back that which God had separated.
At the time of Solomon, God separated the 10 times from the 2 tribes.
He just, he just separated them and, and until the Lord comes, they're not coming back. But Jehoshaphat said, well, we ought to get them back. And he tried it and I think somebody has put out a track.
World bordering on about Jehovah's as a very, very good track. But there was another problem, another king there.
That sent out messengers up to them and said come back to the center. They were refused, except certain ones did come back.
And that is the same to us today.
We have contacts with those in the systems. We can tell them that well, we've enjoyed the meetings here and feel them out. No, they don't want to come.
Yeah, just leave it right there. But certain ones you've contacted, well, I'm one of them.
My wife and I were in the systems and God spoke to us through His gifts and brought us in. Some of you were raised in the meeting, perhaps do not understand this, but we should be diligent in speaking. If they take it, mind. If they don't take it, we leave them where they are.
Just one other thing on gifts in First Corinthians 12.
I know there's different thoughts on this, but without getting into.
Tedious things.
1St.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same capitalist spirit. That's the Spirit functioning in assembly. And I do believe it. And there are differences of services, that administration is services, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but the same God which worketh All in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given.
To every man to profit with all. For the one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom to another, the Word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another, the gifts of healing which have ceased by the same Spirit, and so on.
But all these all these workers verse 11 That one and the self same spirit.
Dividing every man severally as the Spirit will and I think that's beautiful to see that. Now I know some say these are the gifts to the church, but I I hesitate there are gifts, these could include the gifts to the church, but I believe it's the gifts that the minister, the ministry of the Spirit of God.
Brings out in a meeting and it happens.
One meeting a man may be particularly.
In faith, because of his experience, I weak and he brings it out that beautiful faith that it that never fails and and I could go on, but we have it in our meetings and it's a spirit, brethren, that moves and manifests among those that are truly gathered there and I and I do believe those kinds. I would I know Chuck says I'm not going to get into that, but I do think it's it happens in our assembly.
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And it's a manifestation of the Spirit in assembly.
I'm not.
And say we're in trouble, our assembly has no gift. I would like to hear that.
The Spirit can do it.
A little bit like the story that's told of an age rule that when he was leaving, he must have told the story on himself because no one else would have known what he did. He was leaving an assembly where a sister said, well, there's nothing in the assembly for the young people. And he, he had some tears and he said to himself, to think that they have Christ in the assembly. And the sister says they have nothing. And so in an assembly, let's admit that there is an instance where there might be an assembly where there is a weakness.
But to say that there's no gift is to defy what our brother has brought out, that the Spirit of God can give us to see Christ in the midst. And let's forget about for the moment in the weakness. Let's forget whether it's a gift or not, but let's just enjoy Christ together. And if there's someone that adds a thought and and we later say, oh, that brother has a developed gift, well, he probably wasn't thinking of it. He just simply enjoyed out loud what the Spirit of God had given him concerning Christ. And believe me.
I'd like to be in that weak assembly.
But the overall key is verse nine. Let love be unfair or without dissimulation. That's the key. I mean, brethren, you come to meeting to show love, not to find it. You, you don't come to find it, you know, you come to show it. You're going to find it. That's the that's it. Let love be unfeigned as you sit down. You ought to look at everyone there.
And thank God they're there. That's the way we ought to do it. You know, there's a little ditty I like, it says. I went out into the world to find a friend and I couldn't find one anywhere.
Then I went out again to be a friend and I had friends everywhere. Well, put love in there and you got the idea for a meeting and that's what this is. Let love be unfeigned. That's the truth. That's then, then we'll be fed by the Spirit of God. You know, it reminds me of a brother that told me he went out visiting among the Lord's people and he says, you know, I says, well, how did your trip go, brother? Did you, what did you find among the brethren?
He said I found what I looked for. I said, what did he look for? He said I looked for Christ and my brethren. And he said I found Christ in my brethren. And he was excited about it, you know, and I thought that that was good. That's a word to my own soul that we find what we look for. If you and I go out to find trouble, you know, like my little boy when he was three years old.
By his mother told him, Eric, when you go outside, don't get into mischief.
So what did he do? He goes outside and he looks down the the curb this way and he looks down the curve that way. He was looking for the mischief because they didn't know what it was.
He had to learn later that Mischief was getting into trouble. Well, he had lots of ways to do that. You know, every one of us did only.
He's a medalist with strife not belonging to him. Is like one that takes a dog by the ears, Solomon.
But love isn't quite if it's divine love, you got the rest of that verse. Don't you abhor that which is evil, not just moral, doctrinal, and cleave to that which is good. Now that is divine love.
Everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
And so it says in verse 6, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given unto us, and then he names the gift of prophecy.
Let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith.
Faith must be operative in the exercise of the gift.
But or ministry or service? Let us wait on our ministry, our service.
Or he that teacheth on teaching.
A teacher doesn't just happen.
He has to be in the word.
Paul says to Timothy.
Meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. And.
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That's that's why we encourage the young, especially don't wait till you get my age to start studying the scriptures. You've waited too long.
Way too long.
Our minds are not as keen, our memories are very poor, but when you're young?
Mine is plastic and receptive to these precious things. Fill your souls with these things with the Word of God Study. Be diligent. Diligent souls should be made fat and then you'll have a a firm foundation to build upon.
A teacher is one that has been in the word.
And so he can teach.
And any other gift that is mentioned.
There has to be a, as we've already mentioned that there has to be.
1/5 state of soul so that the gift can be effective.
And the one who's a teacher, he's interested in the Word and, and what the word means. The one who's a shepherd, that's not mentioned here, but it's mentioned in Ephesians, He's interested in souls and he's dealing with souls. And you'll notice those two gifts are put together. Shepherds and teachers, pastors and teachers are put together.
When we're dealing with souls, we have to be able to set the word before them and explain it and give the sense. That's the function of a teacher. But a shepherd is dealing with souls and with the sheep, an evangelist. He goes out one leg in the assembly, sweeping out to bring the gospel and bring them in. Bring them in the trouble with evangelism as we see it so often carried out.
Today is the evangelist doesn't have one foot in the assembly, so he doesn't have any place to bring them to. And it's important when souls are saved that they they're not told go to the Church of your choice. How can they choose? They don't know anything. They've just come to know Christ. They're babes. How can they possibly choose where to go?
We should bring them to the end. We should bring them where they're going to be nurtured and fed, cared for. The assembly, those gathered to the Lords name. That's why if you're gathered to the Lords name and you're an evangelist, you have a tremendous advantage over other evangelists because you can bring them to a place where they can be taught.
And nourished and fed and cared for. Otherwise you, you say well.
Go to the Church of your choice, which is which is horrible. You think of it, it's it's horrible. It's turning them loose to the confusion of Christendom.
It's a horrible thing, isn't it? We can bring them to where the the truth is they can be taught.
Chuck was bringing out those gifts to the church in Ephesians 4, and we have to be thankful for them.
That those that gift is one that is to the whole church. Yeah, the whole all the assemblies. But just because there's no gift of a teacher present.
That that isn't mean we're done at that meeting or that assembly. There are those apartment to teach, not particularly a gift to the church, but they're apartment to teach. And I think that's precious. And they know as I go around and I think everybody who goes around will say that.
Just feel funny at times because there are those who are better taught there have to teach too, but they really know the word of God in assemblies and I I rejoice that they do well. I go to when you go to sit to the church. That isn't the point. He is a teacher. He's apartment to teach. He loves to feed on the word of God and give it out.
Wonderful, really. Did I read a verse that you just alluded to in Second Timothy 2?
In Second Timothy 2 it says there.
And we just take one verse, verse 24.
The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. Apartment to teach. Apartment to teach. Now here's the servant of the Lord. Now you might say, you might say, well, I'm a follower of Christ. Or you can be a you're a servant of the Lord too, in your in your position. But you say, well, I don't have any gift. Yeah, but are you a servant of the Lord? Now here comes the answer. See. What does it say about the servant? The Lord have to teach? Well, but I'm not a teacher. That's all right. You're apartment.
To be a help.
I say that in a good sense, you and I are privileged to be a helper. And So what does it say next? I have to teach patients. Sometimes we want to rush them into the some kind of a decision or something, a patient. And then it says in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Well, we, we meet people that oppose themselves all around us. I got a neighbor that comes in all the time and he says, oh, brother, I feel terrible. I got this trouble and that trouble and and yet he's opposing himself. I have most of the time.
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And So what do we do?
Instructing those that oppose themselves, if God perhaps will give the repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And what is this one? I'm thinking of one person at this time. He's in the snare of some of this mixed, mixed business of religion.
The Church makes truth.
Misapplied truth and all the rest. So what do we do? Well, we take our time and and patience apartment to teach and then we give them a little bit of gold. You know you and I have each got gold Nuggets. So wonderful.
We got a treasure and what are we doing with it? Are we passing it out? Well, if the Lord gives the occasion, you and I can share the gold Cancer.
Let's just go come to a reading meeting in our assembly with the purpose of teaching either. You know that that never works. If we're all coming to enjoy Christ, then we're bound to learn. If you don't have to just be a teacher in that sense, if we all want to enjoy Christ from the precious Word, the Holy Spirit, who is the only teacher, will teach us.
That it should be done while we are still young and not at the age bracket that we're in.
And I'm thinking of that. Scripture says remember now thy creator in the days of thy you.
And I think through scripture there is much about opening the word of God and reading it the first thing in the morning.
Brethren.
I do not roll out of bed full of them vigor and vitality. It takes me a little time.
But I like to get into something in the Word. There's a song that has been written. Take time to be holy. And you, if you don't start the day with the word of God, you're in it before you have a chance to really know what the mind of the Lord is for the day. I had occasion the other day to talk to a young couple. Both of them are in medical school.
And my wife and I have been praying for them for quite some time.
She, incidentally, was saved when he was when when she married the young man.
But he was brought up under the truth and in talking with him, I said, well, there's one thing my wife and I are praying.
They've got to study, let me use the expression 24 hours a day in their medical career. Where do they have any time to read the word of God? I said. That's what I fear for you.
And his wife, I was not talking to them together. His wife, who was, shall I say, recently said she said, yes, we're afraid the world will come in. Oh, we have to take time to be holy. And I think it's been brought up, it costs something to be a Christian. You have to take the time. Otherwise the day starts and you don't have any more time.
Recently I was looking up who wrote our hymns and I read about Francis Havergale, I think it was, and she died very young, 42 years old.
She could recite the entire New Testament by memory, the book of Isaiah, the minor prophets.
Read the scriptures of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew and the New Testament in the original Greek. She died when she was 42 years old.
I when I read that I said impossible.
It wasn't impossible.
She gave herself wholly to these things.
Two, let love be without the simulation in verse 9.
It's a very sensitive thing.
Thinking of the privilege that my wife and I have had of visiting an assembly where there's three couples.
Can you imagine that situation? Three couples, three is a crowd, as we sometimes speak.
And yet to visit in this assembly to find them going on year after year. What is the secret?
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They're different from one another, have different advantages.
And it would be easy for two to pair up against one and leave them out.
But in visiting among them, I hear them say, you know, we have to constantly reach out to the other, and if we don't, there's going to be trouble.
Well, three couples in an assembly and it goes on, doesn't it? The assembly is enlarged and there has to be that reaching out and as in marriage.
Marriage is a miracle of love, and I believe that it reflects itself right into the assembly. The assembly is a miracle of love, and if the assembly is growing, there has to be love. But the simulation is an awful thing, as we have it noted in Galatians chapter 2, where Peter comes to Antioch and there's Gentiles there and the Jews kind of gravitate together.
And the Gentiles are left on the other side of the room. Well, Paul, he saw the situation. He rebuked it sharply.
And so it's wonderful how it goes on here before that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good, and be kindly affection 1 to another.
Well, this is a needful exhortation to my own heart to reach out to our brethren. We are so different, and in the assembly I don't believe there's a body of people.
That lived closer together in this world than in the assembly.
Sometimes things, rumors or things come out that don't sound too good and it kind of begins to separate us. But what is going to preserve us is to let love be without dissimulation.
Colossians 3, I believe it brings that out so beautifully. And in Colossians 3 at the end of verse 11.
Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering for bearing one another, for giving one another.
Any man have a quarrel or strife against any, even as Christ forgave you.
So also do ye, and above all.
These things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.
Now that's a pretty good prescription for assembly in the in a healthy condition. And I believe, you know in First Corinthians 13, we don't turn to it.
It brings out three things, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is divine love. The greatest of all, it's going to go on for eternity. That's the really bond of perfectness in assembly. Is that love of Christ.
Corinthians 13, that well known chapter incensed with love. It's I believe.
Important to notice as it starts in the fourth verse love suffers long and is kind. This in general this word for suffer in the fourth verse is not the same as the word in the seventh verse where it says endureth all things. In the fourth verse it has more to do with people. And notice that it says love suffers long and is kind because love. Without love we suffer long and we become unkind.
The ineffable decline of our attitude when we've suffered too long without love is to be very unkind. But it says love suffers long and is kind because.
We know from experience that unless it's divine love, we we start to rank her and we think things and say things at home about a certain individual that has nothing to do with with really suffering long according to scripture.
And then the end of that little section, the fourth verse, this 6th, 7th, and it says hope with all things endureth all things, and that's an endurance in connection with circumstances. So it starts with a suffering long endurance and catch with people and catch with our brethren and suffering long and is kind, and it ends up with an endurance and catch you with circumstances and all of the other things in between that only divine love.
Can surmount.
For this divine love in verse nine, it will not overlook.
00:55:02
The evil or the air that is loving a brother or sister, you really love them, you're going to help them. You're not going to compromise, overlook, turn your head. That's not love. That's not divine love at all. And so that's what it brings out and more, that which is evil cleave to that which is good. Now that's divine love. And then of course, practical things, which is 10 and on. It's very nice that we get this practical truth. We need it.
It's interesting Stan was just reading from First Corinthians 13.
That's set. It's interesting to see where that chapter is set in Scripture. It's set between the 12TH and the 14th of First Corinthians. The 12TH is that the giving of the gifts, the endowment by the Spirit of the spiritual gifts in the 14th chapter is the exercise of those gifts.
And the 13th chapter is the.
Is the element that is needed that those gifts be exercised for edification and profit and blessing of the Saints and not for self exaltation, which is what the Corinthians were doing? And you get that same feeling as you read these verses, having been gifts differing. We have different gifts. We should not be envious of the gift that another one has or they shouldn't be envious of the one that we might have. We we have different gifts and all of these gifts are necessary.
For the general building up and blessing of the Saints, so we don't have to be envious for anyone else's gift about anyone elses gift, but just the exercise, whatever the Lord has given us to do, to do it to Him and with His approval, and for the good and blessing of all. And when we all do that, there'll be a harmonious functioning of each member for the good of all. That's God's thought, isn't it, in the giving of these gifts.
You know, I've heard that illustration on what you just told us, Chuck, getting back to kind of.
The mechanical world, you know, here's we've got what we call the engine in the car. So the mechanic, he takes the engine out and he overhauls it. He's got all the pieces on the bench and he's looking them over and they're all, you know, that's the 12TH chapter. He's got all the pieces. So he puts it all back together in the 12TH chapter. Spiritual Gifts.
And the working of all these things and then he has to put something in before he starts it up. Oil. If you try to start an engine without oil, it's not going to work. It's going to seize up and and not run. And the oil, I like to think is like the 13th chapter of First Corinthians. It's the oil of, of love that makes things function in the assembly. And you got the result, the smooth rolling engine, the 14th chapter. But then you also get some adjustments in the 14th chapter too, don't you?
How to keep it going smooth? You know, you adjust the spark a little bit.
Adjust the carburetor a little bit. It's a poor analogy to this beautiful picture. But sometimes we need a poor analogy to get down to the how do you say the practical? You know, the kids understand about running the lawn mower, but if you don't put all in it, it doesn't work. So you could even compare it with the lawn mower engine. Is that all right?
The kindly affectioned 1 to another verse 10.
Brotherly love in honor, preferring one another.
Now that's contrary to our nature, isn't it?
Our own nature that we don't like to prefer others to ourselves and we shouldn't, as Paul said, think more excellent of another than yourself.
As they're more excellent and be occupied with their qualities.
Well, you know, this is contrary to the old nature, this contrary to flesh, but it's the spirit. It is beautiful to see that we can do this. We ought to be thankful for every brother and sister and for their contribution. You know, some contributions are not outwardly noticeable or heard either. I think of the sisters and they don't, they're not audible except singing and things, but.
Their contribution, especially I think, at the remembrance of breaking of bread, is tremendous.
And a lot of times, you know, the brothers are in such a bad state of soul. It is a sad thing, isn't it, as we hear it. But and the sisters, they're not in that state, thank God they're there. And the Lord reads the heart and the Spirit of God takes their thoughts and it's a sweet smelling savor in that breaking your bread. And we all profit by it. Isn't that nice? But we all have a place. And that's the thought here, preferring one another. Don't think just because.
01:00:07
We do a lot.
Were preferred. That isn't the thought at all.
Mary of Bethany didn't do much.
According to the apostles, the disciple, you know, she was, she was wasting stuff. That's what they said. But the Lord said that's not waste, that's worship. Leave her alone. She has wrought a good work.
That's a real lesson for all of us, isn't it? Worship is the 1St and the greatest work of all.
Then the new translation says as to honor each taking the lead.
In paying it to the other, there was a time when I had to go to a tire store and I was coming to this tire store from the north and I saw another car coming from the South. And as soon as he turned in, I knew what was going to happen. So I slowed down a little bit and took more time in parking and I got out of my car and I knew exactly he wanted to beat me to the door because he wanted to be in line before I did. Well, if we want to be in line, if we want to beat the other brother, here's what it says as to honor each taking the lead and paying it.
To the other, and if we each would take that kind of an attitude, I'm going to take the lead, brother. In what? Well, I want to pay you honor. There's not going to be anyone that's going to be offended.
I want, I just want to back up to verse 9 for a minute. Let love be without the simulation or without hypocrisy or pretense or.
Have you ever heard anyone talking on the phone? Very sweet words and so on, and they hang the phone up.
Glad I'm through with that.
The the real attitude is reflected after the phone is hung up, not before.
Paul says don't do that.
Don't do that. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't be.
A. The word, the word that.
That we get our word hypocrite from is a play actor. It means a play actor, someone that's playing another part on the stage. It's not the real person that's he's not playing his own life, he's playing another life. And that's what a hypocrite is.
Then he goes on to say Horat, which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Sometimes you hear we only want to hear positive ministry. We don't want to hear any negative ministry.
The Word of God is filled with negative ministry.
Abhorred that which is evil. That's very negative, isn't it?
Separate from evil, abhorrent. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy in the evil tongue I hate. There's things we are to hate.
We're in a wicked world and then cleave to that which is good, and that's what holiness is. Holiness is the abhorrence of evil and the cleaning and delight in what is good. That's holiness. God would have us to be holy. I just wanted to make those comments on that verse that we, because we can so quickly go right by these verses and fail to get the real force of them.
Now this use, an idea of love among us is abused often too, and we just have gone through maybe four years ago a terrible time, but there was purpose for it. But at any rate, I heard more and more at that time, even if we don't think alike and agree, can't you love us anyway? How can you do that? You know, that's the thought.
All you can say is.
I always love you.
Just don't like what you're doing, that's all. But I always love you. It's sort of they were giving us back to kindergarten, you know, in our care meetings and things. I guess you all experienced it just because we don't agree with what you say and and what that like touch and love us anyway.
Well, that's kindergarten. Of course I love them. Can't walk with you. I love you.
There's a difference, you know.
Well, that was good lesson time, wasn't it?
We had we did those lessons.
That's compromised this. We know that we love the children of God. When we love God and keep His commandments, we have to walk in obedience to the Word. And when we do that, we are showing love to those that are round about us. If we compromise love and compromise holiness and walk in fellowship with what we know is wrong and call that love, that's not love.
That's not divine love at all. That's what you're talking about.
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John's epistle, isn't it? And John's epistle is the character of the family, the household, isn't it?
And so here we are. We get right back to the character of what we should have in the view of who we belong to.
Suggestion as to.
The possibility that there may be someone that we love less than someone else or we think possibly we may even dip so low as to think ill of them. I I think something that has been in each of our lives and we each have proved it that if we earnestly would pray for their blessing, for their children, for their encouragement and are really fervent before the Lord and in honesty.
We cannot in in a in a good.
Conscience continue to pray for them and not have a sense of love for them. We can't be in the presence of the Lord and speak to him about his children, to God, about his children, to the Lord about his own and and have an attitude that's going to last, an adverse attitude that's going to last very long.
How important there shouldn't be. For instance, if we all knew one another and we maybe don't. I don't know everyone that's here, but let's say I knew everyone of you. There shouldn't be one person that I would should could continue with a harsh thought before I go to bed. I should go to bed and and not have one harsh thought and if possible, and it's impossible, but if if we could to pray for each and everyone with as much sincerity as as the next brother.
To think of the love.
That would thus be expressed, and believe me, each of our hearts know from experience that this is not always the case. And we need it, don't we?
But it works.
It works.
Thank God I can hold up my hand and say it works. Never cease to pray for those that have offended or you feel that way about, because it works. God has given you and me a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.
And we should exercise it. I don't know if that next verse tells about.
Not slothful in business, but maybe I could apply it. You know, the Lord's business is your business and mine is to care for one another. And if we're in earnest about it in that regard, we're going to find it works. God asks his prayers and we can rejoice and we'll rejoice more. I believe in that day. If we're occupied with the welfare and the good of our our brethren, whether they're the the mean kind like me, I might be mean sometimes.
Or otherwise when Paul commended the Saints in his epistles for their love, he always committed them for their love to All Saints. You have that in Ephesians. And then if you look at Colossians, it says don't have to look at it. I got it here. We give thanks. It's a chapter one, verse three. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.
And of the love which you have to All Saints. Now that is the key of Pauls mentioning love and if you'd look at Philemon or Phillipon depending where you are Philemon he says in verse 4I thank my God making mention of the always in my prayer hearing of thy love which thou has toward the Lord Jesus and.
Toward All Saints.
Now he said Philemon ones of us is a St. now.
You love All Saints. Your runaway slave is a St. Isn't that beautiful how he brings it in? But I do believe that characterized by Lehman, I think he loved all things. And brethren, we ought to do that. We ought to really hereby we know we pass from death and delight. We love the brethren, all of them.
And that's a wonderful thing, isn't it, that we love all the brethren?
In Elijah I believe it was that said Lord.
All the people are against me and I'm the only one left.
The Lord says I have 7000 that have not bowed the need to bail.
Now I believe that when we get over in the New Testament, somebody can probably bring the Scripture out. God says that He spoke in condemnation against Israel, and He brings Elijah to task for it.
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Forgotten the scripture, but God did not consider that lightly. I'm the only one, but he didn't consider it lightly.
What you got?
What she not for a Romans 11/2?
What the scripture saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets.
And dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what say it? The answer of God unto him I have reserved to myself. 7000 men have not bowed the knee to the image of Bale.
Well, he wasn't pleased with that. God does not like to hear from us.
Anything speaking against our brethren?
And how many times we do that, I'm guilty. But he does not like to hear that from us. Satan is the accuser of brethren, and when you do that, you're serving him and doing his work.
Now, that doesn't mean we don't discuss things of our brethren of concern, but it's not a matter of of accusing them. That's Satan's work.
God, if we think we see a fault in a brother, it's better to tell God about it than another brother.
Think if he stands, take heed lest he fall. I can remember the occasion told of a man that come back after being disciplined and he was very much humbled by it. And he came back and he said, oh, brother, and I've sinned, I've failed. And you know, he was received back. But there was one brother that didn't agree with Grace. He said, well, I hope you learned your lesson.
And three months later the Lord took him.
Out God has a broom that he sweeps his house with once in a while and that we can get in the way of it pretty quickly with the wrong spirit. Is that right?
If you get away or put away or whatever, you can't be restored without repentance. There's repentance absolutely necessary for salvation. There's repentance absolutely necessary for restoration. But if you are saying, yes, I was guilty, but you'll never be restored, but my brethren, you'll never be restored till you drop the ****.
You can't get back.
And some have been 2520 years away and I've talked to them is because they admit they were rightfully set aside, but their brethren did this.
Yeah, but right.
No, yeah.
Well, it's sad. It's enough that you confess your own condition and and admit it. Leave the rest with the Lord.
Go.
Say I have sinned and not used that, but I remember years ago. Some others may remember. Our brother Gladings spoke of several in scriptures. I'm going to take the figure 5. I've said I have sinned but they never got saved.
I have sinned this time, said Pharaoh.
Sin this time.
That's all he'd send every time.
Well, it's sad.
Of Daniel it was said in chapter 6.
That we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So this, this man was impeccable in his behavior, his manner of life. And yet when you go to Chapter 9.
No doubt with an exercise of realizing that the time of captivity was nearing. A close reading in the scriptures of Jeremiah about that. But anyway, he says in Chapter 9.
He says, O Lord, verse 8, to us belongeth confusion of faith. He doesn't say to them, to those out there, He says to us.
01:15:09
The longest confusion of faith to our kings, and to our Princess, and to our fathers, because.
We have sinned, and I think that's something appropriate for us today. As we see the state of things is to not lay blame on a previous generation. He could have done that. Daniel was impeccable in his own behavior. He purposed and he continued. And yet when it comes to this matter, he says we have sinned. And he counted then upon the mercies of a God who delighted to show mercy.
And did bring in restoration blessings. And that's the Spirit, isn't it, that we need today.
We intercessory prayer and you can't be an intercessor unless you confess your own condition. Nehemiah said we have sinned. I and my father's house have sinned. Well, he was an intercessor. Moses too, You know, to be a true intercessor you have to say, but the grace of God there am I.
And I've done worse anyway. I mean, that's the only way. Then you can pray for another.
I believe in the offerings the priest had to 1St bring an offering for himself.
Then he was able to bring an offering for the congregation.
Lawful and business in verse 11, I believe the primary thought is the Lord's business dreading the Saints. You know we shouldn't be slothful in our ordinary menial business. That's right. There's a testimony whatsoever things you do, do them heartily is under the Lord. That's right. But I do believe the Lord's things are in thought here. I don't know what dealing.
I think it's that it means what you get in the proverbs. I think it is whatsoever thy hand find it to do. Do it with my might.
Do it with energy, do it with purpose, do it with intent and not carelessness and well, it doesn't really matter, but I do this well.
I think that's the point.
We preach the gospel with our hands. You know you can't say a word to the guy, but you help him on something, like maybe help him fix his house or his car breaks down or something and you go out of your way to help him.
That's the Lord's business because you have a motive. You say, I'd like to hear this. I'd like to give the gospel to this man. But he's looking at me like I'm coming at him with, you know, a 10 ton truck or he's scared that I'm going to put him on a guilt trip. But how maybe a kind word on the some or a kind act, you know, the hammer and the, and the, the nails, you know, doing something. And I think this is an area that is included here anyway.
That's the way the doors opened by the Lord. Would you help another? They're ready to listen.
Used to be you could pick up anybody in the highway and or something. We can't do that anymore. We should be wise as as serpents and simple as dunks. But I was told by a state trooper, don't pick up anybody anymore. He followed me and the one was going to roll me, you know, all that stuff. So I but when I wife and I saw a little girl with her car and she was starting to walk and so I picked her up. Now the door's opened. She was so grateful the doors opened.
And before we got near to where we're taking her, I said, you're going to go to heaven. I hope so.
So the doors open, you know, you should know, and then we go, you know, she receives the track happily because she was indebted to me for grace, you know. But I think you get more your opportunities that way. That's what we're talking about with your boss, who may be mean. You get an opportunity that way. Sometimes it's unknown too.
When I was first saved, we had telephone operators.
He didn't dial. He had a telephone operator.
And one telephone operator that got mixed up very, very often, and she rang him in the middle of the night when she was supposed to be calling the doctor.
And he said, oh, that's all right, and hung up.
And this did not happen once, it was a regular thing.
The operator said.
What makes that man tick?
And she found Christ.
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There's oh how he loves. Where is that? I think it's in the appendix.
Where is Grand Theft Auto?
3.
In the middle, these four love.
Yes, the dear God.
Why should I breathe?
Oh.
We are.
Horrible.
Romans 12:12-15
Reading
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Day 6.
Oh, here on earth, we Rome.
The fighting level of favour.
Our spirits present on peace.
Boy, wherever now? Why is there anything?
Bye. Thank you, Lord God.
Verse 12.
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Rejoicing in hope.
Patient in tribulation.
Continuing instant in prayer.
Distributing to the necessity of Saints.
Given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as last in you live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger feed him.
If he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
In that 12TH verse there seems to be a moral progression, doesn't it?
If we had patient and tribulation first.
But to think of how it's placed, rejoicing and hope. God always gives us a prospect. He gives us a prospect of glory, the prospect of of his person, of his Son. Rejoicing in hope, then patient in tribulation, but in connection with the patience of tribulation.
We need the continuance in prayer, don't we? So we see that those 3 go together.
So beautifully rejoicing in hope, because He's given us a hope, and then we're led in our souls to patience and tribulation. And then we recognize that to continue, we need the continuance in prayer.
We know it from experience, don't we?
The highest note I believe in Romans 5.
Is not only soul we joy in our God? That's a very high note and it's not a question of circumstances. Paul proved that in fact in Philippians where he's in prison, a prison epistle, you have joy in rejoicing more than other epistles 16 times I believe, joy and rejoicing and he says.
That returned to it up. So you're wrong in Philippians 4/4.
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.
Well, that really covers a dozen that now we know it's not a question of circumstances because he was in prison.
And but he was rejoicing, and he wanted them to rejoice. And what did he rejoice in? Just what we have here. Rejoicing in whole.
His hope was so sure, and he could say, I know whom I have believed that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day, so that therefore Paul could always rejoice. And we need that, Didn't he say in Nehemiah? Didn't Nehemiah say, or Ezra?
Let's see, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and take the. But the thought was.
The joy of the Lord.
Is your strength thanks the joy of the Lord? Is your strength? Well, I believe it's also the finest testimony ever.
You know, we just had a brother go home and be with the Lord not long ago, but he had no legs when he left.
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He had a lot of other problems. But you never heard that brother complain. I didn't anyway, Some may have. I didn't. I'm talking about Francisco. Jim Francisco.
And I think he had the greatest testimony in those circumstances the last four years of his life to the doctors and nurses and neighbors, his friends and everybody.
Why? It didn't depend on circumstances. He had a reason to join.
He the sense of this verse.
Is better given to us in the new translation. Let me read it.
As regards hope.
Rejoicing.
As regards tribulation.
Enduring thought is to endure, continue on. And then as regards prayer, persevering. I don't get that thought when I read instant in prayer. I don't get the thought of as regards prayer persevering.
We are.
To to.
Rejoice, be rejoicing in in our hope. He said that earlier in the Epistle to rejoicing, rejoicing.
Hope of the glory of God.
And tribulation when it comes to us.
To to endure, to continue on.
And prayer persevering, being instant in prayer or in as regards prayer persevering.
Continuing in it, persevering in it.
That's one of the promises we have from the Lord. He shall have tribulation.
That's a lovely promise, isn't it? If we didn't have tribulations, if we didn't have troubles and problems in assembly or in our lives, we wouldn't be looking to the Lord. We wouldn't be praying.
Persevering in prayer. But that's so important and I I believe that's the thought.
Tribulation where they're patient or enduring. In tribulation, when you have a problem and it could be tribulation or trouble, don't ask the Lord to take you out of that problem.
Ask the Lord to give you grace to go through it and then you can have the blessing.
The peaceable fruit of righteousness too at the end of it. And so you don't want to get out of the problem. You want to go through it. And the the Shadrach Reshack and the Bendigo didn't ask the Lord to save him from the furnace. He said if if we have to go in, I've got table, we're not going to bow to any false God. But what happened? Well, he went with them through the problem. So that's what's blessing.
They were having a picnic in that furnace and they didn't want to come out, but they had to obey all the ordinance of man because the king said Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego May 8th and come out of there. But I don't think they wanted to, but they did.
Well, the Apostle Paul prayed three times.
Take away this this thorn.
He asked the Lord three times to deliver him from the affliction that he had. That's not wrong.
But then the Lord said no three times.
He said no. He asked him again, He said no. He asked him again, He said no. I had a brother say to me, should have asked him a fourth time. I said that would have been sin. When God says no three times, you accept it. And Paul accepted it, and then he says, most gladly, therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He had learned a lesson, but it took three prayers, earnest prayers of his Lord. I can be so much more effective to thee if you've just removed that.
That born, that affliction, that impediment, whatever it was in his speech, whatever it was that made him hard to look at, His eyes were not normal and maybe they were oozing. We don't know exactly what it was. The thorn that he had was a messenger of Satan. God even uses Satan to afflict us to keep us humble. But Paul had been in the 3rd heaven and seen and heard things that he couldn't even relate.
We wouldn't understand it. There are no words in the human languages of Earth that could relate what he saw in that glory.
Sometimes we hear what's heaven going to be like? Well, all about all we're told about heaven is there's no more sorrow, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. But what's it really going to be like? I always say, wait and see. You'll not be disappointed.
00:15:01
You know, we hear so many, there's so many scriptures about the Millennium. The lion and the lamb will dwell together. The sucking child will play upon the whole of the ***. They shall not hurt or destroy. In all my holy mountains. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea, they'll be corn on the tops of the mountains. The ploughman will overtake the Reaper. All of these expression we have an abundance of scriptures telling. The desert will blossom as the Rose, telling of the wonderful day of the Millennium.
And I always say, if the Millennium is going to be so wonderful, what will the eternal state be like?
I had a sister wanted me to visit her and her husband but her problem was.
I'm so under my burden as I have, and it's got me bitter in my soul and so on. I mean, you know the long story. And I said, what's this burden? It's my mother.
A burden, I said. Well, she's a real trial.
And she got into all the problems of her mother. She old all these problems. Well, I took her to a Solomon.
55 right Go there, Psalm 55 because she was looking at everything the wrong way, that's all.
And Psalm 55, verse 22.
Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. And she was beside herself, she said, So I said, now that's the verse, but I said that that isn't the way you really look at it. This verse is nice, whatever problem you got casted on the Lord, but that isn't really what it means. Marginal reading is gift.
I said your mother in her problems are a gift from God to you. They're not a burden in the sense now J&D says you're assigned portion. I said that's even better. Lord has given you that. That's your assigned portion for now. That's not a burden. But if you want to call it a burden, cast it on the Lord. He'll sustain you and and you know, we look at things wrong, don't we? We we think this is a real problem. I get down under the problem now.
That's that's your portion right now, your assigned portion. So that's really what Paul's getting at.
He says.
A patient and tribulation well.
The Lord allowed it or brought it on. He'll take care of it. We'll get the blessing if we endure.
There's four ways you can take even chastisement in Hebrews chapter 12, but there's the 1St is you can despise it. I believe she was almost there. She was despising it and that merely means her mother she was despising or or you can endure it.
That's lovely too. So let's see. Despise it. What's the next word? They fade under it. Oh, that's sad though. But endorse. But the only way is to.
Be exercised.
By it, and then the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And that's all this sister needed. I visited her later. She was rejoicing in her mother.
She remembered all the things her mother endured for her, a little different.
Make a few remarks about that 12 first.
You know, sometimes you get a picture and it stays with you. But this reminds me this suburbs about hope.
Rejoicing, tribulation, and then enduring. Mr. Darby's translation makes a very good point here. It speaks about enduring and I'd like to tell you a story about a sailboat. You say, what's the sailboat got to do with this verse? I was going to try to explain the picture. You and I are in the sea of life, beloved. We're going through the storms of life. We get the 107th Psalm Day that go down to.
They do business, they, they could download the CN ships to do business in great waters. I'm going to make an application, please. So here we have the hope, the man in the sailboat, he has a hope for where he's going to go. The Apostle Paul travelled in the sailboat and I don't know, I think the Lord traveled in a sailboat too. But we hear about them rolling against the wind and so forth. But you and I are on the sea of life and young people, you and I are like in a boat and it's our own little boat.
And you have to know where you're going to steer it to.
You've got a rudder in the back and you're holding your hand on the rudder. I had a sailboat that had the handle in the back which would call the tiller. You steer the sailboat with the tiller, but you have hope to get somewhere else with the boat.
Where are you going to sail your boat? You and I are sailing toward the heavenly shore. And so we sail in the hope of the Lord's coming for us. And then it's going to be like our our brother was telling us. Heaven is such a wonderful place that the apostle Paul says, I couldn't find language that was lawful to describe it. Ephesians one says that on the ages to come he's going to show us the exceeding riches of his grace. That's the hope and the hope to meet you in the air. We sing in the song, but let's go on with the story.
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This 12 verse first is hope. Where are you going to sell your boat? And then what happens? Rejoicing in the hope. Then it says about trouble, the waves of difficulty in your life. You and I have trouble in our life. That's the tribulation part here. The waves come and sometimes you're sailing before the wind with a sailboat and I'll tell you how it feels.
The the back end of the boat picks up and the rudder comes out of the water almost and you lose what we call steerage.
You and I need spirits in our life that as we go along into trouble, how am I going to make it? Because I have to be alert. I have to watch every movement of the water. I have to watch every movement of the wind. I have to trim the sail with one hand and guide the boat with the rudder with the other hand. And then what does it say? Enduring, You know, enduring. That's where the, what was it? The last word of the King James.
What's the libation Patience. And so you get out sometimes in a boat and there's this patience and doing. It's a combination. And I love to think of the way the word of God puts it here that you and I can apply it in a picture story of sailing a boat because you get a wave come up behind you sometimes and and you're liable to lose direction and go sideways. Spill the the wind out of your sail or bring it around that the the boat skews it makes a sharp turn without you being aware and alert. And this is the endurance.
You need endurance for every moment of your life.
That the wind of adversity doesn't tip you over and maybe sink the boat. And I can remember one time we were coming along and this time was a different boat. It was an outboard motor boat and we had the motor was a short shaft as we used the word. My brother and I were out in the ocean and we came by a very dangerous place where lots of waves. And all of a sudden the big wave came behind us, tipped the motor out, tipped the boat up so high that the motor got out of the water and I couldn't steer it. I lost steerage and all of a sudden in a wink, the boat went sideways and the wave cresting covered us up.
And filled the boat. What are we going to do?
Endurance, I said to my brother, Bale for your life. And so he gets the bucket going and I get the bucket going and I said, get down in the water so that we don't push the boat under the surface of the sea and maybe it wouldn't have enough wood in it that would stay afloat. Well, that way it passed. We get down in the water. It was quick endurance and that's like what I like to think about this last verse that we were quick to bail the boat and get on the oars and and swing the boat. So the next wave came and it was cresting like the previous wave, but we had several.
I don't know, maybe 1520 seconds to get that boat turned around. We got, I got on the Auris and I swung it so that the nose of the boat aimed right into the wave. We were ready to continue our voyage, our journey in hope. And the boat didn't sink. Sometimes it's like that in your life. You say, what am I going to do? And it takes instant action. And I love to think of those words, the little prayer. And I think we've all traded the Lord help me, Lord help me in my difficulty because his difficulties come sometimes in your life and mine.
We say I don't know how I'm going to get through it.
Cried to the Lord and this is such a wonderful verse. I just can't help but see we have a hope beyond this world rejoicing and then what tribulation comes and why does it come. My brother just told us thank God for the tribulation that the Lord gave you a gift. Don't look it as a burden. Look at it as a gift from the Lord because God is preparing you and me for a glory that is so wonderful that if we didn't have the tribulation we wouldn't enter into that glory with the same appreciation. That's one side of it. I think of what the Samus. I think it's a 43rd Psalm. David says God my exceeding joy.
The Lord wants you and me to rejoice.
In what He's done for us on the cross, and then He's going to bring us through this world to the praise of His glory in the end. Is that right?
Well, it's when they came to their wits end in Psalm one O 7, they cried unto the Lord in their distress, and the Lord heard their cry. Let's don't forget that job. We can't do anything. I mean, that isn't the thought I've been doing there, is it? We know how can we do anything? I think that's the thought. You know, there's two men that were.
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Leaving after midnight in a fog on a Big Lake and one get the other side. They rode hard and hard and they rode all that time about four hours. You know what happened? You never got to the other side. They still were tied to the dock. And that's it. Without Christ, you know, we can do anything we want and it means nothing. So I think in Psalm one O 7 we got to remember when they came to their within. Yeah, when the when the prodigal.
From the political.
But it came to himself. That's an awful place to come to. But he had to. He came to. Is that what it said? It became to himself, Well, it's blessing to find it out, but I perish. So then, then he was all right. Let me ask you a question on that. I feel, pardon that some of these questions that get down to the nitty gritty rather than let's pardon me, go ahead. Not be too much into the storytelling. Let's get back into the word.
All right, I'm, I'm sorry if I got too many stories.
My brother Jim had a comment and maybe he could give it. Well, I would just respectfully like to address the Apostle Paul and say Paul thus. Wonderful teaching.
What do you know about it in a practical way?
We turn to Acts 16.
And at midnight fallen silence prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisons heard them. Now we know that they had been beaten severely and thrown into the center of the prison.
And so here he is doing what he mentions there in Romans. Fallen Silas.
They prayed and sang praises unto God. Was there to be any result? They didn't care. I don't say they didn't care, but they weren't promised anything.
But there was a result. There's a tremendous result, and I suppose that that is the beginning of the little assembly of Philip I.
Because the Paul and Silas there rejoiced and endured the tribulation. It's nice if we can, I like illustrations like our brother gave there, but it's nice if we can refer these things to the Word of God, comparing spiritual things with spiritual so that we look in the Old Testament and say, well, do we find anybody that was under tribulation and and rejoiced and prayed? Well, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I don't know who says that they did that.
But they were willing to endure if we can get our illustrations from the word of God. But but brother, I do like to hear stories that that do help to encourage us.
You would have chosen that means and pleasantness and comfort.
My God, that windows are finally in the day, while of our faith is much more precious than a goal that perishes in. So we should take our German stance from the war.
And our difficulties through the wall circumstances don't make this stable manifest. You know in the wilderness journey that we are bursting.
We learn lessons that we cannot learn. The floral You can never learn that the God is the God of faith.
Comfort.
In the glory because you won't need it that you learn it down here.
For patient and corporation and endurance is a lesson that we learn and maybe profit is why let's go more allows them to pass through whether the individual.
Nobody and the assembly and I was thinking then in the last log here continuing instant in prayer, we can't emphasize too much running of prayer both collectively and individually.
The prayer meeting in the assembly is a an assembly meeting in which the Lord is intermittent. We should never forget that.
By Matthew 1820, primarily in reference to a prayer meeting. We should not neglect the prayer meeting.
There the greatest online which on you.
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Which is really an expression of the independence and confidence every moment of our lives. We can continue in that spirit as we walk down the street, as we go about our daily communities. So we have those privileges of prayer, as Mr. Darby said, with a privilege of having common thoughts with God.
Southern Diamond, you're absolutely getting closer to a mic. Would like to really hear everything you're saying.
I say Amen to that.
We're speaking about casting our burdens upon the Lord.
And we perhaps are slow to realize how gifted He is to bear our burdens. I was thinking of the expression in the 102nd Psalm where it says, Thou hast lifted me up.
Like to think of the last day of the Lord's life as he came into Jerusalem and there was that little exhibition of the coming, coming Kingdom glory.
Before him and he was looking forward and is looking forward to the Kingdom glory. But it was just for a moment and then thou hast cast me down.
Oh, what a disappointment if we can say it, but he was there to take everything from the hand of the Lord.
Last night my heart was touched as her brother read in the 10th of Luke about a certain Samaritan as he journeyed.
That's a term of reproach. And how did the Lord come bearing this reproach? Well, I think at the very outset of his journey, how that he and the disciples had come into the approximate locale that John the Baptist was baptizing. And there were those that came to John and tried to provoke jealousy with them, saying that the Lord and his disciples were baptizing more than he was.
And when the Lord heard it, what did he do?
His heart was rejoicing in the buddies of Christianity. It was going to dawn, but he was not going to interfere with John the Baptist. He would let him go on with his work, and he removes himself to go back to Galilee. But he must need to go through Samaria to meet that woman at the well, and he knew what that was going to cost him.
There was going to be a stigma that was going to be put on him for his whole pathway of service to meet with a Samaritan. But he would bear it, he would endure it. And so they they could say to him, if he were a prophet, he wouldn't cast his lot with those kind of people.
But all he must needs pass through some area, and it cost him that stigma, the rest of his pathway, so that Luke could say, as he was going to Jerusalem, to be delivered up to the cross, a certain Samaritan as he journeyed.
And so we emphasize the fact that he is well qualified.
Us cast our burdens upon him, for we have tasted very little in comparison to what he passed through as a man here in this world. Perfect man, blessed man.
Verse 13 given to hospitality.
Hospitality becomes the Saints of God and I believe Paul brings that out many times. But if you look at Hebrews 13.
Verse two and I will read that from the other translation.
Be not forgetful of hospitality.
For thereby some have entertained angels unaware.
Hospitality is throughout the Old Testament and the New. It's just one of the things that becomes a Saint of God.
So I would mention that that that's a very important aspect is hospitality.
I'd like to to give just a minute or two in connection with some personal observations in connection with hospitality.
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Often when a company has left our home, they've turned to me and said thank you. My brother and I said, well, the person in the house that spent most of the time and getting ready for the meal was not me. Now let's stop to think about hospitality. We often think of it in case there's a meal time and it's lovely. And now, now let's back up how how long does that meal last when we're actually eating? About 20 minutes.
Well, the wife has probably gone to the store and and she has something in mind and so she's prepared a menu.
In her mind and she's gone to the store, she's come home, she's prepared the food, she hopes that each dish is is coordinates with the other and she sets it on and in about 20 minutes the food is gone and the dishes are usually left. If some rather discerning visitor is a sister, she'll say I'll help with the dishes. If not, they're left until tomorrow. And if they don't have?
A dishwasher. It's by hand. It reminds me of a story that's told of us, their brother.
Highland uncle to Jim Highland that he came back to Ottawa after having been to a conference in in the Maritime and he was asked what laborers were there and with and he would not answer the question except that sister so and so was in the kitchen. And they said, brother what we've asked, we're asking you what laborers were there. He never did answer the questions, but because he mentioned sister so and so was in the kitchen. Well in kitchen hospitality.
It's so important. Elizabeth Wilson in the assembly that I'm in in Denver, mentions that her husband would have had the, the whole meeting over every Lords day. And he was very solicitous, made sure the meat was there, but it was her that did the cooking. And so I take it I, I'm thankful for the for the blessing of hospitality, but I think we need to bring into focus that the dear sister is probably the one that did all the work.
And how important in connection with the role that dear sisters here have. They're the laborers. They're the ones. And usually after the meal is over, the men, if the dishes are to be done, the men go into the living room and they have these deep talks about Scripture, which are very nice. And I'm not being deprecating, but the sister is the one that has to take care of putting the leftovers out of the way and do the dishes. Practical aspects of hospitality.
But, and it takes money. It takes money. You stop to think about of having a family over you. You've grown if they have more than three children and you you realize that it's going to cost that much more. But and my folks, when I was a child, they would not accept an invitation in the little assembly that we lived in in Illinois unless the children were invited to. And I think that splendid in catch with hospitality. We're not inviting a father and a mother.
And have some babysitter take care of the children.
But we're inviting families and we want the hospitality to be that which binds us together. And you have an attitude towards someone that has invited you. I see a brother right now that invited some of us after a meeting in Washington, DC, to a restaurant. And I went to the restaurant and I looked at the menu and I thought, I can't afford this. And he relieved my mind tremendously. He said it's on me.
It's on me.
So that's hospitality. And if we can show it in the way that we're, we're doing it on purpose. We want the people that we have in our home to be a part of our heart. And it may be an opportunity to say some little thing and to be encouraged. How important for us, isn't it? You know, in assembly, I'm from just another 30 seconds. A brother has made a listing of the individuals and their address.
Their telephone number To think of being able to call up a person and say we want you to come over.
Can you make it? Well, you know, maybe I can't. Well then this comes Saturday. Whatever. Given to hospitality, but with the emphasis for the brothers is that the hard work is usually the sisters.
You may have entertained an Angel unawares, said Paul. Well, you know an Angel can never be a St. I like to think about entertaining Saints too, but if you look for an example of Genesis chapter 18.
And it's nice to see this this hospitality is brought out so clear in the Old Testament.
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One the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of mammary, and he sent said at the 10th door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and loathed three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. And he said, My Lord, if now I have found favor thy sight, pass out away, I pray thee, from thy service. Let a little water I pray thee.
Pray you be fetched.
And wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will fetch your morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts. After that she shall pass on, for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do as thou has said. And Abraham hastened into the tent under Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly. 3 Measures of fine meal. Well, that speaks volumes. 3 Major, so fine meal needed.
And make cakes upon the heart. And Abraham ran under the third vets to calf.
Tender and good gave it unto a young man, and he hastened to dress it, and he took butter and milk in the cap which he had dressed, and said it before them. And he stood by them under the tree. That's a tree of hospitality, by the way. And they did eat well, you know the rest of the story. He entertained the Lord, He entertained the Lord. And it is beautiful, and the Lord says.
For as much as you do it under the least of these, you do it under me.
You know, sometimes that's the thought. You're entertaining the Lord, hospitality to the Lord. So I think it's a very wonderful thing.
What does it say?
Forget not hospital in our portion.
After the law was given, one of the tenants of the law was Do not forget the stranger that is in thy midst.
Now when we come to Acts 10, the story of Cornelius, we find that Cornelius was to send for Peter, and so the men arrived at Peter's house.
And he took them in and lodged them that night.
And then he went to Cornelius's place. He stayed a few days, but we find in the 11TH chapter.
When Peter was come to Jerusalem, they they were at the circumcision, contended with him. Thou wentest to men uncircumcised, and did each with them.
Why did they not speak about his receiving them into his home?
I think it's because the law said you're to take care of the stranger, for you were a stranger in Egypt.
And so the law was there, allowed them to entertain the stranger, but they were to think twice before they went into a stranger's house. And Peter would have done it if he hadn't had that vision.
I was thinking also the first portion of that, distributing to the necessity of things.
When the church started off in its pristine glory.
Areas, they all had everything in common, but we find that it was very soon.
That that disappeared because ananias and sapphiras will have everything in common, but they held something back. But this is to us today, distributing to the necessity of Saints. And to think we need to keep our eyes open. Is there a need? And we need to supply that need if it is at all possible.
We have to be very careful and here's where I think not a necessity, but would take them out of the difficulty that the Lord has allowed them to to be. And I I think we can only find that out by being before the Lord in prayer.
In Chapter 7 of Luke.
You know the Lord gave us the example exactly what we read in with Abraham.
And he said to the religious leaders.
In verse.
44.
He turned to the woman and said unto Simon as he saw this woman. I entered into Vine house and gave us me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with the tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gave us me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet, my head with oil. Thou didst not anoint, but this woman anointed my feet.
00:45:17
With ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which were many are forgiven, for she loved much, and that's hospitality. It's really always with Christ in mind.
There's no hospitality if it isn't with Christ in mind.
It means nothing. It's just expecting something in return. Some give a dinner and invite guests, but they expect to be invited back. That's not out of the talent.
Nice portion there, brings up just what Abraham did for those strangers.
Kind of interesting to see the difference between the feet or the the meal a little more so that Abraham brought and defeat that lot prepared.
Abraham called it a little morsel.
And Lot he called it a feast. But Abraham he.
Made a feast and Lot only gave him the unleavened bread.
Thought the attitude that they had, doesn't it?
Of the the example we have in here and Bethany the Lord, the heavenly stranger here.
Was not appreciated.
Will he have recorded it? And undoubtedly he will report it that day.
Action with that, that when we were in in that land that we went to the Olives where it was supposed that the Lord had gone back to glory. And when we came back home and talked about it, we couldn't figure out the connection with he led them out as far as Bethany. So when we went back the next time we learned that standing on the Mount of Olives as he ascended into glory.
That he would have had his back to Jerusalem, that he had to leave desolate and his eye could look down the slope. That in a little home where he had been off refreshed. There's a little picture, I believe to us of the assembly and his delight in the assembly of the Saints, where we desire His presence and His blessing. And so he got that put together. And it was something very special in our second visit to stand there and look down the slope to that little place.
Called Bethany.
14th verse.
I immediately think of the Lord Jesus.
When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself into the hands of him that judges righteously.
Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. The tendency of our natural hearts is to respond in kind to those that persecute us. Not so with the blessed Lord, Father. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
He did not pronounce judgment upon his persecutors and his enemies, but rather blessing. And He's our pattern, isn't He? All these moral traits that we have outlined here are really the reproductions of the life of Christ Himself. This is the way He He walked when He was here, and how blessed to see Him in these verses as He cared for others.
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And ministered to them.
And never retaliated with. And he had the power to do it. Many times we don't retaliate because we don't have the power to do it. If we had, we might. But He had and he didn't because He was here as the lowly sufferer to manifest His Father, to reveal his Father in the love of God to man.
I was reading in Second Timothy the other day and I came across this verse and I thought, well.
Paul is reverting to Judaism in this and it has to do with the verse that we have before us.
14 Chapter four of Second Timothy.
Alexander the Coppersmith did us much evil.
The Lord reward him according to his works.
There seems to be a contradiction there against the verse that we have blessed them with, persecuted you and cursed not. I don't think there is a contradiction, but I would be happy to hear somebody with a remark on that. Yes, the the verse reads in the new translation. The Lord will reward him.
According to his works, he's not asking the Lord to do it, but stating the fact that he will reward according to his works. And that's an inflexible principle of God that we reap what we sow and that's all he's saying. He's not getting out of character at all in that verse, but it it looks that way in the King James. I would just like to say here, I don't have a JND with me or another translation. I must confess I like that word better. Another translation.
But.
To those who are younger, I don't think you can do anything better than to invest in the copies of J&D's translation.
You can there compare them. It has just been brought out here. Clears it right up immediately.
But it says bless them.
That persecute you, that goes a little further, doesn't it, than just burying it. Bless them and the Lord is young on that cross.
You know, not only hearing what they were saying as they sat down to watch him suffer, but knowing the thoughts in their hearts before they came into their mind and reached their mouth. He said, Father, forgive them now. That's the criteria. Father forgive them, I believe.
Steven is probably the best example of that one. You know the National Party with their teeth, they stoned him to death and he looked up and said father lay not this to their charge.
That's wonderful, isn't it? Now that's asking for blessing because that's the only way that he could bless them. But I was thinking, if you look at Matthew, I think it's chapter.
I'll find it here. Chapter 5 of Matthew. It brings it in for the Jews. And Matthew is transitionary just as Axe is transitionary. I believe it's the book of transition for the Jews. Now notice I just read from verse.
43.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. This is the Lord telling the Jews. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you, that she may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil.
Good and he sendeth rain and on the just and on the unjust. If you love them, which love you, what reward have you do not even the publicans the same or sinners, and if you salute God. The thought here is it's an entirely new thing. It's not just improving what they had. It's it's setting aside what they had and bringing in Christ.
And the only way you can love those that are persecuting you is with Christ in mind. There's no other way. You can't just say this is what the word says. I want to do it. It doesn't work. You have to think of Christ always and these example always. And so it's a hard thing, isn't it? Many times, but we've all faced it. Especially if you're giving out the gospel to the lost 101, you're going to get it many times.
00:55:09
But you could always love them because they're on their way to hell.
And you love them because you don't want them to be in hell no matter how they treat you. That's the thought.
If you're passing out gospel tracts and someone mistreats you, you will respond this way. If you're driving on the highway and someone cuts you off, you may not respond this way.
But this applies at all times, doesn't it? Not just when we're passing out tracks.
Or witnessing to someone to say that I should love my neighbor in the car as well as what I'm talking to him on the street.
I didn't say it, he said it.
Cut you off, brother. That'll help test it. When I get cut off, our flesh is always there. That's all we're saying, isn't it?
The Lord endured in his pathway only brought out the beautiful grace and love of his heart toward his enemies. But with us, sometimes it brings out resentment. If we're persecuted, we have that that tendency to resent it. There was never resentment in the Lord. And so as we've been often reminded in the past that someone does you an injury, look for the first opportunity to do them a kindness.
That is not being overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Pray for them, seek to do them good and the Lord can come in in a marvelous way and change their hearts and and bring them back. So may we have this spirit of forgiveness that is shown to us in this chapter.
15 is a little difficult at times.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, that's not so hard. Sometimes it is. But weep with them that we both are important. Both are so important. And I like it in First Corinthians 12 where it brings it out nicely.
It says in verse 25.
That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. I believe the thought is concerned. I don't know what J&D has the same concern. One for another, That's the thought. And whether one member suffer, we all suffer with that member. One member be honored, All members should rejoice. It says rejoice.
We should rejoice. We don't always. That's the sad part. And so.
That's Peter.
You've given me this hard assignment, he says Luke 24 to the Lord, you know, three times. Follow me and feed my lambs and feed my sheep and all this. And he looks now, it says he looked at John who was following Jesus. That's the key. John didn't have to be told. But Peter didn't rejoice with John there, did he?
What's this man going to do?
Put him to work, you know.
That's how we are off and then this verse is very important. Port 15 here.
Weep within the weep. I believe. In another one of Pauls epistles he said bear 1 anothers burdens.
Sometimes there's nothing we can do about a person who is in a difficulty in trial except to be with them. Then you may just fall on each others shoulders and just weep. There's not a thing you can do. There's no advice you can give. There's no way to help.
But you bear the burden with them by weeping.
Wasn't that blessed example of the Lord when he came there to the House of Mary and Martha when Lazarus was had been in the tomb? It says he wept. What a lovely picture of His heart for you and me to enter into his feelings.
Well, just that there's sorrow and weeping at a saint's funeral. It's not for the one that's gone. It's for the ones that are sorrowing. And that's why he wept. He wasn't weeping for Lazarus.
Because he knew very shortly he'd be something with Lazarus at the same hospitable table. He was weeping for the Jews who loved Lazarus and for Mary and Martha too. You know, we got to remember that. I rejoice and have a happy time at a saint's funeral. I love saint's funeral. But there is a time to weep with those that are weeping and sorrowing. But it's not like they of this world weep. You know, there's a difference. They weep and wail, but we just weep with them like Lord did.
01:00:31
He entered into them. That's really the thought we had of compassion.
That weeping was compassion.
Corinthians 12.
Where the apostle speaks.
Whether one member suffered Verse 26. All the members suffer with it.
Or one member be honored. All the members rejoice with it.
It's more difficult to rejoice with those that rejoice than it is to weep with those that weep. Are we?
Joyful and happy to see another brother honored.
And used of the Lord in the body of Christ in the gospel for the blessing of the Lord's people. Do we rejoice with him? Well, that's what it says here. One member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. But naturally we're so selfish and self-centered, we're thinking of our own reputation first of all. But that was never manifest in the life of the Lord. He never thought of himself, He always thought of others.
And rejoiced in their blessing.
People in the epistles is how lavishly the apostle Paul brings into focus other people Luke the bluff physician and so many epiphyse who is one of you to think of how he delighted to mention specifically what some had done. You know it must have been a joy to have walked with the apostle Paul and and to think of the sharing there must have been and certainly by divine inspiration.
He mentions these individuals.
And he rejoiced in them, didn't they? He was thankful for beloved brother, faithful minister. You know, you just say I'd love to meet that dear brother, you know, Pastor Paul, surely. But the one he was Speaking of, how nice to speak well of someone else.
Someone saying that if you want a real blessing, go to where the Saints have wept together.
Sure, Brother Doug won't mind me.
Speaking of their sorrow there in Des Moines.
An awful blow to them and they wept together.
And so we looked for opportunity to visit there and what did we find? We found them engaged in purchasing a new meeting room.
And they were all working together in that meeting room to renovate it, and it was a wonderful sight to see shoulder to shoulder, young and old.
And very often sorrow and joy come together. But the thing that touched my heart was this, that as we were happily working together.
One of the senior brothers came in and he clapped his hands to get our attention. He had an announcement to make and when he got our attention, he announced that our sister Reeves had just gone home to be with the Lord.
I thought, isn't that something how the Lord temporizes our joys with sorrow because we're creatures that are very lopsided. We can get very excited and joyful and but he has to keep us, does he not on a on a level where he can speak to us and reach us, but I'd like to impress the young.
Hearts to lay hold of this, that when the Lord brings sorrow to a family or an individual.
To an assembly.
Go and get a blessing for your soul and you'll find that joy is probably there when you arrive.
In the 16th chapter of Romans, that the brother mentioned of his upholding brethren. I love this thought.
He says Greek in verse 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles. Now he mentioned they're never mentioned, separate. I don't believe in the word of God. It's always the two together. And here it's Priscilla and Aquila. Now when it comes to teaching.
01:05:20
It's Aquila and Priscilla when it comes to helping.
Is Priscilla.
And the perfection there is beautiful. I believe she was the the mainspring of movement in that couple myself. It's always that way, you know. But whenever it comes to teaching, you watch it. Six times are mentioned, three times Priscilla and Quilla, three times Aquila and Priscilla.
She wasn't teaching.
That that when Willa was there at least.
Connection with the 16 First, my father-in-law, when he was working, told us a story of being at a banquet and after the banquet some of them were standing around talking and there was a junior member that was there and and his father came over and he was a banker.
The father and he said to his son, come here. I want you to be associated with more, more important people.
And so it says here be of the same mind one to another mind not high things, but condescend to men are things of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. You know the world gravitates. You know if there is important people, you you and you're not very important, you either don't get invited or or that you're shunned. But you know there is no one here that any one of us should think is a lower level of Christianity and Christian.
Where we're all the same, be of the same mind, one toward another. There's no difference of gift or capacity.
Or of experience, or of old age. That should make a difference as far as condescending.
Of condescension. That's a horrible thing, isn't it? To be condescending, but to think of the love that you know, it's like a Pearl, you know, where each pearl's here today. And to think of the huge necklace that's involved in cash with God's estimation of each one of us, we, we get high thoughts.
You know, and we want to exalt someone else, maybe because we think we'll be exalted along with them. But be of the same mind, one toward another. Mind. Not high things, but condescend to men are things of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
The new translation translates that, but going along with the lolly.
Beautiful.
In James chapter one.
In verse 7, For let not that man think that well, rather verse nine, let the brother of low degree rejoice.
In that he is exalted, but the rich.
In that he is made low, because as the flower of grass he shall pass away, and you go to Roman rather. Proverbs, chapter 13.
And there's verse seven. There is that maketh himself rich.
Yet hath nothing there is that maketh himself poor.
Yet hath great riches. Now the author of our Epistle, the Apostle Paul.
Was rich in a heritage of being a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, the training and the education he had as a Jew in all the claims that he had naturally as a Jew. But he set that all aside, didn't he?
Get a similar thought with Moses.
Which in Hebrews 11.
It tells us that he forsook Egypt.
And it says, steaming the reproach of Christ.
Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, where he had respect, and to the recompense of the reward by faith he forsook Egypt.
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And so this world has its measure of success.
Measure of greatness but we're exhorted to realize that before God there is that place that we can take and Paul took that place of being nothing and then he was used of God. Moses took that place of being nothing and learned at the backside of the desert how to be used of God. And so today we have that privilege ourselves of being realizing before God that.
By nature.
We're nothing, but the Spirit of God has indwelt each one of us and delights to empower us to go on in a way that can make us rich in Christ.
In the book of Esther we have a very great king has your heiress.
Although it isn't actually said, I believe that whom we wanted he killed and whom he wanted he led alive. That was a general tone of that day. But there were two men connected with the Hazel Harris.
One of them was Haman, and he formed and did everything he could to get into the good graces and ride upon a hazard. Harris's coattails, and become great in the Kingdom.
The other one was Mordecai.
And he was quiet aside.
Maybe the Lord even had to put Esther in there because he wouldn't go forward. I don't know about that, but suffice to say he was a quiet man. But in the end, Haman is hanged and Mordecai is exalted.
Team that we're looking at be of the same mind. 1/4 another, we turn to 1St Corinthians chapter one and see the same thought the apostle mentions there in verse 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that should be perfectly joined together in the same mind.
And in the same judgment.
This whole idea that we can have different interpretations, we can have different opinions about gathering.
Both the divine center and so on. This is not according to God's word at all. If we are subject to the word of God and the will is kept in the place of death, we're going to have the same mind one toward another when the will is active. And that's really what a heretic is. You know, it's a self willed man and our own thoughts are brought into the picture and we want to press a certain.
Line of.
Of opinion, then we bring discord in and dissension and contention into the assembly, Exactly what Satan wants. But if we're subject to the Word of God, we will have the same mind one toward another. There'll be edification in the assembly.
And will acknowledge there is the one divine center of gathering.
I think that's important to see because when the will is active, as it often times is in our in our goals, we learn, we lose spiritual discernment.
Yeah, the Apostle Paul.
He he he dealt with the Saints as a father would his children.
And those of us who are parents, fathers, mothers, we don't, we don't have favorites.
Jacob. Jacob had a favorite. He had Joseph, but.
We we try to raise them all for the Lord.
And and yet in the family of God, I noticed Mr. Darby reads verse 16. Have the same respect one for another.
Have the same respect.
We don't usually do that.
I mean, it's a very, it's a practical failing. We tend to congregate in our own little groups, those that agree with us, those that are of the same opinion.
That we have.
And you can see it, you can see it at a conference groups and they're always together.
I don't think that's necessarily necessarily bad, but I think it might be the indication of something that might be bad.
And that is?
This tendency to just just visit with and congregate with those that that agree with me.
01:15:04
And I think that.
This might be a word for young people and for all of us that you're going to learn more if you rub shoulders with some that don't agree with you.
Don't always.
Go to those that agree with you and are the same mind, but those that have a different view and maybe a different way of looking at things and rub shoulders with them. But the important thing is to love all the Saints and not play favorites. You couldn't think of the Lord Jesus having favorites. He loved them all and yet they were also different.
And we're also different.
And some of us are more stubborn than others and and not as well taught and, and all of these things that that distinguish us and you find us in families and that but it's beautiful to see how that with all these differences, when love prevails, we can go on together in in harmony.
And not just tolerating one another, I don't mean that, but really loving one another.
And there's a difference between tolerating a brother or sister and loving them.
I'd like to have some more development of this line of truth because I think it's so important. We tend to to do to get into divisions. And that's what Corinth had. They had their divisions among themselves and they had their favorites. They had their favorite teachers, the one that liked.
A powerful speaker they would they would like a policy. He was a very eloquent man.
The one that liked it was high in intellect. He would like the Apostle Paul and the one that likes someone that was forceful and forward be like Peter.
But we need all of them and we need all one another. We need each other and try to curb ourselves from just seeking out a certain group all the time. That's something we all fall into, I think, and it's good that we.
If they're going to invite someone to our house, maybe invite the one that is the least compatible with us and see how that works. And that will be practicing practical Christianity, won't it?
Well, I would say there could be a one mind only one way by the Spirit of God and without the Spirit of God will never be of one mind. We're all different, we think differently, but we, the Spirit of God is the only way. And the gathered Saints ought to be at at anything.
Typical of being of one mind, one with another.
I think it's the most important thing there is. We're not talking about little things. And one likes to walk the other drive to this place. We're not talking about that. But we can be of one mind, brethren. And I think it's so important. I don't want to just talk to those that don't have the same mind as the mind of Christ. I mean, that isn't the most pleasant thing. Well, Psalm 133, I'll just read one verse. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together.
In Unity.
That can only be by the Spirit of God. No other way. And I'll give you one more because this is very important in John John Chapter 7 and I and I really believe this is that's why we had so many problems four years ago and This is why we had so many problems. John seven verse.
17 If any man will do his will, that's God the Father. By the Spirit he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Now this is the key.
He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory.
There's the difference. If he speaks from himself, he speaks seeking his own glory. We can't be of one mind. We don't even have the Lord's mind there. The Spirit of God breath. I really think it's the key. Individually, corporately, family.
Philippians 3 I read it verse 3. Paul says let us therefore as many as be perfect, mature and and fully understanding and entering into the Christian position and what Christianity really is, be thus minded.
Would be lovely if we were all of that mind, but if in anything ye be otherwise minded, and you haven't entered into the full truth of the Christian doctrine and so on.
01:20:05
God shall reveal even this unto you. And there are those that do not see as clearly as others do. Those that know the truth far better understand it better than others in the family of God.
And then he says, nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, in whatever degree we are of one mind, and we have attained to the same knowledge of truth as our brother.
Let us walk by the same rule. That is, we can walk together in fellowship in whatever measure we've understood the truth commonly.
Lettuce and then he says.
Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
Rather than be followers together of Maine, Paul had the the the largeness in his soul to walk with all the Saints, even some that didn't fully understand the truth. He walked with them in the measure in which they did understand it, looking to the Lord to to lift them to a fuller understanding at some time. But if grace is what is characterizing us in our relationship with one another, we'll be able to go on together, even though we.
All haven't attained to the same measure of understanding.
But we can go on together, in whatever measure we have attained, looking to God to lift the one that hasn't understood the truth as firmly as as another has to bring him into it. But the way we grow into those things is not by a legal a legality which insists that you must understand the truth as I do, or I'll have nothing to do with you. That is legality, and that is not of God. But grace enables us to bear with others.
That haven't understood as much as we have and to go on with them and seek to lead them in to a fuller, richer understanding of Christ and His precious truth. But grace alone can do that.
Talking about growth, I agree there are babes, there are some that have grown and here a little there little line up one line I agree but.
That isn't the thought is that. I think that is the thought. Well, I was just thinking of this remark was made to to invite somebody over that had a different viewpoint than you did well.
The spirits leading and seeking the mind of the Lord on these things. With that I think is a given thing.
But there's one other thing.
Those of Berea received the word laughing, they received it. They heard Paul's message. And then again, with all due respect to Paul, they said, I wonder if what he said is true. They searched the word to see if these things were sold. So my brother, with whom I do not share the same view, I listen to him.
And I listened intently and get his point of view.
Then I open the word of God.
Maybe I changed my way.
Maybe the next time I see him and say, brother, have you ever considered such and such a scripture?
But it's the word of God.
Mixed with the power of the Spirit of God and love for one another, that is going to bring us along in the truth.
#17 May the grace of Christ our Savior and the Father's boundless love with the Holy Spirit's favor rest upon us from above.
Thus may we abide in union with each other in the Lord, And possessed in sweet communion joys which earth can never afford #17.
You can compare.
Today.
Eph. 4;32 Attitude Adjustments, Ps. 85:7,8
Open—S. Jacobsen, R. Bauman
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.
Starting at the third stanza.
It is the.
Conference.
Days. I like to think of it this way, Brethren, that if in his youth, and it may not be.
Youth, middle age and old age. But let's think of it in connection with maturity.
There was a time, and God immediately gave his stamp of approval upon what Sinnehas did.
We have no doubt that he did properly, but he didn't ask advice. And there are times, brethren, when individually we need to act for God.
And it's not because Brother X thinks he should be done, and so there was an action that he took.
And then in the book of Joshua he goes with his brethren. It seemed to give a spiritual maturity, but here he.
Not saying a word that they are not using him for a reference. They seem to be having a time of stress and of attitude adjustment needs that they're defeated. And all the time the Ark of the covenant of God was there in those days and Finna has stood before it in connection with the difficulty that we may have in an assembly. How wonderful to be able to have.
00:05:13
A mature finna has that stands.
Before it in those days, to give that bit of spiritual maturity to the behavior that he sees, he could have added this word or that word. He must have known what was going on that was needed for attitude adjustment. But he doesn't say a word. But why bring Finna has in if he's not going to say something? It's because we see here that they're finally brought to the position of weeping, of the burnt offerings and the peace offerings.
And then they find that Sinnehas is there standing.
Before it In those days, I love that it may not have been able to express it.
Like I would like, but I want to convey to you that if there are difficulties in the assembly, in any assembly.
And there is a need for discipline. So often we start out.
With an attitude that is in need of adjustment.
And if we find that in our difficulty that there is the maturity of a brother of finna, has that stood before it in those days, to think of what it must have meant to these dear brethren, the Spirit of God has put it there. I wouldn't dare take it out. I wouldn't have wanted to have put it in, but it's there. And so now what have we had in conclusion? We've had the need for an attitude adjustment towards one another.
And if I have a need of an attitude adjustment towards you may the grace of God.
Give me to take my own ministry and if there's a need for an attitude adjustment with you.
I say it very peacefully and very calmly and without any desire to use a javelin of that. We get rid of it, get rid of the bitterness, get rid of those things that are hindrances so that we can be kind one to another and then inks. With Obadiah. There was a need for an attitude adjustment, and brethren, we do well to take to our hearts.
What God is doing because he may turn and do something in our lives. And so I want to to if I was to mention in private who I was thinking of, I would want to be as.
Calm and loving towards that person as if he was still gathered, as if he was one that we would have fervently prayed for in the prayer meeting. That would be my desire and we need an attitude adjustment.
And now in connection with the assembly, any assembly that is in need of their discipline.
Ma tell a story.
I was in an assembly back east, and those of you that knew me, I'm not hiding where it was. And I was there for 3 1/2 years and I was in almost like an observer. And you know, if Iowa had looked for trouble in connection with how they handled that case, I couldn't have found it. There was love, there was understanding, there was patience. And I'm not eulogizing those brothers.
The ones that had to do with that case, and it has nothing to do with the fact that they're now gone. But they're they're all gone. There's only one and he's no longer in fellowship. But I I watched.
And I listened and I learned that there is it's possible to handle a situation that was very difficult with love, with understanding and finally with severity that was required. But if I was to elongate on it, you'd say brother, beautiful, beautifully done. And so now if there is a situation in the need.
We we say it has to be done and I'm not here to say that it shouldn't be done. But May God give us the grace if there is a need for an attitude adjustment that we make it. And they wept before the Lord and fasted that day until even and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord. For the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days saying, Shall I yet go out to battle against the.
00:10:15
Benjamin, my brother, Or shall I cease?
And the Lord said, go up for tomorrow I will deliver them.
Into thine hand brethren. In conclusion, if there is a need with you or with me of an attitude adjustment, you may find that in your own exercise that I left out a half a dozen and I'll be quite willing to confess that there are far more. But may we individually, individually search to make sure that we don't have the need for an attitude adjustment, A prerequisite attitude adjustment, so that individually?
Or with those with whom God is dealing, Or in the assembly, that there be confusion, but there can be that which God will bring out in case with his own purposes and grace.
85.
Psalm 85 and verse.
7 Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.
Show us Thy mercy.
Mercy is so important in this Psalm, we are going to see it.
Mercy from God is merely not getting what you deserve as a Sinner.
That's wonderful thing, Mercy.
I will hear verse eight. What God the Lord will speak He.
Will speak peace.
You know in Romans 5 one we have that beautiful.
Peace that every believer does have. And being justified by faith, we have peace.
With God.
But there is more than that, of course.
But this is the one I believe we're thinking of here by application.
Now in Jeremiah 811 it says peace, peace. But they shall have no peace. That's really characteristic of this world.
The never stopped striving for peace.
And about 10 years ago I read that someone checked all the histories he could at all the reports and things and found out.
And he may have been wrong.
That from the time of the birth of Christ, he only found four years when there was number war going on in the world. I believe he might have been wrong there.
We have a peacekeeping body.
United Nations.
But we do not have peace.
Only for what reason?
The agreement for all nations in 1946.
Was that the only name that can't be mentioned in the General Assembly is Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace?
How can they have peace?
They can't have peace. Solemn, isn't it? He's too controversial a figure for a peacekeeping body. That's the reason.
Well, I just mentioned that on the side he will speak peace. Now if you turn to Ephesians 2, we have the peace that we enjoy so much Ephesians 2.
And verse 14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain. 1 Newman soul making peace.
00:15:26
Verse 17 And came and preached peace to you, which were far off, and to them that were nine. Well, that's a that's the peace we enjoy.
There's one other piece that I just mentioned. This isn't what's on my heart, but in Philippians.
Four, we have the peace that passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that peace every believer ought to have, but they do not. That's sad to say.
Many do have it, but not always.
And to get the reason and the formula for having it, you have to read in Philippians 4 verse, I think 4 down to 8. But I'm not getting into that. And then we have the Lord saying my peace, I give unto you, not as the world gives us peace, but my peace. And we have a certain peace, do we not, as we go through this troubled world that doesn't know peace at all.
Now verse 9.
Surely his salvation is nigh them that firm, that glory, may dwell in our land.
His salvation is nigh them that fear him.
I think it's Psalm 6616 that says.
All ye that fear the Lord come unto me, and I will declare what he's done for my soul.
And unless one has that fear, reverential respect in a sense.
Of who God is.
You're wasting your time. You're wasting your time. That's why the gospel must have in it God is light.
Give him warning for me. Until they have that sense, they're going to have to do with the Holy God.
Who is just and righteous they will listen not with an ear of faith. And so that's a thought. All ye that fear God, come unto me, and I will declare what he has done for my soul now.
Verse 10 Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
I didn't bring my little flock him book if somebody would just pull it out. I think I just want the 2nd stanza of 142 and I think if I'm not right, Mercy and Percy and Truth Unite are united, are united. Is that right?
Unite, OK, That's the thought. Mercy and truth are met together.
They unite and always want to mention truth.
Demands death.
Truth demands death.
In Genesis Two, I think it's verse 17.
The day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. That's true.
That's true.
And Satan, the deceiver said, Thou shalt not surely die.
That's a lie.
And all you have to do is go to the chapter 5 and find out it's a lie. No matter how long a man lived, you have this and he died.
One exception, of course. Enough, but we won't get into that. But truth demands death.
The soul that sinneth it shall die. That's true. That's true.
The wages of sin is death. That's true and we could give many, many, many more. It demands death because of sin. Mercy and truth are met together.
Mercy cries out for life.
And justice think they met together 1 demanding death, the other crying out for life.
00:20:04
That's a beautiful thing, isn't it? To think about. They unite.
We know where at the cross, but I just want to bring out a few of these things. Life, Life.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Now righteousness.
Demands judgment. Not just death after death judgment.
Because God is righteous and God is holy.
They can overlook one sin.
So it says righteousness. Let's see righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Well, peace cries out for forgiveness.
Can't have peace without forgiveness, so you have the four things there.
That are linking themselves together.
And it's like that little hip.
Mercy and truth unite. Oh, what a wondrous sight.
How could that happen? Really? How could that happen? Well.
Verse 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth.
Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Return to Isaiah 53. I think we have that thought. So Night, Isaiah 53.
Verse one verse 2 Isaiah 53. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness.
When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
That's the thought.
Truth shall spring up out of the earth.
Turn to 11 Isaiah 11 for Justice. One more thought on that.
Isaiah 11 and verse one also.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
That's truth shall spring out of the earth. Jesus is truth.
He's the word of God. In the beginning was the word, but he is very truth. When his judge said what is truth, there was nothing He had to say. Truth was there before the judge in his very person. And that's the thought. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
You know when truth Jesus.
Took his place with John the Baptist and was baptized.
Not because he needed any repentance, because he wanted to be identified with those of faith and true repentance. But when he came out of that water, heaven's opened and a voice came from heaven that was the voice of righteousness and looked down on that blessed one.
I am well pleased. I am well pleased.
And at the cross?
When truth himself.
Took his place on that center cross.
Righteousness was looking down on him.
And those words came out of his mouth.
Father, forgive them. Isn't that a lovely thought? Father, forgive them and righteousness was looking down.
After the three hours of darkness.
All was done, nothing more to be done.
For forgiveness and peace.
Mercy.
And truth.
Can be offered to any Sinner mercy and peace.
Can be offered to any Sinner the beautiful thing, when it says truth shall spring out of the earth.
00:25:02
Now I just want to look at a couple of things on that because it's very important.
Well, I looked at job turned to job because there are many places, but this is very beautiful job.
In chapter 38 of Job.
The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.
Nahum 1/3 The Lord has his way in the whirlwind.
He's going to have his way with Job. That's the thought.
It was a whirlwind that took Job's ten children.
Satan couldn't do that. That was his desire, and the Lord allowed it.
But only the Lord could take them to glory. That was a whirlwind.
And now Job is going to face the whirlwind. You know, it's a wonderful thing when he'll take time with us like this, Job had said earlier.
I would let the Lord Almighty would answer me.
And that's something.
I would that my enemies had written a book, that I would put it upon my head and stand before him.
How could that be? I may not have said exactly right. I don't want to take a lot of time, but this is what he said. Let's see, I'll find it in a hurry, I think. Would that the Lord God?
I think Almighty would answer me just now.
Sorry.
OK, it's Chapter 31.
Verse 35 All that one would hear me. Behold my desire.
Is that the Almighty? Think about this, the Almighty.
Would answer me.
Oh, Joe, how foolish can you be? And that my adversary had written a book, surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown to me. And I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince. I would go near unto him.
Oh, foolish joke.
But you know, the Lord took him up on it, and that's what we have in chapter.
38I Slipped Out of It, Chapter 38.
The Lord has Job in his very presence now.
When the world wins, is going to take over.
And so he says in verse three. Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I'm going to ask of you, I will demand of you. Now you answered, I'll meet Joe.
Answer me, Joe.
What was the Lord going to do?
He's going to teach Job a lot in a hurry.
The greatest thing he taught him was that Job was nothing.
A wonderful lesson. Job had to learn that it took 37 chapters to get there.
And so the Lord gives him 40 questions in this chapter.
The greatest scientist in the world, ten of them, flunked the test.
Job couldn't answer what, not one. I'd love to go through them, read them sometime.
But this is the one I have on my heart 33.
Noah's style.
The ordinances of heaven canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
Now that's what we have in Psalm 85.
Truth sprung out of the earth.
It's the one who had the dominion of the heavens and His power.
You know, I believe it says, if I can remember where it's Jeremiah, the early chapter of the 33 or 4, but I think it says there are ordinances of the sun, moon, and the stars in heaven. It's a marvelous thought.
All those heavenly bodies are moving at different philosophies.
And not only on the same course.
But in a perfect pattern. And so 4000 years ago, 3000 years ago, the Mariners could find out where they are by a starfish. Today, they could find out where they are in the ocean by the same star fix.
00:30:04
Or consolation, They don't change. There's an ordinance up there.
Now there's one that has the dominion of that ordinance.
In Hebrews 1/3 I think it says.
Withholding or upholding all by the word of his power. I think Jesus upholding everything by the word of his power.
I think it's Colossians, one says by him. All things subsist.
Is what we're talking about is truth. It's Jesus. Now we'll just look into it one place because.
Luke Luke's Gospel.
Chapter 2 or I believe Luke.
OK, Luke, Chapter 2 and verse 25.
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
Simeon means he who hears.
He heard he believed.
400 years, 4 centuries without anymore word.
From the Lord to his people. And here's Simeon.
Part of the Remnant. We heard about just the last hour. The Remnant.
Simeon was part of them. There was a remnant when the Lord arrived. There is going to be a remnant when he comes again.
God in his faithfulness always has a remnant testimony. Well, Simeon, And the same man was just a devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon Simeon, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
That's a nice promise.
You're going to see him.
We're going to see him as he is. We're going to see him face to face.
But what happened this morning?
Hebrews 29 happened, We see Jesus.
We see Jesus of these beautiful well alright Simeon is going to see him and he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the cuts of the law, then took him up in his arms and bless God.
Simeon wasn't happy with just looking on that blessed One.
He took him up in his arms.
And embraced him.
And brethren, we shouldn't be satisfied with just seek.
We should want to embrace the Lord in our hearts.
And our souls. That's the thought.
Who was he holding in those arms?
The one who has the dominion of the heavens.
That infant was upholding all the stars and planets of the heavens, all the heavenly bodies, because he never ceased being the eternal Son of God just because he became Son of Man.
That's beautiful.
I'll give you a verse on that, because you shouldn't just say such a thing. John three. I'll read it quickly. Don't return to it. John three and verse 13. Jesus speaking. No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven as a root out of dry ground sprung up out of this earth. Notice what it says.
Even the Son of Man.
Which is in heaven.
Don't try to figure that out.
Enjoy it.
00:35:01
Jesus as the Son of Man, never ceased being the Son of God.
Think who Simeon embraced and held in his hands. And then we read.
Ward now let us Thy servant, depart in peace, according to Thy word, for my eyes have seen Thy salvation.
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people alight to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
What a prophet simian was. Isn't it wonderful to think of this? What a prophet. Now I'm just going to go back to our portion in in Psalm 85 to finish here. I guess we're finished Psalm 85.
Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
And it's so beautiful. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
And when Jesus said it is finished.
The Father said. Amen.
Because we read in Corinthians all the promises of God are in Christ. Yeah. And in him. Amen.
And Jesus came to do his Father's will.
So be it is why he came.
And you know, when he said yeah, to what God said?
God said Amen to what Jesus did.
That's why all the promises of God are in him, Yeah. In him. Amen.
Sure.
What is it? Mercy and truth unite.
Oh, what a glorious sight.
Nothing for us remains nothing but love.
Well, that's not God. Can he laugh at all? God can read.
No God like you, God is in life before that man can stop his horse.
They can stay in his horseman.
'S land.
We say.
Not our praise, our praise.
All his hands for him.
The Star Wars.
00:40:09
And forever be here and.
Spotless One Our Heart in Deaconess and trade to bear my yoke, and learn of thee that we may rest. Obtain 174.
Ezekiel 3:10,11,15
Gospel—R.F. Bauman
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This is the gospel.
It's good news.
And it's from a far country. My country. It's from heaven. That's where I belong. And everyone here tonight could be belong to heaven if they just believe this glorious gospel. I want to start with a verse before we sing. Maybe 2. Ezekiel will be in Ezekiel. See your eyes will open. Ezekiel the Prophet. Ezekiel, Chapter 3.
Verse 10 Ezekiel 310.
Moreover he said unto me, The Son of man, All my words that I shall speak unto thee, receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears, and go and speak unto them, and tell them Thus, says the Lord God, whether they will hear or whether they will for bear. Go and tell them. Thus, says the Lord God.
You know this carries A solemn responsibility.
Jeremiah 23, I think it's 28.
Jeremiah said. Or raise the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet that has a dream.
Let him tell the dream, but he that hath my word, let him speak my word.
Faithfully.
There's a lot of dream prophets on pulpits in Christendom.
But I have a solemn responsibility to preach this precious word.
Faithfully.
Ezekiel 311 Says tell them, tell them whether they will hear or whether they will for bear to hear.
In Acts 28, we won't turn to it right at the end.
The Christian leaders of that day, I shouldn't say Christian. The religious leaders of that day? Asked Paul.
We would like to know. We would like to hear what thou believeth.
And if anyone asks the Apostle Paul what he believed, they would hear.
Faithfully because he said, I came among you to know nothing.
Except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so he preached unto them concerning the Kingdom of God.
And Jesus Christ, God's Son.
And so it's a very solemn thing, And it says some believed, some believe not.
That divides this room. That divides.
Walla Walla That divides the state of Washington and that divides the United States and Canada and divides the world. Some believe and some believe not.
That's the only division there is among sinners. It's a solemn thing to hear the word of God and not believe it. So we're going to sing #35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Verily, verily, message ever true or new, he that believe us on the sun, his true path, everlasting life.
Or what a savior that he died.
For me.
I will not.
Lie for him.
Be happy to be responsible.
Where are we? Where are we? Where are we? Where are we right now, I believe?
Staying live.
Now let's heal still three Chapter 3 of Ezekiel.
Verse 15.
Then I came to them by the river of Chibar.
And I set where they sat.
And I remained there astonished, among them seven days.
Ezekiel set by the River Chebar. That's where the Lord told him to go.
And he sat there seven days. Why?
To receive a message from heaven. That's why 7 is really the number.
Of heavenly perfection there he was at Chibar by the river.
Chibar means abundant power.
That's what he had. That's what I have.
This is abundant power.
It can save.
The blood of Jesus.
Can cleanse from all sin.
The name of Jesus.
Save a soul.
And the Word of God can say this is power.
You have it in your hands. You hold power. Marvelous thought, Gee bar.
But the River at Sea bar speaks of continuous flow of water.
Water speaks typically in the Word of God, of just that, the Word of God every time this book is opened, the Bible.
There's a flow of the word of God going out in this power now. That's where Ezekiel was. He was by the river of Chibar and he remained there astonished 7 days.
16 And it came to pass. At the end of seven days he received the message.
From heaven.
Here the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. That's the message.
Give them warning from me.
00:10:03
Without the faithful warning in the Word of God from God himself, there's no gospel.
To preach God is love is not enough. God is right.
And unless you realize your condition center and your peril, you can't get saved.
Give them warning from me. That was the message to Ezekiel by the river at Chibar.
You know, it's the warning that goes out whenever the gospel is faithfully preached.
Jonah had a message from the Lord to take to Nineveh.
That great and exceeding wicked city.
And what was the message? It was the gospel message. Yet.
40 Days in Nineveh is destroyed.
Give them warning from me.
Enough gospel for that great city. It was enough that was enough. They heard, they didn't. For bear they heard.
And that day Nineveh was saved now. Wonderful, isn't it? Really. Well, we got more of a gospel than that, but that's enough.
Give them warning from me, said God.
I was in England. Well, this was quite a while ago, maybe four years, but I was driving on the wrong side with a frantic wife, you know, and torn through roundabouts and all this. I stopped at a petrol station in Billericay just to get information on how to reach my next destination.
And that man looked at me and said where are you going? And I told him, I told him what for and I gave him a track and he said, can we be sure?
And I said, Are you sure you're going to heaven? Nobody can be sure of that. What I said your Queen Victoria was, and I am and you ought to be. Well, he got a little nervous and he pulled out paper and started to draw these instructions. And he got to one spot and he drew a big roundabout with about 8 exits, and four of the exits went to another roundabout. It was about two or three exits each. And he showed me exactly which ones to take.
Then he looked very solid.
He said. Now be warned, this has to be followed exactly.
And I want to tell you, he said, to be forewarned and to be forearmed.
Well, I got another track out and it said asleep in the boat and I gave it to him. I said thank you for the instructions. Now you ought to read this and then you'll be warned.
And I said, friend, remember something to be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Well, I hope you read it, but you're going to get wine tonight, and I hope you're here and not for bear to hear. Now we'll look on.
Verse 22 Verse 22 And the hand of the Lord was upon me, there or there upon me. And he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will talk with thee. And then I arose, and went forth into the plains. And behold, the glory of the Lord stood there.
As the glory which I saw by the river of Chiba and I fell on my face, I.
Fell on my face.
You know, the Prophet was now in the right position.
And attitude to receive the word of God.
Twelve of us were on our face.
Just shortly ago.
And I went up those stairs for prayer. Weakness. Could be, but I came down just as bold as could be. What happened? You know, 12 is the number, scripturally, of collective responsibility, and we often have 40 or 50 in a prayer meeting. There's only 12, but the Lord wanted me to know.
That your brethren have met their responsibilities, and I got courage with that. I got courage right now to warn you.
It says.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, And he said, I will talk with thee. And I rose and went to the plain, and behold the glory of the Lord, and stood there. And the Lord, which I saw by the river Sebar, I fell on my face.
00:15:17
You know, anyone that's privileged like I am.
To preach from this precious word the gospel of God's grace.
Is so responsible and so privileged.
And I wish everyone who was privileged to speak the gospel.
Should not fail dissent.
The solemnity of this message.
I sometimes hardly feel qualified to walk up onto a podium.
But then I opened the word of God and I realized it's nothing to do with me.
It's all to do with the Lord who said simply give them warning from me.
You know.
It's a matter of life or death.
Gospel.
Heaven or Hell?
That's what it is, verse 27.
But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them. Thus says the Lord God, He that heareth let him hear, and he that forbeareth let him for bear. That's what the Lord told Ezekiel. Isn't that a solemn thought? That's a that's a solemn thought to me.
Seven times in the Gospel.
Alone you have this.
He that has the ear to hear, let him hear.
Seven times.
Seven times in the first three chapters of Revelation, you've got this.
To him that has an ear, let him hear.
You know, God is pretty serious about this. Isn't he pretty serious? You have ears, but you know how many will not hear with an ear of faith? That's the point.
He that heareth let him hear, and he that forbeareth let him for bear to for bear to hear this word with an ear of faith.
Until death or until the coming of the Lord is an eternally.
Fatal mistake.
Solomon, eternally fatalistic, turned Isaiah 55, Isaiah 55.
And justice one verse.
Three and part of it only incline your ear and come on to me here, and your soul shall live.
Incline your ear, and come unto me here, and your soul shall live.
Romans 10/17.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and that's how you're saved. But it says incline your ear.
And well, how many here know what it Clyde really means, whether you have to go to Webster? I went to Webster, but inclined means to make it Willy.
To make it Willy.
That's what the Lord said. Come. That's the message. That's the word that you have to hear. Come.
In Matthew 1128 the Lord Jesus said this, Come unto me, All ye that labor and heavy laden I will give you rest under your soul.
Peace with God, Not a wonderful thing. Peace with God about the sin question.
Well, that's the message. But he said one more thing. John Five, I think he that cometh to me. I will in no wise cast out.
Isn't that pretty wonderful. It doesn't matter how bad you are or how good you are in your own thought, you might as well come. He will not cast you out. He'll take you in.
There isn't a sin too bad or a mess of sins too great for the Lord Jesus to take care of it. He just says, come on to me and being justified by faith, you'll have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the message. That's the message that Ezekiel was to give. But there's more. Back to Ezekiel this time. 18 Ezekiel, Chapter 18. There's more to the message.
00:20:14
Verse three at the beginning of it as I live, saith the Lord God. Verse 4, Behold, All Souls are mine.
As the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son.
I can add this as the soul of the mother, so also the soul of the daughter. All Souls are mine. The soul that sinneth it shall die.
The soul that sinneth it shall die.
Romans 623 The Wages of Sin.
Is death.
You know, that's the warning.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the good news.
The soul that sinneth it shall die. Look at verse 20. Just the first part. The soul that sinneth it shall die. You know when the Lord repeats something.
It's very, very important. Very important. You know, sin is the great equalizer of all mankind.
That's the point.
There are no preferences in the morn. None at all.
There's no first class going there either.
There's a democracy in the morgue.
Romans 512.
As by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death has passed upon all, because all has sinned.
God and death both are no respecter of persons.
That's equalizer, the great equalizer. In Death, the king and the beggar are equal.
That's the democracy of the board. It's true democracy.
You know the Roman poet Horace. He wrote this pale death with impartial step knocked on the poor man's cottage and.
The Kigs Palace too.
And the King's palace too.
So I just bring that out. Sin is the great equalizer of all mankind.
Romans 322 and 23 There is no difference, for all has sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So we have this thought from Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, apart from the man that gave him the wisdom, the man Christ Jesus.
He said there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not now that's from the wisest that ever lived here.
I have only met two men.
That said, they never sinned. Only two. I don't think there would be anybody here that would say I'd never sinned, but some do, and the first one said it because he didn't believe there is such a thing as sin.
He got rid of that problem real easy, didn't he?
A man got saved 42. He got saved. That's all he was.
You know how long you had to live? 11 months.
Sin took its toll.
Drugs, whiskey, cigarettes and riotous living.
Made him a dissipated thing. He only had eleven months.
But I had a letter from him just before he died. He was in Indiana.
And he said my prayer is that God will give me more time to serve him.
Didn't have any more.
But the good part about it is he saved. He's in glory. I won't see him again.
Name was Roby last day. This other man who said he never sinned. Little different story, I told it before, but it really struck me.
I was in the Maritime, I was in the capital of New Brunswick.
00:25:01
I was in the House of Saints. I mean Christians. Same thing. We just had breakfast.
Drinking our coffee, reading We're reading from Leviticus and enjoying The Blood, The Precious Blood.
Torrential rains. You know cats and dogs couldn't see out the window for even 5 inches. Knock on the door.
The Hostess got up and opened the door, and here stood this dissipated man drenched, blood coming out of the side of his eye.
Terrible looking close.
A partial beard from not Shaving.
He said. Can I come in?
Come on in, she said. She took his clothes and hung it up to drip dye, dripped eye in his hat and put a big towel over the chair and invited him to sit down with us.
She said You need something to eat. Oh yes.
And before he left, he consumed at least two loaves of toast with a whole jar of strawberry jam. 8 glasses of milk.
And we talked about the blood.
We went on and talked about the blood.
And you know, he was a nervous, very nervous man.
He had a serviette napkin and every time he got done drinking the milk, he just sort of take that napkin and wrap around. Then he take that napkin and the knife and this was always wiping things with the napkin, so they made me nervous.
When he got done, we asked him.
Are your sins washed in the blood of Jesus?
You know what he said. I never sinned.
I never see him. That's what he said.
I just make mistakes.
He said. Can I go now?
And I said, can I go now? Of course. He went to the door, put on his coat and hat and stood there.
We looked at him, but he looked at us.
He said. Isn't somebody going to open the door for me?
Well, she went to open the door.
And then I realized he made a real big mistake.
He could wipe everything clean from fingerprints, but he couldn't wipe the doorknob from the inside when he's outside.
So when he left, we called the police.
They He escaped.
And he was dangerous.
They never said he just makes mistakes. Oh, don't deceive yourself. Don't deceive yourself. I'm a Sinner, saved by grace, and unless you know that, you can't be saved.
Don't make excuses. Don't think other things. Don't eliminate God's word. This is why he gives you warning. I want to turn to Ezekiel. Still 18, but verse.
2323.
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Says the Lord God.
And not that he should return from his rays and live.
That's a beautiful verse to me. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? You know what it tells me?
Judgment is God's strange work.
Left verse 3 to 5.
God our Savior. Isn't that a lovely expression? God our Savior. 2 Things I love to give to those overseas in heathen lands. That's one of them. The other is God is love.
They never think of God that way.
They think of God.
There's a hard, austere master, a ruler that likes to punish.
God our Savior.
Hope you got yours open.
Our Savior. Who will? All men to be saved. Who will have all men to be saved. That's his will tonight. About every Sinner here who isn't safe and come into the knowledge of the truth. There's only one God, one mediator between man and God. It's the man, Christ Jesus, who gave his life a ransom for all to be testified in due time. I'm going to tell you faithfully, sitter, if you're lost, this is your due time.
00:30:17
This is your due time. I don't know how many you've had before.
I know you've had others before, but I can tell you faithfully this is your due time. It may be the last for you, Solomon, to be testifying to you in due time. Well, I'll get another seat. Second Peter 3 dying. The Lord is not willing that any perish.
And that wonderful, that wonderful news, he's not willing that any perish God would have ought to be saved.
13 One to four, I will turn to it. But the Tower of Fell. You know we have great catastrophes. Now you know value jet how many people? I don't know. Things are happening. And the disciples expected the Lord to say something kind about the 18 that it killed when it fell on them.
What did Jesus say?
You think those eighteen were sinners more than you?
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Give them warning for me.
What's the use of being sorry for the ones that died lost? There are still ones living who can be saved.
That's what the Lord wants you to know. That's what He wants you to know. Well, maybe I could think of one more verse on this line.
John 316 Automatically I think many of the children know right what it is, could recite it. For God so loved. I'd love to give that to the heathen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever.
Give a morning for me whether they'll hear, whether they'll for bear whosoever.
Let me see, I've got to go start again.
Whosoever.
Believeth on him.
Shall not perish, shall not perish.
But have everlasting life. Wasn't that beautiful? That's the gospel. That's not like Nineveh had 120,000 babies alone.
No, it's not like that. 40 days that you're destroyed, That's Nineveh's gospel.
They all got saved.
But this tells you without any question.
You'll never perish.
You'll have eternal life right now. All you have to do is hear with the ear of faith and believe it. And they're wonderful. I just love to preach the gospel. You know, There may be some here who are still lost. I don't know. God knows.
Thoughtful. There may be some here who took the place of being Christians and on the way to hell.
God knows. That's why the Gospels continually preach, you know.
Let's see, Ezekiel 18. Where were we? 23 I have no pleasure at all that the wicked should die.
Verse.
25.
25 All right, yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal.
Hear ye, is not my way equal? And your way is unequal?
Says the Lord.
You know, isn't that sad?
They say what is equal, fair.
Justice.
They say to the Lord your way is not fair. It's not just.
He says it's not my way equal. Is it not fair or not your ways unequal. You know, that's the gospel. Man has all kinds of ways. That's religion.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.
Religion never saves a soul. Never. Religion never went.
Only faith in a man.
The Son of God, the man Christ Jesus saves, not the guilt.
It's not my way equal, you know. Just consider this. Now for his way, I'll give you a couple verses. For his way, that's equal. Galatians 3, Galatians 3.
00:35:06
22 You could turn if you wish. Galatians 322 There's many, but just a few will help out to see how fair he is. Galatians 3 and 22 All right.
That's why I need to take a little while here.
All right.
But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin.
Everyone here is under sin. When you're saved, you're in Christ. But that's a different story We'll get to the scripture has concluded.
All under sin. Why? Because God is equal.
That's why.
That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Is not God equal? It is not God fair. I mean, can there be anything fairer than that?
Back to our portion, I'll give you another one. There's a lot.
Let's see, am I not equal?
Romans 11, Romans 11. I won't turn two at 32.
God hath concluded them all in unbelief. Why?
That he might have mercy upon you all.
Is equal. I think that's beautiful, don't you? Is equal. That's it. He's fair. There isn't anything more fair than that.
Give you one more.
Almost 1012 and 13.
You think there is no difference, for the same Lord overall is rich unto all them that believe or that call upon Him, I think.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, there is no.
Question about it, no doubt about it, shall they say.
Am I not equal? Says the Lord. And yet they say, you are not equal. You are not equal. You know I'll follow.
If any turn and repent.
I believe that's what I want next. Let's see, it's in here 30, verse 30. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity will not be your ruin.
Verse 25 Am I not equal? Says the Lord. The Lord is equal.
I think it's so beautiful. What does it mean? Term repent.
Well, I could tell you one thing. There is no salvation for any Sinner without repentance.
It's impossible.
But repentance is the easiest thing there is.
Stubborn wills don't let you do it.
But it's very easy and it's the most blessed the emotion there is when you repent.
Because the blessings just pour out there to you from God.
Repent, it says Here. Repent verse 30. Turn yourselves so iniquity be not your ruin.
Now verse 31 at the end for why will ye die?
This is the Lord speaking. Why will ye die? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord God. Wherefore turn or repent and live.
Repentance is merely believing God.
And what he says about you, That's all.
God says all of sin. Believe it.
God says the soul that sinners it shall die. Believe it.
God, says Duncan, help themselves. Your laws believe it, and you know what's going to happen. You're going to get saved.
That's all God wants you to do. Admit what he says about you is true.
Here now is not my way equal, or not your ways unequal? If any turn or repent, he shall surely live and not die. And yet ye save the way of the Lord is not equal.
00:40:08
Turn to verse 31 at the end for why will ye die?
I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies. Isn't that a wonderful thought Sinner?
You're qualified. You are qualified for heaven. I can say that of the strength of the word of God.
Every Sinner is qualified. You have all the prerequisites you need to get into heaven.
That's it.
You're a Sinner.
If you could only admit it, that's the first prerequisite to get into heaven, and the 2nd is you're lost.
Not unsaved. Lot of them say unsaved. You're lost.
You know, to be saved, you first have to be lost.
People like to hear that word wise. I love it. It's the only way it will bring a Sinner to repentance. And if you can confess that, you know it says in Romans.
When they were yet without strength, Christ died for them. You can't do one thing.
For your own soul, not one thing to get into heaven, you're without strength. But it also says.
When they were sinners, Christ died for them, and when they were enemies, Christ died for them.
Am I not equal and fair? Says the Lord. I think it's so beautiful. Am I not equal and fair? Turn to Lamentations, chapter one. Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter one.
Man the verse 21. Now this is.
Solemn to the point of being scary.
I'm going to give it to you anyway.
He that hath by word, let him speak my word faithfully.
And this scares me. This really scares me. It is solemn.
I'm going to start at the end of verse 21. Thou will bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.
Let all their wickedness come before thee, and do unto them as thou hast done unto me.
This is the Lord speaking.
If the Lord speak.
It is so solemn, thou will bring thy day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.
You know.
The day is appointed already.
For judgment, it's appointed. The judge is also appointed. Everything is decided. The judgment of this world is over.
And that day is coming very soon. It's Act 1731.
But when he says.
Thou will bring that day.
That thou has called, they shall be that like unto me.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the sinless Holy One, is my substitute in judgment.
God cannot overlook sin. He did not overlook ones of my sin, and I had a mountain of them.
He judged his son instead of Maine.
And that goes for every soul that's saved.
You know this is solemn.
When he was on that cross.
There was 3 hours of darkness.
It was so awful.
So off.
And when he was made sin.
This world shook.
Because a holy God punished that blessed what? For the sin of this world and for the sins of any Sinner who will receive you. And he took that terrible punishment stroke after stroke after stroke.
You know what?
You will never know.
Never. The cloth that Jesus paid in those three hours? You'll never find it out. Never.
Now he was my substitute.
00:45:03
I don't have to be punished for one little fear.
And they're wonderful.
No. Wonderful. I love to preach the gospel. I'm judgment free because another died for me in my place and my staff. And God didn't overlook my sins. He was just when he justified me.
Because he punished a substitute his old son in my place for my sins. Now he says Here I will bring that day, that day of judgment, thou hast calls, It's already appointed, and they shall be like unto me. Who is he talking about? Every Sinner.
Who would not believe or receive the love of the truth that they might be saved? That's what he's talking about.
And in a sense, you're going to be just like the Son of God.
When he was made sin.
But it will never end.
It will never end.
Never end. It's so hard to think about it. This is so awful.
Is he not equal? I will give you a verse John 524. You tell me if he is equal.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, you're hearing it.
And believers on him that sent me, hath HATH got it? Thou hast eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed already from death unto life. Is he not equal? Could he be fairer?
There isn't anything could be fairer than that. And yet they say, thou art not equal.
Why was this written? Why was this book written?
Verse will tell you John 2131.
These things are written that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. Neither is there any other there's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby you must be saved. Oh God is so dramatic when he gets to the condition of your soul. You must be saved.
Absolutely essential Sinner, God says give them.
Warning from me. And yet they said, Thou art not equal, thou art not fair.
Some man, 19 Terry.
Was over to his bosses, Woods.
His boss told him behind my house is this nice woods you eat with wood you can cut and take what you want. He went alone.
Chainsaw and he was cutting.
And he got that saw cut caught in the log, and it stopped.
You know what he did? He tried to start it.
In the lodge.
It started, but it jumped up and it cut him right across here. The blood just guts out like a new discovered oil well.
He put his hands in the gash and he started to run for the boss's House of 200 feet.
He got weak quick.
You know what? He said to himself. I'm going to die.
I'm going to die and I'm not ready. He has heard the gospel just like you boys and girls in Sunday school. He knew God's faithful.
And as he ran and got weaker, he said, I'm going to get saved now.
Say right now.
Then he stopped. You know what? He said. This is unfair to God, just the reverse of what they said. You're not fair, he said. This isn't fair to God. All my life, 90 years, I lived well. Once I rejected everything. I never would listen or receive it. Now that I know I'm going to die, I'll take it.
You know, when he said that this isn't fair, that's repentance. That's repentance. You know what happened to him? He got saved. Well, I could tell you the rest of the story, but we don't have time. That's that's enough. Terry got saved because he realized it isn't fair Sinner when you've refused all these years.
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You say? Well, maybe I'll take him when there's no more hope for me here.
It's not fair to God, but God will still receive you.
Because he's equal. He's fair. I think it's so beautiful. All are without excuse. All are without excuse, everyone. Romans 120. That's right. If you end up at the great White, show judgment.
And you face the Lamb of God as your judge.
And you wish you could flee from the wrath of the Lamb? What are you going to say?
I will tell you what.
You will be speechless.
That's right, speechless. How awful. How awful.
Well, you know, there was a man who neglected.
I hope nobody is neglecting.
Because if you neglect it's the same thing as reject. If you die or the Lord come, it doesn't matter which.
That's rejected too late. Well, that's the way he was. He's wealthy, he's moralistic, he's religious and so on.
Too busy, Too busy for Jesus.
Too busy?
He had a dream. You know, God speaks through dreams.
I'm not, you know, I don't make a lot of that. But he does speak to dreams. He's spoken to me that way. And maybe you, this man, dreamt he was at the Great White Show. Judgment.
Awful dream and the books were opened.
And every wicked thought he ever had, every wicked thing he ever did, every city ever committed, where were flashed before him in a moment.
And he knew he was going to hell.
He was faithless.
He finally collected himself and you know what He said.
This isn't fair.
You're not equal. That's what he said in history. This isn't fair. I didn't know I was going to die so quick. It's not fair. That's what he said.
I didn't know I had so little time to live. That's what he said.
You didn't warn me.
Believe God.
Never work. It will never work, you know, The answer came in his dream.
Your claim would be good if it were true.
That's the answer. And then he heard this.
At age 20, when you almost died.
And you feared death?
You received a good clear warning then from your friends who were safe.
What? Your father passed away.
You heard a clear gospel from your father's lips.
From the preacher that took the funeral.
When you buried your son, you were warned 1/3 time.
A faithful wording by the man who gave that funeral.
And on and on.
You know, he woke up in a sweat.
It fell right down on his knees.
And right then and there, he took Jesus as his savior.
But you know, you may not have that opportunity. God is faithful, He warns many ways.
But you got the opportunity right now.
I think it's wonderful. Some believe and some believe not. And that's the way you came in this room.
I don't know who's which, but I do know she believes. He didn't believe. She believes, he believes not. And that's the way you keep in. That's the only way you could come in here.
But you don't have to go out that way. That's the gospel.
And you know the group that believe can increase, but the group that believe not can only decrease.
That's the only way that you know. Change the only way.
I hope, I hope you all go out of here in one group. You believed.
That's it you believed.
This is the word of God. You believe I'm going to turn? I got a village. I'll still turn Revelation Chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6. We're getting into the real warning and in chapter 6 of Revelation.
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Let's see. I'm going to skip it because there's a Type Grey White Rd. Judge. I'll wait. Turn to Revelation.
Chapter 22 I'll Read 11. He That is unjust.
Let him be unjust still that means forever.
He Which is filthy, let it be filthy still. That's forever.
He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. That's forever.
And he that is holy, let him be holy. Still, that's for eternity. Isn't that solemn? A Christian doctor attended the convention of three days at Atlantic City, NJ, Early morning, first day. He got up, took a walk on the boardwalk in the sun, enjoyed it. He met another doctor.
He talked to him about creation, about God's wonderful ways, and about Jesus. They ate breakfast together and he prayed.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he prayed.
Next day in the morning got up early again.
Take a little walk and enjoy the sunrise.
As he's coming back, he saw the same Doctor and he said, Isn't the Lord wonderful? Isn't the Lord good talking about the side at all?
You know that man, that of the doctor, looked angry. He said. I came here to have a good time. I don't want to hear about Jesus anymore. And he turned in anger, took one step. He was in eternity.
Heart attack.
A solid story is true.
Follow in it. It's true eternity. You know that word only appears once in this whole book, the Bible.
But it affects everybody here, everybody.
It's in Isaiah 5715. I won't read it. You can look at it later. I'm going to just give you a close, a little thought of eternity.
A simple definition is it's as long as God is God. But that didn't satisfy me, and I did see a poem I love, and I'm going to read it and I want you to think about it and I'm done, because you're going to have to face eternity.
I copied it. I don't memorize phones. I memorized the word of God as far as I'm able. Counts the little drops of water that within the ocean lies and count the many stars that twinkle as you gaze into the sky. And count the science upon the desert and upon the ocean shores. Count the moment in your lifetime come but to return no more and.
The Church as Developed in Matthew
Address—C. Hendricks
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Expressions in the hymns we.
Associated with Him, all the paths already trotted was His path, and now we're associated with Him in that blessed path. God is our Father and our God, even as He was to Him. It's His path that we're on. Let's pray. I just want to read 2 verses very quickly. One's in Matthew 16, just part of a verse.
And one in Matthew 18.
Part of verse in the Matthew 16. Part of verse 18.
The Lord says upon this rock.
I will build my church.
Matthew 18.
Verse 17 part of the verse. Tell it.
Unto the Church.
It's interesting that the Gospel of Matthew, which is very Jewish in character, is the only one of the four gospels that mentions the assembly the church.
And I'd like to trace.
With the Lord's help, the.
Chapters that lead up to these chapters that we know so well.
There's been a good deal of late written on Matthew 1820, much of it very erroneous.
When we see the events that lead up to the chapter and the unfolding of the truth, it helps us so much to grasp the the import of what the Church is and what it replaces and so on.
In the economy of God. Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew, Chapter 12.
Verse one. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn.
And his disciples were in Hungary, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, the disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath.
Notice but he said unto them.
Have ye not read what David did when he was in Hungrid and they that were with him, how he entered into the House of God and did eat the showbread?
Which was not lawful for him to eat.
Neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests.
They get quickly turned back. We're coming right back here, but to First Samuel 21.
We'll see.
The condition of David.
When he did that.
In First Samuel.
21.
Verse one. Then came David to Nob, to a Himalaya the priest, and a Himalaya was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? Well, he was fleeing the wrath of Saul who had tried to kill him, and it was intention, his intention to kill him. So we see here David is in rejection.
Saul knew that David was going to become king. He even says so, but he hated him. David was near to Saul son Jonathan.
And David sent out to a Himalaya the priest, The king hath commanded me of business, and so on.
Now verse 3 Now therefore, what is under thine hand? Give me 5 loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
Priest answered David and said there's no common bread undermine hand, but there's a hallowed bread.
If the young men have kept themselves at least from women and so on. And so he ate that bread. And this is now let's go back to Matthew 12. This is what the Lord refers to. He refers to David doing this, which was not according to the law, which was irregular, but everything was irregular at this time. The true king was.
Being usurped by another.
And he was fleeing. He was in rejection. Well, that's what we've got set before us in this chapter, the rejection of the Lord Jesus. He was the true King, the Messiah, and he had come to his own and they were in in rejection of him at this time.
The next thing we read, he goes into the synagogue, verse 9.
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There's a man with his hand withered.
And they asked him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? He had just said that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
And they ask him, is it lawful that they might accuse him?
And the Lord.
Says, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, And if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not lay hold on it, and he lifted out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. So he said to the man, Stretch forth thy hands. And then we read in verse 14, The Pharisees went out and held a counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
When Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself.
From thence, verse 15 in great multitudes followed him, and he healed the mall. He charged them that they should not make Him known that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Now he speaks of the Gentiles, and that's what was about to come in. That's what that's the new order of things that he was going to introduce.
He was going to bring the Gentiles into blessing. Israel rejected him and so the door is going to be open to the Gentiles again, he says.
He shall not strive nor cry, Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised Reed shall he not break, And smoking flak shall he not quench.
Till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name.
Shall the Gentiles trust?
Well, that was in their own prophecy. That was in their own prophet. The Old Testament scriptures spoke about the Gentiles coming into blessing.
And they were looking for.
The Kingdom to be set up in power and glory, and for them to be set free from the ******* of Rome without a fit moral state at all. And that was not possible. Their state was deplorably bad.
They were interested in themselves and in their station, in their position.
And they didn't know the time of their visitation.
The people were amazed verse 23 and said is not this the son of David?
Now when the Pharisees heard that, that angered them, that stirred up their anger, they didn't like to hear something like that. And they said this fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beals above the Prince of the devils.
Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. In every city or house divided, its sense against itself shall not stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall then his Kingdom stand? If I buy Beals above cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
They were casting them out by the Spirit of God. But then he says, But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God.
Then the Kingdom of God is come unto you.
Many talks about entering into the House of the strongman, spoiling his goods. The strongman is Satan and the Lord entered into the strong man's house which was this world.
He's the Prince of this world.
And he spoiled his goods. He set free those that were captive to Satan and in ******* and in slavery to the devil. He healed those that were oppressed and sick, and he preached the gospel to the poor.
He goes on to say.
He that is not with me, verse 30.
Very important.
Is against me.
And he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
He was going to commence a new work gathering souls from outside of Israel.
But to himself.
And he sets that before us. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
Shall not be forgiven unto men. They had attributed the power of Christ in casting out demons, which was the power of the Spirit of God. They said That's Beelzebub.
The last testimony that God has to man is the Spirit of God.
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You have the Father, you have the Son, you have the Holy Spirit.
And he's looking on here and the stage is being set here for the introduction of the new order of things when the Spirit of God would come.
And he would form the testimony.
Form the body and inhabit the house.
And dwell here, the divine Person on earth. Tremendous truth never happened before.
All the Spirit wrought in the Old Testament, and then he came upon various ones, and they spoke, and then he was withdrawn.
But not so in the present day. Spirit of God comes upon one, seals them forever.
Forever never be taken from them. Well, this is all in view here.
He goes on to say either make the tree good and his fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. The tree is known by his fruit. The tree was corrupt.
The first man represented by Israel.
Corrupt. There's only one miracle the Lord did that wasn't a blessing. When he cursed the fig tree, He said let no fruit grow on thee, henceforth forever. There is no fruit that will ever be produced by the flesh man after the flesh. That's what Israel was.
In type.
Fruit from the first man.
Then he says, O generation of Vipers, verse 34, How can ye, being evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And then I must pass on. I can't cover all these verses. I have much to cover.
Verse 38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
He answered and said, an evil an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah's death and resurrection. That's the sign that he would give to this evil and adulterous generation, his death and resurrection. That's what would be the.
The foundation for the new order of things that he was going to bring in.
For as Jonas was 3 days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation. You see, this generation is judged here. It it actually wasn't carried out until the cross.
They were still going on until the cross, but here you see it in principle.
Their hearts were made-up. Get rid of him. Kill him.
And they did carry it out when God allowed it.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. Behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
They didn't know who was in their midst. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation.
And shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, they were purged of idolatry. They'd been taken captive, the Jews to Babylon, They got their fill of idolatry there. They were not idolaters. When the Lord was here on earth, the unclean spirit of idolatry had gone out of the man.
They walk through dry places seeking rest and find none. Then he saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out and they found it.
Empty, swept and garnished no more of that evil that once characterized them.
But what is the last state of this people? Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, And they enter in and dwell there in the last state of that man. That man is Israel. The last state of that man is worse than the first.
Even shall it be also under this wicked generation, that wicked generation of Christ rejectors.
And they're still in that state. Israel over there is not in belief of the Messiah now. They still reject Him.
There's still that wicked generation.
Now we come to a very significant passage. While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren. His mother would represent Israel, his brethren the Jews.
His mother and his brethren. What he was connected with by nature's ties.
And they say unto him, Desiring to speak with thee, they stand without.
Desiring to speak with thee, but he answered, and said unto him That told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren.
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For whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother.
He disowns the natural relationship that he had with Israel. They had rejected him. That was coming to a close. He was about to introduce a new dispensation where those that would be in relationship with himself would be on the ground of doing the Father's will.
Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, this is a spiritual relationship now.
Not something visible, not something that Judaism was characterized by a religion suited to man after the flesh, but now that which was vital and real and spiritual and invisible.
Whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. So that chapter 12 is the setting aside of Israel the judgment against Israel. It actually was carried out at the cross.
But this is the picture. And now notice how the truth flows the same day when he disowns nature's ties.
Went Jesus out of the house, out of the House of Israel.
And sat by the seaside, the Gentile nations is about to bring the Gentiles into blessing.
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat in the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Now, all that we're reading here was before his death and resurrection, all this would be accomplished, founded on his death and resurrection couldn't be instituted until after he had died and risen again. But the truth of it is here.
He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, A sower went forth to sow.
Now that's an entirely different thought.
Than a king reigning in righteousness.
Which is what the Jews were looking for. They were looking for their Messiah to come and establish the Kingdom down here, Make them the head, no longer the tail.
Deliver them from the yoke of Rome.
But they weren't in a fixed state of soul to receive their Messiah.
And so they missed it all.
They missed it all and now the Lord takes the character of a sower sowing seed. Seed that produces fruit, fruit bearing seed.
Beautiful the Word of God, and this is what characterizes the dispensation in which we are living.
God has changed his ways of dealing. That's what dispensation means. It's it's a house order, the way God orders his his affairs in his house.
Completely different today.
We see in Matthew 12 The passing away of the dispensation of the law and the bringing in of the dispensation of grace those that are in relationship with Him on the footing and the ground of doing the will of the Father. Now that's grace.
So he goes out of the house, sits by the seaside, the Gentiles, and he tells them a sower went forth to sow. And what is he sowing? He's sowing the word of God, the seed of the word of God. This has been going on now for 2000 years.
The sower, the Lord Jesus has been sowing the seed. He's not raining. He's not a king reigning in righteousness. He's in rejection. He's been sent back to heaven with a message. We will not have this man to reign over us.
But he had something better in store for us, us gentiles.
And this is what we're looking at.
Some fell by the wayside, some fell upon Stony places, some fell among thorns. Verse eight. Other fell into good ground.
And brought forth fruit. I'm looking into the faces of the good ground.
My beloved brethren.
Who have received that word and have passed from death to life.
The good ground brought forth fruit. 7 hundredfold brought forth fruit. The seed has the capability of producing that fruit.
Someone hundredfold, some 60 fold, some 30 fold, different measures of.
Fruit bearing He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The disciples come to him and said, verse 10. Why do you speak to them in parables?
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He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
And now we have in this chapter the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom of Heaven is that sphere that owns Christ.
Lord and King, during his rejection, he's been sent back to heaven. The Jews didn't acknowledge him. They didn't receive him as their Messiah.
They rejected him.
And so now he has a Kingdom, but it's in an entirely different character.
Down here since he's been rejected.
He's a sower now, not a reigning king, and there's fruit produced.
Well, we didn't go in. I don't have time to go into and we know these passages to the details of this chapter. I'm trying to give an outline of the development of things.
It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath, whosoever hath faith.
That's what links us, that's what connects us with Him, That's what enables us to appropriate the blessings that He has for us. To Him shall be given, and He shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not.
From him shall be taken away, even that he hath.
Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled a prophecy of Isaiah, which saith By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see.
And shall not perceive heart of this people. This people's heart has waxed gross. Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed less than anytime. They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. And now he turns to his disciples, and he says, But blessed are your eyes, for they see. Beloved could say this to each one here that has had his eyes open and knows the Lord.
US. Blessed are your eyes, for you see. You're not blind any longer. You were. We were all once blind in our sins, but now we see. And your ears, for they hear. Now we can hear His voice and respond to it and do the will of the Father as He tells it to us.
Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them.
And they hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower, And then he explains it. And then in verse 24, another parable putty forth unto them.
The Kingdom of heaven is like to a man which sowed good seed in his field. This time the seed is.
The children of the Kingdom, and the children of the wicked one, The enemy came in, and it says in verse.
25 While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. What Matthew 13 is, is a picture of Christendom.
It's the first one of the seven parables is the sower. It's general. It's the general part of it and the result of his sowing.
Sowing the seed fell by the wayside on Stony ground among farms and then good seed producing fruit. But the result of the sowing which has gone out now for 2000 years almost.
Has produced something.
And that's what the rest of the chapter is about.
The second, third and 4th tell us what what has been produced externally and then the last three more what has been produced internally.
That's just a general outline.
So there's the sowing and there's the children of the Kingdom, the children of the wicked one. And they say, well, the, the, the wheat and the tares. And they say, should we go and, and weed out the tears? And he says, no, don't do that because you'll, you'll make a mistake. It's what we have in Second Timothy 2. The Lord knows them that are his. We can't tell who is wheat and who is who are the tares in this mixture of things.
So close together and they look so much alike until they mature. And we might make a mistake and we might cut down some of the wheat. So let both grow together until the harvest.
And so that's what we have today. That's what Christendom is. Christendom simply means Christ's Kingdom.
It's the Kingdom of Heaven in mystery form.
Sphere of profession.
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Verse 31 Another pair putting forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.
Which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches of it.
So here you have this this little beginning, this little insignificant seed, the least of all seeds, and it grows into the greatest of herbs. That's Christendom started with such a small beginning. 120 in the upper room.
The Spirit of God came upon them just a small beginning. We have many more here at this conference than the numbers where the church began. But now it's gone everywhere, everywhere. And the the birds of the air.
Many of them Speaking of evil things, evil demons, and so on. Evil doctrines and influences can lodge in the branches. So Christendom is a vast system of things, all under the umbrella of the name of Christ.
Some good, some wheat, some cares, and then the next thing he says in verse 33, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. So we learned from these that there's going to be the wheat and the tares growing together until the harvest.
It started very small. It's grown to be a vast system.
Christianity.
Wedding everywhere. This is the Kingdom of Heaven in mystery form.
It's not the assembly as such.
But it's we're a part of this.
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world, not Judaism, not the enclosure of Israel any longer. That's Old Testament. Now the true shepherd of the sheep has entered into the sheepfold. He's called his own sheep by name and LED them out. Out of Judaism into what? Into Christianity.
That's what we have pictured here.
Now let's turn over to chapter 16.
There are very many interesting things, and I would strongly suggest that you don't, in your private reading, skip over 14 and 15 very interesting chapters and they they also reinforce this outline that I'm giving you. But there simply isn't enough time to cover all that.
Chapter 16 starts with what we had in Chapter 12.
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him, that he would show them a sign from heaven.
He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red in the morning. It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas.
Left them and departed.
His disciples were come to the other side forgotten to take bread. And the Lord says, take heed and beware of 11 of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
And they didn't understand, as they often didn't understand his words.
And he says, O ye of little faith, why reason ye in your hearts, because ye have no bread. Do you not understand? Neither remember the five loaves of the 5000, and how many baskets he took up? Neither the seven loaves of the 4000, and how many baskets he took up. How is it that you do not understand? I didn't speak it to you concerning bread. That she should beware of Levitt, but that she should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Their doctrine, their teachings.
Then understood how they how he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now we come to this very well known portion.
Verse 13.
This is the first mention.
In the gospel of the church, it's found here. It's the church in its universal character. Christ is the builder. Not only is he a sower in this present day in the Kingdom, but he's a builder in the church. He's a builder.
When Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man am? He takes the title Son of Man and he says after going through all this, verse 20, he charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
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Because he had been rejected as such.
He had been rejected as the Messiah, the Christ. Now he takes the broader title that.
Is his relationship to all men, not just to the Jews now, but to the Gentiles as well, because they're going to be Gentiles saved and brought into this church that he was going to build.
So he says, Who do men say that I, the Son of man, AM? And they came out with some very deficient answers. And Peter comes forth and says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now that's the confession that forms the foundation truth upon which Christ builds his church.
Wonderful.
And the Lord pronounces him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
So he got this. It's a revelation from his father.
I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. The rock was the confession that Peter had just rendered. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Says I will build my church, my assembly, the gates of Hades really is shall not prevail against it.
All the power of the enemy cannot prevail against it, because the Church is going to exist.
In the resurrection life of Christ, after he had died and then raised again.
And as we were singing now he praises in the assembly. He has gone forth into resurrection. He is there. He wasn't here yet when He spoke these words, but He's looking on to that day when He would build that church as the Risen 1 and he would put into it those two who were risen with him and took part in his resurrection life.
And so he gives Peter a new name, Simon. He says, Thou art Peter.
And upon this rock I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Satan can't touch the life that we have in Christ. We cannot touch it.
He can touch our testimony and try to rob us of our joy fellowship that we have with the Lord, but He cannot touch the life that is ours.
That is secure.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
And then it says of Peter. Peter was to be a.
Special instrument in the Lord's hand in the church.
In an administrative capacity, he says, I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. This fear of profession, some real, some not real, wheat and tears growing together. I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
So Peter has a special.
Responsibility administratively to bind.
And Toulouse.
Connection with the Kingdom.
You see, if you read the book of Acts, you see Peter carrying that out. He admitted the He admitted the Jews in Acts 2, he admitted the Samaritans in Acts 8, in the Gentiles in Acts 10. He pronounced against the hypocrisy and the deceit of Simon Magus and so on. He exposed them. There was this power that he had that he carried out in the early church.
Now he's spoken about the church, something that was still future, he says I will build it. He wasn't in the process of building it yet.
I might just make this comment that those that translated our King James Bible did not understand the truths that I'm presenting to you this afternoon.
How do I know that? Because they think the church was in the Old Testament.
They stated over and over again in their notes, at the top of pages and at the head of chapters, the Church doing this and that. They didn't realize that the Church, even when the Lord was on earth, didn't exist yet.
Those that would compose it existed as his Jewish disciples, but they hadn't been brought yet by the power of the Spirit into the assembly that took place on the day of Pentecost.
But here the Lord is introducing the subject. He's Speaking of the assembly that he was going to build.
Founded upon the truth of His Person, He is the Christ, the Son.
Of the living God.
Something had to happen in order to effect this new assembly. And so he says in verse 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. Now that's the foundation for the assembly being formed, those that say that the church began with John the Baptist.
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As many Baptists do in that.
Have the foggiest idea what the church is according to the mind of God. They never say such a thing. The church is only in relationship to Christ as the risen man.
Have His resurrection life and we're connected with him in resurrection after He's been rejected. Here we are following and associated with a rejected Savior.
And the reason why Christians are so engaged in.
Politics and earthly things down here as they don't apprehend what I'm trying to set before you from the word.
What is the true character of Christianity? What is our path? The same path that he tried, but our association with Him is not when he was here a man on earth. It's after he died and rose again and has gone to heaven. Our association with Him is there and our life is there.
The risen life of Christ. So he tells them, I must die, I must suffer, I must be raised again. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, This is the same man that the Lord had just said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona?
Now he misses, totally misses, the mind of God.
A true believer may do that. There are many Christians that do not understand the true character of Christianity, and so they they pursue things which are not in keeping with the economy, with the dispensation that we find ourselves in.
Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Now he meant well.
He didn't want the Lord, he wanted to despair the Lord, these sufferings, that death.
Lord took him and began to rebuke him.
He turned and said unto Peter, Excuse me, Get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me.
For thou savers, not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. So that's the first truth we learn.
The assembly was to be founded. The second truth, the 1St is to be founded upon the person.
Of Christ, the Son of the living God.
The second grand truth is it's to be founded upon His death and resurrection. And the third is that we are in association with Him in rejection too. So he goes on to say in verse 24, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself.
Take up his cross and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. And I notice here's something that you don't get in the Old Testament, verse 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
He talks about the soul Now Israel when they talked about salvation it was from their enemies round about them getting deliverance from their enemies.
But now he's talking about something that is inward.
Our souls. Peter speaks of the salvation of the soul.
And then he speaks of that coming glory, the end of the chapter. The Son of a man shall come in the glory of his Father.
They may have thought, with all he was setting before them, what about the Kingdom?
What about those all those prophecies in the Old Testament that speak of a king reigning in righteousness?
The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Handfuls of corn on the top of the mountains. The parliament should overtake the Reaper. They shall not hurt or destroy all my holy mountain. The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What about all those scriptures?
A little child would play on the whole of the cockatrice.
Light and the lamb will lay together.
They will not hurt or destroy all my holy mountain.
Well, he gives them a little picture of that coming Kingdom at the end of chapter 16. The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to His works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. That has puzzled many, but I believe the first verses of the next chapter explain that they saw a picture of the millennial glory, His official glory as King Messiah.
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Says he was transfigured before them. Peter, James and John takes them up into a high mountain and he was transfigured before them.
Verse 2 of chapter 17 And his face did shine as the sun. His raiment was white as the light.
There appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. And then Peter makes another blunder. He says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let's make 3 tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.
You had to learn that this was not.
In keeping with the mind of the Father at all.
While he yet spake, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.
When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid.
Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid.
When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus. Only this is assembly truth.
That.
It applies now that the assembly has been established is what I mean.
See No man save Jesus only.
How foolish we are when we set up a man, any man, no matter how gifted.
And speak too much of that person.
They saw no man save Jesus only.
I love those 3 signs that brother Steve had for the Sunday schools, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
That's what we need to have before us, that blessed one.
As they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying television to no man till the Son of man be risen again from the dead man with his lunatic son and the Lord. They couldn't heal him.
And the Lord healed him.
And he says this kind can come forth by nothing. Tells them over and over again.
Now notice the last verses Interesting. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute?
He saith yes, and when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented him saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?
Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers?
Peter saith unto him of strangers.
Jesus saith unto them. Then are the children free?
He was the king.
Yes, he was in rejection.
And they were, as it were, the children of the king. They didn't have to pay.
You don't take taxes from the royal family.
Take it from the citizens.
And we're part of the royal family. But he says he accepts his rejection, and so we accept it too.
Notwithstanding lest we should offend them.
Go thou to the sea and cast in hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up.
And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money that take and give unto them for me and thee.
And so Peter learned that.
Though we are positionally free because we are children of the king.
We are in rejection with him.
And so we pay.
Now we come to Chapter 18.
At that time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
That question shows where their hearts were.
Something like when they were walking along, the Lord was on his way to the cross, and the disciples were arguing, and among themselves who should be the greatest?
Same kind of a question, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? This sphere, this Kingdom of heaven that you've talked about, Lord, it's heaven ruling on earth in the hearts of those that are His.
Not the Kingdom established in power and glory yet, but still he has subjects to that Kingdom.
That are here on earth, you and me that want to act on the word of God.
And so he answers their question. Verse 3 Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same as greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, he tells them first.
You can't even enter the Kingdom without conversion and becoming as a little child. And then if you really want to be great in that sphere.
You have to be humble like the little child.
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We all want to be great. That's our nature, our old nature.
But the little child?
What a lesson sets this little child before them.
Those who are, who are weak and feeble, who cannot defend themselves.
Who are in constant dependence upon someone else to.
Meet their needs, minister to them.
All through the conference we see babies and we see how totally helpless they are.
Totally dependent on mother and father to care for them, to feed them, to clothe them.
To meet their every need.
We're dependent on another. We're here in the scene where he's been cast out. We're going through an enemy's land.
This is not our home.
This is not our home.
And when things happen that are contrary to nature's likings, we get all upset and disturbed.
Some of us have gone through severe trials.
But our home is ahead.
And we have to lean upon Him who sustains us all along the way.
Just like a child.
Then he speaks about receiving verse five. One such little child in my name.
How do we treat those that are of little account in the assembly? It might be 50 years old but they just got saved.
They're just a little child in the Kingdom.
Or maybe they come in with poor clothes and they're not.
Trained and educated and not of our social strata.
A little child.
One of no account. One who's never made his way in this world. One who's never made name for himself. One whose.
Just a little child.
James talks about that. In other words, he said, rich man comes in and you say, oh, sit down here.
And a poor man comes in, in the bad clothing and that while you sit there in the back.
And he says you've become judges having evil thoughts.
The Lord loves.
The little ones, they have their representative in heaven, for in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father.
And it is not the will of your father that one of these little ones should perish.
And he speaks very severely. We don't have time to go into all these verses of.
The seriousness of causing to stumble a little child.
Causing to stumble a little child, someone that may not be up to your measure of understanding.
And we lay a burden upon them which is beyond their years.
Spiritual years.
We know what that is in the natural world.
We don't feed steak to our babies.
Give the milk what is needed, what they can handle.
Then we nurture them along.
Bring them up.
Woe to you.
To the world, he says, because of offenses. Verse 6 he says, Whoso shall offend, cause to stumble, cause to turn out of the way, caused to miss the path.
What a solemn thing, what a terrible thing, what an awful thing to be a leader in division.
To lead these sheep out, these lambs out.
From the only place where they can really be fed and nourished and cared for. Awful.
Don't know anything worse than division.
It's the first thing Paul mentions to the Corinthians.
May God keep us from ever being.
A leader.
To mislead little ones.
Young people.
Those that don't know why they're doing what they're doing, they don't understand the issues.
They are following some leader whose so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me.
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Thy hand offende, cut it off. Thy foot offende, cut it off. But now I offend thee, pluck it out.
And then he says in verse 10, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.
I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven.
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What you get in this chapter are the moral features of those who are.
In the Kingdom.
And then right in the midst of the chapter.
You have some verses about the assembly, the church.
Verse 15. I have to read verse 14.
It is not the will of your Father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gain thy brother. That's the energy of grace seeking to gain your brother.
He will not hear thee. Take with thee one or two more. That's from the local assembly. There in that place, Matthew 16 is the church universal that Christ is building in 18th chapter. It's the local assembly.
That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. Tell it to the assembly, the local assembly. You can't tell it to the church universal. You don't have access to the church universal. And this isn't the mind of God to tell it to all these different assemblies surrounding us. Tell it to the local assembly. That's what he's talking about.
And.
If they will not hear the church. If he neglect to hear the church.
Let him be to thee as an heathen man and a public.
So the one that was trespassed against is given instruction. Now how he should look upon the one that has done this if he won't listen to the entreaties?
Of two or three, and then finally the assembly itself.
So what we have here is the administration committed to the twos and threes gathered to the Lord's name.
The administrative responsibility to.
Remit and retain sins to bind and to loose.
So he goes on to say in verse 18, Wherefore verily I say unto you, Now he churned. He changes from the singular to the plural.
He's talking now to the assembly.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In the light of this passage, a tremendously important passage because it's the.
It's the first ones that deal with the church. It's the first one that deals with the church local.
Matthew 16 is the church universal, the first one that deals with the church local. The Lord says you have the authority because I'm there in your midst to bind into loose. So it's the final Court of Appeal.
That's what it is.
And then access to the throne again I say to you that if 2 of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
We have the promise, the assurance from the Lord Himself.
That the Assembly has authority, by virtue of his presence there, to bind and Toulouse.
And to communicate with him to receive answers.
For where two or three are gathered together unto my name.
There am I in the midst of them.
This is not a voluntary association of Christians.
It's not Christians getting together and saying we'll get together and meet and gather to the name of the Lord Jesus, but it's the work of the Spirit of God.
It's the work of the Spirit of God as the gatherer, just as much as the salvation of a soul is the work of the Spirit of God to bring a soul out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Matthew 1230 He that gathereth not with me scattereth.
He's the gatherer.
He died that he might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
That was the purpose of his death, not just to save our souls individually, but to gather us together.
Around himself.
And this is that. This is the first passage in the New Testament that treats of this tremendously important passage.
You cannot overestimate its importance.
And it's important that we have a right understanding of it. But the assembly wasn't brought to view until Israel is set aside. That's what we've been looking at in the development of truth in Matthew's Gospel.
Now here's the assembly.
And those that are trying to tell us, well, that's Israel. That's nonsense. Israel is set aside at this point.
This is the new thing that he was about to introduce, founded upon his death and resurrection.
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And if you follow the line of teaching through Matthew, you will never be deceived to believe the lie that's being promoted out there.
You'll understand it's a that doesn't fit.
That doesn't fit where it occurs in Matthew.
And then he talks at the end of the chapter about forgiveness. How often shall my brother trespass against me and I forgive him? Seven times, Peter says.
The Lord says 70 * 7.
No limit. We are in the Day of Grace.
During the Day of Grace.
And so then the end of the chapter says the 10,000 talent debtor, he was forgiven.
Showing grace and then he had someone that owed him only 100 pence. He wouldn't forgive him. Threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. That puts him in the category of being a wicked servant. Doesn't mean he wasn't saved.
This is not looking at eternal salvation here. This is looking at governmental things, administrative things.
Following Christ
YP Address—B. Anstey
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By.
The way.
I have many friends.
And great for the rain.
Let's turn to Matthew Chapter 11, the 11TH chapter of Matthews Gospel.
And verse 28.
Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Now in Matthew chapter 16.
Verse 24.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me?
Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
I've read 2 verses here this afternoon. You're young people, and these two verses bring before us two calls of our Lord Jesus. A call first of all to come unto him for salvation, and then secondly, in this 16th chapter of Matthew, a call to come after him in the pathway. And it is my purpose here this afternoon to speak on the subject of.
Of following Christ in the pathway, perhaps we could say the path of discipleship.
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And more particularly, the terms or conditions of discipleship. But it's nice to see just at the opening of this meeting here, these two verses put side by side a call, first of all, to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ, to know him as Savior, to have our burden of our sins taken away. And we hope that that's the case for each one of us here, both young and old, that we know of the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We've received that joy of forgiveness, and we know what it is to have our sins put away, and we're putting our faith and trust in the finished work of our Lord Jesus.
But the second call is the burden of the address this afternoon, and we want to speak more specifically of it. And that is the call that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples, that they would come after him, not unto him now, but after him, that is, after him in the pathway. And this is where the joy of the Christian life can be experienced. And following Christ in the pathway. There's an initial joy in knowing the Lord is our savior, to know your sins are gone, that you're not going to end in a lost eternity. Of course there's a great joy.
But to have lasting, constant joy in our pathway, we need to be following the Lord Jesus in a daily way to come after Him as these words are given to us.
And so let's turn over to the 14th chapter of Luke's Gospel.
And look at some of the conditions of discipleship and see how they apply.
To our lives.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 14.
And let's begin reading at verse 25.
There went great multitudes with him. That's the Lord Jesus.
And he turned and said unto them, If any man come after me, or come to me?
And hate not his father and his mother and his wife and children and brethren and sisters. Yeah, his own life also.
He cannot be my disciple. Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple, For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down 1St, and count of the cost whether he has sufficient to finish it. Less happily, after he had laid the foundation, he is not able to finish it, and all but behold, it begin to mock him saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Well, what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down 1St and consult us whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000 or else, while in the other well, the other is yet in a great way off he sends an ambassador.
And desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good. But if the salt is lost, his savior, wherewith shall he be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill. But then cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear Later We have some conditions that the Lord Jesus laid down for the disciples.
There was a great multitude that were following him that day and listening to his teachings, and he turned to them, and he gave these words that we've just read, if any man come to me and hate not his father, and so on. And what we have here are the conditions of discipleship, and it's our desire here this afternoon, dear young people, that your life would have the commitment of wanting to have Christ in the first place in your life. And that involves, of course, discipleship, as we have here in this chapter.
There are four conditions particularly that I'd like to bring out here that are necessary if we're going to take the path. I've said this before and I've got it from older brethren, but it bears repeating here this afternoon. And that is that all Christians will have a happy ending because all Christians are going to end in the glory someday. But while all Christians have an happy ending, not all Christians have a happy life, and that is because they are not willing to take up with the following Christ in the pathway.
They are content, shall we say, to know that their sins are forgiven and that they are on the road to heaven.
But to take up with following Christ, and to applying the principles of Scripture in their life, and to live that life, that would be the happy, flowing, fruitful Christian life they know nothing of, and they of course lose the joy. Now we don't want anyone to want to make a beginning and then not carry on the Lord here in the same chapter where he lays out the subject of the Great Supper, which is a picture of the Gospel going out both to the Jew and to the Gentile.
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He also brings up the conditions of discipleship because it's connected. It's in the mind of God that he should have not only those who are saved for glory, but he might have them happy and fruitful in their lives. And this is what we want to see in each one of us, beginning with the speaker and applied to all of us here. Well, the Lord Jesus first of all brings out the first principle, and that is that there needs to be supreme love and devotion to the master.
Above all other loves or interests in this world.
In fact, all other interests or loves are looked at in contrast to the love that we should have for the Lord Jesus as being hatred. Now he's not speaking literally that we should hate one another, because the teachings of our Lord Jesus are very clear elsewhere that we're not to hate our fellow man, much less our brother or sister than the Lord. But yet he uses that word here, but more in the way of contrast and in comparison to the love and devotion that we should have to the Lord Jesus.
There is to be for all other loves or relationships that we may have or interests in this world. It should be looked upon as hatred. So he says, and hate not his father and his mother and his wife and children and brothers and sisters and so on. In his own life. He cannot be my disciple. Now the subject here is not salvation. The subject is discipleship. He's not saying you cannot be saved, but he's saying you cannot be my disciple, that is a disciple, indeed one in heart and in practice.
And as I've already said, the joy in the Christian pathway is in the discipleship.
And so we need to have supreme love for our Lord Jesus and devotion to Him.
That would come above in priority over all other connections that we may have in life, whether it's the parents, brothers or sisters or ever any interest that we may have in our life. Now let me ask this question, young people here Is this something that characterizes your life.
Is your life characterized by having one sole object that is Christ and his interest in this world? You know, if you're going to come after him in the past, that's what is required. These things were laid out to the multitude at the very beginning, and we need to understand this right at the beginning of our Christian life. That is going to require Christ being first in everything, and it says here also His own life also.
His own life also.
It's not so much here, the hating the old sins of the life before we're saved. Well, it might take that in, but it's more of a thought of our own life. Our life in this world is going to be sacrificed if we're going to have Christ in that first place. And nothing could illustrate this more clearly than what we see in the athletes that are getting ready for the Olympic Games that are supposed to be coming on shortly. You see these athletes that have devoted their lives to.
Attaining some glory in this world, and it's something that they have really, in a sense, as it says in Matthew's Gospel, that he must lose his life.
That is, all other interests that he may have have to be set aside if he's going to get this goal, and it may take years of sacrifice. What they eat, what they do, they're not allowed to play in the other sports because they might get injured or muscles may be turned in a different way and that could be very careful to go to bed so early. Some of them are incredible what sacrifices they have to make in order to reach this earthly goal that is only to do with the glory that this world can offer.
Is incredible.
But it it does illustrate to us, and I think the Apostle Paul uses the Olympic Games in a verse in Timothy as an illustration of the sacrifice that is really needed to lose our lives. The interest that we may have naturally speaking, are going to have to be set aside if Christ is going to have that first place. We're going to have to lose our life in that sense.
I'm not saying that we cannot enjoy the things of life. We're not saying that young people have to.
Give up that some recreation you may enjoy. Whatever. But if the point is in comparison to these things that may be an interest to us, They have to be looked at and on the level and on the plane of hatred in comparison to the love and the devotion that there needs to be to the Lord Jesus. Now are we up to this? Are we prepared to not allow any pursuit or interest that we may have in our life to come in the way of Christ and his claims? Oh dear young people, it's the only way.
00:15:12
To have a happy, fruitful Christian life. And so it's not just the connections that we have in life naturally, but even our own life also. We cannot be a disciple. Let's look at another.
In verse 27, And whatsoever or whatsoever does not bear his cross, and come after me cannot be my disciple. Here we have another condition, and that is the acceptance of the cross and the bearing of the cross, which means in my mind.
The necessity of identifying ourselves with Christ, the one who is rejected.
You see, this world gave Christ a cross, didn't want him, and the cross stands for the rejection of this world. And so the person that takes up with a path, a following Christ must at the outset understand that it's a rejected Savior that we're following, and we must accept the fact that we are identifying ourselves with one who is rejected. The verse is not saying that we are to bear His cross, that sometimes we hear hymns being put that way, that we we bear His cross.
No.
We're not called to bear the cross of Christ, but here it says bear his cross is referring to the disciples cross.
Each one of us have a cross to bear because if we identify ourselves with Christ, we are too are going to get the rejection.
And the treatment that this world.
Would put upon Christ, and in that sense we are going to have a cross too. And what he's saying here is that we need to understand that that is normal to following Christ in the pathway. We cannot sidestep rejection.
It is part of following Christ in the pathway and we need to be prepared at the outset to accept the path of rejection. So it's not popular to be a Christian. I'm trying to say, if you think that you can maintain connections with the worldly people that you may go to school with or have a job with or whatever, and to be looked upon and well thought of, and we all like to be well thought of, don't we? With people like that, you better get it in your mind very clearly here that you cannot be on good terms, so to speak, or to be well thought of or to be accepted.
With persons that have no love for the Lord Jesus and still.
Be a disciple indeed. The two just don't go together, and so we need to be careful that this is preached in the Gospel too. Wayne and I have been speaking about this recently that sometimes the Gospel meetings are presented like a fire escape from a burning building, and so a person's glad to take the fire escape to get out of the burning building. But the conditions of receiving Christ.
That is repentance and conversion.
Are not emphasized as they once were, and consequently there are many Christians that take up with Christ, receive Him as Savior. And really repentance with regard to the old wife has not been worked out, and by and by creates difficulty and problems in the pathway later. And so it needs to be emphasized in the gospel. We need to realize right at the beginning that repentance which means to have a changed mind.
And a passing of judgment upon all that we have done and what we are is necessary in the path. And it's an exercise that carries on through the Christian life. You know, it says there in the 15th chapter that there's joy in the presence of the angels over 1 Sinner. That is, repenting should be translated repenting as an ongoing exercise because repentance. We should always have a changed mind towards sin and a life that was once lived.
If a person stops repenting, he's going to go back into that.
And so it's often been said that confession is an act, but repentance is a process that goes on through the life, and we should never cease to repent.
Getting away from my subject here a little bit, but repentance is different than from conversion. To conversion is to have the heart turned around to God, but repentance is to have the life turned away from sin. They go together. We can't separate them. And it's necessary that these things are laid down in the gospel. That people understand that to receive Christ does not mean that we're going to be popular in this world, and so we need to realize that we're going to have a cross to bear.
Are we ready for it, Young people? You're not going to be popular. If you thought that you were going to be popular and still go with Christ and be popular, I'm speaking with the world.
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The two just don't go together and if you can in some way maintain popularity with the world as a Christian, you've compromised somewhere along the line because it is normal to Christianity to have a cross to bear. And again it's to do with discipleship, not salvation, the next condition. In verse 28 he speaks about building a tower and that the importance of sitting down 1St and counting the cost.
That we'd be able to finish the tower. And so here he brings in an illustration and speaks about the Christian testimony in life. Life is likened unto building a tower in this world. And when we get saved, it's like laying the foundation. And when we finish our Christian life, the whole course is like completing the tower. And the importance that is emphasized here in this condition that the Lord lays down is that there needs to be commitment that's going to go the distance.
Of our life. There are many people that take up with following Christ, but fall by the way, so to speak.
Because they did not sit down 1St and count the cost. Commitment was there, perhaps, but it wasn't commitment that was ready to go the distance, so to speak.
And we need to sit down and count the cost, because it's going to cost us everything to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is a disciple indeed.
And so you and I are building a testimony in this world, just like the building of a tower here, so to speak.
But what happens if we have not counted the cost and we leave off building it? We turn aside, shall we say in some way or another? And I'm not saying that every Christian that ceases to walk on the path of being gathered to the Lord's name and so on, goes off into debauchery or something. But still the idea is that if we leave off with the fallen Christ in the pathway.
We are going to receive, we're going to have a poor testimony rendered to the world. And so that next verse goes on and speaks about those that begin to they behold him. And believe me, the world is watching. You may not think that you're so important that the world would want you, but they watch, at least out of the corner of their eye.
And but it says they that all that behold it begin to mock. Then they begin to say, yeah, he started but he cannot finish. He was carrying a Bible, but I don't see that anymore.
So we need to be careful that when we begin the Christian pathway that there is commitment.
That will go all the distance of our life, and for that we need to cast ourselves wholly on the Lord Jesus.
For without him we cannot go. There's a hymn that we sing like that.
And so we need to count the cost.
Count the cost.
So if we could just look at this now in summary of the first three that we've looked at so far, there needs to be supreme love.
For the master beyond all other loves. And then the acceptance of the path of rejection, and then thirdly.
The.
Need to.
Have commitment that is not just for a beginning but to carry on through the life. You know, there are many people I've already mentioned this, that begin well in the Bible. I'm speaking now. They begin well but don't end very well. And there are some that didn't begin very well, but they ended quite well.
Well, in one sense I suppose we could say we don't want to be either. We want to begin well and end well, don't we? But nevertheless.
It's the continuance in the pathway and I think there was a verse that was quoted here in the the Bible. Reading this morning, I think it went like this impatient continuance of well doing that is part of the terms of discipleship that we might continue in the path. There was a young brother that was gathered recently, not too long ago anyway, in the assembly where I came from and I was so excited I was ready to set off.
Fireworks, so to speak. You know, he's going on very well. He's taking up with written ministry and really doing well. And so I said that to one of my older brothers there that I've been around so much longer than I have and far more experienced in the past. I said to the brother, isn't it nice that brother so and so is going on so well? It just makes me rejoice.
And he said wisely.
Yes, he's made a good beginning. He's made a good start.
00:25:01
I went away thinking about that. It wasn't that he was not happy about that, but he knew that the path is not a Sprint race, but it's an endurance race. We learn from Hebrews 12 That we need to continue in the pathway, Paul told Timothy continues. All and the things which thou hast learned, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And so let me emphasize this, young people, you may have made a good start. We thank God for it. Thank the Lord for that, but cast yourself upon him.
That you may finish well.
That you might finish what you set out to build because you don't want to bring any.
Bad testimony upon the Lord Jesus in this world. It says in Romans chapter 2 That the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.
And so we don't want to bring any dishonor upon the Lord Jesus if we have a life that only goes part way.
Now let's look at another condition. Here in verses 31 and 32, the Lord brings up another illustration and he says it's like a king going to make war with another king. He sits down 1St and he consults with, I guess his generals or whatever, and he consults and realizes that he has 10,000 and the other king has 20,000. I believe it is. The point here is that we need to have a true estimate of the power of the enemy to which we.
Are going against.
In conflict, the Christian needs to, at the very outset of the pathway, have a true estimate of the enemy's power and to realize and conclude that we are no match for the enemy if we can, if we think that we are able for the enemy and self-confidence, we're going to fight the Christian fight and so on. We're going to find out, like many have found out, that you can't do it on your own. The enemy is more powerful than we are and we need to realize this at the very beginning.
Christian life that we're in an enemy's land and the conflict is greater than we can handle.
And the enemy is stronger than we can handle.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. We have the Lord who is stronger than the enemy, and we need to cast ourselves upon him that he would keep us and give us to be able to be victorious in the Christian life. And so we need to really understand this. You know, there are many Christians that just don't get a hold of this as they are, and I suppose perhaps maybe all of us don't just realize how powerful the enemy is.
How subtle he is, and particularly young people who may not just realize that the enemy is so much more wiser than we are. And so to realize this at the beginning of the pathway is of utmost importance, that we're going against an enemy that is more powerful than we are, but we are ready and we are able, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Now notice what happens here in verse 32. If we haven't really sat down and realized this, what happens? Well, it says, while the other is yet great way off, he sends us an ambassador. Desiring conditions of peace, in other words, gets into the conflict and realize this is a little bit stronger than I thought.
And what happens is it begins to compromise to the enemy.
You might say he sells out to the enemy. And how many Christians?
Having one way or another compromised with the enemy have sold out, so to speak, to the enemy and their lives are lived under the power of the enemy as it says here to make peace with the enemy. Oh what a sad thing that a Christian would want to make peace with the enemy of their soul.
But there are many that have done this very thing. We need to have this set out before us. At the beginning, we're in an enemy's land and it is not easy. And there are so many Christians that have compromised with the enemy, with the world and live their lives in compromise. And it would be a sorrow to our hearts here as any of the young people would turn that way. But, you know, statistically speaking.
Many go that way. This is a very sorrowful thing to build for me to report if we were to wind the clock back maybe 10 or 20 years, let's say.
Many of the young people that made a good start, we wonder where they are today.
Could it be that some of these conditions were not?
00:30:01
Not considered in the presence of God. You know, there's a question that was raised this morning in the Bible reading, well, what's wrong with conformity with the world? Remember that comment, I think, Brother Ron, what's wrong with conformity to the world? I jotted down a few things. First of all, you can't enjoy fellowship with the world and with the Father at the same time. That's what's wrong with the world. You cannot. First, John 215 tells us that you cannot enjoy a fellowship with the Father and at the same time have fellowship with the world. The two don't get together. You're either going to have fellowship with the world or with the Father and the Son.
But you can't have them go on at the same time. That's one reason. Here's another one.
Your heart's affection for Christ is going to be become restricted. Second Corinthians 611 to 14. You know he speaks about the Corinthians who had a difficulty with separation from the world, conforming to the world, and he speaks about how that their hearts were being restricted.
And he speaks about the hearts needing to be enlarged. Then he goes on to say, but be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, because it's connected, you see. It's going to restrict our affections for Christ.
Thirdly, the world and fellowship with the world are enjoying its entertainments and pleasures and so on. Withers are appetite for the word of God. That's numbers 11, verse six. You can look them up at some other time. We don't have the time to look at each of these. Fourthly, the world and fellowship with the world has an effect of desensitizing our morals. That was touched on this morning a bit I believe Genesis 19, verse 8.
Simply, the Spirit of God is hindered in our lives. Ephesians 5 and 18.
And then 6th we lose our discernment.
Hosea 7 verses 8 through 10.
And then last the 7th. There's probably more, but we lose our power and testimony with the world like Genesis 19 and verse 14 two.
So there's at least seven different reasons why we don't want to be conformed to this world.
Do you want to lose fellowship with the Father and the Son? Do you want to lose discernment or affection for Christ? We have our appetite for the Word of God become dried up.
Or many of these other things I have mentioned. Of course we don't. But yet many there are whose lives are ending up in compromise with the world. Young people. It's going to take all of your commitment and energy and seeking grace from the help of the Lord. If you're going to come through to the other side, you know there's a verse there and that second Peter chapter one that we might make an abundant entrance into the Kingdom.
Everlasting Kingdom.
You've probably heard the story of the illustration of that it's like 2 battleships that have been out at sea for a long time and they're they come back in they've been beaten a little bit in the battle but they've won the war and they're coming back into the port and one of the captains is just glad to get in he flies he comes in half limping so to speak and but the other captain because he knows that there's many of the people in the town that are waiting and.
Flying flags and all of that.
He tells the men to patch up the ship as best you can, and to paint up the ship. So they'd get out a bucket of paint and they'd paint up the ship. They'd get the deck as best as they can and make it look somewhat presentable as they came into port. And here we have these two ships in a contrast, and it's been likened unto the Christian making an abundant entrance, coming in under full sail as ones who have fought and have won. Now some have looked at the abundant entrances, the idea of being.
Having an abundant entrance into heaven. That's not the thought. That's a misunderstanding of the verse. It's not an abundant entrance into the heaven, but rather the abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom. That's when Christ comes back.
And all the Saints with him and glory, he's going to make it. We're going to make an abundant entrance into the Kingdom.
As he comes to display his people before this world and will be admired and all them that believe, we want to have an abundant entrance into that Kingdom. But our entrance into the Kingdom in that day is reflected on how we're going to go on today here in this world.
And so that begins with discipleship.
Well, there's a number of people in the Bible who don't have time to look at them. Now we only have about 5 minutes, but there's a number of people that came to the Lord Jesus in the past and he called them to follow him in the past. But in each one of them, you'll notice that they were tested one way or the other and would be very nice for us to be able to take them up here. But I'll just kind of go over them very quickly here, a few of them anyway. And this tells us something, and that is that.
00:35:25
Every person that takes the path of faith is going to be tested. Underline that every one of us that takes the path of faith are going to be tested on that very thing because God wants and will have reality. Psalm 51 and verse six says that he desires truth on the inward part. He wants a life that is real, not outwardly only, but inwardly as well. And so we find for instance, if you turn back to Luke chapter 5.
You'll see there, Peters called, I think, and James.
And so on too. But they're called in the pathway and the Lord turns to them and says, follow me. But you know the context of the story in First and the shift of Luke. It's when Peter was out to sailing and they were fishing. They toiled all night. They couldn't get any fish. When they came to shore in the morning, the Lord Jesus was there. He asked Lone of the boat. He preached from the boat that day. And after the preaching was over, he told Peter to go for the launch force into the deep. And you know what happened? He caught a great multitude of fish.
You know he lacked faith there. You probably noticed that the Lord said, Let down your Nets, plural. Let down your neck. Peter let down his net, singular. And he he got the net, but it broke, you know, the fish were everywhere. Killed their boats. The boat was sinking with so many fish and they got to land. They had the biggest day in business they ever had.
And the Lord right at that time says, follow me, follow me. There's the test. The test is on.
He had an opportunity to make a lot of money, and that's exactly when the Lord called him.
You know, I've often thought of this story.
If the Lord had called him after the night where he had toiled and taken nothing, they would have been glad to let go of their Nets and go. They hadn't got any fish. They had a bad day at business, shall we say. They probably saying to one another a better profession than this. If there's something else I could get into, I'd be glad to take it. And so if the Lord had come, then it would have been easy to get a side, set aside the fishing. But that would have been a what do we speak of as a dead sacrifice? And I think it's in the Old Testament there.
A sacrifice has really died of itself.
But the Lord waited until Peter had the best day of business that he ever had. And then he says, follow me. It's a test.
The test was on and thankfully there rose above the situation forsook all as it says and they followed him. And so the the point here is, am I willing to put the Lord Jesus?
Before making money and my job in this world.
You're going to be tested on it, young people. You're going to be tested on it because this world and the enemy of your soul is interested, of course, and not making a fall of Christ. And he might just allow you to be so absorbed in in business and in money and and your job and so on, that you may be distracted from hearing the claims and following and surrendering your life to the claims of our Lord Jesus.
And so here's one that was tested.
We have a couple more minutes. There's Matthew later in the 5th chapter, the Lord Jesus sees him taking money at the at the seat of custom there, and he had a very high position and he says to him, follow me. And now the test was on, was he ready to give up a high position in this world where people looked at him and he was something that's true, that the Pharisees didn't like this, but he had a position. Was he willing to give that up?
For Christ, and again he rises above the test, and passes it, so to speak, and follows him.
And you can go through your Bible. I think there's seven or ten different ones that were called to follow him. And in each one of them you'll see this is a little study for you to look at afterwards. You'll see that there was a test connected with each one. And you know, as I've already said, that each one of us to take the path of faith are going to be tested. The Lord is going to see whether there's reality to our confession of our faith. And all I can say is May God give us the grace.
To come through and to give him that rightful place, you know, the 18th chapter. Give you another one Here. We've got one more minute.
00:40:03
The 18th chapter there. Remember that young man? He was wealthy. He had lots of possessions.
And you'll find there that he comes. What much did I do to inherit eternal life? He wasn't thinking of eternal life in the sense that John puts it or Paul puts it. He was thinking of living forever in this world because he had all this possessions, he had money and everything. He figured I could just live forever in this. This would be great. So that's kind of like the thoughts of many young believers. They just think would be just great if my life could just carry on the way it is. I'm healthy. I'm strong. I'm not sick and.
And the Lord Jesus quoted the commandments to him, but he didn't quote the mall. You've probably noticed that Luke 18, There's two.
Stones, shall we say there were certain commandments that were to do with man's responsibility to God. I think it's the first four of the 10 commandments, and then the last six are to do with man's responsibility toward his fellow man. So the Lord didn't quote those ones toward God. He quoted his responsibilities toward his fellow man. And you'll notice he goes down the list quoting five of the six. Five of the six commandments are quoted, and he leaves off.
A certain one, which every Jew, of course, would have committed to memory the the commandments. And the one he left off was, Thou shalt not covet.
And so the young man says, well, all these things are kept from my youth up. And so the Lord says well.
Go and sell all that you have, take up the cross and follow me. But the point is the Lord did not say to him you haven't kept the commandments.
Because his difficulty, you know, was that he coveted what he had and when the test was on with him, the poor man failed and he said he went away sorrowful because he had a lot of possession.
And so we don't let our possessions get in the way of pleasing the Lord Jesus, do we? Now that's not difficult when you're a young believer because you don't have many possessions, But the older you get work for a while, you've got you can able to acquire things. It becomes more of a danger. But the point I'm trying to get at least one of the points here is it is interesting the way in which the Lord ministered to that dear soul. He didn't say Thou shalt not covet.
He left the young man to conclude that on his own, because everyone, every Jew would have those things committed to memory, just like we know our ABC's. But I said you ABCD, you know what comes after that. And so as the Lord quoted each of the commandments and then he stopped, he left. For the young man to bring the conclusion home that covers this was his problem.
And so we need to be careful, don't we?
May the Lord give us His grace to do so, if I could just stand closing young people.
Give him the blossom of your life, not the fallen leaf. I said that before I know, given the blossom of your life, not the fallen leaves. Don't wait until you get older and then say, well, then I'll turn my life over to him.
No, the time is now. And may I put it this way, the test is on. The test is on for all of us. Are we going to put Christ 1St? And our life is going to show when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and He shows me His plan for me.
The plan of my life as it has been, as it might have been had he had his way. And I see how I blocked him here and checked him there, and I would not yield my will. Will there be grief in my saviors eyes? Grief, though he loves me still. He would have me rich, but I stand there poor, robbed of all but his grace, while my memory runs like a haunted thing down the path. I cannot retrace Lord of the years that are left to me.
I give them to thy hand, take me, break me, mold me to the pattern that Dallas plant.
Let's pray.
Romans 12:1-6
Romans 12:6-21
Romans 12:12-21
Romans 12:16-21
The Red Heifer
Address—C. Hendricks
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Daughters sayeth the Lord Almighty in a very practical, near moral way. We all know God is our Father, those of us who are his, we all know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. But he's talking here the Father, saying, I will be a father unto you, I will play the Father's part to you, and you shall be my sons. And daughters, sayeth the law to Almighty, having therefore these promises.
Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves.
From all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Holiness is abhorrence of evil according to God as revealed in Christ.
And delight in what is good, abhorrence of evil, Delight in what is good. That is holiness and.
We perfect it by separating from that which is inconsistent with himself, which is the opposite to himself. As he says, what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what concord?
Have what communion, that light with darkness, What concord hath Christ with Vilio? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement is the temple of God with idols? So we have these opposites, and He wants to be a very real Father to us, not just that we know him in a doctrinal way, that He is God our Father, but in a very practical.
Way now turn back with me to numbers.
Chapter 19 Numbers Chapter 19. I'd like to look at this Old Testament scripture that has to do with the red heifer.
In Romans 4, it says that which was written aforetime was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And so we're encouraged to look back to the Old Testament for principles and and wonderful truth. And I think we have it in this chapter. You might say stamped over this whole chapter is the principle that association with evil defiles.
And we'll see that as we go through the chapter. The red heifer was a sin offering. It's not found in Leviticus where the other sin offerings are mentioned, but it's a sin offering for the wilderness. It's given for a particular kind of failure.
A contracting of defilement as one goes through the wilderness, and this world is a wilderness wide for us, and as we go through it we are rubbing shoulders with all kinds of things which are defiling.
Every day we hear defiling language, we witness defiling business transactions, unethical and unrighteous, and all kinds of evils. We are in the midst of a defiled Christendom where there is false religion, and we were talking about some of those things in our readings.
What agreement has the temple of God with idols that he's talking about? The religious sphere?
Now we'll start with numbers 19.
I might just comment before starting. The central theme in Genesis is Genesis 22. Abraham and Isaac speaks of the death of Christ. Central theme in Exodus is the Passover Red Sea, again the death of Christ. The Passover Leviticus central theme is the Day of Atonement Leviticus 16. And here in Numbers the the central theme is.
Numbers 19 The provision.
God has given us for defilement contracted along the way.
The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 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. Of course that speaks of the Lord Jesus. He was that one who was without spot, without blemish. He never bore the yoke of sin, He was the holy.
Sinless, spotless, unblemished. 1 And so he's presented to us in this red heifer. And ye shall give her unto Eliezer the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face. And Ilyasia the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation 7 times.
00:05:07
I think that's very significant. It appears in this wilderness book.
And the blood of the red heifer was sprinkled 7 times before the Tabernacle of the congregation. That's where God had said Jehovah had said he would meet with his people. That's the place of communion. And what we have in the ordinance of the red heifer is the provision that God has given us that when we get out of the out of communion by contact with death in one of its various forms and the wages of sin is death. So it's the it's the.
Working of sin and the ultimate end of it, which is death. So when there was contact with death in the wilderness, there was defilement and there was provision made for the Israelites that got defiled in this way and had to be put outside the camp. I'll just pause a moment, turn back to Numbers chapter 5 and I'll just read the verse. Numbers chapter 5, it says in verse 2.
Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper.
That's Leviticus 13 and 14 and everyone that hath an issue, that's Leviticus 15 and whosoever is defiled by the dead and that's numbers 19, that's what we're looking at. So.
Every one of those three classes had to be put outside the camp and what we have in Numbers 19 is a beautiful type of how God has provided for the recovery and the restoration to fellowship of one who had contacted death and was defiled by it. Well, the blood of the of the red heifer was sprinkled 7 times before.
The Tabernacle of the congregation speaks of the place of communion. 7 is the number of perfection, so we have a perfect.
A perfect sacrifice. The work has been done, the work of Christ on the cross.
Which is depicted by the red heifer and the shedding of the blood. The work has been done, giving us access to God and to His very presence, the place of communion that's been opened up to us. And one shall burn the heifer in his sight, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her dung shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Now what do they?
Of the heifer speaks of Christ crucified on the cross, laden with all our sins, as our sin offering all our sins having been placed upon him. Now turn to 1St Kings chapter 5. I believe it is First Kings chapter 5.
Chapter 41. Kings Chapter 4, Verse 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding, exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom exceeded excelled the wisdom of all the children of the E country, and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men.
Than Ethan the Ezra height, and Heman, and Karkal and Darda the sons of Mahal, and his fame was in all nations round about.
And he spake 3000 proverbs, and his songs were 1005. Now notice And he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, the majestic cedar, the greatest thing in nature.
In the the tree Kingdom, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, the very smallest, the very most insignificant, the cedar, the the hyssop.
He spake also beasts, and so on. All the people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. So I would say that what we have here in type, in Numbers 19 is the cedar wood and the hyssop would represent all the glory, all the wisdom of this world, from the greatest to the highest institutions of learning, and to the least, least that man knows the cedar wood and the.
The Hyssop.
Verse 6 The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop, and scarlet. Scarlet speaks of the glory of this world, All that would appeal to the natural eye of man.
Is taken and thrown into the burning of the heifer. So you see when we look at the at the burning of the heifer and that was all consumed. It consisted of the heifer itself consumed, and then the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, all the wisdom of this world.
00:10:07
God hath made the wisdom of this world to be foolishness, and the foolishness of man is the wisdom of man is foolishness with God, and the glory of this world, the splendor of this world. Remember how that Satan showed the Lord Jesus, when he was tempting him, all the the glory of the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time.
And it's all going to pass away. All this was thrown into the fire.
So as we see the residue of that, the ashes that were the result of the burning of the heifer, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet, we see our sins consumed in the death of Christ. We see the judgment of God executed against all of man's wisdom, the cedar wood to the to the hyssop, all of his wisdom from the greatest to the least. And all the glory of this scene has been judged.
The world is crucified with him and with us, and with Christ and.
And heat to the world.
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And the priest shall be unclean until the even. He that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, bathe his flesh in water shall be unclean until the even.
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. So the residue of the consuming of the heifer, that is all our sins consumed in the death of Christ, all man's wisdom and grandeur and glory and splendor, all that consumed in the death of Christ, that's all represented in the ashes which were laid up in a clean place outside the camp. Now that's what's going to be used.
In the restoration of one that contracts defilement.
As he goes through the wilderness.
I read verse 9 again. 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 it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation. It is a purification for sin. You might wonder about the water of separation. There's been nothing said about the water, but.
That comes later in the chapter, and we'll come to that shortly.
The ashes were mixed with running water and applied to the defiled 1.
But it was a purification for sin. But sometimes the mistake is made that when one fails, when one sins and needs to be restored, that he needs a fresh application of the blood of Christ. And that's a mistake. The blood is applied. Once that blood was shed, it was sprinkled 7 times before the Tabernacle of the congregation. A perfect testimony that the believer has access to God and has fellowship with God and if.
Marred by some failure, by some contact with death, and we're going through a scene of death. This world is under the judgment of God, a judge seen. And when we see that all that that this world has to offer us was judged at the cross, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. John, chapter 12.
And that's what you see in the burning of the heifer with the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet being cast into it. You see the judgment of all that man boasts of.
All that man glories in it is all judged at the cross.
Now that ought to make us very slow to be enamored with and engaged with and taken up with anything that the world serves to us.
He's he's already judged it. It's a judge thing. It's come under the judgment of God.
And we're not to touch it. We read that in Two Corinthians 6. Touch not the unclean thing. We're going through a defiling scene and how important it is to impress this upon us, especially those that are young in the faith.
Verse 10. He that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
Notice everyone that had a part in handling any of these things was unclean until the evening. Association with evil does defile even when brethren have to take up a a case of discipline.
The the very the very taking it up is defiling because we have that in us which responds to the the very sin that may have to be judged in our brother or sister. Grace very solemn thing.
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To have to be in the position of a judge when we are what we are.
It says in verse 10, the middle of the verse, It shall be under the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them for a statute forever.
Now verse 11 he that toucheth the dead body of any man.
Shall be unclean 7 days.
He shall purify himself with it. That is this water of separation which is the.
The ashes of the heifer, cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet mixed with running water. We see that in a moment he shall purify himself with it on the third day.
Here he's been put outside the camp. He's not fit for fellowship with the assembly of Israel. Put outside the camp, he's come in contact with death. He's touched the dead body of a man in one way or another. And so he's put out for seven days, and then he's purified by the water of separation is sprinkled upon him on the third day.
And it's also on the 7th day. Notice what it says. He shall purify himself with it on the third day and on the 7th day.
He shall be clean, but if you purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day.
He shall not be clean whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself.
Defileth the Tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. That shows the solemnity of 1 Contracting defilement and ignoring the provision that God Jehovah had made for his cleansing, and he.
He acts as though he had not done it.
And he's defiling by doing, by not going through the water of separation, not not allowing it to be sprinkled upon him, not going through this religious ceremony. That's what it was in the Old Testament. And what it speaks of, what we have answering to that is the advocacy of Christ.
Any man sin I John 2 I'll quote it. We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins, not for us only but also for the whole world. So the advocacy of Christ comes in to restore us to communion and that answers to what we have here in Numbers 19 Here it was a religious.
Ritualistic ceremony that they had to go through.
But it's a type of the way God restores souls.
If they've fallen into sin.
It's a solemn thing not to resort to the advocacy of Christ for the Israelites, not to resort to the water of purification.
For us not to resort to the Lord's advocacy, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now that cleansing is not a fresh application of the blood, but it's what we have here. The water of separation, the water of purification is sprinkled upon him. That is the Spirit of God applies to the soul.
The memory of what the Lord Jesus went through.
In his death on the cross, to put the sin away that we have committed, that one has committed.
And not to avail oneself of His restoring grace.
By confessing one's sin puts one in a situation where he defiles the whole assembly and those round about him.
Verse 14 This is the law. When a man dieth in a tent, the tent is the home. That's where they live.
That's where they lived.
All that come into the tent and all that is in the tent shall be unclean.
Seven days, so in this case, if there's death in the tent.
You may just enter a tent where someone has just died and you are now unclean. You've entered into the scene of death.
And then it says in every open vessel.
Which have no covering bound upon it is unclean. It's striking that it emphasizes the open vessel because it is already said in the previous verse that everything in the tent.
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Is unclean, and all that come into the tent are unclean.
But then it singles out every open vessel which hath no covering upon it, bound upon it. That is, it doesn't have the ability to resist the contamination that is there in the tent. It's unclean. Who is the open vessel? Our children, I believe. Our children. They are open vessels. They take in everything that's in the tent.
Everything that's in the tent, and if there's death in the tent, if there's that which Christ died to deliver us from.
Our sins, all the wisdom of this world.
And all the glory of this world, everything that this world makes much of and.
Revels in if that's in the tent.
If that's been brought into the tent, there's death in the tent and all that are in the tent.
And everyone that enters the tent is unclean. 7 days and every open vessel, especially the children, are vulnerable to what takes place in the tent.
Very solemn when we consider.
What a Christian home is and what it should keep out could keep out death. It should keep out everything that speaks of this world.
And to bring it into the tent is to subject those that were in the tent to the defilement, and especially the open vessel.
So there we have the Christian home typified, and now we get out into the world.
In the next verse and whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword, that speaks of violence, one that's slain with the sword. This world is filled with violence. See it, you hear it, it's everywhere. Can't pick up a newspaper without hearing of some violence that is being committed in this world. Whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword, violence.
We're told that corruption and violence fill the earth in the days of Noah.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And so we're living in those days today.
One that is slain with the sword in the open fields. That's out there in the world. We're not in the tent now. We're out in the open field. We're out in the world and we get subjected to this. Children get subjected to this at school and fathers in the workplace and sometimes mothers and in the neighborhoods where we live, the open fields.
Or a dead body. Dead body is one that has died by natural means and it speaks of corruption.
Corruption and violence the sword is 1 who's been put to death by violence and the dead body is one who has died but it's the wages of sin speaks of death to touch.
Either one of those things is to be defiled.
Or a bone of a man.
The bone of a man is, after all the meat has been decayed away or taken away. You might, you might not think that.
A bone has any defilement connected with it, because all of that which is corruptible in that has gone. Maybe it's been eaten off by dogs or whatever.
And all that's left is the bone of a man. You're just walking through the open field and you just happen to touch the bone of a man in Israelite. You stumble across a body. He was slain. You can tell he was killed with a sword because there's blood coming out of his side or wherever. And there's another just a dead body, someone that died out there. And you touch that body. And Israelite did in the wilderness, it came across such they were defiled or the bone of a man. Maybe that person was killed long time ago. And the birds.
All the meat away and so on and all that's left, the bone, just the bone.
It still comes from a man that was defiled and it was the wages of sin. So there are things that we don't look upon as very defiling. We kind of accept them. There are things that are obviously defiling in this world and we recognize them for what they are, very evil things. But there are other things that have a semblance of acceptability.
And they're still a part of this defiled scene.
Where Christ has been cast out the bone of a man.
Or a grave. And what does that speak of? A grave You might be walking in the open field.
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And walk over a grave and not even know it. You don't even know it. You haven't actually touched it. But turn to Luke 11.
Verse 42.
But woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and Passover judgment, and the love of God.
These aux ye too have done and not to leave the other undone.
Woe unto you Pharisees.
For you love the upper bow seats in the synagogues.
And greetings in the markets. And then now we're into the religious element here, the Pharisees.
Well unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves.
Which appear not.
And the men that walk over them.
Are not aware of them.
This is the most subtle kind of defilement that there is in the world because.
It takes on the garment, the cloak, the form of religiousness.
The form of recognizing God.
And yet there is much that is in the religious world that is defiling.
Agree.
The Lord said, Ye are as whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear fair to men, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
And he was talking to the upper crust of society. He was talking to those religious Pharisees, the men of the cloth.
The men that.
Where the responsible ones in the nation of Israel to guide and lead them to the true knowledge of God.
And if the solemn thing to be in that position indeed.
Well, there are so much, there's so much that has a religious tone to it in Christendom today. And when you first look at it, we had, we had mentioned a brother, young brother came to me and he said, why do you, why do you discuss something before you've defined the problem or defined what you're talking about? Someone had mentioned, for instance, Promise Keepers.
And outwardly it appears very nice. And I'm sure that those that are involved in it are are doing it with good intention. Many true Christians.
But.
It's a very.
It's a very sad development.
I just want to read you a little extract on the subject because some of you don't know anything about it.
It's the greatest.
Ecumenical movement in the United States of America today is sweeping the country.
So far it's only embraced men and it was started by a man with good intentions. Football coach I think of.
Colorado football team.
And he wanted Christian men to assume their role of responsibility in the family, to be good husbands and good fathers. And these are all very commendable things. No one can find any fault with that. But this, this movement is so wide open.
And it's not doctrinally oriented. And that's the serious, very, very, very serious error of it, that all of these different groups in Christendom that have all different views doctrinally, some of them very serious errors are included and embraced in this movement, all with the all under the umbrella of getting a better family relationship.
I remember hearing.
Occasionally a very short little excerpt over the radio that is promoting family values and I said, well, that sounds good. And then it ends by saying Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
They're the ones that put it out.
They're the ones that promote it. A Promise Keepers is open to that group, by the way.
And I just wanted to read you this little extract.
This.
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Roman Catholic Cardinal.
He has studied the feasibility and appropriateness of using utilizing Promise Keepers at the Catholic parish level.
He states Promise Keepers places a very strong no excuse me, Promise sleep. There is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church.
And it places very strong emphasis on returning to your own church, congregation or parish and becoming an active layman.
One of the promises is that I promise to support my local church.
In all of its activities and so on, and one of the speakers of the Promise Keepers has said we we should promote.
Local church worship, whether it's the Lord's Supper, some take the Lord's Supper, others have the Eucharist, others have the Mass, others have this and that, and you put that all together as being part of what they were supporting.
So to take that promise is to promise to support a mixture of good and evil.
A mixture of right and wrong. And that's why I read those verses in Two Corinthians 6.
What fellowship hath light with darkness? What part hath ye that believeth with an unbeliever?
What agreement of the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will.
Walk in them and dwell in them, and they shall be my people. I will be their God.
God requires the very first thing you read in Genesis. One of the promises is that I promise to support my local church in all of its activities and so on. And one of the speakers of the Promise Keepers has said we we should promote.
Local church worship, whether it's the Lord's Supper, Some take the Lord's Supper, others have the Eucharist.
Others have the mass, others have this and that, and he put that all together as being part of what they were supporting. So to take that promise is to promise to support a mixture of good and evil.
A mixture of right and wrong. And that's why I read those verses in Two Corinthians 6.
What fellowship hath light with darkness? What part has he that believeth with an unbeliever? What agreement with it of the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God has said. I will walk in them and dwell in them, and they shall be my people. I will be their God.
God requires the very first thing you read in Genesis chapter one, verse 3.
Is God said let there be light, There was darkness enveloping this globe, and God said let there be light and there was light, and God divided.
The light from the darkness, it was evening and there was morning the first day. The first thing that God did was to divide the light from the darkness. And the portion that we had today in Romans 12 is we are to abhor that which is evil and to cleave to that which is good. Cease to do evil, learn to do good.
Bible does not brook any complicity with evil on the part of those who are his. The ashes of the red heifer.
Tell a tremendous story to us. They contain the memorial of the death of Christ, which has separated us forever from this world, and from all its glory, and from all its grandeur, and from all its wisdom, and from all that man takes such pride in.
We are separated from that, and when a soul is defiled by contact with any of these things, the provision that is made is the application of the water of separation. Verse 17, going back to Numbers 19.
And for an unclean person.
One that has gotten unclean out in the open field by touching one that was slain with a sword or a dead body, or the bone of a man. One that has entered a tent where there was death in the tent, whatever it was 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. The running water speaks of the Holy Spirit.
Remember in John 7 the Lord Jesus said in the last the great day of the feast Jesus Christ and said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on thee, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This fake He of the Spirit which they that believed on Him should receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. We all have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, that living water. And this running water, this living water is mixed now with the ashes of the heifer.
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And then it says in verse 18, the clean person shall take hits up, that's the smallest part of nature, and dip it in the water. I think it speaks of faith here. Faith. Thou shalt have faith as a grain of mustard seed. Thou shalt say to this mountain be removed in its shallow day.
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 a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day. What does that speak of? The third day speaks of sin in the presence of grace. I have sinned against the grace which has saved me.
I have done that for which Christ died to to put away. He put away sin by the sacrifice, the sacrifice of the sacrifice of Himself, and I have indulged in that.
I have indulged my flesh.
In some way.
And there's thousands of ways that can be done. We have a little picture.
Of some of the ways that we can get the fire.
Viewing violence and Corruption and the.
The little things like the bone of a man, that don't seem so bad, but they still come from the results of sin, death. And so the unclean person is sprinkled on the third day that speaks of the conscious conscience coming into exercise and the realization I have sinned.
And Christ died to put my sins away. That very sin that I have indulged in, he died to put it away. And so the Spirit of God, the running water takes the the ashes of the hamper, the memorial of the death of Christ, and applies them to my conscience, brings me to confess and judge my sin. I have allowed, I've indulged the flesh. I've done that which Christ died to deliver me from. That's the third day.
And then he sprinkled again on the 7th day, and on the 7th day he shall purify himself.
Have you ever met any Christians? You ask them why aren't you at the Lord's table and they say, well, I'm so bad, I'm so bad, I'm so bad, I'm not fit to be there. None of us in ourselves is fit to be there, but He has made us fit through his work.
And he's looking too much at how bad he is. And it's a good thing that we see how evil we are and judge that. That's the third day sprinkling. But don't stay there. You're not really restored to be useful in the assembly until you're sprinkled on the 7th day. The third day is sin in the presence of grace. I've sinned against the grace that has saved me, But on the 7th day, it's grace in the presence of sin. He says, now I want you to be occupied, not so much with your sin, but with the grace that has saved you.
And made you mind.
Be occupied with the matchless grace of God, which has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life. Well, that's a beautiful type, wonderful type in the Word of God. Spirit of God applies to our conscience the death of Christ and all that he has done in judging sin and all the world system that's about us.
And so when we when we love the world.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. We're partaking of those things, love, not the world.
And it's all out there.
If I was talking to a group in Bolivia.
Would be very different because they don't have the world in all its grandeur like we have in the United States.
We're living in a day when it's.
Very difficult to remain pure.
Because there's so much impurity right out there in front of your eyes every day. Can't go by billboards on the road. You can't. You can't go anywhere without feasting without not feasting but looking at.
Some things that are defiling and so we need the water separation, not a fresh application of the blood of Christ.
But the water separation, the application by the Spirit of God to our souls, our consciences, I died for that sin. I died to deliver you from that sin.
And I want you to have fellowship with me. So you have to judge it. That's the third day. Now I want you to be occupied on the 7th day. I want you to be occupied with my love and grace, which is put it all away. Now I can have fellowship with you again.
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And so he's brought back.
Into the camp made useful again as he's gone through that spiritual exercise.
Trust the Lord will encourage us all to look more deeply into that chapter.
So rich and full of spiritual meaning.